Meanwhile back at the ranch -- Sheep Flats (Stacked Rocks)

'Meanwhile back at the ranch' is a continuing series about "rock stars" (landscape features) on the old Iverson Movie Location Ranch in Chatsworth, California.  For more information about the Iverson Movie Ranch see: http://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2011/10/iverson-movie-location-ranch-chatsworth.html

From the earliest filming days on the Iverson Ranch (until the Ronald Reagan Freeway began construction in the mid 1960s) there existed an open grassy plain known as Sheep Flats (screenshot above from The Phantom Rider (1946).  

Sheep Flats was often seen is chase scenes.  There were two trails that led from Sheep Flats into the cave rocks area to the south.  One trail passed by Mushroom Rock, the other led into the pass between Hook Rock and Split Rock as seen in the screenshot above from The Trusted Outlaw (1937) starring Bob Steele.

Sheep Flats was just north of the Iverson Western street (upper right corner above) (after 1945), and is under the 118 freeway and the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village today.

The Iversons had the ability to flood the area, so it sometimes appeared as a shallow pond (as in the screenshot above from an episode of "The Virginian TV Show").

Stacked Rocks--a unique pair of saucer shaped rocks--stacked one on top of the other (just left center in the screenshot above) show up in many scenes.  Sometimes they are in the pond, and sometimes they are on dry land.

A few of the many movies with Sheep Flats or Stacked Rocks include:

The Gambling Terror (1937) starring Johnny Mack Brown (Iverson Ranch) Republic

Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959) starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita (Iverson Ranch) Columbia

Law of the Ranger (1937) starring Bob Allen (Brandeis & Iverson Ranches) Columbia

The Old Corral (1936) starring Gene Autry /Smiley Burnette (Iverson Ranch) Republic

The Phantom Rider (1946) starring Robert Kent (Iverson Ranch) Republic [serial]

Prairie Gunsmoke (1942) starring Bill Elliott and Tex Ritter (Iverson Ranch) Columbia

Rhythm of the Saddle (1938) starring Gene Autry (Iverson Ranch)(Corriganville) Columbia

The San Antonio Kid (1944) starring Bill Elliott (Iverson Ranch) Republic

Sun Valley Cyclone (1946) starring Bill Elliott (Iverson Ranch) Republic

They Died with Their Boots On (1941) starring Errol Flynn (Iverson Ranch) Warner Bros.

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) starring Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Joe DeRita (Iverson Ranch) Normandy Prod.

The Trusted Outlaw (1937) starring Bob Steele (Brandeis & Iverson Ranches) Republic

Wee Willie Winkie (1937) starring Shirley Temple, Victor McLaglen and C. Aubrey Smith (Iverson) 20th Century Fox