Santiago Dam

No mail reaches Ron Staub's little cottage up in the canyon--no bills, no postcards, nothing. The house has no street address and not even much of a street. It sits by itself on a rocky, wind-swept hillside populated by deer, rattlesnakes and mountain lions, four miles from the nearest neighbor. To buy milk, or rent a movie, Staub points his battered pickup across a rocky creek bed and down a private one-lane road, stopping twice to let himself through locked gates.

No mail reaches Ron Staub's little cottage up in the canyon--no bills, no postcards, nothing. The house has no street address and not even much of a street. It sits by itself on a rocky, wind-swept hillside populated by deer, rattlesnakes and mountain lions, four miles from the nearest neighbor. To buy milk, or rent a movie, Staub points his battered pickup across a rocky creek bed and down a private one-lane road, stopping twice to let himself through locked gates.

At the turn of the century, the "Fourth Crossing" was considered one of Orange County's most picturesque locales. The area was along Santiago Canyon Road, near what is today's Irvine Regional Park. As the road snaked down the canyon, travelers were treated to a beautiful forest of live oak trees, sycamores and wild grapes, according to the book "Historic Place Names in Orange County." The trees and foliage gave way to two large rocks and the Santiago Creek.

In the Endangered Species Act of 1973, Congress stated that endangered and threatened species of fish, wildlife and plants "are of esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the nation and its people."

Following is a complete list of Orange County landmarks designated by the California Office of Historic Preservation: ANAHEIM LANDING After the establishment of the Mother Colony at Anaheim in 1857, a wharf and warehouse were constructed at the mouth of Anaheim Creek to serve the Santa Ana Valley. Treacherous entrance conditions caused several disasters, but steamers loaded with wine, wool and other cargo continued to dock here regularly.