Harry Carey Ranch Survey:
Ranch House.
By JRP HISTORCIAL CONSULTING SERVICES, for the National Parks Service.
2001.

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HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY

HARRY CAREY RANCH
Ranch House (Building 5)
HABS No. CA-2712-A

Location:
28515 San Francisquito Canyon Road, Saugus, Los Angeles County, California.
UTM Coordinate: 11.0357209.3815506

Present Owner/Occupant:
Montalvo Properties LLC, P.O. Box 58870, Vernon, CA 90058

Present Use:
The ranch land and most of the remaining building are currently unoccupied. The caretaker and his wife currently live in the Bunkhouse (Building 2).

Significance:

Building 5, the main ranch house and its pump house / laundry room building, comprise one of the nine resources of the Harry Carey Ranch Historic District. Harry and Olive Carey, who were members of the early motion picture industry in Southern California, and specifically the Santa Clarita Valley, constructed various ranch buildings the property from the late 1910s through the 1930s. The Careys lived on the ranch at various times during more than twenty years of Harry Carey' s professional life. The main house and other smaller adobe structures represent a distinctive and excellent vernacular example of Spanish Colonial Revival style. It is unique in its use of architectural details, such as built-in cabinetry and exposed telephone pole ceiling beams.¹

PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION

A. Physical History:

1. Date of erection: Ca. 1932-1933. Harry and Olive Carey directed the construction of this house after their first residence on this property burned down on September 2, 1932. Harry Carey, Jr. recalls that the new house was constructed immediately after the fire. Although the local newspaper reported on the fire that destroyed the original structure, a review of the newspaper from that date through the end of 1933 did not reveal any further articles about the construction of the new dwelling. The Los Angeles County assessment records include an estimated date of construction only.²

2. Architect: Unknown; the design concept is attributed to Harry and Olive Carey who were both directly involved in its construction.³

3. Original and Subsequent Owners: Harry and Olive Carey; John F. Blanchard II and Irene T. Blanchard; Laura Madeline Wagnon and Catherine McCaleb; the Clougherty Packing Company; Montalvo Properties LLC.

Although he and his family appear to have lived on the property from about 1916 through the early 1940s, Harry Carey established legal ownership of the main ranch complex in 1925 when he purchased 160 acres of federal land via a "sale entry." The following year, he expanded the ranch when the government issued him a patent for an adjacent 480 acres as a "homestead — stock raising entry." By the mid 1920s, Carey published an advertising brochure for the commercial venture he operated on the ranch, "Harry Carey's Trading Post," in which he stated that his ranch included a total of 1,200 acres. The remaining acreage was probably acquired through direct sale by private landowners.⁴

A newspaper article dated September 25, 1947 stated that the Careys sold the ranch in 1944 to unnamed owners who planned to operate the property as a dude ranch, but the property was not actually sold until March 1945. At that time Olive and Harry Carey sold the property to John F. Blanchard II and his wife Irene T. Blanchard. Although the Blanchard's may have been interested in developing a dude ranch, they ran into financial difficulties and sold the ranch to two single women, Laura Madeline Wagnon and Catherine McCaleb in 1948. The Clougherty family (the Clougherty Packing Company) purchased the ranch sometime in the 1950s and held it until December 1998, when they sold it to the Montalvo Properties LLC, the company that is currently developing the property.⁵

4. Builder, contractor, suppliers: What little is known about the construction of the main ranch house comes from interviews with Harry Carey, Jr. who recalls that his parents, especially his mother, handled the construction supplies and labor needed to build the residence. He has stated in two recent interviews that his mother was in charge of the acquisition of supplies, such as the telephone poles, lumber, concrete, and hardware, and that she hired Mexican migrant farmer workers for the construction crews. These men were hired specifically for their knowledge of the adobe manufacturing and construction process and they made the bricks on site using a clay deposit that was located north of the house.⁶

5. Original plans and construction: Harry Carey, Jr. reports that the house was designed by his parents, Olive and Harry Carey, without the benefit of formal plans.⁷ There are no known existing plans of the building, which was built in late 1932 and early 1933. The single-story main house is primarily a U-shaped plan, consisting of two wings flanking a courtyard and connected by a primary element, which incorporates an inset front porch. Both the exterior and interior walls are of adobe construction and each of the three main components of the building are topped by a gable roof covered in Spanish tile. The house faces east.

