The Pathe Companies western unit arrived in Orange County, California, in June 1912, and set up shop at the S & M Ranch in Santiago Canyon. The ranch was situated about a mile northwest of the present entrance to Irvine Park. At the time, it was owned by The Irvine Company and leased by T. F. Doyle. In the 1920's, it was known as the Health Camp; in the 1930's as the Scout Camp.
Apparently James Young Deer, director of the Western Pathe Company, has found an ideal place for the production of motion pictures of Western, Indian and Spanish subjects. The company is at the S. & M. ranch in Orange County, where it went seven weeks ago for a stay of what was to have been seven weeks. Last week Young Deer brought his people back to Los Angeles for a few days' work on interior scenes at the Edendale studio, but now they have gone back to Orange County for another two weeks. [The Moving Picture World] |
Headed by James Young Deer and Princess Redwing, many, many short silent westerns were filmed at the ranch. Some of the titles include "The Squaw Man", "The Squaw Man's Revenge", "Indian Blood", "The Squaw's Death of Gratitude", "The Squawman's Sweetheart", "The Cheyenne Brave", "The Yaqui Girl", "Lieutenant Scott's Narrow Escape", "Red Deer's Devotion", and "The Wooing of White Fawn".
