,*\ -^ -^ ^ ^^^^\>^* ■^^ <**. '> * » « " " .V > -0, ► ■mm: ,0.^ :;^^; ^,S^ :^pf^m. ov ^ .0 c ° " " ' ^'% %i » •''^ ■•• <.^^ ' •^' " r(\\ S? /A ^ f <^ * = " ' V O *«,-.' 0^ o< .-;>^]cv. ^..,.*^* *^.-. V ,'- --^i- °- / .0^ "> v^ .^^ ■■^c '^ * o » ' O,^ -/'■> ■': %.^^* rmi ^^-n^. .* ^v >°-n^. %^^ -msh \^/ ^:rH ^sy^Bc^ \y s^--\./:M>^:. \y --^^ V, ^0 O, * » , 1 ' ,0 ^s^ * o „ ^ o,^ 40^ O * » , 1 .V. ^ .:M^^ \.< .0 *^ o ^ A, <'. C •^vS^...,s'.. ^ .n]^ *^:e/r?7>.- 4- ?6) HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF The Leading Men and Momen of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and BeveloprneAt From the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY WALLACE M. MORGAN ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1914 maiA J J ^2 /^ ls>V^ CONTENTS Introductory ..: 17 Kern County of Vast Size — Great Natural Wealth — Rapid Increase in Val- uations — Necessity of Large Capital — Early Indians Within Borders of County — Clash Between White and Red — First Mining, in 1851 — Yellow Aster Mine — Land Patents and Water Rights — First Oil Developed in 1899 — The High Point in the County History. CHAPTER I. A Description of Kern County jO Area of County — Boundaries — North Line 136 Miles in Length — South Line 102 Miles Long— View of the Kern Valley— The West Side Oil Fields— Buena Vista Gas Belt — Recent Activity in the Oil Fields — Reclaimed Swamp Land — Miller & Lux Alfalfa Fields — Irrigation Canals Radiate from Bakers- field — Broad Belt of Irrigated Land — Citrus Mesa Skirts the Sierras — Begin- nings of Orange Culture — Water for Pumping Abundant — Cheap Power Available — Pumping Plants in Other Sections — Great Land Holdings — Kern River Oil Field — The Mountain Sections — Early Mining Country — Mountain Farming Districts — Rancho El Tejon — The Desert Triangle Again — Bakers- field the Commercial Center. CHAPTER II. Indians and the Tejon Ranch..... 29 Remains of a Prehistoric Village — Early Indian Tribes — The Yokut Indians — Living the Simple Life — Specimens of Indian Handicraft — Elaborate Ceremonials of the Race — Tribal Names and Characteristics — Distribution of Tribes — Civilizing the Indians — Plans of Lieutenant Beale to Protect and Prosper Indians — Renegade Indians — Serranos— The Tejon Ranch — Sold to Southern California Syndicate. CHAPTER III. Gold Mining from 1851 to 1875 35 Rush in 1851 to Kern River — Quartz Mining at Keysville in 1852 — Mining the Kern River Placers in 1853 — Discovery of the Keys Mine in 1854 — The First Quartz Mill Hauled from San Francisco — Keys and Mammoth Mines — Town of Keysville — The Fort — Big Blue Mine and Whiskey Flat — Growth of Kernville — Founding of Havilah — Its Most Productive Mine — Fondness of Early Miners for Gambling — Other Mining Districts. CHAPTER IV. Beginnings of Agriculture and Stock-Raising 43 First Comers were Sojourners Only — Trip Made by Audubon in 1849 — The South Fork Pioneers — Dangers of Early Days — The Mason & Henry Gang — South Fork Valley — Early Settlers on the Kern Delta — The Immi- grant Road of the '50s — Site of Bakersfield in 1859 — Beginnings of the County's Cattle Industry — Some of the Very Old Timers — Beginning of the Sheep Industry — The Mexican Settlement — Catching Wild Horses as a Business — Stories of the Outlaw Vasquez — The Barnes Settlement. CHAPTER V. Floods and Swamp Reclamation 54 Act of 1857 for Reclamation of Swamp Land — The First San Joaquin Valley Canal Project — The First State Highway — Attempts to Interest Capitalists — How a River in Flood Reclaimed a Swamp — Then the Drought Helped, Too — Baker Gets His Patent — Montgomery Patent Annulled — The State Did Not Get the Land — Beginnings of Bakersfield — First Settlers — First Cotton Crop — First Schools — Freight Hauled from Los Angeles — Architecture in 1863 — The Flood of 1867-68 — Avalanches form Lakes — Flood Reaches Bakersfield — Reclamation Work Completed — Patent Granted to Colonel Baker. VI CONTENTS CHAPTER VI. Organization of the County 61 County Created from Tulare and Los Angeles — First County Seat at Havilah — First County Officials — First Court House — First Election Precincts — First Election in the County — The Vote for Governor — Officers Elected — First Swamp Land District Organized — Agreement with Colonel Baker — Changes in the Swamp Land Laws — A Sheep Worth More Than an Acre of Land — The First ^lountain Roads — Ferry Charges — Purchase of Toll Roads by the County. CHAPTER VII. The Coming ot" the Capitalists 66 Era of Large Enterprise Begins — Bakersfield as it Was in 1870 — Sources of Ready Cash — Early Captains of Industry — Cotton Growers' Association Formed — Livermore and Redington Interests Sold — Kern County News of 1871-73 — Havilah Residents I\Iove to Bakersfield — Death of Colonel Baker in 1872. CHAPTER VIII. Bakersfield Becomes the County Metropolis 72 History of Bakersfield a Story of Hope Deferred — Yet Always the City was Full of Life — Contest for County Seat Assumed Final Form in 1873 — Contest over Election — Bakersfield Made County Seat in 1874 by 22 Votes — Contract for Court House — First Incorporation of Town — First Officers — The First Hope Deferred — Delano Founded — The Story of Johnson's O.x-Team — Xews Notes of 1873-75 — Bakersfield Disincorporated in 1876 — The Town Marshal Then Retired. CHAPTER IX. The Contests Over Water Rights Begin 80 Large Negotiations by Capitalists — Withdrawal of Redington — Decline of Livermore and Chester — The Largest Plow Ever Built — Fertile Causes of Litigation — First Great Fight Over Water Rights — Purposes of Haggin and Carr — Carr's Dealing with the Ditch Companies — Plans to Gather in the Desert Lands — Enter Miller and Lux at Rear of Stage. CHAPTER X. A Collection of Disconnected Stories 89 The Drought of 1877 — Disastrous in Its Effects — The Town of Tehachapi — Its Pioneers — Moving of Old Town to Railroad — First Apple Trees Planted About 1880 — Delano Making Progress — The Last of Old Clubfoot — Lynch- ing of an Outlaw Gang — The Tehachapi Train Wreck — Importation of the Negroes— News Notes of 1886-93. CHAPTER XL The Great Lux-Haggin Water Suit 98 Involving Some Picturesque Characters, a Supreme Court Decision, Two State Irrigation Conventions, a Special Session of the State Legislature and an Historic Agreement — Some of Miller's Chief Lieutenants — Leaders of the Carr and Haggin Forces — Heads of the Rival Literary Bureaus — Julius Chester and Richard Hudnut — The Kern County Echo — The Great Water Suit — Kern River Plays Another Prank — Supreme Court Decides for Riparianists — Irrigators Everywhere Protested — Governor Calls Legis- lative Session — State Senate Deadlocks on Water Bills — The Miller-Haggin Agreement Ends Litigation. CHAPTER XII. First Attempt .\t Colonization 110 Haggin Decides to Colonize — Carr Gives Place to Fergusson — Many Plans for Progress — Fire Wipes out Business Section — Bakersfield Quicklj'^ Re- builds — Colonization on a Large Scale — Scions of Nobility Make Things Hum — An International Romance — Journalistic Exigencies Aid Cupid — Causes for Dissatisfaction in Rosedalc Colonj^ — Another Swamp Land Con- test — The Jastro Administration. CONTENTS VI 1 CHAPTER XIII. Important Events op a Decade, 1890-1900 117 Desert Mining Booms — Traces of Early Prospectors — Discovery of the Yellow Aster — Other Famous Desert Mines — The Town of Randsburg — Discovery of Tungsten Mines — The Anialie District — Other Important Events — Gas and Electric Plants — First Street Railway — The First Levee Canal — The Great Railway Strike — Coxey's Army Comes and Goes — Twin Towns Incorporate — Company G Responds to Duty — News Notes 1895- 1900. CHAPTER XIV. Development of Oil Fields 126 Discovery of Great Oil Fields That Have Made the County Famous — Early Development at McKittrick — First Drilling Unsuccessful — Operators Move to Sunset — Refinery Established in 1891— McKittrick Railroad Built — Oil Boom Strikes West Side — Discovery of the Kern River Field — The Elwoods To be Credited with Discovery — The Great Boom — Sunset Railroad Built — Building of Pipe Lines Begun — Associated Oil Company' Formed — In- dependent Agency Organized — A Democratic Concern — Varying Prices for Oil — Gushers Swamp the Market — The Boom of 1910 — Developments at the Marketing End — More Pipe Lines Built — Getting the Markets Organized — Efforts to Check Over-Production — Oil Land Withdrawals — The Pickett Bill — The Yard Decision — Smith Remedial Bill — Asphaltum and Oil Refin- ing — Natural Gas Production — Natural Gas in Bakersfield — Making Gasoline from Gas — Some of the County's Famous Oil Gushers — Gushers Start Boom of 1910 — Lakeview Comes In — Product Swamps Pipe Line — The Consolidated Midway — A Procession of Gushers — North Midway Gushers — Effect on the Oil Game — The Lost Hills Field — The Discovery Well. CHAPTER XV. Progress of the County from 1900 to 1913.. .• 148 Development of Pump Irrigation — Experiments at Wasco and McFarland — Development of the Citrus Belt — Pumping Plant Extension in 1912 — Planting Apples at Tehachapi — Status of Fruit Growing in 1913 — Bakersfield in 1904 — Good Times Return — Building Boom of 1909-10 — Activity in Home-Building — Raising the Civic Standards — Consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern — Bakersfield Paves Her Streets — Bonds for County Roads — Public Buildings of 1900-1913 — Church Building — Progress of Schools — The Rescue of Lindsay B. Hicks— News Notes 1899 to 1910. CHAPTER XVI. Brief Histories of Kern County Towns 173 Bakersfield in 1859 — Coming of Colonel Baker — Kern County Created — Bakersfield Formally Laid Out — Bakersfield Wins the County Seat — Bakers- field is Incorporated then Disincorporated — Another Era of Progress — The Big Fire — Colonization of Rosedale — Public LTtilities in 1889-90 — Kern River Oil Boom — Present Prospects — West Side Oil Field Tow^ns — Maricopa — Taft — Fellows — McKittrick — Lost Hills — Towns of the Valley Farming District — Delano — Wasco — Famosa — McFarland — Rio Bravo — Button willow — Shafter — Rosedale — Edison — Towns of the Mountain Section — Tehachapi — Glennville — Woody — Kernville — Isabella — Weldon — Onyx — Havilah — Ca- liente — Towns of the Desert — Randsburg — Johannesburg — Mojave — Rosa- mond. INDEX A Abels, Fred ..: 1506 Ackerley, C. H 1111 Adams, G. F 1505 Adams, James *S 1260 Adams. Verne L 1518 Albrecht, Albert W 1418 Aldrich, G. J 1363 Alexander, Calvin B 596 Alexander, Ford 1299 Alexander, James 1085 Allardt, Hu?o F 472 Allen. Charles E 1319 Allen. Louis 921 Amour. Augustine 1223 Amourig, August 1202 Andersen, Barney A 764 Anderson, C. V 232 Anderson, Frank 1476 Andre, Andre 992 Andre. Cjrille 494 Annette, James L 1326 Ansolabehere, Michel 1460 Ansolabehere, Michel 1139 Apalatea, Francisco 1377 Applegarth, Clark 1276 Ardizzi. Beneditto 1435 Argy, Michael 1538 Armstrong, William E 1368 Arp, James H 446 Ashe. Eliott M 1530 Atkinson, Benjamin M 1377 Atkinson. Thomas W 1376 Atwell. Joe M 798 Augsburger. John H 1332 Avila. Mrs. Mary J 861 B Bach, Philip 1323 Bailev, E. W 1398 Bailey, John E 857 Bailey. Joseph L 857 Baker, James L 1380 Baker, Lynn W 1344 Baker, R. T 872 Baker. Col. Thomas 722 Baker, Thomas A 460 Bakersfield Brewing Co 1282 Bakersfield Ice Delivery 472 Baldwin. Frank H 1460 Ball, Herbert G 663 Ballagh, C. E 748 Ballagh, E. E 1093 Ballagh, Herbert A 730 Bandettini. Almando 1508 Bangsberg, O. C 1063 Banks, Henry F 1504 Baptista, Christian and Margaret.... 763 Barker, E. J 1405 Barker, Vining E 1262 Barlow, Hon. Charles A 207 Barnett, Floyd H 1305 Barr, James A 1280 Barrett, Parker 1285 Bates, J. W 1085 Bates, Luther A 1551 Batz, John B 231 Bauman, Jacob 865 Baumgartner, Joseph 1282 Beardsley, Lewis A 1232 Beck, Charles G 1392 Becker, H. E 674 Bemus, Erskine 1225 Benjamin, Ernest V 1243 Bennett, A. V 1374 Bennett. Charles F 506 Bennett, J. A 1399 Bennett, John F 1312 Bennett, Hon. Paul W 634 Benson, Clarence D 738 Benson, Millard D 1365 Berges, Alexander 868 Bergsten, Albion R 1451 Beringer. Milton D 629 Bernard, Francois 1432 Bertrand, Jean E 944 Bess. R. W 582 Bewley, R. L 1434 Bidart. John 801 Bimat, Bernard 901 Bimat, Leon 741 Birchard, S. C 1385 Blacker. Ezra N 537 Blacker. Robert E 1417 Blackball. Alexander R. M 1021 Blaettler. Peter 1378 Blair, Frank E 1060 Blanc, Eli 1475 Blanck. Ernest L 867 Blankenship, Phil 1418 Blodget. Hugh A 883 Blood. Daniel H 1003 Blood, E. K 1224 Boese, Rev. John H 1494 Boggs, William S 360 Boggs, Willis W 270 Bohna, Henry 388 Bolstad, Fred P 747 Borda, Domingo 812 Borel. Jean 1235 Borgwardt, Henry L 772 Bostaph, C. A 1371 Bowles, P. E., Jr 1123 Bowman, Charles 1379 Bramham, Virginia 1025 Brandt, Henry J 1388 Bratt, Frank O : 857 Bresson, Joseph ^ 1297 Breuch, William 642 Brinkman, John J 677 Brite, Charles R 1335 Brite, Jesse D 1361 Brite, John B 1331 INDEX IX Brite, Lucas F 281 Brittan, Edward F 1225 Britz. Nick 1333 Brockman. Fred C 702 Brooks, Thomas A 283 Broom, Mrs. Margaret M 1524 Brower, Celsus 1037 Brown, Andrew 213 Brown, Edward S 1097 Brown, Granville L 320 Brown, H. H 1205 Brown, James F 1385 Brown, L. T 1491 Brown, Newell J., M.D 1257 Brown. Thomas W 751 Browning, William J 1106 Bruce, James L 897 Brundage, Hon. Benjamin 1012 Brundage, Benjamin L 1245 Buchanan, Lewis R 955 Buckreus, Franz 330 Bumgarner, G. M., M.D 1018 Burge, E. D 1448 Burke, Daniel 722 Burke, Walter J 560 Burkett, George E 1539 Burnes, Andrew A 1235 Burnham, E. L 1371 Burns, F. J 1364 Burton, Robert 996 Burubeltz, Jean 1335 Busby, Harry C 1305 Bush, Jonathan M 1485 Byrns, Frank A 1211 c Caldwell, George 1347 Caldwell, James R 809 Caldwell, John E 809 Calhoun, George 1237 Call, George W 1308 Campbell, E. B 985 Canaday, John W 1441 Canfield, W 1454 Cannell, Thomas A 577 Capdeville, Jean B 1195 Carlock, Francis M : 645 Carlock, Howard W 1429 Carlton, Eugene R 995 Carroll, J. P 1193 Carter, David 931 Carter, J. B 729 Carver, Alexander 1435 Carver, Mrs. Louisa J 1251 Cassady, Forrest A 1462 Castro, Albert H 879 Castro, Domitilo 737 Castro, Emilio C 1341 Castro, Epifanio P 853 Castro, Leonides 1168 Castro, Perfecto C 1550 Castro. Thomas C ,— 1202 Cattani, Peter 1544 Cayori, Chris 1304 Chadwick, Chessman J 633 Chastan, Octave 846 Chatom. Paul 756 Chauvin, Alphonse 1279 Chavez, Gabriel 1467 Chinette, John P 918 Chittenden, James E 760 Christensen, Claus P 668 Claflin, Hon. Charles L 1250 Clar, Miss Anna 1477 Clark, Fred C 1446 Clark, James A 1021 Clark, Orville L 216 Clark, Samuel R 1236 dayman. John H 256 Clegg, William F 1471 Clement, Fred 1378 Clickard, John 1466 Cline, Christian W 1338 Clotfelter, Less 1341 Cochran, Joseph A 1542 Coffee, Dave 927 Coffee, George W 1105 Colby, C. B 342 Coleman, Harry L 1477 Colm, W. W 743 Colton, Francis G 1545 Condict. Henry F 694 Cook, D. B 1180 Cook, F. S 1435 Cook, L. R 1471 Cook. W. H., M.D 294 Coolbaugh, Mrs. Elizabeth 865 Coombs, Leslie D 926 Cooney, Joseph P 1521 Cooper, Charles E 705 Coppin, Thomas C 1311 Cornish, Thomas J 948 Corsett, Frank H 1543 Corti, Paul 1157 Coulter, Joel W 687 Coulter, L. D 1363 Cowan, Marshall R 973 Coyne, Martin .- 1324 Craghill. Edward W 430 Craig, Fred W 1143 Craig, J. N 1463 Grain. Mrs. Alice A 1390 Crawford, Clinton B 1343 Crawford, James R 1533 Crichton, Dave 482 Crippen, Fred N 1412 Crippen, S. G 1423 Crites, Angus J 336 Crites, Angus M 1045 Crites, Arthur S 1244 Crites, Mrs. Louesa M 1046 Croft, J. H 655 Cromwell, Alexander H 603 Cross, Asa A 1300 Cross, John 1370 Crow, Lewis B 793 Cuda, Joseph 134? Cuddeback, John P 353 Cuddeback, William N 347 Cummings, Clarence C 1531 Cummings, Edward G 1531 Cummins, Thomas L 659 Cuneo, P. J., M.D 1075 Cunningham, W. L 341 Curran, James 407 Curtzwiler, Charles W 1246 D Daggett, Charles E 1552 - DaiJey, Charles A 1301 INDEX 4- Dalton, Archibald E 13U6 Daly, Charles 1413 Darnul, John J 767 ^; David, Edward A 1467 Davis, Elonzo P 609 -w Davis, George 1516 Davis, Ira B 896 Davis, Philip M 1511 Davis, Walter E 1303 Dawley, C. H 743 Day. Charles E , 420 Dearborn, Judge Elias M 816 Delfino, George 1157 ^ Demsey, Cyrus F., M.D 1047 Denio, John B 315 Dennen, LeRoy A 1513 Derby, George W 1433 ^ Deuel, J. J., Sr 1214 Deuel, J. J., Jr 501 Devenney, Henry F 1220 -^ Dickey, C. L 1425 Dickinson, Charles 1278 Dickinson, James E 482 Dixon, Archie H 828 /f Dixon, Ola G 836 Dodge, R. M 1386 Doherty, William J 887 Dooley. Joseph P 1368 Doran, Peter 1510 Dougherty, Dixon 324 Dover, H. J 1553 Dowd, Adolphus 1447 Drader, Charles 356 Duhart, Pierre 965 Dumble, Herman S 1184 Duncan, Eugene B 350 Duncan, M. A 434 Dunlap, Henry C 1261 Dunlop, Samuel J 1312 -i- Dunn, John M 1307 Dunne, Cornelius 1139 Durnal, J. A 1527 Duschak, Simon '. 1528 E Eardley, W. A : 244 Echenique, Miguel 944 Echenique, Tomas 827 Echols, A. B 1516 Eckert. Mrs. Belle C 1394 Eckhofif, Frederick J 1253 Edmonds, Reuben A 367 Edwards, E. T 252 Edwards, George B 403 Edwards, J. G 1328 Ehlers, Fredrick 1381 Eiland. Edward F 858 Ellis, Katharyn W., M.D 344 Elwood. Harry M., M.D 956 Emerson. Charles 1369 Emmons. E. Carroll 1398 Emmons. Hon. E. J 1500 Enas, John 529 Endert, Joseph F 811 Engelke, W. A 1454 Engle, William H...: 1374 Erb, E. J 1315 Erickson, Henry 1322 Espitallier, Joseph 1548 Espitallier, Marius M 1372 Estribou, Jean B 1214 Etcheverry, Fernando 1191 Etcheverry, Peter 842 Etzweiler, Harry A 1194 Evans, Joseph L 563 Eyraud, August P 589 Eyraud, Jean 1549 Eyraud, Joseph 921 F Fairchild, Charles H 521 Fairchild, Margaret H 522 Farmer. Milton T 891 Farris, Hamilton 418 Fechtner, Paul R 1537 Fenneman, Henry H 850 Ferguson, Andrew 1124 Ferguson, W. A 803 Fergusson, Reginald A., M.D 3iS Fether, Frank A 1026 Fether, Harry D 1072 Filben, Arthur B 1274 First National Bank of Taft 450 Fishell, Roland R 1489 Flournoy, George 581 Fogarty, Thomas H 1357 Fogg, E. S., M.D 1224 Follansbee, William G 706 Forbes, A. D 348 Forker, William N 1094 Forsyth, Donald H 1420 Foster, Edwin L 1249 Foust, Andrew J 1457 Foust, Levi E 651 Fox, C. A 957 Fox, J. Frank .• 778 Frazier, William W 1523 Freear, Charles H 906 Freear, Henry T 683 Freear, Horace R 475 Freear, James A 214 Freear, John A 209 Freear. Joseph P 498 Freeman, Albert W 277 Freeman, Hon. James W 1212 Freligh. Andrew 433 Fry. Cliarles H 1384 Fry, John A 1000 Fry, Joseph B 752 Fuller. Rev. Edgar R 969 Fultz, Thomas S 1542 G Galbraith. G. H 961 Gallman, John J 366 Galloway, Ralph E 262 Galtes, Paul 307 Gardette, Peter 197 Gardner, John A 368 Gardner, J. E 1048 Gates, N. M 1367 Geddes, Charles E 1426 Geiger, Felix 1487 General Hospital of Taft 373 Getchell, C. E 718 Giboney, C. L 1325 Gilfillan, Adam W 417 Gill. John L 810 Gillespie, J. E 819 INDEX Gillespie, Patrick 1056 Gillette, Edward D 623 Gilli. Peter 541 Girard, Joseph "JT] Girard, Jules 1539 Giraud, Cyrille 1524 Gist, Jabez R 981 Glanville, Oscar 565 Glenn, Mrs. Sarah 1330 Goode, Albert S 489 Goode, O. P 1416 Goodman, H. S 1277 Gormley, F. B 673 Gould, Bert E 1353 Graham, James T 1404 Grant, James C 1431 Gray, Jonathan E 453 Green, A. B 1339 Green, Bernard G 1372 Green, Bert 1041 Green Brothers 1041 Green, Clarence S 678 Green, John L 1041 Green, John T 429 Greer, Jefferson M 1483 Gribble, Fred L 1450 Grimaud, Stanislaus 1269 Grogg, E. A 1326 Guiberson, Lorraine P 463 Gunderson, Robert 1445 Gundlach, Max, Jr 1554 Gunn, William W 1541 H Haberfelde, George C 1167 Haberkern, Charles F 374 Haese, Otto 1011 Haimes, Reginald F , 1150 Hall, Hon. Fred H .' 219 Halloran, John 1465 Halter, Joseph J 1273 Hamilton, E. M 999 Hamilton, John E 278 Hamilton, Truman W 1497 Hamlin, Francis A., M.D 313 Hanning, Cecil H 1215 Harbaugh, Isaac W 1176 Harding, Jack 1119 Hardisty, Charles 1407 Hare, Frederick E 1445 Harman, Lane S 269 Harmon, William 1052 Harrington, Albert L 578 Harris, Witten W 868 Hart, Charles M 1356 Hart, John 1175 Harvey, John H 1428 Harvey, Thomas N 234 Hastings, George 1045 Hatfield, George W 1346 Hath, H. J 1329 Hay, George 225 Hayden, James M .*.... 756 Hayes, Emmett L 1147 Heard, J. W , 1500 Heasley, William E 1470 Heck, E. P 341 Heck, O. C [,'Z. 341 Heldman, Charles H 1078 Helm, Lesrey G 1440 Helm, Thaddeus W TZZ Henderson, George D 1278 Henderson, Lawrence 1526 Henderson, William L 1534 Hendrickson, John J 842 Hern, J. J 1415 Herod, Clarence L 1247 Herod, James 744 Hickey, John 637 Hicks, J. W 1459 Hiemforth, Peter 1188 Higley, E. D 1320 Hill, Fred A 718 Hill, F. F . 349 Hill, Paul C 1011 Hill, Roland G 510 Hill, William H 207 Hilliard. Wesley W 1210 Hillman, Earl 1527 Hirsch, L. A 1334 Hitchcock, Charles D 1064 Hoagland, Arthur E 1427 Hochheimer, Ira 1165 Hoenshell, David L 1266 Holden, Rev. John P ;. 566 Holland, W. J 569 Holmes, Calvin H 1336 Holmes, Fred S 1488 Holmes, IMyron 268 Holson, Dell J 1213 Holtby, Robert M 564 Holthe, Oscar A 1396 Hopkins, Harry A 355 Hopper, Leonard 748 Hopper, Thomas 797 Hornung, Paul 1051 Hosking, Henry 1201 Hougham, Edward L 438 Houser, William M Z^^ Howell, William A 293 Hubbard, John E 875 Hudson, Hon. R. J 295 Hughes, H. Guy TdZ Hughes, R. C 1388 Hunt, R. R 1529 Hunter, Alva 1325 Hurst. Willis E 1528 Hutchins, V. G 837 Hydron, James F 380 I Illingvvorth. Carlos G 862 Irwin. Hon. Rowen 263 J Jackson. Charles W 446 Jackson, David A 1120 Jacobs, A. Neal 1415 Jacoby, Abraham 973 James, J. B 1495 James, Walter 394 Jameson, John M 476 Jasper, Mrs. Harriet 693 Jastro, Harry A 1230 Jastro, Henry A 195 Jensen, H. P 1215 Jessup, John R 507 Jewett, Mrs. Catherine A 1296 Jevvett. Frank C 1314 Xll INDEX Jewett, Philo L 222 Jewett, Solomon 1292 Jewett, S. Wright 1059 Johndrow, Louis F lOlS Johnson, Charles F 812 Johnson, Charles W 922 Johnson, John 595 Johnson, John P 1042 Johnson^ J. Thomas, M.D 424 Johnson, Mrs. Melvina 1505 Johnson, Richard A 1517 Johnston, Charles N 545 Johnston, George K 837 Johnston, H. D 1056 Johnston, Lucius 689 Jones, J. A 1554 Jones, Joseph G 1410 Jones, Paul R 1390 Jordan, Judson H 467 Jorgensen, George 1532 Joughin, William D 1133 Judd, Frank S 709 K Kaar, Charles S 1161 Kaar, Jacob F _ 1162 Kaar, John ^^^ Kammerer, George 672 Kamprath, Otto R 514 Karns, Ernest 1097 Kaye, W. W 203 Kean, Michael T 1116 Keene, Arthur M 1483 Keester, Lloyd P 1048 Keleher, T. P 1456 Kellermeyer, Edward C 872 Kelley, Franklin C 1318 Kelley, George C 1317 Kelley, Jesse L 1082 Kelly, John W 1495 Kelly, W. W 789 Kerr, Charles 1075 Kersey, Joe D 1530 Kersey, Mrs. Lizzie 1467 Kidd, A. M 1313 Kimball-Stone Drug Store 233 King, George W 1384 King, Layton J 674 Kingston, Thomas S 1376 Kinton, Miss Ella B 1459 Kirsten, A. C. Julius 891 Kitchen, Charles E 1071 Kizziar, William L 902 Klingenberg, August 1477 Klipstein, Henry W 385 Klipstein, Thomas E 909 Knight, Harry S 958 Knoke, J. C 1425 Knowlton, Kent S 962 Koch, John 1438 Kosel, Peter 1550 Kramer, Otto 1409 Kratzmer, August 978 Kueffner, Rev. Louis 550 Kuehn, George W 1268 L Lafont, Valentin 1339 Laird, Rollin 1253 Laird, William H., M.D 569 LaMarsna, Gerard C 1515 Lamb, Patrick 1284 Lambert, Peter 771 Lapsley, James T 1529 Larsen, Christian P 1289 Larson, Lewis H 1140 Lavers, Frederick 768 Lavers, William A 755 Leake, W. R 419 LeGar, Keith B 1401 Leieritz, E. H 781 Lewis, Edwin T 797 Lichtenstein, M. M 1081 Lieb, Edwin P 1473 Lierly, W. S 308 Lightner, Abia T 227 Lindberg, M. A 1442 Lindgren, Charles J 1231 Lindgren, Otto P 1302 Little, C. C 987 Little, Lindsey B 1301 Lock, J. R 1333 Long, E. R - 1282 Long, Samuel C 570 Lonstrom, Axel 1456 Lopez, Jose J 880 Lorentzen, Paul 288 Lovejoy, George W 1525 Lowell, Alexis F 619 Lowell, William H 660 Lowell. Wilmot 1243 Lueschen, Alvin G.. M.D 296 Lufkin, Harry R 210 Lugo, Jose M 1412 Lutz, Emil T 1348 M McCaffrey, James 1400 McCaffrey, John :... 1541 McCall, L. A 1370 McCarthy, Jeremiah 943 McCarthy. William J 1125 McCausland, George W 1440 McClimans. John J 1449 McClintock, H. H 690 McClure, William H 1475 McCombs, Albert J 1101 McCoy, Charles H 895 McCullouch, Benjamin F 1239 McCullough, Harvey N 876 McCutchen, Edmund W 267 ]\IcCutchen, George W 261 McCutchen, James B 249 McCutchen, Preston S 243 McCutchen, P. J 1300 McCutchen, Robert L 275 McCutchen, V. D 1107 McCutchen, W. C 255 McDonald, Dan 1332 McDonald, J. C 1034 McFarland, James B 442 McFarlane, Peter J 1501 McGill, R. W 1453 McGovern, Thomas H 505 McGuire, Robert R 1041 McKamy, James 671 McKee, Milo G 684 McKenzie, M. K., M.D 314 McKinnie, Carle T 555 McLean, George A 888 INDEX Xlll McMahon, Edward T 656 McManus, Terence B 2)72 McMillen, John H 549 McMurtry, H. A 1452 McNamara, Thaddeus M., M.D 546 McNamara, Thaddeus M 221 McNew, Hugh L 342 Maddux, David W 1078 Maddux, William A 1089 Maguire, James T 1196 Mahon, Hon. Jack W 319 Maio, John F..... 1479 Mannel, Frederick E 1327 Mansfield, James H 1380 Marek, Joseph F 1345 Marion, Albert W 555 Marley, John C 706 Marsh, Fred J 910 Marsh, Judson D 1209 Marshall, Joseph J 433 Martin, David E 1029 Martin, Miles R., Jr 1206 Martin, Richard J 781 Martin, S. H 1321 Martinto, Jean P 1350 Massa, Harry G 1474 Mathews, Sarshel V 1429 Matlack, William V 238 Mattly, Christian 335 Mattly, Peter 1365 Mattson, Frank S 574 Maurel, August 1086 May, Mrs. Amelia H 1112 May, Charles A 1342 May, George S 1264 Mayou, Pierre 1501 Maze, Frederick S 697 Means, Thomas A 371 Menzel, William 490 Mercy Hospital 895 Metcalf, Thomas A 437 Meudell, A. Y 533 Mier, Jose 1410 Mikesell, Mrs. W. M 698 Miles, J. A. C 1323 Millard, Edward F 1166 Millard, Stephen W 1383 Miller, Daniel R 1478 Milliff, Frank A 1405 Minor, Theodore H 413 Molidor, George 428 Mon, Vincent 1535 Monroe, W. P 573 Montgomery, James 738 Montgomery, Richard D 1480 Moore, Raleigh A 802 Mora, Frank J 1401 Morgan, Alvin E , 1258 Morgan, Rev. Edward 1436 Morgan, James A 1295 Morgan, Wallace M 614 Morley, Joseph V 1395 Morris, Clark D 1205 Morris, John F 1387 Morris, Myron W 1503 Morris, R. R 1555 Morrison, Charles V 1419 Mortenson, Capt. Paul 1408 Morton, A. S 1101 Mosher, Herbert C 329 Moss, A. L 1535 Moss, H. G 849 Moynier, Jean 901 Mull, P 1350 Mull, Robert J 1366 Munzer, Francis G 316 Murdock, Harry F 624 Myers, Jasper 1422 N Neff, J. R 526 Neill, John 1381 Neill, Robert 502 Nelson, Christian 1352 Nelson, David W 1240 Newell, Daniel B " 630 Newsom, Edward F 1443 Newton, Frank H 1469 Nicolas, Maurice 1270 Nicoll, John 1524 Niederaur, Jacob 251 Nighbert, George T 1297 Nixon, Andrew 1369 Noel, Fritz C 1255 Noriega, Faustino M 1286 Norris, Edward G 258 Norris, James N 296 Norris, Robert T 820 Northrop, Earl 1055 Nunez, Max 1093 o O'Boyle, Thomas J 337 O'Donnell, Mary 832 O'Hare, Peter 534 O'Meara, P. J 1444 Ochs, Oscar R 1298 Odeman, Gus 1216 Off, Charles F 397 Ogden, James A 441 Olson, Anthony B 293 Orcier, Romulus 374 Orr, Frank 1465 Osborn, Walter 240 Oswald, John S 537 Overall, Joseph W 1511 Owen, Erwin W 1230 Owen, Josiah 1234 Owen, Ray 1464 Owens, Thomas E 1546 Owens, Troy M 1484 P Palmer, Robert 1198 Palmer, Walter 1038 Parish, George W 530 Parker, James H 1242 Parsons, Horace G 626 Pascoe, M. W., M.D 215 Pauly, Leo G 379 Payne, J. C 701 Payne, Mahlon 1406 Peacock, Harrison R '. 479 Peairs, Howard A 853 Pearl, M. J 1323 Pearson, Mordecai F 1537 Peck, William B 542 Pemberton, George N 815 Pensinger. James H 742 INDEX Pensingcr, William W 1120 Perry, William C 1348 Pesante, Mrs. Adeline 1362 Petersen, Niels P 497 Petersen, Peter 1176 Petray, Mrs. Pauline D 656 Petroleum Club, The 1437 Pettus, Martin N 1358 Petz, George J 1105 Peyton, L 1391 Pfost, Joseph F 925 Phelan, Harry B 1130 Philipp. Jean 1549 Philipp, Jean L 1378 Pickle, John A 1226 Pierce, Charles C 1209 Pinnell, Thomas W 1296 Pippitt, George H 1359 Plaugher, John P 1153 Polhemus, A. B 1421 Posch, Gustav , 468 Pourroy, Jean 1496 Pourroy, Seraphim 486 Powell, Francis M 1319 Powell, H. G 1392 Powers, Sidney 1077 Preble, Mrs. Margaret H 1192 Premo, George W 1154 Prendiville, Rev. J. J 1165 Prouty, Herbert V., M.D 309 Q Quails, Oliver 1411 Quincy, Charles H 457 Quinn, Harry 327 Quinn, Margaret 832 R Ragesdale, J. W 838 Raine, Arthur E 982 Rambo, Harry C 1108 , Ramsey, John C 591 . Randolph, E. W 1274 Randolph, E. W 1532 Raney, James /\ 1487 Rankin, LeRoy 1315 Rankin, Walker 1473 Ranous, R. E 1498 Ratliff, William T 1008 Raymond, Jean B 1393 Raymond, John A '. 1303 Real, C. E 836 Rechnagel, Charles 977 Redlick, Joseph 1067 Rees, R. B., M.D 525 Rench, Arthur W 1129 Rhea, E. S 1397 Richard, George J 1553 Richart, Joy J 1493 Rinaldi, Otto F 835 Ripley, John 458 Ripple, Jacob N 1497 Ritzman, Conrad 957 Roberts, Col. E. M 201 Roberts, James C 310 Roberts, James E 1464 Roberts, John E 1187 Robinson, Alonzo B ' 741 Robinson, J 583 Robinson, Percy L 1211 Rodgers, Warren 932 Rodoni, A 1340 Rogers, Jesse R 1144 Rooks, William J 1149 Ross, Harvey L 1126 Ross, Lyman C 1349 Rowlee, Charles W 928 Ruby, Mrs. Amanda 600 Ruedy, Christian 365 Rufener, Jules 392 Rupp, Alfred 350 Rupp, J. G 1191 Russell, J. Kelly 951 Russell. William P 590 s Sabichi, George C, M.D 1217 Saffell, J. M 1259 Said, Bellamy K 652 Salis, Peter 1133 Sallee, George H 1208 Samuelson, John P 1098 Sanguinetti, Henry 1331 San Joaquin Hospital 832 San Joaquin Light & Power Corp... 1402 Sanzberro, Agustin 1180 Sartiat, Pierre 651 Savoie, Adlore 1492 Schaffnit, Henry R 509 Schamblin, Gustavus 359 Schiefferle, Charles 529 Schneider, E. J 1422 Schneider, Karl 1004 Schultz, William J 613 Schutz, Herman H :.... 1015 Scofield, Fred N 1298 Scott, Marion J 599 Scott, M. P 1277 Scott, Robert L 608 Scott & Goodman ,. 1277 Seager, Carey L 257 Sears, Charles H 1220 Sears, Charles N 284 Sedwell, George W 1550 Seibert, Benjamin F 1187 Seinturier, Hippolyte 373 Sellers, C. H 574 Seran, Joseph 1004 Seymour, W. S 1514 Shackelford, Dick 1540 Shackelford, Rowzee F 1018 Shaffer, George W 1284 Shannon, Phares H 1513 Shearer, George W 1256 Sheedy, David 1397 Sheffler, H. Roy 1430 Sherman, Charles H 684 Sherwood, Edgar E 1509 Sherwood, Fred C '... 1455 Shields, Jeremiah 1086 Shively^ Delbert A 583 Shurban, Charles H 1461 Siemon, Alfred 1223 Silber, William G 1396 .Sill, B. H 898 Silver, Andrew C 378 Simpson, R. N 1439 Simpson, Hon. William E 1229 Sloan, A. A 591 Smartt, Samuel G 538 INDEX XV Smetzer. Charles C 687 Smith, Bedell 393 Smith, Charles D 1450 Smith, Charles H 481 Smith, E. C 1316 Smith, Frederick 1025 Smith, Fred L 1366 Smith, Henry E 966 Smith, Mateo 1263 Smith, Mel P 1022 Smith, Hon. Sylvester C 299 Smith, Thomas H 620 Smith, Thomas S 939 Snider, George L 1033 Snow, Francis M 1375 Sola, Jose 1221 Sowash, Charles 846 Spach, Thomas M 1503 Spears, H. H 1352 Spencer, James A 1544 Sproule, George C. - 638 Sproule. William A 1017 Stahl, John G 943 Stapp, Mary E. M 1433 Star Soda Works 1339 Stark, Jesse 1295 Stephenson, W. W 510 Stevens, James M 910 Stevenson, J. H 289 Stier, Joseph P 1341 St. Lawrence Oil Co 706 Stockton, Isaac D., M.D 1290 Stockton, Robert L 287 Stone, James E 233 Stroble, G. F 1183 Stutsman, Grant 1414 Suiter, Benjamin F. and Mayme B.... 803 Sullivan, Timothy P 471 Sumner, Hon. Joseph W 237 Sweitzer, Samuel 1547 Swett, John L 1373 Swofford, Alfred 1171 Sybrandt, Mrs. Emeretta C 1247 T Talbot, William G 871 Tam, Hon. Joseph H 245 Taussig, Nathan W 607 Taylor, Albert M 936 Taylor, Charles C 1382 Taylor, Charles L 1207 Taylor, Charles S 1457 Taylor, George E 1424 Taylor, John T 427 Taylor, Orrin R 838 Taylor, Walter C 1555 Taylor,' William H. D 1309 Teague, J. J 1508 Templeton, Charles, Jr 824 Templeton & Co 824 Thomas, Burt 1452 Thomas, Marcus B 1512 Thomas, William H 1241 Thomas, W. 1468 Thompson, E. J 1310 Thompson, L. T 734 Thompson, Ralph H 1275 Thompson. W. N 1030 Thomson, David E 1281 Thorand, Anton 610 Thornbcr, James H 710 Thornburgh, George P 1463 Tibbet, Mrs. Rebecca 1076 Tibbetts, Charles B 1474 Tibbetts, Frank C 917 Timmons, William B 1228 Todd. George H 349 Tomaier, Charles 1522 Tough, Frederick B 1294 Tracy, Mrs. Ellen M 785 Tracy, Ferdinand A 667 Tracy, William 517 Tracy, Mrs. William 518 True, Henry B 987 Truesdell, Edward M 914 Tryon, S. G 1543 Tschurr, Nicklas 1034 Tuculet, Peter 1362 Tyler, William '786 Tyrer. John 1355 u Underwood, Vernon L 717 Underwood, William E 641 Union Ice Company 472 Upton, John V 1261 Upton, William 713 Urie, George W 1458 V Vaccaro, Joseph 1361 Vandaveer, Mrs. Emma L 1161 Van Epps, Franklin L 1470 Van Meter, William E ■. 1415 Van Norman, Harvey A 454 Van Orman, Mrs. Harriet 246 Vaughn, Benjamin C 55^' Vaughn. Fred B 1337- Verdier, Eugene 1304 Vieux, Andre 1067 Villard, Amo.oise ... : 786 Villard. Pierre 1268 Vrooman, Charles M ... 759 w Wagy, J. 1 827 Waldon, Pinkney J 1227 Walford, Herbert W 1272 Wallace, William 1148 Wallen, Frank W 1196 Waller, George 668 Walser Brothers 906 Walser, Daniel W 940 Walter, Jacob 782 Walters, E. W 1172 Walters. Raymond 1 1520 Wangenheim. Albert L 1351 Wanner, Rev. Joseph 592 Warren, Amos E 408 Warren, Arthur R 1521 Wasson, John L 646 Watkins, Francis M 1391 Watson, Gordon W 423 Weaber, Arthur 1238 Weaver, A. M 1337 Weaver. William H 404 Weedall. Albert 1358 Wcferling. Herman A 1334 Weichelt, Christian 823 XVI INDEX Weichelt, Gaudenz 1360 Weichelt, John 831 Weit, Edward 1375 Weitzel, M. L 1134 Wells, Hyman B 1090 Weringer, Joseph 913 West, Henry D 947 West, Rev. James S 714 Whaley, J. H 1038 Whelan, Roger 939 Whitaker, Charles 1519 Whitaker, E. H 584 Whitaker, George E 1267 Whitaker, William F 1055 White, C. LeRoy 1472 White, James M 1481 White, Richard E 1449 White, William G 551 Whittier, Charles G 599 Whyte, J. M 1507 Wible. Simon W 323 Wilhelm, W. S 198 Wilhite, Richard T 603 Wilkes, W. Perry 1354 Wilkins, George M 1007 Wilkinson, Nathaniel R 1502 Williams, E. S 1492 Williams, Hibbard S 1221 Williams, John R 1287 Williams, Nicholas J 935 Williams, Percy A 365 Williams, Samuel A 552 Williams, William A 556 Willis, Frank T 955 Willow, E. L 387 Wilson, Mark 1394 Wilton, John 1514 Winney, E. E 832 Winser, Philip 1271 Wirth, Christian A 1490 Wirth, Wilhelm A 1384 •Wiseman, Thomas B 793 Withington, Robert W 1294 Women's Improvement Club 688 Woodson, Daniel B 1536 Woody, Elmer H 485 Woody, Stonewall A 401 Worley, J. S 1112 Worthington, Frank M 98B Worthington, Lewis C 1248 Wright, Fred 445 Wright, Mrs. Walter 372 Wynn, Charles H 1530 Y Yancey, George A 1179 Yancey, Joseph E 729 Yarbrough, Ernest E 824 Young, Thomas M 493 '^^£a>^^ •f^ « :d '.. o . ,:■: u ::1 ;s , -.1 ct:; IJ w ►> '> » •"f < -: ^ w u HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 21 of hills, and great wastes of level, barren sands, slicing ofif from San Ber- nardino county for the benefit of Kern a great triangle from the western edge of the Mojave desert with its lonesome wildernesses, its bewildering mirages, its mocking, brackish waters, its great beds of coarser chemicals, and its recklessly strewn treasures of gold and tungsten. The base and altitude of this triangle, which fits into the southeastern corner of the county, are approx- imately sixty miles each. Its hypothenuse is roughly marked by the eastern slopes of the Sierras, where the great range near its southern end curves westward toward the sea. In the history of Kern county this desert triangle was the last and least to be appreciated, therefore we get its description first out of the way. A View of the Kern Valley For our view of the valley portion of the county — the place where the oil fields and alfalfa pastures are and where the orchards and vineyards and groves of oranges and olives are coming to be — let us take ourselves to one of the round-topped treeless, grass-carpeted mountains that form the eastern sentinels of the Coast range. From such a point — near the middle of the western line of the county — spreading out before us we would see a great sweep of valley, open at the north but closed in by the Coast range on the west, by the Sierras on the east and on the south by a cross range that meets and joins the two great ranges and forms a mighty horse shoe of mountains that walls in the intervening plains and mesas and protects them from winds and storms and gives them the warm and equable climate that the vegetable kingdom loves. From the point where the west side mesa begins to slope down to the floor of the valley to the point where the east side mesa melts into the foot- hills of the Sierras, the distance is close to fifty miles, and from the upper edge of the mesa that lies along the northern side of the cross range northwest through the center of the valley to the north county line it is approximately sixty miles. From the great area thus enclosed, an area every foot of which will one day be watered and tilled, or made productive through the extrac- tion therefrom of oil or other valuable minerals, a new state like Delaware could be carved out, and of the scraps left over a new Rhode Island might be pieced together. In reality the haze of dust and distance covers all this land as one might see it on a summer day from the summit of the Coast range hills, and even in the clearer air of winter little of the prospect could be seen except the nearby mesas, a great sea of light hiding the valley beyond, and far away, floating in the thinner strata of the upper air, the rugged, snow-capped peaks of the high Sierras rising, as Mrs. Mary Austin says, "like the very front and battlements of heaven." But let us suppose the dust and haze are swept away and our eyes can search out the objects in the valley. Then something like this great panorama of industry and natural wealth would be laid before our view. The West Side Oil Fields Down below us in the foreground is the great sweep of the west side oil fields, beginning near the San Emidio ranch in the southwestern corner of the county and following northwest with the trend of the hills through Sunset, Midway, McKittrick, Temblor, the great, problematic reaches of the Lost Hills and Devils Den districts to the northwestern corner of the county and on thence to Coalinga. The whole distance prospected with more or less profit 22 • HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY or promise is not far from seventy miles within the county. Wildcat drilling, as yet without result, extends eastward of San Emidio fifteen miles farther. In width the proven or prospected strip varies from two to fifteen miles. Only the merest fraction of this vast territory is as yet commercially pro- ductive — a thin line, a mile and a half to three miles in width drawn diagonally across five congressional townships represents it. Yet out of this small frac- tion of the county's west side oil territory were taken in the year 1910 not less than 24,680.000 barrels of oil. equal in fuel value to between eight and nine million tons of good coal. Two branch railroads and four pipe lines connecting with tide water have been built to furnish an outlet for this oil, and a great electric transmission line has been completed to furnish current for light and other purposes for which it may be needed in the fields. Three towns, large enough and permanent enough to aspire to incorporations — Maricopa. Taft and McKittrick — are the fruits of the local business activity of these oil fields, and three or four other towns are in process of building with varying reasons to hope for the future. The Buena Vista Gas Belt Just beyond the line of the producing oil fields lies the great gas belt of the Buena Vista hills, where wells estimated to produce from ten to fifty million cubic feet per twent3^-four hours have been brought in within the past two years. Already this gas is piped to Bakersfield and to the different parts of the west side oil fields for cooking and lighting and for use in fur- naces, and a great trunk line is now carrying it over the mountains to Los Angeles and other Southern California towns. In addition to this use an ex- tensive plant recently has been installed for extracting gasoline from the natural gas by means of' compression and cooling after a process similar in many respects to the making of liquid air. If we search the fields from our hypothetical point of vantage we may see. perhaps, anywhere trom one to half a dozen great oil wells spouting their inky fountains of oil and gas from two hundred to four hundred feet in the air. Great pillars of smoke rise from where waste oil and refuse are burned from the sump holes, and if it were night and the chance served we might see the towering torch of some burning gasser lighting the sands and sage brush on the surrounding dunes. Recent Activity in the Oil Fields The past few years have witnessed a tremendous activity on the west side. The older fields of Sunset and McKittrick have been widened and extended, the greatest oil gusher in the history of the industry being brought in in the former field, and Midway, lying between Sunset and McKittrick, sprang from the least to one of the largest of the oil fields of the valley. The Buena Vista gas fields were first tapped in 1909. At the present time prospectors are drilling with tireless energy in the northward extension of the McKittrick field, and all over the Lost Hills district that extends from McKittrick to the north county line, wild-catters are hopefully working, and occasionally a productive well of light gravity oil is brought in at the marv- elously shallow depth of 500 to 1000 feet. In Devils Den. close to the hills in the northwestern corner of the county, a few drills are dropping, and strung along the foothills from Devils Den southeast to Temblor are a few prospectors' derricks, miles apart and accom- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 23 plishing- little as yet save to demonstrate the faith of their owners that the oil measures lie beneath in an unbroken belt. For the rest the foreground is filled with low. rolling hills and gently sloping mesas, covered in spring with short grass and bright wild flowers, but dry and brown throughout the summer and fall, with only the wandering dust pillars of the ^yhirlwinds, the heat shimmer, the straggling growth of dwarf sage brush, the lonesome derrick of the wildcatter and the lonesomer cabin of the lease herder to vary their desolate monotony. Reclaimed Swamp Land These rolling hills and sloping mesas (all of which may some day be oil- or gas-bearing) fill a strip of country at the base of the Coast range from ten to twenty miles in width. Then comes the western edge of the county's agricultural land, its limit clearly defined by the line of the ancient swamp that filled the trough of the valley with a width of two to a dozen miles before the waters of Kern river that fed it were diverted into a great irrigation system, that waters 250.0CO acres of land. Just to the east of the Midway oil fields is Buena \'ista lake reservoir, a body of water covering thirty-six square miles, formerly a natural depression in the swamp and now enlarged by means of levees oh the east and north for the purpose of storing the waters of the river for irrigating the reclaimed swamp lands to the north. From this lake extending northwest along the western edge of the former sv/amp is a canal, one hundred and fifty feet in width, built for the combined purpose of distributing irrigation water and carrying away any excess of water that may come down the river in time of flood. This great ditch, known as the Kern Valley Water Company's canal, runs through lands now belonging to Miller & Lux, and that corporation is now extending it northward, by means of the largest steam dredger ever brought to the interior of the state, with the ultimate purpose of completing an artificial water way from -Buena Vista to Tulare lake. The canal will be of a size to serve as a means of transportation, but whether it is used for such a purpose remains to be determined by the demand, the disposition of the owners and the availability of the water at all times to fill it. Lying along this canal to the east, in the bed of the ancient swamp, fed by the deep, black tule lands, are the fat alfalfa pastures of Miller & Lux. the first expanse of perennial green that greets the eye as we look eastward from our perch on the Coast range mountain. The Miller & Lux alfalfa and grain fields reach to the northward from Buena Vista lake for something more than twenty-five miles. Beyond that the old swamp, dry except in unusually wet years, extends to the northern limit of the county untilled and unpeopled. Irrigation Canals Radiate From Bakersfield Twenty miles northeast of Buena Vista lake is Bakersfield, at the eastern edge of a great, nearly level plain that extends from the old sw^amp to the point where the land begins to rise again in an upward slope to meet the foothills of the Sierras. Just northeast of Bakersfield Kern river leaves a deep furrow of a mile and a half in width which it has plowed for itself through the hills and mesas to the eastward, and enters the flat, alluvial lands of the valley. From Bakersfield the channel of the river runs in an approximately direct line to Buena X'ista lake, but the river waters are taken out in a series of canals, heading above and below Bakersfield and spreading fanwise to the northwest, west, south and southeast. 24 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY This system of ditches covers roughly a territory twenty miles wide and forty miles long, beginning at the southern end of the valley where the mesas slope up to Tejon and San Emidio, and extending northwest within twelve or fifteen miles of the north county line. Only the circumstance that the water is all used on nearer lands prevents the irrigation system- reaching the northern boundary of the county, but the shortcoming of the canal system is supplemented by the presence of an artesian belt in the north part of the county, bordering on the eastern edge of the swamp, where flowing wells are obtained at a depth of 500 to 1000 feet, and by the existence of abundant water strata at depths varying from twelve to forty feet in depth from which water may be pumped for irrigation. These facilities for irrigation make of the middle distance of this vast panorama spread out before us, a belt of country twenty miles in width (exclusive of the swamp land heretofore described) and fifty-five miles or so in length, every foot of which can be irrigated, either from canals, from artesian wells or from shallow pumping \vells. Close to Bakersfield this land is tilled to fruit, alfalfa and dairy pastures. Farther south and northwest it is utilized for great grain fields or pastures for beef cattle. All of it is suitable for similar purposes. Beyond this belt of cheaply irrigated land lies the great mesa that skirts the western foothills of the Sierras. In width and length it is only a little less than the great belt of land just described, and along its lower edge the cost of pump irrigation is but a little greater than on the lower valley lands. This mesa forms the county's citrus belt — as yet, for the main part, potential. But while the county's orange and lemon production is yet in the future, so far as any great commercial results are concerned, the capacity of the soil, the abundance of the water and the perfect adaptability of the climate have been demonstrated past all doubt. Oranges grown on the San Emidio ranch, already referred to in the description of the west side oil fields, have made a name and fame for themselves in the most critical markets of the state. At Tejon, in the hills some twenty miles east of San Emidio, oranges of equal size and flavor are grown, and scattered all along the mesa north- westward to the north county line are smaller groves that prove the whole of the great thermal belt. Beginning of Orange Culture At the present time near Edison, eight miles east of Bakersfield, the Edison Land & Water Company is beginning the cultivation of orange groves on a considerable scale, and is making all its improvements in the thorough-going fashion that promises the fullest success. Smaller ventures in citrus culture have been launched in the wide stretch of mesa land that reaches south from Edison and other centers of development have been established at Delano, McFarland and Jasmine, in the northern part of the county. The development around the latter places is really the southern extension of the orange districts of Tulare county. The great success of citrus culture around Porterville has tempted the planting of similar lands farther and farther to the south, and the result is expected to be the gradual closing of the gaps between Ducor and Jasmine and Edison and between Edison and Tejon. Under all this mesa land water for pump irrigation is found at depths that vary almost directly as the height of the surface above sea level. Along the lower parts of the thermal belt water may be found at a depth of forty HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 25 feet or less, while near the hills the depth may run above two hundred feet. There is an immense body of land, however, on which water is to be had in abundant quantities with a lift of less than one hundred feet. In addition to the possibilities of the mesa lands for the growing of oranges and lemons, they are famous for their early fruits of the deciduous kinds and for vegetables. The mesa soil for the most part is an admixture of sand, gravel and clay that is easily tilled, very fertile and sufficiently porous to insure the best results from irrigation. In places the thermal belt is almost frostless, and tomato plants live the year round. This means that it is possible to have strawberries and a great range of vegetables at Christ- mas time, and grapes, apricots, melons and other delicacies that capture the high prices of the early markets may be supplied in great quantity and perfect quality. Cheap Power Available For the further development of the mesa lands great things are expected because of the abundance of cheap fuel for the generation of power. In addition to the power that may be developed from steam plants run by crude oil or from gas and gasoline used direct in engines, the San Joaquin Light & Power Company, which has recently entered the field with electric power and which has now completed a transmission line circling the valley portion of the county, announces that it will encourage the use of electricity in pumping water by extending its service lines where there is any hope for a market. The Lerdo Land & Water Company, which is a kindred cor- poration to the San Joaquin Light & Power Company, is preparing to lead the way in the use of water pumped by electricity by sinking wells and installing pumps on a tract of several thousand acres which it has purchased recently and which lies along the Southern Pacific railroad beginning about seven miles northwest of Bakersfield. At Wasco is established another center of pumping plant irrigation, and the practicability of raising deciduous fruits and raisins by this means is being fully demonstrated. At Rio Bravo, south and west of Wasco and nearly due west of Bakersfield, farmers are proving that it pays to pump water on the lower land for alfalfa and grain. At Semitropic, due west of Wasco and thirty-five miles northwest of Bakersfield, a combination of pumping plants and artesian wells is solving the problem of irrigation for general farming and dairying. Just at the eastern edge of the swamp land in what is known as the Goose Lake slough country is a thriving settlement that depends wholly on artesian wells to mature its crops. Beside the ventures in orange culture around Delano, Jasmine and McFarland, many pumping plants have been installed in the northern part of the county for the growing of deciduous trees and vines, and for growing alfalfa for dairy cows. North of Delano, along the county line, pump irri- gators have been especially active. At McFarland within the past three years a rose nursery of one hundred and sixty acres has been established for the growing of rose bushes for the New York market. Along the foothills and out on the mesa as far as Delano dry wheat farming has been the main industry from the time of the settlement of the country until the present time, but it is considered now but a matter of a few years before the pumping plant will make the land too valuable to be longer farmed to grain. 26 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Great Land Holdings As for the great area of country under the irrig^ation system already referred to, the bulk of it is held by the Kern County Land Company, a corporation that figures largely in the story of the county. Scattered among the company's holdings are many small farms, where all kinds of fruits, alfalfa, corn, vegetables and the usual agricultural crops are raised and where dairying is carried on with handsome profit. The Land Company's great fields are devoted to wheat and barley or are fenced into huge alfalfa pastures for the fattening of beef cattle raised in the mountains or shipped in from other parts of California or from other states. Whole townships of the finest garden soil are farmed in immense wheat fields or form rough pastures for Arizona steers. The almost equal Miller & Lux holdings, equally desirable, are farmed in about the same manner. If we were sitting on the top of the Coast range in reality instead of metaphorically we could see that the county's agricultural possibilities have not yet approached the stage of realization. Rut a thorough knowledge of the facts and the possibilities is necessary to gain any conception of how far short of realization the present falls. There is no finer body of land in the state than this great valley, and there are few so well watered. .With the breaking up of the large holdings of land and the coming of small farmers in numbers adequate to till the soil in thorough fashion, Kern county will become one of the chief sources of food supply in the west. At the present time agriculture is so far overshadowed by the oil industry that a greater imm])cr of farm products are shipped into the county than are shipped out. The Kern River Oil Field Before we leave the valley for a brief survey of the mountains we must take note of the Kern river oil field, averaging throughout its history the greatest single producing field of the state, although Coalinga, Midway and Sunset have each, at different times forged past it. Thirty miles from the nearest of the other oil fields, on the other side of the valley and with no apparent connection with the west side oil measures, Kern river holds a place alone and needs a wholly separate description. The field lies across Kern river to the north of Fjakersfield, sloping from the water's edge up to the top of the mesa. It covers approximately eleven sections of land, under all of which the drill has found a great pool of oil. First drilled in 1899 and pumped ever since to the limit of the market demand, in 1910 the field produced 13,700,000 barrels of oil, and a large part of the i)roveh territory- is yet untouched. It was the Kern river field that gave the county its first oil boom, and made the people of the county forget for the time their long demand for agricultural expansion. The field has been the best dividend-payer in the state, despite the fact that none of the spectacular gushers which have given fame to the Midway and Sunset fields have had a ])arallel in Kern river. The drilling has been easy and certain, the ])ercentage of loss has been small, and even the limits of the field were established so earh- that little money has been spent in fruitless prospecting about its borders. That the field may not be extended in the future is not assumed. In fact, recent drilling to the north and northwest has met encouraging indications, and many i)eoj)le believe that some day oil derricks will be scattered along the east side mesas as they now are scattered along the Coast range. Prospect holes are now being drilled due south of the Kern river field about twenty-four HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 27 miles, and due iKirtli of the field almost an equal distance. Both these new prospective districts are near the Sierra foothills, but the results of their exploration must remain for a later writing'. The Mountain Sections The description of the mountains is quickly written, although one might live there many years and wonder at the freshness of their charm and interest. It is because of the impossible task of a full description that little can be said. The Sierras fill in between the desert and the valley a great barrier, thirty to fifty miles in width, built out of lofty peaks, rugged, pine-clad ridges and shoulders of earth, timbered slopes, fertile valleys, streams that tumble down rocky cascades and flow gently along level reaches, great ledges that carr)^ treasures of gold, silver, copper, and lesser minerals of many sorts. Suppose we desert our Coast range mountain top for an airship, pre- ferably a dirigible, and sail slowly over the tops of the Sierras from the north county line southward. On the western slope of the range in the northern tier of townships is AA'oody, named for one of the county pioneers and not for the big oak trees that cover the hills and fill the little valleys. A little farther east and a little higher up is Glennville, in the fertile Linn's valley, named for William Lynn, but spelled with an "i" in later years. Cedar creek and a number of other little streams water the country hereabout and while stock-raising is the chief industry all down the western slope of the range, not a little general farming and some fruit raising is carried on in the little valleys and fertile meadows about Glennville. To the south of Glennville are Granite station and Poso Flat, both small centers of stock- raising. Over the Greenhorn mountains from Glennville and Linn's valley is Kern river flowing at times through narrow caiions, and elsewhere through wider valleys where the stream is bordered by fertile bottom lands. It was along Kern river, at Keysville, about eleven miles south of the north county line, that the first important mining camp in the county was estab- lished. Keysville was about three miles below the junction of the north and south forks of Kern river. Whiskey Flat (now Kernville) is about the same distance above the junction, on the north or main branch. Above the junction the South Fork flows through the South Fork" valley, a fertile strip of bottom land that forms the most important of the mountain farming districts. All this valley, about twenty miles in length, is irrigated and farmed to alfalfa. Weldon and Onyx on the South Fork, Isabella at the junction. Palmer and A'aughn a little to the south from Isabella, form the centers of the sparse population of the northern mountain section. Havi- lah, lying in a little valley, hardly more than a gulch, a little farther still, was once the metropolis and county seat of Kern, but its glory and greatness long since have faded. The mountains over which we have sailed so far are rugged and beautiful, stretching away in purple vistas, clad on their summits with pines and cedars and on their lower slopes with oaks, madrones and chaparral. To the south of Flavilah. forming the water-shed between Kern river on the north and Caliente creek on the south, is ]\Iount Breckenridge. a handsome, broad- topped mountain, rich in lumber pine that in earlier days was sawed and hauled to Bakersfield. The mill is still there but it has not been operated for some years. At the southern foot of Mount Breckenridge is Walker's basin, another 28 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of the cradles of Kern county's early civilized life, and farther on is Piute mountain, the scene of some of the earlier placer mining; Amalie and Paris on Caliente creek, centers of a later and more permanent mining development; Tehachapi creek, up which the Southern Pacific winds its difficult and tortuous passage; Bear mountain, rising to the west some seven thousand feet, one of the most conspicuous of the landmarks to be seen from the valley about Bakersfield ; the pleasant and fertile mountain valleys that bear the names of Bear, Brites, Cummings and Tehachapi; then the saddle at the crest, the crow's nest, in which the town of Tehachapi sits. On the western slope of Bear mountain is the Rancho El Tejon, one of the early Spanish grants, woven closely with the history of the Indians in this part of the state, and forming now, with the Alamos, Castac and La Liebre grants a magnificent mountain and valley stock range — the third large land holding in the county — soon, it is hoped, to be subdivided for more intensive use. Beyond Tehachapi and the Tejon ranch is a great procession of broken, tumbled and unappreciated hills which lead the traveler at last to the wonder- ful southland where even a sand dune with a cactus growing on it is a para- dise of health and beauty and greatly to be desired at so much per square foot. The Desert Triangle Again Before we bring our airship down let us sail again over the great tri- angle of desert with which this description of the county began. Skirting the base of the hills at its western edge is the Los Angeles aqueduct, a great tube of concrete through which the people of the southern city hope to lead the waters of Owens river to fill their faucets, sprinkle their lawns and irrigate some thousands of acres of garden land in what are now the suburbs, but which undoubtedly the city will soon annex. The Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe and the Nevada and California railroads all cross this triangle of desert in different directions, all meeting at Mojave, which is both a mining and a railroad town. To the northeast are Randsburg, Garlock, Goler and Johannesburg, all of which figure in the history of the desert mines, and still farther north, Indian Wells and Salt Wells valley, where venturesome pros- pectors would find still another oil field, and Inyokern, a new settlement of farmers in the northeast corner of the county. Bakersfield, the Commercial Center The center of all Ivern county's commercial activity and the point around which the greater part of the county's history revolves, is Bakersfield. Lo- cated where Kern river enters its delta ; the spot whence the irrigating canals diverge ; the place where the railroads add the helper engines for the heavy haul up the mountain ; the place whence the branch railroads lead to the west side oil fields ; at the door of the great Kern river field, where the citrus mesa meets the lower valley land, Bakersfield is in close and constant touch with all the greater resources and activities of the county. Even the roads from the mountain mines converge here. Only the mines of the desert are far removed by distance and association, from the county seat. The federal census of 1910 gave Bakersfield a population of 12,727, as against 4836 ten years before. The county census for 1910 was 37,715, and for 1900, 16,480. The great gain was mainly due to the development of the oil fields, although a slow but steady gain in the valley farming sections was evident, and this gain also assisted the growth of Bakersfield. The five banks BASKETS MADE BY KERX CULXTV IXDIAXS HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 29 of Bakersfield on December 31, 1910, showed a total of deposits amounting to $5,679,000, a g-ain of more than two million dollars in the twenty months just previous to that date. The postal receipts for the city in 1910 were over sixty thousand dollars. Close to a million and a half dollars was spent in building in Bakersfield in 1910, and the cost of the new residences constructed in that period ranged up to seventeen thousand dollars each. The assessed valuation of Kern county in 1910 was over fifty-three million, making a per capita wealth according to the very low estimates of the assessor of $1350 for every man, woman and child within the county's borders. These figures give some fair idea of the prosperity and financial stability of the city and county at the present time. The prospects for the future were never brighter. CHAPTER II Indians and the Tejon Ranch On the top of Black mountain, northwest of Oarlock, among the ranges of dead, forgotten hills that stand sentinel over the dead and forgotten wastes of desert in the far eastern part of the county, were found in the 'SOs the remains of a prehistoric village which may have been occupied many centuries ago by the same race of men that built the extinct and buried cities of Arizona and Mexico. In a hollow between two ridges of the mountain are the ruins of two parallel walls, two hundred- feet in length, with shorter walls extending from them at right angles. . From the size and form of the building to which the walls seem to have belonged it is doubtless permissible to assume that it may have been a temple, a fort or some other public building. Down a little way on the northern slope of the mountain stand the ruins of what appears to have been a dwelling. What is left of the walls, standing two or three feet in height, form almost a perfect circle. On the east was a door, and carved on the inside of the walls are hieroglyphics identical with those found on the famous Poston butte near Florence, Arizona. The rocks, also, are very similar to those of the Poston carvings. One of the characters is described as not unlike the astronomical sign for the planet Mars. The evident size of the work and the character of the carving indicate that the ruins are not those of a building erected by any of the more recent Indian tribes, and the decay and discoloration of the rock show that the carving was done centuries ago. A circumstance that gives these ruins still greater interest to the visitor is the old, dead aspect of all the country around. The dead, barren hills, the gray reaches of desert, the dry wind, the solemn, cloudless sky, the blazing, unobscured sun, the inefifable silence brooding everywhere, all remind one, the travellers say, of the Holy Land, and of the old cradles of dead races in Asia and Egypt. There is not a little in Kern county for the archeologist to unearth, but even of our immediate predecessors, the Indians who possessed the land before the white men came, we know comparatively little. There is reason to suppose that at somewhat earlier dates California was peopled by a more heroic race of redmen than was found here when the first gold seekers began 30 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY to explore the Sierras for placer mines. The descriptions of the Indians left by the first historians disag-ree widely as to the size, appearance and general character of the tribes that inhabited the state and there seems to be an equal discrepancy in the measurements of the bones exhumed from the Indian burying places. When Kit Carson first visited California in 1829 he found the valleys swarming with large and prosperous tribes. About that date it was roughly estimated that the number of Indians in the state was upward of lOO.COO. In 1859 Carson again visited the valley and found that the tribes he had knowm on his former tour had wholly disappeared and that the people living here at that time had never heard of them. In 1863 the Department of the Interior counted 29,300 Indians in the state. Between Goose lake in Kern county and Tulare lake was found, years ago, the remain-s of an old Indian village with the ground about it strewn with skulls and bleaching bones as though some pestilence had descended upon the tribe and mow^ed it dowm so swiftly and relentlessly that none were left with strength tt) bury the dead. Early records tell also of epidemics of smallpox and other diseases that decimated the Indian tribes. In his researches into the history and habits of the Indians, E. L. AIcLeod, who gathered one of the finest collections of Indian baskets in the state, fell upon an interesting clue to the origin of the Kern county tribes who were known quite generally by the name Yokut. Spending a day in Hanford, Mr. McLeod saw- a number of Indians squatting along the curb of one of the streets, and as was his custom when the opportunity served, he went to talk with them. Presently down the street came a runaway team, and thereafter the usual crowd of people gathered. "Yokut! Yokut!" exclaimed one of the Indian women, pointing toward the sudden assemblage. Mr. McLeod scented the clue and at once inquired what the wM:)men meant bv the exclamation. "They come everywhere," was the explanation forthcoming, and com- bining this new knowledge wnth what he had formerly known of the Yokut Indians, Mr. McLeod reached the conclusion that the name did not indicate an homogenous tribe but that the Yokuts came from everywhere. The average Indian found here by the earliest settlers Avas not a par- ticularly noble specimen of manhood. He reared no temples and built no monuments. For a dwelling he hollowed out a little circle in the earth, raised above it a cone-shaped framework of poles or brush and thatched it with bark, grass or rushes. As late as 1874 many of the old men wore no clothes save a breech clout, summer or winter. In cold weather thev huddled in their huts, scurrying out into the wet or snow, stark naked, when need required, to gather a little w^ood for the fire that smouldered in the center of their dingy, smoky homes. Meat formed but a very small part of the diet of the Kern county Indians of the earlier times. Those who lived by the valley lakes caught clams, and squirrels and smaller game fell victims to their arrows. But the main staples of their larder were acorns, juniper berries, pinons, the few wald fruits and nuts, the edible roots and seeds of wild grasses that grew along the foothills ])efore the foxtail usurped their place. Through the mountains ever}-\vhere are found in broad, flat rocks the clusters of hollowed holes where the village women gathered to pound the acorns and grass seeds into the dough from which they baked their bread- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 31 In tlie \alleys are found the portal^le stone mortars and pestles, which the squaws had to carry about with them 1)ecause no native stones were to be found by the valley villag^es. These mortars and pestles, sinkers which were cleverly fashioned from granite for the fishermen, the spear and arrow heads which were chipped out by touchinq; the heated stones with a piece of wet wood, and the handsome and artistically woven baskets which served a multitude of purposes, are practically the only specimens of the handicraft of the Indians that remain. Anthropologists, particularly Dr. C. Hart ^Nlerriam of Washington, D. C, have been fairly successful in gathering information concerning the customs, religion and language of the Indians of this part of the state, and Prof. George H. Taylor, now of Fresno, but for many years a resident of Bakers- field, after months of effort got one of the remaining tribal singers to sing into a phonograph one of the more elaborate ceremonials of her race. Into the very striking music of the ceremonial is woven all the pathos, all the mystery, all the fear and all the struggling hopefulness, that this childlike people gained from the great Mother Nature of whom they understood so little and with whom they lived in such daily, intimate contact. The music of the ceremonial has not yet been transcribed. It will be a pity, indeed, if it is not reduced to some enduring form, for it is one of the few legacies of a fast-dyiiTg people that later races may profitably preserve. In some of the Indian mounds in the valley between Buena \'ista and Tulare lakes the bodies of the dead seem to have been buried in a sitting posture, but inquiry does not develop that this was always the case. Many of the burying grounds in the lower lands have been disturbed by floods, however, and the bones and whatever articles may have been buried with the bodies have been scattered and recovered with deeper or shallower washings of mud and sand. Some of the remains in the valley mounds had been wrapped in blankets or cloth of some coarse texture, and quite recently T. W. Stockton dug up and forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution the bones of an Indian that had been buried in a sitting posture in the bank of Kern river not far from the Kern river oil field. This body had been covered with reeds in the form of a coarse basket. Tribal Names and Characteristics From C. Hart ]\Ierriam's "Distribution of Indian Tribes in the Southern Sierra and Adjacent Parts of the San Joaquin Valley, California," the fol- lowing is condensed : "South of the INIuwa, and ranging from Fresno creek to Kern lake and Tehachapi basin, are tribes of two widely dift'erent linguistic families — the Yokut and Paiute. These tribes are arranged, in the main, in parallel belts, the Yokuts occupying the lower and more westerly country, the Paiutes the higher and more easterly. But there is this important difiference : The Yokut tribes are more numerous, and untilthe confiscation of their lands by the whites their distribution was continuous, while the Paiute tribes are few and their distribution is, and always was, interrupted by broad intervals. Powers recognized the general facts that the Indians of this part of Cali- fornia belonged in the main to the Yokut and Paiute stocks; that the Yokut tribes were a peaceful people and were the earlier occupants of the region ; and that the Paiute tribes were more powerful and warlike and entered at a later period. He states that bands of Paiutes, leaving their desert homes 32 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY east of the mountains, had pushed through the passes of the Sierras, invaded certain valleys of the western slope, and driven out the Yokut people. "Tribes of other linguistic families inhabited the hot Tulare-Kern basin and the region to the west and southwest, but they do not come within the scope of the present paper. In the area south of Fresno creek I have obtained vocabularies of eighteen tribes, of which nine are of Yokut origin and nine of supposed Paiute of Shoshonian origin." Of the nine Yokut tribes which Dr. Merriam enumerates, the Taches lived around Tulare lake in the lower Sonoran zone, and the Yowelmannes inhabited the Bakersfield plain and thence to Kern lake. But a few of either tribe remain. Of the Paiute tribes the Pakanepul are found on the South Fork of Kern river, and the Newooah center about Paiute mountain. Dr. Merriam states that the languages of the two tribes last mentioned differ so greatly from each other and from the supposed common Paiute stock as represented by the Owens Valley Paiutes that if they really are of Paiute origin they must have crossed the mountains at a very remote date. The chief and almost only resemblance in the languages is in the numerals, and Dr. Merriam says that this may have arisen through contact rather than through common heredity. The word Yokut, Dr. Merriam says, means "the people," as also does the tribal name Newooah, and a number of other family and tribal names by which the Indians referred to themselves. The Paiute tribes inhabited the cooler Ponderosa pine belt of the moun- tains, while the Yokuts lived in the hot San Joaquin valley and rarely pushed their way so high as the Digger pine belt. Civilizing the Indian While no Spanish missions were established in the territory now com- prised in Kern county, the Indians found here had been to some extent in- fluenced b}^ the civilization of the padres through the fact that many of the young braves from the different tribes were taken to the missions and kept there under the teaching of the fathers for longer or shorter periods, and also because tribes that had been driven from the older parts of the state by the encroachments of the whites migrated to this end of the San Joaquin valley or to the mountains round about. There were no Indian wars worthy the name in the history of the state, but in 1850 the Indians from White river to Kern lake made an appar- ently concerted attack on the white miners and settlers, and the fear of danger more than the actual harm the Indians inflicted prompted che President in 1850 to appoint a peace commission consisting of Redick McKee, G. W. Barbour and O. M. Wozencraft, Indian agents, to make peace with the tribes. These emissaries decided that the Indians had been forced to steal from the white men and had been justly angered into attacking them by having been driven from their ancient hunting and fishing grounds to the less hospitable mountains and desert plains. The peace commission recommended that the Indians be made allowances of food and given reserva- tions on the plains. On June 10, 1851, it is recorded, treaties were made with eleven tribes around Kern lake. But after the apparent habit of Indian agencies, jealousies interferred with the smooth working of the plans of the peace commission, and the three commissioners soon divided the territory into three jurisdictions, Bar- bour taking charge of the San Joaquin valley. About the same time charges o Pi P4 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 33 of s^raft and mismanagement reached Washington, and in the spring of 1852 Lient. E. F. Beale was made superintendent of Indian affairs in California. Beale had very well formed ideas concerning Indian management and he proceeded to put them into eft'ect, concentrating his main energies at Tejon. In brief his scheme was a mixture and adaptation of the methods of the army and the missions. He adopted the plan of communal farming, pro- vided instruction under the supervision of resident agents, and established forts with garrisons of soldiers both to protect the Indians and to keep them within bounds and under proper discipline. The plan was working admir- ably, but the government authorities thought that the expenditures were out of proportion to the number of the wards of the nation provided for, and Beale was replaced by Col. T. J. Henley. Henley established three other reservations at once, and later increased that number, the reservation on Tule river being one. In addition many farms and branch reservations were equipped. Soldiers from the forts and visitors to the reservations carried word to Washington that too much graft was going on under cover of aid to the California Indians, and G. Bailey was sent to make an investigation. Further changes followed, the allowance for Indian agencies was reduced, the Fresno and Kings river farms were abandoned, and in 1863 Tejon was given up and the Indians in this part of the state were concentrated on the Tule river farm. In 1873 the Tule farm was abandoned, and the Indians were moved to the reservation on the south fork of Tule river, back in the mountains. Such is a bare outline of a very interesting chapter in the history of the nation's dealings with the aboriginal tribes. J. J. Lopez, for many years in charge of sheep and cattle at the Tejon ranch, supplies from memory and tradition something of the local color and interest. Many years ago, Lopez relates, the mountains around Tejon were a harbor for renegade Indians from the coast and southern missions. xA.n Indian that had been taken to the mis- sions, baptized, taught the taste of meat and the pains of hard labor and who had gone wild again was a worse Indian than one who had remained in his savage and ignorant state, and when the original Spanish grantors of the land now included in the Tejon ranch came to take possession they found the Indians so troublesome and the bears so numerous and aggressive that they relinquished their plans. Next to the renegade Indians, who were specially adept at stealing, the most troublesome of the savages were the Serranos, who in the '50s had their hunting grounds in Inyo county and the ]\Ionache meadows and drove off cattle wherever they could find them through the mountains from Tulare to Los Angeles county, and the Tecuyas, a tribe of warlike Indians that migrated from the coast and took up their abode a little to the west of the mouth of Tejon canon. It happened that the hills betw-een Tejon canon and San Emidio had long been the hunting grounds of the Pescaderos, who had their village on the border of Kern lake, and the result was perennial w^arfare between the new comers and the old. The Serranos, the Pescaderos and the Tecuyas together with the peace- able Tehachapis and other tribes from the mountain valleys, all were gathered at Tejon, and they seem to have gotten along fairly well under the restraint of the soldiers and the influence of Lieutenant Beale's patriarchal govern- ment. But when the tribes were moved north the Tecuyas and Castacs elected to return to the coast, not caring to associate with the other clans. A large 34 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY number remained at Tejon, and after Beale had bought the grants and estab- lished his farming and stock-raising industries there he gave such of the Indians as cared to stay tracts of four or five acres each to farm for them- selves and employed them as herders, shearers and farm laborers. About one hundred and fifty Indians, mostly Serranos, now live on the Tejon ranch, and their presence there links the Tejon of the present with the primi- tive days before the white man came, as no other part of the county is linked. The Tejon Ranch What is generally known by the name of the Tejon ranch includes the rancho el Tejon (the ranch of the badger), rancho Castac (the lake ranch), rancho Los Alamos y Augua Caliente (the ranch of the cottonwoods and the warm water), and rancho la Liebre (the ranch of the jack-rabbit), com- prising in all upward of 150,000 acres of mountain, valley and mesa land along the western slope of the Sierras reaching from the middle of the county to its southern border. General Beale bought the old Spanish grants which the different ranches represent from the original owners, who were unable or indisposed to do anything with them, and following the removal of the Indians he made the great sweep of fairly well watered land into a magnificent stock ranch. In the very early days Colonel Vineyard ran sheep on the ranch, selling out his flock to Solomon and Philo Jewett when the latter first came to the county in 1860. The drought of 1864 was the indirect cause of the formation of the partnership of Beale & Baker, which figured as the owner of great flocks in the early days of the county's history. Baker had been in the sheep business near what is now Burbank, in Los Angeles county, but the shortage of feed drove him north into the mountains, and he entered into a partnership with General Beale. For about seven years the partnership continued, the flocks of sheep growing meantime to 100,000 or 125,000 head. Indian herders and shearers were employed then as at later dates in the history of the ranch. In 1874 W. J. Hill, Dave Rivers, and State Senator John Boggs, comprising the firm of Hill, Rivers & Co., leased the ranch. About that time the stock kept there included 60,000 head of sheep, 10,000 head of cattle and 200 horses. Hill, Rivers & Co.'s lease expired in 1880, when General Beale bought the stock. J. J. Lopez, who was in charge of the sheep under the Hill, Rivers & Co. regime, recalls that they used to get fifteen to thirty cents for the wool in those days, delivered at Los Angeles, and it took about ten days to haul it there in wagons. Wethers were worth from $2.50 to $3 per head, very much more than an acre of land. The dry year of 1877 and the termina- tion of the lease to Hill, Rivers & Co. determined the policy of reducing the number of sheep on the Tejon ranch, and in 1879 Lopez was sent to Montana with 16,000 head of sheep. The drive consumed six months, led through mountains, over deserts, by long trails where the way was unknown and the water bad and far to find, and where treacherous Indian tribes demanded all the diplomacy to which Don Jose's Castilian blood had made him heir. The long drive is famous in the annals of the Kern county sheepmen, few of whom are strangers to the long trail, and as a reward for his efficiency, when Lopez returned he was placed in charge of both sheep and cattle. For about eighteen years R. M. Pogson was general superintendent of Tejon ranch. J. G. Stitt following him. Truxtun Beale followed the methods of his father in the treatment of the Indians at Tejon. and the great ranch with its unsurveyed acres, irregular HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 35 lines, Indian homes beside the ranch house and the patriarchal air that broods over the place continued until 1912 to furnish a picturesque and romantic reminder of another age in the midst of a state and a county that are rapidly becoming the most aggressively modern in the world. But Truxtun Beale, shortly before the closing of these pages, sold the Tejon ranch to a Southern California syndicate that now is engaged in testing the water supplies with the ultimate intention of irrigating so much of the land as possible and devoting it to more productive cultivation. CHAPTER III Gold Mining From 1851 to 1875 Authentic records of mining in what is now Kern county date back to 1851. In the early '60s a shaft opened in the Tehachapi valley showed evidences that the ground had been worked over many years before, and in 1870 J. C. Crocker, then a cattleman with headquarters at Temblor, reported to the Kern County Courier the finding of a tunnel driven in solid rock in the Coast range west of Bakersfield which was proven by a tree growing in its mouth to have been dug long before the country came into the posses- sion of the Americans. Nothing remained in either case, however, to show by whose hands the work had been done, except that in the case of the tunnel, marks of a pick or other steel instrument seemed to furnish conclusive evidence that it was driven by civilized men. In 1851 occurred the first rush to the Kern river placers. Indians car- ried vague reports of golden sands to the placer miners in the mountains farther north, and the surging tide of fortune seekers that swept over all the state in the days of '49 sent a little stream of prospectors to search out the new field. They found little, however, and little record was left of their adventures. The statement is made by early chroniclers, also, that some quartz mining was going on in 1852 at what was later Keysville. But the real history of mining in Kern county dates from 1853, when a lump of gold, said to have weighed forty-two ounces, was dug out of the sands in one of the gulches between Keysville and Kernville. Word of the find spread rapidly through the camps of Mariposa and throughout the state, and Kern river took a foremost place among the numerous El Dorados that attracted the feverish crowds of gold seekers. Running out from the main bodies of ore farther back in the hills were little stringer veins from which the free gold washed down with the sands into French gulch, Rich gulch and all the other gulches and canons leading into Kern river between Keysville and Kernville. Into these gulches the stream of prospectors poured. The placers were easy to work, and there was plenty of water. Very soon Kern river was one of the best known camps in the state, although but a little while before it was wholly unknown save to the few trappers, explorers and stockmen who had wandered through Walker's Pass and over Greenhorn mountain. In 1854 Richard Keys discovered the Keys mine, and the working of the quartz ledges began. The road to Kern river, so far as there was a road, lay through Visalia, and during the year no less than 600 miners passed the Tulare county capital on the way to Kern river. In this year 36 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY A. T. Lig-htner. Sr.. came to Keysville from San Jose, and his son, A. T. Lightner. jr., gives a graphic account of the latter part of the journey, after all semblance of a wagon road had been left behind. Such wagons as were brought into the new district followed the gulches or the backbones of the ridges, the teamsters clearing the way with axes when necessary, some- times using as many as fourteen horses to haul one wagon up an especially steep place, and trailing felled trees behind the wagons to assist the brakes in going down hill. For the most part, however, the first miners brought their outfits and supplies by pack animals. Even the first quartz mill machinery was packed in, and nowhere in the mountains did the fine art of balancing heavy and bulky loads on mule and burro back reach a higher degree of perfection. When Lightner hauled, or rather lowered, his first wagon down the mountain side into Keysville, the route he had by chance selected took him directly over the Keys mine. The First Quartz Mill Lightner brought the first quartz mill to Keysville in 1856, hauling it from San Francisco, via San Jose and Visalia, by wagon. He set it up by the banks of Kern river a short distance below Keysville, where the gulch that ran through the camp met the stream, and built a flume to carry water to his wheel. Meantime he had engaged in mining, and was the owner of the Garnishee mine, later known as the Mammoth, which, with the Keys mine, yielded the best and largest part of the gold produced from quartz in the district. The Lightner mill crushed rock for the Keys mine, also, and Light- ner, the younger, although he was a small boy at the time, says he clearly remembers the old tin bucket in which Richard Keys used to carry his round balls of bullion back from the mill. The vein of ore tapped by the Keys and Mammoth was traced for over two miles, and many lesser mines were opened into it. A legend noted by Stephen Barton, one of the later pioneers of the upper Kern river country, says that Richard Keys went back to his old home in 1861 with the laudable intention of making all his relatives rich, and when he came back he found his mine caved in and full of water — hopelessly out of commission. Years later Stavert Brothers ran a drainage tunnel at a level of 350 feet below the old Keys tunnel, and the rehabilitated mine yielded some $65,000 in gold. Stephen Barton describes an old Chilean quartz mill he saw in the Keysville district as consisting of "two large wheels hewn from solid granite, seven or eight feet in diameter and a foot and a half thick, each weighing three or four tons," and both in good repair as late as 1888. The worn-out stamps which had carried wooden stems, and the cast-iron slabs that had lined a wooden battery box, continues Mr. Barton, were modelled after those used by Lord Sterling (General Alexander), north of Morristown in the reduction of iron ore in preparing solid shot for Washington's army. For years the washing of the sands in the placers went on side by side with the quartz mining. At first the more fortunate of the placer miners made as high as $16 to $60 per day and more, but a larger number had to be content with $5 to $8, and many others panned out much less than this. Finally, when the white men had gleaned the gulches of their richest treasure, the Chinamen came, and these little men. content with small wages, shovelled and washed the sands over and over till they were clean and white to the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 37 bedrock. For the Chinamen, the aftermath of the Kern river placers con- tained fabulous wealth. The Town of Keysville The placers began to lose their charm for the white miners about 1857, and at that time the quartz mines of Keysville probably were at their height. Between the discovery in 1854 and 1857 or '58 the town of Keysville had no apologies to offer to any mining camp in all the length of the Sierra Nevada mines. The town lay in a little cove where the southern slope of Greenhorn mountain melts into a flat at the edge of a short, rocky gulch. There were no streets. Marsh & Kennedy's store, the blacksmith shop and the office of Gen. J. W. Freeman, then justice of the peace and later district attorney of Kern county, stood near the center of the little semicircular flat. A little way up the slope of the hill to the west of the flat were the residences, grouped informally, as houses may well be where all travel is by foot or horseback. The size of the townsite is well illustrated by a story told by Mr. Lightner. General Freeman slept in his office, which, as stated, was near the center of the flat, or "business section," and took his meals with the Lightners, who lived in the semi-circle of residences on the hillside. That was before the days of the handy alarm clock, and it was one of the early morning duties of Mr. Lightner's older brother to step out in the front yard and heave a small rock down on the roof of the courthouse to waken the slumbering justice to his breakfast. But if Keysville was small in the amount of space it covered its gamblers could pile as many gold pieces on the table as those of many larger places, and no man's costume was complete without two Colt's revolvers and a bowie knife strapped about him. After four or five years when the towai grew older and more conservative, the knife and guns were worn more as an ornament than otherwise, but up to the time of the Civil war no well dressed man, after he had shaved and put on his clean shirt on Sunday morning, forgot to buckle the big, and fully loaded, fire arms about his waist. William Weldon and J. V. Roberts, among the first settlers in Walker's basin, supplied the Keysville miners with beef, but the bulk of the other supplies were brought in from Los Angeles by pack animals. This lasted up to 1857 or '58, when the pack trains began to be succeeded by ox-team freighters. In the days of the pack train its arrival in camp or the sight of it winding over the hills in the distance was the signal for universal rejoicing, for it nearly always happened that the stocks of provisions w^ere getting low before the new supplies arrived. The Keysville Fort Rumor of an impending attack from the Indians caused the Keysville miners in 1855 or 1856 to erect the fort which still stands on the point of a ridge running out to the gulch just below the town. The point of this ridge is higher than the backbone that joins it to Greenhorn mountain, so that a garrison occupying it could look down upon an enemy approachmg from any quarter. The fort, which was built of brush gathered from the chaparral and covered with dirt from the hollowed-out center, was shoulder high and large enough to accommodate 200 persons. As the Indians of those days were armed only with arrows the fort was considered almost as impregnable as Gibraltar, and its location on the gulch leading from the river to the camo 38 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was almost as good from a strategic standpoint. W. R. Bower, afterward sherifif of the county, and Frank Warren were among the leaders in the building of the fort, but it proved that their labors were but an excess of caution, for the Indian war of 1856, exciting enough in Tulare county and farther north, never reached so far back in the mountains as Keysville. Some sixty of the Keysville miners were summoned by John W. Williams of Visalia and William Lynn of Linn's valley to assist the settlers along White and Tule river in the Tule river war. This war, or so much of it as has anything to do with Kern county, is dealt with in connection with the gath- ering up of the Indian tribes from the valley and foothills and their concen- tration at the Tejon and other reservations. Meantime the early gold seekers began to search the other hills and ranges both above and below Keysville. General Freeman and others mined on Greenhorn mountain in 1855 or a little later. In 1856 Major Erskine had a stamp mill on what is now the Palmer ranch in the lower end of the Hot Springs valley, and was crushing ore for many miners thereabout. Later Major Erskine moved away, but his sons Thomas and M. E., remained, and Erskine creek was named in their honor. The Big Blue Mine and Whiskey Flat One day in I860, it is related, the mule of "Lovely" Rogers, a Keysville miner, wandered away and "Lovely," being a true prospector, when he had picked up the trail and found that it led off up the river, tucked his pick under his arm and followed. Whether he recovered the mule or not, is a matter to be only presumed. What is more important, he brought back a piece of rock from the place where the Big Blue mine is now located. That was the beginning of Kernville, first known as Whiskey Flat. Rogers' sample assayed well, and he returned to the place where his wandering mule had led him and began to uncover the ledge. Shortly after he sold his mine to J. W. Sumner. Sumner moved to the new camp, followed by many others, among the first being Adam Hamilton, who stood two barrels of whiskey on end, laid a plank across the top, and began to dispense the stimulant necessary to the proper development of a new mining camp. But Hamilton's bar was in too close proximity to the residences of Sumner and Caldwell, and he was ordered to move his whiskey down on the flat, a mile below, a circumstance which may or may not have suggested the name for the new town. Hamilton opened a store as well as a bar. Kittridge & Company were among the early merchants in Whiskey Flat, and Lewis Clark was another of the pioneer saloon keepers. The Sumner mine, also the property of J. W. Sumner, the Jeff Davis, the Beauregard, the Nellie Dent, named for the wife of General Grant by William Ferguson, its owner, the Lady Belle and the Sarah Jane were among the early Kernville mines, and most of them were on the same ledge with the Big Blue and were later consolidated under that name by Senator John P. Jones, the bonanza king, and E. R. Burke. In 1867 Kern county was considered the most important of the mining counties in the southern part of the state, and Kernville was the most important mining town in the county. There were upward of a dozen important quartz mines, within a length of a couple of miles, and several extensive mills were in operation. At that time the entire county contained some seventeen quartz mills, and about 1200 people engaged in mining. Senator Jones took over the Big Blue mine from Sumner in 1875, and at HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 39 once increased the activity of tlie Kernville district. Burke was the manager, and under his direction the most efficient mining methods of the time were employed. He imported a large number of Cornish miners, employing about 200 miners all told. The mine was equipped with an 80-stamp mill, and about 100 tons of ore were taken out and crushed daily. In 1870 there had been but little doing in Kernville, and there were less than a score of people in the town. In 1876 there were six or seven stores, four saloons, a brewery, three hotels, a livery stable, and other busi- ness and private establishments in proportion. The operations in the Big Blue went on swimmingly until 1879, when the bottom dropped out of certain of Senator Jones' Nevada mining stocks, and he ordered the work at Kernville shut down. Ed Cushman, who had been book-keeper for Jones, secured a lease on the Big Blue, and worked it for about a year. Then Jacoby and Michaels leased it, ran a drainage tunnel under the mine at the river level, and took out a large amount of very profitable ore. They carried their workings down to the level of their drainage tunnel and quit. Founding of Havilah Long before the glory of Whiskey Flat began to fade, the restless advance guard of prospectors had passed on and was exploring all the gulches and hillsides for many miles to the south and east. One of the prospecting parties about the last week in June or the first week in July, 1864, went down Kern river and up Clear creek and found the first color of gold at Havilah, the third famous mining camp of Kern county, and a little later, when the county was organized out of portions of Tulare and Los Angeles counties, the first county seat. It is recorded that Benjamin T. Mitchel, Alexander Reid, George McKay and Dr. C. De La Borde, the "French Doctor," composed the discovering party, but to a man by name of Harpinding goes the honor of giving the new camp its name. Harpinding was one of the few early miners who seem to have carried Bibles in their kits, or his memory served him well with recol- lections of his boyhood days in a more pious land, for he turned to the second chapter of Genesis and found it written in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth verses that "A river went out of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison ; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good ; there is bdellium and the onyx stone." The first camp of the prospectors was in a gulch just below the spot where the town was afterward located. A month later the Clear creek mining district was organized, with Havilah as its focal point, and the latest diggings rapidly assumed first rank in interest if not in importance among the county's mining towns. The first company of prospectors called their mines the Havilah, and organized the Havilah Mining Company. They were prospectors rather than miners, however, and soon dissolved their partnership and continued to search for new leads on their individual accounts. Dr. La Borde and August Gouglat located some thirty-six claims in the Clear Creek district, among them being the Dijon Nos. 1 and 2, the Cape Horn, the Alma Nos. 1 and 2, the Rhone, Eagle, Rochefort, Navarre, Nievre, Lyon and Marengo. A little later, in October, La Borde and Gouglat sold their claims for $50,000. The most productive mine in the district was the Delphi, located by 40 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY H. McKeadney and known also as the McKeadncy mine. The Tyrone and Lexington also were McKeadney's property. Nicewander (or Nyswander), Park & Co. were among" the early locators. The first mill in the Clear Creek or Havilah district was broug^ht by Joseph H. Thomas, from the Coso district, where it had been operated by the Willow Springs Mining and Milling Company, and the first rock crushed was from the Dijon mine. It yielded ^37 per ton. In January, 1865, Gen. J. W. Freeman moved his 4-stamp mill to Havilah from his mine on Green- horn mountain. The first rock he put through the mill was from the mines of Nicewander, Park & Co., and out of twenty-seven tons of ore $5000 in gold was saved directly from the battery. The same week rock from the Rochefort ledge yielded $230 per ton. and a run of Delphi ore netted $180 per ton. These fabulous returns, considering the crude facilities at hand for extracting the gold, served to fan the interest in the Havilah mines to a fever heat, and the little gulch was soon resounding by day to the sound of blasting powder and stamp mills, and by night to the golden clink of coin on the gambling tables. According to the graphic account of a woman whose home in those days stood on the hillside just below one of the gambling resorts, the sound was as though someone were continually pouring twenty-dollar gold pieces out of a tin pan. By day the interest in the gambling tables was only a little less absorbing. A man who had occasion to search the county records some years later said he always had to wait till a poker game was finished before he could drag an unwilling official away long enough to unlock the archives and give him access to the few and fragmentary docu- ments on file. The Relief mine, or the Rand, as it was also known, was the property of Col. Arnold A. Rand, who bought out the locations of Nicewander, Park & Co. The prospectors generally were succeeded by men of larger capital who began the development of the mines, and when the county was organized in 1866 there was no settlement in all the territory embraced that could put forward a rival claim against Havilah for the county seat. A writer in 1867 states that there were at that time thirty stamp mills in Kern and Tulare counties, twenty-five of them being in Kern county and a majority of the latter number being in the Clear Creek district. Throughout this district were found many veins of ore ranging from two to six feet in thickness, and most of them were worked with marked success. Speaking generally of the quartz mines of the county, the same writer says that above the line of permanent water the ores carried mostly free gold and the early miners extracted it readily. When they reached the sulphureted ores, how- ever, so much difficulty w-as experienced that in 1865 and 1867 not more than one-quarter of the mills were in operation, and the production of bullion had decreased proportionately. Other Mining Districts So early as 1861 prospectors had drifted over the hills fifty miles south- east of Havilah and twenty miles from AX'alker's pass and opened the Milligan mine in El Poso district. They had sunk a shaft to the depth of 175 feet and penetrated a ledge that yielded from $57 to $150 per ton. In 1868, according to the Havilah Courier, the Sageland district was attracting so much attention as to make things a little dull at Kernville. The Sageland district is on the eastern slope of Piute mountain, skirting the desert HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 41 and is filled with broken ranfjes of dry, cactus-covered hills. The St. John, Hortensia, Burning- Moscow and other quartz mines scattered through these hills yielded good quantities and qualities of ore, and justified, in the belief of the discoverers of the district, the pleasing- name of the New Eldorado. Tom Bridger was one of the pioneers of the Sageland district. In the early sixties, also, Henry and Deitrich Bahten were exploring the free gold ledges and placers on Piute mountain. The old Piute and Big Indian mines were among the best known producers in this district. Robert Palmer and Wade Hampton Williams discovered some very rich placers on Piute, and the thriving camp of Claraville was the result. Some years later, about 1876, the Bull Run silver mine, located on Bull run about five miles above Kernville, was credited by contemporary writers with being one of the richest silver mines in the world. In October, 1870. a Kernville letter to the Kern County Courier stated that forty men were employed about the Kernville mines, mostly working on shares and doing well. Three men in one month cleaned up $500. Ore from the P]ig Blue was paying about $25 per ton. About the same time it was reported that Burdett and Tucker had struck a new lead in the Long Tom mine, the scene later of one of the memorable tragedies in Kern county history. An optimistic correspondent of the Courier in 1870 wrote that the Joe Walker mine in Walker's basin was doing better than ever since new pumping machinery, recently installed, had enabled the miners to reach the lower ores. But water trouble finally caused the abandonment of the mine. Stephen Barton states that the last efifort on the Joe Walker was made by Judge Colby with a Cornish pump that was warranted to throw 100 miners" inches of water 400 feet high. When the lift had reached 290 feet the pump was labor- ing very hard, and there was more than 100 inches of water to be handled. "A week of strain terminated the life of the pump, and the mine was per- manently closed." A report from the Kern river mines to the Courier by C. Schofield, June 3, 1871, said that the Big Blue was in steady operation and keeping a 16-stamp mill going. The mine had been worked with an open cut to a depth of thirty or forty feet and about seventy feet in width across the vein. A drift had been run about thirty-six feet in the direction of the hanging wall, but neither wall had yet been seen. The ore was running $17.50 to the ton. About two years before there were thousands of tons of dump rock, but all of it had then been worked. A shaft w^as sunk sixty feet below the bottom of the cut, and a drift run, but the water was so troublesome that work had to be abandoned on the lower level. The Sumner ledge, the northeasterly half of the Big Blue, was then owned chiefly by A. Staples & Co. From the bottom of an 80-foot shaft, ore running as high as $75 to the ton had been taken out, together with immense quantities of a lower grade. The hanging wall had been barely touched, and the foot wall had never yet been seen. A black, massive, sulphuret rock was the best producing ore, but with the facilities at hand a large part of the sulphurets were lost. Next in importance to the Big Blue at this time was the Bull Run, which had been worked to a depth of 200 to 300 feet with an engine and hoist, and from which several hundred thousand dollars had been extracted. Only two small companies, working on shares, were taking out ore at the time, 42 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and these were working near the east end of the ledge on a vein about two feet in width which yielded ore running about $20 to the ton. The Beauregard, which had paid well at the surface, was not worked at that time. Two small companies were taking ore from a narrow but very rich ledge, the rock paying $75 to $100 per ton. All these mines had been involved in litigation which interfered seriously with their development. In 1873 a Tehachapi note in the Courier says that Green & Henderson had just cleaned up $1438 in their hydraulic mine near that place. For some time past the Owens river mines had been an indirect means of revenue to Kern county, most of their freighting being via Tehachapi and Bakersfield to the end of the Southern Pacific railroad, then being built down the valley. On November 9, 1872, A. Cross arrived in Bakersfield with three teams bringing 335 bars or 30,000 pounds of bullion from the foot of Owens lake, to which point it had been brought by steamer from the furnaces on the opposite side. It took ten days to make the trip from the lake to Bakersfield. The trip from the lake to Los Angeles consumed considerably more time, and as a result the railroad officials were hopeful of getting all the Owens river trade via teams to the end of the track, then nearing Tipton. In 1873 mention is made of the fact that Temple, Boushey & Weston were about to begin work on their mine near San Emidio, and expected to ship about 500 tons of ore per month over the railroad to San Francisco for treatment — provided it paid to do so, as apparently it did not. During the eight days ending June 7, 1873, 1000 bars, or 45 tons of base bullion passed through Bakersfield from the Cerro Gordo mines in Inyo county to the railroad terminus, and the trafific to and from the mines appeared to be increasing. The next month the Kern & Inyo Forwarding Company was advertising for fifty mule teams to haul between Owens lake and Tipton, and was guaranteeing full loads both ways. A letter from the Panamint mountains in November, 1873, tells of a little ball of silver being taken from the Dolly Varden lode by Edward Hall. The ledge was three feet in thickness and looked good to the prospectors. R. C. Jacobs is mentioned as one of the discoverers of the Panamint mines. About a year later the Panamint excitement was at its height. In December, 1874, E. R. Burke, who was managing the Big Blue for himself and Senator Jones, is quoted as saying that the average run of the ore paid $15 and cost $5 to handle. The season was an active one in the Long Tom mines. In 1875 a newspaper note said that the Kernville ledges had been ex- plored for twenty-five miles. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 43 CHAPTER IV The Beginning of Agriculture and Stock-Raising When the first farmers arrived in Kern county is more a matter of tradition than of history. In the early '40s an old immigrant- trail came through Tejon canon from the south, skirted the hills below Bear mountain, wound over the mesa northward, crossing the present line of the Southern Pacific between Bakersfield and Edison and forded Kern river, or Rio Bravo, as it was then known, a short distance above the present bridge between the China grade and the Kern river oil fields. There is reason to believe that sons of men who pioneered the virgin forests and prairies of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas, driven westward and westward by the hereditary wanderlust, paused on their way to the older sections of the state to feed their stock and let their children stretch their legs among the trees and grassy hills around Tejon and along the fertile banks of Kern river where Bakersfield now stands. Back in the Tejon hills in the earliest days were gaunt mountaineers of the Tennessee stock, and the first known set- tlers on Kern Island tell of predecessors or signs of predecessors. These first comers, however, or those, at least, who paused in the valley, were sojourners only. At most they may have hunted and fished for a season and replenished their stores of corn with a crop grown on the quickly responding soil of the Kern delta where it was necessary only to drop the seed and cover it with a little earth scraped up with the foot. Then they passed on, and the next flood or the next sand storm wiped out all trace of their habitation. John Woodhouse Audubon, in his Western Journal, says that when he passed through what is now Kern county he saw one party of settlers preparing to make permanent homes. Audubon came up from Los Angeles through Tejon canon in the latter part of November, 1849, with ten men and forty-six mules. Coming through the pass they had to wade knee deep in a torrent of water that poured down the trail. The mountain tops about were covered with snow, and when they emerged on the plain they were greeted with a blast of hail in their faces, swept on by a wind that uprooted cotton- wood trees at the canon's mouth. The plain was wet and boggy, and the party skirted the hills and made long detours to keep on fairly solid ground. Audubon also saw an Indian village and many scattered huts where the natives were grinding acorns and fanning grass seeds for their winter larder. The Indians, he says, were friendly, but he does not undertake to fix the location either of the Indian village or of the settlement of whites. A Lewis woodpecker, Stellar's jay and a new hawk with a white tail were objects that fixed Audubon's attention to quite as great a degree as did the beginning of civilization upon the Kern delta — if that is where the settlers he mentions were pitching their tents. The first settlers who came and stayed were those of the South Fork, Walker's basin, and other mountain districts contiguous to the early mines. Mr. Seibert is said to have first located in South Fork Valley in 1846. Frank Barrows about 1857 established a claim on the South Fork on the site of the present home of P. T. Brady. John Nicoll came about the same time. William Scodie and Thomas H. Smith settled in the upper end of South Fork valley 44 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in 1861-62, and the latter resides there to this day. In 1857 W^illiam Weldon settled in Walker's basin, moving thence to the South Fork. Weldon anC J. V. Roberts in connection with their stock ranch, ran a butcher business and supplied most of the beef consumed by the Keysville miners. In 1858 A. T. Lightner, Sr., sold his mining and milling interests at Keysville and bought a settler's claim in Walker's basin for $1600. \\'itli the claim went certain farming implements and a band of 100 to 150 head of Spanish cattle, little and lean and wild. Other settlers of the South Fork valley were William W. Landers; George Clancy, who came in 1861 ; and J. L. Alack, who arrived about 1864. John AlcCray, who had lived with his parents for a few years on Kern Island about 1859-60 and later around \^isalia, went to the South Fork as a boy in August, 1870, and worked for W. W. Landers until he had acquired cattle and land of his own. Landers was one of the largest stock men of the mountain section, running about 2000 head in the early days and as high as 10,000 head in the '90s. The raising of hay. vegetables and beef constituted the chief occupation of the early mountain farmers, and all their produce found a ready market in the mining camps. Lightner sold hay at Keysville for $40 to $50 per ton, and a little later hay delivered to the soldiers at Fort Tejon brought, some- times, as high as $60 per ton. It was while hauling hay to Havilah in 1867 that Lightner lost his life. The morning was cold and frosty, and while going down a hill his foot slipped from the brake and he was thrown forward under the wagon wheels. Farming in the mountains in these early days was not without other than purely pastoral interest. In the very earliest times there was more or less danger from Indians and bear as well as white marauders and renegades, and on the breaking o^it of the Civil war the division of sentiment in the state between Union and Confederate was made the excuse for the organization of guerrilla bands, the real object of which was only theft and pillage. Neither the organized bands nor the individual marauders appear to have inflicted any serious harm on the settlers, but they helped to keep their nerves at tension by not infrequent visits. The three Kelso brothers, for example, often demanded the hospitality of the Lightner home, and always, of course, were entertained. They slept on the floor with their clothes all on, their feet toward the hearthstone and their heads on a pile of murderous gims. A. T. Lightner, Jr., had a toy revolver made of the barrel of an abandoned gun with a handle whittled out of wood and thrust into the breech. One of the Kelso brothers, seeing this one night, secured it and while his youngest brother slept, stealthily placed it under his head and drew away one of the small cannon that comprised the desperado's armament. The youthful owner of the toy was a fearful witness of the prank, and his opinion of the desperate character of the youngest Kelso was not changed when the latter awoke and cursed and glowered for hours over the trick that had been played upon him. The Mason and Henry gang was one of the bands of murderers and horse thieves organized under the cloak of patriotism. About the time the war broke out Mason and Henry called a meeting on Cottonwood creek a short distance south of the mouth of Kern river caiion. for the stated purpose of organizing a company of men to join the Confederate army. A large number of Confederate sympathizers, among them W. R. Bower, afterward sheriff HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 45 of the county, respc)nded, but the real character of the gang soon becoming known, Bower and many others withdrew. Later Bower saddled his horse, rode it through to Missouri and served four years under the southern flag^ returning to Kern county after a wound in his ankle had put him out of the fight. The outlaw gang, either before or after the meeting mentioned, built a stone corral or fort, as they called it, on the banks of Cottonwood creek, where remains of it are to be seen to this day. Mason and Henry formerly were employes of the stage line at Elkhorn station and started on their career of crime by stealing so many of the stage animals as they thought they needed. They acted a notable part in the drama of outlawry played out in the San Joaquin valley in the early days of its history. The South Fork Valley The South Fork valley is about twenty miles in length and from one to three miles in width. Despite its elevation and the stream that flows through it, it was practically a desert when the first settlers arrived. The ground, very fertile when water was applied, was covered in its virgin state with high sage brush and was suitable for nothing but a rough range for cattle. The very earliest of the settlers cleared about ten acres each about their homes and devoted their energies to herding their cattle up and down the river. From 1861 to 1881 the construction of irrigation ditches to carry water over the valley progressed with more or less industry until finally the whole of the level land was watered and the valley became one of the most productive areas of the state. John A. Benson surveyed the valley in 1875, charging the settlers at the rate of $150 per quarter section, and such an artistic and satisfactory job did he do. it is said, that hardly a settler was obliged to move more than a few rods of the fences built on section lines run out by instinct and the polar star. The distribution of the water occasioned a little more difficulty. A number of suits were brought between settlers to determine their respective rights, but few were carried to a conclusion, and to this day there has not been a court decision covering the South Fork irrigation rights generally. About 1899. however, owners of the dififerent ditches drew up and signed an agree- ment, setting aside to each quarter section 150 miner's inches of water and establishing the right of precedence according to priority of location. In 1885 South Fork failed fully to supply the irrigation ditches, and the waters of Whitney creek w-ere diverted from the North Fork to the South Fork through a tunnel six feet high and six feet wide, driven 350 feet through a hill. The tunnel caved in, and Jefif Gillum was given a contract to make the tunnel an open cut for $1000. He failed to get the cut down to grade, and in the suit over the settlement expert witnesses said that the job could not be done under $3500. The farmers paid the bill, and put a dam across the creek to force the water through the unfinished cut. In 1895 Miller & Lux and the Kern County Land Company with their affiliated canal companies filed a suit asking for an order of the court enjoining the farmers of the South Fork from using the water they had appropriated, claiming a prior right to all the w^aters of Kern river and its affluents. The suit was never pressed to a trial, however, and a similar suit filed by the same parties some six years later followed a similar course. In 1908 a third suit was filed and is still pending in the early stages. It is stated that 46 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the plaintiffs have no expectation of depriving the South Fork irrigators of their w^ater, but desire a court decision fixing the amount they are entitled to divert. Very recently a government agent made a careful inspection of the South Fork irrigation system and gathered data regarding the suits that had been filed, but the purpose was not given out, and no further develop- ments as yet have indicated what action, if any, the government may have in view. The height of the cattle business in the South Fork valley was in 1890 to 1899. From then on the restrictions of the Federal Forest Reserve have curtailed the free range which the stockmen previously enjoyed, and the herds accordingly have been reduced to what may be kept on the owners' lands and pastured to the extent permitted within the limits of the reserve. The revival of activity in the Big Blue mine in 1875 gave farming in the South Fork valley its first great stimulus, and beside the cattle, large quantities of hogs, grain, vegetables and other products were delivered to the mines. In 1872 the culture of alfalfa was begun in the valley by an Englishman named Jack Waterworth on the present home ranch of William Landers. Gradually the growing of alfalfa took the place of wheat raising, and now alfalfa is the principal farm product of the South Fork. Early Settlers on the Kern Delta John McCray, now a resident of Bakersfield but best known over the county as a large stock raiser and rancher of the South Fork valley, carries the story of farming on the Kern river delta back a little farther than anyone else the writer has been able thus far to find. John McCray, Sr., with a party of west-bound pioneers under the leadership of Capt. Johnny Roberts, drove a band of 1000 Durham cattle across the plains from Missouri in the early '50s, and John IMcCray, Jr., was born on the journey, somewhere near Donner lake. The family settled first in Tuolumne county, and went from there to Centerville. on Kings river. At the latter place they were troubled so much with malaria that in 1859 they came to the Kern delta, establishing themselves about three miles south of the present boundaries of Bakersfield. In passing it is to be mentioned that from then until 1864, when the McCrays moved to Visalia to give their children the benefit of schools, not one of the family had a chill. In 1859 the overland or immigrant road entered the valley through Tejon pass, going from the fort east of Adobe and then drifting westward and northward and crossing the old south fork about eight miles south of what was later the Poindexter place. From there it followed about the course of the present Kern Island road to what was then the Walker Shirley place and what is now the Lowell addition to Bakersfield. The road ran through the present townsite and crossed the river about where the old Jewett avenue bridge formerly stood. From the other side of the river the road followed the present road to Poso creek, past Mon's place and Willow Springs, crossed White river at Irish John's place, and thence past Fountain springs to Porter- ville and Tulare. The old Butterfield stage road followed the same route from Visalia to a point near the Kern river oil fields, where it headed down a canon to a point iust above the present China grade bridge, where a ferry was operated by Major Gordon between 1861 and 1864, and previously, according to some accounts, by a man named Gale. Major Gordon had an adobe house by his HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 47 ferry, and a pile of dirt remains to this day to mark the spot. From the ferry the stage road turned east along the flat between the river and the bluffs and sought an easy place to scale the latter some distance up the stream from the bottom of the present China grade. The old road is still in use to some extent, about a mile and a half above the bridge. Out east of the Southern Pacific round house a few miles was the first stage station south of the river. Twelve miles farther south there was another, and at Rose station there was another. They changed teams every twelve miles on the entire route, 2888 miles from some place back in Texas through New Mexico and Arizona close to the present route of the Southern Pacific railroad, through Yuma to Los Angeles, thence via Fort Tejon, Kern river, Visalia, Pacheco pass and Gilroy to San Francisco. Between stations the horses went at a gallop, dragging the lum- bering Concord stage with its twelve passengers (and more if the traffic demanded) and the United States mails. They got letters through to San Francisco from St. Louis via El Paso in twenty-four days, and the govern- ment paid the company $600,000 a year subsidy. The cancelled stamps amounted to about $27,000. On the breaking out of the war this mail route was discontinued, and transcontinental letters came via the northern route only. In 1858 the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Company started stringing its wires along this stage route, and in 1860 the line was completed to Los Angeles, where the work, planned to continue east, was halted. Later the Western Union consolidated all the telegraph lines of the coast. Site of Bakersfield in 1859 The present site of Bakersfield was not, as some reports would make it seem, in the least like a swamp in the '50s. The main channel of the river was down what later came to be known as Panama slough, leaving the present river channel a little way west of the point of Panorama heights and crossing the present intersection of Nineteenth and B streets. It was not a deep channel, although occasional deep holes were bored out of the soft, alluvial bed by the swirling current. The south fork, flowing a little way west of the present course of the Kern Island canal, was the second largest of the channels that divided the waters of Kern river. It was narrower than the Panama channel, and the banks were steep in most places, making it necessary to choose a place down which a horse could be ridden and often to swim the animal down stream to find a place where he could scramble out on the other side. Lesser sloughs and channels of that day were unimportant except as they encouraged the growth of willows on their banks and tules in their beds and helped the process of sub-irrigation which caused sunflowers, cockleburs, tumble weed and other riotous wild vegetation to grow to fabulous heights over all the inter- vening land. Beginning of the County's Cattle Industry The McCrays brought their Durham cattle, between 150 and 200 head, to their new home, and are entitled to the distinction of bringing the first blooded stock to Kern county. About the only other cattleman in this end of the valley at that time was Don David Alexander, who had his headquarters at San Emidio about 1861, and whose 20,000 or 25,000 head of wild, Spanish cattle ranged all over the San Emidio hills and around Kern and Buena Vista lake and the lower reaches of Kern river, Alexander bought all of 48 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY IMcCray's bull calves and gradually built up the (|uality of his herd. Cattle were marketed then in San Francisco, and the herds of beeves were driven up the valley to the bay with as little concern for the long journey as many a farmer feels now in driving his stock to the nearest railroad station, six or a dozen miles away. It was later on that the Crockers, J. C. and Ed. established themselves at Temblor and went into the cattle business on a large scale in connection ■with Henry ^liller. J. C. Crocker was an important figure in the stock business for a score of years following his arrival at Temblor. He acted as Miller's agent in the purchase of both cattle and land, and helped to build up the immense property of Miller & Lux in the San Joaquin valley. It is reported that at the end of twenty years of loose, indefinite partnership with Miller, Crocker asked for an accounting. Miller discouraged the idea and wanted to know what was the use, but Crocker insisted that he was getting on in years and would like to know how much money he was worth. Finally Miller sent him to the book-keepers at the San Francisco office, where Crocker was informed, after due search of the ledgers, that he owed the firm a hundred thousand dollars. Despite these discouraging figures, however, Crocker soon became the owner of one of the finest of the Miller ranches in the Kern delta, long known as the Crocker ranch, and later as the Balfour- Guthrie ranch near Panama. In addition to his renown as a cattle man, Jim Crocker was known throughout the length of the valley as a hunter of out- laws. He was one of the leaders in the successful expedition against Joaquin Murietta, and helped also to mete out summary justice to other evil doers of less unenviable fame. By 1868 there were many cattlemen and many herds both in the valley and in the mountains and hills. In 1870 John Funk had succeeded Alexander at San Emidio, and was the possessor of great herds. Meantime the cattlemen were well established in the valleys about Tehachapi, in Walker's basin, in the South Fork valley, around Poso Flat and Granite and in Linn's valley, where Staniford & Dunlap made their headquarters and ranged their herds all through the mountains and foot- hills from Porterville to Tehachapi. ^leantime, also, the Jewett Brothers had launched the sheep industry of the county from the Rio Bravo ranch on Kern river, midway between the Kern river oil fields and the mouth of the canon. Some of the Very Ofd Timers Getting back to the Kern delta in 1860-61, the settlers besides the Mc- Crays included the Shirleys, the Wickers, the Daughertys, the Gilberts, and a little farther south and west toward Buena Vista lake, Tom Barnes and Jim and JefT Harris. Where Walker Shirley lived (where the Lowell addi- tion is now) was a large thicket of willows growing along the banks of the south fork. Similar thickets were scattered about in the low places where the water frequently overflowed, and the general landscape, viewed from the present center of Bakersfield, was dotted with large cotton wood trees, a con- siderable number of which still remain, not so very much larger than they were fifty years ago. John Shirley lived close to where the Chinese burying ground south of D street is now located. R. M. Gilbert lived where the old race track was built later, at the north end of Chester avenue. Quite a number of Indian families lived about the present townsite, hunting the deer and antelope and other wild game that abounded, and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 49 fishing for the trout that swam in lower Kern river at that time. Also they farmed a little and worked, on occasion, for the whites. Mrs. Van Orman, who was formerly Airs. Gilbert, says the Indians used to jab a sharp stick into the earth, drop a few kernels of corn therein and close the opening with their heels. Later on they harvested the crop, doing little meantime save fish and hunt. The white settlers farmed little more thoroughly, for the crops grew anyway, and what was the use? The Indians built their abodes almost wholly of tules. The whites used willow poles for the frames of their buildings and thatched both sides and roof with tules and flags. When they got to feeling more settled, they built walls of tules and mud, reinforced with willow poles stuck in the earth outside and inside at intervals to keep them from falling over. The most pretentious residences were built of adobes. The floors were invariably of the native earth, raised a little for drainage. There was no lumber, and not even the making of good puncheons. The Gilberts had a well some six or eight feet deep with earthen steps leading down an incline to the water. They walked down and dipped it up instead of using a rope and windlass. Nobody bothered about titles to land then. They squatted where they pleased, and if their first location did not suit them moved next week or next year as their fancy dictated. People who were not in the cattle business exclusively like the McCrays and Alexander, kept a few cows, a few hogs and maybe a few chickens. It was the easiest place in the world in which to make a living, says Mrs. Van Orman. Bill Daugherty was the pioneer hog raiser of the county, and many tales are told of his ability and prowess not only as a handler of tame swine but with the wild ones that flourished in droves about Buena Vista and Kern lakes. Among his other accomplishments it is stated that Daugherty could grunt so alluringly that the infant porkers would leave their mother's side and run squealing to his outstretched hands. Not only Daugherty but many others of the early settlers used to hunt wild hogs around the lakes. Dogs were specially trained to trail the swine and hold them at bay by barking and nipping their heels until the hunters arrived. No number of dogs, it is said, could kill a large wild boar. Sometimes they chewed his ears to rags, but in the end when the dogs were tired out the hog would rip great gashes in them with his tusks. An unverified legend is to the efifect that some of the wild hog hunters, having corralled a bunch of the beasts, would sew up their eyes and using tame hogs as pilots, would drive them to the mountain mines. As a general thing, however, the Buena Vista porkers were better handled in the form of hams and bacon. Wild cattle and wild horses added to the resources available to the early settlers in the Kern delta. In dry seasons when the early cattle raisers on the coast had not enough feed to keep their stock from starving, they used to drive a portion of their herds over a range into this valley and leave them to shift for themselves until the next rains replenished the home pastures. Before their owners returned to seek them, many of these cattle had wan- dered too far to be gathered together. Beginning of the Sheep Industry Conspicuous figures in the history of the sheep industry of Kern county are the Jewett brothers, Solomon and Philo D., who, as related in a former chapter, bought out the flocks of Colonel Vineyard at Tejon; Gustav Sanger; the Troys ; Harry Quinn, pioneer of the northern Kern foothills whose camp at Rag gulch was known as a landmark and a hospitable watering place since 3 50 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the early '70s ; Peter Lambert of Long Tom ; A. Pauly of Tehachapi ; L. C. Flores, who kept a store and shearing camp at San Emidio in the 70s when there was Mexican settlement at that place and many sheep in the hills thereabout; the Borgwardts, who ran sheep on Poso creek; Jesse Stark, who was out at Tejon in the early days, and later on Ardizzi-Olcese Company, who were headquarters and outfitters for the itinerant French sheep men ; F. M. Noriega, M. Cesmat, J. B. Berges, A. P. Eyraud, all of whom made enough money in the sheep business to launch them in other ventures ; Andre Vieux and Faure Brothers of Delano ; Pierre Giraud, "Little Pete", and scores of men less famous who followed their bands to the mountains and the wide ranges beyond in summer and came back to Kern county's warm mesas for the February lambing and shearing time. The Jewetts have been shepherds for three generations. Solomon W. Jewett, fatlier of Solomon and Philo, the Kern county pioneers, was a sheep and wool grower of Vermont, and Philo Jewett, one of the sons of the second Solomon Jewett, is today one of the largest owners of flocks in Kern county. After they had purchased Colonel Vineyard's sheep in 1860, Solomon and Philo Jewett established themselves on the Rio Bravo ranch about a dozen miles up Kern river from Bakersfield. Later they acquired land adjoining the townsite of Bakersfield and west of Bakersfield in what is now the Rosedale country. On some of the latter land Philo Jewett now has his shearing camp, but the Indians who sheared the fleeces from his father's and uncle's sheep in the days before the Civil war have given place to men with shearing machines driven by a gasoline engine. Next to the Jewetts in point of years and permanence of location is Harry Quinn, who first came to spy out the land in 1868 and came to settle permanently in 1874, bringing 8000 or 9000 sheep belonging in part to him and in part to Archibald Leach. A few years later Quinn bought out the band, and increased his flocks and his acres until he had eventually some 20,000 acres of land and one of the largest bands of sheep in the county. Quinn is now closing out his sheep and has sold part of his range for orange land and leased most of the remainder for possible oil land. Young & Riley and W. L. Smith on White river and Templeton on Rag Gulch are among the other pioneer sheep men of the northern part of the county. While his varied career makes him hard to classify, Capt. John Barker figures quite prominently in the early sheep industry of the county, having run large bands on Kern river in the same vicinity as the scene of the Jewett's first ventures. The setting apart of a very great area of mountain land as a federal forest reserve and the exclusion of the sheep men from the free ranges which they had formerly enjoyed therein, was the cause of curtailing to a considerable extent the sheep industry in the county, particularly afifecting the wandering shepherds, the Frenchmen and Basques who own little or no land and depend on leasing cheap ranges and driving their flocks from section to section to meet the changes of the varymg season. Whether the total number of sheep in the county will again increase is doubtful. The cheap ranges are being put to more profitable purposes, and it will soon be a matter for the shepherds to decide whether or not it pays to raise sheep inside good pastures where beef cattle and dairy cows will thrive. The Mexican Settlement W'hat was known in the early days as the Mexican settlement where Panama now is, was founded in 1865 or thereabout, by Dolores Montano, who settled on section 26, 30-27. Ventura Cuen came about the same time and settled on section 23, 30-27, both of which places were later a part of the Panama ranch of ]\[iller & Lux. Montano went back to Sonora, ]\Iexico, to die, but Cuen still lives a short distance south of the cemetery on Union HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 51 avenue with his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Sunega. Tomas Castro, patriarch of the present Castro clan, came here in 1868 from Magdalena, Mexico, where he had been driven from his home by the floods of 1867-68, as severe in Mexico as they were in California. Castro located on the Montano place, later moving to section 12, 30-27, where he took up a homestead and reared his family of eight sons and one daughter. Among the other early settlers at Panama were Encarnacion Padres, Averon Sierras, Guadeloupe Gonzoles, Tomas Noriega and Jesus Noriega, his son. After Miller bought the land included in the Panama ranch, most of the settlers there moved to Saletral, about a mile and a half northwest of Panama, so named on account of a certain excess of alkali in the soil thereabout. The first store at Panama was kept by Lesser Hirshfeld, one of the family of pio- neer merchants whose name figures conspicuously in the early trade of Bakers- field and Tehachapi as well. Panama w-as about five or six miles east of the old Barnes settlement. Just east of Panama, Howard Cross had a ranch in 1870 or thereabout, but farther east than that in the valley there was prac- tically nothing up to something after that da te. ^ Tomas Castro built the Castro ditclflnlSTO and 1871, and both he and his neighbors engaged in general farmii^ and stock-raising along the same line as the other pioneers. Dom Castro, son of Tomas, tells of catching and partially taming the wild Spanish cattle that used to roam the lowlands of the valley. They used to lie in wait for the cattle as they would come from the willows in what is now the Lowell Addition to Bakersfield, lasso and brand them and take them to fenced pastures where they were kept with other cattle until they grew tame enough to be herded or driven in bands. The Spanish cattle were small, light and very inferior as beef animals, but they were excellent runners, if that can be considered a virtue in a cow. An old Spanish cow would weigh perhaps 700 pounds — quite as often consid- erably less. As late as 1880 wild cattle and deer were seen about the Kern river oil fields, antelope were plentiful farther west, and elk roamed in the Elk hills and along the Coast range mesas. About 1870 Francisco Martinez used to make a business of catching wild horses where the Lost Hills oil field is now located and all along the Coast range hills from Sunflower valley to Carneros springs. Martinez built cor- rals with wide extended wings and drove the wild horses therein, or built snares for them about their watering places. Sometimes he would get twenty- five or thirty of the mustangs in a corral at a drive, and he sold them, either broken or unbroken, for $2.50 to $5 per head. A mustang that had been las- soed and thrown down was broken, and one that would not throw itself over backward when a halter was put on it was a finished product. Tomas Castro used to trade Martinez a hair rope for a mustang, and one day Lee and Dom were sent to bring home a couple of fillies so acquired. But in crossing the river the colts, tied together by their halters, got dizzy and turned round and round until they fell down and drowned in the shallow stream, although the boys did their best to hold their heads above water. Of such value were the wild horses. Stories of the Outlaw Vasquez Some of the mustangs of the early day, how^ever, were famous for their speed and endurance. One of these, Pico Blanco (white Bill), is the hero of sundry adventures. One morning before the light began to streak the sky above Bear mountain, Tomas Castro was called from his bed by a voice 52 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY shouting his name from the road. He went out to find Tiburcio Vasquez, the famous outlaw, who said he wanted the best horse on the Castro ranch. Tomas brought out Pico Blanco, and Vasquez mounted him and dashed away — probably pursued by a posse in search of vengeance for some outrage. No more was heard or seen of Pico Blanco for many days, when one morning Vasquez was again heard calling from the road. When Castro appeared Vasquez tossed him $100 in gold and a rope, at the other end of which was a bony shadow of Pico Blanco, took his own horse, which had been kept at the ranch, and disappeared. Pico got back his flesh and his spirit, and in later years, Dom Castro says, Morris Jacoby, a merchant of early Bakersfield, used to ride him to Los Angeles, starting in the morning at 6 o'clock and arriving in the southern city by 7 or 8 in the evening. Lesser Hirshfeld, who kept the first store in the Panama settlement, tells another story that illustrates the methods of the Vasquez gang. One day a Mexican friend stopped at the store and invited Hirshfeld, or Cristobol, as he was known by his patrons, to come with him to a dance at a road house a few miles down the road. Business was dull, and a part of the science of mercantile success is to maintain friendly relations with one's patrons, so Cristobol saddled his horse. Arriving at the dance, the merchant was impressed by the presence of a large number of strangers and a display of fire arms unusual even for a dance in the early days, and he was not long in deciding the character of his fellow guests. Hirshfeld took a perfunctory part in the festivities and did the proper thing by treating everyone including the outlaws to drinks and cigars, and then making some excuse about a business engagement, he took a circuitous route back to his store, gathered up his cash and galloped by another round-about way to town. He came back next day expecting to find his place robbed, but nothing had happened. This was Thursday, and that night the pioneer merchant again galloped to town with his day's receipts. The same process was repeated Friday and Saturday, and Hirshfeld had about exhausted his ingenuity in inventing reasons to give his clerk for passing the nights in town, but when he got home Sunday morning there was no need for further explanation. In the night Vasquez and his men appeared masked and held a parley in front of the store with some of Hirshfeld's neighbors. It developed later that the neighbors convinced the outlaws that Hirshfeld had gone to town and taken all his money with him. Thereupon the gang threw ofif the masks, entered the store, called for drinks and paid for them ; called for another round and did not pay; called for a third round and paid, and disappeared on their horses in the darkness. Any discerning person will understand that Vasquez, with the courtesy for which he was noted, did the proper honors of the time and the occasion just as though the proprietor had been present, and the proprietor, when he returned, fully appreciated it. Meantime a posse that left Bakersfield on Friday (taking every gun in the city, it is said) was scouring the hills from Caliente to Tejon caiion in search of the men who were dancing and feasting at Panama. It was the last visit of Vasquez to Kern county. From Panama he went to the San Fernando valley where he was captured, through the agency of a woman who played him false. The Barnes Settlement The Barnes settlement was named for Thomas Barnes, who was in the county in 1859, and who settled some six or eight miles west of Panama in Sll^ Ji ^^^^?_ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 53 the early '60s. Barnes lived on section 26, 30-26, near a big natural grove of cottonwoods that lay a half mile wide and about three miles long in the bed of an old slough. Jefif, Jim, Ed., Noland and Tony Harris, all brothers of Airs. Barnes, had ranches there, but they were away teaming in the moun- tains a larger part of the time than they spent farming. By 1868, when P. J. Waldon took up a claim in the Barnes settlement, Bill Daugherty had lived there and gone, and some of the other earlier settlers were fading memories. Air. Waldon does not recall the name of an Arkansas woman who planted an acre of peach trees on the place where Barnes lived in 1868, but the fruit was celebrated throughout the whole delta, where any kind of peaches probably tasted good in 1868. Barnes had about forty head of cattle, and ran hogs in the tules, and nearly all the other early settlers in the vicinity did the same. Waldon says the wild hogs were not very good eating, but tarne hogs sold readily in Bakersfield at four and five cents per pound, and the hog-raisers made money. In the later '70s Waldon, Van Stoner, W. W. Frazier, Vining Barker and Jock Ellis ran their hogs in one herd for economy of management, and the raising of pork was a con- siderable industry about Old River, the Barnes settlement and Canfield (so called in honor of Wellington Canfield.) Wellington Canfield and F. A. Tracy were first in the cattle business on Jerry slough, named for Jerry Bush, a cattleman who ran his herds there in 1866, but later they bought land near the Barnes settlement, and a little town was laid out and christened Canfield. There is a tradition that the first alfalfa in the county was grown by Tom Barnes from seed sent him from South America by a traveler who had visited the delta and believed the clover would do well there. It did do well, and the fame of the Barnes alfalfa patch was spread all over the county in 1867 or '68. The Buena Vista Canal Company was organized in 1870 by Barnes, Har- ris, Gillum, John Oleton, P. J. Waldon, Peter O'Hare, John Gordon, James Cole and others, and later, as in the case of nearly all the canal companies, the controlling interest was acquired by Haggin & Carr. Throughout the whole of the great Kern delta in the early days every- body within a radius of twenty miles was everybody else's neighbor, ready to help dispose of a feast or nurse a stricken fellow settler through a fever with impartial alacrity. When Sis Daugherty was married to Corbin Wicker, old man Daugherty launched his tule boat on the South Fork and hitching his riata to the prow swam his horse across to fetch all the neighbors to the wedding supper. On Christmas day just before the great flood of 1861-62 that made history and geography both in Kern county, the Skileses, w'ho lived somewhere south of Reeder lake, made a dinner for the whole neighborhood, and the Gilberts, returning just as the first swelling of Panama channel began to make the banks boggy, mired dow^n in the foamy, brown water, and friendly Indians waded in and carried Mrs. Gilbert and her infant ashore. But before I go on with the tale of the flood I must go back a little way and relate how all this peaceful Arcadia, where there was neither law nor present need of law was the subject of special acts of the state legislature and of plans and dreams of men so far-sighted that they lifted their feet to step over the threshold into a future, which to us, nearly a whole lifetime later, seems far awav on the horizon. 