6. Alterations and additions: The house has not received a major or permanent structural addition. There have been a number of smaller alterations, which are described below.

The Careys made few changes to the house. They had the house wired for electrical service around 1936, relinquishing the romantic notion of kerosene lamplight.⁸

Most of the changes to the house appear to date to the period when the Clougherty family owned the property. The exterior of two existing chimneys were replaced with concrete slump stone. A kitchen remodeling project included the installation of a new fireplace and chimney on the north wall, as well as new glazed ceramic tile on the L-shaped counter top and backsplash and two pairs of three-light wood casement windows not found elsewhere in the house. The original wood floor consisted of wood planks with doweled joints, but the central portion of the house (the living room and dining room), hallway, and kitchen were re-covered with large (about 12" x 12") Saltillo tiles. The tiles are set in concrete mortar and have been coated with a high-gloss sealant.⁹

The Cloughertys also hired scenic artist Les Grimes to paint murals in all the major rooms of the house (see section C6, below). The family acquired the property in the 1950s, probably not long before the company founders Francis and Barney Clougherty hired Grimes to paint murals at the Farmer John factory in Vernon in 1957. Grimes worked on the huge murals at the factory for over a decade, and, in fact, died in a fall from scaffolding while finishing the murals in 1968. He had apparently just finished the last of the Harry Carey Ranch murals because the small painting on the wall of the kitchen is the only dated mural in the house, bearing the date "'68."¹⁰

The most recent change to the building was the installation of a central heating unit in a closet in the hallway between the kitchen and the dining room. The historic district survey conducted in 1993 noted that there was "no central heating or air conditioning; fireplaces and the natural insulating characteristics of adobe were relied upon," so the heating system was installed between July 1993 and November 2000. The system includes heating ducts installed in the attic with outlet vents cut into the plank ceilings.¹¹

B. Historical Context:

For a more detailed discussion of the historical context of the ranch house and the ranch property, refer to the narrative in HABS No. CA-2712.

Harry Carey started his career as an actor in the emerging film industry in 1908 on the East Coast. He worked with D.W. Griffith and Biograph films before moving to Southern California in 1912. In 1915, he started working for Universal Studios. From 1917 to 1921 he worked as a writer and co-director with John Ford and is credited with being a major influence on Ford's style of directing. Straight Shooting was one of the best-known films to come out of their collaboration and it is believed that some of the scenes were shot on the Carey ranch. Carey began working in sound films in 1929, continuing to act in primarily Western films. However, he was nominated for an Academy Award in 1940 for a role he played in a non-Western movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Harry and Olive Carey built the main ranch house in late 1932 and early 1933 after a fire destroyed the Craftsman style wood-frame residence (Figure 1) that they had occupied since about 1916. The new house, like several other smaller outbuildings on the ranch, was constructed of adobe, fulfilling Harry Carey's wish to live in an authentic Spanish "hacienda." The Careys owned the ranch until 1945 and lived there full-time until the early 1940s. Although the family often took extended trips during the summer months, and occasionally accompanied Harry Carey on filming locations during the 1920s and 1930s, the Careys considered the ranch to be home. It served as a meeting place for many of Hollywood's actors, directors, writers, and producers who worked in the Western film genre, such as Western film greats John Wayne and William S. Hart. The ranch also attracted those who sought to portray the Old West in art and literature, such as Charles M. Russell and Will James.¹² The adobe house, along with the rest of the ranch, filled a role as a re-creation of the Old West that Carey depicted in films, but it was also an authentic working ranch where Carey raised 200 head of cattle, more than a dozen horses, and a herd of sheep, as well as other barnyard animals.

