Castaic, California

Name

The name Castaic is derived from the Chumash word Kaštiq, meaning "the eye". The Spanish and Mexicans later spelt the name in Spanish as Castéc. Castec is first mentioned on old boundary maps of Rancho San Francisco, as a canyon at the trailhead leading to the old Chumash camp at Castac Lake (Tejon Ranch), which is intermittently wet and briny.

History

The Córdova family of California were the first settlers in the area. Modern Castaic began in 1887 when Southern Pacific set up a railroad siding on the line between Piru and Saugus Station, naming it "Castaic Junction". Between January and April 1890, the Castec School District adopted the new spelling, "Castaic".

Range War

Main article: Castaic Range War

Between 1890 and 1916, the Castaic Range War was fought in Castaic country over ranch boundaries and grazing rights. It was the biggest range war in U.S. history.

A feud started over Section 23, where the Stonegate subdivision is now. William Chormicle had legally bought the property, but William "Wirt" Jenkins was already storing grain on it and said he had filed for ownership. During a heated dispute, Chormicle and a friend shot and killed two of Jenkins's cowhands. They were acquitted in court.

Jenkins, however, was the local justice of the peace, with friends of his own, and the feud quickly grew into war. Former Los Angeles Rangers (among whom Jenkins had fought) and other notables were drawn in. The war claimed dozens of lives and foiled a negotiator, a forest ranger whom President Theodore Roosevelt had sent in to quell it.

Cattle business

Castaic has the last traditional cattle roundup—with horses, lariats, and branding irons—in Los Angeles County. It has been held by the Cordova family since 1834, when the family first settled here. Members of the Cordova family were scouts for the U.S. Army during the Mexican War in 1846 and helped identify bodies during the St. Francis Dam disaster in San Francisquito Canyon in 1928. Operations scaled back in 1967 when the government seized around 1000 acre, including the ancestral ranch-house, for the planned Castaic Lake and dam.

Geography

Seismology

Main article: San Gabriel Fault

The area is seismically active. On January 3, 2015, a pair of earthquakes of magnitude 3.1 (location: , depth: 5.6 mi) and 4.2 (location: , depth: 5.5 mi), respectively, were reported about 14 km north of Castaic. The epicenter was 16 mi from Santa Clarita, California.

Climate

This region experiences hot and dry summers, and cool, moderately rainy winters. During the months of June though September, the average high temperature ranges from the 90s F (30s C) to above 100 F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Castaic has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1860–1870 1880-1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Castaic first appeared as a census designated place in the 2010 U.S. census.

2020 census

The 2020 United States census reported that Castaic had a population of 18,937. The population density was 2,607.7 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Castaic was 55.2% White, 3.3% African American, 1.1% Native American, 11.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 12.3% from other races, and 16.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.1% of the population.

The census reported that 99.9% of the population lived in households, 0.1% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized.

There were 6,054 households, out of which 39.2% included children under the age of 18, 64.7% were married-couple households, 5.5% were cohabiting couple households, 17.3% had a female householder with no partner present, and 12.5% had a male householder with no partner present. 14.7% of households were one person, and 5.5% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.13.

The age distribution was 23.5% under the age of 18, 9.6% aged 18 to 24, 23.9% aged 25 to 44, 31.3% aged 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 39.0years. For every 100 females, there were 99.8 males.

There were 6,130 housing units at an average density of 844.1 /mi2, of which 6,054 (98.8%) were occupied. Of these, 82.5% were owner-occupied, and 17.5% were occupied by renters.

In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $132,153, and the per capita income was $50,338. About 3.8% of families and 4.0% of the population were below the poverty line.

Education

Elementary and middle school students attend schools in the Castaic Union School District. The high school district is William S. Hart Union High School District. High school students attend Castaic High School in the William S. Hart District. Castaic High School first opened in 2019.

Government and infrastructure

In the California State Legislature, Castaic is in , and in .

In the United States House of Representatives, Castaic is in .

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) operates the Santa Clarita Valley Station in Santa Clarita, serving Castaic. Station 149 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department serves the community. The Castaic Area Town Council meets monthly.

Notable people

• Stacey Koon, policeman
• Troy Neiman, baseball player
• Trevor Plouffe, baseball player

In popular culture

• The community is featured by Huell Howser in The Bench, Episode 19.

