Kern County, CA History Transcribed by Sally Kaleta This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California - Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 KERN COUNTY Early History No satisfactory history could be written of Kern County without first reviewing the early settlements, a few incidents as well as first industrial enterprises undertaken prior to county organization, when the vast area of Kern County as it now is was a portion of the present large county of Tulare. First Settlement When the State was first formed into counties, the whole country extending from the Toulumne river to Walker's pass on the south, and from the Nevada State line on the east to the Coast Range on the west, was divided into two counties - Mariposa and Tulare. From these have since been formed the counties of Mariposa, Mono, Inyo, Merced, Fresno, Tulare, and Kern. This portion of the great San Joaquin valley, until about the year 1835, was almost a terra incognita, having been visited by the trappers only about the date mentioned. In June of that year Lieutenant Moraga and his companions, of the Mexican Army (then stationed at the presidio of San Francisco), crossed the San Joaquin, near the mouth of the Tuolumne, and traveled thence in a southeasterly direction to the Merced river, a distance of about forty miles, the whole of which had to be traversed without water. The weather being very hot, it is not strange that they in their thirst and famished condition called the river El Rio de la Merced, the river of mercy. After visiting King's river the expedition returned over the mountains to the west. The first American known to have arrived in California overland was Captain Jedediah S. Smith, of New York, at the head of a trading expedition, which he accompanied from St. Louis. In the spring of 1826 Captain Smith, at the head of a party of twenty-five, left the winter-quarters of the company on the headwaters of the Missouri river, to make a spring and fall hunt. They crossed the mountains and entered the great San Joaquin valley, near its southeastern extremity, thus being the first party from the East or North to enter this magnificent valley, and the first to explore any of the rivers flowing into the bay of San Francisco. The counties of Kern and Inyo were formed in 1866. The discovery of gold in the territory now included in Kern County was made in 1854 by a party of emigrants on their way from Los Angeles County. They had camped on a gulch in the Greenhorn mountains, one of the highest points of the lower Sierra, and there found a rich deposit of gold. The news spread rapidly, but it was not until 1857 that the great rush known as the Kern river gold excitement took place. A report of rich mines then spread more rapidly, and fortune hunters headed in large numbers from various localities for the new "El Dorado." EARLY MINING. Soon many rich mines were located, among which may be mentioned French Gulch, Spanish Gulch, Bradshaw's, Whisky Flat, Keysville, and many others. These placers soon becoming exhausted, miners began the search for the source. This was soon found in numerous auriferous quartz ledges that showed themselves all through the mountains. One of the first discoveries of this character was the Big Blue, the great summer mine near Kernville. This was in 1860. Numerous small leads, and one large one called the Mammoth, were found near Keysville, where the first quartz mill was erected in the county in 1859. Keysville was the most prosperous mining camp in the county up to 1864. The Long Tom mines were discovered in 1863, from which near a half million of gold was extracted within eighteen months. The famous Joe Walker mine near Havilah was discovered in 1866. This was a valuable lead, but at the depth of 400 feet a great body of water was encountered, and thousands of dollars expended in an attempt to pump it out, but all machinery, pumps, etc., proved a failure; the volume of water was too great. Soon there were many miners who decided that there were more promising features in tilling the soil, stock-raising, etc., than in the uncertain pursuit of mining. Up to the date named little attention had been given to agriculture. Some little hay and grain had been grown in the mountain regions about Walker's basin, Lynn's valley, Bear and Cumming's valleys, Tehachapi, and little flats along the Kern River. Before entering the valley and treating of its agricultural resources, developments, etc., a further ramble will be made in the mining regions. The Clear Creek Mining District was discovered in July, 1864, by a prospecting party, consisting of Benjamin T. Mitchell, Alexander Reid, George McKay and Dr. C. De La Borde, more generally known as the "French Doctor." The district was organized in August of the same year, and comprised the whole region drained by Clear Creek and Copperas Branch, and bounded by the summit of the mountains surrounding this basin. George McKay was elected recorder of the company. The first lode discovered and recorded was the Havilah. The locaters of this were the gentlemen above named. Afterward this company, known as the Havilah Mining Company, located many other ledges, and soon after dissolved, and each continued prospecting alone. Soon afterward Dr. De La Borde, in connection with August Gouglat, discovered and located thirty-six ledges, among which were the Rhone, Rochefort, Eagle, Dijon, Nos. 1 and 2, Cape Horn, Navarre, Nievre, Alma, Nos. 1 and 2, Lyon, Marengo, and others. The famous Delphi-Tyrone and Lexington lodes were located by H. McKeadney. From this time on the mining interests were rapidly developed. The first store opened in the mining district was by Alexander Reid, as also the first boarding-house, and to him much was due for his energy and successful efforts in bringing the mines to public notice, and his unceasing perseverance to make them a success. The first mill erected in this district was the "Pioneer," by Joseph H. Thomas. This mill he brought from the Coso district, formerly the property of the Willow Spring Mining Company. The first run of the mill was from the Dijon lode, which paid at the rate of $37 per ton. The next mill in operation was the four-stamp mill of Hon. J. W. Freeman, which was brought from Greenhorn, and commenced work in January, 1865. The first rock crushed by this mill in the new field was from the ledges of Nice-wander, Park & Co. The largest yield was had from this crushing of all mills in the same district of like amount of rock since, and perhaps more than from the same amount of unpicked rock in the State. The yield of twenty-seven tons of rock was over $5,000, the rock paying over $300 per ton. The gold was saved from the battery alone, there being no other mode for saving it at the mill. The Rochefort lode made a yield of $230, and the Delphi $180 per ton the same week, and it was believed that, considering the facilities for saving the precious metal at the time, the yield for like amount of rock in the State was unprecedented. Nicewander, Park & Co., erected the fourth, a five-stamp mill, near their mines on the mountains. Several other mills followed as the demand called for. The New York and Clear Creek Company erected a ten-stamp mill, then not excelled by any in the State. Dr. De La Borde and Gouglat sold their entire interest in this district, in October, for $50,000. Sometime thereafter, Nicewander, Park & Co., sold their entire mining interests to Colonel Arnold A. Rand, realizing nearly double the cost to them. The preceding review of early mining in Kern County is to show the immense deposit of the precious metal in this region, and gold is but one of many more valuable metallic deposits in the county - more valuable in the sense that they can be worked, and larger profits realized with less capital invested, and quicker returns. Antimony, quicksilver, copper, etc., are found in paying quantities, as also vast gypsum deposits, coal and oil, all of which will be a source of large revenue to the county when railroad facilities enable the men of enterprise and capital to ship these products; and the fact that such deposits of wealth-producing commodities exist in a country is an assurance that railroads will soon be constructed to them, and ere long Kern County will be in the midst of a hum of mineral development. BEGINNINGS Resuming the general history of the valley portion of the county, it is proper here to state that in 1861 the first white man camped and settled on what has since been designated as Kern Island. In 1862 two or three others followed, and in a short time were joined by the late Thomas Baker, better known as Colonel Baker, founder of Bakersfield, a man of foresight and good judgement. The only means of communication at that day with the outside world was by two stage lines, - one via Havilah to Los Angeles, the other via Havilah to Owen's river. From Havilah the road crossed Greenhorn mountains to Visalia. Colonel Baker, with his usual energy, built at great expense a toll-road from the foot of the mountain, a distance of twenty-seven miles, to Havilah, and a desultory communication was established. GOVERNMENTAL, ETC. The act creating Kern County was approved April 2, 1866, with the following sections: SEC. 1. - There shall be formed out of portions of Tulare and Los Angeles counties, a new county to be called Kern. SEC. 2. - The boundaries of Kern County shall be as follows: Commencing at a point on the western boundary line of Tulare County, two miles due south of the 6th standard south of the Mount Diablo base line, thence due east to the western boundary of Inyo County; thence southerly and easterly following the western boundary of Inyo County and northern boundary of Los Angeles County to the northeast corner of Los Angeles County; thence south along the eastern boundary of said county to the line between townships 8 and 9, north of the San Bernardino base line; thence due west to the Tulare County line; thence southerly along the said Tulare County line to the southwest corner of Tulare County; thence northerly, following along the western boundary of said county to the place of beginning. The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held at Havilah, the first county seat, August 1, 1866. Henry Hammell and J. J. Rhymes were present. Mr. Hammell was chosen chairman of the Board. This meeting was held "pursuant to the act of the Legislature creating the County of Kern, to define its boundaries and to provide for its organization." The act also provided for such organization by appointing the first crops of county officials. The Board at the meeting referred to proceeded to lay out, organize and define the boundary of townships Nos. 1, 2, and 3. The first tax levied by the Board was State and county, $2.61 on the $100 worth of property. At the meeting of the Board of Supervisors, August 5, 1867, the new courthouse at Havilah, constructed as per contract for $2,200 was accepted. It appears that about the time the new county was organized a news organ was also established. We find that the first number of a paper called the Courier, was issued in Havilah Saturday, August 18, 1866, by the Courier Publishing Company; C. W. Bush, editor; George A. Tiffany, printer. Politically this paper was Democratic, was a four page, six-column sheet, and was much above the average newspaper in a new field. The first number presented the following as a County Directory: State Senator, J. W. Freeman Member of Assembly, I. C. Brown County Judge, Theron Reed District Attorney, E. E. Calhoun Sheriff, W. B. Ross Clerk, Recorder, and Auditor, H. D. Bequette Treasurer, D. A. Sinclair Assessor, R. B. Sagely Surveyor, Thomas Baker Superintendent of Public Schools, J. R. Riley Coroner and Public Administrator, Joseph Lively Supervisors, Harry Hammell, S. A. Bishop and J. J. Rhymes B. Brundage, Thomas Lespeyre and E. E. Calhoun appear as advertisers in the legal profession in the first number of the Courier. The medical profession was represented in the same paper by the cards of J. A. Davidson and C. W. Bush. E. W. Doss, "Pioneer Druggist." Bridger & Howeth, proprietors of Sozarac Billiard Saloon; Clear Creek Exchange Hotel, by H. T. Miller. Bell Union Hotel, Hammel & Denke, proprietors. Mead & Clark's United States Mail Stage Line for Visalia; grocery and general store, by W. G. Mills; Clear Creek store, D. A. Sinclair, proprietor. Several others advertised in this issue. The Courier of September 15, 1866, makes mention of the organization of a hook and ladder fire company in Havilah, but it seems they never owned a hook or a ladder. The same paper mentions L. F. Humiston as county judge, and quotes prices of produce, goods, etc., as follows: flour, per barrel, $12; butter, per pound, 50 cents; cheese, 37 cents; potatoes, 3 1/2 cents; beans, 8 cents; eggs, 62 cents per dozen; coal oil, $2.25 per gallon; candles, 37 cents per pound; crushed sugar, 30 cents; brown sugar, 20 to 25 cents; coffee, 37 to 50 cents. October 13th of that year the paper appeared in a new and much improved dress. The heading was, "Havilah Weekly Courier," J. K. Acklin, printer and business manager. John M. Brite appears as County Supervisor, suceeding J. J. Rhymes. In December, mention is made of Theron Reed as district judge. Saturday, December 29, 1866, A. D. Jones appears as editor of the Courier. In November of that year, mention is made of F. W. Doss as superintendent of public schools, and that Henry Hammell, J. J. Rhymes and John M. Brite comprised the County Board of Supervisors, having previously stated that Brite succeeded Rhyme. The first regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors at Havilah, when all were present, was August 6, 1866. At the special meeting previously held, the clerk was instructed to advertise for proposals to build a county jail. At the regular meeting referred to proposals were received from four different bidders, and the contract was awarded to Thomas B. Stuart, for the sum of $1,600, to be completed in sixty days. The building to be constructed of one-foot square timber, 20 x 16 feet, and to contain three cells, the partitions of which were to be six inches thick, the doors to be of half-inch iron made as grating. The contract also included a sheriff's office, to be constructed over the jail. The building was to be erected on a lot containing two acres purchased by the Board for county purposes. At the same meeting the Board entered into a contract with Thomas Baker and his associates to make or construct irrigating ditches on Lower Kern river, by which many thousands of acres of land then valueless and belonging to the State and county would be made productive and of great value. Baker and his associates were to receive a portion of said lands in payment for their work. The name Havilah is from the Old Testament, - Genesis II: "Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold." Havilah, the place of much gold, was the first county seat of Kern County, situated about 360 miles southeast of San Francisco, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet above ocean level, and about 110 miles inland on a direct line. The first steam quartz mill erected at this place was by a Mr. Thomas of Visalia, in 1864, and was an eight-stamp mill. Havilah contained 500 inhabitants that year. Of that number there were twenty-five families; the balance were miners, prospectors, etc. There were 147 buildings or tenements of various kinds in the town, among which were four hotels, twelve mercantile establishments of various kinds, doing an extensive business, two drug stores, three boot and shoe stores, two livery stables, two breweries, three bakeries, two billiard saloons, two barber-shops, three fruit stores, two bath houses, one paint shop, three blacksmith and wagon shops, besides numerous saloons, bars, etc., four physicians, one surveyor and civil engineer. Some were rather expensive buildings. The Bell Union Hotel, built and run by Messrs. Hammell & Denker, cost $16,500. January 1, 1868, there were three post offices in the county, viz.: Lynn's Valley, Havilah and Kernville. This same month and year Philip T. Colby succeeded L. F. Humiston as county judge. H. D. Bequette appears as court commissioner in connection with his duties as county clerk, recorder and auditor. This year there were six townships in the county. There being some dispute as to the boundary line between Kern and Los Angeles counties, a resurvey was made by George W. Orth on the part of Kern County, and William P. Reynolds on the part of Los Angeles County, and the following report was made by the Kern County surveyor: "The line having been located by act of legislature between townships 8 and 9 north, ranges 16 and 17 west of San Bernardino meridian, where a cedar post was set and marked L A on south side, and K on north side, and ran thence according to the true meridian west (the variation of the needle being 14 minutes, 41 seconds east) and at 480 chains set another and similar post, and with like letters thereon as before. Around this post was raised a mound of stones. Thence over rolling hills, and at 653 chains to the crest of the main range of mountains and at 843.35 chains attained the highest elevation along the line; thence, gradually descending, at 885 chains enter Canada los Encinos, passing across which at 1,120 chains; set cedar posts on each side