Building of the Norwegian Grade from Conejo Valley to Camarillo 1909 to 1911

This historic photo and information was generously provided by Gerry Olsen, grandson of Nils Olsen, one of the original settlers in the Conejo Valley in the 1890s.

Back at the turn of the century, farmers in the Conejo Valley grew dry crops like barley and wheat and had to take their harvest to Port Hueneme/Oxnard via horse-drawn wagons. Their only routes were the treacherous (at the time) Potrero Road or down the unpaved Norwegian Grade to Santa Rosa Road.

So in 1909, with a $60 donation from the county to purchase dynamite, Norwegian families Olsen, Pedersen, other volunteers and paid helpers blasted into the hillside from Nils Olsen's property, 1 1/2 miles down to Santa Rosa Road.

It took two to three years to finish the project using the dynamite, manual labor and horse-drawn earth moving machines called Fresno Scrapers (named after a Scottish chap in 1883 who formed the Fresno Agricultural Works to manufacture it).  Here is a historic photo of these early Conejo Valley roadbuilders.

I used to run up the grade from time to time and that was a pretty tight squeeze, with its steep descent and cactus on the side of the road. While most of us take the 23/101 freeways to get to/from Thousand Oaks/Moorpark/Camarillo these days, the Norwegian Grade provides an alternate 2-lane route with a direct linkage to the gritty Norwegian settlers who had the guts and determination to build it.

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Caspar Borchard and Family Have a Permanent Presence in the Conejo Valley

Caspar Borchard was born in 1842 in Werxhausen, Germany. He sailed to the U.S. with his uncle Christian Borchard in 1867. He liked it so much here that he went back to Germany to get funds (Bitcoin wasn't around back then apparently) to buy land. While back in Germany, he married Theresa Diedrich, who died 3 years later. Within a year he married Theresa Maring. They came back to the U.S. and he bought 205 acres in what is now El Rio (Oxnard).

In 1882, Caspar bought 3,285 acres in the Conejo Valley after his brother Johannes bought 4,000 acres. Theresa Maring died in 1898 at age 49. Their youngest daughter (8 total kids) was also named Theresa. Caspar retired in 1918 and died in 1930. leaving a large family and a permanent presence in the Conejo Valley (Borchard Road, Borchard Park and Community Center). Theresa Drive parallels Borchard from Wendy to Sequoia Middle School in Newbury Park.

This is an undated photo from Thousand Oaks Library archives. Pictured: Back row: Caspar, Rosa, Mary, and Leo. Middle row: Frank, Theresa Maring, holding Charles, Caspar holding Theresa, Antone.

Farm motif playground at Borchard Park in Newbury Park

Borchard Park Labyrinth and Fitness Equipment Area

Borchard Skate Park

Borchard Community Park

The Homeplace of Original Conejo Valley Settler Nils Olsen in 1913

This historic photo and information was generously provided by Gerry Olsen, grandson of Nils Olsen, one of the original settlers in the Conejo Valley in the 1890s.

Nils Olsen was born over 150 years ago (June 16, 1859) in Norway. After a stint in the Norwegian Army, he decided in 1884 that he wanted to move to the United States. So he started saving his money. In late January 1886 he bid farewell to his family. He arrived New York on February 20, 1886 via ship...it took about 16 days to get from Bergen, Norway to New York via Liverpool, England and Ireland (cost was roughly $58).

Built in 1905, this is the home of original Conejo Valley settler Nils Olsen in 1913.

Two days after arriving in New York, Nils was off to San Francisco, where he arrived nine days later.  Then later that month (March 1886) he took the train and stagecoach to Santa Barbara, where for four years he worked as a stone mason. In 1889, Nils met George Edwards, whose family owned 20,000 acres in the Conejo Valley and who was selling parcels.

In 1890, Nils and four other Norwegians, Ole Nelson, Lars Pederson, George Hanson and Ole Anderson purchased 650 acres from Edwards. Apparently the land cost about $3/acre for flatlands and $2/acre for hillsides. They settled and grew barley and wheat for the next 20 years.  This area was known as the Norwegian Colony.

Anderson sold his land to Hanson by 1900 and moved back to Norway. Nelson sold his land to Pederson in 1902. Hanson's wife (he died at age 39 in 1901) sold her land to Olsen in 1902-1903. That left just the Olsens and Pedersons.

