Castaic Range War

History

William Willoby Jenkins, a rancher and gambler, staked a claim in Castaic, California in 1875 during the westward migration following the Homestead Acts. He had moved from Ohio to the Los Angeles area with his family in 1851 at age 16. In Castaic, Jenkins operated a successful ranch, an oil company, and a cat business during a rat infestation. He gained a reputation as a gambler and gunman and was once deputized as a Los Angeles County constable.

In one incident, Jenkins was sent to repossess a guitar from a Mexican man named Antonio Ruiz; a fight broke out and Jenkins shot and killed Ruiz. Jailed for murder, Jenkins faced a lynch mob of about 200 Mexicans, but the sheriff was wounded during their failed attempt to storm the jail. Jenkins later joined the Los Angeles Rangers, a local militia that pursued and arrested the mob's leader, then released him. By 1872, Jenkins had staked a claim near Castaic Creek and built the Lazy Z ranch.

In 1890, William C. Chormicle settled nearby, claiming to have bought 1,600 acres of the same land from railroads. The dispute could not be resolved in court and escalated to violence.

That year, Jenkins sent three men onto the disputed land; Chormicle and his friend William A. Gardner fired on them, killing two while the third escaped. Chormicle and Gardner surrendered and were tried in an 18-day trial, one of the longest in Los Angeles County history at the time. The jury found them not guilty on grounds of self-defense, infuriating Jenkins.

Legacy

Today, Castaic Lake covers much of the old battleground near Lake Hughes and Castaic Roads. In 1998, housing developers dug up pine boxes holding the remains of an infant and four men. These are thought to be from the Jenkins family cemetery, possibly the range war's last victims. Bouquet Canyon, where William Jenkins's son David died, is known as Hangman's Canyon or Dead Man's Canyon due to a lynching.