The Santa Susana Pass, originally Simi Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Simi Hills of Southern California, connecting the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles neighborhood of Chatsworth, to the city of Simi Valley and eponymous valley.

It has been featured in numerous movies, including Shooting High (1940), Man's Genesis (1912), Judith of Bethulia (1914), Jack and the Beanstalk (1917) and Range Warfare (1935).

Natural history

The pass is the division between the Simi Hills to the south and Santa Susana Mountains to the north, and forms the most critical wildlife corridor and habitat linkage between them. The scenery is made up of sandstone formations in massive outcroppings and numerous boulders, with California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, with oak savannahs, chaparral shrub forest, and native bunchgrass plant communities in between. The perennial water sources provide diverse habitat for birds, mammals, and reptiles.

Under Spain and Mexico

The first Europeans to use the pass were members of the Spanish Portolà expedition (1769–1770), the first European land entry and exploration of the present-day state of California. The expedition traversed the pass on January 15, 1770, heading east to a campground that later became part of Mission San Fernando Rey de España. After secularization of the mission in 1834, San Fernando Valley rancheros used the trail. A rough wagon road evolved.

Early statehood

American newspapers in California first referred to the pass as Simi Pass from 1857 when the Los Angeles Star wrote of the capture of the outlaw Juan Flores there. That name continued in use, declining from the late 1880s until 1911 in the Eagle Rock Sentinel. It began to be referred to as Santa Susana Pass in the Los Angeles Herald 18 September 1887, being used with increasing frequency thereafter.

In 1859, the California Legislature appropriated $15,000 (with additional funding provided by Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties) towards improving the old wagon road into a new stagecoach road, now known as the Old Santa Susana Stage Road. The precipitous portion of the route down from the summit on the San Fernando Valley side was called the Devil's Slide; horses were usually blindfolded and chains were used to augment brakes on the steep descent. Passengers debarked and walked. that bypassed the deteriorating Devil's Slide in 1895. It was commonly named the Chatsworth Grade Road, and when the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park was established in 1998, they named this road El Camino Nuevo (the New Road). The 1895 New Road continued in use until the current Santa Susana Pass Road was built in 1917. The old wagon road and rocky hill environs are part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park, for public exploration.

The Southern Pacific Railroad began construction of three railroad tunnels through the pass in 1898 and opened the route in 1904. The railroad built the Santa Susana Depot in Rancho Simi on Los Angeles Avenue at Tapo Street in 1903.

See also

  • Bell Moving Picture Ranch – Bell Location Ranch
  • Burro Flats Painted Cave
  • Corriganville Movie Ranch
  • History of the San Fernando Valley
  • Iverson Movie Ranch
  • Old Santa Susana Stage Road
  • Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
  • Santa Susana Tunnel
  • Spahn Movie Ranch

References

  • California State Parks Dept. – Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
  • LAMountains.com – Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
  • LAMountains.com – Sage Ranch Park
  • LAMountains.com – Corriganville Park
  • LAMountains.com – Rocky Peak Park
  • Iverson Movie Ranch: History, vintage Photos.
  • Corriganville Regional Park.