Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
> CANYON COUNTRY
Location of 6-S Ranch Airpark
Canyon Country, California

Starting in 1946, the 6-S Ranch Airpark was located on top of today's Pleasantdale Street in Canyon Country.

Camp Plenty Road existed at the time; Whites Canyon Road did not. (Neither did Pleasantdale Street or the other residential streets). Instead of sporting homes, the surrounding acreage was plowed for row crops.

"X" marks the spot of the airport buildings, which can be seen in the 1961 horror film, "The Beast of Yucca Flats," which actually opens on the airstrip

The southwestern portion of the airpark property would become the north end of the Sierra Vista Junior High School campus. The southeastern portion would become the north side of Canyon Springs Community School.

About the 6-S Ranch Airpark

Helm and Earle Schmidt opened an airport in 1946 on the 1,800-acre 6-S Ranch, which had previously been owned by the grandson and namesake of the pioneer Los Angeles 20-Mule team freighter, Remi Nadeau. It was known as Nadeau Deer Farm and was, for years, one of the famous sights of northern Los Angeles county. The airfield sat to the northwest of the modern-day intersection of Soledad Canyon and Whites Canyon Roads.

Following Helm Schmidt's death in 1960, the acreage was sold and developed into the North Oaks tract, which began construction in 1961. It was the Santa Clarita Valley's second housing tract — the first being the 15-home "Rancho Santa Clarita" subdivision that the William Bonelli family built in Seco (Dry) Canyon in 1947.

By 1963, the North Oaks area, which had previously been considered a part of Saugus, was starting to achieve its own identity as "Canyon Country." The name became official in 1968 when the Canyon Country Post Office opened near Solemint Junction (the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra Highway).


LW2918: 9600 dpi jpeg extrapolated from HistoricAerials.com.
SOLEDAD & WHITES
6-S RANCH AIRPARK

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About Earl Schmidt

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Built Airplane 1928

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6-S Ranch Airpark, Shell Progress 1947

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6-S Ranch Airpark ~1950s

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6-S Ranch Airpark in "China Doll" (1958)

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6-S Ranch Airpark in "The Beast of Yucca Flats" (1961)

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Location of 6-S Ranch Airpark

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Helm Schmidt Home in Newhall 1961

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Looking South 1968

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Newberry's, Alpha Beta ~1970s

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Aerial: Whites 1979

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Whites Canyon Bridge Construction 1988

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