Olsen's first home was southeast of the corner of Olsen and Moorpark roads. In 1905, he and his family moved into the new three bedroom home and barn pictured above. The photo was taken from the hill behind where the Church of the LDS on Moorpark Road currently resides. The home was located on, but of course, OLSEN Road near the corner of Olsen and Mountclef (adjacent to Cal Lutheran University).

Outdoor castle scenes of Wuthering Heights were filmed on the Olsen property in 1938. Nils passed away on December 14, 1941 at the age of 82.  In 1954, the home pictured above was torn down to make room for a more modern home.

There is so much more history to tell about these Norwegian settlers who bravely settled on the land we now reside.  Here I am stressing out about pulling weeds and mowing the lawn. These hearty Norwegians will forever be remembered in the Conejo Valley.

Video Footage From the 1967 Conejo Valley Days Parade and Miss Conejo Pageant

This is a treat...video footage from the 1967 Conejo Valley Days Parade and Miss Conejo 1967 Beauty Pageant.

Speaking of Conejo Valley Days, the 2024 event is planned for June 20-30. Conejo Valley Days has been an annual community tradition since 1956. www.conejovalleydays.us

You may recognize scenes from Thousand Oaks Boulevard, though the Conejo Lodge and Sizzler are certainly long gone.

The Miss Conejo Pageant featured Miss Sally Shop, Miss Conejo Music Center, Miss A&W Root Beer, Miss Conejo Muffler, Miss Service Master, Miss Sizzler and others.

The Fulkerson Hardware Store in Somis is Ventura County Historical Landmark No. 128

Fulkerson Hardware circa 2016

If you are ever passing through Somis from Camarillo, you will likely be passing by the historic Fulkerson Hardware Store at 3403 Somis Road. 

The Fulkerson Hardware building was designated a Ventura County Historical Landmark on July 1991. This one-story stucco structure was originally built in 1925.

Fulkerson Hardware was founded in 1912 by Jonathan Fulkerson and this structure sits on the foundation of the original hardware store.

The store is still family owned; Fulkerson's grandson Bob is the proprietor today. Jonathan's brother James opened the first business in Somis in 1892, a blacksmith shop.

You've got to step back into history and check this store out. It is jam packed with items and if you can't find what you need, ask Bob. In a corner of the business is "Jack's Museum." Jack is the son of the original founder and Bob's father. Quite a bit of local history on hand in here. Call 805.386.5795 for hours.

History on display in "Jack's Museum" at Fulkerson Hardware

If you stop by, grab lunch or breakfast at the nearby Somis Cafe and Market, which has been a Somis staple since 1974.

Somis is an unincorporated city of about 3,000 residents in Ventura County that was established in 1892. The name Somis means “water of the scrub oak” in the Chumash language, indicating the presence of water.

My two other favorite things to do in Somis is to visit the more low key Underwood Family Farms Somis Farm Center at 5696 E. Los Angeles Avenue and the Somis Nut House.

Side of building at the corner of Somis Road and Rice Street (photo from 2016)

Newer paint, same retro style circa Fall 2021.

The Chumash House at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa and Other Conejo Valley Locations

The Chumash home, or 'Ap, at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in June 2017 (it was subsequently taken down and rebuilt (see video below). unfortunately the newly built one also came down since then.

In front of the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park is a replica Chumash home called an 'ap. An 'ap is shaped like half an orange and is made by setting willow poles in the ground in a circle, bending them into shape at the top to form a dome.

What is obviously missing from the 'ap above is the outer, vertical layers, cattails laid out like shingles. The 'aps in the Chumash Indian Village at the Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks display what those look like, as does the video below from June 2020 showing the rebuilt Satwiwa ‘ap.

'Aps at Chumash Indian Museum's demonstration village. These were destroyed by the Woolsey Fire of 2018 but will be rebuilt.

Oakbrook Regional Park in March 2023 with two rebuilt ‘aps.

There is a hole at the top of the 'ap to allow for air circulation that was covered with an animal skin when it was raining.

The 'ap at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in June 2017. I spoke with the ranger about this 'ap, which is quite past its prime and has become misshapen. At some point what the Chumash do, when an 'ap is no longer of use and needs to be re-built, is take the willow poles down and burn them in a ceremony.

