King's Station

King's Station, also known as Moore's and Hollandsville, was a stagecoach station of the Butterfield Overland Mail 1st Division between 1858-1861 in southern California.[1]

The adobe building also served other travelers on the Stockton - Los Angeles Road, and other uses, until its 1928 destruction.

Geography

King's Station was located in the lower section of San Francisquito Canyon, in the Sierra Pelona Mountains. It was 10 miles (16 km) south of Widow Smith's Station near San Francisquito Pass, and was 12 miles (19 km) north of Lyons Station near the Santa Clara River.[2]

History

The watering place on San Francisquito Creek was first known as "Moore's" in 1854, and was located on the Stockton - Los Angeles Road wagon route, on the section between the San Fernando Valley and the San Joaquin Valley.

Butterfield Overland Mail

By 1858, when the New York Herald reporter Waterman L. Ormsby passed through on the Butterfield Overland Mail it was known as King's Station.[2] In 1860 the station was referred to as Hollandsville.[3][4]

King's Station was 12 miles (19 km) north of Lyons Station (Hart's Station) near the Santa Clara River. It was 12 miles (19 km) south of Widow Smith's Station (Clayton's Station, Major Gordon's Station) in upper San Francisquito Canyon near San Francisquito Pass.[1]

Raggio Ranch — Hollands

About 1880, Charles Raggio, acquired the ranch and adobe station building from the Perea family, and it became known as the Raggio Ranch.

Later in 1894, the adobe was a post office on the Raggio Ranch for the surrounding settlement known as Hollands or Hollandsville.[5]

St. Francis Dam flood and destruction

In March 1928 the massive flood caused by the collapse of the St. Francis Dam washed away the old stagecoach station, along with the Hollands and Raggio Ranch buildings. The dam had been upstream in San Francisquito Canyon.

The only present day indicator of the station's location is the Ruiz family cemetery, that survived by being just above the flood's crest. The station had been located just below the cemetery.[6][7] The Ruiz Family Cemetery remains on private land, at 29615 North San Francisquito Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. A mobile home, placed on the property in 1963, is located below the cemetery.[8]

The Raggio Ranch was rebuilt and remained in the family until after the 1940s.[9]

See also

References
  1. List of Butterfield Overland Mail Stations, from New York Times, October 14 1858, "Itinerary of the Route"
  2. Waterman L. Ormsby, Lyle H. Wright, Josephine M. Bynum, The Butterfield Overland Mail: Only Through Passenger on the First Westbound Stage. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 2007. pp. viii, 167, 173.
  3. Notes of a Trip to Los Angeles No. 1, Daily Alta California, Volume 12, Number 3888, 5 October 1860 — Page 1
  4. THE STORY OF OUR VALLEY BY A.B. PERKINS, 4. Early Transportation, Six White Horses
  5. Frickstad, Walter N., A Century of California Post Offices 1848-1954, Philatelic Research Society, Oakland, CA. 1955, pp. 70-84.
  6. Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society: "Raggio Ranch, San Francisquito Canyon"
  7. Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society: Photo of St. Francis Dam Floodpath — "on the hillside in the distance (looking west), the Ruiz family cemetery can barely be discerned. Moore's stagecoach stop, ... later known as "Holland's" or "Hollandsville," was located just below the cemetery."
  8. www.findagrave.com, Ruiz-Perea Family Cemetery
  9. Raggio Ranch, San Franciscquito Canyon

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