Adobe buildings are one of the earliest forms of construction. Created from a mixture of sand and clay with grass as a binder, bricks are molded in wood forms, sun dried, and then joined with mud mortar. Because exterior walls of adobe buildings are load bearing, they are usually constructed in an alternating double course, creating a thick wall with deep reveals around the door and window openings. Windows and doorways received large timber lintels for further structural support.¹³

Interviews with Harry Carey, Jr. reveal that his parents specifically chose to build with adobe in an effort to create a Spanish "hacienda" and to fulfill the architectural tone set by previous construction on the ranch, such as the former Trading Post buildings destroyed in 1928. He also recalls that both his parents contributed to the construction effort, Harry in terms of the overall design, and Olive collecting the materials and hiring the crews, including local Mexican migrant workers hired during that winter. They were available because of the slower agricultural season and were selected for their familiarity with adobe construction. Clay from deposits north of the house apparently provided the raw material for the bricks that the crews made on site.¹⁴

PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION

A. General Statement:

1. Architectural character: The main house of the Harry Carey Ranch Historic District (Building #5) is a single story adobe building with a U- shaped plan and is a modest example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The design of the Carey ranch house represents an early residential example of this revival movement, unlike the grand public buildings most commonly associated with the style. Like a Spanish Colonial rancho (whose main residence was called a "hacienda"), this house displays the characteristic elements of the form, such as a low-pitched tile roof over adobe walls, deeply inset window and door openings, and the inter- relationship of interior and exterior spaces that is enhanced through the use of French doors and a courtyard. This example is particularly true to the original haciendas in that it has adobe walls and exposed beams (telephone pole) at the ceilings. Tile floors and a U-shaped plan also emphasize the building's architectural lineage. Without the flamboyance of Churrigueresque examples, the Carey house nevertheless typifies the simpler single story massing, rectangular plan, and low red roofs associated with the Spanish Colonial Revival style.¹⁵

Western film star Harry Carey and his wife Olive had the house constructed in a style that was consistent with the theme of Western architecture that they had established on their property in the 1920s. The main facade of the home (east side) is dominated by an inset porch flanked on either side by the gable ends of the two side wings of the U plan. The long front porch, rear courtyard, adobe construction, Spanish tile roofing, and exposed ceiling beams are typical of the revival of this type of construction in California in the 1920s and 1930s. Although there have not been any major permanent additions to the building, the Clougherty family altered the house with several modifications. The most unusual change was the addition of painted murals in all the major rooms of the home, created by scenic artist Leslie A. Grimes, in the 1950s or 1960s.

2. Condition of fabric: The current condition of the main house (Building #5) is good to fair. The Clougherty family and their employees have consistently maintained the building. Its adobe construction has, however, suffered some deterioration over the years and was probably damaged further during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The interior and exterior walls, nearly all windows and doors, and the roof are largely unaltered. The flooring, fireplaces and chimneys were altered in the 1950s or 1960s, but remain in good condition, and the only non-original door is found in the north wall at the kitchen entrance.

B. Description of Exterior:

1. Overall dimensions: This U-shaped residence measures about 87'-0" along the facade, which includes the 45'-0" long porch, the width of the south wing (20'-0") and the north wing (22'-0"). Each wing is about 56'-0" long. A recessed uncovered porch is set into the north side of the northern wing (see Sketch Plan).

2. Foundations: The house appears to rest on a poured concrete perimeter foundation, but because the interior floor levels are uneven, its exact construction type is unknown. A small cellar is located under the kitchen and is accessed by a trap door in the floor.

3. Walls and structural systems: Both the interior and exterior walls of this building consist of non-reinforced adobe bricks. The individual bricks measure about 1'-5" x 3'-½" x 1'-2" and are set in concrete mortar in a single course. The interior and exterior walls are all about 1'-2" thick with the exception of the interior load-bearing wall separating the living and dining room that is double that thickness. The thickness of the walls throughout the building allowed room for the creation of small arched rectangular display niches, three on exterior walls. Two niches are found facing the courtyard (one on the west wall of the central wing and the other on the north wall of the south wing), while the third exterior niche is located on the facade, adjacent to the front door. These niches are approximately 12" wide, 7" deep and range in height from 1'-3" to 2'-3".

4. Porches, stoops, and courtyards: The main porch is located at the center of the facade under the principal roof which is supported at this point by framing created by telephone poles. Four telephone poles are used as posts and a similar pole serves as the beam supporting the porch eave. The posts are set into the poured concrete porch floor, which is paved with large terra cotta tiles set in concrete mortar. A separate, small, uncovered porch is located on the north side of the building and provides an entrance area for two French doors, one to each of the two bedrooms located in the north wing.

