[1] The canyon cuts through the Sierra Pelona Mountains, which are central part of the Transverse Ranges system of California.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began filling a reservoir in the San Francisquito Canyon in 1926.

[2][3] The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of life in California's history, after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

[4] Today, a two-lane road named after the canyon itself connects Santa Clarita to the mountain communities of Green Valley and Elizabeth Lake.

It roughly parallels the river's course between San Francisquito Pass and its southern terminus in the northern Santa Clarita Valley.