The historic Knapp Ranch (1962 to 1995) was located at the upper end of the Castaic Creek drainage in a broad alluvial valley at the head of Cienaga Canyon, south of Liebre Mountain and west of Bear Canyon in the north-west corner of the Angeles National Forest.

The ranch was first settled as a 160-acre land patent in the late 1890s with ownership transferred to Henry E. Woest in 1904 through the provisions of the 1862 Homestead Act.U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Land Office Records, Accession number CA2380__.116 (1904)

After nearly a century of private ownership by Woest, Kelly, and Knapp, the property was acquired by the Angeles National Forest in 1995. Many native American artifacts have been found on the ranch property and nearby areas. In 1962, Frank John Knapp, Jr. and his brother Alfonso Alfred Knapp bought the ranch from the Kelly family.

Ethnohistory Many native American artifacts have been found on the ranch property and nearby areas. Chester King, an archaeologist specializing in the study of the prehistory of California, places the archeological sites CA-LAN-433 and CA-LAN-434 below Knapp Ranch as being the remains of moomga, cacuycuyjabit, ajuavit, and/or juyubit/huyung. These identifications are postulated from the names of settlements in San Fernando Mission records. These settlements were systematically depopulated by Spanish missionaries between 1802 and 1805 as the traditional inhabitants were relocated to Spanish missions.Chester King, Ethnographic Overview of the Los Padres National Forest: Tataviam and San Gabriel Mountain Ethnohistory (2004)

Cienaga Ranch Heinrich (Henry) Edward Woest was born on 9 April 1872 in Manhattan, New York City.New York City Births, 1846-1909, Heinrich Woest, 9 April 1872; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 87501 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,050 In early adulthood, Henry accompanied his mother to California after her husband, Heinrich Woest, died in 1875. As a young adult, Henry Woest acquired the land holding under the 1862 Homestead Act with private ownership transferred to him on 30 August 1904. The property was defined as the northeast quarter (160 acres) of Section 22 of Township 7 North, Range 17 West, San Bernardino Meridian.

Henry was a commercial bee keeper who, in the early 1900s, was managing 130 colonies of bees which produced tons of honey every yearGleanings in Bee Culture, Volume 32, 1 May 1904 Henry used three donkeys to haul lumber to the property to build a ranch house that is still standing but now in ruins.

The property was originally called the Cienaga Ranch named after Cienaga Canyon in which the ranch was located. The name, Cienaga Canyon, appeared on USGS maps as early as 1903 at the time of the granting of the land patent.

Henry was the half-brother of Annie Rose Briggs whom she called "Eddie". They partnered in efforts to locate lost 19th-century gold mines believed to be in the immediate area of the Cienaga Ranch.

Kelly Ranch A man named Kelly bought the Cienaga Ranch in the mid-1920s and it was subsequently known as the Kelly Ranch for several decades.Annie Rose Briggs unpublished autobiography, The Lost Padre Mine, 1956 Very little is known about the ranch or the people involved during the Kelly era of ownership.

The name "Kelly Ranch" first appeared on a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) map that was surveyed in 1930.USGS map of Redrock Mountain, reference 294606, surveyed in 1930 and published in 1931 A 1931 USGS map shows an "Emergency Airplane Landing Field" located on the Kelly Ranch however this feature was not included on later maps.

A regular visitor to the Kelly Ranch as a teenager, David Wasdahl, remembers that a family named Pearce or Pierce were managing or caretaking the ranch in the late 1930s. Tom Benz (Benco Mine) said: "The care takers of the Kelly Ranch was Coronal Shaffer and his sister. My dad knew him from church and he gave us his pet goat which we had in Plum Canyon."

The family sold the property in 1962 after Kelly died.

Jon Meyer, a regular visitor to the Knapp ranch in the 1960s, recalls: "When I asked Frank Knapp how he found the Kelly Ranch...he said he did some stone and rock work for the family back in the day.....and acquired it from 'Grandma Kelly'.....no one in the Kelly family wanted to keep it."

Knapp Ranch In 1962, Frank John Knapp, Jr. (1900 - 1990) and his brother, Alfonso Alfred Knapp (1902 - 1968), bought the ranch property as equal partners from the Kelly family. According to the part-time foreman at Knapp Ranch, Ronald T. Abramchuk (nickname "Black Bart"), the brothers planned to turn the ranch into a hunting lodge. When Alfonso died unexpectedly a few years later in 1968, Frank bought his partner's half share for $40,000 and became the sole owner of the Knapp Ranch.

Immigration Their father, Franz ("Frank") John Knapp Sr. was born on 21 November 1875 in Tyrol, AustriaUnited States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Frank John Knapp, 1917-1918; citing Los Angeles City no 1, California, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,530,799

The Knapp family immigrated from Austria to the US in waves. Franz Knapp first came to the US from Austria with his family in June 1903. They sailed on the "SS Finland" from Antwerp on 6 June 1903 and arrived in the port of New York on 16 June 1903. The "SS Finland" was an American-flagged, ocean liner built in 1902 for the Red Star Line.

Franz Knapp Sr. remained in American while his wife, Maria Johanna Meixer Knapp (1878 - 1949), returned to Austria with their three young children.....their eldest daughter, Hedwig, and two sons, Frank Jr. and Alfonzo. They were to return to the US again about a year later aboard the sailing from Antwerp on 30 July 1904 and arriving in the USA on 9 August 1904.

