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Camp Myford, an Irvine Co. gift to the Orange County Council Boy Scouts of
America, was named for James Irvine’s youngest son
Peter’s Canyon Regional Park offers a
well-used oasis of wilderness amid the sprawl of development in the North
Tustin area.
The land was originally part of a 47,000-acre
Mexican grant made to Teodosio Yorbain 1846. Yorba named his entire
acquisition Rancho Lomas de Santiago (Hills of St. James), but the section
that would become Peters Canyon was always known as Canon de Las Ranas
(Canyon of the Frogs) because it drained into the Cienega de Las Ranas
(Marsh of the Frogs), now known as Upper Newport Bay.
James Irvine purchased the rancho from Yorba
in 1897 and leased the canyon land to several farmers, including James
Peters who had been dry-farming barley and beans in the upper part of it
since 1891. Peters built a rambling ranch house and planted a eucalyptus
grove near Little Peters Lake in the lower part of the canyon.
Although the locals hunted in the canyon, it
was first used for recreation when a group of men from Orange and Santa Ana
leased a plot of land there from Irvine in 1899. They built a ninehole golf
course and formed the Santiago Golf Club. By today’s standards, the course
was primitive with greens of oil-soaked sand, not grass, and fairways of
packed dirt. Golfers traveled to the club by buggy and bicycle, carrying
their lunches as well as their clubs since their bright red clubhouse served
no food. The group later moved to the bluffs of Upper Newport Bay, then to
Newport Boulevard where they reorganized as the Santa Ana Country Club in
1923.
Irvine built two reservoirs, Upper Peters
Canyon Reservoir in 1931, and lower reservoir (Little Peters Lake which is
now a flood control basin) in 1940 to conserve water. The basins regulated
The Irvine Co.’s draft from Santiago Reservoir and conserved runoff from the
canyon’s watershed. With the availability of water, agriculture including
orange groves thrived in the canyon.
During World War II the U.S. Army established
a training area called Camp Commander in the eucalyptus grove near Little
Peters Lake. Men stationed here fought mock battles with soldiers from Camp
Rathke, an Army post, two miles away in Irvine Region Park. From 1952 to
1988 the Boy Scouts maintained Camp Myford for all sorts of weekend Scouting
events, including more than 20 years of Day Camp during the summer for
younger Cub Scouts. A gift from The Irvine Company, the camp was named for
James Irvine’s youngest son, Myford Irvine.
Today a gated community, Tustin Ranch
Estates, occupies the site. The Irvine Co. dedicated 354 acres of Peters
Canyon to the County of Orange on March 3, 1992. Preserved as open space,
Peters Canyon Regional Park abounds with coastal sage, scrub, riparian
plants, freshwater marsh and grassland habitats. Willows, sycamores and
black cottonwoods grow along Peters Canyon Creek. Wildlife and birds are
often encountered by those who hike and ride mountain bikes or horses on the
many trails. |
