The Year in Review: Here's our list of the Top 10 Iverson Movie Ranch and Chatsworth, Calif., movie history discoveries of 2017

Counting down the best discoveries of the past year related to movie history
on and around the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif. ...

No. 10

Secrets of the Saddlehorn Relay Station

 

"Ghost Valley Raiders" (1940): Saddlehorn Relay Station

We came a long way in 2017 toward understanding the mysterious origins and complicated early history of the Saddlehorn Relay Station, a building on the former Lower Iverson Movie Ranch that has been fascinating and confounding film historians for decades.

Two different locations for the relay station

Among the surprises, we pinpointed two different locations where the relay station once stood. We also got a better handle on why the relay station was built in the first place.

• Click here to see our initial post from January 2017 updating our research into the Saddlehorn Relay Station and rounding up the biggest questions that at the time were still unanswered.

• Click here for a follow-up post published in September 2017 in which we were able to report on resolving a number of the remaining mysteries about the relay station.

No. 9

Domed adobe building seen in the 1928 silent movie "Noah's Ark"

Domed building used in "Noah's Ark" (1928)

We finally got a good look at a small domed adobe dating from the silent era that stood in the Upper Gorge and appeared in the Darryl F. Zanuck/Michael Curtiz biblical epic "Noah's Ark."

• Click here to read a post from back in January about "Noah's Ark" and this unusual silent-era building.

No. 8

Artifacts from the 1942 Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka"
hidden in the Bill Elliott serial "The Valley of Vanishing Men"

"The Valley of Vanishing Men" (1942): Bits and pieces left over from "Perils of Nyoka"

We took a detailed look at a number of quirky items found in the Columbia serial "The Valley of Vanishing Men," including an unusual blinker box and a ladder that once went up Nyoka Cliff ... and we did a double-take when we started spotting pieces of sets left over from the Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka."

• Click here to read about all the oddities that turn up in "The Valley of Vanishing Men."

No. 7

An origin story for the mysterious feature "the Mattress," which
appears to have first surfaced in John Ford's classic 1939 Western "Stagecoach"

 

"Ghost Valley Raiders" (1940): One of many sightings of the oddball feature "the Mattress"

We got the lowdown on a manmade feature that bounced around the Lower Iverson Ranch for a couple of decades and looked a lot like a mattress, but apparently was used as a hearth in "Stagecoach."

• Click here to read our post from October 2017 tracing the history of the often-filmed but rarely explained "Mattress," from its earliest days as part of a burned-out set for John Ford's "Stagecoach."

No. 6

Going back more than 100 years to unlock the secrets
contained in a circa 1915 Lillian Gish promotional photo

 

The incredible Lillian Gish promo shot, Chatsworth, Calif. (circa 1915-1917)

Taken in Chatsworth, Calif., this promotional still from the early days of Hollywood began spilling its secrets and wouldn't quit, eventually revealing that just about everything in the photo is still around — except, of course, Lillian Gish and her unknown artist friend.

• Click here to see our post published in August 2017 detailing the discovery of the "Lillian Gish rocks" on Baden Avenue and other revelations in this early Hollywood photo.

No. 5

A set built in the Iverson Gorge in 1929, seen in the early soundie "The Green Goddess"

"The Green Goddess" (1930): A studio-like setting among the rocks of the Iverson Gorge

Most of this sequence in the George Arliss movie "The Green Goddess" looks as though it was filmed on a soundstage, but the appearance of a few key rocks reveals that the magic happened on location in the Iverson Gorge. Two versions of the movie were filmed — one silent, and one employing the new technology of sound.

• Click here to see our post from September 2017 traveling through the Iverson Gorge with the cast and crew of "The Green Goddess."

No. 4

The hidden overlook featured by Roger Corman in his early Western "The Apache Woman"

"Apache Woman" (1955): Roger Corman utilizes a rarely seen clump of rocks

Roger Corman directed Westerns on the Iverson Ranch early in his career, proving himself to be the master at showcasing unused sections of the ranch — including a rocky overlook that went undiscovered until 2017.

Racy ad for "Apache Woman" featuring Joan Taylor (1955)

Corman also saw to it that Joan Taylor received her share of attention for her title role in "Apache Woman."

