One of the projects keeping volunteers busy at Heritage Junction isn’t a building, but a historic item that needs a little fixing and painting. A 1935 Ford V-8 truck, eye-catching in its rust-hued glory, and formerly owned by Placerita Canyon homesteader Frank Walker, recently found a permanent home next to the Saugus Train Station.
Society Vice President Leon Worden said that Ron Kraus, president of the Placerita Canyon Nature Center Associates facilitated the donation from Walker’s grandson, Bob, in Ojai. The truck, which was purchased new from a dealership in Santa Paula, traversed Placerita and Sand Canyons for decades and survived the Thomas Fire in 2017, was transported to the Santa Clarita Valley on the back of a flatbed.
The truck needs a bit of restoration – some cosmetic, although the Society intends to leave the rustic patina intact – and a lot of mechanical expertise. Right now, it waits patiently in the shadow of the park’s Saugus Train Station.
“We would love it if a local antique car nut with whiz-bang mechanical skills would step forward and take it on as a project,” Worden said.
“It’s hard to think of a vehicle more historically important to our valley than a truck that Frank Walker actually used on his ranch, he continued. “The Walker family was legend around here, and their legacy lives on in the wonderful open-space parklands of Placerita Canyon that are pretty much the way the Walkers left them.”
Not only did Walker own much of the land that made up Placerita Canyon at the beginning of the 20th Century, he was always working on something, whether it was picking up lumber for his cabins, food for his livestock, or bringing in groups of travelers to pan for gold. The truck, still in good condition 87 years after rolling off the showroom floor, has undoubtedly seen a lot.
Walker moved to the Santa Clarita Valley in 1905 at the age of 19 and established a homestead “a stone’s throw from where the first gold was discovered,” as he liked to tell people. The Walker homestead increased in size when he married Hortense Reynier, whose family’s homestead adjoined Walker’s, and the traditional gift of property accompanied the union.
The Walker family soon expanded to include 12 children, all who were expected to pull their weight in the family enterprises. The Walkers grew vegetables, and raised beef and dairy cattle, pigs, chickens, and horses.
Walker was an entrepreneur and determined gold panner who discovered that he could make more hosting a “Panning Camp” that welcomed recreational prospectors, that served meals and offered a place to stay while they tried their luck seeking the shiny rocks. He also sold “fancy rock,” green and white shist that was abundant in Placerita Canyon, to people building fireplaces for their homes, and mined clay, which was also used for buildings in the growing community.
Walker also dabbled in bootlegging liquor during Prohibition, taking unusable wine from his father-in-law’s vineyards and distilling it into brandy, also making some whisky on the side. Filmmakers in the nascent movie industry sought out his location for wilderness shots, and the going rate for using Walker Ranch for the industry was $5 a day. He discovered that the set construction crews could do alterations to his cabins and allowed them to make changes to best suit their productions, keeping the changes after the crews left.
In 1949, the 351-acre Walker Ranch property was sold to the State of California for a park, which now includes the Placerita Canyon Nature Center.
Learn more about the Walker family history at www.scvhistory.com (https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/walkerfamily_nicolai2002.htm)

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