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SANTA CLARITA VALLEY llISTOBICAL SOCIETY

June 21; 1991

PAULI

I had a chat wi th l)ean Galleon about t he Newhall Ranch House yeater dq(6/20/91),
who said that hie earliest reoolleotion of the plaoe was in the early 1930s when
it waa occupied by 4 or 5 oovboys and their t am1liea. He thought that ther e were
eome 4 entr ances, enoluding and outside atair oue that went up to a econd floor
baloof\Y that taced front .
Hem-y G. Poole became cattle foreman about 1935 or •36, moving hie wite,Charlotte
and family into the building. Some alterations were made at that time. Dean r ecalls
4 bedrooms upstaree-a bedroom conver t ed into a kitchen downstares back.

In those days, th area a.round the Ranoh House was a giganti c teed lot wi th a.n_y-
wher e from 10,000 to 20,000 head of catt le being f ed around the structure. Grain wae
grown on the ranoh, br ought t o several barns( located in th pre,ent Magic Mountain
Parking Lot and about wher e Ooloasea ie now) . Aa a youngster Galleon worked for
Poole shoveling milo, sorghaa and cor n out of t he banis into long t roughs that snaked
t heir way. aorol s he teed l ot. Lat er t hey got a sort of scr ew devis.e that pushed 1 t
t.
along the tee t r ough1. Wat er t l owed from a couple of tanke on t he.hill behind the
house into metal oanala. At Caataio : unotion were corrals and loading ramps, allot
wood. Trains pulled in to the Juncti on( where t he Blue Moon rest~~81¼t is now),hundreds
ot head of oattle being loaded i nt o box oar s. It was really a boomi ng -business during
.w .II when govenment contract s were f ill ed- meat and grai n needed _.to feed the G.I . a.

Ooaasionall.¥ a oalt was born on the lote which Mr. Poole would give to Galleon,as
i t s mot her would eoon be shipping out and the Farming Co. had no way of taking care ot
i t . Dean would raise it at home ( on Walnut St. in Newhall) , then sell it.

The. oompaey also raised turkejl t giving Dean the injured ones. An injured turkey
will be attacked, killed a.nd eaten by the healt hy ones. Uall eon would get S5 tor a
turkey in t he 1940a.
N umerous de r would come down out ot the hills to t eed on the elaborate system of
troughs right next to the oat tle. Sometimes Poole and Galleon would go on a deer hunt
adding venison to the l arde~.
J)()SII!':,
"The san ~t!iilm." wae an area aouthwest of the ranch house where Mr. (Athol) MoBean
kept his race horsea. It waa a beautiful valley with a lake t ed by all year springs.
Local kide used t o sneak in to go f i shing or swimming,

Mr. Poole retiz,ed about 1956, Dean•s brother,J .D. Galleon, becomming cattle
foreman, and movi ng his family into the Ranoh House. J.D. made some alterations•
$lao. He tore out three of t he upstair s bedrooms,creating a large single room whioh
he pannelled and put i n a pool t able. 'l'hia waa J .D.s "den", meeting room and plaoe to
ewap yara•ith hi• buddies.
Dean Galleon knows of no ghost s in the pl aoe and never heard his brother,J ,D.,
r elate anything unuaual , nor did the for mer ocoupant,Henry Pool . However Dean's son,
St&ve, says that he felt "spooked'' in t he place several times, especially at night
when he was baby-sitting J,D, s children. There wae some talk of "blue lad->'" floating

around the pl aoe by othere, which may have been sparked by J .D. e r emarkable atory-
(Over )