• Click here to see the post from October 2017 pinpointing the previously unknown overlook where Roger Corman filmed a key sequence in "Apache Woman" — along with more of the gorgeous Joan Taylor.

No. 3

Rin Tin Tin's silhouette rock from 1925 

"Clash of the Wolves" (1925) — Rin Tin Tin has no idea how hard it will be to find his rock

Efforts to find the rock on which the original Rin Tin Tin stood in 1925 were complicated by the fact that the rock was no longer there — but as it turned out, it hadn't wandered very far.

• Click here to see the post from November 2017 about Rin Tin Tin's visit to the Iverson Ranch for the 1925 movie "Clash of the Wolves."

No. 2

The location of a fake arch, a hidden ledge and other artifacts
and shooting locations from the 1926 silent Western "The Devil Horse"

Site where a fake arch was built north of the Garden of the Gods in 1926 for "The Devil Horse"

Our examination of the 1926 Yakima Canutt movie "The Devil Horse" produced a series of intriguing finds in and around the Garden of the Gods, including the location where a fake arch was built for the silent Western.

"The Devil Horse" (1926): A strategically important manmade indentation in the rock

A carved foothold used in the 1926 movie remains at the site today and is easily accessible. Other shooting sites related to "The Devil Horse" — all of which can still be found today — include a once-prominent ledge that's now hidden inside a tree and locations where Yakima Canutt worked with the famed movie horse Rex.

• Click here to see the post from July 2017 detailing the discovery of a series of unusual shooting locations for "The Devil Horse."

No. 1

The "Jack and the Beanstalk" filming location from 1917

 

Promo shot for "Jack and the Beanstalk" (1917)

An old promo shot shows a sprawling walled city that was built 100 years ago for the Fox Kiddies production "Jack and the Beanstalk." The giant is roaming about in front of the city while a throng of children and extras lines the walls of the city. You may want to click on the nicely detailed photo above to see a larger version.

The same site 100 years later, in 2017

We were able to find the exact same spot, and found it virtually unchanged a century later — other than the disappearance long ago of the walled city. Today the site is part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.

• Click here to see the post from August 2017 about the discovery of the "Jack and the Beanstalk" walled city location — including maps to the site and a clip from the movie.

Here are a few finds from the past year that didn't quite make it into the Top 10 — click on the text to be linked to the original blog items ...

• A rock that looks like a giant headstone turns up in a "Bonanza" episode guest-starring James Coburn, along with other productions.

• Shooting locations are found on the Iverson Ranch that were used for the 1997 Disney production "Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story."

• A rock with an L-shaped crack still marks the hiding spot of Banner the Wonder Horse.

• An old Iverson Movie Ranch sign turns up at the Valley Relics Museum.

To catch up on additional discoveries on the Iverson Movie Ranch in recent years, here are links to past "Year in Review" posts ...

Top Iverson Movie Ranch finds of 2016

• Click here to revisit the biggest finds of 2016, including the location of the "grassy knoll" where Sheb Wooley's character came to a bad end in "Little Big Horn," the "Kill Rock" from the Hopalong Cassidy movie "Mystery Man," where Jesus walked in Silverland and Joe Iverson's sporty half-track grader/crawler.

Top Iverson Movie Ranch finds of 2015

• Click here to review the major discoveries of 2015, when an Elvis Presley filming location, a fake cave house from the silent era, Burgess Meredith's "Siedry-Bert" inscription, a wonderland of old movie footholds and the location of the Chinese Bridge from "Tell It to the Marines" in 1926 all made the list.

Top Iverson Movie Ranch finds of 2014

• Click here for a look back at 2014, a year in which Bear Tree, the Hobbit House, the remains of Freddie Frog, the Charles Bronson Hanging Tree and Tom Mix's bootholes from the 1935 Mascot serial "The Miracle Rider" were among the year's biggest discoveries.

Unsolved mysteries of the Iverson Movie Ranch

I typically post about Iverson Movie Ranch mysteries that have been solved, but I wanted to let readers in on some of the countless mysteries that remain unsolved — and if you have any thoughts on these, please let us know either by commenting below or by sending me an email at iversonfilmranch@aol.com.