of Fort Tejon and Los Angeles road; thence over bald hills, at 1,280.30 chains established the corner to Los Angeles, Kern and Santa Barbara counties, from which found by traverses Fort Tejon to bear north 17 degrees, 20 seconds east, 322 chains distant, and James Gorman's house to bear south 61 minutes east, 308 chains distant. "May 27, commencing at the initial point and setting posts as previously described, at the initial point and settling posts as previously described, every six miles, ran according to the true meridian, the variation of the needle being 14 minutes, 41 seconds east, east through a dense growth of cactus trees, and at 1,370 chains set posts on each side of Willow Springs and Lake Elizabeth road; thence over open desert, at 1,471 chains. Set posts on each side of Clear Creek and Soledad road. Thence passing at times through the beds of dry lakes, composed of a hard, spongy clay, incapable of holding water, and again over open desert, to a point due north of Mt. San Antonio, distant from the initial point 4,564.35 chains, at which was established the corner to Los Angeles, Kern and San Bernardino counties. "By observation whilst on the meridian at 9:30 p. m. on May 16, 1869, at Cow Springs, variation of the needle was found to be 14 degrees, 41 seconds east. "The line running west from the point last named passes for the first seven miles through an open, undulating plain, watered by numerous branches running from springs in the foothills, and susceptible of a high degree of cultivation; thence to the Canada los Encinos, over rugged mountains covered with scrub oak, cedar, fir, pine and manzanita; thence to the western corner, over bald hills, and crossing some good grazing land. The entire eastern line passes through an open desert almost destitute of vegetation, and rendered useless by the entire absence of water. The work on this end was rendered very disagreeable and expensive, inasmuch as all the water used by the party was transported in wagons, and during the latter portion of the time the men and stock suffered extremely, having hoped to find stock water by digging into the beds of dry lakes. "During the seven days occupied on the western line the weather was very cold, with violent and constant winds; on May 22, 23 and 24, rain storms and at 8:46 p. m., May 27, an earthquake lasting ten seconds." The files of the Courier are incomplete, having been destroyed by fire. April 13, 1872, the paper is headed Kern County Weekly Courier, Bakersfield. A five-column folio. June, 1872, mention is made of a new paper started at Havilah, called The Miner. In 1872 the question of moving the county seat was agitated, and the new and promising town, Bakersfield, in the valley was the prospective location. February, 1873, an election was held as to said removal. Owing to some irregularities in the vote, three precincts were thrown out, but the court afterward instructed the Board to count them. Bakersfield won the county seat by a small majority. The result was hotly contested, much bad feeling engendered, as is generally the case on such occasions, and a year was consumed in costly and acrimonious litigation before the seat was finally located at Bakersfield. The injunction suit was commenced in the month of May, 1875. The county expended, by warrants on the treasury in conducting this suit, the sum of $2, 237.80. Pending the decision of the court as to said injunction was evidently held July 12, 1866, but no record of it can be found. Thomas Baker was at the time county surveyor, and E. W. Doss superintendent of schools. The first deed recorded in Kern County was July 23, 1866, being for a lot in Havilah, from H. C. Harding to James R. Watson. It will be seen that the act authorizing a county to be called Kern was passed in April, 1866. In August of that year the county was organized and boundaries defined, and in November of the same year the first grand jury was drawn, as follows: W. W. Hudson, foreman; Robert Palmer, W. T. Henderson, Thomas H. Bennix, J. P. Swearingen, B. T. Mitchell, W. H. Williams, M. H. Erskine, E. R. Burke, Solomon Jewett, Edward Tibbett, V. G. Thompson, Henry Pascoe, J. J. Murphy, J. S. Totty, Daniel Muncton, W. D. Ward, T. W. Barnes, Stephen Chandler, and Isaac Lightner. The Board of Supervisors reconstructed the civil townships of the county in 1873, with names as follows: South Fork, township No. 1; Havilah, township No. 2; Tehachapi, township No. 3; Tejon, township No. 4; Bakersfield, township No. 5; and Lynn's Valley, township No. 6. The board also authorized A. R. Jackson to draw a map of the county, at a cost of $500. The Courier seems to have had strong bearing toward Republican politics in 1873. On election day, October, 1873, there occurred a triple tragedy at Sageland, near Havilah. Henry Watson killed Moss Gilman, and upon Robert Peppard attempting to arrest him, a struggle ensued, in the course of which they stabbed each other so fatally that they both died almost immediately. Watson and Gilman were very drunk and had quarreled the night before, and on the morning of the election. About noon Gilman went to bed, Watson sought him out and asked, "Have you voted?" "Yes." "Who for?" "Reed." With that he struck Gilman and went out. Being remonstrated with for having struck a man helplessly drunk, he said: "Then I will go back and kill him." He returned accordingly, and, finding Gilman still on his bed, fractured his skull in peices with his revolver, and slashed his body in many places with his knife. Thomas Bridger (owner of the mill and mine) then went to arrest him; but he swore that he would not be arrested. At this stage of the proceedings, Peppard, who was with Bridger, attempted to seize him by the hand in which he held a large sheath knife, and was stabbed twice in the breast. He then closed with Watson, and in the struggle that ensued they fell together and rolled down a slight declevity. When they arose Peppard said to Watson: "You have cut me, and you shall die." Suiting his action to the word, he threw all his strength into a rapid and powerful thrust with his knife. The keen blade penetrated Watson's heart, and they both fell dead together! It was near one year after the election to change the county seat from Havilah to Bakersfield before the matter was decided by the court. In January, 1874, the court in session at Visalia (Judge Deering presiding), decided that Bakersfield was duly chosen by a majority of the voters at the election in 1873. The first court held in Bakersfield was presided over by Judge Colby, beginning Monday, February 2, 1874, and continued three days. Some of the public records were transferred from Havilah in Saturday preceeding. Plans for a courthouse and jail at Bakersfield were advertised for as early as July, 1874, and stipulated not to cost more than $25,000. A. A. Bennett's plans were accepted and the work of erection began at once. Although some bad feeling existed, the ceremonies of laying the corner stone were conducted in due form, the Masons and Odd Fellows participating with the insignia if their order, as follows: B. Brundage, Master of the Bakersfield lodge of Masons was chosen master of ceremonies. When the orders had resumed their respective places the choir, composed of Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Willow, Mrs. Condict, Mr. Olds, Dr. Ormsby and Mr. Johnson, opened the exercise with an appropriate song. The following souvenirs were deposited under the corner stone in accordance with custom: Copy of the Bible, history of the organization of Kern County; Impressions of the court and county seals; organization of the town of Bakersfield; organization of Kern lodge, No. 224, F. & A. M.; copy of the great register of Kern County; one copy each of the Kern County Weekly Courier, Southern Californian, San Francisco Daily Bulletin, San Francisco Alta Californian, San Francisco Morning Call, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Sacramento Weekly Record-Union; a copy of the original map of the town of Bakersfield, of the constitution and by-laws of Kern Lodge, I. O. O. F., and a package of miscellaneous coins. County Statistics, Values, etc. The Legislature passed an act in March, 1868, for adjusting the debt between the counties from which Kern was formed, and W. L. Kennedy, E. E. Calhoun and A. D. Green were allowed $750 for services in settling the debt due by Kern County to Tulare and Los Angeles counties. In August, 1869, George W. Orth was allowed $1,938 for services in running the boundary line in conjunction with the surveyor of Los Angeles County. The line at that time established between the two counties, by George W. Orth of Kern, and William P. Leonard for Los Angeles County, is the line of to-day. About 1867, when the cattle interest predominated, the county assessment roll showed a total of $1,500,000. The following will enable the reader to form an idea of the growth of the various industries in the county for the decade of 1872 to 1882 inclusive: 1872 1882 Acres of land inclosed.......... 26,811 47,210 Acres of land cultivated........ 9,652 32,880 Acres of land in wheat.......... 2,244 25,220 Bushels of wheat................. 38,433 361,000 Acres in barley.................... 2,363 4,950 Bushels of barley................. 6,146 99,200 Acres in corn....................... 1,039 1,842 Bushels of corn.................... 19,830 52,600 Acres in hay........................ 2,952 12,840 Tons of hay......................... 3,801 18,320 Acres in cotton.................... 40 92 Pounds of cotton................. 20,000 27,000 Number of sheep................. 127,020 382,290 Pounds of wool................... 1,000,000 2,293,740 Gristmills........................... 3 7 Barrels of flour made........... 8,000 12,000 Bushels of corn ground........ 2,000 5,800 Number of sawmills............. 5 3 Feet of lumber sawed.......... 4,000,000 Number of Quartzmills......... 15 8 Improvements..................... $ 238,312 $ 312,804 Personal Property............... 328,637 1,599,838 Railroad, assessed by State Board........... 1,237,215 Total valuation in 1872 was.. 2,958,676 Total valuation in 1882 was.. 5,431,714 The total average assessed in 1882 was 1,117,421, at an average of $1.66 per acre; irrigating ditches at $74,681, and mining claims at $5,410. The following is the number of stock in the county in 1882, and valuation: Head Value Cattle.......................... 29,880 $ 298,800 Calves......................... 3,448 19,635 Cows, thoroughbred...... 122 3,800 Cows, graded............... 1,599 31,980 Oxen........................... 50 2,240 _________ ____________ Total................ 35,099 $347,455 Horses, thoroughbreds.. 17 $ 51,000 Horses, graded............. 3,146 80,135 Horses, American......... 296 25,070 Colts........................... 1,223 18,893 Jacks & Jennies........... 131 2,356 Mules.......................... 489 4,443 __________ _____________ Total................. 5,401 $ 135,997 The census of 1870 gives a population for the county of 2,727; that of 1880, 5,601, - an increase in ten years of 2,676. Population in 1890, 9,808. Property Values The following will give an idea of the increase of wealth in the county for one decade. The rate per $100 is given, and the total tax collected: Year Rate Total Tax 1880 $2.15 ................................................. $118,608.82 1881 2.50 .................................................. 150,286.92 1882 2.00 .................................................. 108,633.82 1883 1.65 .................................................. 83,637.67 1884 1.65 .................................................. 93,628.84 1885 1.75 .................................................. 102,496.19 1886 1.75 .................................................. 86,652.14 1887 2.00 .................................................. 137,938.97 1888 1.55 .................................................. 131,305.03 1889 1.75 ................................................... 172,298.76 1890 1.50 ................................................... 151,673.84 The figures given make an interesting study. It will be seen that the tax rate is lower than has been in any year during the decade. By the rate per $100, the assessed value of property in the county for each year will be found. Population By Townships in 1890 White Chinese Indian Colored Japanese Total Bakersfield............... 2,824 646 4 87 2 3,163 Judic'l Tp. No. 4........ 653 25 1 687 " No. 5........ 439 1 440 " No. 1........ 695 39 265 2 1 1,002 " No. 5........ 1,048 206 1 7 1,262 " No. 2........ 1,122 83 18 5 1 1,229 " No. 3........ 140 1 141 " No. 4........ 429 1 2 432 " No. 2........ 859 78 103 9 1 1,050 Total............. 8,219 1,080 391 103 5 9,808 Public Schools The public schools of the county are under the efficient management of County School Superintendent Alfred Harrell, Esq. The number of school districts in 1891 were forty-six, and others were being formed, so that during the year the total would probably reach fifty. Number of school buildings in the county, forty-six. Number of teachers, fifty-five: of these fourteen are males, and forty-one females. Male teachers receive $80 per month; females, $70. Average length of schools are eight months. Mr. Harrell was first elected to the office of County School Superintendent in 1886, and has been re-elected ever since. On assuming the duties of the office in 1886 he found little on record by his predecessors to guide him as to the future necessities, judging by past emergencies and how they had been met and disposed of. He had in a measure to begin anew. He had the ability and the will, and with him to will was to do, and he delayed not as to action; and his watchword all along the line was "Forward:" and to-day the grand results, rapid growth and efficiency of the schools in the county commend the management much more than can words. In 1880 there were 1,036 census children in the county, and there were then twenty schools. In 1885 there were 1,264 children and thirty-three schools. In 1890 there were 1,997 children in the county between the ages of five and seventeen years. Schools are now graded. Each teacher at the close of the school term is required to furnish to the county superintendent of schools a report showing the progress made by each pupil and their rating at close of school. This method enables the teacher on beginning a school to place each pupil where he properly belongs without a course of examination, as by application to the county superintendent the report of the teacher who had taught the school last would be furnished. The city schools are under the same management as those of the county. Bakersfield has now the best school building in the county, costing $12,000. Delano has the second best, costing $10,000. Bonds have been voted to build an elegant as well as spacious school edifice in Bakersfield, to cost $30,000. The plans indicate a building which will be an ornament to the city and do great credit to the county. Mr. Harrell is confident as to the advance that will be made in the educational interests of the county within a few years, and his aim is to bring his county up to the standard of the best in the State. He has the educational interests of his people at heart, is capable and energetic, and success will crown his efforts if sustained by the citizens , which they certainly will do. Kern County citizens are awake to the great possibilities for their section of the State, and will not permit any other people to surpass them in anything. Kern County Officials The following gentlemen have filled the several positions named since the county was organized. Senators are reckoned from the date of Tulare County's organization. The three counties included in this work have been continuously grouped together in Senatorial representation, and at times such has been the case in the Assembly. Senators - J. W. Freeman, 1863-'68; Thomas Fowler, 1869-'72; Tipton Lindsey, 1873-'76; Thomas Fowler, 1877-'78; Chester Rowell, 1880-'81; Patrick Reddy, 1883-'85; John Roth, 1887-'89; G. Stockton Berry, 1890-'91. Assemblymen - J. C. Brown, 1863-'68; E. W. Doss, 1869-'70; J. Buckhalter, 1871-'72; W. Canfield, 1873-'74; J. A. Patterson, 1875-'76; W. S. Adams, 1877-'78; A. B. De Brutz, 1881; A. J. Atwell, 1883; W. L. Morton, 1883; E. L. De Witt, 1885; M. J. Brooks, 1887; George W. Wear, 1888-'89; Thomas A. Rice, 1890-'91. The first officials of Kern County were appointed when the act was passed creating the county, and were as follows: County Judge, Theron Reed; District Attorney, E. E. Calhoun; County Clerk, Recorder, etc., H. D. Bequette; Sheriff, W. B. Ross; Assessor, R. B. Sagely; Surveyor, Thomas Baker; Coroner, Joseph Lively; Superintendent of Schools, E. W. Doss; Treasurer, D. A. Sinclair; Supervisors - Henry Hammell, J. J. Rhymes, and S. A. Bishop. At the election held in 1867 the following were elected: Sheriff, R. B. Sagely; Clerk, H. D. Bequette; District Attorney, Thomas Laspeyre; Treasurer, D. A. Sinclair; Assessor, James R. Watson; Surveyor, Thomas Baker; Coroner, A. D. Jones; Superintendent of Schools, E. W. Doss; Supervisors - D. W. Walser, District No. 1; J. J. Rhymes, District No. 2; and John M. Brite, District No. 3. F. W. Craig was elected Supervisor for District No. 1 in October, 1868. At the October election, 1869, the following were elected: Sheriff, William