54 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY CHAPTER V Floods and Swamp Reclamation Residents of the San- Joaquin valley in the year 1913 look forward, in hours of faith and prophecy, to a time when the population of the valley shall be so large and the freight traffic so great throughout the length of it that it will be practicable and profitable to build and operate a transportation canal from Bakersfield to the bay. W'e know that it would be neither practicable nor profitable at the present time. But it is of the essence of the pioneer to see the ultimate destiny, to leap over, in fancy and undertaking, the inter- vening years or centuries — it makes little difference to the true pioneer — to set cheerfully at work to accomplish the impossible, and to make some shift or other in the face of the inevitable defeat. It is necessary to keep all this in mind and to remember, also, that everybody in the state of California was a pioneer in 1857 when we read in the statutes that in that year was passed and approved an act giving W. F. Montgomery, Joseph Montgomery, A. J. Downes, F. W. Sampson and their associates and assigns the right to reclaim all the swamp land belonging to the state "lying between the San Joaquin river at a point known as Kings river slough, and Tulare lake, and also the swamp and overflowed lands bordering on Tulare, Buena Vista and Kern lakes, and between said lakes, and up to the line dividing the said swamp and overflowed lands from the lands belonging to the United States." The First San Joaquin Valley Canal Project Also they were given the right and privilege to construct and put in operation a canal, capable of carrying boats of SO-tons burden, all the way from Kings river slough on the San Joaquin river to Kern lake, or, if they chose, they could switch the course of the canal to intercept the main channel of Kern river instead of passing through Buena Vista and Kern lakes. They were given a right of way 200 feet wide on each side of the pro- posed canal, and were to have the right to operate the waterway and to collect such tolls as the legislature might authorize for a period of twenty years, after which the ownership of the canal should revert to the state. Incidentally the grantees were to have all the odd sections in the tracts reclaimed, and for every odd section therein of which the state might thereto- fore have disposed, the grantees were to select in lieu four even sections. Note particularly that work on the canal must begin within one year ana the whole must be completed within three years from the passage of the act in order to comply with the provisions of the grant. The First State Highway In the spring of 1862 the act was amended, a provision being inserted to the eft"ect that out of the 200 feet of right of way allowed on each side of the canal the public should be permitted the use of a highway. It also was pro- vided that when the work was done the governor and the surveyor-general must certify to the reclamation of the land. The new act also extended the time limits to one year and three years, respectively, after the passage of the amended act. This date was April 10, 1862. Meantime W. F. Montgomery, who was the principal in the scheme, had not succeeded in interesting capital in the canal project, and for a con- sideration of $10,000 he deeded to Thomas Baker and Harvey S. Brown (each HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 55 an undivided one-half share) all his right, title and interest in the lands in question. For smaller sums Baker and Brown bought out the other owners. Baker, who seems to have been the active member of the new partnership, set about finding capital to carry out the enterprise, but he was no more successful than Montgomery had been. But the legislature came to his aid most generously and again amended the act providing for the reclamation of the lands in question, releasing W. F. Montgomery, et al., their asso- ciates and assigns from all obligation to construct and put in operation for the purpose of navigation, the several canals referred to in the previous act, and providing that in consideration of the reclamation of the lands mentioned in the act they should be entitled to the same quantity of land and all other rights and privileges as if they had not been released from the obligation to construct the canal. With somewhat greater verbosity than the foregoing, the legislature of 1863 dashed, for something more than half a century, at least, the hope of Bakersfield's standing at the head of navigation in the San Joaquin valley. But while the open-hearted members of the legislature had generously relieved Colonel Baker of more than half his monumental undertaking he was still, so far as any human being had the slightest reason to suppose, in the position of a man, who, having discovered that he could not grasp the moon, would find himself elevated, suddenly, on legs ten thousand feet in height. The assistance would not be effective enough to be even genuinely tantalizing. As for the reasonableness of the action of the legislature, con- sidering that body as the custodian of the public interest, let it be remembered th&t the flood of 1861-62 broke levees right and left in the Sacramento valley, doing damage upward of $3,000,000. The experience taught a new lesson to the state concerning the difficulty of handling floods and swamps. And the legislature had no means of knowing, it is to be supposed, what a merry prank Kern river had just played with Old Tom Barnes' irrigating ditch. Like as not many of the legislators honestly thought that a man who would reclaim a swamp ought to have the whole of it for his labor, not half. As for Colonel Baker, he came to Kern county, hired thirty Indians from the Tejon reservation and set to work to reclaim a swamp of upward of 400,000 acres that wound for 150 miles through a raw, unsettled country and was replenished by the waters of two of the great rivers of the state and six or seven smaller streams. Try to compass the sublime audacity of it, and then see how Nature can bend her forces to help a sublimely audacious man — the kind of man, apparently, that Nature loves. Look back a little now and see what old Kern river was doing while the legislature was revising its laws, and first Montgomery and then Colonel Baker were trying to interest capital — in Civil war times — in their mad and visionary undertaking. How^ a River in Flood Reclaimed a Swamp When the Gilberts went home from their Christmas dinner at the Skiles place as related in the previous chapter, the}^ had to cross the first turbid forerunners of the flood, because they lived out at the old race track, and the river then was all this side. Their house of poles and tules stood in a thicket of willows, but a little way to the north was the open, sage brush country, through which Tom Barnes and the Harris brothers had begun to build an irrigation ditch to lead the water down to lands they had started to cultivate. For that dav the ditch was an ambitious undertaking, both in 56 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY width and in depth, and its construction had progressed for a mile and more. The Gilberts had seen high water before, and they went to bed with little concern after they had been rescued from the river by the Indians. Along in the night, however, there arose a great squealing from the pen where some forty porkers fattened, and when Gilbert rolled out of bed to see what was the matter, he splashed to his knees in icy water. By the time Gilbert and a couple of men who were stopping at the place could carry the children and the provisions to a little knoll of high ground farther north, the melted snow water was lapping around their waists. The hog pen and the corn crib floated down stream, and the tule house followed them next day as the water continued to rise. A little exploration to the north showed that the swollen current had found Tom Barnes' ditch and was scooping it deeper and wider at a faster rate than Barnes could have done had he been loaned all the horses and plows in the state of California. The virgin earth, unprotected by roots or vegetation, melted before the torrent like mounds of sand before the incoming tide. Not many days passed before the larger of the two streams was to the north of the Gilberts instead of to the south of them, and at frequent intervals a dozen tons or more of earth would cave from the bank of the new channel and fall into the brown and boiling flood with a roar that did not sound good to the damp and shivering refugees perched on their island knoll only a few rods away. Fortunately, only a few days before the flood, Gilbert had returned with a four-horse load of provisions from Visalia, and a little while before that they had bought 700 pounds of flour from a man who had to take flour for a debt a Parajo valley rancher owed him and who was peddling it out through the length of the valley after the manner of the day. So the family made out through what seemed, not only to them but to many other flood- bound pioneers in the state, an interminable season of rain and freshet, and then they moved to Reeder hill, the highest and dryest spot within the pres- ent townsite. And so, when Colonel Baker came with his thirty Indians he put a head gate in what remained of the old south fork, and built the beginning of the Town ditch, and was able to report to the governor and surveyor-general in all truthfulness that a very considerable portion of the 400,000 acres had been reclaimed. Then the Drought Helped, Too Still Nature was kind to this generous, enthusiastic optimist who was not afraid to attempt great things that other people said were impossible. In the year 1864 was the worst drought since the American occupation. All over the state cattle and sheep died of starvation by the hundreds of thou- sands. Shepherds were glad to dispose of their flocks at a bit a head, and failing that they killed them mercifully and saved their pelts. Colonel Baker, when he had built the head gate in the south fork, went down to the north end of Buena \^ista lake and scraped the Baker dam, frag- ments of which are still to be found a little way north of the Cole levee. Then he took his family back to Visalia temporarily while he did further reclamation work north of Tulare lake. Baker Gets His Patent The Governor sent the surveyor-general and another engineer by name of Andrew Jackson to see if the lands had been reclaimed. By that time the drought had done what Baker could not do. The engineers found the land HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 57 as dry as a bone, and so reported. There was some delay in the making out of the patent, but finally it was sigi\ed by Governor Frederick F. Low on November 11, 1867. It conveyed to W. F. Montgomery, et al., their asso- ciates and assigns, a total of 89,120 acres of land in Kern and Fresno coun- ties — about half as much as the grantees originally were to receive. The next great flood — the greatest in the history of the county, came between Christmas and New Years in the winter of 1867-8, and spread a vast lake of water over every acre of Colonel Baker's reclaimed land. Montgomery Patent Annulled Years later there fell upon the state a far-flung fore-shadow of the modern conservation movement, and the legislatures of 1857 and 1862 were sharply criticised for giving away so much land for so small an amount of improve- ment. The courts, as courts do now, sometimes, undertook to correct the follies of the lawmakers, and on September 17, 1878, in the case of People ex. rel. J. L. Love, attorney-general, versus John Center, et al., appellants and respondents, the district court of the twelfth judicial district — San Fran- cisco — handed down a decree declaring the Montgomery patent null and void. In the opinion accompanying the decree the court pointed out that the governor and surveyor-general did not issue a certificate to the effect that the land had been reclaimed — as the law directed — and held that this omission was not cured by the fact that the governor signed the patent, and that the document also bore the signature of the secretary of state, who happened to be the surveyor-general as well. To a layman it might seem that this objection was purely technical. The second defect noted by the court — the fact that the land was not actually reclaimed — was not to be disputed by anyone. But the decree mattered little to Colonel Baker. Six years before it was signed by the judge his remains had been carried to their last resting place in Union cemetery by the strong but gentle hands of other pioneers who knew and loved him. Moreover, long before his death Colonel Baker had sold his share of nearly all the immense tract the Montgomery patent conveyed. Some of it went for ten cents an acre. The highest price the smallest purchasers paid for farms was $1 and $1.50 per acre. Baker was no land monopolist. Before the district court issued its decree the legislature got busy again, tempering justice with mercy. An ^ct approved March 20, 1878, provided that all persons who had bought land covered by the Montgomery patent, subsequent to the issuance of such patent, should be entitled to a decree of the court directing that a patent issue to them for such lands, on their showing within sixty days after the passage of the act, that they had spent for taxes, improvements, fences and reclamation a total of not less than $1 per acre for all the lands so claimed by each. All the purchasers were able easily to comply with these conditions, and so the story ends happily for all concerned. Beginnings of Bakersfield The flood of 1861-2 is a convenient mark in history from which to date the earliest beginnings of Bakersfield. As related in the preceding chap- ter, the flood moved the main channel out of the future townsite, leaving the land dryer and rather .more suitable for the habitation of civilized men. It made it less desirable for the Indians. Prior to that time, as Mrs. Van Orman recalls, there was a considerable settlement of the aborigines somewhere 58 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY about Chester Lane, and huts of individual savages were scattered about the willow groves everywhere. But the flood drowned the squirrels and other small game which the Indians used to kill and eat, swept away the fish they used to catch in the river, and incidentally the long season of rains when the freshet rose and fell day after day in apparently interminable succession made the place generally disagreeable even for the stoical redskins. About that time, also, the government was moving the larger part of the tribes from Tejon to the Tule river farm. So the Indians moved out. So did two families by name of Lovelace, and others of whom the names are not remembered. The settlers who remained sought the high spots that the waters had not covered. The people who stayed and helped to form the new settlement were the Shirleys, the Gilberts, Harvey S. Skiles, the grandfather of Herman Dumble, the present city trustee of Bakersfield, and Lewis Reeder, who bought Gilbert's second place on Reeder hill and gave his name to that ancient landmark. The next year came Colonel Baker and his family, Edward Tibbet, who settled on the present Tibbet homestead just south of the city limits, and Allan Rose, who succeeded to the house on Reeder hill after Reeder and many of his family had died. Reeder, himself, died in the moun- tains whither he had gone for lung trouble, but others of his family who sick- ened and died there and later residents who turned their faces to the wall in the ill-fated house made a total of seven deaths on Reeder hill in the first few years of the settlement. Two others, accidentally shot, raised the total to nine, wherefrom grew the tale that the Reeder hill house was haunted. Colonel Baker, of course, at once directed his energies toward the recla- mation of the swamp lands covered by the Montgomery franchise. The others farmed the fertile townsite, raised cattle and hogs or hunted both in the swamps and out on the dry ranges. The soldiers at Fort Tejon paid $50 per ton for hay delivered, and both at the fort and in the mining camps were the best of markets for meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and all other vegetables that the early settlers raised. In a letter written by Solomon Jewett in 1871 reference is made to the fact that Harvey S. Skiles raised a small patch of cotton in 1862. The first genuine cotton culture, however, was in 1865, when the Jewett Brothers, who had interests in Bakersfield then in addition to their extensive sheep business at the Rio Bravo ranch, raised 130 acres of cotton which was harvested and sent to Oakland to be ginned and manufactured. Some of the cloth was shipped back to Bakersfield and sold in the first store built in the settlement. Mr. Jewett imported two tons of seed, one from Tennessee, and the other from Sonora, Mexico. He got the crop in rather late, but he declared that the experiment was a success, or would have been had it not been for the prohibitive cost of hauling the cotton to Oakland by team — probably ox-team. Colonel Baker, ^^Ir. Winfey and A. R. Jackson were appointed school trustees in 1866, but they never organized. A man by name of Brooks taught a private school that year, and in 1863, for a short time, Mrs. Baker taught a few of the neighbor children at her home. They had no books, but Mrs. Baker cut letters out of paper, and resorted to other laborious shifts to help the youngsters up the hill of knowledge. The first active school board consisted of Messrs. Tibbet, Troy and Reeder, who were chosen in 1867. In that year Mrs. Ranney taught a three-months' term. In 1868 Miss L. A. Jackson taught a six-months' term. The first school house, which an old HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 59 newspaper account says was a brick building 40x60 feet in size, was built in 1869 and in June of that year A. R. Jackson opened school in it. The next year there were two teachers, A. R. Jackson and Aliss Callie Gilbert, ana thirty-five pupils, whose surnames were Adams, Baker, Crawford, Lundy, Patria, Pettus, Ranney, Shelley, Shirley, Tibbet, Ward, Arujo, Collins, Con- treras, Gilbert, McKenzie, Reeder, Troy and Verdugo. For six years after Colonel Baker came to the Kern delta there was no postoffice here. Until the breaking out of the war, the removal of the gar- rison from Fort Tejon and the discontinuance of the Butterfield stage line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the settlers here used to have their mail left at the fort. Later on it was addressed to Visalia, and the thoughtful postmaster at that place would forward mail for the whole settlement by any- one whom he knew was coming this way. Freight was hauled mostly from Los Angeles, and the charge was three cents per pound. Flour sometimes got as high as $10 per sack in the earliest days of Bakersfield, and when the freshets cut ofif travel to Visalia and snows blocked Tejon pass, corn and wheat ground in a hand mill and other home products had to eke out the larder. Mrs. Tracy (then "Sirs. Baker) says she used to leech salt out of the earth to cure pork, and in other times of necessity made a pretty good article of soap with grease and alkali. Ordinarily they made their own candles, used honey in lieu of sugar, and baked sweet potatoes as a sub- stitute for coffee. Meal ground in the old hand mill was not of the finest, but the pioneers sifted out the coarsest part and used it for hominy. Dave Willis of Visalia tried making salt from an old salt lick about sixteen miles south of Bakersfield, with indifferent success. In 1868 a saw mill was started in Tecuya valley near Fort Tejon, but the lumber, which was sawed from bull pine, was. so prone to warp that it needed a ton of boulders on each end of a plank to hold it down, and then it would twist in the middle. Prior to the days of the Tacuya mill adobes and poles or brush, tules and mud formed the building materials, as previously described. Colonel Baker's first house, the one the family was living in at the time of the great flood of 1867-8, was of adobe with a brush, tule and dirt roof. The first years of Colonel Baker's residence here were unusually dry, especially the great drought year of 1864, and a dirt roof was a very great protection from the sun in summer, and also was unobjectionable in winter, so long as the light rains were insufificient to wet it through and the intervening days of sun- shine quite sufficient to dry it out again. The Flood of 1867-68 The winter of 1867-68 was dift'erent. The heavens wept as though their sorrow never would be washed away, and after a while the rain drops began to filter through the bed of rich, alluvial soil on the roof until the shower inside was almost or quite as heavy as that outside. The chief difference was that the shower inside came a few minutes after the shower outside, and the tiny streams that trickled from the pendant tule ends were black as ink with the humus they extracted from the dirt on the roof. They hung umbrellas over the tables to protect the food, and sheltered the beds as best they might. It rained, and rained, and then, very strange, as it seemed to the settlers along its banks, the river, for two days, went almost wholly dry. They knew nothing about it in the little village of Bakersfield, but up in the mountains where the lakes of upper Kern river now are, there had been a succession 60 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of avalanches that filled the bed of the river with rocks and earth and a whole forest of great pine trees. A closer inquiry seems to develop the fact that popular tradition respect- ing the slip of earth that held back the waters of Kern river in the flood of 1867-8, instead of exaggerating it, as tradition is wont to do, falls far short of comprehending its tremendous magnitude. The lakes themselves, beau- tiful sheets of water far up toward the head of the river, are remnants of the great reservoirs that the avalanches made. Many years ago the old Jordan trail from Visalia to Inyo county used to pass through where the lakes now are. To this day, looking down through the clear waters, in the lake bottom mav be seen trees that grew there before the flood overwhelmed them. It must be that the thorough soaking: of the mountain sides after a long oeriod of drought caused whole sections of wooded slopes to plunge down into the river canon. When the impounded waters finally broke away they came down the rocky gorges in a churning, thundering torrent, adding to the roar of the water itself the crash and shriek of thousands on thousands of trees, sixty and a hundred feet in length, and up to three or four feet in diameter, tumbled end over end in the narrower parts of the cafion and rolling and swirling with the current in the wider reaches of the stream. Kernville resi- dents say that for three days the river flowed past that place a mile in width, and from the bank it looked as though a man could walk on logs dryshod from one side to the other. Those who have seen the steep, narrow rock-walled gorge through which Kern river emerges from the mountains sixteen miles above Bakersfield can form some guess of their own concerning the steady, increasing, rolling thun- der with which the coming flood heralded its approach to the sleeping citizens of infant Bakersfield. Flood Reaches Bakersfield. It was the flatness of Bakersfield and the great expanse of level country that opens, fanwise, west and south from the townsite that saved it from annihilation. Since the first flood people had sought out the knolls for their dwelling places, and there was a little time after the drift logs began to bob and crunch among the willows of the sloughs before the water was lapping at the threshholds. Richard Hudnut, afterward the editor of the Kern County Courier, was living in an adobe house somewhere near G and Twenty-fourth street. The noise of the water wakened him, and he went out a little wa) from his house to see what was coming. He crossed a little swale dry-shod, and looked back a moment later to find it full of water, running like a mill race. He shouted a warning to his bride and the latter's sister, who remained in the house, and in a few seconds he was obliged to climb a tree to keep out of reach of the rising flood. The house was on a little higher ground, but presently the chilly stream — it was between Christmas and New Years — began to flow over the floor. ]\Irs. Hudnut and her sister perched themselves on their beds. But the water steadily rose, and what was equally appalling, the roof above their heads was slowh^ but steadily sinking down. Pretty soon they realized that the adobes at the bottom of the wall were melting in the flood. By the time the ridge pole had settled down on top of Mr. Hudnut's tall book case at the end of the room, the ladies mustered up their courage to wade outside. The roof by then was so low that they were able to scramble upon it, and there they sat shivering and shouting counsel back HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 61 and forth with Mr. Hudnut, perched in his tree, until men with a boat came to their rescue. Similar experiences happened in many places, but no lives were lost, and the pioneers, used to pranks of Nature and Fortune, took the experience philosophically, and with mutual helpfulness and optimism soon made new shifts and forgot their losses. The day after the flood came there was to have been a neighborhood feast at the Tibbet's home, and although the waters undermined a cupboard where the roast pig was stored and spilled it in the flood, it was rescued and re-garnished and a little later than the hour set the guests assembled and shared the slightly moistened viands and related their several experiences. The Hudnut story and the Tibbet feast are incidents of the flood most generally remembered, probably because of the humor they contain — and that fact furnishes the key to the temperament and disposition of the Kern county pioneer. The Baker adobe was not overflowed. It was only wet and drizzling from the long continued rains, and there a dozen homeless neighbors gath- ered and were made as welcome as flowers in February. The trees (live trees, not dead driftwood) which were washed down by the flood strewed a strip of country a mile wide through Kernville, and from the point of Panorama heights past Bakersfield they spread over the ground all the way to Bellevue and the old Barnes settlement, a distance of ten miles or more. Colonel Baker built a saw mill to cut the logs on the townsite into lumber, and Myron Harmon tried the same plan up in Kern- ville, but the logs there were so thickly imbedded with sand and broken chunks of rock (some of them as big as a man's fist) that sawing them was impracticable. Meantime Colonel Baker had completed his reclamation of the swamp lands covered by the Montgomery franchise, had gotten his patent to 89,120 acres of land, and plans were forming in the minds of ambitious, enterprising men to make a great empire out of the rich lands through which the river plowed its devious and shifting channels, and incidentally to make some personal profit thereby. CHAPTER VI Organization of the County The county of Kern was created by an act of the legislature approved April 2, 1866, out of territory formerly included in the counties of Tulare and Los Angeles, chiefly the former. The act fixed the county seat at Havilah; provided for a county judge to be appointed by the governor, ordered an election to be held on the second Thursday in July, 1866, to select a clerk who should be also a recorder, a sherifif who should be tax collector as well, a district attorney, an assessor and collector of poll taxes, treasurer, surveyor, coroner and public administrator, superintendent of schools and three super- visors. Michael H. Erskine, Eli Smith, Dan W. Walser, Thomas Baker and John Brite were named as a board of commissioners to appoint election officers and canvass the returns. The county was assigned to the fourth senatorial district of that day, and was attached to Tulare county for representative purposes. The supervisors were directed to name two commissioners to meet with other commissioners from Tulare and Los Angeles counties to settle upon Kern county's share of the bonded indebtedness of the other counties of which its territory had been a part. 62 • HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY First County Officials Without special incident this program was carried out, the following officials being declared elected as the result of the first ballots cast in the new county : district attorney, E. E. Calhoun ; sheriff, W. B. Ross ; clerk, recorder and auditor, H. D. Bequette ; treasurer, D. A. Sinclair; assessor, R. B. Sagely ; coroner and public administrator, Joseph Lively ; superintendent of schools, J. R. Riley; surveyor, Thomas Baker; supervisors, Henry Ham- mell, S. A. Bishop and J. J. Rhymes. The governor appointed Theron Reed as county judge. J. W. Freeman was already state senator, having been elected while Kern county was a part of Tulare, and I. C. Brown was similarly in possession of the office of assemblyman. At their first two meetings, held August 1st and 2nd, the supervisors established three judicial townships in the county, fixed the tax rate at a total of $2.61 for state and county, and called for bids for building a jail. At the next meeting the bid of T. B. Stuart for the construction of the jail for $1600 was accepted, and for $800 a site was bought for a courthouse. The latter building served until the county seat was moved to Bakersfield, when it was taken down and the lumber sold to P. T. Colby, who put it together again in the form of a residence just south of the Kern Valley bank on Chester avenue in Bakersfield. The first courthouse was built by T. H. Binnex for the modest sum of $2200. Each judicial (or magistrate's) township was made a school district as follows: township No. 1, Havilah district; township No. 2, Linn's valley dis- trict; township No. 3, Kelso district; township No. 4, Tejon district. It is worthy of note that Bakersfield and the Kern delta do not appear in the list, but in February, 1867, Lower Kern River district was formed from the Linn's Valley district. Also, each magistrate's township was made a road district. First Election Precincts The first election districts were established by the supervisors May 25, 1867, as follows : Havilah — vote at court house. Claraville — vote at Bodfish's old store. South Fork — vote at John Nicoll's blacksmith shop. Kernville — vote at old Cove house. Keysville — vote at Alarsh & Kennedy's old store. Alpine — vote at Eugene Caillard's store. Summit Mill — vote at Knox house, summit. Linn's Valley — vote at Myers' store. Long Tom — vote at Yoakum's store. Kern Island — vote at Chester's store, Bakersfield. Reservation — vote at Tejon reservation buildings. Tehachapi — vote at school house. Walker's Basin — vote at Dr. Adams' store. Augua Caliente — vote at Wolfskill house. Cross's Mill — vote at Cross' mill. Delonega — vote at Williams & Martin's camp. First Election in the County Before the election was held on September 4th, Sageland voting district was established and Sanderson & Asher's store on Kelso creek was named as the polling place. In the list above the word "old" wherever used, is quoted from the super- visors' record. After forty-four years its use gives some idea of relative antiquity. As an index to the relative population of the districts and also to show the political complexion of the new county the vote for governor in the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 63 several precincts in the first election after the county was established is given herewith : Havilah — Haight, 147; Gorham, 60. Kernville — Haight, 38; Gorham, 43. South Fork — Haight, 10; Gorham, nothing. Walker's Basin — Haight, 32; Gorham, 13. Alpine — Haight, 11; Gorham, 3. Summit Hill — Haight, 18; Gorham, 5. Linn's Valley — Haight, 22; Gorham, 6. Long Tom — Haight, 20; Gorham, nothing. Kern River Island — Haight, 21 ; Gorham, 11. Reservation — Haight, 4; Gorham, 2. Tehachapi — Haight, 25 ; Gorham, 3. Sageland — Haight, 21 ; Gorham, 11. Augua Caliente — Haight, 3 ; Gorham, nothing. Claraville — Haight, 13; Gorham, 7. Totals— Haight, 385 ; Gorham, 164. Haight's majority, 221. The election throughout the state gave the following totals for governor : Henry H. Haight, Democrat, 49,905; George C. Gorham, Union, 40,359; Caleb T. Fay, Union-Republican, 2,088. At the same election the following county officers were chosen : 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; super- visors, first district, D. W. Walser ; second district, J. J. Rhymes; third dis- trict, John M. Brite ; constables, township No. 1, John B. Tungate and W. S. Gibson ; township No. 2, J. Pascoe ; township No. 3, Thomas F. Owens and Thomas McFarlane ; township No. 4, Isaac Hart and James E. Williams ; township No. 5, J. J. Yoakum and W. W. Shirley. Roadmasters for the five townships were William F. Klaiber, C. T. W'hite, J. M. Garrett, M. A. Tyler, and William Higgins, respectively. At the judicial election held October 16th, P. T. Colby was elected county judge, and justices of the peace were chosen as follows: township 1, G. Martel and J. W. Venable ; township 2, Thomas Despain ; township 3, William S. Adams and Daniel Memckton ; township 4, William P. Higgins and Grant P. Cuddeback ; township 5, P. A. Stine. First Swamp Land District Organized Other matters which demanded a large share of the attention of the first boards of supervisors other than the political organization of the county and the calling of elections were the granting of permits for toll roads and ferries, the organization of reclamation districts and the adjustment of assess- ments. The first reclamation districts were formed on August 7, 1866, seven days after the first board organized. Under an act of the legislature ap- proved April 2, 1866, the supervisors, whom the law made ex-officio swamp land commissioners for the territory included in the county, divided the swamp and overflowed land in Kern county into two districts. District No. 1 included all the swamp land in the county east of the range between ranges 26 and 27 east. District No. 2 included all the swamp land in the ccmnty west of this line, and all the even sections in both districts were set aside to defray the expense of carrying out a system of reclamation and irrigation 64 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY provided in an agreement between the supervisors, acting in the capacity of swamp land commissioners, and Thomas Baker, his associates and assigns. According to this agreement. Baker and his associates were to construct a good and permanent improvement to turn from Kern river into the south fork water sufficient to irrigate district No. 1, to remove all timber and driftwood from the slough so that it would carry water, to build a guard gate to afford passage for water across the levee already constructed across said slough for reclamation purposes and to keep said gateway and levee in good repair so as to allow enough water to pass for irrigation but at the same time to prevent a flood. Baker was to begin the work within two years after Jan- nary 1, 1867, and was to be paid $6000 for the job, half of the amount as the work was finished, and the other half as afterward provided in the agreement. Also, Baker was to build irrigating ditches and improve existing sloughs so that they would serve as channels to carry irrigation water, being paid therefor at the rate of 50 cents per yard for all dirt moved up to a total of $8000, half of the amount to be paid as the work was completed, which must be within four years from January 1, 1867. The payments were to be made in land scrip to be issued to Baker at the rate of $1 per acre in such denominations as Baker should elect. The agreement provided that Baker was not to be held liable for damage caused by any exceptional floods. For the reclamation of district No. 2 Baker was to build a levee across Buena Vista slough in township 30-24 (a little north of Cole's levee of the present day) to improve the natural channels and build canals at the rate of 50 cents per cubic yard for the earth moved, up to a total of $26,000, payment to be made as in the case of district No. 1, in land scrip at the rate of $1 per acre, subject to location on even sections or fractions thereof, within the districts described. In the two districts the compensation would amount to $40,000 or 40,000 acres of land. The control of the water and distribution of the same for irrigation purposes was to remain in the hands of the super- visors. The reader will recall that heretofore Baker and his associates had, under the Montgomery franchise, just completed the reclamation of all the swamp and overflowed lands in the two districts mentioned in the agreement and had put in their application for a patent for all the odd sections as com- pensation for their labors. At this time and a few years later there was no little protest against this action of the supervisors by people who pointed out that the state had given half the land for taking the water ofif, and now the county was giving the other half for putting the water back on the land. Against this contention, however, was presented the argument that while the swamps had been drained and now were as dry as tinder, they were no more suited to cultivation without water for irrigation than they had been when they were submerged. The argument was good, and prevailed. Changes in Swamp Land Laws Before Baker could complete his portion of the contract with the super- visors, the state legislature, which was having a large amount of trouble about that time in settling in its own mind what was the best policy to follow respecting the swamp lands, made another change in the law, in 1868, plac- ing the swamp lands back in the trust of the state, instead of the coun- ties, and removing all restrictions formerly in effect as to the amount of swamp land which any one person or corporation could acquire. The new law provided that purchasers of swamp land must deposit $1 per acre in the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 65 county treasury as a guarantee that the land would be reclaimed, or twenty per cent of the amount could be paid outright and the balance made up later. Each district was to make its own by-laws and regulations, but in the end, if the land was not reclaimed, the title remained in the state. The change in the law made a change in the plans for reclamation, and under the new act, on December 24, 1870, Livermore & Chester, Thomas Baker, Julius Chester and Andrew R. Jackson filed with the supervisors a petition for the formation of a reclamation district including all the swamp and overflowed lands in townships 27-22, 28-22, 28-23, 29-22, 29-23, 29-24 30-24, 31-25, 31-26, 32-26 and 32-27. The story of the acquisition of the swamp lands forms a long and rather complicated chapter which would be of only casual interest to the average reader. What has been related so far gives a very good illustration of the manner in which all the swamp land in the county finally was acquired. The odd sections for the most part went to parties who had bought them from Baker or his assigns subsequent to the Montgomery patent, the purchasers being protected by a new act of the legislature when the Montgomery patent was annulled by the court in 1878. The even sections were purchased from the state for about the cost of completing their reclamation. A Sheep Was Worth More Than an Acre of Land Probably it will strike the present day reader that the moving of two cubic yards of earth from the center of a ditch to a ditch bank was a small amount of labor to give in exchange for an acre of the rich, Kern delta land, but the records of the supervisors, sitting as a board of equalization in the early days of the county throw an explanatory light on the subject of relative values. Nowadays nobody pays any attention to his assessments, whether they are high or low, but in the '60s and '70s the meetings of the equalizers were enlivened by a steady procession of taxpayers who wanted their assess- ments lowered or those of their neighbors raised. Eor example : In 1870 sheep were assessed at $2 per head, and the San Emidio grant was assessed at $1.25 per acre. The supervisors reduced sheep to $1.50 and the land in the grant to $1. In the same year the Western Union Telegraph Company's assessment was cut from $170.64 to $85.32. In 1868 three American horses belonging to Dave Lavers were raised from the assessor's figures to $300, and the next year the Joe Walker mine was chopped from $5000 to $500. The First Mountain Roads Nearly all the early roads through the mountains were built by private enterprise as toll roads. In the valley any traveller could lay out a new road for himself if he chose, and others who came after him soon wore it into a trail. But when he came to a stream he could not ford he had to pay tribute to the ferryman. J. M. Griffith, in 1868, built a toll road from Moore's station at the foot of Tehachapi mountain to Agua Caliente creek and was permitted to charge for its use. $2.50 for a wagon and twelve horses, $2.25 for a wagon and ten horses, $2 for a wagon and eight horses and down to seventy-five cents for a wagon and two horses, twenty-five cents for a horse and rider, five cents per head for loose cattle, two cents per head for sheep, and twenty-five cents for a pack animal. Charges were fixed by the supervisors for the ferry operated in the same year by J. E. Stine at Telegraph crossing over Kern river near Bakers- field as follows : For a wagon and two horses. $2 ; for each extra span of 4 66 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY horses, fifty cents; for a horse and rider, fifty cents; for loose animals of all kinds, twenty-five cents each ; for footman, twenty-five cents. Rates for other toll roads and ferries were not far from these fig^ures. In 1868 James Cross built a ferry below the junction of South Fork (in the mountains). Cross, Morton & Company were given a permit to maintain a toll road from Havilah via Walker's basin to their mill. J. W. Sumner was given a permit to build a toll bridge across Kern river near Hot Springs valley. Thomas Baker a little later built the famous Baker toll road up the mountains between Bakersfield and Havilah. Eight or ten years later the county began buying in these toll roads, and there were numerous and spicy charges of graft and extravagance in connection with the different purchases. (Throughout this history it is necessary to distinguish between the South Fork of Kern river, which is one of the two chief branches of the stream to- ward its source in the mountains, and the south fork channel which ran through the eastern part of Bakersfield in the early days. For the purpose of lessening the confusion of the dual use of the name I have arbitrarily chosen to give the mountain stream and the valley that bears its name the dignity of capital initials.) CHAPTER Vn Coming of the Capitalist Dividing the history of Kern county into epochs from an industrial point of view, the years around 1870 mark the beginning of the influence of large capital in the county's development. Prior to 1860 the settlers in the valley were mainly small farmers or small stockmen, intent on getting what they could from the land and concerned but little or not at all in the permanent improvement or development of the country. In the mountains the placer miners and the first quartz miners were doing the same — getting money out of the ground, and putting little in. Following these came men like Colonel Baker, fully gifted with the ability and inclination to plan large developments and improvements for the future, but handicapped everywhere for want of money to carry out their plans. Nevertheless, Baker and others in the Kern delta began the construction of reclamation levees and irrigation ditches ; in the mountain valleys the sturdy pioneers, full of energy if short of cash, were improving their farms and beginning to accumulate their flocks and herds, and in the mineral sections the quartz miners were delving deeper in tlie ledges and developing shafts and tunnels that properly were entitled to the name of mines as distinguished from placers and prospect holes. All these enterprises were carried on by men of modest means and modest ambitions. But before 1868 General Beale had acquired the Tejon ranch, and Beale & Baker were building up flocks of sheep aggregating as high as 100,000 to 125.000 head. In 1868 J. C. Crocker established head- quarters at the Temblor ranch and began buying the land and accumulating the herds that formed the nucleus of the immense Miller & Lux holdings. About the same time the Chesters were in Bakersfield, planning big enter- prises with the money of H. P. Livermore, a wealthy druggist of San Francisco, to back them. In 1875 Senator Jones bought the Big Blue mine and gave a new character to the search for Kern county gold. In 1872 Walter HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 67 James came to make a report on the Gates tract, a big body of land lying south and west of Bakerstield which Isaac E. Gates of New York had acquired from the railroad and which was later purchased by J. B. Haggin and became the nucleus of the Kern County Land Company holdings. In 1873 came the Southern Pacific railroad. It is pertinent, therefore, to take account, roughly, of the county's stock about the year 1870. Havilah was the most important town in the county, although there were not lacking men who could foresee that Bakersfield was soon to'^outstrip it in the race for supremacy. A. D. Jones, editor of the Havilah Courier, was one of these, and on December 22, 1869, he had moved to Bakersfield,' changed the name of his paper to the Kern County Courier, and had gotten out the first issue. In the issue of January 18, 1870, the Courier describes the town : Bakersfield as It Was in 1870 Bakersfield, laid out about four months previous to that date, contained the stores of Livermore & Chester and Caswell & Ellis, one telegraph office, a prmtmg office (the Courier) the blacksmith and carriage shop of Fred Hacking, a harness shop belonging to Philip Reinstein, Littlefield & Phelan's hvery stable, John B. Tungate's saloon, a carpenter shop, a school house with fifty pupils, and two boarding houses. The professions were represented by Dr. L. S. Rogers and Attorney C. H. Veeder. A hotel and grist mill were m contemplation. The Baker toll road was in operation between Bakersfield and the county-seat; there were good wagon roads to Visalia and Los Angeles, and a grade up the mountains to Tehachapi was in progress of building. The town was protected from flood by a levee built by Colonel Baker, and the whole country was supplied with fuel for a long time to come by the logs washed down by the flood of 1867-8. The editor cheerfully assures the world that the action of the elements is such as to warrant that other floods would wash down more driftwood before the then present supply ran out. Of the lands on lower Kern river 129,625.34 acres had been entered under the state laws, and 40,000 had been patented for reclamation purposed by individuals. No reclamation districts had been formed under the new law, which provided for the appropriation of $1 per acre for the reclamation of swamp lands. This would make a fund of $129,625.34 available for the reclamation of lands in Kern county, an amount believed to be sufficient to accomplish the task and make nearly 200,000 acres of fine land available for cultivation. There were still some 275,000 acres of government land open to homestead and pre-emption, beside some 50,000 acres of railroad land m the Kern delta which was ofifered to settlers at government prices. All this land was considered among the potential assets of Bakersfield. The town was just recovering from an epidemic of fever during the summer previous, and the cause of the fever having been ascribed to drinking water from shallow wells and irrigating ditches, an agitation for deeper wells was under way. Residents of the new town were looking forward to the building of the projected railroad up the valley and were worrying about how they were going to feed the great number of people who would come with the laying of the tracks. They even went to the length of organizing the Kern County Agricultural Society for the promotion of agriculture, so that a plenty of food would be assured the newcomers. In March of 1870 the town was re-surveyed, and it was announced 68 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY that shade trees were to be planted at each lot corner. Colonel Baker was building his saw mill, a saw mill at San Emidio had just put in new planing machinery, and Livermore & Chester's saw mill in the Tecuya valley was about to resume work. In 1870 a bill passed the legislature to change the county seat from Havilah to Bakersfield, but Governor Haight did not sign it, and it failed to become a law. In the county there were five postofifices, the following being the post- masters : At Bakersfield, George B. Chester; at Havilah, H. H. Denker; at Kernville, G. Martel ; at Linn's valley, John C. Reid ; at Tehachapi, P. D. Green. The surveyor general's report for 1867, published in 1870 showed that Kern county on the former date had 5,000 acres of land fenced, 2,398 acres under cultivation, 550 acres in wheat which produced 16,500 bushels, 906 acres in barley, which produced 27,180 bushels, 4,000 grape vines. The value of the real estate was placed at $440,000; improvements, $40,000; per- sonal property, $866,500; total, $1,346,500. The estimated population was 1,400, and the number of registered voters was 766. The Buena Vista Petroleum Company was working hopefully but not profitably at McKittrick, known in early days as Asphalto, almost due west of Bakersfield at the end of the Santa Maria valley. Sources of Ready Cash The Courier summed up five sources from which money flowed in greater or less streams, into the channels of Bakersfield's trade. Travellers brought some ; a few horses and mules were sold ; lumber, posts, etc., from Greenhorn mountain brought in a little ; the Jewett Brothers, the Troys, Gustav Sanger, Beale & Baker and others sent away sheep and wool and brought back large sums of gold. George Young, Launder, Tracy & Canfield and others sold beef cattle. Finally the mines, although not so profitable as formerly, were still worked with profit. The whole population on the "Island" was estimated in 1870 at 600. Out- side the town of Bakersfield and scattered ranches there was only the Barnes settlement and the Mexican settlement at what is now Panama. The remainder of the people were in the mountains. Old Tehachapi was a thriving little village, gaining its support from the stock men who were getting well established in the fertile valleys round about, and from the early placer miners, who were working over the gravels of China hill. About forty men were working about the Kernville mines, for the most part on shares ; they were just putting in new pumping machinery in the Joe Walker mine; Burdette & Tucker had opened a new lead in Long Tom ; Sageland, Clara- ville and other mining camps through the mountains were enjoying fair to medium prosperity ; Havilah was passing its best days and looking forward to the time when it must fight for the retention of the county seat, which was coming to be almost as important to its existence as its mines. The South Fork valley. Walker's basin, Linn's valley, Poso flat and less important valle3^s in the mountains were becoming centers of development and industry under the hands of the farmers and stockmen. Early Captains of Industry The new factors in the county's development took up the task with energy and enthusiasm. It is to be noted that in each instance the men who were supplying the capital for the carrying out of the resident managers' HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 69 plans lived elsewhere, and except in the case of Henry Miller they appear to have given little personal attention to the details of their Kern county investments. In each case, however, the resident managers were capable of laying their own plans and of carrying them out, also, provided the money kept coming. Julius Chester was the active partner of the firm of Livermore & Chester. Livermore furnished the money, but he seldom came to Bakers- field. George Chester was less aggressive than his brother, and although he figured prominently in the early annals of the city, it was Julius that generally directed affairs in which the company was interested. Under his guidance Livermore & Chester branched out in all directions. They estab- lished the leading mercantile house in the county ; as noted, they were active, in partnership with Colonel Baker and others, in the formation of reclamation districts and they began to acquire land in all available ways. They bought large tracts from Baker under the Montgomery patent, paying ridiculously small prices therefor. In June, 1870, Livermore & Chester were advertising 20,000 acres of farming land for sale at $2 to $10 per acre. In July, 1870, the Chesters, Livermore & Chester, Thomas Baker, A. R. Jack- son, B. Brundage, C. G. Jackson, John Howlett, H. A. Cross, Solomon Jewett and L. G. Barnes filed a petition for the formation of a reclamation district comprising 28,000 acres in townships 29-27, 29-28, 30-28, 31-28 and 32-28, which include the townsite of Bakersfield and the country south to beyond Kern lake. The district previously described lay mostly to the north of Buena Vista lake. On March 11, 1871, the first Bakersfield Club was organ- ized, with George Chester as president, John Howlett as vice president, J. Leopold as secretary and Julius Chester as treasurer. In July, 1871, the new livery stable of Livermore & Chester is described as one of the most imposing structures in the city. It was of adobe, 275 feet long, and 35 feet wide, and was used in connection with the long-distance teaming of those days, in which Livermore & Chester were largely interested directly. Cotton Growers' Association Formed In August, 1871, the California Cotton Growers' Association was organ- ized with Julius Chester as president and James Dale as secretary. Dale wrote that ''Our vast plantation will be divided into cotton parks of 50 to 100 acres each, surrounded by hedges of mulberry which will be clipped regularly. At intervals in the hedge rows different varieties of fruit trees will be planted to furnish fruit and shade." A later and fuller prospectus states that the California Cotton Growers and Manufacturers' Association was composed of Californians and English- men ; that after examining all the San Joaquin valley the association had se- lected the Kern River valley as the scene of its operations. It had purchased of Livermore & Chester 10,000 acres at $5 per acre and planned to plant 1000 acres of cotton the following spring. The sale from Livermore & Chester to the association also included, according to the statement, the townsite of Bakersfield, sixteen houses, a large brick store and warehouse, the motive power and privileges of the Kern Island Irrigation Company's canal, the new flour mill, the merchandising and transportation business of Livermore & Chester and an improved farm of 1000 acres with tools, teams, etc. The men composing the association were J. H. Redington, A. P. Brayton, C. J. Pillsbury, L. A. Bonestell, Horatio Stebbins, J. D. Johnson, H. C. Liver- more and C. Maddux. In May of 1872, the Livermore saw mill twentv-five miles east of 70 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Bakersfield began operations. A little later Julius Chester was on a trip over the mountains to promote a road to the Owens river. All this will indicate briefly, the extent, variety and general character of the activities which Julius Chester directed, and the place which Livermore & Chester and their associates occupied in the enterprise and development of Kern county during this period. During this time the association was spending money freely in the advertising of the county's attractions, and conducting a campaign of general promotion that would have been a credit and advantage to a much older community. It is painful to record that Julius Chester's plans did not materialize financially. It cost more to run the business than the business brought in. and eventually Celsus Brower and S. J. Lansing, who had come to Bakersfield to look after the affairs of Livermore & Chester and the Cotton Growers' Association, found the business in such a badly muddled and unpromising condition that they sent for Livermore and the result was a change of management and a transfer of the property involved to J. H. Redington, a partner of Livermore, in the drug business, as trustee, for adjustment. Celsus Brower remained in charge for some years, un- tangling the accounts, selling land and town lots, leasing some of the ranches and generally getting what returns he could from the large investments of Livermore's money. Finally the Livermore and Redington interests were sold to Haggin and Carr, and became a part of the principality of which the latter dreamed and for which the former paid. Kern County News of 1871-3 Detached items of news from the papers printed in 1871-3 will serve as well as a more extended description to give the reader an idea of the plans and ambitions, sorrows and entertainments, dreams and accomplishments of the people of the Kern delta during this interesting period. February 25, 1871 — R. Van Orman's horse lost in a 440-yard race to a nag belonging to Antonio Barreras, and $1000 changed hands on the result. On the same day the Bakersfield sports paid over $500 that they had wagered on Bob Withington's sorrel against Arujo's bay. May 13, 1871 — Public spirited citizens here subscribed $3200 to build a town hall with a lodge room upstairs for the Masons and Odd Fellows. June 3d — Mr. Lucas is getting ready to again supply Bakersfield with ice from Cross' mountain. May 27th — The first section of the Kern Island ditch is finished and ready to irrigate (so the paper says) 75,000 acres of land. An efifort is being made to raise money for a church building, and an express office is soon to be opened. Tiburcio Vasquez, Bartola Sepulveda, Procopio Murietta, Pancho Go- linda and Juan Doe Bacinos have held up the stage near San Jose again. September 9, 1871 — The surveyors for the Southern Pacific railroad are in Bakersfield and the citizens are awakening to the fact that the road is going to miss the main portion of the town. The third Sunday in October there was a camp meeting on Kern Island. Stage fare from San Francisco to Bakersfield is $30, and from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, $15. The latter stage is weekly and irregular. Laborers get $40 to $60 per month, but save no money. October, 1871 — Bishop Amat and Father Dade call the Catholics to- gether to discuss the subject of building a church and school. Julius Chester, Pablo Galtes and Alexis Godey are appointed a committee to raise the funds. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 71 Alfalfa is proving a great success on the island. Solomon Jewett is awarded a prize of $100 by the state agricultural society for the best paper on cotton growing based on actual experiment. October, 1871 — Havilah residents are beginning to come to Bakersfield, bringing their houses with them. And the Santa Barbara Press was boosting for a railroad to Bakers- field just as cheerily as it is now (in 1911)— and with the same result. The railroad is finished about to the Merced river, and farmers are still driving their turkeys from valley points to San Francisco for holiday market. December 16, 1871— J. S. Brittain lands here to found a Democratic paper — the Southern Californian. A petition is in circulation to move the county seat from Havilah to Bakersfield. B: Brundage and E. H. Dumble move here from Havilah. December, 1871— Surveyor Yates of the San Joaquin Valley Canal Com- pany decides to wait until the weather is settled before continuing his plans for a great canal to start at Antioch, run south along the Coast range mesa to the head of the San Joaquin valley, circle the base of the San Emidio hills, turn north at Tejon, follow the Sierra Nevada mesa to the head of the Sacra- mento valley, and return on the west side of that valley to a point opposite Antioch. The purpose of the canal is to gather all the waters of all the streams of the interior into one great irrigation system that will water every foot of land in the two great valleys. (It is too bad the plan was nevei* carried out !) January, 1872— Freight by teams from Los Angeles to Bakersfield costs 4 cents per pound. April, 1872— The legislature defeats a bill to repeal the fence law, and a meeting is called in the town hall to discuss means of protection from wild cattle. The fight over the fence law is between the farmers and the stock- men. The latter want a law which will practically compel the farmers to fence their lands or sufifer damage from stock that may trespass upon them, while the farmers want the burden of herding the cattle or paying damages placed on the stockmen. The same month — Surveyors are laying out the town of Fresno on the line of the new railroad. May 22, 1872— The Hotel Association is selling stock, and plans to build a first class hotel. June, 1872— Mechanics are leaving their work in town and flocking to the placer gravels along Kern river about nine miles above Bakersfield. August, 1872— Drs. Baker of Visalia and Howard of San Francisco are here to look at new coal mines and petroleum deposits at the base of the Coast range west of Bakersfield. The San Francisco Gas Company is plan- ning to make gas of crude oil. The great register of the county for 1872 contains 785 names, divided among the several precincts as follows: Bakersfield, 245; Linn's valley, 140; Tehachapi, 90; Havilah, 85; Kernville, 60; South Fork, 40; Sageland, 35; Bear Valley, 30; Tejon, 25; Walker's Basin, 15; Long Tom, 10. November, 1872 — A. Cross arrives with three teams from Owen river with 335 bars of lead bullion, or 30,000 pounds. The bullion was hauled to the foot of the lake by steamers from the furnaces on the other side. It took ten days to make the trip by team from the lake to Bakersfield. 72 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY November, 1872 — Colonel Baker makes the first successful attempt to burn a kiln of brick. Sunday, November 24, 1872 — At 1 p. m. Colonel Baker dies of typhoid pneumonia. His funeral is held from the town hall the following Tuesday, and the entire population of the town attends. The Masons conduct the service, and A. R. Jackson delivers the oration. The body was buried in Union cemetery, the ground for which was selected by Colonel Baker about a year before. CHAPTER VIII Bakersfield Becomes the County Metropolis In the process of gathering the data for this history the author asked one of the men who have been intimately associated with its larger affairs during the last forty years to name over the chief events in the history of Bakersfield. He answered : "The history of Bakersfield is a story of hope deferred, of promises unfulfilled. First we prayed for a railroad. We got it, but it did not unlock the door of our possibilities as we expected it would. Then we prayed for colonization. Everything was made ready to answer that prayer, when the contest over the water rights interfered and nothing could be done toward cutting up the land until that was settled. It took years to settle it. When it was out of the way and the colonization scheme was undertaken, just at the start, when everybody's hope was stimulated, the town burned up. We rebuilt on hope, and the colonization scheme went forward. Most of the colonists who came were not farmers, or if they knew how to farm in the east or in England they did not know how to farm here. The water was managed badly ; some of the ground was waterlogged, the ditches broke, things dried out on the high ground and flooded out on the low ground. Just as the orchards and vineyards came into bearing the panic of 1893-4 broke. There was no local market, and fruit shipped east would hardly pay the freight ; sometimes it did not pay the freight and they sent back a bill to the shipper. The seasons about that time were dry, but we could have managed that. The greatest handicap was transportation charges. Then we prayed for a competing railroad. The Valley road (the Santa Fe) was built, but it did not compete. There never was a thing happened in this county that really gave it any chance, that offered any opportunity to go ahead and do things until they began to develop the oil fields." Understand that this is the speech of an optimist, not a pessimist. Through nearly all this period (this era of hopes deferred and promises unfulfilled) Bakersfield was counted by travellers and travelling salesmen as one of the "best towns" in the state. It was always full of life and interest, always there was something doing. Only to the men of intimate knowledge of the county's possibilities and of abounding faith in the county's future has the history of the past forty years been one of hopes deferred and promises unfulfilled. Nevertheless, throughout these forty years the attitude of this optimist who speaks like a pessimist has been a typical one. Literally hundreds of people, looking about at the immense body of fertile land that fills the heart of the county, the great river that flows down from the mountains at HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 73 exactly the most convenient spot for irrigating it, the warm, even climate and the tremendous treasures of oil and other mineral wealth that the hills and mountains contain, have been amazed, irritated and angered because circumstances have prevented Bakersfield from becoming the largest city in the interior of the state, as it justly deserves to be. Understand, also, that it is only in the retrospect that the Bakersfield optimist has seen that the history of the town was a story of promises unful- filled. For only brief periods during all these forty years has the town been lingering elsewhere than on the threshold of a great new boom. It was on the threshold of one of its booms when its founder. Colonel Baker, died. The fertility of the Kern delta was fully established, capitalists in the person of Livermore & Chester were promising great things, plans for getting the remaining portions of the public domain into private hands with the least possible effort and the speediest dispatch were going forward without a hitch worth mentioning, the example of Colonel Baker inspired the belief that so soon as these public lands were patented they would be offered for sale at modest prices, and the Southern Pacific railroad was headed down the valley with the long desired transportation facilities. Bakersfield was convinced of her future greatness, and was preparing to take her first steps forward by incorporating as a city and by wresting the county seat from Havilah. Bakersfield Gets the County Seat The contest for the removal of the county seat from Havilah to Bakers- field, preliminary skirmishes of which had been taking place occasionally for years before, assumed final, serious form in January, 1873, when, in response to a petition signed by upward of one-third of the registered voters of the county, the supervisors called an election for February 15th to determine the question. F. W. Craig, who was one of the supervisors at the time and who fought hard for the retention of the county seat at Havilah, says that the Havilah partisans did not hope to keep the county seat permanently, but they objected to its going to Bakersfield because they considered the place unsuited on account of its low and swampy character. They believed that with the building of the railroad a new and more permanent town would be founded somewhere on higher ground than Bakersfield, and their fight was to keep the county offices at Havilah until the expected new town could develop and assert its claim to the seat of government. The sincerity of the men who made the fight against Bakersfield on the ground of healthfulness is shown by subsequent action on the part of some of them, although a very few years sufficed to prove that their fears were ungrounded. Dr. L. Brown, the county physician in the days of Havilah's supremacy, declined to follow the court house to Bakersfield but gave up his practice and moved to a farm in Walker's basin where he would at least have the advantage of the mountain air. By the irony of fate the good doctor died a short time thereafter, while his widow, who some years later became the wife of General Freeman, came to Bakersfield, where she still lives in the best of health and possessed of an energy and activity that would do credit to a woman of half her years. Mr. Craig, who afterward was county clerk, came down to the valley perforce, but he took up his residence in Sumner (now East Bakersfield), and still maintains that there is more ozone in the air east of Union avenue than west of it. 74 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Bakersfield people contented themselves with pointing to the mortality tables and making- fun of the contention of Havilah that Bakersiield was not a "fit place for a gentleman to live," but to the complaint that it would cost the county a large sum of money to erect the necessary new buildings which a change in the county seat would entail, they presented a more material answer. Morris Jacoby gave a bond, with F. A. Tracy and Solomon Jewett as sureties, that he would build a brick jail and lease it to the county for five years free of cost if the election resulted in moving the county seat. Julius Chester signed a lease to the county at $1 per year for a one-story brick building to be used to house the county offices. On the same terms John Howlett and Julius Chester, as trustees, leased to the county the town hall for a court room. The lease was for five years. Contest Over Election First unofficial returns of the election gave a majority of twelve for Bakersfield, but when the vote was canvassed on February 24th, Super- visors Craig and John M. Brite, father of the present supervisor, voted to reject the returns of Hudson, Bear valley and Walker's basin precincts on account of irregularities on the part of the election officials. Solomon Jewett, the third supervisor, recently elected, voted to count the returns from the three precincts but was outweighed, and Havilah was declared to be the choice of the voters for the county seat by a vote of 328 to 318. An application for a writ of mandamus compelling the supervisors to count the returns of the rejected precincts was thrown out of court by Judge Colby on a demurrer filed by Supervisors Craig and Brite. An appeal was then taken to the district court. Meantime there was another county election, and John Narboe suc- ceeded Brite as supervisor from the third district, and Andrew H. Denker was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Supervisor Craig, who had been elected county clerk. This changed the attitude of the majority of the board on the county seat removal, Supervisors Jewett and Narboe favoring Bakers- field while Denker, who was a merchant and hotel owner of Havilah, stood for his own town. Jewett was chairman of the board. The case was entitled People of the State of California on the relation of A. R. Jackson, plaintififs, against the Board of Supervisors of Kern County, defendants, and was heard before Judge Alec Deeming at Tulare. B. Brun- dage appeared as counsel for the plaintiff, and A. J. Atw^ell represented the board of supervisors as the defendant. An answer filed by Attorney A. C. Lawrence and verified by Supervisor Denker, was stricken out by the court on affidavit of Supervisors Jewett and Narboe that he did not represent the board. The case being submitted on the pleadings, Judge Deeming issued a peremptory writ of mandate requiring the supervisors to canvass the vote of the Hudson-Rosemyer and Bear Valley precincts. The returns as finally canvassed on January 26, 1874, gave Bakersfield a majority of twenty-two votes, and stood, according to precincts, as follows: Havilah — Havilah, 97 ; Bakersfield, nothing. South Fork — Havilah, 33; Bakersfield, 1. Hudson-Rosemyer — Havilah, nothing ; Bakersfield, 14. Kern Island — Havilah, 5 ; Bakersfield, 265. Long Tom — Havilah, nothing; Bakersfield, 10. Tehachapi — Havilah, 40; Bakersfield, 18. Bear Valley— Havilah, 4; Bakersfield, 22. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 75 Sageland — Havilah, 22; Bakersfield, 1. Linn's Valley — Havilah, 38; Bakersfield, 23. Kernville — Havilah, 72; Bakersfield, nothing. Claraville — Haviland, 21 ; Bakersfield, nothing. Totals — Havilah, ZZ2] Bakersfield, 354. No election was held in Alpine precinct, and for some reason the vote of Walker's Basin was never included in the official count. For a short time the seat of government was transferred to the town hall in Bakersfield, located on the present site of the Beale Memorial library. But preparations at once were made for more permanent quarters. An act of the legislature was secured authorizing the board of supervisors to bond the county for $25,000 for a court house and jail. In lieu of the ofifers of free rent for the county offices, George B. Chester tendered and the board accepted on September 1, 1874, a deed to the block of land just south of Truxtun avenue and west of Chester avenue. In those days the intersection of these avenues was considered the civic center of Bakersfield, and all streets were numbered with reference to that point. Seventeenth street was known as First street North, Eighteenth street was Second street North, and Nineteenth street was Third street North. I street was First street West, etc. New Public Buildings On October 5th, a contract was let to A. W. Burrell of the California Bridge and Building Company for the new court house at a price of $29,999, the work to be completed within a year. T. W. Goodale, who had suc- ceeded Denker as supervisor, voted against the awarding of the contract for the reason that the price was in excess of the bond issue. The new court house which comprised the south wing of the building now in use, was ac- cepted April 3, 1876, on the favorable report of a committee of inspectors composed of J. A. Riley, N. R. Wilkinson, E. H. Dumble and P. A. Stine. The court house was furnished for $3802. In the fall a contract was let to William McFarland to build a county hospital for $1400. For a time a branch hospital was maintained at Havilah, and later a branch was estab- lished at Hot Springs. In November, 1874, a branch jail was built at Kern- ville for $200, and in 1875 the old county jail at Havilah was presented to Caliente and moved to that place. Bakersfield's First Incorporation Meantime Bakersfield had launched on its first experiment as an in- corporated town. Pursuant to a petition of the citizens, the county super- visors at their May meeting, 1873, declared the town incorporated and called an election of officers for May 24th. J. B. Tungate, E. H. Dumble and A. R. Jackson were appointed election officers. The town limits included all of section 30, 29-28; the east half of the southwest quarter and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 25, 29-27. The following were chosen for the first officers of the new municipality: Trustees — W. S. Adams, president; L. S. Rogers, M. Jacoby, J. B. Tun- gate and R. W. Withington. Recorder — A. R. Jackson. Treasurer — J. Weill. Assessor — William McFarland. Marshal — Joseph Short. 76 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Adams was a liveryman, Jacoby and Weill were merchants, Rogers was a physician, and Withington and Tungate were saloon keepers. The new board fixed a license of $20 per year on saloons and general merchandise establishments ; $10 per year on breweries, and lesser sums on other businesses. They made it a petit larceny offense to use water from an irrigating ditch without permission; required that all canals must be bridged to the full width of the streets ; forbade bathing in the ditches, and fixed a limit of three cubic feet on the amount of litter that might be piled in either of the two chief business streets of the city. The First Hope Deferred Meantime, also, the long cherished hope of a railroad into Kern county had been realized at last. On July 21, 1873, the track had been completed to a point four miles south of the north county line, and there work was stopped, as the people of Bakersfield complained, "out in an open plain, thirty miles from wood or water, thirty miles from the nearest farm house, thirty miles from the nearest point where the transportation company could hope to get a single passenger or a single pound of freight." There was a wail of protest from residents of Bakersfield and Kern Island, who could not understand why the road had not been completed at least to the north bank of the river. Whether the railroad builders had run out of funds or were actuated by motives of purposeless, inscrutable malice were questions of common debate during the eight months or more that the grading and track-laying gangs were idle. The latter hypothesis, however, seems to have been the more popular. About this time the Courier refers editorially to the alleged fact that from its very beginning the railroad was the object of popular distrust. This aversion or hostility went even so far, the paper declared, that settlers were buying little railroad land, although it was offered at attractive prices and was generallv of good quality and desirably located. Delano Is Founded But while the railroad halted and the people of Bakersfield fumed, the new town of Delano was founded and became a flourishing business center on a small but active scale. Merchandise that formerly was delivered to the Kern delta and all the mountain districts via Visalia. Walker's pass or Tejon cafion now came to Delano and was hauled thence by freight teams. All outgoing freight was delivered there, even to the great loads of bullion from the Cerro Gordo mines. The sheep shearing camps that had been scattered over the country from White river to Poso creek moved up toward Delano to shorten the haul by wagon. The stage from Los Angeles made that place its northern terminal, dry wheat farmers on the mesas between the railroad and the Sierras increased in number, and broke trails to the rail- road, and generally Delano became a very lively and prosperous place. The Story of Eph Johnson's Ox Team Just how new and strange a thing a railroad was in the San Joaquin valley then is illustrated by the story of Eph Johnson, one of the best known of the teamsters who broke the trails from the mountains to the new ship- ping point. On one of his first trips to Delano Johnson got his first near view of a freight engine. He looked the thing over, and did not think much of it. Loyalty to the old methods of transportation and instinctive antag- onism toward this new machine that threatened to put the teams and team- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 77 sters out of business got him into an argument with the trainmen, and finally Johnson bet his eight good oxen against the locomotive that he could drag the iron horse backward on the rails that had been laid with so much expense for it to run upon. Johnson stipulated that he should be allowed to tighten the chains before the engine was started, and he cracked his long bull whip and shouted to Baldy, the leader. Baldy stififened his neck to the yoke, and all the eight great animals got their hoofs against the ties and sank their bellies low toward the soft, new roadbed in a perfect exhibition of bovine team-work. Then the engineer opened the throttle and jerked the finest eight-ox team in Kern county into a tangled mass of chains and cattle. The trainmen had no more use for Johnson's oxen than Johnson would have had for the engine, and so the bet was never paid, but it cost the teamster the value of at least one yoke of cattle before the thirst of the other teamsters, the railroad crews and all the population of Delano was assuaged. News Notes of 1873-75 A few more news notes of the time will fill out the detail in this picture of the county in 1873-75 : June 22, 1873 — At Tehachapi Brite & Bennington are building a steam saw mill with a capacity of 10,000 feet in twelve hours. Tehachapi merchants are asking 100 per cent profit on grain sold to Owens river teamsters. John Narboe & Co. are gathering salt from the salt lake near Tehachapi. Green & Henderson clean up $1,438 in their hydraulic mine near Tehachapi. The Kern & Inyo Forwarding Company advertises for fifty mule teams to haul between the end of the railroad and Owens lake, and guarantees a full load both ways. Stage fare from Delano to Bakersfield (thirty-two miles) is $7; from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, $25 ; from San Francisco to Los Angeles, $25. The "long and short haul" problem is a cause of complaint. August 2, 1873 — Escalet's new hotel at the corner of Chester avenue and Third street (now Nineteenth) is completed. August 23d — The affairs of the California Cotton Growers' Association and Livermore & Chester have been assigned to J. H. Redington. August 23, 1873 — Tiburcio Vasquez is reported overtaken in Rock canon east of Los Angeles. September 12, 1873 — IMontgomery and Burkhalter of Tulare are building a schooner-rigged boat fifty feet in length and of seventy tons burden for Atwell & Goldstein, who have an immense hog ranch on an island in Tulare lake. November 22, 1873 — J. C. Crocker and Miller & Lux are fencing a great tract of land between Buena Vista and Goose lakes with redwood posts and lumber shipped from Oregon. They will plant alfalfa. Many stage robberies are reported from Visalia. December 6, 1873 — The Stine Irrigating Canal Company levies an assess- ment of $25 per share. Farmers' Irrigating Canal Company is supplying water to a new dis- trict between Panama and Kern lake, which is fast settling up. A school is to be opened there in February, with Mrs. S. A. Burnap as teacher. January 17, 1874 — W. B. Carr, the "world renowned Billy Carr, political 78 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Napoleon of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company," is here looking over the country. He owns some land in Kern county and is anxious to get more. He has plans for the complete and thorough irrigation of the valley. A bill is introduced in the legislature to form a new county out of a strip of territory cut from the north end of Kern and the south end of Tulare counties, Porterville to be the county seat and the name of the new county to be Monache. (The bill, of course, did not pass.) March 7, 1874— Julius Chester, E. Tibbet, P. Tibbet and R. Trewin are raising funds to build a Methodist Episcopal church. The building is to be open for the use of all evangelical denominations. The Pioneer canal is finished for a distance of eight miles. W. G. Souther, who is building the Kern Island canal, is having con- structed at Hollister a big plow with a mould board eleven feet long by nearly three feet deep which will cut a furrow five feet wide and two feet deep. The naked plow will weigh 1800 pounds, and eighty horses or forty yoke of oxen will be required to pull it. The Kern Valley Bank, incorporated on February 24, 1874, with a capital of $50,000, will open for business in the Wells Fargo ofiice about April 20th. Solomon Jewett is president; S. J. Lansing, secretary; F. A. Tracy, P. T. Colby and P. D. Jewett, directors. April 6, 1874 — Work on the extension of the Southern Pacific railroad south from Delano is resumed with 100 men and thirty-five teams. Local option is the subject of agitation all over the state. Rev. Thomas Fraser, Presbyterian missionary, preaches in the court house. Citizens discuss a plan to build a water tank thirty or forty feet high near the flour mill to afford a gravity pressure for fire protection. The two business streets of the town are sprinkled. Mexicans are preparing for a bull and bear fight in the southern outskirts of the town. Local option loses in Tulare township because the returns from a pre- cinct giving an anti-license majority of twenty-seven votes were sealed up in the envelope marked "ballots" and so were not counted in the official canvass. The unofficial count gave a majority of one against the saloons. August 1, 1874 — Trains reach the north side of Kern river. August 29, 1874 — The Southern Pacific is grading for the depot (at the present site in East Bakersfield.) A large body of land in the vicinity has been covered with indemnity scrip, and the railroad probably will lay out a town. October 10, 1874 — The Bakersfield Fire Company meets to adopt a con- stitution. N. R. Wilkinson is foreman ; W. McFarland, assistant foreman ; A. T. Whitman, secretary; W. E. Houghton, treasurer. A fireman's ball is planned for November 6th. December 19, 1874 — Judge Brundage plants out eucalyptus trees about his residence (at the northwest corner of H and Eighteenth streets). Mining excitement at Panamint. Januar}', 1875 — The river is in flood and the only way to cross is by the railroad bridge. No damage. February, 1875 — Seven or eight Mexicans, supposed to have been led by Chavez, one of Vasquez' lieutenants, rob the store of William Scodie about HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 79 five miles above Weldon on the South Fork. They tied Scodie, stole about $800, a new outfit of clothing and a horse apiece and left toward Indian Wells. W. B. Carr expects to sow about 1500 acres of alfalfa this season. The Southern Pacific engineers are struggling with the grade up Tehachapi. The roadbed is built about fourteen miles east of Bakersfield. February 27, 1875 — The Bakersfield brass band holds its third anniversary ball. A revival is in progress at the Methodist church. The Good Templars organize Kern Island lodge. Murders and robberies are constantly reported throughout the county. March, 1875 — Much building is going on in Bakersfield. Lumber is $40 per thousand, and brick are $10. The great Kernville gold ledge has been traced for twenty-five miles. A thousand men are working on the railroad grade to Tehachapi. Bakersfield Tires of Being a City and Disincorporates On February 27, 1875, the Kern County Courier announced that the town government was a miserable failure. A large amount of money had been collected in the form of licenses, the editor declared, but there was little or nothing to show for it. If a beginning had been made toward build- ing a sewer system or a municipal water works or if some other substantial public improvement were in evidence, the incorporation of the city might be justified, but there were none of these. This was the line of argument that appeared in the press. Pioneers who were active in public afifairs at the time, however, say that the town was disincorporated to get rid of the marshal — Alex Mills. Alex Mills was one of the thousand or more picturesque characters that have graced the history of Kern county and given it the pungent, preservative spice of human interest. He was an old man, by the time he became marshal of Bakersfield, and walked with a cane. But he was a Kentuckian, a handy man with a gun and not lacking in initiative and resource when the mood moved him. For example, once when he was given papers to serve in an attachment suit against the Southern Pacific railroad, Alex chained a log to the rails, sat down on it with his rifle in his hands and announced that he had attached the track, the roadbed, and the right of way and there would be nothing stirring over them until the judgment was satisfied. It was promptly satisfied. But these exhibitions of energy on the part of the town's historic marshal seem not to have happened very often. Urged to relate what Alex did that the town should want to get rid of his services, pioneers, one after another declare, "Nothing. He just stumped around from one saloon to another and at the end of the month he drew his seventy-six dollars." But diligent re- search reveals the fact that Alex had a habit of telling the truth on unfelicitous occasions. Perhaps he would stump into the ofiice or store of a prominent citizen and something like this conversation would ensue : "Mr. Blank, suh, good morning." "Good morning, Mr. Mills." "Mr. Blank, suh, you're the pop-eyed progeny of a race of runts. Nature never marks her critters wrong, suh. A pop-eyed man will steal, a pop-eyed pup will suck eggs, and a pop-eyed woman will flirt with the hired help. "Good morning, suh." And the marshal would stump out. Of course this is not what Marshal Mills really said. His language was 80 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY apt to be too lurid and literal for the genteel purposes of print. But the paraphrase furnishes some faint idea of the historic marshal's frank and freehand ofifensiveness. Such means of recall as were then available were dis- cussed by the good citizens, but they were assured by the undaunted Alex that "you may remove me from my ofifice, suh, but my constituents will triumphantly elect me again," which everyone knew to be a fact. And so the good citizens disguised the issue. They pleaded economy and everything else that might suggest itself as an argument for disincor- poration. A petition was duly circulated, duly signed by more than three- fourths of the legal voters of the city, and the county supervisors, acting under the law as it then existed, on January 4, 1876, declared that Bakers- field was disincorporated. Samuel J. Lansing was appointed to close the municipality's financial aft'airs. On April 3, 1876, Lansing filed his report with the county board, and Bakersfield was free from all restraint, expense and contumely incident to city marshals until January 11, 1898, a respite of twenty-two years, during which period Bakersfield and Kern county passed through many experiences and were the scene of many stirring events, the story of which must now be recounted. CHAPTER IX The Contests Over Water Rights Begin Referring back to the news items reproduced in the previous chapter it will be noted that on August 23, 1873, appeared a legal notice to the effect that the aft'airs of the California Cotton Growers' Association, and Livermore & Chester had been transferred to J. H. Redington ; that in November of the same year J. C. Crocker and Miller & Lux were fencing in a great tract of land between Buena Vista and Goose lakes and preparing to sow alfalfa ; that in January, 1874, "the world-renowned Billy Carr, political Napoleon for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company," was in Kern county looking over his possessions here and planning how to increase them. About 1874 Dr. George F. Thornton was getting the Bellvue and McClung ranches established for J. B. Haggin. In the same year W. G. Souther was having the big plow built at Hollister for use in completing the reclamation of swamp land district No. Ill, a task which had been taken over by the Kern Island Irrigation Canal Company, which was a Livermore & Chester enterprise, now assigned to J. H. Redington. In March, 1876, Liver- more mortgaged to William Houston 5736 acres of land for $60,000. On October 1, 1877, Livermore mortgaged 9792.72 acres of Kern county land to Redington for $97,000. On the same date another mortgage was executed between the same parties involving 12,800 acres of land and $128,009. In the same year, which was one of exceptional drought, Livermore & Chester (as the concern continued to be known despite the transfers noted) are credited by newspaper report with having spent $20,000 in the construction of a dam of brush and gravel thrown across Kern river for the purpose of turning the water into the Kern Island canal. On July 2, 1877, the Kern Valley Water Company, of which J. H. Redington was president and H. P. Livermore was secretary, made an agreement with the trustees of swamp land district No. 116 or 121 (lying north of Buena Vista lake) to complete the COL. THOiMAS BAKER HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 81 work of reclamation which the trustees of the district had begun. In March, 1877, Congress passed the desert land act, and work was begun on the Calloway canal. In January, 1878, Livermore made another mortgage to Redington covering 4480 acres for a consideration of $44,800. In 1878 the Kern Valley Colony issued a prospectus offering seventeen sections of land under the Kern Island canal for sale at $25 per acre in tracts of forty to eighty acres at terms of one-fifth cash, with the balance in four annual pay- ments; interest at nine per cent. For information apply to H. P. Livermore, San Francisco, or Celsus Brower, Bakersiield. In June, 1879, Livermore and Redington sold to J. B. Haggin the Cot- ton ranch, comprising 729.03 acres in what is now the northwestern part of the city of Bakersfield. The consideration was nothing. A previous deed had conveyed all the other Livermore and Redington holdings in Kern county to Haggin, and after the deal had been completed Redington thfew in this remaining body of land — now selling in town lots at $20 to $200 per front foot — for good measure, and also, as there is good reason to suppose, because he did not care to keep any souvenir of his Kern county investments. Add to the foregoing the record of suit after suit filed against Livermore & Chester, Livermore & Redington and the different parties individually by Haggin & Carr, all dismissed or compromised, and you will have a fairly com- plete syllabus of the complicated chapter in the history of Kern county which bridges over the period during which Haggin & Carr and Miller & Lux came to be the overshadowing factors in Kern county's development; during which Bakersfield's first hope of colonization came to naught, and most of the remaining sections of valuable farming land in the valley portion of the county were thoughtfully gathered up. The chapter includes, also, the first bitter contests over the control of the waters of Kern river, and the placing of the troops and batteries for the great battle that was to come later on between the appropriators represented by Haggin and the riparianists represented by Miller & Lux. The Decline of Livermore & Chester Livermore & Redington were wholesale druggists of San Francisco, men of large wealth outside of their drug business, and are referred to by their Kern county acquaintances as of most estimable character. From the start their Kern county land investments were a side venture, and commanded little of their personal attention. Livermore came to Bakersfield but seldom, and Redington almost never. Taking them on their face, nothing could have been more promising than the Kern county swamp land projects. The early reclamation contracts, as we have seen, were taken on the basis of an acre of land in return for moving two cubic yards of earth in the construction of canals and levees. Ten or a dozen years later E. M. Roberts and H. W. Broad took a contract to finish the Calloway canal at seven cents for moving ordinary earth and nine cents for hardpan, and they made big money. The haul is longer and heavier in building a big canal like the Calloway than in a smaller canal like the Kern Island, and the earth moved in the former averaged much heavier and harder to handle than was that in the latter. It would seem that under normal circumstances and management the men who participated with Colonel Baker in the original contract for the reclamation of district No. Ill should have secured their land at an outlay of ten or fifteen cents per acre. But many things combined to overturn what seemed to be perfectly laid 82 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY plans. Before the arrival of the railroad, materials of all kinds that had to be shipped in were exceedingly high in price, and after the railroad came the expected reductions in transportation charges were only partially realized. Labor was scarce and inefficient. Drinking water from shallovv wells or irrigation ditches resulted in a liberal infection of workmen with the microbe of weariness, and efTorts to drown the microbes in the bad liquors that unlimited saloons dispensed were not wholly successful from all points of view. Then it was an era of large ideas. The big plow that Souther had built at HoUister was not his first nor largest invention of the kind. He built in the Livermore & Chester shops at Bakersfield a plow designed to cut a furrow five feet in width and three feet deep, whereas the Hollister plow cut a furrow • three feet wide and two feet deep. The top of the mould board of the first plow was even with the head of a man on horseback. The depth of the cut was controlled by a screw operated from a platform high over the shear, and a long lever extending to the rear was used in keeping the furrow straight. With forty yoke of oxen hitched to it the plow would cut through A Cottonwood root as thick as a fat man's arm and the shear. and coulter shaved a clean path through the thickets of button willows that grew along the sloughs. The plow was perfectly designed and constructed, according to men who saw its try-out, but the oxen walked so slowly that the earth which the shear picked up was not carried out on the mould board but fell back in the furrow as in the case of a plow that does not "scour." When the bull whackers beat the cattle into a faster gait the plow made a clean furrow, but the faster gait could not be maintained, and at the end of a twelve-mile furrow it was evident that the big plow was almost as unsuited for ditch- building as it would be for a watch charm. Then Souther had the "little" plow built at Hollister. This could be handled with forty head of mules, and the faster animals made the new plow a success. Many of the smaller ditches about the delta were made with the Hollister plow, but its use benefited chiefly the assigns of Livermore & Redington. Fertile Causes of Litigation In the early days of irrigation in Kern county it was the custom to build wing dams of sand or of sand and brush in times when the river was low to force the water into the canals. These wing dams would start just below the head of the canal and extend at an angle upward and across the river nearly to the farther bank. A freshet sufficient to raise the water above ■the top of these dams would speedily melt them away, scattering the brush to form impeding islands in the river bed, and the work would have to be re- peated so soon as the river fell again. Before the Kern valley canal was finished the cost of these wing dams had reached so great an aggregate that the managers of the enterprise decided to move the intake higher up on the river. This was done, the new intake being finished in 1874. The old south fork channel, however, was still used in lieu of a canal, the water being turned into the old channel from the new intake. Still later the head of the Kern Island canal was moved still farther up the river, and an artificial canal sub- stituted for the old natural channel south as far as the present mill. All these changes were made the excuse for a number of law suits over water rights, the questions involved turning on use, priority and the right of riparian owners to have a natural water course maintained. The suits and the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 83 questions involved were technical and of little interest to the average reader except to suggest the numberless good opportunities for litigation that arose while the waters of Kern river were being apportioned. Few such oppor- tunities, it may be added, were allowed to pass unseized. The agreement between the Kern Island Canal Company and the trustees of the irrigation district was that the company should construct the canal and necessary levees for $16,240, the company to own the canal and retain thS right to the use of the water, provided that the owner of swamp land should be given one share of stock in the canal company for every fifty dollars which his land paid into the reclamation fund, and provided that the owners of- swamp land in the district should have the preference right— or the exclusive right in case they demanded it— to purchase the water in the canal at rates which would net the canal company a return not to exceed ten per cent of its capital stock annually. First Great Fight Over Water Rights When the very dry year of 1877 came the former expedients to which the Kern Island Canal Company had resorted to draw the water into its ditch did not suffice, and the dam, which is alleged to have cost $20 000 was built across the river. Not only were brush and sand used, but wooden chutes were built against the shoulder of Panorama heights and gravel and boulders were chuted down to the river edge to serve as more enduring bal- last. Heavy timbers also were used to stay the waters, and the dam took on so much the character of a permanent work that settlers and water users over the entire delta from Bakersfield to Buena Vista lake were up in vigor- ous protest against this alleged effort to monopolize the entire flow of^he river. It is profitless now, as well as difficult, to decide just where the ri^^ht and justice lay. Those who were close to Livermore say that the dam was never intended to take all the water of the river and never did so. It was to act merely as the present weirs do, and it was only for the purpose of diverting into the Kern Island canal the amount of water which was due it by right of prior appropriation. This right, they point out, was later estab- lished and affirmed by the Miller-Haggin agreement and the Shaw decree and to this day the canal is entitled to its quota of water whenever there is that much in the river and whether there is anything left for other canals or not. Partisans of Livermore go on to say that much of the outcry against the Kern Island was raised by Carr, who had begun a systematic campaign to oust Livermore and Redington from their commanding position on the river and (like the astute and experienced politician that he was) sought to enlist popular sentiment as one of the chief means for carrying out his ends. At any rate, it appears that about this time Carr was a prince of good fellows. He was suffering as much as any of the smaller water users but he was willing to divide with everyone the little trickles that the monopolistic Kern Island people permitted to come down past their works. In fact Carr was the leader and ally of the anti-monopolists, and he was efficient and resourceful. The men who relate the story from the other side sav that no objection ever was made to the Kern Island company's dams so long as thev built them of brush and sand as others did, and no complaint was made against the Kern Island taking all the water to which it was entitled and which the 84 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY irrigators under it could use. The objectors, however, go on to affirm that so much water was forced into the Kern Island canal that it broke and the precious fluid ran to waste over untilled lands while settlers farther down the river had to stand by and see their crops perish for want of moisture. Out of this difference of opinion regarding right and equity and of understanding as to matters of fact, arose the first great contest over the waters of Kern river. The contests between Haggin & Carr and Livermore & Chester were not so fierce nor on so large a scale as those that came later between Haggin & Carr and Miller & Lux, but they were fairly strenuous. On one occasion when Carr had secured from the court a restraining order to prevent Liver- more & Chester from placing a dam across the river to force the water into the Kern Island canal, instructions were issued to the Livermore superintend- ents to proceed with the work on the assurance that the injunction would be lifted the following morning. From every camp the men and teams were started out at noon, each taking an independent course as though going about some ordinary work, but all of them arriving during the afternoon at the foot of Panorama heights where the Kern Island intake was. The hours until nightfall were spent in quietly filling bags with sand and piling them on the river's edge. When darkness fell, two hundred men under the direc- tion of C. L. Connor and C. C. Stockton began building a wall of sand bags out into the stream. Carr's scouts discovered what was going on about midnight, but nothing was done until morning, when Connor and Stockton were placed under arrest for contempt of court. There had been a hitch and the injunction was not lifted. The judge was furious, and Carr was insistent on the officers placing Connor and Stockton in jail, but J. C. Crocker interceded, and Crocker's influence in those days was potent, even with a judge whose dignity had been badly ruffled. The men did not go to jail, and both of them afterward were given good positions by Carr, who could recognize an efficient fighter no matter which side he happened to be on. As to just what happened to Livermore & Chester's dams the testimony differs, but a notice published in a paper of a little later date offers a sub- stantial reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons that dynamited them. Colony Plan Is Nipped in the Tender Bud Of course, with Haggin's millions and Carr's far-famed genius and gen- eralship arrayed against them, Livermore and Redington did not fight as stubbornly as they might under more equal terms. No suit of importance seems to have been decided against them, and their contention respecting the paramount rights of the Kern Island canal was never overwhelmed. In 1878 they demonstrated their faith in their position by putting a magnificent body of land under the Kern Island canal on the market and printing a book and maps descriptive of the advantages of Kern county that would do high honor to any colonization agency of present days. At the rate of $1000 for a forty-acre farm and the best water right in the county, $200 down and $200 each year for four years, the seventeen sections which the Kern Valley Colony offered should have sold readily and Bakersfield's early colonization hopes should have been redeemed. But the sale to Haggin checked the colony plans before they got under way, and a long halt was called in the matter of inducing settlement, for Carr had drawn his plans on a much greater scale HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 85 than any of the earlier land holders, and he was by no means ready to begin subdivision in the year 1879. Purposes of Haggin & Carr It would be a matter of much interest were it possible to ascertain with absolute certainty what were the ultimate plans that Carr had in mind for the vast estate which he helped to upbuild. Some of his old friends state with assurance that he intended (when he had gotten together all the land avail- able in the county and had secured full control of the water) to launch a great colonization scheme and build a little empire of small land owners. Carr is quoted as having called attention to the fact that he was a younger man than either J. B. Haggin or Lloyd Tevis, the other and larger partners in the enterprise, and remarking that in the end he expected his plans to prevail. But the oldest of the three men survives alone, and years before his death Carr's policy was over-ridden and his interest in the Kern county lands purchased. In a statement published in May, 1880, J. B. Haggin over his signature declared that his purpose was not to monopolize the lands he was acquiring in Kern county but that he intended to offer them for sale on liberal terms. In the early days, however, Haggin's trips to Kern county were very few and very brief. He came in his private car, was driven direct to Belle View, where he looked at the blooded racers that were bred for him there, returned to his car and was sped away. Lloyd Tevis was a banker of San Francisco, and while his financial interest in the Kern county venture dates from the beginning of operations here, his name was not connected with the firm, which for years was known locally as Haggin & Carr or Carr & Haggin, and which appeared in the chief legal documents as J. B. Haggin. Carr's money contribution to the Kern county venture is variously esti- mated as high as $500,000 to $800,000. Others declare it was very much less. The Gates tract of approximately 52,000 acres, being the odd sections in townships 30-26, 30-27, 31-26, and 31-27, and comprising the heart of the Kern river delta, was the foundation of the Carr & Haggin holdings. This was a tract of railroad land which fell into the hands of Isaac Gates of New York shortly after the grant of the odd sections along the line of the pro- posed Atlantic & Pacific railway had been made by Congress. Carr's position as political manipulator for the Southern Pacific enabled him, without doubt, to secure other railroad lands on agreeable terms, and he took steps at once to share in the wealth of swamp land which was being so rapidly and cheaply acquired when hearrived in Kern county. All through the records of swamp land districts from 1875 to 1893 the names of Haggin, Carr and Hearst figure prominently. Carr's Dealings With the Ditch Companies Meantime, Carr, on his first arrival here, began taking steps to gain a controlling interest in the canal companies that had locations on Kern river. Few if any of these companies were incorporated and Carr early set himself to induce the owners to organize under the laws of the state. Different methods were pursued in different cases, but one by one the companies filed incorporation papers, and just as surely Haggin and Carr eventually got a controlling interest in the stock. To tell how this was done would require a separate chapter for every canal company, and in most cases they would be interesting chapters. In every case, however, Carr presented the advantages of co-operation, showed how much faster and more effectually the work of 86 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY building canals and ditches could be prosecuted with the financial aid of his powerful firm, offered wages to the stockholders, management and authority to the directors and water to the patrons of the ditch, who usually were the stockholders themselves. Testimony respecting the treatment of the minority stockholders after Carr & Haggin had acquired control of the canal companies differs according to the alliance and experience of the witness. Pioneers of unimpeachable character and unquestioned sincerity who were directors and officers of canal companies when Carr began his overtures and for a long time thereafter declare that the alliance was always to the benefit of the farmers. "We did not have money to build weirs and headgates, but Haggin did," says one of these pioneers. "Carr paid us wages for working on canals, his engineers ran out the lines so that we got the water in the right place, and it was my experience that when it came to dividing the water we always got our share. Carr said he did not care to manage the canals — that he would rather we did it. Carr used to come to the directors' meetings, but he let us run things as we pleased." "Did you ever notice a big cow standing over a water trough when there was only a little stream running in from the pump? Did you ever notice how she gets all the water and the little cows have to stand back? And did you ever notice that when she gets all she wants to drink the big cow is in no hurry to move away and let the little cows have a chance? Well, that gives you an idea of the way Haggin and Carr and the little farmers handled the water in the early days." This is the statement in brief, of another pio- neer of equal standing and reputation and with equal opportunity for informa- tion and observation. Between the two opinions the reader may make his guess, or he may let the puzzle go with the knowledge that Carr's control of the canals and the water in them finally became an accomplished fact. But another factor entered into the method of Carr's acquisition of water rights and into all his dealings with the settlers. He clearly foresaw, as testi- mony abundantly verifies, the fierce contest that was coming over the use of the waters of Kern river, and he made it a matter of distinct and settled policy to ally his interests with the interests of the people wherever it was possible to do so. The wisdom of his course showed in the great suit of Lux against Haggin, and in the celebrated Miller-Haggin agreement Carr's policy was carried to its logical, ultimate application by making all present and future land owners within the reach of the river parties to the terms under which its waters should be disposed. Plans to Gather In the Desert Lands While they were gathering up the large and luscious remnants of swamp land which the earlier comers had overlooked and were buying railroad lands, homesteads and school lands and were getting a firm grasp on water rights, Haggin & Carr were by no means overlooking the desert lands. In March, 1877, just as Carr was getting well established in Kern county, Congress most opportunely passed the desert land act that is known by that date. Already, on May 4, 1875, water to the amount of 850 cubic feet per second had been appropriated under Carr's direction for the express purpose of irrigating desert land, and work on the great Calloway canal which was to carry the water to this desert land had been commenced. The first work on the canal was begun by Carr & Haggin's men and teams, but a little later a contract for excavation was given to Vining Barker. In 1877, the year the desert land act HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 87 was passed, a contract to complete the canal a distance of about twenty-five miles was taken by Broad & Roberts. The Calloway canal takes water from the north side of Kern river almost opposite the center of Bakersfield. bears west through the northeastern part of Rosedale and then swings to the northwest over a great territory that needed only water to transform it into the finest of fruit and farming land. Broad & Roberts took the contract to complete the canal at seven cents per cubic yard for dirt and nine cents per cubic yard for hardpan Mr. Roberts says they found nothing tliat they could not plow with eight mules in all the length of the ditch. It took about a year to finish the job, and meantime Carr & Haggin were busy securing entrymen to take up the land. In his statement published in 1880 Haggin describes his operations in Kern county with special reference to the desert lands, which at that time were the object of much discussion. He runs briefly over the subject of his first activities in the county, stating that the Belle View and McClung ranches were established under the direction of George F. Thornton. On account of the malaria bred by Buena Vista and Kern lakes Haggin bought them, and a large amount of swamp land around them with a view to reclaiming them. He proceeded to divert the water of the river from the lakes to land formerly considered worthless for agriculture. He then built Goose lake slough, canal to carry off the excess water, but this was not sufificient to handle it all. In March, 1877, the statement continues. Congress passed the desert land act. Haggin bought large numbers of odd-numbered sections north of the river, and induced his friends to enter the even-numbered sections adjoining. He bought more water rights and built canals to irrigate a much larger area of land and to utilize all the surplus waters of the river. Haggin states that he desired the co-operation of the owners of even-numbered sections and desired to have them pay their share of the expense of constructing the irrigation system. In order to avoid conflict with strangers he got nearly all the even-numbered sections entered by friendly parties. Since the lands were entered, the state- ment continues, "invidious and designing persons have grossly misrepre- sented the facts touching the character of these lands," and efforts had been made to induce unusual rulings by the department of the interior to have the entries cancelled. Haggin had a government commission previously ap- pointed visit the lands in question and make a report to the authorities. In conclusion he made the statement of policy already referred to, to the effect that he did not desire to monopolize lands, but intended to offer them for sale on liberal terms. In some cases, it appears, agreements were made with parties to enter the desert lands giving the entrymen the alternative of paying a certain amount for having the water placed on the lands, or selling their equities to Haggin & Carr at a stipulated price. In other cases the entrymen's names seem to haye been loaned gratis or for a small fee without the expectation that they would figure in the ownership of the land after it was reclaimed. In either event there were not lacking arguments to show that the bargain was fair and advantageous to all concerned. The lands could be irrigated by no other means known and practicable at the time than by canal from Kern river, and such a canal could be built only by the expenditure of large sums of money. The state or federal government might have taken up the task but aside from these methods there was no alternative that would not 88 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY necessitate the bonding of individual entries to meet their share of the .ex- pense. But the invidious and designing persons got the ear of the general land office authorities, and orders were issued suspending all action with regard to the entries. In February, 1891, the order of suspension was revoked, after something like 50,000 acres of land had been withheld from settlement and development for a little over thirteen years. Meantime the original entrymen, homesteaders and pre-emptors generally had become discouraged and abandoned their claims; some of the friends of Haggin who had allowed him to use their names were dead, others had moved away, and generally the plans for gathering in the desert lands were badly disarranged. Enter Miller & Lux at Rear of Stage During all of the busy and important scenes just described. Miller & Lux lingered at the back of the stage. Their lands lay mostly to the north of Buena Vista Lake, twenty miles or more west of Bakersfield, and about the same distance from the center of the contests between Carr and Liver- more over the water rights. It must be borne in mind, however, that Miller's interest in the disposal of the waters of Kern river was quite as great as was that of Haggin, and it must be remembered, also, that his position on the river bore the same relation to that of Haggin as the position of Haggin bore to that of Livermore & Chester. When Livermore & Chester put a dam across the river to force the water into the Kern Island canal it left dry the canals in which Carr & Haggin had acquired the controlling interest. Later, when Carr & Haggin built the Calloway weir to force the water into the Calloway canal the result was to dry up Miller's newly-planted alfalfa fields, and the tule swamps where his herds' gathered rough forage. The sloughs and natural water courses through which the remnants of Kern river had meandered leisurely through the broad, flat trough of the valley to Tulare lake changed from clear, though limpid and leisurely streams, to green and slimy sinks of stagnant water. Then they became nothing but streaks of mud in which the feet of the weakened cattle were held fast until the vaqueros came to drag the poor beasts out by riatas about their horns. A little later all the sloughs and swamps were parched as dry as the naked, gray expanses of alkali desert that bordered them, and where the waters had been, great cracks opened in the earth down which a walking stick could be thrust its entire length. Only in deep holes, puddled by the feet of many starving cattle and fouled by the carcasses of dead brutes, was any water left in all the fifty miles of swamp land between Buena Vista and Tulare lakes. Of course such a state of affairs could lead but to vigorous defensive action on the part of Miller & Lux, and so the suit of Lux versus Haggin was filed, and after the usual delay was brought to trial on April 15, 1881, before B. Brundage, judge of the superior court of Kern county. However, before I take up the story of this great contest of rival cor- porations, let me tell how lesser factors in the development of the county were faring, relate the stories of some disconnected incidents of importance, and show by transient items of interest something of the daily doings of the citizens of those days. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 89 CHAPTER X A Collection of Disconnected Stories So long as the traditions of the pioneer stockmen of California remain the drought of 1877 will be remembered as a period of ruin and disaster Possibly the year was not so dry as 1864, but there were more stock in the state to suffer from hunger and starvation and more stockmen to wear out the days and nights with anxiety and frantic efforts to save the remnants of their flocks and herds. In Kern county the stock industry was better estab- lished than any other line of productive enterprise, and the heavy blows dealt the cattle and sheep men in the long, pitiless months when not a drop of moisture fell from the skies and not a green blade nor a dry and withered stem of grass was left to cover the absolute nakedness of the desert, left scars that were not effaced until many prosperous years were passed. In 1877 Harry Quinn, starved out of his magnificent range on Rag gulch drove 18,000 sheep to Nevada and brought back 2700; 15,000 of the flock per- ished in a great storm east of the Sierras that piled the snow waist deep on the level plain. Other sheep men of the county who had less resource and stayed at home, saw their flocks literally wiped out. The cattle men fared little better. While the river continued to flow down the swamps and there were tules to be eaten, the cattle survived, but finally there was no water save what was taken out in the irrigation ditches, the tule lands were dry, and the few remaining pools of water grew stagnant, black and poisonous. A very few men, like the Jewetts, who had irrigated fields and could grow forage despite the failure of the rains, were able to buy cattle and sheep at almost nothing a head, and so profited as much as they lost by the long continued drought. But the irrigated fields were few in those days. The next season the feed was good, and the next was dry again. It was then that Hill & Rivers sold out their interest in the stock at Tejon to General Beale, and Jose Lopez, to reduce the Tejon flocks, drove 16,000 sheep to Green River in Wyoming, whence they were shipped to Cheyenne. Lopez and his herders were six months on the trail, and established a record, not only for distance traveled, but for small percentage of loss and general success on the exceedingly difficult expedition. In 1880 General Beale bought out Boggs, the remaining partner in the firm of Hills, Rivers & Co. The sheep were gradually closed out on the Tejon ranches, and the herds of cattle were in- creased to a maximum of 29,000 head. The Town of Tehachapi The town of Tehachapi was founded in the summer of 1876, when the Southern Pacific railroad finally surmounted the difficulties of the grade up the mountains and reached the little valley at the summit. Prior to that time Old Tehachapi (or Old Town, as it soon came to be known) was a thriving and active little place of 200 or 300 inhabitants. Old Town drew its sus- tenance from the miners who washed gold from the sands and gravels of China hill and from the stockmen who had established themselves in the fertile Tehachapi, Brite's, Cummings and Bear valleys and were pasturing their herds on the meadows and mountain sides. J. J. Murphy and Hirsh- feld Brothers were the pioneer merchants of Old Town, Spencer & Durnal kept a hotel, and four or five saloons dispensed liquid refreshments. 90 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Among the early stockmen were the Brite and Cummings families (after each of which one of the valleys was named), the Cuddebacks, Alatt Tyler, John Hickey, the Fickerts of Bear valley, Dan Davenport, Joe Kaiser, Henry Seegur, George Rand, and Antone Pauly, one of the few permanent settlers around the Tehachapi who raised sheep. There were traveling sheepmen in the Tehachapi country in the early day, and at Pauly's corral in fall and spring many sheep were shorn. The other shepherds, however, did not own land or maintain established headquarters there. The placer mining around Tehachapi dates back to the early '60s. As elsewhere the white miners were followed by Chinamen, who worked over the abandoned placer sands with considerable profit. The railroad missed Old Town by about three miles to the east, and a rival village was started about the station. Of course the new town got the business, but it was not until 1883 or thereabout that Old Town began to move over, bodily, to the railroad. Lime burning began around Tehachapi a little before 1880, but not until the Union Lime Company of Santa Cruz established a branch at Tehachapi and built an up-to-date kiln in 1883 or 1884, was the lime industry any great success. From that time on, however, the great lime deposits in the Tehachapi mountains continued to grow in importance until they now constitute one of the large factors in the county's wealth. Farming started actively in the Tehachapi country about 1885, and rich new ground and a succession of favorable years brought the mountain val- leys rapidly to the front agriculturally. Moses Hale, about 1880, grew the first apple orchard around Tehachapi, and is entitled to the name of the father of the apple-growing industry, which now promises to give a new value to the Tehachapi lands. Ben Kessing was the first postmaster of new Tehachapi, and was fol- lowed in that office by P. D. Green, manager of Baldy Hamilton's horse and cattle ranch, justice of the peace and friend and benefactor of everyone in the town who needed his help to draw up a deed, nurse the sick or lay out the dead. Among the first school teachers of Tehachapi were L. A. Beards- ley, W. W. Frazier, Dr. Hoag, and R. L. Stockton. Delano Making Progress Meantime the town of Delano had ceased to be a railroad terminus, but it was one of the most important wool-shipping points in the state, and it was gradually coming to be a noted wheat-shipping center. The warm, sunny plains about Delano where feed starts earlier than almost anywhere else in the state, early attracted the itinerant sheep owners, and flocks were driven there from the mountains and desert and from over the range in Nevada for the lambing and shearing time. Grain farmers soon found that the same conditions that made the early grass were good for early wheat, and homesteaders dotted the mesa with their dwellings and began marking out the great fields that were distinctive of the wheat farming districts of the valley before the advent of the orchardists and the alfalfa growers. By this time the South Fork valley, the Kernville country, Linn's valley. Woody, and all the other mountain districts were developing under the hands of stockmen and farmers into permanent and prosperous communities, able to weather droughts and other periods of adversity with less relative loss, perhaps, than any other portion of the county. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 91 The Last of Old Clubfoot In 1879 Old Clubfoot made his last trip north past Tejon and back to his principal haunts in the San Bernardino mountains. Since the days of the earliest settlements, Old Clubfoot was the hero of the principal bear stories of the pioneers. Big as an ox, and easily identified by sight or by his tracks from the fact that his right fore paw had been chewed off — prob- ably by a trap in his infancy — the great beast used to make his pilgrimage into the mountains of Kern county every summer, always coming by one trail and returning by another. A party of twelve men met Old Clubfoot one day on the Alamos trail as they were going to Los Angeles from the Kern River mines. The bear did not offer to fight, noi did he exhibit the slightest disposition to retreat. He simply stood there, calm and statuesque, his big body filling the road from cliff to precipice — or at least leaving no clear space on either side down which the miners cared to venture. Clubfoot got the right of way. What became of him at last neither history nor tradition records. After 1879 the Tejon herders saw him no more, and no more is known of him. The Lynching of an Outlaw Gang It was while the long and ineffectual battle to save the life of the out- law, Tiburcio Vasquez, was dragging in the courts and before the governor that a number of vaqueros and amateur horsethieves started out to emulate Tiburcio's notorious career. They stole a number of horses and saddles from livery stables in Bakersfield, went to Caliente, robbed the depot, shot up the town and were preparing a dastardly assault on a woman when the con- struction train with a gang of workmen came along and frightened them away. Determined to nip this new outburst of lawlessness in the tender bud, cattlemen, ranchers and residents of Bakersfield took instantly to arms. Jim Young, a cattleman, saw the gang on its way to the Utah trail and gathered a small posse composed of himself, Sam Young, Bull Williams and perhaps one or two others. "Bull" Williams got his name from the fact (veraciously reported by his friends) that when he started in the cattle business as a tenderfoot the old timers sold him a hundred head of bull calves as a nucleus for his herd. A very few years later Williams sold twelve hundred cattle as the increase of his band, which indicates that he did not remain a tender- foot all the rest of his life. The Youngs and Bull Williams found the outlaws in a house near the Alamos ranch beyond Gorman station, and got between them and their guns. Five Mexicans and a young man named Elias were brought to the jail in Bakersfield, and then a meeting of the men who had been hunting them was held at the office of Justice of the Peace W. S. Adams. Adams was requested to retire, and an agreement was drafted and signed in which the men present pledged their support and loyalty to each other. Then they went to the jail, where the jailor was easily overpowered, took the outlaws to the courtroom and organized' a court by appointing a judge, jury and prosecuting attorney and attorney for the defense. Mean- time, that there might be no delay in the workings of the wheels of justice, another man was appointed to put ropes to soak and lay a heavy timber between the crotches of two willow trees at the rear of the court house yard. He also placed a plank across two barrels underneath the heavy timber. In the morning, very early, a great crowd gathered in the court house 92 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY yard to see six bodies hanging stiffly by their necks. They were cut down and laid out side by side on the floor of the hall in the courthouse, and a coroner's jury promptly summoned promptly found that the deceased per- sons came to their death from being hanged by a person or persons to this jury unknown. At least the jury swore truly so far as its official cognizance was concerned, for no testimony touching the identity of the executioners was introduced at the inquest. Not a few people condemned the hanging of the boy Elias, and a large number of Mexican citizens considered the afifair an affront to their race. There was some talk of asking the Mexican consul to interfere, and a small fire starting in the alley back of the Arlington hotel gave rise to a report that an attempt had, been made to burn the town in resentment of the lynch- ing. Guards were sworn in and stationed about the streets for a night or two, but the excitement died out as the Mexicans were convinced that no discrimination between races had been intended or had been made. This was the last organized gang of thieves and outlaws to ply their profession in Kern county. The Tehachapi Train Wreck • On January 20, 1883, occurred the train wreck on the Tehachapi grade, still remembered with horror. The Southern Pacific passenger train reached Tehachapi at 2 :30 a. m. with seven cars, a postal car, baggage car, express car, two sleepers, smoking car and day coach in the order named. The con- ductor, B. F. Reid, got oft" to register and get the train orders, the head brake- man, C. Maltby, went to turn the switch when the engines were discon- nected and the helper engine was being detached, and the rear brakeman, John Patten, left his post to show a lady passenger the way to the depot. The night was very dark, and a strong and bitterly cold wind was blowing over the mountain from the south. The last man of the train crew had hardly left the cars before they began moving backward. The grade at the station was twenty feet to the mile, and rapidly grew steeper, and besides there was the wind to help give the runaway train velocity. The train was making furious headway before anyone inside noticed that anything was wrong. Then Eli Nabro, a passenger, set the hand brakes on the sleepers. This checked the forward part of the train so that the smoker and day coach broke loose and dashed on ahead. The hand brakes however, were insufficient to hold the cars on the steep grade, and new velocity was gained. Two miles and a half below the station, the sleepers left the track just after they had passed over a deep fill. The first was thrown against the wall of a cut and crushed to splinters, the second tin-ned completely over in the air and landed on the bank. Both caught fire, and the first was completely consumed with every- one in it. From the other sleeper and from the postal, express and baggage cars, all of which rolled Over the fill to the bottom of the gulch, eighteen or twenty persons escaped, all more or less seriously hurt. A Miss Squires, caught in the wreck unhurt, was burned to death before the eyes of other passengers who were powerless to help her. The smoker and day coach raced on a mile and a half farther, where the efforts of the passengers served to stop them. Just how many people were killed in the wreck was never accurately established. The testimony at the inquest tended to show that the brakes never were set at the station, though railroad officials maintained that the brakes were set, but that tramps released them with the intention of robbing the passengers. The body of one tramp was found in the wreck. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 93 Importation of the Negroes Haggiii & Carr inherited from Livermore & Chester and the Cotton Growers' Association the idea that cotton growing should be one of the most profitable purposes to which the delta lands could be put, and as a means of securing suitable labor in the cotton fields Carr undertook the importation of negroes from the southern states. The St. Louis Chronicle of November 13, 1884, records that F. M. Ownbey was there on that date arranging to bring to Kern county 1100 negroes to work on the Haggin lands, and states that the immigrants were offered wages at the rate of $12 per month for men, $8 for women, and $6 for boys and girls. Ownbey never brought so many negroes to the county as he planned, but three or four parties came at different times under contract to work for a year at the wages stated. In the last party were 130 families. Among them were M. Stevens and his wife, Will, Belton and Gideon Vessel; John, Henry and Joe Pinkney; A. W. Vessel, Mrs. Susie Hall, Francis Campbell, Henry Caldwell, Anderson Bowen, Mary Bowen, Pleasant Martin and Will Walker and his family, all members of the colored colony of Bakersfield today. But from Carr's standpoint the bringing of the negroes was not a suc- cess. No sooner had they landed than the missionaries of discontent were among them, pursuading them to disregard their contracts and showing them how much better wages they could secure elsewhere. The result was that the greater number of them never did enough work for Carr to pay their transportation. Some never did a stroke of work for him. Stevens and per- haps a dozen others stayed on the ranches about eleven months, and Tom Perryman, who was given a patch of ground to work for himself, stayed three years. The others found work in Bakersfield or scattered over the state. The importation of the negroes helped to increase the breech that was widen- ing between Carr and a considerable portion of the people around Bakers- tield, particularly working men and homesteaders who depended on their wages to finance them and who considered Carr's action an eifort to cheapen the price of labor. The non-success of the cheap labor scheme, on the other hand, put an end to the plan for raising cotton and hops, and helped, in all probability, to confirm the decision of Haggin and Tevis to dispose of their lands. News Notes of 1886 to 1893 August, 1886 — Billy Carr is undertaking to manage both the Democratic and Republican parties in Kern county. At the last general election 394 votes were cast — 198 Republican and 196 Democratic. W. W. Drury ships his first crop of ramie — about 500 pounds — to Pittsburg, and the proceeds net him about 5 cents per pound. September 11, 1886 — The adjournment of the legislature without having passed the irrigation bills is heralded as a defeat for Haggin & Carr and a victory for Miller & Lux and their attorney-in-chief, R. E. Houghton. October, 1886 — Clashes are frequent between Carr and settlers on desert lands under the Calloway canal. Carr is accused of trying to prevent settlers from remaining on their claims by fencing the roads and otherwise, and set- tlers make trouble by cutting Carr's fences. Miss Conway, a school teacher who has filed on a desert homestead, chops down a locked gate while Carr's men look on. It is alleged that dead hogs were thrown in Miss -Conway's well. December 9, 1886 — Haggin & Carr are making 400 to 1000 25-pound 94 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY cheeses per month on the ^Mountain \^iew and Kern Island ranches. From January 1st to September 26th 201,886 pounds of cheese were shipped to Los Angeles and San Francisco. December 30, 1886 — The people of Sumner are discussing the subject of a water supply for fire purposes. The Kern County Immigration Society is organized with H. Hirshfeld, president; A. C. Maude, secretary, and P. Galtes, W. H. Scribner, E. M. Roberts, W. E. Houghton and B. Ardizzi, directors. It is planned to keep a permanent exhibit in Los Angeles. February 3, 1887 — The Bakersfield water works has two eight-inch wells, seventy-five feet deep, and pumps about 133,000 gallons of water per day. February 5, 1887 — A big sandstorm from the east almost stops business in Bakersfield. Complaints are made concerning the large bills presented by the constables and justices. March, 1887 — The Wright irrigation bill becomes a law. June 2, 1887 — A news letter from Delano to the Echo describes that town as having four stores, two hotels, one lodging house, one restaurant, two livery stables, two meat markets, two blacksmith shops, one barber shop, three real estate offices, and a right smart sprinkling of saloons and dance houses — no church, no doctor, no drug store, no lawyer. The spring's ship- ments of wool amounted to 4600 bales. June, 1887 — Mr. Collins, agent of the general land ofifice, concludes an investigation of the Haggin & Carr desert land claims. June 23, 1887 — The Tehachapi Lime Company has recently begun opera- tions. June 30, 1887 — R. M. Pogson buys the old town hall and moves it to Tejon. The agitation begins for a $100,000 bond issue for building roads throughout the county and for the purchase of fair grounds. July, 1887- — In the election of a chief of the Bakersfield fire department, the Alerts and the Neptunes combine on L. F. Burr and defeat W-. H. Ream, the candidate of the Eurekas, by a few votes. Other officers elected are : E. R. Jameson, assistant chief; J. W. Ahern, secretary; H. A. Blodget, treas- urer. Charles A. Maul's peach orchard is celebrated in the local press. September, 1887 — The Crocker ranch south of town, largely in alfalfa and with a good house on it sells for $32,000 — $100 per acre. September, 1887 — The Southern Hotel Association incorporates. September, 1887 — L. P. St. Clair buys for $2400 a block of land southwest of the courthouse, afterward the site of the first St. Francis hospital at G and Fourteenth streets. September, 1887 — Articles of incorporation are filed in San Francisco by the San Francisco & San Joaquin Valley Railroad Company. A camp of workmen in Tejon canon is doing work preliminary to grading — supposed to be for the Santa Fe. The Tejon lemon and orange trees are in bearing. September 29, 1887 — General Beale has given a right of way across his Tejon lands for a railroad from Mojave to Bakersfield. The road is to be completed to Bakersfield within three years. November 1, 1887 — Cornerstone of Masonic temple is laid. December 26, 1887 — Superintendent J. S. Hambleton, drilling on land owned by -the L^nion Oil & Land Company, reports a strike at 720 feet on section 19, 30-22. The drill went through oil standstone into a bed of gravel, and gas forced oil, sand, and gravel the size of walnuts thirty or forty feet HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 95 in the air. Tlie well flowed for some little time, and the gas was so suffo- cating that the workmen were driven back from the well. The Sunset Oil Company is daily expecting machinery from the east, when it will begin drilling. Hirshfeld Brothers and R. T. Norris will soon begin prospecting for oil eight or nine miles from Bakersfield in the direction of Kern river cafion at a point where gas is detected coming from the ground. December 25, 1887 — Fire Chief Burr brings to town the new Silsby fire engine, and the day being Sunday and Christmas, a great crowd gathers on the street to inspect the new acquisition. Alex Heyman is foreman of the Eureka engine company. January 10, 1888 — An immigrant car at the rear of a Southern Pacific passenger train, while coming down the grade from Tehachapi, breaks a wheel, is wrenched loose from the train, leaves the track, rolls over and over down a seventy-five-foot embankment, and is burned up by a fire which starts from the heating stove. All the passengers escape by crawling through the car windows, Charles Ankrum and his wife (colored) being the worst injured. Ankrum's shoulder was dislocated, and the fire burned a hole in the back of his coat just as he was getting through the window. January 26, 1888 — Clerks begin agitation for Sunday closing of stores in Bakersfield. Rabbit drives are frequent in the county. About 40,000 jack rabbits were killed in drives during January, February and March, 1888. February 16, 1888 — The Kern River Caiion Irrigation Company, which owns 25,OCO acres of land east and north of Sumner, and which plans to take water out of the river near the canon to irrigate lands east of Sumner and as far south as the Weed Patch, has bonded its lands and franchise to San Francisco people for thirty days. (Plans never materialized.) March, 1888 — Bakersfield Drum Corps organized at R. A. Edmonds' store. May 10, 1888 — The Porterville branch of the Southern Pacific is graded from Fresno to Porterville. June 14, 1888 — Work has been started on the Southern hotel. July 12, 1888 — The Woman's Relief Corps is organized. July 19, 1888 — W^ork begins on the new railroad shops at Sumner. July 26, 1888 — The details of the Miller-Haggin agreement are pub- lished. The only opposition appears to come from the owners of the McCord ditch. The immediate efifect of the agreement is to advance the price of land around Bakersfield. Large land owners subscribe to a fund totaling between $3000 and $4000 for the purpose of advertising Kern county. Carr contri- buted $1500. September, 1888 — County supervisors give L. P. St. Clair a franchise for a gas and electric light system for Bakersfield. Work on the plant is to be commenced in six months and be completed within a year. Briggs, Fergu- son & Co. announce a great auction sale of Haggin lands beginning Monday, December 17, 1888. In two hours ninety-two towns lots were sold. On Tues- day thirty purchasers bought nineteen colony lots of five acres each and 145 town lots. The grand jury recommends that the saloon licenses be raised from $25 to $75 per quarter. January 24, 1889 — J. S. Hambleton, superintendent of the Sunset Oil Company (Jewett & Blodget), has brought in on section 16, 11-23, at a depth of 110 feet, an oil well that flows five barrels per day. The county officials are suing the county for fees which they claim they needlessly paid into the county treasury. 96 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY March 14, 1889— H. A. Blodget, H. H. Fish and Jeff Packard get a franchise for a street railway down Chester avenue, past the site of the "new Southern Pacific depot" (which was never built) and out to the river bridge. Same date — Another Haggin land sale is announced. The sales will be : First day, at the Cotton ranch ; second day, in Bakersfield ; third day, at the hop ranch. Barbecues first and third days. Baldwin and McAfee conduct the sale. Town lots sell at $142 to $640. Colony lots at $57 to $135 per acre. April 4, 1889 — Hirshfeld brothers, who have been in the mercantile busi- ness in the county continuously for twenty-live years, sell to Dinkelspiel brothers. May 13, 1889 — The county, by a vote of 852 to 281, elects to issue bonds in the sum of $250,000 to build a new jail, a county hospital, an addition to the court house and to improve highways. Same date — Second sale of Haggin's irrigated lands begins under the direction of L. C. McAfee, who is now the manager, with C. Brower, of the land department of J. B. Haggin. McAfee announces that it is Haggin's policy to dispose of all his Kern county lands. McAfee and Brower have their first office where the Odd Fellows hall is now. Same date — Plans of the Poso irrigation district are submitted. July 7, 1889 — The entire business section of Bakersfield is destroyed by fire. Soon after the great fire property owners in the business section began laying asphalt sidewalks. August 31, 1890 — Carr & Haggin are working 300 head of horses ex- tending canals to the lands which they will colonize next winter. J. J. Mack is here from San Francisco to organize the Bank of Bakersfield. September, 1890 — The Kern County Land Company is incorporated in San Francisco. Report says that S. W. Ferguson is to be the resident mana- ger. Lloyd Tevis is anxious to dispose of the Kern county lands, as he pre- fers other investments. October 1, 1890 — James Herrington is tarred and feathered by citizens who disapprove of his activity in jumping lands and filing contests against homesteaders. October 27, 1890 — Work begins on the Poso irrigation district canal. Engineers are here surveying for the valley railroad. A bi-partisan committee is named by Republicans and Democrats to pre- vent "ward heelers and toughs" from dominating the coming election. November 1, 1890 — Milo McKee has both arms blown off while firing a salute with the old brass cannon in honor of Senator Stanford, who had just arrived in Bakersfield on a speaking tour. On the same day at Tulare, W. Baker had one arm blo\yn off in almost the same manner, also while firing a salute to Senator Stanford, and the engine that hauled Senator Stan- ford's special train to Bakersfield, while returning light to Tulare ran over and killed Wallace and Ed Ray, two Delano boys who were riding a railroad bicycle to Alila to attend a dance. The headlight of the engine was broken and it was running dark. January 1, 1891 — Ten tons of asphalt in boxes are shipped east. January, 1891 — Judge Arick dies, and Governor Waterman appoints A. R. Conklin of Inyo county to succeed him on the superior bench. Stores in Bakersfield agree to close on Sunday after March 1, 1891. February, 1891 — The ruling of the interior department of September HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 97 12, 1877, suspending desert land entries Nos. 1 to ZZ7 , inclusive, is revoked, and old applications to contest are recognized. An amendment to the desert land act of 1877, just passed, validates as- signments of desert entries, and permits Haggin to complete and present proof of reclamation of his hundreds of desert claims under the Calloway. February, 1891 — The bonds of the Kern and Tulare irrigation district are sold. April 2, 1891 — John Barker has developed a gas well on his ranch be- tween Bakersfield and the Kern canon and has piped it to his house for cooking and lighting. April 30, 1891 — President Harrison speaks from rear of train. April, 1891 — Colonization Agent Knewing of the Kern County Land Company arrives from England with thirty young English colonists. July 17, 1891 — At a meeting in Sumner, George C. Doherty and John Barker explain their plan for the Doherty canal, which would take over water rights to 30,000 miner's inches of water located by John Barker in 1878, build a canal down the river to a point opposite Sumner, run a tunnel under the hill to the mesa north and east of Sumner. The company was to be incorporated for $1,000,000, the promoters proposed to sell perpetual water rights for $11.25 per acre, and planned to irrigate 80,000 acres. (This plan was never carried out, of course, but it was believed at the time to have been partly responsible for the building of the East Side canal, which covers part of the territory which the Doherty canal was to water.) The state legislature has placed a bounty on coyote scalps. August 25, 1892 — E. M. Roberts is given a contract to construct the East Side canal, which is to take a portion of the water allowed to the Kern Island canal under the Miller-Haggin agreement, and which is planned to irrigate 30,000 acres of land. August, 1892 — Construction trains are working on both ends of the Mc- Kittrick branch railroad. November, 1892 — A hot campaign and an election contest results in the election of H. A. Jastro as supervisor from the Fifth district, defeating H. F. Condict by three votes. February 10, 1893 — Kern river breaks its levee and floods the northern and western part of town. The water was a foot deep at I and Nineteenth street on Thursday, but by Friday noon it had disappeared everywhere in town except in very low places. February 23, 1893 — Celsus Brower is chosen to go to the world's fair at Chicago in charge of the Kern county exhibit. March 6, 1893 — Rosedale colonists meet to discuss water rates and re- solve that "no individual or corporation should have the right to fix the rates at which a necessity of life shall be sold." (The Land Company was offering the colonists for signature an agreement fixing the rate for irriga- tion water at $1.50 per acre per year, the contract to be perpetual and the charge for water to become a lien on the land if not paid.) February 4, 1893 — President Cleveland signs the proclamation creating the Sierra forest reserve, including a great territory in the mountains of Kern county. The people of Delano are discussing the possibility of getting water from the Calloway and Beardsley canals. 98 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY May 25, 1893 — Company G, National Guard, is mustered in with Captain, W. H. Cook; first lieutenant, H. A. Blodget; second lieutenant, H. P. Bender. August, 1893 — At an anti-Chinese meeting in Kern City, is drafted a letter to the United States district attorney stating that there are 1500 Chinese in Kern county who are not registered under the Geary law. It is proposed to remove the Chinese, but by peaceable methods only. September 21, 1893 — Fruit shippers catch seven men stealing fruit from cars, and haul them out to a quiet place and spank them on the bare skin. Fresh peaches are bringing $1 for a twenty-pound box in Chicago. The freight is sixty-five cents per box, leaving the shipper thirty-five cents. CHAPTER XI The Great Lux-Haggin Water Suit WHiile the short but interesting preliminary between Carr & Haggin and Livermore & Chester was being fought to a finish. Miller and Lux were getting established in Kern county and gathering about them able leaders and captains, of whom J. C. Crocker, S. W. Wible and Capt. John Barker were types. Long before this time Miller & Lux had acquired great ranches and ranges around Gilroy, along the San Joaquin river and far up along the northern coast. In 1872, in conjunction with W. S. Chapman, owner of the Chowchilla ranch, Miller & Lux as owners of the Columbia ranch had begun a canal, the largest and longest in the state, which took water from the San Joaquin river at the mouth of Fresno slough and extended for seventy-five miles across Fresno and Merced and a part of Stanislaus counties. Miller's activities in Kern county (Miller was the active member of the firm) were an extension of the operations along the San Joaquin. It is not unlikely that Miller at some time had pleasant visions of a great cattle and sheep ranch extending in an unbroken sweep through the rich, black tule lands from Stockton to Bakersfield. During his fight with Haggin & Carr, ]\Iiller is commonly reported as assuring them that he would make them "pack their blankets out of Kern county," and there were not lacking admirers of the doughty and vigorous old German who fully expected to see him make his threat good. Jim Crocker had been in Miller's employ on the San Joaquin and was sent to Kern county to lay the foundations for the Miller occupancy here. Crocker was the sort of a man Miller would be expected to choose for the job. A quiet, self-contained man, but a good mixer in spite of his reserve and a man of native force and personality that made him a natural leader. He was bred to get up in the morning at 4 o'clock and go out on hard jaunts with the vaqueros. Chasing down and breaking up organized bands of horse and cattle thieves appears to have been his favorite pastime. If a friend or fellow stockman was in trouble, financial or otherwise, Crocker was ready to go on his bail to the extent of his possessions. Men rallied to the standard of Crocker because of their friendship and confidence and because they liked to fight with a fighter. The men who fought under Carr's colors did so more usually because they believed their personal interest lay in that direction. It was Carr's strong point of strategy, as we have HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 99 seen, to make the personal interest of many people lie in the same direction as his own. S. W. Wible, who figures prominently among the Miller forces in the Miller-Haggin contest, was a pioneer of 1852, beginning his western experi- ence as a miner and constructor of miners' canals and sluices and later under- taking the management of larger water engineering enterprises. He came to Kern county in 1874 and built a number of the early canals from Kern river. When the Kern Valley Water Company was formed by Livermore, Redington and others to undertake the reclamation of swamp land district No. 121, Wible was placed in charge as engineer. Celsus Brower had charge of the business affairs of the company. Wible built the great Kern V^alley Water Company's canal which extended north from Buena Vista lake for a distance of some twenty-six miles, when first constructed, but which has since been carried much further down the swamp and ultimately is to be built through to Tulare lake. The canal follows the western edge of the swamp and overflowed district, and was 125 feet wide on the bottom and cal- culated to carry a stream seven feet in depth. It was designed to carry all the waters of Kern river that might flow so far, and also was to serve as the feeder for irrigation ditches that would cover 100,000 or more acres of land. When Miller & Lux acquired the Kern Valley Water Company's interests Wible went to the new management, as most of the men who were prominent in the operation of Livermore & Redington's Kern Island projects went over to Haggin & Carr when the latter came into possession of those properties. Wible afterward became the general superintendent for Miller & Lux. He was noted as one of the few men who stood in no awe of Miller when the latter flew into his celebrated fits of passion. It is related that on an occasion when Miller had made the discovery that one of his warehouses had leaked and wet a great quantity of wool and was dividing his time between furiously chopping hole after hole in the wall of the structure and as furiously jumping on his hat when he found new evidences of de- struction, Wible followed his employer along the warehouse wall and jumped on the hat while Miller chopped the holes until the ludicrousness of the per- formance finally appealed to the cattle king and appeased his wrath. In his old age Wible lived true to his pioneer instinct. He was one of the first to respond to the Alaskan mining boom, and summer after summer he donned the great fur overcoat that identified him for years to strangers and new comers, and sailed for the north to meet the melting of the snows above his frozen placers. Capt. John Barker got into the Miller-Haggin fight partly because he was a riparian owner, although his lands were higher up on the river than the intake of any of the irrigation canals, and partly because, like an old war horse, he could not remain inactive when his nostrils caught the scent of battle. Born in England and bred to the sea, he came to California on the news of the first gold excitement, explored the upper San Joaquin valley on horseback in 1854, fought in the Indian wars of Tulare county in 1856, served in a troop of volunteer cavalry during war times, and came to Kern county in the early '70s. He was a bluff, out-spoken man, a vitriolic writer when his righteous wrath was stirred, and an off-hand orator, the sarcasm of whose phrases was dulled only by the sledge-hammer method of their de- livery. Captain Barker would roast his victim alive, pour carbolic acid over his withered remains and end bv quoting a few pages of Shakespeare. Byron 100 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY or Bobby Burns to give a classic flavor to his philippic. He entered no less fervently into his friendships, and between his battles and his benefactions Captain Barker left his record deeply drawn across the history of the county. In his old age, crippled by infirmities, he used to ride about Bakersfield and between the town and the mouth of Kern river canon, driving an old white horse and a roomy phaeton, planning over old plans for the im- provement of the Pierce and Barker ranches and the utilization of resources and opportunities that still lie fallow, waiting till the time is ripe for the fulfillment of the prophecies of the pioneer. Leaders of the Carr & Haggin Forces Incidental references in preceding pages have given some insight into the character of W. B. Carr, the generalissimo of the Haggin forces. Fat, aggressive, determined, absolutely unabashed, with bull-dog courage and endurance, he was a typical political boss of the larger and more perfect type. Frequently and fervently cursed and hated, he could walk into a saloon in a hostile ward and in ten minutes have enough sworn allies to insure the victory of his candidates. If a delegation of angry farmers in the days of the bitter water troubles came after Carr with the intention of puncturing him with bullets or stringing him up to a high-branching cottonwood, he met them with an outstretched hand and slaps on their backs and sent them away wreathed in smiles of hope and assurance. Moreover, Carr had the valuable instinct that showed him to a nicety when it was necessary to dispense good coin and valuable favors and when mere promises would suffice. Carr was a finished performer and a skillful tutor, and later actors on the Kern county stage sat at his feet and learned to do politics in the scientific, metropolitan style. Walter James figured in the water disputes, in court and out, mainly as an expert witness. His long and intimate association with everything that had to do with the appropriation and use of Kern river's waters from 1870 down, aided by a retentive memory and a logical, consecutive manner of stating the salient facts concerning a subject made him invaluable as an authority, and no investigation of water or water rights was complete until Walter James had been examined and cross-examined and with a little nasal drawl and imperturbable deliberation had told just how and why it all happened and came to pass. It is difficult to say whether Walter James in his long record in Kern county shines more as an engineer or as a diplomat, but he is hard to out-class in either capacity. Heads of the Rival Literary Bureaus Dozens of portraits of interesting actors in the great drama of the Kern river water contest might be added to this little gallery of character sketches, but I shall attempt but two more — those of the chiefs of the rival literary bureaus that flooded the state with syndicated editorials and syndicated sup- plements setting forth the rival arguments of appropriators and riparian owners and the history, law, custom and usage touching the utilization of water for any and all purposes since Noah launched the ark on the diluvian seas. In addition to his numerous other activities Julius Chester, in the days of his ascendency in Kern county, founded the Southern Californian and was its editor for a number of years. Like the other weeklies of the pioneer days, the Southern Californian was stronger as an organ of personal opinion than HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 101 it was as a piirveypr of news, and Uncle Julius, as he was called by rival editors, was as handy as the best of them in the use of the king's English. He was almost as diplomatic and persuasive in his writing as he was in his speech, and how effective he was in the latter may be gathered from an incident that is related as the truth by a veracious citizen of the time. Uncle Julius had used some of his best literary art in writing up a certain very undesirable citizen, and the day following the appearance of the paper on the street he was sitting comfortably in his office with his feet on the desk when the undesirable citizen appeared. His eye was wild, his breath was laden with liquor and he waved a big six-shooter before the editor's stomach :n a very promiscuous manner while he talked. "Get your feet down from there because I'm going to kill you," the bad citizen commanded. Uncle Julius recognized that if the bad citizen had really intended to kill him a little matter of his feet being on the desk need not have interfered, and he asked what the trouble was all about as coolly and pleasantly as though it were only an advertiser wanting to know why his announcement did not appear to the top of the page next to pure reading matter as per contract. "You know blanked well what the matter is," said the bad citizen, "that there thing you wrote about me in your paper." Chester took his feet down deliberately, deliberately found a copy of the paper, sat down, put his feet on the desk again, adjusted his glasses and began to read the offending article aloud. He stopped at the end of the first paragraph. "I don't see anything the matter with that. Tom," he said. "That's all so, aint it?" "Yes," said Tom, "that's all so, but you read on farther." Chester read another paragraph, and repeated his question as to the accuracy of the narrative. Tom indicated with his gun that the most offensive portion of the story was to be found still farther down, and Chester read on. When he got to the bottom of the last paragraph Tom had admitted that every assertion in the red hot arraignment — and it was red hot — was true, and the two men went out and had a drink together. Chester in these days had descended from his former position of prin- cipal factor in the county's industry and commerce, his property was slip- ping out of his hands or had previously escaped, and he was constantly being sued for debt. His fighting instinct never forsook him, and during the latter part of his journalistic career he was engaged, a very large share of his time in putting the county officials on the spit and turning them slowly and scientifically over the coals of incandescent journalism. The county officials winced in patience at first, but after Chester was known to be on the financial toboggan they joined gleefully in pelting him on his way to the bottom. Everything Chester had was attached over and over. Once he was arrested on a charge of stealing corn from a Chinaman, but that prob- ably was only a fair offset to the defamatory charges which Chester heaped upon them. The corn theft case was dismissed. But finally Chester's presses and type were attached and sold to A. C. Maude, and Chester was able to retain possession of them onlv by showing that they had been leased to George Wear, another of the picturesque and notable newspaper men of the county, who figures more prominently at a little later date. Wear held down 102 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the outfit, and Chester continued to publish the Southern Californian and to berate the county officials. Maude, who claimed that he had bought not only the outfit but the name of Chester's paper, began publication of the Kern County Californian, with Richard Hudnut as editorial writer and news- gatherer in chief. Finally Wear sold his lease to a printer by name of Warren and a school teacher by name of Vrooman. For a time the latter kept a guard over the shop by night as well as by day, but one evening Maude's forces inveigled the guard away and captured the shop. With nothing left but the name of his paper, Chester took himself to San Francisco and issued the Southern Californian from there until the close of the political campaign that ended with the defeat of what he was pleased to call the Reed ring, and the election of B. Brundage, the opponent of Judge Reed, to be the first judge of the superior court of Kern county. Judge Reed had been judge of the county court, but that office was abolished by the change in the constitution. Richard Hudnut was a highly educated and very dignified man. His writing was silkier than Chester's, and he had such an easy, refined and polished way of flaying his victim that after the victim was flayed he knew that he had lost his hide, but had in his mind only a vague, circumstantial suspicion that it was Hudnut who had skinned him. When Chester was charged with stealing the Chinaman's corn Hudnut mourned over him in paragraph after paragraph as one might mourn over the grave of misled innocence. It will be appreciated readily that in a fight like the one which the great water contest occasioned, where it was necessary to depict everyone on the other side as a red-handed pirate, a dark-alley thug and a horse thief, the peculiar accomplishments of Hudnut and Chester were invaluable. More- over, both Hudnut and Chester had all the history of Kern county water rights at their fingers' ends, and when they w^ere established at Sacramento with the money of the two rival corporations behind them, respectively, they poured out a class and quantity of militant, journalistic literature that marks a milestone in the newspaper history of the state. Still another journalistic factor was injected into the great fight. When the issue was fairly joined between the riparianists and the appropriators, in 1886, the Kern County Echo was founded by a company of farmers and business men. who gathered one day at the old Burnap drug store and decided that there was still a third side to the great question and that a new organ should be established to advocate it. Capt. John Barker was sent to San Francisco to buy the plant, and S. C. Smith, then a young lawyer of Bakersfield, afterward state senator and still later congressman from the eighth district, was elected managing editor. Through the controversy the Echo urged that neither appropriators nor riparian owners be given a mon- opoly of the water of the river, but that the state retain the ownership in trust for the people and that the use of the water be permitted for irrigation and other purposes under state regulation and control. Water is one of the elements and is no more a proper object of monopoly than is the air, was the gist of the Echo's persistent argument during those days. The Great Water Suit The great water suit, known by the title "Lux versus Haggin," not only marks an epoch in the history of Kern county but marks an epoch, also, in the history of irrigation in the state of California. It jjegan with little HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 103 more notice from the public than any of the other hundred or more suits that had been filed by rival claimants to the waters of Kern river, but before it had gone far local people realized that this was the battle royal, and before it was finally dismissed it had focussed the attention of the state, ranged practically every California newspaper of general circulation on one side or the other, resulted in the calling of two state irrigation conventions and a special session of the legislature, and started a movement to amend the state constitution so that the supreme court, which rendered an unpopular decision in connection with the suit, might be reorganized. The latter movement did not succeed. In brief, the contention of the plaintiffs was that they were the owners of riparian lands along the lower reaches of Kern river, that Kern river was a natural stream flowing in an established and continuous channel through their lands, and that under the common law of England they were entitled to have the waters of the river flow over, through and upon their lands, undiminished in quantity and unimpaired in quality. The defendants claimed that they were entitled by right of appropriation to divert the waters from the river for purposes of irrigation, to develop water power, and for domestic and other purposes. It was a contest, in short, between riparian rights and the right of appropriation. In addition to set- ting forth the rights of the plaintiffs the complaint alleged that the defend- ants, by diverting the water in their canals had rendered the lands of the plaintiffs dry and barren to such an extent that their cattle had neither grass to eat nor water to drink. The papers in the suit were drawn in San Francisco and sent here to be filed in the superior court on September 2, 1880. On the morning of April 15, 1881, the trial began with Judge B. Brundage on the bench and a formidable array of counsel for both parties before the bar. Louis Haggin was in charge of the case for the defendant, and was assisted by John Garber and George Flournoy, Sr., father of the present justice of the peace of the sixth township of Kern county. Hall McAllister was nominally the chief counsel for Lux, but R. E. Houghton, then a comparatively young attorney, was the active man and really the one who outlined and carried on the campaign. The reporters of the day declared that the testimony, the taking of which consumed forty-nine days, was tedious and uninteresting, but it is suspected that they were too close to the scene to realize in full its dramatic interest or even its numerous comedy features. The witnesses included everybody in the county who was supposed to know anything about the his- tory and habits of Kern river, the locations of its various courses and the dates when these courses were changed, or anything concerning the appro- priation of water from the river, and in addition to these, sundry expert wit- nesses who had read in books what happened in Calcutta or what the river Nile did in the days of the Pharaohs and whose testimony was duly objected to because they had not been present at the times and places mentioned nor seen with their own eyes the things they pretended to describe. Walter James, chief engineer for Haggin, and S. W. Wible, superin- tendent and engineer for Miller & Lux, were the star performers and spent day after day on the witness stand, mainly under cross-examination. Mean- time all the attorneys whittled redwood shingles, and it was a part of the unofficial duties of the sheriff to see that the supply of timber never ran low. 104 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY John Garber carried a potato in his pocket for luck, and developed a habit of taking it out and shaking it at the witness when he asked a question of especial moment. R. E. Houghton, on a like occasion would stand up, reach across the table and dip his pen in the ink as though he intended forthwith to write the answer down in plain black and white so that it could never be denied, altered or evaded evermore. The witnesses were even more eccen- tric and picturesque. An old man by name of Stevens, who came from the head of the South Fork valley, made a speech in response to every question that was put to him, and finally as he was leaving the stand he swept his long arm out over the big assemblage of pioneers who crowded the space behind the attorneys and remarked : "Em gettin' to be an old man, and I don't know if Ell ever see you all here together again ; and I want to say to you now, while Eve got you all together, that Em the oldest settler in Kern county."' Of course one of the attorneys took an exception to the statement and asked that it be stricken from the records. Each evening when court was adjourned for the day the attorneys and many of the witnesses for Haggin were driven to headquarters at Bellevue where the walls beneath the spacious porches were lined with maps and diagrams. Here the net results of the day's testimony were reviewed, and engineers, zanjeros and scouts of all descriptions were sent out to get what- ever evidence was needed to fill in the gaps. In the meantime, if the local papers were not doing much in the way of reporting the trial they were sparing no efifort to prove what the judgment of the court should be. Despite all efforts to put him out of business, Julius Chester was still editing the Southern Californian, and was presenting through its columns the contentions of the riparianists as represented by Miller & Lux. The Californian, owned by A. C. Maude and edited by Richard Hudnut, was doing no less valiant service for Haggin. But the choicest language of which these masters were possessed they saved for rhetorically pummelling each other. The last witness was heard on June 2, 1881, and all the testimony, when it was written up, made a stack of paper four feet high. For the convenience of the lawyers the court consented to hear the arguments in San Francisco. The speech-making began on June 20th, and on November 3d, Judge Brun- dage rendered his decision in favor of Haggin, which was to the effect that the appropriators were entitled to the water of the river as against the riparian owners, represented by Lux. Of course Miller & Lux ajjpealed to the supreme court, and forthwith in Kern county there began a fierce political campaign to re-elect Judge Brundage on the one hand and to defeat him on the other. Kern River Plays Another Prank We have seen heretofore in the course of this narrative that Kern river seemed possessed of a certain titanic sense of humor, and none will be sur- prised to read that while the supreme court took its time in considering a mass of evidence, a gist of which was that neither party to the suit was willing to let the other have any water, the river began to increase its flow, and in the early part of 1884 the two chief parties to the suit were engaged in a fiercer fight than ever to keep the swollen river from flooding their lands, even though it involved turning the excess waters over on the other. As indicated in his statement referred to in the previous chapter, Haggin had reclaimed the beds of Kern and Buena Vista lakes and had built the Goose lake canal to carry off any excess water that the Calloway and other HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 105 irrigation canals could not handle. The Goose lake canal led off to the north, and on the south side of the river Haggin had built the Cole levee farther to prevent the river from breaking over and flooding his reclaimed lake bottoms. By far the greater part of Haggin's reclaimed lands lay to the south of the river, and by far the greater part of Miller & Lux's reclaimed lands lay to the north. The latter had built levees along the north bank to protect their lands, and had constructed the great Kern Valley Water Company's canal to carry any excess waters off to the north of their cultivated fields. As the snows melted in the mountains and the river lapped higher and higher against the levees it became a most absorbing question as to whether the waters would break on Miller's side or on Haggin's. They broke on Haggin's side on May 17, 1884, and in a few hours there was a 'hole in the Cole levee forty feet wide and through it a stream of muddy water, twenty feet deep, was rushing to cover all the lands that Haggin had reclaimed with so great expense. There were great forces of men on the Haggin ranches in those days and m very short order Billy Carr, Walter James, C. L. Conner, Dave Coffee and other supermtendents and foremen for miles around were dispatching work- men, teams, scrapers, shovels and sand bags to the break. With the bags of sand the broken ends of the levee were rip-rapped to prevent further washing, and a row of piling was driven across the break. Early in these proceedings Henry Miller arrived with R. E. Houghton. Having a suit in the supreme court in which their contention was that they were entitled to have the full flow of the river run over, through and upon their lands at all times. Miller and his attorney were hardly in a position to ob- ject to Haggin's men repairing a break in their levee that would tend to throw the full force of the stream over on Miller & Lux. But Houghton was fully equal to the emergency. It happened that Miller owned forty acres of land m the bed of Buena Vista lake (surrounded by the Haggin sections) and Miller set up the claim that he was entitled to have the river flow unhindered over, through and upon this land, also. Miller strode up to the break in the levee where Walter James was superintending the driving of the piles. "What are you doing here? What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I'm just carrying out my instructions," drawled Walter James in his imperturbable manner. "We thought we'd put a few piles in here, because we may want to build a bridge across, or something." "Well, I don't want you to stop my water. I don't want you to stop my water. Do you understand? I don't want you to stop mv water." shouted Miller. "Have a cigar, Mr. James." So soon as the train could take him back to San Francisco. Houghton went to Judge Hunt of the superior court, and on a petition setting forth that Miller was the owner of a piece of land, to wit. forty acres, etc., and that whereas when the waters of Kern river were allowed 'to flow over it unhin- dered, etc., large quantities of tules and other plants and grasses valuable for feed grew thereon, and whereas one Haggin had a force of men at work with piles, a pile driver, brush, etc., endeavoring to restrain the said water from flowing over Miller's said land, etc., and whereas Miller would be greatly damaged, etc., etc., an injunction was duly secured. By the time the injunction was served the ends of the levee were pretty well protected with sand bags, and most of the piling had been driven, but the water was flowing through the break almost as rapidly as ever. 106 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Walter James was out at the levee when a telegram arrived ordering him to make all speed to San Francisco. He jumped on the horse that brought the messenger, galloped to Bellevue, and found there another horse saddled and waiting. A man thrust into his hand a purse of money. "The gates are all wide open," they shouted, and James was off for the Southern Pacific depot. He got there fifteen minutes late, but the train was an hour behind time, and he walked over to the hotel. The first man he saw was S. W. VVible. "Hello, James," said Wible, "where are you going?" "I'm just going down to the city for a few days," said James. "Well, that's funny," said Wible, "I'm just going down to the city myself. Come in and let's have a drink." In San Francisco the next morning James assured Louis Haggin that if he had a free hand and all the resources of the Haggin ranches at his command he could stop the break in the Cole levee in twenty-four hours. Haggin told him to take the first train back to Bakersfield, and to look for a telegram at Lathrop. Meantime the lawyer would undertake to get Judge Hunt's injunction lifted, and if he succeeded he would send a message to Lathrop reading, "Make the trip." It was no small task to get the injunction set aside for the reason that after he had issued it Judge Hunt had gone on a fishing trip back into the mountains, leaving orders for nobody to interfere with any matter in his court during his absence. Louis Haggin, however, prevailed on another judge to set aside Judge Hunt's order, and James got his telegraphic instruc- tion to "Make the trip." On the journey home James laid out his campaign, and on his arrival at Bellevue orders were dispatched in all directions. Florence Gleason with a gang of men was already at the gap in the levee filling sand bags. Word was sent to C. L. Connor to report at once at the levee with all his men. J. E. Yancey and Frank Collins with the crews under them were to follow a little later, and still later were to come C. W. Jackson and the men from the Poso ranch. There were enough men, altogether, to keep fresh shifts at work at the gap all day and all night. The camp previously established on the levee was enlarged to accommo- date no less than five hundred men. Under the direction of Dave Coffee the hoisting engine used in driving piles was rigged to haul wagons loaded with sand along the levee. Heavy cables were laced back and forth among the piles, and the work of building in a wall of sand bags to stop the rushing flood proceeded with system and dispatch. "But R. E. Houghton never overlooked anything," said Walter James in telling the story. While Louis Haggin was getting rid of Judge Hunt's injunction in San Francisco, Houghton was getting another injunction out of the superior court of Napa county. This was issued at the request of George Cornwell, who owned a small piece of land on the south side of the river and many thousands on the north side and who made the same representation as Miller had made before Judge Hunt. Wible was less than a day behind James, but when he had reached Bakersfield, and came dashing down the road along the Cole levee with his Napa county injunction and Sheriff Coons, James and his great crew of men were swarming over the levee like human ants, working in a frenzy of haste to place the last sand bags that would stop the torrent of water. