The Birth and Demise of a Little Town Called VINCENT

By Kate S. Valenta

    In 1897 President McKinley granted a land patent to eighty acres of ground to a homesteader by the name of Joseph Puentener who little realized in the following years this land would be the 'townsite' of Vincent, Cali fornia.

   This small town lies five miles south of Palmdale, Calif. The Southern Paci fic Railroad had al ready started a line from San Francisco through the Tehachapi Mountains and on through the Mojave Desert. By the early spring 1876 they arrived at the little town of Mojave, which lies in the middle of the desert. Later that year they came through Vincent to a place callen Lang.

   In the meantime, the Southern Pacific was building a line from Los Angeles to Lang where the north and south lines came together. At that point a big celebration was arranged for the completion of this development. A five car special was organized in L.A. carrying many dignitaries including the Governor of Calif. The high point of this occasion was to drive a gold spike by the Governor into the ground at this connection. The gold spike was provided by the nearby gold mines to commemorate this occasion and to this point considered the greatest development in the far West. As a little bit of by-play one of the celebrants conceived the idea that the gold spike would serve as a nice souvenir to remember the event. He made this crafty move about midnight only to find that another person had the same idea.

   By agreement, the Railroad had an understanding with the U.S. Government that in return for every mile of road built, the Government would give them each alternate section free for thei r services.

    By 1891 the Southern Pacific Railroad was growing so rapidly it could not meet all the demands for freight and passengers so i t became necessary for them to have a mid-way depot at the top of the grade. The site selected was in the middle of the eighty acres homestead owned by Joseph Puentener. The Depot was a frame structure size 20 x 35' and it was named, the VINCENT DEPOT, in honor of Thomas Vincent, who was by profession a hunter and a miner. He located many gold deposits and was instrumental in developing many of the gold mines in the area.

   Seventy-seven years later the Southern Pacific Railroad built a short-cut to the town of Colton from Palmdale and the old Vincent Depot was dismantled.

    In the year 1936, we purchased this little town of Vincent as mentioned before which consisted of eighty acres. On this property was situated a little frame cafe 20 x 30' having twelve stools, a counter and the kitchen on one end with living quarters in the rear. Also a six room frame ranch house, a steel constructed gas station and a frame garage, with living quarters in the rear. Water was carried through a one inch pipe line. The water rights to Vincent were granted by the President of the United States from this Spring. This condition being far from satisfactory, we decided to drill a water well to supply the needs of the growing community. The utilities of this day and age consisted of coal oil lamps, oil heaters and pot bellied stoves fed by wood gathered nearby consisting of jumiper, chapparal, sage brush, etc.

    In 1938 we built four rock cabins, size 12 x 15' with foundations buried two feet in the ground with walls twelve inches thick (was the County Code).

    We met a Texas cowboy who did stone masonry as a side-line. He had at this time no work and we had no money. He approached us with the idea of building these cabins. At that time we were the owners of a big black Auburn car with red trimmings, which attracted the cowboy, who then suggested that we give hime the car in part payment, the balance to be arranged. He certainly knew his rock work, and completed a very artistic project. These cabins, because of their unique character, should have been re- tained for historical purposes, but fate decreed otherwise when in later years the Antelope Valley Freeway was designed to go through this property.

    While the cabins were being built the County Forestry, feeling the need of trees in the desert was encouraging all pro- perty owners to plant trees, offered free of charge unlimited number of trees, which they had propagated to about a foot in height, each wrapped in moss and burlap to establish and protect a good root growth. We planted more than one hundred trees, namely deodars, pine spruce, etc. To develops the growth of these trees, we traveled sixty-five miles from L.A each weekend to water and culture these trees. We carried water in pails for a distance of 500 feet, which was quite an ordeal, but our painful efforts were rewarded as we witnessed the steady growth and beauty that these trees developed.

    At the time the Freeway Contractor ordered his bull dozer to up-root these trees, they had reached a height of thirty feet, it was a ghastly sight to see these stately trees lying on their sides, with their strong roots up-rooted so unmercifully. When they came to destroy the cabins, special equipment had to be brought in due to their strong construction. At the time we built the cabins no electricity was available, so we installed butane gas for lighting purposes. No water was available for indoor plumbing (so we had 'Chick Sale' style toilets.)

