Most California communities can trace their roots to Indian villages and sprawling Spanish Ranchos, and Castaic is no exception. Jerry Reynolds, a late Santa Clarita historian, once wrote that the name "Castaic" had been spelled various ways through the years but the area was originally called "Kashtuk", an Indian word meaning "eyes". Native Americans, specifically the Tataviam, along with Spanish explorers lived, worked and enjoyed the lush green rolling hills and streams in and around Castaic, hundreds of years before the area became the community that it is today. Most local historians, however, consider the official birth of Castaic to be around July of 1915 when the California Highway Commission completed a trail over the tops of the mountains from Castaic to Gorman, called the the old Ridge Route.