On the Skids in Carbon Canyon #21112

This latest evisceration of a directional sign on the S-curve on Carbon Canyon Road between the Carriage Hills and Summit Ranch subdivisions took place within the last couple of days.

Based on how the sign was hit, it appears the driver was climbing the grade going westbound at high speed, because the non-offending sign wasn't just hit and knocked over, it was twisted and mangled.

It wasn't that long ago that the same sign was flattened by someone going eastbound, but this set of signs has been regularly bearing the brunt of errant driving on the state highway.

Carbon Canyon Road Speed Limit Adjustments

Several years ago, CalTrans District 8, which controls maintenance of the Chino Hills/San Bernardino County portion of Highway 142/Carbon Canyon Road implemented speed limit changes that lowered the amounts by 5 mph.

That was soon rescinded as an immediate outcry rose up.

Within the last few weeks, however, the same agency has made adjustments to limits and sign placement.

From Chino Hills Parkway heading west the speed limit is now 50 mph, or perhaps it always was, because the portion of Highway 142 that is Chino Hills Parkway coming from the 71 Freeway has been zoned 50 heading west.

Now, however, there is a new sign soon after the turn from Chino Hills Parkway showing the 50 mph limit.

As drivers approach the first turn, Feldspar Drive, which leads into the Summit Ranch neighborhood, the speed drops to 45.

Then, not far past Feldspar, the limit becomes 40--the sign there has been moved further east.

The limit remains 40 until past the S-curve and summit and until drivers pass Fairway Drive/Ginseng Lane at the Western Hills Country Club location where the speed is 45.

Once the downslope of the road approaches Sleepy Hollow, the limit becomes 35 and remains that way until the Orange County/Brea line is crossed.

Coming east from that line, the limit is 35 until exiting Sleepy Hollow and then the limit moves to 45.  The limit reduction to 40 appears to be further west than before as the drive climbs towards the summit and S-curve.

Once that area is passed, there had been a 45 mph sign virtually at the intersection of Old Carbon Canyon Road that was mowed down by an errant driver several years ago and not replaced.  The question then was: what was the actual speed limit?  Presumably, it was still 40 because that was the last posted (and still standing) sign back before the S-curve.

Now, however, there is a new 45 mph sign though it is quite a bit further east than the previous sign had been.

Finally, after Feldspar is passed and a driver moves towards Chino Hills Parkway, the limit climbs to 50 mph.

DUI Accident on Carbon Canyon Road

A little over an hour ago, a car came roaring through Sleepy Hollow and skidded into an embankment on the eastbound side of Carbon Canyon Road just past Rosemary Lane.

When a local resident went out to investigate, he found the driver was intoxicated as was the friend in the vehicle behind him.  The two men then took off eastbound, but another resident followed until they reached a shopping center in Chino Hills where Sheriff's deputies soon arrived and arrested the pair.

At the moment, a tow truck is on scene to take the car away so traffic is backed up going east on the state highway.

The Gaines and Brown Families of Carbon Canyon, Part Three

Here are some more great photos, courtesy of Joyce Harrington, of members of the Gaines and Brown families, who lived in the Carbon Canyon area for decades during the 20th century.

Ed and Fanny Gaines were owners of the Flying Cow Ranch, which is where the Olinda Village community is located, and their home sat where the Hollydale mobile home park is.  Argus and Margaret Brown resided in the Olinda oil fields area where the Olinda Ranch subdivision is now, and Angus was a longtime employee on the Santa Fe lease.

This 1911 photo shows Argus Brown, right, and Emil Haskel, left, who were neighbors and carpenters on the Santa Fe lease at Olinda posed with their handiwork at an oil well.  The photos are courtesy of Joyce Harrington, a descendant of the Brown and Gaines families.

The first photo shows Brown and Emil Haskel in 1911 at work on the construction of an oil well at Olinda.  The two men, who were neighbors as shown in the federal census of the preceding year, were carpenters and the image was obviously taken to show their handiwork in the building of the apparatus of the well.

Brown, a native of Missouri who also lived in Iowa and worked as a farmer, migrated to California in the first decade of the century and found a job at Olinda in September 1907.  He later was a pumper on the lease and remained working in the area for several decades.  He and Margaret stayed in the area until she passed away in 1935 and he died about a decade later in 1946.

The 1910 federal census listed the Argus and Margaret Brown family just below Emil and Minnie Haskel at Olinda.  From Ancestry.com

Joyce Harrington provided some reminiscences from her great-aunt, Nora Brown, daughter of Argus and Margaret, and these will be shared in future posts.

Edward Gaines and his wife Fannie Atwater married on Christmas Eve 1889 and farmed in Clearwater, later Paramount, in southeastern Los Angeles County, as well as had the Flying Cow Ranch in Carbon Canyon, to which they later moved.

Fannie Atwater (1861-1947) and Edward F. Gaines (1868-1956), owners of the Flying Cow Ranch, at what is now the Olinda Village area, ca. 1900s.

The couple not only had the ranch, but were also involved in the early use of the La Vida Mineral Springs just east of their home.  Ed Gaines was well-known for his breeding of foxhounds and hunting, as well as for his ownership of a rare original stagecoach which he rode at parades and other functions.

Fannie Gaines died in early 1947 and her husband passed on just under a decade later in April 1956.  Eight years later, in 1964, the Gaines Ranch became the site of the new subdivision of Olinda Village and the construction of the Hollydale mobile home park and an adjacent church removed the Craftsman-style residence the family used for many decades.

Ed Gaines with one his cows (though it doesn't appear to be the breed that could fly) on the ranch, ca. 1940s.

Again, more history of the Gaines family, much of which has been presented in this blog in the past, will be shown through photos.