The U-shaped plan of the house frames a courtyard at the rear (west side) of the residence. This courtyard is further defined by a 3'-10" high adobe and concrete wall that extends between the west ends of the north and south wings. Access to the courtyard is offered by two wood plank hinged gates set at either end of this wall, as well as the eight pairs of French doors facing the courtyard from the three main components of the house. A poured concrete walkway encircles the courtyard at the edge of the three walls of the house that face onto the space, while the remainder of the courtyard is paved with red brick.

An informal patio area is located just north of the kitchen entrance of the main house, next to the utility building (see outbuildings, below). This patio is paved with red brick. A metal gate, incised with the Farmer John logo, leads from the patio through the adjacent garden perimeter wall to the driveway. A barbeque, built into the perimeter wall, is located about 30' south of this patio.

5. Chimneys: There are three exterior chimneys in this building, one at the kitchen (north wall), one in the living room (west wall), and one at the west gable end of the south wing. The living room and south wing chimneys were part of the original construction of the house, but have been enlarged and the original river rock facing has been replaced with buff-colored concrete slump stone. The chimney on the north wall of the kitchen serves a fireplace that was installed in the 1950s or 1960s during the Clougherty ownership. The use of these concrete slump stone units and the awkward intersection of this construction with original features is evident at several locations, such as the kitchen chimney where the chimney overlaps the lintel by several inches and the placement of a bas-relief "F—J" (Farmer John) logo at the top of the chimneystack. The chimney for the living room fireplace is located on west wall facing the courtyard and has a similar bas-relief logo on the lower portion of the chimney. All the chimneys are stepped and rectangular in shape.

6. Openings:

    a. Doorways and doors: The house has 13 exterior doorways. The main entrance is a wide vertical plank batten door set left of center in the facade (east side) of the house at the front porch. The door has a wrought iron handle and latch, as well as two flared, split-tailed, hammered iron bands, or straps, on the exterior side. The interior side is supported with wood bracing in a Z pattern. Both sides of the door are coated with a clear, high-gloss varnish.

Ten of the remaining 11 doorways are set with wood-framed French doors. Eight of these are found in the walls of all three wings that face the courtyard at the center of the U-shaped plan, while the other two lead onto the recessed uncovered patio at the north side of the house. A 6-light wood frame door leads directly onto the porch from the south wing (left of the front door), while a single-panel, glazed, wood-frame door (ca. 1960s) is set in the north wall of the house at the kitchen entrance. The wood frames and moldings of the French doors throughout the house were painted bright blue prior to their current brown color.

    b. Windows and shutters: There are 29 windows located in the exterior walls of this building. Twelve of these windows are recessed single, side-hinged, wood casement windows with two vertical lights, interspersed with 15 4/4 wood casement windows that are flush with the exterior wall. The remaining two windows are recessed single, side-hinged, wood casement windows with three vertical lights. All of the window surrounds are relatively plain with the exception of simple, thick wood lintels set into the adobe wall above each window. Because the exterior paint has peeled from the exterior of a window in the gable end of the bedroom at the southeast corner of the house, a concrete slip sill is visible. It is likely that each of the window openings has concrete sills to protect the adobe wall from weathering, but they are painted over and difficult to identify elsewhere in the house. The wood frames and moldings of the windows throughout the house were painted bright blue prior to their current brown color.

7. Roof:

    a. Shape, covering: The house has a low-pitched cross-gabled roof. This roof form consists of the side-gable roof of the dominant central section of the house, and the ridges of the gable roofs of the two side wings that extend west from each end of the central element. The roof is unified by its covering of straight-barrel, Mission tile. Ceiling joists, visible from the interior of every room, consist of timber telephone poles.

    b. Cornice, eaves: The eaves along the sides of each gable roof form are narrow (about 2' deep) with exposed 4" x 4" rafters. The overhang at the gable ends is finished with a row of roof tile.

    c. Dormers, cupolas, towers: None.

