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13-840: Areas where it is exposed include: San Francisquito Canyon of the Sierra Pelona Mountains , as well as on the northwestern side of the Devil's Punchbowl gorge in the San Gabriel Mountains . The San Francisquito Formation consists of marine deposits that originated during the Late Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era , and the Early Paleocene epoch in the Paleogene period of

26-418: A two-lane road named after the canyon itself connects Santa Clarita to the mountain communities of Green Valley and Elizabeth Lake . It roughly parallels the river's course between San Francisquito Pass and its southern terminus in the northern Santa Clarita Valley . [REDACTED] Media related to San Francisquito Canyon at Wikimedia Commons San Francisquito Pass San Francisquito Pass

39-531: Is a mountain pass in the Sierra Pelona Mountains , located northeast of Green Valley and Santa Clarita , in northern Los Angeles County , California . The pass, at the elevation 3,655 feet (1,114 m), is at the head of San Francisquito Canyon . San Francisquito Canyon Road, crossing over the Sierra Pelonas here, leads to Elizabeth Lake in the Leona Valley to the north, and Saugus to

52-638: The Angeles National Forest . San Francisquito Canyon was the site of placer mining for gold by Spanish missionaries from the San Fernando and San Buenaventura Missions , and later by Mexican Californios . Their activity stopped in 1848, when the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill started the California Gold Rush . Placer mining later occurred in the canyon into at least the late 19th century. Between 1924 and 1926,

65-718: The Cenozoic Era . It is overlain by the Punchbowl Formation (east) and Castaic Formation (west), both of the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. It overlies the crystalline San Gabriel Basement Complex. It is found between the San Andreas Fault on its north, and the Devil's Punchbowl Fault on its south. The Pliocene epoch Crowder Formation is to the northeast. It preserves fossils dating back to

78-462: The Paleogene period . This article about a specific stratigraphic formation in California is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to the Paleogene period is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . San Francisquito Canyon San Francisquito Canyon is a canyon created through erosion of the Sierra Pelona Mountains by

91-981: The San Francisquito Creek , in Los Angeles County , Southern California . The canyon cuts through the Sierra Pelona Mountains , which are central part of the Transverse Ranges system of California . At the San Francisquito Canyon head is the San Francisquito Pass , which the early routes between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley crossed. The canyon grows wider as it approaches the Santa Clarita Valley . The middle and upper portions of this canyon fall within

104-665: The Stockton - Los Angeles Road , used San Francisquito Pass and Fort Tejon Pass (west of Old Tejón Pass). The Butterfield Overland Mail route (1857-1861) followed the Stockton—Los Angeles Road between the San Fernando and San Joaquin Valleys, and used both passes. It had a stagecoach stops at King's Station (southern canyon) and Widow Smith's Station (near pass) in San Francisquito Canyon. San Francisquito Pass

117-570: The 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of life in California's history, after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The ruins of this disaster can still be seen today. Since 1820, San Francisquito Canyon and San Francisquito Pass were part of the original route of the El Camino Viejo , an alternate land route to the El Camino Real for reaching northern Spanish and Mexican colonial Alta California . From 1854,

130-529: The canyon was the site of the construction of the St. Francis Dam . The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began filling a reservoir in the San Francisquito Canyon in 1926. At 11:57   pm on March 12, 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood took the lives of at least 431 people. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of

143-626: The south. San Francisquito Pass was on the El Camino Viejo , an alternate land route to the El Camino Real for reaching northern Spanish and Mexican colonial Alta California . It connected the Pueblo of Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley with the San Joaquin Valley . The El Camino Viejo horse and wagon trail next crossed the Tehachapi Mountains into the San Joaquin Valley at Old Tejón Pass . The route's successor,

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156-631: The wagon route of the Stockton - Los Angeles Road followed its course as did the Butterfield Overland Mail in California from 1858 to 1861. This Tejon Pass Route and the Tehachapi or Midway Route (first followed by the Southern Pacific Railroad), remained the major north–south wagon and later automobile routes to the San Joaquin Valley until the construction of the more direct Ridge Route in 1915. Today,

169-461: Was used by the major inland north-south routes until the opening of the Ridge Route in 1915. The pass continues to be used by San Francisquito Canyon Road, which crosses it for local and scenic use in the present day. The pass and a section of the road are within the northwestern Angeles National Forest . Los Angeles County realigned most of the upper part of San Francisquito Canyon Road in

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