Harry Carey and Ruiz Family Tragedies

As we arrive in this part of the San Francisquito Canyon, we notice a change in the canyon walls. The northern side narrows and the southern direction widens as we approach Saugus. In 1928, there were a dozen or so properties and a couple of ranches including the Ruiz family farm and ranch and the Trading Post and ranch of Harry Carey, a hollywood actor of fame.

About 30 minutes after the dam's collapse, the Ruiz and Carey ranches and the entire community living 5 to 6 miles below the dam were inundated and obliterated by a 55 foot wall of water and boulders and power lines and debris.

The Ruiz family of 8 lived between the Powerhouse and the Carey Ranch and tragically, six of them perished that early morning. All of the property owners in this widening section of the canyon suffered tremendous damage even if they were lucky enough to survive until Tuesday's dawn.

There was a tourist attraction and living museum of sorts at the southern end of the canyon, the Harry Carey ranch as it was known. The ranch, homesteaded by the popular actor, included the Carey's wooden home as well as several outbuildings and the Harry Carey Trading Post - an attraction that included billed entertainment from Navajo natives and other performers, along with a store that sold Western and Indian curios.

The trading post washed away in the St. Francis Dam disaster of March 1928 and was not rebuilt. In an interesting side story, the Navajo performers left about a month before the dam failure, son Dobe said in a 2005 interview. Dobe said a shaman saw "a big crack and predicted it would break." The ranch house was situated at a higher elevation and survived the flood, only to burn down in 1932. The Careys replaced it by building a Spanish adobe home, which they sold with the rancho in 1945.