C. Description of Interior:

1. Floor plans: Private rooms (bedrooms and baths) are located within the south and north wings, while the public areas (living room, dining room, and kitchen) are found within the central section. Generally, access to all rooms is via another room; the only hallway in the house is a short space between the dining room and the kitchen that also opens onto the first bedroom of the north wing. The house contains five rooms used as bedrooms and three baths (two bedrooms on west end of each wing are divided by a shared bathroom). Three fireplaces appear in each of the major portions of the house except the north bedroom wing. Most of the major rooms are also accessed via the courtyard except for the bathrooms, kitchen and easternmost bedroom on the southern wing. All interior walls are adobe (1'-2" wide); most are finished in concrete plaster and paint.

2. Stairways: None.

3. Flooring: The majority of the floors in the house (all bedrooms) are covered with a wool, multi-colored, level loop carpet with a diagonal design. Mexican paving, or Saltillo tile flooring with concrete-like grout finish the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and utility area of house, while magnesite flooring covers the bathroom floors. The Saltillo tiles have been covered in a clear, high gloss sealant. The tiles on the front porch floor are a glazed tile in a similar size; however, they are unsealed and quite worn.

4. Wall and ceiling finish: All rooms have a painted concrete plaster wall finish over the adobe bricks except for the bedroom located on the southeast comer of the house. This bedroom has a paint over whitewash finish that reveals the shapes of the adobe bricks underneath. The bathroom walls are finished in a smooth concrete plaster with a magnesite faux tile trim. Every room in the house has a wood plank ceiling with exposed beams (telephone poles). The plank ceiling of the kitchen, as well as the bedrooms on either end of the south wing, are painted white. All remaining rooms have clear, high-gloss, varnished ceilings. Murals decorate the walls of several of the rooms (see section C6).

5. Openings:

    a. Doorways and doors: All doorways of the house are flat with wide, plain wood lintels coated with a clear, high-gloss varnish. These lintels are recessed slightly into the adobe walls and extend 6 to 8 inches beyond the edge of the door openings. The doors have simple wood moldings recessed from the rounded corners of the walls. The doors themselves are all original, wide-plank, vertical wood batten doors with steel or iron hardware. The opening between the dining room and living room is a 5' wide flat arch with a wide wood plank lintel. Like the other doorways, the archway lintel is slightly recessed into the adobe wall surface. On the dining room side, the lintel is exposed for about 6 inches past the edge of the opening, while on the living room, the lintel extends several feet to either side to serve as the lintel at the top of the built-in bookshelves for a total length of about 12'-0".

    b. Windows: The simple wood molding around the windows is similar to the molding around the doors.

6. Decorative features and trim: Three bookshelves built into the adobe walls are located in the living room. One is approximately 6' wide and is centered on the southern wall. The two other bookshelves (each 3'0" wide) surround the archway that leads into the dining room. Cabinets, found in the bedroom closets, the hallway, the pantry, and in the kitchen, appear to be original to the building. Most are highly varnished, darkly stained wood battens with iron hardware, except the kitchen and hallway cabinets, which have been painted white.

Three arched niches are found on interior walls. Two niches appear in the north wall of the dining room and have been incorporated into the design of a painted mural. The final niche appears in the living room, to the north of the front door.

There are seven murals painted on the interior walls of the house. Three are signed and only one is dated, but they all appear to have been painted by Les Grimes. In the south wing, the east bedroom has an unsigned mural of a yucca plant on its west wall, and a signed painting of a bovine skull sitting on a post and barbed wire fence is located in the westernmost bedroom. The westernmost bedroom of the northern wing contains a signed painting of a ranch hand holding a Farmer John logo branding iron on the west wall and on the east wall of the second bedroom of this wing is an unsigned mural of a mountain lion. A small, signed mural dated 1968 depicts fruits and vegetables on the east wall of the kitchen. In the living room, a scene depicting a cattle drive in the desert signed by the artist encircles the fireplace and chimney. The largest and most vibrant mural in the house depicts a Mission scene and is found on the northern wall of the dining room. Unlike the other murals in the home, this unsigned painting encompasses nearly the entire wall, from floor to ceiling, and incorporates the two wall niches within its design.