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 107 Every superintendent from the Hag:s:in ranches in Kern county was there, with Billy Carr in personal command. The sheriff waved the injunction and ordered the work stopped, but everyone was too busy to hear. It was an intense moment, for many months of work, tens of thousands of dollars, and (what was almost more than either for the men of fighting blood who were ranged on either side) victory or defeat in the contest depended on a few more minutes of time. Sheriff Coons handed the injunction to Carr and explained its purport, but Carr had to read the document, and his glasses were over in the tent. He went to the tent, got his glasses, sat down and read the injunction and the complaint which accompanied it. All the while Wible was enjoining haste. When Carr finished studying the order of the court he desired James to read it, and James read it, quite as slowly and carefully as Carr had done. Wible stormed over to where Dave Coffee was rushing in the sand bags with redoubled haste and energy, and commanded him to desist in the name of the law. But Coff'ee knew nothing of law or injunctions and he kept right on shoving the sand bags down to the men who were building them, now, just above the surface of the yellow water. Finally Carr sauntered back from the tent, saw that the gap in the levee was closed and the bags of sand rose clear and dry above the surface, and held up his hand as a signal of submission to the court's decree. But one thing had not been done. James had buried logs, or "dead men" on the upper side of the levee and had attached to them loops of cable ready to slip over the tops of the piling to help them carry the great weight of the water pressing on the narrow dam. But these loops of cable had not been adjusted, and the upper ends of the piling were without support. For a little while the piles and the wall of sand bags stood, and then, as the water low- ered on the outer side, they leaned and swayed ; the sand-bag wall splashed out of sight, the broken piles bobbed merrily to the surface, and the yellow flood leaped through the breech once more to spread over section after section of Haggin's reclaimed swamp land, and "undiminished in quantity and unim- paired in quality," flowed over, through and upon Miller's forty acres of Buena Vista lake bottom until it was covered a dozen or fifteen feet in depth, and it remained covered until the wild geese came and went and went and came again. On July 5th, more than a month after the wall of sand bags washed out, the water was still pouring through the Cole levee upon Haggin's land at the rate of 3000 cubic feet per second. But R. E. Houghton never overlooked anything. On July 26th he had W. B. Carr and Walter James haled before the court of Napa county to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court for consuming a quarter of an hour in reading the court's injunction. "Did you have any thought in your mind, Mr. Carr," said the Napa lawyer who appeared for Houghton, "that you might profit by the delay you were causing?" "Not in the least," said Carr. "Of course not," said the Napa lawyer with fine sarcasm. The Napa judge let Carr and James oft' with a mild admonition, but Judge Hunt was more obdurate. He declared that no court had any authority to set aside his injunction, and that all the time the five hundred men were 108 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY rushing sand bags into the break they were in contempt. "The defendants are fined $1000 each." Supreme Court Decides for Riparianists xAnother victory was coming to the Miller forces. The same issue. of the Haggin & Carr paper that contained the short paragraph about the Cole break and the San Francisco injunction carried an equally short paragraph stating that the great water suit had been resubmitted. It took until October 27, 1884, for the supreme court to reach a final decision, and the remittitur was not filed in this county until May 28, 1886, but not to make the story long, the supreme justices, or a majority of them, found that Judge Brundage had committed an error in not allowing certain testimony on the part of the defense that would have made but little difiference, probably, in the main issue. But accompanying their order was a most important expression of opinion to the effect that the English common law respecting riparian rights governed the use of water in the state of California. In other words, as the Chester and Hudnut literary bureaus soon after made the whole state aware, the owner of land on the banks of a natural water course was entitled to have all the waters of the stream flow over and through his land, undiminished in quantity and unimpaired in quality. That meant that nobody could take water out of a stream in an irrigating ditch and spread it over his land, for if he did so, certainly he could not restore it again to its natural channel, un- diminished and unimpaired, or either. Of course every irrigator in the state sat up and howled, and it was not very long before an active and able politician like Billy Carr had them organized and holding big irrigation conventions, first at Riverside and then at Fresno, and drafting laws for submission to the state legislature that were calculated to send the doctrine of riparian rights back to England on the first tramp steamer that left the Golden Gate. Carr did more. He went to work quietly among the members of the state legislature and before Miller's men knew what was going on he had the signatures of about two-thirds of them appended to a petition asking the governor to call a special session of the legislature and virtually pledging themselves to enact into law the measures framed at the two irrigation con- ventions. Governor Calls Legislature Together Armed with this petition and reinforced by a stalwart bunch of his friends from Kern county and elsewhere, Carr met Governor Stoneman at a hotel in San Francisco. Everybody had a good time, and the governor, who was a veteran of the Union army, distinguished and endeared himself in the eyes of Carr's southern followers by consuming without a quiver more mint julips than any man in the crowd from below the Mason and Dixon line could carry off. Before the evening was over the call for the special session of the legislature was signed. This was in July, 1886, but meantime Kern county had gone through another political campaign (the hottest and most vindictive, perhaps, which was ever waged in the valley) in which the issue turned on the election of the superior judge before whom the great water suit should come for re-trial. Brundage, of course, was supported by the Haggin & Carr forces, and all of Miller's strength was thrown behind Judge Arick. The latter was victorious by the scant majority of four votes. Meantime, too, the whole state was being flooded with the fruits of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 109 labors of Chester and Hudnut and other writers of the Miller & Lux and Carr & Haggin literary bureaus. Supplements treating the water question from Miller's side were furnished free to every paper of importance in the state that would handle them. The next week an equally copious flood of Haggin supplements descended on the readers. Plain print was seconded by whole page, colored cartoons, and these in addition to being sent to the papers were posted on the dead walls about the towns like circus announce- ments. The extra session of the legislature convened in August, 1886, and with the din of a state-wide battle in their ears, the members of the assembly passed the irrigation bills as per schedule. But the senate balked. It would not defeat the bills nor would it pass them, and on September 11, 1886, the legislature adjourned with the question of water legislation immersed a thousand fathoms deep in statu quo. It was sometime during the events recorded in this chapter that Henry Miller made the important discovery and confided it to a friend that "plenty of money makes a good politician." How much money it took to make the very high grade politicians that fought each other to a stand still in the legislature of 1886, the author has not been able, even approximately, to ascertain, but battles like the one over the judgeship and battles like that at Cole's levee were evidently so immensely expensive that both Haggin & Carr and Miller & Lux wished for peace. The big suit fell to Judge Arick to try, but he granted a petition for a change of venue to Tulare county, which the supreme court sustained, and there the case lay until all the points involved in the contest were settled to the satis- faction of both parties by the celebrated Miller-Haggin agreement. Miller-Haggin Agreement Ends Litigation This agreement, which was signed on July 28, 1888, and which bears the signatures of thirty-one corporations and fifty-eight individuals owning water rights at the time on Kern river, practically divided the waters of the stream' between Miller & Lux and Haggin and the different canal companies that were represented by them. The length of the document is fully commensurate with its importance and the number of parties interested, but as it was later incorporated into the findings of the Shaw decree, issued by Judge Lucien Shaw of Los Angeles sitting in the superior court of Kern county in 1895, and has been made a part of every deed executed by either of the two great land owners of the county since then, a scant summary of its provisions here is justifiable. The agreement begins by recognizing that certain of the parties have riparian rights, and that certain other of the parties have vested rights by appropriation against all the world except the aforesaid riparian owners. This point settled, the agreement provides that the parties of the first part, represented by Miller, shall have one-third of all the waters of the river during the months of March, April, May, June, July, and August of each year, and that the parties of the second part, represented by Haggin, shall have all the remainder. It provides for the measurement and delivery of the water, and for the construction of the Buena Vista Lake reservoir, covering approximately thirty-six sections of land. The two parties join in this undertaking, sharing equally the expense of construction, repair and maintenance. The two parties also share equally the expense of building the levees necessary to carry the 110 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY water of the river from the second point of measurement to the reservoir, and of building- an outlet canal from Buena \"ista lake to the Kern \''alley Water Company's canal. Both parties agree to join in suit against any person or persons who attempt to divert any water from the river above the second point of measurement, and each is to bear half the expense of such litigation. All pending suits between the two parties were to be dismissed. The agree- ment is made a perpetual covenant, running with all the land owned or claimed by any of the parties within the territory described in the contract. CHAPTER XII First Attempt at Colonization The first effects of the settlement of the contests over water rights by means of the Miller-Haggin agreement were to stiffen land values in all the irrigated portion of the county, and to bring to a head the plans of Haggin and his associates for subdividing their lands and placing them on the market. The inevitable great expense of developing water rights, building canals and improving large ranches had been increased enormously by the outlays con- nected with the water contests with Livermore and Chester and then with Miller & Lux and by the expensive political campaigns incident thereto, and by the summer of 1888 the expenditures of Haggin and Tevis in their Kern county ventures had reached a huge aggregate. Meantime the growing of cotton and hops had not proven remunerative on account of the large labor cost and the failure of the attempts to secure low-priced workmen, and the same difficulty seemed to place a bar across other avenues to profit through agricultural activities on a vast scale. Lloyd Tevis, it is remembered, was a banker, and from the viewpoint of a banker who keeps tab on the amount of money invested and the amount of interest which it should bring in at current rates, the Kern county property of Haggin & Carr certainly did not look very hopeful. Hence the decision to colonize the Haggin lands. But from the start differences arose between the parties interested as to the exact methods of procedure. According to seemingly reliable statements, it appears that Carr was skeptical about the wisdom of beginning the land sales at all just at that time, and he interposed strenuous objections to parting with any of the lands which had been planted to alfalfa or otherwise brought into a revenue producing condition. He objected, also, it is said, to selling the most desir- able of the lands, which generally were those south of Bakersfield under the Kern Island canal. L. C. McAfee and C. Brower, managers of the sales de- partment under the name of the Land Department of J. B. Haggin, proposed making certain improvements on the lands before offering them for sale. and employing a superintendent to advise and instruct the colonists in the management of their farms and orchards so that fewer luistakes would be made through inexperience. But all this involved more expenditures, and the plan did not meet with favor from those who had to sign the checks. Still other points of difference arose. S. W. Fergusson, who had estab- lished a reputation as a boomer of real estate subdivisions, was sent to take charge of the Haggin colonization, and clashes of authority arose between him and Carr. For example, Carr and Fergusson differed as to the proper size for the irrigation ditches that were built through the colonies. Gradually HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 111 Fergusson superseded Carr in the control of different departments of the Haggin activities, and it was not in Carr's nature to like a second place. In the end Carr sold out his interest, and the Kern County Land Company succeeded to Haggin & Carr. But these initial elements of failure in the colonization project were under the surface, and the people of Bakersfield rejoiced over the prospect that at last the great land holdings that had hedged the town about and impeded its growth and development were to be broken up. It was like opening the throttle to the pent up energies of the community, and new enterprises began to spring into life as the restraint was removed. There were other incentives to hope and progress. At a banquet tendered him by the citizens of Bakersfield, General Beale announced that he had plans for the colonization of the Tejon ranch ; the Southern Pacific was grading the Porterville branch railroad ; the railroad shops were being moved to Sumner, and more and more confidence was being placed in the constant report that the Valley railroad was soon to be built. Many Plans for Progress Under the influence of all these better prospects the Southern Hotel Association began the construction of its first building at the corner of Nineteenth street and Chester avenue ; L. P. St. Clair and O. O. Mattson undertook the construction of a gas and electric lighting system ; H. H. Fish, H. A. Blodget and T. J. Packard launched their plans for building a street railway system, and citizens of the town and land owners of the sur- rounding country subscribed a fund of $3000 for advertising the county at Los Angeles, then as now the distributing point for the Eastern home-seekers. In the spring of 1899 the Postal Telegraph Company completed its line to Bakersfield, the people of the county voted by 852 to 381 to bond the county for $250,000 for public improvements including an addition to the court house, a new jail, a county hospital and the grading and improving of many roads in dift'erent parts of the county. Fire Wipes Out Business Section In the midst of all these evidences of progress and while Bakersfield was looking forward with greater hope and expectancy than ever before in its history, came the fire of July 7. 1889, and wiped the business part of the little city clean. The business section of Bakersfield was confined in those days to the area bounded on the west by I street, on the south by Seven- teenth, on the east by M, and on the north by Twentieth. Practically every- thing within these limits was destroyed. The fire started in or near N. E. Kelsey's residence on Twentieth street about midway between Chester and I street, just back of where the Bank of Bakersfield now stands, or about on the spot where the rear quarter of the bank building is located. Mrs. Kelsey was getting the Sunday dinner on a gasoline stove, but as to further details of how the building caught fire reports differ widely. The volunteer fire department responded to the alarm with ordinary promptness, and hitched the suction hose of the Silsby steam fire engine to the old cast iron hydrant that still stands in front of the Southern Hotel at Nineteenth and Chester. This hydrant connected with the old Scrib- ner water system, which was supplied by pumps and wells located at the southeast corner of Seventeenth street and Chester avenue. The small mains and the light engine, however, were insufficient to provide a stream that would check the flames. There was no wind, and the smoke and flames for a time 112 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY mounted straight upward. In a very little time the fire spread to the Kelsey furniture and undertaking establishment on the corner where the Bank of Bakersfield is, and to the store of Hayden & White and the Echo office, all of which were on the same half block with Kelsey's residence and faced on Chester avenue. From these the Southern Hotel Association's new building at Nineteenth and Chester was ignited. By that time the heat from the flames had driven the firemen east on Nineteenth street, where the hose was dropped into one of the cisterns built at the street intersections on purpose to supply water for fighting fire. These cisterns were connected with the Town ditch by redwood conduits six inches square, but the conduits had grown full of roots and the cisterns were soon exhausted. Meantime burning shingles carried high in the air by the draft from the fire, had fallen on the roof of the Union stable, on the south side of Nineteenth street between K and L, and a new center of conflagration had been started. Also the fire had leaped across Nineteenth street to the south from the Southern hotel and was eating out the line of buildings on the west side of Chester avenue. Everything was burned along this street as far south as Seventeenth street, where the skating rink, standing where the new Morgan building now is, was the last building consumed. The water tower, diagonally across the avenue, was saved by the man in charge, who climbed to the roof and kept it wet down. For a long time the Arlington, almost in the center of the fire, was saved by two means. The roof and veranda were covered with wet blankets and a small hose was used to keep them wet, and after the fire was well under way a breeze seemed to suck around the Southern hotel corner in such a way as to keep the heat from the Arlington. The building finally succumbed to the backfire from the east, but it was one of the last to go down in the central part of town. The Episcopal church at Seventeenth and I streets, the Catholic church at Seventeenth and K, and the Baptist church at I and Twenty-second were mentioned roughly as the limits of the burned district, although the fire did not reach really so far as the Baptist church. How completely the business houses were wiped out is illustrated by the fact that it was impossible to buy a plug of tobacco in Bakersfield after the fire. The fire occasioned a staggering property loss to the people of Bakers- field, but none went hungry or unsheltered for a night. Very few residences were destroyed, comparatively, and probably not over a hundred people were made homeless. These were speedily cared for by the more fortunate. For provisions there were the stores of Sumner, a mile away, including the well- stocked general merchandise establishment of Ardizzi-Olcese Company, and Haggin & Carr at once hauled in a large stock of provisions of all kinds from the company store at Bellvue. Carr also had many beeves slaughtered, and everyone had meat in abundance, whether he had money to pay or not. So soon as the news of the disaster reached San Francisco an offer of aid was tendered by that city. Bakersfield was able to answer that no aid was needed, but the people of this city remembered the prompt offer years after when San Francisco was stricken, and few communities responded more promptly or liberally to the bay city's need than did Bakersfield. Bakersfield Quickly Rebuilds Before the embers were cool on the lots in the burned district new offices and business houses were being established in hastily built shacks in streets. Every newspaper office in the city was destroyed, but George Wear of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 113 Gazette managed to save an old hand press and some cases of type, and the usual editions were gotten out with these meagre facilities, or copy was for- warded to San Francisco and the papers printed there until new plants could be obtained. The Southern Hotel Association rebuilt better and larger than before, and almost every other burned building was replaced at once by a better one. In a year's time all the temporary buildings had disappeared from the streets, and the city was bigger and better than it had been before the fire. During the rebuilding time, of course, the town was very active. The colonists were coming then in large numbers, extensions were being made in the canal systems, and there was great activity in locating desert lands, home- steads and pre-emptions. A little more than a year after the fire the Bank of Bakersfield was founded, engineers were surveying in the vicinity of Bakersfield for the new valley railroad, the Kern County Land Company had been organized to take over the Haggin & Carr holdings, and S. W. Fergusson was placed in charge of the Rosedale and other colony lands, including Greenfield and Lerdo. Colonization on a Large Scale Fergusson at once organized a large ofiice force in Bakersfield, estab- lished branch agencies in the east and in England, and prepared to do a colonization business on a very large scale. His advertising and the activities of his agents soon had a stream of immigrants and prospective land buyers flowing into Bakersfield from all points of the compass. Rosedale, situated six or eight miles due west of Bakersfield, was the principal scene of the colon- ization operations, although numbers of tracts of land were sold at Greenfield and elsewhere. The Rosedale lands lie under the Calloway canal, and are chiefly light, sandy soils, easily tilled, well suited to irrigation and quite pro- ductive. Most of the newcomers were well satisfied with the propositions ofifered them, and sales were reasonably brisk. The arrival of the English colonists was a great event in Bakersfield. They were of all sorts and con- ditions from market gardeners of experience who had saved small sums of money in years of industry and thrift, to scions of nobility who were shipped abroad by their relatives as a last despairing means for their moral and industrial redemption. It was a vain hope so far as the latter was con- cerned. The few farmers among the English colonists got to work in their own fashion to the amazement and mirth of the California ranchers. The latter, used to driving six to ten horses attached to a gang plow, made great sport of the English farmers who went to their fields with a boy to lead the single horse while a man held the plow handles. But the little orchards and vine- yards that the Englishmen planted grew and throve, and so did the peanuts, corn and other vegetables that they planted between the rows. Scions of Nobility Make Things Hum The scions of nobility for the most part disdained to toil. There were neither orchards, vineyards nor vegetables to show for their labors, but they certainly made lively times about the Southern bar and lobby and in many other parts of the city less approved by good society. Nearly all the idlers were remittance men, and they ran uniformly successful races with time to dissipate their monthly allowances before the next batch of checks came from home. If they were sent out here to be clear of the temptations of English city life they were thrown from the frying pan into the fire, for if the' 114 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY slums of Bakersfield lacked anything that the young British bloods were used to they speedily arranged to supply the deficiency and to give all vice a Western air and relish that the most artistic panderers to depravity in Euro- pean capitals could not put to blush. It was profitable to cater to the pleas- ures and follies of the remittance men, and in those days a dollar that was not in visible circulation was counted a dollar lost in Bakersfield. To illustrate how cheerfully and enthusiastically the sports from across the seas put their money into circulation while it lasted it is related that on one occasion when the birthday of the queen was being celebrated with a banquet at the South- ern, the loyalty rose to such a height that not only was her majesty's health drunk copiously in the Southern's best champagne but the cheering crowd came storming out of the dining room and tried to pour champagne down the throats of the ponies tied at the rail beside the curb. An International Romance With this story of the Rosedale remittance men belongs the romantic tale of the wooing of Loretta Addis by Lord Sholto Douglas, third son of the Marquis of Queensbury. Loretta Addis was Miss Maggie Mooney's stage name, and Miss Maggie Mooney was a pretty and piquant little Irish girl who made an honest if not conventional living for herself by doing a turn on the stage of big Frank Carson's place on Twentieth street. Lord Sholto and many others were captivated by Miss Mooney's charms, and Sholto proposed on every appropriate and inappropriate occasion he could find or manufacture. But Loretta was suspicious of alliances with the nobil- ity, and she did not lack friends who told her that the marquis and marchion- ess never would sanction the match and that if she married their son she certainly would be cast ofif and renounced but a little later. Being cast ofit" and renounced did not suit the fancy of this spunky Irish girl, and she sfet her face sternly against the tender appeals of Sholto. Finally the young lord's friends interfered to break up the languishing match, and failing in persuasive tactics they had Sholto arrested on a charge of insanity. Then they set to work to get Miss Mooney out of Bakersfield. Undoubtedly this would have been accomplished had it not been for the exigencies of journalism, which include the fostering of a good story and the making of a sequel to a good story wdien the good story plays out. The love affairs of Lord Sholto and Loretta Addis made a good story, or at least the stories that the Bakersfield correspondents sent out looked good to the San Francisco city editors, and they gave the Bakersfield correspondents carte blanc, printed their stuff on the front page and clamored for more. C. P. Fox and W. D. Young, both familiar figures in Kern county journalism, were local correspondents for the Chronicle and the Examiner and were working the story together. Five dollars a column and full space rates for pictures was like a gold mine while it lasted, but it did not last sufficiently long. W hen Sholto was locked up in one of the private rooms at the sheriff's quar- ters and Sholto's friends were about to succeed in persuading or hiring Miss Mooney to move to another city, Young and Fox saw the end of their pay streak. They held a solemn consultation and decided that the only way to save the story was to complete Sholto's wooing for him. So they hired a hack and drove in all state to Miss Mooney's lodgings. She received them graciously, but turned a deaf ear to the eloquent words in which they pictured Sholto's double despair, spurned by his heart's desire and charged with madness, for nothing more than that he loved the fair Loretta. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 115 It was of no use. Miss Mooney knew blarney when she heard it. Then Fox and Young painted the glamor of the British nobility and showed Miss Mooney how much better off she would be as a member of one of the oldest families of England than as a dancer and singer in a vaudeville theater in the wild west. It made no difference to Miss Mooney how fine the British nobility might be if the British nobility was going to renounce her, and she indicated as much. It began to look pretty desperate for that five-doUar-a- column stuff', but Fox rallied his jaded eloquence and taking an argumentative tone he recounted the history of the Marquis of Queensbury, showed that the old gentleman was a true old sport, quick to recognize merit, not too fas- tidious in his associates and amusements and altogether unlikely to play the part of a prude or a pharisee when the variety actress was presented to him as his daughter-in-law. The argument fell flat. The opposition had preju- diced her mind too thoroughly. Then Young played his last trump card. He raised himself to the full of his raw-boned height and assumed a belligerent air. "Let them renounce you, if they dare," he exclaimed, "and you go on the stage as Lady Sholto Douglas, daughter-in-law of the Marquis of Queensbury. With the talent you've got " The practical instinct of a good press agent won where flattery and per- suasion failed. "I'll do it!" exclaimed Miss Mooney, springing up. "Get on your hat," said Fox, also springing up. Fifteen minutes later Fox and Young and Deputy Sheriff Joe Droul- liard were ushering Miss Mooney into the little room where Sholto sat brood- ing his unhappy fate. Another fifteen minutes, and they were receiving her in the little corridor, and the happy Sholto w^as consoling himself in his imprisonment with dreams of future bliss. The San Francisco papers had another big story next morning; another when, a few days thereafter, came a cablegram containing the cheerful consent of the Marquis to his son's proposed alliance ; another when Sholto was released without a complaint of insanity actually having been placed against him, and still another when Lord Douglas and Miss Mooney were happily married in an Episcopal church in San Francisco. It is pleasant to conclude the story with the statement that they are still living happily on a ranch in Canada where Sholto has learned to farm and where Lady Sholto reigns with all the grace of sweet domesticity, her children growing up about her. Not All Beer and Skittles But it was not all champagne and romance with the Rosedale colonists. Only a small proportion, even among the industrious knew how to irrigate or understood the use and duty of water. A lot of them had a reckless habit of shutting down the gates of the side ditches when they wanted to go to their meals, and the water, backing up, would break the main ditch and flood five or ten acres of land before anyone knew anything about it. The low lands were the ones invariably flooded in this manner, and presently, what with the breaking of ditches and the prodigal use of water at all times, the lower lands became water-logged and black with the alkali that the rising water level brought up. 116 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The Land Company put teams and men at work digging miles of drain ditches. About the time they were finished the dry years came, and the trees and vines on the high lands that had escaped the drowning began to perish for want of water. The Calloway's water right was good only after certain other ditches had been supplied. There was no home market except for a very limited amount of fruit and farm produce, and shipments of fruit to the east began to show returns in red figures. Added to everything else was the financial panic that swept over the entire country in 1893-4. It is little wonder that Rosedale colony became a reproach in the county and that Bakersfield's second great hope for the cutting up of the great land holdings of the county came to naught. It did not quite come to naught, for a few steady, industrious farmers stayed with their Rosedale land, and in the end developed fine homes and valuable property. They did it, moreover, with no less labor and waiting than the ordinary farmer has to undergo in any new country before his land pays for itself and begins to earn him a competency. At the present time, sixteen or seventeen years after it was denounced as a failure, Rosedale col- ony is as fair and pleasant a place and the farmers there are as happy and prosperous as any to be found in all the valley. But the Fergusson administration of the Kern County Land Company affairs ended in general denunciation, and the big concern was more unpop- ular than at any other time, before or since, in the history of the county. Another Swamp Land Contest Another incident that added to the bad favor in which the Land Com- pany found itself about the year 1895, was the contest over swamp lands bordering Buena Vista lake between settlers and the Land Company. This contest began to assume the form of open hostilities in March of the year named. Haggin claimed the land under certificates of purchase from the state as swamp land obtained by Duncan Beaumont in the '70s and as- signed to Haggin. The settlers claimed that when the United States deeded the swamp and overflow land in California to the state the land in dispute was unsurveyed and was, as a matter of fact, a part of the bottom of a navigable lake and so was not conveyed by the grant to the state and was not subject to sale by the state. The contest was soon carried into the courts, but while it was pending there men sent out under the command of Count Von Petersdorf tore down a number of the settlers' houses and threw them off the land. The settlers rallied, replaced their houses and again were driven off. There seems to have been no bloodshed, but both parties to the contest were armed, and arrests were frequent. There was quite a furore over the affair, but the proceedings of the justice court before which the combatants were brought were not of a character to promote solemnity. One day a company of settlers, all of whom were or had been fully armed, would be brought into court and duly charged with disturbing the peace by loud, boisterous and tumultuous language, fighting or offering to fight and exhibiting fire arms with the threat then and there to do bodily harm to certain other persons then and there present, all of which was contrary to the peace and dignity of the people of the state of California, etc. The settlers would then be admitted to bail in certain generous sums and released on their own recognizance. The next day Von Petersdorf and a dozen or so of his men would be haled before the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 117 court on a similar charge and released in the same manner. Altogether a sufficient total of bail bonds was named by Justice Tox to have bought all the land in dispute several times over. Eventually W. S. Tevis and H. A. Jastro took a hand in the matter, met the settlers and effected a compromise in which the Land Company got the land but the settlers were reimbursed for their improvements and expenditures. The Jastro Administration Not very long after that date H. A. Jastro became the general manager of the Land Company and inaugurated a new policy in the handling of the affairs of the concern. Under Carr's administration nearly all the money handled in the Haggin and Carr offices went out. Carr was buying land all the time, and building canals or making other improvements. Fergusson, of course, took in large aggregates of cash, but in another sense his adminis- tration was an extravagant one, for the colonization scheme consumed a large sum and was not a success, and the ranches paid little if any more under Fergusson than under Carr. Jastro put the business on a paying basi-s. Enterprises that did not yield a balance on the right side of the ledger were discouraged, and a minimum amount of money was spent on improvements that did not add to the immediate revenue producing power of the property. Jastro's policy and its revenue producing result probably have prevented further efforts to sell the Kern County Land Company holdings to the present time. At least there have been no more colonization projects on the part of the Land Company, although the company has sold three consid- erable tracts for colonization— the Wasco and Mountain View colonies, which were handled by the California Home Extension Association, and the Lerdo tract which is to be colonized by the Lerdo Land & Water Company. CHAPTER Xni Important Events of a Decade, 1890-1900 The desert gold mines of Goler were first worked in the spring of 1893, and m December of that year a newspaper correspondent writing from Kane springs states that approximately $50,000 had been taken out by the thousand or more men who had been there. Four-fifths of this amount was found by less than a dozen men. and the bulk of the remaining fifth was taken out by a small fraction of the nine hundred and eighty-eight others. Coming from Bakersfield or Los Angeles the first camp in the Goler district was at Red Rock caiion, in a side gulch of which were developed the richest placer diggings in the state. At the time of the letter eight men were taking out $1000 a week from the Bell claim in this gulch. Over the ridge in another draw Sullivan & Black were doing about as well. At Goler. fifteen miles east of Red Rock, a few had struck it rich, others were doing fairly well, and many were obliged to live on the money they had brought with them. Bonanza gulch placers were yielding thirty cents to the pan from the bed rock. Twelve miles east of Goler at Summit, the Van Sykes had struck it rich. That the desert mines had been prospected bv the first of the California gold seekers was shown by the discovery in 1894 by W. J. Langdon of a 118 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY location notice posted by Hiram J-ohnson bearing date of 1853. On a rock near by Langdon also found a pair of rusty gold scales, and by an old fire place, buried under three feet of drifting sands, the same prospector found a- black whiskey bottle with gold dust in it to the value of $6.20. The desert placers were exceedingly rich on the surface, but the great lack of water, not only for washing but even for drinking, held back devel-- opment until the remainder of the state was long overrun by the placer miner and his burro. In 1894 Langdon, Ben Alagee of Selma, a man by name of Cummings from Los Angeles, and F. AI. Mooers, formerly a newspaper man of New York, panned the first gold in the Randsburg district, then unnamed. Even then, although the sands were found to be exceedingly rich, the dif- ficulties of desert mining discouraged the majority of the party from con- tinuing. They all drifted away except Alooers who went back to the Summit mines for a while, worked out his placers there, and then, in partnership with John Singleton and C. A. Burcham, went back to the Rand district and began dry wasliing in a gulch. They made about $5 per day each here, and later struck a better placer on the top of the hill. Discovery of the Yellow Aster One night when they had been away from camp and were coming home late they lost their way and made their bed in a gulch by chance. They slept late, and when Alooers opened his eyes in the morning the sun was glistening on the little particles of free gold in the ledge about his head. Burcham got his hammer, struck the rock of the projecting vein, and laid bare before the dazzled eyes of the three prospectors the treasure of the Yellow Aster. This was in the fall of 1895. Not for more than a year later was the wealth of the great mine demonstrated. For a long time its owners were content to take out its riches in a modest way. They had no money to begin with, and large development on the desert meant the investment of large sums. Ore for the first millings was hauled to Garlock, a distance of ten miles. Water for all purposes was hauled back from the same place and retailed for ten cents a gallon or three dollars per barrel. Later water was piped from Goler and from Squaw springs on Squaw mountain. With the Yellow Aster, Alooers, Burcham and Singleton located the Rand. Olympus and Trilby claims, combining them under the name of Yellow Aster mine. In 1898 they built a thirty-stamp mill, and afterward increased it to one hundred stamps. The mine is now reckoned as the largest gold mine in the state. The ore is quarried out in glory holes, run down to the mill in cars and handled in everv way on a wholesale scale. Other Famous Desert Mines Other famous mines of the Rand district include the Kinyon, named for its owner, who came to the desert without a dollar, and took out $40,000 with a windlass the first year from a little shallow shaft a short distance from the Yellow Aster. Silas Drouillard was grubstaked by the sheriff and his deputies in Bakersfield and went to Randsburg in search of the desert's treasure. The desert lured him across the sands until he dropped in ex- haustion beside a rock. As a parting blow in the face of fate he struck the rock with his hammer and broke off a chunk that even in the dazzling days of the first Randsburg boom was worthy a place on a shelf in a saloon where the hungry-eyed prospectors could look and marvel between their libations HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 119 to the fickle Fortune of the desert. The Wedge, Hammond's Winnie, and the Ramey brothers' Butte were among the strikes that gave the camp its first fame. The Town of Randsburg The town started first on the Yellow Aster property where Cuffle had a store and Airs. Freeman ran a boarding house. In 1895 Abram Staley and his son Homer opened a blacksmith shop on the flat, the first wooden build- ing on the present townsite. Charles Keehn opened the first store in the town proper; Montgomery Brothers started a saloon, John Crawford started another, and after that the arrivals were too rapid and numerous to be remem- bered. During the rush of 1896 Randsburg had its first experience of the dis- order that belongs by tradition to new mining camps. "The Dirty Dozen," as the members of a gang of dry washers from an older camp chose to call themselves, conceived the pleasant pastime of visiting Randsburg of even- ings, making a rough house in the different saloons and finally promenading the streets, firing their revolvers. As most of the houses in the camp had only canvas walls and as the members of the Dirty Dozen w^ere careless in their aim there was a general protest which resulted in a mass meeting on the porch of the Clifif house (hotel) and the organization of the Citizens' committee. At first it was planned to make it a vigilante organization, but soberer discussion resulted in the agreement that the disorders were not grave enough for such means of repression, and "Ironsides" Raines was hired to act as town marshal at a salary of $100 per month. A number of citizens were made deputy constables without pay. Personal notice was served on all the known members of the Dirty Dozen that their visits could be dispensed with, and a notice in the following words was posted in the streets : The Citizens of Randsburg have organized to enforce the laws. Ten Deputy Constables have been appointed, and any riotous and threat- ening conduct will be punished, by order of the CITIZENS' COMMITTEE There was no further disorder. At least there was no further general menace to life or limb, although for some time afterward the diversions of the miners that assembled in the desert camp differed somewhat from those of a Sunday-school picnic. At the present time there is more genuine, profitable mining going on in the Randsburg district than at any other time since the camp was estab- lished. All the mines named heretofore are worked with profit, and in addi- tion the King Solomon, Sunshine and Merced are yielding good returns to their owners. Mooers of the Yellow Aster is dead, but his heirs and his original partners, Burcham and Singleton, still own the mine and are taking out about 600 tons of $5 ore per day. Discovery of Tungsten Mines About ten years ago, during the progress of a strike of union miners at the Yellow Aster, Charles Taylor, one of the strikers, and Tom McCarthy went prospecting and discovered the afterward famous tungsten mines of Randsburg district. It soon developed that the tungsten deposits were among the largest and most accessible in the world, and the quality was excep- 120 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tionally good. Somewhere between two million and three million dollars worth of the mineral have been taken out, and the mines are but fairly opened up. The Mojave mines were discovered about the time of the first Rands- burg rush or a few months later. The Queen Esther, Carmel, Golden Treas- ure and other mines of Mojave are celebrated producers, but the district never attained the fame that was accorded to Randsburg. The Amalie District Among the more important of the recent mining operations in the county are those about Amalie, a short distance above Caliente on the north- ern side of the Tehachapi pass. The Amalie mines carry both silver and gold, and with depth the ledges improve greatly. The Gold Peak, Amalie and other less celebrated mines of that vicinity have passed the stage of experiment and are reckoned as certain producers in the hands of competent management. Mining men familiar with the district prophesy that the future will see Amalie recognized as one of the most important mining sections of the state. Other Important Events Other matters that lend a special interest to the busy and eventful period in Kern county's history about the years of 1890 to 1900 include the building of the electric light, gas and street railway systems of Bakersfield, the begin- ning of the utilization of the waters of Kern river for the development of electric power, discovery and development of the desert mines, the local phases of the great railroad strike of 1894, the visit of the Oakland contingent of Coxey's army, the second incorporation of Bakersfield and the issuance of the celebrated Shaw decree, by which the \terms of the Miller-Haggin agree- ment were given a semblance, at least, of judicial authority. Gas and Electric Plants The first gas plant was built and operated by L. P. St. Clair, Sr., and O. O. Mattson about the first part of 1889. Later H. A. Blodget and H. A. Jastro bought out Mattson's interest. The first plant was a crude afTair comprising eight retorts, and the gas was manufactured from gasoline. In summer it was too rich, and in winter it was too thin for perfectly satis- factory use. During the summer of 1889, it is recalled, a big bellows was used to pump air into the holders to reduce the quality of the gas and pre- vent its smoking by reason of an excess of carbon. In the fall of 1889 the plant was changed to use coal instead of gasoline. The use of crude oil in the manufacture of gas was begun in 1896 and 1897, and continued to the fall of 1911, when natural gas from the great gas wells of the Standard Oil Company in the Buena Vista hills was turned into the mains. It was not long after the gas plant was established that electric lighting began to gain greatly in popularity, and outside parties visited Bakersfield with a view to obtaining a franchise for an electric lighting system. They failed to get the franchise, but their visit spurred the local lighting com- pany into action, and electricity was added to gas as a means of illumina- tion in the city. In the spring of 1890 a 40-light dynamo was installed and a wood-burning steam engine was utilized to furnish power. The limita- tions of wood-generated steam and the advantages of water power in the generation of electricity were speedily recognized, and for a time a plan for using water power from the mill ditch was entertained. The fact that HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 121 it is necessary to dry out the ditch occasionally for cleaning and repairs stood in the way of this plan, and the idea of maintaining a steam auxiliary plant for use when the ditch was out of commission did not appeal to the electric company. It was the natural thing to turn to Kern river cafion as a source of power, and the plans for the first power plant built there were drawn by Blodget, Jastro, W. S. Tevis, S. W. Fergusson and C. N. Beale. The first intention was to interest eastern capital in the enterprise, but when it was mentioned to Lloyd Tevis he said that he would take it up himself, and did so. Work was begun December 13, 1894, building the flume along the w'all of the caiion to carry the water from the intake up the cafion to the water wheel at the canon's mouth where the present power house is located. The wooden flume first used to convey the water was later replaced by a tunnel driven in the rock of the canon wall. First Street Railway The first street railway system was established about the same time as the gas plant. John M. Keith and H. A. Blodget were the originators of the project, and they called in H. H. Fish, who was operating a line of hacks and omnibuses and whose co-operation instead of competition was desirable. Fish went into the street car plan and Keith withdrew. The first equipment of rolling stock consisted of little horse cars, and one of the diversions of- fered the passengers was to help put the cars back on the track once in a while when the unaccustomed street car nags would get scared at some- thing and bolt off at a tangent from the rails. With the building of the power plant in the canon (finished in 1897) the horse car system was supplanted by electric cars and C. N. Beale joined with Fish and Blodget in the enterprise. Six or eight years later the Power, Transit & Light Company was organized as a subsidiary corporation of the Kern County Land Company, and the street car, gas and electric light- ing systems were taken over by it. In 1911 the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation bought out the Power, Transit & Light Company. Meantime, in 1897, the Electric Water Company, also a Land Company corporation, bought the Scribner Water Works and extended the system to meet the growing needs of the city. The First Levee Canal What is known as the levee canal, built a little distance south of Kern river from the Kern Island canal near Panorama heights southwest to the Stine canal, was constructed in the summer of 1890. On May 8th a sub- scription paper was circulated for the purpose of raising money to buy land for a right of way and for building the levee, and the following subscrip- tions were secured: W. B. Carr, $500; Celsus Brower, L. S. Rogers, H. C. Park, H. A. Jastro, H. A. Blodget, W. H. Scribner, J. Neiderauer, Dinkel- spiel Brothers, Joseph Weringer, Solomon Jewett, Kern Valley Bank, A. C. Maude and J. E. Bailey, each $100; Paul Galtes, A. Weill and Hirshfeld and Brodek, each $150; C. L. Connor and Alex Mills (not the ancient marshal), each $50. The right of way, however, was purchased by the county from Haggin & Carr for $4500, the deed being made on July 15, 1890. The levee canal was built along the right of way, and the dirt was thrown mostly on the side of the ditch next to the river so as to make an embankment sufficient 122 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to restrain any ordinary high water. This levee broke toward the north end at the time of the flood of 1893, and since then has been strengthened, a little dirt and sand being added whenever the river became threateningly High- Ever since the first levee was built periodic movements have been started looking to the construction of an embankment that would permanently dis- pose of all possibility of the river getting into the town, but with the sub- sidence of the freshets the interest in the plans wane and only the inci- dental repairs and improvements mentioned have been made. The latest project for levee building includes the construction of a boulevard along the top of the proposed embankment, connecting with Oak street on the west and mounting Panorama heights on the east and connecting thence by Baker street and Truxtun avenue with the southern end of Oak street and forming a complete driveway around the northern half of the city. This project has been lingering in statu quo for several months past, but has not been definitely abandoned. The Great Railway Strike The great strike of the American Railway Union which began Thursday, June 28, 1894, afifected Bakersfield and Kern about as it affected any other railroad division point. There was much excitement during the first few days of the tie-up, and on July 12th, two hundred men met at Reich opera house, which stood just across Jap alley from Weill's store, and organized the Citizens' committee of safety. S. W. Wible acted as chairman, and after the adoption of resolutions and a prayer by Rev. Henry, fifty men signed the roll as volunteer home guards, took the oath to support the con- stitution and pledged themselves to guard duty in case Company G of the National Guard were ordered away from town and their services were required. Officers were elected as follows: captain, F. S. Rice; lieutenants, G- K. Ober and C. A. Maul; sergeants, John O. IMiller, G. L. Dillman, C. Von Petersdorf, Leo F. Winchell and H. C. Park; corporals, H. F. Condjct. W. Lowell, A. W. Storms and R. M. Walker. The committee of safety, however, was never called upon for active duty. Before the guards were organized the railroad men had established a patrol of their own under the informal but recognized leadership of Parker Barrett (then a conductor, but later one of the owners of the world-famous Lakeview oil gusher), and generally the best of order prevailed among the strikers. Following the meeting at Reich opera house the A. R. U. repre- sentatives called a mass meeting at Athletic park, at the southeast corner of Nineteenth street and LInion avenue, where about four hundred people were addressed by three or four speakers and where long resolutions were adopted. Bakersfield did not go hungry because of the strike, but a large part of it went thirsty or drank warm beverages. Most of the ice used in the city was shipped here from Truckee in those days, and except in the case of E. Downing's candy store the supplies were all small when the tie-up of the railroad began. When the saloons were out of ice they were, nearly out of business, for few people would drink warm l^eer in July. Downing had 3000 pounds of ice when the strike began, and for a time his soda water fountain was the most popular place in Bakersfield. Finally the stock of ice was reduced to 700 pounds, and Downing hung the closed sign on the front of the fountain. "The rest of it is for the sick folks," he explained, and after HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 123 that anyone who could show that he was sick got ice from Downing for nothing. Nobody else could get it at all. Coxey's Army Comes and Goes On June 7, 1894, what was known as the Oakland contingent of Coxey's Industrial Army arrived in Bakersfield on its way to Washington to join in the celebrated protest which ended in the "army" being ordered off the White House grass. For a time the supervisors entertained the army at the Reich opera house and later they were, kept in a stockade built back of the jail. Even the latter accommodations were expensive to maintain, however, and the supervisors held a conference with Division Superintendent Burk- halter of the Southern Pacific with the result that a special train consisting in large part of stock cars was ordered, and the whole army was loaded aboard and headed for the south. Chairman Jastro of the supervisors and some of the railroad officials accompanied the army to Mojave, where they were landed in the midst of a blinding sandstorm. The army would have eaten Mojave out of house and home in a day's time, and to leave it there was out of the question. So Jastro and the Southern Pacific men called the leaders into consultation. "What you people want," they put it, "is to get east as quickly as possible. Now the Santa Fe is the shortest and fastest line from this coast (think of the S. P. men saying that) and what you want to do is just to confiscate the first Santa Fe train that comes along and take yourselves east with it." It looked like a good plan to the army officers, and they proceeded to carry it out. Then a telegram was sent to Los Angeles, and a light engine loaded with United States deputy marshals ran out, headed off the stolen Santa Fe train at Barstow and carried the whole army back to Los Angeles under arrest, for the Santa Fe was in the hands of a receiver at the time and so under government authority. .; ' Twin To'wns Incorporate With all these movements for the progress and improvement of Bakers- field under way the re-incorporation of the town was inevitable. Kern, the lesser of the twin towns, not half so populous as Bakersfield, had been incor- porated. But a large element of the voters in Bakersfield opposed incor- poration, and when, in December, 1896, the question was submitted after a long period of agitation, it was voted down by 268 to 197. In January, 1898, a second election was held, and the proposition won by 387 to 146. The vote by precincts was as follows : Number 1 — For, 121 ; against, 30. Number 2 — For, 74; against, 15. Number 3 — For, 43 ; against, 44. Number 4 — For, 70; against, 39. ^ Number 5 — For, 79; against, 18. The first officers elected were: Trustees, Paul Galtes, L. P. St. Clair, Sr., H. H. Fish, W. R. Macmurdo, J. Walters ; board of education, J. A. Baker, Celsus Brower, O. D. Fish, F. S. Rice, E. P. Davis ; assessor, H. F. Condict; marshal, T. A. Baker; treasurer, O. O. Mattson ; attorney, S. N.- Reed ; clerk, A. T. Lightner. Bakersfield was incorporated as a city of the fifth class, taking the charter provided by state law for such cities, and the same charter is in effect still, although Bakersfield and Kern have since been consolidated and the com- 124 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY bined population is far in excess of the number required for a city of the fourth class. Company G Responds to Duty On May 8, 1898, Bakersfield proudly dispatched its first company of citi- zen soldiery to the defense of the state. Company G, National Guard, was ordered to San Francisco to do garrison duty at San Francisco during the progress of the Spanish-American war, and although the men left the armory at 5 a. m. they were greeted at the depot by a large body of citizens who gave them a farewell breakfast and presented them with a handsome silk flag on behalf of those who stayed at home. T. W. Lockhart made the speech of presentation. Capt. W. H. Cook made an address in response. The roster of the company was as follows : Captain, W. H. Cook; second lieutenant. Lucien Beer; first sergeant, B. A. Hayden ; second sergeant, H. C. Lechner ; third sergeant, K. C. Mastel- ler; fourth sergeant, C. E. Harding; corporals, H. J. Haley, C. L. Dunn, J. G. Broom, H. F. Stanley, C. R. Blodget, F. J. Downing and William Reddy; privates, L. C. Moon (musician), A. H. Abram, I. Barnes, John Barnes, W. Barnes, W. Barnhart, E. H. Bartley, J. L. Benoit, F. F. Blackington, H. H. Borem, D. E. Brewer, A. Brundy, A. M. Cammack, E. H. Chandler, A. S. Colton, E. R. Crane, A. S. Crites, G. S. Crites, F. W. Crocker, L. Cun- ningham, J. R. Daly, T. E. Davis, E. Dixon, R. Dinwiddle, R. Durnal, A. R. Elder, D. Fiedler, G. N. Frazier, R. Garner, W. G. Garrison, C. Colby, F. Hamilton, W. C. Hewitt, E. A. Hicks, F. M. Hicks, W. F. Hunt, S. A. Ice, G. H. Ingles, C. W. Kirk, Bert Kunkelman, O. P. Lindgren, E. P. Munsey, F. N. Mills, H. R. McKenzie, W. Olds, C. H. Ortte, J. H. Paulke, J. Pennington, W. H. Powers, Lynn Roberts, E. J. Ruddy, J. Savage, J. Timson, I. W. Tucker, J. B. Ware, C. W. West, B. F. Whittom, J. C. Ashby, C. W. Bollinger, E. Brodley, A. R. ShurtlefT, W. Lakin, C. Man- ley, F. J. Kincaid, J. Manning. News Notes, 1895 to 1900 August 29, 1895— J. B. Haggin had deeded to W. B. Carr all his right, title and interest in 14,280 acres of swamp land in Kings county. Letters from farmers and others published in the newspapers suggest general farming as a solution of the troubles of the Rosedale colonists. Es- pecially the farmers are urged to raise hogs. October 10, 1895 — The Kern River Power Company is surveying for its power generating plant on Kern river and for an electric transmission line to Los Angeles. November 14, 1895 — Mooers, Burcham and Singleton win in a suit attack- ing their title to the Yellow Aster mine. December, 1895 — W. S. Tevis settles with homesteaders on the Haggin swamp lands near Buena Vista, giving them a year's rent free and paying them for the improvements on the land. Same date — Rights of way are being secured for the Valley railroad. June 11, 1896 — The new court house is finished. July 16, 1896 — An unsuccessful attempt is made to crack the vault in the county treasurer's ofifice. July, 1896 — Silas Drouillard finds the St. Elmo mine in the Randsburg district and names it for one of his partners, Elmo Pyle. September 25, 1896 — The contract is let for the Power, Transit & Light Company's substation, and the machinery is ordered from Schenectady. F, r W > u H M HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 125 January 28, 1897 — The business of the Bakersfield post office for the past year amounted to $74,000. December, 1896 — The Bakersfield Creamery is established. April 4, 1897 — The electric current is turned on from the power plant in the caiion, and the Kern County Land Company is preparing to use the elec- tricity for pumping water at Stockdale, to run a cold storage plant at Bellevue, and to drive the machinery in its shops in Bakersfield. May 10, 1897 — W. B. Carr is found dead in his room in San Francisco from asphixiation. August, 1897 — The Kern County Land Company is constructing a slaughter house and meat-packing establishment at Bellevue. April, 1897 — The Bakersfield Labor Exchange is organized. September 23, 1897 — The Land Company is laying pipes for a new water system in Bakersfield. October 28, 1897 — S. C. Smith has secured the last deed for the right of way for the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley railroad. December, 1897 — H. E. Huntington says that the Southern Pacific is willing to build a loop into Bakersfield and build a depot nearer the business section. 148 citizens signed a petition asking W. S. Tevis to use his influence to prevent the proposed loop and depot from being built. May 12. 1898 — Company G of the National Guard goes to San Francisco lor duty in the Spanish American war. May 27, 1898 — The arrival of the Valley railroad is celebrated in Bakers- field with a parade, floats, wild west show, speeches and fireworks. July 14. 1898 — Fire, starting in the California theater, lays waste the larger part of the business section of Kern city. November, 1899 — The paving of the streets in the business section of the city is in progress. During October, 1899, 323 oil land locations were recorded in the county. Bakersfield is soon to have free mail delivery. Levee agitation is active. W. S. Tevis and others make tender of sites for city parks, but all of them are rejected for one reason or another. January 12, 1900 — The corner stone of the Woman's Club Hall is laid. January, 1900 — Oil land locators begin to have trouble with scrippers. February, 1900 — The electric road between Bakersfield and Kern is soon to be started. March, 1900 — The Southern Pacific has begun the use of oil as fuel in its engines. March 16, 1900— Solomon Jewett, H. A. Blodget, L. P. St. Clair, C. N. Beal and F. T. Whorfif incorporate the Sunset Railroad Company to build a road to the Sunset oil fields where Jewett & Blodget are largely interested in development work. ]\Iarch 26, 1900 — Truxtun Beale presents to the city of Bakersfield a deed to the Beale Memorial public library. 126 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY CHAPTER XIV Development of Oil Fields Ask the first man you meet on the streets of Bakersfield what gave the town its great boost forward about the year 1900, and he is very likely to answer that it was the discovery of the oil fields. Perhaps he will be more specific and say the discovery of the Kern river oil field. In either case, how- ever, he will be very far from the actual, historic truth as to the date of these discoveries. Titus Fey Cronise's "The Natural Wealth of California," pub- lished in 1868 by Bancroft & Company at San Francisco, states that from Fort Tejon to Kern river, a distance of forty miles and extending out a space of ten miles from the Coast range, the country is covered with salt marshes, brine and petroleum springs. Petroleum and asphalt deposits, the same authority continues, extend from San Emidio canon to Buena Vista lake (so named by the Spaniards in 1806) the main deposit being eighteen miles southeast of the lake. At that place there was a spring of maltha covering an acre in extent, the center of which was a viscid pool, agitated by gas, and the outer edge of which was hardened into stony asphalt, full of the bones of beasts. Works erected here, Cronise says, produced in 1864 several thousand barrels of good oil, which was shipped to San Francisco. The great cost of transportation prevented the enterprise from being a financial success. About the same date R. M. Gilbert took a barrel of thick, tarry oil out of an oil spring on the north bank of Kern river at the lower edge of the present Kern river field and hauled it to Solomon Jewett's sheep ranch a few miles up the river to mark the sheep with. On April 23. 1872, J. O. Lovejoy deeded to the Buena Vista Petroleum Company all his right, title and interest in a certificate of purchase dated April 3, 1872, for 640 acres in the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section nineteen ; the west half and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, the east half and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty, and the northeast quarter of sec- tion twenty-nine, all in township thirty, south of range twenty-two. This comprised the heart of the old McKittrick field, where many of the present producing wells are located, and the exact description of the land is given to show that even in those days the oil men had learned to "lay the ruler diagon- ally across the sections from northwest to southeast" when they studied their maps. This is sufficient to show that thirty or thirty-five years before the first big oil boom in Kern county oil had been discovered in all the great fields of the present day except Midwa}' and Lost Hills. Moreover, six years before the oil boom in 1899, when the Kern river field was uncovered and oil began to be the principal subject of interest in Kern county, the quiet, laborious and not too profitable development of the oil and asphalt industry at McKit- trick and Sunset had reached such a stage that the McKittrick railroad had been built and the Sunset road was projected. The big oil boom was not, ac- cordingly, so much a boom of discovery as a boom due to the ripening of mar- ket conditions and the revival of industrial enterprise and expansion after the financial depression of 1893-4. Similarly all the later booms have depended as HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 127 much on outside conditions as on the bringing- in of wells in new territory. Whenever the market has demanded more oil and the price offered has been tempting the oil industry of Kern county has risen to the emergency, and there is now every reason to believe that future renewals of the same' con- ditions will stimulate the industry to renewed activity until the county's oil production reaches several times its present great aggregate. Early Development at McKittrick Aside from the unprofitable efforts of the war-time oil prospectors already referred to, the first development of the Kern county oil deposit was in the early 70s when a company of Italians from Mariposa county built a crude refinery at McKittrick, sunk shafts into the beds of asphaltum and dug some shallow wells in search of oil. It was the natural thing that development should begin at this place, for near the present site of the town of McKittrick violent upheavals of the earth in ages past had rent and torn the strata leaving a great body of oil sand exposed. From this oil sand the crude petroleum qozed and flowed gently over the broken edge of the hill, thickening as the sun and air ex- tracted the lighter elements and finally forming great masses oi natural as- phalt, pure and clean except for the sand and dust that the winds carried into it. At no other place in the county were the oil sands so largely exposed, and nowhere else were the surface evidences of petroleum so conspicuous and extensive. It was only a matter of quarrying to obtain the asphalt in great quantities, and the early operators sought only enough oil to serve as a flux for the heavier product that Nature had prepared in her own laboratory. At one place the Italians drove a tunnel eighty feet into a mass of asphalt that had flow^ed over the edge of a little caiion, but at that time there was no railroad in the valley, and it was altogether out of the question to reach a profitable market. Following the building of the Southern Pacific and the beginning of new- enterprises in Kern county with the capital of Livermore & Redington and J. B. Haggin, the Columbian Oil Company was organized by Solomon Jewett, F. R. Fillebrown, Dr. George F. Thornton, J. Q. Parke, Alfonse and Jacob \\'eill and others and a well was started on section 13, 30-21, on what is now known as the Del Monte property. Parke, who was a civil engineer, had some experience in the Pennsylvania oil fields, and was the prime mover in the enterprise of the Columbian. The company drilled to a depth of 800 feet, but by that time the gas pressure had become so strong that the drillers were unable to go deeper with the imperfect machinery then obtainable. The derrick was moved to section 24, and a contract made for a hole 1000 feet deep. The result was a clean, dry hole with neither gas nor oil nor any other valuable product. Operators Move to Sunset The Columbian abandoned the field, and in 1890 the derrick was moved to Sunset, where Jewett & Blodget had begun operations. The first activity at Sunset began in 1889, when Solomon Jewett, H. A. Blodget, John Ham- bleton, Judge J. O. Lovejoy, J. H. Woody, William F. W^oods "and others located 2000 acres of land along the edge of the hills northwest and southeast of Old Sunset, organized the Sunset Oil Company, and started a well on sec- 128 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tion 2, 11-24, about half a mile west of where the fine producing wells of the Adeline Extension were subsequently brought in. This first well was drilled by William DeWitt of Tulare, and was located, as was the case of nearly all the earlier wells, in a bed of brea, just at the point where the oil sands outcropped. DeWitt got a strong flow of sulphur water at 300 feet and abandoned the well. Had he moved his derrick a little farther to the east he would have developed an oil well at a very shallow depth, but instead he found another bed of brea on section 21, 11-23, about five miles southeast of his first location, and started drilling there. At a depth of 100 feet the drill went into a very heavy oil that rose in the casing and oozed over the top. Meantime Jewett & Blodget and Charles Bernard of Ventura county se- cured a lease on the Sunset Oil Company's 2000 acres of land, and Bernard, who had gained some experience in the Ventura oil fields, took over the De- Witt outfit and began a new well close to the second hole which was drilled by the latter on section 21. By the time Bernard had gone down 300 feet he had three strings of tools in the well, and decided that it was cheaper to move than to fish them out. He took his derrick to section 13, 11-24, drilled down 300 feet, got a flowing sulphur water well, and sold his interest in the lease to Jewett & Blodget. Blodget then took charge of the development of the Sunset field, bought the rig of the Columbian Oil Company at McKittrick, and drilled a number of small wells along the edge of the outcroppings near Old Sunset. None of the wells yielded much oil, but the total output was sufficient to supply the flux for making asphalt, and in 1891 the Jewett & Blodget refinery was established at Old Sunset. The natural asphalt was quarried as at Mc- Kittrick and melted in open kettles with a small amount of crude oil as a flux. Then the hot asphalt was drawn off into wooden boxes, and the settlings of dirt and sand were shovelled out of the kettles ready for another batch. The asphalt was hauled to Bakersfield by teams of sixteen to twenty-four horses and shipped east. McKittrick Railroad Built The expense of this method of transportation was so great that Jewett & Blodget through H. F. Williams and A. N. Towne began negotiations with the Southern Pacific for a railroad to Sunset and one to McKittrick, where Jewett & Blodget were operating also to some extent. The result was an agreement in 1892 by which the railroad undertook to build a road to Mc- Kittrick within two years, and another to Sunset within five years, Jewett & Blodget to secure the right of way and guarantee sufficient business to pay the operating expenses. As a part of the agreement, also, the Standard As- phalt Company was organized with Jewett & Blodget and the railroad com- pany as equal partners. Later the agreement as to the building of the roads was amended by the Southern Pacific beginning the construction of the Mc- Kittrick branch at once and the Sunset branch construction being postponed indefinitely. The AIcKittrick road was completed in 1893, just in time for the financial panic to offset by reduced demand for asphalt the advantage of better transportation facilities. The operations of the Standard Asphalt Company did not pay, and the partnership between Jewett & Blodget and the railroad was dissolved, Jewett & Blodget going back to Sunset and the railroad takiner the McKittrick end of the business. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 129 Jewett & Blodget kept plodding- away in the Sunset field, bringing in small, shallow wells near the outcroppings, and in 1895 they had a production that justified them putting in stills for the manufacture of asphalt. These operations comprised the whole of the oil business in Kern county until 1898, when McWhorter, Doheny and others of the advance guard of the first rush of oil men began to explore the west side. In 1899 the oil excitement had spread from the south and from Coalinga. There was much talk of the Mc- Kittrick field and many visitors and prospectors were arriving there from all parts of the state. One of the men who invested in AIcKittrick was Judson F. Elwood of Fresno, who bought a few shares in one of the early companies and went to see what the property looked like. On his way home he stopped to visit his brother, James Munroe Elwood, who was keeping a small wood yard in Bakersfield. Judson told his brother about his McKittrick oil venture, and remarked that the country north of Kern river looked much as it did at AIcKittrick. James Elwood's interest was further excited by overhearing two men discussing the story of the oil spring from which Gilbert took the tar to mark Jewett's sheep in the '60s. He made inquiries of Thomas A. Means, who owned land along the north side of the river, and Means told him that the Kern County Land Company, in excavating for a ditch years before, had uncovered oil sand and that gas had been seen bubbling up in the waters of the river. The exposed oil sand had long been recovered, however, and the gas was seen no more. Means for a long time past had been seeking to in- terest someone in the oil prospects on the north side of the river, and had shown E. L. Doheny and W. S. Tevis over the land without result. Accord- ingly he was only too glad to give James Elwood a favorable lease, and Elwood wrote to his father, Jonathan Elwood, who was living in Fresno county and who was an old prospector, to come and help him find the Kern river oil. Discovery of the Kern River Field In a letter to the California Oil World published August 24, 1911, Jon- athan Elwood tells the story of the discovery in these words : "James Munroe Elwood and I, Jonathan Elwood, alone and without the assistance of anyone, discovered oil on the north bank of Kern river, seven miles northeast of Bakersfield on Thomas A. Means' farm. This was in May, 1899. We made the discovery with a hand auger, under the edge of a clifif, close to the river. Our auger consisted of a piece of thin steel about four inches wide and twisted so as to bore a hole about three inches in diameter. "We had a short piece of one-half inch iron rod, making the bit and rod together four feet long. A screw was cut on the end of this rod to receive a one-half inch gas pipe which we had cut in four and eight-foot lengths, so we could bore one and the other alternately and never have our auger handle more than four feet above the ground. We bored a number of holes fifteen or twenty feet deep and every time would bore into water sand that we could not keep on our auger. "We concluded that the bank must have slid dowm and that we w^ere boring where the river had once been. We then went where the bank was worn ofif by the river perpendicularlv thirty feet. We dug back into the bluff as if making a tunnel three or four feet, and set our auger on solid formation 8 130 HISTORY Ol' KERX COUNTY and in three hours we were in oil sand at a depth of only thirteen feet. We had enough auger stem with us to go on to a depth of twenty-five feet and it was looking well. "We then went up onto the blufif and commenced a shaft, and at the depth of forty-three feet we again struck the oil sand. We were then obliged to get timber and curb as we went down, as the oil sand was too soft to stand up. We were obliged to put in an air blast to furnish fresh air to the man below on account of the strong odor of gas. At a depth of seventy-five feet there was so much oil and gas that we concluded we had better get a steam rig. We got this and went down 343 feet. "By this time men were coming there from all over the state, locating government land and quarreling over first rights, jumping some that we had located, three or four claims deep. The shaft furnished us with oil to run our own steam rig also rigs for several of the locators. The first oil taken away was when I took four whiskey barrels of it to Kern city and shipped it to Millwood for skid grease, getting $1 a barrel net." As Mr. Elwood says, by that time people were coming to Kern county from all parts of the state, and very soon after they were coming from all parts of the world. The boom resulted in development that soon proved the land over the great Kern river oil pool, and scattered derricks north along the low hills as far as Poso creek. It extended to the Sunset and McKittrick fields, and spread a line of prospectors all across the territory between, which soon took the name of Midway. Sunset Railroad Built In March, 1900, Solomon Jewett, H. A. Blodget, L. P. St. Clair, C. N. Real and F. T. WhorlT incorporated the Sunset Railroad Company, and Deal, who formerly had been in the employ of the Santa Fe railroad, undertook to in- terest President Ripley of the Santa Fe in the Sunset branch. This he suc- ceeded in doing, and arrangements were made to float a bond issue of $300,- 000, guaranteed by the Santa Fe. Before the plan was carried out, however, the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific entered into an agreement to build and operate jointly all branch or feeder roads terminating at common points. This agreement and the death of C. P. Huntington, president of the Southern Pacific, delayed the building of the Sunset road until 1902. The Southern Pacific in December, 1899, began building the short branch from its main line west of the Kern river field into the lower part of the pro- ducing territory, where oil from all the leases higher up could be delivered by gravity or small pumping power to the loading racks. By these means all the producing fields of the county had rail transportation by the latter part of 1902 except Midway, which was then hardly in the producing class. Begin Building Pipe Lines In the spring of 1902, also, the Standard Oil Company began its eight-inch pipe line from the Kern river field to Point Richmond, and in October or November it was practically ready for use, thus afifording a large additional means of handling the oil. But the production of oil and the means for handling it increased much faster than did the markets. In 1902 the Kern county fields produced 9,705,703 barrels of oil. In 1903 the amount had jumped to over 18.000,000 barrels. The production of the state was nearly 14,000,- 000 barrels in 1902, and in 1903 it was over 24.000,000 barrels. The result of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 131 this tremendous increase m the supply of a commodity which the state had been getting along without only a very few years before could have but one consequence— a rapid and steady declme in price. In spite of the decline the impetus that the mdustry had gained from the first excitement carried it to a production of 19,600,000 barrels in Kern county in 1904. Then the prices went to complete ruin, and the Standard Oil Company built great earthen reservoirs-holding a half million to a million barrels each —and began filling them with oil at fifteen, twelve and a half, and finally at eleven and two-thirds cents per barrel. Bankruptcy stared the producers in the face. Associated Oil Company Formed With the first appearance of the Standard on the horizon of the Cali- fornia oil mdustry a number of producing companies in the Kern river and other fields joined in the organization of the Associated Oil Company the avowed object of which was protection from the aggressions of larger 'con- cerns and economy and efficiency in the marketing of its oil. The Associated early effected an alliance with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and at the time of the depression in 1904 it occupied a position of great strength as compared with the independent, unorganized producers. In fact the^Iarge factors m the oil situation in the state at that time were recognized to be the Standard, the Associated, the Union Oil Company, the Southern Pacific Rail- road and the Pacific Oil & Transportation Company. It was early in August. 1904, that the Standard announced that it would pay eleven and two-thirds cents for oil in the Kern river field. Although the Associated and Standard were commonly supposed to have a working Agree- ment by which each steered clear of competition with the other officers of the former company gave out that for the sake of accommodating the pro- ducer It would pay fifteen cents. About the same time W. S. Porter, general manager of the Associated, estimated the overproduction of oil in the state at 8.000,000 barrels per year. On August 15th the Standard, which was at that time completing storage reservoirs in the Kern river field at the rate of one half-million barrel reservoir per month, announced that it did not care to buy Kern river oil at any price. Independent Agency Organized Oil men estimated that under twenty-five cents per barrel they could not produce oil, pay expenses and set aside the sinking fund to meet the value of their investments against the time the wells went dry. The plan of shutting down the wells was generally discussed, but for many of the companies this was wholly out of the question, either because they had leases that required the operation of the property or because they had creditors who would not consent to wait for their money. On August 23d the Morning Echo of Bakersfield printed an interview with H. H. Blood, one of the best known of the early operators in the Kern river field, in which the organization of the producers was strongly urged, not for the purpose of fighting, as Blood pointed out. but for the purpose of facilitating the sale of oil and to prevent the indiscrimmate, disorganized competition by means of which the pro- ducers were constantly opposing each others' interests. Blood's suggestion formed a stable point around which the random discussion of the situation began to crystalize, and that evening, on the 132 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY initiative of W. D. Young, a meeting of oil men was called at the National Oil Supply Company's office to talk the matter over. The meeting was organ- ized by the election of W. S. Morton as chairman and W. D. Young as sec- retary, and the secretary was instructed to send out invitations to the inde- pendent producers of the state asking them to meet in Bakersfield on Sep- tember 1st for the purpose of forming a permanent organization. On the date named representatives of forty-four companies met at the Southern hotel parlor, elected Timothy Spellacy chairman and W. D. Young secretary and appointed a committee to name a committee of five on organization. At that meeting it was stated that between 9,000,000 and 10,000,000 barrels of oil were stored in the Kern river field, mostly in the reservoirs of the Standard. The next day, however, the committee on organization decided that the job was too big for it, and another meeting was called for Sep- tember Sth to name a committee of ten to draft a plan for the new concern. This committee, duly appointed and consisting of T. Spellacy, T. Earley, AI. V. McQuigg, W. B. Robb, A. H. Liscomb, C. H. Ritchie, W. W. Steven- son, F. W. McNear, I. E. Segur and H. U. Maxfield, met on September 10th, with all members present, and spent the whole day and until 10 o'clock at night in deliberating over the task. A further meeting was held next day, and lawyers were called in counsel, among them being George W. Lane, who remained with the organization as its attorney until the present day. The result of all these serious and extended conferences was the formal organization of the Independent Oil Producers' Agency on November 3, 1904. On that date incorporation papers were filed in Sacramento having first been filed in Kern county, and the following officers were elected: President, M. V. McQuigg; first vice president, Timothy Spellacy; second vice president, F. F. Weed ; secretary, A. H. Liscomb ; treasurer, W. B. Robb; auditing committee, W. H. Hill, T. Turner and J. Benson Wrenn. The directors for the first year, each representing a producing oil company, were Timothy Spellacy, W. B. Robb, A. H. Liscomb, W. S. Morton, C. H. Ritchie, W. W. Stevenson, L. P. St. Clair, Jr., S. P. Wible, W. H. Hill, G. J. Planz, Lesser Hirshfeld, W. A. Ferguson, E. E. Jones, C. C. Bowles, J. F. Lucey, J. B. Batz, T. O. Turner, C. A. Barlow, H. A. Jastro, J. Benson Wrenn, W. D. Young, T. V. Doub, L. E. Doan, E. Dinkelspiel, Thomas Earley, J. F. Ker, F. F. Weed, L. Woodbury, E. Denicke, G. W. Lane, A. J. Wallace, M. V. McQuigg, T. M. Gardner, F. P. Fuller and F. N. Scofield. The organization, which has had so large a part and influence in the making of subsequent history in Kern county as to require especial detail in its description, was organized on a plan conspicuous both for its strength and its democracy. Each constituent company signed a lease of its property to the Agency for a period of five years, and the Agency executed a license and agreement giving each company the right to operate its own property, the Agency, however, reserving the right to handle and dispose of all the oil produced. Each constituent company was given one share of stock in the Agency, entitling it to one vote in all stockholders' meetings. The unique feature of this arrangement was that no matter whether the Agency company owned a* thousand acres of oil land and was producing 100,000 barrels per month or had a lease on two and a half acres and was producing 1000 barrels per month it had the same voice and vote in the management of the afifairs of the Agency. It is a matter of history, also, that the Agency has been HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY I33 remarkable throughout ahiiost its entire career so far for the free publicity which has been given to its affairs and its deliberations. A great percentage of Its directors' meetings at which matters of vital importance have been discussed have been with open doors and with representatives of the press occupying seats about a table in the foreground. Whether or not it has been in any degree a result of this policy, it is a fact that the Agency, struggling at all times to increase the price of its product, has had the universal good- will of the people of the state, including the "ultimate consumer," who is usually supposed to be hostile to any movement for an advance in prices. The first plan of the Agency was not to go into the business of marketing of oil, and its first sales contract was with the Associated. After two weeks of negotiations with the executive committee of the Agency, the Associated agreed, on December 23. 1904. to buy. at eighteen cents per barrel, sixty per cent of the Agency's total output for the year, estimated at 3.500.003 barrels, and to store the other forty per cent at a reasonable rate. In view of the fact that the producers had been declaring that oil could not be produced under twenty-five cents per barrel and meet all expenses and depreciation, this contract was not hailed with absolute satisfaction. It was agreed, however, that the executive committee had done as well as it could under the circumstances, and the situation was accepted with good grace. The low price, hard as it bore on the individual producers, had two good effects on the market. It discouraged production and it encouraged consump- tion. The production in the Kern countv fields fell off from 19.600,000 barrels in 1904 to 14.487,967 barrels in 1905. In 1906 the Kern county production was almost the same, and the production throughout the state increased only 3,600.000 barrels from 1904 to 1906, inclusive. On the completion of the first year's contract with the Associated it was renewed at twenty-seven and a half cents per barrel, the half cent representing the cost of handling the oil by the Agencv. The increase in price was very gratifying to the independents, but it did not result, as we have seen, m any great immediate increase in production. The prices for the two years, however, did permit the marketers to extend the use of oil to new fields with the result that all the stock oil in the state except what was stored in the Standard's reservoirs, was well cleaned up by the spring of 1908. and L. P. St. Clair, then president of the Agency and charged with the sale of the independent oil. was able to close a contract with W. S. Porter of the Asso- ciated for two years on the basis of sixty and a half cents for the first vear and sixty-three and a half cents for the second year. The new prices gave the oil producer some of the rewards which his toil and waiting had justified, and they also excited the imaginations of oil producers, promoters and the investing public generallv with visions of wealth to be taken from the Kern county oil fields. Pumps were started everywhere. Air compressors were installed on leases in the Kern river field where the wells had fallen off in their yield or had gone to water, and in many instances their oil productivity was revived. DriHs began dropping everywhere, and Bakersfield felt the blood of a new boom quickening in her veins. In 1907 the oil production of the countv was 15,600.000 barrels. In 1908 It had jumped to 17,800.000 barrels, and in 1910 it reached the tremendous total of 39,958,000 barrels. Fortunately the increase throughout the state did not keep pace with 134 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the increase in Kern county. Elsewhere the fields were restricted or devel- opment expensive or both, and so it happened that of the entire gain in yield throughout the state in 1910, five-sixths was credited to Kern county. This great increase in output was due only in part to the activity in drilling which the higher prices for oil stimulated. Operators working farther out from the hills to the north of Alaricopa and in the Midway valley north, northwest and east of Taft began reaching the great gusher sands and brought in the remarkable procession of flowing wells that made the year 1910 and the latter part of the year 1909 famous in the history of California oil. It is literally true that many producers got a great deal more oil than they expected to get which is saying much, indeed. As early as the spring of 1909 the men close to the marketing end of the industry began to sound a note of warning against another period of over- production, but it always has been hard for producers to curb their native instinct to get more oil so long as they had money in the bank to pay the bills, and there is something about an oil gusher that fires the imagination of the most staid and commonplace of men and makes him a plunger for the time being. Two other circumstances lured the oil men on to greater and greater activity in drilling new land. The bringing in of the great flowing wells of the Midway valley and the development of great gas wells in the Buena \"ista hills in the latter part of 1909 proved that the oil measures crossed the valley from the older portions of Midway and Sunset and rose in an anticline beneath the Buena Vista hills. This meant a great extension of the practically proven territory, and not only did operators rush in to hold all the land within the newly proven strip, but they located everything far out on the Elk hills, to the north of McKittrick and to the east of Sunset and Old Sunset. Then came the oil land withdrawal of September, 1909, which was interpreted as permitting the development of claims on which rights more or less shadowy had at that time been secured, but which plainly denied the right to any subsequent location of oil claims within the territory described in this order. This made it necessary to do something toward development in order to hold down the claims already entered, and most of the locators who were able to do so either began drilling themselves or leased their claims to someone who could proceed with development for them. Others who could do neither built cabins or derricks on their land or did some other work which they could swear was in line with and necessary to actual drilling. The Boom of 1910 All these considerations and necessities brought about, on the night of December 31, 1909, a great rush of locators to the west side fields and especially to the Elk and Buena Vista hills. The rush was not heralded, but as dusk fell autos loaded with armed men and camping outfits began rolling out of Bakersfield and the west side towns, and on the morning of January 1, 1910, the desert hills were well sprinkled with tents, armed guards and stake? from which fluttered the little, white location notices. Nearly all this land had been located before in earlier booms, sometimes bv the same narties and sometimes by others, and on some of the land were many conflicting claims. This conflict of interest caused manv encounters and manv threats of violence, but for the most part actual hostilities were avoided or the rival forces lay on their arms behind their entrenchments while their principals got together and divided the land or efifected a compromise on some other basis. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 135 The whole effect of the oil boom of the spring of 1910 was to bring a rush of people to Bakersfield and the oil fields that would have done justice to any gold excitement in the history of the state. In fact the Nevada mining camps gave up a large share of their population to swell the rush to Bakers- field. All the hotel accommodations of Bakersfield, Maricopa and McKittrick were swamped. Taft, in the Midway field, sprang into existence during the year 1909 and in 1910 claimed the supremacy from Maricopa and McKittrick, both of which had been small but prosperous little towns since the first oil boom. All the lumber yards of the county were exhausted and train loads of derrick timbers were hurried here from all points of supply on the coast. The oil well supply houses were almost equally depleted. Strings of big teams made new roads radiating fanwise to the northward of Maricopa, Taft and McKittrick, and autos kept perpetual clouds of dust hanging over the roads from Bakersfield to the west side. Bakersfield experienced the greatest building boom in its history, and the new houses were filled as soon as they were ready for occupancy. Meantime important things were happening at the end of the industry where oil is turned into dollars. In June, 1909, an agreement was made be- tween the Union Oil Company, the Independent Oil Producers' Agency of Kern county and a similar agency which had been formed among the producers of Coalinga whereby the Union became a member of the agencies, putting its Kern county property into the Kern county Agency and its Coalinga properties into the Coalinga Agency, and also undertook to act as sales agent for the oil produced by both Agencies for a period of ten years beginning February 1, 1910. The agreement included also the formation of the Producers' Trans- portation Company, and bound the Agency for a period of ten years to deliver its oil to the latter for transportation at certain rates fixed in the agree- ment. The Union was allowed by the agreement a commission of ten per cent on all sales of oil made for the Agency. An arbitration committee pro- vided for in the agreement gave the representatives of the Agencies a direct voice in the making of contracts and as a matter of fact, L. P. St. Clair, pres- ident of the Kern county Agency (and later of the consolidated Agency, when the Kern county and Coalinga organizations were joined in one) has been the active selling agent so far in the life of the Union-Independent con- tract. The Producers' Transportation Company, provided for in the Union- Independent agreement, built during the winter of 1909-10 a pipe line con- necting all the Kern county fields and Coalinga with the ocean at Port Har- ford. The Associated meantime had completed its Coalinga-Port Costa pine line down the w-est side to McKittrick and Midway, the Standard had ex- tended its pine line from Kern river to Midway and McKittrick and was planning to duplicate the entire line from the west side fields through Kern river to Point Richmond. All these pipe lines and the railroads reaching every field in the valley furnished the necessary transportation facilities, and the chief problem re- mained the expansion of the market to consume the oil produced. As a means of further organization of the marketing end of the industry the Agency, not long after the signing of the Union-Independent agreement, took into its fold the Doheny companies, the American Oilfields, the American Petroleum, the Nevada Petroleum and other big factors in the state's production, and 136 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY late in 1910 an agreement was negotiated between L. P. St. Clair and the Associated Oil Company officials whereby the Associated became practically a partner with the Union-Independents in the marketing business. Briefly, the Associated-Union-Independent agreement — which was made a month to month affair, revocable by either party on notice — makes the Asso- ciated the selling agent for the Union-Independents for all the latter's unsold oil. The Union-Independents were to retain all their present business, the Associated was to retain all its present business, and so fast as the Asso- ciated took new contracts (which were subject to approval by the Union- Independents) they were to be assigned to the Union-Independents until such time as the monthly sales of the Union-Independents should equal the monthly sales of the Associated. After that the new business taken was to be divided equally. Under a separate contract the Associated agreed to purchase from the Union-Independents (which is to say the Agency) all oil which it might need outside its own production and present contracts to supply its sales contracts. The eft'ect of all these agreements was to make but two large factors in the oil industry of the coast, the Agency-Union- Associated combination and the Standard Oil Company. It is stated unofficially that an effort was made to bring the Standard into a harmonious agreement with the others to pre- serve and regulate the oil market in the interest of stability of price and production, but while the Standard's Pacific Coast representatives were dis- posed to look favorably on the proposition it was turned down quickly and decidedly when submitted to 26 Broadway for approval. Getting the Markets Organized By this organization of the marketing arrangements it has been possible to effect a very great saving in the expense of handling the oil. Competition of the small, vexatious, mutually expensive sort has been eliminated to a very great extent, and by the ability to insure prompt and unfailing deliveries of oil in large quantities it has become possible to obtain contracts from large consumers of fuel who could not be reached by individual producing com- panies or even by smaller combinations of such companies. At the present time the larger fuel consumers of the entire state are practically all using California fuel oil, and the same is true of western \\^ashington and Oregon except in the immediate vicinity of the coal mines or in the heavy timber districts. All the railroads having Pacific Coast terminals are burning oil in their engines. The northern railroads have installed but a comparatively few oil burners as yet. but the way is opened for a great extension of the market in this direction. Oil is used by the steamships plying between the Hawaiian islands and the mainland, and by coastwise vessels, and it is be- lieved to be but a matter of a short time before oil will constitute a large part, at least, of the fuel of the trans-Pacific liners. California oil has found markets in Arizona and the northern part of Mexico, and has reached down along the w'est coast of South America. Efforts to Check Overproduction But all these extensions of the field of consumption have not sufficed to utilize all the increase in the production and all during 1910 and the earlv part of 1911 the stocks in the hands of the Agencv continued to increase. Oil produced outside the Agencv companies, the Associated, and the Southern HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 137 J^acitic and Santa Fe railroads has been sold chiefly to the Standard in the last few years, and that company also has added greatly to its stocks on hand. Early in the present year the Agency adopted a resolution that in the future only so much oil should be received from the constituent companies each month as would equal in aggregate the sales of the preceding month. Companies producing more than their share of the deliveries on this basis have been obliged to store their own oil or shut down their wells to the required output. By this means a halt has been called in the increase of surplus oil. but the restriction of production is not wholly satisfactory, and the Agency is now working on the details of a plan for providing 10,090,000 barrels of storage for its excess oil and other plans which it is hoped may permit the companies to develop and pump their properties without restraint. The oil land withdrawals already referred to have served, also, as a bar- rier against over-production, although their effect will be more apparent in the future than at the present time. Very briefly the history of the oil land withdrawals follows : Oil Land Withdrawals During the summer of 1909 the news of bringing in of great flowing w^ells on land only recently taken up from the public domain under the placer mining laws began to drift east and acting in conjunction with the great popular demand for the conservation of natural resources and the retention of the title to natural resources by the government, prompted the summary withdrawal from further entry of all the public land in the San Joaquin valley which was held to be oil bearing by the government geologists. This with- drawal order was dated September 27. 1909. Strange or not. as the reader may consider it. little attention was paid to the withdrawal order except to stimulate claimants under locations made prior to the order to begin drilling or to induce others to begin drilling on their account. It was variously held that the executive department exceeded its authority in making the order without express authority from Congress, or that the order did not forbid drilling on lands which had been covered by previous locations. ]\Iost of the larger companies took leases on with- drawn land from men who held it under these previous locations, and either began drilling or indicated their intention to do so by building cabins or other improvements thereon and establishing guards or "lease herders" in charge. Smaller companies, assuming that the big fellow^s were acting under competent legal advice, did the same. The Pickett Bill The ensuing Congress passed what is known as the Pickett l)ill. which gave to the President authority to withdraw oil lands from entry, but which contained the following provision : "Provided, That the rights of any person who, at the date of withdrawal heretofore made, is a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas-bearing lands and who, at such date, is in diligent prosecution of work leading to discovery of oil or gas — shall not be afifected or impaired by such order, so long as such occupant or claimant shall continue in diligent prosecution of such work." Following the passage of the Pickett bill. President Taft made a new withdrawal order, dated July 2, 1910, which included all the lands covered by the previous order. Subsequently other withdrawals were made, estab- lishing the fact that the administration's policy was to withdraw all land in 138 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the public domain on which there was any reason to suppose that oil might be found. The Yard Decision Further adding to the rigors of the situation as affecting oil land locators, a ruling was made by the general land oftice officials to the effect that there could be no valid location of land mider the placer mining laws prior to the actual discovery of the oil or other mineral for which it was taken up, and another (known far and wide as the Yard decision) to the effect that "a placer location for 160 acres, made by eight persons and subsequently transferred to a single individual, in\alid because not preceded by discovery, cannot be per- fected ])y the transferee upon a subsequent discovery." Smith Remedial Bill By the spring of 1911 the number of acres included in the oil land with- draw^als had reached the enormous aggregate of nearly four and a half million. It should be at once understood, first that hundreds of thousands of acres included in the withdrawals probably will never yield a drop of oil, and second that the withdrawals were made in blanket fashion and included in the de- scriptions of land sent out great tracts which had been patented under home- stead claims, railroad grants and otherwise many years before. Nevertheless the withdrawals included an immense amount of undoubted oil land, the title to which remained in the government, and by far the greater part of this land is in Kern county. In very many cases oil companies had spent from $10,000 to $100,C00 and upward in development w^ork on land to which they would have not the slightest title under these rulings and withdrawals, and the question of legislation for the relief of these companies and of locators of oil land generally became the most urgent public matter in Kern county and among oil men throughout the state. A committee of oil men was sent to \\'ashington to present the case of the locators and developers to the federal authorities and with their aid Congressman S. C. Smith (^f the Eighth Cali- fornia district, whose home was in Bakersfield, succeeded in securing the passage cf the Smith remedial oil land bill, which nullified the effects of the Yard decision so far as oil lands are concerned and also cleared away in part some of the other complexities which had clouded the decision. I)Ut while the Smith bill rescued from jeopardy millions of dollars in- vested in legitimate development on the public domain and enabled many oil com]:)anies to jjerfect title to lands which they otherwise would not have been able to retain, the great bulk of the withdrawals remained in full force, and constituted an effectual bar to further development or extension of the producing oil fields. In view of the present overproduction of oil this arbitrary restriction of devclojMiient has not been generally regarded as a thing to be regretted except by men who would like to assume the hazard of prospecting for oil on tlie jnd)lic domain. When the withdrawn land will be restored to entry and under what conditions is a problem for the future. It is n(-)t likely, however, that withdrawn land will again be subject to entr}- under the placer mining laws, these laws having been abundantly shown to be inadequate and unfit for a])])lication to oil lands. Asphalt and Oil Refining Paradoxical as it may appear, the business of manufacturing the products of crude petroleum in Kern county antedated the commercial production HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 139 of the crude oil itself. As has been noted, in the early 70s a number of Italians began quarrying asplialtum from the great deposits which were formed in the McKittrick hills by the evaporation of the lighter elements of the crudic oil that seeped from the exposed edges of the broken oil-bearing strata. And from this time down to 1898, when the oil boom reached Kern county, the primary object of the development in the West Side fields was the production of asplialtum. Oil was desired only as a flux for handling the heavier product. There is an interesting legend, however, to the elTect that kerosene, not asphaltum, was the very first commercial product of the Kern county oil fields. Far back, about the time of the Civil war, some old chap, whose name the legend fails to preserve, stretched woolen blankets over the pools of thick, tarry oil that oozed out of the ground about Old Sunset and got a pretty decent quality of illuminating oil by wringing his blankets over a bucket after the vapors rising from the pool had saturated them. Such is the legend. The writer does not vouch for it. The history of the oil refinfng business in the county, however, begins with the establishment of the Jewett & Blodget refinery at Old Sunset in 1891. From that time until the present the junior member of the firm has been engaged in making asphaltum, and, in later years, many other products of petroleum, including kerosene, gasoline, distillates, and. lubricating oils of different kinds. With the development of the Kern river field refineries were established there, and because of the special aptitude of the Kern county oils for the production of asphaltum the industry developed until, in 1907, ten refineries in the county were producing about 6000 tons of asphaltum per month, valued at about $84,000. The number of refineries producing asphaltum has not since increased, but there has been a steady gain in the quantity and quality of the output, until now Kern county asphaltum is held in the highest esteem by road- builders in every part of the United States. The National Oil Refining & Manufacturing Company, the Phoenix and others, also, are competing suc- cessfully with the Standard Oil Company in the manufacture and sale of illuminating oil, gasoline, distillate and all grades of lubricants. Natural Gas Production As has been noted, the presence of gas in the oil-bearing formation was one of the difficulties which defeated the first efforts to drill oil wells in the West Side fields. Nearly all of the wells of the Sunset, Midway and McKit- trick fields produce a greater or less quantity of gas, and in the former field even the thick, heavy oil from the shallow wells is forced out in intermittent gobs, rather than in a steady stream — by the pressure of the gas in the oil sands. Natural Gas in Bakersfield However, it was not until the great gas wells of the Buena Vista hills began to come in during 1909 that plans began to be made for the com- mercial utilization of natural gas on any large scale. The Standard Oil Company began using gas in its furnaces in the West Side fields in the early part of 1910, and a little later laid a gas pipe line to carry the fuel to its pumping stations on its oil pipe line between Midway and the Kern river field. Toward the last of 1910 the California Natural Gas Company, a sub- sidiary of the Standard, was organized, and the gas pipe line was completed 140 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to the city limits of Bakersfiekl, where the gas was turned into the distributing system of the Bakersfiekl Gas & Electric Company. During the past year a pipe line has been laid from Midway to Los An- geles to carry natural gas to that city, and late in the summer of 1913 gas was turned into the city mains along with the artificial product. Gas wells in the Buena Vista field when first brought in range in output from twelve million to fifty million cuImc feet per twenty-four hours, and the force with which the gas shoots from the ground when first released by the drill is almost irresistible. For example, a gas well belonging to the Standard Oil Company on section 26, 31-23, one day tore the heavy iron gate from the top of the casing, sent it hurtling through the derrick, knocked over six workmen as though they had been ninepins, and went roaring through the derrick top like a cyclone, while the men lay stunned on the ground, some of them with broken bones, until rescuers came from a neighboring derrick. The pressure of the gas in one of the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Com- pany's wells on section 6, 32-24, tore away not only the massive iron gate but a section of pipe to which it was fastened extending eighteen feet into the ground. The outer, "stovepipe" casing was uninjured, and around this was dug a pit fourteen feet across and thirty-seven feet deep. This pit was filled with concrete to serve as an anchor for another cap with which the well eventually was controlled. Before the Avell was finished, however, the gas became ignited, and formed- a giant torch, 125 feet in height, which burned imtil additional boilers could be installed on the lease and pipes laid with which to direct a great stream of steam upon the mouth of the well to smother the flames. Several of the great gas wells have been set on fire accidentally, and their great towers of flame have formed one of the most awe-inspiring sights of the West Side fields, where exhibitions of the power of natural forces are not uncommon. Making Gasoline From Gas During 1910 experiments Avere made with a process of extracting gasoline from gas. The method is similar to that employed in making liquid air, and the theory is similar. The gas is alternately compressed and cooled until it is reduced to a liquid form. The pressure required is about 400 pounds to the square foot, and in some instances two gallons of gasoline are taken from 1000 cubic feet of gas. The amount of gasoline contained in the gas varies greatly, however. The extent of the coimty's proven gas belt has been estimated at seven miles in width and sixteen miles in length, making an area of about 72.000 acres. Some of Kern County's Famous Oil Gushers It is the romance of oil, the ever present possibility of sudden wealth and the equally ubiquitous chance of sudden disaster, that moulds the spirit of the oil fields, and the spirit of the oil fields was generally the spirit of Kern county during the period from 1899 to 1913. And there is no better means of setting forth the circumstances that contribute to this romance than by recounting the history of the great gushers that made the Sunset and Midway oil fields celebrated around the globe in the years 1909 and 1910. Great quantities of gas confined in the oil measures of the Sunset field have made it throughout its history a field of flowing wells. The earlier wells, drilled into the shallower strata of thick, heavy oil. flowed in but very small amounts, compared with the gushers of the later period, and in HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 141 very many cases the flow was tlie merest trickle over the top of the casing- or an occasional gob of thick, tarry substance, thrown up with much guttural sputtering by the imprisoned gas below. But during the year 1909, wells drilled farther out from the hills, and particularly in the northern part of the field, produced a lighter oil and a larger How. Notable aniong these were the wells of the Ethel D., the Wellman, the Monte Cristo and the Kern Trading & Oil Company in sections 36, 12-24, and 1, 11-24, a mile northeast of Maricopa. In 1909, also, came the Santa Fe's famous 10,000-barrel well on section 6, 32-23, in the North Midway field, and in section 10, 32-24, over in the Buena Vista hills, nearly seven miles north of Maricopa, the Honolulu's great gasser, drilled down into the oil sand, became an oil well, flowing between 3000 and 4000 barrels per day. Other wells that prepared the public mind for the big events that came later on the program were the St. Lawrence, on section 35, 32-23, the Crandall on 31, 31-25, and the Standard's big wells on section 30, 32-24, the largest of which flowed for some time at a rate of 10,000 barrels per day. The bringing in of all these wells proved the whole of the Midway valley to be oil bearing, and the Honolulu's strike demonstrated that the oil sands extended far out under the Buena Vista hills. A strip of territory roughly estimated at sixteen miles in length and five or six miles in width was added to the proven oil belt of the Sunset-Midway field, and the cause was laid for the oil land boom of 1910, which swept over the whole of the Elk and Buena Vista hills, over the North McKittrick front and out along the hills east of Old Sunset, far past San Emidio. Gushers Start Boom of 1910 By the end of February, 1910, the secrecy which was first observed by the locators who swarmed to the new territory at the beginning of the new year had been cast aside, and the eyes of the whole state were turned to the Sunset and Midway fields and the great things that were going on there. On March 6th the Mays gusher on section 30, 32-24, broke loose and drenched the surrounding country with a rain of oil. There was the widest variation in the estimates of the amount of oil produced, and no measurements could be made for the reason that very little of the oil was saved during the few hours' flow prior to the first sanding up. The state of the public mind, however, was such as to accept the biggest estimates most readily, and before there was time for a careful decision of the controversy the Lakeview came in and for many months thereafter held the center of the stage. A week after its first performance the Mays well broke loose a second time, tore away a "T" that had been placed on the casing to control the flow, wrecked the upper part of the derrick, wet down the desert sands about it with another shower of oil, and again sanded. Sometime later the well was brought under subjection and became a steady producer of little spectacular interest to the public, but of much greater profit to the stockholders. Lakeview Comes In At 8 o'clock on Alonday night on March 14, 1910, the Lakeview gusher, at the west end of fractional section 25, 12-24, a mile and a half due north of Maricopa, came in with a rush of gas that hurled the baler into the crown block of the derrick and followed it with a shower of oil that was estimated at 18,000 barrels for the first twenty-four hours' flow. Tuesday night some- thing happened down at the bottom of the well, 2260 feet in the earth. For a 142 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY few seconds the flow of oil stopped and its place was taken by a torrent of rocks, sand and gas that filled the derrick with incandescent atoms, tore away the top of the derrick in wliich the baler was still hanging, and sent the drillers scurrying for their Hves. Nobody got very close to the mouth of the Lakeview for many months after that. Oil rained on everything for miles around as the breeze carried the spray from the gusher. The Union Oil Company's new camp just built on a nearby hill, was abandoned, and the neat green cottages soon wore a funereal black. Other wells drilHng in the neighborhood were left unfinished, lires were put out in all the boiler plants within the radius that the gas from the Lakeview reached. Hundreds of men and teams were rushed to the scene to dig ditches, build dams across gulleys and scrape reservoirs in the earth to catch and hold the oil. The sand that the well threw out built a mound fifteen or twenty feet high all about the derrick, burying the engine house. Gradually the derrick was torn to pieces by the rushing column of oil, and sections of the inner casing of the well were hurled out. The question of whether the casing would all be worn out by the cutting of the sand and the well become a great crater in the ground became a very serious one. The Union Oil Company's engineers tackled the job of harnessing the great well with faint hope of success. An hour's work in the suffocating gas and drenching oil about the gusher brought $4 or $5 and upward, and men did not seek the job at that price. The first futile device for smothering the well was a great wooden hood made of timbers a foot or more in thickness. But the stream of oil ate its way through the wood, and went on playing the biggest and blackest fountain the world ever saw. Every train to Sunset bore sightseers, and a line of guards was placed in a great circle about the well to prevent the possibility of any accidental ignition of the gas. Finally after some months of effort, when the well was largely cleared of sand and the upward force of the oil was less, an embankment was built about the gusher with sacks of sand and; earth to a height of twentv or thirtv feet, thus confining the oil over the mouth of the well and forming a cushion against which the big, black geyser could beat. By that time every vestige of the derrick was gone, and the well looked like an inky fountain playing in an inky pool. Meantime, down on the flat a half mile or farther away, lakes of oil were accumulating. By September 5,000,000 barrels of oil had been stored in these makeshift reservoirs. The seepage was great, and the evaporation was greater, and the danger of accidental fire turning the whole into a flood of flame to go farther down the valley was the greatest anxiety of all. Product Swamps Pipe Lines At one time the Lake view's output reached 68,000 barrels per day, twice the capacity of the greatest oil pipe line on the coast. There was no such thing as properly caring for the oil. During the months of September and October the Producers' Transportation Company's pipe line to the coast was placed almost exclusively at the service of Lakeview oil, and pumps and pipe lines installed by the Union were set to work forcing the oil from the temporary reservoirs on the flat to two new reservoirs built in the edge of the hills. These reservoirs, dug in a canon and protected with earth and concrete dams and artificial waterways cut through the hills above them, held five million barrels of oil. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 143 After ten or eleven months of continuous production the Lakeview wa? still delivering 8,000 or 10,000 barrels per day, but its product was a mixture or emulsion of oil, water, and mud called "mulsh" by the oil men, and deemed of no value at the then low price of good oil. Months later the flow suddenly stopped altogether, and after letting the giant slumber undisturbed for a respectful period the owners rigged a derrick over the crater, explored the hole with the drill, patched up the wornout casing, and finally tapped the sands again. The well flowed a little and gave up large quantities of gas, but it never resumed its place in the ranks of the big producers. The Consolidated Midway A mile east of the Lakeview was brought in the Consolidated Midway gusher on section 30, 12-23. It was spudded in March 2, 1910, and on June 20th went through a thin shell into the gusher sand at 2165 feet. The 10-inch casing had been landed at 2145 feet and the last twenty feet of the well was an open hole. A gate was fixed on the 10-inch casing and the 10-inch was an- chored to the 12-inch, making a total load of sixty-six tons of casing with which to hold down the enormous gas pressure which was anticipated. The water in the well was baled down 600 feet when the flow started. The well soon sanded, but each time it responded to further baling, and each time the flow grew greater. Another gate was placed above the first one as a safe- guard against one of them being worn out by the friction of sand and oil, and later reducers were placed on the pipe above the upper gate to lessen the flow and better control the well. The result was that the well, estimated at 10,000 barrels daily capacity, was as easily and thoroughly controlled as a faucet in a kitchen sink. Like most gushers, however, the Consolidated Mid- way finally went to water. A Procession of Gushers Other gushers of the Lakeview group include a 5,000 barrel well of the Maricopa-Thirty-Six, on section 36, 12-24; a well of the Sunset Monarch which started flowing at a 24,000-barrel rate ; the Standard's three gushers on section 30, 32-24, and the Sage wells on section 35, 12-24, belonging to the Union Oil Company. The Sage wells were chiefly .famous for the terrific bom- bardments of sand and rocks which they sent through the tops of their derricks at uncertain intervals. At the beginning of these bombardments would come a roll of thunder from the casing mouth ; the drillers and tool dressers would scamper to the lee of a neighboring hill, and the tools that happened to be in the well would go shrieking through the crown block, followed by the sand and rock and a little sprinkling of oil. Then the well would choke with 1500 or 2000 feet of sand in the casing, and the workmen would repair the der- rick and tools and begin the long job of digging down toward the oil measures again. With a certain amount of sand removed the pent-up gas would hurl forth another shower, the casing would sand up again, and the whole process would start over again. And this kept on and on, and on, for so many months that everyone except the owners and the immediate neighbors finally forgot what eventually became of the Sage sand gushers. North Midway Gushers Next to the remarkable group of wells of which the Lakeview was chief, range in interest the magnificent wells of the North Midway valley. Beginning with the Santa Fe, St. Lawrence, the Crandall and the Mays, the" North 144 HISTOR\ Ob KERN COUNTY Midway gusher population was increased by the American Oilfields' great No. 79, several lesser producers of the same company, the Eagle Creek, Le Blanc, the California Midway, Pioneer Midway, the Visalia Midway and Santa i-'c on section 25, 31"22, the ^Midway Premier, Midway Pive, on section 5. 32-23, and others of lesser fame, if not of lesser merit. The prince of them all in North Alidway was the American Oilfields 79, which ranked next to the Lakeview as a producer. At its best it made 22,000 barrels of oil per day, which is the more remarkable from the fact that it was finished at a little over 900 feet with a single string of 12-inch casing and produced 23-gravity oil. Like the Lakeview, the well made great quantities of sand, and it was impossible to control or diminish its flow. The only thing accomplished in this line was to slant a heavy shield of boiler iron over the mouth of the well to deflect the column of oil and prevent so much of it being lost in vapor. The well gave out great quantities of gas and standing on the edge of the great sump built about it, its roar was like that of a Kansas tornado heard from the conning tower of a cyclone cellar. The well was brought in in April, 1910, and at the end of the year it was still flowing at the rate of 5000 barrels per day. The American Oilfield Company's well No. 56 is celebrated as the first big ^Midway gusher to catch fire. It ignited at 1 :30 p. m. September 11 from a burning sump, and shortly after the well of the Honolulu Consolidated, formerly the Crandall, just across the section line to the east, started flowing and immediately was ablaze. The two great pillars of flame, 200 feet or more in height, burned until 5 o'clock while a frantic swarm of men from all the nearby country employed every efifort to keep the other flowing wells and oil reservoirs in the vicinity from joining in the conflagration. The task of putting out the two burning wells was too great to be seriously attempted, and a general pean of thanksgiving went up from the tired workers when at the last named hour both wells sanded up and went out. During the night No. 56 again started flowing and again took fire from the embers of the derrick, but it stopped once more of its own accord. The Eagle Creek gusher on section 31, 31-23, brought in in April, 1910, at 1600 feet, has the distinction of having thrown up a good portion of the vertebrae of some deep-buried saurian monster. When the Eagle Creek first came in the Santa Fe, just across the section line, stopped flowing for a time, and then started in at a greater rate than ever as though in rivalry with its new neighbor. Effect on the Oil Game The story of Kern county oil gushers might be indefinitely prolonged. They continue to come in to the present day, and some of the later arrivals rival in interest and output the American Oilfields 79 and the Lakeview itself. E)Ut the stories related are typical of all the gushers in a general way. and the partial list of big wells that were brought in in the first few- months of 1910 will suggest the fever of excitement and expectancy which spread not only over Kern county but throughout the state wherever people read newspapers and bought oil stocks. The fact that nearly all the gushers were brought in in territory wdiich but a few months before had been miles away from the proven oil belt gained credence for the promises of the wildest of wildcat oil promoters and there was a rush of tenderfeet into the oil game, quite regardless of the fact that the product of the gushers was beating the price of oil to the bankruptcy level, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 145 and that seasoned operators were growing more and more pessimistic as the stocks of oil on hand increased. Fortunately for the old producers and unfortunately for the tenderfeet, a great proportion of the drilling begun in the latter half of 1910 proved unproductive. Gradually the prospect holes started in the Elk hills were abandoned, and the companies that began pushing the line of development far out on the Maricopa flat went broke or got tired of paying assessments. By the end of 1911 most of the drilling still going on was by old hands in the business wdio had contracts to fill or who had capital sufficient to carry them over the period of low prices. In addition to proving the productiveness of a portion of the Maricopa flat and practically all of the Midway valley, the drilling since the beginning of 1910 has demonstrated that oil underlies the gas formation in the Buena Vista hills ; that if there is oil in the Elk hills it is not so easy to find as the first prospectors hoped; that there is a considerable amount of barren or excessively deep territory north of McKittrick; that just north of this seem- ingly barren territory is the Belridge anticline where excellent wells of light oil are brought in at shallow depths and that still farther north in the Lost Hills country is another shallow formation carrying light oil and large quan- tities of gas. To the Union Oil Company fell the lot of demonstrating the unprofitable- ness of the territory between the McKittrick field and Belridge. It drilled a number of deep holes without finding oil in paying quantities, but the big concern went about the job in a quiet, systematic, businesslike way that be- comes a strong organization that takes the lean with the fat and so there was little romance and only a passive public interest in its operations there. The same is true of the development of Belridge, w^hich was as profit- able as the Union's North Midway venture was unprofitable. The Belridge operators were stockholders in the Associated Oil Company and other sea- soned oil men, and they staked out the land, sunk some prospect holes, found the oil and exercised options on a great amount of land surrounding their strike before the public in general knew- what was going on. The Lost Hills Field Martin & Dudley, who were the dominant factors in the discovery and development of the Lost Hills field, followed the same plan, but their opera- tions were attended by more picturesque features, and the Lost Hills, although no more important than Belridge in the matter of production, perhaps, at- tracted vastly more attention from the outside world. The story of the Lost Hills field really dates from 1899, the year in which the Elwoods found oil at Kern river. Orlando Barton, son of one of the oldest of the Kern county pioneers, prospected the lonesome desert country in the northwestern part of the county from the Devil's Den to the swamp, includ- ing in his general survey the present Lost Hills field. In 1907 he helped form the Lost Hills Mining Company, and located the section of land on which the Lakeshore well, the well in which the Lost Hills discovery was made, is now situated — section 30, 26-21. A contract was let to Los Angeles parties to drill the section, but it was allowed to lapse without action. The news got about in the south, however, that there was government land on which oil might be found, and shortly all the government land in the township was filed upon by homesteaders. The Square Deal Oil Company of Hanford made an unsuccessful eft'ort 146 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to reach the oil sand on section 18, and this failure discouraged the home- steaders, most of whom abandoned their claims. The Lost Hills Mining Company worked its claims for gypsum, and Barton personally remained in possession of the land practically all of the time until the Lakeshore well was brought in. The Discovery Well In December, 1909, Barton interested Martin & Dudley, real estate men of Visalia, and after looking over the field they acted on the advice of Barton, who told them that they would find oil at less than 600 feet. Barton picked the location of Lakeshore No. 1, and very early in 1910 Martin & Dudley began to drill. On March 8, 1910, the well was down 160 feet, and there was so much oil in the hole that drilling was stopped, and arrangements were begun to take advantage of the strike which the Lakeshore Company felt sure was coming. Other rigs were secured, titles to land in the vicinity were looked up, and the plans were laid which made Martin & Dudley the complete masters of the sit- uation when the field came in some months later. The Lost Hills were far out in the midst of the lonesome west side desert, but oil prospectors see far, and even out there it was necessary to use the utmost caution to prevent premature publicity of the important find. Along in May some more drilling was done in the Lakeshore well, and by June 3d so much gas was developed that drilling was again stopped to await the progress of the other features of the program. The place was fenced and guards were left to see that inquisitive people did not get near enough to the well to smell the gas. In July work was again resumed and on July 26th, at a depth of 463 feet, the gas threw the water out of the hole and over the derrick top. After that the drillers had frequent shower baths of mud, water and oil, and on July 29th, at 527 feet depth the oil was struck and rose within 80 feet of the top of the casing, and refused to be lowered more than a dozen feet by the most rapid baling. The oil sand was not penetrated and the casing was far from the bottom of the hole, but Martin & Dudley did not bother about finishing their well in the most scientific fashion. They put a cap on it, instead, moved away the derrick, obliterated all traces of oil, left a guard to keep strangers outside the fence, and began taking options on all the land they could tie up in the district. How successful they were was demonstrated when the news of the strike came out. Martin- & Dudley were the big men in the new field, and the hundreds of oil men and tenderfeet who rushed to the Lost Hills dis- covered that the men from Visalia had some sort of claim on practically every piece of land that was worth a prospect hole. Martin & Dudley arranged with the Associated Oil Company to take up their options on a great body of land along the Lost Hills anticline, and the Associated was the first of the big concerns in the new field. The L^niversal and the Standard also secured considerable tracts of land there, and most of the development has been done by the three companies. But it took time for prospectors and would-be prospectors to find out how thoroughly Martin & Dudley had preempted the ground. Scores of men who had overlooked the opportunity to get in on the ground floor when the other oil fields were opened up. resolved not to sleep on their chances in the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 147 Lost Hills, and after the first profound skepticism concerning the genuine- ness of the new strike gave way to conviction, the dust got no chance to settle on the road between Bakersfield and the little ridge of sand that was understood to mark the apex of the Lost Hills anticline. It was proclaimed as a poor man's field. The territory was wonderfully shallow, and a well could be drilled with a light, portable rig and stovepipe casing, according to popular report. So there was presently a string of portable rigs headed toward the Lost Hills. Also there were men with shotguns and rifles to hold the claims against the rival prospectors, and later on there were law- suits to determine the relative value of homestead filings and mineral claims. Then winter came on, and showers of rain amounting to half an inch or less made the alkaline roads almost impassable. The Associated built a standard rig a little west of the anticline and drilled for weeks and months without finding anv oil so far as the public knew. Water and fuel were difficult to get, and the portable rigs were not efficient. So the tenderfoot operators got out with as little loss as they could manage, and the field was left to the big concerns. With a number of good walls brought in a little to the south of the Lakeshore, the big companies soon put Lost Hills in the list of producing fields, and the output continues to increase with a few strong concerns doing all the development. A Field Not Yet Arrived One other oil excitement punctuates the history of the industry in Kern coimtv. In the fall of 1912, Dr. A. H. Liscomb, a pioneer operator of the Kern river field, and a number of his friends, and Harry C. Rambo, a rancher of Semitropic. and a number of his friends formed a theory that the con- necting link between the West Side oil formation and that of the Kern river field was via the ridge of land that runs northwest past Lerdo and Semitropic in the general direction of Lost Hills. They were strengthened in this theory by the assurance of a Mrs. Brown, who used an instrument in detecting the presence of oil and minerals hidden in the earth. They tested Mrs. Brown's powers by having her expert land in proven fields and checking her figures against the logs of drilled wells, and finally they secured options on a large body of land at prices based on its probable value for agriculture, and began drilling two wells. The Liscomb well made the most progress, and early in January, 1913. a reported strike of exceedingly light oil started a miniature oil boom over all the territory between Wasco and the swamp. If any oil was found in the Liscomb well, however, it was drowned by water, and the well had to be abandoned. The Rambo well was a failure for the same reason, and although one or other of these parties have been drilling almost steadily throughout the year, neither has yet made a strike that the oil public accepts as of any value. 