History of Kern County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present

Contents

Introductory ..: 17

Kern County of Vast Size — Great Natural Wealth — Rapid Increase in Valuations — Necessity of Large Capital — Early Indians Within Borders of County — Clash Between White and Red — First Mining, in 1851 — Yellow Aster Mine — Land Patents and Water Rights — First Oil Developed in 1899 — The High Point in the County History.

CHAPTER I. A Description of Kern County jO

Area of County — Boundaries — North Line 136 Miles in Length — South Line 102 Miles Long— View of the Kern Valley— The West Side Oil Fields— Buena Vista Gas Belt — Recent Activity in the Oil Fields — Reclaimed Swamp Land — Miller & Lux Alfalfa Fields — Irrigation Canals Radiate from Bakersfield — Broad Belt of Irrigated Land — Citrus Mesa Skirts the Sierras — Beginnings of Orange Culture — Water for Pumping Abundant — Cheap Power Available — Pumping Plants in Other Sections — Great Land Holdings — Kern River Oil Field — The Mountain Sections — Early Mining Country — Mountain Farming Districts — Rancho El Tejon — The Desert Triangle Again — Bakersfield the Commercial Center.

CHAPTER II. Indians and the Tejon Ranch..... 29

Remains of a Prehistoric Village — Early Indian Tribes — The Yokut Indians — Living the Simple Life — Specimens of Indian Handicraft — Elaborate Ceremonials of the Race — Tribal Names and Characteristics — Distribution of Tribes — Civilizing the Indians — Plans of Lieutenant Beale to Protect and Prosper Indians — Renegade Indians — Serranos— The Tejon Ranch — Sold to Southern California Syndicate.

CHAPTER III. Gold Mining from 1851 to 1875 35

Rush in 1851 to Kern River — Quartz Mining at Keysville in 1852 — Mining the Kern River Placers in 1853 — Discovery of the Keys Mine in 1854 — The First Quartz Mill Hauled from San Francisco — Keys and Mammoth Mines — Town of Keysville — The Fort — Big Blue Mine and Whiskey Flat — Growth of Kernville — Founding of Havilah — Its Most Productive Mine — Fondness of Early Miners for Gambling — Other Mining Districts.

CHAPTER IV. Beginnings of Agriculture and Stock-Raising 43

First Comers were Sojourners Only — Trip Made by Audubon in 1849 — The South Fork Pioneers — Dangers of Early Days — The Mason & Henry Gang — South Fork Valley — Early Settlers on the Kern Delta — The Immigrant Road of the '50s — Site of Bakersfield in 1859 — Beginnings of the County's Cattle Industry — Some of the Very Old Timers — Beginning of the Sheep Industry — The Mexican Settlement — Catching Wild Horses as a Business — Stories of the Outlaw Vasquez — The Barnes Settlement.

CHAPTER V. Floods and Swamp Reclamation 54

Act of 1857 for Reclamation of Swamp Land — The First San Joaquin Valley Canal Project — The First State Highway — Attempts to Interest Capitalists — How a River in Flood Reclaimed a Swamp — Then the Drought Helped, Too — Baker Gets His Patent — Montgomery Patent Annulled — The State Did Not Get the Land — Beginnings of Bakersfield — First Settlers — First Cotton Crop — First Schools — Freight Hauled from Los Angeles — Architecture in 1863 — The Flood of 1867-68 — Avalanches form Lakes — Flood Reaches Bakersfield — Reclamation Work Completed — Patent Granted to Colonel Baker.

VI CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI. Organization of the County 61

County Created from Tulare and Los Angeles — First County Seat at Havilah — First County Officials — First Court House — First Election Precincts — First Election in the County — The Vote for Governor — Officers Elected — First Swamp Land District Organized — Agreement with Colonel Baker — Changes in the Swamp Land Laws — A Sheep Worth More Than an Acre of Land — The First ^lountain Roads — Ferry Charges — Purchase of Toll Roads by the County.

CHAPTER VII. The Coming ot" the Capitalists 66

Era of Large Enterprise Begins — Bakersfield as it Was in 1870 — Sources of Ready Cash — Early Captains of Industry — Cotton Growers' Association Formed — Livermore and Redington Interests Sold — Kern County News of 1871-73 — Havilah Residents I\Iove to Bakersfield — Death of Colonel Baker in 1872.

CHAPTER VIII. Bakersfield Becomes the County Metropolis 72

History of Bakersfield a Story of Hope Deferred — Yet Always the City was Full of Life — Contest for County Seat Assumed Final Form in 1873 — Contest over Election — Bakersfield Made County Seat in 1874 by 22 Votes — Contract for Court House — First Incorporation of Town — First Officers — The First Hope Deferred — Delano Founded — The Story of Johnson's O.x-Team — Xews Notes of 1873-75 — Bakersfield Disincorporated in 1876 — The Town Marshal Then Retired.