There are three fireplaces located in the house (one at each wing). A small, simple fireplace located on the western wall of the west bedroom of the south wing is flush with the wall and appears unaltered from its original state. A non-structural wood plank mantel with scalloped trim and supported by two metal brackets is located on the wall about two feet above the firebox. The concrete hearth is flush with the floor and extends out into the room approximately 18 inches. Decorative tile surrounds the fireplace opening. The fireplace on the western wall in the living room was also part of the original construction, but appears to have been refaced with rough cut field stone in the 1950s or 1960s. Measuring approximately 8'-3" wide and 3' deep (at the hearth) the top of the raised hearth is finished with smooth stone. The mantel is trimmed with a round log that appears to be a cut telephone pole and the flue above it tapers to the ceiling. A steel curtain screen is attached to the top of the firebox opening. The fireplace located on the northern wall in the kitchen was installed in the 1950s or 1960s and is faced with the same rough fieldstone. It measures approximately 6' wide and 3' deep and like the fireplace in the living room has a raised hearth and a steel curtain screen. Unlike the living room fireplace, its firebox opening is off center and the flue rises straight to the ceiling.

7. Hardware: The hardware of the main house is mostly steel, painted black, but the interior fixtures do appear to include some wrought iron pieces. As noted above, the openings of the living room and kitchen fireplaces are set with steel curtain-type screens. Steel latches, handles, and hinges appear on all the interior doors and cabinets. The small iron cross set into the arched opening in the door between the dining room and the hallway was probably installed by the Cloughertys who decorated the home with many Catholic symbols. The hardware on the front door includes a large wrought iron latch and handle, as well as two flared, split-tailed, hammered iron straps on the exterior side.

8. Mechanical equipment:

    a. Heating, air conditioning, ventilation: The house was originally constructed with two fireplaces for heating and did not have a cooling system. A third fireplace was added in the kitchen in the 1950s or 1960s. A forced central heating system with outlets in the ceiling was a late addition to the house, installed after 1993. The furnace unit is located in a built-in wood cabinet in the hallway between the kitchen and dining room.

    b. Electricity: The house was originally constructed without electricity, but it was installed soon afterwards, in about 1936. The first electrical wiring was simply run along the interior surface of the walls and ceilings to outlets, or directly to plain-glazed porcelain light fixtures that hold a single bulb (such as the light over the sink in the bathroom of the north wing). Most rooms are largely lit by portable lamps. Two kerosene lamps are attached to the wall on either side of the opening between the living room and the dining room, facing the living area.

    c. Plumbing: The house was constructed with modern indoor plumbing, including porcelain fixtures: bath tubs, sinks, and toilets.

D. Site:

1. Historic landscape design: The landscaping of this property does not have a formal plan. A large front lawn forms the dominant feature of the garden, along with an adobe and concrete perimeter wall that forms the north and east boundary of the lawn, at the front of the main house. Trees and perennials in beds along the edge of the house, as well as along the perimeter wall, form the major plantings of the garden. The plantings include olive, oleander, palm, pomegranate, and citrus trees, as well as a very large deodar cedar and cottonwood tree. Large groupings of geranium, lantana, roses, and prickly pear cactus are located throughout the garden, especially near the fence and the laundry room building. Oleander, pomegranate, and other fruit trees also line the driveway, and oleander bushes are scattered randomly throughout the area between the outbuildings and the house. The property once contained several more cottonwood trees and hollyleaf cherry, but many have been cut down. Australian pine trees line the tennis court north of the house.¹⁶

2. Outbuildings: The construction of the main house also included a separate pump house building. This adobe building is located about 16 feet north of the main house and has a low-pitched, asymmetrical, side-gable roof covered with composition sheet roofing. The roof has projecting eaves with exposed rafters and wood fascia at the gable ends. The pump house appears to rest on a slab foundation, although the west and south sides of the building have a raised concrete foundation as well. The exterior of pump house is sheathed in stucco while the interior walls are finished with concrete plaster. The only entrance into the simple rectangular building (15' x 24'-4") is located in the south wall, facing the main house. This opening is set with a wood door and wood frame screen door. The opposite wall (north) has no openings, but two wood-frame, six-light hopper type windows appear in the east and west sides of the building, inset in the thick adobe walls. This building currently houses laundry appliances and a hot water heater. A propane tank is located outside just to the west side.

PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION

A. Architectural Drawings: None.

B. Early Views:

    "View of Ranch: Harry Carey Trading Post, Saugus, California," n.d. [ca. 1920s],

    Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, www.scvhistory.com.

    Photo of Harry Carey Ranch, undated but probably dating to the 1920s, from Company of Heroes, by Harry Carey, Jr. (1994).

    "Harry Carey Trading Post," printed brochure, n.d. [ca. 1920s], Los Angeles

    Public Library.

C. Interviews:

    Harry Carey, Jr., January 26, 2001. Durango, CO. Telephone interview by Meta Bunse, JRP Historical Consulting Services. Davis, CA.

D. Bibliography:

    1. Published Sources:

    Carey, Harry Jr. Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1994.

    Hoffmann, Henryk. "A " Western Filmmakers: A Biographical dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors and Actresses. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2000.

    Leon Worden. Santa Clarita Valley: A Concise History. Newhall, CA: Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, 1997

    Philip Scorza and Frank Wright, eds. "Santa Clarita Valley: A Pictorial History" Sierra Vista Publishing, 2000.

    Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. "William S. Hart Museum," S.l.: Santa Clarita Valley Printing House Craftsmen: 1996.

    2. Unpublished Sources:

    Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Patent Records.

    Leslie Heumann and Helen Wells, "Historic Resources Inventory: Harry Carey Ranch Historic District," DPR523 forms on file with California Office of Historic Places (July 6, 1993).

    Grantee-Grantor indexes, Los Angeles County Clerk-Recorder's Office.

    Deeds, Los Angeles County Clerk-Recorder's Office.

    Real Property Records, Los Angeles County Assessor's Office, December 2000.

    California Office of Historic Preservation. "Directory of Properties in the Historic Properties Data File for Los Angeles County.

    3. Internet Sources:

    The Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society's site is a valuable source for local history and photographs. This resource includes information on the region in general, San Francisquito Canyon, the St. Francis Dam disaster, and the film industry, as well as Harry Carey's ranch and film career. (www.scvhs.org and www.scvhistory.com)

    Various other Internet sites provided information on the Western as a film genre, the history of the development of movie making and silent film era. These sites were also valuable sources of biographical information for directors and actors alike.

        www.filmsite.org
        www.essanayfilmmfgco.com
        www.us.imdb.com
        www.seeing-stars.com
        www.amctv.com

    4. Periodicals:

    The Signal. Variously titled, Newhall-Saugus Signal, covers the Santa Clarita Valley region, available on microfilm at the local branch of the county library from 1919.

    Los Angeles Times

E. Likely Sources not yet Investigated:

    Although the Harry Carey Ranch property was occupied and owned by the Careys from the 1920s though 1945, and the Clougherty family from the mid 1950s through 1998, the chain of ownership is not completely documented for the period of about ten years between 1945 and the mid 1950s. Research conducted for this project revealed that John and Irene Blanchard, as well as Laura Wagnon and Catherine McCaleb, owned the ranch for a short time in the late 1940s. The real property records of Los Angeles County should contain further information about who el may have owned the property during this period, as well as who sold the property to the Cloughertys.

F. Supplemental Material:

    1. Sketch floor plans of the Main House (Building 5). show the approximate floor plan as of November 3, 2000.

    2. Location maps were re-produced from the DPR523 forms dated July 6, 1993, on file with California Office of Historic Places.

    3. Other images related to the historical context and construction history of the property are also included:

        a. Figure I is a photo of Harry Carey Ranch, undated but probably dating to the 1920s, from Company of Heroes, by Harry Carey, Jr. (1994).

        b. Figure 2 is a postcard showing a "View of Ranch: Harry Carey Trading Post, Saugus, California," n.d. [ca. 1920s], Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, www.scvhistory.com.

PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION

This project was sponsored by Montalvo Properties & Evans-Collins Community Builders. Meta Bunse, Steve Mikesell, and Toni Webb, of JRP Historical Consulting Services, conducted the field inspection and recordation in November 2000. Meta Bunse and Toni Webb conducted research in various on-line resources, as well as the Sacramento Office of Historic Preservation, Santa Clarita Branch of the Los Angeles County Library, Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, William S. Hart Regional Park, Los Angeles County Assessor's Office, Los Angeles County Clerk/Recorder's Office, and the Los Angeles Public Library. Toni Webb and Meta Bunse wrote the text for the individual building forms, while Meta Bunse wrote the narrative report with contributions from Toni Webb and Steve Mikesell (specifically the history of the Western as a film genre). Toni Webb produced the sketch floor plans and Bill Dewey produced the photography.