H. Coons; Clerk, T. J. Williams; Assessor, James R. Watson; Treasurer, D. A. Sinclair; District Attorney, Thomas Laspeyre; Surveyor, E. E. Calhoun; Coroner, Herman Hershfeld; Superintendent of Schools, J. H. Cornwall; Supervisor of District No. 2, C. T. White. Elected in October, 1871: Sheriff, W. H. Coons; Clerk, A. A. Bermudez; District Attorney, A. C. Lawrence; Treasurer, D. A. Sinclair; Assessor, Benjamin F. Walker; Coroner, Jacob Asher; Surveyor, E. E. Calhoun; Superintendent of Schools, J. H. Cornwall; Supervisor of the 1st District, F. W. Craig. Sol. Jewett was elected Supervisor District No. 2 in 1872. At the October election, 1873, the following were elected: W. R. Bower, Sheriff; D. A. Sinclair, Treasurer; F. W. Craig, Clerk; A. C. Lawrence, District Attorney; B. F. Walker, Assessor; Walter James, Surveyor; L. A. Beardsley, Superintendent of Schools; J. P. Miller, Coroner; John Narboe, Supervisor of the 3rd District. At the meeting of the Board of Supervisors, October 21, 1873, A. H. Denker appears as chairman of the Board. No record of his election could be found. In 1874 F. W. Goodale was elected Supervisor from District No. 1. In the fall of 1875 the following were elected: M. P. Wells, Sheriff; J. W. Freeman, District Attorney; J. C. Pemberton, Treasurer; F. W. Craig, Clerk; R. R. Donnell, Assessor; W. A. Johnson, Surveyor; L. A. Beardsley, Superintendent of Schools; H. C. Dimock, Coroner; T. F. Kerr, Supervisor Second District. At this election P. T. Colby was elected county judge. F. A. Tracy was elected supervisor from the Third District in November, 1876. T. E. Harding appears among the Board of Supervisors. Canvassing the vote November 10, 1877, records fail to show when he was elected. Total vote cast at October election, 1877, was 1,214. The following were elected: W. R. Bower, Sheriff; J. C. Pemberton, Treasurer; J. W. Freeman, District Attorney; F. W. Craig, Clerk; F. E. Calhoun, Auditor; W. R. Macmurdo, Surveyor; A. A. Mix, Coroner; Wm. Lightner, Supervisor of the First District. A complaint being entered that F. A. Tracy was not a resident of the Third district, he was retired, and the county judge appointed John M. Brite of said district to the position. Tracy is recorded as having met with the Board regularly, claiming his seat, at the same time the case was pending decision by the court, which finally decided in favor of John M. Brite. In June, 1878, a special election was held to elect a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention, and V. A. Gregg was honored with that position. In the fall of 1878, A. J. Halbert was elected Supervisor from the Second district. There was a special meeting of the Board held August 23, 1879, at which the Board appointed A. P. Bernard County Treasurer, the office having been vacated by the death of Treasurer J. C. Pemberton. At the general election held in the fall of 1879, B. Brundage was elected Superior Judge; A. T. Lightner, Clerk; W. R. Bower, Sheriff; T. E. Harding, Assessor; F. S. Wallace, Superintendent of Schools; A. P. Bernard, Treasurer; W. P. Wilkes, Auditor; G. V. Smith, District Attorney; W. R. Macmurdo, Surveyor; S. A. Burnap, Coroner; P. O. Hare, Supervisor of the Third District. H. Hirshfield appears as one of the Board of Supervisors at their meeting April 7, 1880. The records do not show whether he was elected or appointed. November, 1880, A. Fay was elected Supervisor from the First District, and in August, 1882, George H. Wheeler was appointed Supervisor for the Second District. The new Constitution of 1879 changed the general election from odd to even years, and at the fall election of 1882 there were 1,328 votes polled, and the following elections were held: A. P. Bernard, Treasurer; A. T. Lightner, Clerk; W. R. Bower, Sheriff; William Tyler, Auditor; T. E. Harding, Assessor; W. R. Macmurdo, Surveyor; J. W. Freeman, District Attorney; A. B. Macpherson, Superintendent of Schools; John T. Maio, Coroner; R. H. Evans, Supervisor of the First District. J. McKamy and L. Crusoe appear as members of the Board of Supervisors at their meeting January 8, 1883. There were 1,424 votes cast at the November election in 1884, and the following officers elected: W. R. Bower, Sheriff; William Tyler, Auditor; J. F. Rowe, Tax Collector; N. R. Packard, Clerk and Recorder; J. W. Freeman, District Attorney; A. P. Bernard, Treasurer; J. F. Maio, Coroner; W. R. Macmurdo, Surveyor; R. H. Evans, Supervisor District No. 1; John M. Brite, Supervisor District No. 2; J. M. McKamy, Supervisor District No. 3; L. Crusoe, Supervisor District No. 4; George C. Doherty, Supervisor District No. 5. At the November election, 1886, there were 1,418 votes cast, and the following officers elected: Dallas McCord, Sheriff; N. R. Packard, Clerk and Recorder; H. P. Olds, Auditor; J. W. Freeman, District Attorney; W. T. Jameson, Treasurer; T. A. Baker, Tax Collector; T. E. Harding, Assessor; Alfred Harrell, Superintendent of Schools; F. Buckreus, Coroner and Public Administrator; W. L. Dixon, Surveyor; L. F. Gates, Supervisor Second District; J. M. McKamy, Supervisor Third District. April 4, 1887, E. M. Roberta appears as one of the Board of Supervisors, supposed to have succeeded George C. Doherty. L. F. Gates, of the Second District, died in January, 1888, and on the 7th of February of that year Joseph Fountain was elected to fill the position. At the general election November, 1888, the number of votes polled was 2,196, and officers elected were: W. J. Graham, Sheriff; N. R. Packard, Clerk and Recorder; W. A. Howell, Auditor; Alvin Fay, District Attorney; T. A. Baker, Tax Collector and Treasurer; F. Buckreus, Coroner and Public Administrator; W. R. Macmurdo, Surveyor; Charles F. Bennett, Supervisor First District; A. Morgan, Supervisor Fourth District; E. M. Roberts, Supervisor Fifth District. County Clerk N. R. Packard, known as Judge Packard, is a Southern-bred gentleman of the highest type and very courteous to all. On the 26th day of March, 1891, a colored gentleman approached the Judge in his office and expressed a desire that the Judge issue him license to preach; when told by the Judge that it was not in his line of business to license servents of the Lord, the colonel citizen seemed much disappointed. There were 2,640 votes east at the general election in November, 1890, and others elected as follows: H. L. Borgwardt, Sheriff; N. R. Packard, Clerk and Recorder; A. T. Lightner, Assessor; W. A. Howell, Auditor; T. A. Baker, Tax Collector and Treasurer; Alvin Fay, District Attorney; Alfred Harrell, Superintendent of Schools; F. Buckreus, Coroner and Public Administrator; W. R. Macmurdo, Surveyor; Joseph Fountain, Supervisor District, No. 1; E. A. McGee, Supervisor District, No. 2. The Superior Judges have filled the position in the order as follows: B. Brundage; Rufus E. Arick (deceased); A. R. Conklin, present Judge, appointed by Governor Waterman to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Arick. Kern County As It Is We have been rambling over Kern County as it was in early times, and will now survey it as it is, and try to get a glimpse of what it may and certainly will be twenty-five years hence at the rate of progress and development now being made. There are few incidents of the past yet worthy of record, however, but we will in the main deal in the present, with the present, and for the future. It will be of interest to those who may read these pages in 1925, after all wild animals have been exterminated, to know that even as late as 1867, there were many large bears in the county. In April, 1867, a Mr. Pettit, who was herding sheep for William and D. S. Lightmere at Allen's Camp, Walker's Basin, wrote to the Courier that he had a few days previously killed an immense bear by poisoning. He stated that the bear's estimated weight was 1,000 pounds. There were many in the county at that date and was very destructive to sheep. Near old Fort Tejon, on an oak tree about thirty inches in diameter, was found some years since the following transcription, then nearly grown over: I. H. S. Peter Lebeck killed by a bear October 17, 1837. At the time the letters were carved, the tree was perhaps less than half its present size. Recently investigators found that the inscription had grown over, and on cutting in and removing the growth, they got an exact reprint on the portion removed, leaving the original plain in the tree. Further curiosity led them to excavate at the root of the tree, and to their surprise they found the remains of a man, perfect in all parts except one hand, which could not be found. The remains were evidently those of the man, Peter Lebeck, and the tree was a growing monument to the unfortunate pioneer. While we desire to keep before our readers the enormous proportions of Kern County, we do not expect to impress you with half the facts connected with this wonderful region. We could write volumes, and make many seemingly unreasonable statements, and yet not tell the half. But to prepare the reader for some large stories, or stories of large products, we wish to call his attention to the fact that Kern is one of California's large counties, embracing 8,100 square miles, which is very near equal to the State of New Hampshire, with an area of 9,005 square miles, and a population of 375,827. Vermont has an area of 9,135 square miles and a population of 332,205. Massachusetts has an area of 8,040 square miles, a little less than that of Kern County. Massachusetts has a population of 2,233,407. Little Rhode Island has an area of only 1,085 square miles and sustains a population of 745,861. This will give an idea of what Kern County is capable of sustaining when her vast area is developed to the extent that it can and will be. One million of people can subsist in the county more comfortably than can the present population in the State of Massachusetts. Kern is bounded on the north by Tulare and Inyo counties; on the east by San Bernardino; on the south by Los Angeles, and on the southwest and west by Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. It occupies the extreme southern portion of the great San Joaquin valley, lying centrally in the State east and west, and is situated in the southern portion of Central California. Its Topography Its eastern boundary line extends a little over the summit of the Sierra, and the summit of the Coast Range may be said to form its western boundary. Nearly one-fourth is embraced in foothills, a large amount is mountain lands covering a portion of the immense lumber belt of the Sierra. The southeast corner covers a portion of the Mojave desert east of the Sierra. The remainder of the county, known locally as Kern valley, is without exception one of the richest sections of the State and not surpassed in the world. It embraces the principal portion of the agricultural lands of the county, extending from the northern limits of the county and the southern border of Tulare lake, to the amphitheater of mountains which surround it on the east, south and west. A small portion of Tulare lake dips into this county, but it has no natural boundary on the north, being simply a prolongation of the great valley of the San Joaquin. It is quite regular in its outline, being about forty miles wide east and west, by about fifty miles north and south. It is seen that here lie 2,000 square miles, or more than one and a quarter million acres of the most fertile lands to be found in this or any other country, so large an unbroken body of rich land. In the central southern portion of Kern valley lie Kern and Buena Vista lakes. Kern lake is thirteen miles south of Bakersfield, and is about seven miles long east and west, with an average width of nearly three miles. About five miles west of this and connected therewith by a slough is Buena Vista lake, about the same length, and of an average width a little greater than that of the former. These lakes are connected with Tulare lake, distant about thirty-five miles, a little west of north, by Buena Vista slough. On the border of these lakes and sloughs, especially on the north side of Kern and Buena Vista, are swamp lands unreclaimed and exceedingly rich. About ten miles south of Tulare lake, and connected with the slough leading thereto, in the northwestern portion of Kern valley, is Goose lake, about two and a half miles in length by one in width. The irrigated, developed district or portion of this valley lies within about fifteen to twenty miles south and west and twenty-five to thirty northwest of Bakersfield. These lands, which are covered by as fine a system of irrigating canals and ditches as exists, slope from east to west, or have an incline to the west of four to seven feet to the mile, the average being about five feet. The irrigating features and water resources will be more fully presented elsewhere. Products This county will produce anything from the most delicate and sweet-scented flower to the mammoth Sequoia gigantea. Space here will not permit detail as regards each valuable product, but mere mention will be made of many of the most profitable products that have been tried in the county. Here grow and yield well nearly all the agricultural and horticultural products of the temperate zone, besides some of the semitropic. The agricultural list embraces wheat, barley, oats, rye, Indian and Egyptian corn, buckwheat, alfalfa, millet, canary seed, hops, sorghum, sugar-beets, cotton, tobacco, castor-bean, peanuts, flax, hemp, jute, ramie and liquorice-root. Some of the last named are not extensively cultivated, but from tests made it is ascertained that they can be successfully produced. Of these, alfalfa probably excels all others in its marvelous growth and bountiful yield. Garden vegetables of nearly every description grow to perfection. In this list are Irish and sweet potatoes, yams, beans, peas, cabbage, onions, cauliflower, tomatoes, celery, asparagus, turnips, carrots, parsnips, beets, radishes, pumpkins, squashes, water-melons, muskmelons, nutmegs, cantaloupes, egg-plant, artichokes, spinach, rhubarb citrons, Chili peppers, etc. Of these, sweet potatoes and melons excel. The horticultural products embrace all the deciduous fruits, some of the citrus fruits, fruit of nut-bearing trees, berries and fruit of the vine. Of these are the apple, pear, peach, plum, prune, apricot, nectarine and cherry. All varieties of berries; the blackberry and strawberry excel. Table, raisin and wine grapes do well. Of the fig, orange, lemon, lime and pomegranate; the fig excels. Of nuts, are walnuts of all varieties, hard and soft-shelled almonds and the pecan. Fruits attain enormous size. Examples of Kern County Products But few people who have never seen the wonderful products of California, are willing to believe facts when stated, but very naturally say that it is a California fabrication. The ordinary Eastener cannot get it within the scope of his reasoning faculties that 140 bushels of corn can be produced on one acre of land, yet such is the case: while it is not claimed that every acre of land planted to corn will make such yield, yet it has been grown in Kern County. Several years since, Captain Noble, a practical farmer, whose farm was situated near Bakersfield, noticed that his field of corn promised an abundant yield, and concluded to ascertain the exact amount per acre. He had a practical surveyor measure the ground. He then gathered an measured the corn, and found that the amount produced was 140 bushels per acre. Thinking perhaps that the statement might be doubted, he went before a justice of the peace and made oath to the amount. Eastern people who are accustomed to consider sweet potatoes weighing two and three pounds as large, will not feel disposed to credit the statement that potatoes eight times as large have been grown in Kern County; yet such is true. Some years since Dr. Stockton produced a crop of potatoes near Bakersfield, and exhibited a number in town, the largest of which weighed twenty-three, and the smallest twenty pounds. When we ask why, if such are actual results, do not all engage growing corn and sweet potatoes, the answer we receive is that more can be realized from various other crops than can from the two named. There can be grown on Kern County soil six crops of alfalfa in one year, each crop making one and a half tons of hay per acre, or nine tons per acre per year. One acre will pasture three head of horses or cattle. At the age of fifteen months a Kern County colt is as large as the average Eastern at three and four years. Viewing the situation from this standpoint it will be seen that other products surpass those of corn and potatoes, even at such an enormous yield. There is no better soil and no better climate for producing and preparing the raisin than is found in Kern County. The prune, the fig, the lemon, lime, olive and various other fruits will yield richer returns per acre than will corn and potatoes. Hence the cause why few attempt to grow those products for profit. Resources It is a difficult matter to compass within the limits of a sketch of this character anything like an adequate description of the all but illimitable resources of a county such as Kern, with its millions of acres of valley, hill and mountain, all replete with sources of the greatest wealth. At the outset considerable was said as to the agricultural wealth of the county, and that these statements were no