148 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY CHAPTER XV Progress of the County From 1900 to 1913 The events of larger and more permanent importance which have trans- pired in Kern county between 1900 and the summer of 1913, when this chron- icle closes, range themselves under four heads : Development of the oil fields, the beginning of a new agricultural development through the agency of pump irrigation, a great advance in permanent construction in Bakersfield, including a better class of dwellings, business structures, public buildings and paved streets, and a steady improvement in civic standards coincident with the transition of the county from a field of speculation and transient resi- dence to one of investment and permanent homes. First honors are due to the oil development, for it occupied the mosi conspicuous place in the public interest and because, to a very large degree, it made all the other developments mentioned possible. Because of theii importance and for the sake of continuity in the narrative, the discovery and development of the county's oil fields have been given a chapter to themselves Second place in logical sequence belongs to the development of pump irriga- tion and the new agricultural and horticultural enter|)rises which it opened up. Development of Pump Irrigation A history of the efforts of the first pump irrigators would be but a dreary and disheartening tale. As other portions of this narrative have shown, the waters of Kern river were early appropriated by the owners of the delta lands that lie in the lower portion of the valley, leaving only the scanty rainfall — averaging between six and seven inches per season — to wet the equally rich lands along the mesa and the higher or more distant portions of the plain. The efforts of the dry grain farmers demonstrated that the mesa lands were not only fertile but easy to work. Many of the grain farmers installed windmills to pump stock and domestic water, and the surplus was used to irrigate vegetable gardens and small family orchards. This demon- strated, first that good water wells were to be found in any part of the valley or the mesas at depths varying with the elevation of the surface ; second, that comparatively little water was necessary to make the soil productive, and third, that on the higher lands the growing season was even longer than in the trough of the valley, and the winter frosts were less severe. The magnificent area of the dry plain and mesa lands offered a tempting prize for successful pump irrigation, but the difffculties that faced the first experi- menters were practically insurmountable. These experimenters lived before the day of gas engine efficiency, and suitable fuel for steam engines, prior to the development of the oil fields, was not to be had. The steam engines used for threshing grain burned straw, and some of the first pump irrigators lifted their water with these straw- burners. Others used for fuel the sage brush which they cleared from their land. Both methods were laborious, expensive and generally unsatisfactory. The early pumps were inefffcient, and when a fairly successful combina- tion of pump and engine was effected the irrigator had trouble 'with his well. The first wells were well suited to windmill power, but when greatly in- creased drafts were made upon thpm by larger pumps great quantities of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 149 sand were sucked out with the water, and presently the walls of the well near the bottom caved in, choking off the supply of water with quantities of falling clay. Not a few of the early pump irrigators became insolvent trying to construct wells that would not cave in, and the general pessimism as to the possibility of obtaining water in any considerable quantities by this means increased. Simultaneously all these discouraging experiences were suft'ered in the vicinity of Delano, at Rio Bravo, in what is now the Wasco country, and on the mesa southeast of Bakersfield. Gradually the pump irrigators learned to make the perforations in their casing so small that only the finer grains of sand could be drawn through, and also to attach one pump to several wells so that the suction on each well would be reduced. A great boost was given to pump irrigation by a lowering in the price of gasoline and distillate that followed their manufacture in the Kern county oil fields, and by the production of a light oil at Coalinga that could be used in the gasoline engines without refining. In the spring of 1902 pump irrigation had reached about this stage of development and was being taken seriously by the people of Delano where Ben Thomas, Frank Schlitz, R. W. Lockridge and several others were suc- cessfully operating plants. At Rio Bravo, about this time, H. S. Knight was making about the same progress, and the Kern County Land Company had installed several pumps at Rosedale and Stockdale and was operating them with electricity to supplement canal irrigation in dry seasons. But the new- means of irrigation made progress very slowly so far as practical results were concerned and in the succeeding five years the area made productive by this means did not materially increase. Experiments at Wasco and McFarland With the founding of Wasco colony in the spring of 1907 the success of an entire community was staked on pump irrigation for the first time in Kern county. And the outcome for the first two years was full of doubt. Most of the colonists were short of funds and had to make payments on their land in addition to meeting their living expenses and the constant demand for buildings, fences and implements that goes with the founding of a new farm. For this reason the mutual water company which the colonists formed to sink wells and install pumping plants practiced a frugality far in excess of true economy. Second-hand pumps and engines were purchased, cheap ditches were built, and the inevitable poor service brought hard times to the irrigators and fomented one storm after another in the stockholders' meetings. Despite discouragements, however, the sturdy Wasco colonists gradually replaced their poor pumping equipment, laid cement ditches and conduits, and in 1911, when the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation began cover- ing the farming districts of the county with transmission wires, they sub- stituted electric power for gasoline. From that date the advancement of the colony was very marked, and in a couple of years more it had come to be one of the show places of the county's farming districts, outranking in attractive- ness and evidences of prosperity the rich delta districts where cheap canal water had been available for many years. McFarland colony, founded a year later than Wasco, went through less hardships in its earliest infancy because Wasco's mistakes were largely avoided and better equipment gave good results from the start. To McFar- 150 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY land and ^^'asco, almost equally, is due the credit of having lifted pump irrigation from the slough of doubt and discredit and made it generally recog- nized in the county as one of the greatest factors in the county's agricultural development. Development of the Citrus Belt What Wasco and ]\lcFarland did with pump irrigation in the alfalfa and deciduous fruit districts, the Edison Land & Water Company is doing in. the citrus belt. The company began sinking wells at Edison in the winter of 1908, and planted its first orange trees in the spring of 1909. It was for- tunate in possessing ample capital, and all the improvements were of the best character and workmanship. Deep well pumps were installed and electricity was secured from the power generating plant in Kern river cafion. An abundance of water was obtained where a few years previous it was sup- posed no considerable amount of water could be developed. The orange trees did well from the start, and the following year many orange growers from the southern part of the state became interested. In 1911 and 1912 the acreage planted was greatly increased. The unprecedented frosts of 1912-13 checked planting at Edison as in every other part of the state, but the sum- mer of 1913 demonstrated that the trees in the Kern citrus belt had suffered no more than in the most favored citrus districts and that the full extent of the damage would not exceed the loss of a year's growth of the trees. Meantime pumping plants were being installed at intervals all over the great belt of mesa land that stretches south and southeast from Edison, around Delano and all along the high sloping lands to the east and southeast of that place. At Rio Bravo the same progress is being made, and the new colonies of Shafter and Lerdo are laying good foundations for a similar success. Pumping Plant Extension in 1912 The Lerdo colony was founded in 1912 by a corporation controlled by the same men who are the dominant factors in the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation, and one of the purposes in mind was to furnish a market for electrical power which the latter concern would supply. Wells were sunk and pumps and electric motors installed before any land was offered for sale. Active selling began in the spring of 1913. Shares in the wells and pumping plants go with the land, which is sold on long time payments. The Lerdo colony proposes to make a specialty of hemp and ramie culture. George W. Schlichten. inventor of an improved decorticating ma- chine, is taking the lead in this enterprise and promises to furnish a market for the product of all the lands planted to ramie as well as to assist in fur- nishing the plants necessary to get the ramie fields established. The Shafter colony is a venture of the Kern County Land Company. A number of wells have been sunk on the Shafter lands, but this is only for the purpose of demonstrating the water supply. The company does not propose to sell wells and pumping plants with the land, but it will let each buyer develop his own water. On the mesa south of Edison are the Sunflower colony, the Citrus Foot- hill Farms colony, and numerous small centers of development all estab- lished within the past three years. As a result of all these successes and promises of success the people of the county, who were very doubtful of the practicability of pump irrigation a very few years ago, have come to believe that eventually every acre of arable HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 151 land in the valley portion of the county not irrigated from canals will be reclaimed by means of pumping plants. Conservative estimates place the number of pumping ])lants in operation in Kern county at the present time at not less than 1500. Of this number about 275 are run by electricity and the remainder by gasoline engines. The San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation supplies current for 250 of the pumps and the remainder is furnished by the ]\Iount Whitney Power Company, whose lines extend into the country about Delano. The engines and motors average about ten horsepower each, and with the average lift they are capable of raising water to irrigate about 45,000 acres in the aggregate, or about thirty acres for each ten horsepower. Of the total number of pumps about eighty per cent were installed within the past five years, and about 500 were installed during the past year. At present about fifty are in process of installation, and between ten and fifteen well-drilling outfits are kept busy developing water for prospective pumj) irrigators. This summer Miller & Lux are preparing to install pumps and motors which will utilize about 700 horsepower of electricity in raising water to irrigate the old swamp land north of Buena Vista lake reservoir. This will be the first extensive use of pumping plants in this section, and their installation is due to dry seasons just past when Miller & Lux's share of the waters of Kern river have been inadequate for their needs. In addition to the activities of its allied corporation at Lerdo, the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation is actively aiding the extension of pump irrigation by a liberal policy of extending its transmission lines into new territory where there is any prospect of building up a market for power. The company also is promoting experiments in the most economical use of water. Rates for electric power still remain at the seemingly exorbitant figure of $50 per horsepower per year, but the pumpers are looking forward to a sub- stantial reduction in rates when the use of electricity for this purpose becomes more general. At this time, the summer of 1913, electric power is available for pumping at Delano, McFarland, Famoso, Wasco, Shafter, Lerdo, Edison, and all the country south and east oi Bakersfield so far as the pump irrigators have ventured, which is about to the lower line of township 31. Planting Apples at Tehachapi Following close on the successful development of the valley districts as just related came evidence that the mountain valley country about Tehachapi is especially adapted to the .cultivation of apples, pears, cherries and other deciduous fruits of that character. Tehachapi's metamorphosis from a stock and grain country to a fruitgrowing district began in 1910 when B. M. Denison sunk a thirteen-inch well, installed a pumping plant and planted forty acres to Bartlett pears. The evidences of an ample water supply and the growth made by the young trees encouraged other ventures, and at this time the young orchards about the mountain town make an imposing display. Still later the pumping plant invaded the desert about Rosamond and Willow Springs, and in the far northeastern corner of the county at Inyokern. In the latter place a good beginning was made last spring in the planting of deciduous fruit trees as well as in the raising of grain and alfalfa. As this book is designed mainly for future reading it may be well to leave the future to put its ow^n appraisement on the permanent value of the experiments and developments recounted. Suffice it to say that they have 152 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY been the means of awakening a new interest in the agricultural and horti- cultural development of the county, and also of raising the market value of the arid plain and mesa lands from almost imperceptible figures to anywhere from $20 to $100 per acre. The higher prices are paid for lands nearer the centers of development. Still higher prices are asked for land close to Bakers- field or for land on which pumping plants have been installed and water de- veloped. It is the common belief that these prices Avill continue to ascend, although the vast area subject to development and settlement and the moder- ate rate at which these processes so far have proceeded may make any further advance in values equally deliberate. Status of Fruit Growing in 1913 Figures collected by Kent S. Knowlton, county horticultural commis- sioner, show a total of 444,000 fruit trees in the county, in the summer of 1913, of which 121,500 are bearing and 322,500 non-bearing, and 935 acres of grape vines, 660 acres of which are bearing. The acreage in grape vines has fallen off greatly since the early days of the Rosedale colony, when large numbers of raisin vineyards were planted. The ill success of the Rosedale colonists and years of low prices for raisins discouraged the raising of grapes, and no great extension of this industry is in sight at present. That oranges and apples are forging to the front as the county's leading fruits is shown by the following table, which is prepared by the commissioner and which also shows at a glance the recent progress of fruit growing in the county : Fruit Trees in Kern County in 1913 Variety Bearing Apricot "^ _20,000 Apple 10,000 Fig _ 1,000 Olive 4,000 Peach 50,000 Pear 1,500 Plum 5,000 Prune _ 20,000 Orange 10,000 These figures, of course, do not include trees in family orchards, and small orchards of lemons, cherries, almonds and walnuts are omitted. Most of the apple and pear trees are in the Tehachapi country, and the bulk of the orange trees are around Edison and Delano. Bakersfield in 1904 As will be noted more fully in the chapters devoted to the oil industry, the enormous increase in oil production from 1902 to 1904 resulted in a com- plete demoralization of the market and brought not only the threat of bank- ruptcy to the producers, but general depression to all lines of business in Bakersfield, which by that time had become a distinctively oil town, recog- nized as the center of the oil industry of the state and chiefly dependent on tl\at industry for its prosperity and growth. As a matter of fact, Bakersfield continued to grow and business remained reasonably good even during the summer of 1904, which saw the price of oil drop to the ruinous figure of on-bearir ig 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 12,000 4,000 3,000 3,000 2,000 92,500 48,000 30,000 10,000 4,500 15,000 15,000 15,000 3,000 3,500 3,500 25.000 65,000 20,000 35,000 15,000 10,000 6,000 2,000 2,000 1.000 1,000 2,000 1,000 500 500 115,000 25,000 45,000 25,000 20,000 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 153 eleven and two-thirds cents per barrel. But the air was blue with pessimism. On the street corners it was alternately predicted that consumption never would overtake production, and that the Kern river field was going to water and its derricks would be sold for kindling wood in a few years more. Good Times Return But both prophecies failed. Kern river continued to produce, and fol- lowing the organization of the Independent Oil Producers' Agency prices began to recover. In the spring of 1908 the Agency closed a contract with the Associated for sixty and one-half cents per barrel, and a new oil boom began that presently filled Bakersfield to such a state of overflowing that visitors to the town were compelled to telegraph ahead at least twenty-four hours to secure any sort of sleeping quarters, either in the hotels or in the rooms, in private residences and elsewhere throughout the city, which the hotel pro- prietors had leased to meet the emergency. Under such circumstances a building boom was inevitable and in 1909 began a rush of construction that involved a total investment in residence and business buildings before the close of 1910 estimated at upward of $2,500,000. Quite as significant as the size of the investment was the fact that the buildings generally were of a better character than had been erected pre- viously in the city's history. The cost of the business buildings erected during this period ranged from $10,000 to $70,000, and the residences from $1500 to $17,000. Among the business buildings built at this time are the Brower building at Nineteenth and I streets, the Manley apartments at Eighteenth and F, the Security Trust Company's bank at Eighteenth and Chester, Southern hotel annex on Twentieth street, an additional story on the Southern hotel, the Redlick building at Eighteenth and Chester, the Willis building on South Chester, the Rice building and Baer building on diagonal corners at Chester and Twenty-first, the Kosel hotel, Herrington-Cohn build- ing, Bakersfield garage, Southern garage, Kern Valley garage, Webstei" garage and extensive additions to the Mason & Flickinger garage. The auto- mobile business was in its glory. It is particularly w'orthy of note, also, that during this period a great number of well-to-do Bakersfield people who had been living in apartments or rented houses, manifestly because they lacked a feeling of permanence and not from lack of means, cast their lot with the city by building handsome and expensive homes. The change of sentiment that accompanied this action w'as very marked. Previously a very great proportion of the residents of the city considered themselves as sojourners only, and did not disguise from themselves or others their expectation of making their permanent residence elsewhere when they had accumulated a fortune, a competence or a working capital from the easv mone}- that circulated in the oil town. Raising the Civic Standards To this change of attitude may be traced a new public sentiment de- manding the elimination of various forms of flagrant vice that had been tolerated as symptoms of the general fever of speculation and endurable in a city of temporary sojourn, but instantly recognizable as out of place in a city of permanent homes. The public dance halls, conducted as adjuncts of the more disreputable saloons, went first as the result of a crusade in which a number of prominent private citizens served in the capacity of special officers 154 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to make arrests. Efforts to curb illegal forms of gambling continued long with vacillating symptoms of success and failure. Gradually the worst places were closed, and the professional gambler sought less troubled fields of oper- ation in the new West Side oil towns. The slot machines vanished in a day when the state law making it an offense to have them on one's premises went into effect. In the spring of 1911 an eff'ort on the part of the city trustees to narrow the boundaries of the redlight district provoked a war l)etween keepers of rival resorts and an injunction suit brought at the instance of one of the parties closed every known disorderly house in town. Strenuous efforts were made to effect a compromise, but pul:)lic sentiment refused to permit any retrogression, and two years later the old redlight district remains i)rac- tically deserted. Consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern Occasional movements for the consolidation of Bakersfield and the rival town which the Southern Pacific railroad founded under the name of Sumner and incorporated later under the name of Kern, resulted finally on February 25, 1908, in an election in which the union was defeated by ten votes in Kern, although the voters of Bakersfield approved it by a majority of 342. On December 21, 1909, however, a second election resulted in a vote of 265 for, to 154 against, in Kern, and 518 for, to 186 against, in Bakersfield. The first election of the consolidated city, held on July 18, 1910, resulted in the selection of the following officers: Trustees, W. V. Matlack. J. R. Williams, F. L. Gribble, H. S. Dunible, P. L. Jewett ; board of education, L. G. Pauly, George Hay. H. A. Blodget. G. L. Snider and Celsus Brower ; city clerk, H. F. Alur- dock ; city attorney, Matthew S. Platz ; marshal, James McKamy ; treasurer, A. Weaber ; recorder, W. H. Thomas; assessor, Ben L. Brundage. In April, 1911, the date of the regular elections for cities of the fifth class — which class the consolidated city assumed — the trustees and nearly all the other city officials were re-elected. Bakersfield Paves Her Streets The same new feeling of permanence and proprietorshij) in the city's future that prompted the l:)uilding of many residences and the improvement of moral conditions showed further evidence in the demand for better streets, and following the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern and the election of a new board of city trustees in the summer of 1910 systematic preparations for a long campaign of street paving were begun. The city leased a gravel pit at the west end of Panorama heights, installed a screening plant and purchased a steam traction roller and other street-building apparatus. All of these were placed at the disposal of street contractors for the i)urpose of inducing favorable l^ids for paving. The first ambitious job undertaken was the paving of East Nineteenth street, Grove and Park streets, connecting the business centers of East Bakersfield and the main portion of the city. This main thoroughfare of the city had been in a chronic state of bad order from time immemorial, owing to the heavy traffic and the light, friable soil of which the roadbed was made. Nothing short of a standard pavement would answer the requirements, and the fact that a large percentage of the abutting property was vacant and producing no revenue discouraged the hope that the owners would bear the expense of paving. However, the city trustees adopted a resolution ordering HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 155 the work done under the \"rooman act, and the [)roceedings went through without protest. Long before the paving of East Nineteenth street was completed prop- erty owners on other streets began fihng petitions for similar improvements at their expense, and for two years the work has continued without inter- ruption about as fast as the facilities at hand would conveniently permit. During this time about 200 blocks have been paved at a cost of a little over half a million dollars, and indications are that the campaign will continue for many ensuing months. Bonds for County Roads Considerations similar to those that prompted the paving of Bakers- field streets, coupled with a desire to bind together the several centers of development in the county, led, in the summer and fall of 1912, to a county- wide agitation in favor of a county system of permanent roads. At this time the preliminary survey for the state highway had been completed through the county, following the Southern Pacific railroad from the north county line to Bakersfield, and running thence in a nearly southerly direction through Tejon canon to Los Angeles. People interested in the Tehachapi and desert sections of the county continued their elTorts to have the state road routed past the mountain town, but it was officially assumed that the Tejon route would be adopted, and the county highway commission, con- sisting of C. E. Getchell, A. J. Woody and J. L. Evans, laid out a proposed system of county roads branching from the line of the proposed state high- way and reaching all the important centers of population of the county save Randsburg and the farthest eastern portion of the desert section. This plan was submitted to the voters of the county on July 8, 1913, and was approved, together with a bond issue of $2,500,000 for carrying it out. The vote was : For the bonds, 2,529; against the bonds, 693. The bond issue as submitted to the voters provided for improving the following roads at the estimated costs indicated : Delano to the Tulare county line, 8.5 miles, $37,243; Wasco to McFarland, 11.6 miles, $66,327; Wasco to Lost Hills, 21.3 miles, $274,766; Rio Bravo to Wasco, 18 miles, $87,237; Bakersfield to McKittrick. 37.6 miles, $325,207; McKittrick to Maricopa, 25.5 miles, $249,244; Bakersfield to Taft, 37.1 miles, $378,609; Old River school house to Maricopa, 28.7 miles (connecting with road from Taft to Bakersfield) $252,314; Bakersfield to Oil Center, 7.4 miles, $67,405; Bakersfield to Sand Cut, 21.5 miles, $90,086; Weed Patch loop, 13.3 miles, $69,010; all the fore- going graded and paved, and the following only graded : Oil Center to Glennville, 30.5 miles, $80,775 ; Sand Cut to Tehachapi, 28.2 miles, $300.663 ; Tehachapi to Mojave, 20.8 miles, $86,483 ; Caliente to Kernville, 38.5 miles, $80,775; Randsburg-Johannesburg-Stringer district highways, 14.5 miles, $53,850. Public Buildings of 1900-13 The new county court house heads the list of important public buildmgs erected in the county in the past decade. A $400,000 bond issue for its erection was approved by the voters on September 14, 1909, and construction was be- gun in July, 1910. F. J. Amweg of San Francisco secured the contract for $340,827. The site, which includes two blocks on the east side of Chester avenue between Truxtun avenue and F'ifteenth street, was bought from Miller & Lux and R. E. Houghton for $16,000, and about $50,000 was spent on the interior furnishings and the improvement of the grounds. The build- 156 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ing is of white Manti stone, is three stories and basement and covers a ground space of eighty-two by two hundred and forty-five feet. The old court house occupying the block across Chester avenue to the west, was sold to the city of Bakersfield for a city hall for $125,000 on July 9, 1913. Funds for the purpose and $25,000 additional for the remodelling of the building were voted by the city on June 18, 1912, at which time, also, were approved bond issues as follows : For the construction of a supple- mental sewer system, $210,000; for the construction of two new fire stations and the purchase of a new auto-driven equipment, $60,000; for a library building and site for East Bakersfield, $27,000. Church Building That the progress of the churches has kept pace with other lines of improvement during the past decade is witnessed by the fact that nearly every church organization has erected a new building or made extensive additions to its old one during that time. Handsome and commodious brick structures have been built by the Methodist Episcopal, Roman Catholic and Baptist. The German Lutheran, East Bakersfield Methodist and Christian Science churches have built frame buildings, the Methodist Episcopal South and the Christian churches have made important additions, and the Presbyte- rian and Congregationalist are beginning fine brick edifices. Most of the new church buildings are equipped for institutional work to a greater or less degree. The Catholic church has maintained a parochial school for three years past, and the Sisters of Mercy have this year completed a large brick hospital on West Truxtun avenue to supplement a commodious wooden structure which they purchased several years ago. Progress of the Schools Recent events of importance in the city and county educational systems include the introduction of manual training in the city schools in January, 1903, and the addition of a thorough course of domestic science under the direction of Mrs. F. B. Thomas in 1906. Inspired by the same practical aim, the high school, which was organized in 1893, added consecutively courses in bookkeeping, commercial law and stenography, manual training, domestic science, agriculture and assaying. Land for a high school farm was leased in 1909, and in June, 1910, the county supervisors purchased for $16,000 the twenty-seven acres comprising the old Hudnut place and used just previously as a county fair ground. This land, which lies in the northern part of the city, is being improved steadily as an experiment station where high school pupils are taught the practical art of husbandry, propagation of plants, breeding of stock, dairying and poultry raising. The manual training depart- ment, meantime, has grown to include a well equipped machine shop, a wood-working department, blacksmith shop and foundry, all housed in a commodious manual arts building of brick and concrete floors, erected in 1911. The first high school building was finished in 1895, and the second in 1906. At the present time plans are being perfected to add to the regular academic course the first two years' work of the university, which will enable graduates of the high school to enter the state university as juniors, and will much better equip those who end their period of instruction with their high school graduation. In 1910 there were 5812 school children in the county, eighty school HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 157 districts, and 168 teachers. The school property of the county was appraised at $470,667. In the same year Bakersfield and Kern contained 2600 children of school age, and $66,289.36 was expended in their education. Since that time the growth of the city schools has required the building of three new school buildings and the construction of additions practically doubling the capacity of two others, and during all of the time it has been necessary to use temporary buildings to keep pace with the demand. The Rescue of Lindsey B. Hicks No more intensely dramatic incident has happened in the history of Kern county than the rescue of Lindsey B. Hicks just before midnight on December 22, 1906, after he had been buried nearly sixteen days under thou- sands of tons of earth by the caving in of the great shaft of the Edison Electric Company at its power generating plant in Kern river cafion about seventeen miles above Bakersfield. The accident occurred in the process of putting the heavy steel and concrete lining in the shaft which carries the water from the forebay down to the power plant eight hundred and sixty-five feet below. The whole length of the shaft is seventeen hundred and twenty-three feet. It was mined upward from the bottom, and as the work progressed the walls were supported by timbers cut and fitted end to end to form a succession of octagons fitting against the earthen sides of the shaft and wedged tightly to hold them in place without nailing or cross braces. The placing of the sections of steel tubing followed the same direction. First the bottom sections were placed, and concrete tamped about between the steel and the walls of the shaft. In order to protect the workmen engaged at this task from clods or stones that might fall from above, a bulk head of heavy timbers was built across the shaft a little way above them. As the work progressed this bulk- head was moved higher and higher up. On the morning of Friday, December 7th, the bulkhead had been moved successively upward until it was two-thirds or more of the way to the top of the shaft, and the progress of the workmen below had made it necessary to move it once again. To do this work. Hicks, Gus Anderson (foreman), George Warner, C. D. Robles, H. Parris and John Wilbar were sent down the shaft from the top. Preliminary to moving the bulkhead one of the men was ordered by Anderson to knock loose the lowest of the set of timbers. Some objection was made to doing this on the ground that it was not safe, and it was stated later that express orders had been given against the removal of the timbers. However, on the order being repeated the workman knocked out the wedge that released the timbers. The reader who is unfamiliar with the subject should understand that the timbers were held in position only by being wedged tightly against the walls of the shaft. No sooner was the first set of timbers collapsed than a cave started that released the second set of timbers. This let down more earth, and in turn released the third octagon. With the falling of the second set of timbers the men turned to flee up the steep incline of the shaft, but the falling of the timbers, one after another, like dominoes that knock each other over in a row, was too fast for them. One man reached a point of safety. The others were caught like rats in a deadfall. Hicks, who was somewhere midway in the group of men, was struck by a falling timber just as he reached a skip — or small car built to run down the shaft on an iron track — and he fell forward beside the car, with the 158 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY timber pressing on his back, and the whole mountain above him, apparently thundering down to close him in. The superintendents and workmen about the tunnel, the shaft and the power plant gathered about the collapsed hole in horror. The coroner was notified, the news of the death of the buried men was telegraphed, and the tremendous task of exhuming the dead bodies began. Seventy hours later, as the muckers were digging away at the top of the cave. Pearl Davis, a shift boss, heard a faint tapping that seemed to come from deep down in the earth. He stood still for a moment while his flesh turned cold, and then he heard the tapping again. He put his ear to the tram rail that led into the collapsed shaft, and heard it again, clearly and distinctly. Someone, down beneath the crumbled mass of earth and boulders, was striking with a piece of steel against the rail. Davis answered the signal and was answered in turn. The news spread quickly that one or more of the men was alive, but it was not until the 11th (the cave occurred on the 7th) that definite communication was established between the buried miner and the men wdio now were keyed to the highest tension to effect his rescue. A gaspipe, cleansed and sterilized under the direction of the company's physician, was driven down beside the rail of the tram to where Hicks lay. On the eleventh this work was done and Hicks was breaking his four days' fast with milk and broth poured down the pipe. General Superintendent W. S. Cone of the Edison Electric Company came from San Fernando. General Manager Sinclair came from Los Angeles. The best miners and the cleverest engineers were summoned from the dif- ferent camps, and one of the finest and in many respects most remarkable efforts for the rescue of a human being in the history of the state was begun. Hicks was absolutely an unknown man, without a relative or a special friend on earth so far as was known then or has developed since, but the news of his peril and the heroic work for his rescue was telegraphed twice a day to every section of the United States. The plan of digging down froni the top of the caved shaft was abandoned as unsafe for both Hicks and the rescuers, and a tunnel was started in the shoulder of the mountain a little below and ninety-six feet distant from where the buried miner lay. The mouth of the new tunnel was seven hun- dred feet or more above the river bed. and on the face of a precipice so steep that a scaflfolding had to be built from which to start the work. The earth and crumbled rocks through which the path of the tunnel lay were treacherous, and it was necessary to timber nearly all the way. ^M^en nothing else impeded progress, the miners would run against a boulder. Some- times it could be cracked ; once they mined around it, rolled it out of the tun- nel and sent it hurtling down the mountain side. The miners worked in fre- quent shifts, and pick handles never cooled. The last five days the tension was extreme. City editors in cities a hundred and fifty miles away called up the Bakersfield newspapers the last moment before going to press to know if Hicks was rescued yet, or to know the exact number of feet and inches of earth that remained to be penetrated. Finally, when the tunnel was done, and the foreman of the rescue shift had shaken hands with Hicks and passed him a plug of tobacco, it was necessary to saw the rails of the tram in four places and haul the buried man under the car. .\ man had to lie on his back and saw the rail over his head. Newspaper men at the tunnel 'phoned to Bakersfield when the sawing HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 159 began, and a crowd of thousands of people walked the streets and waited for further news. Arrangements had been made to ring the fire bell when the first word came that Hicks was safe. For two days and nights J. M. Duty, an old Texas ranger, with two men hired to help him. had kept his irons hot ready to fire a salute of anvils on the lot where the new court house stands, the moment the good news should come. At 11 o'clock at night someone "phoned to the engine house that Hicks was out, and Foreman Arthur Nagle sprang to the tower and turned the old bell loose. Duty got his anvils in action, loading them, not with powder, but with dynamite. The crowd on the street went frantic. Newspaper men at this end of the line got in touch with the watchers at the tunnel. Hicks was still beneath the car. A messenger hastened to the engine house, warning the crowds on the sidewalk as he went that the danger was not yet over, that the loosening of the last bit of rail might let the car fall and render fruitless the sixteen days of toil and care. But there was no stopping the premature rejoicing. By that time the engines in the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe yards were sending up their shrill jubilee, society women in the residence districts were beating tin pans, marching and laughing hysterically. Out in the Kern river oil fields the great steam whistles were sounding a sym- phony of joy that floated into Baker sfield like the rushing of a wind in the pine trees. Dell Gamble, custodian of the town clock, was making the big bell in the tower peal ofif as many hours as Hicks had lain in his living tomb. Church bells were ringing everywhere. It was a full quarter of an hour after the wild demonstration began before Hicks was out in the tunnel, and at least five minutes more before the word was shouted down from the mountain side to the man at the 'phone by the river and by him transmitted to Bakersfield. Of course Hicks went on the stage, and his first appearance was in the Armory in Bakersfield. An ordinary sitting room would have held the crowd. He fell as flat in Los Angeles, and everywhere. Hicks buried alive with heroic men risking their own lives to save him was an object of national interest. Hicks rescued dropped back to his old place and importance. He was a mucker, no dififerent from any other mucker, no better nor more inter- esting than any other man that may be carrying a hod or sweeping up the litter on the streets. The last heard of Hicks was that some widow had married him, and so he passed permanently from his brief pedestal of public prominence to the common level of domestic obscurity. News Notes, 1899 to 1910 October 5, 1899 — Scribner's opera house is filled at a reception to ]\Iajor Frank S. Rice on his return from a campaign in the Philippines. October 9 — IMojave's business section is w^ped out by a fire which is believed to be incendiary. November 16 — The sidewalk-building campaign is in full blast, and prop- erty owners on West Nineteenth street petition for the building of concrete walks from Chester avenue to Oak street, a total length — counting both sides — of 7556 feet. December 15 — Bakersfield expects free mail delivery soon. December 21 — Bakersfield is discussing park and levee plans, and Engi- neers W. C. Ambrose, W. R. Macmurdo and Walter James submit a report 160 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY estimating that a sufficient levee to guard against all danger of flood from the river can be built for $12,000. January 17, 1900 — The corner stone of the Woman's Club hall at Six- teenth and H streets is laid, and the Beale memorial library at Seventeenth and Chester is nearing completion. March 21 — The Sunset Railroad Company is incorporated by local men. March 28 — Truxtun Beale deeds the Beale library to the city as a memorial to his father. General E. F. Beale. x\pril 11 — Work starts on the electric railroad from Bakersfield to Kern. July 19 — A call is issued for a meeting of oil producers to organize to control the market and insure remunerative prices for oil. This is the begin- ning of the Associated Oil Company. July 20 — Meeting is held and a committee on organization is appointed consisting of C. A. Canfield, J. M. Keith, W. G. Kerckhofif, W. E. Knowles, E. L. Doheny, H. A. Blodget, W. H. McKenzie, Burt Green, B. F. Brooks, 0. Scribner, H. H. Blood and D. S. Ewing. September 12 — Producers' Oil Association is organized as a result of the meetings on July 19 and 20. September 25 — Judge Ross of the federal court in Los Angeles decides against the scrippers in the cases of Pacific Land and Improvement Company against Elwood Oil Company, and Cosmos Exploration Company against Gray Eagle Oil Company. Electric cars will run on the new street railway soon after January 1, 1901. February, 1901 — A building boom is on in East Bakersfield. A campaign against illegal gambling starts. The games are closed on Sunday but run all the week. April 17 — A meeting is held preliminary to the organization of the First National Bank of Bakersfield. April 18 — The famous battle at Midway between representatives of the Mt. Diablo Oil Company and the Superior Sunset Oil Company occurs in the darkness of night, and G. P. Cornell and J. T. Walker, alleged gunmen in the employ of the latter company, are badly wounded. The battle is over sections 24 and 26, 32-23. The Mt. Diablo people get the land by court de- cision, but long litigation follows over the shooting afifair. April 25 — Kern City floral carnival opens with Miss Delia Wells as cjueen. April 26 — Bakersfield gets news of a decision against the scrippers in the case of Kern County Oil Company against Gray Eagle Oil Company. May 18 — The Southern Pacific is changing its engines from coal to oil burners. May 20 — George Hinkle has hard luck in a poker game, and just as he gets aces up with big money in the pot his wife enters and leads him out by the ear. At home Hinkle gives his wife a beating, and has to leave the town hastily to escape a band of fellow gamblers who are warming a pot of tar and emptying a feather bed. May 23 — The Masonic temple at Chester avenue and Twentieth street is dedicated with elaborate ceremonies. May 25 — The senior academic class of the high school is suspended for insubordination as the result of a quarrel about the place on the stage which ii: ^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 161 the commercial class is to occupy at the graduation exercises. The trouble is adjusted later and all graduate happily. June 1 — The county supervisors are putting oil on the Rosedale road for the first time. June 10 — An agitation for the closing of the stores at 6 o'clock is started. June 25 — The ministers and the retail clerks join in a meeting at the opera house to promote the 6 o'clock and Sunday closing movement. July 5— Kern count v's assessment totals $20,850,000, against $15,184,000 in 1900.' July 23 — A petition with 441 signers is presented to the city trustees urging the purchase of parks for the city. August 13 — The Santa Fe Railroad adopts plans for a new depot at Bakersfield. August 8 — The site for the Lowell school is purchased. August 20 — The Edison Electric Company announces plans for building a power plant in Kern river canon. August 28 — The Pacific Refinery (afterward the Phoenix) starts work on its refinery near Reeder lake, just west of Bakersfield. October 16 — The Standard Oil Company is securing rights of way for its pipe line to Point Richmond (the first pipe line built in the county). Producers are complaining of shortage of tank cars. October 16 — A party leaves Bakersfield to hunt grizzly bears in the mountains above Tejon. October 16 — The contract is let for the Lowell school. October 20 — The tracks of the Sunset Railroad have reached Hazelton in the Old Sunset field. November — The Kern River Power Company is organized to build power plants on Kern river. December 21 — Kern Company, Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias, is mustered in. December 21 — The supervisors let the contract to L. Wilcox to build a bridge across Kern river opposite the oil fields. December 23 — The first train leaves for Sunset over the new road. December 24 — The Southern Pacific has ordered more engines to handle the increased business that the oil fields create. January 1, 1902 — The St. Paul's Episcopal church at Seventeenth and I streets is consecrated. January 3^Miller & Lux offer to give the herd of elk that has roamed on the company's lands for years to the Bakersfield lodge of Elks. The offer was accepted and the elk moved to the national park in the Sierras. January 14- — Work is progressing on the Producers' Savings Bank build- ing at Nineteenth and H streets, and the directors of the Bank of Bakersfield decide to build at Chester and Twentieth streets. There is much talk about an electric railroad to the coast, and there are rumors that the Denver & Rio Grande will build through Walker's pass into Bakersfield. The Januar}' shipments of oil from the Kern river field reach 3,000 cars and break all records. January 31 — The Board of Trade is organized with Frank S. Rice as presi- dent and the following additional members of the executive committee : L. M. Dinkelspiel, L. P. St. Clair, A. Weill, W. J. Doherty, Alfred Harrell, R. C. Hussey, L. C. Ross and S. C. Smith. 10 162 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY February 10 — The Southern Pacific begins building oil storage tanks along its tracks through the state. February 20 — E. F. Carter strikes a strong flow of gas on section 25, 32-23. March 1 — The First Congregational church celebrates its tenth anniver- sar3\ The church was organized on February 28, 1892. April 15 — The shippers lose again in contests over oil lands. April 22 — Miss Theresa Ellen Lacey is elected queen of the street car- nival to be held on ]\Iay 3d. May 2 — The Oil Exchange building at H and Nineteenth streets is formally opened. Alay 3 — The ^Merchants' Free Street Carnival opens with Queen Tessie on the throne. The coronation ball is held on Monday night, and the week is given over to mirth and gaiety. Governor Gage visits the city on the last day of the carnival. May 7 — Oil companies talk of building a railroad to ^Maricopa with pri- vate capital. 't' May 11 — The school census shows 2011 boys and 1911 girls of school age in the county. ]\Iay 21 — Pipe is being delivered for the Standard Oil Company's pipe line to Point Richmond. May 22 — Ben Thomas is putting in a pump irrigation plant at Delano at a cost of $1200. May 25 — Company G Avins a prize as the most efficient company in the regiment. July 4 — The Kern County Democrats hold a "non-partisan" Fourth of July celebration with a big barbecue on West Nineteenth street. August 3 — The first carload of materials for the Kern River Power Com- pany's canal is delivered. September 3 — The first Labor Day celebration is held in Bakersfield. Many plans are discussed for building a railroad to Ventura and a meet- ing is held to consider a railroad to Kernville. None of these plans have yet materialized. October 17 — Dr. George C. Pardee speaks in Bakersfield. Governor Gage speaks at the opera house. A hot political campaign, both state and county, is in progress. December 4 — A petition is in circulation asking that the legislature create a second department of the superior court. The movement was successful, and late in the next spring Governor Pardee appointed Paul W. Bennett to the new office, a position which he filled continuously until his death in the summer of 1913. Tanuarv 7, 1903 — Sheriff John W. Kelly closes the illegal gambling games which previously had been running wide open. March 24^-The Associated Oil Company starts work on a 470,000 barrel earthen reservoir in the Kern river field. April 19 — The outlaw, James McKinney, after being tracked from Visalia through the mountains to Arizona and back to Bakersfield, is killed in a battle with officers on Sunday morning about 9:30 o'clock in the Chinese joss house on L street between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets. Marshal T. J. Packard and Deputy Sheriff W. E. Tibbet are shot and killed by McKinney and an associate supposed to be Al Hulse, in whose room in the joss house the outlaw was hiding. Hulse is arrested, and B. M. Tibbet, who shot McKinney, is appointed marshal by the city trustees. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 163 April 27 — The Native Sons of the Golden West hold their state parlor in Bakersfield. August 22 — City election ballots are stolen from a vault in the city clerk's office to prevent their being recounted in a contest filed by E. P. Davis against the election of T. J. Packard as city marshal. The thieves took the ballots to a lonely gully east of Kern city and partly destroyed them by fire. J. T. Wells, a rancher hauling hogs to town before daylight in the morning, saw the fire and two men with a buggy. He reported to Constable Stroble, who, with Marshal Ham Farris of Kern, went out and found the ballots on the 24th and placed them in the safe in Justice Marion's office. The theft was not made public until September 10th. November 10 — The trial of Al Hulse begins in Judge Mahon's court. November 20 — The San Joaquin Valley Federation of Woman's Clubs meets in Bakersfield. December 15 — The city trustees decide on the intersection of Chester ave- nue and Seventeenth street as the site for the Beale memorial clock tower. January 5, 1904 — The election contest of E. P. Davis against T. J. Packard comes to a hearing before Judge Mahon after long delay, despite the death of Packard and the burning of the ballots, and Davis is declared elected by a vote of 442 to 445. Davis lost one vote and Packard nine in the hearing. January 15 — H. A. Jastro is elected vice president of the National Live- stock Association. Later he served several times as president. April 15 — G. P. Cornell, one of the men who were wounded in the Mid- way battle of April 18, 1901, enraged at the outcome of a preliminary exami- nation of men against whom he had brought a charge of deadly assault, fired seven shots from a Colt's automatic revolver at Dr. A. F. Schafer and E. J. Boust, one bullet passing through Boust's coat and the others flying wild about Nineteenth street in front of the Arlington hotel, where Cornell was standing at the time. One shot drew blood on the leg of a salesman stand- ing in the door of Weill's department store and another struck the shoe of John Herrick, who was standing in front of the Magnolia saloon. May 16 — The Knights of Pythias and Rathbone Sisters hold their state conventions in Bakersfield. May 25 — The second trial of Al Hulse for the murder of Packard and Tibbet begins. Hulse was convicted, but committed suicide several years later while still waiting in the county jail for the result of an appeal. He never went to prison. November 2 — The Independent Oil Producers" Agency files articles of incorporation. November 8 — Roosevelt carries Kern county and the Republicans elect an assemblyman, judge and two supervisors. Chairman E. M. Roberts of the Democratic county committee presents Chairman J. W. Wiley of the Republican committee with a new broom, which is hung out of the window of the Republican headquarters. November 19 — The Eagles celebrate the fourth anniversary of the found- ing of the Bakersfield aerie. November 23 — The Independent Oil Producers' Agency completes its organization and the member companies sign over to the agency leases cover- ing $25,000,000 worth of property. November 28 — The post office is moved to its present location in the Southern Hotel building on I street. December — Water is giving serious trouble in the Kern river oil field. 164 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY December 20 — A campaign against the dance halls is in progress. December 29 — Litigation between the irrigating canal companies and the power development companies is settled and Judge Bennett issues a decree perpetually enjoining the Kern River Power Company from building storage reservoirs or from diverting water from Kern river except for power develop- ment purposes. December 30 — Water is turned through the Kern River Power Company's tunnel and power plant and electricity is carried to Los Angeles to run the street cars. January 4, 1905 — The county supervisors let the contract to the Edison Electric Company to build the road up Kern river canon for $21,000. January 9 — The city trustees begin hearing a protest against the open dance halls, and on January 16th, after a stormy session of the board, Trustee R. McDonald left the meeting and the other trustees declined to renew the licenses of the saloons having dance houses in connection. Mayor H. H. Fish ordered the marshal to close the saloons having no licenses, but the saloons evaded the issue by selling soft drinks only. The dance hall cases were carried from the trustees to the city recorder's court, and the jury disagreed. The dance hall keepers applied to the superior court for a w^rit of mandate to compel the trustees to issue them liquor licenses, but the writ was finally refused. March 5— Knights of Columbus lodge instituted. March 25 — The Catholics make plans for the new St. Francis church, which is to cost $40,000. April 9 — The new First Baptist church is dedicated. April 12 — The Salvation Army buys a lot at K and Twentieth street. Free mail delivery is to be established in Kern in June. April 10 — In the city election R. McDonald wins over H. H. Fish by a vote of 630 to 387, and Mayor Fish, in retiring from the board, declares that the election is a victory for the "wide open town." April 25 — The new board of city trustees reconsiders the action of the old board in refusing to issue licenses to the saloons having dance halls in connection. It is declared that the dance halls will not be allowed to run, but they are gradually reopened. The Redmen are raising $5000 for a Fourth of July celebration. May 1 — The Santa Fe railroad has bought the Chanslor-Canfield Midway Oil Company's great holding of oil lands at Midway. May 1 — H. A. Jastro, on behalf of the Kern County Land Company, tenders the city thirty acres of land in the western ])art of the city for a public park on condition that the city spend at least $3000 per year in im- provements until a total of at least $30,000 is expended. The city accepted the tender, but did not comply with the terms, and the land was withdrawn by the donor. Afay 12 — Plans are submitted for the Elks' building on South Chester. June 2 — Burglars roll the safe out of the Santa Fe depot and across the street and maul it open with sledge hammers stolen from the section crew's tool box. Never apprehended. June 17 — Kern river is shipping little oil, but is storing a lot. June 24 — The jury finds E. P. Cornell not guilty of assault to kill E. J. Boust. July 4 — The Redmen's Fourth of July celebration is a great success. Mrs. Frank Fether is Goddess of Liberty, Miss Flo Massa represents Cali- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 165 fornia, and Miss Buxton represents Kern county in the big parade. Gov- ernor Pardee delivers the oration. August 15---Scribner's opera house and adjoining buildinys burn and a loud complaint concerning the fire department and the water supply results in a reorganization of the fire company. August 21 — The Standard Oil Company is pumping oil into its big earthen reservoirs west of the Kern river field at the rate of 30,000 barrels per day. September 1 — The Southern Pacific is corrugating the pipe for its pipe line between the Kern river field and Delano. October 12 — The dance halls are trying to get permission to run all night Saturday nights and until 3 o'clock in the morning other nights. November 14 — The county supervisors decide to build a new high school building to supplement the old one. The cost is estimated at $50,000. December 23 — The Public Ownership party is organized by Charles P. Fox and W. D. Young, and during the meeting, which is held in the court house, the heaviest earthquake shock felt in Bakersfield in many years occurs. January 16, 1906 — The corner stone of the new St. Francis church is laid by Bishop Conaty, who delivers an address in the open air to a great gathering of people. April 3 — Rev. A. M. Shaw, president of the Law and Order League of Kern County, issues a statement declaring war on the dance halls, but some years more elapse before they are finally closed, not to reopen. April A — The Allison Machinery Company installs a steam plant to furnish steam heat to downtown business houses. April 8 — The Buckeve Refinerv is making kerosene oil in the Kern river field. April 17 — Plans are drawn for the Bakersfield opera house. April 19 — A mass meeting is held at Armory hall to draft plans in aid of the San Francisco fire sufferers and ^2777 is subscribed by the citizens present. May 27 — Kern river reaches the highest point since 1893. May 30 — The contract between the Independent Oil Producers' Agency and the Associated Oil Company expires and producers begin shutting down their wells on account of the low price of oil. July 4 — The Bakersfield Board of Trade makes an excursion to the Ama- lie mining district which is showing renewed activity. July 7 — The Masons have placed a six-ton granite boulder in the center of their plot in Union cemetery. August 11 — Plans for the Santa Fe's new round house are announced. August 23 — Bakersfield's assessment roll totals $3,147,213. September — Northern Kern county farmers will get $300,000 for wheat grown on 30,000 acres. September 3 — The Brodek block at Nineteenth and K streets is burned. Loss $41,000. September 9 — Bakersfield trustees adopt plans for a new sewer system calculated to serve a ponulation of 20.000 people. September 10 — Bakersfield city schools open with 702 pupils : Kern schools, 415. September 29 — The new St. Francis Catholic church is nearing com- pletion. October 14 — Al Hulse, partner of Outlaw McKinney in the joss house battle of April 19, 1903, commits suicide in the county jail where he is await- 166 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ing the result of his appeal from the superior court, where he was convicted of murder. October 25 — S. C. Smith and C. A. Barlow, candidates for congress from the eighth district, hold a joint debate on the issues of the campaign at Armory hall, and one of the largest audiences that ever attended a po- litical meeting in Bakersfield is present. November 2 — Stud poker games are closed by Sherifif Kelley's order. November 5 — The new Bakersfield opera house is opened with Checkers, a character play. November 6 — The Democrats carrv the countv bv pluralities ranging from 400 to 1000. November 11 — Cen. \\'illiam R. Shafter, commander in chief of the San- tiago campaign in the Spanish-American war, died at the home of his son- in-law, Capt. \^^ H. McKittrick, fifteen miles south of Bakersfield. November 13 Bakersfield trustees are discussing dollar gas to no effect. November 17 — Delano ranchers have filled the warehouses and have thousands of sacks of wheat piled in the streets waiting shipment. November 23 — After a two days' session in the Kern river fields the Independent Oil Producers Agency closes a contract to sell to the Associated Oil Company 950,000 barrels of stored oil at twenty-five cents, and all its product for the ensuing year, estimated at 2,555.000 barrels at twenty-seven and one-half cents. December 6 — The shortage of cars for handling oil is causing agitation for the passage of the "Texas car law." December 7 — Lindsay B. Hicks and five other miners are buried alive by the collapse of the Edison Power Company's shaft in the Kern river canon. December 11 — News reaches Bakersfield that Hicks is still alive and work of rescuing him is begun. December 15 — Committee of Home Extension Association inspects Wasco land and decides to locate a colony there. December 22 — Hicks is rescued after sixteen days' imprisonment in the collapsed power shaft and the town of Bakersfield goes wild with joy. December 27 — Hicks makes his first appearance on the stage at the Armory and is a decided failure as a footlight hero. January 14. 1907 — City trustees order an election to vote bonds as fol- lows : For a new sewer system, $120,000; for a city hall and site, $50,000; for the improvement of city parks, $30,000. January 19 — Geologists estimate the original oil deposits of the San Joaquin valley fields at 1,254,000,000 barrels, of which 112,000,000 barrels have been taken out. January 18 — Cornerstone of Oil Center Congregational church is laid. AV. \\\ Riley, pastor. January 18 — Woodmen of the World initiate sixty candidates. January 25 — The Porter-Higgins Company buys 2000 acres north of De- lano and a large acreage east of Bakersfield, and plans to bring colonists from the east. February 1 — One hundred and ninety families secure allotments of land in AA'asco Colony. February 6 — State Federation of AVoman's Clubs begins its sixth annual session in the First Alethodist church. February 8 — Mrs. E. D. Buss of Bakersfield is elected president of the State Federation of Woman's Clubs. February 10 — The Standard is paying thirty cents for Midway oil. February 18 — The price of highballs, Tom and Jerrys, all case goods and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 167 fancy drinks is raised to twelve and one-half cents by Bakerslield thirst em- poriums. March 22 — Cosmopolitan hotel block burns, loss $25,000. March 25 — A $120,000 bond issue for building a new sewer system car- ries by a vote of 499 to 91. March 26 — The $30,000 bond issue for improving city parks is defeated by a vote of 321 to 219. It needed two-thirds to carry. March 27- — The $50,000 city hall bonds are defeated by a vote of 16 for and 213 against. April 15 — J. E. Bailey becomes mayor of Bakersfield. Truxtun Beale tenders two-black park to the city. x\pril 16 — City trustees begin investigation of fire department that re- sults in retirement of Chief Willow and nearly all the old firemen. April 16 — African Methodist conference for Northern California meets in Bakersfield. April 21 — Consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern is under discussion. April 22 — Many burglaries occur in Bakersfield. May 6 — The sixth regiment, N. G. C, is mustered out and Company G goes with it. May 15 — The Edison Electric Company's first power plant in Kern river canon is put in commission. I\Iay 16 — A month's course of lectures at the Woman's Club hall by State University professors is begun. Truxtun Beale, who pays the expenses of the course, proposes to make it an annual aft'air. May 2A — The Bakersfield Club is drawing plans for a club building. May 28 — State Aerie of Eagles meets in Bakersfield. ]\Iay 31 — Burglars crack Attorney Claflin's safe with a sledge hammer and try to enter three other offices in the Bank of Bakersfield building. June 11 — Colored Mason's grand lodge meets in Bakersfield. Illegal gam- bling is being suppressed. June 21 — A petition for the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern is put in circulation. July 3 — The east levee of Buena Vista lake breaks and floods the old swamp lands to the east border of Kern lake, doing damage estimated at $250,000. July 11 — Southern Pacific will continue its pipe line to Port Costa. July 12 — J. W. Wiley is appointed code commissioner. July 15 — Work of repairing break in Buena Vista levee begins. July 20 — Judge Paul W. Bennett is acting as trustee to secure titles from the government to Havilah town lots. Havilah was built on unsurveyed land, and the residents have held their lots all these years by right of occu- pation only. July 20 — Mr. and ]\Irs. S. J. Swift, driving a Ford auto from Los iVngeles to San Francisco on their wedding trip, let the empty machine run ofif the grade in Tejon cafion and fall eighty feet to the bottom. Swift, who is a machinist, rebuilds the car with an old saw, an axe. a jack knife and a lot of bailing wire and drives it into town, making a record in emergency auto re- pairing. August 6 — Trustees sell sewer bonds to Los Angeles Trust Company for par and accrued interest to date of delivery. August 9 — Enormous deposits of rich ore imcovered in Clear Creek canon. August 11 — Destructive forest fire burns over several thousand acres in the Greenhorn mountain. August 31 — Sunset Road Oil Company makes contract with the Salt 168 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Lake Road to supply them with fuel oil for a i)eriod of five years at thirty to fifty cents. September 1-1 — Eight hundred pupils are enrolled in the city schools. September 17 — Illegal gambling closed again. September 18 — Kern county oil takes prize at the State Fair. September 20 — Eagles hold first meeting in new hall. September 25 — The pipe organ for the Episcopal church arrives. October 1 — Trustees order census of Kern and Bakersfield in prepara- tion for consolidation. October 10 — Truxtun Beale presents to trustees plans for a Greek the- atre to be built in Beale park. It is built later at Beale's expense. October 22 — A valuable collection of pictures, the gift of Truxtun Beale. was placed in the new high school building. October 27 — Census returns for the city of Bakersfield, 7,338, and for Kern, 3,422. October 31 — The first tract is sold in the Mountain View Colony. November 5 — The contract for the Hall of Records is let to Weymouth Crowell of Los Angeles for $44,340. November 1-1 — Thomas B. Larson, a pioneer of Linns Valley district dies in San Francisco aged eighty-two years. December -1 — Trustees call for bids for sewer construction. M. W. Buff- ington qualifies as city engineer. December 3 — Supervisors plan to raise saloon tax from $100 to $300. December 8 — A\ ork begins on Greek theatre. December 19— The Bakersfield band is organized. December 31 — Thirty-one thousand acres of the Cox ranch sold. January 1, 1908 — The Santa Fe is finishing its new thirty-five-stall round house. January 7 — City trustees let contract to Glass & Fisher to build new sewer system for $53,877. January 10 — City trustees call Bakersfield and Kern consolidation elec- tion for February 25th. January 11 — F. A. Tracy, pioneer, dies. January 11 — Congressman Smith has introduced a bill to provide a post office building for Bakersfield and the post office department has asked for statistics regarding the town and the business of the office. January 1-J — W. S. Tevis files libel suit against San Francisco Bulletin. January 31 — The Independent Agency is standing pat on its demand for seventy-five cents per barrel from the Associated. First meeting is held to organize a branch of the Lincoln-Roosevelt League in Bakersfield. Februarv 11 — The \\' Oman's club plans to issue bonds to cover its in- debtedness of $2400. February 18 — ]\layor Bailey introduces an ordinance to reduce the price of gas to $1. It never passed, but it caused a long controversy and great ex- pectations. February 19 — Independent Oil Producers Agency closes contract with the Associated for the sale of its oil for two years at sixty and one-half cents for the first year and sixty-three for the second year. February 25 — The first election for the consolidating of Bakersfield and Kern is carried in Bakersfield but is lost in Kern. March 4 — Disorderly saloons are under investigation and Trustee Everett St. Clair promises to introduce the afterward famous St. Clair ordi- nance, to close dance halls and side and rear entrances of the saloons. March 9 — St. Clair ordinances are introduced at a meeting attended by the largest audience the city trustees ever had. March 11 — ^^Municipal reform is the chief talk of the town. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 169 March 13 — Lincoln-Roosevelt League organized by Chester H. Rowell. March 16 — St. Clair ordinances are passed. March 17 — Santa Fe round house is accepted. March 20 — Walter Stiern and Drury Wieman win third intercollegiate debate for Kern county liigh school, making three annual viccories for the local school. March 23 — Illegal gambling gets "another death blow." March 23 — The Thomas flyer. America's car in the International New York to Paris automobile race, goes through Bakersfield. March 24 — It is announced that a railroad will be built from Los Ange- les to San Francisco via the Tejon canon and the west side oil fields. (It has not yet materialized.) March 26 — Oil men meet to urge passage of Smith oil land bill. March 31 — To the tune of "Auld Lang Syne," "Home Sweet Home" and "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," the dance halls closed at midnight in compliance with the St. Clair ordinance. The Owl and Stand- ard will continue to sell soft drinks. April 5 — Gambling is in full blast again. April 7 — Soft drink dance halls are dull. April 13 — Woman's Club urges park improvement. April 13 — It is announced that City Trustee George A. Tilton will resign from the board as the result of an efifort to get him to introduce amendments to the St. Clair ordinances. April 16 — Labor council endorses Trustee Tilton and petitions are in cir- culation asking the trustees to appoint G. J. Planz to the expected vacancy. Fred Gunther is also advanced as a candidate for the place. • April 21 — Trustee Tilton resigned. April 27 — The Wasco Congregationalists are building a church. April 28 — The Delonega stage and four horses roll 200 feet down a cliff. The passengers jump and escape with varying degrees of injury. April 30 — Kern city is discussing municipal water w^orks, but never takes final action. May 2 — The Order of Owls, Bakersfield Nest, is organized with twenty- one charter members. ^lay 2 — Ardizzi-Olcese plant five acres to oranges on the Kern Heights. May 3 — R. G. Hill, cattleman of Tehachapi, buys twenty-five sections of the Towne ranch. May 5 — Second movement for consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern starts with petitions circulating in both towns. Alay 7 — The funeral of A\'ellington Canfield, pioneer ranch owner, is held in Bakersfield. May 14 — Mr. and Mrs. Placido Giglo are experimenting with silk culture in Bakersfield. May 15 — Kernites saw the, big fleet of war ships at San Francisco. June 4 — Kern City stores close during funeral of James L. Depauli. June 5 — Anti-saloon league presents petition with 624 signatures asking the county supervisors to pass an ordinance giving each precinct local option. The ordinance was never passed. June 11— Bakersfield buys the west half of section 3. 30-28 from the Southern Pacific for a sewer farm. Price $2.50 an acre. June 27 — Bakersfield will spend $2200 celebrating the Fourth. June 27 — An organization of citizens is making a crusade against illegal gambling. Constable D. B. Newell and citizen deputies raid crap and rou- lette games at 1215 Twenty-first street and AI. H. Sisson swears to complaint against the gamblers. 170 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY July 3 — Undersheriff T. A. Baker, Constable Newell and thirty citizens raid the Palace, Standard and Owl dance halls and arrest the keepers. July 16 — The jury disagrees in the first gambling trial. July 19^ — The county assessment roll shows an increase of $2,371,641 over 1907. Present total, $26,712,953. July 21 — The Sisters of Mercy buy the L. P. St. Clair residence at H. and Fourteenth streets for a hospital. July 27 — Kern County Anti-saloon League organized. August A — State Federation of Colored Woman's Clubs meets in Bakers- field. Colored Odd Fellows open district lodge. August 6 — Charles P. Fox launches the California Oil World, a weekly devoted to the state oil industry. September 6 — The St. Clair Hospital, afterward Mercy Hospital, is opened. September 7 — Kern County High School opens with two new depart- ments, manual training and domestic science. Delano installs first street light. September 7 — Bakersfield city schools show attendance of 792 ; High School 211 ; Kern city schools 440. September 9 — A. F. Stoner is appointed city trustee to fill vacancy left by George A. Tilton's resignation. September 10 — New hall of records is accepted. Cost, $50,000. September 11 — Gamblers arrested in citizens' crusade plead guilty. Crap and roulette tables will be shipped to Nevada. September 22 — State convention of county assessors meets in Bakersfield. September 23 — Woodmen of the World adopt plans for building at I and Eighteenth streets. October 7 — Dance hall cases go on trial before Justice of the Peace Black and Slim Moore is acquitted. October 10 — John McWilliams buys 5000 acres of Lerdo Land from Kern County Land Company. November 13 — Building boom strikes Bakersfield. November 18 — First probation committee appointed. December 3 — Mrs. F. A. Tracy gives two acres of land to Children's Shelter in memory of her husband, F. A. Tracy. December 5 — First Children's Shelter tag day is held and $6,000 is raised. December 17- — Union Oil Company has leased 6000 acres of land from the Sunset Road Oil Company. December 22 — Bakersfield new sewer system is finished. January 15, 1909 — High water in Kern river threatens levees. The river is carrying about 15,000 cubic feet of water per second. January 21 — H. L. Packard dies in San Francisco. February 3 — O. D. Fish dies in Los Angeles. February 5 — Supervisors create Aqueduct and Standard School districts. February 7 — W. T. Jameson dies at his ranch. February 25 — The Edison Land & Water Company is organized. February 27 — Mrs. W. M. Beekman and four children are burned to death in their beds when their home is consumed by fire. The origin of the fire still remains a mystery. March 13 — The edict goes forth that illegal gambling in the West Side oil towns must cease. April 15 — The Independent Oil Producers' Agency asks producers to curtail the production of oil for six months on account of the increasing surplus. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 171 April 20 — Henry J. Martens lands here with fifty Mennonites to found the Lerdo colony. The colony failed because Martens could not give title to the land, and the colonists scattered to other parts of the county and the state. The first children's playground in Bakersfield is opened under the supervision of Miss Evelyn Pluss. April 21 — Admiral Robley D. Evans lectures in Bakersfield. April 25 — A Kern county steer weighing 2500 pounds live weight and standing twenty hands high, is slaughtered in San Francisco by Miller & Lux, who claim that it is the record for size. April 28— The Associated Oil Company votes $25,000,000 bonds to build pipe lines from Coalinga to Port Costa and from its west side holdings to Gaviota and for other improvements. xA.pril 29 — A $55,000 school bond election called for ]\Iay 22 to build an addition to the Lowell school and buy sites for two more buildings. May 6 — There are over 200 motor cars in Kern county. May 6 — The Elks are excavating for their building on South Chester. The Bakersfield band is playing at Nineteenth and Chester every Saturday night during the summer. May 9 — The Kern County High School captures the pennant in the valley inter-scholastic track meet. Lloyd Stroud, Cecil Baker, Gordon Baker, John Stroud, Antone Wegis and Drury Wieman are the stars. May 12 — William Harrison Lowell, Civil war veteran and Kern county pioneer, dies. May 21 — Plans are drawn for the Producers' Transportation Company's pipe line lo the coast. Capt. John Barker, pioneer, dies at his home in Bakers- field. June I — The school census shows 5039 school children in the county. June '^ — The supervisors decide to call an election to vote $400,000 in bonds fo\ a new court house. June 11 — The Producers' Transportation Company files incorporation papers. June II — Bakersfield merchants organize the Kern County Credit Asso- ciation to protect its members from bad debts. June 15 — Caliente is wiped out by fire. Loss, $46,800. June 17 — The subject of better levee protection is discussed in Bakersfield. July 5 — The Eagles celebrate with a big picnic and barbecue. July 9 — The Druids are finishing their hall in East Bakersfield. July 16 — ^The county supervisors decide to add an agricultural department to the High School. A small plot of rentrd ground was used for experimental purposes for a time and later the Hudnut Park tract of twenty-six acres was bought by the county from the Kern County Fair Association. July 20 — The county assessment roll totals $31,787,898. August 21 — The county's hay and grain crop is estimated at $1,271,000. August 25 — A Santa Fe freight train with forty-seven loaded cars runs away down the Tehachapi grade and collides with a switch engine in the yards at Mojave. Five men killed; property loss, $200,000. August 30 — Dr. A. F. Schafer is experimenting with the manufacture of serums for the cure of acute diseases. September 12 — City schools open with 965 pupils and twenty-four teach- ers ; High School, 205 pupils. September 14 — Kern county votes $400,000 to build a new court house. September 22 — Miller & Lux are extending the old Kern Valley Water 172 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Company's canal north along- the west side of the swamp and plan eventu- ally to continue it to Tulare lake. September 25 — A new movement is launched to consolidate Bakersfield and Kern. September 27 — The historic oil land withdrawal order is made, and many thousands of acres of oil land claims in the West Side fields are clouded. October 1 — The Bakersfield Baseball Association is organized and a valley league is planned. October 2 — The Kern County Land Company sells five sections for the Mountain View colonization project. Much general interest is taken in oil lands on the North McKittrick front. October 10 — President Taft speaks to many thousands from a platform near the Southern Pacific depot in East Bakersfield. October 13 — The Edison Land & Water Company is subdividing its land at ^200 per acre with an interest in pumping plants and cement irrigation systems. October 22 — The town of Moron is wiped out b}' fire. Loss $35,000. October 28 — Two auto loads of gun fighters go out to do battle over the J. C. Yancey oil claims on the North McKittrick front. No blood shed. Business men are looking for stores to rent in Bakersfield, but none are to be found. November 2 — Bakersfield city trustees pass a 12 :30 saloon-closing ordinance. Transient visitors to Bakersfield have to telegraph several days ahead to secure rooms, the town is so full of people. The 1910 oil boom is getting under way. November 12 — The Children's Shelter is dedicated. November 25 — Flaming arc street lights are being placed along Nine- teenth street l)y property owners. December 10 — Plans are made for organizing a building trades council. The Producers' Transportation Company's pipe line will be -finished January 15th. December 21- — Bakersfield and Kern vote to consolidate. Bakersfield, 518. for; 186, against. Kern, 265, for; 154, against. December 29 — Barney Oldfield makes a mile in 1 :10^ with an auto- mobile at Hudnut park, lowering the former record of 1 :12 for a mile on a half-mile dirt track. December 30 — The year's building record in Bakersfield is estimated at $221,300. and fifty-three buildings are under -construction. Building trades- men employed are: Carpenters, 180; plumbers, 25; painters, 50; brick masons, 30; plasterers, 15 : cement workers. 25 : inside wirers, 10; laborers, 100. December 30 — Fifteen Bakersfield architects banquet at the Southern hotel. Building activity is near the top notch in Bakersfield's history. December 31 — Many auto loads of armed men leave Bakersfield for the West Side to post oil land locations with the stroke of midnight, and usher in with the new year the last great contest to take and hold — by force if need be — the rich government oil land of the Midway valley and the Elk and Buena Arista hills. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 173 CHAPTER XVI Brief Histories of Kern County Towns Ever since Bakersfield wrested the county seat from Havilah in 1874 she has been the center of trade, growth and development in the county, and as such her story is closely interwoven with the story of the county, told in the preceding pages. It is not the purpose to repeat this story in detail in this chapter, but only to pick out some of the more important dates and events in the town's history for convenience in reference and for the purpose of furnishing a little clearer picture of Bakersfield's progress than the general history of the county affords. The location of Bakersfield was fore-ordained from the time the geography of the southern end of the San Joaquin valley was determined. It is located at the point where Kern river leaves the deep furrow which it has ploughed for itself through the higher mesa land and reaches the flat, alluvial plain. It is the point where the water of the river could be most easily and profitably diverted for irrigation, and the soil of the townsite was such as to tempt the first settlers in the valley to locate there. Bakersfield in 1859 The first of these settlers who established permanent homes on what is now the site of Bakersfield came in 1859 or just before that date. At that time Bakersfield was not a swamp, but Kern river divided just below Pano- rama heights and flowed through the present townsite in two main and one or two lesser channels. The largest of the channels was later known as Panama slough and crossed the townsite diagonally to the southwest, passing the present corner of B and Nineteenth street. The second largest channel was the old south fork, the remains of which are still in evidence just west of the Mill ditch. In 1859 the Overland stage road or immigrant trail which came through Tejon pass ran through the Lowell addition and crossed the river somewhere west of Panorama heights. Immigrants entering the valley over this road formed the first transient settlement of what is now Bakersfield, and in the winter of 1861-62, at the time of the first flood that history records, this settlement numbered something more than half a dozen families besides na- tive Indians. The flood came the day after Christmas and cut a new channel for the river — the one it now follows- — as is described in more detail in chapter five of this book. Some of the settlers and a good part of the Indian population moved away when the roads got dry enough, but at least four families re- mained, the Shirleys. the Gilberts. Harvey S. Skiles and Lewis Reeder. Coming of Colonel Baker In 1862 came Colonel Thomas Baker and Edward Tibbet. Colonel Baker had a contract with the state to reclaim all the swamp land that was over- flowed by Kern river and immediately began the construction of a dam across the south fork below Panorama heights. The other settlers farmed the future townsite. In 1863 a private school was established in the settlement, and the first public school was opened in 1877. During the Civil war the 174 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY mail service over the southern route was discontinued, and the settlers here got their mail from Los Angeles or Visalia by the courtes}^ of neighbors or travelers. The first post office was established at Bakersfield about 1868. In the winter of 1867-8 came the second flood, larger than the first, cutting the new channel deeper and strewing the townsite with logs from the mountains. Kern County Created Kern count}' was created by an act of the legislature on April 2, 1866, by which the county seat was fixed at Havilah. One of the first acts of the county super\'isors, however, was to organize reclamation districts covering the land all around Bakersfield, and the settlement soon took on an activity that foreshadowed its eclipse of the mountain town the legislature had hon- ored. Bakersfield Formally Laid Out On December 21, 1869, A. D. Jones, publisher of the Havilah Courier, moved his plant to Bakersfield, which Colonel Baker had formally laid out the September preceding. In January, 1870, Bakersfield had two stores, Liv- ermore & Chester's and Caswell & Ellis', a telegraph office, printing shop, carriage shop, harness shop, fifty school children, two boarding houses, one doctor, one lawyer and a saloon. In March, 1870. the town was resurveyed, and in the fall of that year a bill was introduced in the legislature to make it the county seat, but it did not become a law. At that time the whole population of "the island" was placed at 600. In September, 1871. the surveyors were running preliminary lines through Bakersfield for the Southern Pacific railroad, and a month later it is recorded that Havilah residents were moving to Bakersfield and bringing their houses with them. Colonel Baker died November 24, 1872. Bakersfield Wins the County Seat Eft'orts of Bakersfield to secure the county seat resulted in an election on February 15. 1873, in which Bakersfield was declared the winner by twelve votes. Havilah secured an injunction, however, and litigation followed which resulted in a new count of the ballots on January 26, 1874. in which the figures stood, Bakersfield, 354; Havilah, 332. For the growth which made this victory possible Bakersfield was indebted to the rich delta lands, which were being hungrily gathered up under the generous swamp reclamation laws. By this time Livermore & Chester had become the dominant factors in the community and were carrying on large operations in land reclamation, teaming, trading and other lines. The town was a center for sheep and cattle men, and was a stopping place for teamsters hauling ore and other products from the south and east to the end of the Southern Pacific railroad, which was then building down the valley. Bakersfield Is Incorporated In May. 1873. the county supervisors, acting on a petition of residents, declared Bakersfield an incorporated town, and on May 24th the first city officers were elected as follows: Trustees, W. S. Adams, L. S. Rogers, M. Jacoby. J. B. Tungate, and R. W. Withington. Early in 1874 W. B. Carr, the fore-runner of J. B. Haggin and the Kern County Land Company, arrived in Bakersfield. That spring the first Meth- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 175 odist Episcopal church was built, in August the Southern Pacific reached the north side of the river; in September it was getting ready to lay out the town of Sumner, afterward Kern, now East Bakcrsheld. On September 1, 1874, George B. Chester deeded to the county the old court house block, and on October 5th a contract was let for the erection of a court house at a cost of $29,999. Bakersfield Disincorporates A perusal of the fuller accounts in chapters seven and eight will show that this was an era of great expectation for Bakersfield. But the railroad did less for the town than had been expected, and a series of dry years and the beginning of a contest between Livermore & Chester and Haggin & Carr for control of the irrigation waters caused a period of waiting and uncer- tainty that checked the town's growth. In 1876 Bakersfield got tired of paying a town marshal $7o per month for doing nothing, and disincorporated. It was incorporated a second time January 11, 1898. By 1880 Billy Carr had out-generaled Julius Chester, and Haggin & Carr succeeded Livermore & Chester as the dominant factors in the growth of Bakersfield and Kern county. Then came the contest between Haggin & Carr and Miller & Lux told at length in preceding chapters, and the final com- promise by which the waters of Kern river were divided between the two corporations. This compromise was embodied in an agreement signed on July 28, 1888. Another Era of Progress A little later rumor of plans for the colonization of the Haggin lands began to take on apparent substance, and the years 1888 and 1889 seem to have been notable for community progress in Bakersfield. On December 25, 1887, the Silsby fire engine- — revered in the memory of the pioneers — arrived in town. In the summer of 1888 -work was started on the Southern hotel. That fall L. P. St. Clair got a franchise for gas and electric works, and the next year H. A. Blodget, H. H. Fish and Jeff Packard got a franchise for the first street railway. In the spring of 1889 Haggin did put a small amount of land on the market, and the county voted $250,000 bonds to build a jail, a county hospital, an addition to the court house and to improve the county roads. July 7, 1889, fire swept the business section of the hopeful young city and left little more than some acres of ashes with a fringe of dwelling houses around them. Colonization of Rosedale In September, 1890, the Kern County Land Company was incorporated, S. W. Fergusson was made manager, and the colonization of the Rosedale lands was begun. Extensive advertising of the Rosedale lands, the arrival of colonists and the expectation of the people of Bakersfield gave the town its next boom. Building, mostly of a light character, went forAvard with feverish activity. On February 10, 1893. Kern river broke its levees and the water flowed over the northern part of the town and stood a foot deep at Nineteenth and I street, but in a few days it disappeared with little damage. The abundance of water which the flood indicated helped the Rosedale colonists — nearly all unaccustomed to irrigation — to over-irrigate their lands. Succeeding dry A'ears and a shortage in the river laro-elv remedied the error, so far as the lands 176 HISTORY OF KERN COUxNTY were concerned, but the colonists meantime became doubly discouraged by the failure of their crops and the general hard times of 1893 and 1894. When the Kern County Land Company fully decided that the Rosedale colonization venture was a failure it withdrew its agents, stopped selling land, and H. A. Jastro succeeded to the management of the concern and its great properties in the county. Public Utilities in 1889-90 The first gas plant was built in Uakersfield about the first part of 1889, and the first electric lighting plant, run by steam, in 1890. The Power, Tran- sit & Light Company finished the electric generating plant at the mouth of Kern river canon in 1897 and took over the street car system, which pre- viously had been run by horse power. In 1897, also, the Electric Water Com- pany took over the old Scribner Water Works and began supplying the city generally with water. Chapter 13 gives important events and dates of this period in detail. Kern River Oil Boom In May, 1899, Jonathan El wood and his son James discovered oil in the Kern river field, gave a great incentive to the oil boom that was beginning to materialize through work in the West Side fields, and started the greatest boom that Bakersfield had experienced up to that time in her history. In Bakersfield the result of this boom showed mainly in the rapid building of business and residence buildings to meet the swiftly expanding demand and the laying of miles of cement sidewalk in all parts of the city. Before the movement for public improvement reached the point of paving more than a few blocks in the business center the price of oil dropped under the weight of over-production. Bakersfield did not drop back from the effects of this boom, nor did it ever drop back from the effects of any boom in its history; it has always held all it has gained, and been ready to take advantage of the next incentive to growth that good fortune afforded it. Present Prospects In Chapter 15 the more recent events in the history of Bakersfield are related and it is unnecessary to repeat the story here. At the present time the city is looking forward chiefly to prospective colonization enterprises, to the settlement of the mesa lands through pump irrigation, and to the hope of electric railways joining this city and Los Angeles via the Weed Patch and other lines from this city to the West Side oil towns. Bonds have been voted for the construction of a system of paved roads connecting Bakersfield with all parts of the county, and by these and other means the city is hoping to maintain her supremacy as the trade center of the county, a destiny of no modest proportions when the vast resources of the county are developed. Towns of the West Side Oil Fields — Maricopa The first railroad station established in the Sunset oil field when the Sunset railroad was built in 1902 was called Hazelton, but the wells around the first terminal were small producers, and the development gradually drifted to the north. The railroad followed with an extension of its tracks past the present site of Maricopa to a point known to the railroad company as Monarch, but which never attained much significance in the mind of the ]mblic. ^Tost n O X HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 177 of the people who bought tickets to Monarch found it more convenient to get of¥ at a point a mile or so to the south where many shallow wells producing a heavy road oil were brought in about 1902 and 1903 and thereafter, and gradually — because the slump in oil prices discouraged haste in those days — the present town of Maricopa took root and established itself as the per- manent trade center of the Sunset field. The first store was opened in 1906 by F. F. Torpey, and the first hotel was built by William Carter. C. W. Beatty opened a store in Maricopa in 1908, and also served as postmaster for a number of years. During these years Maricopa was the only town in the West Side oil fields, and she therefore claims the title of Mother City of the West Side fields as well as the title of The Gusher City. But it was not until the gushers began coming in and the boom of 1909 and 1910 struck the West Side fields that Maricopa made any great progress toward prosperity or permanence. But when the Lakeview gusher baptized the town with oil and the flood of land locators, prospectors and genuine oil producers began to arrive, Maricopa arose to the occasion. In 1910 the railroad company gave up the fiction that Monarch was the chief point on its Sunset line and built a substantial and commodious depot at Maricopa. A $12,000 grammar school building was built, two new hotels, the Lakeview and the Lenox, were opened to the public, the first garage and the first steam laundry were built; the Wagy Water Company completed laying water pipes from springs in the mountains, affording the city a good supply of water for domestic purposes and fire protection ; 7,000 feet of private sewer main were laid, and gas and electric light and power service were extended to all parts of the town. During 1910 new houses were completed at the rate of two or three per day, telephone lines were extended throughout the Sunset field with a central oflfice in Maricopa, and later these lines were carried to all parts of the expanding West Side district by the Kern Mutual Telephone Company, a West Side concern. Maricopa was incorporated in July, 1911, at which time the following officers were elected: Trustees, C. W. Beatty, W. E. Thornton, James Wal- lace, H. C. Doll and C. Z. Irvine ; clerk, E. E. Ballagh ; treasurer, M. Y. White ; recorder, T. W. Brown ; attorney, L. R. Godward ; marshal, H. J. Babcock ; fire chief, Harry Parke ; engineer, L. L. Coleman. On June 20, 1911, about a third of Maricopa's business houses were destroyed by fire, but all the buildings were promptly replaced by others of a more enduring character. During the past year and a half Maricopa's growth has been a little less rapid owing to a falling ofT in the activity of oil development, but every year the permanence of the W^est Side oil fields and of the cities that depend upon them seems more and more assured. Maricopa has good banking facilities, and is well served in the field of journalism by the Maricopa Oil News. xAmong the prospects for the future is a good automobile road connecting Maricopa with the Ventura coast, and an electric railroad from Los Angeles via Tejon pass through Maricopa to the other West Side towns. The citizens of Maricopa have been actively promoting the coast road for a year and more past, and are now very hopeful that it will be built. This will place Maricopa on the line of much through travel from other parts of the valley to the sea, and the electric line, if it is 11 178 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY built, will give the people of the Sunset town quick and frequent communica- tion with Los Angeles. Taft The town of Taft has been at all its stages the logical outgrowth of the necessities of the Midway oil field, of which it is the business center. Although the first oil prospectors whti entered Kern county from Coalinga overran and located the greater part of the Midway field, the lack of transportation facilities, water and fuel and the depth of the oil sands as compared to that in the older parts of the McKittrick and Sunset fields discouraged develop- ment. A map of the field published in 1901 shows but six oil wells, all in township 32-23. At that time 900 or 1000 feet was considered the limit of profitable drilling, whereas the big producers of the field in later years were brought in, for the most part, at twice that depth, or more. In 1903 and thereabout, in the Midway field, occurred some of the bit- terest contests over oil lands that have marked the history of the industry in the state, but the drop in oil prices just after that period reduced the activity of the Midway operators almost to the vanishing point. As late as 1907 the production of the Midway field was only 134,174 barrels for the entire year, less than half what some of the later wells of the territory produced per well in a month. But with the cleaning up of the surplus oil stocks of the state during 1907. interest turned again to the Midway field, and the train of events which resulted in the building of Taft began. Foreseeing that the possession of its own supply of fuel might some day be of great advantage, the Santa Fe railroad bought the extensive holdings of Chanslor & Canfield in the Midway field ; the Standard Oil Company also began to acquire land in Midway — the first venture of the big concern into the field of production in this state — and the construction of the Standard pipe line from the Kern river field to Midway was begun. Under the name of the Sunset Western, the Sunset rail- road was extended from Maricopa to a point a little northwest of the present townsite of Taft. and a side track for the unloading of lumber and oil well supplies was put in. In the winter of 1908-9 an excursion of Bakersiield people went by train to the end of the Sunset Western road and spent half an hour looking at the sights of the embryo metropolis of the Midway field. They consisted of two or three shacks and several acres of oil well casing and derrick timbers piled along the siding. But when the town began to grow it lost no time. By the summer of 1909 it had ten or a dozen business houses and some 200 inhabitants, and in July of that year it was given a post oflfice with H. A. Flopkins, one of the pioneer merchants, as i)ostniaster. Less than two years later the population had been multiplied by ten. and the business had increased still faster. lUit there were intervening vicissitudes. Before the railroad was built water had to be hauled from I'uena Vista lake and cost $8 per barrel. After- ward it was shipped by tank cars from East Bakersfield and retailed at fifty cents. The town was first built on the south side of the railroad track on land leased from the railroad on short tenure, and the architecture was of a correspondingly frail and temporary character. On October 22, 1909. at five o'clock in the morning a drunken man tried to light a distillate burner in a Chinese restaurant. He turned on the distillate and struck a match. The match went out. and he struck another. Meantime the distillate flowed out HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 179 of the stove and through a hole in the floor. The second match started the fire. There was an explosion, and in an hour and a half the business street of the little Midway town was in ashes. There was no such thing as a fire department, and the total supply of water in the town at the time was esti- mated at ten gallons. Some of the losers by the fire were Evans & Parish, general merchants; \\\ L. Alvord, confectioner; Hahri & Krull, furniture dealers; Max Tupper. stationer; Fred O'Brien, pool hall and barber shop; Harry A. Hopkins, general merchant and postmaster; S. C. Burchard, butcher; James & Dooley, clothing merchants ; Dr. Summers, and two or three others. The remainder of the town was composed of tents, tent houses and shacks of the lightest construction. The railroad company in July had notified its lessees on the south side of the track that all that ground was needed for sidings, and had platted a townsite on the north side of the track where lots were offered for sale outright, except with provisions in the deed reserv- ing the right to drill for oil and forbidding the sale of liquor. About the same time J. W. Jameson platted a townsite on the south side of the railroad a little distance from the tracks on section 24, and a sharp contest arose over the location of the post office. The railroad company won the post office and most of the business houses, although enough of the latter located on the Jameson townsite to make quite a showing and to keep the ultimate result of the rivalry between the two locations in doubt for a con- siderable time. Up to this time the railroad had called the new town Moro, but as there was an express office in San Luis Obispo county by that name an "n" was added to the end of the name of the Midway town. But there was a A'loron in Colorado, and the postal authorities objected to duplicating the name in California, as the abbreviations used for the two states look so much alike. After many weeks of debate and the vigorous rejection of several sug- gested names, Postmaster Hopkins, sitting in the office of Postmaster R. A. Edmonds in Bakersfield one day, happened to raise his eyes to a portrait of the president which hung above the desk. "Let's call it Taft," said Hopkins to Edmonds, and the suggestion finally prevailed, so far as the post office was concerned, although the railroad still clung to the name of Moron for its station. Up to the end of 1909 neither of the rival towns had made much progress, but with the beginning of 1910 both began to forge ahead with a vigor and enterprise that renewed the doubt as to which would gain the supremacy. But in September, 1910, the Jameson townsite was swept by fire, and the backset which it thus received put its rival hopelessly in the lead. A movement for the incorporation of Taft was started in April or May, 1910, and on November 8th of that year, at an election called by the county supervisors, the proposition carried by a rousing vote, and the following officers were elected: Trustees, H. W. Blaisdell, H. A. Hopkins, E. L. Burn- ham, j. W. Ragesdale and J. P. Dooley; marshal, E. G. Wood; clerk. Dr. Fred Bolstad. The trustees appointed T. J. O'Boyle recorder, and Fred Seybolt city attorney. The Taft Public Utilities Company, the first corporation formed to serve the public in the new town, was incorporated in the fall of 1910. It shipped water from East Bakersfield by tank cars, pumped it to a couple of 1200-barrel tanks, and delivered it thence by gravity to the consumers. On 180 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY February 1, 1911, the company's business and distributing system was sold to the Consumers' Water Company, a concern controlled by stockholders of the Western Water Company, which pumps water through a pipe line from wells located not far from Buena Vista lake in the trough of the valley. The city is supplied with gas from the natural gas wells in the Buena Vista hills, and with electricity by the San Joaquin Light & Power Corpora- tion, whose transmission lines run through all the West Side fields. In November, 1912, the town of Taft voted bonds in the sum of $41,000 for the construction of a sewer and a system of water mains for fire protection. The sewer was completed in June, 1913, and the fire mains and hydrants were put into service shortly thereafter. The city built a concrete jail at a cost of $1650 in 1911, and in the summer of 1913 completed a new $20,000 grammar school building. The concrete building used as a post office was built by popu- lar subscription, and free sites were offered to the city for a school building and to the first church that would erect a house of worship. The Catholics were the first to accept the latter offer. At the present time Taft is a well-built little city of about 3,000 people; has a good percentage of brick and concrete buildings ; is well supplied with public utilities, as has been seen ; has a daily paper. The Midway Driller, and a weekly oil paper, The Petroleum Reporter, edited by members of the Petro- leum Club. Besides the Sunset Western railroad which connects it with Mari- copa and Bakersfield, it has an auto stage line running to McKittrick, and is promised another running to Bakersfield. Within the last few weeks an- nouncement has been made that an electric railroad will be built from Los Angeles through the Tejon pass and thence west and northwest through the Sunset, Midway and McKittrick fields. With all these facilities and with the rich and steadily increasing oil field about it, the future of Taft as this history is closed is very bright. Fellows Fellows first appeared on the map as a railroad terminal in 1908, when the Sunset Western railroad was extended from Pentland Junction, near Maricopa, to the northern portion of the Midway field. Nothing but a grow- ing or diminishing pile of lumber and oil well supplies marked the spot, how- ever, until the rfival of interest in oil development in 1909 began to make it an important point for the unloading of supplies for the oil companies that began about that time to venture out into the upper part of the Midway val- ley. Then the Santa Fe, operating large oil properties in North Midway as tfie Chanslor-Canfield Oil Company, established headquarters at Fellows and made the place noteworthy by sparing enough of its expensively obtained domestic water to grow a row of cottonwood trees on the barren mesa. As the field developed Fellows became a modest trading point. James & Dooley established the first store in the place in 1910. Lawton & Blanck followed soon after with a similar establishment, in which was located the postofBce, and by the beginning of 1911 Fellows boasted two stores, a drug store, a billiard room, a livery stable and a liberal supply of saloons. In the last two years Fellows has taken on an air of greater stability by the erection of better buildings, among which is a grammar school build- ing that would do credit to a place of several times its age and number of inhabitants. The Fellows Courier, an enterprising weekly, has been estab- lished recently. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 181 McKittrick The town of McKittrick, which is the shipping and trading- point for the oil fields of that name, is about forty miles west of Bakersfield. The earliest settlement at that place was called As])haltc). because of an asphalt mine located there in the early days, and the railroad, which was built to the field in 1891. still calls its station by the original name, although everyone else adopted the name McKittrick in 1895. The manufacture of asphaltum was the first industry of the town, and was the means of inducing the Southern Pa- cific to build a branch of its railroad to connect the place with Bakersfield. The railroad refined asphaltum under the name of the Standard Asphalt Company for some years. The first mail was 'distributed by Mrs. Ouarra, but she did the work as a matter of accommodation and not as a government official. When H. F. Peters built the first store in 1900 he was appointed the first postmaster. Prior to this date A. Randettini was conducting a hotel at McKittrick. The town was laid out as it now is in 1900. With the general activity in oil development beginning in 1900 McKit- trick began to grow, and it has been conspicuous among oil towns for the even prosperity it has enjoyed, although it never developed the booms which sent the population of Taft and Maricopa into the thousands. McKittrick now has about 500 inhabitants. It was incorporated in Sep- tember, 1911, with the following officers: Trustees, R. Butterfield. president; W. J. McCarthy, S. A. Hubbard, H. E. Phelan and Fred Ehlers ; city clerk, Warren Bridges. The McKittrick Clarion dispenses the local news. Lost Hills The founding of the town of Lost Hills followed the discovery of the oil field of that name, the story of which is told in the chapters devoted to oil. Martin & Dudley, discoverers of the field, laid out a townsite on sections 2 and 3, township 27, range 21, the winter following the strike. G. T. Nighbert erected the first building, which was occupied by a restaurant conducted by Mrs. Hamilton, the first woman in the new town. Nighbert also built the first hotel and the first store building, the latter being leased to Crow & Cullen, who previously conducted the first mercantile business in Lost Hills in a tent. With the development of the Lost Hills field the town has grown steadily until there are now about 200 residents, and all lines of business one would expect to find in a city of that size are represented. Excellent tele- phone service with the fields and with the outside world is afforded, there is a daily stage to Wasco, and bonds for a school house have been voted. Two explanations of the origin of the name "Lost Hills" are at the dis- cretion of the historian. One is that a traveler approaching the district from the east sees from a distance what appears to be a considerable elevation of land, but as he comes nearer the hills seem to fade away until, when he has actually reached them, they appear hardly higher than the surrounding land. The second explanation is that the low range of hills which bear the name has no apparent relation to the surrounding country and the man who named them may have humored the conceit that thev had wandered away from the other foothills of the Coast range — from which they are many miles distant — and lost themselves on the desolate and uninhabited mesa. As a matter of fact, the Lost Hills are formed by a very steep anticline 182 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY which the wash of centuries has nearly covered with alluvial sands. But it required expensive drilling to ascertain this fact, and so it probably did not influence the selection of the name. Towns of the Valley Farming Districts — Delano The town of Delano had its beginning as a railroad terminal. On July, 1873, the Southern Pacific railroad, building from Oakland to Los Angeles, reached that point with its tracks, and work was suspended until August 6, 1874. During this interval of a year and fifteen days Delano was the end of the line, and freight to and from Bakersfield and all the valley and mountain districts south and even as far away as Inyo county, was hauled to Delano or from Delano by big ox- and mule-teams. For some weeks before and after these dates Delano was headquarters for the railroad grading and track- laying crews, and for many years thereafter it remained a favorite gathering place for itinerant sheep men at the spring and fall shearing times. In addition to all these incentives to growth, Delano became the trading point for a large number of homesteaders who settled the fertile, sunny, attractive plains that spread between the railroad and the Sierra foot hills. The rainfall on these plains is scant, and the crops of wheat which the home- steaders raised were correspondingly meager, but the land was so easily tilled that one man with six horses and a gang plow could farm several hun- dred acres. As a result, Delano, a little later in its history, was an important wheat-shipping point. The more gradual development of the heavier lands to the west of the railroad brought a little more business to Delano. The organization of the Poso irrigation district, and the hope of getting gravity water from Kern river or from Poso creek nursed Delano's dreams of great- ness for some years, and when both of these i)rojects had to be abandoned, the town turned to the pumping plants. Delano was the first place in the county to build air castles on a founda- tion of pump irrigation, but the somewhat greater depth to water than pre- vailed at Wasco and McFarland, and the fact that a series of dry years and low prices had left the wheat ranchers too poor to risk investments in un- proven experiments delayed progress in the successful installation of pump irrigation. It was not until 1908 that pump irrigation began to be a considerable factor in the development of Delano, but from that date on it grew steadily in importance, and those who are familiar with the soil and the water con- ditions expect to see Delano take rank among the most productive and pros- perous farming sections of the country. The first store in Delano was conducted by E. Chauvin, and stood nearly straight across the street from the railroad depot. Chauvin also was the first postmaster. The principal business houses of the earliest days faced the rail- road, but in 1890 a fire swept most of them away, and the next street to the east took front rank in importance. The town now boasts two business streets, a fair number of brick buildings, a large grammar school building, a high school, opened in 1912, a bank, three churches. Baptist, Methodist and Catholic, two grain warehouses, and a weekly newspaper, the Delano Record. Wasco Wasco colony as founded in February, 1907, as the result of indirect elTorts of the Kern county board of trade. The executive committee of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 183 the latter do I hard' I^r o "e tti ^ rtrh'°jM; tf'T ^^^"'? ''"^ '" endeavor resulted ■„ the purchase ,t '' '°"'='' .«""' "'= home-seeker. This Count, Land Contpan/hrihf C^ut rHrfExt: st' ir -^ ^^^H prospfcfve c^.on.sTs.'r.td t^' 3';;^ e^Se^.-L^^ ^^ °' """^^ '° meetmg of the purchasers in February 'w At Th . " " ^ 'f""<^""^' which was laid out in 20-acre tracts Z!,\ , I . """"« "'<= '"nd, ^lucfoned off to the bond h<>lde ri "™" ^"' ^"'' ''"'>' ^'Pl'-'ai-sed, was !he appraisetnent, and'thfb ts' ^ "f/ ,t"f' / ""f""'"' ^^°^^ U,nd t,,e h a. hein, exchanged .or the lan'ratTh: rpp^'.air^-"' I he hrst settlers arrived on the colony March 1 ion? ^^•, , , , was under the Callowav ranan, ""ny -March 1, 1907. While the land water company v^as formed o "T u ™'"',°"' " "^'" "S^t, and a mutual year twenty-twoTvellsT e sink and"h>e "" '"'''", ^"'"P'"^ P'^"'^ '" => As stated elsewhere tlj need of ec ""'"P"'^ P'"""' ""*= "' °P"ation. hand engines, and the result Is rdrdirur'^' ,''" '""'^'''' °' ^^=°"<'- water in time of need until v. t. difficulty and a perennial shortage of Power Corpoiation"::tX' i r^Lt^ine?:: t'll: c't" -'-?"'"■ ^'^'' ^ were installed. ° ^^'^ colony, electric motors demoi!:t'rat:r::f wasc':::;,:'!:::'''?-^"""^ °^ ^--p -'^-°" -- farming sections of the coun^ M 'k*;: s'7d:c"d °' "? """^^ ^"^^"'^^ were planted bv the early colonists b,, 1 ''"""^"°"; f™"^ and grapes devoted at all tunes to the ZT . ,,'',1'"'^^ P"' °' ""= '^"^ ^as been comparative sn I water ft^a^d Th^ i '"" '"" ^'""^' f^''" -°P^- The The disc ™ . Tf the Lost HI ' T^,f'\''"^' ""Xe this practicable. excitement that developed the fnT"' " '" ""= *"""""■■ °'' '"10 and the as a trading point All the sticnl ! T"^..*""" ^'"' ' S'''' """^^ '° Wasco Santa Fe railroad at Wasco and h ,^ I "'" ""<' ^'^''^ ""'°^'''=d ''''"■^ 'he road to where the wonder ,n ^n ^T," "^°"' '™"^'3-one miles by dirt of eight, ten t eirin!, ; "°" "'"^ "^--^ ''^'"g brought in. feams their'^lo^ds of den ckTimh " """" 'P''"'^ ™°" °"' "'^ ^^''^ «"h sledding for he whtin" St /'^ "°"'' """^ ™^^^ exceedingly rough eager fo'rtuneseeke'rTtot1,e['rHin:"'°'"°'"" '"" '''"''' "^'^ '^^^ ^°' Wasco became a very necessary half-way house ,nd tl„ h ■ merchants trebled. Moreover one of th. business ot its began smking a deep well in th;co,on;.tsef"°r ^™.'"— '-" owners oil indications were encountered pevaed' ";' P""^""' """^^ 'I'at good before hope from this source was T -^^'h'"g "lore developed, but began drilling for oil at Se i r > a fd Dr'1 H T' ""'T T' ^^^°"'^"=^ his friends started a similar efFoVf , ii Liscomb and a number of Hills road. Both these wens r""' ^^ """ "°' f^"- f™'" 'he Lost the first of the follolr ""' '"^ '" "'' '^" °'' '"'2, and shortly after created b; report tarigl.t''";, 'hT'"''"^"'^ "™"'" "' -=■'— «'as estate prices fumned ,n w' f n'": '"■""' '" "'<= liscomb well. Real of the repc'rt but the tnkeT/ "'" "'''"""' ™"-"^>- °" ""= strength is still ui!:ii.s;,v: ed altl oth'tb ""''^'^'■-' ^'^ ->= "onths later the^oil veretl. although the prospectors are not yet discouraged. 184 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY With or without oil, however. Wasco's future seems assured. Land in the colony is valued at $150 per acre with water, and at still higher prices with more improvements. The population of the town is about 300, and the business streets are well lined with brick and concrete buildings. A bank, four churches, a club hall and a fine new grammar school building are among the landmarks in the town. The colonists generally have built com- fortable houses and an abundance of trees and vines add to the attractiveness of the place. The Wasco News was established by J. L. Gill on November 25. 1911, and a year later was sold to Lawrence Lavers. the present proprietor. Prior to the founding of Wasco colony the Santa Fe railroad maintained a station at that place under the name of Dewey. The depot, a store, a black- smith shop and two saloons composed the town at the time the colony was launched. Famoso Famoso, on the Southern Pacific about midway between Bakersfield and Delano, took its place on the map as Poso station when the railroadi was first built through the valley. The name was inherited from the creek which flows past the place in time of freshet, and the first postolfice was established there under that name. Mail intended for the residents, however, got mixed with that intended for Pozo, San Luis Obispo county, and the government changed the name to Spottiswood. The natives could see neither reason nor romance in Spottiswood, so a protest resulted in the adoption of the name Famoso, which is understood to mean the city of the rolling hills. For many years the Kern County Land Company has maintained a large, warehouse, stock yard and sheep-shearing camp at that place in connec- tion with its Poso ranch, which adjoins the town on the west. In the earlier histor}^ of the town the business that developed twice a year during the spring and fall shearing seasons was a large factor in its commercial activity. The plains to the east of Famoso formerly were farmed to grain, and the Poso district achieved some fame by sending the first wheat to the San Fran- cisco market every spring. An ill-starred scheme to bring water from Poso creek by canal to irrigate the country to the east and north developed the fact that water was not available from that source and left the Poso irrigation district burdened with a heavy load of bonds and nothing to show for it save many miles of useless ditches. This unfortunate venture blocked the growth of Famoso down to the present time. Recently, however, promising efforts have been made to effect a mutually advantageous arrangement between the bond holders and the owners of the land, and it may be possible soon to clear the titles which have been clouded by unpaid bond assessments for nearly twenty years. Should this result materialize the Famoso district probably will take its place in the general march of progress with the country adjoining it on all sides. The first store at Famoso was conducted by John Harrington, who was succeeded by J. S. ISrooks. The latter previously had been station- agent for the Southern Pacific. 1 'rooks retired and left the mercantile field to C. E. Kitchen, who still occupies it with a general merchandise store and who also flispenses justice as a justice of the peace. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 185 McFarland McFarland colony and town were founded in the spring of 1908 by T. B. McFarland and W. F. Laird on land purchased by McFarland the year previous. Up to that time a siding on the Southern Pacific railroad known as Hunt was the only thing that distinguished the spot from any other part of the miles of bare and untilled plain between Delano and Famoso, but through the energy of McFarland and Laird water wells were sunk, pumping plants installed and colonists located on the land, and in a few months' time the place took on the character of a permanent settlement. Most of the people who purchased land in McFarland had some capital, and the homes built and the other improvements made gave the colony from the start an appearance of prosperity and attractiveness. Ralph Kern opened the first grocery store earl}^ in 1908, and in the fall of that year he was appointed postmaster. The following year O. Woodard opened a general merchandise store and a hotel and lumber yard were established. In the same year the Associated Oil Company built its pipe line from the Kern river fields to San Francisco bay, and built one of its pumping stations at McFarland. The McFarland colonists have made a specialty of dairying, and have been very successful. Good land and a low water lift have formed the basis for a thorough demonstration of the practicability of pump irrigation, and to McFarland. perhaps, belongs the honor of having first answered that ques- tion past all shadow of doubt. In five years the place has progressed from a tract of absolutely virgin land to a town of 300 people and a colony of over 100 pumping plants, with telephone, electric light and electric power service, a new railroad depot, a creamery, ice plant, bank, two churches, a four-room grammar school built at a cost of $12,000. and exceptionally at- tractive homes and prosperous fields and orchards. McFarland butter is noted for its quality and won a gold medal at the state fair in 1911. The town and colony are "dry," a clause having been inserted in the deeds to the land forbidding the sale of liquor thereon. Other centers of farming development in the valley hardly ranking as towns are Rio Bravo, which is only a neighborhood of pioneer pump irri- gators about fifteen miles west of Bakersfield ; Button Willow, which is a shipping point and headquarters for the Miller & Lux ranches ; Shafter, where the Kern County Land Company is just opening a townsite in con- nection with a subdivision of 7000 acres now being placed on the market ; Rosedale, which was founded as the community center of Rosedale colony in 1889 and which is now holding its own with a country store, a school house and two churches, and Edison, which is the chief center of the new citrus industry just beginning on the mesa east of Bakersfield. At present Edison is only a little group of residences with a school house and a railroad station and unloading tracks, but it has reasonable prospects for a more im- portant place in histor}^ later on. Towns of the Mountain Section — Tehachapi The first permanent settler in the Tehachapi region, according to the best memory of the oldest present residents, was John Moore Brjte, who located in Tehachapi valley in the fall of 1854. Afterward he moved to the valley that now bears his name and built an adobe residence, in which he also kept a stock of groceries and miners' supplies to accommodate the scat- 186 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tered miners and stockmen who comprised the early po])ulation of the moun- tain district. This was the first store in the Tehachapi country. The first of the Cuddebacks arrived soon after John M. Brite, and he settled first in what is now Brites' valley, moving later to the present site of Tehachapi. The China hill placers were responsible for the first considerable immi- gration to the Tehachapi country. The hill turned out several thousand dollars in gold, and some of the miners made as much as $15 per day while the placers were at their best. Mining created a demand for lumber, which was supplied by whip-sawing the native pine logs. According to the best authority, the first post office in the vicinity of Tehachapi was opened about 1870 by John Narboe, who lived in Narboe canon on the stage line that ran to Havilah. Before Narboe's time the settlers got their mail from Los Angeles, when they or their neighbors went to that place for provisions. William Wiggins was the first postmaster at Old Town, and was also the first justice of the peace at that place. One of the first Fourth of July celebrations that the traditions of Kern county record was held under a large oak tree near the present site of Tehachapi in 1856. Air. and Mrs. J. M. Brite, Mrs. Smith and their families and a number of bachelor residents of the country helped to kindle the fires of patriotism in the new land. Red, white and blue calico decorations and a good dinner stand out among the enduring memories of the day. Ed. Green opened the first store, in the original Tehachapi, later known as Old Town, after Squire Wiggins became postmaster there, and a little later a man by name of Murphy, who had started a store a little distance away, moved his establishment into the embryo city. Ed. Green succeeded to the office of postmaster and retained it for many years. W. C. Wiggins taught the first school in Old Town in 1861. The name of his successor is not recorded, but the third teacher was "Doc'' Dozier. In May, 1867, Miss Louisa Jewett, afterward Mrs. Crites, began a term of several months in a log cabin that had been built for a school house about half way between Brites' valley and Old Town. Miss Jackson fol- lowed Miss Jewett, and later the old log school house was abandoned for a new building in Old Town. As the country settled up schools were started in Brites, Cummings and Bear valleys. Uncle Jimmie Williams built the first hotel in Old Town and also started a blacksmith shop, livery stable and feed corrals to care for the travellers and teamsters who passed that way between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin valley. Prior to the building of the Southern Pacific railroad a large amount of teaming was carried on by way of Old Town, and it became quite a busy and hopeful little town. But in the summer of 1876 the railroad was built through Tehachapi pass, and changes began to take place in the map. Tehachapi, meaning "the crow's nest," was located about three miles west of the site of the present town, in the edge of the hills. But the railroad chose the level land over which to run its tracks and on which to build its station. Anticipating the coming of the railroad a settlement had sprung up about a mile west of th€ ])resent Tehachapi station under the name of Greenwich, so called in honor of P. D. Green, who kept the post office there. The railroad founded the new town of Tehachapi, taking the name of the older place in the hills, which struggled against fate for a time, came to be known as Old Town HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 187 and finally capitulated to the power of modern transportation. Greenwich promptly moved itself to the railroad's townsite, and Green took his post office there. For a time the office continued under the name of Greenwich, but in the end it was changed to Tehachapi, and the name Greenwich sur- vived only as the designation of a voting precinct. While the post office was at Greenwich, William N. Cuddeback, then but a boy, carried the mail on muleback, furnishing his own mvde. P. D. Green was elected justice of the peace at Tehachapi and Charles A. Lee, afterward county recorder, succeeded him as postmaster. The first store in Tehachapi (New Town) was owned by J. E. Prewett, now judge of the superior court of Placer county. The second store was built by S. Alexander, who had been a clerk for Hirshfeld Brothers at Old Town. The exodus from Old Town soon became general. Hirshfeld Brothers closed their store there, and Isidor Asher, another of their clerks, moved the re- mainder of the stock to Tehachapi. where he opened a business on his own account. Many of the residents of Old Town brought their houses with them when they moved down to the railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Kessing and Mrs. Mary Anne Haig moved in from "Camp 7," and established the first eating house in the new town. Soon after Mrs. Haig opened the first rooming house. Jack Eveleth built the first hotel, which stood on the corner oppo- site the depot. In 1875 a school was established in a log cabin at Greenwich, but when the new town got under way it followed the shifting center of population and was housed in a two-story frame building erected for the purpose. This school house did duty until 1901. when it was moved south of the rail- road track, made into a hotel, and its place was taken by a $10,000, three-room, brick building. The Catholics built a church early in the history of the mountain town, and the Protestant denominations united in the construction of a union church. At the present time Tehachapi has a population of about 600. It was incorporated by an election held on August 13, 1910, at which time T. P. Sullivan, John Hickey, J. M. Jackley, H. S. Downs and Fred Snider were elected as the first board of trustees ; E. V. Reed, first city clerk ; C. V. Barnard, first marshal, and C. O. Lee, first city treasurer. John Hickey is now the president of the board of trustees. In 1912 Tehachapi voted bonds to the amount of $14,000 and con- structed a public water system consisting of wells and pumping plants which furnish an abundant supply of good water. Twice Tehachapi has been almost destroyed by fire, but each time it has been pluckily rebuilt in more substantial form. For years after it was founded Tehachapi was only a trading point for stockmen and miners scattered through the hills and mountains, and a stop- ping place for the through travel over the pass. Then the fertile valleys began to be tilled, and it became a shipping point for grain, hay, wool and stock. The early settlers, however, planted little family orchards of apple and pear trees, and within the past five or six years experienced horticulturists have noted the excellence of the fruit from these trees and have established what promises to be a very thriving and profitable industry. In the past two years the acreage planted to fruit trees in the Tehachapi and other 188 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY valleys has greatly increased, and while the young orchards are not yet old enough to have demonstrated their producing qualities, the growth of the trees is very satisfactory, and the orchardists are satisfied to trust the matter of fruitfulness to the evidence furnished by the old, family orchard trees. As an evidence of its faith in the future of Tehachapi as an apple country Kern county this summer waged a successful campaign for the election of Miss Ruby Brite as queen of the Watsonville apple carnival, an annual festival in which all the apple-growing sections of the state participate and in which they all compete for the honor of naming the queen. Glennville Linns valley was named for William Lynn who came to what is now Kern county in 1854 with his partner, George Ely. Like nearly everyone else who came here in those days they were attracted by the mines, but unlike most of the early miners they turned to agriculture and stock-raising instead of following the rainbow of fortune to the next mining camp. Event- ually Lynn returned to the east, but Ely lived out his days on a farm which he homesteaded in the fertile valley, and was finally buried there. David Lavers arrived in Linns valley in the spring of 1855. and soon afterward located on the farm where he still resides, a short distance above Glennville. In 1857 came the Glenn, Reed and Ellis families. Glennville was named for Martin Glenn, who took up a farm close to where the present town of Glennville stands. The first house in the town, an adobe, was built by Thomas Fitzgerald, and the first store was opened by Reed & Wilkes. Throughout its history thus far stock-raising, together with a small amount of farming in the mountain valleys and meadows, has been the main support of Glennville, although the prospector and his burro have been familiar sights along the roads thereabout through all the years, and some business is brought to the town by summer campers seeking the cool and beauty of the mountains. Woody The little foothill town of Woody took its name from S. W. Woody, one of the early pioneers of the mountain section. A school teacher by name of Gurnell was the first postmaster, and he was succeeded bv Thomas Hopper, who opened the first store. Mining and stock-raising have been Woody's chief industries, and al- though the latter finall}' displaced the. former, interest still remains in the gold ledges, and Woody residents insist that the old mines will again be worked. In 1891 Joseph Weringer opened the Greenback copper mine and founded the town of \\^eringdale a quarter of a mile above the old Woody store. This copper mine is now showing promising ore, carrying some gold and silver with the copper. Weringer is working day and night shifts and expects soon to begin shipping ore in quantity. Kernville Kernville is the successor of the early mining camp which was famous over the state at one time as Whiskey Flat. It lies on the west bank of the North l*"ork of Kern river about four miles above its junction with the South Fork. Kernville discarded the picturesque but undignified name of Whiskey Flat in 1864. The first store in the place w^as founded by Curtis HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 189 & Davis in 1863, and Mrs. Carmel taught the first school, which was con- ducted in a private residence. The post office was established in 1864 with Adam Hamilton as postmaster. The Big Blue mine was the greatest factor in the early prosperity of Kernville, but in later years the farms and stock ranches of the mountain valley have maintained its business activity at a steady though not a killing pace. In 1883 fire destroyed a part of the business section of the town and many dwellings. N. P. Peterson, who lost a hotel and several dwelling houses, was one of the largest sufferers in the fire. Kernville has a good grammar school, a Methodist church, a daily stage to Caliente and telephone communication with the outside world via the same place. The store of A. Brown Company carries a very complete stock of general merchandise. Isabella Isabella, at the junction of the South and North Forks of Kern river, was laid out in 1892 by Stephen Barton on a portion of his homestead. G. W. King conducted the first store and was the first postmaster. The place numbers about fifty residents, has a grammar school, a Methodist church, and a justice of the peace who represents the third branch of gov- ernment for the surrounding mountain district. Weldon At Weldon, ten miles above Isabella on the South Fork, the A. Brown Company has a store and keeps the postoffice. Onyx Onyx, four miles above Weldon, boasts only a postoffice in a private residence. Bodfish Bodfish is a little hamlet at the foot of Hot Springs hill. For many years it was only a post office at the home of Mrs. Vaughn, the postmistress. In 1896 John Cross opened a store and stage office. There is a country grammar school at the place, and three miles distant, on Kern river, is the plant of the Pacific Light & Power Corporation. Havilah The history of Havilah is told in chapter three, along with that of the other early mining districts and in chapters six and seven where the story of its decline and the rise of Bakersfield as the dominant center of the county's development is recounted. Today, Havilah is little more than a memory, and its memory is best honored by letting the curtain fall over the years of its decline after it lost its gallant fight to retain the county seat and its people began moving not only their household goods but their houses as well to the more vigorous and promising city on the plain. Caliente Caliente was established first as a railroad grading camp when the Southern Pacific railroad began its long job of building its roadbed up the hills of Tehachapi. The town is located almost in the edge of the hills where the cafion of Caliente creek widens out into a little valley. About this point the railroad grade begins its difficult climbing, and the track makes great curves back and forth that afford the traveller recurring views of 190 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the town from different elevations as he looks out from a car window, climbing or descending. Stage lines and mail carriers leave Caliente for Havilah, Kernville and other mountain points, and the town is the first shipping point for a great mountain section. One or two fires and a flood last summer that filled the streets with mud and washed two or three light houses from their founda- tions are among the few events that have varied the slow but even growth of the little village. Towns of the Desert — Randsburg Randsburg, in the extreme eastern part of the county, is the principal trading point for the Rand mining district, which was organized at a meeting of miners held on December 20, 1895. John Singleton presided. A resolu- tion was adopted naming the district after the famous Rand of South Africa, and E. B. McGinnis was elected the first mining recorder. The great Yellow Aster, the largest gold mine in the state, located by John Singleton, C. A. Burcham and Fred M. Moores, was first called the Rand mine, its name being changed in 1897, when the Yellow Aster Mining & Milling Company was organized. W. C. Wilson, who had been conducting a general store in Mojave, moved to Randsburg and opened a like establishment at the beginning of the ex- citement in the new camp. D. C. Kuffel was his first manager. The building first occupied was vacated in 1896, and a larger building, 28 by 80 feet in size, was moved from Garlock. S. J. Montgomery built the second store soon after, and both establishments, together with practically the whole of the town, were wiped out by fire in 1897. In 1898 a railroad was built from Kramer to Johannesburg, about a mile distant from Randsburg, but prior to that time everything the Rand mining district wanted from the outside world had to be hauled fifty miles by team from Mojave. The post office was established at Randsburg in 1895 with Fred Moores as the first post master. At the first miners' meeting in 1895 thirty-three votes were cast, but so rapidly did the new camp acquire fame and population that a year later the number of votes at a similar meeting was 687. In the fall of 1896 the St. Elmo hotel was built, only to be burned in the big fire the next June. Twice since 1897 fire has swept the mining town. The first school was established in 1897. In April, 1901, the present school building was built at a cost of $3500. Randsburg now has a population of about 1000, and is the metropolis of the greatest mining district in the state in the value of its outi)Ut. The principal mines are the world-famous Yellow Aster, the Consolidated Mining Company's properties, the Little Butte, the King Solomon group, the Baltic and the G. B. Mining Company's group. Just at present Randsburg is being given a boost by the introduction of electric light and power by the Southern Sierras Power Company, the installa- tion of dry crushing, the cyaniding of raw ore and the starting up of some of the larger placer mines. The town is supplied with water by the Rands- burg Water Company, which pipes it from Squaw and Mountain springs. Johannesburg Johannesburg, a mile south of Randsburg, was founded in the fall of 1897 and the spring of 1898. it is said by Chauncey M. Depew and associates. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 191 who bought a half section of school land, laid out the townsite and built the railroad connecting it with the Santa Fe main line at Kramer, expecting that the new and thriving camp of Randsburg would move over to the railroad en masse. In this hope they were disappointed, and the Johannesburg railroad was sold to the Santa Fe. The founders of the town piped water from Mountain spring, and this system later was combined with the Randsburg water system, which had its supply from Squaw springs. Johannesburg boasts the Johannesburg Reduction Works, known as the Red Dog, a custom mill, built in 1897; the Santa Ana, the Pioneer and the Windy. Mojave The town of Mojave was established by the Southern Pacific railroad when it laid its tracks through the desert in 1876. The first store was built by a man named Moon, and Mrs. Morrissey opened the Morrissey hotel, which was the first hostelry. Robert Charlton was the first postmaster. W. C. Wilson, at one time county auditor, conducted a general merchandise store at Mojave for some years. Up to the present time the railroad has been the chief reason for the existence of the town. It is situated at the foot of the climb from the south to the top of Tehachapi pass, and is therefore a convenient place for coupling and uncoupling helper engines. It is now the end of an oil pipe line carrying fuel oil over the Tehachapi mountains for the use of the railroads. Mojave also has been the shipping point for borax hauled from Borax lake and Death valley. The beds at Borax lake were discovered' by John Searles of Skilling & Searles, who for many years have hauled the product across the desert sands to Mojave with 20-mule teams, taking fifteen days for the round trip. During the early days of the Randsburg mining boom Mojave was the point at which miners and their provisions and materials left the railroad, and the trade so produced helped the town to prosper until the railroad was built to Johannesburg. The building of the Los Angeles aqueduct gave Mojave another temporary boom. For many years some mining has been carried on in the country tributary to Mojave, and recently satisfactory results have been obtained in developing water for pump irrigation in the vicinity of the town. The desert lands are rich and adapted to cultivation if a sufficient supply of water for irrigation can be obtained, and on the experiments in this line may depend Mojave's ultimate prosperity or adversity. During the past year a refinery has been built at Mojave for extracting some of the lighter elements from the oil that is piped over the mountains, the residue being as valuable for fuel as the native oil, and the part taken out selling for enough to make a very substantial reduction in the railroad's fuel bill. Two churches and a good grammar school are among Mojave's public assets. Rosamond Rosamond is a station on the Southern Pacific fourteen miles south of ATojave, near the southern line of the county. The first store was opened about 1888 bv a man bv name of Hvde and Miss Sarah Haves. C. P. Sutton 192 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was the first postmaster and was succeeded by E. S. Waite, Charles Graves and Miss Kinton, in the order named. Ike Boyles ran the first hotel, and Miss Kate Titus taught the first school. It was kept up for two seasons by private subscription, but not until 1908 were there enough children to warrant the establishment of a school district. Rosamond was named for a daughter of one of the Southern Pacific rail- road officials. ^^^'^>o^7^ C^ ^ y^oo BIOGRAPHICAL HENRY A. J ASTRO.— A record of the life of Henry A. J astro is in many respects an epitome of the progress of Kern county. So long has been his identification with this great region and so intimate his association with local development that, viewing the remarkable transformation wrought within his memory, he may well exclaim, "All of which I saw and part of which I was." Great as has been his business activity, bringing to him prominence and prestige throughout the entire United States, it is as super- visor that the people of his home county know him best and regard him with the deepest affection. Through the period of more than twenty years measuring his service as a member of the board of supervisors, to which he was chosen by a large majority at each election and as invariably made chair- man of the board, mind and heart have been engrossed in the well-being of the county. Evidence of his unusual ability as a financier appears in the fact that Kern county is operated on a cash basis with the lowest tax rate in the state, yet there have been erected quite recently a county high school and hall of records, an addition to the county hospital doubling its capacity, and a courthouse that ranks among the finest in the state ; also, the Kern River bridge, one of the longest bridges in the state, built of reinforced concrete. Each of these buildings and structures is attractive in architecture, substan- tial in construction, modern in equipment and convenient in interior arrange- ment, each in a word a model of its kind, yet such w'as the skill of the super- visors as financiers, under the leadership of their chairman, that the enor- mous tasks w^ere completed amicably and economically without taint of graft or criticism of extravagance. The courthouse in particular has attracted architects from distant points, for its pronounced excellence invites a close inspection on the part of all associated with the architecture of public build- ings. The plans of the supervisors did not end with construction work, but include the ultimate transformation of the courthouse grounds into a bower of horticultural beauty unsurpassed in the valley of the San Joaquin. Born in Germany in 1850, Henry A. Jastro was thirteen years of age when he accompanied his family from Germany to America. Later he came alone to California by way of Panama and after landing in San Francisco traveled from there by stage to Los Angeles. With youthful enthusiasm he threw himself into the task of earning a livelihood in a strange country, far from the friends of earlier days. For a time he engaged in freighting to .Arizona. Another task was that of working with cattle and sheep between Wilmington and Catalina Islands. In the meantime he was learning much concerning the great undeveloped resources of the state. During 1870 he saw Dakersfield f( r the first time. The now flourishing city was a small ham- let, comprising a primitive collection 'of cabins and offering little inducement to the ordinary settler. But Mr. Jastro was then as he is now an optimist con- cerning the country. From the first he realized its possibilities and foresaw its future growth, alth( ugh not realizing at the time that oil and natural gas would form the secret of such development. Subsequent events have deepened his faith in Kern county and he is now a "veritable encyclopedia" concerning its resources. In his opinion the discoveries of oil and natural gas are the greatest benefits California has ever received, not excepting gold. With the advent of natural gas in Bakersfield, pipes were laid to convey it to San Francisco and Los Angeles ; while it is not inferior to manufactured gas for illuminating purposes, it has the advantage of a greater heat unit. After oil had given the state cheap fuel. California jumped from the twenty-fifth place 12 196 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in manufacturing to the eleventh, and Mr. J astro beheves that within a few years it will rank fourth or fifth among the manufacturing states. In his estimation this will come through the establishment of cotton and woolen fac- tories. Already cotton is being produced in large quantities in the state, while sheep always will be raised on lands adapted fur no other purpose than graz- ing. Through his marriage to Miss May E. Baker, who died in 1894, Air. Jastro became allied with a notable family of Kern county, for his father-in-law, Col. Thomas Baker, is remembered in the annals of local history as the founder of Bakersfield. A si n, Harry A., and two daughters were born of the union. One of the daughters, now residing at Albuquerque, N. M., is the wife of M. O. Chadbourne, son of Colonel Chadbourne, of San Francisco. Since the death of his wife Mr. jastro has made his home with his widowed daughter, Mrs. May Cjreer, in a comfortable home in Bakersfield, and he is seldom away from the city except at such times as the demands of his large business inter- ests necessitate his presence elsewhere. His identification with Messrs. Carr and Haggin, the predecessors of the Kern County Land Company, began in 1874, four years after his location in Bakersfield. From that time to the pres- ent, excepting a period of about four years from 1886 to 1890, he has become more and more a power in the profitable development of this close corporation, comprising the estate of Lloyd Tevis (represented by William S. Tevis) and the holdings of J. B. Haggin, now of New York. Stockdale, one of the com- pany's great ranches, is the seat of the Tevis home. The tropical splendors of this ranch defy any description. One of the most unusual attractions is a bamboo forest, where the bamboo by actual measurement has grown twenty- five inches in twenty-four hours. The hothouse contains rare plants and the artificial lake is stocked with rare water fowl, while grottoes and foun- tains add to the charm of the ranch. A colonization scheme by the manager of the company failed signally in 1903. Mr. Jastro, who had been with the company for nineteen years in differ- ent capacities, was chosen manager. The properties over which he has absolute control include four hundred and sixty thousand acres in California, six hun- dred and ten thousand acres in New Mexico, one hundred thousand acres in Arizona, and two hundred and twenty-five thousand acres in Alexico. An ex- tensive irrigation scheme has been installed by the general manager on the San Pedro river in Arizona and this will irrigate ten thousand acres. The site of the government Elephant Butte dam in New Alexico is on forty thousand acres formerly held by the company, but taken over by the government on an equitable basis, ^^'ater from the reclamation project will be used on the com- ])any land. As early as 1885 this company attempted to raise cotton and in that year they raised the first big crop of cotton ever grown in California. The product was of very fine quality, but labor conditions made the venture a failure. In order to secure the required number of cotton pickers they imported negroes, but they did not remain. Next they tried Chinamen, but cotton picking re- (juires long fingers and the short Chinese fingers tore the staple. The industry was then abandoned. At the ])resent time alfalfa and grain are the principal crops, but citrus and deciduous fruits and vines are raised, while in stock they have good success with every department, cattle, horses, mules, sheep and hogs. In Bakersfield and on the ranches the manager has established machine and wagon shops, warehouses, supply departments and tinshops. besides which he has built canals and waterworks. The cattle are raised in .-Vrizona and New Mexico, then brought to Kern county for fattening on alfalfa or corn and chopped hay. Enough beef is produced to supply regularly eighty thousand people. The stock business conducted upon such an enor- mous scale calls for rare abilities, but the general manager has proved equal HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 197 to every emergency and has displayed a .sagacity, keen discrimination and wise foresight seldom equalled. The fact that Mr. lastro is a stanch Democrat has made no difference to the people in their solicitude to secure his public services. Republicans have displayed as much enthusiasm for him as supervisor as have the Democrats and during the great Roosevelt landslide in 1904, when the county gave a great Republican majority, he received a flattering majority for supervisor on the Democratic ticket. In fact, the people have divorced politics from public service in their desire for his able assistance in public affairs and in this respect they resemble Mr. Jastro himself, for one of his hobbies is the divorc- ing of trade relations and civic progress from politics. Five times elected president of the National Live Stock Association (the last time at Phoenix. Ariz., in January of 1913), in that office he has made a study of the tariff question in connection with the hides and wool schedule. It is his belief that the commerce of our country will not much longer permit itself to be a prey to political vicissitudes. As a remedial agency he favors the appointment of a board of tariff commissioners on a non-partisan basis, such board to be continuously in session and have the power to adjust the tariff duties as occa- sion may demand. The action of President Taft in appointing tariff commis- sioners he regards as a step in the right direction. As a member of the state board of agriculture of which he was president for three terms his able services have been given to the uplifting of the farmer, whose interests he believes to be second to none in importance if the permanent prosperity of our commonwealth is to be conserved. In every post of honor accepted by him he has given dignified and noteworthy service. With his commanding presence and magnetic personality, he is equally a power among the great- est captains of industry in the country and among the humbler worker? of life's great field. His name ever will stand at the very forefront in the annals ( f Kern county and in the history of the stock industry throughout the west. PETER GARDETTE.— A record of the life of Peter Gardette is in many respects an epitome of the agricultural development of Kern county, whither he came at a period so early that no county organization had yet been effected and few emigrants had endeavored to surmount the sufferings inci- dent to existence on plains undeveloped, unsettled and often drought-stricken. The tenacity of purpose which characterized him is exhibited in his fearless attempt to aid in the huge task of pioneer develooment. While he knew little of frontier hardships, he had learned to be persistent in labor and self-reliant in action, and every former association of his busy life had qualified' him for pioneering. Born near Danzig, Prussia, December 22, 1825, he had attended a school of navigation in youth and then had followed the sea for a livelihood. During 1851 the ship on which he was employed sailed around the Horn and came up the Pacific to San Francisco. The influx of emigrants had not lessened since the first excitement caused by the discovery of gold. Swept away from former plans by the contagion of large throngs making for the mines, he left his ship at San Francisco, although he did not follow the gen- eral example in trying his luck at the mines. Instead' he spent a winter in San Francisco. It was a season of great excitement. Not the least important of his experiences there was a participation in fighting the great fire of that winter which almost destroyed the city. Shortly afterward he left the city for the mines of Mariposa county and in April, 1854, when the first excite- ment was aroused through the discovery of gold at Keyesville, then in Tulare county, he followed the rush of travel to the new camp. It was the privilege of Mr. Gardette to witness the organization of Kern county and to be one of the very first citizens admitted by naturalization papers, this being abotit 1866. In partnership with Judge Sayles, later of 198 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Fresno, now deceased, he started a "[eneral store on Greenhorn mountain at the present site of the camp of the forest supervisors. Within ten miles of the store he located a homestead on Poso Flat, where he began to raise cattle and sheep. His brand, the capital letter "S," was the very first to be recorded in Kern county and is now used by his son, Henry B., who continues the stock business at the old homestead. A log cabin was built on the claim as early as 1859 and in it the pioneer stockman kept bachelor's hall for some time. Eventually his means permitted him to provide better accommodations and in 1871 he erected a frame house that still stands. Meanwhile he had put in a valuable irrigation system for his own use and had purchased adjacent land, so that five hundred and twenty acres were devoted to grain and alfalfa. When his children began to need educational advantages he erected a resi- dence on the corner of F and Twenty-first streets, Bakersfield, and there the family maintained their headquarters, although much of his time continued to be spent upun the ranch until his final retirement from heavy manual work. It was not until 1905 that he relinquished the management of the ranch into the hands of his son, Henry B., and thereupon he retired to private life, spending his last days quietly in Bakersfield, where he died May 19, 1911, at the family residence. The marriage of Peter Gardette occurred in San Francisco March 24, 1871, and united him with Miss Agnes E. A. Weber, a native of Dresden, Saxony, and a daughter of Henry and Augusta W. (Otto) Weber. Her father followed the occupation of a builder and both he and his wife remained in Saxony until their death. During young womanhood Mrs. Gardette left her home in Ger- many and came via Panama to California in 1868, settling at Visalia. Three years later she became the wife of Mr. Gardette and accompanied him to the ranch in Kern county. Since the death of her husband she has continued to reside in Bakersfield and has superintended her business matters with quiet, keen capability, one of her undertakings having been the building, with her son, Henry B., of the Kern Valley garage on the corner of L and Eighteenth streets. I'or years she has been identified with the Kern County Pioneer Society, to which Mr. Gardette also belonged, he having been at the time of his demise one of the very oldest settlers of the county. In religion she is of the Episcopalian faith, while he was reared in the Lutheran denomination and always adhered to its doctrines and creed. Their family consists of four children, of whom one daughter, Margaret D., is a successful teacher in the Bakersfield schools; a son, Henry B., continues at the old home ranch; Mrs. Mildred Munsey is a resident of Bakersfield, and the younger son, Helmuth C, • follows the occupation of an electrical engineer in Los Angeles. W. S. WILHELM. — The president and general manager of the Mari- copa Uueen ( )il Company is an lowan by birth and was born in Musca- tine October 16, 1864, being a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Christ) Wilhelm. The lineage of the family is traced' back to worthy Teutonic progenitors. Very early in the colonization of America members of the family crossed the ocean from Germany and identified themselves with the material upbuilding of the new country. Later generations became pioneers of Iowa. The Muscatine branch of the family had little means, but possessed worth of character and nobility of purpose. In the midst of discouragements and poverty they re- tained their devotion to the higher principles of life. It was not possible for W. S. to attend school with any regularity, yet he has become a man of the broadest information and widest culture. Brought up to a life of hard work on a farm, when only fourteen years of age he engaged in cutting wood at sixty cents a cord. By such work he supported himself in the months of winter. The summer seasons were given to farming. The sterling qualities of industry and thrift instilled in his mind during youth have stood him in good stead through his subsequent career. For a time in young manhood he was con- -^ Yh-^-n^z^ HISTORY OI- KI-:RX COUXTY 201 nected with the secret service of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in Missouri. While employed in that state he met and married Miss Dora J. Duncan, a cultured woman who in every way has promoted his success and enhanced his happiness. Seven children blessed their union and they still remain to brighten the elegant and attractive family residence in Long Beach. For two years after his marriage Mr. Wilhelm engaged in farming in -Missouri, ])ut later he removed to Colorado and interested himself in mining. By slow degrees he rose to wealth. Important interests were acquired not only in Colorado, but also in Idaho, Montana and Nevada. Since coming to California and establishing a home in Long Beach he has devoted much of his time to the interests of the Maricopa Queen Oil Company, of which he is president and general manager. The company has the distinction of owning an exceedingly valuable lease, comprising twenty acres on section 32, town- ship 12, range 23, in the Sunset-Midway field. There are now seven wells on the lease and two of these flow from fifteen hundred to two thousand barrels per day. In the development of this important lease Mr. Wilhelm has used his large means lavishly and the returns have fully justified his most sanguine expectations. In addition to his holdings previously men- tioned he has valuable mining properties in the w-est and considerable oil property in Texas. COL. E. M. ROBERTS.— >.lartial valor has been a leading characteristic of the Roberts family during the entire period of its known history, which in America dates from the colonial period of Virginian settlement and reveals a record of patriotic devotion guided by a high order of intelligence. It is worthy of note that not only the Colonel's paternal grandfather, but likewise his maternal grandfather, Adam Harber. served under General Jackson in the memorable battle of New Orleans during the war of 1812 and gave loyal service to the country throughout that historic struggle. Of English birth and honorable Anglo-Saxon lineage, Mr. Harber had immigrated to the new- world during young manhood, settled upon a plantation in Tennessee and married a southern lady. Their daughter, Annie Aletha, a native of Tennessee and a lifelong resident of that state, l^ecame the wife of H. B. Roberts, who was born in North Carolina. While still a young woman she passed away, leaving a family of three sons and' one daughter, the eldest son, E. M., having been born at Chapelhill, Marshall county, Tenn., September 11, 1843. After the death of the mother the children were taken to Missouri in 1849 by their father, who settled in Springfield in the midst of a vast tract of unimproved acreage. Being a skilled mechanic he opened a blacksmith's shop and there he made the first moldboard plow ever- seen in Springfield. With this he turned the first furrows in the soil of his raw land. The other settlers, seeing the success of his invention, engaged him to manufacture similar implements for their use. The first decade of his residence in Missouri brought him grati- fying success and, had fate spared him for later usefulness, he would have gained financial prosperity. Through all of his life a resident of the south, in svmpathy with its institutions, devoted to its people and attached to its policies, he naturally embraced the Confederate side at the opening of the Civil war. At the very outset he enlisted under General Price, but it was not his destiny to see the defeat of the Southern flag. Near the close of the year 1861, while in active service, he died in Springfield at the age of forty-five years. Amc ng the memories of childhood days treasured in the mind of Col- onel Roberts are those associated with the removal of the family from Ten- nessee to Missouri when he was six years of age. In company with a train oi emigrants comprising probably thirty teams he and other members of his family journeyed in their own wagon drawn by oxen and crossed the ^Mississippi at St. Louis in a ferry run by horsepower. The frontier of 202 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY Missouri was the en\irunment of his boyhood. The country was new and settlers few, so that schools were widely scattered. About two or three months of each year a subscription school was held six miles from his home and to it he walked each day. Notwithstanding the handicap of limited education he became a man of broad information and fine mental attain- ments. During- the opening year of the Civil war he lost his father, and the example of that gallant Confederate soldier led him to enlist in the Southern army. During 1862, when scarcely nineteen years of age, he enlisted in Company A, Third Regiment of Missouri Cavalry, under Col, Dick Campbell, of Springfield, Mo., remaining at the front until he gave up his arms at Shreveport, La., in June of 1865. Among the engagements in which he bore a part were those of Pea Ridge, Cain Springs, Saline River, Prairie Grove, Poison Springs, Hartville (where he had a horse shot under him). Camden and Pine Bluff, all in Arkansas, besides Avhich he fought in Price's raid, where six weeks were given to continuous skirmishing, includ- ing the battles of Iron Mountain, Jefferson City, Herman, Little Blue and Big Blue, Brush Creek, Helena, Little Rock and Granby, Ark. During the battle of Saline River the young Southern soldier served as an orderly for General Shelby. ]\Iany years later, when the General was serving as United States Marshal of Missouri and had engaged a negro lad to act as deputy. Colonel Roberts met his old commander and inquired about the deputy. General Shelby replied that the boy's father and mother took care of and saved his family from danger during the Civil war and the gratitude which he felt caused him to recognize the undoubted worth of their son. Returning home at the close of the war. Colonel Roberts visited there for a month and then went to Kansas City in search of employment, landing there without a dollar. His first position, which he held for four years, was that of assistant in a saw mill at $33.33 per month. When he left the place he had saved an amount sut^cient to buy one hundred and sixty acres near Paola, Miami county, Kansas, and to that location he moved, beginning there in agricultural undertakings that continued with fair success until the grasshoppers in 1874 completely destroyed his crop. With such funds as he could secure from the disaster he came to California in September, 1874, and settled at Oakland, where he formed a partnership in the butcher business. There he not only lost the balance of his money, but was left in debt. Beginning anew he became buyer for H. M. Ames. Six months later he paid the last of his debts, besides which he had been able to buy a span of horses, harness and wagon. With $20 in cash and his team, accompanied by his wife and child, he came to the San Joaquin country in April of 1876. On the first of May he arrived in Kern county and located on one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, which he im- proved with such success that the railroad company charged him $10 an acre for the place, an excessive amount for those days. One year after com- ing to the valley he became superintendent of canal work for the Kern County Land Company (later known as Haggin & Co.), and in addition he had the contract for building the Beardsley canal of thirty miles and the McCord canal of fifteen miles. With a partner. A^^ H. Brand, he built twenty-five miles of the Calloway canal and the East Side canal of twenty- seven miles. Under his direction about sixteen sections of desert land were reclaimed for the Kern County Land Company, and after ditches had been dug and the land brought under irrigation, settlers could legally prove u]) on claims. The trials of frontier existence are indicated by the fact that when Colonel Roberts began to farm in Kern county he and his wife lived in a brush shed for a time, then occupied a log cal)in and next had to content themselves witli a ]:)Ox-house 12x15. Finally, however, his increasing pros- perity was evidenced bv the erection of a twc-storv residence of ten rooms. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 203 considered the finest farm liouse in the entire county in its day. besides raising" fine horses and mules extensively, he had one liundred milch cows comprising one of the largest dairy herds in the county. I^'rom time to time he added to his ranch until he owned three hundred and thirty-one acres under cultivation to alfalfa and fitted for the stock industry and dairy business through valuable improvements. During March of 1909 he sold the ranch at an excellent figure and removed to Bakersfield, where he owns and occupies a commodious residence at No. 2402 L street. In ad- dition he owns about twenty houses in Bakersfield and a ranch of one hun- dred and twenty acres in the county, besides being interested in oil lands. Throughout his long identification with the San Joaquin valley he has favored every enterprise for its development. From early life a Democrat, stanch in his adherence to party principles, he has been a local leader and for sixteen years or more has served as chairman of the Kern county Democratic central committee. For seven years he was a member of the beard of supervisors and during four years of that time he officiated as its chairman. The congressional and state central committees of his party have had the benefit of his ripened judgment and intense devotion to party tenets. At the time of the election of Governor Gage he was the Democratic nominee for state senator in a district that gives a customary Republican majority of five hundred. Notwithstanding the fact that the Republicans received an overwhelming majority at that election he was defeated by only thirty-two votes, which in itself furnishes a tribute to his popularity and high standing in the district. The Bakersfield Board of Trade for years has had his name upon its membership roll and other organizations for local progress have enjoyed the aid of his splendid citizenship. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Independent Order of Odd I'^ellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen. While living in Kansas City, Mo., Colonel Roberts married Miss Lydia Eaton, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and descended directly from Sir Francis Eaton of England, who crossed the ocean to Plymouth as a pas- senger on the historic Mayflower. The family owned a large estate in England, but the American descendants were never able to secure their share of the propert}'. Three children of Colonel and Mrs. Roberts are now living and all reside in Bakersfield, viz. : Mrs. Maude Davis, Mrs. Daisy Pyle and Herbert. The older son, Lynn, enlisted in the Sixth California Regiment at the opening of the Spanish-American war and died in the service while stationed with his company at San Francisco. W. W. KAYE. — The senior member of the law firm of Kaye & Siemon, who is also widely known as one of the most scholarly men of Kern county and one of the leading representatives of the Bakersfield bar, came to the west from Iowa. On a farm near Riverside, Washington county, that state, where he was born June 26, 1869, and where he spent the first seventeen years of his life, his parents, Jesse I. and Anna L. (Kling) Kaye, labored with self-sacrificing devotion to provide a livelihood for their family. While still in the midst of the struggle the father died on the home farm. The mother, who was a native of Pennsylvania, but a resident of Iowa throughout all of her active life, was privileged to reap the reward of her patient industry, and now, at the age of eighty-four years, is passing her declining days at Boulder, Colo., where she is surrounded by the comforts deservedly won in those years of strenuous labor. It was not possible to give the son good educational ad- vantages, but with characteristic ambition he determined to work his way through school. The splendid university education which he acquired rep- resents his unaided exertions. At the age of seventeen he entered the Iowa City Academy, from which he was graduated in 1889. During the fall of that year he matriculated in the Iowa State University and in 1893 he was graduated from the classical course of that institution. Meanwhile he had 204 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY devoted eighteen hours of each day to study or to teaching", for in order to pay .his expenses in the university he had taught higher arithmetic, algebra, geometry and physics in the academy. Immediately after his graduation from the university in 1893 Mr. Kaye went to Washington and organized the high school at Waterville, of which he was chosen the first principal. During the two years of his service in that position he placed the school upon a substantial basis and raised its standard so that all of its graduates were eligible to admission to any uni- versity, their names being placed on the accredited list according to their standing. After two years at Waterville he left Washington for California and entered the Hastings Law School of San Francisco, from which in 1898 he received the degree of LL. B. During the same year he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of California. Meanwhile he had paid all of his expenses in the law school. For a time he had taught school at Berkeley, Cal., and in addition as a traveling salesman carrying a commercial line he visited every town from Seattle to San Francisco. At various times he worked in the law offices of Judge A. W. Thompson, C. L. Tilden, AV. H. Payson and A. H. Ricketts. After graduating from the law college he spent several years with Curtis H. Lindley, author of Lindley on Mines, his special task being the making of an abstract on all current decisions of state and federal courts pertaining to mining laws. The abstract thus prepared played an important part in the preparation of the second edition of Lindley on Mines, which now is the standard text-book on mining law. When Mr. Lindley began to prepare data for his treatise on the Law of Waters, he engaged Mr. Kaye to abstract all statutes and state and federal decisions per- taining to the subject. Another task that commanded much of his time was important editorial work for a very prominent firm of publishers of law books. Upon coming to Bakersfield in 1902 and opening a law office, Mr. Kaye formed a partnership with C. V. Anderson under the firm name of Anderson & Kaye. Three years later the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Kaye opened an office in the Hopkins building, where he has continued ever since. During June of 1911 he formed a partnership with Alfred Siemon, who had come to Bakersfield early in the previous year and had identified himself with the Title Assurance Company as its secretary. The firm carry on a general practice in all of the courts and are consulted for every class of legal advice. The interests of their large clientele are protected with skill and success. To aid them in their practice they have one of the best law libraries of the San Joaquin valley, these books having been gathered together by Mr. Kaye during his stay in San Francisco and representing the decisions of the best legal lights of this and preceding eras. Much of the success of Mr. Kaye is due to his fondness for work. The most difficult and intricate case does not weary him, but spurs him vn to further efforts in his zeal to unravel knotty law problems. No case can be presented to him that he finds too intricate for his eager mind. An invet- erate, tireless worker, he finds his greatest pleasure in tasks that would dis- may men of lesser energy and to this fact may be attributed much of his success in the law. Good judgment is responsible for much of his financial success. Investments have been made sagaciously and have brought him gratifying returns. Included in his possessions are a ranch of two hundred and thirty acres with an adequate pumping plant, citrus property east of Kern, suburban acreage, town lots, a controlling interest in the stock of the Kern Citrus Realty Company, and a modern and attractive residence on North B street, Bakersfield. This home is brightened by the presence of his four children, Louise, William Minton, Emelie and Jessie, and presided over with dignity and grace by his accomplished wife, a woman of culture and at one time a teacher. Born in Oregon, she bore the maiden name of Fanny HISTORY OI' KERX COUNTY 207 B. Minton and received excellent educational advantages, which she utilized in her chosen profession. During 1895 she became the wife of Mr. Kaye at Berkeley, where they established a home and resided until their removal to Bakersfield. Politically a Republican, Mr. Kaye has served as secretary of the Kern county central committee and has been very influential in local party affairs. Fraternally a Mason of the Shriner degree, he has been chosen past master of Bakersfield Lodge No. 224,, F. & A. M., also has served as past high priest of Bakersfield Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., and has been an ofhcer in Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., all of which degrees of the order have benefited by his devotion to their advancement and his cordial co- operation in all of their philanthropies. HON. CHARLES A. BARLOW AND WILLIAM H. HILL.— No industry has contributed in greater degree to the wealth of Kern county than that of oil de^'elopment and probably no firm has been identified more intimately with the advancement of the industry during the past decade than that of Barlow & Hill, a title familiar to all who have kept in touch with local progress. Since the organization of the firm in 1902 they have organized many companies, all of which have been successful, and the six which they now o]3erate have shares of stock that are quoted as gilt-edged security with a continuous tendency to rise in public and private markets. Besides the six companies they are at present interested in Maricopa and Midway oil properties and in addition have been successful in establishing a national reputation for Sunset road oil, which is extensively used in the states of California. Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Texas and Idaho and, in fact, as far east as Kansas City. To the enter- prise. kiKAvledge and direction of the two members of the firm, Kern county is in a great measure indebted for its present high standing as an oil-pro- ducing section. Xo temporary discouragement has lessened their faith in the oil industry of this region and in the natural mineral wealth of the state. Thoroughly optimistic in temperament, yet conservative in action, they stand for that large element of loyal citizenship indissolubly associated with the progress of city, county and commonwealth. r)orn in Cleveland, Ohio. March 17, 1858, Hon. Charles Averill Barlow is a son of Hon. Merrill and Ann Frances (Arnold) Barlow, the former a distinguished attorney in Cleveland, who during the war administration was Selected to serve as quartermaster-general of Ohio. About 1872, when forty-eight years of age, he was stricken suddenly with apoplexy and passed from earth before he had achieved financial success, but in the midst of a remarkable professional career that had brought him fame as a leading crim- inal lawyer of Cleveland. Surviving him were his wife and four children, the latter named as follows : Coralinne, now the wife of James S. Rice, a retired orange-grower living at Tustin, Orange county. Cal. ; Charles Averill. of Bakersfield ; Edward Sumner, who resides on the old home farm at Ventura, this state ; and Belle Remington, now the wife of Frank Bates, of V^entura. When the family came to California about the year 1875 they settled at Ventura-by-the-sea and C. A., then a youth of seventeen years, l^egan with eagerness to study western conditions, resources and prospects, meanwhile earning a livelihood on farms and in various occupations in town. Possessing ideas that were in afh'ance of his time, he joined enthusiastically in many reform movements and for such work he found a favorable opening when he and a partner, yir. Tuley, established and conducted the Reasoner, a weekly paper that became the Populist organ for San Luis Obispo county. .As early as 1888 he began to support the free silver cause and for years he was the leading exponent of that movement in his part of the state. Dur- ing 1893 the Populist party elected him to the state legislature, where he served not ( nly with fidelity, but even with distinction. A\'ith the assistance of the votes of free silver Republicans Mr. P)arlow 208 HISTORY OF KERX COL'XTY in 1896 was elected by the Populist party to the l-'ifty-tifth congress as the representative from the sixth congressional district, which at that time included the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz. In congress he distinguished himself for his uncom])romising stand in favor of reform measures. Credited to his efforts w^as the passage of a bill setting aside the Pine mountain forest reservation, comprising several million acres of land extending south almost as far as Pasadena. Other measures for the permanent benefit of the state and the people received his steadfast aid. When the principles of the Popu- list party were to some extent adopted by the Democrats, he turned to the older party organization, in which since he has been an active worker. During 1912 he was chosen one of four delegates-at-large from California to the national Democratic convention at Baltimore that nominated VVoodrow Wilson for President of the United States. The American ]\lining Congress, of which he is a member, selected him as committeeman to propose a plank in the national Democratic platform of that year favorable to mining and the oil industry. During 1901 Air. Barlow and his accomplished wife, who was formerly Miss Elizabeth McDonell, of Ventura county, established their home in Bakersfield, where they erected and now occupy a beautiful residence fitted with all modern improvements and conveniences. Since his removal to this city Mr. Barlow has become a very prominent citizen and has served ably as president of the Kern county board of trade, besides being a large stock- holder and one of the directors in the new Security Trust Company. In business circles he enjoys a high reputation. Fraternally he has been actively associated with the Woodmen, Elks and Indeoendent Order of Odd I'^lh ws. Since 1902 he has been a partner of W. H. Hill, a resident of California and Bakersfield from the year 1901 and a native of Geneseo, Liv- ingston county, N. Y., born November 19, 1848. While yet very young Mr. Hill began to work in the lumber business and for years he gave to that occupation his entire time and attention. For twelve years he served as chair- man of the board of supervisors of Schoolcraft county, Mich. Since coming west he has become known as a well-informed, accurate business man and his counsel is much sought, particularly by those wishing to embark in the oil business. He is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Bakersfield and the Producers' Savings Bank. Like his partner, he owns a fine home in Bakersfield and is a firm believer in a prosperous future assured for the city. Concerning the firm of Harlow & Hill we quote the following from the oil review edition of the Morning Echo, Bakersfield, February 28, 1911 : "Califor- nia has no better known industry than oil and the oil industry has no more well known firm than Barlow & Hill, for the past nine years doing a large busi- ness in Bakersfield and Kern county as dealers in oil lands and producing oil companies, essentially the latter. The personnel of the firm, C. A. Barlow and W. H. Hill, assures its high standing and gives confidence to its con- stantly increasing clientele. Barlow & Hill formed a partnership in August, 1902, to deal in oil lands. Since that time thev have organized many oil companies, all of which have become producers, and Barlow & Hill have never taken a dollar of their clients' money but what in each case the com- pany joined the ranks of the paying producers. They have six oil com- panies of their own and are extensively interested in Maricopa and Midway oil pro])erties. They rehabilitated three oil companies which were sold to eastern capitalists and have produced oil in quantities as claimed by the firm, frequently in excess of their estimates. Among the many successful ven- tures which Barlow & Hill have had to deal with was the making of the country-wide reputation for Sunset road oil. They took hold of the Sunset companies at ATaricopa when it was considered un])rofitable and well-nigh HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 209 impracticable to handle this oil, owing to its being too heavy and hard for fuel purposes. But Barlow & Hill were not discouraged and by dint of their well-directed efforts Sunset road oil or its equivalent has become a part of the specifications in road-building with oil as demanded by municipalities on the Pacific coast and elsewhere." A Fialf Century of Progress. Bakersfield and Kern County, 1912, in mentioning the progressive business efiforts of Barlow & Hill, give the following summary of their work in the oil industry and the importance of this industry to the development of local wealth: "It should be a matter of the liveliest satisfaction to the people of California to know that no single corporation or group of individuals is controlling the destiny of the state's oil industry by the monopolization of territory, rate of development and production, or the fixing of arbitrary prices. The petroleum interests of California are too big for any combination of capital to swing and manipu- late at will for any period of time. Petroleum apparently exists in every sectic n of this l)ig commonwealth, so blessed by nature in the glories of sky and air, in the ocean about it and in its pregnant soil, blessed even in the bowels of its earth, which yield a rich return to man's labor almost for the asking. There are any number of safe investments in Kern county open to inspection. Money must be active to make quick and large profits. Slow money slowly responds with slow interest. The investor who is content with the latter is out of joint with the times and in the rear end of the race for competency and wealth. No class of speculative investment is safer or promises larger profits than investment in oil companies backed by unlim- ited capital and experience, and directed by reputable men. Such is the character of the six oil companies operated by Barlow & Hill, a firm estab- lished in 1902 to deal in oil lands, and that since has been one of the effectual forces in the building up of the oil industry in Kern county. Among their many successful ventures was the making of a country-wide reputation for Sunset road oil. The two partners in the firm are widely known and are numbered among the most influential men of the community, taking an active interest in all measures for the advancement of Bakersfield and her commercial interests." JOHN ALFRED FREEAR.— The superintendent of the Maricopa Queen Oil Company's lease of twenty acres occupies a position of importance in the Sunset-Midway field. Not alone a native of California, but also born in Kern county and practically a lifelong resident hereof, he is deeply devoted to this portion of the state, believes in its future possibilities and promotes with enthusiasm all movements for the local progress. With his twin brother, James Albian, likewise associated with the Maricopa Queen lease, he has exhibited a devotion to work, a morality of conduct and a talent for the oil business that reflects credit upon himself and upon his native county, the two men displaying an efficiency and thoroughness that came to them as an inheri- tance from worthy parents and patriotic ancestry. Born in Bakersfield August 24, 1885. John Alfred Freear was primarily educated in the schools of that city and in 1905 was graduated from Heald's Business College at Stockton. During early life he had become familiar with farming in the old River district, but agriculture interested him less than oil enter])nses and it is not strange that his preferences led him to seek employ- ment in the oil fields. For a short time he engaged as bookkeeper for the Associated and Union Oil Companies in the Kern river field and there too he gained practical experience in the industry through working as a roustabout. From this county he went to the Santa Maria oil field and remained four years, meanwhile learning to dress tools and to drill wells. Upon returning to Kern county and coming to the west side field, in 1909, he secured employment (Ml the Maricopa Queen lease of twenty acres, situated on section 32. township 210 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 12, range 23. At that time the lease had one well, a gusher. Since then he has helped to bring in five wells on the lease, the last one, Maricopa Queen No, 7, brought in March 1, 1913, being a gusher yielding two thousand barrels per day of oil of twenty-five degrees gravity. The entire production from the lease averages about seventy thousand barrels per month, an almost phenom- enal record and one indicative of the value of the properties. The superin- tendent imderstands the business in every detail and has proved thoroughly competent to handle the many vexatious problems presenting themselves for daih' r>^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 237 school, he was admitted upon examination to the supreme court of California and since then he has devoted his attention to law practice. Coming^ to Bakersfield'in July of 1910 he opened an office and has since made a specialty of oil and mining law, practicing before the United States land office. His office is located at No. 1667 Chester avenue and there much of his time is devoted to tireless and effective work in behalf of clients. Earnest in the preparation of cases, logical in reasoning faculties, well informed in the law, he has demonstrated his admirable qualifications for his chosen profession. One month before he came to Bakersfield he was united in marriage with Miss Violet Salter, daughter of J. W. Salter, wfio was a prominent pioneer and well-known druggist of San Francisco. Mr. Harvey is the father of a son who bears his name. In religion he was reared in the faith of the Church of Eng- land and has assisted in other movements for the general advancement. JOSEPH WARREN SUMNER.— With the earlier events that shaped the histor}- cjf Kern County the name of this California pioneer of '49 was intimately associated and the title of Judge, by which he was long and familiarly known, came to him through an efficient service of more than thirty years as justice of the peace at Kernville. For the difficult tasks incident to the development of a frontier community he was well qualified by the inheritance of rugged traits of mind and sturdy endurance of bodv from a long line of American ancestors who were pioneer uobuilders. Whether his task was that leading occupation of earlier days, mining, or the e(iually arduous experiences incident to hauling freight between Los Angeles and Kernville; whether presiding over the justice court with keen discrimination and impartial judgment or with far-seeing discernment concerning future conditions planting and developing the first commercial orchard in the Kernville region, into each responsibility he threw his energies with the whole-si uled devotion and enthusiastic interest that made him a leader among pioneers. The genealogy of the Sumner family shows a close association with the colonial history of New England, where they became residents about the middle of the seventeenth century. The family history shows that William, the only son of Roger and Joan (Franklin) Sumner (the former a husband- man of Bicester, Oxford, England), was born in that English shire in 1605 and some time after his marriage to Mary West he brought his family to America, settling at Dorchester, Mass., where for many vears he was a member of the general court and a prominent citizen. The next generation was re])resented by William, Jr., likewise a native of Bicester, England, and who married Elizabeth, daughter of Augustine Clement, of Dorchester, England. Thrcughout much of his life he followed the sea, but eventually he retired to Boston and there his death occurred in February, 1675. Clement, son of William, Jr., was born in Boston September 6, 1671, and married Margaret Harris, by whom he was the father of a son. Samuel Sumner, born in Boston August 31, 1709, and married at Charlestown. Mass.. to Abigail, daughter of Samuel Frothingham, of that place. The death cf Samuel Sumner occurred January 26, 1784. In the next generation was Ebenezer Sumner, born in Boston in March of 1742, married to Elizabeth Tappan and deceased at Newburyport, Mass., December 27, 1823. Hon. Joseph Sumner, son of Ebenezer, was born at Newburyport, Mass., May 26, 1783, became a merchant at Lubec, Me., served as a member of the Maine state legislature and died September 21, 1861. By his marriage to Sarah Wiggin, a lineal descendant of Governor Wiggin, of Alassachu setts, there was born at New- buryport, Mass., January 3, 1819, a son, Joseph ^^^arren Sumner, who in €arly manhood, after having completed an academic education, engaged in merchandising in Lubec, Me., and also operated a line of fishing boats from that isolated Atlantic port. The discovery of gold in California furnished the incentive for his emigration from the bleak coast of eastern Maine to the 238 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY then unknown shores of the Pacific. A voya,^e via Panama broui^ht him to San Francisco, from which city he jirocceded to the mines t)f the Sierras. From that time he never entirely rehn(|uished his identification with minini^- and his interests in that work took him as far away as British Cohimbia. Durins^^ 1860 he became the owner of the Sumner mine at Kernville. where for many years he also owned and tiperated the Sumner mill, besides conduct- ins^- a freig;hting business to Los Angeles. As early as 18i)9 he purchased the Sumner ranch across the north fork from Kernville and there he embarked in horticulture upon a scale larger than that attemi)ted by previous experi- menters in that occupation. The marriage of Judge Sumner in Lubec, Me., August 3. 1843, united him with Miss Mary E. Dakin, who was born at Digby, Nova Scotia, January 16, 1826. They were spared to a long married life of mutual service and helpfulness and in death were not long divided, his demise taking place at his l\ern\ille home March 29, 1911, when he had reached the age of ninety- two, while the death of his wife followed in the same year on the 31st of May, rounding out eighty-five useful years. Their only son, Elisha Payson Sumner, had passed away at Saco, Me., November 23, 1871. The older daughter, Mary Josephine, of Los Angeles, was the wife of the late Rev. C. G. Belknap, a member of the Southern California conference of the Methodist Episc(:pal church. The youngest member of the family circle, Alice Maude, is the widow of Andrew Brown, formerly a prominent merchant and banker of Los Angeles. From the standpoint of citizenship Judge Sumner was progressive, in personal character he was just and yet generous and broad. For many years he served as a member of the school board and aided in the building of school houses and the establishment of school districts. Fraternally he was a Master ]\Iason. Originally an old-line Whig in ]:)olitics, on the founding of the Republican party he transferred his allegiance to its principles and also supported the abolitionist movement from its inception. It was his privilege to vote at eighteen presidential elections, dating back to the exciting campaign of William Henry Llarrisc n, when even at the remote and isolated Maine home of the Sumner family the cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" was the most familiar slogan of the period, and extending through all the years up to and including the scarcely less exciting and interesting Roosevelt campaigns. WILLIAM VANDEVER MATLACK.— The cashier of the Security Trust Company of Bakersfield traces his lineage to England and Holland and is himself a native of Philadelphia, born February 20, 1859. His parents, John R. and Lydia B. (Vandever) Matlack, were natives respectively of Philadelphia and Baltimore and for many years the former engaged in a manufacturing business in his native city, but after his retirement from business cares he came to California, and in 1896 his death occurred in this state. The English progenitors of the family had spelled the name Mat- lock and during the Revolutionary war Timothy Matlock, a leading Phila- delphia representative of the family, had been identified in business activi- ties with Robert Morris, the financier of the colonists during the first strug- gle with England. The maternal ancestry was of Dutch extraction. The records show that William Vandever, exiled from Holland during the thirty years' war, found a temporary refuge in Sweden and during 1682 crossed the Atlantic ocean to the new world in company with a colony of Swedes that settled in Delaware. From him descended William Vandever, a bookbinder by trade and a gallant soldier during the War of 1812; after the close of that struggle he settled in Baltimore, where occurred the birth of his daughter, Lydia B., later Mrs. Matlack. Her death occurred in Philadelphia. The oldest son in the family became a i)rominent resident of California and served as member of congress from Ventura county. In a family comprising four sons and two daughters, of whom two of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 239 the sons are deceased, William Vandever Matlack was third in order of birth and was reared m Philadelphia, where he was graduated from °he hiJh fn (SV h IT '"'"'■ '' '^l' " mercantile position Comm.^ to Califorrfia in 1887 he made a sojourn of two years in Monrovia and in 1889 settled at Bakersf^eld, where since he has made his home and where he has wielded I large inflnence as public-spirited citizen and progressive business man For some years he was associated with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company Du in' 18Q«'r''"' '".^ ^'''\ ^'.''^''^ ^'^^'^ °^ *he Bakersfield freight office' ?r at"'res ' lasibilTw ' ^T ^"Ln'!i'^''- f ^ P^^^^"^^^ ^>^^"^' ^ position of Retfo-nifo^i"' Qos-; ^^^^^^\h^ fi".ed with recognized efficiency and tact. Resigning in 1908 to accept a position as assistant cashier of the Bank of Bakersheld, he entered upon his present connection with the financial affairs o his honie city. Since February 1, 1911, he has been cashier of the bank o Msf Mar^JtT mTTh"^'.'' ''''' ^^"^ ^" Philadelphia he Trried Vliss Margaret V. Mendenhall, who was born in that city and descended ES;"h,tfdt E;'Zd nil -'- ''- -'"^"'^ °' «- da4.e.s/F>Xt Ever since attaining his majority Mr. Matlack has voted with the Re- r?^ u^^^ P""""*^-- Throughout the entire period of his residence in Bakers- n, ;• iQoiT'"^^'"^1 ^" ""ceasing interest in civic and educational affairs, l^^unng 1891 he was elected a member of the Sumner school board and for h. n? ^^^l^A 1 served as derk of that organization, two new schoolhouses being erected during^ the term of his service. During April of 1908 he was s me V ' T'"'''' °^ '^'' ^u^™ ^""^^ °^ ^™^^^^^ and in\he summer of The Tame/r H p'^^'r t°''" chairman to fill a vacancy caused by the death of James L. de Pauli Upon the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern in 1910 and the organization of Bakersfield as a city of the fifth class, as decided "o79]0 ^nnTr'^/^.l^^ ^""'"''S^ ^°'^ '°^"^' ^ '-^^^^ ^'^^tion was held July 10 1910, and Mr. Matlack was chosen a member of the board of trustees of the new city. At the organization of the board he was elected its president. The election of April, 1911, again made him a member of the board of now fiT]s''"l''f '" T' ^'^°''" P.^f ^dent of the board, which position he now fills, discharging its duties with characteristic energy and efficiency nZZ'^l%t ^'' been a leading local worker in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks m which he served as Exalted Ruler, and in addition he his Ma" "n"" ?'^^^^^^^^^ ''f Bakersfield Club. In Pennsylvania he was made" .viason m i-'ort Washington Lodge. A. F. & A. M. • ^^^ h^'^'X'^^ J'"<^* .^?^''P^"^' °^ ^b^ch Mr. Matlack is cashier, was incorporated October 7, 1910, with an original .paid-up capital of $300,000, but_ which was increased to $500,000 on January 21, 1913, and conducts business at Chester avenue and Eighteenth street. A savings department forms an important addition to the bank. There is also a trust department which acts as executor, administrator, guardian, trustee, etc., and the advan- tages of a strong and perpetual company over individuals in these capacities are too apparent and too universally recognized to call for special comment- Ihe safety deposit department is outfitted with fire and burglar-proof vaults with rental compartments convenient for the needs of pa^trons. Since its inception the bank has pursued a conservative course in the making of loans ?mo Ju "^p" V' ,%"fi,d^"f of a growing list of depositors. On October 19, lyiZ the Bank of Bakersfield was purchased and consoHdated with the Se- mn ^T^i "^^ '^o"^P^">^' ^^hose deposits have now reached practicallv $3,000- ,.Pnt ^'^^/"^^^^s '^f the concern may be attributed to the sagacious judg- ment of Its officers and directors, who are as follows: G. I. Planz Presi- w"\a.^^^"|^"' ^ • Matlack, cashier; C. A. Barlow, D. L. Brown A s'Cr tes W^W^Colm, W. W. Frazier, H. R. Peacock, Chris Mattlev J M. Jan. on,' t' w S^^^'• D. Hirshfeld. L. P. St. Clair. G. I. Planz. F W. Warthorst J. W. Heard and W. A. Howell. ' -vxairnorst. 240 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY WALTER OSBORN. — Education and experience alike abundantly qualify Mr. Osborn for able services in the profession of law. When first he determined upon his future calling he placed before himself a high ideal and aspired to gain a classical and legal education that would give him a standing equal to the best. Studious in childhood, always near the head of his class in the public schools, he carried the same devotion to scholarship into college and university and allowed no trivial matter to lessen his ardor for his books. The result was that he acquired a broad knowledge concerning all subjects of general importance, while in his specialty he grasped the principles of jurisprudence with a calm, logical and well-trained mind, and upon receiving his degree entered upon a professional career with every promise of success. During the course of his practice in Indiana he was more than ordinarily popular and it was only the failure of his health that induced him to sever ties so promising for future gains. Since he came to Bakersfield he has been given a place in the profession for which his talents, education and former record qualify him. The youngest of eight children, all of whom lived to maturity. Walter Osborn was born near Wanatah, LaPorte county, Ind., June 10, 1875, being a son of John and Jane (Mclntyre) Osborn, both now deceased. The father passed away when his youngest child was a boy of ten years, but the mother, a woman of energy and capability, did not permit the education of the chil- dren to be neglected by reason of their bereavement, and she constantly aided the boy in his efforts to secure the best possible advantages. After he had completed the high-school course at Wanatah he entered Valparaiso Uni- versity, where he took the commercial course. Next he matriculated in the classical department of Indiana University at Bloomington, from which he was graduated m 1902 with the degree of A.B. Continuing in the same insti- tution as a law student, he completed the regular course and in 1904 received the degree of LL.B., at the same time winning admission to the state and federal courts of the Indiana bar. Three and one-half years of association with the firm of Anderson, Parker & Crabill, of South Bend, Ind., proved most helpful to the young law- yer, who left them in order to form a partnership with Charles Weidler under the firm name of Weidler & Osborn. For one and one-half years he remained in that connection and meanwhile enjoyed a steady growth in practice, laying the foundation of a success that would have been permanent had not the failure of his health forced him to seek another climate. Altogether, his experience in South Bend has proved most helpful to him in later activities. The firm with which he first associated was one of great prominence, repre- senting the Grand Trunk Railroad, the Pennsylvania lines, St. Joseph County Savings Bank, Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Company and other large corporations of that important manufacturing city. Upon leaving the state he spent fifteen months in the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho, whence in October of 1910 he came to California, settling in Bakersfield on the 13th of December of the same year. On the 12th of that month he was admitted to practice in the courts of California, this being about six years after he had been admitted to practice in the St. Joseph Circuit Court of Indiana, the Supreme Court of that state and the Circuit Court of the United States for the district of Indiana. As an attorney Mr. Osborn is to be credited for two things particularly, first: he makes a very thorough preparation of each case and his briefs on questions of law are most thorough; second, he is a lawyer of strict integrity. To these particulars he clings with most unswerving fidelity, much to the advantage of his growing clientage. While engaged in practice in Indiana he married at Remington, that state, April 27, 1905, Miss Priscilla Hawkins, by whom he has two children, Marion B, and Priscilla J. In politics he is f^frA'Sc HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 243 stanch in allegiance to Democratic principles and the present administration. Fraternally he holds membership with the Elks and Masons and is a firm believer in the principles of kindness, philanthropy and helpful comradeship for which these orders stand. PRESTON SMITH McCUTCHEN.— Very early in the colonization of America the AlcCutchen family became identified with the agricultural devel- opment of a region lying near the Atlantic seaboard. In the new world, as in their former home m Scotland, they evinced a forceful and resolute deter- mination that won local prestige. Not the least conspicuous member of the family and certainly one of its most gallant patriots and honored representa- ti\es was James Corsey McCutchen, a native of Georgia and a soldier in the war of 1812, where only his lack of education prevented him from winning an officer's commission. Upon the close of the war he engaged in the trade of blacksmithing in Virginia. However, while giving his days to manual labor, he devoted his evenings to study, for he was ambitious to make up for lack of early advantages. After he had attained man's estate he took up the common branches of study, taught himself by dint of resolute perse- verance and eventually became the possessor of a broad fund of information along every line of mental activity. Particularly was he thorough in math- ematics and his work in that line showed considerable native talent. Withal, he was a skilled mechanic, a capable blacksmith and invented a process of setting wagon tires which has never since been improved upon by anyone. While living in Virginia James Corsey McCutchen married Mrs. Mary Humphreys, a widow with three children, James, William and Jane. Born in the Old Dominion, she was a daughter of John Nevins, an Irishman who enlisted under the English flag and became a sailor in the British navy, but deserted his ship in order that he might enlist in the feeble army of patriots fighting for liberty during the Revolutionary war. Having served with dis- tinction until the close of the struggle, he then secured an honorable discharge and settled in Virginia to devote his remaining years to development work in his adopted country. In person he was stalwart and strong, the possessor of a splendid physique, while temperamentally he had the characteristics of the Celt. His daughter, Mary (or Polly, as she was called in the home circle) became the wife of John Humphreys, who served as a commissioned officer during the war of 1812 and remained at the front until he was shot in battle. A few years later the widow became the wife of James Corsey McCutchen. Nine children were born of their union, namely : John N.. Allen (who died at the age of hix months), Preston Smith, Robert Sloan, Nancy. Martha, ]\Iarv ^Margery, Elizabeth and Perry. From Virginia the family removed to Missouri and after a brief sojourn in St. Louis ])roceeded up the river to St. Charles, where the second son, Preston Smith, was born February 24. 1820. In March of that year the family remoxed to Callaway county, Mo., where the father not only had a blacksmith shop, but also cultivated land. Leaving Missouri in 1836, he took the family to Iowa and settled on a tract of raw land in Van Buren county, where his wife died. Later he married a second time, but had no children l)y that union. In 1854 he died at the old Iowa homestead. When the family left Missouri Preston Smith AfcCutchen was a youth of sixteen, strong and sturdy, eager to be of use in the home and in the world. His father had not Dermitted any of the boys to learn blacksmithing, therefore he had turned his attention to farming and kindred pursuits. In those days one of the most important tasks on a farm was the clearing of the land and no one could use an axe with greater skill than he. nor could any of the young farmers of the locality surpass him in swinging a scythe or in cradling the grain. Agri- culture was then conducted in somewhat primitive fashion, for the magnifi- 14 244 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY cent har\esters of the present day, the drills, pulverizers, planters and other modern machinery had not then come into use. While living in \'an Buren county Air. McL'utchen married Aliss Jane VVilsey, a splendid young woman, who contributed much to his later success. Of the union there are eight children, namely: James B., Warren C, George W ., and Edmund V\'., who are represented elsewhere in this volume; Alary A., wife of C. \\ . Johnson, whose sketch appears on ancjther page; Clara J., widow of William G. Wallace and a resident of the vicinity of Hanford; Harriet C, wife of Benjamin Scott, a contractor in San Francisco; and Robert Lincoln, the youngest of the family, and living ten miles southwest of Bakers- field. The McCutchen brothers not only own some of the best producing wells in the Sunset Midway oil field, but also own considerable good agricul- tural land as well as dairy farms in the Old River district south and west of Bakersfield. The first trip made by Air. AlcCutchen across the plains occurred during the summer of 1850. when he accompanied an expedition of Argonauts to the western country. Starting from Bentonsport, Iowa, with a team of oxen and a wagon, he landed safely at Diamond Springs, Eldorado county, after a tedious trip of six months. In placer mining he met with a fair degree of success. Soon he was able to send $100 back to his wife and later he sent her $500, while in addition he furwarded $200 to pay ofl^ an indebtedness he had incurred. The balance of his money he took back in person, when he returned via Panama in 1853. The one-year old son had in his absence grown into a sturdy child of four years, but the success of the trip compensated him some- what for the long absence from his family. In 1854, accompanied by wife and child, he again crossed the plains with oxen and wagon. Upon his arrival in California he went to the mines of Placer county. After some three years he took his family to Sacramento county, bought land and started to develop a farm. Unfortunately it developed that the land was underlaid with hard pan, but he refused to give up until fourteen years of unsuccessful effort con- vinced him that it was useless to remain longer. Next he settled in the mountains of Alonterey county and engaged in the sheep business, but his sons found the work uncongenial and on their account he removed to Kings county, taking up land five and one-half miles northeast of Hanford, where after the death of his wife in 1877 he made his home with his daughter. Airs. Wallace. About 1911 his sons prevailed upon him to remove to Kern county and he now makes his home with his son, George W\, on the AlcCutchen Brothers Oil Company's lease near Alaricopa. Every member of the family is devoted to his welfare and displays the most tender consideration for his happiness. Notwithstanding the fact that he has been a hard-working man, his ninet}'-three years rest lightly upon his broad shoulders and he still looks out noon life with the cheerful optimism, progressive spirit and keen men- talitv more often found in youth than in age. W. A. EARDI-EY. — In the T'lioneer d?vs of any community the flouring mill is an imnortant enterprise. A leading concern of the kind is the Kern River mills, at Bakersfield. \vhich branch of the Kern Countv Land Cf^mnany was established to provide a demand for wheat grown in the countrv round about and to put a fine grade of flour on. the local market. The mills, at Truxtun avenue and S street, include roller machinery of the latest type and up-to-date appliances generally such as are requisite to success in this branch of manufacture. The establishment consumes all the milling wheat grown in Kern county and lars;e quantities of the choicest Kansas hard wheat and of the best wheat jiroduced in Washington. All its wheat is scientifically tested and each and every sack of its flour is guaranteed to be as good as any flour offered in competition. W'. A. Eardley, the superintendent under whose watchful care HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 245 this business is carried on, is an exi)eriencc(l Inisiness and mill man. and has ion_o- been identified with the develoj^ment of Bakersfield. Born in England, a son of William Eardley, Mr. Eardley was brought when quite young to the United States by his father, who located at Granville, A\'ashington county, N. Y. There the son was educated in public schools and also acquired a practical knowledge of the mercantile business. In 1885 he removed to Kane county. 111., but after four years of clerking there he found a new field of enter irise at Salt Lake City, Utah. From there he came to Cali- fornia in 1893, settling in Los Angeles, where he engaged in the hotel business. In 1900 he removed to Bakersfield, where he was manager of the grocery department of Dinkelspiel Brothers until 1905. It was in the vear last men- tioned that his connection with the milling department of the Kern County Land Company was begun. As a citizen Mr. Eardley is progressive and thoroughly up-to-date, de- voted to the best interests of Bakersfield, of Kern county and of California He has advanced to high rank as a Mason, having been initiated into the order in Illinois as a member of Batavia Lodge No. 404, A. F. & A. M., with which he still afifiliates while holding membership in the Kern \'alley Chapter, R. A. M.. Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T.. and Al Malaikah Tem])le, N. M. S. of Los Angeles. HON. JOSEPH H. TAM.— The attorneys of Bakersfield have gained distinction throughout the state by reason of their far-reaching activities, their broad knowledge of jurisprudence and their familiarity with cases in- volving intricate questions and large amounts. Not the least influential among these attorneys is Joseph H. Tarn, son and namesake of an honored California pioneer of 1849 and himself the possessor of a substantial knowl- edge of fundamental law, a superior intellectual culture and a gracious dig- nity that has established him in local prestige. To ability and high purpose he adds the devotion that comes from a life-long residence in the west. The greater part of his useful life has been passed in his native commonwealth, although he enjoys the advantages derived by an intimate identification with Alaska during a period of professional practice in that country. Residence in Bakersfield, although covering only a comparatively few years, has brought him mto prominence in many civic struggles and has led him into an unfore- seen political activity with increasing possibilities for useful public service. The discovery of gold in California was the incentive for migration hither on the part of Joseph H. Tarn, Sr., and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Glassford. For two years subsequent to his arrival the newcomer mined for gold, but, destiny withholding from him any great gifts in gold, he turned his attention to the tilling of the soil. He v/as one of the very first settlers upon the broad ranch lands of the San Joaquin valley, where as yet no attempt had been made at cultivation. On every hand the land remained in its primeval condition of sage brush and sand, its rich possibilities hidden beneath an uninviting surface, its future wealth unguessed by the most hope- ful of optimists. To his labors in the new field he brought the advantage ol an excellent education, largely acquired in a western Pennsylvania college (of which he was a graduate). In addition he had the advantage of fine native abilities, excellent judgment and business acumen. The splendid pio- neer element that laid the foundation of American prosperity had in him a forceful representative. Throughout his early years Joseph H. Tam, Jr., lived in Stockton, this state. There he was born April 8, 1862, and there he received his education in the public schools. It was while serving as city assessor of Stockton, to which office he was elected in 1884 and re-elected for a second term, that his attention was turned to the study of the law and his readings were con- ducted in the law office of Terry. Campbell & Bennett, of that city. He was 246 HISTORY OF KERN COUXTY admitted to the l)ar of the state in 1887, and immediately afterward began in practice in his native city, where in 1890 he was elected city justice. At the expiration of his term of four years he was re-elected for another term and when he had served out that time he removed from Stockton to San Fran- cisco, where he engaged in a general practice for six years. Attracted to Alaska during 1900 by a desire to travel through and investigate conditions in that country, he was induced to establish a law ofBce at Nome, where he remained for seven years, meanwhile also engaging actively in placer mining. In addition to a general practice he acted as attorney for the Pioneer Mining Company and other corporations. Upon leaving Alaska to resume residence in the United States, Mr. Tam traveled for a time and during 1909 opened an ofBce at Bakersfield, where he has since become prominently identified with professional and civic enter- prises. In coming to this city to establish a home he was accompanied by his accomplished wife, whom he had married in 1896, and who was formerly Miss Alice Carey Treadway, of Covington, Ky. Movements for the progress and develooment of his home city receive his cordial support. The high standing which he occupies in professional circles is indicated by the fact that he has been chosen chairman of the board of trustees of the law library, while his popularity in the Republican party is evidenced in the presentation of his name September 3, 1912, at the party primaries as a candidate for the assembly from the fifty-sixth district. Although not solicitous for party honors, preferring indeed the quiet round of professional duties and social enjoyment, he is not negligent of his duties as a loyal citizen and public- spirited patriot, nor is he unmindful of the opportunities for efficient service for which his unusual abilities eminently qualify him. MRS. HARRIET VAN ORMAN.— Any list of the pioneers of Bakers- field would be incomplete without the name of Mrs. Van Orman, whose life has been identified with this place continuously since 1860 and who has witnessed the remarkable transformation of the community from a desolate, unpeopled spot to a large city, teeming with industry and surrounded by fertile, well-tilled fields. No attribute of her character is more pronounced than that of devotion to the community of her adoption. Every part of the city possesses for her a unique interest, far beyond the feeling it would arouse in the casual visitor. For many years she has lived at her present home on the corner of Seventeenth and K streets, where it is her expecta- tion to remain until her earth life ends and where she will continue to watch with unabated pleasure the upward growth of Bakersfield. ' Even in the days when Kern Island had no population excepting rabbits, mosquitoes and gnats, when the sole crop was weeds and the sole visitor an occasional wandering Indian, she had faith that a large city would one day stand on the spot, and she is equally optimistic now concerning Bakersfield's great future and large influence as a business center. Flarriet Taylor was born at Jonesboro, Tenn., September 26, 1835, and is a daughter of the late Skelton and Mary (McCray) Taylor, natives re- spectively of Virginia and South Carolina. Her paternal grandfather, Henry Taylor, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and her great-grandfather, Christo- pher, Taylor, who descended from English ancestry, served in the Revolu- tion. The maternal grandfather, Henry McCray, a native of Scotland, mar- ried a Miss Moore of South Carolina and became a large planter on the Chattahoochee river in (Georgia. When she was one year old her parents moved to Alabama and settled at Huntsville, where she was educated in private schools and an academy. At the age of fifteen she accompanied her family to Texas and there completed her education in a private school. At Bonham, Tex., in 1854, Miss Taylor became the wife of Robert Gil- bert, a native of Tennessee and for years a large land owner in Texas, where he built and operated a saw and grist mill on Bordeaux lake. Two ?IISTORY OF KB:RN COUNTY 249 children were born of their union, 'i'iie son. William (iilbcrt, became a niinins;- man and died at IJakerstield in 1904. The daii^q^hter, Airs. Call'.e Pettit, is now li^•in^- at Tejcn, Kern county. During 1859 Mr. and Airs. Gilbert, accompanied by their two children, removed from Texas to Cali- fornia, makini::: the journey via the IJutterfield stage-coach. Their destina- tion was San Jose. Imt in the fall of the same year they settled at Visalia and September 26. 1(S60. they arrived at what is now the site of Bakersfield. Later Mrs. (Jilbert took up a claim of a quarter section on section 18, near Bellevue. and afterward she became a shareholder in the canal, which made it possible for her to put the place under cultivation to alfalfa. Her second marriage united her with N. Van ( )rman. of this county. Having been Avell posted concerning affairs in early days and possessing a retentive memory, she is a very interesting conversationalist and an hour spent in her society, when she is in a reminiscent mood, enables one to gain a vivid comprehen- sion of the trials, hardships and discouragements of those far distant days. JAMES B. McCUTCHEN.— The position to which he has risen and the obstacles which he has (nercome prove the ability of Mr. McCutchen. at the same time indicating what it is within the power of any man of integrity, energy and determination to accomplish for himself. Of discouragements he has had many and vicissitudes not a few. yet all of these he endured with fortitude and conquered by persistence. Whether it w^as the misfortune of failure in viticulture or an attempt in peach-raising where the cost of pro- duction exceeded the receipts from the total sales, or whether it was long sojourns in Old Mexico, enduring the hardships of camp life and the native food, none of his disastrous experiences dampened his ardor or lessened his courage, but each in turn rendered possible the attainment of a final success, represented now by the possession of a fine alfalfa ranch of eighty acres sit- uated nine and one-half miles southwest of Bakersfield under the Stine canal; represented also by a valuable dairy herd comprising one hundred and twenty cows and the modern and sanitary equipment demanded by the up-to-date development of the dairy industry. Recently he erected on his ranch an attractive bungalow of ten rooms, fitted with modern conveniences, not the least of these being electricit}- furnished by his own electric (Gray and Davis) plant. Although not a native of California, the early recollections of James B. McCutchen cluster around this state and he was familiar with its development from a frontier community filled with gold-miners to a prosperous common- wealth with varied industries and great possibilities. Born at Bentonsport, Iowa. October 26. 1849. he was four years of age when his father, Preston S. McCutchen (represented elsewhere in this volume) brought the family across the plains and settled at Franklin. Sacramento county. During boyhood he attended the public schools and when not in school he aided his father on the home farm. At the age of twenty years he passed an examination for a teacher's certificate and secured a school at Stony creek in Colusa county, where he taught for two years. From early life he was an expert marksman and interested in the hunting of game. Upon giving up his school he joined with his brother in hunting geese, ducks and quail for the San Francisco markets. Their headquarters were at Tulare lake, from which place they hunted throughout Tulare and Kern counties. During the winter of 1874-75 they shipped almost forty-two thousand ducks and geese, a total weight of forty-two tons in the one season or a little over two pounds per bird, the express charges on the shipments being three cents a pound. After having given his time to hunting game for a number of years. Mr. AFcCutchen in 1880 went to the Tiger mine in Arizona. In a short time he secured a school near Prescott and during the next four years he taught in ^ avapai count}'. The stock-raising industrv in the Agua Fria region next 250 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY engaged his attention. I'pon his return to California in 1890 he came to Bakersfielcl and purchased twenty acres in the Old River district. This tract forms the nucleus of his present possessions. His first attempt was to cul- tivate raisin grapes, but after two crops he replaced the vines with peach trees. The orchard developed successfully and the fruit was of the finest quality, but after peeling and drying the peaches he could not secure more than six cents per pound, which was less than the cost of production. Finding the enterprise unprofitable he grubbed out the trees and put the land under cultivation to alfalfa. While in the main he has devoted himself to the ranch he has had other interests in the meantime. From 1892 to 1895 he spent much time in Old Alexico along the west coast from California to Central America, hunting the aigrette and the heron for their plumes. At times he would have $3,000 worth of plumes in one suitcase. The dealers in New York ])aid as much as $30 an ounce for aigrettes and $10 an ounce for the heron plumes. Unfortunately the business was almost annihilated by the natives, who hunted ruthlessly, without any regard to the saving of the young. This ren- dered continuance in the business unprofitable. In order to secure the pasturage necessary for his large herd of milch cows. Mr. McCutchen has leased an alfalfa ranch of three hundred and twenty acres two miles from his home and on the leased propertv he main- tains his stock. The dairy is equipped with a modern sanitary system for the handling of the milk and this, during the heated season, is iced en route to Taft, Maricopa and Fellows, where it is sold to the local retail trade. The utmost care is maintained in the management of the dairy. Not the slightest detail is neglected and it is due to the rigid supervision that complete satis- faction exists among the customers. While the supervision of the dairy and the care of the ranch require close attention on the part of Mr. McCutchen, he has found time for other interests and has been particularly interested in oil development. With his brothers he located one hundred and sixty acres, forming the southwest quarter of the famous section 32, two miles east of Maricopa. On twenty acres of this tract there has been developed by the Maricopa Queen Oil Company one of the best oil wells on the west side, the production from the well averaging two thcjusand barrels per day of twenty-four gravity oil. The marriage of Mr. McCutchen was solemnized at Prescott, Ariz., December 26, 1886, and united him with Miss Margaret P. Dickson, who w^as born at Downey, Cal., January 27, 1868, and is a woman of refinement and true worth. Her parents, John and Mary (Ehle) Dickson, natives of Tennessee and Iowa respectively and pioneers of Los Angeles county, Cal., afterward became early settlers of Yavapai county, Ariz., and lived upon a stock ranch there for some years. In 1901, when seventy-two years of age, Mr. Dickson died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. McCutchen, with whom Mrs. Dickson, now sixty-four years of age, has since remained. There are four children in the McCutchen family, namely: Preston J., who is engaged in the retail milk business on the west side, his headquarters being at Taft; Ollie, a graduate of Heald's Normal and Business College at Stockton and now a teacher at Taft ; Van Dickson, proprietor of the Chester machine works in I'akersfield ; and Perry, a student in the Kern County high school. Deeply interested in the cause of education, Mr. McCutchen has not limited his atten- tion to aiding his children in securing excellent educational advantages, but has been desirous that every child in the community should receive a prac- tical education. For some years he has served as clerk of the board of trustees of the Old River school district. Politically he is a protectionist and a Republican of progressive tendencies. As a citizen he favors all movements for the well-being of the people, wdiile as an agriculturist he is deeply inter- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 251 ested in the de\elopineiit df Kern count}- land and has an abiding- faith in the possil)ilities o\ the soil when rightly cultivated and regularly irrigated. JACOB NIEDERAUR.— It was the good fortune of Bakersfield to enjoy during its early history, as in its later era of progress, the Iryal devotion of men of ability, energy and progressive spirit. To the foundation laid by such citizens was added the superstructure of subsequent effort that rendered possible the .prosperity now attained by the city. In the list of capable pio- neers no name stands out with greater orominence and none is more worthy of an honorable place in local annals than that of the late Jacob Niederaur, who from the time of his settlement in the then struggling, insignificant village in 1869 until his death, February 9, 1903, contributed persistently, effectively and intelligently to the advancement of the town commercially, materially and financially, contributing his quota to every enterprise for the general welfare and leaving the impress of his forceful personality upon every civic project. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to name an enter- prise of pioneer days which failed to receive his quiet but efficient support. A master workman, skilled in the use of tools, and without a superior in his trade of a cabinet-maker, he did not limit his activities to the occupation in which he had achieved signal success, but entered into other avenues of labor. From the first he appreciated the value to this county of its great oil resources. Nor did he fail to realize the excellent location of Bakersfield as a business headquarters for the oil fields. Other resources of the com- munity were backed by his sincere faith and generous support and the -wis- dom of his judgment was proved by his own large success, as well as by the steady advancement made by the county and city of his adoption. Born in Bavaria, Germany, June 15, 1841, Jacob Niederaur was nine years of age when brought to America by his parents, who settled at Bryan, Ohio. He was one of four sons, all of whom were trained by their father, a skilled mechanic, into a thorough knowledge of cabinet-making as soon as they were old enough to handle tools. In skill and quickness he soon proved the equal of the others and was able to earn his livelihood at the trade while yet very young. When he came to Bakersfield at the age of twenty-eight years he had no difficulty in finding employment as a cabinet-maker. Al- though he had no capital he was thrifty and economical and soon he was able to embark in the furniture business. The beginning of the business was very small, but as time passed he enlarged his stock of furniture and became the leading furniture dealer in the entire valley. Shortly after his arrival in Bakersfield he was impressed by the need of an undertaking establishment and he at once began to study the business, acquiring a thorough familiarity with its every detail. He is remembered today as the pioneer undertaker of the city. During the early days the business houses were mere shacks, but he became a chamuion of better buildings and himself set the example by erecting a substantial block, the first fioor of which he utilized for his under- taking establishnient and furniture, while the second floor he rented for general lodge, hall and lecture purposes. At the time of the incorporation of the Southern Hotel Company he became a stockholder in the new enterprise and -was enthusiastic in his efforts to secure adequate hotel accommodations for the growing city. Although intensely devoted to the welfare of the community it was net possible to secure his acceptance of public offices and he took no part in politics whatever aside from voting the Republican ticket. The only lodge to which he belonged was the Knights of Pythias, and in that order he ever maintained a warm interest. For some years after his arrival in the west Mr. Niederaur continued to lead a single life, and it was in this city that he met the attractive young lady whom he chose as his wife. She was Miss Lucy J. Williams, who was born in Ross county. Ohio. May 10. 1860. but grew to girlhood in Vermont, her mother having returned to that state after the death of the husband and 252 HISTORY OV KERN COUNTY father. At the age of sixteen \cars ^liss Williams left the east to come to California as i^overness for the children of Philo Jewett at Bakersfield. While filling" this position she met ■Mr. Niederaur, whom she married August 6. 1878. Two children came to bless their union, Philip Williams and Helen Jewett, After the death of Mr. Niederaur his widow continued to make her home in the elegant family residence, which since her death, November 30, 1909, has been occupied by her daughter and son-in-law, Helen Jewett Forrest and Thomas W. Forrest. This young couple were married October 16, 1911, Mr. Forrest being vice-president of the E. H. Loveland Produce Company and one of the leading young business men of Bakersfield. The son, Philip Williams Niederaur. formerly engaged in the furniture business in Bakers- field, but now resides in San Francisco. Among the many friends whom Mr. Niederaur won through his fine qual- ities of heart and mind there was none to whom he was more deeply attached than to Franz Buckreus, for many years superintendent of the Kern county hospital. Between those two pioneers there was a deep bond of aflfection which time only served to deepen. The implicit faith which Mr. Niederaur reposed in his friend was shown by his selection of him as administrator of his estate, without bonds, and also as guardian of his children. After the death of his friend ]\Ir. Buckreus continued to operate the furniture and undertaking establishment for a time. During Alarch of 1904 he sold the undertaking business to Morton & Connelly, who are now in that business at No. 1712 Chester avenue. About the same time the furniture business was sold to George C. Haberfelde, who since has become a leading repre- sentative of this line of commercial enterprise in Bakersfield. The estate left by Mr. Niederaur was valued at .$70,000 and had he been spared to enjoy the present remarkable growth of his chosen city he would have attained much greater wealth, but the large estate which he accumulated is especially significant because it represented the unaided efforts of a man who ever lived up to- his hig;h ideals of honor and his lofty principles of business integrity. Of such pioneers the city and county may well be proud and their descendants may recount their activities with ]^ardonable gratification. E. T. EDWARDS. — Among the men of resourcefulness and executive force who ha\e snught out the great Alidway oil field as the center cf their activities, none has been welcomed more heartily and none is forging to the front more rapidly than Elbert T. Edwards, president and general manager of the California Well Drilling Company, Incorporated, whose main < fficc is on the well-known Supply Row in Taft. The company represented by Mr. Edwards is young, strong and aggressive. The special business is con- tract drilling of wells, whose completion is guaranteed. Besides himself the officers are H. G. Moss of Maricopa, vice-president, and J. H. Osgood, of Taft, secretary and treasurer, with \\'. V\'. Stephenson, a director, as the Bakersfield representative of the concern. In addition to Mr. Stephenson and the officers ]. F. Swank is also serving as a member of the bciard of directors. Incorporation was made on a capitalization of $250,000, the stock being divided into two hundred and fifty thousand shares, par value $1 each. Tlie l:)usiness of the company is not limited to the Midway field but extends through the west side and brings to them the patronage of son^e of the greatest organizations doing business in Kern count}- fields, so that the general manager finds himself crowded to the utmost with important work. Tremendous responsibilities rest upon liim. These are ctnirageously met and intelligently discharged. In no respect is he more careful than in his efforts to lessen the hazards of a work which, at best, contains the ele- ment of danger and the constant fear of accident. The members of the drilling gangs pursue their work with the knowledge that the manager i-^ using every precaution to pre\ cut accidents and injuries to them, and tliis / HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 255 knowledge is in itself a large asset in giving to the company all the work- men that are needed, numbering at times as many as one hundred and fifty. The first eighteen years in the life of Mr. Edwards were passed in Ten- nessee, where he was born at Nashville January /. 1881. Ever since leaving that state he has engaged in the oil industry and kindred ])ursuits, first at Plouston, l'>eauniont. Sour Lake and other Texas oil towns, and next ai Jennings and Welsh, La., and after 1909 in California. After a short time in the Kern river field he went to Coalinga and engaged as a driller with the Southeastern Oil Company, Limited. During the latter part of 1910 he came to the Midway field. In the latter part of 1911 he organized the Cali- fornia Well Drilling Company, which is prepared to do cementing as well as drilling, and which keeps- from three to fourteen strings of tools in use, using the rotary tools principally. Among the concerns for which the com- pany has drilled wells may be mentioned the West Side, Sunset Monarch, May's Consolidated, Pacific Crude, General Petroleum, California Counties, Northern. Spreckels, Maple Leaf, Northern Exploration and other oil and gas companies. The general manager has many heavy duties in connection with a business so great in magnitude. That he has been successful proves him to be a man of force of character and high intelligence. Since coming to Taft he has identified himself with the Petroleum Club. During 1912 he erected a bungalow on North and Second streets, Taft, and here he and his wife, formerly Thelma Sells, a native of Kentucky, have established a home that is sought by their large circle of friends in Kern county. W. C. McCUTCHEN.— The name of the four McCutchen brothers is identified with many enterprises well-known in the early history of Maricopa, where they have been land-owners from a period antedating the memorable rush incident to the bringing in of the world-famous Lake View gusher. They were amcmg the first to discern oil possibilities in the region and events have proved the wisdom of their forecasts. One of the four, W. C, a man of great energy and a leader in every forward movement in this region, has spent all of his life in the west with the exception of the first four months, for he was born in Iowa December 4, 1853, four months before his parents, P. S. and Jane McCutchen, left that state fur the Pacific coast. The long journey across the plains was made with wagons drawn by oxen. The first location of the family was in Placer county, where the father engaged in mining for a number of years. Removing from that locality to Sacramento county, he took up land near Franklin and engaged in general farming. His next removal occurred in 1872 and took him to Monterey county, where he made his home in the Cholame valley near Parkfield. During 1878 he was bereaved by the death of his wife and afterward he went to live with his children, being for a time at Hanford. For some time he has resided with his sen, (ieorge, at Maricopa. Although now ninety-three years of age, he retains the possession of physical and mental faculties and exhibits a constant in- terest in neighborhood business affairs. After the death of his mother in 1878 the family home was broken up and W. C. McCutchen went to Arizona to engage in mining. For two years he worked in the silver mines near Rradshaw. Returning to California he located at Hanford in 1880 and took up land on the Lone Oak slough six miles southwest of town, where he began to improve a farm and engage in the raising of crops suited to the soil and climate. During 1900 he sold out and moved to Tipton, Tulare county, near which town he bought land and engaged in agricultural enterprises. Two years later he came to Bakersfield and about the same time located twenty acres of land at Maricopa. During the great gold rush to the Nevada mines he joined the Argonauts bound for that country and spent two years at Goldfield. finding himself, however, little the richer for the venture. Since 1908 he has had his headquarters at 256 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Maricopa and has been interested in the devehjpment of property with his brothers, G. W., J. B. and R. L. The company organized by themselves has put down eight wells, six of which proved to be producers, although only four are now in use, being tiowing wells. In addition to bearing his share in the management of these wells and the putting down of new ones, Mr. McCutchen has devoted considerable attention to other property interests and is the owner of real estate in the city of Richmond as well as orange land near Edison. With his wife, formerly Miss Louella McClintock, he has estab- lished a home at Maricopa (living at the present time on the McCutchen Bros, oil property) and has identified himself with enterprises for the upbuild- ing of the new town, whose existence is dependent upon the oil industry and whose future has the glowing promises ofifered by that wealth-producing activity. By a former marriage he is the father of four children, of whom the two sons, G. P. and W. W. (twins), are residents of Maricopa, as is also the youngest child, Mrs. G. E. Fritz, while the third child and elder daughter, Mrs. J. A. Fritz, makes her home at Taft. JOHN H. CLAYMAN. — An honored place among the pioneers of Cali- fornia is held by John H. dayman, who has been identified with the devel- opment of the commonwealth for a period covering more than fifty years and meanwhile has himself been a large contributor to the industries of agriculture, horticulture and stock-raising, besides aiding in the expansion of the public-school system and in other projects indispensable to permanent prosperity. It is to such pioneers as he that the state owes its remarkable growth in years past and they laid well the foundation for future continued prosperity, so that it may be safe to predict that the development of the past is but the precursor of similar advances in years to come, for all of which due credit must be given to the pioneers. Much of the active life of John H. Clayman was spent upon the then frontier, and it was not until 1910 that he relinquished agricultural activi- ties, disposed of his ranch and came to Bakersfield to enjoy in his declining days the fruits of long-continued labors. His parents, Benjamin and Per- melia (Randall) dayman, were natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and during their early married years lived upon a farm in Marion county, Ohio, where occurred the birth of John H. Clayman March 11. 1842. In 1845 the family removed to the then frontier of Indiana and settled upon a tract of unimproved land in Elkhart county, where the most arduous labor w^as necessary to improve a productive farm. The mother died in that county. Of her seven children three are now living, John H. being the fourth in order of birth. In 1853 the family followed the tide of migra- tion still further toward the setting sun and established a home on the desolate prairies of Nebraska. The claim which they pre-empted was wild land and the task of developing the property proved so formidable that in 1859 the father with his family crossed the plains with wagon and ox- teams to California and were only thirty-six hours behind the Mountain Meadow massacre. Accompanying them was John H., then an energetic. capable youth of seventeen years, ready and willing to do a man's work and eager to see the vast region west of the mountains. With the hopeful spirit of youth, he tried his luck in placer mines in Shasta county. The success of the experiment was so gratifying that he continued for eight years and at the expiration of that period had accumulated an amount sufficie.nt to enable him to invest in land. Securing a raw tract of land in Tehama county four miles east of Red BlufiF, Mr. Clayman at once began the task of making the property pro- ductive and remunerative. At first he engaged in grain-raising and in the stock industry, but having ascertained that certain varieties of fruit would thrive in the region he planted a large orchard of apples, prunes and peaches. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 257 In some years the fruit brought him a very large income, so that he pros- pered beyond his early expectations. The entire estate of one hundred and sixty acres was placed under cultivation and when eventually sold to other parties brought a great advance over the original purchase price. Meanwhile Mr. dayman had interested himself in movements for the material upbuilding of his township and county. At the time of the build- ing of the schoolhouse in the Antelope district he served as member of the board of trustees and his counsel and progressive spirit proved of great assistance in the enterprise. Since coming to Bakersfield he has built three residences on the corner of Fourth street and Chester avenue and two of these he rents, occupying the third for a home for himself and wife. The marriage of John H. dayman and Catherine Elizabeth Worley was solemnized at Red Blufif, Cal., November 14, 1874, and was blessed with five children, named as follows : Carrie, now a teacher in Tehama county ; Elmer, a resident of Bakersfield ; Zola, wife of Joseph Percy Freear, of Bakersfield ; Crim and Mrs. Bessie Hosmer, also of Bakersfield. Born in Washington county, Iowa, Mrs. dayman is a daughter of the late James and Elizabeth (Albaugh) Worley, natives of Ohio and pioneer farmers of Washington county, Iowa. During 1859 the family crossed the plains with an exj^edition of wagons drawn by ox-teams. For a time Mr. Worley engaged in teaming in Shasta county, but later he took up farm pursuits in Tehama county, where he resided until death. There were two sons and one daughter in the Worley family and of these Mrs. dayman w^as the eldest. In religion she was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which she since has adhered with earnest sincerity. Politically Mr. dayman is a Republican. Fraternally he has been connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with his wife holds membership with the Rebekahs. CAREY L. SEAGER.— The Producers Refining Company, of which Mr. Seager is secretary, treasurer and superintendent, ranks among the leading organizations of its kind in the Kern river field. Not only does its plant utilize the entire prcduct from the Lackawanna lease of eighty acres in the Kern river oil fields, but in addition crude oil of the W^est side fields is bought in large quantities. An average of twenty-five hundred barrels of crude oil is treated each month. From the Kern river crude oils the following products are made : kerosene ; 34 degrees stove distillate ; gas en- gine cylinder oil ; autogram, the copyrighted title of a cylinder oil particu- larly adapted to the use of automobiles and now winning the highest praise from its users ; light engine oil. heavy engine oil, steam cylinder oil, fuel distillate and asphalt. The crude oils of the west side are utilized in the manufacture of four products, viz.: gasoline; gas engine distillate of grades Nos. 1. 2 and 3; fuel distillate and asphalt. Th^ lubricants are admittedly of a superior grade. Their value is recognized even by the experts con- nected with the most formidable rivals and competitors of the company, while the quality of both kerosene and gasoline is of the highest grade. Of eastern descent, belonging to a family of high standing and excep- tional culture, Carey L. Seager was born at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., August 12, 1884, and was the eldest of three children. The second son, Roy E.. is engaged with the Producers Refining Company, and the youngest child. Pearl J., is employed as a bookkeeper w'ith this concern. The father, George H. Seager, was born and reared on a New York farm and at the age of sixteen married Miss Julia F. Mack, a girl of fifteen who had been his schoolmate. Shortly after his early marriage he began to work in the oil refining industry, to which his later years have been devoted with such success that he now ranks as an expert in the construction and operation of refineries as well as in the production of kerosene, gasoline and high-grade 258 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY lubricating oils. As assistant superintendent he had active charge of the construction work of the (kilf refinery owned by the Gulf Refining Com- pany at Port Arthur, Tex. He served as superintendent for the Union Oil Company at the time they constructed the addition to their refinery at Oleum on San I'ablo bay. At ])resent he is engaged in the buying, selling and mixing or compounding (if oils at Tulsa, Okla.. where he makes his business headquarters. Although a native of York state, the earliest recollections of Carey L. Seager are associated with Pennsylvania, for in his infancy the family established a home at Corry. that state, and later lived in Chester, Dela- ware county. R\-entually his mother established her permanent home at Warren, Pa., and there he spent two A'-ears in the high school. At the age of seventeen he was graduated from the Warren Business College. Shortly after graduation he joined his father at Port Arthur, Tex., where for four years he was connected with the Gulf Refining Company, serving first as assistant stillman and later as foreman. His next experience was as assist- ant to his father while the latter superintended the construction of the re- finery for the Union Oil Company at Oleum. Later he was given work for nine months as stillman with the Standard Oil Company at Point Rich- mond, Contra Costa county. Meanwhile, having determined to start a re- finery iif his own, he had the good fortune to meet with members of the San Francisco firm of W^ P. Fuller & Co., compounders, and they encouraged him in his project. In addition, the}^ rendered him pr.actical help, introduc- ing him to (icorge Calhoun of the National refinery. The latter agreed to form a partnership on equal terms with Mr. Seager, the two taking a lease of the P)uckeye refining plant and continuing together for two years. At the expiration of that time ^Ir. Seager took a sub-lease from C. Apple- garth of the Volcan Refining Company, \vhich tmder the title of C. L. Seager & Co., he operated for seven months. Through a deal with Dr. Liscomb of Pasadena, Cal., made in May of 1911, Mr. Seager turned in his i:)roperty and took stock for it in the Pro- ducers Refining Company, which since has made many valuable improve- ments. The officers of the company besides Mr. Seager are as follows: Dr. A. H. Liscomb, president; \\'illiam Ellery of San Francisco, first vice- president; and H. S. Bridge of San Francisco, second vice-president. Em- ployment is furnished to six men regularly. The one ambition of every worker is to maintain a product of admitted perfection and a constant stim- ulus to their work is given them by the enthusiasm and energy of the super- intendent. The latter has his home in the oil fields, his family comprising a daughter, Margaret Pearl, and his wife, who prior to their marriage in New ^Vtrk state in 1902 was Miss Pearl G. Bouton. \Miile living in Penn- syhania he became a mem^ber of the Maccabees at Warren and later he was initiated into Masonry at Port Arthur. Tex., becoming a member of Cos- mopolitan Lodge No. 872, F. & A. M.. at that place. Since coming to the west the demands upon his time by business affairs have been so engrossing that he has not taken an active part in fraternal or political matters, although always ready to assist in any movement for the permanent devel- opment of Kern county or the ex])ansion of its great resources. EDWARD GARFIELD NORRIS.— When the Norris family disposed of their interests in Missouri and made the long journey to Bakersfield with the anticipation of establishing a permanent home, Edward Garfield Norris, whose birth had occurred near Kansas City on the 17th of April, 1881, was a small boy only two years of age, hence his earliest recollections cluster around Kern county and the associations of a lifetime endear him to the city of his residence and business affiliations. Educated in the grammar and high schools of Bakersfield. ujion the completion of the regular course of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 261 study he was apprenticed to the trade of plumber with C. H. Ouincy, re- maining with that gentleman until he had acquired a thorough preparatory training. Later he completed the trade in a large shop in Los Angeles, where he had the best possible facilities for gaining a complete knowTedge of the many details connected with the occupation. Upon returning 'to Bakersfield he secured employment as a journeyman and worked for otiiers for three and one-half years. Meanwhile he' had cherished the plan oi embarking in business for himself. During November of 1907 he carried out the plan and established the Kern Plumbing Company, of which he continued to be the sole proprietor for the first two years. At the expira- tion of that time he sold a one-half interest to Edward Miller and the two gentlemen immediately purchased a lot at No. 517 Grove street, where they erected a building to be used for warerooms, shop and ofifice. Since begin- ning in the new structure they have engaged in sheet metal work and liave carried a full line of plumbing and heating supplies, by their excellent busi- ness methods and recognized skill having been able to secure and carry to completion many important contracts for the plumbing and heating of public buildings and residences. For a time Mr. Norris was honored with the presidency of the ^^laster Plumbers' Association and he still is one of its most influential members. Fraternally he holds active connections with the Woodmen of the World. The residence which he erected at No. 815 N street he still owns, but lately he has built and now occupies a home at No. 615 Flower street. East Bakersfield. which is presided over by Mrs. Norris, whom he married in Bakersfield and who was Miss Mabel Hunt, a native of Missouri. The pleasant and comfortable home is brightened by the presence of one son. Kenneth Edward. GEORGE W. McCUTCHEN.— The genealogy of the McCutchen fam- ily is traced to Scotland, whence religious persecution caused a number of that name to seek refuge in Ireland, later generations establishing the family in Georgia. After having served with conspicuous valor in the War of 1812 James Corsey McCutchen removed from his native Georgia to Vir- ginia and settled upon a plantation. Marriage united him with a daughter of John Nevins, an Irishman by nativity and a sailor by occupation, who having landed in Boston during the course of the Revolution, enlisted in the American army and fought until the close of the war, later settling in Vir- ginia upon a farm. Preston S. McCutchen, son of the soldier of 1812. was born in St. Charles. Mo.. February 24, 1820. and at Bentonsport, Iowa, mar- ried Jane Wllsey. a native of Utica. N. Y. The discovery of gold in Cali- fornia directed his attention to this part of the country. During the summer of 1850 he crossed the plains from Bentonsport. Iowa, (where he was living at the time), and began to mine for gold, although without any special success. However, he was so pleased with the west that he remained until 1853. and then returned only for the purpose of getting his family, who in the meantime were living in Iowa. The summer of 1854 found the family en route to their new home. Arriving in safety, they established themselves at Wisconsin Hill, Placer county, where May 6, 1855. occurred the birth of George W. McCutchen, the third son. His older brothers are James B. and Warren C. the former a dairyman living at Old River in Kern county, and the latter an operator in the Maricopa oil field. Besides these three older children five others were born during the resi- dence of the family in Placer and Sacramento counties. They are named as follows: Edmund W.. of Bakersfield; Mary A., wife of C. W. Johnson, who has charge of the Phoenix Distributing Company at Maricopa; Clara J., widow of W. G. Wallace, and a resident of Hanford. this state; Mrs. Harriet C. Scott, of Stockton : and Robert L.. residing at Old River in Kern county. After the father had lived about four years in Placer county, 262 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY meantime engaging in placer mining and running a dairy, in 1858, he moved to Sacramento county, settling at Georgetown, seventeen miles south of the capital city. Upon a tract of land he took up in its primeval state he en- gaged in ranching and his children were sent to the schools of that neigh- borhood. After leaving school George W. began to make a business of hunt- ing, and with his brothers made several trips from San Francisco by steamer to Mexican ports, where he engaged in shooting birds of plumage. The feathers were marketed in New York. During 1871 he became interested in sheep-raising in Monterey county, and in 1877 went to Tulare county, where with his brothers he engaged in shooting ducks for the San Francisco market. Later, with his brothers, J. B. and R. L., he mined in Arizona for two years, thence came to Kern county in 1885 and took up ranch land at Old River. The ensuing years were devoted to farming and stock-raising, although in addition he engaged in hunting during the winter months and made several trips to Mexico. In 1898 he spent the summer in the Klondike, but his prospecting tours did not bring any reward, and he returned to California in October. During October of 1909 he was united in marriage with Mrs. Martha E. Colly, a native of Missouri. Upon the opening of the Sunset field Mr. McCutchen and his brother, Robert L., located the north one-half of section 2, township 11, range 24, and the west one-half of section 1, township 11, range 24, also a fractional 26-12- 24, and all of 32-12-24. Their own ten acres at 2-11-24 is undeveloped, but they control a leasehold on the same section, comprising twenty acres one- half mile north of Maricopa, also lease twenty acres to the Maricopa Queen Oil Company on 32-12-23. The new Vv^ell, No. 7, brought in February 27, 1913, is a gusher and produces sixteen hundred barrels per day, while No. 6, after being re-drilled and cemented, is a twelve-hundred barrel per day well. The firm is cc^nposed of the four brothers. Georc:e \\\ and ^^'arren C. of Maricopa, also Robert L. and James B., of Old River, this county. Their expectations have been rewarded by a large measure of success. They now have six producing wells with a net production of nine thousand barrels per month. Not only are they successful as oil operators, but in public afifairs they have been prominent, in ranching enterprising, in their friendships con- stant, and in character conscientious, typical of our fine class of American citizenship. RALPH E. GALLOWAY.— The superintendent of the Visalia Midway Oil Company, one of the pioneer concerns operating in the North Midway field, has been identified with Bakersfield and the San Joaquin valley since 1892. the year of his graduation from college. Practically all of his active life has been identified with Kern county, whose resources he has aided in developing through the aid of his own aggressive energy and optimistic faith. Illinois is his native commonwealth, but in boyhood he lived mostl}^ in AVis- consin, where his father. Rev. John B. Galloway, an ordained minister in the United Presbyterian denomination, held pastorates in various towns in the southern part of the state. Throughout all of his life this devoted minister has labored with the greatest sacrifice for the welfare of the church. When a mere boy, in his native shire of Ayr in Scotland, he was trained to a knowl- edge of the Bible and a desire to become a minister of the Gospel. Scarcely fourteen years of age when the family crossed the ocean and settled at Sparta, 111., he directed his studies toward theology and by his own unaided exertions paid his way through college, graduating from Monmouth College with the degree of A. B., and later taking- a complete course in theology in an institu- tion at Xenia, Ohio. Meanwhile the Civil war had cast its dark cloud over the country. Taking up the cause of the Union, he offered his services to his adopted country and was assigned to the One Hundred Thirty-second Illinois Infantry, in which he served as corporal until the end of the great struggle. Later, having completed his college course and entered the min- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 263 istry of the United Presbyterian Church, he held pastorates in Southern Wis- consin. Since his retirement from the ministry he has made his home at Poynette, that state. By the marriage of Rev. John B. Galloway to Matilda Kiddoo, who was born in Pittsburg. Pa., and died at Clarence, Iowa, in 1878, there were four children, all but one of whom still survive. The eldest, Ralph E., was born at Galesburg, 111., July 1, 1872, and attended public schools in Wisconsin. After he had graduated from the Sparta (111.) high school he taught for two years in Waukesha county, Wis., earning the monev with which he defraved his expenses through Carroll College at Waukesha. Having received his diploma in 1892 from the scientific department of that institution, he left college to make his own way in the world and soon afterward arrived in Bakersfield, a small place at that time in comparison with its present metro- politan proportions. Brief experiences as a clerk in the Hirschfield store, as a law student under Judge Wiley and as a collection agent, made him fa- miliar with conditions in the community. During 1894 he became a reporter on the Echo, which at the time was published weekly. When the daily was established he became city editor. Employment with the Californian for two years, during a portion of which period he engaged as city editor, was fol- lowed by his appointment as editor of the Labor Journal. This editorship he resigned at the expiration of two and one-half years. In 1910, with F. C. Noel as a partner, he founded the San Joaquin Valley Farmer, the circulation of which he built up to large proportions. Since selling his interest in that paper in April, 1912. he has acted as superintendent of the Visalia Midway Oil Company, a concern in which he has held stock from the start and which has developed into one of the best producing properties of its size in Kern county. Since the organization of the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce Mr. Gal- loway has been one of its active workers and interested members. Politically he has been independent from the time of casting his first ballot, favoring men and principles rather than any specified party organization. For years after coming to the west he remained a bachelor, but May 3, 1909, at Bakers- field, he established domestic ties, being then united with Mrs. Lulu M. San- ford, a native of Des Moines, Iowa. Of a genial, friendly temperament, he has found pleasure in an active association with various fraternities. Among the organizations of which he is a member we mention the following: Al- buquerque Lodge No. 461, B. P. O. E. ; Kern Lodge No. 76, K. of P., and Uniform Rank, in which he has served as an officer and has been a member of the Grand Lodge of California; Bakersfield Aerie No. 93, Order of Eagles; Bakersfield Camp No. 460, Woodmen of the World, and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. HON. ROWEN IRWIN.— Very early in the colonization of the new world the Scotch family of Irwin left their ancestral associations in the high- lands and crossed the Atlantic ocean to Virginia, where they became capable planters. Some of the name removed to South Carolina and Isaac Irwin, a native of that commonwealth, established the name in Kentucky, where at one time he served as sherifiF of Jefferson county which has Louisville as its county-seat. After a short time he crossed the Ohio river into Indiana and there spent his last years upon a frontier farm. His son and namesake, a native of Frankfort, Ky., and for years a resident of Putnam county, Ind,. followed agricultural pursuits for a livelihood, while as a gratuitous offering to the cause of religion he preached in the Baptist denomination. For fifteen years he acted as pastor of one church, giving much of his time to its upbuild- ing and to the spiritual welfare of the congregation, doing all this work with- out thought of remuneration. In that pioneer era it was customarv for the brainiest of the pioneer farmers in any community to serve as preacher, fill 264 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tlie country pulpit on Sunda}', unite tiie ^oung couples in marriage and read the last prayer over the dead, l^'or such a task he was well quahfied by his ri\'mi)athetic heart, kindly dis})osition, s])lendid reasoning faculties and deep devotion to the cause of Christianity. During 1806 he removed to Nebraska and took up land on Elk creek, five miles south of Tecumseh, Johnson county, a district then beyond the confines of civilization. White settlers had not yet penetrated regions so remote from the east, but he did not lack for neighbors, the Indians being in close proximity and making frequent visits to his cabin in order to beg. At such times it was the custom for the Indian chief to come first, salute and appeal, while the others would remain at a distance. If his request was granted, a squaw would come to the cabin and carry away food or clothing that had been presented to them. Later white settlers began to arrive and the savages receded ; improvements were rapidly made and the country took on an aspect of prosperity. It was the privilege of the pioneer preacher to enjoy some of the later prosperity and when he died in 1899 the country l:)()re little resemblance to its aspect at the time of his arrival. During the period of his residence in Indiana Rev. Isaac Irwin had married Jane Leatherman, who was born in that state and died in Nebraska during 1900. Her father. Rev. John Leiatherman, a native of Germany and a pioneer of Putnam county, Ind., served in the ministry of the Baptist Church in that locality until his death. There were twelve children in the Irwin family and all but one of these are still living. Six reside in California, namely : Mrs. Avert and Mrs. Reynolds, of Hanford, and Mrs. Ball, of Los Angeles; John, now district attorney of Kings county; Washington, who fol- lows the carpenter's trade at Taft ; and Rowen, district attorney of Kern county. The last-named was born at Reelsville, Putnam county, Ind., May 13, 1858, and at the age of eight years accompanied his parents to Nebraska, where during three months of each year he attended the country schools. The balance of the year was devoted to hard manual labor on the farm. A seeming chance occurrence decided his destiny. When a mere lad he at- tended a murder trial at Pawnee City, Neb. It was his first observation of law cases and he became deeply interested, watching with peculiar interest the movements of the judge. When he learned that the jurist received a salary of $3,000 per year his interest deepened. Afterward he mentioned the matter to his father, who verified the report as to salary and encouraged the boy when he announced that some day he would be a lawyer. His ambition was realized by his own later efforts. Upon coming to California during 1881 Rowen Irwin secured employ- ment in Kings county, working with headers and threshing machines during the season. In the fall of the same year he began to study law at Hanford. The following summer found him again working- on a header. In this way he continued until he was admitted to the bar in 1883. He won his first case and received a fee of $20. Admitted first to the superior court, he later was admitted to practice before the supreme court and carried on professional work at Hanford, where he served as district attorney from 1898 until 1902. During January of 1903 he came to Bakersfield, opened an ofifice and engaged in the practice of law, which he has continued with increasing success. With him came to this city his wife, whom he had married in Portersville, Tulare county, and who was Miss Mildred Barnes, a native of Missouri. In fra- ternal relations he holds membership with the Eagles. Politically he has been a Democrat ever since he began to study public questions and as bis party's candidate he served as member of the assembly in the state legis- lature during the session of 1909, also during two special sessions. .\s a legislator he aimed to promote the welfare of his constituents, but also gave stanch support to enterprises for the general good. The Democratic party L/ HISTORY- Ol^' Kl^kX COUNTY 267 in 1910 nominated liini for district attorney and he received the verdict of popular api)r()val at the election. Since he took the oath of office in Jan- uary, 1911. for a term of four years he has devoted himself closely to the duties of the (^fihce and thereby has added prestige to an already enviable reputation. The office is one which calls for fearless honesty and more than ordinary al)ility. High as are its demands, he has proved equal to them and has met every crisis witli a clear brain, accurate judgment and admirable reasoning faculties. EDMUND W. McCUTCHEN.— The lineage of the McCutchen family is traced back through a line of honored ancestors in Scotland to one of the gallant lieutenants who served in the army of the illustrious Robert Bruce during the fourteenth century. The colonial period of American history found some of the name in the new world, established upon Virginian soil. Very early in the nineteenth century a member of the family left the Old Dominion and followed the westward tide of emigration across mountains and rivers into Missouri, where he took up new land and developed a farm. In the family of this pioneer was a son, Preston, born in Callaway county, Mo., and reared in Keokuk county, Iowa, where he took up agricultural pursuits. While living in Iowa he married Miss Jane Wilsey, a native of Utica, N. Y., and by that union were born five sons and three daughters, all still living, the fourth of these, Edmund W., having been born at Moke- lumne Hill, Calaveras county, Cal., October 18, 1856, about six years after the arrival of the family in the west. It was during 1850 that the father had brought his family across the plains with wagon and ox-teams and had settled in Calaveras county, where he engaged in mining at Mokelumne Hill. Not finding the occupation as profitable as he had anticipated, he deter- mined to devote himself to agriculture and accordingly moved to the vicin- ity of Sacramento, where he developed a grain and stock farm. Removing to Monterey county in 1872, he again took up general farming and stock- raising. Not far from the fertile Cholame valley he took up land and began to till the soil. For a long period he devoted his attention closely to farm- ing at that place, but eventually the infirmities of age obliged him to relin- quish manual labors and now at the age of ninety-three years he is living quietly and contentedly at Maricopa, Kern county. His wife passed away when advanced in years. After having spent his boyhood days mostly on the home farm near Franklin, Sacramento county, Edmund W. McCutchen accompanied his father to Monterey county at the age of sixteen years and continued in the stock business there until twenty-one. From 1877 until 1880 he engaged in mining in Mohave county, Ariz. Upon his return to California he be- came interested in farming in the San Joaquin valley. Selecting a location near Hanford he devoted about one thousand acres to wheat, using headers in the harvesting of the crops. For ten years he continued in the same location, but in 1890 he came to Kern county and bought a ranch of sixty acres nine miles southwest of Bakersfield. The land was devoted to fruit and alfalfa, and it was not until ten years after he had bought the property that he discontinued such activities for oil operations, organizing the Supe- rior Oil Company, with himself as a director and manager. Several wells were put down (Sunset field), the land was patented, and the investment proved profitable, but after a time the interests were sold to other parties. Next Mr. McCutchen became a member of the Eight Oil Company operating in the North Midway district and owning lands and wells of excellent value. In these he still retains a large interest. Besides his other enterprises he engaged in mining at Goldfield for two years with fairly satisfactory re- sults. Successful in striking oil, he ranks among the best informed men that Kern county has contributed to this industry and his successful operations have brought him financial independence. Mr. McCutchen is developing 15 268 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the citrus resources of Kern county, having selected for his operations forty acres at Trevis, fourteen miles east of Bakersfield. He sunk a well three hundred and twenty-five feet and installed a pumping plant which supplies ample water facilities. On his ranch he has a nursery of orange trees, of which he makes a specialty. It is a fact worthy of mention that during the cold winter of 1912-13 not even his seed-bed stock nor young grafts were injured. About one-half of the nursery is set out to navel oranges. With his wife, whom he married in Visalia, and who was Miss Kate Thompson, a native of Florence, Nebr., Mr. McCutchen is occupying his own comfortable residence, located on the corner of Seventeenth and D streets, Bakersfield. Having no children of their own, they have reared two of Mrs. McCutchen's nieces. Iris Taylor is now Mrs. C. W. Beatty, and Lizzie Taylor is the wife of R. V. Dorn, both of Maricopa. MYRON HOLMES. — The genealogy of the Holmes family is traced back tu an old family of England and a scion of that honored race founded the name in the new world when he crossed the ocean to New York. Will- iam J., a son of the original immigrant, was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., and early learned the rudiments of agriculture as conducted in that locality and era. Establishing a home of his own. he chose as his wife ]\Iiss ]Marcia Partridge, a native of Schoharie county and a daughter of Adelbert Part- ridge, for years prominent in the community as a manufacturing cooper. Hale and hearty notwithstanding their advanced years (for he is eighty-five and she eighty-one) William j. and Marcia Holmes now reside in Wellesley, Mass., surrounded by the comforts that have been secured through their own earlier, assiduous efiforts. All of their seven children are still living, but the third, Myron, is the only one residing in California. Born at Richmondville, Schoharie county, N. Y., August 15, 1860, he received public-school advan- tages and upon leaving school gave his whole attention to farming. With a desire to be independent, he bought a farm adjacent to the old homestead and began for himself as a general farmer and stock-raiser, which occupation he followed in the same locality for a number of years. Selling out his eastern interests in 1890 and locating in Bakersfield the following year, Mr. Holmes here bought the corner of I and Eleventh streets, built a house and has since made his home at the same place. Meanwhile he spent his first year in Kern county as superintendent of a farm owned by H. H. Fish and his second year as manager of the Kingsley dairy, after which he clerked for six months in a grocery. Since 1894 he has been a trusted employe of the Kern County Land Company. For a considerable period he was connected with the engineering department, but in 1900 he was promoted to be storekeeper for the company and since then has had charge of the company's stores, a position of great responsibility, for which duties he has proved eminently qualified. Throughout his entire active life Mr. Holmes has been interested in the development of the free-school system and since coming west he served for eight years as a member of the Bakersfield Board of Education. During the period of his service additions were built to the Emerson and Lowell schools, making of the buildings modern structures with comolete equipment for edu- cational work. The Hawthorne school was erected during his service on the board and a block of land was bought on A and Eighteenth streets as a site for a new school. In his marriage Mr. Holmes became allied with a family deeply interested in educational afifairs and he and his wife have worked in unison, striving to secure for their own children and for other children in the city the best advantages possible, in order that they might be qualified for the duties of life. Mr. and Mrs. Flolmes were married at Richmondville, N. Y.. January 16, 1883, Mrs. Holmes having been Miss Lillie Mann, a native of West Ful- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 269 ton, Schoharie county, and a daughter of Ahnarien and Hannah (Chapman) Mann. Her father was a native of Vermont, but spent the greater part of his life in New York, where his death occurred and where his widow still makes her home. Of their thirteen children all but one lived to mature years and eleven still survive, Mrs. Holmes being the sixth in order of birth. All have engaged in educational work as teachers or superintendents of schools at some period in their lives, the youngest son, Manley Burr Mann, a graduate of Cornell University and a successful attorney-at-law, having taught in young manhood in order to aid in defraying his university ex- penses. For a short time prior to her marriage Mrs. Holmes also taught school and she, too, was successful in the work. Of her marriage there are four children, namely: George Erwin, a graduate of the Kern county high school, now^ employed as electrical operator with the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation ; Marguerite, also a graduate of the high school, now engaged as stenographer with the Western Water Company ; Myron Burr and Charles Raymond, members respectively of the high school classes of 1913 and 1914. The eldest son married Hattie L. Davis and has four children, Lillian. Roy, Maynard and Ernest. Not only are both grandmothers of these four children still living, but it is a noteworthy fact that three of the great- grandmothers still survive. The Holmes family is sincere in allegiance to the Methodist Episcopal denomination. For years Mr. Holmes officiated as a trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and at the time of the erection of the present fine house of worship he was secretary of the board. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1902 he served as foreman of the grand jury and at other times he has held other public responsibilities. For many years he has been a member of the countv central committee of the Democratic party and a local leader in that political organization. LANE S. HARMAN.— An identification of more than twenty years with the material upbuilding of Kern count}^ enables Mr. Harman to judge of values and forecast growth with an impartial judgment and keen sagacity. These qualities have proved helpful to him in the discharge of his duties as manager of the Kern City Realty Company, transacting a general business in real estate, dealing in property throughout the county, buying and selling on a commission basis and making a specialty of oil, orange and fruit lands. The company maintains an insurance department and underwriting is done in absolutely reliable organizations. In every department of the business a large clientele has been established. The company is doing its full share in advertising to the world the excellence of the climate, the fertility of the soil and the opportunities for agricultural and commercial prosperity. The manager is usually to be found at the office. No. 805>< Baker Street, East Bakersfield, where he has every facilit}^ for prompt investigation of lands and direct intercourse with possible buyers. Mr. Harman is of eastern birth and lineage and was born in York county. Pa., March 24, 1854. Primarily educated in common schools, he later attended Mount Union College in Ohio and completed a commercial course of study. The family of which he is a member comprised three children, but one of these died in early years. A brother, Monroe, seven years older than himself, has become very prominent in the silver-mining industry in the state of Wash- ington. Both had to make their own way unaided from youth. After he had taught one term of school Lane S. Harman became connected with a mercantile business at Wellsville, Pa., where he remained for two years. From 1877 until 1890 he made his home in Mansfield, Ohio, and Columbus, same state, and meanwhile in 1880 he married Miss Ada E. Carpenter, a resident of the former city. As a means of livelihood he worked as traveling 270 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY salesman for agricultural implement houses and built up an enviable reputa- tion as a specialist in that line, being- indeed regarded as an expert judg^e con- cerning every kind of farm machinery. Upon resigning from the road in 1890 Mr. Harman came to California and settled in Kern county, where since he has made his home. Joining the Rosedale colony, he bought forty acres of land covered with sage brush. To develop the tract from its primeval state required strenuous labor. For years he devoted himself diligently to the task of removing the brush, cultivating the land, providing irrigation, planting portions of the farm to fruit and bringing the entire acreage to a high condition of fertility. The task was one of great difficulty and brought many discouragements in its wake, but he had the cheerful co-operation of his wife and the assistance of the chil- dren, so that he was able to develop the property as he had desired. In order that his children might have the advantages offered by the city schools he sold the farm and came to East Bakersfield a number of years ago, since which time he has engaged in the real estate and insurance business, also has acted as notary public and conveyancer, having offices in the First Bank of Kern building. In politics he is a Republican with progressive sympathies, while in religious connections he and his wife are members of the Congrega- tional Church of Bakersfield. Their family consists of ten children and it has been their greatest ambition in life to train and prepare their sons and daughters for whatever responsibilities may await their future years. The children are as follows: Emrie L., a carpenter, who follows his trade in Bakersfield; Will C, a bridge inspector on the Southern Pacific Railroad and a resident of East Bakersfield; Jeanette, wife of L. T. Peahl, of Bakersfield; Frances, who married Frank S. Wilson and lives at McMinnville, Warren county, Tenn.; Jo R., now Mrs. H. G. Spitler; Helen \V., how Mrs. George W. Jason, of Bakersfield ; Ada I., Monroe, Jr., Winifred and Alice, who are the youngest members of this interesting and popular family. WILLIS W. BOGGS.— The genealogy of the Boggs family is traced to the colonial era of American history. During the early part of the nine- teenth century Hon. Lilburn W. Boggs held an influential position in the public life of Missouri and he was serving as governor of that state at the time of the expulsion of the Mormons. By supporting the anti-Mormon ele- ment he incurred the hatred of the leaders of the sect, who afterward in a spirit of revenge sent one of their number back to the state for the purpose of killing the governor. Several bullets lodged in the head of the intended victim of their revenge, but he escaped fatal injury as by a miracle. When somewhat advanced in years he joined an expedition bound for California and shortly after his arrival in Sonoma he was appointed alcalde in place of lohn H. Nash, whose resignation had been asked for, but who, refusing to give up the office, was taken to San Francisco, thence to Monterey, in order that in his absence peace might be restored to the community. Ex-Governor I'.oggs died in the Napa valley at the age of sixty-three years. ' During the summer of 1846 William Boggs, son of the ex-governor, came with his family to California. Being a man of resolute purpose, excel- lent judgment and commanding personality, he was chosen captain of the emigrant train. Arriving at Fort Bridger, a dispute arose as to the route to be taken. Captain Boggs insisted upon following the highway generally used by emigrants and he pursued that road with the larger number of the party, arriving in safety at his destination without loss of men or stock. About ninety' insisted in taking the Hastings Cut-off. They found travel impossible through the mountains. The sad fate of the Donner party is a matter of history. Just before starting across the plains in the spring of 1846 Captain Boggs had married a young Missouri girl. Their child, Guada- loupe Vallejo Boggs, was the first white child born in California after the %JLJ(^ ^O^^i^^- r. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 275 government was taken out of the hands of Mexico. A younger son, Angus M. Boggs, who at the age of sixty-three years is living at Highland Springs, Lake county, was a member of the stock commission firm of Boggs & liehler, with offices in San Francisco and Napa. His marriage took place at Santa Rosa, this state, and united him with Miss Sallie Northcott, a native of Missouri, who came to Califcjrnia in 1861. They are the parents of eight - children, all living, namely: Mervin J., who spent eleven years in the Kern river oil field, meanwhile being foreman on the 33 and Imperial, later super- intendent of the Fulton at Maricopa, and is now a rancher at Lindsay, Tulare county; Paul N., formerly general manager for the J. F. Lucey Company at Bakersfield and now general manager for the same concern on the Pacific coast, with of^ces in Los Angeles; Leland Stanford, of Napa, a traveling salesman for the clothing house of Newmark & Co., in Los Angeles ; Ken- neth E., agent for the VVells-Fargo Express Company at Eureka, Cal. ; Willis W., who was born at Napa, Cal., January 24, 1886, and is now purchasing agent for the North American Oil Consolidated Company on section 15, township 32, range 23; Hugh F., who assists his father on the ranch in Lake county ; Lawrence B., and Elizabeth, who also remain with their parents. Entering the sales department of the J. F. Lucey Company at Bakers- field in 1908, Willis W. Boggs continued with that concern for three and one-half years, meanwhile going from Bakersfield to Maricopa, thence to Shale, next to McKittrick and finally to San Francisco. During 1911 and a part of 1912 he also acted as local buyer for the North American Consoli- dated on section 15 and engaged as salesman at the Taft store of Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Re-entering the service of the J. F. Lucey Company, he con- tinued with that corporation from February, 1912, to June, 1913, and on the 15th of the latter month he returned to the service of the North American Consolidated, for which he now acts as purchasing agent, a post entailing large responsibilities and necessitating a thorough knowledge of oil supplies and valuations. ROBERT L. McCUTCHEN.— As a native son of California it has been the privilege of Mr. McCutchen to live through years marked by unparalleled growth along all lines of industry, in which, not content to be merely an inter- ested observer, he has been a prominent participant and resourceful promoter. Although still in the prime of a useful existence, his memory is stored with historical data of value and his personal activities have brought him in touch with the remarkable development of the west. The course of business pur- suits has taken him along the Pacific coast and into Mexico, so that he is thoroughly conversant with localities, soils, climates and opportunities. Years ago, when hunting geese and quail for the San Francisco market, he traversed the section of country now known as the west side oil fields, where frequently he saw owls and quail helplessly enmeshed in pools of oil and asphalt, but at the time no one realized the commercial importance of the discovery. Later developments proved the immense value of the hidden resources of the region and in the early progress of the oil industry he and other members of his family maintained an active connection, nor are his interests in the business less important at the present time. A member of a pioneer family that always has stood for integrity, honor, truth and high morals, and* a son of that influential citizen, Preston S. Mc- Cutchen, whose personal history in many respects is a history of the develop- ment of certain parts of the west, Robert Lincoln McCutchen was born in Sacramento, Cal., July 20, 1865, and at the age of seven years accompanied his parents to Monterey county, where he was reared on a stock ranch near Parkfield. During winter months he studied, first in the public schools and later under a private teacher, while in the summers he assisted his father in the care of the stock and the cultivation of the farm. Starting out for himself 276 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in 1882, he accompanied a brother, James B., to Arizona, where, joining- an- other brother, G. W., he became interested in mining at the Tiger and Peck mines in Yavapai county. Returning to Monterey county at the expiration of two years, he remained there for a year, meanwhile being interested in farming. Associated with his brothers, in 1885 i\Ir. McCutchen began to hunt game for the market. For a time he made his headquarters on the Tulare and Buena Vista lakes. The game was shipped to the San Francisco market, where it brought the highest prices. It was during the period of activity as a hunter that he came through Kern county on a number of trips and began to study the soil of this part of the state. The result of his investigations caused him to purchase in 1890 twenty acres of raw land in the Old River district. This tract he set out to vineyard, but the experiment did not prove profitable. After he had removed the vines he put the land under cultivation to alfalfa, which he has continuously raised from that time to the present. By later purchase he added sixty acres to his tract, so that he now owns eighty acres in one body, situated nine and one-half miles southwest of Bakersfield. With the improvement of the land he continued in his hunting expeditions and it was Hi t until 1899 that he abandoned hunting for the oil industry, in which he since has been interested. From 1892 to 1895 he and his brothers engaged in hunting along the west coast of Mexico, where they hunted the heron and aigrette for their plumage, selling the same at from $10 to $30 per ounce. On returning from these expeditions he more than once carried $3,000 worth of plumes in a suit case. Ultimately, however, the business was destroyed by the natives, who ruthlessly slaughtered the birds, even killing them while they were nesting, and thus rendering a continuation of the business un- profitable. After having developed and sold oil lands in the Sunset and Midway fields, during 1907 Mr. McCutchen with his brothers selected a location in the north edge of Maricopa, on section 2, 11-24, where they struck a seven- hundred barrel well of thirteen-gravity oil. This being the best well up to that time and one of the earl}'- gushers, attracted wide attention and created considerable excitement in the field. In addition the brothers located the famous sectiun 32, 12-23, some of which is sold and the balance leased, twenty acres of the tract being now operated by the Maricopa Queen Oil Company, that struck a two-thousand barrel well in March of 1913. In the midst of his many other activities, Mr. McCutchen has continued to raise alfalfa and grain on his ranch, where in 1914 he completed a residence of twelve rooms, mod- ern in every respect, equipped with every convenience and forming a most desiralde improvement to the property. Besides the ranch he owns valuable real estate on Chester avenue, Hakersfield, and in Richmond, and further has a ranch of eighty acres, in the Edison district where the possibilities of citrus culture are arousing wide interest. While political questions have never been made matters of moment to Mr. McCutchen (who believes that the highest type of citizenship is expressed in the character and not in the opinions), he keeps alive to the issues of the age and has been steadfastly Republican in his adherence to party principles. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World in Bakers- field. By marriage he became allied with a pioneer family of Kern county. In the Old River district, November 30, 1893, he -was united with Miss Lena Freear, a native of this district and a daughter of Henry T. Freear, an honored citizen of the county. Six children comprise the family of Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Cutchen, namely : Vernon Ingersoll and Irene Marie, who are respectively members of the senior and freshman classes of the Kern county high schdol; Harold, Ethel, Evan and Laverne. The influence of Mrs. McCutchen has been a benefaction in the family and the community. A resident of the same locality throughout all of her life, educated in its schools and reared in one of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 277 its finest homes, she is an honored native daughter and has a permanent place in the regard of many friends. ALBERT W. FREEMAN.— The Freeman family comes of old English stock and was established in America by Henry Freeman, a native of Ket- ton, county Kent, England, born February 28, 1828. From his birthplace, which was but a short distance from London, the family removed to the metropolis and in boyhood he had the advantages incident to schooling in that great city. It was his ambition from childhood to come to the United States and at the age of eighteen he left the scenes of youth, bade farewell to friends and relatives, and started on the voyage across the Atlantic. The sailing vessel on which he embarked ploughed its slow way over the waters and finally cast anchor in the harbor of New York City, whence he pro- ceeded to Ohio and in a short time to Illinois. At Joliet, where he found employment, he met and married Emma Adeline Hart, a native of that city. When the first call came for volunteers for three months at the opening of the Civil war he offered his services, enlisted, was accepted and sent to the front. At the expiration of the three months he again enlisted, this time for three years, so that his entire period of active service covered three years and three months. Meanwhile he bore a brave part in many memorable engagements, including Shiloh, the Wilderness, Lookout Mountain, Chicka- mauga. Bull Run and Gettysburg. Under the leadership of Sherman he marched to the sea and took part in the numerous skirmishes and battles of that great campaign. With the defeat of the Confederacy he received an honorable discharge from the Union service and returned to his Illinois home. Removing to Kansas in 1870, he took up land in Butler county twelve miles from Wichita and on that farm occurred the birth of his sev- enth child, Albert W., April 15, 1872. After years of close attention to ag- riculture he retired in 1899, established a home in Wichita, and there re- mained until his death March 17, 1906. Since his demise the widow has cou,- tinued to reside in Wichita. Like him. she gives earnest adherence to the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. All but two of their twelve children are still living. At the age of eighteen years in 1890 Albert W. Freeman left Kansas, where all of his previous life had been spent, and went to Arizona, where for si.x months he was employed in the lumbering business at Flagstaff. From there he returned east as far as Manzano, Valencia county, N. M., where he found employment in lumbering. However, at the end of six months he returned to x\rizona and resumed work at Flagstaff. In the fall of 1892 he came to Bakersfield, where for three years he was employed by different contractors in the building of ditches and canals. During 1895 he became a zanjero with the Kern County Land Company and continued as such until 1899, when he resigned in order to return to Arizona. Upon his arrival in that state he found conditions had changed since the period of his previous sojourn there. The outlook was unfavorable and at the end of six months he returned to Bakersfield, where he secured a position as clerk in the old Cosmonolitan hotel. During the spring of 1901 he resumed work with the Kern County Land Company. After a brief period as workman on the Calloway canal he was made foreman, also was given charge (^f the books, and continued steadily in the same nlace until February of 1910, when he was transferred to the charge of the Home ranch and made superintend- ent of the Kern island canal, his present post of duty. The many responsi- bilities incident to his position he discharges with satisfaction to all con- cerned. In politics Mr. Freeman votes with the Democratic party. .A.fter com- ing to California he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & 278 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY A. M., and in addition he united with the Bakersfield Lodge No. 202, I. O. O. F., while also he and his wife are identified with the Rebekahs. At Rosedale, Kern county. June 13, 190.1, he married Mrs. Lucy (Cheney) Adams, who was born near Petaluma, Sonoma county, Cal., and by whom he has one child, Martha. Her parents. Return J- and Martha E. (Green) Cheney, were born in IJIoomington, 111., where their marriage was solem- nized March 8, 1860. As early as 1856 Mr. Cheney had made a trip across the plains with ox-teams and was so pleased with the country that he de- termined to remain. Returning to. Illinois in 1859 upon a visit to the old home, he married there during the spring of 1860 and then brought his bride via Panama to San Francisco, thence to Sonoma county, where he had taken up land. For years he operated one of the first threshing-machines brought into Sonoma county. In addition to his work as thresherman he developed a large tract of land in Sonoma county and was similarly inter- ested in Tulare county, after his removal thither in 1886. From Tulare county he came to Kern county in 1892 and settled at Rosedale. Of recent years he and his wife have made their home at Coalinga. They became the parents of ten children who attained mature years and all but one of these still survive. Mrs. Freeman, who was the youngest of the large family, was given high-school advantages and received the careful home training which has made her a notable housekeeper and efficient assistant to her husband. JOHN EDWARD HAMILTON.— The supervising principal of the Conley school district of Taft was born in New York City May 27, 1853. and is a son of Callaghan and Margaret (O'Connor) Hamilton, both of whom were natives of county Kerry, Ireland, but crossed the ocean in early life and were married in the city of Brooklyn. There were four children in the family, but two of these died in infancy, tlie present survivors being John Edward and Charles C, the latter an attorney in Oakland. During 1868 the family removed to California and settled in San Francisco, but four years later J. E. returned east in order to receive treatment for spinal trouble. For a time he remained in Indianapolis. Upon coming back to California in 1874 he settled in Mendocino county, where his brother was teaching his first term of school. As he wished to take up the same line of work, he began to study under his l)rother preparatory to taking the teachers' exam- ination. February 8. 1875. he began to teach school at W'illits, Mendocino county. In order the better to prepare for pedagogical activities he took a course of study in St. Ignatius College at San Francisco. Later he secured' a scholarship in the Hastings College of Law, but instead of entering that institution he made a trip to Seattle and on his return to California settled again in Mendocino county. Lhitil 1886 he taught school there. Meanwhile in 1882 he had married Aliss Margaret E. Muir. I'y the union there are two children now living. Ethel M. and Charles I. After leaving Mendocino county he went to Santa Barbara county and for twenty-two years made that region his head(|uarters. Meanwhile for ten years he served as a mem- ber of the county board of education and for six years of the period he was honored with the presidency. For three years he acted as principal of the Los Alamos schools and for fifteen years he taught in Santa Maria. A newspaper experience as editor of the Santa ]\Iaria Graphic for two years (1891-92) supplemented the work of ^Ir. Hamilton as teacher, but when he was elected principal at Santa Maria he abandoned journalistic activities. For thirteen years he served as princioal at Santa Maria. L'pon resigning in 1906 he went to Kansas City to act as eastern representative of various enterprises operating in the middle west and on the Pacific coast. Upon his return to California he came to Taft in November, 1911, and se- cured employment as bookkeeper for Lierly & Son. During January of 1912. the teacher in the Xorth American school ha\ing resigned, he was pre- [IISTORV OF KERN COUNTY 281 vailed upon to complete the unexpired term, at the same time maintaining charge of the books for the firm. In June of 1912 he was chosen supervising principal for one year and in June of 1913 he was re-elected for four years. As principal he has made a record for efficiency and progressiveness. Under his supervision the schools are keeping pace with similar institutions throughout the county and have become a source of gratification and pride to all public-spirited citizens. In addition to his responsibilities as super- vising principal he has found leisure for the composing of songs and the writing of lectures. One of his compositions, a baseball song entitled "Base- ball," has become very popular among the boys in Taft. As a popular lec- turer he makes a specialty of literary subjects and while all of his addresses have been received with enthusiasm, "An Hour with Tennyson" is perhaps the favorite and has elicited the greatest applause from interested audiences. LUCAS FRANKLIN BRITE.— As one of the most extensive cattle growers in Kern cciunty and as a member of the board of supervisors Mr. Brite is well known throughout the entire length and breadth of the county where he has made his home from his earliest recollections. In his life work he follows the example set by his father, the late John Moore Brite, who for years engaged extensively in agricultural pursuits and at the same time was a prominent supervisor of Kern county. Born in Missouri, but from early life a resident of Texas and employed as a teamster and farmer near the capital city of Austin, the father crossed the plains with ox teams in 1854, accompanied by his family, arriving at El Monte, Los Angeles county, in September of that year. The same fall he located in the Tehachapi V^alley, where he began operations in the stock business. On his arrival he built a log house a little below what afterwards became known as Greenwich, resid- ing there until he made his location in the valley that now bears his name, residing there continuously with the exception of one year, 1857-58, spent in Walkers basin and nearly a year in El Monte. During the residence of the family at El Monte a son, Lucas Franklin, was born August 13, 1859. In the same year the father returned with his wife and children and settled in a small but fertile valley in the Tehachapi mountains, where he entered land and built an adobe house which is still standing, and continued in the stock busi- ness. As he was the first and principal settler in the region and as the entire district is now owned by some of his heirs, the name of Brite's valley appro- priately was given to it. During the early days it was remote from any mar- ket and the large crops of farm products as well as the large herds of stock had to be taken long distances when sold, but eventually the Southern Pacific railroad built to within six miles of the farm house, and from that time the family found conditions less irksome. Upon the organization of Kern county John Moore Brite was chosen a member of the first board of supervisors, which created the first county gov- ernment and directed public affairs from the county seat, then known as Clear Creek, but later called Havilah. For the greater part of the next six- teen years he was a supervisor and during part of the time was honored with the chairmanship of the board, being an integral factor in the difficult task connected with the removal of the county seat to Bakersfield. With all of his work donated to the early upbuilding of the county, he did not neglect the management of his land or the care of his stock. His herds increased in size and his brand, a half-moon capital J, was known all over the county, while his possessions in land increased until at the time of his death, during 7\pril of 1893, he had about two thousand acres. He is still survived by his widow, who was Miss Amanda Emeline Duty, a native of Austin. Tex. Their family consisted of thirteen children. ( )f these Martha died in Texas at two years of age. Mattie died in Brite's valley when two, and Mary passed away when seventeen. The eldest s(^ns. Joseph H. and James Moore, are extensive ranch- 282 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ers in Brite's valley. Lucas Franklin, of Bakersfield. was sixth in order of birth. Eliza Lee married W. T. Wiggins, of Brite's valley; William is living in the Imperial valley; John B. and Charles Richard live in Brite's valley, the last-named being with his mother at the old homestead; Chloe is the wife of E. A. Stowell, of Cummings valley; Clara married Henry O'Neal and lives at Stockton ; and Cora is the wife of W. H. Adams, of Stockton. The mother, together with her sons, Joseph, James. Charles, Richard and John, also a daughter, with her husband (]\lr. and Mrs. W. T. Wiggins) own all of Brite's valley. The earliest recollections of Lucas JM-anklin Brite cluster around the val- ley which bears the family name. Early in childhood he was a pupil in a log schoolhouse two and one-half miles from the old homestead, next he attended school in a frame building at Oldtown, four and one-half miles from home, and finally he completed his study of the three R's in the Cummings valley school, four and one-half miles from home. From school he drifted into ranching and when he started out for himself he located on railroad land. When this came into the market he bought six hundred and forty acres at $2.50 and ^3 per acre. The land was level and fertile, comprising some of the best acreage in Cummings valley. At this writing he owns five thousand acres in this valley and of the total amount eighteen hundred acres are level. The vast tract represents his own industrious application and self-denying perseverance. With the aid of his sons he manages his large holdings, devoting about four- teen hundred acres to grain and the balance to stock range.. Alfalfa also is raised without the aid of irrigation, although he installed a pumping plant on his home farm, ten miles west of Tehachapi. The raising of grain formed the largest agricultural interest of Mr. Brite for many years. During early days he utilized a header and stationary thresher. Later he operated five headers which elevated the grain to the wag- ons, nets being placed in the bed of the wagons. The wagons were then hauled to the thresher and the nets dumped on the table of the threshing ma- chine. In the work as thus conducted thirty head of mules or horses were used cm the headers, forty head were used on the ten wagons (four to a wagon), two head were used for the lifting of the derrick and eight head were carried as extras, for special needs. About twelve thousand acres of grain were harvested and threshed in two months. W^hen the combined harvester came into use, Mr. Brite was quick to see its advantages and avail himself of its irnprovements over the old-fashioned methods. At one time his brother John arranged a plow with ten gangs hinged in the middle so that it was possible to turn the soil even in rough places or in hog wallows. Ten horses or mules were used on each plow and as many as five of the implements were kept in steady use during the season. The greater part of his land is located in the Tehachapi and Cummings valleys and is well adapted for grain and stock. Some very fine horses of the Percheron and French coach breeds have been raised on his lands, while his shorthorn Durham cattle, with their well-known brand of GB, have no superi(~)rs in quality throughout the entire county. The marriage of Mr. Brite took place in Brite's valley, Deceml^er ,S, 188.x and united him with Miss Laura Smith, who was born in Cummings valley, Kern county, being fourth youngest among the eleven children of John and Amanda E. (Stark) Smith, natives of Texas. At an early period in the settle- ment of the coast country the Smith family crossed the plains with wagon and oxen and settled in Bakersfield after a brief sojourn in Los Angeles. Mr. Smith died in Cummings valley, while his wife passed away in Brite's valley. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Brite there are five children, of whom the two eldest, John Perry and Lucas Vance, are farmers and stock-raisers at the old homestead. The third child. FJertha, is a student in the Universitv of Cali- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 283 fornia. The two youngest, Bonnie and Ruby, are students in the Bakersfield high school. It was for the purpose of giving his youngest children the ad- vantages of the Bakersfield schools that in 1910 Air. Brite came to this city and erected a residence at No. 1819 Orange street, where the family since have spent the school year, returning to the ranch for the summer. In his home city Mr. Brite has a large circle of friends, while throughout the country he is well known and universally respected. From early life he has been a supporter of Democratic principles and it was upon the regular party ticket that in 1902 he was elected from the second district to the board of county supervisors. At the expiration of his first term in 1906 he was re- elected, and again in 1910 he was chosen his own successor. As supervisor he has favored all movements for the permanent advancement of the county, has given his support to needed improvements and been identified with the build- ing of bridges and county buildings, including the addition to the county hospital, the new high school, manual arts building. Hall of Records and the imposing new court house, yet at the same time he has maintained a conserva- tive policy and has guarded the interests (jf taxpayers with conscientious fidel- ity and keen discrimination. THOMAS A. BROOKS.— The manager of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company for Kern county has followed this line of business since the age of sixteen years and meanwhile has gained a varied experience of the utmost value to his present and future activities. Sent for the first time to Bakersfield during the early part of 1911 and for the second time in the spring of 1912, he has been closely in touch with the development of the business at this point and has forwarded with customary energy the interests of the company, which now reaches every important point in the county. The task has been and still continues to be one of no slight importance. The greatest tact and the highest intelligence are required in order to superin- tend the local interests with success. It speaks well for the manager that he has been able to satisfy patrons, enlarge the field of operation and at the same time advance the financial status of the company shareholders. The satisfactory growth of the business in the past betokens similar development in the future. The elder of two children, Thomas A. Brooks was born in San Fran- cisco June 20, 1886, and is a son of Thomas J. and Mary (Anderson) Brooks, natives respectively of Boston, Mass., and Bristol, England, who came to California, were married in Oakland, and shortly afterwards established a permanent home in San Francisco. In that city the mother died in 1911 and there the father still remains. Educated in the public schools until he had gained a thorough knowledge of the common branches, in October of 1502 Thomas A. Brooks began the task of earning his own livelihood. At that time he entered the employ of the telephone company as a solicitor in San Francisco. A year later he was given a clerkship in the city office. Later he was promoted to the division office in San Francisco as division commercial engineer. The splendid manner in which he discharged the duties of the position led to his promotion to the rank of commercial en- gineer in the general office. All of these promotions had occurred within a decade after his original identification with the business. The interests of the business caused Mr. Brooks to be detailed for im- portant duties at San Diego, Cal., and Portland, Ore., after which he was sent to Bakersfield in January of 1911. The result of his investigations in this city is apparent in the large new telephone building on Twentieth be- tween T and Chester. During the process of construction of this building he filled a similar mission in the city of Los Angeles, from which place he returned to Bakersfield in March, 1912, to act as manager of Kern county for the company, which is profiting now, as it has profited in the past, by 284 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY his far-seeing discrimixiation and keen insight into matter jng the Hne of his specialty. Since coming to this city he has identifier imself with the Bakerstield Chib and with other organizations connected with the social and commercial life df the city. CHARLES N. SEARS.— The identification of the Scotch family of Sears with the new world began during the colonial period of American history, the first immigrant of the name having established himself on a plantation in Virginia, and from the Old Dominion Enoch Sears removed to Ohio during the early portion of the nineteenth century. Several generations have made their home in Guernsey county, Ohio, where James and Mary Sears passed the early years of their lives. When the call came for volunteers in the service of the Union during the Civil war he bade farewell to his young' wife and set forth to fight for his country, going to the front with an Ohio regiment of which he was a member. When the disastrous battle of Chickamauga was being fought he and three of his brothers were killed in action. The little community in Guernsey county where they had been born and reared mourned their tragic taking away, but revered their memories as heroes of the struggle. Surviving this one of the brothers was a son, Charles N., who was born at North Salem, Guernsey county, Ohio. January 13, 1861 ; he was also survived by his wife, who later became Airs. Wyatt and is now living in Nebraska in the city of Minden. The only child in the family was taken from Ohio to Illinois at the age of thirteen years and afterward attended school at Roseville, Warren county, where he prepared for college. It was his ambition to acquire a thorough education and with that object in view he matriculated in xA.bingdon (111.) College, from which in 1879 he was graduated with the degree of A. B. and with a high standing for excellence of scholarship. A desire to see more of the country and also to acquire cheap land led Mr. Sears with two companions to start for Nebraska. Buying a team and wagon and securing the necessary outfit, they drove overland to Phelps county and entered land near Holdrege. Later he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, to which in time he secured the title. To one of his energetic temperament the idle waiting for the expiration of his home- stead peric d was impossible and he passed the time profitably and pleasantly in acquiring a knowledge of the law. For a time he read with a prominent attorney and jurist at Kearney, Bufifalo county, and so well was his time passed that in 1887 he was admitted to the bar of Nebraska, after which he began to practice at Holdrege with W. P. Hall as a partner. In order to enlarge his professional knowledge, he took a course in the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he v/as graduated in 1892 with the degree of LL. B. Immediately after his graduation he en- gaged in the practice of law at Benton Harbor. Mich., from which point he came to California during the fall of 1900 and in February of the following year established himself in practice at Bakersfield. where he is well known as a man of scholarly attainments, an attorney of ripened experience, a coun- selor of sagacious judgment, and a citizen of the most unquestioned pa- triotism. Besides his professional activities he also is interested in oil opera- tions, while his deep devotion to and ])rominence in the Republican party gives him added influence in his home city. Faternally he holds member- ship with the Knights of Pythias. In Benton Harl)or. Mich., occurred his marriage to Miss Alberta Putnam, who was born in Xiles. that state, re- ceived excellent educational advantages and is a woman of culture and an earnest member of the Congregational Church of Bakersfield. The only child of their union is a son, Herbert Putnam Sears, a student in the city high school. The lineage of Mrs. vSears is historic, one of her ancestors having been a Revolutionary soldier. John I'utnam. of Green Mountain fame. a b HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 287 and a brother of that illustrious patriot, Gen. Israel Putnam, who, when news came concerning the opening battle at Lexington, left his plough in the field at Pomfret, Conn., mounted his horse, and the next morning was in Concord, later led some untrained patriots in a successful assault north- east of Boston, and from that led from one victory to another until he was recognized as one of the greatest men of his day. ROBERT L. STOCKTON.— An epitome of the history of educational advancement in Kern County presents in brief a recapitulation of the life work of Robert L. Stockton, county superintendent of schools since January of 1903, also vice president of the Central California Teachers' Association and ex-of^cio secretary of the county board of education. In reviewing his identification with the educational advancement and present standard of scholarship in the county he might well exclaim, "All of which I saw and part of which I was." From the age of eighteen years he has given his attention with whole-hearted devotion to the tasks confronting an educator and no problem has been too vexatious for his patient consideration, no progress too great for his aspiring vision and no change too radical provided only that the welfare of students and the interests of the schools thereby are promoted. Since he entered upon the duties of county superintendent the school work has quadrupled entailing upon him duties far more weighty than the se incident to the first months of his ofificial incumbency. In addition to the county high school there are now eighty-eight districts, while about two hundred teachers are given employment in the grammar and thirty in the high schools, there being expended annually in the interests of county educational work an amount appro:^imating a half million dollars, which includes not only salaries of teachers, but also expenditures in new buildings, reoairs of old buildings, janitor service and the manifold lesser expenses connected with a work of such magnitude. The duties of the county super- intendent have expanded to such proportions that two assistants now are given steady employment and the superintendent's oi¥ice is a scene of busy activity during practically every season of the year. County Superintendent Stockton is proud of the fact that he can claim California as his native commonwealth and that his father. Dr. I. D. Stockton, was one of the honored pioneers of Kern County. Born at Santa Rosa October 25, 1863, he accompanied his parents to Kern County in 1872 and afterward attended the schools here. Diligent in study, intelligent in appli- cation and keen in mental comprehension, he acquired a wide fund of infor- mation notwithstanding the handicap occasioned by poorly equipped schools. After he had taken a course in the Los Angeles Business College he returned to his home county and took up educational work, for which he possessed inherent ability and in which he has achieved signal success. From his first identification with the schools as an instructor he aimed to advance the standard vi scholarship. He rejected as obsolete the inadequate theories of earlier days and injected into pedagogy the spirit of twentieth century progress. As a result of his efforts the schools soon gave evidence of more thorough work and the advancement thus begun has continued to the present with auspicious results. For many years he served as a member of the county board of education and even yet he retains a connection with that useful organization. As the Democratic nominee in 1902 he was elected county superintendent of schools after an exciting contest with the then incumbent, whom he defeated by a large majority. In 1906 he was re-elected and again in 1910, the latter time without opposition, but with the endorse- ment of all parties. There are now about eight thousand pupils in the public elementary schools of the county, besides about five hundred in the high schools. In the management of educational work so large and important he 288 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY has the hearty co-operation and helpful assistance of the board of super- visors and the county board of education, all of whose members have the welfare of the schools as their slogan. It should be stated that the Kern County High school has more than quad- rupled in attendance in the last ten years and its departments multiplied until the state superintendent of public instruction pronounced it the most com- plete course and best high school in the state. They have added courses in surveying, assaying, wireless telegraphy, manual training, domestic science and art and agriculture, and claim the unique place of having the largest agricultural farm of any high school in the state. The marriage of Professor Stockton united him with Miss Frances Engle, a native of Kern County and a daughter of David Engle, a pioneer stockman near Granite. They are the parents of eight children, namely : Ralph, Denton, Warren and Marion, all of whom are graduates of the Kern County High school, and the two last-named are now students in the Hastings Law school in San Francisco ; Irving and Jesse, who are attending the Kern County High school ; Clara and Frank, pupils in the public schools. The oldest son is a mining man in Nevada and the second son is engaged in the stock industry in Kern County, where Professor Stockton owns a stock ranch near Granite, also an alfalfa ranch near Button Willow. On the former place a specialty is made of horses, mules and cattle, while on the latter tract alfalfa is raised both for hay and for seed. Besides being a member of the Bakersfield Board of Trade he is interested in other movements for the civic well-being of the community. Fraternally he holds membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias aad the Woodmen of the World, but the duties incident to educational work are so engrossing that he has had little leisure to participate in the activities of any of these fraternities, although in the heartiest accord with their philanthropies and social amenities. PAUL LORENTZEN.— The genealogy of the Lorentzen family is traced back through a long line of worthy ancestors identified with the po- litical and religious history of Schleswig-Holstein and transplanted to Amer- ican soil as a direct result of the revolution of 1848 in Germany. An unusual coincidence is found in the fact that the heads of three successive genera- tions bore the name of Paul Lorentzen and each served as a minister of the Lutheran Church in Schleswig-Holstein. It was the third of these three Pauls who bore an active part in the great revolution and as a consequence was forced to leave the country. America appealed to him as a land of free- dom of thought. Crossing the ocean to the new world, he had among his companions in the voyage Carl Schurz, later one of the leading German- American citizens of the United States. Well qualified for ministerial work through his graduation from Heidelberg College and his successful labors in the old country, he threw himself actively into the Lutheran ministry and held a number of important pastorates. Perhaps the most responsible of these was the work in the Lutheran Church at Eighth and Mound streets, St. Louis, and he continued in that city throughout his remaining years. After crossing the ocean he had married Anna Broises, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in Petersburg, Menard county. 111. The Revolution- ary participant was not the only member of the family to emigrate, for his father, the second Paul, also lived in Pennsylvania for some years and later settled in Illinois, in both commonwealths engaging in the ministry of his chosen denomination. Out of a family .of nine children, seven of whom are still living. Paul Lorentzen was the third youngest and he represents the fourth generation of the name of Paul. Unlike his ancestors, however, he did not enter the ministry, although he has been devoted in his allegiance to the Lutheran Church and a contributor to its missionary movements. Born at Mount HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 289 Carroll, 111., September 16, 1857, he was reared at Petersburg, four miles from New Salem, that state, and in early boyhood attended public schools. At the age of fourteen he became an apprentice to the trade of carpenter. Having completed his time he went to Denver, Colo., in 1878, and secured employment as a carpenter. After two years as a day worker he was made a foreman in the bridge and building department of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, which position he hlled fur three years. Coming to Cali- fornia in 1883 he entered the employ of the Southern Pacihc Company on the Shasta division. Five months later the company sent him to Guatemala, Central America, for the purpose of acting as foreman in the building of the pontoon and laying of the track across lake Amatilan, also in the build- ing of the track to Guatemala. At the expiration of two years he was called back from Central America to California, where he acted as foreman of car- penters in building the branch from Berendo to Raymond. Next he filled a similar position on the Coast line between Suledad, Monterey county, and Templeton, San Luis Obispo county. From that division he was sent to act as foreman in building a bridge across the American river at Sacramento, after which he had charge of construction work between Napa Junction and Santa Rosa. In 1888 he was foreman in construction work from Templeton to Santa Margarita and the following year he worked on the bridge across the San Joaquin west of F"resno, after which he engaged as foreman on the line from Merced to Oakdale, Stanislaus county. The company then sent him to Kingsburg, Fresno county, to take charge of building a bridge across the Kings river, after which he was a construction foreman between Fresno and Kerman. Having engaged as foreman in the bridge and building department of the San Joaquin division until 1899, the Southern Pacific Company in that year transferred Mr. Lorentzen to Texas and stationed him in Galveston as general foreman of the Southern Pacific decks. The memorable flood and destruction of Galveston were personally witnessed by Mr. Lorentzen, who took an active part in the work of rebuilding the city and particularly the company dock. Returning to California in 1905 he here had the rare ex- perience of a vacation of three months, after which he was appointed road- master of the Tehachapi division between Bakersfield and Mojave. Since March 10, 1906, he has served in that capacity and his difificult position has been filled with admirable energy and recognized fidelity. The marriage of Mr. Lorentzen and Miss Pearl Hedgpeth, a native of Eureka Springs, Ark., was solemnized at San Lucas, [Monterey county, Cal., and was blessed with five children, one of whom, Ray, died in Tulare at the age of twenty-one years, and Genevieve died in Tehachapi May 16, 1912. The survivors are Paul, Anna and Harold. Paul is employed at Needles. Since attaining his majority Mr. Lorentzen has supported the Democratic party. While living at Tulare he was a leading worker in the Fraternal Aid, also in Tulare Lodge No. 306, I. O. O. F., and Mount Whitney Encampment No. 82 of the same city. In addition he has been identified actively with Sum- ner Lodge No. 143, K. of P., in East Bakersfield. Mrs. Lorentzen is active in social and educational work in Tehachapi and is a member of the board of trustees at Tehachapi and clerk of the board. J. H. STEVENSON.