San Francisquito Canyon

Nearly 500 acres of a former hog farm in the rapidly developing San Francisquito Canyon area will be developed with 1,109 homes. The 489-acre parcel was sold for nearly $21 million by Montalvo Properties, a company owned by the Clougherty family that makes Farmer John products, according to O'Donnell/Atkins Co., a brokerage that represented the developer, SunCal Cos. of Orange.

This week in 1928, the walls of the St. Francis Dam in San Francisquito Canyon near Saugus gave way, unleashing a 12 billion-gallon torrent that claimed more than 400 lives as it raced toward the Pacific Ocean. The failure of the dam, built to house water that the Los Angeles Aqueduct had begun carrying south from the Owens River 15 years earlier, ruined the reputation and spirit of its chief designer, William Mulholland.

In his story, "Back to the Gold Rush" (July 3), Charles Perry seems to have moved Lake Isabella and ignored Elizabeth Lake (or Lake Hughes), which is north of San Francisquito Canyon in Angeles National Forest. TESS DILL Yucaipa

The water ripples cold around his knees as Russ Smith sloshes up the San Francisquito Canyon creek near Santa Clarita, parting willows and weeds and peering through binoculars in search of one of the world's rarest creatures. "There used to be some in here," he says, scanning every inch of mud beneath a roadway bridge slathered with spray-painted images of hypodermic needles and Nazi symbols. "They must be hiding."

This week in 1928, the walls of the St. Francis Dam in San Francisquito Canyon near Saugus gave way, unleashing a 12 billion-gallon torrent that claimed more than 400 lives as it raced toward the Pacific Ocean. The failure of the dam, built to house water that the Los Angeles Aqueduct had begun carrying south from the Owens River 15 years earlier, ruined the reputation and spirit of its chief designer, William Mulholland.

The water ripples cold around his knees as Russ Smith sloshes up the San Francisquito Canyon creek near Santa Clarita, parting willows and weeds and peering through binoculars in search of one of the world's rarest creatures. "There used to be some in here," he says, scanning every inch of mud beneath a roadway bridge slathered with spray-painted images of hypodermic needles and Nazi symbols. "They must be hiding."

The water ripples cold around his knees as Russ Smith sloshes up San Francisquito Canyon creek, parting willows and weeds and peering through binoculars in search of one of California's rarest creatures. "There used to be some in here," he says, scanning every inch of mud beneath a roadway bridge slathered with spray-painted images of hypodermic needles and Nazi symbols. "They must be hiding."

There are no malls, movie theaters or cafes at the mouth of San Francisquito Canyon. It's scrubland--dried grasses and cactus. Drive into the canyon, past where the Butterfield stagecoach once ran, and you'll probably see horses grazing behind wooden corrals. This canyon has a markedly Western feel. And the people here want to keep it that way.

The last target-shooting area open free to the public in the Saugus district of Angeles National Forest closed Wednesday, a victim of high maintenance costs brought about by the illegal acts of some of its users. Jim McGauley, a U.S. Forest Service district assistant recreation officer, said the Dry Gulch shooting range in recent years had been turned into a dumping ground by shooters who brought everything from mannequins to television sets to the area to use for target practice.

A fire consumed 25 acres of brush Tuesday in an uninhabited area of San Francisquito Canyon in the Angeles National Forest, 12 miles north of Saugus. About 125 firefighters and two helicopters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department aided 100 U.S. Forest Service crew members in fighting the fire for two hours before containing the blaze at 4:30 p.m., a spokesman for the Forest Service said.

The water ripples cold around his knees as Russ Smith sloshes up San Francisquito Canyon creek, parting willows and weeds and peering through binoculars in search of one of California's rarest creatures. "There used to be some in here," he says, scanning every inch of mud beneath a roadway bridge slathered with spray-painted images of hypodermic needles and Nazi symbols. "They must be hiding."

Nearly 500 acres of a former hog farm in the rapidly developing San Francisquito Canyon area will be developed with 1,109 homes. The 489-acre parcel was sold for nearly $21 million by Montalvo Properties, a company owned by the Clougherty family that makes Farmer John products, according to O'Donnell/Atkins Co., a brokerage that represented the developer, SunCal Cos. of Orange.

There are no malls, movie theaters or cafes at the mouth of San Francisquito Canyon. It's scrubland--dried grasses and cactus. Drive into the canyon, past where the Butterfield stagecoach once ran, and you'll probably see horses grazing behind wooden corrals. This canyon has a markedly Western feel. And the people here want to keep it that way.

In his story, "Back to the Gold Rush" (July 3), Charles Perry seems to have moved Lake Isabella and ignored Elizabeth Lake (or Lake Hughes), which is north of San Francisquito Canyon in Angeles National Forest. TESS DILL Yucaipa

The body of a 25-year-old Lake Hughes man was found beside his overturned pickup truck on a Saugus roadway, authorities said Sunday. The dead man, identified as Karl Lansbery, was discovered by a passing bicyclist Saturday on San Francisquito Canyon Road about eight miles north of Seco Canyon Road.

Crews on Monday were in the final stretch of battling a weekend brush fire in the Angeles National Forest near Lancaster that has shut down part of San Francisquito Canyon Road near Green Valley, authorities said. The South fire was reported at 12:11 p.m. Sunday near San Francisquito Canyon Road, west of Spunky Canyon Road, said forest spokeswoman Lisa Lugo. The fire is centered in a canyon southwest of the small town of Green Valley, about 25 miles from Lancaster. As of Monday evening, the fire -- which charred about 135 acres -- was 91% contained, with 559 firefighters working on the scene, the U.S. Forest Service reported.