exaggeration it now becomes necessary to prove. With Bakersfield as a starting point let the visitor go in any direction and carefully note the salient features brought to his attention. The one most prominent feature will be the vast area devoted to the production of alfalfa. Thousands of acres are perennially green with this most valuable of forage plants. On every hand are great stacks containing hundreds of tons of well-cured hay, while in the pasture fields are tens of thousands of horses, cattle and sheep, which are reared and fattened for market upon no other food than this. The alfalfa-fed beef and mutton of this valley is simply without a superior. This hay is cut and put in the stack at an average cost covering all expense of no more than $1 a ton, and no stock grower needs further information as to the possibilities of profit. But there are other sources of wealth of superior value to this and we will continue the journey. Almost due south of Bakersfield some ten or a dozen miles we reach the Greenfield's ranch of several thousand acres, devoted largely to stock growing, but to grain, fruit, etc., as well. Here we learn that wheat is raised with irrigation which averages forty bushels to the acre, barley fifty bushels, and shelled corn sixty to seventy -five bushels. Sweet potatoes go 300 bushels to the acre, and other vegetables in proportion being kept growing the year round. Here is an orchard of apples, peaches, apricots, pears, prunes, nectarines, and other fruits, with ten acres of grape vines, while in the grounds about the house are orange, fig, pomegranate, pecan and other trees. All of the fruits named are produced in large quantity and excellent quality, while from the grape are made raisins that are equal to the best. Almost everything in the way of ornamental shrub or flower grows luxuriantly, and the entire place is a scene of tropical verdue that is attractive to the utmost. A return drive of a few miles brings us to the Stockdale ranch, where similar results have been accomplished in the production of grain, fruits, etc., by the aid of irrigation. Not far away is the Bellevue, which is the acme of what can be done in the delta lands. Here is a magnificent orchard of mature orange trees, bearing luscious fruit, while every fruit and nut that is cultivated in the State is represented and all growing with the greatest luxuriance and producing fruit of the most excellent quality. And so we can go day after day, visiting ranch after ranch and finding that nothing in the wide range of cereal, fruit, vegetable and ordinary farm crop will not grow. Hops, cotton, tobacco, Egyptian corn and many other specialties have been successfully experimented with. From apples to oranges, every variety of fruit is produced. The vegetable garden is green the year round. Melons are almost a nuisance. Beets grow five or six feet deep. In fact, in all the wide range of products of the temperate and subtropical zones it would be impossible to select one that does not attain perfection here. One of the specialties, however, for which Kern County is destined to become famous in her peaches. Every section has some two or three specialties, and the peach has so far attained the greatest success here. Space forbids going into too great detail, but a couple of notable instances of recent occurrence will suffice to show what has been accomplished and what may be expected. A couple of miles or so south of Bakersfield is a peach orchard belonging to S. A. Wible. which has been planted just thirty months, and in which the trees average fully seventeen feet in height, with large trunks and a growth of limb that would be extraordinary in an orchard twice the age. This orchard covers twenty acres, though the trees if planted in the usual style of 108 to the acre would only occupy fifteen acres. Last year, when only eighteen months old, there were five tons of choice fruit taken from the trees. This year there were 7,731 boxes of fruit gathered and shipped to the East, where it was sold at auction in New York, bringing readily from $1.40 to $2 a box. The entire actual cost of gathering, boxing, shipping and selling was than 70 cents a box. There was thus left a profit of from 70 cents to $1.30 a box. Averaging it at $1, which is within bounds, and the net returns will be seen to have been $7,731, from which, of course, must be deducted the cost of cultivation, which, however, is small, since only one irrigation was given the orchard during the season. In addition, however, to the 7,731 boxes of fresh fruit shipped to the East there were 3,000 pounds of dried peaches put up, worth at a low calculation $450, while an additional large quantity of fresh fruit was given away and sold directly from the orchard. Here, then, we have a twenty-acre orchard of peaches which at two and one-half years from planting returned a net profit of at least $7,000, or $350 an acre. In another direction from town and on the road to the Rosedale colony is another famous peach orchard, the property of C. A. Maul. From twenty-three acres of trees which are six years old there were shipped to the East sixteen carloads of fresh fruit, besides which enough more was dried and otherwise disposed of to make three or four carloads more. For the fruit shipped the grower received $16,000, of which at least three-fourths, and probably a greater proportion, was net profit. A feature of both these orchards was that from half to three-fourths of the fruit that set on the trees was thinned out while young. From some trees as many as 2,500 young peaches were picked, leaving only 300 or 400. The result was that the fruit that was left to mature attained an immense size. Large numbers of boxes were packed in which each peach weighed over a pound, while many specimens were weighed that were from twenty to twenty-four ounces in weight and measured from twelve to fifteen inches and more in circumference. The quality of this mammoth fruit, too, was most excellent. It withstood shipment well, arriving at the East in perfect order, and sold reality for the highest prices. From what has been already accomplished it is no hazard to prophesy that the Kern delta will be noted in the future for at least three specialties. These will be the production of peaches, which will find a ready market either shipped fresh to the East, dried in the open air, or sold to canners, who will be able here to produce large supplies of the very choicest fruit. The raisin grape will be another specialty. Enough has been done in various portions of the county to show that the soil is emminently adapted to this fruit, while the climate is the best for drying purposes that can be found. The prune is another fruit that will be a favorite, while the apricot, fig, orange and other varieties will be largely and successfully cultivated. In the lower foothills is a large area at a certain elevation which par-takes of the same general characteristics of climate as are found at a similar height all over the State, the danger from frost is at a minimum, and the orange and other tender growths thrive to perfection. At the famous Tejon ranch are splendid specimens of mature orange trees, while in many other localities in the valleys and foothills may a similar growth be seen. That the orange will be grown here on a scale of commercial importance, is believed by all who have taken the trouble to inquire into the existence of the requisites of soil, climate and water for the development of that most attractive and profitable industry. Columns might be filled with detail of the remarkable success attending all agricultural experiments made here. But enough has been related to show that every claim made at the outset is abundantly substantiated. There are other resources, however, which, while they have not reached the development that has been achieved by agriculture, nevertheless are bound to attain importance nearly equal thereto. That there are in the mountains large deposits of gold, silver, antimony and other valuable minerals has been shown from the earliest history of the county. Indeed, the mines about Havilah and Kernville were the cause of the first settlement of this region. Lack of ready means of transportation has been a serious drawback to the development of these deposits. In the western and southwestern portions of the county are other mineral deposits which are also of great extent and value. There are thousands of acres of asphaltum, with immense springs from which a tremendous volume of that material is constantly poured forth in liquid form. There are natural gas deposits also in a number of widely separated localities, which will become of the greatest value for manufacturing and illuminating, and there are ledges of pure sulphur large enough to make matches for the world. Silver and gold there are, too, in the San Emigido range of mountains, with traces of workings which must have been operated a hundred or more years in the past. In the mountains of Kern County are some of the largest areas of virgin forest left in the State. Great groves of stately redwood, pine, fir, cedar and other trees cover thousands of acres which are practically untouched, their remoteness from the lines of travel having so far prevented them from being profitably worked. The opportunities for capital in this direction are of the most promising character, since water power is abundant for the ready operation of mills, and the rapid growth of the county furnishes a home market for large quantities of lumber. There is still another resource of this valley, which, while mentioned last, is destined to be by no means the least in the list of sources of wealth. No community is so prosperous as that which provides a home market for the bulk or at least a large share of its products. In those localities where manufacture of various kinds give employment to large numbers of various kinds give employment to large numbers of men, the farmers find a ready sale at good rates for nearly everything produced by them. Manufacturers go where raw material, transportation and motive power are the cheapest and most readily obtainable. The sources of raw material in Kern County have been pretty well explained. Flax, cotton, ramie, wool, leather and other articles of manufacture can be produced here in any quantity at a minimum of cost. In the mountains are inexhaustible supplies of wood, while metals of various kinds are in abundance. The means of transportation have already been pointed out. There are already two competing transcontinental lines in the county, with the promise of even greater facilities in the immediate future. The matter of motive power becomes the next consideration. The irrigation canals themselves afford an abundant supply, which has already been utilized in a small way, showing what may easily be done whenever the time shall become ripe. But go to the mouth of the Kern river canon, a pleasant drive of two or three hours from town, and note the existent facts. There, within a short distance, the river plunges down falls and cataracts several hundred feet. Thousands of tons of water are falling with resistless force, as they have fallen for uncounted ages, beating and wearing the granite walls to dust, and carrying the decomposed material to the plains below. At a dozen points this tremendous power can be utilized for any purpose that may be desired. By a pipe line the water may be brought out on the mesa below the mouth of the canon, and while furnishing 200 feet or more of fall for the development of power, may at the same time provide water for the irrigation of thousands of acres of as fertile soil as the sun ever shone upon. Dynamos can be put in here and electricity generated, which can be conveyed to all parts of the valley and harnessed to machinery for manufactures of every variety. Such an opportunity for the development of the cheapest power in practically unlimited quantities has seldom been offered, and as one watches the great steam dashing over precipice and boiling over boulder he can but wonder that it should have been so long neglected. But watchful eyes and active minds have taken in the situation, and it now seems altogether probable that before another twelvemonth shall have rolled around, decisive steps will have been taken for the development of this resource which is destined to become one of the most prominent avenues for wealth in this surpassingly endowed section. Scenery Before going further investigating the agricultural, horticultural and other resources of the county, we wish to make brief mention of Kern County scenery. The principal points of interest near the county has been so fully described elsewhere in this work that we will not go into detail here, only throw more light on what has been said. The Sierras hold in their depths riches other than gold and silver. The student of nature can here find much that will sharpen his perception, and augment his knowledge, as well as impress him with the immensity of his ignorance. There is something ennobling in mountains. The mountain-climber obtains ideas of vastness, of intensity, and of sublimity, which the plains-man never realizes. And there is a fascination in his wild life, that when it has once laid hold on the individual, reluctantly loosens its grasp. He finds health, strength, quietude, and suggestive facts in his surroundings, and when fatigued by weary rambles he obtains comforting repose on a rock pillow, and lulled to sleep by falling waters and the sad but sweet music of swaying pines, he dreams dreams that come not to the plainsman. The peculiar and beautiful sight of red snow is met with on the Sierra at an elevation of 12,000 feet. Mr. Frank Dusy of Fresno County says he has seen miles of it on these mountain ranges. When examined through a strong microscope these odd and pretty globules are discovered to be of the very small microscopic water plant (Protococcus nivalis) which gives to this snow its red or crimson color. The Tehipitee and Paradise valleys have been described. We will add here a brief description of one of the most wonderful wonders in the Sierra yet discovered. No pens, be the wielder thereof ever so gifted, can do justice to the Kern River Canon. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest wonders in the world. The bottom of the valley is 8,000 feet above the sea, and its walls are nearly perpendicular, varying in height from 3,000 to 6,000 feet. This valley is much narrower than the YoSemite, varying from one-fourth to one mile in width, while the YoSemite has an average breadth of over two miles. This has the effect of making the valley's walls seem more lofty than do those of the YoSemite, which are somewhat disappointing to one unaccustomed to measuring such wonderful altitudes with the eye. Kern River Canon is also a much longer valley than the YoSemite, which is only seven miles long, while Kern is between thirty and forty miles in length, and for twenty miles of this distance horses can be taken into the valley only at one point. Twelve miles due east of Paradise valley will be found the south end of the "Palisades," that grand range of perpendicular cliffs of comparatively recent volcanic formation, along the summit ridge of the Sierra, between Fresno and Mono Counties, which range from 13,000 to 14,000 feet in height. Mount Goddard, about twenty miles north-northeast, is 14,000 feet high; Mount Silliman, twenty-two miles south, is near 12,000 feet. Mount King and Mount Gardner, twelve miles away to the southeast, are estimated to be 14,000 feet high. Mount Brewer, still farther away in the same general direction, is of equal height, and is on a spur embraced by two branches of King's river. Near it ten peaks can be seen as high, and perhaps four are higher, according to the geological survey. Slightly east of south thirty-two miles is the lofty Kaweah Peak, one of the highest points seen from the San Joaquin valley, and estimated to be over 14,000 feet, though its exact height has not been ascertained. Southeast thirty miles are Mount Tyndall, 14,386 feet, and Mount Williamson, "an inaccessible bunch of needles" higher still and about two miles north of Tyndall. Thirty-eight miles southeast is the culminating point of all the Sierra Nevada, Mount Whitney, whose height is more than 15,000 feet, and whose slopes, canons and table lands form the immense watershed that is drained by Kern river and its numerous tributaries. All these and hundreds of other less noted peaks can be seen from high points near Paradise valley. This grand canon of King's river, nestling thus in the midst of the most magnificent Alpine scenery of America which surrounds it within a radius of fifteen miles, is, in straight line, fifty-five miles slightly north of east from Fresno city, and about seventy-five miles southeast from YoSemite valley. A remarkable natural phenomenon of this valley is a double sunset every day, as seen from near Copper creek. Regularly at 1:30 p. m. the sun passes behind a very high cliff and peak on the south side of the great canon. For about two hours it remains concealed from view, and then bursts forth again from beyond the western edge of Mount Capitan and just over the falls of the Roaring river. Then comes the second sunset about the time it occurs in the San Joaquin valley, the sun seeming to pass down the deep gorge to the