— The hotel Metropole at East Bakersfield, of which Mr. Stevenson has been one of the ownerg since 1905, deservedly occupies a high place in the estimation of the traveling public and has become a favorite stopping place for people of all classes, but particularly with miners, rail- road employes and stockmen has its popularity been manifest and its prestige assured. The location of the building, at the corner of Baker and Sumner streets, furnishes every facility for the prompt accommodation of travelers 290 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY on the Southern Pacific Railroad and many of the trains stop at this point for meals. Those desirous of quick service are accommodated at the lunch counter, while others find every facility for elegant service in the well- equipped dining room, with its large seating capacity and its supply of ex- cellent food at moderate prices. The management prides itself on its model kitchen, equipped with every convenience for cookery, ventilated in accord- ance with the most modern systems and finished by experts understanding the laws of sanitation. The hotel maintains thirty-five guest-rooms neatly furnished and provided with modern conveniences, a number of them having private baths attached. The senior proprietor of the hotel comes from Missouri, but has made Kern county his headquarters for fifteen years or more. He was born in Texas county. Mo., March 15, 1870, and was fourth in order of birth among ten children who lived to years of maturity. The father, John, died in 1904, and the mother, who bore the maiden name of Louisa Martin, still makes Missouri her home and is hale and rugged at the age of seventy-nine (1912). J. H., being of a venturesome disposition, fond of travel and change, consid- ered it no hardship that he was forced to earn his own livelihood from boy- hood. Work indeed interested him far more than schooling and he felt a special interest in mining, so it is not strange that at the age of thirteen he was working in quartz mines in Colorado. Ever since that time he has kept posted concerning mining of every kind and few men in Kern county are better posted than he concerning the details connected with the occupation. Upon leaving the Colorado mines in 1895 he went to Alaska, where he mined in the Klondike and the Yukon basin, remaining for eighteen months. Leav- ing the cold frozen north he came to California and later mined at Esmerelda, Calaveras county, at Pine Grove in Amador county, at Bodie in Mono county, besides other mining centers. In addition for three years he spent considera- ble of his time in Nevada mines. After having prospected in the Panamint range in Inyo county he was attracted to Randsbvn^g, Kern county, and to the Mojave district, where he was one of the first to develop prospects. One of his best-paying claims, the Eleven, he sold to Dr. Nelson in 1900, after having developed it to a high degree of profit. For some time he was iden- tified with the development of the Yellow Rover, and it was not until 1911 that he disposed of his interests there, the sale bringing him an excellent return upon his investment. The first connection of Mr. Stevenson with the hotel business occurred in Caliente, Kern county, in 1902, when he purchased the Caliente hotel, but after having managed the property for two years he sold it and removed to East P.akersfield. For two years he conducted the hotel Metropole alone, but, realizing the need of co-operation in the large undertaking, he took into partnership James A. Bernard under the firm title, of Stevenson & Bernard. Subsequent changes have made the title of the firm Stevenson, Woody & O'Meara, the other owners being A. J. Woody and P. J. O'Meara, well-known real-estate men of Bakersfield. The present management dates from April 11, 1911, and has been successful from' the first, so that each member of the firm is receiving a deserved return for his time, labor and investment. While giving close attention to the hotel, Mr. Stevenson finds time to keep posted concerning politics, aids the Democratic party in local afifairs and is public- spirited in every respect. Fraternally he holds membership with the Elks, Eagles and Knights of Pythias. During 1509 he was united in marriage with Miss May Gazzolo, a native of Coulterville, Mariposa county, this state. With his wife and two children, Athena and Regina, he has a comfortable home in East Bakersfield and finds a special delight in a happy and contented domestic life. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 293 WILLIAM A. HOWELL. — From the age of thirteen years a resident of JJakerstield. Air. Howell is thoroughly in sympathy with the educational, com- mercial and material upbuilding of this city and holds it to be, in point of possibilities, unsurpassed by any place in our great commonwealth. Born in New Orleans, La.. December 11, 1863, he is the only surviving child of the late William and .Mary (Heavey) Howell, natives respectively of Wales and Ireland. After having crossed the ocean during early life, the father settled in New Orleans and worked his way forward until he acquired the ownership of a mercantile business in that city. Seeking the advantages of the west, he came to Bakersfield in 1876 and, finding the outlook favorable, sent for his wife and children, who joined him in 1877. establishing a permanent residence in the county-seat town. Scarcely had he established himself in business here when in 1879 his life came to an end. Afterward his wife remained in this city until her death, which occurred in 1897. Meanwhile she had given her only remaining son an excellent education in the public schools and had trained him for the responsibilities of the workaday world. While yet a mere lad he became proficient in stenography. The correctness of his transcripts attracted attention. It was deemed little less than remarkable that one so young should be so skilled and accurate in the reporting of cases involving technical terms to which he was unaccustomed. Before he became of age he was by stipulation of the attorneys secured to report court cases for over three years, and after he had attained his majority he was regularly appointed by the judge of the superior court as the ofificial court reporter. Ever since then he has filled the same position and it is said that he has the honor of being the oldest ofificial, in point of years of continuous service, connected with the courthouse of Kern county. Nor has his identification with county work lieen limited to stenographic service, for in addition he has been a deputv at dififerent times in nearly all the ofifices of the county, also for three terms of two years each he filled the ofifice of county auditor, there as in all other positions displaying accuracy, fidelity, energy and w^ise judgment. Mr. Howell was one of the organizers of the Security Trust Company and has been a member of the board of directors since its inception. The residence which Mr. Howell erected en the corner of H and Seven- teenth streets and which he still owns and occupies, has for its presiding genius a woman of great capability, a native daughter of the commonwealth, formerly Miss Elizabeth G. Dugan. who was born in Amador county, but made Bakersfield her home at the time of her marriage. Two children bless their union, Genevieve and William A., Jr. Upon the organization of the Knights of Columbus in Bakersfield Mr. Howell became a charter member and later he held the ofifice of district deputy for three years, besides which in other ways he has contributed to the interests of the order and to its local growth. For five years he has served as a member of the board ( f trustees of the Beale memorial library and at the same time he has promoted other worthy movements identified with the permanent prosperity of the city. The Democratic party receives his support in local and general elections. ANTHONY B. OLSON.— Although of American birth and tvpically American in mode of thought and action, he comes from Scandinavian forbears and is a son of John Olson, a native of Vermland, Sw^eden, the founder of this branch of the Olson family in the United States. Skilled in merchant tailoring, he followed the trade after his arrival in the new world. Starting in with a very srhall tailor shop on Chicago avenue, Chicago, he gradually built up an important business and finally had forty workmen in his employ. The great fire of 1871 destroyed his shop and ruined his busi- ness. Forced to start anew, he removed to Michigan and opened a tailor shop at Muskegon, where in time he recuperated his losses and attained a fair de- gree of financial success. Upon giving up the work of a merchant tailor, he 16 2SH HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY returned to Chicago and there he died in 1906. One year later occurred the demise of his wife, who l:)ore the maiden name of Erliana Swensen and was a native of Sparta. Mich. Surviving- tiiem are fc.ur children, the younq-est of whom. Anthony Benjamin, was born in ]\Iuske,Q"on, Mich., May 11, 1887, and received such advantages as the schools of that city afiforded. After having graduated from the Muskegon high .school in 1905 he removed to Chicago and there occupied clerical positions with different firms. Upon his arrival in California during May of 1908 Mr. Olson secured employment at Sanger in the office of the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company. A year later he was transferred to the work of a yardman and from that rose to be foreman of the yard, in which responsible position he proved effi- cient and trustwortliy. Resigning January 1, 1911, he came to McKittrick as an employe of the King Lumber Company, which in September of the same year transferred him to their Bakersfield yard to take charge of the work there. During February, 1912, he returned to McKittrick in the capacity of manager for the King Lumber Company, in wdiose interests he since has served with conscientious devotion and encouraging results. While living in Sanger he met and married Miss Carrie L. Barr, who was born in Kansas, but passed her girlhood almost wholly at Sanger. After graduating from the Sanger high school she had taken a course of study in the San Francisco Normal and had fitted for educational work, in wdiich she engaged with suc- cess prior to her marriage. In political allegiance Mr. Olson adheres to Democratic ])rinciples and fraternallv he holds membership with the Masons. MAJOR W. H. COOK, M. D.— The notable record achieved by Dr. Cook in sanitation and surgical work during the Spanish-American war and subse- quent service in the Philippines duplicates in many respects the able and prominent identification of his father, the late J. A. Cook, M. D., with the Union army during the Civil war, in which as a surgeon attached to the Nineteenth Army Corps he had charge of hospital boats and hastily equipped surgical wards on Virginian battlefields. For such responsible tasks he was qualified by graduation from Rush Medical College and by long service as a physician and surgeon with a large private patronage. Himself a native of Tinton I""a11s, Alonmouth county, N. J., he had married some years before the beginning of the war Miss Mary M. Harris, a native of Virginia, and they had established a home in Kendall county. 111., where the eldest of their four children, William Harris Cook, was born at Fox, February 19, 1855. Following the Civil war, a home was made at Washington, D. C, but eventu- ally the doctor removed to Kansas and engaged in practice at Humboldt until his death. The last days of the mother were passed in the home of her son, W. H., at McKittrick, where she passed away in 1912 at the age of eighty- three. Subsequent to graduation from the /Aurora (111.) high school and the Naperville (111.) branch of the commercial department of Northwestern Uni- versity, at the age of eighteen William Harris Cook matriculated in Rush Medical College and comj)leted the course in 1875, but, on account of not having attained his majority, he was not granted a diploma and the degree of M. D., until a year later, February 15, 1876. Meanwhile he had gained considerable experience as an assistant to his father in Aurora, 111., but after graduation he removed to Kansas and opened an office at Larned, Pawnee county, where he remained for two years. Following a period devoted to recuperation in Colorado he returned to Illinois and opened an office at Ehvood, Will county. The year 1880 found him a pioneer at Globe, Ariz., of which town he was a leading citizen and successful physician. On account of his familiarity with the language of the Mojave and Apache tribes he was chosen for two years to make the official count of the Indians at the White mountain reservation. A pioneer of 1887 at Bakersfield, Dr. Cook engaged in practice in this HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 295 then small town. On the organization of Company G, Sixth California Na- tional Guard, he was chosen the first captain and continued as such until the outbreak of the war with Spain. A commission as captain in that war bore date of May, 1898. and expired with his honorable discharge in Decem- ber of the same year. Entering the medical department of the United States army as an assistant surgeon, he was dispatched to Fort Leavenworth and with the Thirty-second United States Infantry was sent to the Philippines. From assistant surgeon with the rank of lieutenant he was promoted in December, 1899, to captain with the rank of surgeon and in March of 1900 was commissioned surgeon, on the recommendation of General Wheeler, the immediate cause of the promotion having been the skill displayed in the command of the extreme left of the firing line at the time of the advance on Porac. Afterward he was assigned to civil service as deputy insular health officer under Major C. E. Carter, in which capacity he visited every province but one. established boards of health and instructed the same in the best meth- ods of combating and preventing bubonic plague, cholera, leprosy and small- pox. Within less than ten months there had been over three hundred thou- sand deaths from cholera and one hundred eighty-five thousand deaths from bubonic plague. Such was the beneficent result of the fight against disease that contagious epidemics were almost exterminated. After a year in the United States, during February of 1905 Dr. Cook returned to the Philippines with the Eighteenth Infantry and served as surgeon on the island of Samar. About a year later he resigned and returned to New York, but in March of 1907 came to California and opened an office at McKittrick, where he has since engaged in practice, meanwhile forming associations with the county, state and American medical associations. Dur- ing his term of army service he became allied with the military order of Caribou and he is also prominent in Masonry, being connected with the Knights Templar, Scottish Rite Consistory and thirty-second degree. Mrs. Cook was formerly Lorena Williamson and was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. Her parents, S. Stryker and Mary E. (Hubbard) Williamson, were natives respectively of Brooklyn and Tinton Falls, N. J., and the latter traced her lineage to England, while Mr. Williamson was of old Knickerbocker blood, a member of a family that bore an honorable part in the Revolutionary war and in the activities of the colonial era. HON. R. J. HUDSON.— The distinction of being a native son of the great west belongs to Judge Hudson, who was born in Napa county, this state, February 20, 1857, being a son of David and Frances (Griffith) Hudson, natives respectively of Missouri and North Carolina, the former now deceased, and the latter still a resident of California. It was the privilege of Judge Hudson, but a privilege largely resulting from his own determined energy and ambition, to secure excellent educational advantages. After he had com- pleted the studies of the Napa high school he matriculated in the classical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he took the regular course of study. Next he entered the law department of Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tenn., and in 1878 he was graduated from that insti- tution. Returning to California he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court during the same year and immediately afterward established himself in practice in Los Angeles, where for a year he had Judge Anson Brunson as a partner. From 1880 to 1882 he served as district attorney of Los Angeles county. The failure of his health led him to seek a change of climate and he established himself in Lake county, this state, where he soon rose to promi- nence through the prompt recognition of his splendid abilities. After a vear in private practice he was elected judge of the superior court of Lake county, which responsible office he filled for ten years, meanwhile regaining his health. When he retired from the judicial connection he removed to Hanford, Kings county, where he engaged in practice for six years, coming from there 296 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in 1911 to Bakersfield, where he is a member of the law firm (jf Emmons & Hudson, with offices in the Producers' Bank building. Much important litiga- tion has been given over to his charge in the various places of his residence and he has fully proved his broad knowledge of the law as well as his ability to carry through to solution intricate cases involving large issues. In 1882, at Napa City, Judge Hudson was united in marriage with Miss Panthea B. Boggs. a native of Napa county. They are the parents of two sons, the elder of whom, Howard, is a resident of San Francisco, while the younger, Marshall, is now^ in Dawson City. Ever since he became a voter Judge Hudson has supported Democratic principles. ALVIN G. LUESCHEN, M. D.— To rise out of a condition of poverty, to earn self-support from the age of thirteen years, to secure an excellent education without aid and to develop into a successful professional man and a cultured citizen of his community, such is an achievement calling for supe- rior ability and the most undaunted persistence of effort. That this is the record cf Dr. Lueschen affords a silent but eloquent testimony as to a self- reliant personality. By dint of personal energy he paid his way through medical college and gained not only a thorough professional education, but also a broad knowledge on all subjects of historical, national and scientific interest, thus rounding out a mental culture of breadth and dignity. A descendant of old Teutonic ancestry, Dr. Lueschen was born in Co- lumbus, Platte county, Neb., in 1880, and is a son of Gerhard Lueschen, a pio- neer farmer and rancher of Nebraska, and in the early days a chum of Will- iam F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill. The father, still a resident of Nebraska, possesses abundant health and vitality notwithstanding his early years of hardships. Born about 1848, he has seen much of the development of the west and has borne his own share therein. As previously stated, the poverty of the family forced Dr. Lueschen to become self-supporting when thirteen years of age and by dint of persevering energy he carried out a child- hood ambition to become a physician. During the fall of 1900 he matricu- lated in Creighton Medical College at Omaha, Neb., from which he was graduated with the class of 1904. Returning to his native town, he opened an office and gained his initial experience as a practitioner, and in the same town in 1908 he married Miss Gertrude Elias, by whom he has one son, Alvin Gerald. The family came to California in 1910 and settled in Bakers- field, where the Doctor opened an office at No. 212 Producers' Bank building and about the same time erected a modern and beautifully appointed bunga- low at No. 1917 Orange street at a cost of more than $3,000. In political faith he adheres to Republican principles and in religion he is a generous contributor to the Episcopal Church, of which his wife is an earnest member. JAMES NICHOLAS NORRIS.— Very early in the colonization of the new world the Norris family became established in South Carolina and in that state David Norris owned and operated a large plantation during the early portion of the nineteenth century. The exact date of his migration to Missouri is not known, but it occurred early in the century named and thereafter he devoted his time to the difficult task of developing a produc- tive farm out of a tract of raw land. Among the children in his family was a son, Abner, who became a man of such deep religious fervor and such intense spiritual zeal that he gave his services for years to the Baptist de- ne )minati( n without hoi)e of remuneration or thought of financial returns. Indeed, he made his livelihood and that of the family through his work as a farmer and stock-raiser, but always he was ready to sacrifice his own interests for those of the church with the hope that thereby the cause of Christianity might be promoted. Cheerfully, willingly he gave his all to promote religion and the ideals that possessed him he endeavored to im- plant in the hearts and minds of his children. In early manhood he had married Jane Evans, who was born in Kentucky and had gone from that ■X HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 299 state to Missouri in company with her father, Samuel Evans, a pioneer farmer of the middle west. Sharing with her husband his self-sacrificing purposes, she cared for the farm and the family during his absences on preaching tours and desired no recompense other than the thought of duty done. When advanced in years she came to Bakersfield to the home of her son, James Nicholas, and here her death occurred at the age of ninety-six. The youngest of the ten children of Rev. Abner and Jane Norris, James Nicholas Norris was born near St. Joseph, Mo., April 17, 1849. When the Civil war began he was too young to participate, but he recalls the anxieties and privations of that period of national trouble and individual distress. His schooling was meager, but he was trained well in agriculture and made that his occupation for some years in Dekalb county, Mo., after which he conducted a general mercantile business at Cosby, Andrew county. Leav- ing Missouri in 1883, accompanied by wife and children, he came to Cali- fornia and settled in Kern county, where for a brief period he devoted him- self to ranching. However, for the greater part of his residence in the west he has given his attention to carpentering and building in Bakersfield. Not only has he taken contracts for many residences for others, but he has built a number of houses for himself and he still owns two in Bakersfield and one in Kern (East Bakersfield). In politics he is a Republican and in religion a member of the Baptist Church. For one term he served as superintendent of streets of Bakersfield. By his marriage in Dekalb county. Mo., to Sarah Lee, a native of Iowa, he had a family of two daughters and two sons, namely: Mrs. Lillie Gamble, of Bakersfield; Mrs. Lulu J. Adams, also of this city ; Edward Garfield, one of the proprietors of the Kern Plumbing Company ; and Herbert H., property man at the Bakersfield opera house. HON. SYLVESTER CLARK SMITH.— The Smith genealogical rec- ords indicate an identification with American soil dating from the arrival in Massachusetts of John Smith of Puritan fame and continuing through all of the succeeding generations, each member stanch of purpose, earnest of soul and positive in achievement. The family remained resident in New England until finally the westward drift of emigration bore Sylvester Smith in its tide and planted him upon the then frontier of Northern New York. Nor did this represent the end of his journeyings. With true pioneer instinct he followed the star of empire in its course toward the prairies and plains of the west. When his son, Edward, a native of New York, was still a small child the family removed to Ohio and later traveled by wagon to Illinois. In that state Edward grew to manhood, rugged in body and resolute in character. The vicissitudes incident to frontier existence had developed within him self- reliance and independence and he was admirably qualified to contribute to the development of the middle west. As early as 1835, when Iowa was yet in the infancy of its agricultural progress, he removed to that state, where he met and married Celia Shockley, a native of Ohio. She, too, came of stanch pioneer ancestry. In infancy she had been taken from Ohio to Iowa by her parents, who became residents of the last-named state at a time when it was very sparsely populated. Taking up land in the rich but undeveloped section of southeastern Iowa Edward Smith gave himself entirely to the task of changing the homestead into a productive and remunerative farm. As the years went by he and his wife had the capable assistance of their children, numbering five sons and three daughters. \\"hile riches did not come to them, they gained that which is more to be desired,* the deep respect of acquaintances and the implicit confidence of all with whom thev had social intercourse or business dealings. In type they were representative of the splendid element whose labors were the foundation of the ultimate agricultural development of Iowa and whose sincere characters reappeared in a later generation of practical, sensible daughters and talented sons. 300 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The life which this narrative depicts began in the home of Edward and Celia Smith near Mount Pleasant, Henry county, Iowa, August 26, 1858, and closed at Hollywood, Cal., January 26, 1913. In early years there came ever and anon glimpses of the splendid mental endowment and resolute nature that were to bring subsequent national prominence, yet those years were far from eventful. More fortunate than the sons of many pioneers, he was allowed a term in an academy after he had completed the studies of the country schools. The few months spent in Howe's academy at Mount Pleas- ant aroused his ambition for higher educational opportunities and at the age of eighteen he began to teach in the spring and summer months in order to earn the money necessary for attending school in the winter. Coming to California in 1879 he secured a position as teacher in a school of Colusa county, where, May 7, 1882, he was united in marriage with Miss Maria Hart, a native of Franklin county. Mo., and soon afterward they removed to San Francisco in order that he might have the best advantages for the study of law. The summer of 1883 found them newcomers in Kern county, and from that time until his death the history of Mr. Smith was in many respects a history of the county itself, so intimately was he associated with its moral, educational and political growth. An ambition to complete his law studies led him to teach school at Tehachapi and Glenn\-ille in order that he might earn expenses during the course of his law education. . After having been admitted to the bar in October of 1885, Mr. Smith opened an office in Bakersfield. Chance directed that his fame should come in another field than that of the law. A great struggle was being waged between the riparian owners and the appropriators of the waters of Kern river. In 1886 the Kern County Echo was founded as a militant factor in the controversy and Mr. Smith became editor. The controversy ended, but the Echo, having established a place of its own in the journalistic field, has cour tinned with increasing circulation and popularity up to the present time and now, as the Morning Echo, wields a high influence for good in every avenue of local activity. During the early years of the existence of the paper, when funds were low and the future prospects at times discouraging, the editor made his home on a claim at the extreme southern end of the Kern mesa, riding horseback to and from the editorial rooms in Bakersfield. Meanwhile he had become a member of the first company of the National Guard organ- ized in this city, had helped to organize debating clubs and street improve- ment associations, and from the very first had been a local leader in the Re- publican party. Editorial work then, even more than now, necessitated the possession of both physical and moral courage, and that he possessed such qualities is evidenced by an incident that still is told among his friends. One evening a citizen, armed with a gun, rushed into the office exhibiting a clip- ping from the morning paper that had aroused his wrath. Presenting the gun at the head of Mr. Smith, he demanded that the editor literally eat the ofifending article. It was useless to argue with the infuriated man. Still covered with the weapon, Mr. Smith quietly asked a clerk to telephone for the sherifif. As he resumed writing at his desk, the angry man had time to become ashamed of his fury and the afTair ended amicably. Nor was Mr. Smith less brave morally. Always he expressed his personal convictions in the paper, no matter how unpopular they might be or how much they might seem to augur his personal defeat. Indeed, his high moral courage was one of his most notable attributes, and while at times bringing him criticism, in the end it became the foundation and the root of his great influence. From the day the first issue of the Echo appeared until the last day of his life (a period of twenty-six years, seven months and twenty-one days) his name appeared at the head of the editorial columns of every issue. In addition he was the leading editorial writer during much of that time. Even when official duties kept him from the city he still directed the policy of the paper. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 301 In every step of its advancement might l)e seen his quiet l)Ut decisive influ- ence. Not only was he one of the oldest editors in the state in point of con- tinuous service, but he also had the distinction of being one of the most able, forceful and influential. The distinction attached to the career of Mr. Smith derives much interest from the public, service of the man. Even more important than his labors as editor were his disinterested services in behalf of his state and country. Broad as was his field of usefulness as the journalistic head of a great paper, helpful as was his work on the Bakersfield Board of Trade and Board of Health, progressive as was his co-operation with many organizations of the community, he realized that there was need of reform movements in the com- monwealth and he desired to aid in the legislative work of the state — hence his first campaign for the state senate in 1894. Elected not only then, but again in 1898, he served for eight years with honor and fidelity. Usefulness as a legislator paved the way for a later service in congress. As senator he was the author of a counties government act, the registration law of 1898, the constitutional amendment authorizing the use of voting machines, and (this he regarded as his most important public service) a bill establishing, the state polytechnic school at San Luis Obispo. This institution became a pioneer in the field of manual training. The author of the bill had in mind a training in agriculture, mechanics, engineering, business methods, domestic economy and indeed all occupations except those dealing with the profes- sional walks of life. When he first presented the bill in 1895 the senate passed it, but failure came in the assembly. In 1897 it was passed by both houses, only to be vetoed by the governor. Session after session he labored persistently until finally in 1901 it became a law and the school was estab- lished. His theory in urging so persistently the establishment of the school was that labe.r must be made more efficient and better trained, then it will be better paid and less irksome ; and every trained worker, if industrious and frugal, may reasonably hope to support his family and educate his children, in turn preparing them to be trained specialists in some avenue of employ- ment. When he first announced himself as a candidate for congress in 1902 Mr. Smith was defeated in the convention on the forty-ninth ballot. The contest, begun in Sacramento and ended at Ventura, had been peculiarly strenuous and even bitter, but no trace of the bitterness lingered in the mind of Mr. Smith, for with characteristic enthusiasm he threw himself into the campaign on the side of his successful competitor. Captain Daniels, and the latter was elected. His own laurels came to him at a later date. August 25. 1904, he was nominated by acclamation and in November he was elected by a majority of more than ten thousand. From that time until the day of his death he continued to represent the Eighth California district. Meanwhile he had been recognized in congress as a ready debater and an excellent committee-worker. As a member of the original commission appointed to revise the banking and monetary system, he served until the loss of health necessitated relinquishment of such duties. The present postal savings bank bill is a monument to his labors, supplementing those of other congressmen. When the speaker of the house was shorn of much of his power. Mr. Smith was elected a member of the new rules committee, to which was given much of that power. As was natural to one coming from Kern county, the interest maintained by Mr. Smith in the oil industry led him to make an eflfort to promote the permanent welfare of that business. A bill presented by him sought to extend to the taking up of oil land the essential provisions of the homestead law, varied of course to suit the different need. No provisions had been made to secure to a locator of oil land any legal right of possession until such time as he might make an actual discoverv of oil. Before anv such discoverv it 302 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was necessary to spend thousands of dollars, which under the then law was jeopardized. The bill limited the amount of oil land which a man or com- pany could acquire, but also insured peaceful possession of an oil claim during the time necessary to complete a well. However, although the bill passed in the house, it failed of the support of the senate, and before the next session the deluge of oil land withdrawals swept over every district of the west where the presence of oil was suspected. Then followed the Yard decision with its disastrous results ; the visits of delegations of oil men to Washington; the presentation of memorials to congress; and finally, under a suspension of rules, the Smith remedial bill was passed in February, 1911, when Mr. Smith, so ill that he was supported by fellow-members and so weak that his voice could hardly be heard a dozen paces away, asked consent for the passage of the measure. Another measure of importance presented by Mr. Smith prevents the monopoly of patented articles and processes by permitting any person to make use of an invention on the payment of a stipulated royalty to the in- ventor, and providing for government supervision of these royalties so that favoritism might be eliminated. Through his labors an appropriation of $2,000,000 was secured to protect the settlers in the Imperial valley from the ravages of the Colorado river. His highest honor in the congress came with his appointment in 1908 as a member of the national monetary commission. During 1910 he secured an appropriation of $20,000 for a site for a federal building in Bakersfield. Later a recommendation was made to appropriate $135,000 for the erection of a postofifice, and this will ensure the erection in the near future of a building here for federal use. In all of his official career his afifection remained deeply rooted in Bakersfield. When he returned hither after an absence he noted with intense eagerness every phase of indus- trial development, every improvement made, whether in an electric light or sewerage system, in the residence district or the business center, in the streets, the paving or the roads. Along every line of civic activity he had pronounced and progressive opinions and he had studied park systems, fire departments and indeed every department of importance to a growing muni- cipality. One of his ideas was the establishment of comfortable rest rooms in the lodging-house districts, where the men, necessarily idle at certain sea- sons of the year, might congregate in their old clothes without any feeling of discomfort, but with a genuine enjoyment of their own club room. Many of these men, disliking to loaf on the sidewalk or in the saloons, would greatly enjoy a plain but pleasant club room where they might meet their friends and enjoy conversation or games during the days of their unemployment. Parks also would aid in promoting the happiness of the people and give them healthful outdoor exercise, hence he earnestly advocated them. Through a long illness Congressman Smith never lost touch with the world of progress and particularly with his own home county. The mails kept him in touch with Bakersfield and Washington, the two spots of his deep- est interest. To his friends he sent the most encouraging messages. No word of discouragement was allowed to leave his room at the sanatorium, but in illness as in health he was brave, hopeful and dignified, always interested in others and constantly urging measures for the benefit of the people. In one of his last letters he urged better church equipment and pledged his full co- operation to that end. 'On his last day a public document called his atten- tion to the fact that sixteen members of the sixty-first congress had passed from earth. Before the sun had risen he was the seventeenth. He had fallen with his armor on, with mind alert, with reputation at its highest and with honor unimpeached. Surviving him were his wife and two daughters, Mrs. E. S. Larsen, of Washington, D. C, and Mrs. A. W. Mason, of Bakersfield. Relatives and a delegation of friends accompanied the body from Hollywood to Bakersfield. where the magnificent funeral cortege with marchers repre- (J^C^AAyl (-/CJlJJ^ j(p#i; "tm*^ cJJd^ '(T^/^^X/VU^ e^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 307 senting military, labor, civic and fraternal organizations attested to his deep hold upon the affections of his fellow-townsmen. Thus passed into eternal silence one who had lived nobly and well and whose name will long stand in the annals of Bakersfield as that of a distinguished citizen, who climbed by sterling worth from obscurity into an honorable place in the councils of the nation. PAUL GALTES. — To present the biography of the pioneer merchant of LJakersfield is to dejjict in many respects a commercial history of the city itself, with the development of which he has been identified from the days when it sheltered only six families up to the present time with a proudly acclaimed population of almost seventeen thousand. A few shanties repre- sented the business blocks of the village at the time of his arrival in 1871. The railroad had not been built and passengers had no means of conveyance aside from the stage or their own private vehicles. On every side the barren land stretched out toward the sun-stricken desert and only an optimist could have predicted the possibilities of irrigation. The following year, however, found the county-seat removed from Havilah to Bakersfield and the prosperity of the present dates from that period. Meanwhile the young Spaniard had bought a shanty with a frontage of twenty-five feet on Nine- teenth between K street and Chester avenue and in the small building he stocked groceries to the amount of $600, for the greater part of which he had been given credit. It should be mentioned for the good of young people that one of the reasons that he was given so great credit was, as was stated by one of the prominent wholesale merchants of San Francisco of that day, that the mercantile agency book stated that Paul Galtes of Bakersfield never entered saloons nor played cards, hence his unlimited credit. From that time his rise was steady, his debts were met as promised, his credit became first-class and he entered into the financial independence whose later fruition has brought him every comfort of life as well as every possibility for rest, travel and recreation. In 1889 he returned to his native city in Spain to visit old friends and again in 1911 he made a trip to Barcelona, besides tour- ing throughout Europe and into Palestine. Mr. Galtes was born near Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, October 25, 1840, being a son of Paul Sr., a blacksmith and a manufacturer of tools for farmers. After he had been given an excellent education in the Spanish language the son was taken from school and apprenticed for four years to the trades of locksmith and blacksmith. Builders' hardware also was among his special- ties. In those days all hardware for buildings was made by hand and he acquired considerable skill in the art. At the expiration of four years, during which he had received no pay whatever, he began to work for wages and traveled as a journeyman throughout Europe. In 1861 he crossed the ocean to Cuba and secured employment in Santiago as clerk in a dry-goods store, where he remained for eight years. While favorably considering an offer of partnership in the business trouble arose with the mother country over the city of Independence, a revolution seemed imminent and, rather than take up arms against his native land, he decided to come to California. The attractions of the west had been depicted to him often and always with alluring eloquence, therefore he was prepared to find a country of great possibilities and unexcelled climate. Landing at San Francisco De- cember 23, 1868, he found himself at great disadvantage by reason of lack of knowledge of English. On the advice of Archbishop Alamany of San Francisco, who had come from the same Spanish province as himself, he spent four months in language study at St. Vincent's College in Los An- geles. .At the expiration of that time he secured work in a Los Angeles bakery. During the erection of the then leading hotel he was a hired work- man and when the building was completed he received an appointment as . steward, with full charge of all supplies. For fourteen months he filled the 308 . HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY same position at ^75 per month and this gave him a little sum to invest in business when he came to Bakersfield, where by 1874 he had accunudated $27,000 in general merchandise. During 1878 he erected the first brick block in the city. This cost $18,000 and was his business headquarters until he retired from the mercantile business in 1888. At the time of his retire- ment his stock was valued at $40,000 and his credit was the very best. His confidence in Bakersfield was shown in the erection of the first two-story brick block with plate glass front, a building which was burned in 1889, but re- placed with a block equally substantial and expensive. In retiring from the mercantile business it was not with any desire to enter larger affairs, but in order that young men ambitious to become merchants might have a better chance to succeed. Since then he has built the Grand hotel on the comer of Chester avenue and Twentieth street and the Para theatre on Chester between Twentieth and Twenty-first, besides which he owns an ele- gant residence on Truxtun and F streets. ■ Upon the incorporation of Bakersfield and the election oi the first board •of trustees Mr. Galtes was elected to serve as trustee, but declined re- election at the end of the term. In politics he has been independent and has voted for the man or the principle rather than the party. For some years he has been a leading worker in the Kern County Pioneers' Association. In addition he is associated with the Knights of Columbus. At San Francisco in 1874 he married Miss Mariana Lexague, a native of Basses-Pyrenees, France. Seven children were born of the union and four are now living. The eldest son, Paul, Jr., a graduate of Santa Clara College, has entered the order of Jesuits and is now a priest in St. Louis, Mo. The younger son, Felix, also a graduate of Santa Clara College, is employed in the Security Trust Company Bank of Bakersfield. The elder daughter. Sister Mary Christa, is stationed at Santa Monica with the Sisters of the Holy Name. The younger daughter, Lucy, is the wife of Edward Helbling, of Bakersfield. Mr. Galtes is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. W, S. LIERLY. — To make mention of commercial, financial or educa- "tional aff'airs in Taft and to omit therefrom the name of Mr. Lierly would be to do an injustice to one of the pioneers of the town, one of the up- builders of its permanent prosperity and one of the promoters of its school system, a man of clear brain, strong character, iron will and strict integrity. The importance of his identification with Taft may be inferred from the fact that as senior member of the firm of Lierly & Son he owns and operates two barns, known as the Midway stables, engages in house-moving and team contracting, sells and hauls sand and gravel, owns and conducts a well equipped blacksmith shop, also owns the Taft harness shop (an enterprise of no small importance), and is president of the company, incorporated for $25,000 and known as the Taft Ice Delivery, the purpose of which is to handle and deliver ice to stores and private customers. In addition the firm carries on an express and transfer business at Taft and owns nine small houses which are rented to tenants. All of this has been accomplished and developed since the arrival of Mr. Lierly at Taft March 10, 1909. Twenty-seven miles east of Quincy in Adams county, 111., W. S. Lierly was born and reared. His father, Elijah W. Lierly, was taken by his parents to Illinois at the age of only seven years and thereafter made his home in Adams county, where he died at Kellerville in March of 1913. Surviving him are two sons and the widow, Mrs. Sarah Margaret (Hargrave) Lierly, the latter still living at the old Illinois homestead. There were ten children in the family, but two of these died in early life and a sister, Nancy, died at about twenty-four years ; she left a husband, Albert Huffman, and one child, Ansil Huffman, of Sacramento. William K., a well-to-do farmer, oc- cupies the old homestead in Adams county. W. S., who came to California at the age of seventeen, spent his first year in the west with his grandfather, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 309 Wilson Lierly, on a ranch in Mendocino county. May 1, 1879, he arrived in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara county, where he worked as a farm hand for one year. Next with a partner he engaged in barley farming and culti- vated about five hundred acres. On leaving the farm he embarked in the livery business in Santa Maria, where for fifteen years he conducted the Champion barns, bought and sold horses and established a market for his stock in Los Angeles. In order to secure feed and pasturage for his stock he became interested in agricultural undertakings and at one time leased two thousand acres. After he had sold the livery and retired also from ranching he became a special agent for the Equitable Life Insurance Com- pany of New York, having charge of the work in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kern and Ventura counties, and remaining in the business from 1900 to 1906. Meanwhile in 1902 he was tendered a fine gold watch, neatly engraved, this being the gift of the officials of the Equitable in recognition of his having written the greatest amount of insurance of any agent of that company in California. On two other occasions he won the second prizes in similar contests. From 1906 to 1908 Mr. Lierly acted as manager of the Pacific V^alley Lumber Company in Monterey county and he still owns a considerable amount of stock in that concern. While still in Monterey county he handled oil lands for the Standard Oil Company, making King City his headquarters, and during that period he made a trip of inspection to Taft, with, the ex- pectation of speculating to a small extent in oil lands in this field. An open- ing for a livery business seemed so favorable that he decided to establish himself at this point and he has had no reason to regret the decision, for he has prospered to an unusual degree. Practically his only oil interests now lie in four sections of land at Elk Hill. The express business, teaming and livery oblige him to keep about one hundred horses and mules, besides one Packard auto truck. A blacksmith shop is maintained for the shoeing of his own horses, although in addition considerable custom work is done for outsiders. As before stated, Lierly & Son own the Taft harness shop, a large block of stock in the Taft Ice Delivery and an express business and numerous cottages in town. One of their most important lines of business is the moving of houses. Each member of the firm owns a residence in Taft, while Mr. Lierly also owns a house at Santa Maria and large interests in redwood timber in Monterey county. While living in Santa Maria he married Miss Mary A. Blosser. daughter of L. W. Blosser, of that place. They are the parents of five children : Clarence E., a team contractor resid- ing at Imperial, this state; Lorenzo William, who operates the Packard auto truck for the firm ; Ray Lucas, a partner with his father in the exten- sive business interests of the firm ; Irene and" Nellie Margaret, both at home. Fraternally Mr. Lierly holds membership with San Luis Obispo Lodge No. 322, P). P. O. E. Politically he is a staunch Democrat. Public education interests him deeply. No citizen of Taft has done more for its schools than he. Practically ever since his arrival in the town he has served as a mem- ber of the school board and he now fills the position of clerk. HERBERT V. PROUTY, M. D.— In 18.=^2 the Prouty family was estab- lished in California. In the summer of that year Christopher C, born in Ohio in 1839, crossed the plains with other members of the family, the long journey being made with wagons and ox-teams. Although onh^ thirteen years of age, he supported himself from the time of his arrival in the west and contributed also to the family maintenance. Mining was his first source of livelihood, and later he took up farm pursuits. Eventually he became a large stock-raiser in the vicinity of lone. Although now to a large extent retired from agricultural duties, he still lives at the old homestead. Some years after coming west he married Australia Bennett, who was born in 310 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Missouri and during the '50s came to California with her parents. Fourteen children were born of their marriage. Eleven of these are still living, the seventh in order of birth having been Herbert V., who was born near lone, Amador county, February 20, 1878, and passed the years of boyhood on the home farm, meanwhile attending the country schools in the winter months. Later he was a student in the California School of Mechanical Arts in San Francisco. After his graduation in 1900 he matriculated in the California Medical College and in that institution carried on the regular studies of the course. In 1904 he received the degree of M. D., and became an interne in the City and County hospital of San Francisco, where he remained for two years in that capacity and as resident physician. Professional interests of growing importance, first in San Francisco and then at Richmond, where he established and superintended a hospital, gave to Dr. Prouty a number of busy years prior to the failure of his health and his removal to another climate, and since June, 1912, he has engaged in practice with headquarters at McKittrick. Ever since leaving college he has kept in touch with professional advance and developments in therapeutics. Membership in the California State and National Eclectic Medical Associa- tions keeps him in sympathy with the general progress of the profession. In an especial degree he finds surgery interesting and it is his ambition to keep abreast with the latest developments in that important art. Since coming to his present, location he has engaged as surgeon at McKittrick for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In politics he votes with the Republican party and fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. His marriage was solemnized in San Jose and united him with Miss Dora Hughes, who was born in Kansas and by whom he has a daughter, Dorothy. JAMES CHATHAM ROBERTS.— From the time - of his arrival in Bakersfield during December of 1882 up to the present time, a period of about thirtv years, Mr. Roberts has been a resident of Kern county and a contributor to the development of its agricultural and material interests. Prior to his removal to the coast he had called three states his home at different times, namely : Missouri, where he was born near Springfield December 7. 1855, and where he grew to manhood upon a farm ; Illinois, where he engaged in general farming near Decatur from 1875 until 1879; and Texas, where he carried on a ranch near Pilot Point from 1879 until his removal to California. The family of which he is a member belongs to old Virginia and North Carolina stock, and his parents. H. B. and Frances (Duke) Roberts, were natives respectively of North Carolina and Tennes- see, the former dying in 1861 while serving in the Confederate army under General Price. A son of his first marriage. Col. E. M. Roberts, came to California in 1874 and settled in Kern county May 1. 1876, since which time he has risen to prominence and influence. The family genealogy ap- pears in his sketch upon another page of this volume. Soon after settling in this county James C. Roberts bought eighty acres under the Johnson canal fifteen miles west of Bakersfield and there he engaged in raising alfalfa and stock. At the expiration of six years he sold the pro])erty. Meanwhile he had served as road overseer for four years. A trip back to Texas occurred in 1893, when he bought a section of land in Floyd county with the expectation of ranching, but his plans were changed and he sold the tract after three months, then came back to California and bought eighty acres under the Beardsley canal nine miles northwest of Bakersfield. For ten years he devoted his attention to alfalfa and stock-raising. Disposing of that place he bought ten acres three miles north of Bakersfield on the road to the oil fields and for seven years he made his home on his new i)urchase. after which he disposed of all oi his ranch property by sale and retired to liakersfield. In this city and in East Bakersfield he has erected eight houses and one of these, Xo. 3"7 li^^ieM^^ HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 313 Grove street, is his residence. Near Decatur, 111., Jannary 4, 1877, he mar- ried Miss Ehzabeth J. Allmon, a native of Webster county, Mo., and a daughter of W'illiam and Jane T. (Cowan) Allmon, who were born in Tennessee, but settled in Missouri at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are the parents of two children. The son, Ernest, is engaged in farming and lives five miles northwest of Bakersfield. The daughter, Maude, is the wife of A. P. Offutt and resides at Glendale, this state. Although not a partisan, Mr. Roberts is a stanch Democrat. FRANCIS ALLAN HAMLIN, M. D.— Not alone through his paternal forbears, but also by the ancestors of his mother. Dr. Hamlin traces his lineage to some of the earliest settlers of New England, whose names are linked with the material development of that region and whose heroism in the period of privation and wars entitles them to an honorable place in the annals of their several communities. For several generations the family has been represented in Maine, where Charles and Etta (Sylvester) Hamlin are now living at Topsham, Sagadahoc county, in the enjoyment of a material competency secured through years of arduous application to farming pursuits. The chief ambition of this couple was not the acquisition of wealth, but the education of their sons, Francis A., Truman L. and James A., and they con- sidered no hardship too great that would promote the object of their desire. With manly enthusiasm their sons seconded their efforts. Working unitedly and harmoniously, each striving to help himself yet lending good cheer and sympathy to the others of the home circle, they rose to positions of recog- nized worth. The second son is now professor of mathematics in the Uni- versity of Maine and the youngest son acts as principal of the high school at Oldtown, that state. The eldest son in the family was born in Oxford county, Me., June 16, 1873, and attended the public schools of Maine between the years of six and fourteen, after which he attended the high school at Lancaster, Mass. The failure of his health forced him to give up his studies and in 1890 he came to California with the hope that the balmy air of the west would restore his strength. Joining an uncle, Francis Hamlin, in Sutter county, he began to work in the open air and persistently sought those occupations that would prove of physical benefit. For two years he remained in Sutter county or at Geyserville in Sonoma county, and then with renewed strength he returned to the old Maine homestead. After he had spent two years in the scientific course at Rridgton Academy situated in the lake region of Cumberland count}' he entered the high school at Brunswick, Me., where he graduated from the classical course. Matriculating in Bowdoin College he there continued until 1898, when he was graduated with the degree of A. B. During the next two years he held the principalship of Bridge Academy at Dresden Mills, Lincoln county. Me., and then for four years served as principal of the high school at Wilmington, Mass. Meanwhile he had married at Portland, Me., in 1900, Miss Gertrude E. Wilkie, a native of Michigan, who was reared in California and received excellent educational advantages in Napa College and the University of the Pacific. Returning to California during the summer of 1904, accompanied by his family, Mr. Hamlin established a home in San Francisco and there entered Cooper Medical College, now the medical department of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, from which he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of M. D. From 1908 until 1910 he took special studies under Prof. Adolphus Barkan, M. D., a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Dur- ing this same period he served on the staff of Lane hospital in San Francisco and also acted as instructor at Cooper Medical College in the department of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Since coming to Bakersfield in 1910 he has specialized in these diseases, acquiring a wide reputation and large practice. With his wife and two sons, Francis Kenneth and Wilkie Sylvester, Dr. 314 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Hamlin resides at No. 2120 B street. Since coming- to this city he and his wife have identified themselves with the First Congreg-ational Church. \\'hile living- at Dresden Mills, Me., he was made a Mason in Dresden Lodge and now affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and King- Solomon Lodge of Perfection No. 3, Los Angeles. Both he and his wife were leading officers in Acacia Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, at Wilmington, Mass., and since removing to the west have placed their membership with the chapter at Bakersfield. \Vhile living in San Francisco he became a member of the Foresters of America. Although not active in politics, he is a stanch Re- publican and keeps well posted in national affairs. However, it is his profes- sion that interests him most deeply. Upon it are concentrated the hopes and ambitions of a lifetime of resolute purpose. That he has been successful in large degree, his growing practice proves, as well as his high reputation as a member of the Ophthalmological Society of the Pacific Coast and the interest evinced in his contributions to various medical journals. In pro- fessional acquaintances he is not limited to the line of his specialties, but has a host of friends among the members of the Kern County Medical Society (of which he acts as secretary) and is likewise identified with the California State and American Medical Associations. M. K. McKENZIE, M. D. — Through a long line of fathers and sons the clan of McKenzie led in the warfare that darkened the early history of Scot- land and in times of peace tilled the soil according to the primeval methods common to those days. The founder of the name in America was one Douglas McKenzie. a true Scot in birth and breeding, but loyal to the welfare of his adopted country. The early American home of the family was on a farm in York state and Duncan, son of Douglas, was born near Lockport, N. Y., at the parental homestead, where he lived until his removal to Canada during young manhood. By his marriage to Elizabeth Burt, a native of Scot- land, he became the father of fourteen children and it is a noteworthy fact that every one of the large family lived to years of maturity. The thirteenth in order of birth, M. K., was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, in 1855, and at the age of one year was taken to ^lichigan by his parents, who settled at Stockbridge, Ingham county. The father later returned to the old McKenzie homestead in Ontario, Canada, where he died at the age of seventy-eight, and the mother when sixty-eight years of age. When a mere child M. K. ]\TcKenzie did a man's work at the plow and in the harvest field, where the old-fashioned method of cradling and binding g-rain by hand was still followed. Timber was plentiful in that country and he early became an expert woodman, swinging an axe with a skill and speed surpassed by few. With all of his hard work in woods and field and meadow he kept his mind as busy as his body and was constantly endeavoring to en- large his store of knowledge. He seem.ed to have a natural talent for the medical profession and was quite -young when he commenced to read with Dr. Simpson at St. George, Canada, later reading with Dr. Manwaring of the same town. There was, however, no well-defined purpose on his part to become a physician and his readings were pursued from the mere love of the healing art. When he left home at the age of seventeen years he began to make his own way in the world and devoted his leisure hours to the study of law under an older brother, continuing indeed until he was able to pass an examination for the bar, but his preference for medical work caused him to decide in favor of that calling. During September of 1878 he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and studied there until his belief in the larger clinical advantages offered by the Detroit Medical College led him to pursue a course of study in the latter in- stitution. There he became we!l acquainted with Messrs. .Stanton and Brice and also with the wife of ex-Governor Bagley, trustees of the Woman's hos- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 315 pital and Foundling's Home, and by them he was accorded special privileges in connection with these institutions. In that way he laid the foundation of his splendid success in obstetrical cases and treatment of the diseases of women. After he graduated with the class of 1881 he opened an office at Plainfield, Livingston county, Mich., and there he engaged in practice for five years. From Plainfield he removed to Laingsburg, Shiawassee county, same state, where he continued until the fall of 1890, when the complete failure of his health forced him to seek another climate. About the time of his graduation he had married, March 31, 1881, Miss Millison Tyler, of Shia- wassee county. Of their three children two survive, Misses Lois Janet and Florence H., both at home. At the time of his arrival in Bakersfield in 1890 Dr. McKenzie weighed only one hundred and twenty-two pounds, but the climate of Kern county proved beneficial and he gradually renewed his strength. Even now, not- withstanding a long and arduous professional career, he is in almost perfect health. He has given efficient service as county physician and for fourteen months was superintendent of the county hospital. As guardian of the public health, he has fully merited his enviable reputation, while as a family phvsician he is known and loved by many whom he has guided safely through a critical physical ordeal or a lingering and dangerous illness. \A"ith true professional devotion he has given his life to his chosen calling and it has not been possible for him to engage in civic enterprises or public afifairs. However, he has kept well posted concerning national issues and has given stanch allegiance to the Republican party. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the INTa- sonic blue lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. JOHN BRIXTON DENIC— Coincident with the early colonization of America began the identification of the French family of Denio with the pio- neers of New York, where several successive generations lived and labored. The first to follow the tide of migration toward the west was William W. Denio, a native of Akron, Genesee county, N. Y., and a pioneer of Ingham county, Mich., where he cleared a farm in the oak openings and gave years of the most arduous efl^ort to the improvement of the homestead. Event- ually he sought a home in the milder climate of Missouri, where his last days were passed in retirement from agricultural cares. During young manhood he had married Miss Lucia Atkins, who was born at Elba, Genesee county, N. Y., and died in Kern county, Cal., at eighty-two years of age. On the old homestead near Lansing, Ingham county, Mich., James G., son of William W. Denio, w^as born and reared. For about ten years he worked in the lumber woods in the Grand Traverse country of Michigan, and he also spent a number of seasons on the lakes in the lumber trade. During 1880 he removed from Michigan to Kansas and settled on a farm in Ottawa county, whence in 1887, he w-ent to Cameron Junction, Clinton county. Mo., to take up farming pursuits in the more southerly location. The fall of 1891 found him in California, where he since has engaged in farming and poultry- raising in Kern county. At this writing he and his wife (who was Mary E. Bacon, a native of Sycamore, Ind.) own and have charge of a place of twenty acres located on the Rosedale road six and one-half miles west of Bakers- field. Their family numbers seven children, namely: John Britton, who was born at the old homestead near Lansing, Mich., September 30, 1878; Mrs. Daisy Stewart, of Rosedale: Truman and Hugh, of Rio Bravo; Charles, Esther and William. The first years in the life of John Britton Denio were passed in Michigan, Kansas and Missouri, but since the age of thirteen he has lived in California, where he completed a grammar-school education in the Rosedale district, Kern countv. From early life he has been interested in farming. From 1906 to 1909 he w^as employed by the Kern County Land Company on the Rosedale ranch, where he rose to be foreman, but resigned the position in 316 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY order to engage in farming for himself. Having purchased forty acres of raw land under the-Beardsley canal six miles northwest of Bakersfield, he at once entered upon the difficult task of converting the tract into remuner- ative property. Checking and leveling the land, he sowed it to alfalfa and now devotes his attention almost wholly to the raising of hay. In addition to managing his own place he leases hay and grain land from the Kern County Land Company. Politically Mr. Denio is a Republican. Mr. Denio's marriage was solemnized in the Rosedale district November 7, 1903, and united him with Miss Bingie Kuhs, who was born in Worms, Germany, a daughter of Carl and Mary (Kraud) Kuhs, the father deceased, and the mother still living. A sister, Mrs. Nelson, and a brother, John Kuhs, having preceded Miss Kuhs in migrating to California, she joined them in Kern county, where she met and married Mr. Denio. They are the parents of two children, Mamie and Bessie. FRANCIS GEORGE MUNZER.— When the Munzer family first be- came identified with the industrial development of America they established themselves in Connecticut and in that commonwealth, at Southington, Hart- ford county, the birth of Francis George Munzer occurred February 2, 1859, his parents having been the late John Bernard and Elizabeth (Balzer) Mun- zer. Both families are of German descent, the Munzer records being traced back to the fifth century in Germany, where Johan Bernard Munzer took an active part in one of the religious wars. Throughout the earlier years of his mature activities the father conducted mercantile enterprises at South- ington, but eventually he became a resident of Ohio and carried on busi- ness at Edgerton, Williams county, near the Indiana line and not far dis- tant from the border of Michigan. After the death of his wife, which oc- curred at Edgerton, he removed to Toledo and there he passed away in September (if 1911. Of their thirteen children seven are still living. The eldest of these, Francis George, attended public schools in Southington and then spent two years in a private school in New York City, after which he continued his studies in Lewis Academy at Southington, from which in 1878 he was graduated with an excellent standing in every department. During vacations he had assisted his father in the mercantile business and he had the further advantage of one year spent in a clerkship in New York City. Removing to Edgerton, Ohio, with his father in 1878, Mr. Munzer secured employment there as clerk in a drug store. After two years he re- signed the position and removed to Illinois, where he was given charge of a general store owned by F. Menig at Danville. For five years he filled the position with characteristic energy and recognized efficiency. In order to engage in business for himself he resigned as manager. During the next year he owned and conducted a grocery business in Danville. Selling out in the spring of 1886 he came to California and made a tour of inspection through the state, eventually selecting Bakersfield as his home. Here he secured a very humble position with Carr & Haggin. Six weeks of persistent industry as driver of a four-mule buck scraper convinced his employers that he was capable of higher duties and they made him bookkeeper and foreman at the old Jackson ranch. Health considerations caused him to go to Mendocino county in April of 1887 and during the next six months he worked in the lumber camps, remaining outdoors as much as possible. In the autumn he resumed his former position in Kern county. Again in April of 1888 he went to the lumber woods of Mendocino county and spent six months in out- door work, resuming his position on the Jackson ranch in the fall of the same year. In January of 1889 he went to the Santa Clara valley in old Mexico at the time of the gold excitement, but a prospecting tour of two HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 319 months proved futile and he returned to the Jackson ranch. About that time he was also made foreman of the Poso ranch. Transferred to the headquarters office at the Bellevue ranch in May of 1889, Mr. Munzer was appointed payroll clerk for the north side ranch and continued at that place until October 1, 1890, when the company moved its headquarters to Bakersfield and incorporated the Kern County Land Company, with Mr. Munzer as chief clerk of the water department. For a considerable period he filled the position ; meanwhile, in July, 1892, he resigned his position and went to Arizona, where he had charge as office superintendent of the Gila Bend Irrigation Company at Sentinel, Ariz. The Kern County Land Company, through S. W. Ferguson, the then manager, wired him requesting him to return at an increased salary, and on his return, in November, 1892, he was made assistant office superintendent and later he was promoted to office superintendent, in February, 1895, ever since which time he has filled the important position with marked ability and the utmost fidelity. Like the majority of the people living in Kern county, he is interested in oil and oil lands. In addition with W. J. Doherty as partner he owns the Breckenridge Lumber Company and has mills and timber on Mount Breckenridge. December 20, 1892. at Bakersfield, occurred the marriage of Francis (ieorge Munzer and Mary Ellen Baker, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Melvin Baker, one of the pioneers of Kern county. They are the parents of two children. Frances Alice and Bernard Melvin. Interested in the growth of Bakersfield and a contributor to its progress. Mr. Munzer served for five years as a member of its board of trustees, is now prominently connected with the Merchant's Association and likewise officiates as vice-president of the San Joaquin Valley Water Problem Association. The Democratic party receives his stanch support at all elections. For many years he was an active member of Company G. Sixth Regiment of the California National Guard and finally retired with the rank of second lieutenant Made a Alason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224. F. & A. M.. he later rose to the chapter degree in this city and furthermore wnth his wife belongs to the Eastern Star chanter at this place. Other organizations having the benefit of his interested cr-operation are the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World and the Bakersfield Aerie of Eagles. HON. JACK W. MAHON.— The family patronymic of Mahon indicates the Celtic origin of the race. The founder of the name upon American soil was Henry Mahon. a native of Ireland and for many years a planter in the vicinity of Raleigh. N. C. where he continued to reside until his death. Among his children was W. J., who was born, reared and educated in North Carolina and during young manhood entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. South. To the cause of religion he gave the deepest devotion of his splendid mind and the self-sacrificing loyalty of his noble character. In order that he might engage in ministerial work upon the then frontier, he removed from North Carolina to Tennessee and crossing that then sparsely settled state almost to the banks of the Mississippi river he took up raw land in Dyer county and became the founder of a church at Dversburg. the county-seat, where he labored with consecration for the advancement of Christianity. Under his able efforts his denomination made noteworthy advances numerically and spiritualh^ While he did not accumu- late riches nor indeed a competency, he was successful in his labors for the uplifting of the race and the world was the better for his life of toil and sacrifice. During the Civil war he found an opportunity to engage in religious activities while serving as chaplain under Gen. Kirby Smith. Coming to California during 1875 he became a minister in San Francisco, but later as presiding elder became familiar with church needs in various portions of 17 320 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the state. For twenty years he officiated in that responsible position. Ulti- mately the infirmities of age obliged him to relinquish the responsibilities of ministerial work and after a retirement of five years he passed away at his home in Bakersfield. He had reached the age of eighty-eight years. In the counsel and companionship of a capable helpmate Rev. W. J. Mahon was greatly blessed. During early manhood he had married Phoebe Gilbert Wood, who was born in Virginia, the daughter of George Wood, an Englishman identified with the early development of Virginia. The death of Mrs. jNIahon occurred in Modesto at the age of seventy-six years. In their family there were four children but only two survive. One of her sons, Stephen Wood Mahon, an attorney by profession and for some years a justice of the peace, was officiating as city recorder of Bakersfield at the time of his demise. The youngest son, Kirby S., is now judge of the superior court of Sutter county, this state. Judge Jack W. Mahon was born at Dyers- burg, Dyer county, Tenn., February 24, 1858, and in 1875 accompanied his parents to California, where later he was graduated from the Gilroy high school. At the completion of high-school studies he began the study of law under R. H. Ward, of Merced. Possessing a quick intelligence and receptive mind, he advanced rapidly in his readings and during 1883 was admitted to the bar of California. Immediately afterward he opened an office in Bakers- field, where he soon rose to a position of recognition as a promising young attorney, whose knowledge of jurisprudence was broad and whose devotion to the profession was intense. It soon became apparent that he was as well qualified for the bench as for the bar and during 1896 the Democratic party of Kern county nominated him for judge of the superior court. The nomina- tion was endorsed by the Populists. The election brought him a handsome majority and in January of 1897 he took the oath of office. At the expiration of the first term in 1902 he was re-elected and again in 1908 he was chosen to be his own successor. The success of his official labors was shown in the fact that in the campaign of 1908 he had no opposition, all parties appreciating his able service to such an extent that they brought forward no other candidate for the office. Reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, Judge Mahon has never swerved from his allegiance to the denomination so long honored by the faithful ministerial labors of his father. While not deeply interested in fraternities, he was won by the philanthropic tenets of the Masonic Order and entered its blue lodge, later rising to the Royal Arch degree. His marriage took place in Bakersfield and united him with Miss Rachel E. Nash, a native of Dyer county, Tenn., and a graduate of an educa- tional institution in New York state. Of the union two children were born, the elder, Ruth Estabrook, being now the wife of Ernest Alston, of Los Angeles, while the younger. Jack Howell, is a student in the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tenn. It is said of Judge Mahon that no enterprise for the permanent progress of Bakersfield lacks his intelligent co-operation. On the contrary, he has been generous in his sympathetic assistance given to civic measures and has proved public-spirited and progressive in his broad comprehension of and tactful participation in movements of far-reaching value to permanent civic prosperity. GRANVILLE L. BROWN, D. D. S.— The family represented by this well-known practitioner of Bakersfield comes from Kentuckian and Virgin- ian ancestry and he himself claims Kentucky as his native commonwealth, having been born in Allen county, January 12, 1859. Likewise the Blue Grass state was the native home of his parents, Henry and Margaret (Patton) Brown, both of whom remained in the state throughout their lives, the father following the occupation of a farmer as a source of livelihood. Of this union there were four children, the third being Granville L., who was reared on the old Kentucky farm and received a fair education in local HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 323 schools. For a time he en^aj^ed in teachin,2^ in the public schools and with the earninij-s of his labor he entered into mercantile enterprises with a brother at Scottsville, Allen county. It was not. however, his intention to devote his life either to pedagoc^y or to business, for he had early been inter- ested in the profession of dentistry and had an ambition to enter its study and practice. Throuq-h a course in the dental department of the University of Tennessee he gained a fair knowledge of the profession and, not having" the means necessary to complete the regular course, he entered upon dental practice before he had been graduated. Later he was able to return to the university, complete the course and finish the regular work, so that in 1890, when he was g^raduated with a very high standing, he received the degree of D. D. S. from the institution. Prior to gfraduation Dr. Rrown not only had practiced for two years at Burkesville, Cumberland county, Ky.. but also had entered upon a very successful professional connection with the city of Glasgow. Ky.. where altogether he practiced about ten years. Meanwhile he had met and mar- ried Miss Clara Dickey, who was born, reared and educated in that Kentuckv town, and is a representative of a cultured old Southern family. Upon leaving- Kentuckv to engage in practice in California in 1892, the Doctor chose Bakersfield on account of its excellent prospects for material growth, its healthful climate and its professional opportunities, and he certainlv has had no cause to regret his decision. At first he had an ofiice in the Galtes building, but removed to the Scribner opera building, on the comple- tion of that structure and when the Producers' Bank building was com- pleted he leased a suite of rooms in it. his present location. With his wife and son. Arthur B., he resides in a comfortable home in East Bakersfield, the same having been planned and built by himself. Since coming to Bakers- field he has been a member of the Southern California Dental Association, in which his ability well qualifies him for a leadership which his characteristic modesty prevents him from claiming. In politics he votes with the Republi- can party. f^IMON W. WIBLE.— Born near Greensburg. Pa.. Mr. Wible reinoved to Illinois with his father, Peter Wible, and had settled near Mendon. Adams county. The difficult task of transforming a raw tract of land into a produc- tive farm had filled his boyhood years with strenuous labor and had prevented him from attending school regularly, although during the winter months it was his custom to study in a near-by log schoolhouse, which with its slab benches and puncheon floors presented a striking contrast to the educational equipment of the present generation. When old enough to start out for himself he determined to follow the tide of emigration to California and accordinclv during the spring of 1852 he joined an expedition bound for the west, making the trip with wagons and oxen. Later he returned east and broue-ht out a second wagon-train. During the svimmer of 1858 he piloted a third train through, but on that trip he met with trouble, for the Indians senarated the train by a stampede and not only stole all of the stock, but killed a number of the emigrants. Forced to flee for his life and left without a horse, the young captain of the train walked to Fort Laramie, where he found an opnortunity to join another expedition and thus came through to the coast. For years he engaged in mining and, indeed, he never lost his interest in the occupation, for at the time of his death he owned and operated a valuable mine in Alaska. Meanwhile he picked up a thorough knowledge of surveying and came to be reckoned among the most efficient surveyors and civil engineers on the coast. Much of his work was done for the government. It was about 1872 when Mr. Wible took up a homestead claim tw^elve miles west of Bakersfield and began to cultivate the land and raise crops suited to the soil and climate. From time to time he bought stock and finally he ranked among the extensive sheepmen of the county. Other interests 324 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY filled his days with busy activities. The original work on the Pioneer canal was unsatisfactory and on that account it was turned over to him. Under his charge as superintendent an improvement was made. When Henry Miller came to Bakersfield to look up matters pertaining to the reclamation of the ^liller & Lux lands, which some man had attempted to drain, but only with partial success, he sought out Mr. Wible and asked his opinion. Mr. Wil)le claimed the lands could be reclaimed and he could do it, providing he had the money. Instantly Mr. Miller responded that he -had the money. Thereupon Mr^ Wible made plans and these proved satisfactory to Mr. Miller, who appointed him to superintend the work. Under his supervision the dam and Buena Vista reservoir were built, an outlet or drainage canal was dug and levees made to turn the water in and out of the lake, also a canal to carry the water to the lake. The venture proved an overwhelming success. Farming land was made out of the once worthless tules. Seventy-five thou- sand acres were placed under cultivation as a result of this great feat of engi- neering. During the process of building Mr. Wible checked as desired against the Miller & Lux account without the necessity of any O. K.'s, being the only man ever permitted to do so. After the completion of this task he continued with the same firm as general manager of their ranches until about 1900, when he retired from active labors. However, he did not relinquish all in- terests, for he retained the management of his large mine near Sunrise on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska and each summer for eleven years he went to that region to superintend the operation of the mine. Upon his return from his eleventh trip of this kind he was taken ill and died in San Francisco September 13, 1911, at the age of eighty years. The death of Mr. Wible marked the passing of one of the most influential pioneers of Kern county. Every line of activity had felt the impetus of his large endeavors. The Bank of Bakersfield was organized under his efficient supervision and he continued to serve as president as long as he lived. When in 1858 he joined lone Lodge of Odd Fellows, he had the distinction of being one of the first to be initiated into that order in the entire state. The fruit industry num.bered him among its progressive pioneers and his enthusi- asm in starting an orchard and vineyard encouraged many others to follow his example. He was one of the very first to succeed in horticulture in Kern county and the orchard of four hundred and eighty acres which he planted continued under his personal oversight until it was sold during 1910. When the water works were in an embryonic phase of development he and W. H. Scribner took charge of the enterprise, developed the plant, built a complete line of mains into every part of the city, turned an uncertain project into a valuable system and he continued to act as president of the Bakersfield \A^ater Company until its interests were sold to the Kern County Land Co. DIXON DOUGHERTY.— Since the age of twelve years Dixon Dough- erty has lived in California. Born at Old Vincennes, Ind., January 6, 1861, he was one of seven children, of whom only himself and his brother, C. A., are still living. The parents, both of whom died in Indiana, were Joseph A. and Palace (Horsey) Dougherty, natives respectively of Pennsyl- vania and Paoli, Orange county, Ind., the former a farmer for many years, but also for a time a merchant in Vincennes. J. P. was the first of the sons to come to California, and in 1873 C. A. and Dixon came together to join their older brother, with whom they spent a short time at Pleasanton, Ala- meda county. Next they went to San Diego with the intention of proceed- ing to Mexico and there embarking in the cattle business, but the fierce Apaches were on the war path at the time and the older brother advised against the expedition. Accordingly Dixon went to Sacramento and found employment. After his first trip to Bakersfield in 1875 he went to Los An- geles and from there to the suburb of Artesia, where with his brothers he engaged in farming for two years. Upon returning to Kern county in 1877 m V//': HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 327 he found employment on a ranch owned by Charles Jewett and located in the Breckenridge mountains. After eighteen months on the ranch he was brought to Bakersfield by Mr. Jewett, who gave him employment as driver of an ice wagon and in that position he continued for two years. Meanwhile having married Miss Mary Kubovec, a native of Austria, he and his wife found a desirable opening for a hotel business and for three years operated the American Exchange on Eighteenth street. An opportunity to secure a homestead took Mr. Dougherty back to the Breckenridge mountains, where he entered the southeast quarter of section 18, township 29. range 31, and established headquarters at Dripping Springs ranch. On the land he put up necessary buildings. The place was fenced and cross-fenced, so that he could handle his stock advantageously, and also that he might devote some fields to the raising of grain. For years he made a specialty of the shorthorn Durham breed of cattle and in stock-raising operations he was more than ordinarily successful. Meantime he had added to the original claim until his ranch comprised three hundred and twenty acres, besides using other ranges for his stock, bearing the 7L brand. After he and his wife had lived on the mountain ranch about five years he estab- lished a home for the family in East Bakersfield, in order that the two sons might attend the city schools, but he himself remained on the ranch and gave personal attention to the cattle. After he disposed of the property in 1913 he came to East Bakersfield to remain, and since has given attention to the supervision of his alfalfa farm near the city, and also to the care of the various residences he has built here, five of which houses still remain in his possession. His younger son, Joseph A., assists him in his various enterprises, while the older son, Charles R., has embarked in the stock busi- ness independently and now conducts a stock ranch at Adobe Station. HARRY QUINN. — The Quinn family springs from Scottish ancestry and has an honorable history extending back to eras far antedating the relig- ious persecutions in that country. About that time some of the name, forced to flee from their native land on account of their religious views, found a safe and permanent refuge in the north of Ireland, where, at Kilkeel, county Down, Harry Quinn was born on Christmas day of 1843 and where during boyhood he attended the national schools. He was the son of Thomas and Margaret (Donaldson) Quinn, the latter the daughter of William Donald- son, who was a wholesale baker and confectioner in Kilkeel. The paternal grandfather, William Quinn, was a farmer and also a linen merchant. In his family of ten children there were seven sons, all successful business or trades men. Thomas Quinn, the seventh child in order of birth, became a farmer near Kilkeel and resided there throughout the remainder of his life. The necessity of earning his own livelihood sent Harry Quinn to Aus- tralia at the age of fifteen years and there he prospected and mined, but with- out success. After this experience he worked on stock ranches and thus was enabled to save an amount of money sufficient for another stake. ^Vhile on his way from Melbourne to Queensland he heard of a new strike, but returning miners brought back discouraging reports and while waiting there he saw the American barque Penang, which, on account of the fact that it was Sunday, was displaying American flags. Mr. Quinn remarked to his companions: "Boys, there is my flag and my country," and the next day he not only purchased a ticket for himself to San Francisco, but also for three companions. Two of them afterward repaid him at the first oppor- tunity, and the third paid one-fifth of his indebtedness. It was about May, 1868, that Mr. Quinn landed at San Francisco, a stranger in a strange land. \^ orking his way from place to place he was able to see much of the state, but did not find a location or an opportunity suited to his condition. He had been reared to a knowledge of the sheep industry, so it was his desire 328 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to buy sheep and rent land for their pasturage, but at the time sheep were held at a figure far beyond his reach. As early as 1868 he came to Kern county for the first time, but did not locate here permanently then. In 1872 he found employment with Archibald Leitch, an extensive sheep-raiser and large land-owner in Stanislaus county, who, being pleased with the energy and ability of young Quinn, sent him into Kern county as pilot for his flocks, and at the end of two years took him into partnership. The connection continued with mutual profit until the death of Mr. Leitch in 1896, and afterward with the estate until 1906, whereu]K)n the interest in the land and sheep was purchased by Mr. Quinn. It was during the year 1873 that ^Ir. Quinn purchased one-half interest in twenty-two hundred head of sheep and also took up a pre-emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres where his residence now stands. Besides this he bought railroad land and also acquired large tracts from homesteaders who were unable to prove up on their claims. During the early days in the history of Kern cnunty the Ouinn farm was the only place in miles where a traveler could obtain water and hence emigrants headed for the ranch from every direction, watering their stock and resting awhile as they enjoyed the never- failing hospitality and cheerful welcome of Mr. Quinn. At his home the latch-string was always hanging out and no one was too humble or too poor to feel the hearty inspiration of his welcoming hand. His splendid hospitality made him known to and loved by early settlers throughout all this part of the country. At one time he owned as high as twenty-two thousand acres, but in 1906 he sold a large tract to a company of promoters and it is now being planted to orange trees. At present he still owns fifteen thousand acres. While in the main successful in his enterprises and particularly so in his sheep-raising ventures, Mr. Quinn had his share of misfortune. During" the serious drought of 1877 he was forced to seek new ranges for his sheep. With a flock of eighteen thousand six hundred and sixty sheep he went into Nevada and at first found abundant pasturage, but while at Fish Lake valley he was caught in a severe snow-storm and fifteen thousand sheep perished at one time. On his return to Kern county he had only twenty- seven hundred head of sheep and was $5,000 in debt. Undismayed by a catastrophe that would have discouraged most men, he started in anew and in a few years had paid olT his debt, enlarged his Bc^k and secured another foothold financially. For many years he was engaged in raising thoroughbred French merinos, and the high grade of the stock can be esti- mated when it is known that his sheep were not onlv shipped into all parts of the United States for breeding purposes, l)ut also to Mexico, South .America and Africa. After a long association with the sheep industry he sold the last of his flock about 1911 and since then has devoted his attention wholly to raising Short-horn Durham cattle. Not only was he the first set- tler on the plains east of Delano in Kern county, but besides he merits men- tion because he is one of the few successful men who have engaged in dry farming and stock-raising on the plains. The Quinn ranch is located ten miles east of Delano and lies principally in Rag gulch, although some parts of it lie in the Sierra Nevadas inside of the forest reserve. The ranch i> well improved with a new, modern residence, which was completed in Decem- ber, 1912, and is also ecpiipped with the needed farm buildings and three pum!)ing plants. The sons are now preparing to set out forty acres to oranges. Several of tlie state conventions of the Democratic party have been attended by Mr. Quinn, who maintains a warm interest in political aifairs. For vears he has served as a trustee of the local schools. Fraternallv he is HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY • 329 a charter member of I'nrter Lods^e, I. ( ). (). V., was made a .Mason in \isalia Lodge No. 123, !•". & A. AI., is a member of Visalia Chai)ter Xo. 44, R. A. M.. Visalia Commandery, K. T., \'isalia Consistory. Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, and is also a member of Islam Temple, X. .M. S., of San Francisco. Mr. Ouinn's marriage, solemnized in Robertson county, X. C., December 15, 1886, united him with Miss Katie Robertson, who was born in Robertson county, X. C. on the last day of the year 1858. Seven chihben wet e born of the union and to each has been given the educational training essential to a thorough preparation for life's activities. The eldest daughter. ]\,larguerite, is the wife of Xelson Smith. The eldest son, John, who graduated with the class of 1912, l^niversity of California, at Berkeley, with the degree of P.. S., is assisting his father in the management of the ranch. Tom, the second son, has charge of his father's stock. The third son. Archie, a graduate of the Bakersfield high school, class of 1912, is also assisting in the care of the stock. The youngest daughters, Marv and Mil- dred, are attending college at Oakland during the winter months, while in the summer they are with their parents on the ranch near Delano. The youngest son. Cletus, is attending the Kern county high school at P.akersfield! HERBERT C. MOSHER.— The secretary and treasurer of the Toroey & Jones Company, Incorporated, of INTaricopa, has been a resident of Califor- nia almost from his earliest recollections. Born in Georgia October 25, 1872. he was scarcely four years of age when in 1876 the family became resi- dents of Los Angeles, where he received such advantages as the public schools then ofTered. supplemented bv a course of studv in the normal school. After his graduation from the normal in 1892 he began to teach in the schools of Goleta, Santa Barbara comity, where he continued in the same school for two years, and then devoted the next two vears to similar work in the Los Angeles city schools. Resigning- his position and retiring from educational pursuits, he turned to an industrv then newly inaugurated in the state. This was the raising of sugar beets. At that time Oxnard was the only center of the industry in the state and he took up land in Ventura county near the Oxnard factory, where he engaged in raising beets for a few years. Coming to Bakersfield in 1899 Mr. Mosher began an active and prominent identification with the upbuilding of Kern county, an association that at first lent helpful aid to the making of good roads. Forming a partnership with his brother. T. W. Mosher, he organized the firm of Mosher Brothers, which in 1900, under the oversight of Supervisor H. A. Jastro, oiled the first roads in the entire San Joaquin valley. Their contract called for the oiling of about seventy miles of road and the results were so satisfactory that thev were called to different parts of the state by those desirous of securing good roads in their communities. Eventually J. W. Mosher established headquarters for the business at Stockton and with that as a center he carries on a large busi- ness in the oiling of roads, an interest in the concern being retained by Her- bert C. Mosher, who, however, of recent years has given over to the brother the active management of the entire enterprise. The business identification of Air. Mosher with the new town of Mari- copa began in 1909, when he organized the Gate City Oil Company and pur- chased forty acres owmed by the Maricopa Oil Company. After a period as manager of the Gate City he resigned in order to give his attention to other interests, but he still holds stock in the concern. As secretary and treasurer of Torpey & Jones Company, Incorporated, he is connected with a pioneer mercantile enterprise of Maricopa, having during June of 1909 purchased the interest of J. D. Jones in the firm. At that time the company occupied twelve hundred feet of floor space, but since then they have erected addi- tional rooms and now use five thousand feet of floor space. The same com- pany also supplies the town with water, controlling the stock in the Maricopa 330 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Water Company. Prior to tlie organization of that concern water was shipped in from Bakersfiekl and was consequently so expensive that its use was limited to the most stern necessities. Torpey & Jones conduct business upon the department system and each department is practically a complete store in itself. The groceries, dry-goods, ladies' and gent's furnishings, sup- plies for oil men, wines and hardware, are indicative of the lines carried in stock and of the quality of the same. The first president, F. T. Torpey, was the pioneer merchant of Maricopa and the remarkable growth of the business is largely due to the substantial foundations laid by him at the start. The firm passed through the disastrous fire of June 20, 1911, and aided in the work of rebuilding. They promoted the incorporation of Maricopa as a city, which occurred July 20, 1911, and since then all members of the company have given liberally of time and means to further civic projects, Mr. Mosher having served first by appointment as a member of the board of trustees, later elected to the position April 8, 1912, after which he was chosen chairman of the board, a position equivalent to that of mayor. He resigned from said board on account of very pressing business duties in May, 1913. FRANZ BUCKREUS.— The superintendent of the Kern county hos- pital is of German birth and the descendant of a long line of honored Teutonic ancestors, his parents having been Dr. Michael and Babetta (Sauer) Buck- reus, the former a graduate physician and the son of a Bavarian millwright. For a long period Dr. Buckreus engaged in professional labors in the pros- perous village of Bamberg, lying along the banks of the Main river in Ober- franken, Bavaria, and there occurred the birth of his third child, Franz. November 30, 1845. After he had been given the advantages of the national schools and gymnasiums he was taken into the doctor's office and taught the principles of surgery as well as the treatment of disease. The death of the father in 1866 prevented him from gaining a comprehensive knowledge of materia medica and obliged him to work diligently to support the family. At first he engaged in nursing the sick and during the Franco-Prussian war he held a position in the sanitary department of the army. Coming to the United States in 1871 he followed the barber's trade in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut successively. January of 187S found him in Cali- fornia and during March of the same year he came to Bakersfield. where he worked as a journeyman barber for six months, and then established a shop on Chester avenue on the present site of Scribner's opera house. Later he conducted a shop in the Arlington hotel, but in 1883 he sold out to accept the position of superintendent of the Kern county hospital, which had been established in 1881. Since then his own history has been practically that of the institution which he manages. The early home of the hospital was on G between Thirteenth and Four- teenth streets and there it was conducted until the inadequacy of the facilities there afforded compelled a dififerent location and larger quarters. During 1895 removal was made to Nineteenth and Oak streets, where there are six acres of grounds picturesquely adorned with trees and shrubs planted by the superintendent, whose good taste and artistic ability are reflected in the entire arrangement of the place. Under his trained judgment the grounds have been converted into an attractive park with permanent walks and lawn, beautified further by flowers and ornamental trees. However, the superin- tendent has proved more than a successful landscape gardener, for in the management of the institution he has been efficient, reliable and capable. The main building, two stories in height with a frontage of two hundred and twenty feet, proved too small, and in 1911 the company added a sixty-foot wing on the east to be utilized partly as a surgical ward and operating room. The capacity has been increased from seventy-five to one hundred patients. An excellent system of heating, lighting and ventilation has been introduced and the entire equipment bespeaks the oversight of a wise intelligence. lyc^^d ^^^^-^^2^:^^/ c< //^^ U\M^^ijx^/\^i ^fliiO/M^iU. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 335 In the days when it was impossible for Kern county to pay a health officer Mr. Buckreus served in that position gratuitously. When the county was able to give him some recompense for his services, he was paid $25 per month. The service without pay lasted for six years and the service with pay covered eight years, at the expiration of which time the state legis- lature passed a bill requiring all health officers to possess medical diplomas. In politics Mr. Buckreus has been a Democrat ever since he became familiar with the national issues of his adopted country. For twelve years he officiated as county coroner and public administrator, having been appointed to fill a vacancy in 1890. At the expiration of that term in 1892 he was elected for two years. During 1894 he was elected for a term of four years and again in 1898 for four years, holding the office until January of 1903, when he retired. Upon the organization of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks in Bakersfield he became a charter member of Lodge No. 266, in the upbuilding of which he has maintained a warm interest. In addition he has been actively associated with the Knights of Pythias. CHRISTIAN MATTLY.— A gratifying degree of success has rewarded the industrious effcirts of Mr. Mattly, whose profitable management of a dairy industry in Kern county furnishes evidence as to the possibilities of the business in this part of the state and also bears testimony concerning his own abilities in that direction. The fact that he comes of a long line of Swiss ancestors, among whom were not a few famous cheese-makers and skilled dairymen, may account in part for his own talents in the same direction. When it is considered that he was only seven years of age when he lost his father and that he had no influential friends to assist him in getting a start in California when he landed here without means, his present high standing indicates his determination of character and energy of temperament. Born at Zillis, Canton Graubunden, Switzerland. March 30, 1852, he was a son of Leonard and Menga (Cayori) Mattly, natives of the same canton as himself and lifelong residents thereof, the father dying in 1859 and the mother in 1885. There were five children in the family and four of these are still living. Christian having been next to the youngest of the number. After he had attended school for some years he was apprenticed to the trade of a stone- cutter and from that time earned his own way in the world. During 1873 he came from Europe to the United States and settled at Gilroy, Cal., but after eight months of work he removed to Marin county and secured employ- ment in a dairy at Point Reyes. Another six months were passed there and in 1874 he came to Kern county, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres on Kern Island, fifteen miles from Bakersfield. Six years spent upon the pre-emption claim were followed by employ- ment with W. Canfield, owner of a dairy, in which Mr. Mattly engaged a^ foreman and buttermaker. Previous experience aided him in the work and he soon proved himself to be skilled in that occupation. Encouraged by his evident fitness for the calling, in 1885 he embarked in the dairy busi- ness for himself, buying three hundred and twenty acres fourteen miles south- west of Bakersfield and at once starting a herd of milch cows. The land was under irrigation and the raising of alfalfa was thus made possible. From the first he was prosperous. Industry and wise management brought their deserved returns. Skill in the manufacture of butter and cheese brought him a steadily growing business. As time passed he added to his possessions until he had acquired five hundred and fifty-three acres in one body, all under irrigation and well suited to alfalfa. All of the hay raised was fed to the stock during the winter months. A specialty was made of the shorthorn red Durham cattle and at times he milked as many as one hundred and twenty cows with the aid of his hired help. When he first settled on the ranch he manufactured butter in the old-fashioned way. but this soon proved to be too tedious and so he began to put in machinery and at the time he rented the 336 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY dairy to others in 1903 he had it fitted out with modern conveniences of the most approved desij^ns. Upon leavino^ that farm he settled four miles south of Bakersfield, where he had bought an alfalfa ranch of eighty acres. On the new farm he started another dairy and this he conducted until 1910 with continued success, eventually renting tlie property and then selling it to others. Retiring from the arduous labors that had filled his life from early manhood, in 1910 he erected an attractive and commodious residence on the corner of Eighteenth and B streets, where he and his family since have made their home. While residing on the big ranch he established family ties, the ceremony occurring April 6, 1896. His wife, formerly Nina Weichelt, is a native of the same part of Switzerland as himself and came in 1893 to Cali- fornia, where she was married in Kern county. Born of their union are three sons, Leonard, Gotleib and Christian. The family are identified with the Lutheran denomination and Mr. Mattly has been a regular contributor to religious enterprises. Since becoming a citizen of the United States he has voted with the Republican party. Upon the organization of the Security Trust Company he was elected a director and since then he has continued a member of the board. Fraternally he is associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Uniform Rank, K. P. Buth himself and wife are members of the Kern County Pioneer Society. Always interested in educational work and a stanch believer in the free-school system, for some years he officiated as director of the Old River school district and during that time of service he promoted the school work and advanced the grade of scholarship through his capable and constant support. ANGUS J. CRITES. — The honored and influential pioneer family of Crites, founded in Kern county during the latter part of the '50s by Angus M. Crites and connected by marriage with another leading old family, that of Jewett, has lost none of its early prestige or long-time popularity through the commercial activities of the present generation, one of whom, Angus J. Crites, has acquired a wide reputation as a successful and efficient super- intendent in the Kern river oil fields. It is said by competent judges that the Kern river district holds no better oil lease than that of the Peerless Oil Company, the high standing of which results from the able supervision of the manager. Having filled his present position since 1904, he has become familiar with the entire district and especially with the growing possibilities of the Peerless at Oil Center, which had thirty-four wells at the time of his original association with the company, but has increased its leases until in 1913 it has fifty-eight wells, all of them productive and remunerative. Relative to the family history, it may be stated that Angus M. Crites settled at Kernville about the year 1858 and was one of the original miners at Havilah, then the county-seat. By his marriage to Louisa Jewett, he be- came a brother-in-law of Solomon Jewett, one of the most influential pio- neers of the county. For years he engaged in ranching and stock-raising and at times had as many as five hundred head of cattle on his range. Having valuable water rights on Clear creek, he was able to engage in the stock business with more success than many. /\mong his children was Arthur Saxe, who as Colonel Crites has been prominently connected with the Second California National Guard and at this writing also fills the posi- tion of cashier of the First Bank of Kern. Another son, Angus J., whose name introduces this article, was born in Bakersfield April 26, 1874, and passed the years of boyhood on the family ranch near Tehachapi. When a public school was established at Keene he became one of the first pupils and there gained a practical education. In company with his father he engaged in mining in Caliente valley, also in the vicinity of Sageland and Red Rock. At the age of twenty-three he entered the employ of the Jewett & Blodgett Oil Company. During the seven years of his association with the company he helped to develop oil fields in the Sunset, Hazleton and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 337 Maricopa districts. When thirty years of age he became connected with the Peerless Oil Company, first acting as superintendent of their lands at Coalinga, then coming to the Kern river field as superintendent at Oil Cen- ter. The Peerless, which under his management has become one of the most profitable properties in the entire field, utilizes about twenty-four hun- dred horse-power day and night and has successfully installed an air-lift system as well as other modern improvements. The storage capacity has been increased until now it aggregates two hundred thousand barrels. Mr. Crites is a Republican and belongs to the Masons and Elks. By Mr. Crites' marriage to Miss Mary Kirkpatrick, a native of Dry Run, Pa., he has two daughters, Dorothea and Catharine. The family maintain their residence on the Peerless lease. Mr. Crites is an enthusiast on the subject of good roads, and with such men taking hold of the project it is safe to say that Kern county will soon have first-class county roads. THOMAS J. O'BOYLE.— Born at Scran ton, Pa., October 19, 1833, he was the son of a poor miner who lost his life in the coal mines during 1863. The struggle to support the family, always most difificult, was rendered doubly acute by this catastrophe and the boy of ten years soon had to go into the mines, where he was employed in driving a mule and in picking the slate from the coal. The death of his mother left him wholly orphaned and de- pendent upon his own efforts for food and clothing. Needless to say that he suffered from the lack of necessities, yet he bore his hardships with patience and worked with the good cheer sometimes lacking in those older than he was at the time. At the age of eighteen he became an apprentice to the trade of a machinist in the shops of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, where he remained until he had completed his time. During 1873 he became clerk in a dry-goods store and remained in that business for four years, after which he secured employment in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile the lure of the west had weakened the ties that bound him to his native commonwealth. Traveling by way of Cincin- nati toward the west, he w^orked for a time in Arkansas and followed the machinist's trade as well as the dry-goods business. Upon coming to California in 1879 Mr. O'Boyle first settled at Sutter creek in Amador county, where he found employment in a dry-goods store. Two years later he came to Bakersfield. His search for employment met with success in the machine shops of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Kern. From the first he was interested in local affairs. When the village of Sum- ner was incorporated as the city of Kern he was one of the enthusiastic supporters of the project and was elected a member of the first board of trustees, serving as such for six years. From 1887 to 1889 he engaged in the general mercantile business at Kern and later bought and started to con- duct the Paul Gates store in Bakersfield, but in 1889 he lost everything by fire. Lacking the necessary capital to embark anew in mercantile pursuits, he took a position as bookkeeper and accountant. The Democrats of the town co-operated to secure the Kern postmastership for him during the administration of Grover Cleveland and he filled the position acceptably for four years, besides which he served as justice of the peace at Kern for some years. During the early period of his identification with Kern county he purchased the Cosmopolitan hotel from John E. Bailey and conducted the same for three years. The department store of Heard & Painter was started at Taft during March of 1909 by J. W. Heard and C. C. Painter and Judge O'Boyle came to the village shortly afterward for the purpose of keeping books for the new firm. Later he was placed in the dry-goods department as a salesman. Upon the organization of the district in the fall of 1910 he was elected justice of the peace, which position he had filled previously by appointment. As an indication of his high standing it may be stated that in Midway 338 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY precinct No. 2 only eight votes were cast against him out of a total of five hundred and fifty, while in the other precincts every ballot was in his favor. Since then he has given his attention to the duties of the office, which he has filled with an impartial spirit and a comprehensive knowledge of the law. He is a member of the Eagles and Foresters. The first marriage of Judge O'Boyle took place in 1882 and united him with IMiss Margaret Dugan, who died after a few years. Two of their children, Thomas and Monica, also are deceased, the sole survivor being Edward, assistant cashier of the First Bank of Kern. During 1890 occurred the marriage of Judge O'Boyle to Miss Nellie Moore, by whom he became the father of two children. The son, Thomas, is deceased. The daughter. Miss Alary, is now employed as bookkeeper in the California market. REGINALD A. FERGUSSON, M. D.— The genealogy of the Fergusson family is traced 1)ack to the old Scotch clan of that name in Fergus Castle in Stirlingshire. In the midst of such picturesque but isolated sur- roundings was passed the early life of William Long Fergusson, M. D., whose professional skill and splendid Scotch qualities of mind and heart brought him a large circle of friends and admirers. For a considerable period prior to the memorable revolution that culminated in the execution of Alaximilian in 1867 he had officiated as private physician to that ill-fated emperor. Upon returning to Great Britain he took up the practice of medicine in Claremont Square, London, where he remained until his death, meanwhile rising to professional prominence in the metropolis of the world. While living at New Granada he had been bereaved by the death of his wife, who was a Miss Chapman, of English birth and education. The only son of that union, Reginald Archibald, was born in New Granada in 1857 and received a classical education in England and Scotland. After having graduated from Oxford he took his medical course in the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, from which he received the degree of M. D. Later he took a post-graduate course in London and then embarked in practice at Corn Hill Exchange in that city. Coming to Southern California in 1881, Dr. Fergusson opened an office in Los Angeles. A year later he removed to Bakersfield, where soon his professional skill became recognized. A constantly increasing practice filled the ensuing years. Among his co-laborers his standing was the high- est. It is said that he was without exception the leading physician of his day and locality, and combined with professional prominence was the pres- tige associated with culture acquired by association with people of the high- est refinement and by travels throughout different countries. At the time of his demise, which occurred September 4, 1899, he held the position of president of the San Joaquin Valley Medical Society, besides being actively associated with the California State and American Medical Associations. While his profession had engrossed his energies and called forth the highest powers of his fine mind, he had found leisure for the amenities of society and for the pleasurable relations of fraternities, having been one of the founders and charter members of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266. B. P. O. E., in whose development he retained a deep interest to the last. The marriage of Dr. Fergusson was solemnized at Brighton, England, in 1880, and united him with Miss Bertha Maud Shriber, who was born in Calcutta, India, and received a classical education in England. Her parents were Dr. Edward and Eulalia (Alexander) Shriber, the former a native of London and a graduate of Guy's Hospital College with the degree of M. D., afterward a surgeon in the English army, stationed in India for many years. Upon his retirement he returned to England to spend his last days amid the scenes familiar to his youthful years. A year after her marriage Mrs. Fer- gusson accompanied her husband to the United States and since then has made California her home, having since the demise of the Doctor continued HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 341 to occupy the family residence at No. 1521 Seventeenth street, Bakersfield, and giving her attention to the management of her varied business interests, the enjoyment of the society of warm friends of many years' standing and the benefactions of the Episcopal Church, to which she has given a devoted allegiance from childhood. HECK BROS. — Established in June of 1910, almost simultaneously with the founding of Fellows, the history of the mercantile firm of Heck Bros, has been one of steady growth and progressive development. The erection of a suitable building followed the arrival of the two brothers in Fellows during December of 1909, and as soon as possible they put in the new build- ing a suitable stock of goods, since which they have conducted a department store with ability and tact. The trade is not limited to Fellows, but in addition two teams furnish excellent delivery service to the territory within a radius of seven miles of Fellows. Upon beginning business in their two-story building the Heck Bros, utilized the upper floor of their block for hotel purposes, while devoting the entire first story to their stock of merchandise and household articles. Upon the establishment of an ofBce at Fellows for Wells, Fargo & Co., they were appointed to act as agents October 24, 1910. Numerous other private and pulilic enterprises occupy some of their time, but thev are men of such stirring energy and such indomitable perseverance that their work is their chief joy, and the busier they are, likewise the happier. Their pride in the growth of the community has been warranted by their efforts in its behalf. It is their ambition to continue to promote the progress of Fellows and to assist m its permanent upbuilding, so that from a commercial and social standpoint it may represent appropriately the rich oil section of which it is the center. C). C. Heck is a native of Iowa and in January of 1898 married Miss Fannie Dustin, of Selma. E. P. Heck, a native of Missouri, was united in marriage in 1904 with Miss Ada Sturgis, of Kansas. During October of 1894 the brothers came from Fort Scott, Kan., to California and settled at Selma, Fresno county, where they engaged in farming and teaming. From that place they came to Oil Center and identified themselves with the oil industry on their own account, developing the Walker-Heck Oil Company. In addi- tion they engaged in the mercantile business. Since coming to Fellows they have continued their mercantile and oil interests and have acquired oil hold- ings here and at McKittrick. Quite recently they have undertaken to de- veloD all of section 6. township 29, range 22, and have ofificiated as directors in the Eagle Creek Company, of which O. C. Heck served as vice-president at one time. W. L. CUNNINGHAM. — More of shadow than of sunshine surrounded the early years of Mr. Cunningham, who as the eldest son in a large family experienced many privations and made many sacrifices in order that the younger children might have an opportunity to secure educational advan- tages. When a mere lad he became self-supporting. However, it was not enough that he should support himself. With characteristic generosity he used his earnings to aid in the maintenance of the family, hence it has been only of recent years that he has recorded any individual progress, but it is sufficiently rapid to recompense for past delays and sacrifices. Now in the prime of manhood, he may look forward to long years of business and occu- pative activity, years that will enhance his reputation as a competent engi- neer and a successful production foreman in the oil fields. A native son of the state, Mr. Cunningham was born at Lakeport. Lake county, February 3, 1880, and was the second child and eldest son in a family numbering nine children. When yet very young he accompanied his par- ents to Fresno and there attended the public schools as opportunity offered. At the age of seventeen years, after he had been self-supporting for a con- siderable period, he secured employment in the Copper King mine in Fresno 342 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY county and there he became familiar with the work of an engineer. In this occupation he is said to be an expert. About 1908 he came to the Kern river oil field and secured work as a pumper on the Overland lease, whence in 1910 he came to the West Shore lease. Since then he has continued with the West Shore Oil Company and now is discharging the duties of foreman with characteristic fidelity and intelligence. At San Jose, on Christmas day of. 1902, he was united in marriage with Miss Georgia Johnson of that city and they have a son, Wayland. The family formerly occupied a comfort- able cottage on the company property on section 32, township 28, range 28, in the Kern river field, but now live on the home ranch south of Waits. HUGH L. McNEW, M.D.— Born October 12, 1869, Dr. McNew is the eld- est child of James H. and Olivia (Kincaid) McNew, parents of ten chil- dren. James H. is now a resident of Texas, his wife having passed away some vears ago. Reared in Cam])l)ell county, Tenn., the place of his l)irth, Hugh L. McNew became interested in the study of medicine at an early age, and after diligent and patient work was graduated from the University of Tennessee with the class of 1888. receiving the degree of B.S., after which he entered the medical department of Columbia University, at Washington. He was later, in 1892, graduated from the Nashville Medical College, with the degree of M.D., and he immediately started in to practice, choosing as his field of labor Honey Grove, Tex., where he remained for ten years. During this period he found time to take post graduate courses in 1893 in the New York Polytechnic, in 1896 at the Chicago Polytechnic, and in 1898 at the New York Postgraduate school. In Texas Dr. McNew married Miss Nannie A. Williamson, daughter (if J. M. Williamson, a merchant and cotton planter there, and they moved to Dallas, where he practiced medicine, and held the chair of physiology in the Dallas Medical College for two years. The following two years he held the chair of professorship on the practice of medicine. In 1907 he came to Nevada, and then to Los Angeles, Cal., remaining two years, when he came to Bakersfield, to make it his home, and since that time has devoted his time and attention to real estate, in which he has become highly successful. He was instrumental in the organization vi the Bakersfield Realty & Building Company, of which he is now vice president, the other officials being Joseph H. Tarn, president, N. A. McNew, secretary and treasurer, and the company has offices at No. 3 Hopkins building, where its wide interests are handled. They laid out the following additions: Santa Fe, Sunset tract and Mayflower, which ha\e nearly all been sold in lots. Individually Dr. McNew is also engaged in the real estate business in Los Angeles, having Liffices at No. 202 Mercantile Place, where he spends part of his time keeping in close touch with land values and where he has been very successful in in- creasing his record of big sales. Dr. McNew has a fine residence on Nineteenth street, where he and his wife make their home, and they move in the best social circles of the citv. He lias in\este(l largel}- in farm lands, and his interests in the countv cover a large area. C. B. COLBY. — A native of Iowa, born in Henry county October 18, 1866, Mr. Colby came west without means, but with an abundance of energy and determination and possessing a fine intelligent and well- trained mind that enabled him to lay the foundation for subsequent success. Since settling at Oakland, Cal., in the year 1899 he has witnessed the steady and interesting development of the state and has himself been a large contributor thereto, his great energy and broad intelligence having been directed toward nK)venients, not alone for his own advancement, but also for the permanent well-being of the commonwealth. While attaining large wealth, at the same time he has been a constant factor in the material HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY • 343 development of his chosen place of residence and his most recent project, the Western Water Company, already has proved of inestimable value to the oil regions, l)esides bringing to its promoters returns larger than their most optimistic lK)pes had anticipated. Long association with the oil fields convinced Air. Colby of the neces- sity of cheaper water than they had been able to secure. While acting as manager of the Columbian, AI. & S., Lorenzo and Minnehaha Oil Companies, and the IL A. ( )il & Water Company (all of which organizations were made successful through his efficient management and energetic supervision), he saw the need of a more adequate water supply for the west side oil fields. With him the first step was to see the necessity, the next step was to create an opportunity. The Western Water Company of Bakersfield was organized in April, 1911, and incorporated under the laws of the state of California. After months of strenuous activity they began to deliver water to customers December 18, 1911, and since then the demand for water has been twice what its promoters anticipated, although no more than they are prepared to supply. Exclusive of the office force, the company now employs twenty men. Having a private telephone system of its own, the officers and workmen can ci mmunicate with every plant in the system. Every modern facility has been adopted that will promote the success of the organization. Capitalized at $200,000, the company has two hundred shares at $1,000 each, and as the stock is almost wholly taken in Bakersfield, it is strictly a local enterprise. Water is drawn from two deep wells, affording an unlimited supply of pure drinking water, used for domestic purposes and for the oil regi^^ns at Midway, Taft, Fellows and Maricopa. At the time the company began to pump water the oil fields were paying at the rate of ten to twenty cents per barrel, but this company is now supplying water to the same fields at about three cents a barrel. It is stated that $600,0C0 was expended on the water system to Taft from the district around Rio Bravo, fourteen miles. W^ater is distributed to all parts of the district through fourteen miles of twelve-inch line and forty-two miles of eight and six-inch line. Two five hundred-foot wells are pumped at station No. 1, where three two hundred and fifty horse- power gas engines are installed. Large high-pressure pumps force the water to Taft, where the Consumers' Water Company (which recently took over the Taft Public Utilities' Company's holdings of five miles of city lines) delivers the water for domestic use at a price of from four and one-half cents to nine cents per barrel. The W^estern Water Company is now handling forty thousand barrels a day, the capacity of its lines, and at a reduced price of from three cents to one and three-fourths cents on a sliding scale to the oil companies, a reduction of fifty per cent over what it was six months ago to operators and the cities. The engines of this company are run by steam at Taft and the boilers are fired by natural gas, the large gas engines at their station No. 1 being operated by gas supplied by the California Nat- ural Gas Company. The four pumps (one electric and three steam) are driven by six one hundred-horse power boilers. On the highest point of the neighborhood the company has installed a steel tank with a capacity of fifty- five thousand barrels and this tank is utilized to conserve the surplus water pumped. From Taft the distributing system" runs twelve and one-half miles north and west and twelve miles south and east. The entire cost of the plant approximated $600,000. but enormous as was the outlay, the company is in a very prosperous financial condition and its shares of stock represent a safe and profitable investment, all of which satisfactory result may be attributed to the wise management of the company's president, C. B. Colby, admittedly one of the most talented business men of Bakersfield, a promoter of ability, a financier whose insight rises almost to genius and a leader who combines 344 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY a conservative spirit with progressive ])olicies. Realizing" the vast resources of Kern county, he has not hesitated to promote local movements when once their need is apparent and tlieir pt;ssible success made manifest. In every respect he ranks among the most influential, energetic and capable l)usiness leaders of Rakersfield. Early in 1912 he completed one of the most costly and elegant residences in r>akersfield and here he and his wife, daughter, Patricia, and son. Charles Bertram, jr.. have established a home whose refinement and hospitality has attracted a host of admiring friends. Mrs. Colby, prior to their marriage in 1907, was Miss F"lorence Xelson, of Bakersfield. KATHARYN W. ELLIS, M. D.— W^hen in 1890 she was graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery it was with the highest honors of the class, her expenses at the institution being partially defrayed by her services as a school teacher. Wider professional knowledge came to her through a post-graduate course at the Women's Medical College of Cin- cinnati and the degree of M. D. also was conferred upon her by that well- known institution in 1893. A member of the old Wadsworth family of New England, Dr. Ellis traces her ancestry to the illustrious Captain Wadsworth of Hartford, who in Oc- tober, 1687, upon the appearance of Andros in Hartford at the head of a troop of soldiers demanding the surrender of the Connecticut charter, allowed the debate to continue until evening, then ordered all of the candles suddenly ex- tinguished and in the subsequent confusion seized the charter from its box and hid it in a hollow oak on the grounds of Samuel Wyllys, one of the magistrates. Always afterward the tree was known in history as the charter oak. Some years later when Governor Fletcher, of New York, appointed to his office by King William and Queen Mary, attempted to usurp authority in Connecticut and appeared in person at Hartford with his troops for the purpose of reading his instructions, Captain Wadsworth commanded his troops to drum so loudly that the voice of the reader was completely lost in the tumult of noise, so that Fletcher was forced to retreat without having carried out his plan of usurpation. The parents of Dr. Ellis are Henry and Statira (Goshorn) Wadsworth, natives respectively of Pittsburg, Pa., and Youngstown, Ohio, and now re- siding on their country estate near Falmouth, Pendleton county, Ky. During early manhood Mr. Wadsworth engaged in manufacturing enterprises, but later he turned his attention to farming and settled on a plantation near Gardnersville, Ky., where occurred the birth of his daughter, Katharyn W. the eldest of six children. From early life she displayed exceptional ability and a great desire for knowledge. At the age of sixteen she was graduated from the high school and at eighteen completed the studies of the scientific course at the Central Normal College at Danville, Ind. A portion of each year was then devoted to teaching school in order to add to the funds neces- sary for a professional education. Upon her graduation in medicine she opened an office at Covington, Ky., and while engaged in practice there she became the wife of James F. Ellis, an attorney-at-law. Afterward she built up an important practice at Butler, Ky., and later spent three years at Evan- ston, Wyo., where her clientele included patients for miles in every direction, the conduct of so large a practice entailing many physical hardships, yet bringing rich returns in the satisfaction of realizing a helpful service to hu- manity. During 1901 she came to Kern, now East Bakersfield, and opened an office on Baker street, where since she has conducted a general practice in medicine and surgery. Hbr only child, Leland Wadsworth Ellis, graduated from the Kern county high school, class of 1913, at the age of sixteen. Since coming to her present location she has identified herself with the Kern County and the California State Medical Associations and has acted as med- ical examiner for the women's auxiliary of the Foresters and the Ladies of f HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 347 the Maccabees. In religion she is a member of the Christian Church. Po- litically she supports Republican principles. In addition to having- acquired valuable property in East Bakersfield she has invested elsewhere in Cali- fornia, her chief investment comprising an orange grove of fifty acres at Portersville, a property of great and growing horticultural importance. WILLIAM N. CUDDEBACK.— The early colonization of America at- tracted from all parts nf the world men and women of resolute spirit and energetic temperament. The nation was still in the infancy of its historv when the Cudaback family crossed the ocean from Holland -and established themselves among the Dutch residents of Manhattan island. Some of the name (which it may be noted was spelled differently at that period from the present form) became early settlers of Orange county on the Hudson and there founded a village which to this day bears the name of Cudde- backville. In the family of Peter Cuddeback of Cuddebackville, N. Y., there was a son, Grant Price, who was put to service as a tow boy on the Erie canal on boats owned by the earlier-day Vanderbilts, but finding the work diffi- cult and illy-paid he ran away to seek his fortune in the then unknown west, of whose mysterious solitudes he long had dreamed with the hopeful visions of youth. The path to success proved a toilsome road. Many adventures befell him ere finally he had found his way to the Pacific coast. During the memorable year of 1849 he arrived in Kern county and took up land north of Tehachapi. developing the ranch now known as the old Hale place, besides which he improved a large ranch near the old Lake farm east of Tehachapi. Throughout the Tehachapi valley he was known as a warm friend of the Indians. Their interests were ever safe in his care. With wise counsel he directed many of their undertakings and they came to hold him with affectionate regard. By an Indian ceremony he was made a brother of Chief Phillipe, an adopted relationship that by the terms of the ceremony descended to his sons and daughters and to their descendants forever. Eventually he removed to Orange county and acquired one of the oldest orange groves in that locality, where his interests became very im- portant and extensive. During L^bruary of 1905 death removed him from the sphere of his usefulness and terminated the activities that had crowned an honorable existence. In his marriage Grant Price Cuddeback w'as united with Almira Hale, a niece of President Franklin Pierce and a descendant of Nathan Hale, the Revolutionary martyr, also connected by family ties with the two presidents, William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison. There were five sons and three daughters in the family of Grant Price Cuddeback. None of these had college educations, for the western schools of their childhood were poorly e(iuipi)ed and inefificiently instructed. William N., who was born in San l>ernardino county Alarch 13, 1861, attended the Los Angeles schools for a time, but his present broad fund of information comes from self-culture and habits of close observation. When a babe in arms he was brought into the Tehachapi region, Kern county, l-'or many years he and his younger brother, John P., were associated together as ranchers and cattlemen. When only thirteen years of age he began to be a wage-earner, starting at fiftv cents a flay, and working up until he earned $1.50 a day and therefore, aside from what his father left to him, he has become wealthy in his own right, nor has his brother been less successful. Their partnership was dissolved in July of 1908, at which time W^illiam N. bought the famous old Norboe Salt Lake 1 ".:^ch of thirty-two hundred acres, five miles east of Tehachapi. For a number of years he kept his herd of cattle on that ranch and also raised grain there in large quantities, besides shipping thousands of tons of salt from the lake. Some years ago the city of Los Angeles bought the greater 348 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY part of this ranch as a site fur a ceiiK-nt ])lant, the lake havinti- proved to possess a bed of purest clay, excei)ti<)nall_v valuable for the making of cement. Me used to graze his cattle in San Bernardino county and Cuddeback lake was named for him. With the opening and early development of the Imperial valley Mr. Cuddeback, who had watched the vast enterprise with the deepest interest from its inauguration, purchased land which has been devoted to alfalfa, hog-raising and a dairy industry. The ranch proved a very profitable in- vestment and was sold at a high figure. A few years later he bought from Hon. Fred J<:aton, former mayor of Los Angeles, an alfalfa and hog ranch in Inyo county. He still manages two hundred and eighty acres of it with gratifving success, raising and feeding stock. During 1910 he became inter- ested ni the S. W'atkins Live Stock Auctioneering Company and the old Ivashion stables in Los Angeles, at the time buying an elegant city residence in the southwest district, where the family spend the winter months, return- ing for the summers to their residence in Tehachapi. Lately Mr. Cuddeback purchased five hundred and eighty acres of land in Palos Verdes valley. Riverside county, which he is developing into a large alfalfa farm. For about twenty-five years he ran a meat market in Tehachapi. but he now rents it. Fraternally Mr. Cuddeback is a member of Tehacha!)i Lodge No. 313. F. & A. AL. in which he has held a number of offices. In politics he and his sons are stanch Republicans. May 10. 1883. he married Miriam Jane Chitwood. a native of Sonoma county and a daughter of Russell and Frances (Hubbard) Chitwood. of the Tehachapi valley, and a niece of the famous superior C( urt judge, Hon. James E. Prewett. of Auburn, this state. Their family comprises eight children, all living, as follows: Cate M.. Mrs. Bone- shell, of Orange, Cal. ; Delia, wife of A. J. Blackley. of Alhambra ; Samuel G.. who married Elizabeth Erbel. of Inyo county; Margie, who married Arthur Weldon. of Tehachapi ; Bertha. Mrs. Victor Phillips, of Monolith ; Ruth, wife of A\''ils; n Easley. of Hayden. Ariz.; and Charles and Murray, who make their home with their parents. A. D. FORBES. — The allied companies knovvn as the American Oil- fields, Limited, and the Midland Oilfields, Limited, operating respectively on section 32, 32-24, and section 32, 12-23, have as their assistant superintendent A. D. Forbes, one of the capable young men to ascend to an important place in the Sunset-Midway fields, having made good in a comparatively brief period of identification with the industry. Rapid promotion has resulted from the exercise of industry, intelligence, energy and perseverance. Prac- tical experience in almost every department of work gives him a thorough knowledge of the oil business and qualifies him for still further advancement. While his work has been mainly confined to California districts, he has been outside of the state and has worked in connection with the drilling of wells for water and oil in Oregon not far from the city of Portland. To a large extent his life has been passed in California, but he was born in Nova Scotia at Truro, March 26, 1885. The earliest memories of life cluster around the Pacific coast country, for in 1887 his father, J. F. Forbes, brought the family to California, settling in Ventura county. Removal was made to Coalinga during 1891 and in 1906 he established himself at Orcutt, w^here he is now postmaster and an influential citizen. The eldest of four children, all of whom remain in California, A. D. Forbes was educated in the public schools of Coalinga and in 1900 at the age of fifteen years he went to Bakersfield, from there proceeding to the Kern river oil field. For a year he worked as a pumper on the Kern RLer Oil Company's lease. From 1901 to 1903 he was employed at Fullerton. Return- ing to Coalinga. he found work in the oil fields there. June 27, 1907, he left Coalinga for Portland to take up the work of drilling water and oil wells. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 349 The drilling for oil was in the nature of a wild-cat proposition. During 1910 he returned to California and later worked in various districts until June of 1912, when he first became associated with the American and Midland Oil- fields, Limited, which companies promoted him to be assistant superintendent July 20, 1913, by this promotion recognizing his efficiency and his ability to aid in the management of the two important leases controlled by the concerns. While giving his attention very closely to the arduous duties on the leases, he has found leisure to identify himself with the other oil operators in the field, has become popular among his co-workers and also has been active in Maricopa Lodge No. 831, Loyal Order of Moose. GEORGE H. TODD.— In 1909 Mr. Todd came to California . and began to be interested in oil production and oil-well supplies. A member of an old Missouri family, he was born in St. Joe, February 14, 1876, and is a son of John H. and Martha (Frazier) Todd, natives of Missouri. The latter is deceased, but the former, hale and vigorous at the age of eighty- two, still makes St. Jue his home. The family numbered four children who attained maturity, namely: B. O., an electrician in Oklahoma; William M., a farmer at Savannah, near St. Joe, j\Io. ; George H., of California; and Nora, who married George W. Carter, an electrician, and at her death left one child, I. D. Carter. During the winters George H. Todd attended school in St. Joe, while in summer he helped his father, who was proprietor of a mercantile establishment. After he had graduated from the St. Joe high school with the class of 1892 he took a course of normal study in a branch of the Kirksville (Mo.) Normal. From 1893 until 1904 he engaged in teach- ing school in Missouri and established a splendid record for efficienc}^ in instruction and discipline. Both in Andrew and Buchanan counties he is still remembered with affection by former pupils and old-time friends. Engaging in the United States Indian school service in 1904, Mr. Todd continued in the employ of the government until 1909. For two years of this period he taught in the Grand Portage (Minn.) Indian reservation and for one year he acted as disciplinarian at the Crow agency in Crow, Alont., after which for one year he was principal of the Northern Cheyenne train- ing school at Rosebud, Mont. The last year of Indian educational work was spent in Kansas as a teacher in the Kickapoo training school at lior- ton. Coming to Los Angeles in 1909, he soon became cost clerk for the Los Angeles Manufacturing Company. In their interests he came to Kern county, where he took charge of the Maricopa branch, later was trans- ferred to Taft, where he is now a member of the Petroleum Club and one of the best-known men in the oil circles of the west side. While still living in Missouri he was married, at St. Joe in 1901, to Miss Maude F. Roberts, daughter of J. P. Roberts, president of the Rea Banking Company of Rea, Andrew county, that state. Since coming to Taft Mr. Todd and his wife have established a comfortable heme in the company's residence and he has identified himself with the town as a public-spirited citizen and pro- gressive business man. In his busy life there has not been much leisure for political or fraternal activities, but he is well posted in national problems, supports Democratic principles, and while still making his home in Mis- souri took an active part m the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, be- longing to the lodge at Whitesville, Andrew county. F. F. HILL.— While much of the life of Mr. Hill has been lived in Cali- fornia, he is a native of Kansas City, AIo. (born January 5, 1876), and from 1878 to 1889 was on a cattle ranch near Bozeman, Mont., his father being both a merchant and a stock-raiser in Montana, but now a resident of Los Angeles. Coming to California in 1889 and settling at Santa Paula, Ventura county, he became a warehouse boy with the Union Oil Company when he was eighteen years of age, and from that time to the present he has been with 350 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the same corporation, with the exception of two years devoted to drilling and development work for himself at Newhall and for various companies in the Los Angeles and Santa Paula fields. It has been his privilege to witness the development of the Union Oil Company of California from a modest be- ginning to its present vast influence and enormous holdings, and with sat- isfaction he may view his own association with the concern, for which he worked in various capacities, including tool-dressing and drilling. Recogni- tion of his ability and faithfulness came in 1903 with his promotion to be field superintendent and from that in 1912 he was assigned to the place of superintendent of development, since which time he has had his oflfice in the Union Oil Company's building in Los Angeles and has had charge of all development work in the California fields, viz.: Fullerton, Lompoc, Santa Maria, Ventura county, Coalinga, Lost Hills, McKittrick, Midway, Maricopa, Sunset and the Kern river oil fields. His home is in Los Angeles, where he has erected and now occupies a residence at No. 709 South Hope street, and his family consists of his wife (formerly Miss Blanche Pitt, of Los Angelesj and their two children, Wayne and Wanda F. Hill. EUGENE B. DUNCAN. — Among the bright and active young business men of Bakersfield whose splendid energy and modern methods have con- tributed not a little to the rapid development of the community is Eugene B. Duncan, who is now filling the responsible position of assistant cashier in the Security Trust Co. Bank of Bakersfield. The son of M. A. and Emma (Lehman) Duncan, he was born October 9, 1878, in Quincy, Adams county. 111., where he was reared and educated. Taking a business course at Gem City College in order to further his business knowledge he was gradu- ated therefrom and in March, 1899, came to Bakersfield to make his home. From that year to 1904 he worked with Sam Wible in the laundry business, filling the position of office foreman. In 1904 he took a position in the water department of the Kern County Land Co., and remained as one of their most trusted employes for seven years. Since the time of the organ- ization of the Security Trust Co., on March 1, 1911, Mr. Duncan has been connected with it, being a stockholder in the company and now ably filling the position of assistant cashier. He is also director in the First Bank of Kern and has been actively identified with the financial business world of his community in the last few years. In October, 1909, Mr. Duncan was married to Miss Caroline K. Duncan of Quincy, 111., and they now make their home at No. 829 D street, where they have a beautiful and comfortable cottage. Mr. Duncan has a creditable military record, having served six years (1906-1911) as commanding officer of Company L, State Militia National Guard, being commissioned captain. ALFRED RUPP. — It was as a driller that Mr. Rupp first became asso- ciated with Kern county. On New Year's day of 1900, when for the first time he came to Bakersfield and from here rode across the country to the Kern river fields, he found only six derricks in that entire district. The rapid development of the oil industry he witnessed with interest. As superintendent for the Dolton & Fuller Company he engaged extensively in drilling in this field and shortly after his arrival, becoming a partner in the company, he took contracts for drilling throughout all of the district, spending a little more than two years in the work in Kern county. Later he became superintendent lor S. Pierson & Son and, acting in their interests, he conveyed an oil rig to Mexico and put down the first two wells in the state of Vera Cruz. After a year in that part of Mexico he returned to Bakersfield, where he has since made his home. Born near Pitston, Luzerne county, Pa., December 17, 1870, Alfred Rupp accompanied his parents to Kansas at the age of seven years and settled with HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 353 them on a frontier homestead in Hodgeman county, far from the railroad and remote from other homesteaders. The isolaticjn oi the family and tlie incessant labor necessary to the improvement of the land prevented him from ha\-in^- any special educational advantages, although he was sent to school whenever possible. The most of his time in boyhood was devoted to the till- ing of the soil and the care of the stock. At the age of twenty years he started out to make his own way in the world, going first to Colorado and later to Utah, where he worked at any occupation that ofifered a source of income. Returning to visit the family in Kansas, he there came to a deter- mination to locate in California and the spring of 1894 found him a new- comer in Los Angeles, where he found employment and remained for several years. h>om that city he went to Summerland. .Santa l>arbara county. There he first became interested in the C)il industrv and learned to be an expert driller. After three years in the oil business in that field he came to the Kern river field shortly after its first opening and here he experienced the hardships and successes incident to the industry. Since leaving this line of work he has been proprietor of the Midland hotel on Nineteenth street, Bakersfield. In addition he has mining interests in the Rreckenridge mountains, where he and his partner, Arthur W'orthington, owm a number of valuable claims and have erected machinery at their jirincipal mine, called the Crystal and Hercules, situated thirty-two miles northeast of Bakersfield. Mr. RuiDp was married in San Diego to Miss Nora Forest, a native of Kansas. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Eagles. JOHN PRICE CUDDEBACK.— A family long known and honored throughout Kern county, particularly in the Tehachapi valley, has lost none of its prestige through the forceful business career of John P. Cuddeback, whose splendid energies and dauntless courage have enabled him to amass an inde- pendent fortune. He was born in this picturesque valley September 18, 1865, the son of Grant P. and Almira (Hale) Cuddeback, who came across the plains with their respective families in 1849, and were married in El Monte. Later they became the second permanent family to settle in the Tehachapi valley, where the elder Cuddeback followed cattle raising. He was also interested in mining in the Panamint mountains, being associated in this enterprise with John Narbo and Moses Hale, but the Indians proved so menacing that they were forced to leave the locality. What is now the site of Goler ajid Randsburg was the scene of their mining attempt. The following children comprised the parental family : Clinton ; Celestia, Mrs. E. A. Honey ; Bertha, Mrs. Chappel, now deceased; George G. ; William N.; Mary, Mrs. Powell, deceased ; John Price ; David A. ; Ernest and Alonzo, the last two mentioned also deceased. The mother of these children passed away in Los Angeles in 1872, while the father died in Orange about 1902. In the valley where he was born, John P. Cuddeback still retains important property interests and worthily upholds a name as highly honored as it is widely known. It would, however, be doing an injustice to his rare talents and attractive personality to limit the influence of his life to any one county, for almost any portion of Southern California has been benefited by the fine business abilities of himself and brothers. He and his brother. Will N., have worked together from boyhood harmoniously and successfully. When John Price was about ten and Will N. about thirteen, their brother George sent them to deliver to a neighbor a bunch of grape-cuttings, stating that they should ask $10, but be willing to take $7.50. The boy of ten was so eager to sell that he promptly exclaimed : "^^'e want $10, but will take $7.50." Needless to say that they received $7.50. The incident, which greatly amused the entire family, taught the child a lesson of self-reliance, and in later years, when planning his own operations, he learned to keep his prices to himself. Though 354 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY educational achantaqes were limited, John P. Cuddeback ccintinued to add to his store of knowledge whenever he could be spared from work, and his dili- gence and application have made him a man of broad education. The same penetration and readiness to learn exhibited in his youth are still shown in every phase of commercial, industrial, social, and educaticmal development that comes before his notice. Such is his fondness for his old birth-place that when the opportunity arose he purchased his father's old homestead which is now included in his large ranch. Although once and always a cattle man and rancher, hav- ing added section after section until today he is among the largest individual land owners and cattle growers ni Kern county, it must not be understood that his activities have been limited to land and cattle. For many years he and his brother, Will N., were engaged in the butcher business in Tehachapi, and were also pioneer business men of Randsburg, when that camp was started. Many years before the placer mines at Goler and the ledge of the Yellow Aster were discovered, the Cuddeback brothers ranged their cattle over the region. It was necessary for them to dig wells at ditterent places and put up windmills and horsepower pumps that their cattle might have watering-places. Ihey were fortunate in tinding water within twelve feet of the surface in places, thus demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining on the desert that which meant so much not only to themselves, but also to other cattle men for utilizing the abundance of dry feed. When they tirst began occupying that range, Jfanamint Tom still held sway and was the leader of the Panamint Indians. Ihese frequently came to the brothers' camp, where they were fed and treated like the friendly Indians they had become. Ihis was a good illustration of the change that had of necessity come to poor Lo since the time he had driven the elder Cuddeback and his companions out of the country. As the brothers were pioneers of that region, Cuddeback Lake, to the east ot Randsburg, was named in their honor. After the dissolution of the partnership, John P. formed a real-estate partnership in Los Angeles with Charles L. Cooper, whose daughter, Miss Ethel, who was born in Ventura, he married May 6, 1907. At Manvel, in the Searchlight district in San Bernardino county, he carried on the largest cattle ranch in the county, having as partners George Briggs and Dan Murphy of Needles. More recently he has associated himself with Lawrence B. Burke in the purchase of the Sacramento ranch of fifty thousand acres near Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo county, to the management of which he devotes the greater part of his time, and in so doing he is carrying out his pet project in breeding and raising Shorthorn and Hereford cattle and saddle horses. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. John P. Cuddeback three children were born, Virginia Ethelwyn, Alzada Brooks, and John P., Jr. During the win- ters the family make their residence in San Gabriel, and the summers are spent at the country home on the ranch in the Tehachapi valley, where Mr. Cudde- back enjoys the refinements and luxuries rendered possible by his brilliant business career. In early youth he became identified with the Knights of Pythias at Tehachapi, and he still retains his membership in the order, besides being a member of the San Gabriel Country Club. When it is remembered that he started out to earn a livelihood at an early age without the aid of financial friends to assist him, his remarkable success in business and the position of influence to which he has risen prove the truth of the old adage to the eff^ect that "What man wills to be he can be." Still in the prime of life, with many possible years of continued usefulness before him, already he has attained a commercial prestige and landed authority reached l\v few in long lives of capable endeavor. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 355 HARRY A. HOPKINS.