The Year in Review: Top 10 Iverson Movie Ranch finds of 2016

"Code of the Secret Service" (1939): Iverson Gorge

Here's a Top 10 list counting down the best Iverson Movie Ranch discoveries of the past year ...

No. 10

Joe Iverson's incredible old tractor

 

Joe Iverson rides one of the greatest tractors ever

Joe Iverson, who ran all or part of the Iverson Movie Ranch for 60-plus years, had a lot of cool toys, and his vintage grader/crawler was one of the coolest.

• Click here to see the original post about Joe's tractor, from July 2016.

No. 9

The Roy Rogers rock on top of Cactus Hill

"The Roy Rogers Show" (1952)

An episode of "The Roy Rogers Show" features an unusual rock, which was recently spotted at the east end of Cactus Hill — despite having changed its appearance over the years. The site also has a few things to say about the history of filming in that area.

• Click here to see the original post about Roy's encounter with the rock on Cactus Hill, published in August 2016.

No. 8

The former location of the Hangman's Tree

The Hangman's Tree on the Lower Iverson (from "An Ambush of Ghosts")

While the Hangman's Tree itself did not survive, we were able to determine the exact location where it once stood — and we did find the nearby Hangman's Tree Rock.

• Click here to see the original post about the Hangman's Tree, published in October 2016.

No. 7

Where Jesus walked in Silverland 

 

"The Living Bible" (1952) — Jesus comes to the Iverson Movie Ranch

Jesus and two Lone Rangers — the original, from the 1930s Republic serials, and the more famous one from the 1950s TV series — all made their way to Silverland on the Lower Iverson. But the biggest Silverland find of 2016 may have been the discovery of an important saucer-shaped movie rock.

Saucer, left, and Mushroom Rock in "The Man From Colorado" (1948)

We took a "long, strange trip through Silverland" early in the year and were able to unlock a number of its mysteries by decoding clues contained in its few surviving rocks. One of the biggest surprises was the discovery that the widely filmed rock "Saucer" can still be found.

• Click here to revisit the adventures of Jesus and two Lone Rangers among the fascinating rocks of Silverland — along with the discovery that the Saucer has survived — from April 2016.

No. 6

An amazing Iverson Movie Ranch sequence in "Montana Moon," the first singing cowboy movie 

 

Johnny Mack Brown in "Montana Moon" (1930)

The era of talking in movies had just begun, and when "Montana Moon" came out in 1930, it launched the era of the singing cowboy. The movie includes a great sequence filmed along the western edge of Garden of the Gods overlooking Santa Susana Pass Road — not to mention one of the best buttressing shots ever filmed at Iverson.

• Click here to see the original post about the remarkable Iverson Movie Ranch sequence in "Montana Moon," from October 2016.

No. 5

Joe Iverson's butterfly collection, hunting trophies and other prize possessions are captured on film

Kelly Sullivan in "Death by Dialogue" (1988), with a few of Joe's butterflies

Joe Iverson's museum is on display in the movie "Death by Dialogue." The trophy room alone elevates this low-budget thriller into a unique artifact of movie history.

• Click here to see the original post about "Death by Dialogue" and Joe's vast collections, from June 2016.

No. 4

The "Muffin" rock behind the Grove Cabin has popped its muffin

"Bells of Rosarita" (1945): giant muffin-shaped rock behind cabin

A muffin-shaped rock once stood directly behind the little building known as the Grove Cabin. The rock is still there but it no longer looks like a muffin — and we found out why.

• Click here to see the original post about what became of the giant muffin, from earlier this month — December 2016.

No. 3

The "kill rock" from the Hopalong Cassidy movie "Mystery Man"

"Mystery Man" (1944): Hoppy's gun casts a shadow on the Kill Rock

The Kill Rock in the Hopalong Cassidy movie "Mystery Man" took multiple expeditions to find, encompassing both Lone Pine and the Iverson Ranch. Between me and Don Kelsen, we eventually found the thing hiding in plain sight.

• Click here to see the original post about the "Mystery Man" Kill Rock, from September 2016.

No. 2

A film shoot inside Karl and Augusta Iverson's house in 1935 

"The Outlaw Deputy" (1935) — the view from the Iversons' house on the hill

Film historian Tinsley E. Yarbrough spotted this scene filmed inside the home of Iverson Movie Ranch founders Karl and Augusta Iverson in the Western "The Outlaw Deputy." It may be the only time anyone filmed in the house on the hill.

