A memorable event occurred in the annals of Santa Barbara County and Goleta history in January 1981. Due to a high tide and unusual currents, sand was removed down to the bedrock oil-bearing shale east of the Santa Barbara County Goleta Beach parking lot, where normally this area is covered by 10-20 feet of sand.
As fortune would have it, Nolan Harter, an observant UCSB student and avid beach jogger, was passing by at low tide and noticed a number of encrusted objects attached to the bedrock, which looked like cannons to him. He realized that this might be a significant find and, although it was a weekend, he immediately called for help at UCSB and the Goleta and Santa Barbara historical societies. At high tide, the beach was covered by five to eight feet of water and the sand was beginning to drift back to cover the unusual objects. It was imperative that the encrusted objects be removed within a few hours, or they might be lost. Slowly, help began to arrive to rescue the strange-looking objects.
After close inspection, the rescuers concluded that the objects were probably cannons. They were located below the KTMS Towers on the beach about two miles from the parking lot and were fused to the bedrock. There were five cannons, which weighed about 800 pounds each. After breaking them loose from the shale, each cannon was carried by a group of volunteers over slippery bedrock to trucks in the parking lot. The outflow channel from the Goleta Slough and Santa Barbara Airport had to be forded in chest-high water, making each trip even more arduous.