— Cpon tlie incorporation of tlic Taft Tee De- livery Company, January 3, 1913, twenty-tive thousand sliares oi stock were sold at par value of $1 each and these were bought by al)out thirty stock- holders, all residents of this community. The officers and directors are: W. S. Lierly, president; S. J. Dunhip, vice-president; H. A. Ho])kins, secre- tary-treasurer; A. I. Scott, A. B. Green, E. A. Henderson and F. \\\ O'Brien. Regarding the personal history of Mr. Hopkins, it may be stated that he represents a family identified with America ever since the landing of the Mayflower. His father, A. A. Hopkins, a native of Springfield, 111., and now a resident of Los Angeles, is a relative of Hon. H. A. Hopkins, of Aurora, 111. Himself a contractor and builder, he is w^ell known in Taft, where he built eight houses and a large proportion of the business buildings in the town. Ba^ his marriage to Elizabeth Shrader, who was born in Detroit. Mich., of German ancestry, he had a family of four sons, namely: Albert J., who died unmarried in 1903 at the age of thirty-one years; Benjamin P., pro- prietor of The Apparel Shop on Third and Hill streets, Los Angeles, and also owner of The Colton People's Store at Colton, this state; Harry A., of Taft, and Ray R., proprietor of the Puritas Tea and Coffee Company on Los Angeles street, between Third and Fourth streets, Los Angeles. The third son, Harry A., was born at Ogden, Utah, March 28, 1882, and was six years of age when the family settled in San Diego, Cal., only to remove thence in a short time to Los Angeles. In 1903 he w^as graduated from the Commercial high school of Los Angeles. Long before this, however, he had been earning his own livelihood. When only thirteen he had begun to learn the trade of printer. After school and on the Saturday vacation he learned to feed the press and to set type in the composing room of the American Typefounders" Company. For a time he w^orked in the printing department of the Los Angeles Daily Times and he also was with the Los Angeles Herald, earning in that way the money necessary for his high school course. While with George Rice & Son, printers of the magazine supplement of the Los Angeles Herald, Mr. Hopkins was accustomed to go to work imme- diately after leaving school at three o'clock on Friday afternoon and he con- tinued uninterruptedly at work until midnight Saturday. Notwithstanding this long period of constant work without rest or sleep, he was able to resume his studies on Monday and at the time he completed the high school course he was earning $18 per w^eek. After his graduation he secured employment as a bookkeeper. For a time he engaged as tracing clerk and stenographer with the Santa Fe Railroad Company in Los Angeles. Later he worked for the Wilmington Transportation Company at San Pedro. In the interests of the Easton-Eldridge Company he engaged in selling acreage in the Hemet valley of Riverside county, after which he became an employe of the Barber Asphalt Paving Company of Los Angeles. Arriving at McKittrick, July 10, 1904, Mr. Hopkins assumed charge of the Midway office of the Chanslor-Canfield Midway Oil Company. The present site of Taft then showed nothing but sage brush and jack rabbits. Water was hauled from Lake Buena Vista and cost $8 per barrel. During 1906 he spent seven months in the Indian Territory and engaged in drilling a number of wells as a partner of Cremins Brothers. Upon his return to Mc- Kittrick he took charge of the National Supply Company, with whom he continued for eighteen months. Later he was placed in charge of the Kern county business of the J. F. Lucey Company, with offices in the Producers' Bank building, Bakersfield. Meanwhile he had been interested in the land around the present town of Taft. Close inspection had convinced him that the place offered favorable openings for great oil development. Upon re- signing his position in Bakersfield he came to the present site of Taft, where he opened the first general mercantile store and was commissioned post- 356 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY master, in July, 1909. uiuler President Taft. The new town had been o^iven the name of Moro. On account of there being a Wells-Fargo express office in San Luis Obispo county known by the name of Moro, considerable confu- sion resulted. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company, hoping to end the confusion of names, added an "n" to the word, making it Moron, but there being a post office of that name in Colorado the government objected, nor did the name satisfy the people. The question of another change of name was then agitated. Postmaster Hopkins then met Postmaster 1\. .\. Edmonds of LJakersfield and discussed the matter. The office desk of Mr. Kdmonds was graced b\ a ])icture of President Taft. Hai)pening to glance at it, Mr. Hopkins immediately exclaimed : ''Name it Taft," which suggestion was seconded heartily by Air. Edmonds. These are the real facts connected with the naming of the now celebrated oil town. Jn the great fire Mr. Hopkins, carrying only an insurance of thirty per cent, lost about $12,000 and the date of the conflagration, October 22, 1909, reinains therefore indelibly impressed ujion his mind as a time of the deepest discouragement. However, with characteristic courage he set himself reso- lutelv to the task of recouping his losses. After the fire the Southern Pacific notified the business men that they must move to the north side of the track. There was some protest to the move. Some of the business men accepted the ofifer of J. W. Jameson and went on his tract south of the tracks, but a majority moved to the north side, where they could own property for them- selves. In September of 1910 the buildings on the south side were destroyed by fire and this put an end to efforts for the upbuilding of that section. After three months in the real-estate and oil-land business, Mr. Hopkins put up a building on the corner of Fourth and Center streets on the north side. The block is now occupied by the Mission Drug Company and other establishments. His next move was the starting of the Taft Public Utilities Company, a concern formed for the purpose of supplying water, which was shipped in tank cars from Kern, pumped into two tanks with a capacity of tw^elve hundred barrels and then distributed among consumers in Taft. Upon the organization of the company in October, 1910, J. P. Dooly was elected president, and Harry A. Hopkins secretary and manager. February 1, 1912, the company sold out to the Consumers' Water Company, which is still in existence. Returning to the real-estate business. Mi. Hopkins handled acre- age in Mono county and became interested in an irrigation project in that county, retaining indeed at the present time considerable stock in the Mono Home and Canal Company. During December of 1912 he inaugurated a movement looking toward supplying the people of Taft with ice. The fol- lowing month the company was incorporated. Since then it has rapidly de- veloped into one of the leading business enterprises of the place. In addi- tion to being the first postmaster of Taft, he has served as a city trustee since November, 1910, and has been identified with civic affairs to an important extent. As a Republican he has been influential in the political life of the community. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Bakersfield and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Los Angeles. His family comprises two children, Zuva Belle and Harry A., Jr., and his wife, whom he married in Riverside, this state, and who was Miss Zuva Tyler, daughter of William Tyler, a sergeant on the i)olice force of I>os Angeles. CHARLES DRADER.— h>om the earliest recollections of childhood to the intelligent efforts of maturity Mr. Drader has been associated with the oil industry and thus has become familiar with every phase of the business. Even the name of his native village in the western part of the province of Ontario suggests his occupation, for he is a native of Petrolia, a well-known town in the oil fields of Canada, where his father, the late Ernest Drader, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 359 who died November 19, 1912, was one of the leading pioneers and owned extensive interests. In a home in the midst of such an environment his birth occurred' March 22, 1874, and there he passed the uneventful years of youth. Under the keen oversight of his father he was taught every branch of the work and thus developed a judgment not always seen in young men of his years. It was this judgment and accuracy of discrimination that led a prominent English corporation to engage his services in the capacity of manager of their company, known as the Canadian Oil Fields, Limited, and he continued to fill the position with conspicuous energy and fidelity until the property was sold to other parties. Leaving his old Canadian home to inspect other oil districts, Mr. Drad'er visited Mexico and engaged in the industry at Tampico for a brief period, dating from December of 1910. While the oil in Canada has a parafifine base, he soon found that the Tampico oil has an asphalt base and the two therefore differed in mode of operation and in by-products. The work in Mexico he found as intensely interesting as that of Canada, but the enervat- ing climate proved unhealthful and he came to the Kern river oil fields, where since April 1, 1912, he has ably served as superintendent of the Kern River Oil Fields of California, Limited. On coming to this district he brought with him his wife, who was formerly Miss Margaret Parker of Petrolia, Canada, and their two children, Lorna M., born in 1900, and Ernest O., born in 1906. The Kern River Oil Fields of California, Limited, was bought in 1910 by a group of capitalists, mainly residents of London, England, and the new corporation engaged the services of Ernest V. Benjamin and W. W. Orcutt as members of the management committee, and subsequently em- ployed Mr. Drader in the capacity of superintendent. The company was incorporated in London with a capital stock of $6,000,000, of which all but $1,000,000 has been paid in. Their holdings are very large and valu- able, including six hundred and forty acres comprising section 33, town- ship 28, range 28; all of section 1, township 29, range 28; four hundred and eighty acres on section 25, township 28, range 27; three hundred and seventy acres on section 19, township 28, range 28; also lands in the Santa Maria and other fields. GUSTAVUS SCHAMBLIN.— The possibilities which Bakersfield offers to men of ability and integrity appear in the successful business career of "Gns" Schamblin, president and general manager of the Piuneer Mercantile Company, president and a director of the Barker Investment Company, vice- president and a director of the Successus Oil Company operating in the Mc- Kittrick field, and secretary and a director of the Mannel-Minor Petroleum Company operating a tract of two hundred acres on Bellridge front. The growth of the Pioneer Mercantile Company has been little short of remark- able and indicates the business qualifications of its promoter. When he opened the business in 1899 he rented a building, 12x14 in dimensions, on Chester avenue between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets. Soon he was forced to seek larger quarters. His next location was on the corner of Twentieth and I streets. h>om there he soon moved to a larger place on Nineteenth between H and I streets. Forced to secure still larger quarters, in 1905 he secured space t)n I street between Nineteenth and Twentieth, double the size of his original space, the building being 66x80 feet in dimensions, with a basement 66x200 for storage purposes. Having again outgrown his (|uar- ters Mr. Schamblin found it necessary to secure larger space, and in March, 1913, concluded the lease of a new concrete building on the corner of Twen- tieth and I streets. Here he has the entire basement, first floor and mez- zanine floor, the building covering a floor space 72x116 feet, and being equipped with every modern convenience and elevator service. 360 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Born at Waldenburg, Switzerland. August 30, 1855, Mr. Schamblin and •his sister, Mrs. Selina Tschude, now of Waldenburg. were the only children of the late Mathias and Eliza (Schneider) Schamblin, lifelong residents of that part of Switzerland, where for thirty-five years before his death the father served by continuous re-election as county clerk of Waldenburg. The ojily son was educated in the local high school and gymnasium and after graduating at the age of eighteen began an apprenticeship in a large watch factory at Waldenburg, but later he studied bookkeeping and business corre- spondence in German and French. Coming to the United States in 1877 he spent a year in New York City and there enlisted as a private in Company B, Twentieth United States Infantry. With his command he spent two years at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory. From there he was transferred v/ith his regiment to Fort Assinniboine, Mont., where he was detailed as adju- tant's clerk with the rank and commission of sergeant. In 1883 he was hon- orably discharged from the army. From the fort in Montana he came to California and secured employment on the bay at San Francisco. The year 1886 found him a newcomer in Bakersfield, where for a number of years he filled clerical positions. During 1892 he entered the employ of the Kern County Land Company as warehouse man in the Sumner warehouse. The faithful discharge of duties led to his promotion to be foreman of that warehouse, from which he was raised to the position of superintendent of all the company's warehouses in the county. Resigning from the empky of the Kern County Land Company in 1899, he embarked in business for himself in a small room, then and there laying the foundation of the now prosper- ous Pioneer Mercantile Company, which he incorporated in 1911 with a cap- ital stock of $150,000. The ccmpany now ranks among the largest and most successful of the kind in the county. Mr. Schamblin is interested in the First National Bank of Bakersfield, and since its organization has been a stockholder in the Security Trust Company. The marriage of Mr. Schamblin and Miss Florence Smith, a native of Hollister, this state, was solemnized in Bakersfield and has been blessed with four children, Frank, Charles, Flora and Leo. The Merchants' Association numbers Mr. Schamblin among its leading meml)ers. Formerly he served as a member of the executive committee of the Bakersfield Board of Trade and he still maintains a warm interest in the welfare of that organization. Politi- cally he votes with the Republican party. For some years he has been identified with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. Whde serving with the army in the Indian Territory he was made a Mason in Alpha Lodge No. 12 at Fort Gibson. Since coming to this city he has transferred his member- ship to Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M.. l)esides which he is con- nected with Kern Valley Chapter No. 75, R. A. 'M., Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., in his home city, and Al Malaikah Temple, N. M. S.. of Los Angeles, as well as Los Angeles Consistory No. 3, Scottish Rite. WILLIAM S. BOGGS. — The genealogy of the Boggs family in America begins with the arrival of six brothers from Scotland and their subsequent settlement in Maryland, Alabama, Illinois and Missouri. The first of the name to establish himself and family in California was Hon. Lilburn W. Boggs. ex-Governor of Missouri, who shortly after the expiration of his term in the gubernatorial chair determined to identify his future interests with the development of the then unknown west. As chief executive of Missouri he had witnessed many stormy scenes and often had been in great personal danger, the principal cause of the trouble having been the colonization of Mormons in the state after they had been driven from Hancock county. 111., where they had erected a temple at Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi. Not being desired in Missouri, they were notified to leave and apparently obeyed orders, but soon returned. Then it became necessary to use force HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 361 in driving them from the state. In the skirmish Lieutenant-Governor Sterling Price was killed. In the excitement and turmoil that followed the governor was shot while seated in his office in the Missouri state capital. The wound, although painful, did not provt- dangerous and he had fully recovered before he started for the west. Aft^^r his arrival at Petaluma Mission, Sonoma county, he served as alcalde nf the northern district of California and en- gaged in merchandising at Soi--oma, then the county-seat of Sonoma county. His death occurred in 1863. After the death of his first wife, who was a Miss Dent, he had married Miss Panthia G. Boone of Missouri, a daughter of Jesse Boone and granddaughter of Daniel Boone, the famous Indian fighter, whose name is indissolubly associated with the history of both Ken- tucky and Missouri. Among the children of Governor Boggs there was a son, William M., a native of Jackson county. Mo., who inherited the love of adventure and the fearlessness characteristic of his ancestors. Intrepedity of nature led him to the plains when only thirteen years of age. While acting as a guide and helper to Kit Carson he learned the different tribal languages of the Indians, gained a thorough knowledge of their customs and became an adept in cir- cumventing their cunning devices. During the early days he was employed at Fort Laramie, Toas and Santa Fe, where his expertness wath the rifle and familiarity with the tribal dialects brought him the friendship of the Indians. After his return to Missouri he married Miss Sonora Hickman, a native of Cass county, that state, and the daughter of W^illiam Hickman, who had been a large planter in Virginia prior to his removal to Missouri. Early in 1845 Mr. Boggs started with family and friends across the plains and en route overtook a party from Sangamon county, 111., consisting, among others, of Jacob Donner with wife and seven children, and George Donner with wife and five children, who had left Springfield, 111., April 15, 1845. The two par- ties traveled together with William M. Boggs as captain. The expedition reached the Little Sandy river on the 19th of July, 1846, and there a discus- sion arose as to the best route to follow. The Donner party had heard of a cut-ofif by way of the south end of Salt Lake and believed bv taking it they could save over two hundred miles. Captain Boggs would not risk that route, but resolved to adhere to the Oregon trail. As the event proved, he chose wisely and well. When he found the Donner party determined to take the other road he divided provisions and equipment equallv with them and brought his own party safely on to the old fort at Petaluma Mission, Sonoma county. Meanwhile the Donner party had met with misfortune from the moment of separation. Their cattle, some dead and others lost, were left on the desert. After a wearisome journey through LTtah and Nevada thev were imprisoned in the snows of the Sierra Nevadas, where many perished from starvation. When finally rescuers arrived George Donner was dving and his wife refused to leave his side, but bade her children a last farewell as they were carried away toward the far-distant haven of Sutter's Fort. The Boggs family had been in California but a short time when hostilities arose with Mexico. As soon as Captain Boggs had settled his family in com- iort he enlisted eiffht recruits and with them journeyed to the old Plaza in San Francisco, where the men were added to a company then forming and sent to Monterey, where the captain served as first sergeant. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged and thereafter was variously em- ployed, acting as secretary to General Vallejo and as recorder of Sonoma county, also engaging in general farming and fruit-raising. Besides owning apart of the old Buena Vista grant, he owned a large tract in the Oak Knoll district, Napa county, where now stand Yountville and the Soldiers' Home. The comfortable dwelling-house, erected under his supervision, was located on that beautiful spot. After he had sold a portion of the large ranch to Mr. 362 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Yount he established a home at Napa and there spent his last years, but died April 22, 1910, while visiting his son at Bakersfield. A Mason from early life, be had been a member of the old California Lodge at Sonoma. Promi- nent in the state councils of the Democratic party and a leader during the nieniorable Hearst campaign, he had at one time ofificiated as chairman of the state central committee and throughout the entire commonwealth he long wielded a large influence in his party. Nor was his ability limited to agri- culture and politics. Notwithstanding his almost entire lack of early educa- tion, he became a man of literary talent and was well known by his contri- butions to the literature of his day. Particularly was he interested in early California history and his excellent memory, supplementing a fluent use of the pen, enabled him to give permanency to many early happenings that with- out him would have been unrecorded and forgotten. In Bancroft's history of California his contributions are especially numerous and interesting, and all his stories are told in a very interesting, realistic manner. For many years he served as president of the Sonoma County Association of California Pio- neers and among its members he was highly honored and greatly admired. The family of William M. Boggs comprised seven children, whose mother died in Napa county in 1902. The eldest child. Guadelupe Vallejo, born in June of 1847 at the headquarters of General Vallejo, is now a resident of Salem, Ore. Lilburn W. is living at Susanville, Cal., and Angus M. in Lake county. Mary Finley Boggs, a graduate of Napa College and Napa Ladies' Seminary, was for eighteen years librarian at Napa, dying in that city, where she was known as an artist of remarkable ability. Jefferson D. Boggs is now principal of the schools of Watsonville, this state. Sterling Price Boggs died when only eight years of age. The youngest member of the family, William S. Boggs, was born in the Yountville district, Napa county, Cal., August 19, 1864, and in boyhood was a pupil in the Oak Mound school, Napa. He is a graduate of Napa College and also took a course at Heald's Business College. After a brief period as a clerk at Napa he went to Portland, Ore., where he was employed as a bookkeeper and also engaged in merchandising. Upon his return to California in 1888 he engaged in business in San Francisco, but soon went back to Oregon and found employment at Salem, thence re- turning to Portland in 1891 and acting as bookkeeper in the East Portland Bank. When next he went to San Francisco in 1894 he engaged as account- ant with the Iron Mountain Company, going to Shasta as manager of the purchasing department in their general offices. Later he held a position with the Sunset Telephone Company. Wlien he came to Bakersfield in 1900 he took charge of the properties of the Imperial Oil Company and the 33-Oil Company in the Kern river field. Under his management the organizations were prospered and their wells became producers. When the properties were sold to an English syndicate he continued to manage them for two years, but in March of 1912 resigned in order that he might take charge of his in- dividual interests. Previous to this he had promoted the Alturas Oil Com- pany in the Kern river field ; after one well had been developed, the holdings of this company were sold. In addition he organized the Boston Petroleum Company in the Kern river field, which developed twelve wells and then sold its holdings to Boston capitalists. Afterward he formed and promoted the Coalinga Eight Oil Company in the Coalinga field, which owns a tract of eighty acres and has developed three producing wells. Besides being vice- president of this company he acts as general manager and has been instru- mental in its profitable development. The family of Mr. Boggs comprises his wife, who was Miss Nellie Smith, a native of Shasta county, and their three children, Irma, Helen and William S., Jr. Upon the organization of the Bakersfield Club he was a charter mem- ber and afterwards served one term as president. After coming to Bakersfield ^SN^ 4x^yi^ (/U/'^'^ u HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 365 he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and later became identified with Los Angeles Consistory No. 3 of the jurisdiction of Southern California, Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, and Al Malaikah Temple, N. M. S., of Los Angeles. In politics he has been stanch in his allegiance to Democratic principles. For eight years he was a member of Company G, First Regiment of Oregon National Guard, and after returnine" to California he became identified with Company H, Second Regiment of National (iuard, with which he served in San Francisco during the strike of 1894 when called out to assist in quelling the outbreak and restoring order. CHRISTIAN RUEDY.— In Zillis, Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, Christian Ruedy was born June 24, 1872, fourth in a family of five born to John and Anna (Thoeny) Ruedy, farmers, the former of whom passed away in 1889. and the latter in 1902. Christian Ruedy received good training in the public and high schtols of his native place, all of which was received ])rior to his seventeenth year, for it was then that he left his native land and came to the United States. In April, 1890, he came to Kern county, and in Bakers- field he procured work in a dairy. Profiting by the experience which this employment gave him, in the year 1897, with Peter Gilli as a partner, he leased one hundred and sixty acres from Mrs. Chubb. In 1900, associated with his brother, John G. Ruedy, and his uncle, Anton Thoeny, he bought forty acres of land that forms a part of his present property, upon which he established a dairy business. Later the brothers bought out their uncle and in 1904 they bought eighty acres more. During this period, Mr. Ruedy with his brother John G., Peter Gilli and John Koch, organized the American- Swiss Creamery and built a modern creamery plant on his place operated by a steam engine. Here they engaged in the manufacture of butter for the Bakersfield market for about six years, when the dairy herd was sold and Christian Ruedy then engaged in raising mules. Ultimately he purchased his brother's interest in the property and he now owns the entire tract, com- prising one hundred and twenty acres, which is all in a high state of culti- vation, planted to corn and alfalfa. The raising of mules is also an important feature of the ranch income, Mr. Ruedy owning Blue Bird, a jack imported from Maltese Island, Spain. The ranch, which lies about nine miles south- west of Bakersfield, is all under irrigation from the Farmers canal, and is improved with a handsome residence and large farm buildings. In IJakersfield, on October 2, 1907, Mr. Ruedy was married to Adeline Ursula Pesante, a native daughter born in Bakersfield, in December. 1890, the daughter of John and Adeline (Lehner) Pesante, both natives of Canton Graubunden. Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Ruedy are the parents of two children. John Christian and Vernon Lehner. Mr. Ruedy is widely known in fraternal circles, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, Wcodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Eagles. In their religious views Mr. and Mrs. Ruedy are Lutherans, while jiolitically they favor Republican principles. PERCY A. WILLIAMS. — In comprehensive grasp of technicalities and keen insight into the intricate problems connected with the oil industry the field superintendent of the Kern Trading and Oil Company has gained a rep- utation that is not limited to the particular field of his efTort, but extends throughout the entire oil district and among men connected with other lines of business as well. The property of the company, usually known as the Southern Pacific lease, comprises four hundred and forty acres lying on section 3, township 29, range 28, located very close to the EUwood lease on the Thomas A. Means farm where oil was first discovered. On the entire tract there are two hundred and seven producing wells which have been drilled as follows: Fifty-seven prior to 1906; seventy-three in 1906 and 1907; eight in 1910; thirty-four during 1911; and thirty-five in 1912. Well 366 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY No. 1 was completed December 8, 1899 and, although the oldest well on the lease, is still a producer. Born at South Vallejo, Solano county, Cal., on Christmas day of 1881, Percy A. Williams is a son of Alton and"^ Kate (CuUom) Williams, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. The father is an employe of the company store of the Kern Trading and Oil Company and here he and his wife make their home, the latter a woman of capability, energy and ac- tivity, and at the age of sixty-six physically and mentally well preserved. The son received his education in San Francisco schools. In youth he was a member of the state militia and in the spring of 1898 he enlisted as a private in Company B, First California Volunteer Infantry, which sailed for the Philippines on the 23d of May and landed at Cavite on the 2d of July. During the thirteen months of his service on the islands he took part in the siege of Manila, the insurrection of the Filipinos and other army affairs. When peace was restored he was mustered out of the service and arrived back in San Francisco September 21, 1899. Shortly afterward he entered the California School of Mechanical Arts, an institution affiliated with the James Lick Poly- technic College, in San Francisco, and upon the completion of the regular course he was graduated in 1901. Securing a position as draftsman in the office of Stetson G. Hindes, of San Francisco, he had six months of valuable experience there. In addition he engaged in drafting with the engineer of the City Street Improvement Company of San Francisco and for a time was under James T. Ludlow in the Vulcan iron works. After his arrival in Kern county in November of 1901 Mr. Williams took charge of the 1901 Oil Company at McKittrick. During 1904 he became an office man with the Kern Trading and Oil Company and in 1906 he was placed in charge of the McKittrick field, which he relinquished in order to undertake the superintendency of the Kern river oil lease in 1909. Since then he has established a reputation for drilling more wells than any other foreman in the oil fields. The ingenuity which he possesses has found tangible evidence in a pumping-jack system by which as many as thirty wells are pumped from one central power-house. It is his present plan to introduce the same system throughout the entire field. His ability is unquestioned and being an inde- fatigable worker, with a thorough grasp of all details, he manages the prop- erty with a skill and tact that are little short of remarkable. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and Elks at Bakersfield. In 1906 at McKittrick, he married Miss Gertrude Bishop, of Oregon, who died in 1909, leaving two daughters, Kathleen and Gertrude. JOHN J. GALLMAN. — Thrcnigh various changes antl in different locali- ties he gained a thorough experience with every phase and each department of the industry. In the early days of Taft he came to the Midway field, where since February of 1909 he has engaged as superintendent of the Fair- banks Oil Company, a corporation capitalized at $50,000 and operating a tract of forty acres with six producing wells. Under Ben Stroude, the first superintendent of the lease, one well had been drilled, but this is now abandoned, and the six wells in use, producing an average of ten thousand barrels per month, have been drilled under the personal supervision of Mr. Gallman, who in addition to being superintendent is also a small stock- holder in the company. Although he has lived in California for considerably more than twenty years, Mr. Gallman is a native of Iowa and a member of a German-American family connected with the agricultural upbuilding of the Mississippi valley. His father, John Jacob Gallman, a native of Germany and a pioneer of Iowa, enlisted in the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil war, was assigned to the First Minnesota Infantry, accompanied his regiment to the front and served throughout the war. Upon receiving an honorable dis- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 367 charge he returned to the northwest, took up land in Bremer county, Towa, there married Miss Catharine Zimmerman, and for years devoted himself to agricultural duties. At his death he was survived by the widow, now a resident of Waverly, Iowa, and by three children, viz. : John J. ; Ida and Anna, both of whom married farmers and are living in Bremer county. The only son was born in Bremer county September 25, 1869, worked on the home farm as soon as old enough to be of service and during the winter months walked between four and five miles to a country school. Leaving home in 1888, he came to California, where he successively had employment in lumber yards and with grading crews in Pasadena, on a dairy ranch at El Monte and as a laborer on a stock ranch at Puente. The owner of the ranch, Mr. Roland, in 1889 sent him to work as a roustabout for the Puente Oil Company in Los Angeles county and in that way he acquired his first knowledge of the oil industry. From roustabout he worked up to be pumper, then tool-dresser and finally driller. The company of which Mr. Roland was president engaged him to drill in the Puente field, but when the wells were shut down he was obliged to seek work elsewhere. An opportunity to engage with Will Kellerman, a contract driller, took Mr. Gallnian into a wild-cat venture in dry territory, but he continued with the same operator for perhaps seven years. Happening to meet Mr. Roland one day, he was asked to return to the Puente field, but intimated that he considered the chance for promotion there too meager, to which Mr. Roland replied: "Come back to me and you may yet get to be superintendent of the Puente." Accordingly, upon finishing a job at Newhall, he went back to the Puente field, where he was first drilling foreman and then superintendent. Two and one-half years later the Puente bought an adjoining oil lease and the management of the whole was given over to the superintendent of the company thus absorbed, whereupon Mr. Gallman became a real-estate dealer in Los Angeles. Not meeting with success, he returned to the oil business and for a time worked with the Union Oil Company near Lompoc and at Santa Maria. In the latter field he drilled on the celebrated Hartnell gusher. Next he operated a boarding house on the Union and Fox lease, after which he engaged in the restaurant business for six months in Los Angeles. The excellent profit made when he sold that restaurant was lost in the later operation of the Delmar Cafe at Long Beach. Forced to begin anew at the bottom, he returned to the oil fields and drilled at Santa Rosa and for the Paso Robles Oil Company. Since February of 1909 he has been superintendent of the Fairbanks Oil Company in the Midway field and meanwhile has become well known among the oil men of Taft, where he is an interested member of the Petroleum Club. His marriage took place at FuUerton, this state, and united him with Miss Myrtle Sprague, whose father was at one time engaged in the grocery business at Fullerton, but now engages in the manufacture and sale of monuments at Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Gallman have one son, Woodley J. Gallman. REUBEN A. EDMONDS.— The expansion of the Bakersfield postoffice since Mr. Edmonds was first appointed postmaster under the administra- tion of President McKinley has been almost startlingly swift and has oft'ered another evidence concerning the prosperity and material upbuilding of the city. When he took the oath of office for the first time, July 12, 1898, he found a postoffice of the second-class, employing two clerks and having annual receipts not exceeding $9,000. Since then he has continued in the ofiice by appointments under Presidents Roosevelt and Taft and meanwhile he has witnessed and aided in the development of the local business, until now it afifords him gratification to report that as a first-class office the annual receipts reach $65,000 and employment is furnished to thirty-two persons. Free delivery was established in the city in 1900 and 368 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY four years later rural free delivery was started, there being now six routes out of llakersfield, each one with a substantial list of patrons. The office was promoted to the first class in July of 1910, at which time the genial, successful postmaster was the recijjient of merited congratulations from those familiar with his work and a])preciative of his energetic application to official duties. There has lately been added the postal savings bank and the parcel post system, this postoffice being the depository for all the postal savings banks in Kern county. Born near Eugene, Lane county. Ore., in 1859, Reuben A. Edmonds is a son of William and Adeline (Draper) Edmonds, and a grandson of Reuben A. Draper, an Illinois pioneer who, accompanied by relatives and friends, crossed the plains with wagons and oxen and settled in Oregon, where he developed raw lands in Lane county. Eventually he came to California and passed his last days in Sonoma county. William Edmonds, a native of Carlisle, Cumberland county. Pa., and a pioneer of Illinois, came to the Pacific coast with his father-in-law and settled near him in Oregon, where he developed a large farm. However, he was not satisfied with conditions in Lane county, so he packed his household efifects, put his wife and children in a "prairie schooner" and drove along the coast route into California, crossing the mountains and settling near Sebastopol, Sonoma county. That was in 1867 and the next year his wife died at Sebastopol. Afterward he drifted into Nevada and followed mining pur- suits. The same occupation engaged his attention when he returned to California. In 1906 he was accidentally drowned in the Kern river. Of his three sons the eldest, Reuben A., is the sole survivor ; the others, William and Joseph, both died in Bakersfield. The three daughters were ^frs. Rachael Maio, Mrs. Lavina Kratzmer, both of I>akersfield, and Mrs. Mary Burgin, who died in Portland, Ore. Reuben A. Edmonds accompanied the others from Oregon to Cali- fornia in 1867 aiUl settled in Sonoma county, but during 1874 removed to Napa. In 1880 he was graduated from the Napa high school- and the fol- lowing year he completed the course of study in the commercial department of Napa College, after which he came at once to Bakersfield in 1881. Here he embarked in the dry-goods business on Chester avenue near Eighteenth street as a member of the firm of Hotz & Edmonds. The business con- tinued with fair success until the great fire of 1889, which caused him a heavy loss. Forced to start anew, he secured employment as a bookkeeper and continued in that capacity until he was appointed postmaster at Bakers- field. Besides this office he also served as city assessor for one term. Fraternally he is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias in Bakersfield fin which he has served in important offices) and also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. After he had established a home in Bakersfield he formed domestic ties, being united in marriage with Miss Lizzie L. Hallet, a native of Napa, this state. They are the parents of two children, Shirlie and Reubelle, both of whom are now students in the Notre Dame College at San Francisco. JOHN A. GARDNER. — The ( iardner family possesses qualities that bring success in the oil industry. A brother of John A., Eugene, is a tool- dresser for the Midway Premier, while their father, the late Daniel Gardner, was an expert driller and well-known oil oj^erator, following the business prin- cipally in his native Pennsylvania, although often called temporarily to other places to aid in the drilling of wells. By his marriage to Margaret Mays, likewise now deceased, there were two sons and four daughters. Of these John A. was born in Emlenton, Venango county, Pa., March 20, 1873, and at an early age learned the oil business under the capable oversight of his father, with whom he worked both as a tool-dresser and driller in Pennsyl- Jnctrruia (^.JrUaMA HISTORY OF KERK COUNTY 371 vania, Ohio and Indiana. For seven years his father engaged with the Burmah Oil Company in India and during" five years of that time John A. worked with him, going out to India in 1900 via Liverpool, Port Said and the Suez canal to Rangoon, and traveling inland a distance of five hundred miles. After five years of steady work as a driller, without rest or vacation, he returned to the United States, pleased to again identify himself with the business under more favorable conditions than existed in India. After an unsuccessful venture in the buying of wells at Geneva, Ind., in 1908 he came to California and engaged in drilling for the Standard Oil Company at New- hall, from which place in 1910 he came to the Midway. After having drilled two wells for the Midway Five Oil Company, he began to drill for the Mid- way Premier Oil Company and in 1911 became its superintendent, which responsible position he since has filled with credit to himself and most fortu- nate results for the company. His family consists of three daughters, Mar- garet, Edna and Mary, and his wife, whom he married in Toledo, Ohio, and who was formerly Miss Frances Cook, of that city. THOMAS A. MEANS.— A good history oi California would not be complete without the name of Thomas A. Means, who, through his discovery of oil in Kern River field and his long identification with that industry, became known as the "Apostle of Petroleum." He owned a small ranch near Kern river, and being a man of much learning, natural intelligence and close observation, he early became convinced in his own mind that that territory was underlaid with oil. Accordingly he talked oil to everyone who would listen to him and was naturally ridiculed by many, but firm in his belief he continued to deliver himself of his convictions on the streets of Bakersfield arid no argument would dissuade him from his ideas. It was after some experience in the McKittrick field that Judson Ellwood came to Bakersfield, where a brother. James Monroe Ellwood, had a small woody ard. During a conversation on the subject of oil the latter told his brother that he had heard of the Tom Means ranch and how Means had for years foretold the coming great era of oil. Subsequently James Monroe Ellwood went to Mr. Means to talk about cutting some wood, but the latter immediately changed the subject to his favorite topic of oil, and so enthusi- astic was he on the subject, that Ellwood leased a portion of the ranch for oil and induced his father, Jonathan Ellwood, to come to Bakersfield. The two then began to dig for oil. and that in the true sense of the word, as they were obliged to use the only tools they had — an ordinary shovel and a hand auger. In May, 1899. they started work on the north bank of the Kern river about seven miles from Bakersfield, beginning the rude well under the edge of the clifT. They went down with the hand auger seventy- five feet, when they struck good oil indications. Then they secured a steam rig and at three hundred and forty-three feet they drilled into oil, whereupon young Ellwo(xl rushed to Tom Means and shouted: "Your prophecy has been fulfilled !" But Means only smiled and said, 'T knew it was there." However, in that moment, through his faith and preaching, Tom Means had brought to California a new oil field, whose vastness and wealth have aston- ished the world. Mr. Means was a native of New^ Brunswick, November 9. 1840. being the date of his birth. Receiving an excellent educational training in youth he possessed a special fondness for the study of languages, and he was able to speak all the Latin tongues, or as it has been said of him, he was able to keep silent in many languages. As early as 1868 he came to Bakersfield, which then boasted of one house, that of Colonel Baker, and one store, that of Mr. Chester. During 1871-72 he worked in Inyo county, but returning to Kern county he began to ranch and raise .stock, acquiring later a farm of two hundred and fifteen acres. It was during the earlv '80s that Mr. 372 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Means first discovered oil indications in Kern county on the south bank of the Kern river on section three, 29-28, and it was entirely due to his stead- fast refusal to be discouraged in his endeavor to interest capital and promote enthusiasm that the oil industry was developed in this community. At the time of his death, which occurred in Mercy hospital August 4, 1912, ^Nlr. Means owned considerable real estate in Bakersfield and San Francisco. TERENCE B. McMANUS.— As early as 1876 .Air. AlcAIanus first came to the west and spent a short time in San Francisco. Again in 1902 he visited that city, but returned to his ^Minnesota home after a brief vacation. During 1912 he was called to Bakersfield by the demise of his brother, the late Thomas A. Means, and being himself the nearest surviving relative he was named as administrator of the estate. Halving therefore business inter- ests here and being pleased with the appearance of this lively, prosperous city he determined to bring his family hither and establish a home. Since doing so he has become interested in the real-estate business and also has acquired farming interests. A son of Terence and Thirza (Brownell) AIcAIanus. T. B. McManus was born in A\'estmoreland county. N. B.. May 22, 1849. During boyhood he attended the common schools and aided in the w^ork on the home farm. After leaving home he became connected with a mercantile business and also engaged in contracting at Memramcook. X. B. Removing to Minnesota during 1883 he settled near Crookston. purchased land and improved a large farm in the Red River valley, where he engaged extensively in wheat-growing and passed many busy, useful years. Meanwhile in 1893 President Cleveland appointed him deputy collector of internal revenue for the Ninth congres- sional district, embracing a territory three hundred miles in length. For five years he discharged the duties of that responsible position. In 1905 Governor John A. Johnson appointed him a member of the board of grain appeal of Minnesota, with headquarters in Duluth. At the expiration of his first term in 1907 he was again chosen for the same post and in 1909 he was reappointed, the last appointment bearing date of September 13, 1909, having been the last official act of Governor Johnson before his fatal illness. After five years on the board he retired in July of 1910, leaving a record of creditable and honorable service to the farmers of Minnesota. Subsequent to his retirement he continued to make Duluth his home until April, 1912, when he came to Bakersfield on business matters and shortly thereafter he established a home in this city. His family consists of his wife, formerly Aliss Helen Hachey, of New Brunswick, and their five chil- dren, Thomas W'., Loretta, Lucile, Arthur and Charles, all yet remaining at home, and the eldest being now associated with his father in the real-estate business as T. B. AIcManus & Son, having established their ofiices in the Bank of Bakersfield building, where they already have a large clientele. MRS. WALTER WRIGHT.— Mrs. Wright is the elder of two daughters of the late William Millen, a drilling contractor in the oil fields of West A^ir- ginia and at Marietta, Ohio. By his marriage to Mary St. Clair he became the father of two daughters, Agnes F. and Edith. The latter is the wife of Lloyd Halsell, a druggist at Jamestown, N. Y., where Mrs. Millen also makes her home. After having graduated from the Holy Angels' Academy, an institution for girls, at Buffalo, N. Y., Agnes F. Millen entered the Nurses' Training School connected with the hospital of the Johns Hopkins Univer- sity at Baltimore, Md. The best professional opportunities awaited her there and of these she availed herself to the fullest extent. Flaving gradu- ated from the training school with the class of 1902, she returned to New York state and engaged in professional work at Jamestown and Bufifalo. For a time she was employed in the Sisters' Hospital at Meadville, Pa. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 373 Another important position was held in the Municipal hospital at James- town. Later she engag-ed in private nursing at Bradford, Pa., and in that city formed the acquaintance of Walter Wright, to whom she was married at Olean, Cattaraugus county, N. Y. Ever since her marriage she has pur- sued her professional duties. During November of 1912 she came to Taft with Mr. Wright, who is a surveyor, now engaged in the Midway oil fields. Upon the opening of the hospital May 2. 1913. she became superintendent and general manager and since then she has devoted herself to the discharge of the duties of the position, which she fills with recognized capabilitv and executive sagacity. GENERAL HOSPITAL OF TAFT.— The General hospital of Taft, financed and erected under the supervision of M. W. Pascoe, M. D., and opened to the public May 2, 1913, has entered upon its history of useful service to humanity under the capable oversight of Mrs. Walter Wright as general manager. The modern equipment of the hospital, the sanitary con- ditions rigidly observed, the services of graduate nurses and of a trained dietitian bespeak a most earnest and sincere purpose to surround the patients with skilled attendants and scientific supervision. The building contains fifteen rooms and is so arranged as to furnish accommodations for twenty- five patients. For convenience and comfort a hall was built through the entire length of the hospital, rendering possible a free circulation of air that mitigates the heat of summer. On the left as the visitor enters the building is the reception room, furnished in mission style and decorated in soft shades of green and brown soothing and restful to the eye. The hand- some clock on the wall of this room was the gift of A. T. Connard. On the right of the entrance is the operating room, finished in pure white and equipped with the most modern surgical appliances. The spacious hall terminates in the dining room and diet kitchen, off which the nurses and hospital staff have their quarters. A screened porch, large enough for perhaps eight beds, will be used to accommodate patients who prefer the open air. In connection with the other conveniences there is a laboratory where all prescriptions are compounded. While the hos- pital was made possible almost wholly through the energy and progressive spirit of Dr. Pascoe, other physicians are invited to take their patients there and the utmost courtesy is shown to all. Besides Mrs. Wright there are three graduate nurses. Miss Julia Trabuca. Mrs. Catherine Spann and ]\Irs. Agnes Marlin. The two first-named are graduates of the Los Angeles city and county hospital, while Mrs. Marlin comes from the Post-Graduate hos- pital of Chicago. Mrs. Lora Dennison, of Santa Cruz, has been engaged as dietarian and prepares the food for the patients in accordance with the most modern laws of science and sanitation. HIPPOLYTE SEINTURIER.— A resident of Kern ccainty since 1901 and a prosperous sheepman since 1904, ]\Ir. Seinturier was born at Ancel. Hautes-Alpes, France, in June. 1877. being the youngest in a family of eight children, six now living, whose parents, ^lartin and Hiopolyte (Espitallier ) Seinturier, have been lifelong farmers in France. As a boy he was taught the rudiments of agriculture as conducted in France. From an early age he was familiar with farming and stock-raising. Upon leaving home in 1901 he came to California and at Delano joined a brother, Joseph, who years before had established himself in Kern county. Lender the oversight of the elder brother the young emigrant learned the sheep business as fol- lowed in this part of the world. For a year he helped the brother in the herding of a flock of sheep. Later he worked for other sheepmen. During 1904 he bought a small flock of sheep and started in the business for himself. Ever since then he has ranged his flocks in the vicinity of Delano and in the Tehachapi region. In the main he has been successful. His 374 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY flock has increased in size and has been maintained in health, so that he is well satisfied with the results of his California venture. Since becoming a citizen of our country he has voted th(f Republican ticket. At Los Angeles, in June of 1908, he married Miss Marie Horel, who was born at Ancel, France, and came to Kern county in 1907. There are three children of the union, l')erthe, Martha and Edna. During 1912 Mr. Seinturier bought a modern residence on the corner of Humboldt and Tulare streets in East Bakersfield and here the family have since made their home. ROMULUS ORCIER was born in Bussard, Hautes-Alpes, France, where he received his education in the public schools, remaining on the home farm until 1890. In that year he migrated to San Francisco and the same year came to Delano, Kern county, where he found employment with his brothers, Fred and Theophil Orcier, who were owners of large flocks of sheep on Poso creek. Two years later he bought a band of sheep, ranging them in Kern and Inyo counties. He was successful in the venture, but in 1905 sold his sheep and the same year opened the Pioneer hotel at Famoso, of which he has since been the proprietor. He also built and opened a livery stable for the accommodation of travelers. On August 5, 1903, in East Bakersfield, occurred the marriage of Mr. Orcier with Miss Marie Morel, a native daughter of Los Angeles, the daughter of Jullien Morel, a pioneer stockman of Southern California and afterwards of Kern county. Mr. and Mrs. ( Jrcier are the parents of three children, Clementine, Julia and Romulus, Jr. Fraternally he is an active member of Aerie No. 93, F. O. E., in Bakersfield. He is a Republican. CHARLES FRANK HABERKERN.— Although from his earliest rec- ollections a resident of California, Mr. Haberkern claims Illinois as his native commonwealth and was born in Princeton, August 26, 1865. The death of his father, Charles, who had been an industrious farmer of that locality, occurred during the infancy of the son, who thereafter became the charge of his aunt, Mrs. George Zimmerman. The latter had accompanied her husband to California in 1850 and at the expiration of their tedious journey across the plains had settled in Sonoma county, taking up agricul- tural pursuits in that section. During 1865 they returned to Illinois for their orphaned nephew^ and in December of that year brought him to Cali- fornia, where he was reared partly on a farm in Sonoma county and partly in San Francisco. For some years he attended the Lincoln school, on Market and Fifth streets, San Francisco, and upon leaving school he began to learn the butcher's trade in that city, where he remained until he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the occupation. While following the trade he engaged to some extent in the buying and selling of cattle. Coming to Bakersfield in 1888, three years later Mr. Haberkern became interested in the raising of grain and stock in the Tejon district and con- tinued there until 1897, when he bought property on Kern Island. Although since 1908 he has maintained his residence in Bakersfield, he still owns the ranch and superintends it personally, this being possible through the fact that the tract of ninety acres lies only three miles from the city. Alfalfa is the principal product grown and this, instead of being sold, is fed to the horses and mules that are raised there for the markets. The excellent condition of the property and its profitable maintenance reflect credit upon the owner, who is considered a skilled stockman and capable farmer. Since coming to Bakersfield he became one of the original stockholders in the Security Trust Company. The Bakersfield Club numbers him among its well-known members. A pioneer in the oil industry, Mr. Haberkern dates his connection with the Kern county fields from 1899. During that year he became interested HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 377 in property at the present site of ]Maricopa. With others he formed a company that put down a well and struck oil in paying quantities at a depth of five hundred and nineteen feet, this being the first well brought in on the flat. Two other wells were then put down. The venture proved profitable and the company later sold at a profit. Since then Mr. Haberkern has continued in the development of oil lands in North Midway and from the organization of the Eight Oil Company has been a director and stockholder. While his success in oil operations has been excellent and now gives him financial independence, it is abundantly merited by his arduous labors during the incipiency of the industry. When first he began to drill wells water was so scarce that it was the custom for the men to drive two miles with a team and tank and with buckets dip the water to fill the tank. It was then brought to the well, so that the work might be continued without delay. If any break occurred in the machinery he would start at once, night or day, for Bakersfield. a drive of forty-five miles, in order that repairs might be secured at once, and there were many times when he started on these long trips at midnight. Drinking-water was brought to the lease by their teams from the' mountains, costing them about $1.25 per barrel. Those were days of hardship, privation and unceasing labor, but he has seen the reward of his efforts and is now enjoying the fruits of his toil. WILLIAM MILES HOUSER.— The immediate cause of Mr. Houser's removal to this place from the .Santa Clara valley, where he had enjoyed a long and successful identification with the Palo Alto ranch, was the fact that a brother, A. W. Houser, had become a resident of the place, had acquired a livery stable and hotel business here and was meeting with results so encour- aging that the incentive to join him was sufficient to bring about his de- parture from the more northerly section of the state. Nor did he ever have reason to regret the decision to cast in his lot with Kern county, for as president of the Amber Oil Company, as supervisor of the first district and as owner of mines around Randsburg, he reaped the benefit of a prosperity that marked this section of the country and at the same time Avas instrumental in promoting the welfare of the people of his district. Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., January 27, 1865, William Miles Houser came to California at the age of six years and settled with his parents at Stockton, where he attended school until fifteen years of age. The father, William, a native of Pennsylvania, had been a coal miner in that state from early life until the failure of his health necessitated a complete change of occupation and of climate. Thereupon he came to California, but he was benefited only temporarily. His death occurred in April of 1875. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Barbara Schwagard, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.. December 12, 1833, and still makes her home in San Joaquin county. Upon leaving school and taking up for himself the problem of self- support, ^^■illiam Miles Houser secured employment on a stock ranch owned by G. W. Trahern, for whom he worked during the following six years. Meanwhile the care of stock, their needs and moneyed values became as an open book to him. As a judge of animals he established an enviable reputation in his locality and when the ranch where he had labored was sold to the trustees of the Leland Stanford University he was invited to remain in the capacity of stock-trainer and superintendent of one of the ranch depart- ments, later as foreman of the ranch. In appreciation of his faithful and intelli- gent services he was paid excellent wages. For eighteen years he remained on the Palo .\lto ranch, relinquishing the position eventually in 1900 that he might cast his fortunes in with those of the mining community of Rands- burg. where the following year he bought the livery stable and leased the hotel owned by his brother, A. W. After he had conducted these two enter- prises with success for two years, he ga\e up the hotel to continue the livery 378 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Inisiness and mining. Meanwhile he had acquired an interest in oil wells at P'ellows, Kern county, and these wells by subsequent development became very valuable, so that he reaped financial benefit from an early and judicious investment. Besides acting as president of the x\mber Oil Company, he was owner of the Houser group of mines, adjoining the Yellow Aster mine (the largest in the state of California). His holdings were further increased by the purchase of Eas}' Street mine at Randsburg. In addition he owned a tungsten mine in San Bernardino county and many other properties. When only twenty-one years of age iVIr. Houser became a member of I he Independent Order of Odd Fellows and later he enlarged his fraternal relations by identification with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Eagles. As a stanch supporter of the Democratic party he was a leading local politician, while the larger interests of the county were promoted by his earnest service as supervisor of the first district, to which office he was elected in 1908. May 20, 1890. he married Miss Ella Gofif, who was born at Stockton, this state, the daughter of Russell and Lucy fPhelps) Goff, na- tives of Michigan and Boston, Mass.. respectively. In 1847, when a mere lad, Mr. Gofi:" came via Panama to San Francisco. He remained in the state for a number of years after the discovery of gold, then returned east and in 1852 he again returned to California, becoming interested in mining and farming. He spent his last days with Mrs. Houser in Randsburg, where he died in 1907 aged seventy-seven years. Mrs. Gofif came with her mother in 18,52 via Panama to join her father. Capt. \\'. G. Phelps, who had brought a sailing vessel around Cape Plorn to San Francisco in 1849. A man of force and determination, he became well known on the coast, especially in the vicinity of Stockton, where he had large ranch interests. Mrs. Gofif who now makes her home in Los Angeles, was the mother of four children, all living. Mrs. Houser. who was the eldest, passed her childhood and obtained her education in the schools of Stockton. To Mr. and Mrs. \\\ M. Houser were born eight children, namely: Ella May, deceased ; Lillian, Mrs. F. E. Hill of Los Angeles ; Ellen Geraldine. Mrs. F. P. Hill, of Los Angeles; M. Melvin, deceased; Edith Gertrude; William Miles. Jr.; Reginald Leland, deceased; and Wilma Elaine, who was 1)1. rn four months after her father's death. The death of Mr. Houser, August 11, 1912, removed from his community one of its most dependable citizens. ANDREW C. SILVER. — Almost forty years intervened between the first visit of John F. Silver and his second removal to the western coast. During that long era many changes had 1)een made. Railroads had spanned the continent, so that, instead of traveling with wagons and ox-teams, as in the first trip, he came speedily, surrounded by every comfort of modern travel. At the time of his first trip he was a young man and as yet unmar- ried. In the interim of his western trips he had married and reared a family, only one of whom, Andrew C, survives at the present writing. The father himself passed away in 1909 and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Craig and was born in Indiana, now makes her home in Oklahoma, so that Andrew C. is the sole representative of the family on the western coast. The trade at which he is an expert, that of brick-laying, was the one which his father followed for years, first as a day laborer and later as a contractor. Not having gained a fortune in the California mines during the four years he engaged in that work, he returned to Michigan in 1853 and resumed the trade of bricklayer. He had removed to Michigan from his native New Hampshire and from Michigan he went to Illinois, where he. became a brick contractor at Shelbyville. The next move took him to Kansas, where he settled at Winfield in 1879 and immediately became identified with the contracting business as a specialist in brick. From that place he came to California in 1887 and after two years in Los Angeles HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 379 proceeded to Bakersfield, where he engaged at his trade as long as his health permitted. The eldest among four children. Andrew C. Silver was born at Shelby- ville, Shelby county, 111., August 24, 1863, and remained in Illinois until sixteen years of age, meanwhile attending the grammar and high schools of his native city. During 1879 he accompanied his father to Kansas. His employment in that state was as a clerk. Going to Colorado in 1882 he learned the trade of bricklayer while employed with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company. Two years later he returned to Winfield, Kan., to take up work at that occupation. With his father he removed to Los Angeles in 1887 and found emj^loyment in laying brick. During 1889 he became a resident of Bakersfield and here he since has built up an established reputation for skill in his chosen occupation. Entering the employ of C. J. Lindgren, he soon rose to be foreman and in that capacity he aided in the construction of a number of large buildings. Upon the removal of Mr. Lindgren to San Francisco in 1907 Mr. Silver purchased his outfit and ever since has engaged in contracting and building, mean- wdiile having charge of many important jobs, including the Sanger building, Druid's hall, Estribou residence and others. Ever since the organization of the Builders' Exchange he has been an interested worker, while politically he has maintained a warm interest in the principles of the Democratic party, which he always supports by ballot and influence. The family resi- dence at No. 212 Eureka street is presided over by Mrs. Silver, who w^as Miss Adeline M. Jasper, a native of Santa Cruz, this state, but a resident of Bakersfield for a time prior to their marriage. They are the parents of four children, Andrew, Edna, Esther and Homer. LEO G. PAULY. — The founder of the Pauly family in America was Antone, the son of a prosperous German merchant and himself of German birth and education, but after 1860 a resident of the United States and during the Civil war the proprietor of an omnibus line in Washington, D. C. The duties of his business necessitated his frequent travel through different sections of the country and in order that he might not be discommoded by delays he secured passes from General Miles and General Beauregard. With the aid of these indispensable papers, which now are in the posses- sion of his only son, he was able to travel back and forth between the lines and at no time did he suiTer delay or inconvenience. At the close of the war he sought the cheap lands of the Mississippi valley and was induced to settle at Nauvoo. in Hancock county. 111., whence some years before the Mormons had been driven by citizens not in sympathy with their religious views. Before he had developed a farm into profitable condition he was obliged to leave owing to a pulmonar}- affection, for w^hich physicians recommended the climate of California. Accompanied by his family he came to Los Angeles in 1869, but. securing no relief, he w^as advised to seek a higher altitude and in this way he first became associated wMth Kern county. The family secured a team and wagon and followed the customary path of travel to the Tehachapi pass, where, finding a suitable location at the desired elevation, they took up a tract of government land. Later adjacent property was purchased. Sheep and cattle were bought and a large industry developed, there being as many as three thousand sheep in the flock at one time. By thrift and wise management the father acquired seventeen hundred acres adjoining the village of Tehachapi and he laid out two additions to that towm, where for five years he engaged in the butcher business. The climate enabled him to regain his health. He en- joyed many seasons of agricultural and business activity and became a man of note in his community. Finally, at an advanced age and after a life of usefulness, he i)assed awav November 18, 1893. For many years he was 380 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY survived by his wife, whose d^ath occurred January 7, 1911. in Kern. Born and reared in Kulmbadi, Germany, and known by the maiden name of Catherine Zink, she came to this country in young girlhood and was married at \\^ashington, D. C. Out of the nine children forming the parental family onh- three are now living, the two daughters being Mrs. Clara Parks of Los Angeles and Rose, Mrs. H. F. Keeler. of Lancaster, this state. The only son, Leo G., was born at Tehachapi, this county, July 26, 1875. and received his primary education in that village. During November of 1895 he was graduated from the San Jose State Normal, after which he became principal of the Tehachapi school and continued in the position for two years. When twenty-two years of age, in 1897. he was ofifered the principalship of the Kern school and accepted the post. At that time there were five teachers in a building of six rooms. As principal he advanced the standard of schol- arship and made the school as thorough as any in the county. Other buildings were erected during his tenure of the office, including the Lincoln school of four rooms and the addition of four rooms and an assembly hall to ihe Washington school. \\'hen finally he resigned in ^larch of 1909 he was at the head of a successful educational force of fourteen teachers with modern equipment and every facility for thorough work. Since June of 1896 he has been a member of the county board of education and for twelve years of this period he officiated as president of the board. Upon the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he was chosen a member of the city board of education and at the regular election in April, 1911. he was again placed in this position. Since relinquishing his educational work ]\lr. Pauly has been connected with the Ardizzi-Olcese Company of East Bakersfield. an incorporated con- cern and the oldest mercantile establishment in Kern county. Entering as manager in ]\Iarch of 1909, at the expiration of the first year he became financially interested and was elected secretary of the corporation. The marriage of Mr. Pauly and Miss Essa Davis was solemnized in Tehachapi and has been blessed with three children. Harold. Leo A. and Catherine. Mrs. Pauly was born in Los Angeles county and grew to womanhood in iiakersfield, her father, J. L. Davis, having been a pioneer farmer of Kern county. In national politics Mr. Pauly votes with the Republican party. I-Vaternally he holds membership with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and has been a prominent officer, being Past Exalted Ruler. Upon the organization of the old volunteer fire department in Kern he became a member, realizing the great need of adequate fire protection. At the time of the consolidation he was serving as chief of the depart- ment and he still retains his interest in its equipment and management. The old homestead of seventeen hundred acres still belongs to the family, but for years has been leased to tenants for farming purposes. JAMES FREDERICK HYDRON.— A responsible position with the Kern County Land Company is filled by Mr. Hydron, who has been a resident of Bakersfield since 1894 and an employe of the company for practically the same length of time. Chance attracted him to the great west. \\'hen twenty-one years of age he had the good fortune to visit the World's Fair in Chicago and made a careful study of state exhibits. The old mission building occupied by the California exhibit drew him to a careful inspection and he udted with amazement and admiration the wonderful array of citrus and deciduous fruits, and of grains, vegetables and other products. For the first time his attention was directed to the Pacific coast and it was this exhiliit which caused him to come to California the fol- lowing year, since which time he has made Bakersfield his home and the scene of his business activities. ■'M TfduJ'^L-^ ^;;^y^^^S^<->-L , HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 385 Born at Louisville, Ky.. February 11, 1872, James Frederick Hydron is a son of William and Alary (Roman) Hydron, members of old southern families, the former a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the latter born near Louisville, Ky. For a considerable period the father engaged in the car- riage-maker's business at Louisville and during the Civil war he enlisted from that city with a Confederate regiment of soldiers, serving at the front until the expiration of his term. During the 70s he removed to Indiana and established a business at Jeffersonville, where he continued to make his home until his death in 1903 at the age of sixty-seven years. All of the children, four sons and two daughters, are still living and their mother also survives, making Louisville her home at the present time. ' The fourth among the six children was James Frederick, the only member of the family in California. After he had received a common-school education in Jeffersonville he aided his father until he came to California in 1894 and settled in Kern county. Immediately he found employment with the Kern County Land Company. His first task was that of driving mules and a scraper. Soon he was transferred to the surveying department, where he remained for two years. During his connection with the surveying corps he helped to survey the tunnel at Kern river canyon. Later he served on the street-car line as a conductor and continued with the land company in that capacity for three years. April 15, 1906, he was placed in charge of the Bakersfield warehouse owned by the company and since then he has filled the difficult position with efficiency. In every capacity he has proved himself a man of sterling worth and integrity. Politically he votes with the Democratic party. For some years he has held office as banker of the local lodge, Modern Woodmen of America, in the work of which he has been influential and active. Some years after coming to Bakersfield he married Miss Cora Cowing, a native of Kern county and a daughter of John Cowing, a California pioneer, identified for a long period with the agricultural development of this county, but more recently a resident of Moneta, Los Angeles county. Mr. and Mrs. Hydron have an only son, Harry Edward. HENRY W. KLIPSTEIN.— The genealogy of the Klipstein family is traced to an ancient and noble race in Germany, where a coat of arms pro- claimed their distinguished lineage and honorable station. The history of the family can be traced back to George Klipstein, a citizen and turner of Eisen- ach, Avho had a son Hans, a forester of Einhaus. and the latter a son Casper, of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was chief forester of the principalities of Batten- burg, Reidenkoff and Itter. Casper Klipstein had a son John Casper, who was preceptor and organist at Gladenbach, and his son, John Conrad Theodore, was a forester. The son of the last-mentioned. Philip, was born in Hesse- Darmstadt and became a surgeon of note. In the capacity of surgeon he came to America with the Hessian troops and served in the Revolutionary war. When peace was declared he was honorably discharged and settled down to the practice of his profession in Winchester, Va. This Philip Klipstein was the great-grandfather of our subject. The grandfather, Philip Augustin, was a native of Virginia, born in 1791. He was a minister of the old "Ironside" Baptist denomination, preached the Gospel in the Old Dominion and held higli rank among the people of his faith. The next generation was represented by Thomas E. Klipstein, who lived and died in Virginia. His marriage to Mary Frances Hampton brought him into connection with a distinguished family of his state, whose most noted member was Gen. Wade Hampton. In the family of Thomas E. Klipstein there were five children, of whom four grew up; Sallie, Mrs. A. R. Ijartenstein, of Fauquier county, Va. ; Eliza Peyton, Mrs. W. G. Bartenstein, who died at Virginia Colony, Kern county ; Catherine Hampton, Mrs. Basey, of \^irginia Colony; and Henry \\'. 386 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The home of the Klipstein family was in Fauquier county, Va., and there February 13, 1852, occurred the l:>irth of a son, Henry W., who being a mere lad at the time of the Civil war could not enter the army, yet witnessed much of the horrors of warfare. The family home, only forty miles from Wash- ington, was often threatened by opposing forces and its inmates were in peril of their lives as the fierce struggle waged around them. In their immediate neighborhood occurred the sanguinary contests of Bull Run during 1861 and 1862. The community became disrupted by strife and schools were closed, so that the young lad studied his lessons at home under the careful oversight of his mother. When the war had ended and schools again opened for study, he took up educational work and finally obtained a common-school education, after which he began to make his own way in the world. The marriage of Henry W. Klipstein took place in \'irginia in A])ril, 1876. and united him with Miss Martha Jennings Rixey, the daughter of Smith H. and Catherine E. (Triplet) Rixey. The father was a planter in Culpeper county, Va., where Mrs. Klipstein was born. She is a near relative of Con- gressman John Rixey of the Old Dominion and also of Dr. Preston Rixey, phy- sician to President McKinley and also Surgeon General of the Navy in the Mc- Kinley and Roosevelt administrations. For a number of successive generations the Rixey family has been prominent in the annals of Virginia, whose ad- vancement has been promoted by their patriotic efTorts and progressive spirit. A member of a family including seven children (six daughters and one son), Mrs. Klipstein was reared in the home of an aunt, Martha Rixey, and while t.-till a young girl became the wife of Henry \V. Klipstein, whom she accom- panied to California in 1888, his ill health having been the cause of their re- moval to the genial western climate. Arriving at Bakersfield on Christmas day, they at once sought a means (^f livelihood and began in the dairy indus- try. Being given an opportunity to buy the dairy then owned by the Kern County Land Company, they availed themselves of the chance and were prospered by the undertaking. As his means permitted, Mr. Klipstein began to buy land and cattle. At this writing they own the Klipstein ranch of about twelve thousand acres, located near Maricopa, and also about three thousand acres of the old Wagy ranch and farm, and on account of the location of the ranches they control about seventy-five thousand acres of government range land. In the land and cattle business he is in partnership with his sons, Henry W. and Phil A., and on their ranches range more than three thousand head of cattle. The move to the west proved fortunate to him, as he has regained his health and also has been greatly prospered in ranching and stock-raising. For years he has been closely connected with the Kern County Land Company in business matters. Besides his vast landed possessions, comprising the cattle ranches with their commodious ranch houses, he owns improved and unimproved property in Bakersfield and here has a modern residence at the foot of Dracena street built on a natural mound at an elevation of about twenty feet above the surrounding country. Nine children comprised the family of Mr. and Airs. Klipstein, of whom seven grew up and six are still living. The eldest, Thomas E., a successful oil operator and formerly connected with the Kern County Abstract Com- pany, is well and favorably known in Bakersfield and represented elsewhere in this volume. The eldest daughter, Kate Hampton, deceased, was the wife of J. H. Hillard, of San Francisco and at her death left one child, Ramona Frances, now living with Mr. and Mrs. Klipstein and attending the Ramona convent. The two youngest sons, Henry W. and Phil A., are energetic young ranchers and excellent judges of stock, their specialty being cattle. The former is first lieutenant of Troop A, California National Guard. Eugenia is the wife of G. E. Ruckstell, formerly of San h^rancisco, now proprietor of a garage at Maricopa. Mildred M. married J. II. Bacon and lives at Fellows. The youngest HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 387 member of the family circle, Mattie Rixey, resides with her parents. Politi- cally Mr. Klipstein is a Democrat. E. L. WILLOW. — The discovery of gold proved the attraction that brought to the west Elias Willow, a Pennsylvanian by birth and a cooper by trade. At an early age he had accompanied his parents to Ohio and had settled in Sandusky. The even tenor of his life was changed by the news concerning the discovery of gold in California and as soon as pos- sible he started for the coast. Joining an expedition that made the trip with wagons and ox-teams, he crossed the plains during the summer of 1850 and arrived in due time in Eldorado county, where he engaged in placer mining. As no special fortune rewarded his efforts he turned his attention to merchandising in the same county. As he not only con- ducted a general store, but also acted as postmaster of his little village and as agent for the Wells Fargo Express Company, he formed the acquaint- ance of the people throughout all that section of the country. During the early days he knew by name practically all of the pioneers of his section and by all of them he was regarded as a friend. More than one was indebted to him for timely help. Indeed, his benefactions in those days of frontier existence were often in excess of his means, but his nature was so kindly that he could turn a deaf ear to no appeal for assistance. When he decided to leave Eldorado county he loaded his household necessities in a wagon, put his wife and children in the vehicle, and drove south until May 13, 1874, at which time he arrived at Bakersfield. Here he established a permanent home. For ten years he had the contract for sprinkling the streets, using for that purpose a water-wagon of his own manufacture. After he discon- tinued that business he became secretary of the county board of horticultural commissioners and at his death in 1891 he was still filling that position. As road overseer for several terms he had charge of the highways of his dis- trict, while in addition for many years he filled the office of school trustee. The marriage of Elias Willow united him with ^liss Ann Eliza Pavey. who was born in Coldwater, Mich., April 26, 1843, and died at Bakersfield in October, 1909. Her father, Henry Pavey, had crossed the plains for the first time during the summer of 1850. After he had remained long enough to investigate conditions he decided that he would like to settle perma- nently in the west, therefore he returned to Michigan for his family, who accompanied him across the plains in 1852, making the trip with ox-teams. For many years and until his death he engaged in the horticultural in- dustry and also conducted a nursery business in Eldorado county. There were but two children in the family of Elias Willow, the daughter being ]Mrs. Flora Ellen Stanley, of Fairbank, Ariz. The son, E. L.. was born in the village of Mud Springs, Eldorado county, Cal., May 14, 1864, and has been a resident of Bakersfield since May 13, 1874, during which year he entered the public schools of this place. After he had completed the studies of the local schools he entered the commercial department of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he remained until his graduation. As early as ten years of age he began to learn the furniture business, his employer having been J- Neiderauer, of Bakersfield. During early life he learned the trade of a cabinet-maker. In starting out at the trade he earned $8 per week, but in one month his wages were raised to $Q. After his graduation he returned to the Neiderauer store and continued to work as a cal)inet-maker, but in a short time began to learn the em- balming business, of which in due time he acquired a recognized proficiency. The firm of Willow & Kelsey started in the furniture and undertaking business in January, 1889, on Twentieth street and Chester avenue, the present site of the Bank of Bakersfield. During July of the same year the store burned to the ground and the entire stock of goods was destroyed. 388 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY entailing an almost total loss. Next ]\Ir. Willow engaged in the cabinet- making business at No. 1219 Nineteenth street. From boyhood he had been active in the old volunteer department as a member of the Eureka Engine Cdmpany. I'pon the organization of the Alert Hook & Ladder Company he became a charter member and was elected foreman. Later he became chief of the volunteer fire department. \\'hen the paid depart- ment was organized he was chosen the first chief of the department, re- ceiving sixty out of sixty-one votes cast. For sixteen years he continued in this responsible position. Meanwhile the signal 'phone alarm system was introduced and other imprt)vements made. All of the horses in the department were personally trained by him and they knew his voice so well that even now, when he speaks to them, they instantly recognize him. During April of 1907 he resigned as lire chief, having previously purchased the furniture business which he has conducted ever since. To show how much he was appreciated by the men in the department it is a significant fact that at the time he tendered his resignation every man in the depart- ment excepting two also handed in their resignations. The ^^^illow building, erected in 1904 at No. 1227 Nineteenth street, extends one hundred and thirty-two feet on Nineteenth street and has a depth of one hundred and fifteen and one-half feet on L street. The location is unexcelled for building up a large trade, but the patronage is not limited to Bakersfield itself, for Mr. Willow has customers from all parts of the county. From the organiza- tion of the Merchants' Association he has served as its treasurer and he also has been a prominent member of Kern county board of trade. In national politics he votes with the Republican party. His marriage took place at San Francisco and united him with Miss Frances A. Foran. who was born at Mariposa, this state. HENRY BOHNA. — The name of Bohna is of peculiar interest to the people of luikersfield bv reason of the fact that Christian Bohna, who arrived here February 1, 18()0, built the first house on what is now the town site. When he brought the family to this region he found conditions most unat- tractive. By reason v)f the numerous swamps covered with willow trees the location was most unhealthful and during 1860 the family suffered constantly from sickness. The first step which he took after his arrival was to secure a shelter for wife and children. The house which he built was constructed of Cottonwood timber, with a roof of flag-tule, and were it still standing, it would be an object of great interest to the present large population of the city. After he had provided a home for the family he cleared ten acres of the land and planted a crop of corn, from which he gathered as many as one hundred and ten bushels to the acre. Encouraged by the success of the under- taking, he cleared more land and in 1861 planted a large field of corn, from which he secured a good crop, but the great flood of 1861-62 was so huge that he became entirely discouraged and moved awav as soon as the water went down. There were few to suffer from the reverses that overtook him, for at the time his nearest neighbors (only two families being at that place) were nine miles distant. In many respects Christian Bohna was a remarkable man. One of his striking characteristics was a love of travel and adventure. It did not satisfy him to remain for years in one location, no matter how dear might be the friends there nor how promising the opportunities. He wished to see all of our great country and as facilities for travel were limited in those days he spent large sums of money in taking his family from one state to another. Had he been less fond of travel, more willing to remain in one place, un- doubtedly he would have accumulated a fortune, but as it was he left little means for his family. However, he did leave something more to be desired, the respect of accpiaintances and a reputation for integrity and the highest I)rinciples of honor. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 391 Born in Saxony, Germany, December 28, 1805, Christian Bohna followed the usual procedure among- the youth of his country, viz. : attendance at school until fourteen, apprenticeship at a trade until eighteen and then three years of service in the army of his country. After having been honorably dis- charged from the army at the age of twenty-one he came to the new world, prepared for work by a thorough knowledge of blacksmithing, which he followed in New York City. With a desire to see the country he traveled through Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, besides making brief stops in intervening states. Meanwhile his trade earned him an honest livelihood. When he started across the plains in the spring of 1853 he had his wagon fitted out with blacksmith's tools of every description and thus he was enabled to earn his way as he traveled toward the west. Landing in Calaveras county he set up a shop and made considerable money by his trade, but invested the most of this capital in mines in that locality. During the fall of 1856 he returned to Arkansas and settled in Pike county, where he took up farm pur- suits. Soon, however, he found himself dissatisfied, eager to return to the west. Accordingly in 1859 he sold the Arkansas farm and came to the west, arriving at El Monte in the fall of 1859, and from there coming to what is now Bakersfield, February 1, 1860. The mishaps of the next two years have been recorded previously and furnish the reason for his removal to Oregon. From that state he soon moved to Idaho. In both places he engaged in farming and mining. The year 1867 found him back in Kern county, where he settled at Woody, retiring to some extent from active labors. He passed away in 1872 and was interred in the cemetery of Linn's valley. During the residence of Christian Bohna in Pike county, Ark., his son, Henry, was born October 15, 1842. By reason of the frequent removals of the family and their isolation in remote mining camps, he was deprived of educa- tional advantages. His entire attendance at school was limited to three weeks, when he was a pupil in a subscription school. During 1859 he arrived in E\ Monte, Cal., with his parents, and in February, 1860, he came with them to the present site of Bakersfield. In 1862 he began to mine in the White river district, where he took up a mining claim. In November of 1863 he joined his parents in Idaho, where he engaged in mining in 1864 and 1865. The fall of the latter year found him in Montana, where he bought a claim at Last Chance gulch and engaged in mining. Returning to Oregon in the fall of 1866. he spent a few months in and near Portland and in 1867 returned to Kern county with his father, settling at Woody. Up to 1872 he devoted his attention to mining, but after that he engaged exclusivelv in farming and stock-raising. He had taken up and improved one hundred and sixty acres, but in 1882 the railroad took one-half of the tract from him. During 1882 he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in the Greenhorn range and moved to the land in 1883, but again in 1892 the railroad took eightv acres from this tract. W^hile living in the mountains he purchased from settlers title to six hundred and forty acres, which he used as a summer range for cattle. This place, which is known as Shiloh, he still owns. During 1904 he bought the old Maltby tract of four hundred acres at Woody, and in 1905 he moved to this place. In the meantime he has purchased three hundred and twenty acres adjoining and now owns and successfully operates eight hundred and eighty acres of well-improved land. Being profuselv wooded with native oak the place has been appropriately named Oak Lodge. Since the age of twenty-one years Mr. Bohna has been an active worker in the local ranks of the Democratic party. During 1894 he was elected supervisor of the third district and in that responsible position he served with the greatest efficiency for four years. Elected a trustee of schools in the Blake district, he was clerk of the board for six years. From early life he has been a member of the Christian Church and a generous contributor to its maintenance. His marriage took place in Woody February 16, 1876, and 392 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY united him with Miss Annie E. Rutledge, who was born in Tuolumne county, Cal., September 7, 1856, being a daughter of Paschal and Mary Ann (Mc- Elroy) Rutledge. Her father was born at Greenville, S. C, July 15, 1823, and during the great excitement of 1849 joined an expedition bound for Cali- fornia, where he was a pioneer tinner in San Francisco. After a time he added a stock of hardware and carried on an extensive trade in his line. Sep- tember 24. 1846. he had married Miss AIcElroy, who w^as born in Philadelphia, Pa., Januarv 1, 1824, and who came alone to California, making the trip via Panama. After having lived temporarily in various parts of the state Mr. Rutledge removed to Woody, Kern county, and here his body lies buried ; this also is the last resting place of his wife, who passed away in 1893. The family of Henry and Annie E. Bohna comprises nine children, the eldest of whom are high-school graduates and three of the daughters have taught school with success. Paschal married IMiss Birdie JMorse December 25, 1899; Chris- tine M. taught school for a time, and February 8, 1903, became the wife of F. H. Jameson ; Evelena Paralee taught school for some years, and August 15, 1909, became the wife of Henry B. Gardette ; Clara J. married Harvey Buf- fington November 15, 1905 ; Marianna, after completing high-school, took up teaching with energy and intelligent application ; Roy H. now manages the ranch in the Greenhorn mountains; Alice Muriel, Thomas Hugh, and Lillian Rae complete the family. JULES RUFENER.— Where the foothills stretch from the Jura range of the lofty Alps westward toward the sunny slopes of France lies the thriving Swiss city known as La Chaux de Fonds, Canton Neuchatel. In that place Jules Rufener was born July 24, 1865, there he passed the unevent- ful years of childhood and there also he learned the tedious lessons so indispensable to educational or occupative progress. The family for several generations was noted for skill in watchmaking. The men of the race seemed to possess a natural talent for the delicate mechanism so essential to the trade and they therefore gained local prestige in a calling requiring exceptional delicacy of touch and accuracy of vision. Jacob, the father of Jules, was born at Interlocken in the Alps and has devoted his entire active life with success to the manufacture of watches. Even now, although he has reached the age of seventy-three, he is still regarded by the people of La Chaux de Fonds, where the firm of Rufener & Co. wields the influence due to long identification with the business of the city, as the leading watch- maker and most competent jeweler m the entire community. The marriage of Jacob Rufener united him with Barbara Gertsch, who at her death in 1911 was survived by seven of her ten children. It is a noteworthy fact that four sons became very skilled watchmakers. Of these the second child, Jules, was the only one to engage in business in America. Fritz until his death in 1910 carried on a large business as a watchmaker and jeweler in Bombay, India, while Charles, also identified with business in India, is a Avholesale dealer in watches and jewelry in Lucknovv. The only one of the sons continuing in business in his native city is Alfred, a manufacturer of watches, well known throughout Canton Neuchatel. At the age of sixteen Jules was apprenticed to his father and later was sent to a factory in order that he might become familiar with every department in the trade of watchmaker. Coming to the United States in 1890, he first engaged at his trade in Johnson, Nemaha county. Neb., and later in Niobrara, Knox county, same state, whence in 1897 he came to California and secured work at his trade in San Jose. The following year he arrived in Bakers- field, where he had no difficulty in securing a position suited to his ability. From 1901 to 1906 he engaged in business on Beacon street, San Pedro, where he still owns two residences close in. Upon selling the business at that point he returned to Kern county and secured a position in East HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 393 Bakersfield. In April of 1908 he bought a one-half interest in a business established by his cousin, H. Oppliger, and later known as the Kern Jewelry Company. When in 1910 he bought the interest of his partner he changed the title of the business, which is now conducted under his own name, occupying a convenient location at No. 818 Baker street. After coming to East Bakersfield he married in 1901 Miss Marie Louise Nouguier, who was born in Hautes Alpes, France, and by whom he has one son, Jules Eli. He is a Republican and belongs to the Tribe of Ben Hur and the Woodmen of the World. BEDELL SMITH. — The first American representatives of the Smith family, which is of mingled Scotch and English lineage, lived on Long Island and even to this day many of the name remain in that portion of New York. Benjamin Smith, the son of a native of Queens county, was likewise born and reared on Long Island and remained there until death. For eight years under the presidential administrations of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan he held a position as keeper of the Fire Island light- house, retiring to a farm in 1861 and dying three years afterward. In young manhood he had married Miss Hannah Bedell, a native of Queens county and a descendant of Teutonic ancestry. According to the family traditions three brothers came from Germany in a very early period of the American colonization. One brother settled on Long Island, another went into the northern part of New York and the third migrated as far west as Ohio. From the Long Island settler Mrs. Smith was descended and she passed her entire life in that part of New York, dying there about 1866. Of her marriage there had been born ten sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters and six of the sons attained maturity, and at this writing four sons and one daughter survive. The third from the youngest and the only one of the large family to settle in the west was Bedell, whose birth occurred at the family home near Freeport, Queens county, N. Y., November 1, 1851, and who was given the name of his mother's people. From 1853 until 1861 he lived at the Fire Island lighthouse, after which he was taken by the parents to a farm near Freeport and sent to the schools of that Long Island town. When he was thirteen he lost his father and two years later his mother passed away, leaving him without a home and thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood. Immediately he secured employ- ment as clerk in a general store at Freeport. In that position he learned his first business lessons. At the age of nineteen he went to New York City and secured a clerkship in a tea store on Eighth avenue, where he remained until sickness caused the loss of the position. June of 1874 found Bedell Smith a newcomer in St. Paul, Minn., and eight months later he arrived in Denver, Colo., where he found employ- ment in business. During 1875 and 1876 he spent one month visiting with relatives and friends in the east and on the 15th of January, 1876, he boarded the Acapulco in New York harbor, with the Isthmus of Panama as his first destination. From there he traveled across to the Pacific coast, then shipped on the Colorado to San Francisco, where he landed on the 11th of February. In the same year of 1876 he saw Bakersfield for the first time while making a trip of inspection through the valley. Later he was en- gaged as a clerk in the New York Exchange hotel at San Jose for four years, and upon resigning the position he spent two years in travel through Utah, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. Returning to San Francisco, he then proceeded toward the southwest and traveled through Arizona and New Mexico. After his arrival in Texas he secured a position as clerk in a store in El Paso, where he remained for eighteen months. Next he went to Los Angeles and secured work as clerk and bookkeeper. March 14, 1890, he arrived in Bakersfield with the intention of becoming a permanent resi- 394 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY dent. For nine years he engaged in a restaurant and hotel business. Since January, 1899, he has served as deputy county clerk and as clerk of depart- ment No. 1 of the superior court. Meanwhile he has been a warm sup- porter of Democratic policies and has served as a member of the county central committee. In San Francisco he married Miss Maggie Larkin, who was born in Ireland and during 1875 came from New York to California via Panama. Six children were born of their union, but only two of the number attained mature years, these being Millicent and Edna, the former now the wife of Lawrence Lavers, editor of the Wasco News, of Wasco, Kern county, and the latter the wife of E. F. Britton, attorney at law, of Bakersfield. WALTER JAMES. — The irrigation project developed by the Kern County Land Company into a system famous throughout the entire world owes much of its remarkable success to the genius and skill of Walter James, who came to Bakersfield during 1871 and secured employment as civil engineer on the vast estate that eventually was merged into the holdings of the organization named. To him belongs the distinction of having been at the head of the irrigation system that has made the county famous. From the inception of the enterprise he planned and superintended the con- struction of the greater portion of the works, which were the first in the entire country to be instituted upon so large a scale. Everything connected with the plans originated in the minds of the men having the enterprise in charge, Mr. James having been foremost among these. That his ability has been recognized admits of no question. The works have been visited by engineers from every country in the world where irrigation is practiced. In addition they are mentioned at length in almost every book that has been published bearing upon the subject. Born near jMarion, Ohio, April 21, 1837, Mr. James can scarcely recall a time when he was not interested in engineering and matters pertaining to the subject, and surveying as well. At the opening of the Civil war, during 1862, he enlisted as a member of the Ninety-sixth Ohio Infantry and was assigned to Company E. Later he was transferred to the signal corps and served in that position until the war had been brought to an end. On the 4th of July, 1865, he was honorably discharged at New (Jrleans, and he then returned to his home in Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Miss Lauretta (j. Gillespie, of Marion, that state, and they became the i)arents of a daughter, Dora, who married Charles M. Clark, of Los Angeles. Mrs. James, who has been a resident of the west since 1865 and of the county since 1871, is one of the pioneer women of Kern county and has given of her best efforts to enhance its educational, literary and social advancement. She is the daughter of Noah and Emily (Owens) Gillespie, and was born in Marion, Ohio, where she completed her education in the high school, and later followed teaching until her marriage in November, 1865. Of late years Mr. and Mrs. James have resided in Los Angeles, having a comfortable home at No. 1050 West Forty-eighth street. Mrs. James is a member of the Unitarian Church. Immediately after the close of his army service Mr. James and his wife came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and he at once entered the employ of his brother, I. E. James, with whom they made their home. The latter was a civil engineer employed on the Com stock lode, and while working with him Mr. James acquired some valuable experience in railroading and other engineering works. In partnership the two brothers became interested in a mining enterprise in Eldorado county, Cal., and later engaged in farming in the San Joaquin valley near what is now Newman, Stanislaus county. In 1871 Mr. James began farming in Kern county on what is still known as the James ranch, now a part of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 397 IJellevue, and he has ever since been identified with the county. Some vears later, in 1874, he was employed by the firm known as Carr & Haggin, predecessors of the present Kern County Land Co., entering upon his long and successful association with that company, whose irrigation works bear silent but eloquent testimony as to the splendid resources of his mind, the wisdom of his judgment and the original nature of his ideas. The irrigation system was installed and promoted by the Kern County Land Co. and its predecessors at a large cost. The investment has proved to be profitable, and its success has encouraged other companies seeking in a similar manner to conserve the use of fertile soil in dry countries. Water for irrigation in Kern county is almost entirely taken from Kern river, which has its source at Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the United States and covered with per[)etual snow. With the Kern river as the channel and conveyer, the water passes into canals and ditches and thence is brought to each tract at stated intervals. The importance of the enterprise to the agricultural development of Kern county cannot be overestimated, for the availability of water at a reasonable price has been the basis of all improvement of lands and profitable cultivation of farms. Although ^Ir. James' time was given very closely to business affairs he ne\ertheless served as county surveyor for one term, from 1873 to 1875. Fraternally he is identified with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M.. Kern Valley Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., was one of the early members of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and is a member of Hurlburt Post No. 127, G. A. R., of which he is a past commander. CHARLES FREDERICK OFF.— Ancient and honorable Teutonic line- age appears in the genealogy of the Ofif family and it is worthy of note that six successive generations have had male representatives bearing the name of Charles Frederick. Three generations of the family have been associated with Los Angeles : The late Rev. Charles Frederick Ofif, formerly a leading minister in the German Evangelical Church of North America ; Charles Fred- erick (more commonly known as Charles), who is superintendent of the celebrated Lakeview Oil Company and in the discharge of official duties spends much time in the Sunset-Midway field; and Charles Frederick, the youngesi: son of the oil superintendent and a bright boy now attending the city schools. From early life the German Evangelical minister showed fine mental qualities. Born at Canstadt, Wurtemberg, Germany, and educated at Basel, Switzerland, he engaged in educational and ministerial work throughout much of his career. At St. Joseph, Mo., he married Miss Louise Meister, who was born at Zurich, Switzerland, and crossed the ocean to the United States in 1850 with her parents, settling in Missouri. Her death occurred in 1903 at Stockholm, Sweden, and since that time the minister, having retired from professional labors, has made his home with his eldest son in Los Angeles. For years he was a man of great influence in his chosen denomination. Following a service of eight years as a professor of music in Elmhurst College near Chicago, he was given charge of the missionary work of the Iowa and Nebraska synod of the German Evangelical Church, and while serving in that capacity and temporarily stationed in Hardin county, Iowa, a son. Charles Frederick, was born May 13, 1866. There was one child older than he, a daughter, Louisa A., who died at the age of thirty-three years. The other members of the family are as follows : John W. A., a retired capitalist residing in Los Angeles; Julia Maude, a teacher of music; Theofil R.. who died in childhood; and Edward T., of Pasadena. Although he did not attend school after the age of thirteen, Charles Frederick OfT is a man of unusually broad information and is well educated ■iz both German and English, besides having considerable knowledge cV so 398 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY both piano and organ. When only thirteen he began to be self-supporting. For three years he engaged as a clerk in a general mercantile store at Plymouth, Sheboygan county. Wis. On resigning that position he removed to Denver, Colo., where he was employed for three years in a music store. January 1, 1884, he came to Los Angeles with his mother and sister, who were invalids. Since then he has made his home on the northeast corner of First and Union avenue, where he owns a residence. Shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles he purchased a stationery store at No. 148 North Spring street and from the first he met with a fair degree of success in the business. In 1895 he made the acquaintance of Miss Grace Maude Bemis, formerly of Evansville, Wis. Their marriage was solemnized in 1897 at the old homestead under an arch where three older sisters had previously stood as they took the marriage vows. Four children bless the union. Lillian Merle. Howard J.. Teddy R. and Charles Frederick. The Pacific Truck Company, started by Mr. OfT as a ten-cent delivery, developed into a large incorporated concern that made a specialty of heavy trucking and hauled the stone for the City Hall, Court-FIouse and Phillips Block. As the business grew with startling rapidity and as the president, Mr. Ofif, was obliged to devote his time very closely to the books and office work of the company, his health began to be impaired by the con- finement and in December, 1889. he sold his interest in the business. In order that he might have outdoor occupation, he bought land near Whittier, east of Los Angeles, and began to raise standard-bred horses and milch cows. Unfortunately a serious drought soon came on, feed became scarce and horses valueless, thus entailing a heavy loss in the venture. As a contractor in the well-drilling business in the W^hittier district, Mr. Ofif retrieved former loses. In addition he engaged in leveling lands and ])lanting trees for others under contract. In 1895 he left the Whittier district and put down his first oil well in the Los Angeles field, Thomas O'Donnell and Max Whittier doing the work of drilling. After having put down about six wells in the city he leased eighty acres of oil land at Whittier, where he drilled wells under the incorporated title of the Whittier Crude Oil Company. At this writing he still serves as manager of the company, which owns twelve wells in operation. Having completed the work of drilling these twelve wells, he went to the Santa Maria field as organizer of the Rice Ranch Oil Company at Orcutt and there he had charge of the drilling of seven wells. Desiring to extend the company's interests in 1908 he came to Kern county on a tour of investigation. After an inspection of the Sunset-Midway field he leased the property now controlled by the Lakeview Oil Company. From the first he was convinced of the value of the property, but when he submitted the details to the direc- tors of the Rice Ranch Oil Company he found a majority of them decidedly against investing in a new field. However, the president of the company, R. D. Wade, of Los Angeles, joined him in forming the new company and through the assistance of F. E. Dunlap of Los Angeles a twenty-year lease was secured from the locators. Under the management of Mr. Ofif drilling was begun at wells Nos. L 2 and 3. Financial necessities forced the management to sell fifty-one per cent of the stock to the Union Oil Company. Under the contract the management remained with that compan}- for three years, from June 1, 1909, to June 1. 1912. At the latter date the management was again returned to the minority and Mr. Ofi" was chosen superintendent. Under his supervision two wells, Nos. 9 and 10 are prospective successful pumpers, and No. 11 is now nearing completion and it is the expectation to begin drilling on No. 12. Lakeview No. 1, popularly known as the Lakeview gusher, is probably the most famous Avell in the entire country. During the period of the gushing. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 401 from March 15, 1910, to September 12. 1911, it is conservatively estimated to have produced ten million barrels. Such an enormous output naturally gained world-wide attention and the success of the well permanently placed the Sunset-Midway field upon the map of the world's oil industry. At great expense LakevicAv No. 1 was re-drilled and was brought in as a forty- barrel per day pumper, with a strong flow of gas sufficient to fire eleven boilers and equal to one hundred and fifty barrels of crude oil per day, besides furnishing natural gas to about twenty private families. The association of Mr. Off with this famous property on section 25, township 12, range 24, has been long and intimate. STONEWALL A. WOODY.— The auditor of Kern county traces his lineage to a colonial family of Old Virginia. As the tide of migration drifted toward the west one branch of the name became established in Missouri and from there Sparrell W. Woody, M. D., crossed the plains to California during the exciting period of '49, identifying himself with the permanent growth of the then unknown coast countrv. Fjorn in Virginia in 1826, he was taken to Missouri by his parents in 1835, and had endured the vicissitudes of frontier existence while aiding in the clearing and improving of a tract of raw land in Boone county. After he had received his degree from the St. Louis Medical College he engaged in professional work in Missouri for a year, but plans for a quiet continuance of his practice gave way before the more alluring visions offered by the unknown west. During the summer of 1849 he crossed the plains with wagon and cxen and upon his arrival in California began to mine on the American river, later, however, turning his attention to the management of an hotel and livery stable in Auburn. At the expiration of seven years he sold the business and spent a year in the Hawaiian Islands. Returning to San Francisco he came on to Kern county in 1860 and settled on the present site of Bakersfield, where he engaged in raising grain, corn and potatoes. The great flood of 1862 brought him losses that would have discouraged a less optimistic pioneer and he was further handicaoped by ill health. However, his was not the spirit to be depressed by adventitious circumstances. The flood taught him the necessity to ranching on higher ground, so he removed near the present site of Woody, and when later the village was started it was named in his honor. Soon he regained his health and recuperated his losses. Eventually he acquired a grain and stock ranch aggregating four thousand acres, the ranch house standing three miles from the town of Woody, which still affords a convenient market for many of the farm products. While the demands of his large landed possessions were so great that Dr. Woody had no leisure for professional practice and only responded to calls when there w^as no other physician near and the suffering of the patient Avas intense (in all of which cases he made no charge whatever), it must not be inferred that he fell into a narrow groove of exhausting agricultural labors. On the contrary, no one was more interested than he in the growth of the county and the development of its resources. Every progressive pro- ject received the benefit of his calm judgment and sagacious counsel. Dis- cerning the need of good educational facilities, he assisted in the building of the first schools in Kern county, and often served as a school trustee in order that he might promote such work. Religion also entered into his character and implanted in his soul its own lofty ideals. From early life a member of the Christian Church, he assisted in the building of a house of worship at Woody and generously supported all missionary movements of that congregation. Fraternally he was a Mason. When the first grand jury was convened at Havilah (then the county-seat) he was chosen its chairman and his impartial judgment aided the body in its deliberations. Fond of the best books, he was himself a scholar and a man of unusual 402 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY mental attainments, an honor to the citizenship of Kern county, and in his death, which occurred September 2, 1910, he was deeply mourned. Where the city of Bakersfiield now stands Dr. Woody was married in 1861, his bride being- Miss Louisa Bohna. who was born in Arkansas and died in Kern county in 1909. Her brother, Henry Bohna, is a resident of Woody, and her father. Christian Bohna, who died here, crossed the plains twice during early days, his first trip having been made shortly after the discovery of gold, at which time he followed the southern route and settled in Kern county. His second trip was made in 1858, when he brought his family in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen, a journey of six months. His daughter, Louisa, then thirteen years of age, was one of twelve children, and made her home with her father on Kern Island until her marriage. She was a woman of lovable disposition, kindly traits, and a strong character, always looking to the high moral u]:)lift of the community, and during all her life showed a true charitable and Christian spirit, ex- emplified in the fact that she reared two orphaned families besides her own, and during her whole life was a conscientious member of the Christian Church. Later Christian Bohna became a pioneer of Oregon, but after having made his home in that state from 1862 until 1870, he returned to Kern county to spend his last days. In the Woody family there are three daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Eugenie, married Alexander Carver and lives near Delano, Kern county. The other daughters, Nettie, Mrs. W. H. Howard, and Victoria, Mrs. Clark Green, reside at Dinuba, Tulare county. The two sons. Stonewall A. and Elmer, own the old Woody ranch of four thousand acres. To this they have added until they now have about sixty-five hundred acres and engage extensively in raising grain and stock, the younger brother residing at the old home ranch, while the older, a citizen of Bakersfield since 1907, erected and now occupies a modern resi- dence on the corner of E and Twenty-second streets. Born at the old homestead near Woody June 6, 1869, Stonewall A. Woody attended the country schools and in 1890 was graduated from Heald's Business College in San Francisco. Upon his return to the ranch he assisted his father in the cultivation of the land and the care of the stock. At the age of twenty- one he took up a homestead not far from the parental home and in due time proved up on the land, after which he bought adjacent property and railroad land. Until the death of his father he continued to raise grain and stock- in partnership with him and used the brand TD. When only twenty-one years of age Mr. Woixly became a member of the county central committee. Li^nder his father's supervision he had been trained in the Jacksonian Democratic policies and in early youth he was able to give a concise, clear and positive reason for his political views, while now he is regarded as one of the best-posted Democrats in the entire county. In recognition of his able services in behalf of the party, in 1906 the Demo- crats nominated him for county auditor and he was duly elected, taking the oath of office in January, 1907. During 1910 he was re-elected, to serve until January of 1915. As a county official he has proved prompt and painstak- ing, enterprising and efficient, and his popularity has not been limited to members of his own party, but extends to all those who appreciate con- scientious, honorable devotion to the business aflfairs of the county. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Native Sons of the Golden West. During 1900 at San Jose he married Miss Odile Enderlin, a native of Idaho, and the daughter of Frank and Hannah (Gay) Enderlin, natives of France and Philadelphia, Pa., re- spectively. Her father served in the Civil war in an Eastern regiment, sub- sequently coming to California. Here he met and married Miss Gay, who had come to California by way of Panama. Her parents died in San Jose. Mrs. Woodv is a graduate of the Santa Rosa Normal School. Her excel- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 403 lent education was utilized for some years as a teacher, and she proved well qualified for educational work. Since her marriage she has joined with Mr. Woody in social affairs and in the support of movements for the benefit of their home city and county, believing with him that this part of Cali- fornia is unrivalled in resources and alluring in possibilities. GEORGE B. EDWARDS.— Influential among oil men is George B. ]'"uilder, wliich he had learned during boyhood, and as a partner of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 407 William Schultz he also carried on general business in contracting and building. Their co-partnership, begun in 1908, continued for fourteen months, after which Mr. Weaver continued alone, and since then he has engaged in building frame structures of all kinds. As a carpenter he is reliable, skilled and popular and he is usually kept busy in the district lying near his own home. Politically he votes with the Democratic party and fraternally he is a member of the Eagles. While living in the east he was active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers. W'hen he came to California he brought with him his young wife, whom he had married in Lorain. Ohio, and who was Miss Reba Bills, daughter of L. D. Bills, of that city. Two children blessed their union, Kenneth and Gertrude. The latter died in 1911 at the age of eighteen months and in 1912 occurred the death of the wife and mother- JAMES CURRAN.— The identification of the Curran family with the United States began in the year 1842, when James Curran, Sr., accompanied by immediate family and other relatives, crossed the ocean to the new world. County Tyrone, in the north of Ireland, had been his home and the environ- ment familiar to his entire life that had been passed at Stewartstown in the vicinity of Lough Xeagh presented a striking contrast to the surroundings of his last days, passed in the then small but thriving village of Dixon, 111., where he opened and conducted stone quarries. The next generation was repre- sented by Daniel Curran, who was reared in Illinois and engaged in the building business and the manufacture of brick from an early age, holding a position as a foreman in New York City from 1856 until 1862. Returning from the east to Dixon, he took up brick-making in the place of his former residence and became known for the superior quality of his product as well as for the high character of his citizenship. For a long period of helpful service he was a member of the board of aldermen of Dixon and his death occurred in that city in 1902 when he had reached the age of sixty-three years. While living in New York in 1860 he had married Catherine Donahoe, who was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, and died at Dixon during January of 1873. The four sons and one daughter are still living, the eldest of these being James, who was born in New York City March 14, 1862, and is now engaged in the brick-manufacturing business at Bakersfield. Charles P.. of Pomona, Cal., is proprietor of a lumber yard. Frank holds a position with a lumber firm in Los Angeles and W. H. is assistant superintendent oi the coast division of the Southern Pacific railroad. W'hen nineteen years of age, having completed the studies of the Dixon schools, James Curran was eager to earn his own way in the world, but was so afflicted with asthma that he found it difficult to continue steadily at any work. A physician advised him to seek the inland regions of Cali- fornia. Crossing the continent in 1881, he soon proved to his own satis- faction that the coast region did not benefit him and after a sojourn of six months in San I'Vancisco and a later residence in Los Angeles he sought the inland sections advised by medical authorities. Meeting Mr. Brower and referred by him to Mr. Colton, he secured employment with the Kern Island Canal Company. The day that he crossed the Tehachapi range the asthma left him, to return no more. For three years he worked on the canal and during that time he was obliged to ride at least thirty miles every day. During 1886 he was elected justice of the peace. In the same vear he sent east for a machine to be used in the manufacture of brick. This arrived in 1887 and was the first machine of the kind in Southern California, all brick prior to that time having been made by hand. The sandstone brick which he began to make was the first of the kind on the Pacific coast. During 1903 the Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Companv was organized with the following officers: AY. S. Tevis. president; Charles J. Lindgren. vice- 408 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY president; First National Bank, treasurer; and James Curran. manager, which position, together with that of a director, he has since filled with recognized ability. The company occupies twenty-six acres in East Bakers- field. The cla}^ here found is admirably adapted to the manufacture of the finest brick and the plant has a capacity of ten million brick per annum. The newly completed office building is a niodel of its kind. Avhile the ware- house, kilns and entire yards are also modern and adecpiate to every need of the l)usiness. The products of the plant wherever used have proved equal to the demand. Since the organization of the company in 1003 they have furnished the brick for every large building in Bakersfield. In addition to the management of this important undertaking, Mr. Curran has been interested in agricultural affairs and realty enterprises and with Mr. Lindgren built the Western and Kern hotels, besides which he has platted a subdivision to Bakersfield, has erected a substantial residence in the city, and has been interested in oil development in the county. During the early period of his residence in the west and after the incorporation of Kern, he was elected a member of its board of trustees and served as presi- dent of the same. Later he became a director of the Bakersfield Board of Trade and a member of the Merchants" Association of this place. Fra- ternally he holds membershi]) with the Knights of Pythias. Ever since at- taining his majority he has supported men and measures of the Republican party. On one occasion, in 1896, his party asked him to accept the nomina- tion for the state legislature and he consented to make the race, although the district usually gave so strong a Democratic majority that a campaign ofl^ered little hope of success. However, he came within one hundred and eighteen votes of being elected, which proved that he not only held his own party, but won many votes frc ni the other side. Infrequently he has acted as chairman of the county Republican central committee and at this writing he is still a member of that organization. During 1911 he accepted an ap- pointment from (lOvernor Johnson as a member of the board of trustees of the Fresno State Normal. The marriage of James Curran took place at Rosedale ranch in 1887 and united him with Miss Mary G. Swain, by whom he is the father of eight children, namely : Mrs. Sibyl E. Chenoweth, of Bakersfield ; Charles S., \"al- entine. Arthur, Roland, Hugh, Rosalind and Robert. Mrs. C'urran was born at Loda, Iroquois county. 111., and is a sister of Arthur Swain, receiver of the United States land office at Visalia. Her parents, Thomas Howland and Sarah (Arthur) Swain, were born on Nantucket Island. The father descended from an honored' English family, identified with the Society of Friends, and represented among the very earliest settlers in the new world. .Succeeding generations bore an active part in the material upbuilding of New lingland. The first to seek a home in the Mississippi valley was Thomas Howland Swain, who became a pioneer of Irocpiois county. 111., and took up raw land near the village of Loda. Throughout the remainder ot his useful life he carried on general farming in that locality and from there in 1879 his widow removed to California, where she spent her last days with her children. AMOS E. WARREN.— The eldest of seven sons and two daughters, Amos E. Warren was born in Orange county. Ind.. September 16. 1883, and was reared in Kansas, the family having moved to that state in his early childhood. In education he was limited to a somewhat brief attendance in country schools. It was necessary for him to become self-supporting as soon as possible and hence he was deprived of all higher advantages. Upon leaving home in 1901 he went to Colorado and for a year worked in the oil fields near Florence, for seven months was employed as a tool dresser at Fort Collins and also engaged as a cowboy on a cattle ranch near (ireelev. After three vears in Colorado he came to California in 1904 KJ) 'VyT^A.J^ ^ Oi.y}^^ULyCi J^^^T-A^^^n^ty-c HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 413 and secured work as a pipeman in the Kern river fields. After perhaps five months with the Standard Oil Company he went over to the Imperial Oil Company, for whom he worked one year as a roustabout. Leaving this locality for the Santa Maria field in Santa Barbara county, he entered the employ of the Union Oil Company as a roustabout and tool dresser. Within one-half year, however, he was back in the Kern river fields and working as a tool dresser with the West Shore Company for several months. Under J. L. Bruce, then the foreman of the drilling department of the Associated Oil Company, in October of 1907 Mr. Warren secured a position as tool dresser. During the fall of 1908 he began as a driller with the same organization and continued in that capacity until February of 1911. At that date he became assistant to J. A. Jones, foreman of the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company, and June 1. 1912, he was promoted to his present position, that of field foreman of the Green and Whittier division of the same company, a responsible post in which he is giving satisfac- tion. He has established his home in the oil fields and with his wife, formerly Miss Tina Orton of Bakersfield, and their onh^ child, Esther, has a comfortable cottage whose hospitality is always extended to other workers in these fields. THEODORE HENRY MINOR.— As president of the Paraftine Oil Com- pany, the Areata (Jil Company and the Mannel-Minor Petroleum Company, Mr. Minor's identification with the development of the oil industry in Kern county has continued throughout an important period of local history. Mr. Minor traces his lineage to remote English ancestry, but he belongs to a family that has been represented in America since the colonial period of national history. The early home of Revolutionary forebears was in Con- necticut, but later generations became established in New Jersey and Samuel Minor, a native of the latter Commonwealth, transplanted the family name to Pennsylvania, where he earned a livelihood through the tilling of the soil. Isaac, son of Samuel, was born near Uniontown, Fayette county,' Pa., and came to California via Panama during 1851. For a brief period he en- gaged in mining and by chance he was in Sacramento at the time of the great rtood. Going to Humboldt count}' immediately after the Trinity river mining excitement of 1852. lie there formed the acquaintance of Hannah Nixon, who was also born near Uniontown, Pa., and who became his wife and shared his responsibilities and anxieties through a long and happy wedded life. To her loyal companionship was due much of his later success. In sunlight and shadow she walked beside him. his adviser and helpmate, and not until her death in 1906 was their helpful co-operation broken. Of eastern birth and parentage, she was a daughter of Capt. Isaac Nixon, who was an early settler of Iowa from Fayette county. Pa., and started from Iowa, settling among the pioneer homesteaders of Humboldt county. Various interests, all of them important, filled the active years of Isaac Minor. At different times he was {proprietor of a mercantile store and a trans])(irtation business, farmer and stock-raiser, also a manufacturer of lum- ber and builder of four different mills in his home county. A\'hen advancing years and the accumulation of a competency rendered further labors unneces- sary and undesirable, he retired to private life and has since enjoyed the comforts provided by the incessant labor of younger days. Of his twelve children only six remain and the eldest of these. Theodore Henry, was l)orn at Areata, Humboldt county. Cal., August 31. 1856. Primarily educated in Areata schools, he later attended the California Military Academy at Oakland until his graduation in 1872. after which he assisted his father in tallying lumber. For a time he was bookkeeper in the sawmill, then assisted in the management of the mills and lumber business, .^.fter his father sold all of tlie lumber interests to the children in 1896. he organized the Elinor Mill S: 414 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Lumber Company and continued the manufacture of lumber and shingles for shipment to San Francisco. A decade of prosperity followed his installation as president and manager of the company. Meanwhile he had acquired oil interests and during 1907 he sold his milling interests to a brother and sister, at the same time removing to Bakerstield in order to take charge of his oil holdings on the west side. As early as January 23, 1901, the Paraffine Oil Company had been in- corporated by A. W. Gilfillan, under whose supervision the first well on the Temblor lease, McKittrick, had been sunk, but the venture proved a failure. A contract was then obtained by Air. Gilfillan personally, to drill on the north- east quarter of section 25 on 25-Hill, it being agreed that if he struck oil he was to receive a deed to forty acres. This contract he turned over to the company, but they were discouraged and the funds for this work were fur- nished personally by Mr. Minor. As soon as a good well was struck the deed to forty acres was turned over to the Parafifine Oil Company, and since then the company has put down six wells on the forty acres and all are producers, thus giving financial success to the concern. It is said that this was the second oil company on 25-Hill to pay dividends. Since 1905 Mr. Minor has officiated as president and since 1908 he also has acted as manager. Taking a lease on property one mile south of their former location, Messrs. Minor and Gilfillan drilled and struck a small output of oil, after which they bought adjacent property. At the time there was no sale for oil. Later it brought thirty cents per barrel. During 1906 this lease was incorporated as the Areata Oil Company and since then Mr. Minor has served as president and manager of the organization, which now operates on the North McKittrick front. With F. E. Mannel as partner in 1912 he organized the Mannel-Minor Petroleum. Company and leased two hundred acres on the northwest Belridge front, seven miles from the Belridge wells and ten miles from the Lost Hills wells. The first oil was struck at a depth of four hundred feet, but they continued to drill to a depth of seven hundred feet. A second hole went to a depth of two thousand feet and gave them an exceptionally profitable well of twenty-five gravity oil. At this writing the first well is being deepened under the management of Mr. Mannel, who is vice-president, Mr. Minor being the president of the company. Besides air of these important oil interests he owns mining claims in Inyo county, Cal., is further interested in hydraulic mining on New river in Trinity county, this state, and has built a mill and concentrating plant at his tungsten mine near Tucson, .-Xriz. In addition he owns farm lands and real estate in Kern county. Ever since coming to Bakersfield he had maintained his olifice in the Hopkins building. At present he serves as treasurer and member of the executive committee of the Kern County Oil Protective Association, an asso- ciation formed to guard against the encroachment and percolating of water into the oil sand and securing legislation to that end. In politics Mr. Minor is a Republican, while fraternally he holds mem- bership with Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E.. and was made a Mason in Excelsior Lodge No. 166, E. & A. M., at San Francisco. A\niile living at Areata he married Miss Emily Daniels, a native of that citv, the daughter of Hibbird S. and Ann CHawken) Daniels, who were natives respectively of New Hampshire and England. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels came from Illinois to California in 1853, makinsr the wav via Panama and locatin? in Uniontown, now the citv of Areata, Humboldt countv. where Mr. Daniels en2ra£red in farmipor. ITnon retirinsf from active life thev located in Los .^neeles -vvhere TVTrs. DanieU died, her husband passing awav in Fullerton. Airs. Emilv TDaniels) Alinor wa«5 a Sfraduate of Humboldt Ladies' Seminarv in Eureka and is a woman of rare taste and refinement. Two son? were born to ATr. and OA^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 417 Mrs. Minor, namely : Henry Samuel, who is engaged in the manufacture of lumber; and Herbert Hibbard, who is interested with his father in the oil industry and mining claims. The family hold membership with the First Presbyterian Church of Bakersfield and Mr. Minor is giving most efficient service as chairman of its board of trustees, besides serving as a member of the board of elders. While he was chairman of the board the new Gothic structure was erected at the corner of H and Seventeenth streets, costing $25,000. It Tias a seating capacity of five hundred and is so arranged that the large Sunday school department may be separated into sixteen rooms for class purposes. The basement is fitted up as a social hall and equipped for a gymnasium. The plan had been the wish of Mr. Minor for years, and he and his co-workers feel amply repaid for their efforts. Mr. Minor was selected by the San Joaquin Presbytery one of six commissioners to the General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church of the United States of America held at Atlanta. Ga., May 15 to 24, 1913. Accompanied by Mrs. Minor he attended and took part in the important proceedings of that assembly. ADAM WILLIAM GILFILLAN.— Of English birth and ancestry, A. \\'. Gillillan was born at Greenwich, England, during the year 1854, but was brought to the United States in early childhood and passed the years of youth at Troy. N. Y., where he attended the public schools. When seventeen years of age he began to work in the oil fields of the Brad-, ford district in Pennsylvania. He seemed to possess natural ability in the oil industry. AMth keen judgment and energetic resourcefulness he quickly grasped every detail of the business and while yet a young man came to be known as one of the shrewdest oil operators in his district. Upon leav- ing the oil fields of Pennsylvania for those of California he became identified with the Puente district and there put down the first well for Rowland & Lacy, the head of that firm having been Hon. William R. Rowland, ex- sheriff of Los Angeles county. When the work had been completed sue- cessfullv and promptly in the Puente district he went to the oil fields of Northern California and put down a well in Humboldt county, but that enterprise did not prove a success. A later connection with the mining in- dustry on the Mother Lode in Tuolumne, Calaveras and Mariposa counties also proved unsuccessful. In 1900 he came to Bakersfield and became one of the pioneers of the oil industry in Kern county and the first to operate in the Midway district. After he had taken contracts for drilling and had struck oil, he then promoted the Paraffine Oil Company, on section 25, Midway district, and of this he was acting as general manager and vice-president at the time of his sudden death June 9, 1907. The marriage of Mr. Gilfillan took place in San Jose, this state, and united him with Miss Mary Moore, who was born at Holton, Kan., and is a graduate of the normal department of the L^^niversity of Kansas at Lawrence. By ability and temperament Mrs. Gilfillan was well qualified to be a helpmate to her husband, whose ventures she promoted by her constant encourage- ment and whose hopes she fostered by her cheerful sympathy. In addi- tion, she is the possessor of business ability of an high order. When the sudden death of her husband threw his large interests into her care, she proved equal to the most trying emergency and since then has managed the estate with tact, energy and discretion. In inheriting his property, she became the largest stockholder in the Parafifine Oil Company, which ranks as one of the most successful oil concerns along the coast. Of this company she is vice-president and a member of the board of directors. From her husband she also inherited a one-half interest in the Areata Oil Company, but this has been sold to the Santa Fe Oil Company. In addition she was largely interested in the Lost Hills district, where she was a fortunate seller of oil land at $1,000 per acre. She has lately become interested in horti- 418 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY culture and has purchased three hundred and twenty acres at Edison, which she will devote principally to the growing of citrus fruits. It has been dem- onstrated that the region is one of the most successful for the cultivation of oranges in California and she is planning to use her means and time to develop the horticultural resources of her adopted county, where she has met with such gratifying success. While giving her attention very closely to the management of the important interests bequeathed her by Mr. Gilhllan, she has kept in touch with political problems and always has maintained a sympathy with Democratic principles, as did also her husband ; besides these and other interests she has occupied an enviable social position in Bakersfield, has been identified with the ^Voman's Club in its civic pro- jects and public-spirited enterprises, and has manifested a deep devotion to the permanent progress of her home city. HAMILTON FARRIS.— The secretary of the board of health of Bakersfield, who also fills the position of health officer, has witnessed the development of Kern county through a considerable period of progress and with others originated the movement that resulted in the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern, a decidedly forward step in local upbuilding. Al- though not a native Californian, nor indeed a native of the United States, he is most patriotic in impulses, loyal in sentiment and true to every measure making for the advancement of his adopted home. Of Canadian birth and parentage, he was born at Arcona, Ontario, February 19, 1869, and was the eldest among three children comprising the family of George and Sarah (Mellen) Farris. While yet a young woman the mother was taken by death from home and children and Hamilton was only thirteen when his father, a skilled blacksmith and man of honorable principles, passed away, leaving the children with little means. Friends, however, came to their aid. The eldest child was taken from school and apprenticed to the trade of a blacksmith at Arcona, where he continued for three years. Being then free to make his own plans for the future, he entered railroading and secured employment as checker in the freight office of the Grand Trunk Railroad. Later he became a brakeman with the same company. Four years were spent with the Grand Trunk Railroad, after which in 1889 he came to California and found work as a brakeman with the Southern Pacific, having for a time a run between Bakersfield and Lathrop in San Joaquin county. Securing a position as clerk in the old Central hotel in Kern in 1894, Mr. Farris left the road, but at the expiration of three and one-half years in the hotel he went to work in the Southern Pacific freight house as night foreman. At the expiration of one year he resumed work as a brakeman and continued in the same work until 1902, when he was elected marshal. On two separate occasions he was re-elected marshal. During 1907 he resigned that position to become deputy county clerk and continued as such until the spring of 1910, when he went to the Kern river oil field as a foreman for the Associated Oil Company. Resigning and returning to East Bakersfield in October of 1912, two months afterward he was appointed health officer and secretary of the board of health, since which time he has devoted his entire time and the closest attention to the careful discharge of every duty connected with the responsible place. In politics he always has su])ported I^emocratic principles. Fraternally he holds mem- bership with the Knights of Pythias. Mis marriage was solemnized in Chicago, 111., and united him with !^Iiss Matilda Parkinson, who was born in Ontario and died in East Bakersfield November 14, 1912, leaving three children, namely: Clifford, now employed by the Associated Oil Compan}^ in the Kern river field ; Floyd, an employe of the ^^'ells-Fargo Express Company in Bakersfield ; and Olga, who since the death of her mother has HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 419 presided over the family home and ministered to the comfort and welfare of her father. W. R. LEAKE. — From his earliest memories Mr. Leake has been familiar with the oil industry in all of its phases. Nor have his experiences been limited to one field or to one state. On the other hand, he has been employed in fields in various parts of the country, notably in Pennsylvania, where his boyhood years were passed, and in California, where for more than a decade he has been associated with the development of the business. \\'ith the early history of. the industry in the Midway field he became con- nected through his arrival in September. 1909, at Taft, then known as ]\Ioron. The A\'est Side Oil Company, a close corporation with five prin- cipal stockholders (all residing in Los Angeles), selected him to take charge of their lease of eight acres, situated on section 25, township 32, range 23, and for that purpose he came from Los Angeles to Kern county at the time mentioned, since which he has had charge of three producing wells that form the holdings of the small but prosperous corporation. Near Bath, Steuben county. N. Y., W. R. Leake was born February 11, 1869. being the only son of William H. and Amanda (Beebe) Leake, natives of New York state. The two daughters in the family are India and Inez A., the former married to Charles Hanks, a prosperous oil operator of Ohio and Pennsylvania. During the Civil war William H. Leake served for four years and four months and received an honorable discharge at the close of the struggle, after which he became interested in the oil busi- ness. When his son, William R., was an infant the family removed to Pennsylvania and settled in Butler county, later going to the Bradford field in the same state. In fact, the father visited almost every eastern oil field at some period and he became a very successful producer, besides owning some wells in Ohio. Nor did his activities lessen with advancing years. At the time of his death, which occurred when he was seventy-four years of age, he was at Beaumont, Tex., as superintendent for the Higgins t)il Company at Spindletop. Educated in the grammar schools of Butler county. Pa., followed by a business course in the Tidioute high school in Warren county, that state. Mr. Leake became a regular worker in the Pennsylvania oil fields when he was eighteen years of age. His first work as a production man was with the Clinton Oil Company. For ten busy years he was an operator in the West Virginia fields and for two years he was associated with the development of the oil field near Boulder, Colo., whence in 1902 he came to California and sought the Coalinga field. After a long term of service as superintendent first with the K. C. Oil Company and then with the New Era Oil Company, he came down to Taft during September of 1909, since which time he has engaged as superintendent of the West Side Oil Company. A most capable assistant in his counsels and business enterprises is his wife, whom he married in Elk county. Pa., May 5. 1891, and who was Miss Martha M. Parker, daughter of W. H. Parker, a prominent oil operator in Pennsylvania. Thousands of acres of oil lands were held by the family. By the marriage of Mr. Parker to a Miss Hilliard, a native of Clarion county. Pa., there were seven children, namely: Alice, whose husband, Charles Brick, is superintendent of the National Gas Company at Youngs- town, Ohio; W. O., a contracting driller at Dewey, Okla. ; Martha M., Mrs. Leake; May, wife of Alfred Williams, of Youngstown, Ohio; Stella, who married F. B. Long, a driller now living at Waynesburg, Pa. ; Charles S., a plumber engaged in business in West Virginia; and John, who has charge of an oil company's lease at Junction City, Ohio. Mrs. May Williams was first married to J. M. Leyman, a successful oil man, who for twenty years engaged as superintendent of the Jennings Oil Company and 420 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY who held the confidence of operators in that industry throughout the east. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Leake, Irene Romain, is the wife of Wade S. Fitch, of Los Angeles, and the mother of a daughter, Frances Irene Fitch. CHARLES EUGENE DAY.— To the people among whom Mr. Day has lived since the year 1877, and who have learned to appreciate his splendid traits of character as a man and his tact as an official, there comes a feeling of pride in any recital of his achievements as a marksman, for in tournaments and contests in this part of the state he carried the record for years and made the best score ever achieved by crack shots. With one shell he has killed seventy quail and inside of seventy-nine days he shot eleven thousand. In one day with twenty-two shots he obtained four hun- dred and fortyrsix quail, following the next day with four hundred and fourteen, while on the third day he brought down three hundred and forty. His hunting expeditions have not been limited to Kern, Tulare, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, but have extended as far south as the line of Mexico, and in the early days he made a specialty of shipping deer and quail to the San Francisco markets. If skill in marksmanship may be denominated a matter of heredity then it may be said of Mr. Day that he inherited his expertness as a shot from his father, who was one of the noted hunters of his day and locality. A member of an old family of New York and himself during early manhood a farmer in A\'yandot county, Ohio, the father, John Day, served in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war and became known among members of his company for his skill with a rifle. At the expiration of his term of service he received an honorable discharge, returned to his home in Ohio and at once made preparations to cross the plains to California. During the progress of the trip, which was made with wagons and ox-teams in 1864, he supplied the camp with an abundance of game and many a bear, buffalo and antelope fell as a tribute to his unerring marksmanship. Some years prior to the removal of John Day to the west he had mar- ried Miss Harriet Bristol, a native of Wyandot county, Ohio, and a daughter of William Bristol, for years employed there as railroad and express agent. They became the parents of four children, the three daughters being Mrs. Delia Griffin, of Oakland; Mrs. Alice Simpson, who lives near Bakersfield, and Mrs. Clara Knight, of Rosedale. The only son, Charles E., was born in Ohio March 18. 1862, and was three years of age when he was brought by his mother to California via Panama, joining his father on a farm near Lakeville, Sonoma county. During 1868 the family removed to a large farm on Marsh creek near Brentwood, Contra Costa county, where the father undertook grain farming on a large scale. At first he met with unusual success, but two years of continuous drought caused him a loss of all the accumulations of years. Removing to Calistoga, Napa county, in 1874. he engaged in hunting in the mountains and shipped deer and bear to the San Francisco markets. During the fall of 1876. with the assistance of his ( nly son, he began to hunt quail for the citv markets, and on this expedition he traveled through Ventura and Los Angeles counties, then came up to Kern county, where he found surroundings so greatly to his liking that he located at Bakersfield April 25, 1877. Soon afterward he bought forty acres five miles south of town under the Kern Island canal and there he began to raise fruit and alfalfa, afterward enlarging the tract by the purchase of another forty. In addition to farming he still engaged in hunting for game in the hills. February 28, 1882, when about fifty years of age. the team which he was driving ran away, threw him into the canal and he was drowned. Some years later his widow was married to J. W. Fitzgerald and at this writing she lives in East Bakersfield. After the death of his father Charles E. Day took charge of the home farm in the interests of his mother and sisters and for twentv-one vears --^L^laM^ (^.^^^^^<^ X^P^' HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 423 he operated one place. Besides engag-ing in farming and stock-raising he hunted deer and quail to ship to the San Francisco markets. From young manhood he has been a stanch Democrat. During 1894 his party nominated him for countv tax collector. Duly elected, he took the oath of offtce in January of 1895. In 1898, 1902, 1906 and 1910 he was re-elected, the last time without any opposition whatever. His present term will expire in January of 1915. While giving due attention to the responsibilities of the olftce he also continued farming until 1910, when he disposed of his interests in the county. The residence which he erected and occupies in East Bakersfield is presided over hospitably by ^Irs. Day, formerly Miss Susie Dragoo, who was born, reared and married at Martinez, Contra Costa county, being the daughter of a pioneer physician of that village. The only child of the union, Leona, is married to Palo Autrand and lives in East Bakersfield. The fraternal associations of Mr. Day are numerous and important and include membership in the Knights of Pythias, in which he has been a leading ofBcer, besides being with his wife connected with the kindred organization of Pythian Sisters. In addition he belongs to the Woodmen of the World, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Eagles, Independent Order of Fores- ters, Fraternal Brotherhood and Ancient Order of United Workmen. GORDON WALLACE WATSON.— The lineage of the Watson family in America is traced back to the Gordon clan, inseparably associated with the early history of the highlands and illustrious in many of the ancient wars of Scotland. In leaving his native city of Aberdeen to cast in his fortunes with the new world, Gordon Wallace, Sr., gave up associations endeared to him from earliest memories and from the family traditions concerning bygone centuries. Shortly after his marriage to Miss Annie W^hite in London, England, he had migrated with his young wife to Canada and later came to the States. For years he engaged in contracting and building at Jersey City, N. J., where both he and his wife passed their last years. The eldest of their five children, born at Jersey City, N. J., Decem- ber 8, 1868, was given the name of his father, thus carrying into another generation the old Scotch patronymics of ancestral associations. During infancy he was taken to Toronto, Canada, but at the age of six years accom- panied his parents in a permanent removal to Jersey City, where he attended the public schools and also learned the trade of carpenter. During a trip to Europe in 1901 Mr. Watson formed the acquaintance of Miss Janetta Haley in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, and they were mar- ried in March of the following year. Mrs. Watson was born in Yorkshire, being a daughter of Henry and Eliza Margaret (Eastwood) Haley, resi- dents of Bramley, Leeds, where Mr. Haley engaged in business as a woolen manufacturer. The Haley family traces its lineage to Celtic ancestry. As early as 1675 some of the name removed from Ireland to England, where later generations engaged in business pursuits and were among the first manufacturers of woolen goods at Leeds, beginning with the old hand looms and gradually growing into an extensive business with the largest and most modern machinery for the manufacture of woolen goods. The family accumulated great wealth and a high social position. The month after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Watson arrived in Jersey City and established a home at that place, where he engaged in carpentering. During 1905 they came to California for the first time and found the west attractive and alluring. Establishing a home in Bakersfield, Cal., in Novem- ber of 1907, Mr. Watson followed the trade of carpenter, also was identified with different branches of the building trades and assisted in the organiza- tion of the Building Trades Council, of which he served as business agent for two years. For some time he has been engaged in the building busi- ness in Bakersfield. where he has a reputation for reliability as a con- 424 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tractor, progressive spirit as a citizen and dispatch as a worker. Although an active worker for the benefit of the Democratic party, he has never sought yffice nor has he been wiUing- to accept political positions. In relig- ious faith he and his wife are Episcopalians. Devoted to the welfare of their adopted city, they have the utmost faith in its material growth and promising future. Since coming to this city they have purchased a number of residence lots and have erected and still own five bungalows of a modern and attractive ty])e of architecture. Their family consists of three children, Margaret Rutherford, Gt^rdon Bruce and Donald Keith. J. THOMAS JOHNSON, M. D.— Professional connection with the United States navy in the capacity of surgeon with the rank of lieutenant- commander gave Dr. Johnson a wide experience in the practice of materia medica and brought to him an important responsibility in the management of naval hospitals in the east. The selection oi his life work was happily made. Natural qualifications adapted him for skill in therapeutics. From the beginning of his practice he has exhibited skill in the diagnosis of disease and efficiency in the selection of remedial agencies. Since he came to Kern county and opened a hospital at Fellows, he has risen to a high rank professionally in this new town, the "gem of the foothills." Much of his early life was passed in Chicago, where he was born May 18, 1882. and where his father, Thomas Johnson, was a member of the livestock com- mission firm of Johnson & Wilson, at the Union Stock Yards. He spent considerable time in Iowa while a young man and when the Spanish- American war broke out he was living at Des Moines, from which city he enlisted in Company B, Fifty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He went into camp at Chickamauga Park, Ga., and later was transferred to Com- pany D, Forty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. With this regiment he went to Cuba and remained until the close of hostilities. From early youth he had felt a drawing to the medical ])rofession and after he had received his honorable discharge from the army he determined to take up the study of pharmacy. He entered the Highland Park College of Pharmacy at Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from there in June, 1901. After he had received actual experience in drug stores, at various places for a while, he opened up a drug store at Story City, Iowa, which he ran successfully and sold out to advantage in time to matriculate at the medical department of Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa, in the fall of 1903, and thus carry out his cherished ])lans to become an M. D. He con- tinued two years at Drake University and finished up by taking the last two years of a four-year medical course at Jefl^erson Medical College, Phila- delphia, from which he graduated with the degree of M. D., class of 1907. To one of his ambitious and aspiring mind, the completion of a medical course did not signalize a cessation of study. On the other hand, he became very solicitous in enlarging his medical knowledge so that he might be better qualified to practice with success. For a time he served as an interne in the Philadelphia hospital and for two years he had the advantage of experience in Bellevue hospital in New York City. About 1909 he was commissioned surgeon in the United States navy, and assigned to duty at the naval hospital in Philadelphia. Soon he was transferred to Washington, D. C, and during his leisure hours in that city he took a post-graduate course in a medical school. Next he had a brief experience in the New York City naval hospital and from there was transferred to the battleship Mississippi, after which he was assigned to recruiting duty in Chicago. From there he was ordered to San Francisco and there in May, 1911, resigned his commission. Immediately after he resigned as surgeon in the navy Dr. Johnson came to Fellows and opened an office for practice, also acquired the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 427 pharmacy estahlisliiiient known as The Fellows Drug Company's store. Since he arrived here in June, 1911, he has won the confidence of the people, who recognize in him a surgeon of unusual skill and an experienced l>hysician. While his ])ractice is general and includes the treatment of disease in every form, he has specialized in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and surgery. The need of a local hospital led him to interest himself in that work shortly after he had located here and he organized a hospital association of eight hundred members, of which he is now the president. The concern was incorporated in January, 1912, and the hospital was opened on the 10th of February, affording to the people of the vicinity a modern institution equipped with every convenience for the care of the sick. Before coming to the west Dr. Johnson joined the Knights of Pythias at Des Moines, also Des Moines Lodge No. 98, B. P. O. E., and the blue lodge of Masons. He is a member of the Fellows Chamber of Commerce. JOHN TEMPLE TAYLOR.