Johanna once again returned to Austria with their three young children. In 1910, they returned to remain permanently in America aboard the SS Frankfurt sailing from Bremen on 20 October 1910.

Owensmouth Castle

Frank Knapp's father, Franz ("Frank") John Knapp Sr. walked across the country from Derry, Pennsylvania, and settled in Owensmouth, California, around 1911. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1913.

Owensmouth was a rural area in the San Fernando Valley annexed into the city of Los Angeles in 1915. Owensmouth was renamed Canoga Park in 1931.

Knapp Snr. built one of the first houses in the area completed in 1912 (located at Owensmouth Avenue and Cohasset Street). It was later demolished in 1926.

In 1925, Frank Knapp Snr. built a new family home on Owensmouth Avenue (between Sherman Way and Saticoy) featuring elaborate rock work constructed in the style of historic castles from his home country in Europe. Knapp senior was a skilled stonemason. Stone masonry was a family tradition that may have dated back many generations, as the Germanic root word "knap" carried connotations of mining or shaping rock. "The front and back yards were filled with Knapp's artistic masonry including jolly monks, a sundial, detailed nativity shrines, and an eight-foot-winged cement butterfly inlaid with colorful tiles."Valley-Bred Cowboy: Frank Knapp a Canoga Park Pioneer, by Sally O'Toole, Big Valley magazine, August 1980 The locals referred to it as "Knapp Castle". The building was severely damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake and was demolished.

Franz ("Frank") John Knapp Sr. died on 21 August 1952California Death Index, 1940-1997, Frank J Knapp, 21 August 1952; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento

Frank Knapp Frank John Knapp, Jr. was born on 29 November 1900California, County Marriages, 1850-1952, Frank Knapp and Florindia Olive, 16 Oct 1922; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,074,281 in Austria in the town of Schwaz in the state of Tyrol, the third-largest state in Austria. Some records indicate a Swiss heritage but that was a cover to deflect possible anti-German sentiment.

Marriage 1922 On 16 October 1922, 21-year old Frank Knapp married 18-year old Florindia "Toots" Olive (16 October 1904 – 13 November 1980). She was of Portuguese ancestry, the daughter of Manuel Olive (1879-1961) and Mary "Mamie" Quaresma (1883-1941).

Frank and Florindia had one child, Edwin ("Eddie") Frank Knapp (1923-1944) who was killed in action during WWII.

Dry Gulch Ranch In 1943, Frank Knapp purchased the Johnson Ranch where years earlier he had helped to bail hay as a youngster in 1913 for a dollar a day.The Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1958, section 8, page 1 Frank commented: "In those days there was no relief. If you didn't work, you didn't eat."

He called his new 180-acre property the Dry Gulch Ranch for which he paid $9,500 and paid $75 a year in taxes. It was located west of present-day Valley Circle Boulevard and Kittridge Street in Canoga Park.

Ken Hayden (close friend): "His favorite hunting area was actually the Bell Canyon area near Dry Gulch Ranch in Canoga."

Ken Hayden: "Frank made his fortune digging cesspools by hand and lining them with brick. He invested as much of his money in property as possible. I remember seeing the tripod/winch he used to excavate and load bricks bucket by bucket for the cesspools he built."

Jeff Stalk (journalist): "While digging for water on his ranch in Canoga Park, he struck oil. Geologists investigating the find told Knapp the stones he had pulled out of the well were fossilized whale bones. He sold the oil but still has the bones."Deep in the Forest Lives an Antiquarian Extraordinaire by Jeff Stalk, The Newhall Signal and Saugus Enterprise, 29 June 1980The Los Angeles Times, 27 February 1947, page 7The Los Angeles Times, 16 March 1947, page 13The Newhall Signal and Saugus Enterprise, 10 April 1947, page 7

Frank kept a pair of live buffalo at Dry Gulch Ranch which he acquired in a barter exchange for three of his cows. The buffalo bore a 50-pound heifer calf born on the ranch in 1959.The Los Angeles Times, Baby Buffalo Born on Southland Ranch, 10 June 1959 Occasionally, Franks pet bison would escape and found roaming freely through nearby residential streets. When his 1600-pound bison named Mr Buffalo Bill got loose it tuned many a head in amazement.The Los Angeles Times, 14 January 1962, section E, page 15

Jon Meyer, said: "When Frank "went bust" at Dry Gulch....it is said he was about to lose the place for non payment of bills....The Jewish Synagogue down on the corner of Owensmouth and Valley Circle made an offer for Dry Gulch and Frank walked away with a check for over one million dollars."

George Raino (ranch hand): "In 1943, Frank bought 180 acres up Dry Gulch, out of Canoga, for 10,000 dollars, and then sold 58 acres in 1962 for 550,000 dollars. He then took that money and bought the Kelly Ranch."

Knapp Ranch Park In 1961, Frank Knapp sold 57.6 acres of his property to the local city-council for $230,000 priced below its market value.The Los Angeles Times, 26 November 1963, section 2, page 9 The land was to be used for the development of a public park named in honor of his son killed in action in WWII. The park was dedicated on 11 April 1968 The Los Angeles Times, 8 March 1968, page 9 A plaque on public display bears the inscription: "Knapp Park - Named in memory of Edwin Frank Knapp, 1923-1944" (installed by Canoga Park Kawanis Club 1963).

Horse Meadows When asked to describe his daily life, Knapp replied: "I guess you could call it the life of Riley. I do what I please."The Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1958, section 8, page 7