The Los Angeles District Army Corps of Engineers, in consideration of a Section 404 Clean Water Act permit for the Tesoro Del Valle Project in Los Angeles County, California, found that the Tesoro del Valle Project, would have an effect on the Harry Carey Ranch Historic District, a property eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. With this finding of effect, the Corps, pursuant to 36 CFR Part 800, regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the California State Historic Preservation Officer (in concurrence with Montalvo Properties, LLC) regarding the historic Harry Carey Ranch property. In compliance with the MOA, the Ranch House (Building 5) will be rehabilitated and used as part of an Interpretive/Learning Center.

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NOTES.

1. Leslie Heumann and Helen Wells, "Historic Resources Inventory: Harry Carey Ranch Historic District." DPR523 forms on file with California Office of Historic Places (July 6. 1993).

2. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001; "Harry Carey Home Destroyed," The Signal (September 8, 1932): 1; Property records, Los Angeles County Assessor's Office.

3. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001.

4. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001; Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Patent Records, CALA 0031850, Patent issued July 16, 1925 to Henry Dewitt Carey, and CALA 0032149, Patent issued April 22, 1926 to Henry Dewitt Carey; "Harry Carey Trading Post," printed brochure, n.d. [ca. 1920s], Los Angeles Public Library.

5. The Signal (January 30, 1940); "Joint Tenancy Deed," Harry and Olive Carey to John F. Blanchard II, and Irene T. Blanchard, recorded April 18, 1945, Deeds 21887:152-154; "Grant Deed," John and Irene Blanchard to Laura Madeline Wagnon and Catherine McCaleb, recorded June 2,1948, Deeds 27336:165; Grantee-Grantor indexes, Los Angeles County Clerk and Recorder Office; Property records, Los Angeles County Assessor's Office.

6. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001; Heumann and Wells, " ...Harry Carey Ranch Historic District," DPR523 forms (July 6, 1993).

7. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001.

8. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001.

9. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001; Field inspeclion, Meta Bunse, Steve Mikesell, and Toni Webb, November 2 and 3, 2000.

10. Member file, "Leslie A. Grimes," Scenic, Title, & Graphic Artists Local 816; Farmer John Meats, "Our Murals," www.farmerjohn.com (2000). Harry Carey, Jr. stated that there were no murals in the house when he moved away in 1943 (Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001).

11. Heumann and Wells, "...Harry Carey Ranch Historic District," DPR523 forms (July 6, 1993); Field inspection, Meta Bunse, Steve Mikesell, and Toni Webb, November 2 and 3, 2000.

12. Harry Carey Jr. recalls both men visiting the ranch and that his father had a small cabin built on the ranch where Russell could paint. Carey would have been five years old and younger at the time, because Charlie Russell died in 1926. This cabin was probably what is now known as the Lower Garage (Building 6), which was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake [Harry Carey, Jr., Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company (New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1994), 44-53; Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 6, 2001.

13. Technical Preservation Services Division, National Park Service, "Preservation of Historic Adobe Buildins," Preservation Briefs No. 5, first published August 1978, last modified February 2000, National Park Service, www2.cr.nps.gov/tps/briefs.

14. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001; Heumann and Wells, " ...Harry Carey Ranch Historic District," DPR523 forms (July 6, 1993).

15. Harold Kirker. Old Forms on a New Land: California Architecture in Perspective (Niwot CO: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1991), 82-84; Cyril M. Harris, American Architecture: An Illustrated Encylopedia (New York. W.W. Norton and Company: 1998). 165, 272. 306-10.

16. Harry Carey, Jr. remembers many native "California cherry" trees scattered throughout the ravine around the ranch complex. These trees were probably what are commonly known as the hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia). Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26, 2001; Bryan Dillow, California Native Trees (2000) www.canative.com, as of January 30, 2001.

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