westward, where King's river finds its exit toward the plains. Few, if any, other regions can boast of such a phenomenon. Another natural fact worthy of mention is that, because of the dense shade of the high walls on the south side of this valley, the snow disappears, trees bud, and flowers bloom on the north side immediately under its perpendicular cliffs, which reflect the sun's rays down into the valley, in February, three months earlier than on the south side. In the latter region snow remains in the deep crevices and gorges until in June. Similar effects of the more or less direct rays of the sun are witnessed along all the southern or northern slopes, not only of the mountains of this coast but throughout the world. The wild flowers of this valley and the Kern river canon are much the same as those found in the YoSemite. The upper or southern portion of the great San Joaquin valley closely resembles that of the Nile, yet vastly more capable of sustaining a much larger population. These comparisons are well worth a careful reading and study. There is no fancy or ideal pen-picture here attempted; much more might truthfully be said; yet as there are so many who doubt and claim that such statements are mere braggadocio, we simply ask of you who do not believe to come and see, and you will be cordially welcomed by an hospitable people. Kern Delta Compared With That of The Nile The fabulous fertility of the delta of the Nile has been set forth in both Biblical and profane history for thousands of years. That fertility, due to the regenerative and recuperative power of the waters with which the land is periodically flooded, has for ages been regarded as the highest type of its kind which the world has ever seen. It made of Egypt the garden spot of the world, to which even proud Rome was forced to look for the corn with which her citizens and soldiers were fed. It showed to the world that a comparatively small area, bordered by desert on every hand, could, by the magic power of the goddess Fluvia, be made to support millions - a more dense population in proportion to area than any other part of the world. It produced a civilization the highest if its era, the indelible traces of which remain until this day. To irrigation Egypt owed the fact that she became the granary of the world, the earliest mistress of civilization. To irrigation primarily were due the grand temples and the wealthy cities that lined the Nile for hundreds of miles. The waters of that river led captive over the adjacent valley were the mainspring of a wealth and prosperity such as no other part of the world ever saw. It is something of a jump from the days of Jacob and the journeying of his sons into Egypt in search of corn during a year of famine (a dry year, in the California sense) to the Pacific coast of North America in these latter days of the nineteenth century. Yet we will take that jump, and in the search for a parallel to the Nile delta traverse the coast from north to south. Search well each valley and note the salient features; study the soil, the climate, the streams, the products, and when that search shall have been completed, what section will be found to most nearly resemble the famed valley of the Nile? Without fear of contradiction, the answer undoubtedly must be, the upper or southern portion of the San Joaquin valley, - that vast region where the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada sweep in a grand semicircle around from the west and the east, and form the lofty barrier which shuts out the desert from the fertile plains watered by the Kern and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries. In a word, a closer approach to the natural conditions of the delta of the Nile will be found in the 5,000,000 acres embraced within the boundaries of the county of Kern than in any other part of this continent. Let us look at these conditions and note the points of similarity. First, as to climate. The valley of the Nile is practically rainless. Rainstorms come so infrequently that the natural precipitation cuts no figure at all in the calculations of the tillers of the soil. So with the Kern delta: the rainfall is less than in any other part of the State - a fact which, while to some might appear a drawback, nevertheless, as will be shown, has overwhelming compensations and advantages. Nature deals ever in compensations, and as in Egypt she has provided the vast volume of the Nile to offset the lack of rainfall, so here in the Kern river and other streams are sources provided ample for the irrigation of the entire vast area. Indeed, kindly nature has been more bounteous in her treatment of the Kern delta than in that of the Nile. In Egypt that stream occasionally fails to bring down the floods necessary for the fructification of the soil, and then ensue seasons of famine and distress. The streams of the Kern delta, however, fed by the vast glaciers of the lofty Sierra, and by the snows which never fall, afford, year in and year out, with the certainty and regularity of the succession of one year after another, an abundance of the life-giving fluid for every use of the entire valley. A failure of this water supply is impossible, and with the adoption of the more modern methods of irrigation there will be an abundance for every acre without taking into account the subterranean streams, which, when tapped, furnish an artesian flow without parallel. In the single feature of water supply the Kern delta is immeasurably superior to its prototype in Africa. As to soil, for ages the Nile has been bringing down from the interior of Africa vast deposits of matter from the disintegration of the rocks, the wash of the soil and the precipitation of decaying vegetable growth. This has been deposited along its banks and has made a soil of surpassing fertility. For thousands of years it has been cultivated in the most intensive fashion, the drain upon the fertilizing elements keeping pace with the additions made to it. For countless centuries the same process has been in progress in the Kern delta. The fertile soil that once clothed the mountain ranges has been carried into the valleys. The granite cliffs have given way to the corrosive influences of nature and, converted into loose, friable material, have been carried into the valley and mingled with the soil. For thousands of years that soil has produced each season a vegetable growth, rank and lush, which has decayed and has formed a deposit of vegetable humus that, intermingled with the detritus from the mountain slopes, has formed a seedbed of a fertility that is simply unsurpassable. Age after age has this been going on here, just as it has in the Nile delta. But while the soil of that region has been drained with regularity by the husbandman, the Kern delta has been storing up all this vast fertility, not losing a particle, and to-day for the first time since the foundation of the world, is this perfect seedbed thrown open for the behoof of the husbandman. In product, too, the resemblance between the Nile delta and that of the Kern is remarkable. In the one cotton, sugar cane, wheat, corn, rice, melons, figs, apricots, pomegranates, grapes, peaches, oranges, sweet potatoes, - in a word, all the long list of subtropical fruits and vegetables - thrive in profusion. In the other exactly the same wide range of product and luxuriance of growth can be seen. The semitropical profusion and rapidity of growth of delicate tree, shrub and flower seen in the gardens of the Kern delta rival in every detail those features of the Nile valley which have been made historical in song and prose, and which are to-day one of the chief delights of travelers in that region. From year's end the soil of the Kern delta stands ready to yield crop after crop. No season of idleness is needed; no rest is demanded. The imprisoned fertility of ages stands ready to day and night, without intermission, to give itself up to the use and profit of man, the touchstone which calls it forth being ever one thing - irrigation. Marvelous as are the accounts of the rapidity and extent of growth of grain, vegetable and fruit in the delta of the Nile they can all be duplicated in this California copy of the garden of the East. There is no exception. Actual experiment has demonstrated the truth of an assumption that might sound far-fetched to those who are not aware of the wonderful results that have been accomplished in this marvelously favored portion of California. But to the facts that warrant this comparison of the Kern delta with the Nile. There are within the boundaries of Kern County over 5,100,000 acres, including valley, foothills, and mountains. Tulare is the next neighbor on the north, Inyo and San Bernardino on the east, Ventura and Los Angeles on the south and San Luis Obispo on the west. Over a million and a half acres are in the San Joaquin valley, presenting a broad expanse of almost level land of the highest fertility. This portion of the county is bounded on the northeast, south and southwest by a semicircular mountain wall composed of the Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges, which here join in one tremendous rampart, guarding the vast amphitheater at their base. Such another continuous body of the finest agricultural land scarcely exists. In the foothills and mountains are plateaus and valleys with fertile soil which cover thousands of acres and are susceptible of the highest development. In the lofty Sierra are immense forests of pine, redwood and other growths, which have scarcely as yet been touched by man's hand, and will afford abundant supplies of lumber for centuries. From these mountains flow streams into the valley, principal among which is the Kern river, with a perennial and never-failing flow of thousands of feet of the purest water. Out in the valley are Tulare lake, Kern and Buena Vista lakes and Goose lake, all large bodies of water fed by springs as well as by streams from the mountains. The supply of water thus furnished is simply unsurpassed. Railroads Prior to the advent of the Southern Pacific railroad through the San Joaquin valley Kern County was but little known. Some thirty years ago a mining excitement in the mountains to the east and south brought a large influx of population and caused several settlements to spring up, notably among them being Havilah and Kernville, the former having been made the county seat in 1866 when Kern was cut off from Tulare County. But this mining excitement was of comparatively short duration, and Havilah is now little more than a name, though once a prosperous, bustling town. Bakersfield then became the center of trade for the county, and stock-growing was for years the principal industry, great bands of sheep and cattle ranging the vast unsettled plain in search of sustenance. When the railroad began to push south toward Los Angeles the town of Sumner was laid out, a mile east of Bakersfield, and in the mountains to the southeast Caliente was for months the terminus of the road, while the difficult grades and tunnels through the Tehachapi mountains were being constructed. The main line of the Southern Pacific railroad has 117 miles of track in Kern County, while the Atchison and Topeka line has fifty-six miles of road running easterly from Mojave station. The Fresno and Porterville road comes down the east side of the valley and joins the main line at Poso, in Kern County. Besides these roads the Atchison and Topeka line can get into Central and Northern California by no other possible way than through the Kern valley. Leaving Mojave the surveys and part of the grading for this road run northwesterly through the Tejon pass, across the Tehachapi mountains and into the valley, passing through Bakersfield. There is absolutely no other outlet possible for this road. After leaving Bakersfield it may pass up the west side of the San Joaquin valley to Antioch, as is proposed and promised, or it may cross the Mount Diablo spur of the Coast Range into San Luis Obispo County by the Palo Prieta or other pass, and thence through San Benito and Santa Clara Counties up the peninsula to San Francisco direct. But whatever the course of the line after leaving the Kern valley, it is physically impossible that it should leave this section to one side. Still another line of road has been surveyed across the mountains, by feasible passes from Nevada through the Owen's river valley and down the canon of the Kern river, coming out in the only place possible, Bakersfield. Water Supply At the outset it was stated that the water supply of Kern County was something phenomenal, and that subject is worthy of elaboration. While nature has given this region the lightest rainfall of all parts of the State, it has followed the inevitable law of compensation by providing two sources of inexhaustible supply. These consist of the surface and the underground streams, whose vast volume, when properly utilized, will suffice to provide a far more certain and abundant supply of moisture than is possible when the capricious clouds are the sole source of dependence. While the rainfall in the Kern Valley is of the lightest description, yet within a comparatively short distance the precipitation of moisture in the shape of snow and rain reaches the enormous amount of 100 inches or more annually. In this region the Sierra reach their loftiest height. Here are Tyndall and other peaks, with Whitney, the highest mountain in the United States, towering aloft over 15,000 feet. On these mountains the snow remains year after year, forming tremendous glaciers, which are the perennial source of streams which in the nature of things can know no such thing as failure, even in the season of scantiest rainfall in the valley region. Here, in these solitudes, rises the stream which is the main source of supply for the valley below. Away in the northwestern part of Tulare County are the headwaters of the north fork of the Kern River, drawing supplies from thousands of square miles of watershed on the western slope of the Sierra. For over sixty miles this stream flows through the mountains of Tulare County, and some twenty miles after crossing the line into Kern County the south fork unites with it. For thirty miles or more the stream then flows through a picturesque and rocky canon, finally debouching upon the plain a short distance from Bakersfield. In its course the river has a fall of upward of 12,000 feet, and near the mouth of the last canon before reaching the plains are cataracts and falls which give a tremendous amount of water power, easily utilized and only awaiting the hand of enterprise to become a source of great wealth and the cause of the rapid development of the community. The amount of water contained in the Kern river is something enormous. Careful measurement taken in the dryest portion of the season shows a minimum flow of 2,700 to 3,000 cubic feet per second. In the season of greatest supply there has been measured a maximum of over 19,000 cubic feet to the second. With the normal supply averaged as it should be, one who has any knowledge concerning such matters can readily see that with proper methods of handling and distributing the immense supply every acre of arable land in the valley can be furnished with an abundance of water for all ordinary farming purposes. At present the water is used in the most wasteful manner possible. Broad and shallow canals convey it over the valley by their shape and grade inviting the greatest loss from evaporation and seepage. In the actual application of the water also to growing crops there is the greatest wastefulness. None of the economical methods evolved from necessity that are in use in many other places have been adopted here. There has always been plenty of water for all purposes, and hence no economy has been made necessary. But with correct methods of handling the waters of the Kern River there is no manner of doubt that all the land within reach of its flow can be provided with an adequate supply for all crops. Besides the Kern River there are other streams rising in the mountains, and, joining their flow after reaching the valley, largely augmenting the supply of water. From the Kern river and its branches there radiates throughout the valley a system of irrigation canals which it is no invidious comparison to say is without its equal in the State or even in the entire country. These canals attain the dignity of rivers, and their flow is something enormous. There is one main canal, for instance, which is larger than the famous water-way of New York State, the Erie Canal. It is 120 feet wide on the surface, 80 feet on the bottom, and has banks seven feet in height. A depth of six feet of water continues thirty-two miles. Branching from this canal (the Calloway) are more than seventy smaller distributing ditches from eight to twenty feet wide and covering over 200,000 acres in one body. There are thirty-two main canals of varying dimensions diverting water from the Kern river. Of these the three largest are the Goose lake, the Kern Valley Water Company's and the Calloway. The first named has a width of 140 feet on the bottom and carries 90,000 miners' inches of water. The second is 125 feet wide on the bottom and carries seven feet of water, equivalent to 130,000 miners' inches. The flow of the Calloway equals 74,000 miners' inches. The Stine has 56,000 miners' inches, and