The grasslands of the Potrero Valley, in the western Santa Clarita Valley, were used for cattle grazing since the early 1800s, long before the arrival of Henry Mayo Newhall. These Newhall Land and Farming Company cattle, shown here in the winter of 1949, are a reminder that much of the Rancho San Francisco, which Newhall purchased in 1875 (and which included the Potrero Valley), was used primarily for farming and cattle and sheep ranching in Newhall's time, as it was in the days of the Spanish and Mexican settlers before him.

For more information read Where Once Were Cattle by Ruth Waldo Newhall.