A road of steppingstones, north of Garden of the Gods

A short distance north of the main sandstone towers of the Garden of the Gods, a strip of stones appears to have been assembled into a short road — which remains in place today.

I call it the "Cobblestone Road," just for fun, even though technically cobblestones are smaller and rounder than the flat, steppingstone-sized rocks that make up the road.

"Perils of Nyoka" (Republic serial, 1942): The road glistens

The origin of the road is unknown, but it turns up on occasion in later productions that were filmed in the same area, such as the old Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka."

The road goes back at least to the early '30s, and may well be an artifact of the silent movie era.

"Bonanza" episode "The Long Night" (premiered May 6, 1962)

The Cobblestone Road came up in a post I published earlier this year about James Coburn on the TV show "Bonanza." That post, which you can read by clicking here, includes a map showing how to find the road.

The road survives as an intriguing document of early filming on the Iverson Ranch, but it would mean a lot more if the movie could be identified that was responsible for the road's construction.

Tent city from unknown production, north of Garden of the Gods

Numerous tent cities came and went during the filming era at Iverson, and some of them remain mysteries. This one, possibly from the silent era, conveys a Middle Eastern or biblical theme.

Photos of the tent city can be found in Robert Sherman's book "Quiet on the Set," where the set is attributed to the biblical movie "David and Goliath," supposedly filmed in 1920 — information that does not match any known films.

It was not uncommon for movies filmed on the ranch to have a working title that differed from the film's eventual title, but even an errant reference such as "David and Goliath" contains a clue, reinforcing the suggestion that this tent city was created for a biblical film.

"The King of Kings" (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927)

The Garden of the Gods tents are similar in design to tents seen in DeMille's biblical epic "The King of Kings," parts of which were in color. But on close examination, they do not appear to be the same tents.

Mystery military camp set on the Lower Iverson, circa 1918-1935

Another tent city, this one consistent with the style of U.S. military tents used in World War I, was part of another unknown production, probably from the silent era or the early 1930s.

Similar tents seen in "Draft 258" (not an Iverson production)

The style of the tents on the Iverson set matches this shot taken at a different location during filming of the 1917 silent movie "Draft 258." The photo turned up in a 1917 issue of the old trade magazine Motion Picture News.

The Iverson camp set stood west of a familiar rock feature known as Church Rock, which would later rise above the church that stood at the end of the Iverson Western street for a couple of years in the 1940s.

Sometimes the vehicles in the background hold the best clues to the age of a photo, but I can't get much out of either the truck on the left or the car on the right. The car looks like a Model T, probably no older than the early 1920s, but that doesn't narrow it down much.

"Posada" set on the Iverson Ranch, circa 1931

A number of buildings have turned up in old photos of the Iverson Ranch that have never been identified. This one appears in a photo believed to be from about 1931, with a sign on the building that includes the Spanish word "Posada," or "inn." The people in the photo are unidentified.

Middle Eastern set at Sheep Flats — north side of the building

Undated photos show a substantial Middle Eastern set that was erected on Sheep Flats on the Lower Iverson Ranch. My guess is that it was in place in the early 1950s, but it could be earlier.

The Sheep Flats location is pinpointed by the presence in the background of a well-known movie rock that I call "Saucer." For more about Saucer, click here to read a 2016 post about Silverland, adjacent to Sheep Flats.

The background also features what is presumably an old movie bus. I wish we could see more of it, but based on the rectangular windows it could be pre-World War II. The women in the photo have not been identified.

Eastern side of the set, including the garden

The set was quite elaborate, and included an ornate garden. I have yet to find the movie associated with this impressive set.

1959 aerial photo of the Upper Iverson Movie Ranch

One of the biggest mysteries I've encountered in my Iverson Movie Ranch research concerns a cluster of buildings that I first noticed in a 1959 aerial photograph of the Upper Iverson.

I refer to this set as the "Upper Iverson Village" or "Upper Village," although the relatively uniform size and shape of the buildings suggests that they may have been used to depict an Army barracks or similar facility.

The Upper Village was tucked out of the way in the far northwest corner of the Iverson Ranch, hidden on the north side of a heavily filmed rock feature known as the Rocks Across the Way, or the Festival Rocks.

Most of the rocks remain in place today and continue to pinpoint the location, even though the rest of the area has been developed as part of the Indian Falls Estates gated community.