from that amount the quantity of water in each canal runs down to 500 inches, which is the capacity of the Wilson ditch. These thirty-two main canals have an aggregate length of nearly 300 miles, but this is only a small part of the entire length of irrigating canals in the Valley. Each main canal has from five to fifty times its own length in laterals, which radiate in every direction. The total appropriation of these canals is 597, 262 miners' inches, or 11,911 cubic feet flow per second. The capacity for irrigation of this immense flow - that is, the amount of land that can be covered when the water is economically handled - can be best estimated on the basis adopted elsewhere. Careful experiment has demonstrated that one miner's inch of perpetual flow will irrigate from four to ten acres of land, according to the nature of the soil and the variety of crop produced. Upon the lowest ratio, therefore, these canals carry water enough for 2,889,000 acres of land. Here, therefore, is abundant proof that the water supply of Kern County is ample for all the land that is included within the arable area of the great delta. The water supply being so abundant, it follows that irrigation is most cheaply performed. In many parts of the State an annual charge from $5 to $10 an acre is made for water. Indeed, in one case, whose success has been widely advertised, several thousand acres of land have been disposed of where the purchasers were required to sign agreements to pay an annual water tax of $10 an acre for all time. In Kern County, on the other hand, the highest rate paid is $1 an acre annually, and the usual price is only 50 cents, which is a mere bagatelle to the cultivators of small farms. So far the source of supply for irrigation that has been dealt with is entirely the surface streams. There is another source of scarcely less importance, which is found in the great underground streams that have been tapped by artesian wells. The shape of the Kern delta, surrounded on three sides by lofty mountains upon whose sides the rainfall is large, together with the geological character of the formation, early suggested the possibility of the successful boring of artesian wells. Experiments were made which met with success - a success that in many instances is simply astounding. Great wells flowing from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 gallons daily have been sunk in many places, while the number of smaller flows is numerous and constantly increasing. So far the artesian belt has been proven to exist for a length of some fifty miles and a width of about fifteen, but it is believed by many experts that it is only a question of depth for the procurement of artesian water in all parts of the valley. No one who has not seen a well of a couple of million gallons' capacity daily can have any idea of what it is like. Such wells are generally capped over with a powerful pipe and valve, and the flow is regulated as desired. When turned on full force the water bursts forth with a roar, and either mounts high into the air or spurts horizontally in a perfect flood, according to the position in which the controlling valve has been placed. It is a grand sight to see one of these wells pouring forth water enough to irrigate a thousand or more of acres, and in a flood whose volume never suffers depreciation. The artesian wells of Kern are one of its most picturesque and interesting sights, as well as one of the most valuable features from an economic standpoint. They range in depth from 200 to 500 feet, and the size varies according to the freak of the owner. Some are over a foot in diameter and others only two or three inches. When properly stored in reservoirs there are single wells the water from which will irrigate 2,000 to 4,000 acres. Although the Kern delta has been so abundantly supplied by nature with every resource of soil, climate and water, yet the centers of population have been slow of formation, and for years the growth has not been rapid. Happily, however, as will be explained elsewhere, this state of facts no longer exists, and Kern County has commenced a growth that will within a few years give it the prominence to which it is justly entitled. IRRIGATION The three essential elements in agricultural and horticultural pursuits - in the tillage of the earth - are soil, water and climate. In all ages of the world it has been proven that water is not equally distributed over the face of the earth. It is well known that the rainfall varies very much in all parts of the world. The history of man shows that in this and every other country, and this State is no exception to the rule, at one time crops are drowned out and at another time they are dried out. There is scarcely a section known where extreme has not followed extreme. In California, especially, there is not perfect reliability in the precipitation of water for farm husbandry. It is also known that natural water-courses cannot be utilized for this purpose. Many streams are so located, the beds of their channels are so situated, that their waters cannot be diverted from their natural course and be brought out upon the surrounding country for this purpose. It is equally well demonstrated that artesian water cannot be obtained in all places when needed. In view of these incontrovertible facts, what remains to be done is to meet the emergency - to provide the husbandman with just the amount of water he wants, and at just the time he needs it - never too much, never too little, to successfully carry out the great pursuit of life - the cultivation of the soil. It is an indisputable fact, and no one need attempt to deny it, that the San Joaquin valley is a "dry country," especially the southern portion of it. The rainfall from Goshen to Caliente, a distance of 100 miles, is very light. Kern valley lies in this district. The annual rainfall at Bakersfield has been as low as four inches. There would be small hope for successful agricultural and horticultural pursuits were there no artificial means of obtaining water. Nature designed that this life-giving element, which accomplishes such wonderful results in the leading pursuits of life, in all warm, dry countries, should be at hand, should be super-abundantly supplied by the agency of man, for his own benefit. Fortunately this is demonstrated in Kern valley, by being located within a magnificent artesian belt. ARTESIAN BELT The limits as yet are undefined, but of great extent. From the northern border of the county, especially on and south of the southern border of Tulare lake, it extends through the entire alluvial sections of Kern valley. This artesian district covers the entire country for fifteen to twenty miles east and north of Tulare lake, in Tulare County. But here we have only to do with the artesian district of Kern valley as far as developed. It covers a distance of nearly or quite fifty miles north and south, with a width of ten to fifteen miles. We have good reason for believing that it covers nearly the entire valley. Probably the largest artesian well that has yet been opened in this county is that finished for Dr. Leek in the northern part of the county in 1890. It is fifteen inches in diameter and 713 feet deep, and has a seven-inch flow of 4,500,000 gallons per day. The doctor has a section of land and was desirous of irrigating it all from one well, and has succeeded, having enough water and to spare. He has proved also that there is economy in the construction of a large well in many ways, and this only cost 25 cents per foot more than one of ordinary size. A fair flow is obtained at a depth of 200 feet, and other flows are obtained at short intervals in going down further, so that any reasonable quantity of water can be obtained by going deep enough. One of these wells will usually irrigate a section of land, and if the water is collected and stored in reservoirs, some will supply water for 3,000 to 4,000 acres. In many instances the flow is too great for the farmer, and he has to cap his well, to prevent a superabundance of water. Just south of Tulare lake, in the northern part of Kern valley, there are more than three dozen of these wells within a radius of ten miles. We give here the flow of a dozen of these wells in gallons every twenty-four hours, all yielding over 1,000,000 each: 2,500,000, 2,500,000, 2,400,000, 2,400,000, 2,200,000, 2,200,000, 2,000,000, 1,600,000, 1,600,000, 1,500,000, 1,500,000, 1,200,000. The water discharging from artesian wells, of which there are several on Kern Island within a distance of six miles from the lakes, maintains a uniform temperature of seventy-one degrees Fahr., summer and winter, making the water valuable for winter irrigation. These wells, just north of the little lakes, are from 250 to 460 feet deep. CANALS Under the head of the Kern delta, a few pages back, reference is made to the water system there. The following account is more complete: In order to present to the reader fully and accurately this immense system of irrigation by canals, we give a brief description of each canal in detail, with such facts and figures as will be interesting. The canal of the Kern River Water and Irrigating Company, known as the Beardsley canal, the highest on the river, being the most northeasterly of this great system, is taken from the northerly bank, in the southeast quarter of section 3, township 29 south, range 28 east. It is eight miles in length, fifteen feet wide on the bottom, and two and one-half feet deep. It has ten miles of distributing ditches. It appropriates 47,030 miners' inches, under a four-inch pressure, equivalent to 938 cubic feet per second. This location was made December 2, 1873. The McCord canal is taken from the northerly bank of the river, in the northeast quarter of section 18, township 29 south, range 28 east. The main canal is four and one-half miles long, with three branches, having a total length of ten miles, and fifteen miles of distributing ditches. The main canal is twenty feet wide on the bottom and two and three feet deep. This, with the Beardsley, is the means of supply for that portion of the district above the Calloway canal. It appropriates 5,000 inches, equivalent to 100 cubic feet per second. This location was made March 20, 185. The Calloway canal belongs to the Kern River Land and Canal Company, and is the largest and most important in the system. It comes out of the northerly bank of the river, a short distance above the Southern Pacific Railroad Company's bridge, in the southeast quarter, section 13, township 29 south, range 27 east. It is thirty-two miles long, eighty feet wide on the bottom and 120 on the surface, with banks seven feet high and ten to sixteen feet wide on top, with inside slope of four to one, and outside two to one. On the west bank there is a delightful drive-way the full length. It has a depth of about six feet. The grade is eight-tenths of a foot per mile. In thirty miles it crosses Peso creek, by means of a weir 150 feet in length, built in the bed of the creek, and connecting at either end with the lower bank of the canal. This arrangement admits of the use of the winter waters of Peso creek, by diverting them into the canal. It has some sixty-five distributing ditches, from eight to twenty feet wide on the bottom, averaging sixteen feet and from one to nine miles long, the aggregate length being about 150 miles. These branches have banks three and one-half feet high, intended for three feet of water, with slopes three to one and a grade if one and six-tenths feet per mile, giving to each a capacity of 196 and five-tenths cubic feet per second. The importance of this canal is seen when we state that it covers about 200,000 acres of land. The head-gate at the point of diversion from the river is 100 feet long, built of red-wood lumber, 6x6 struts, 4x6 side posts and two-inch flooring. The foundation is twenty feet wide up and down the stream and has three rows of sheet piling, 4x8, Oregon pine, driven to a depth of from twelve to sixteen feet, with intermediate or anchor piles of the same dimensions and material, to which the sills, 4x8, redwood, are spiked. There are twenty-five bays, and the gate-boards are 2x6, redwood. The top of the gate is eight feet from the floor. The gate extends from the right bank out into the stream and is connected with the weir by an artificial abutment. The weir extends from this abutment southerly across the river and is 400 feet long, being of similar construction to the head-gate, the only difference being that the gate-boards are twice as long, reaching across the bays. By means of the gate boards, which are moveable, the water is under complete control and can be regulated at will. A considerable portion of the lands covered by this canal has been already cultivated and irrigated, and the life-giving waters of this magnificent aqueduct have transformed the barren plains of this region into luxuriant fields of alfalfa, and enabled the rearing of many beautiful homes in the midst of lovely gardens where grow the plants of many climes. The Calloway appropriates 74,000 inches of water, equivalent to 1,476 cubic feet per second. The location was made May 4, 1875. The McCaffrey ditch, sharing the head-gate of the Calloway canal, is three miles long, seven to eight feet wide on the bottom and is two and one-half feet deep. It irrigates the land between the Calloway and the river. The appropriation is 1,296 inches, equivalent to twenty-six cubic feet per second. The date of location is October 31, 1874. The Emery ditch, having its head gate in the northeast quarter of section 22, township 29 south, range 27 east, is three miles long, six to eight feed wide on the bottom and two feet deep. It appropriates 2,000 inches, equivalent to forty cubic feet per second. Located December 2, 1876. The Jones and Tuckey ditch begins in the northeast quarter of section 32, township 29 south, range 27 east. It is four miles in length, ten feet wide on the bottom and two feet deep. The appropriation is 1,000 inches, equivalent to twenty cubic feet per second. Located June 24, 1876. The Railroad canal, commencing near the corner of southwest quarter of section 31, township 29 south, range 27 east, is 3,000 feet long. It is forty feet wide on the bottom and two feet deep. It empties into Goose Lake slough. It appropriates 31,075 inches, equivalent to 620 cubic feet per second. Its location dates July 24, 1874. The Wible canal, having its head-gate in the northwest quarter of section 6, township 30 south, range 27 east, and running about 1,000 feet, discharges into Goose Lake canal, and by means of this canal and Goose Lake slough its waters are conveyed to the lands to be irrigated. It is forty feet wide on the bottom and two feet deep. Its appropriation is 5,040 inches, and its capacity 300 cubic feet per second. Located May 1, 1875. The Goose Lake canal , the property of the Goose Lake Canal Company, is taken from the northerly bank of Kern river, in the northeast quarter of section 1, township 30 south, range 26 east, and runs thence north-westerly four and one-half miles, emptying into Goose Lake slough. Flowing through this slough the water is taken out at different points along the slough in ditches. It is 140 feet wide on the bottom and three feet deep. It appropriates 90,000 inches, equivalent to 1,795 cubic feet per second. It was located July 13, 1875. The Railroad, Wible and Goose Lake canals all empty into the Goose Lake slough, and use it as a common channel to carry their waters to the adjoining lands as far down as Goose Lake, a distance of twenty-two miles. The Pioneer canal, owned by the Pioneer Canal Company, has its head-gate in the northeast quarter of section 1, township 30 south, range 26 east. It has a length, westerly, of eleven and one-half miles, being sixty feet wide on the bottom and three feet deep. This canal flows through the entire length of the McClung ranch, which is wholly irrigated by it, and its principal distributing branch, the Pottinger ditch, seventeen feet wide. It also passes through the Buena Vista ranch, furnishing mainly its irrigating waters. Its appropriation is 20,074 inches, equivalent to 400 cubic feet per second. This canal was located April 26, 1873. The Edwards ditch, whose head-gate is in the northwest quarter of section 1, township 30 south, range 26 east, is two miles long, ten to twelve feet wide on the bottom and one foot deep. It appropriates 1,440 inches, equivalent to twenty-nine cubic feet per second, and was located December 21, 1874. The James and Dixon canal is owned by a company of that name. It commences in the southeast quarter of section 3, township 30 south, range 26 east, and runs in a westerly direction about twelve miles. It is thirty feet wide on the bottom and three feet deep. Its appropriation is 14,000 inches, or 279 cubic feet per second. Located April 19, 1873. The Johnson Ditch is owned by the Lower New Kern River Irrigating Company, and begins in the southeast quarter of section 3, township 30 south, range 26 east, a few feet below the James & Dixon Canal, with which its waters join in a shallow slough a few hundred feet below. Its course is southwesterly about four miles. It is thirty feet wide on the bottom and three feet deep, and appropriates 8,640 inches, or 172 cubic feet per second. Located June 12, 1878. The Ashe ditch is near the Johnson, and