CHAPTER IX. The Contests Over Water Rights Begin 80

Large Negotiations by Capitalists — Withdrawal of Redington — Decline of Livermore and Chester — The Largest Plow Ever Built — Fertile Causes of Litigation — First Great Fight Over Water Rights — Purposes of Haggin and Carr — Carr's Dealing with the Ditch Companies — Plans to Gather in the Desert Lands — Enter Miller and Lux at Rear of Stage.

CHAPTER X. A Collection of Disconnected Stories 89

The Drought of 1877 — Disastrous in Its Effects — The Town of Tehachapi — Its Pioneers — Moving of Old Town to Railroad — First Apple Trees Planted About 1880 — Delano Making Progress — The Last of Old Clubfoot — Lynching of an Outlaw Gang — The Tehachapi Train Wreck — Importation of the Negroes— News Notes of 1886-93.

CHAPTER XL

The Great Lux-Haggin Water Suit 98

Involving Some Picturesque Characters, a Supreme Court Decision, Two State Irrigation Conventions, a Special Session of the State Legislature and an Historic Agreement — Some of Miller's Chief Lieutenants — Leaders of the Carr and Haggin Forces — Heads of the Rival Literary Bureaus — Julius Chester and Richard Hudnut — The Kern County Echo — The Great Water Suit — Kern River Plays Another Prank — Supreme Court Decides for Riparianists — Irrigators Everywhere Protested — Governor Calls Legislative Session — State Senate Deadlocks on Water Bills — The Miller-Haggin Agreement Ends Litigation.

CHAPTER XII. First Attempt .\t Colonization 110

Haggin Decides to Colonize — Carr Gives Place to Fergusson — Many Plans for Progress — Fire Wipes out Business Section — Bakersfield Quicklj'^ Rebuilds — Colonization on a Large Scale — Scions of Nobility Make Things Hum — An International Romance — Journalistic Exigencies Aid Cupid — Causes for Dissatisfaction in Rosedalc Colonj^ — Another Swamp Land Contest — The Jastro Administration.

CONTENTS VI 1

CHAPTER XIII. Important Events op a Decade, 1890-1900 117

Desert Mining Booms — Traces of Early Prospectors — Discovery of the Yellow Aster — Other Famous Desert Mines — The Town of Randsburg — Discovery of Tungsten Mines — The Anialie District — Other Important Events — Gas and Electric Plants — First Street Railway — The First Levee Canal — The Great Railway Strike — Coxey's Army Comes and Goes — Twin Towns Incorporate — Company G Responds to Duty — News Notes 1895- 1900.

CHAPTER XIV. Development of Oil Fields 126

Discovery of Great Oil Fields That Have Made the County Famous — Early Development at McKittrick — First Drilling Unsuccessful — Operators Move to Sunset — Refinery Established in 1891— McKittrick Railroad Built — Oil Boom Strikes West Side — Discovery of the Kern River Field — The Elwoods To be Credited with Discovery — The Great Boom — Sunset Railroad Built — Building of Pipe Lines Begun — Associated Oil Company' Formed — Independent Agency Organized — A Democratic Concern — Varying Prices for Oil — Gushers Swamp the Market — The Boom of 1910 — Developments at the Marketing End — More Pipe Lines Built — Getting the Markets Organized — Efforts to Check Over-Production — Oil Land Withdrawals — The Pickett Bill — The Yard Decision — Smith Remedial Bill — Asphaltum and Oil Refining — Natural Gas Production — Natural Gas in Bakersfield — Making Gasoline from Gas — Some of the County's Famous Oil Gushers — Gushers Start Boom of 1910 — Lakeview Comes In — Product Swamps Pipe Line — The Consolidated Midway — A Procession of Gushers — North Midway Gushers — Effect on the Oil Game — The Lost Hills Field — The Discovery Well.

CHAPTER XV. Progress of the County from 1900 to 1913.. .• 148

Development of Pump Irrigation — Experiments at Wasco and McFarland — Development of the Citrus Belt — Pumping Plant Extension in 1912 — Planting Apples at Tehachapi — Status of Fruit Growing in 1913 — Bakersfield in 1904 — Good Times Return — Building Boom of 1909-10 — Activity in Home-Building — Raising the Civic Standards — Consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern — Bakersfield Paves Her Streets — Bonds for County Roads — Public Buildings of 1900-1913 — Church Building — Progress of Schools — The Rescue of Lindsay B. Hicks— News Notes 1899 to 1910.