Abandoned Mine, Acton CA.

Mining in it's heyday of the 1800's and early 1900s was prevalent across America.  From the high dollar items like Gold and Silver, to minerals and other metals, mines dotted the landscape all over the country.

The problem with mining is that once you've dug out all there is to dig, there's nothing left to do but abandoned the mine. 

These abandoned mines are all over the place. Some still have whole Ghost Towns around them and others are just big holes in the ground. 

I went searching for a mine who's history and origins are still unknown to me, and I found it.  

Please enjoy my trek to find this abandoned mine.

Abandoned Oil Rig

The Santa Clarita Valley is famous for many things.  The history of the valley encompass  everything from railroads, to wagon trails to motion pictures, and oil.  While the oil industry isn't as big in the valley as it used to be,there are still some facilities working hard for those dead dinosaurs.

Placerita Canyon was a hot hotspot for oil drilling many years ago.  While the oil drilling equipment is long since gone there are still some remnants of this industry left for the adventurous soul.

I first spotted this gem a few years ago but it was so overgrown I was having a hard time blazing a trail.  The fires of July 2016 cleared the path for me and this past January I went full force into the wild to find what remained of and old truck and oil rig long since abandoned in Placerita Canyon.

Random Abandoned

While out on my various adventures I often come accros intersing or abandoned things that, while cool do not really warrant a post or video of their own.  I decided to put together a short video of some of these things that I have come across in the past few years.



Enjoy this look at the random abandoned I've found around Santa Clarita over the past few years.

Mentryville,Historic Oil Town

The Santa Clarita Valley was practically built on Oil.  The rich deposits from Placerita, to Pico,to Elsmere Canyons had oil wells dotting the landscape for years. 

Mentryvville is a famous oil town in the West Santa Clarita Valley which has been preserved over the years. While there are no longer any residents of this town the remnants of this historic oil town are still around and available for the public to see.

The Schoolhouse

When you gotta go, you gotta go….

The foundation of an old building,

Oil drilling equipment.

A marker for Pico #4 the first commercially successful oil well in the western united states


























Up the hill to Odeen #1. 





The marker for Odeen #1.  A less than successful well but a spectacular view.

Santa Clara River Bridge Remains

The St. Francis Dam failure in 1928 was devastating.  The loss of life and property extended for miles.  The remains of the dam still exist but there are some other ruins from this terrible event that can be found as well.

The Santa Clara River bridge was part of the original ridge route which extended from Los Angeles to Bakersfield.  It crossed the Santa Clara river at what was then Castaic Junction.  The bridge there was washed out when the flood waters from the dam failure came through but the concrete supports and some evidence of the old ridge route still survive.

I decided to venture out and find this historic site.  It's amazing that after all these years this site still exists.


Below is a postcard depicting the bridge while still in tact.


The same area today.



This is the asphalt from the original ridge route where it would have met the bridge





Bridge supports

Abandoned Oil Refinery/Beale’s Cut

These days the Santa Clarita Valley can be accessed from the south via the 14 and 5 freeways or The old road and Sierra highway. Back in the mid 1800’s the first path through what is now the Newhall Pass was Beale’s Cut.  A crude path cut through the mountain but an important throughway that allowed people to gain access to the Santa Clarita Valley.

Beale’s Cut still exists although it is somewhat challenging to get to.  Access from the south is somewhat available although it has become increasingly overgrown.  Access from the north requires you to pass through what is left of the Newhall Refinery property which is connected to the Elsmere Canyon open space. 

To find out more about this historical site please visit http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/bealescut.htm


Below are some photos and video of my trek to this historic site.

Newhall refinery in the 50s                       and today






Beale’s Cut today

A link to a photo of the same area in the 1870s http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/ap0625.jpg


A view looking north from inside the cut

And a view looking south from inside the cut



A little video of the decent from Beale's cut back through the refinery.

Corriganville Movie Ranch

Southern California is known for Movies and Television.  There are plenty of big studios in the heart of Hollywood.  While these studios are great for the interior portions of a movie the great outdoors is sometimes the backdrop for many movies.  This is where the Movie Ranches of yesteryear came in.





Westerns once dominated the motion picture landscape.  These westerns needed a lot of outdoor shooting and western town sets. Movie Ranches provided the perfect setting for these needs.









Corriganville was a fully functioning movie ranch for years, later becoming a tourist attraction somewhat like a small scale Universal Studios.


Owned by stuntman Crash Corrigan the ranch was in operation until 1965 when it was sold to Bob Hope.  There were a handful of movies filmed there after that but fires in 1970 and 1979 destroyed the ranch. The buildings are long gone but there is still some evidence of the history of this site which is now part of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.



Here are the gates of Corriganvile. 














A shot from the hill above Silvertown back in the day.

Below are a couple of shots from the hill above the former location of Silvertown

Silvertown then…….







































And Now.









This rock formation used to have a facade built on to it to create a Hideout Cave.

This was known as Stunt Rock. A diving platform above an artificial lake.

The famous Gorilla Rock.  I’m sure you can guess where it got it’s name.


For more information please visit http://www.corriganville.net/
If you would like to explore this site yourself it is open to the public.