is taken from the river in the southeast quarter of section 3, township 30 south, range 26 east, and is one mile in length, three feet deep, with a discharge capacity of twenty-four cubic feet per second. The May ditch takes its supply from a short arm of the river in the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of section 18, township 30 south, range 26 east, It is two miles long, eight feet wide on the bottom and two feet deep. Its appropriation is 4,000 inches, eighty cubic feet per second. Located November 29, 1873. The Joice canal draws from the river in the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 23, township 30 south, range 25 east. Nearly four miles long, twelve feet on the bottom and two feet deep. It appropriates 6,250 inches of water, 129 cubic feet per second. It was located May 26, 1873. The Dixon canal is a branch of the Joice canal, diverting the water from the latter for about two and a half miles, and then it branches out to the northward irrigating lands on the borders of the reclaimed swamp land district. It is eight feet on the bottom and four feet deep, and appropriates sixty-nine cubic feet of water per second. Its location dates April 13, 1875. The foregoing canals and ditches, as indicated, are all on the north side of New Kern river, or now Kern river proper. We will give the location and brief description of those on the south side, about the same number being located in both sides of the old river. The first one in order on the river, located at the highest point on the left bank of the stream, is the property of the Kern Island Irrigating Canal Company, called the Kern Island Canal. It is taken from Kern river near the southeast corner of southwest quarter of section 9, township 29 south, range 28 east, about two and one-half miles northeast of Bakersfield, through which town it passes. It is eighteen miles long, with a width at the head-gate of forty-eight and a half feet on the bottom and a depth of four feet. It terminates at Kern lake. At Bakersfield this canal makes a vertical fall of nearly twenty feet, furnishing water-power for a large flouring mill. This important canal has two main branches, - the town branch supplying Bakersfield and vicinity, having a length of two miles, and a central branch, diverging from the canal south of town, and running nearly parallel to it varying from one-half to two miles distant, for a distance of ten miles in a southerly direction. This branch has a width of twenty feet on the bottom, and a depth of three feet, with slopes of three to one. The central branch is one of the best irrigating canals in the valley. It has nineteen drops in the distance of ten miles, placed at intervals of half a mile. The Kern Island and its branches have thirty-one lateral ditches, besides a connecting ditch with the Stine canal, having a total length of over eighty miles. It appropriates 400 cubic feet per second. Located in the year 1870. Old South Fork canal, next below the Kern Island, derives its water from the river in the central northern part of the northeast quarter of section 17, township 29 south, range 28 east, about three-fourths of a mile below the head-gate of the Kern Island canal. It runs three miles southwesterly into the bed of the old south fork of the Kern river, in which its waters are conveyed to Kern Lake in nearly a southerly direction. The canal is twenty-six feet on the bottom, and is from two to three feet deep. It has seven miles of distributing ditches, the principal of which is the Cotton Ranch ditch, irrigating 1,100 acres of alluvial bottom lands, north of and adjoining Bakersfield. Most of the water diverted into the old south fork is turned into the Panama slough and again diverted below by the Panama ditch. This canal is also used at times as a feeder for the Kern Island canal. It appropriates seventy-five cubic feet per second. The Farmers' canal, owned by the Farmer's Canal Company, takes water from the river in the northeast quarter of section 24, township 29 south, range 27 east, and about 200 feet above the Southern Pacific railroad bridge across Kern river, with forty-eight feet opening, fronting parallel with the river, the water entering the canal at right angles with the stream. The first artificial channel to the Panama slough is about three-fourths of a mile in length. The total length of the main channel is about fifteen miles, consisting wholly of natural sloughs. It has four miles of branches varying from ten to twenty feet in width, and thirty miles of distributing ditches. The artificial channel is fifteen feet wide on the bottom, and three feet deep, the natural channel varies from twenty to fifty feet in width, with a depth of six to ten feet, having nearly vertical banks. The soil through which it passes is generally a firm Clayey loam, and permits natural irrigation of adjacent lands by percolation. A great deal of the land along this channel requires little surface irrigation. Its volume of water is 287 feet per second. Located April 20, 1873. The Castro ditch derives its water at the junction of Old and Kern rivers in the northeast quarter of section 26, township 29 south, range 27 east. It is sixteen feet wide, two feet deep and five miles long. It crosses Panama slough and irrigates a small amount of land east of that channel. Its volume of water is twenty cubic feet per second. The Stine canal, the property of the Stine Canal Company takes its water at the junction of Old and Kern rivers adjoining that of Castro: same local description as the former. It occupies the bed of Old river for half a mile, is eighty feet wide on the bottom, three feet deep and fifteen miles long. It has two main branches, with numerous forks, varying in width from twelve to twenty feet on the bottom, and having an aggregate length of thirty-two and a half miles, forty-one and a half miles of distributing ditches. It is next in importance, in this system, to the Kern Island canal, and shares with the Farmers' canal in irrigating townships 30 and 31 south, range 27 east, besides supplying water for other lands west and south. It appropriates 1,117 cubic feet per second. Its location dates December 12, 1872. The Anderson canal heads also in the northeast quarter of section 26, township 29 south, range 27 east, at the junction of Old and Kern rivers. Its head-gate connects with those of the Stine and Castro, and the same system of wing dams serves for all. The canal runs southwesterly four miles, is fifteen feet wide on the bottom and two and one-half feet deep. This canal is used exclusively for irrigating Stockdale ranch, located about five and one-half miles southwest of Bakersfield. Its appropriation is 5,057 inches, equivalent to 101 cubic feet per second. The location was made October 9, 1872. The Gates canal, owned by the Gates Canal Company, is taken out of Kern river, in the southwest quarter of section 26, township 29 south, range 27 east, and runs in a southwesterly direction two and one-half miles. It is twelve feet wide on the bottom and two and one-half feet deep. It also is used exclusively in irrigating Stockdale ranch. Its appropriation is 5,057 inches, equivalent 101 cubic feet per second. This canal was located originally without record early in 1872, and re-located October 7, 1878. The Buena Vista canal belongs to the Buena Vista Canal Company. Its head-gate is in the northeast quarter of section 33, township 29 south, range 27 east, and runs southwesterly through Bellevue ranch, located about eight miles west of Bakersfield. It is thirteen and three-fourths miles long, thirty feet wide on the bottom and three feet deep. It has numerous ditches of various dimensions. Its appropriation is 14,000 inches, equivalent to 279 cubic feet per second. Its location was July 15, 1870. The James canal, which is the property of the James Canal Company, heads in the northeast quarter of section 33, township 29 south, range 27 east. It runs southwesterly seventeen and one-fourth miles, is sixty feet wide on the bottom the first three miles and forty feet the remaining distance, and is three feet deep. This canal also flows through Bellevue ranch, supplying water for this ranch and lands still further south and west. The amount of appropriation is 19,730 inches, equivalent to 394 cubic feet per second. Date of location, October 15, 1871. The Plunkett canal, belonging to the Plunkett Canal Company, commences in the northwest quarter of section 33, township 29 south, range 27 east. It runs southwesterly through Bellevue ranch, and is used exclusively for it. Amount of appropriation is 5,057 inches, equivalent to 101 cubic feet per second. Date of location, December 31, 1872. It is three and three-fourth miles long, twelve feet wide on the bottom and two and one-half deep. The Meacham canal is the property of the Meacham Canal Company, commencing in the northwest quarter of section 6, township 30 south, range 27 east, and flows through Bellevue ranch southwesterly about four miles. It is twelve feet wide on the bottom and three feet deep. Its appropriation of water is 1,500 inches, equivalent to thirty cubic feet per second. It was located April 15, 1873. The Wilson canal commences at a point on Kern river, near the head-gate of the Meacham canal, in the northwest quarter of section 6, township 30 south, range 27 east, and also flows through Bellevue ranch two and one-half miles in a southwesterly direction, and is five feet wide on the bottom and two feet deep. It appropriates 500 inches, equivalent to ten cubic feet per second, and was located August 15, 1874. The Henkey canal begins in the southeast quarter of section 9, township 30 south, range 26 east, and runs southwesterly two and one-half miles. It is three feet wide on the bottom, and two feet deep. The amount of the appropriation is 2,880 inches, equivalent to fifty-seven cubic feet per second. Its location dates January 29, 1874. The Frazer canal takes its waters out of Kern river, in the north-east quarter of section 16, township 39 south, range 26 east. It flows south-westerly two and one-fourth miles, and is five feet wide on the bottom, with a depth of one and one-half feet. It appropriates 2,600 inches, equivalent to fifty-two cubic feet per second. It was located April 15, 1873. The Kern Valley Water Company has two main canals for the reclamation of swamp land in District No. 21, in Buena Vista slough, and a distributing canal. The principal canal is that on the west side of the district, following, generally, the border of the swamp lands for a distance of twenty-four miles. At its head it is 125 feet wide on the bottom, 7 feet deep, with sides sloping from three to one, and from seven to one, and a grade of nine-tenths of a foot per mile. The grade is very irregular, and we give it in detail, as it will be interesting for the reader to see that here is an almost perfect system of irrigation over an uneven country. For one-half mile the grade is nine-tenths of a foot; nine miles, it is two feet; one-half mile, two and five-tenths feet, and one and one-fourth miles, level; vertical drop, one and six-tenths feet; one mile, eight feet; two miles, level. Below this main channel a parallel distributing canal, thirty feet wide on the bottom and two feet deep, was constructed, about ten miles long. On the east side of the swamp a canal about six miles long was constructed for irrigation purposes, having a width on the bottom of twenty-five feet, a depth of three to five feet, and side slopes of three to one. The appropriation of water of the Kern Valley Water Company is 100,000 inches, equivalent to 1,995 cubic feet per second, and its location dates April 7, 1877. The appropriation of the Kern Valley, east side, is 30,000 inches, equivalent to 599 cubic feet per second, and the location dates April 9, 1877. RESUME OF THE CANAL SYSTEM OF KERN VALLEY NAME OF CANAL LENGTH, MILES APPROPRIATION INCHES, CUBIC MINERS FEET ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beardsley................................... 8 47,230 938 McCord...................................... 14 1/2 5,000 100 Calloway.................................... 32 74,000 1,476 McCaffrey.................................. 3 1,296 26 Emery........................................ 3 2,000 40 Jones Tuckey............................. 4 1,000 20 Railroad..................................... 3-5 31,075 620 Wible......................................... 1-5 5,040 100 Goose Lake................................ 4 1/2 90,000 1,795 Pioneer...................................... 11 1/2 20,074 400 Edwards...................................... 2 1,440 29 James & Dixon........................... 3 14,000 279 Johnson..................................... 4 8,640 172 Ashe........................................... 1 1,200 24 May............................................ 2 4,080 80 Joice.......................................... 4 6,250 125 Dixon.......................................... 2 1/2 3,456 69 Kern Island................................. 30 20,000 400 Old South Fork............................ 3 3,800 75 Farmers....................................... 19 3/4 14,400 287 Castro......................................... 5 1,000 20 Stine........................................... 47 1/2 55,980 1,117 Anderson..................................... 4 5,057 101 Gates........................................... 2 1/2 5,057 101 Buena Vista................................ 13 1/4 14,000 279 James........................................ 17 1/4 19,730 394 Plunkett...................................... 3 3/4 5,057 101 Meacham................................... 4 1,500 30 Wilson........................................ 2 1/2 500 10 Henley.......................................... 2 1/2 2,880 57 Traver.......................................... 2 1/4 2,600 52 Kern Valley Water Company........ 40 130,000 2,594 ______________ _______________ _____________ Total............................ 297 9-20 597,262 11,911 The first division of the above table down to and including the Dixon canal, represents the canals on the northern bank of Kern River. The rest, those taken out of the southern bank of the Kern. There is not to be found in this country such an extensive system of irrigating canals, and of such magnitude and vast importance as this Kern valley system; and the people of Kern valley may challenge the world to produce better results under similar circumstances. Let it be distinctly under-stood, as we have intimated, that all these great works and very satisfactory achievements have been acquired in the short space or fourteen to fifteen years. The canal system of Kern valley is open to criticism. Perfection is not claimed; but as far as capital and brains could be employed, no pains have been spared in utilizing both in bringing science, art and an almost incalculable amount of labor into requisition to attain these results. We recognize the bounteous hand of nature, as well as the intelligence and enterprise of man in these accomplishments, so plainly unfolded in the location of the valley, its genial climate and exceedingly rich soil; the location of Kern river, the great altitude of its source, its mountain tributaries, its immense water-shed, and the ease with which water can be diverted from it, which accounts for the great number of canals and ditches which have been taken from it, as we have shown. We cannot dwell with too much emphasis upon a water supply for a great system if irrigation. The first and most important consideration, in a section where agricultural success is wholly dependent upon irrigation, as in Kern valley, is that of the amount and permanence of the water supply for all this valley, is a stream of large volume, whose waters can be entirely diverted without injury to any public interest, and whose discharge, though variable, is unfailing. The river heads, as we have shown, among the loftiest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, whose ice-fields and beds of snow yield only to the heat of midsummer, furnishing an immense volume of water long after the winter rains of the foothills and valley are lost sight of. The rains of winter and the melting snows of summer on the upper Sierra thus maintain a full flow in Kern river for about two thirds of the year, the period covering the greatest demand for irrigation. Kern river has a slope through the valley of six to eight feet per mile, and lies in a shallow, sandy bed, with banks of sandy soil three to six feet high. These are favorable conditions, and enable water to be taken out at almost any point at comparatively small cost. Few permanent, costly dams or very ex-pensive head-works been found necessary. A simple wing-dam of sand and brush, running out into the channel of the river at an acute angle up the stream, serves every purpose, in most cases, for diverting water into the canals, there being only five weir extensions across the river in the whole system. Then, again, the slope of the irrigable lands of the valley is so great there is no difficulty in running canals in almost any direction over them, nor in distributing water in the smaller ditches, or in draining it off. It is, therefore, peculiarly favorable for irrigation, yet the soil is too friable to permit of canals of any considerable size taking the natural slope of the ground without serious erosion and