    In 1941 the Angelus Forest Highway served as a short cut from Pasadena to Vincent over the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, the road was under construction for several years, being done by Detention Camp prisoners which mostly composed of men who were found guilty of non-support. These men were paid a monthly wage for their labor and the money was given to their families (by today's standards these men would be on the welfare rolls.) We owe a debt of gratitude to these workers for their artistry and skills shown along the highway by way of retaining walls, fancy railings and culbert coverings. Angelus Forest Highway is one of the most picturesque roads in the world, with its many road side turn-offs, where people can rest and view the surroundings with drinking fountains at intervals where the springs provide the water for the thirsty traveler. These drinking fountains are a reminder of their fine work in masonry. The long tunnel cut through the mountains marked the completion of the highway, and on the face of this tunnel is carved the date 1941, which marks the completion of this great project.

   A big celebration to commemorate the event was held at one of the construction camps. Many people arrived and a big barbe- cue dinner was served to all by the camp cook, bands came from Antelope Valley, played, and many dignitaries were present, making speeches, and the final act of cutting the ribbon signified the opening of the Highway and the guests were free to test the new highway into Antelope Valley. Automobiles were backed up to three miles trying to get into the Vincent Cafe for cold drinks, etc. The rush on the Cafe caused a total depletion of hamburgers, hotdogs, coffee, etc. The manager of the cafe could not get through the traffic to go to Palmdale for more supplies.

   A Snake Pit was built in 1950 by a noted Dermatologist with the name of Skip Dailey, who attracted people from all over the world by his exhibitions and lectures. Visitors stood three feet deep in the desert sun on a circular foundation eighteen inches high, against the fence which he had built around the arena watch- ing his showmanship. After three years of prosperity circumstances beyond his control forced him to forego this project.

    In 1953 two lumbermen conceived the idea of building a saw mill and lumber yard near the depot on Angelus Forest Highway. The operators contracted with the Angelus Forest Dept. to cut excess trees for their mill, soon truck loads of logs came down the An- gelus Forest Highway and saw dust was in the air.

    In 1955 General Petroleum Oil Co. constructed a major service station on the corner of Angelus Forest Highway and Sierra Hwy. This caused heavy traffic congestion and called for over-head traffic lights at the intersection. In 1956 prospects looked good for new developments. The community was growing at a rapid rate and the little cafe could no longer accommodate the flow of travel and the surrounding activity. In the meantime, we were approached by an experienced restaurant operator by the name of Floyd Buirice who already owned the beautiful Rondee Restaurant in San Fernando Valley. We entered into an agreement whereby he would build a modern restaurant to replace the old one. This modern cafe supplied the needs of the community and patrons came for many miles to enjoy the good food served at this restaurant. The patronage was so heavy the cafe was open on a twenty-four hour basis. During this time Boyd and Budd built a quaint one story redwood real estate office known as the 'Country Squi re Realty Co.' Passersby were attracted by a huge sign twenty feet high which they had erected and inscribed thereon 'The Gateway to Antelope Valley

    The advent of the Freeway, which is generally considered to bring prosperity and new development, had the adverse affect on our little town of Vincent. After the construction of the Freeway, travel of Sierra Hwy. became very limited, thus forcing the aforementioned development to be non-existent. Due to vagrants and vandals breaking in doors and windows, stealing plumbing, heating equipment and generally vandalizing the premises, we recei ved a notice from the Country Demoli tion Dept. to demolish or board up the premises.

   We still have faith in our little town and some day in the future it will once again show i ts proud head and stand in the mi dst of a thriving community.

   A little note of interest we might add here. In the early days of 1850, in the Aliso Canyon area, the Indians and Padres roamed over these hills and showed evidence where gold was mined by the old mining methods used to puversize the ore. This was known as the Arrastas, a crude dragstone mill. After they re- fined the gold and melted it into bars, they hid i t in the hills to avoid the bandi ts and outlaws, who were f equently seen stealing horses, gold, women, cattle and sheep. The most notorious char- acter being Tiburcio Vasquez who was frequently seen in the canyons among the rocks. This bandit was recently honored by the State Parks Department, to name Vasquez Rocks which is now placed on record in California history.

    In 1945 the late George Roth came upon one of these Arrastas and was promptly removed from the premises by the owner. He had however, been successful in obtaining some camera pictures before being told to get off the property.

    His daughter, Mrs. Earl Scribner living in Aliso Canyon has in her album of early California history--colored photographs of the Arrastas.

With good luck and Best Wishes to Antelope Valley
Kate S. Valenta

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