Funny that many folks, my kids included, wonder why the Chumash did not live in teepees (or tipis). Teepees are cone-shaped tents made of animal skins on wooden poles that were used primarily by Native Americans in the Great Plains section of the U.S. (Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and portions of other prairie states). The Chumash did not live in teepees. 

There is also a Chumash 'ap on display as part of a Chumash Village exhibit at the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park.

The teepee structure at Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks is fun to hike to and sit under but is not something the Chumash Indians would ever have lived in.

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An informational sign describing an ‘ap anis (village) at Oakbrook Regional Park in March 2023.

The Story of Jungleland in Thousand Oaks

The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is located on historic land in many respects. The land was originally part of "Rancho El Conejo," a Spanish land grant. Egbert Starr Newbury purchased 2,259 acres of this land in 1874 and built a home here (more on Newbury and his local legacy at THIS LINK).

After a drought in 1876-1877 bankrupted the Newbury family, the land was foreclosed and sold to the Crowley family in 1887, who built a successful ranch on the land. In 1910, Frank Crowley's parents built him a five bedroom, two story home on the land that is located at 2522 Pleasant Way. The Crowley family lived on the ranch until 1922.

The "Crowley House" went through several ownership changes through the years but is now maintained by the Conejo Recreation and Park District and is considered a Ventura County Historical Landmark.

One of the subsequent owners of the Crowley House was Louis and Kathleen Goebel. In 1925, Goebel purchased former Newbury/Crowley land where the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza currently stands.  It cost him $50. Louis Goebel soon opened Goebel's Lion Farm, where he trained lions and rented them to movie studios.

"Home of Goebel's African Lions" circa 1929 (Courtesy of Conejo Through the Lens, Thousand Oaks Library)

As travelers passed through town, they wanted to see the animals. Goebel capitalized on this in 1929, when the site became "Goebel's Wild Animal Farm," a theme park that became very popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The 170 acre site housed all sorts of animals...elephants, tigers, giraffes, hippos, chimpanzees and more. Additionally, many TV shows and movies were filmed there, such as Tarzan, The Adventures of Robin Hood and Birth of a Nation.

Goebel's Wild Animal Farm was home to Leo the Lion, of MGM Pictures fame. Over the years, other animal celebrity residents included Mr. Ed, the talking horse, Bimbo, the elephant from Circus Boy and Tamba, the chimpanzee in Tarzan films and "Bedtime with Bonzo" starring Ronald Reagan and Diana Lynn.

Goebel sold Jungleland in 1946 and the park was renamed the "World Jungle Compound." Ten years later it was sold again to executives from 20th Century Fox and was renamed "Jungleland." After five years, the business slid and Goebel was able to purchase it back in 1961. 

In between Goebel's Lion Farm and Jungleland, from 1946 to 1955 the tourist destination was called the "World Jungle Compound" (Courtesy of CONEJO THROUGH THE LENS, THOUSAND OAKS LIBRARY.)

Five elephants at Goebel's Lion Farm (from the Ethel Nixon Collection (via Conejo Through the Lens, Thousand Oaks Library.)

At its peak popularity, the 170 acre Jungleland compound had all sorts of activities - shows by tiger trainer Mabel Stark, and others, elephant rides, tortoise rides, ducky boat rides, train rides, safari tram buses and even a sky tram. Animals included elephants, lions, tigers, hippos, camels, llamas, giraffes, orangutans, chimpanzees and a variety of others.

Jungleland closed in October 1969 after its popularity continued to drop - a combination of increased competition (Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, etc.) and the fact that Highway 101 diverted drivers around the theme park. The park operated for 43 years and its 1,800 animal occupants were sold at auction. 

So...when you stroll through the grounds of the Civic Arts Plaza and The Lakes at Thousand Oaks, close your eyes and see if you can envision all the animal excitement that took place here just a few generations ago in the heart of Thousand Oaks.

Jungleland sign after the theme park closed in 1969. (Image courtesy of Conejo Through the Lens, Thousand Oaks Library.)

Louis Goebel and Jungleland plaque outside the Civic Arts Plaza.

More on Jungleland on the Stagecoach Inn Museum website at stagecoachinnmuseum.com/jungleland.

Some photos from around 1965 (from a private collection):