 • Click here to see the original post about the 1935 shoot inside Karl and Augusta's house, from October 2016.

No. 1

The "grassy knoll" — a mystery from "Little Big Horn" that took 65 years to solve

"Little Big Horn" (1951): Sheb Wooley's sad fate on the grassy knoll

The location where Sheb Wooley's character met his grisly demise in the classic Western "Little Big Horn" has long perplexed movie historians — but a couple of us put our heads together early this year and, thanks to the sharp eye of veteran location researcher Eddie Henn, we finally solved the mystery.

• Click here to see the original post about the discovery of the "grassy knoll" of "Little Big Horn" infamy, from February 2016.

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 ...

• The rediscovery of an old movie road on the north side of Cactus Hill

• Promo stills from the John Wayne movie "The Fighting Seabees" with surprising details hidden way in the background

• The crack where the Japanese sniper was stationed in "The Fighting Seabees"

• Some overlooked rock survivors found in the Iverson Gorge

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 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 the 1926 movie "Tell It to the Marines" 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.

"Little Big Horn": Tracking down the infamous grassy knoll where Sheb Wooley met his demise in the 1951 Lloyd Bridges-John Ireland movie

"Little Big Horn" (1951): A grisly end for Sheb Wooley's character on the grassy knoll

Film historians have struggled over the years to find the location for the haunting scene in the 1951 Western "Little Big Horn" in which the brutalized body of Sheb Wooley's character, "Quince," is found propped up on a stick. But I'm excited to report that the grassy knoll where the scene was filmed has now been found.

"Little Big Horn" — closeup of Quince's body

The closeup of Quince provides clues to the location, with the landmark Elders Peak, south of the Iverson Movie Ranch, seen in the background. "Elders Peak" is my research term for this frequently filmed hill, which has also been known by a number of other names including Sunset, Retz Peak and Rockridge.

Note the alignment of background features in the red circle

Veteran movie location hunter Eddie Henn was the driving force behind the discovery. Eddie noticed the alignment between Elders Peak and a distinctive notch in the ridgeline atop the Santa Monica Mountains, which form the southern boundary of the San Fernando Valley.

The same features as they line up today — from the grassy knoll

Eddie and I got together in January for an expedition onto the former Upper Iverson to see whether we could locate the sweet spot where the background hills would line up. As we approached our "target zone" at the west end of Cactus Hill, suddenly there it was: the grassy knoll.

Wider shot of the grassy knoll

At the top of the knoll it quickly became obvious that it was the filming location for "Little Big Horn," as everything matched up. The above shot provides a wider view of the grassy knoll with its contemporary background.

"Little Big Horn"

I don't know of any other movies in which the grassy knoll has been used for filming, but it's such a nondescript setting that it would be easy to miss. While the Iverson Ranch as a whole is defined by its rock features, the grassy knoll is virtually rock-free.

Looking south from the Grassy Knoll (photo by Jerry Condit)

On a return visit to the site within days of the discovery, we brought along another intrepid location hunter, Jerry Condit, who took a black-and-white photo that nicely matches the closeup of Quince from the movie.

Quince on the Grassy Knoll — "Little Big Horn"

Here's another look at the haunting Quince closeup to facilitate comparison with Jerry's photo above this one. The detail in Jerry's shot reveals that much of the background remains virtually untouched, even 65 years later.

The view from behind Sheb Wooley, which also appears in the movie, provides more insights. With the camera looking north toward a portion of the former Upper Iverson, some of the rocks at the west end of Cactus Hill come into view near the right of the frame.

This is what the view looks like today. A few of the estate homes that now occupy the former Upper Iverson can be seen here, along with Oat Mountain filling the top of the frame.

Note the two rocks identified here as "A" and "B."

The same rocks can be seen in the recent photo, although the trees surrounding Rock "A" have grown considerably in the intervening years, and now conceal much of the rock.

Both the 1951 screen shot and the 2016 photo also feature two distinctive foothills situated just to the north of the Upper Iverson. My nickname for these hills is the Tetons.

The Tetons as they appear today are identified in this shot.

The approximate location of the grassy knoll is noted on this Google aerial. The location remains on private property today, and access is restricted.