John Wayne at Iverson

From Corriganville, one just needs to cross the Santa Susana Pass over to Iverson Road and to discover another movie location bonanza, which is now history. Near a town called Canoga Park are huge elephant-sized outcroppings of rock. This was called Iverson’s Ranch. Wayne's first movie up there was Texas Cyclone in 1932. Before Stagecoach came along, he had already filmed Haunted Gold, Central Airport, and The Dawn Rider on the ranch’s grounds. Even after Stagecoach, Republic sent him right back to Iverson Movie Ranch, for Santa Fe Stampede, and Three Texas Steers. 

Even though in the movie the Stagecoach had reached Monument Valley, when the Ringo Kids twirls his rifle to hold the stage, he stands in Iverson Ranch in the Simi Hills. When John Wayne makes his now-famous entrance, „Wyatt Earp Rock“ is backing him up, the distinctive boulder in the Iverson Gorge. 

As John Wayne's stagecoach arrives at its first relay station, it runs between a famous rock formation in Lower Iverson, called Tower Rock to the left and the Sphinx to the right. This heavily filmed place is now... 

...the backyard of a private home on Red Mesa Road, in the middle of the Garden of the Gods, as the area became known for.

Hommage to the six-gun heroes: this plaque in the Garden of the Gods marks the footpath leading up to the filming area. Actually, this very same rock can be spotted in a shot from the famous chase in John Wayne's Stagecoach.

Yakima Canutt leads his stuntmen into the famous chase in Stagecoach. Visible for a few seconds in the background is the striking boulder that today marks the beginning of the footpath that leads from Red Mesa Road in Los Angeles up to the hill with the long film history.

This striking rock has been featured in countless westerns filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch. Today, this stone bears the commemorative plaque for John Wayne and the great western stars—and can be recognized in the background of the Wayne classic Stagecoach. It now marks the short path leading up to the Garden of the Gods.

The Stagecoach reaches Lee’s Ferry, burned to the ground by the Apaches. John Ford put the smoking ruins on one of the most frequently used spots at Iverson, with Batman Rock and the Happy Slab in the background. A parking lot today.

In December 1943, Republic rented a large section of Upper-Iverson (as the upper part of the ranch was known around Hollywood producers) to turn it into a Pacific Island on which John Wayne battles the Japanese army with his Fighting Seabees.

The area under siege included Cactus Hill and the South Rim of the Upper Iverson; the landmark Eagle Beak Rock is prominently seen.

For the combat scenes, Republic took over Lower Iverson. In the scenes were the U.S. Troops are positioned in the Upper Gorge, a portion of the Garden of the Gods is visible in the background: Tower Rock makes a brief comeback after having served as a cornerstone for Stagecoach.