Page 13 - eternalvalley1958

J. A. Swall, a rugged harvester, was buried there. Sanford Lyon who founded the first
American settlement in the area and his son Frank, who died as a child, are both buried
in "The Garden of the Pioneers."

J. H. Whitney, for whom Whitney Canyon was named, buried his three children in the
cemetery one by one as they fell victim to the dread diphtheria plague. Willie, the first
child of this early day homesteader and his wife, died just before his sixth birthday in
1881 ... then followed the tragic deaths of their daughters, Nettie at eight in 1884 and
Mabel 10, in 1888. Visicors can still read the following tender eulogy on the children's
H. C. WILEY, PIONEER OILMAN
gra vescones:
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Beneath this stone in soft repose,
scout for the Eastern civilization to come. More conservative than his brother, he was a
I laid a Mother's dearest pride ...
stable man who thrived on hard work, vibrating between live stock, mining and other
A fiower that scarce had walked to life
sidelights that offered him a profitable return.
and light and beauty 'ere it died.' 1
Known to his contemporaries throughout the entire County, Sanford Lyon was on the
The Whitneys moved away to become one of the first families co purchase property on
County Republican Central Committee in 1869 and in 1870 he was a candidate for
Signal Hill in Long Beach.
County Supervisor.
Reading like a "Who's Who" of Southern California's early history, the famous family Francisco Lopez told pioneers W.W. Jenkins, H. C. Wiley and Lyon of the Pico Canyon
names of Rivera, King, Stahl, Parish, Varner, Tibbetts, Aiken, Nelson, Overend, Quayle,
oil seepages, and in 1869 Lyon "spring poled" a 250 foot well in the Canyon good for
Renne, Derrick, Barkis, Heinly, Lockard and Strecher are among those on the markers ten barrels of oil a day. This was the first successful commercial oil well in- the West!
in "The Garden of the Pioneers."
During the Boom Days of the Soledad mining camp, Lyon was involved with George
Clark, then Postmaster of Los Angeles, Christopher Leaming, the traditional mining dis-
THE BEGINNING OF THE OIL ERA
trict recorder, George Gleason, General Andres Pico, and Wiley. Active together in
Cyrus Lyon was typical of the reckless breed of men that built the West. Prominent among Soledad mining, livestock and politics, this group's personal holdings formed the nucleus
the Rangers - the only law enforcement body existing, he was nor afraid of anybody or of the California Star and Pacific Coast Oil Company's properties - known today as
anything. Sanford Lyon was definitely the Pioneer of Pioneers. He was a typical advance Standard Oil of California.

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