References

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. {{gnis. 2582966
3. [https://escholarship.org/content/qt3s34f5ss/qt3s34f5ss.pdf?t=krnh6i Chumash Place Names]
4. "Castec" is written on ''diseños'' (boundary maps) of [[Rancho San Francisco]] in the 19th century; it is the Chumash name in Spanish, since Spanish has no 'sh'.
5. "QuickFacts: Castaic CDP, California". United States Census Bureau.
6. John R. Johnson, "The Trail to Kashtiq," ''The Journal of California Anthropology,'' vol 5, no 2, pp 188–198. [http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/johnson-kashtiq.htm SCVHistory.com]
7. Early publications in English spelled it ''Casteque'' before the current spelling became standardized.The earliest English spelling was Casteque, an anglicization of Castéc, which in turn is the Spanish spelling of Chumash Kashtiq. [https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=q&r=1&results=1&sf=&e=-------en--20--21-byDA-txt-txIN-Casteque-------1 UC Riverside, ''California Digital Newspaper Database''.]
8. [http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/castaic.htm Railroad stop history at Castaic]
9. "Castaic area history".
10. [http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18900418.2.26.5&srpos=3&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Castaic-------1 ''Los Angeles Herald'', Volume 34, Number 5, 18 April 1890]
11. [http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18900111.2.23&srpos=22&e=-------en--20--21-byDA-txt-txIN-Castec-------1 ''Los Angeles Herald'', Volume 33, Number 92, 11 January 1890]
12. "SCVHistory.com, Excerpts from court transcript".
13. "Westsidereader.com "America's Forgotten and Deadliest Range War"".
14. Rasmussen, Cecilia. (April 15, 2001). "Castaic Range War Left Up to 21 Dead". [[Los Angeles Times]].
15. [http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/castaic-feud-041501.htm SCV History, "The Great Range War"]
16. Kaplan, Tracey. (1992-06-15). "The Last Roundup : Castaic: The cattle business is a labor of love for the Cordova family, who have gotten together to tally and brand their herd since 1784.". Los Angeles Times.
17. "The ''Signal'', "When everybody was a cowboy."".
18. Hamilton, Matt. (January 3, 2015). "Earthquake: 4.2 and 3.0 temblors recorded near Castaic". Los Angeles Times.
19. "M3.1 - 13km N of Castaic, California 2014-12-31 06:27:41 UTC". United States Geological Survey.
20. "M4.2 - 14km N of Castaic, California 2015-01-04 03:18:09 UTC". United States Geological Survey.
21. [http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=22740&cityname=Castaic%2C+California%2C+United+States+of+America&units= Climate Summary for Castaic, California]
22. "Decennial Census by Decade".
23. "1870 Census of Population - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties - California - Almeda County to Sutter County".
24. "1870 Census of Population - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties - California - Tehama County to Yuba County".
25. "1890 Census of Population - Population of California by Minor Civil Divisions".
26. "1900 Census of Population - Population of California by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions".
27. "1910 Census of Population - Supplement for California".
28. "1920 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
29. "1930 Census of Population - Number and Distribution of Inhabitants - California".
30. "1940 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
31. "1950 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
32. "1960 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
33. "1960 Census of Population - General population Characteristics - California".
34. "1970 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
35. "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
36. "1990 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
37. "2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
38. "2010 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
39. "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Castaic CDP, California".
40. "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Castaic CDP, California".
41. "Castaic CDP, California; DP1: Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
42. "Castaic CDP, California; P16: Household Type - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
43. "Castaic CDP, California; DP03: Selected Economic Characteristics - 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates Comparison Profiles".
44. Geography Division. (December 18, 2020). "2020 Census - School District Reference Map: Los Angeles County, CA". [[U.S. Census Bureau]].
45. Smith, Wyatt. (August 13, 2018). "Castaic High School Opens Its Doors To Inaugural Class Of Freshmen".
46. "California State Senate".
47. "California State Assembly".
48. {{Cite GovTrack. CA. 27
49. "Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. - Santa Clarita Station".
50. Castaic Town Council. Retrieved from http://www.castaicareatowncouncil.org.
51. (April 27, 2007). "The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King - TIME".
52. (December 21, 2019). "LAPD Officer Stacey Koon Interview".
53. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=neiman000tro Baseball Reference.com]
54. (March 18, 2017). "Adaptable, affable Trevor Plouffe finds new home with A’s".
55. (March 11, 1996). "Castaic – The Bench (19) – Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University".