Canyon Name Origins – More on Shields Canyon, Eagle Canyon

More on Shields Canyon.

I felt like I rushed through my description of “General” Shields two weeks ago when I was describing the origin of the name Shields Canyon. Shields was such a character that he really deserves a little more room. Again, I fall back on Jo Anne Sadler’s descriptions of J.H. Shields in her well-researched book “Crescenta Valley Pioneers and Their Legacies.”

I had talked about how Shields was constantly being referred to as General Shields, even though the records show that he was not a general and had never even served in the military. He seems like he was an interesting guy. Read these two descriptions of him. The first is from a letter written by a pair of La Cañada pioneers:

“He was a retired Confederate Army general and came here for the benefit of his health … General Shields, while living here, always wore a plug hat and carried a gold-headed cane. He drove fast horses…” A plug hat is a stiff hat, either a bowler or a top hat.

The second description is really kooky, supplied by Helen Thomas, niece of Benjamin Briggs: “How well I remember General Shields, straight as an arrow, riding horseback through the valley. He was over 70 and looked only 40. His recipe for eternal youth was no worries; no business cares, sleeping with his head out the window and a diet of raw graham flour and applesauce … His family lived in Los Angeles and relieved him of all cares.”

Pretty cool lifestyle! What isn’t cool is that his “family in Los Angeles” was his wife and kids. But he had fast horses and gold canes and spiffy hats. He indulged in health fads and he lived in a tiny (12’x12’) wooden cabin in the boonies. People thought he was a general, but he wasn’t. Wow, there’s a lot to read into this!

He seems like an eccentric playboy, yet he was involved in much of the town-building in the Crescenta Valley. He was one of the founders of the first school and the first church. He gave speeches and was a booster for the valley. Then he dumped it all, abandoned his family (again) and went adventuring in Mexico. On that trip he wrote that he had been a general, and was claiming to be a lawyer on top of that. What a character!

Eagle Canyon – Eagle Canyon is only a few hundred feet to the east of Shields Canyon, heading off from the cul-de-sac at the end of Starfall Drive. The name? We used to have eagles here. Or was it misnamed from the sighting of a big hawk or small California condor, which we also had. Or maybe it was a patriotic gesture.

Not much happened in Eagle Canyon historically. No one that we know of lived there, although one old topo map indicates a structure on the side of the canyon. We have a photo from 1900 that depicts a hunting party stalking game in Eagle Canyon. And an old timer tells me that in the ’40s he came across a stack of small-gauge rail track in Eagle Canyon, probably piled there after being used for mine carts while digging water mines or for trams to bring down lumber from higher on the mountain.

There’s a smaller “lower” Eagle Canyon further east, visible at the top of Pine Glen Road. Upper and lower Eagle Canyon used to be physically connected before the Pinecrest development shaved off and reshaped both Shields and Eagle canyons in the ’60s. When all that land was part of Harvey Bissel’s “Hi-up Ranch” in the ’20s and ’30s, Bissel had extensive walking paths on the lower parts of both canyons, and had planted forests of trees. It must have been very beautiful. Looking at that old topo map, I count eight different mountain trails taking off from that area.

Sadly, none of those trails exist today or, if they do, they are buried deep beneath the chaparral. Maybe someday those trails cane be reopened and restored.

  mike lawler