damage. The grade over these sloping plains is regulated by "drops," or weirs, placed at proper intervals, with moveable weir-boards, which are also convenient and necessary for raising water to enter distributing ditches. These drops are constructed similar to the canal head-works, and are characterized by an absence of ponderous gates for regulating the water, and extreme lightness of timber used, studying the greatest economy in material. Head-gates are a necessity, when the water is taken out of the river, to control the admission of water to the canal. They are made entirely of wood, there being no stone readily accessible in this vicinity. The better class of these head-gates are constructed upon a foundation of anchor-piles driven into the sand as far as possible, with sheet-piling of two-inch planks at the upper and lower side of the structure. Weirs, as before indicated, are constructed not only for drops, but for raising water for entering distributing ditches. Side-gates are at the head of distributing ditches for the purpose of admitting water from the canal into such ditches. They are constructed upon the same principle as head-gates. The canal is the usually constructed flume for carrying one stream of water over another, across a gulch or ravine. Wing-dams are built of brush, and in the river, from the lower side of the mouth of the canal up the stream, at an acute angle with the current, to turn the waters of the river into the canal. Waste-gates are built at the heads of canals and also along their course, to let off any over-supply of water. Inverted siphons are put into canals, for the purpose of carrying their waters under another canal. A module is put into a gate or other structure for the measurement of water. It has been positively demonstrated that upon all the sandy soils, at least, which form the principal area of land in this valley, under cultivation, the effect of years of irrigation has been a marked increase in their fertility and an apparent change for the better in their composition. The mountains drained by Kern river are composed of friable granite, which is very rapidly disintegrating. Great quantities of this, as well as vast quantities of gypsum from the gypsum beds over which this river flows, are transported by the river to the plains below. Water and cultivation disintegrate the coarser particles, and these fertilizing elements become dissolved and prepared for plant-growth. In filtering through this porous soil all this sediment and fertilizing matter contained in the water is detained, and a perpetual restoration is furnished. Some of the richest fields in Kern Island, producing large annual crops, and some productions two crops, were barren wastes of sand before being fertilized and reclaimed by irrigation. The change for the better in the climate of Kern valley since the general introduction of irrigation, has been as marked as the improvement in the soil. This is more noticeable, in fact, because it affects the physical condition of every one. While it is admitted that formerly there was a good deal of malaria in Kern valley, we now say with positiveness that there is scarcely any at all. The healthfulness of Kern valley will compare favorably with any other in the State. Malarious fevers were quite prevalent in the valley formerly, but have been almost wholly abated, mainly, it is claimed, by these measures. Old sloughs containing stagnant water have been purified by the introduction of pure mountain water running through them. Jungles of miasma-breeding willows have been cleared, swamps drained and dried out, and decaying vegetation in every hand destroyed. Besides, it may as well be understood first as last, that the miasmatic influences prevailing here in the early settlement of Kern valley were largely owing to the people drinking surface water. Since artesian and deep well water is used, a radical sanitary change is seen. Prior to fourteen or fifteen years ago, there were not in this valley more than a dozen families outside of Bakersfield and vicinity, and almost all the entire valley was a barren, desolate, sandy waste, or desert, except the immediate environs of Bakersfield. Now about 150,000 acres of this land is made to "blossom as the rose," yielding as fine crops as grow, and capable of sustaining a population of 100,000 people, while not more than one-fourth of the irrigable land of the valley is under direct cultivation. TRANSPORTATION The Southern Pacific Company's great overland railroad runs through the center of Kern valley, the entire length of the county, nearly north-west and southeast, meandering a little, a distance of 117 miles, passing through Sumner, which adjoins Bakersfield. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Company's overland Needles road runs into this county fifty-six miles, connecting with the Southern Pacific at Mojave, while several surveys have been made, all tending in this direction, and which must, if the railroads are built, pass directly through Kern valley. The Southern Pacific Railroad, New Fresno division, connects with the main line of road at Poso, giving Kern county about 15 miles of that line. COLONY SETTLEMENT Very early in the history of Kern County, the lands of the valley were taken up in large tracts and devoted to stock-growing mainly, though more or less cultivation was also undertaken. The names of Haggin & Tevis and Miller & Lux are intimately connected with the development of the vast irrigation system which has converted so many thousand acres of arid land into productive fields and pastures. But such ownership in great bodies is not conducive to the best prosperity of any community, nor is apt to be profitable in the long run to those interested. About two years ago the owners of several hundred thousand acres of land in the valley determined to introduce the colony system of settlement and to that end a large area was subdivided and put upon the market. A novel plan was inaugurated of searching out, both in the East and in Europe, those who were interested might become interested in California, and by personal effort inducing them to make their homes here. The fact was recognized that one of the great drawbacks to the rapid settlement, of the State was the apparently high price at which lands were held. Although it can be demonstrated (as it will be further along) that these lands are intrinsically of the highest value, nevertheless it is also a fact that people are loath to pay what seems at first glance a high rate. Accordingly actual settlers were offered the choicest locations for as little as $35 to $60 an acre, and the result was the immediate success of the colony enterprise. Several sections of land within a few miles of town were laid out under the names of Rosedale and Mountain View colonies. Upon these a large number of English and American families of the most desirable class have been located, and now scarcely a week passes but other parties arrive and almost invariably decide to remain. Care has been taken to make no misrepresentation as to soil, product or climate, and the consequence is that the disappointment, if any, is on the other side, and is agreeable rather than unpleasant. A local paper observes the following: "The writer paid a visit to the locality of these colonies a short time since and the development that has been accomplished there in less than eight months is simply marvelous. Take the Rosedale, for instance. March the first settlers arrived. There was not a fence, irrigation ditch, house or any similar thing on the ground, while not a shrub, vine or other plant, except a little alfalfa, was to be seen. Now pleasant houses dot the country in every direction. Hundreds of acres of vineyard almost cover the ground, and examination shows that many of the vines, though planted only last April, have grapes upon them, in one case twenty-two clusters being counted on a single vine. There are fine crops of peanuts, potatoes, melons and other vegetables, while alfalfa planted barely seven months ago has yielded three large cuttings already. Peach and other trees have made a tremendous growth and will bear good crops next year. Most remarkable of all is the fact, that houses built on the naked land in April last are already almost hidden from view by the rapid growth of trees and shrubbery scarce six months old. The writer made a point of conversing with these settlers, who had literally come from the four corners of the earth, and without exception found them well pleased. Invalids had regained their health, sickly children had become robust and bronzed, and in every particular satisfaction was expressed with soil, climate, products, and above all the kind and helpful treatment accorded these strangers in a strange land. "So rapid has been the settlement in these colonies that already a handsome two-story schoolhouse has been made necessary, while a church, stores, etc., will follow in rapid succession." The desirability and feasability of colony enterprises of this sort has thus been demonstrated and already numerous plans are on foot for similar settlements in other portions of the county. At the rate of progress already made it will be but a short time before the Kern delta will become a series of prosperous, wealthy colony settlements that will be without a superior. OIL FIELD. On the eastern slope of the Coast Range, adjoining the valley, has been developed large quantities of petroleum of the best quality. The principal holders and operators of which are the Union Land and Oil Company. This Company was organized at Columbus, Georgia, for the purpose of prospecting and developing Kern County oil lands. Messrs. John Hamilton, William De Witt, E. T. Hunt and M. Singleton, are leading members of the company. The locality is known as the old Buena Vista district. The company have developed several wells of large flow, which are at present capped to prevent waste of oil, having no shipping facilities. A railroad is much needed through this portion of the county, and would cause a rapid development of its many valuable resources. For the mineral development, much is due to Mr. Hamilton for his energy and perseverance prospecting for minerals, oil, etc. He has spent twenty years in the county at this business, and has spent much time and money prospecting the locality now being developed by the company. PHYSICIANS. C. A. Rogers and Augustus Schofer. Find sketches elsewhere, by the index. M. Perry was born in Sonora, Atchison County, Missouri, December 29, 1855, obtained his literary education in the State Normal School of Nebraska, from 1865 to 1872 ; attended lectures at College of Physicians and Surgeons, Keokuk, Iowa, Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, and American Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri, graduating at the last-named institution, June 8, 1882, at twenty-seven years of age. He is a member of the Pawnee County Medical Society, of Nebraska, a society of "regulars." He is a permanent Fellow of the Eclectic Medical Association of California, etc. He also attended an extra course in 1884. He was married January 12, 1889, to Miss Ellen Kelsey, nee Walters, in San Francisco, California. The doctor is a fine anatomist, and this qualification, combined with assurance and boldness, has brought him into note as a surgeon. T. E. Taggart. See sketch elsewhere. W. P. Cash was born in Ontonagon, Michigan, December 6, 1848, received his literary education in the common and high schools and an academy of the same place, up to 1867. During that year he attended Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, at Detroit, Michigan. His medical education, was received at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville, Kentucky, graduating at the latter, in the class of 1887, in his fortieth year. He has also taken a course in, and diploma for, medical chemistry and pharmacy. Practiced in Minnesota till 1888, in which year he came to California; practiced in San Diego, and finally located in Delano, California. June 2, 1880, he married Miss Agatha F. Sorenson, of Carver, Carver County, Minnesota. J. H. Johnson located in Havilah in 1878, and in Kernville in 1879. The Doctor graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Keokuk, Iowa, in 1878, and at the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, March 8, 1887. During the eight years the Doctor was practicing his profession in Kernville he endeared himself to the people by his skill and his boldness in his surgical cases, to which he is peculiarly adapted. Wishing to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, he took a trip abroad in 1886, visiting the leading medical centers of education, returning and locating in Los Angeles, California, where he is now engaged in a large practice. M. C. Hoag was born in Toledo, Ohio, February 25, 1847; graduated in the classical course of the University of New York; obtained his medical education at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, taking his degree June 4, 1874, at twenty-seven years of age. He practiced medicine and surgery very successfully in Bakersfield and Tehachapi during the years 1876�'77�'78�'79. He is now located at Sanger, California. He was married to Vine E. Shirley, in 1874, at Toledo, Ohio. J. G. Murrell. Find sketch elsewhere by index. W. H. Sweet was born in Newport, New Hampshire, March 7, 1852. His literary education was obtained at the New London Academy and Union Academy at Meridian, both in the same State. He came to California in 1869, and studied under Dr. J. P. Whitney, of San Francisco. He located in Havilah in 1872 and practiced his profession successfully for two years, when he moved to Visalia, entering into partnership with Dr. Russell, where he practiced a few months, then moved to Kernville, where he continued to practice till his death, July 15, 1876, at the early age of twenty-four years. Dr. Sweet married, while practicing in Havilah, Miss Lizzie Anna Davis, of Visalia, California. Dr. H. S. Pelton, born in Burlington, Iowa, in 1863, attended the very excellent schools of that town, removing in 1880 to San Francisco, where he engaged in a tinware firm until he entered the Hahnemann Hospital College, graduating at the same November 1, 1888, when he located in Bakersfield, California, where he at once entered into a large and lucrative practice; but, the climate not agreeing with him, he located in Oakland, California, in May, 1891. Dr. John Snook, born in London, England, in 1861, emigrated to America in 1883, pursued his medical studies in the Eclectic Medical College of Oakland, California, graduating April 22, 1886. He then located at Bakersfield, remaining three months; next he was in Colusa County for a few months; then removed to Hanford, Tulare County, California, and finally located in Bakersfield again in 1887. Dr. S. M. Meeker, born in New York in 1827, came to Kern County in 1874, and commenced farming. April 28, 1881, he graduated at the California Medical College, and then located at Elmira, California, where he remained until July, 1891, when he located in Bakersfield. H. S. Bachman. See sketch found by the index. Dr. W. H. Cook, born in Carthage, Illinois, in 1855, commenced studying medicine with his father, who was a physician, in 1873; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and graduated there February 15, 1876. He then located in Globe City, Arizona, where he remained until August, 1886; then he finally located in Bakersfield, where he has a very large business. In 1887 he was appointed surgeon to the Southern Pacific railroad, and has given entire satisfaction. CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS. At least nine months in the year the climate is not only pleasant and healthful, but perfectly delightful, making it a luxury to live within such influences. The temperature is quite uniform, standing about the same as in counties north, and rising as high as in some southern counties. The heated term is short, usually lasting from the middle of June to the middle of September. The atmosphere is dry and rarefied, and the heat is never oppressive. By actual tests made, there is a difference of fifteen to eighteen degrees in the effect of the heat upon the human system here and in the States east of the Rocky Mountains. For instance, the heat does not affect man, or is not felt more here at 100 degrees, than there at eighty-two or eighty-five degrees. Here it seldom, if ever, smites; there it is often fatal. Heat here never interferes with manual or out-door labor, and is by no means continuous through the heated term. If a few hot, sultry days occur in succession, they are usually followed by as many cool agreeable ones. The nights are always cool, inviting sleep and rest, even in the hottest weather. The rainfall is light, and one is almost sure of 300 clear, bright, sunny days in a year. The death rate is low, and the health record good. Among the advantages here in climate may be named: First, absolute exemption from the hot, north winds, so destructive in the northern part of the State. These reach as far south as Fresno, with severe effect at times in early summer. Second, having the lightest rainfall in the San Joaquin valley, the atmosphere must be specially favorable to the drying of fruits in the sun, never in danger of having them destroyed by early rains.