Nearby features that turn up in the 1959 aerial include the Fury Set and the Midway House.

Also of interest in the old aerial is the Double Line of Trees.

"The Golden Stallion" (Republic, 1949)

The Double Line of Trees can be spotted occasionally in the backgrounds of productions filmed on the Upper Iverson, as in this example from the Roy Rogers movie "The Golden Stallion."

Running north and south, the Double Line of Trees formed part of the boundary between the Upper Iverson to the east and Brandeis Ranch to the west. A few of the trees remain in place today.

Closeup of the Upper Village in the 1959 aerial

A good starting point for trying to find the origins of the Upper Village would be to take a look at war movies or military-themed TV series from circa 1957-1958.

A mysterious "Rip Van Winkle" photo from 1921

It may be ironic that a "Rip Van Winkle" photo has been keeping me up at night, but this colorized lobby card for the 1921 silent movie based on Washington Irving's hard-sleeping bearded wonder has been haunting me. The rocks are strongly reminiscent of the Iverson Ranch area, but so far I've been unable to place them.

"Lorna Doone" (1922): Madge Bellamy among the rocks

Another example of the "needle in a haystack" nature of these mysteries is this shot featuring early film siren Madge Bellamy looking fetching among some suspiciously Iverson-like rocks. It is unknown where this sequence was filmed, but it has long been suspected that "Lorna Doone" filmed at Iverson. I would love to find this spot.

"Bat Masterson" TV series: "Buffalo Kill" (1959)

Some rocks seem too big and unusual not to turn up at some point. Case in point, this beauty, which my gut tells me is somewhere along Cactus Hill.

"Buffalo Kill" — another interesting rock in the same episode

Another shot from "Bat Masterson" includes a similarly intriguing rock, whose whereabouts are also not known.

"Trigger Pals" (1939): Iverson ... or not Iverson?

The Cinemart/Grand National B-Western "Trigger Pals," starring Art Jarrett and Lee Powell, captures yet another mystery rock. The movie is mostly non-Iverson, so this thing could be anywhere — please give us a holler if you see it, whether it's in the real world or in a movie.

Popular Science Monthly (November 1935): Mystery buildings near the Garden of the Gods

A 1935 article about stuntmen featured this shot of some unknown buildings set up north of the Garden of the Gods, with the stuntman aboard the falling oil derrick identified as Matt Gilman. The buildings and the movie that featured the stunt remain mysteries.

"The Little Princess" (1917): Mystery rocks and fake rock wall

Here's a mystery that's 100 years old, even though it's one that we only recently ran across. It's a shot from the silent Mary Pickford movie "The Little Princess," from 1917.

The shot appears to include two real rocks, on the left and right, along with a fake rock wall in the middle, and some additional real rocks in the background, at top center.

"The Little Princess" (1917)

This shot from the movie provides a closer look at both the fake rock wall and the real rock on the right. These rocks look every bit the part of Iverson Movie Ranch rocks, but they have yet to be found.

The "assassins" in "Harum Scarum" (1965): Somewhere near the Garden of the Gods?

The Elvis Presley movie "Harum Scarum" has produced some cool sightings and rock matches, but it also presents its share of unsolved mysteries — including this shot of a group of assassins lurking among the rocks. I've been looking for these rocks for a few years, to no avail.

"Harum Scarum": The "ridge ride"

Another shot from "Harum Scarum" that has proved challenging is this "ridge ride." The rocks may not have survived, but if they did it seems as though they would be somewhere in the Gorge or the Garden of the Gods.

"Mystery Man" (1944): Iverson Ranch ... or Lone Pine?

The Garden of the Gods is also the focus of a lingering question involving the Hopalong Cassidy movie "Mystery Man." We found tons (literally) of key rocks from the movie a while back, but never did find these — and we're still unsure whether this shot is taken at Iverson or in Lone Pine, where much of the movie was filmed.

These are just a few of the countless mysteries that remain to be solved surrounding the Iverson Movie Ranch. If you spot any clues, please comment or send me an email at iversonfilmranch@aol.com.

You may already know this, but you can get a better look at the above photos — or at least see a larger version — by clicking on them. Happy hunting!