— When the colonial wars were calling for the stalwart young men (it the new world to assist in the defence of their adopted country among those who responded were several members of the Taylor and Temple families, representatives of the F. F. V's of Virginia and imbued with the patriotic loyalty characteristic of every generation back to the English progenitors. The outbreak of the Revolution found the men of that generation eager to respond to the call of the colonies for help and willing to sacrifice money, time, and, if need be, their lives to aid in securing independence for their country. In the later years of peace the family pros- pered and acquired large Virginian plantations. On one of these estates lived Richard and Elizabeth (Temple) Taylor, whose son, John R. Taylor, M. D., was born and reared at the old homestead in Hanover county and was given exceptional educational advantages that culminated in a course of study in that famous Philadelphia institution, the Jeft'erson Medical College. Upon receiving the degree of M. D. from that college he returned to Virginia and purposed to devote his entire life to professional labors, but more and more the management of his lands began to engross his attention and finally he retired from practice in order to give his time to landed interests in different parts of Virginia. For years prior to his demise he made his home at a picturesque old plantation, Fall Hill, situated near Fredericksburg, Va., over- looking the Rappahannock river. On that place (;ccurred the birth of his son. John Temple, February 16, 1845. There too were born the five other children comprising the family and there also the mother spent her last days, so that the endearing associations of both happy and sad memories clustered around the old homestead. Three of the children are still living. Of the five sons four bore arms for the Confederacy during the Civil war and one of these, Capt. Murray F. Taylor, a member of the staff of Gen. A. P. Hill, after the war came to California, secured employment in Kern county, rose to be superintendent of the Stockdale ranch and some years later returned to Vir- ginia, where he died. Attendance at the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, \"a., was brought to an abrupt close in 1862, when John Temple Taylor abandoned the practice work and drills on the college campus for actual service in the field. At the time of his enlistment in Company B, Ninth Virginia Cavalry, he was a youth of seventeen years, courageous and enthusiastic, glad to enlist in the cause of the south where his life had been passed and where generations of his ancestors had lived and labored. The regiment to which he was assigned and in which he continued until the close of the war, served around Richmond and in other parts of Virginia, taking part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the Shenandoah valley, Petersburg, etc. In several battles he received saber wounds, at .\shland he was wounded bv a bullet in the right shoulder and at Five Forks his horse was shot from 428 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY under him, l)ut he escaped by securins; and mounting- a riderless horse. Upon the close of the war he returned to the Fall Hill plantation, but in the fall of the same year (1865) he moved to the Hayes plantation in King George county, on the Rappahannock rixer, twelve miles l)elo\v Fredericksburg. This plantation he owned throughout life, although for years it was leased to other parties. Coming to California in 1873. ^Ir. Taylor joined a relative. Dr. George F". Thornton, the general superintendent for J. B. Haggin. This relative gave him employment as a foreman. One 3'ear later he was made super- intendent of the Bellevue ranch, which property he developed and put under cultivation. ( )n account of failing health in 1883 he went to Contra Costa county to recuperate and while there he engaged in farming. With strength renewed in 1887 he returned to Kern county and again became an employe of J. 1). Haggin. In 1891. when his brother. Capt. M. F. Taylor, returned to Virginia, he became superintendent (^f the Stockdale, Bellevue. Buena Msta and McClung ranches. Later he was tendered a similar position on the Canfield ranch. Upon the formation of the Kern County Land Com- pany he was retained as superintendent of all of these various ranches. At the same time he himself became a property owner and invested in valuable residential sections of Bakersfield and Los Angeles. Mr. Taylor's son, Wallace Temple, is a railroad and general contractor with headquarters in Los Angeles. Through all of his life John Temple Taylor w^as stanchly devoted to Democratic principles. Some years ago he was chosen a member of the county Democratic central committee and his service in that capacity, as in every other association of political or business life, reflected his own strength of character, energy of temperament and high ideals of citizenship. Bakersfield mourned the loss of one of her most dependable citizens when John Temple Taylor passed from earth August 23, 1913. His remains were buried in Bakersfield cemetery by the side of his brother, Capt. Murray F. Taylor. GEORGE MOLIDOR.— The rotary disc bit, which was invented through the combined efforts of T. F. Litaker and George Molidor in 1910 and later covered by patents in this and foreign countries, is a device that will work quickly and successfully in all formations, thus rendering unnec- essary the changing of bits when another formation is struck. October 15, 1912, the Rotary Disc Bit Company was incorporated, the two hundred shares being held by the gentlemen named, together with R. U. Harris and \V. J. Holland. Arrangements have been made whereby the Oil \\'ell Supply Company c:if Los Angeles will undertake the manufacture of the bit on a royalty basis and as this concern has about one hundred and fifteen branch stores in the various oil fields of the world, it would appear that the bit will soon become well-kncTwn among oil operators everywdiere. .Since the organization of the company its president, Mr. Molidor, has traveled as a salesman introducing the bit into different oil fields, and he finds that oil men are interested in the device by reason of its simplicity of construction and the fact that there are no delicate parts. The discs and pins are the only parts upon which there is any wear, and these can be replaced quickly and at small expense. The discs are made of manganese steel and are so constructed that they keep a cutting edge. As the discs revolve on their pins they have over sixty inches of cutting surface. Another advantage of the rotary disc bit is that it uses only one-third the amount of steam re(|uired for a fish tail. This means there is very little strain on the drill pipe and the danger of twisting the pipe is reduced to a minimum. In drilling with the bit it is necessary to feed slowdy or the pumps will be choked. On the La Belle lease on section 4. 32-23, near Fellows, at a depth of three hundred and thirty-seven feet, in ten hours HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 429 and ten minutes oi actual drilling, a soft formation was struck and the dril- lers put in a fish tail, which ran through the formation, struck coarse gravel and lasted only thirty minutes. The disc bit was again used and made nine feet in boulders in one hour and thirty minutes. As the discs and pins were worn the disc bit was taken out and the fish tail put in, which made ten feet in fifty minutes and then had to be dressed. The formation con- sisted of sand and gravel, two hundred and seventy-four feet ; gypsum, thirty feet ; soft clay, twenty feet ; and boulders, twenty-two feet. The president of the company is of American birth and German par- entage and belongs to a family noted for rugged physique and sturdy con- stitution. His father, Henry G., a native of Hanover. Germany, crossed the ocean at the age of twenty-one and settled in Ohio, where he followed his trade of merchant tailor. After a few years he moved to Springfield, 111., and followed the same trade. Later he went to Kansas and bought a farm southeast of Independence. While living in Ohio he was married at Radnor to Miss Katherine May, a native of the Buckeye state. Both he and his wife are deceased and their farm, which still remains intact as an estate, has become valuable oil land, since about 1904 oil having been pumped daily from three wells. The parental family consisted of five sons and three daughters. The second son. George, was twenty-one at the time of the removal to Kansas. After two years on the farm near Independence he went to the mountains and engaged in prospecting for gold. Four years were spent near Leadville. Upon his return to Kansas he engaged in ranching and also with two brothers and another gentleman engaged in operating a threshing machine. Meanwhile he had married Miss Mary Hayes, of Independence, who died on the farm near that town in 1909, leaving six children, namely : Gertrude, George A., Paul A., Nellie, Katherine and Genevieve. The elder son. George A., now in school, has devoted his vacations to the driving of a transfer wagon at Fellows and to employment in the Jones drug store, but is especially fond of mechanical work and intends to take up work with machinery upon leaving school. The second son, Paul A., is now employed in the Jones drug store. In 1911 Mr. Molidor married Miss Nellie Mills, who was born and reared in London, and of that union there is a daughter, Frances Irene, born in December, 1912. A most serious disaster befell Mr. Molidor with the burning of his buildings in Fellows on Christmas eve of 1911, when he and his family were left without means and with almost no clothing. Encouraged by his wife and children, he took up transfer work and anything that it was possible for him to do, but in the meantime he had been interested in the rotary disc bit and now devotes his entire attention to its sale. For five years he worked in oil fields and by actual experience he has become familiar with every phase of that industry except drilling. Inventive ability has been one of his characteristics from early life, ^^'hile living in Kansas he invented a combination can-opener, meat and vegetable chopper and ice shaver, and sold one-half interest in the invention for an amount that enabled him to put up a factory building at Independence in 1890. Other inventions are also to his credit and it is his chief ambition to erect a factory wherein several of his inventions may be manufactured. The ambi- tion may be unrealized for a few years, but there is every reason to believe that eventually his hope will be realized. From early years he and his wife have been identified with the Catholic Church, and while in Kansas he was an active worker in the Knights of Columbus at Independence. In that town he was likewise prominent among the Woodmen of the World. JOHN T. GREEN.— It was in Tulare, Cal., that J. T. Green was born March 12, 1884. He entered school when seven years old and when he was nine he was taken bv his parents to Lemoore on their removal to that 430 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY town. There he was graduated from the grammar school and devoted a year to high school attendance, and in 1904 he was duly graduated, at the end of the prescribed course of study, from the San Francisco business college. That same year he came to Kern county and for four years there- after he was employed in the motive power department of the Southern Pacific railroad. In 1908 he came to Wasco to become manager of the Hayes & Murray general merchandise store, which he bought a year later and conducted until 1911, when he disposed of it in order to engage in the real estate business. He was appointed postmaster of Wasco May 27, 1909, and has ably filled that office ever since. He established the first barber shop in Wasco, encouraged the opening of the first butcher shop there and was instrumental in the installation of the first newspaper plant in the town, that of the Wasco News. He is the commercial agent for the Universal as well as the Associated Oil Companies. Another of his activities is his energetic management of the Wasco Land Company. It will be seen that not only as a real estate man, but in numerous other ways he has done much for the upbuilding of Wasco. He owns four residences in the town, his home lot consisting of two and a half acres, as well as three business lots. In 1912 he erected a large brick building, 60x70 feet, occupied by two stores and the postofifice, which is located centrally on the main business street. Since 1909 Mr. Green has held a commission as notary public. On November 5, 1909, Mr. Green married Miss Pearl S. Lobb, who was born at Traver. Tulare county, Cal.. August 25. 1887, and they have one child. Gwen Adell Green. Fraternally he affiliates with Delano Lodge, F. & A. M.. with the Bakersfield Lodge, I. O. O. F.. and with the local organization of the Modern Woodmen of America, of which latter he was a charter member. EDWARD W. CRAGHILL.— Three generations of the Craghill family have been identified with the material development of California and the manager of the King Lumber Company at Fellows represents the third generation, being a grandson of Charles Craghill, the founder of the family on the shores of the Pacific. That gentleman, who was a native of London, England, but a citizen of the United States from early life, engaged in agri- cultural pursuits in Iowa prior to the Civil war. With characteristic loyalty to the country of his adoption he enlisted under the stars and stripes and rose to the rank of quartermaster in an Iowa regiment of infantry. Receiv- ing an honorable discharge at the close of the war, he returned to Iowa, but *in a short time disposed of his holdings in that state and came to California accompanied by his wife and children. Selecting a location near Santa Cruz, he turned his attention to the tilling of the soil. In the community he rose to a position of considerable local influence and the highest reputation for probity and intelligence. For twenty years he gave impartial service in the office of justice of the peace. His life was prolonged to old age and he passed away in 1911 after an intimate and interested identification with his section of the state. When the family came from Iowa to California Thomas E. Craghill, a native of the former commonwealth, was a small child, hence the greater part of his life has been passed in the west. During young manhood he engaged in teaming at Santa Cruz. For many years he raised stock and grain on a ranch near San Luis Obispo, but at this writing he operates a cattle ranch in Tulare county near the village of Corcoran. By marriage to Vianna McLaughlin, a native of Santa Cruz, he became connected with another prominent pioneer family of the western country. In a very early period of California colonization her father, Daniel McLaughlin, a native of Maine, crossed the plains with ox-teams and wagons and became a pioneer HISTORY' OI-' KRRN COUNTY 433 of the vast undeveloped regions of the west. Somewhat later he married at Santa Cruz Miss Helen Rice, who had accompanied her parents across the plains and, like himself, claimed Maine as her native commonwealth. After their marriage they engaged in general farming, with a specialty of horticulture. The eldest of the seven children of Thomas E. and Vianna Craghill is Edward W. Craghill, born on the ranch in San Luis Obispo county March 24, 1887, and educated in country schools near the old home. After leaving school he clerked in San Francisco for a short time, then went to Corcoran to assist his father in the cattle industry, but soon became an employe of the Cross Lumber Company. After two years with the concern, during a portion of which time he served as assistant manager, he came to Fellows in September of 1910 as an employe of the King Lumber Company. In a short time he was transferred to Wasco to act as manager for the company at that point, but in April. 1912, was sent back to Fellows, where he since has been manager of the yards. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce. ANDREW FRELIGH.— Coming to California in 1870 with the hope that the change of climate m^ight benefit his impaired health, Mr. Freligh ar- rived in Kern count}- during 1876 and settled during 1880 upon the ranch where he still lives and labors. The interim has been devoted to the stock business. Up to the year 1882 he specialized with sheep, but a number of heavy losses led him to dispose of his flocks and devote his attention to hogs, horses and cattle. At this writing he owns six hundred head of stock. His quiet, retiring disposition impels him to find his highest pleasure on his htmie ranch and in the care of his stock. Born on the bank of Seneca Lake, in Seneca county, N. Y., September 12, 1850, Andrew^ Freligh received a public-school education and upon leav- ing school went via Michigan to Prairie City, Kans., where he found employ- ment on farms and remained for two years. Ill health caused him to come to the Pacific coast in 1870 and from San Francisco he moved to Alameda county, where he worked as an orchardist at Haywoods for tw^o years, con- centrating his attention upon the raising of deciduous fruits. Concluding then to engage in the sheep industry, he started in business at Jones' Ferry, Fresno county, at first having about three hundred head of sheep. In order to secure range for the flock he went into different parts of Fresno county and traveled through that district when there was not a single house on the present site of the flourishing city of Fresno. He saw the town started and attended the first Fourth of July celebration. With the intention of finding suitable range for his sheep he came into Kern county in 1876 and four years later he settled on his present ranch, where in partnership with an uncle, George Kinnie, he bought eight hundred acres, sixteen miles w^est of Bakers- field. The uncle deciding to leave in 1884 sold his interest in the land to Mr. Blodgett and since then Mr. Freligh has run the ranch, raising and selling horses, hogs and cattle, and making a specialty of raising draft horses of the Norman strain and Durham cattle. Six hundred acres of the ranch are under irrigation and in alfalfa. JOSEPH J. MARSHALL.— An early identification with American devel- opment along the Atlantic seaboard is attested by the Marshall family gen- ealogy, which also indicates patriotic loyalty to country and a courageous participation in many a fiercely contested battle. During the Civil w^ar George Marshall, a native of New York City, offered his services to the Union and was assigned to service in the One Hundred and Third New York Infantry, with which he went to the front and aided in the quelling of the /rebellion. During the early '70s he became an employe in the St. Louis postofiice and the efficiency of his services is shown by the fact that he has remained in the department from that time to the present, being now with 434 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY two exceptions the oldest employe in that <:^reat office. He and his wife, formerly Mary M. Francis, who was born in Davenport, Iowa, have a family of eleven children. The second of these, Joseph J., was born in the city of St. Louis. April 4, 1875, and received an excellent education in the public schools and Christian Brothers College. Immediately after leaving college he became an apprentice to the trade of carpenter. Inheriting the military spirit of his ancestors, lie entered the army in 1895 and was assigned to Troop I, Second United States Cavalry, with which he served at Fort Logan for three years. Within fifteen minutes after his honorable discharge in April, 1898, he had re-enlisted in the same troop for service in the Spanish- American war. Under general orders he received an honorable discharge at Huntsville, Ala., in January, 1899, after which he returned to St. Louis and completed his trade. In that city occurred his marriage to Miss Louise Rathert. who was born, reared and educated there, and who shares with him the good-will of the people of their home town. An experience as carpenter in Mexico gave to Mr. Marshall some knowl- edge of conditions in that country, v.here he worked first at Mazatlan and later at Empalme in the state of Sonora. From 1907 until he came to Fel- lows in 1910 he spent much of the time in Mexico, as foreman of the construc- tion department for buildings erected by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. XAHien he came to the oil fields he was well equipped for success- ful work in the building business. At Fellows he aided in the erection of some of the. first buildings and became a member of the firm of Ramage & Marshall, the first partnership of builders in the new settlement. The part- nership was later dissolved and in January, 1912, with L. H. Moon, he started the M. & M. Construction Com])an}, which has had the contracts for the improvements on twenty or more leases, has erected houses and improved business property, and has built the largest bunk-houses in the oil fields of the west side, including Maricopa, Taft, Fellows and ]\IcKittrick. Besides keeping busily employed at his trade, Mr. Marshall is interested in the Fellows Suititorium and is a worker for the Chamber of Commerce as well as other local organizations (if merit. The Republican jiartv has received his ballot in all general elections. M. A. DUNCAN. — The Duncan family comes of a long line of sturdy, law-abiding peo]:>le, who founded family pride upon unsullied lives and patri- otic service and who cherished an altruistic spirit in all the relations of life. The fine qualities of the race came to them from a long line of Scotch for- bears and when Willis Duncan, a native of Scotland, established the family name and fortunes in the new world there were transplanted in this country the sturdy honesty and irreproachable integrity characteristic of elder gener- ations. From W'illis the line is traced through his son, Gavin Bennett Duncan, to the next generation, represented by M. A., of Bakersfield, the latter being a grandson through his mother. Eliza, of Joel F'razier. long a resident of Kentucky, but a native of Ireland, being a member of a family that fled from Scotland to Ireland at the time of the religious persecutions. Ten children formed the family of Gavin liennett and Eliza (Frazier) Dun- can. One of these, the youngest and the last survivor. M. A., was born on the home farm in Adams county. 111.. August 24, 1850, there made himself useful in the care of the stock and the tilling of the soil as soon as large enough for such work. In that locality he met and married ]\Iiss Emma Lehman, likewise a native of Adams county. Four children were born of their union, namely: Alta Lelah, wife of Edward L. Hougham, manager of the store of M. A. Duncan & Co., in Bakersfield; Eugene B., also of Bakers- field ; Nellie Lenora, Mrs. .\rthur S. Crites ; and Anna Bertram, at home. Arri\-ing in Bakersfield December 21, 1899, Mr. Duncan immediately made ])reparations to embark in the grocery business. From the first he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 437 retained as manager his son-in-law, Kdvvard L. Hcjugham, formerly manager of a wholesale and retail grocery business at Manhattan, Kan. The estab- lishment has been conducted along lines of honor and integrity and success has been its portion. In point of years of active business as a grocer Mr. Duncan has been considered the pioneer in the city, his only predecessor in the place having been A. Weill, whose store is somewhat different by reason of being conducted upon the department plan. The establishment of M. A. Duncan & Co.. (of which, notwithstanding the "Company," Mr. Duncan is the sole owner), has given steady employment to five experienced salesmen, who under the efficient supervision of the manager fill every requirement of custom- ers with dispatch, care and keen attention to details. The central location at 1801 Chester avenue has been an aid in the building up of a permanent trade and securing a large patronage ; but even more important than the location has been the reputation for the observance of the pure food laws. After coming to California and settling in this city Mr. Duncan became a leading worker in Masonry and a prominent member of the Royal Arch Chapter. In addition he also identified himself with the Modern Woodmen of America. Having the efficient supervision of his son-in-law in the store, it became possible for him to relax from business tension and enjoy the social amenities of life. Early in his citizenship he won his way to the con- fidence of the people here and gained many friends. Like many other prom- inent and successful business men he found his automobile a source of recreation and pleasure, but he was unfortunate in an experience in driving a new car August 6, 1912. In crossing the track the automobile was struck by a Santa Ee engine and he was seriously wounded, the cranium fractured so that it was necessary to remove a large piece of the bone. He was taken to the hospital in a very serious condition and for a while lingered between life and death, but a strong constitution stood him well in hand and his recovery was good, and he is now back attending to business. THOMAS ALEXANDER METCALF.— The earHest records that can be traced concerning the Metcalf family indicate their identification with North Riding, Yorkshire, England, several centuries ago. Erom there some of the name crossed the Irish sea into Ireland and established the family in Inneskillen, from wdiich point William Metcalf immigrated to America during the C(donial era of our national history. Curtis, son of William, was born in Lancaster county. Pa., and devoted his entire life to agricultural pur- suits there. The next generation was represented by Thomas Metcalf, a native of Lancaster county and in very early youth a soldier of the Revolu- tion, enlisting from Pennsylvania. P\)r a long period after the close of that historic struggle he engaged in farming in his native county, but when ad- vanced in years he removed to Ohio and spent his last days in P)eImont county. Among his children was a son, William G., born near Westchester. Pa., and for years a farmer in Belmont county, Ohio, but later a i:)ioneer of Illinois, where he developed farm land in the vicinity of Mendon, 111. Alth(^ugh far beyond the limit of military service at the time of the Civil war he became an ardent supporter of the Linion and was accepted as a private in Company G. One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, whose hardships he endured with a fortitude not surpassed by those younger than he. While living in Ohiij he married Jane McMillan, a native of St. Clairsville, Pelmont county, and a daughter of .\lexander ^^cMillan. who during early years had crossed the ocean from his birthplace. Clasgow, Scot- land, and had settled in Ohio. Eor years he followed the occupation of a merchant tailor at St. Clairsville and there his death occurred. Both William Cr. :\Tetcalf and his wife spent their last days in Illinois. Of their ten children all but one attained maturitv and there now survive four sons and one daugh- 438 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ter. One of the sons, Isaac, was a soldier in Company K, One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, and now makes his home in Texas. The oldest member of the family circle, Thomas Alexander Aletcalf, was born at St. Clairsville, iielmont county, Ohio, May 25, 1844, and at the age of twelve years accompanied the family to Illinois, settling among the pioneers of Adams county, where he attended pubhc schools during the in- tervals of farm work. During 1863 he enlisted in Company B, Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry, and was mustered into the service at Springfield, 111. With his regiment he participated in numerous of the most important battles of the war, being at Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge and Kennesaw Mountain, taking part in the siege of Atlanta and the engagement at Jonesboro, accom- panying Sherman on the famous march to the sea, bearing a brave part in the siege of Charleston and the battle of Goldsboro, where he was wounded in the left leg. For a time he was a patient in a hospital at Louisville, Ky., and in June of 1865 he received an honorable discharge with his regiment. Returning to his Illinois home he took up school-teaching. After several years he entered the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad as an agent on their line in Illinois and at Coatsburg, Adams county, he also served as judge of the police courts. Coming to California in 1883 and set- tling upon a ranch near Bakersfield. he became identified with the early upbuilding of this community. After a time he established his home on the corner of C and Dracena streets in the city itself and here engaged in contracting and building until the death of his brother-in-law. S. W. Wible. when he became administrator of the estate and since then has devoted his time to its afTairs, necessitating trips to Alaska each summer to look after the mining properties of the deceased. The marriage of Mr. Metcalf and Miss Elizabeth J. W ible took place in Mendon, 111., and was blessed with two cliildren, Simon Hubert and Modena May, the former an electrical engineer employed in Spokane, Wash., and the latter a teacher in the Bakersfield public schools. ]\Irs. Metcalf was born in Johnstown, Pa., and removed to Illinois with her father, Peter A\'il>le. who became a pioneer farmer of Adams county. Further reference to the family histor_y appears in the sketch of her brother, Simon W. AA^ible. pre- sented on another page. Mrs. ^^letcalf's demise occurred Februarv 20, 1912. The family hold membership with St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bakers- field, in which Mr. Metcalf officiates as senior warden. \Miile living in Illinois he was made a Mason in Benjamin Lodge No. 227, A. F. & A. M., at Camp Point, Adams county. Upon the organization of Hurlburt Post No. 127. G. A. R.. in Bakersfield. he became a charter member oi the organization and afterward for several years he was honored with the office of commander of the post. It was largely through his efifort that the supervisors set aside a room in the new court house for the exclusive use of the Grand Armv of the Republic and its allied societies, and it has been furnished and fitted up by the Post. It is the concensus of opinion that it is today the most elaborate and beautiful Grand .\rniy Memorial Hall in California if not in the entire Union. This was all accomplished while he was commander and. being a builder, the arrangement was left to him. The altar is his own design and the only one of the kind. He has served several terms as an aide on the stafi" of difi^erent commanders of the department of California and Nevada. For the past two years he has been aide de camp on the stafl^ of the com- mander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. EDWARD L. HOUGHAM.— The manager of the grocery establish- ment of AF. A. Duncan & Co., to whose able supervision the credit for much of its popularity ma}' be attributed, is Edward L. Hougham, a native of the state of Kansas, born at Atanhattan, November 30, 1874. As a bov he 9^><^<><^-^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 441 attended the public schools and later he attended the Kansas State Agri- cultural College in his home city, taking a full course of four years in the institution. It was not. however, his intention to enter the field of agri- cultural activities, for his tastes inclined him toward a commercial career. Upon leaving college he secured a position with the wholesale and retail grocery firm of W'hitney & Hougham at Manhattan and advanced from one post to another until eventually he became the manager of the large and important business. When he resigned his position in 1899 he came at once to California and settled at Eakersfield, where in December of the same year the grocery house of M. A. Duncan & Co. was established. Both comfort and culture are apparent in the attractive home of Mr. Hougham at No. 2129 Dracina street, Bakersfield. The presiding genius of this home is Mrs. Hougham, who prior to her marriage in Quincy, 111., was Alta Lelah Duncan, her father being M. A. Duncan, the pioneer grocer of Bakersfield. Of her marriage to Mr. Hougham there are four children, namely : Edward Bennett, Theodore Sylvester, Mary Eleanor and Martha. JAMES ARMSTEAD OGDEN.— Very early in the history of the Vir- ginian colony the Ogden family became established there. Not only were they among the oldest families of that state, but among the most prominent and popular as well, and fc r years after his return from the Revolutionary war one of the ancestors managed his plantation with a diligence that brought prosperity. Among the children of the Revolutionary soldier was a son, Henry, who lived upon a plantation in Bedford county and remained in the Old Dominion throughout all of his life. The next generation was represented by Champ Ogden, likewise a native of Bedford county near the thriving city of Lynchburg, but from early manhood until 1862 a planter in A^irginia. In 1862 he removed to Pike county, \lo., wdiere he died Alarch 21, 1864, at the age of forty-one years. When he removed to Missouri he was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Ogden, a Virginian ; born and reared in the Old Dominion, she survived her husband thirteen years, dying in 1877 at the Alissouri homestead. Of her seven children, James A. was the youngest and he alone, of the four now living, has established a home in California. Born near Bowling Green, Mo., March 4, 1864, he has no recollection what- ever of his father. After his mother's death at the age of thirteen years he was taken from Missouri to Virginia, where he became an inmate of the home of his aunt, Mrs. Harriet Matthews, in Rockbridge county, and under her careful oversight he was given a public school education at Lexington. \\'hen he had completed the studies of the town schools he settled in the countr}- and took up general farming. Coming from A'irginia to California in 1887 and settling first in Tulare county. ]Mr. Ogden entered upon farming activities. From the first he was a close student of the soil. No department of agriculture was beyond his inter- est. When he left Tulare county and came to Kern county in 1893 he already had gained a broad knowledge of farming in all of its diversified forms and was well qualified to fill acceptably his new position as foreman on the Button Willow ranch for Miller &: Lux. For eight years, beginning with 1893, he con- tinued in the same place. The ability manifested in every department of the work and the resourcefulness evident in every emergency won recognition for Air. Ogden, who in 1901 was appointed superintendent of the entire division of southern ranches, including Button Willow ranch in Kern county (where he makes his headquarters, his home, however, being on Chester avenue, Ijakersfield), Panama and Lake ranches in Kern county, Cuyama stock ranch in Santa Barbara county, Carissa rancho in San Luis Obispo county and the swamp range in Kings and Tulare counties. The three ranches first-named have splendid facilities for irrigation with a modern system of canals and reser- voirs. Altogether he superintends over six hundred thousand acres, the 442 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY greater part of which is utilized as range for stock, although large tracts are devoted to the raising of grain and alfalfa. Shipments of produce and stock are made from Kern county to San l->ancisco. For some years the superintend- ent drove the teams and buggies from one ranch to another, but this proved too .slow and he now utilizes an automobile in his frequent trips into Kings. Tulare, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The marriage of Mr. Ogden occurred in Tulare, Cal., December 31, 1891, uniting him with ATiss Elmina Maples, who was born in San Benito county, Cal., daughter of Thompson W. and Elizabeth (Merritt) Maples, who were born in Liverpool, England, and Jefferson county, Ohio, respectively. Mr. Maples was of Scotch-Irish parents, and came to California via Panama in 1851, when he was seventeen years of age. He followed farming during his active years, and now makes his home with Mrs. Ogden. Mrs. Maples came in a sailer around Cape Horn in 1861 and passed away in Berkeley, October 13. 1909. _ Mrs. Ogden received a broad education in our western schools and is a woman of culture and a devoted member of the Congregational church. The only son in the family, Laurence Armstead Ogden, a graduate of the Bakers- field high school in 1910, is now attending Leland Stanford University, class 1915. The only daughter. Miss Edith, is a member of the Kern county high school, class of 1914, in Bakersfield, where the family own and occupy a mod- ern residence. In fraternal relations Mr. Ogden holds membership with Bakersfield Lodge. No. 266, B. P. O. E. JAMES B. McFARLAND.— A native of Ohio, J. B. McFarland was born in VVoodsfield, Monroe county, December 26, 1861, and his parents were Andrew and Catherine (Harmon) McFarland, natives of that county, and farmers there. The father died in Wilsonville, Nebr., and the mother makes her home with her children, being now seventy-six years of age. Genealogical records show that Mr. McFarland is of Scotch and German descent. When he reached the proper age Mr. McFarland was sent to public school and later was a student at the normal school at Sardis, Ohio, until he was seventeen. He became a teacher and when eighteen was princi])al of the Mount Zion (Ohio) school. In 1880 he removed to Nebraska and continued to teach, also farming near Palmyra, and in 1882 he taught school west of Lincoln in Lancaster county. At the same time he engaged in farming in Lancaster county and in 1884 he raised the first herd of Hereford cattle in that state. In 1886 he removed to near Burlington, Colo., where he was in the cattle business and also taught scho(4 until 1893, at which time he was attracted to Oklahoma by the o]>ening of the Cherokee Strip, and participated in the townsite fights at Enid with the Chicago & Rock Island Company. This was one circumstance when the people won out against the railroad company. At Enid he prospered as a druggist until 1895, when he engaged in mining at Cripple Creek, Colo., where he delved for gt)ld and silver with varying suc- cess for four years. Then, locating at Colorado Springs, he devoted the en- suing four years to the lumber trade. In 1904 he came to California, settling at Anaheim. Orange county, where he engaged in horticulture and devoted himself chiefly to the growing of walnuts for the market. In 1907 he had become the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land in Kern county, the present site of McFarland, associating himself with \V. F. Laird. In December of that year they laid out the town of McFarland and l)egan building. Laying out a subdivision they planned a town at the Plunt switch, twenty-six miles northwest of Bakersfield, which has now become a place of three hundred population and of considerable commercial importance. Mr. McFarland was the father not only of the town but of its schools as well and they boast of a splendid new grammar school. His own ranch has been improved. He put in the first pumping plant in the town site and J^^^^-^^^.-^*.^ HISTORY OF KERxM COUNTY 445 demonstrated the success of raising alfalfa by that form of irrigation, raising from ten to twelve tons to the acre. He is interested in the dairy business located one mile southwest of town, where he has a herd of Holsteins and Jerseys. Extending his activities Mr. AlcFarland established a lumber mill in the Green Horn range in Kern county. With others he incorporated the Mc- I'^arland creamery, the plant of which, located at McFarland, makes twelve thousand pounds of butter per month. The butter produced at this estab- lishment took the first prize, a gold medal, at the California State Fair in 1911. The company also manufactures ice for local consumption. Mr. McFarland has sold more than a hundred thousand acres of land and is the owner at this time of one hundred acres, all under cultivation. A five-horse-power motor engine affords him sufficient water supply for the irrigation of his own place, and his dairy is also equipped with an electric pumping plant. He is also engaged in raising Percheron Norman horses. Since the organization of the First National Bank of McFarland he has been a member of the board of directors. In St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1884, Mr. McFarland was married to Miss Martha L. Hart, also a native of Monroe county, Ohio, and they have seven children : Lenora. Mrs. A. E. Sherwood, of McFarland ; Ethel, Mrs. M. Schumacher, of Los Angeles; Bessie, wife of T. L. Runyon, residing near McKittrick; Gladys. Myron, Marie and Francis. After coming here the father became a member of the board of trustees of the Lone Tree school district and with his usual vigor and ambition worked faithfully until they succeeded in having a grammar school second to none in the county. In national politics Mr. McFarland espouses the principles of the Republican party. FRED WRIGHT.— The Wright family history shows that William Wright, a native of Ireland, came to America at an early age and during young manhood married Anna Rowley, who was born in Connecticut. For some time they lived on a farm in Minnesota, but the rigorous climate of that northern state proved unhealthful and they decided to seek a more southerly location. x\s early as 1878 thev became residents of Texas, where Mr. Wright for a time followed the stock industry and later gave consider- able attention to the contracting business. His death occurred in Texas and afterward the widow came to California to establish her home, since which time she has resided in Los Angeles. The family comprised four sons and one daughter, the eldest of the five having been Fred, who was born near Austin, Minn.. August 12, 1873. and was a child of five years when the family removed to Texas. The public schools of Tyler, that state, afforded him fair educational advantages. At sixteen years of age he began an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the shops of the St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad Company at Tyler. On the completion of his time he traveled as a journeyman and worked in many sections of the south. It was during this period that he married in Pine Bluff, Ark., Miss Lottie Woodland, a native of Charles City. Iowa, and daughter of Joseph and Mary (Wright) Woodland, the former a native of England, but a resident of the United States from a boy. Mr. Woodland served in the Civil war as mem- ber of an Iowa regiment, and he and his wife are now residing near Bismarck. North Dakota. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Francis, Robert, Mary, Anna. ^Margaret and Mildred. During 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Wright came to Bakersfield and he entered the Bakersfield Iron Works as a machinist. The quality of his work was so satisfactory that he was promoted to be foreman of the pump department. Later he held a similar position with Sprague Bros., resigning from the em- ploy of the last-named firm in order that he might establish a -partnership with Christian Nelson, and thev started the East Bakersfield Garage and 446 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Machine Company and developed a splendid trade. Both being skilled mechanics and having a thorough knowledge of machinery gave them an important advantage and they met with success. However, in March, 1913, upon being tendered his old position as foreman of the pump department of the Bakersfield Iron ^^'orks. he was prevailed upon to accept it, and he is now actively engaged in looking after his manifold duties. With his fam- ily he resides at his comfortable home on the corner of Sixth and R streets in Bakersfield. CHARLES WILLIAM JACKSON.— Born at Fort Worth. Texas, March 12, 1851. Charles \\". Jackson was a son of Thomas Jackson, who was a native of Tennessee and removed to Texas, where he married Cecelia De- Witt, who was born in New Hampshire. *He was a cattle man in northwest Texas, where both parents died. Their family consisted of five children of whom Charles William was the second. Reared on the frontier Air. Jackson was deprived of the advantage of an education in the free schools as there were none in that locality, and he lived part of the time a hundred and fifty miles from the nearest neighbor. Each full of moon the family went to Pa La Ponte and forted up. Orphaned at the age of ten he was early taught a knowledge of farming and cattle raising, as a mere lad being thoroughly fitted for the career that was before him, and he has always been more or less successful as a rancher and cattle- man in different parts- of the countr}-. For a time he was employed as stage driver in Guatemala, Central America, and drove the first six-horse stage from the city of Guatemala to San Jose de Guatemala, a distance of ninety miles, and his activities in other out-of-the-way places have been noteworthy. On his way to Guatemala he went by vessel to Livingston, then to Pt. Isab'elle, from which point they crossed the country on mule back, bringing a hundred and fifty head of mules to Guatemala. He remained there for three years, when he came to Kern county, Cal., in February, 1876, and entered tlie employ of Haggin & Carr, now the Kern County Land Company, as teamster on the Stockdale ranch under Captain Taylor. Later he became the vaquero on the ranch and then was made foreman of irrigation, then foreman of haying and harvesting at different times. In 1884 he was established as superintendent of the ranch on the north side of Kern river known as the Jackson ranch, and later was made superintendent of the Collins, Jackson and Poso ranches. Since 1886 he has made his residence on the Poso ranch. This property consists of about one hundred thousand acres. Seventeen thousand acres of it is in alfalfa; five hundred and sixty acres of it is in orchard, and fifteen thousand head of cattle are shipped from the ranch yearly. When Mr. Jackson came to this part of the state the country was new and sparsely settled. His connection with the Kern County Land Company has covered the entire period of its history. He assisted in the construction of the Calloway canal in 1877-78, and in 1879 began putting in an irrigation system. He has seen the country improve from a dry desert until it is one of the most fertile countries in the world. Fraternally he afffliates with the Knights of Pythias and in jiolitical princi])les is a supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Mrs. Jackson, who was Mary Lillian Rogers, was a native of San Fran- cisco. She was graduated from the lierkeley schools. By a former marriage Mr. Jackson has two sons, (ieorge (i. and Claude B. JAMES HORACE ARP.— The first representative of the Arp family in America came from German}^ during the colonial era and settled in the south, where Frederick M. B. Arp, a native of Wilkes county, N. C, gave his services to the patriots during the war of the Revolution. Next in line of descent was Benjamin Arp, who. exhibiting the loyal spirit that had characterized his father, enlisted in the war of 1812. served with self-sacri- ^ .^^t/^U.^^c^Ky HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 449 ficing" patriotism and bore a gallant part under General Jackson in the mem- orable engagement at New Orleans. The war ended, he returned to North Carolina, but later crossed the Great Smoky range of mountains into Ten- nessee and engaged in planting in Monroe county near the eastern border of the state. The martial spirit characteristic of the grandfather and great- grandfather became an inheritance of the father, James Addison Arp, a native of Wilkes county, N. C, and a captain in the Federal army during the Civil war. He and his comrades had many narrow escapes while making their way through the mountains of Tennessee to join the Union army. After the close of the struggle he returned to farming- pursuits in North Carolina, where also he served as a justice of the peace and in addition carried on a tannery, sawmill and gristmill operated by water power. For many years he lived at Murphy, the county-seat of Cherokee county, in the southwestern corner of North Carolina, near the Georgia-Tennessee state lines and within the shadow of lofty mountain peaks. During young manhood he had married Miss Mary Grayson, who was born in Sweetwater, Monroe county, Tenn., and died in North Carolina. Her father, William Grayson, a native of Wilkes county, N. C, served under General Jackson at New Orleans in the war of 1812 and was so seriously wounded in battle that the amputation of a leg was necessary. After his honorable discharge he settled in the eastern part of Tennessee and acquired an extensive planta- tion near Sweetwater, where he remained until death. The family of James Addison Arp comprised nine children, all but one of whom survive, James Horace being next to the youngest and the only mem- ber of the family on the coast. Born at Murphy, Cherokee county, N. C, April 28, 1867, he had only limited educational advantages, and at an early age began to work in his father's sawmill. In addition he gained a thor- ough knowledge of carpentering" and also studied the lumber business. Going to Tahlequah, I. T., in 1890, he worked as a carpenter for Mr. Thomp- son, the representative of the Cherokee nation. The year 1891 found him in Bakersfield. For four years he had charge of a ranch south of town owned by General Shafter and Captain McKittrick, after which he spent six months lumbering at Fort Bragg, in the redwoods of Mendocino county. Upon returning to Bakersfield he was employed by H. F. Condict, then the agent for the Standard Oil Company. Later, when Mr. Arp held the same posi- tion himself, he built the first tank for the company at this point and later increased its capacity to thirty-five thousand barrels. At the time oil operations began he was engaged in buying and moving houses. About that time he was boycotted by the unions because he employed Mr. Haw- kins, a non-union man, with whom the union men refused to work. The boycott advertised him widely and proved the foundation of his later suc- cess. He had employed only four men, but in thirty days he jumped to forty-four workmen and within three months it was necessary for him to open a plumbing shop, paint shop, paper store, etc., in order to push forward his contracts with the promptness desired. Two years of growing success swiftly passed. Then Mr. Lindgren asked to buy one-half interest with him in the business, stating that he had a shop at Fresno, but not sufficient business. The two combined and organized the Quincy Plumbing Company. Shortly after the earthquake and fire in San Francisco Mr. Lindgren sold his interests at Bakersfield and moved to that city, where there was great demand for workers in his line. About the same time the union ceased to oppose Mr. Arp and he consented to give their members employment. His interests were large and contracts for every kind of structural work were consummated with accuracy and dispatch. Among- his contracts may be mentioned those for the Brodek building, the Mascot apartments with disappearing beds and other built-in furniture, the Harding building, St. Regis hotel, Alicia apartments (he owns the latter), and Beale avenue school 450 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in Kern, the Bakersfield Garage. Willis building and others equally substan- tial. Besides owning and erecting the James Arp building, a three-story brick structure 50x122 feet, at No. 1919 I street, he also built his own unique modern residence in Bakersfield. Besides his large contracting and building business, Mr. Arp utilizes the largest house-moving outfit in liakersfield. Perhaps his most imi)ortant con- tract in that line was for the removal of the Santa Fe freight depot a dis- tance of five hundred feet, a difficult feat which he accomplished without stopping for even a day the handling of freight or the sending of telegraphic messages. In addition to other important interests, he has been a large promoter of subdivisions. The southern addition to Bakersfield, comprising about twelve blocks, he laid out and sold in lots or improved with residences, some of which latter he still owns. The James Arp subdivision along the oil field road he also platted. Some years ago he bought the Sweetbrier ranch and at this writing he still owns forty acres of the tract, which con- tains a walnut grove, the only one in Kern county, and is adorned with a row of palms around the entire place. After buying the E. M, Roberts ranch of three hundred and thirty-five acres one and one-half miles from town, he subdivided a portion of the farm into tracts running from one to five acres and in this way he sold off about one hundred and seventeen acres at a handsome profit. The North Bakersfield subdivision of twenty acres was also laid out and platted under his ownership and control. The Bakersfield Board of Trade and Builders' Exchange number Air. Arp among their more forceful members. In politics he has supported the Republican party. Fraternally, besides being associated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the W^orld, he has been a Mason since early life in North Carolina and is now connected with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. After coming to Bakersfield he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Tracy, who was born near Gait, this state, and in January of 1890 was graduated from the San Jose State Normal School, after which she taught in Bakersfield until her marriage. From early life she has been a devoted believer in the doctrines of the Congregational Church and has contributed to the missionary projects of the denomination. Of her marriage there are four children, Tracy Ferdinand, Eva Virginia, James Addison and Alice Martha. The family of which she is a member traces its lineage to old eastern stock. During the early half of the nine- teenth century her grandfather, Edward V. Tracy, removed from Connecticut to Wilkesbarre, Pa., but later went to Ohio and afterward became a pioneer of Chickasaw county, Iowa, finally coming west as far as Utah, where he died. Her parents, Edward Vernett and Mary (Dix) Tracy, were natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Chickasaw county, Iowa, and the latter died at Gait, Cal. The former, after crossing the plains during 1856, became identified with farming interests in San Joaquin county, where he made his home for years near Gait, Sacramento county. At the opening of the Civil war he offered his services to the Union and was assigned to a California regiment, of which he remained a member until the close of the war, when he returned to the San Joaquin valley to resume ranch activities. Eventually he removed to Kern county and here he since has made his home. FIRST NATIONAL BANK.— This institution has been most essen- tial to the best progress of the town of Taft, for die officials of the bank have devoted their time to conserving the interests of the oil operators and customers in lines of business connected therewith. When the bank was established, it was because a number of citizens of Taft realized the impera- tive need of such an institution. Results have proved the wisdom of the step which they took when they started to organize and incorporate a concern, with a capital stock of $25,000. The checking department by no means represents the limit of the use- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 453 fulness of the First National l»ank of Taft. In addition information is fur- nished concerning- investments and business conditions; hanking advantages are t)ffered in the mail department, for those unable to visit the institution personally; self-identifying travelers' checks are furnished, available through- out the world, money is telegraphed and drafts issued to any given city in the whole world, so that the institution is metropolitan in its sphere of ser- vice, and by its outside affiliations brings to Taft the banking service of the country. The officers have devoted their entire attention to the study and practice of banking and they do not rest content with the providing of un- surpassed local facilities, but use their financial strength and moral in- tegrity to place their customers on a basis of thrift and orderly knowledge. By affiliation and co-operation with the First National Bank of Bakers- field, the Producers Savings Bank of Bakersfield and the First National Bank of Maricopa, the First National Bank of Taft has increased its own strength and enlarged its sphere of useful service. Clinton E. Worden has been the capable and successful president from the first. The vice-presidents are W. E. Benz and L. P. Guiberson and in the sketch of the latter will be found additional facts concerning this bank, of whose remarkable growth he is justly proud. The cashier is C. L. Shirk, and the assistant cashier, J. M. Williams. While the officials serve as directors, they are reinforced by other stockholders, namely: J. I. WWt, Cyrus Bell, E. D. Gillette, E. M. Brown and J. S. Henton. JONATHAN ELMER GRAY.— The president and general manager of the J. E. Gray Oil Company has the distinction of being the oldest living oil operator in the Kern river field, where aside from his company interests he is the owner individually of two hundred and fifty-five acres under lease south of the Kern river, including ninety-five acres of the original quarter section known as the Thomas A. Means land, the original site of oil dis- covery in this district and county. For the period since 1899 a record of his life would be in many respects a history of the oil industry and development in these fields, now well known throughout the whole world. While yet the number of the wells here could be counted on the fingers of one hand he explored the entire district and made a map marking the sections which in his judgment were oil producing. It is a singular fact and testifies highly to his experience and judgment that this map, made in 1899, is absolutely accurate at the present time, for in every spot indicated a well was drilled with excellent results. From his earliest recollections Mr. Gray has been familiar with the oil industry. His father, James Gray, a pioneer oil man of Venango county. Pa., was one of the first to embark in the oil business on Oil creek, that county. Later he became a prosperous contractor and finally retired from active cares to spend his last days in ease, dying in March of 1911 at the age of eighty-four years. About the time of his demise occurred that of his wife, March 8, 1911, at the age of seventy-six. They were the parents of nine children, namely: Mary, Margaret Catherine, Nancy Jane, John Wesley, Jonathan Elmer, Samuel A., Martha Ellen, Arra F. and Ramsey E., the last-named being now engaged as a driller for the Kern Trading and Oil Company at Coalinga, Cal. Three sons, j. W., S. A. and R. E., and a nephew, G. W. Gray, are connected with our subject in oil operations in the Kern river fields. Jonathan E. Gray was born near East Brady, Clarion county, Pa., June 4, 1862, and attended school for a few years in childhood, but as soon as old enough he began to assist his father in contract work. Often, after a day of hard work, he would spend the evenings far into the night over his books and would also practice writing from copy. In that way he laid the foundation of a common-school education. At the age of fifteen he began to work for wages and the following year he assisted in drilling 454 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY wells at Duke Center, AIcKean county, Pa., later working in Warren county. \jy the .time he had reached the age of nineteen years he was recognized as a professional driller. During the Balltown excitement he went to Forest cciunty, Pa., and thence moved on to Butler county at the time of the Thorn creek excitement. Next he worked near Iron Bridge, Monroe county, Ohio, and thence proceeded to Sistersville and Nannington. W. \'a., later going to Indiana, where he drilled near Reservoir. His ser- vices as a driller were next called into requisition at Robinson, 111., and later he was employed in Kansas and Oklahoma. An idea of the extent of his op- eratic^ns may be gained from the fact that he drilled for water in New York City and Omaha and for oil, not only in the places before mentioned, but also in Wyoming, the Dakotas and Nevada. Arriving in Los Angeles June 17, 1897, ]\Ir. Gray began to drill for oil in the Los Angeles oil field and acquired some oil interests at Newhall, that county. For a short time he drilled at Coalinga and in the Parkfield district, Monterey county. When news reached him concerning the discovery of oil in the Kern river field he came at once to Bakersfield and formed the acquaintance of Judd F. Elwood, who held an oil lease with Thomas A. Means. W^ith Mr. Elwood he inspected the entire district and then began to drill on the central point lease on section 4, where, as soon as they had drilled into the oil sand, they were ofifered $43,000 for their interests. In order to secure money for future development w^ork they accepted the ofifer. At that time there were only three wells in the entire field and Mr. Gray mapped out the land, indicating the location of wells with a remarkable accuracy, as shown by the map, now in the possession of Mr. Elwood. Investing in such companies as he believed would prove profitable, by the end of a year Mr. Gray was worth $75,000 and subsequent invest- ment has increased his fortune. On the west side he drilled several wells by contract. For the J. E. Gray Oil Company he has drilled twenty-six wells and on his individual lease seventeen wells, the former ])roducing four thousand barrels per month and the latter one thousand bar- rels per month. By means of a lease he secured control of ninety- five acres of the Thomas A. Means quarter-section, the original place of oil discovery, and he also acquired the Thomas A. Joy lease of one hundred and twenty acres and forty acres in the South Kern lease. In October, 1912, he became interested in the American Union Oil and Refinery Company, a corporation capitalized at $25,000, which bids fair to become a very im- portant industry in Tulare, where the refinery is loca.ted. Mr. Gray is now a large stockholder, president and general manager of the company. The refinery went into operation May 1, 1913. The plant is equipped with the Trumbull system and has a capacity of one thousand barrels of crude oil every twenty-four hours. The products manufactured are gasoline, kerosene, cylinder oil, engine oil, distillate, fuel oil, road oil and asphaltum. In his judgment as to oil wells and the entire industry Mr. Gray has few superiors and he is often sought for advice by those whose experience has been of briefer duration or less successful than his own. With his time and attention given closely to the industry he has not had leisure for participation in so- cial or fraternal organizations, although he has identified himself with the Union League Club in San Francisco and when in that city usually avails himself of the advantages ofifered by the club. In politics he voted the Republican ticket for years, but his principles lead him to support reforms and he has allied himself with the progressive element of the old party organization. HARVEY A. VAN NORMAN.— Although a native of Victoria. Tex., born October 5, 1878, Mr. V^an Norman has lived in Southern California from his earliest recollections and his only lengthy period of absence from f^uxXJ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 457 the state occurred during his service in the 'Philippines. The family of which he is a member has ever been loyal to country and brave in battle. During the Mexican war his grandfather, J. M. Van Norman, who was a native of Pennsylvania and a planter in Tennessee, enlisted in the service and went to the southwest to fight for his country. Travel showed him the greatness of the undeveloped prairies of Texas and on the expiration of his time he sold out his Tennessee property, removed to Texas, took up land and embarked in the cattle business, which industry likewise engaged the attentit^n of his son, J. M., Jr., a native of Tennessee and a soldier in a Texas cavalry regi- ment during the Civil war. The latter in 1881 brought his family to Cali- fornia and settled on a farm near Santa Ana, but now lives retired at San Gabriel. In Texas he married Martha M. Halsel, a native of that state and the daughter of a Scotchman, who had served in the Mexican war. The fifth in a family of nine children, Harvey A. Van Norman was three years of age when the family removed from Texas to California. When the Spanish-American war broke out he had completed a course in the Los Angeles high school. During May of 1898 he enlisted in the Third United States Artillery and was sent to the Philippines on the transport Ohio, which landed there in July of the same year. In a short time he rose to the rank of first duty sergeant. Besides the battle of Manila he participated in twenty-seven engagements with the insurgents. By a special order he was mustered out and honorably discharged in September, 1899, after which he returned to California. Since then he has been identified with engineering and electrical work. During 1901 he was made engineer in charge of the Pasadena plant of the Los xAngeles Railway Company. Transferred to the electrical construction department as assistant to electricians in 1903, he soon rose to be superintendent of the electrical department of the railroad. In 1906 he became superintendent of construction for the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Company, but the following year he resigned the place in order to engage with the Los Angeles aqueduct as electrical constructor. Upon the completion of the hydro-electric stations in the Owens valley he was placed in charge of the construction of the Owens valley division of the aqueduct. On finishing that task, he was transferred to Mojave as division engineer in charge of construction work there. When the entire aqueduct had been completed he was placed in charge of the maintenance and operation of the entire aqueduct, and as such superintends the system whose magnitude and splendid engineering feats have attracted the admiration of the greatest engineers in the world. Mr. Van Norman married Miss Bessie C. Ross, a na- tive of Chicago, and they make their home in Los Angeles. For some years he has been prominently connected with the National Association of Station- arv Engineers. Fraternallv he was made a Mason in South Gate Lodge No. 320. F.' &: A. M. CHARLES H. QUINCY.— The Quincy genealogy is traced to Revolu- tionary stock and back of that to the historic Mayflower. The family name is connected with the early records of various portions of New England, but' particularly with the western part of Maine near the New Hampshire line. Several bore an honored part in the Civil war and among them was one who served as captain of a company in a Maine regiment. A brother of the captain, likewise a Civil war hero, Nathaniel Haley by name, was born and reared in Cumberland county, ^Me., and there engaged in the manufacture of lumber and the tilling of the soil for many years, but event- ually removed to Massachusetts and there passed away March 22. 1911, at the age of eighty-three years. When the Civil war began he offered his services to the LTnion and was accepted as a private in a Maine regi- ment. Udou the expiration of his term of service he re-enlisted in another regiment from Maine and remained at the front until the end of the Rebel- 458 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY iion. Aleanvvliile he had niarrietl Miss -Martha l-reeniaii, who was born in Maine and died there. The l-'reenian family traces its hneage to the earliest settlers of New England. The family of Nathaniel Hale}' Ouinc}- comprised four children and three of these are still living, one, Horace, being now superintendent of the Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company. The eldest of the family, Charles H. Ouincy, was born at Bridgton, Cumberland county. Ale., March 27, 1855, 'and passed all of his early life in the western part of Maine in Cumberland and Oxford counties. Ambitious in temperament, he worked his way through the Bridgton high school and prepared for Bowdoin Col- lege. In (_)rder to secure the means necessary for a complete college course he taught school for about four years, but meanwhile other interests claimed his attention and he relinquished all hopes of further study. Instead, he earned a livelihood as head clerk in a mercantile establishment in Maine. After a time the confinement caused a failure in his health and hoping to be benefited by a change of climate he came to the west. Arriving in Los Angeles, January 29, 1888, Mr. Ouincy remained only a few days, coming to Bakersfield February 2. Flere he was employed with the Kern County Land Company as a carpenter for six months and then entered the employ of A. J. McLeod and for eighteen months worked at carpentering, while Mr. McLeod devoted his entire attention to the lum- ber business. At the expiration of that time he began to take contracts for residences and business houses, building among others the Tevis resi- dence and the Methodist Episcopal Church South and completing the old (). D. I^'ish building. As prospects were most encouraging from a business standpoint he was stricken with typhoid fever and it was more than a year before he was able to resume work. His next enter])rise was trading for a plumbing establishment. The business soon became large in that line in the oil fields. With restored health, he took up building operations again. Since then his career has been remarkably successful. During 1^05 he sold his plumbing business and removed to Los Angeles, where he noAV resides at No. 822 \Vest Thirty-sixth Place. The corner of I and Twen- tieth streets, Bakersfield, where for years he had his plumbing business, he improved in 1911 with the Ouincy building, a substantial three-story brick structut^'e that is an ornament to the city and source of gratifying annual income to the owner. During 1909 he built the Fabian hotel on Humboldt street near Baker avenue. East Bakersfield, which he still owms, and in addition he owns the Hunter & Wilson building, also of brick, in East Bakersfield, as well as other valuable property both in Bakersfield and Los Angeles, where he continues the building and real estate business upon an extensive scale. Of late his attention has been given principally to the real estate business. ha\'ing offices in the Hollingsworth building, Los Angeles. I'Vatcrnallv Mr. Ouincy is a Mason, having been initiated in the order in Pythagorean Lodge No. 11, A. F. & A. M., at Fryeburg, Oxford county. Me. In ])o]itics he supports Democratic principles, ^^^^ile living in .Maine he married, at Fryeburg. Miss Myra E. Harnden, a native of Denmark, that state, and a descendant of an old New England family. Well educated in the schools of Maine, she is a woman of culture and refinement. In relig- ious connections she holds membership with the Congregational Church. There are two daughters and a son in the family, the eldest being ATildred, wife of Charles T. Metcalf. of Bakersfield. Ralph is a cornice maker in Los Angeles, and Ethel resides with her parents in that city. JOHN RIPLEY. — l'\imiliarity with frontier conditions from earliest recol- lections (lexeloped in Mr. Ripley self-reliance, patient endurance of hardships HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 459 ?ncl an ability to overcome obstacles by sheer force of character. The farm where he lived in boyhood was sitnated near Sun Prairie in the town of Bristol, Dane county, Wis., and was at no great distance from Madison, where now the art of landscape gardeners and the wealth of a community has transformed a frontier environment into a region of great beauty. The first member of the family to settle in Wisconsin was his father, William Henry Ripley, a native of New York state and for years a farmer of Dane county, but from 1868 until his death a resident of Yernon county. Mo. By his marriage to Alcena Davis, who died in 1849, he had four children and three of these are still living. One son, Horace, who served for three years in the Seventh Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil war, is now a resident of Yernon county. Mo. Another son, Lewis, who served in the Seventeenth Wisconsin Infantry, is now living at Mitchell, Iowa. The youngest of the sons, John, who was born at the old homestead near Sun Prairie. Wis.. May 22, 1847, and was only two years of age at the time of his mother's death, left school at the age of seventeen, in August, 1864, in order to enlist in the Union arm3^ Accepted as a private and assigned to Battery F, First Illinois Light Artillery, he served under General Thomas in the battle of Nashville. During November of 1864 he was transferred to Battery I, moimted. in the same Artillery as before, ^^'ith this regiment he continued until June, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Eastport, Miss., re- turning thence to his school studies in Wisconsin for one term. He then went to work at farming in Wisconsin, spending his winters in the lumber woods and one winter (1866-67) trapping in JNIinnesota. In 1868 he located in Missouri, where he bought a tract of wild land in Yernon county, secured three yoke of oxen and with their aid broke the first furrows ever turned in that soil. For some years he engaged in raising corn and wheat on the Mis- souri farm. Seeking a new location in 1880. he left Yernon county. Mo., and went to (ilorieta. Santa Fe county, N. M., where he contracted to haul ties and j)iling for the Santa Fe Railroad. After eighteen months in that work he went to Silverton, Colo., where he engaged in freighting and haul- ing ore. The year 1883 formd him in South Dakota, where he bought a farm near Menno, Hutchinson county. The soil was well adapted to wheat and of this crop he made a specialty, but also raised fiax and corn. P^inally he sold the farm and came to California, settling at Caliente in 1891, and taking a contract to get out wood. It was his intention to complete the contract and then seek a different location, but at the expiration of four months he was induced to begin freighting. \A'ith a six-horse outfit he hauled to the mines in the Amelia. Piute, Havilah and Bodfish districts. Soon he purchased another outfit and used two eight-horse teams in freighting. Meanwhile he had started a livery stable, feed yard and corral. The need of such an enter- prise was such that he soon used four barns for his vehicles and liorses. In addition he built a blacksmith shop and gave steady work to four skilled blacksmiths. The great fire of June, 1909, which almost wholly destroyed the business portion of Caliente. wiped out his barns and shop and destroyed his wagons and outfits. For that reason he discontinued freighting and built the Ripley House, the largest hotel in Caliente, a building with a frontage of one hundred and eight feet and containing the postol^ce and public telephone station. This hotel he sold in January, 1913, since which he has been retired from business. Appointed postmaster at Caliente in 1898 and re-appointed every four years, Mr. Ripley discharged his duties faithfully and well through a long period of service. In January, 1913, he resigned the office and in June of the same year, upon the appointment of his successor, he relinquished the duties of the place. Through all of his life he has been a stanch Republican. For two terms he served as constable at Caliente. He was made a Mason in 460 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M.. and is also connected with Hurlburt Post, G. A. R. While living in Vernon county, Mo., he married Miss Clara M. Albright, a native of New York state and a woman of gentle disposition, energetic temperament, large charity and kindly spirit. Cheerfully she aided Mr. Ripley in his enterprises. With unfailing optimism she encouraged him to surmount every obstacle and meet every discouragement. At her death in March, 1913. many testimonials were given concerning her womanly at- tributes and her devotion to family and friends. Surviving her are five chil- dren, namely : Mrs. Hattie Colton, of Bakersfield ; Ella, wife of Warren Rankin, of South Fork; Mrs. Alaude A. Walton, of Bakersfield; Edward, who is living in Oregon ; and Clayton, now engaged as cattle superintendent on a large ranch in the South Fork country. THOMAS A. BAKER. — Not alone through the interesting fact that he is the son of Col. Thomas Baker, founder of Bakersfield, but also by reason of his own intimate identification with public afi^airs and his own successful incumbency of important positions, Thomas Alverson Baker worthily has a permanent place in the list of progressive men of Kern county. At this writing he fills the ofifice of sheriflf, a post for which he is well qualified by reason of his fearless nature, inflexible determination to enforce law and order, and wide acquaintance with the country and its people. The office of sheriff has developed of recent years along with every other department of public work in the county. From Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., where he was born July 22, 1859, Thomas Alverson Baker came to the present site of Bakersfield in 1863 with other members of the family. Although so young at the time, he vividly recalls incidents connected with the journey and has ncit forgotten the ap- pearance of the now flourishing city as their wagon and teams were halted at the destination. His father being a believer in educational advantages sent him to the public schools and also to Washington College at Irvington, from which he was graduated in 1880 as valedictorian of the class. The salutatorian of the class, Maurice Powers, became a prominent attorney of Visalia and for years served as district attorney of Tulare county. Immediately after completing the college course Mr. Baker returned to Bakersfield, where he has since resided with the exception of a brief sojourn at Globe, Ariz., during the copper excitement at that place. Besides being employed as a clerk he served as assistant postmaster and had entire charge of the postoffice for one year. An experience as bookkeeper for the Kern River flouring mills qualified him for successful work as an account- ant. Prior to 1882 the offices of sheriff and tax collector had been combined, but they were then separated and a well-known citizen was elected tax col- lector at a salary of $1,000 per annum. The pay was far too small for the work involved and the gentleman elected refused to qualify. Thereupon the supervisors cast about for a man who would be willing to take the office at the small salary, furnish a bond of $100,000 and do the heavy work promptly and efficiently. Taxes were due. It was necessary to act with dispatch. An appeal was made to Mr. Baker, who acceded to their wishes and entered upon the duties of the office. At the expiration of two years he was regularly elected to the position. Next it was annexed to the county treasurer's office and he was elected to both positions, which necessitated the furnishing of bonds of $222,000. For three terms of two years he held the two offices, his work proving satisfactory to all concerned. Induced by his friends, he be- came a candidate for sheriff in 1894, but was defeated by forty-two votes. During 1896 he was elected the first city marshal of Bakersfield upon its incorporation. At the expiration of the term of two years he refused to be- come a candidate for re-election. From January of 1899 until January of 1903 he served variously as deputy county assessor, deputy tax collector and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 463 dei)utv county aiulitcr, and in lancisc<). After two xears in the drug btisiness at Santa Paula and three years in business in the east, Mr. Guiberson returned to Santa Paula and engaged in ranching near that town. However, he soon sold the ranch in order to identify himself with the educational profession of Ventura county. For two years he engaged in teaching. While engaged as principal of the Bards- dale school in Ventura county the summer vacation of 1895 afiforded him two months of leisure. More as a matter of diversion and recreation than with any intention of changing his occupation, he took his wife and infant daughter up to the mountains in Ventura county and pitched his tent at a point overlooking the Old Tory oil field. Soon he became intensely interested in the matter of oil ])roduction and secured emjjloyment as roustabout for the Union Oil Company in the Old Tory oil field. Before the vacation of two months had ended he was engaged as tool-dresser on the L'nion property and was making more money than was possible in teaching. Thereupon he resolved to continue in the business at least one year. It is worthy of note that he has remained at the work up to the present time and has lost onl}- two days in all the years of his identification with the industry; further- more, in changing positions he has always gone from a good to a better one. P>y the end of his first year he was a driller. For four years he remained with the Union Oil Company and then resigned for the purpose of drilling a wild- cat well for Clark & Sherman of Los Angeles. The well was drilled on the Chaffee ranch adjoining the Troy, but no oil was found and the enterprise proved futile. Entering the employ of the Modelo Oil Company in the Peru field in Ventura county, he thus became identified with the oil interests of W. H. Crocker and associates of San Francisco. For three years he was engaged as a driller and for two years as superintendent, after which he became superintendent for the 28 Oil Company at Coalinga, also for three adjacent leases. Resigning after seven months with the 28 Oil Company, Mr. Guiberson became superintendent of the California Monarch and the California Diamond Oil Companies, in which responsible posts he continued for five years. Dur- ing 1910 he became superintendent for the Petroleum Properties Syndicate. Limited, whose successor, the British Consolidated, Limited, continued him in the same position of trust. These two concerns were controlled by boards of management, but when the latter company sold out to the Indian and Colonial Development Company, Limited, December 1, 1911, the ownership of the properties passed into the hands of another corporation organized under the laws of England, but by pcnver of attorney Mr. Guiberson was given control of all matters pertaining to the development of the lease. This is said to be the only instance in all California where a large corporation has given full power of attorney, as well as complete management, to one man. The fact bears evidence as to his judgment and ability. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 467 The Indian and Colonial Development Company. Limited, owns one hundred and twenty acres on section 22 and a similar acreage on section 23, 32-23. The lease is completely equip])ed with electrical power for pump- ing-. Twenty-two wells have been completed and well No. 23 is now being drilled. The average depth of the wells is about one thousand feet. Eighteen wells are producers, turning out an oil of fourteen degrees gravity, and averaging a monthly production of thirty thousand barrels. The loca- tion of the company main residence was personally selected by Mr. Guiber- son and affords a most encJTanting view and an inspiring outlook. In social and public matters Mr. and Mrs. Guiberson are prominent and the latter has been a leading member of the Women's Improvement Club, which provided and now maintains the public library of Taft. In religion they are of the Methodist faith. Fraternally Mr. Guiberson is a Royal Arch Mason and in politics votes with the Democratic party. Since he came to his present location in March, 1910, he has witnessed the remarkable growth of Taft and has seen a city spring into existence as if by magic. In the work of upbuilding he has been a factor. The Petroleum Club numbers him among its charter members and organizers. Another enterprise that commanded his warmest support was the securing of a school building on section 26, township 32, range 23, now known as the Hill school of the Conley school district. With other progressive citizens, he bore a part in organizing the First National Bank of Taft in 1911 with a capital stock of $25,000. From the first he has been a director and in January, 1913, he was elected vice-president. The institution has been successful in a re- markable degree and already has deposits aggregating $500,000. Upon its organization the directors bought the building and fixtures of the Taft branch of the old Oil and Metals Bank of Los Angeles, but during 1912 a more suit- able structure was orovided by the erection of a substantial bank building on the corner of Fifth and Center streets. JUDSON H. JORDAN.— The vice-president of the Dakersfield Abstract Compan^• descends from an honored family of colonial X'irginia. whose splendid record in the professions and as cotton ])lanters has l)een excelled only by their military achievements in the early French and Indian strug- gles, the Revolution and the war of 1812, the Mexican war and that sanguinary contest of the '60s between the states. Genealogy fails to give the exact date of the emigration of the first American representative from England, but it is known to have been shortly after the first attem])t at colonization in \'irginia. Keen, forceful mentality has characterized every generation, as evidenced in the lives of John H. Jordan, a planter of the Old Dominion, and his son. Rev. John C. Jordan, an influential and ])rominent minister in the Baptist denomination and a graduate of the Philadelphia Theological University. Shortly after the young Baptist clergyman entered upon his ministerial career he married Aliss Lucy H. Tyler, an own consin of John Tyler, the tenth president of the I'nited States. In eastern puljnts he won distinction and accomplished much \nr the spiritual uplifting of humanity. An opportunity for enlarged ministerial usefulness led him to bring his family to California in 1884 and here he accepted the pastorate of the Fresno Bap- tist Church. During the five years of his ministry in that city he had charge of the erection of a substantial house of worshi]). A later pastorate at Bakersfield covered a similar ])eriod and also witnessed the erection of an edifice for the congregational worshij). l'])on leaving Bakersfield he was sent to Alaska to oversee the spiritual interests of the Baptists at Skagway. where he had charge of the construction of the hand.some. substantial edifice that now ranks among the finest buildings in the city. After several years in Alaska he returned to the United States and entered upon the pastorate of the Baptist Church at Dillon. ?ifont.. where he largely increased the mem- 468 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY bership and placed the congregation upon a permanent basis of useful service in the cause of Christianity. A later pastorate at Fallbrook, San Diego county, Cal., resulted in the erection of a house of worship for the Baptists at that point. Since his resignation from that charge he has been retired from active ministerial labors. There were eight children in the family of the Baptist clergyman and all of these are still living. The third member of the family circle, Judson H., was born at Manchester, Chesterfield county, Va., May 9, 1876, and at the age of eight years accompanied his parents to California, where for five years he was a pupil in the public schools of Fresno. When only fifteen he studied law for a time, but he soon gave that up for a salaried position in an abstract office. Turning his attention to the oil business about 1900, he became iden- tified with an industry in wliich he has been interested continuously up to the present, sometimes with other men and at times alone. Individually he still owns valuable oil lands in difi^erent fields. Shortly after the opening of the Jewett & Blodget wells in the Sunset field he with others formed the Occidental Oil Company, of which he became vice-president. After two producing wells had been obtained by the company, they sold out to the Spreckels interests. Later he was a member of diflferent companies that developed oil and owned lands in the principal fields. With the co-operation of J. B. Batz and George Hay, Mr. Jordan organ- ized the Bakersfield Abstract Company in 1903 and since then has held the office of vice-president. With the same gentlemen he organized the Bakersfield Land and Development Company, dealers in argricultural and oil lands. Of this concern he is secretary, George Hay being president and J. B. Batz vice-president. They also incorporated the Kern County Realty Company, of which Mr. Jordan is the treasurer, the company owning valuable tracts of real estate in the county. In addition he holds office as secretary of the Blue Ja}^ Mining Company in Trinity county, this state, where the company operates the noted Blue Jay mine, celebrated on ac- count of the $42,800 nugget taken out of it during 1897. The company also operates the Morrison gulch mine, an hydraulic mine in the same section. The important interests connected with increasing Inisiness responsibili- ties necessitated the removal of Mr. Jordan from Bakersfield to San Fran- cisco during 1901 and the family still maintain a residence in that city, although for the past year or more he has made his headquarters again in Bakersfield. resuming tlie management of local interests. Prior to his removal from the city in 1901 Air. Jordan was a member of the Bakersfield Club, which he had assisted in organizing and whose early growth was largely due to the efiforts of such progressive leaders as himself and otiier young men of like enterprise and civic devotion. After he had established a residence in San Francisco he became a mem])er of the Olympic and Southern Clubs and also entered San Francisco Lodge No. 3. B. P. O. E., to all of which he still l>elongs. t'olitically. although not active in public afifairs and in no sense of the word a partisan, he has been stanch in his allegiance to the DeuKxratic party. His family consists of wife and two children. Daisy M. and John Stanley, the former having been Miss Daisy M. Batz, a native of Kernville, Kern county, and a daughter of J. B. Batz. one of the honored pioneers of the comity. GUSTAV POSCH. — Extended travels throughout the old country as well as in the United States have given to Mr. Posch a broad outlook upon life and have made of him an independent thinker, familiar with the prob- lems which the world is facing today and particularly solicitous concerning the material upbuilding of California, the chosen home of his adoption. In his identification with Bakersfield he has not been limited to the manage- ment of a tailoring business, but has associated himself with manv local ^c^a^: ^w^-^^.'^-x HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 471 movements of note and in connection with Messrs. William H. Scribner and Paul Galtes built the Grand hotel, hence must be taken into considera- tion as one of the persons contributing to the material upbuilding of the city. During early life he was a resident of Neiderlausitz, Germany, where he was born January 21, 1867, and where he received a fair education in the German language. At the age of fourteen years he left school and entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of a merchant tailor, which occupation he has since followed with deserved success. When only seventeen he had acquired a practical mastery of the trade and his skill was so marked that he had no difficulty in securing employment in any town. Being restless as a lad, eager to see the world and fond of travel, he had no difficulty in work- ing his way from one point to another until he had seen much of the old country. Traveling as a journeyman, at the end of two years he landed at Amsterdam and in that interesting city he spent eight busy and enjoyable months. Illness caused him to return to Germany when about nineteen years of age, but soon his socialistic ideas brought him into conflict with the national police and he went to Copenhagen, Denmark, to follow his trade. Shortly returning to Germany, he set sail from that country for the United States when he was twenty years of age. In the new world, as in the old, he encountered no difficulty in finding employment as a skilled tailor. For a time he worked in Bufifalo, N. Y., but later he went as far west as Toledo, Ohio, and next we find him working as a tailor in Leadville, Colo., whence he came to Bakersfield. For a considerable period Mr. Posch has occupied a portion of the Galtes block for his tailoring shop and here he has built up a large patron- age. Meanwhile he has exhibited his faith in the future of city and county by investing in property here, not only aiding in the building of the Grand hotel, but also having bought a particularly fine quarter section of land near Kern, which he still owns. Since he became a citizen of our country he has been a Republican. He is a member of the Germania Society and belongs to the Woodmen. Eagles, and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. TIMOTHY P. SULLIVAN.— Near the city of Cork in Ireland, Timothy P. Sullivan was born June 29. 1845. The difficulties surrounding the school system of that day on the Emerald Isle prevented him from receiving an education in that land but he always has been quick to observe, fond of reading and alert in mental vision. In 1859 he arrived in Boston, Mass., his total capital limited to a six-pence, but he was able to obtain work on a farm without any delay. After a time he left the farm to learn the trade of butcher. At no time was he without employment and while his wages were very small they were sufficient for his modest needs. It was during this time he paid his tuition in night school in Bostoai, applying himself most diligently to acquire the education that had been denied him as a boy. Coming to California during 1872, he followed the butcher's trade for one year in San Francisco. Then he became a Southern Pacific employe at Elk Grove. Sacramento County, where soon he was made foreman of the section. Later he held a similar position at Banta and then at Bethany. San Joaquin County. For three years he was employed as foreman of switches in the Oakland yards and superintended the putting in of switches throughout that city. ( )n being assigned to duty in Kern County Mr. Sullivan spent eight years of faithful service as foreman of the Sumner yards (now East Bakersfield), after which he w^as promoted to be roadmaster of the Colorado division between Mojave and Needles, with headquarters at Fenner. ^^'hen the road was sold to the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe he was made roadmaster of the Tulare division with headquarters at Sumner for seven years. At the expiration of that period he was chosen to work in the mountain division, where his long experience made his services especially" \alual)le to the 472 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY company. Durini^- the peri^xl of his retention in that post lie made his head- cjuarters at Keene. Since his retirement from railroading- in 1904 he has lived retired at Tehachapi and on the incorporation of this city he was honored by being- elected to serve as a member of tlie first board of trustees. Here too he has been prominently connected with St. Malachy's Roman Catholic church. In earlier years he supported Republican principles, but more recently he has become independent with a leaning toward Demo- cratic doctrines. The first marriage of Air. Sullivan took place in Boston. Mass.. in October of 1871 and united him with Miss Ellen Healey. a native of county Cork. Ireland. Some years after her death he was married in Tehachapi to Miss Mary Hickey, who was born in county Claire. Ireland^ and came with her parents to the new world, settling first at Boston, Mass.. and then at McKeesport, Pa., but since 1891 a resident of California. May 15. V)l\, Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan started on a trip to the old country. Their jourtiey took them to all of the boyhood haunts of Mr. Sullivan, who thoroughly enjoyed visiting with such of the old friends as still remained in county Cork. Their travels took them to many interesting jx^ints in their native land, but they returned to California mc^re than ever pleased to remain ])ermanently in the great west. While making his home in Tulare, Mr. Sulli\an, having faith in the land and an optimistic view as to the future rise in \alues, bought six hundred and fifty-two and one-half acres for $2.50 an acre ab(iut 1890. and this propertv he sohfin 1912 for $80 an acre. UNION ICE COMPANY.— The Union Ice Company, whose head- quarters are in San Francisco, entered Bakersfield during 1902 and erected, the large building which has since been the center of a growing business. The present superintendent of the plant and local representative of the company, Hugo F. Allardt, whose identification with the business dates from 1908, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, June 29, 1881, and during 1905 came to California, where he engaged as cashier with the Fresno Consumers' Ice Com- pany, remaining at Fresno until the larger opportunities offered in Bakers- field induced him to remove to this city. Here he has at No. 2109 Park way a comfortable and attractive residence, graciously presided over by Mrs. Allardt, who prior to their marriage was Miss Rosalie Hamilton, of Oak- land. The Union Ice Company and its kindred organization, the Bakersfield Ice Delivery, furnish employment to forty men during the busy season, so that the business is a valuable industrial asset to the community. The rapid growth of the concern necessitated the erection in 1911 of an additional build- ing, in which ice-making is also carried on, and during the summer months both of the large compressors are running at their full capacity. Besides supplying the city trade the company furnishes ice for Taft, Fellows, Mari- copa. McKittrick, Delano, Wasco and other outlying towns. In addition the Southern Pacific Railroad Company have a switch to the plant, whereby they are enabled to ice all of their refrigerator cars as desired. A part of the business is the manufacture of distilled water for drinking purposes. In a large building immediately west of the ice factory there are five large rooms devoted to the cold storage business, each of these rooms having a capacity of two car-loads. The Bakersfield Ice Delivery has one motor truck, thirteen regular route wagons and two distributing stations, one on Wall street between G and H in Bakersfield, and the other on the corner of Sumner and Tulare in East Bakersfield. Mr. Allardt has recently taken over the Oil Center ice delivery, the supply for which is taken from a twenty-ton store-house, and one truck auto and five wagons are used. The large ice plant, located at Thirty-third street and Chester avenue, is equipped with an outfit of modern refrigerating machinerv of two hundred and twentv-five ZTy^c^ HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 475 tons daily capacity. Under the sag'acious and progressive management of Mr, Allardt the company has kept pace with the growth of the city, has extended its service as the need arose, has enlarged its plant to meet the increasing demand for its products and storage accommodations, and has proved fully worthy of the liberal patronage accorded by the people of the county. HORACE ROBERT FREEAR.— Those who l)y experiment, study and experience have proved the adaptability of alfalfa to the soil of Kern county are most enthusiastic believers in the possibilities of the product from the standpoint of profits. The labors of Mr. Freear in this department of agri- culture have not been less gratifying than those of other ranchers. By con- scientious care and indefatigable industry he has developed a valuable alfalfa ranch, from which, by cutting the hay five times a year, he is enabled to secure an average of six or eight tons per acre. It has been his invariable custom to cut and stack the alfalfa with the greatest care, later bale the hay and then sell in the best markets and to the greatest advantage. The ranch which he now owns and cultivates is a tract of one hundred and sixty acres under the Stine canal, situated nine miles southwest of Bakersfield and im- proved with suitable buildings, including a modern, substantial residence erected in 1910. The whole forms a place attractive to the eye, interesting to the stranger and profitable to the owner, whose energetic supervision ap- pears in even the smallest details connected with the ranch. From the age of seven years Mr. Freear has considered Kern county his home and he has lived here through all this time with the exception of three years spent in Mexico. A native of Nebraska, he was born near Lincoln, Lancaster county, June 25, 1869, and is a son of H. T. and Mary Freear, who also are represented in this work. Immediately after the family came from Nebraska to California he was sent to the Kern county public schools, where he took the regular course of study in the ensuing years. At the age of twenty he was graduated from the Stockton Business College and for six months afterward engaged as a bookkeeper in Bakersfield. Being accus- tomed to an outdoor life, he soon found sedentary employment too confining, therefore gave up his position and aided his father on a farm. With his broth- ers he next engaged in the cutting of wood in the Panama district. When finally three hundred and forty cords of wood had been cut he had earned an amount sufficient to justify an investment in land. Upon acquiring the title to twenty acres on section 29 in the Old River district, Mr. Freear put the land in vines, intending to specialize with grapes, but these he found unprofitable. Meanwhile, in order to earn a livelihood. he had gone to Chiapas, Mexico, as an employe of an uncle on a sugar plan- tation. A portion of the three years in Mexico was given to hunting for plumed birds along the west coast. On returning to California he ])urchased twenty acres adjacent to his first tract, so that he owmed forty acres in one body, all under cultivation to alfalfa. Upon selling the place to a brother he bought one hundred and sixty acres located nine miles southw^est of Bakers- field and on this ranch during 1910 he erected a modern residence that is con- sidered to be one of the finest country homes in the district. In addition to operating the home place, the larger part of which has an unusually fine stand of alfalfa, he and his brothers. Charles H. and Joseph, in 1912 leased five hun- dred acres from Miller & Lux. The large tract being under cultivation to Egyptian corn, their success was so gratifying that they leased about one thousand acres the following year and their efforts resulted in a bumper crop, demonstrating that the soil and climate make Kern county a leader in the pro- duction of Egyptian corn. While the care of so great an acreage necessitates constant labor and untiring energy, the returns have justified the procedure and at the same time have added further proof concerning the crop possibil- ities of the countv. 476 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The principles of the Republican party receive the support of Mr. Freear, whose intelligent advocacy of progressive measures marks him as one of the public-spirited men of his community. His marriage took place in the Old River district July 2, 1908, and united him with Aliss Bertha Weingartner, a native of the vicinity of Tully, Onondaga county, N. Y., and a daughter of Albert and Nancy (Barrett) Weingartner, also natives of New York state. When eight years of age Mrs. Freear came to California in company with other members of the Weingartner family. During girlhood she was a pupil in the public schools of Tehama and Glenn counties and since her marriage she has co-operated with her husband in an earnest adherence to principles of justice and progress, generously sustaining movements for the material, educational and social upbuilding of the district. JOHN M. JAMESON.— The history of the Jameson family in Cali- fornia dates back to the era of the discovery of gold, while in America the genealogy is traced to colonial Virginia, John M. Jameson, St., having been the founder of the name to the west of the Old Dominion and having lived for years among the frontier population of Missouri near the city of St. Louis. While yet a mere lad his son, William T., had served in the Mexican war and had gained an enlarged comprehension of the riches of our vast domain during the period of his service in the southwest. Soon after the expiration of his term in the army with his father he crossed the plains in 1848 with "prairie schooner" and oxen. The trip into California aroused in him a desire to locate permanently in the west, hence after a brief sojourn in Amador county he returned to Missouri v\3. Panama, in- terested others in an expedition, secured the necessary supplies, procured a mule-team and carriage for his mother and sisters, and taking every precaution against attacks from Indians, slowly made his way across the plains with a large following of emigrants. For a time after his arrival he engaged in mining, l:)ut later took up agriculture and during 1874 he became a resident of Kern county, where after a year at Glennville he settled in Bakersfield. The little village was unattractive in appearance and in prospects, but he discerned its possibilities and decided to remain. There being no house to rent, he secured an old blacksmith shop, repaired the building and made it tlie family home for several months until it was possible to erect a small ci:*ttage to shelter wife and cliildren. With fair success for years he engaged in teaming, carried on general farming, oper- ated a ranch on the Cottonwood road and owned a cattle ranch on Mount Breckenridge. During the '80s he served as county treasurer for two years. His death occurred at his homestead near Kern in February of 1909 when he was eighty years of age. After coming to California he had married in Amador county Miss Annie Kendall, who was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, and died in 1888. Her father. R. A. Kendall, a native of Ohio, brought the family via Panama to Amador county, but later removed to Sutter county, where his last days were passed. The family of A\'illiam T. and Annie TKendain Jameson comprised ten children, of whom six are now living, four being sons. Of these E. R. resides in San Francisco, j. R.. in Graham, Tex., and F. H., in Glennville, Cal. John M., who is next to the eldest among the surviving sons, was born at Fairplay. Eldorado county, Cal., August 31, 1863, but has been a resident of Kern county since 1874. His education was secured in the public schools of Kern. After three years as clerk in a store at Kern and a similar period as superintendent of a ranch owned bv Sol Jewett he drifted into farming and stock-raising and acquired the title to a ranch on the Cottonwood road comprising three hundred and twenty acres. On that land his father li\ed. while lie gave his attention lo general contracting and o^^v\A^d^hachapi Cha])ter No. 218, O. E. S. DAVE CRICHTON. — The mining interests of California are of such importance that they have been written of pretty generally whenever the ad- vantages of the state have fallen under consideration. Many a large fortune and numerous snug little competencies have been dug out of the soil of Kern and some of her sister counties. A leading mining operator of Kern countv is Dave Crichton of Mojave, who is also interested in the liquor business and is the owner of considerable real estate. It was in Ontario, Canada, that Mr. Crichton was born December 20, 1861. There he lived until in 1870, attending school and learning useful work. He was fifteen when he laid down his educational books and was in his sixteenth year when he was taken by his parents to St. Johns, Mich. There he lived until 1888, working for his father, later farming on his own account. He then went, in 1889, to Butte, Mont., where he engaged in mining. In 1891 he went into the business of running diamond drills. It was Mr. Crichton who utilized the diamond drill in the operation of the Hope mine at Phillipsburg, ALnit., in 1893. He came to Kern county in 1894 and located at Mojave where he was employed by the old Atlantic & Pacific, now the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. In 1901 he asso- ciated himself with William Concannon in the liquor trade, in which they have achieved success. He is engaged in mining in Inyo county and is the owner of and has built up many houses in Mojave. From 1897 until 1902 with George Roper he operated the Bobtail mine in Soledad Hill, Kern county, when it was $old to Los Angeles people. February 24, 1902, Mr. Crichton married Miss Eva Underbill, who was born at Phoenix, Ariz., in 1878. As a citizen he is helpful and popular and in all his relations with his fellowmen he has shown himself upright, pro- gressive and public-spirited. JAMES EDWARD DICKINSON.— Born in Newman, Douglas county, 111., August 6, 1874, James Edward Dickinson, of Bakersfield, came to Kern county January 18, 1891, at which time his parents settled here. His father, Samuel Dickinson, a native of Indiana, served as sergeant of ^n Indiana regi- ment in the Civil war. On coming- to Kern county he located on eighty acres of land on what is now the oil field road, and there for a time engaged in melon raising. Subsequentl}^ he sold ofif a portion of the land and on this has since been built up the town of Waits The father met an untimely death in 1911, when he was killed by a Southern Pacifi.c train at the Chester avenue crossing. He was seventy-eight years of age. His widow, who was in maid- enhood Martha J. Danely, survives him, making her home with her son James E. The parental family included five children of whom three are liv- ing, James E. being the eldest. After completing his education James E. Dickinson continued farming and raising melons until his enlistment for service in the Spanish-American war in 1898 in Company G, Sixth California Volunteer Infantry. His service extended until the close of the war, when he was mustered out in .San Fran- cisco. .After his return home he was employed for two years with the Kern f HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 485 County Land Company, following- this hv eight years as foreman of carpenter work for the Petroleum Development Oil Company, after which he went into business for himself as a general contractor and builder, operating in Rakers- field and vicinity. Although much of his skill has been employed in building cottages and apartment houses, he has also done much work in the oil fields in the construction of rigs and buildings. Associated with him in business is M. A. Dulgar. a man of large practical experience as a builder. May 26, 1905, Mr. Dickinson married Miss Mabel Clara Poole, who was ])orn in Nebraska, September 9, 1886, and they have three children, Erwin, l.aura and Robert. Fraternally Mr. Dickinson affiliates with P>akersfield Lod"-e Nb. 224, F. & A. M., and with a local division of the Woodmen of the World. He is also a meml)er General Shaftcr Camp, Spanish-American War Veterans. ELMER HENRY WOODY.— The genealogical records indicate an early identification of the Woody family with colonial Virginia. Several successive generations lived and labored there, the majority of them being planters by occupation. In the family of one of these planters, whose spe- cialty was the raising of tobacco, there was a son, Sparrell Walter, born at the old homestead near Rockymount, Franklin county, Va., March 10, 1826, and reared amid the cultured surroundings characteristic of his day and locality. The best of educational advantages were made accessible to him in youth. After he had acquired a fair classical education he took up the pro- fession of medicine and from 1845 to 1848 studied the science under the friendly preceptorship of Dr. W. E. Dillard, of his home county. Later he attended lectures in St. Louis and received the degree of M. D. from the medical department of the University of Missouri. Scarcely had he begun the practice of his profession in Missouri when news came concerning the discovery of gold in California. With all the eagerness of youth and with the love of adventure characteristic of him, he made immediate plans for removal to the west. During the summer of 1849 he crossed the plains with an expedition of Argonauts and joined the great throng of men endeavoring to find a fortune in the mines. For three years he remained in Placer county, but his earnest and long-continued efiforts brought him little of the gold of which he had dreamed. Finally it seemed desirable to seek other lines of enterprise, and accordingly he engaged in the hotel and livery business, which brought him fair financial returns. However, an eagerness to see more of the world led him to give up the business and go to the Sandwich Islands in 1858. Securing employment in the government custom house at Honolulu, he remained for some months, but in 1859 returned to San Fran- cisco, content to settle in that city for the time being. Later, after a brief sojourn in Visalia, Tulare county, he came to the present site of the city of Bakersfield in the fall of 1860, and made an earnest endeavor to engage in farming, but the disastrous floods of 1861 and 1862 entailed a complete loss and forced him to seek a new location. In this way it happened that he settled in 1862 in the district that now bears his name. The marriage of Dr. Woody took place in Kern county May 20, 1861, and imited him with Miss Sarah L. Bohna, who was born at Warsaw, Benton county. Mo., June 13, 1845, but had been brought to California by her father. Christian Bohna, during the era of mining- excitement. Her death occurred ]\Iarch 3, 1909, in the district where for so many years she had been a beloved resident, and here, too, her husband passed away September 2, 1910. Their memorv is revered not only by their children, but also by the warm personal friends, wdio will never cease to bear in mind their many virtues and by future generations who will learn w^ith interest of their asso- ciation with the pioneer history of the county. Elmer H. Woody, son of Dr. S. W. and Sarah Woody, was born at Woody. Kern county, July 10, 1880, and received a public-school education, 486 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY supplemented by attendance at ^^ oodbury's Business College in Los Angeles, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1900. After his return home from the college he began to improve and develop a quarter-section adjoin- ing his father's estate and for five years he remained on the new tract, meanwhile devoting his attention to farming. Until the death of his father he carried on a partnership with him in the livestock industry and since the death of his parents and the division of the estate he and his brother own in partnership about six thousand acres of land devoted to the cattle business, the Short-horn Durham breed predominating. The ranch lies on the west side, at the foot of Blue mountain and at the head of Rag gulch. It is well watered by numerous springs and is thickly studded with native oak, such as water and white oak. On August 27, 1911, Air. Woody was united in marriage at Bakersfield with Miss Frances J. Weringer, a young lady of education and refinement, the daughter of Joseph and Lucy Weringer. After her graduation from the Western Normal school at Stockton she was engaged in teaching until her marriage. One child has blessed their marriage, Ward Sparrell. In politics Mr. Woody has always given his support to Democratic doctrines. SERAPHIM POURROY.— The Pourroy family had generations of repre- sentatives among the farmers in Hautes Alpes, France, where Joseph Pourroy passed his life as a stock-raiser at the old homestead near the Pondus I'ose river, lioth he and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Enielie Richau, remained on the home farm until death gave them rest from their labors. Of their five children four are yet living, the youngest of the family being Seraphim, born at the old homestead September 21, 1876, and reared to a knowledge of agricultural duties under wise parental training. His brother, Theophile. came from F>ance to California in 1881 and settled in Kern count}', whither he also came in 1884 with the hope of securing advantages impossible in his native land. The voyage was made via steamer from Havre to New York City. Thence he traveled across the country to Sumner (now East Bakersfield). For three years he herded sheep for his brother, of whom he then bought a small flock with which to make his start in the business. On the range in this part of the country he pastured his flock of seven hundred head. At first he was greatly prospered and after he had formed a partnershi]:) with his brother they owned five thousand head in their combined flocks. Just as their affairs seemed to be established upon a firm basis the panic of 1893-95 developed and prices dropped to such a point that both brothers were bankrupted. Forced to begin again as a wage-earner. Seraphim Pourroy became a sheep-herder on the ranges of the San Joaquin valley. At the expiration of six years of the most arduous and untiring efifort he was in a position to buy another flock of sheep and he took this stej), undismayed by the results of his former venture. Forming a partnership with M. Plantier. he assumed the management of the flock and for four years made his headquarters on the O'Neil place. This time he was prospered in his undertakings and when the partnership was dissolved he was in a position to invest in land. Since 1906 he has owned and operated forty acres seven miles south of Bakersfield between Union avenue and Kern Island road. At the time of purchase the land was unimproved. It was no small task to make all the needed improvements, but with characteristic energy he has kept at the work until now he has a comfortable house, a substantial barn, irrigation facilities from the Kern Island canal and the land leveled, sowed to alfalfa and productive of profitable crops of hay. Mr. Pourroy is proud of his farm, but he is even more proud of his family, which comprises his wife and three children, Gertrude. Seraphim and Emma. Miss Fanny Geraud was l)orn in TTantes Aloes. France, in 1875. and is a daughter of Jean and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 489 Rosalie (Bertrand) Geraud, tlic former a farmer by occupation. During 1900 Miss Geraud came from France to California and settled in Bakersfield, where March 12, 1904, she and Mr. Pourroy were united in a marriage that has proved of mutual happiness and helpfulness. ALBERT S. GOODE.— In 1853 James M. Goode, a Kentuckian by birth and ancestry, crossed the plains with his parents in a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen. The record of his subsequent hardships and privations does not differ materially from the history of other pioneers of sterling worth and unwearied energy. In the land of the golden west he met and married Susan FI. McPhetridge, who in 1856 had crossed the plains from her native Missouri with her parents. The young couple settled in Santa Barbara county, took up land, developed a ranch, made a specialty of stock-raising and eventually attained a degree of success more than merited by the pains- taking industry of years. When the acquisition of a competency and the oncoming of old age rendered further labor on the ranch undesirable they came to Bakersfield and have since lived in retirement in this city. The family of James M. Goode comprised eight children, all but one of whom are still living. The fifth in order of birth, Albert S.. was born at the old homestead near Santa Maria, Santa Barbara county, this state, Jan- uary 26, 1879, and received his education in local schools. After he had entered the high school of Santa Maria the family removed to Bakersfield and here he completed his studies in the excellent high school of the city. Two years after he came to Kern county he started out to earn his own way in the world. Since that year (1901) he has engaged in the dairy business. His rise in the industry has been rapid in an exceptional degree. Beginning with one cow, he delivered milk to private customers in Bakers- field. The business was well received. Others desired to be added to his list of customers. That rendered necessary the buying of other cows. By the end of five years he owned seventy-five cows. During 1906 he contracted to supply milk and cream to all the eating houses on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in the states of California, Arizona and New Mexico. In addition he supplies milk and cream to all the Pullman dining cars on the same railroad as far east as Chicago. The Goode dairy, located on six hundred and forty acres four and one- half miles south of Bakersfield, has become well and favorably known through- out the county, where it is by far the largest plant of its kind. The proprietor of the dairy maintains every modern convenience and desirable equipment for the management of the business. Since leasing the Kerr and Asoinwall ranches in 1910 he has kept his herds here and has built three large silos for ensilage, also has provided other improvements necessary to a modern and sanitary dairy. A cold-storage plant gives evidence concerning his adoption of modern ideas. Intensified farming has been adopted, thus rendering pos- sible a large yield of alfalfa and grain. It is a source of pride to him that he owns the finest herd of dairy stock in the west. Every head has been selected under his personal oversight. Altogether he owns three hundred head of cattle and of these about two hundred are full blooded milch cows of the celebrated St. Lambert strain of Jerseys and combine finest quality and best breeding. One of the most important of Mr. Goode's business enterprises was the laying out of forty acres known as the Goode tract, the same forming the first large subdivision district in Bakersfield. Since the tract was subdivided in 1910 it has been sold in lots, bringing a fair return to the original owner. At the present writing Mr. Goode owns an alfalfa ranch of one hundred and twenty acres on Kern Island, where he is extensively engaged in the stock business. With H. R. Peacock and others he organized the Ve-seven Cattle Company, engaged in breeding and raising cattle, feeding, buying and selling 490 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY stock, and shipping the same to the markets of the north and south. Since the organization of the company he has served as its secretary. So closely have his interests tied him to business matters that he has had no leisure for par- ticipation in public affairs, but he has formed a number of fraternal associa- tions and is very popular among the Woodmen of the World, Elks Lodge No. 266 and the Elks Club in Bakersfield. Although identifying himself to some degree with social functions he leaves such activities largely to his wife, formerly Aliss Cornelia K. Hansen, who was born, reared and married in San Jose and who is a woman of culture, a leading member of the Woman's Club of Bakersfield and a participant in many important movements for the educational and social upbuilding of the city. WILLIAM MENZEL. — It is characteristic of the native sons of Cali- fornia that they evince the utmost interest and put forth generous efforts toward the welfare of their commonwealth, and this, coupled with the natural enthusiasm and sturdy powers of energy and effort of his Teutonic ancestors, has accomplished much to make William Menzel the prominent citizen he is to-day. He is the son of one of the earliest miners of Kern county, his father, William Menzel, being a native of Hamburg, Germany. When a lad of fourteen he ran away from home to seek the gold fields of California, reports of which had reached him in his far-away home. Working his way across the Atlantic and on to California he arrived in San Francisco in 1849 when the mining excitement was at its greatest, and he immediately began mining. In 1851 he drifted into the Kern river placers soon after the first discoveries and followed mining around Keyesville and Kernville and also on the Piute mountains. He identified himself conspicuously with Kern- ville by starting the first butcher shop there, at the same time raising stock. Afterward he sold this business to become head amalgamater at the Big Blue Mill, but in 1884 removed to Havilah to become proprietor of the Golden Gate hotel which he conducted until his demise in 1896. A short time after his arrival in California he made a trip back to his old home where he re- newed his acquaintance with a young lady who later, in 1871, came to Cali- fornia and married him in Visalia. Her maiden name was Johanna Goden- rath. and she survives him, residing in Long Beach, Cal. Of the four children born to his parents William Menzel was the eldest and to him was given the best educational advantages afforded by the local schools of Kernville and Havilah. When seventeen he began to do for him- self, having charge of the stage stables at Havilah for Judge Sumner, who had the Caliente-Kernville mail contract. Thirteen months later he bought a team and wagon and some cattle and sheep and embarked in the stock busi- ness. Establishing ,the brand he had purchased (two quarter circles, joined points downward), he continued the stock business, and he is today still using that brand. His cattle range for a time was on the Breckenridge moun- tains with headquarters on the old A\'elch ranch adjoining Havilah on the north. In October, 1908, he purchased sixty acres about seven miles south of Bakersfield on the Kern Island Road, and removing to this place, he has since made it his headquarters. The ranch is under the Kern Island canal and is devoted to grain and alfalfa. His sheep are ranged on the plains and in the Kern National Forest. Mr. Menzel was married in Hanford, Cal., to Mrs. Ella (Walsh) Kincaid, who was born in Walkers Basin, Kern county, the daughter of Martin and Bridget (Welch) Walsh. Her parents were early settlers of Kern county, the father following the vocation of miner in the early days. Then he engaged in cattle raising and owned a farm known as the Walsh ranch, just north of Havilah, continuing there until his death. The mother is making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Menzel. One child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Menzel. Gladvs. Bv her former marriag-e to Mr. Kincaid Mrs. Menzel was the mother iO-tyCAyCOO HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 493 of four children, Martin, deceased, Joseph. William and Myrtle Kincaid,. Mr Menzel is a stanch Republican in political sentiment. THOMAS MILTON YOUNG.— The identification of the Young family with the J'acific mast country dates back to the era of ,c:old disctjvery and indicates an h()n(.rable association with the entire period cjf agricultural de\'elopment as well as with other occupations scarcely less important than that of agriculture. The first to seek the unknown opportunities of the west. Thomas J. Young, a native of Massachusetts, made the long- journey from the old Wry state by w-ay of Panama and for a time after his arrival tried his luck in the mines. Later he turned his attention to the bote' and livery business at Sutter creek. Meanwhile he had married Elizabeth Hinkson, who was l)()rn in Missouri and during the '50s crossed the plains with her parents, the family settling in Amador county. Five children were born of the union and the third of these, T. M., is a native of Dry town, Amador county, this state, born December 19, 1868. During 1869 the family removed from Amador to Stanislaus county, where the father took up land in the vicinity of Modesto. From a small beginning he enlarged his holdings until he had accumulated five thousand acres. In the midst of his great holdings, about three and one-half miles from Modesto, he made his home for years in a comfortable ranch-house, but about 1900 he retired to Stockton, where he has since, lived in the enjoyment of a competency and leisure amply merited by past years of toil. Always a stanch Repub lican, he twice was nominated for sheriff of Stanislaus county, but the party being greatly in the minority in that county, he suffered defeat at both elections. He is a citizen of great worth and the highest standing. The changes of sixty years he has witnessed in the commonwealth of his adoption and his name is entitled to lasting remembrance in the annals of pioneer history. For some years in early life T. M. Young engaged in the dairy business and during that period he paid his way through the San Joaquin Valley College at Woodbridge, remaining a student until the close of the junior year. At Woodbridge, January 23, 1895, he married Miss Odessa Riley, a native of Indiana and a graduate of the San Joaquin Valley College. Of the union there is one son. Hobart Nading Young. Upon selling the dairy business Mr. Young entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Company, which soon afterward sent him into Kern. During June of 1893 he was made a clerk and operator in the freight department at Bakersfield, from which he was promoted to be cashier and assistant agent, and later he held positions in the passenger department and the superintendent's ofifice. February 16, 1907 he resigned to accept a place as chief clerk with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad at Stcickton, but that im])ortant place he was forced to resign owing to ill health, his resignation taking effect on the 30th of May. Returning to P>akersfield he embarked in the oil industry and assisted in organizing the Emerald Oil Company, of which he became secretary and manager. Besides being interested in this company in the Kern river field he had other holdings of stock. W^ith the organization of the Topaz Oil Company in the Sunset field in June, 1908, he became secretary and manager. The water supplv on the west side was inadequate, of poor (|uality an:l very expensive. I""or the purpose of securing better quality and larger quan- tit}' Mr. "S'oung helped to organize the Kern Midway Water Company, of which he was chosen secretary and manager and which shipped water in cars by rail to the Midway field for domestic as well as boiler and general development use. During March of 1909 he assisted in organizing the T. W. Company in the Midway field, oi which he was chosen secretary and jnanager. A])ril of the same year found him actively promoting the organiza- 494 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ti(;n of the W. T. & ]\1. Company operating in the Midway and of this he also became secretary and manager. During June of the same year he organized the Carbo-Petroleum Company, operating in the Midway, and in this he was made manager and secretary. In February of 1910 he became secretary and manager of Los Pozos Oil Company in the Midway field. May of the same year witnessed the organization by him of the 23 Water Company, of which he was chosen secretary and manager, and which engaged in distributing water for operating purposes in the Midway field. Another Midway concern, the S. F. Midway Oil Cornpany, was organized by his efiForts in August, 1910, and he became secretary and manager. January 1, 1911, he was chosen secretary and manager of the Railroad Water Company Association, another distributor of water in the Midway field. A later enterprise was the organization, in June of 1911, of the M. G. & P. Company, operating in the North Midway, with himself as secretary and manager. In all of the before-mentioned organizations, except- ing the Railroad Water Company Association, he officiated as a director. In October, 1913, with associates, he organized the Midway-Simi Oil Com- pany developing an oil property of two hundred and fifty acres in the Simi valley, Ventura county, of which company he is secretary, treasurer and manager. In November, 1913, with associates, he went to Oklahoma and Texas, leasing nine thousand acres in Jefiferson county, Okla., and twelve thousand acres in southeastern Texas, and the development of these proper- ties has been begun. Aside from these companies he is interested in and a stockholder in various other oil companies. Upon the incorporation of the AVestern Water Company he became a director and assistant secretary and since then he has been connected actively with this concern, which furnishes water to the Midway and Sunset fields. Since the organization of the Consumers Water Company he has been secretary and a director and has had charge of the company's business of delivering water for domestic use to the town of Taft. The Kern County Oil Protective Association was formed for the purpose of controlling and preventing the percolation of water into the oil sand and to encourage the proper drilling of wells. From the first he was deeply interested in the movement. In order that he might promote its helpful influence he consented to serve as secretary and vice- president. At this writing he is a director in the Independent Oil Producers' Agency. Resides being connected with the Merchants' Exchange Club of San Francisco, he holds membership with the Bakersfield Club, the Bakers- field Lodge No. 266, P>. P. O. E., and the Independent Order of Foresters. The interests of Bakersfield, where he has made his home for more than two decades receive his co-operation and encouraging assistance, and with genu- ine public spirit he has stood ready to promote any measure for the perma- nent benefit of city, county or commonwealth. CYRILLE ANDRE. — The example of wise and frugal parents on a small, well-cultivated farm in France gave to the early years of Mr. Andre the advantages of a training that proved of inestimable value to later days of hardship, toil and hope delayed. More extended mention of the family ai)- pears in the biographical sketch of Andre Andre. Suffice it here to state that their father, Ambroise, spent ten years in California, but in 1885 closed out his sheep interests in this state and returned to France to spend his declining days in the midst of associations endeared to him by every tie of affection and intimacy. Cyrille himself left the old homestead near Gap, Hautes Alpes. where he was born in June. 1862. and sought the opportunities of America at the age of less than nineteen years, since which time he has considered California his home. Arriving in this state during the spring of 1881 Cyrille Andre learned the sheep business as conducted in the west and his period of employment (-ATPrd^^Z^^i-^yn, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 497 uudei" his father and older bruther proved ol great assistance to him in his ettorts to acquire a thorough familiarity with the country, the language and the people. As early as 1«82 he herded the liocks of his brother in Kern county. About I880 he invested his savings in a hock of his own, and these sheep he ranged in Kern county. Selling out his holdings in stock he returned to Los Angeles in 1890, but in a short time he again was the possessor of a little flock which he ranged in the vicinity of Cucamonga. in a search for more satisfactory range he brought his sheep over the Tehachapi mountains into Kern county during 1895 and here he ranged them on the plains and in the mountains until 1903, when he disposed of the llock in order to give his attention exclusively to farming. Having made a close study of land in the San Joaquin valley he decided that the vicinity of Bakerstield afforded excellent advantages to farmers. Accordingly he bought sixty acres six miles south of Bakersfield between Union avenue and the Kern Island road, where an abundance of water from the Kern Island canal gives exceptional advantages for the successful raising of alfalfa and corn. In the midst of a very busy life he has found time twice to revisit the old scenes in France. During 1902 he spent about six months at the old home place and in 1010 he again crossed the ocean to France, where in November of the same year he married Miss Alarie Barthalmy, a native of Hautes Alpes. XA'ith Mrs. Andre and their little daughter. Marie, he has a happy and comfortable home on the ranch near Bakersfield and is surrounded by evidences of his thrift., foresight and enterprise. Truly American in his type of feeling and loyalty, he supports the Republican party and its candidates. He is a member ri the Catholic Church. NIELS PETER PETERSEN.— In Lesso channel between the Cattegat and Skager Rack lies the small island of Leso. a portion of the kingdom of Denmark, where Xiels Peter Petersen was born October 10, 1841, the son of a government oflficial who also owned an ocean vessel and engaged in the coasting trade and fishing business. On the ship owned by his father he became familiar with the life of a sailor. At the age of four- teen he shipned from Copenhagen as a cook on a schoolier bound for England. In the spring of the following year he shipi)ed from Olberg as an ordinary seaman on a vessel bound for London. His next voyage took him to the Mediterranean on a Danish vessel and later he shipped from Hamburg on an old Danish frigate, the Ada, that had been con- demned and discarded from the navy, then converted to the merchant marine service. On this vessel he rounded the Cape of Good Hope to Bombay. On the return voyage the ship sprung a leak. By manning the pumps and working with desperate haste, the crew managed to bring the disabled ship into the harbor of Marisus, w'here the old craft was condemned. In order to reach liis original destination the young sailor shipped on an English vessel to Bristol. His next voyage, made as an able seaman (in an iron barque, began at Swansea, Wales, took him around Cape Horn, thence up the Pacific to Callao, Peru, from which point return was made to Swansea. The last long voyage associated with his life on the high seas began at Hamburg and took him in a brig around Cape Horn and up the Pacific to the harbor of the Golden Gate, where anchor was cast iji March, 1862. Liking the appearance of the country, he deserted his ship at San Francisco and went inland to Sacramento, where he found em- ployment on a Sacramento river scow for three months. Next as able seaman on a barque, he engaged in the coasting trade as far south as San Diego. Returning to San Francisco, he enlisted in the United States navy April 14, 1863. for a term of one year, which was spent on the Shoobrick, stationed at Black Point, just inside of the G(~)lden Gate, as coxsw^ain of 498 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY the first cutter, or the boat of the Heutenant. Upon tlie expiration of his time he was honorably discharged from the service. Ever since first landing at San Francisco there had been in the mind of Mr. Petersen a desire to engage in mining, and this was gratified through the friendship of his first lieutenant, who was a stockholder in the Big Blue mine at Whiskey Flat, Tulare ciunly (nnw Kern\-ille, Kern county). Upon the recommendation of the lieutenant he was induced to come to this part of the country in May, 1864, after which he found employment at the Big Blue mine for a year. During 1865 he prospected at Havilah for two months and then spent two years as engineer in a cjuartz mill. Upon re- turning to Kernville he spent another two years in a quartz mill at that point. During 1873 he bought property and built the Kernville hotel, of which he continued as proprietor for ten years, (joing to Shasta in 1884, he leased a mine in French Gulch and operated it for eight months, then sold out his interests and in 1885 returned to Kernville. About this time Mr. Petersen purchased one hundred and sixty acres forming the nucleus of his present large ranch in the South Fork valley. By subsequent purchase he has become the owner of twelve hundred acres, besides having two ranches on the Greenhorn mountains where he ranges his stock in the summer months. The home property has been improved with several sets of buildings and with ditches bringing water from the river for the irrigation of the alfalfa. Grain is raised in large quantities. A specialty is made of raising cattle, hogs and horses. The ranch lies midway between Isabella and Onyx, lietween which points Mr. Petersen runs a stage line, besides a line between Kernville and Caliente. As early as July, 1890, he began to run a stage, using four four-horse teams. Upon the advent of the automobile he bought three cars and he now uses motors not only for the carrying of mail and passengers, but also for the operation of the express line. Besides his immense land holdings he owns residence and business property in Kernville. Havilah and Caliente. The marriage of Mr. Petersen took place in Kern\ille in 187() and united him with Mrs. Lizzie Annie (Davis) Swet, who was born in Boston. Mass., and accompanied her parents to California in early life, settling at Visalia, where she was educated in the j)ublic schools. r-')y her first marriage she had two sons, John Swet, of Bakersfield, and William Swet, now living at Madera. Of her union with Mr. Petersen there are three children, namely: Howard, a farmer on the South Fork; Mrs. Addie Fugitt, also of the South Fork valley; and W' alter, who has charge of the cattle interests of his father, b^raternally Mr. Petersen is connected with Bakers- field Lodge No. 266, V,. P. ( ). K., and the Ancient Order of I'nited W'orkmen. Vor years he has served as a trustee of the South Fork school and his interest in its welfare has been constant. To fill a vacancv in the office of super- visor, formerly held b}- j. W'. Kelley, he was appointed in 1*)02 by Governor Gage to represent district No. 1 on the county board. At the regular elec- tion in PX)4 he was elected by a good majority on the Republican ticket in a l^emocratic district, serving continuouslv imtil January. 1909. During the period of his ser\ice the hall of records and high school were erected. I'rom the beginning of his residence in the state he has been deeply inter- ested in its development. When Kern countv was set apart from Tulare, he was one of the organizers of the new county and his interest in its progress has been unceasing. JOSEPH PERCY FREEAR.— A s(.n of the late Henry T. Freear and a grandsc n of Rev. Henry T. Freear, a rector in the Church of England, Joseph P. Freear was born in Bakersfield. .\pril 18. 1881. and has since lived in Kern county. After lie had completed the studies of the local schools he was sent to Stockton lUisiness Colles:e. from which he was graduated ^^1^£k^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 501 in 1903, and immediately afterward became bookkeeper for the Union Oil Comi)any at the refinery in the Kern ri\er field, where he con- tinued perhaps three years. Meanwhile he had been interested in ranch activities and with his brothers had owned a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, but finally he sold his interest to the brothers and then began to devote his attention to alfalfa-raising on a tract on Union avenue, where he remained for two years. Although since 1908 he has made his home in r^akersfield he still retains agricultural interests and during 1912 with his brothers he put in and raised five hundred acres of corn at Buena Vista lake. De\'oted to the best interests of Bakersfield, many measures for civic advancement have received the enthusiastic support of Mr. Freear and he has aided local projects to the extent of his ability. In politics he votes with the Republican party. His marriage was solemnized December 9, 1906, at Red BlufT, this state, and united him with Miss Zola Clayman. a native of that city, a woman of excellent education, an active worker with the Order of Women of Woodcraft and a devoted mother to her two children. Lorin Donald and Vivian. The father of Mrs. Freear is John H. Clayman, a pioneer of 1859 in California and since 1910 a resident of Bakersfield. where with one exception all cif his five children now make their homes. J. J. DEUEL, JR. — As treasurer and manager of the E. A. Hardison Per- forator Company of Bakersfield. J. J. Deuel, Jr., has evinced a high type of the capable, foresighted and clear-minded business man. While interested in many fields he devotes his chief attention to the perforating compaiiy of which he is the principal owner and manager, and his extensive business extends to all the California oil fields, as well as those in Texas and old Mexico, and even to such remote points as Trinidad, A\'est Indies. Australia. Austria. China and Burmah, India. The automatic machine which this company employs is one of the most important innovations in the oil pro- ducing business today. Under absolute control of the operator perforations of any size or shape may be made in casing of any weight or dimensions. The device is the result of the ingenuity of Edwin A. Hardison of Los .\ngeles and is now owned and improved by Mr. Deuel, who has his oil- well supply store at No. 2111 Chester avenue, Bakersfield, under his personal direction. He is also sales manager of the Axelson Machine Company. J. T. Deuel, Jr., was born July 31. 1879. at Wellsville, Columbiana countv, Ohio, son of Joseph Jasper and Flora V. (Eaton) Deuel, natives respec- tively of Ohio and West Virginia. The father was employed for many years as foreman for the C. & P. R. R., on the Panhandle and later for the L, & N. R. R. at Pensacola. Fla., where the son grew to manhood. In 1904 the family joined the latter in Bakersfield, and father and son became asso- ciated in business, outside of which they have acquired valuable pro;)erty and real estate. Joseph J. Deuel and wife were the parents of two s(ins and one daughter, of whom J. J. Jr., was the first born. In Pensacola. Fla., he was educated in the common schools and also in the academy there, and before he finished his education was well advanced in a practical knowledge of the machinist's trade which he completed in due time. In April, 1898, he x'olunteered in the United States navy for the Spanish-.\merican war, enlisting at the navy yard at Pensacola, Fla., and serving a year on the !^an Francisco and Armeria as a machinist, in the Cuban blockade. .Soon after his honorable discharge from the United States service he went to work at his trade and was S(j employed at Galveston at the time of the hi.s- loric flood which destroyed much of that city, and he spent several months running a hoisting engine in the water-front clearing up the debris. Tn December, 1900. he located at Bakersfield. Cal.. where for four years he was agent for the Standard Oil Company, building up a local business three 502 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY times the size it was when he took it in hand. Tlie subsequent two years he was a special officer, operating on the San Joaquin division, in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Resigning- that position to take charge of the Bakersfield interests of the Axelson Machine Company, of Los Angeles, who were manufacturers of oil pumps and dealers in oil well supplies, with the Axelson pump and the Parker pump as specialties, he materially advanced the interests of the concern, and later was advanced to sales manager of the entire output and various stores. His perforator is the most successful in use today and is employed by the largest companies who aim to obtain the best results. In 1909 Mr. Deuel became the owner of the Plardison Perforator l)y purchasing it from the inventor, E. A. Hardi- son, and since that time he has patented an improvement on the machine. His operations have extended over a wide area and he employs five experi- enced men to operate the perforator. Mr. Deuel and his interesting family occupy a high place among the citizens of Bakersfield. His marriage occurred here June 1. 1902, uniting him, with Miss Mary E. Thurlow, a native of New York state, and they have six children, viz. : Edwin J., James W., George A., Ruth, Harry A. and Jack- son Bryan. Mr. Deuel is a member of the Kern County Merchants' Asso- ciation, and politically believes in the principles of the Democratic party. He is a communicant of the Christian church and affiliates with the VVood- men of the World. On Chester avenue, near Twentieth, he occupies a store and office quarters. He owns two hundred and forty acres of land four miles southeast of Bakersfield, which is de\-oted to farming and horticul- ture and on which he has installed two pumping plants. ROBERT NEILL. — The first twenty years in the useful and interesting life of Robert Neill were passed near the bleak shores of the Atlantic, where the family, Scotch by birth and ancestry, but Canadian by adoption, had established a home near Kensington, Prince Edward Island. The stern and rigorous climate to which he was inured from earliest recollections developed not only a sturdy physique, but also a forceful mentality and a self-reliant spirit, qualifying him to successfully cope with the hardships of the work- a-day world. His parents, James and Marion (McCauU) Neill, were natives of Scotland, who seeking a home in the new world had settled in Canada, identifying themselves with farming interests on Prince Edward Island, where, in the midst of an environment given over to the fishing business and the coasting trade, they tilled the soil and raised such crops as the all too brief summers permitted. The eldest of eight children, Robert Neill was born on the farm in Prince Edward Island February 18, 1852, and grew to manhood at the old homestead, where he worked during the vacation months in the period of his school life. Leaving school at the age of fifteen, he devoted his time entirely to farm work as an assistant to his father. Upon starting out for himself in 1872 he went first to Massachusetts and s])ent the summer months on a farm near Middleboro. During the winter of 1872-73 he was sent by Swift 8z Co. from New Bedford, Mass., to Florida, where he engaged as a broad axeman in getting out live oak timber for the government navy yards. During the summer he went from Florida to Bath, Me., to do similar work in the private yard. P^'rom boyhood it had been the desire of Mr. Neill to see the land of the Golden West and during 1875, giving up his work in the east, he crossed the continent to California. It was his original intention to remain here only long enough to accumulate a 'little money and then return to his olci home, but he was so favorably impressed by the state that he decided to remain, a decision he has no cause to regret. During the first three months he was employed on a farm at Baden Station owned by Miller & Lux, and from that place in August of the same vear he came to Kernville. From that HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 505 time to the present he has been identified with Kern county, of which he is ni)t (inly one of the old settlers, but also one of the most honored citizens and progressive farmers. However, his connection with agriculture does not go back to his settlement in the county. First as a carman and later as a fireman, he spent four years with the Sumner Mining Company. Next he was an employe in the store of Andrew Brown at Kernville, where he re- mained for ten years, first as a clerk and then as bookkeeper and ofifice-man. Meanwhile he saved his earnings with frugal care, for he had determined to engage in farming. Resigning his position in the store in 1889, he purchased two hundred arid eighty acres and took up gerteral ranch pursuits. By subsequent purchase the ranch of Mr. Neill has been enlarged to eight hundred and forty acres, all in one body, situated about two and one- half miles west of Weldon. Several hundred acres are in alfalfa, irrigation for which is provided by the South Fork. The balance of the valley land is devoted to the raising of grain. Realizing the importance of the stock industry, the owner has made a specialty of the same from the very beginning of his farming operations. The brand of R. N. (with letters separate) is to be seen on his large herd of shorthorn Durham cattle. Throughout this portion of the county "Bob" Neill is known as a man of honor and integrity. His name is a synonym for all that is worthy in citizenship and progressive in agriculture. When a postmaster was to be chosen at Weldon during the year 1888 he was selected as one satisfac- tory to all concerned and his service was efficient to an unusual degree. At this writing he is a school trustee in the Weldon district and he has acted in a similar capacity for many years. Since coming to this county he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. As a boy in the old Canadian home he was trained to a belief in Presbyterian doctrines. There being no church of that denomination near his ranch he, with his sister, Miss Millie A. Neill, who is a member of his household, attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Weldon. By nature religious, his life expresses less the religion of creeds than that of a cheerful, hopeful and helpful existence, devoted to the uplifting t f humanitv and the welfare of the race. Careful study of the principles upon which our government is founded led him to espouse the i^latform of the Republican partv when he became a citizen of our country in 1884. Of his services to his adopted country it may be said that they have been admirable, whether viewed from the point of agriculture or business or private life. THOMAS HENRY McGOVERN.— Change and development have marked the history of Kern county since Mr. McGovern became a resident of Annette during the year 1881. The small hamlet near which he took up land stands in the northwestern corner of the county and being remote from the railroad has acquired no significance as a market town. The near- est market was San Luis Obispo, a distance of fifty-five miles toward the coast, and thither the farmers were accustomed to drive for the purpose of buying provisions, clothing and lumber. Immediately after his arrival in the state Mr. McGovern took up a homestead, a pre-emption and a timber- culture, amounting to four hundred and eighty acres altogether, the tract being adapted chiefly to the raising of grain. With one exception he was the first settler in that part of the county. Privations were many, the task of caring for the crops of oats, wheat and barley without sufificient help was discouraging, and the long drives to market took up much valuable time, but ultimately he saw the fruit of his labor and became financially inde- pendent. His only son. John A., took up a claim of three hundred and twentv acres, so that the two owmed and cultivated eight hundred acres, and this has been increased by subsequent purchase to seventeen hundred acres, the whole forming a stock ranch of great value, now managed by the son. the father having retired to a life of ease and merited rest. 506 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY County Cavan in the north of Ireland is the native home of Thomas Henry McGovern and September 11, 1835, the date of his birth. On the eighth anniversary of his birth the family landed in New Orleans from the vessel that had brought them from Ireland to America. A voyage up the Mississippi took them to Illinois and after a brief sojourn at Galena they moved to Wisconsin, where the father took up land near Platteville, Grant county. As a boy Thomas H. attended school at Ellenboro, and aided in the development of the home farm. After he ceased to attend school he gave his attention wholly to farming until 1857, when he left Wisconsin for Missouri. Holding the position of driller, he remained for four years in the Iron mountain mines. At the opening of the war he decided to return to Wisconsin and went to St. Louis with that object in view, but found that no trains were leaving the city. Meanwhile John H. McHenry, general foreman of the mine in which he had worked, became colonel in the Fif- teenth Mississippi Regiment, C. S. A. At Cape Girardeau Mr. McGovern volunteered for ser\'ice in that regiment, which was later consolidated with and became the Seventeenth Mississippi Regiment. For four years and seven months he remained in the Confederate army. During that time he endured all the hardships of war and fought in many bloody battles. One of the hardest fought engagements in which he participated was that of Cold Harbor. At the siege of Vicksburg he served as an army scout. During a portion of his service he was under General Pemberton, and in addition he served under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. After the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., he was released from service and allowed to return to Wisconsin, where he joined his parents, then living at Platteville, Grant county. For several years he worked in lead ore mines during the winters and farmed in the summer months, but later he carried on a general mer- cantile store at Trempealeau, Wis., and also served as a justice of the peace, remaining there until the time of his removal to California. In Kern county he was twice elected justice of the peace, but did not qualify. He also filled the office of roadmaster for a number of years, and for sixteen years acted as clerk of the Annette school district. From early life Mr. McGovern has been a member of the Roman Catho- lic Church. Since attaining his majority he has given stanch support to the Democratic party. January 8, 1866, he married in Platteville, Wis., Miss Josephine Roselip, who was born in Grant county, Wis., July 8, 1841. By their union there is an only child, John A., who resides with his parents and superintends the large landed interests of the family. Removing to Wasco from the ranch in 1905, Mr. McGovern has since been retired from active agricultural cares and enjoys the comforts possible after long years of labor. \Mien he came to this small town it had only one general store, but there were also two saloons. Shortly after settling here he built the Wascd Hotel and tliis he now leases. CHARLES F. BENNETT.— As county supervisor of the first district of Kern county and a successful business man as well, Charles F. Bennett has identified himself closely with the industrial work of this county, becoming well and favorably known for the impartial execution of his official duties, his painstaking efforts to meet the approbation of his constituents and his never-failing good-will toward all. He was born May 8, 1862, in Washoe City, Nev., the son of Rev. Jesse Lee Bennett, a well-known minister, who was born in West Virginia and made his way to ^lissouri to fill the respon- sible office of minister in the Methodist Fi:)iscopal church. Later he crossed the plains to California in 1849, followed mining for a time and was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at \\ ashoe City, Nev. He returned east after a time and was married, but the call of the west again brought him to Washoe City, this trip being made via I'anama. L'])cin arrival he resumed the duties of minister and imtil 1873 he and his estimable wife, who before HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 507 her marriage was Elizabeth de Jersey, made their home in Nevada. In the latter year he came with his family to Kernville, this county, where he was the local pastor until his death, in April. 188(S. [•'rom Kernville he went to different parts of the county to minister, his trips often being made on foot, and extending from Tehachapi and Bakersfield and places on the south fork to Linn's valley and Darwin. His wife, who was a native of the Isle of Guernsey, England, and was of French parentage, passed away in Bakers- field. Of their six children, four are living: Charles F. ; Annie, of Bakers- field; Edith, Mrs. Charles C. Taylor; and Nellie, of Bakersfield. Charles F. Bennett was but eleven years of age when his parents brought him to Kern county and until he was thirteen he attended the public school of his vicinity. His first work was on neighboring ranches ; after- ward mining took his attention, and he learned the details of that industry, becoming foreman of Warrington mine at Havilah, and after a time foreman of the Lady Bell mine, at Kernville, and he also prospected and mined in Piute. Subsequently for some years he was engaged in running a hotel bus in Kernville, and it was in 1888 that he entered into public life by being elected on the Democratic ticket as supervisor of the first district, his term of service covering the period from January, 1889, to January, 1893. In 1903 ]\Ir. Bennett started a livery business in Caliente, which also embraced a hay and grain business, a blacksmith shop and a wagon and carriage fac- tory. The business was a splendid success from the start and he built it up to a most profitable condition. In 1910 he built the store in which he is now engaged in general merchandising, his capable wife lending her assist- ance in order to relieve Mr. Bennett of the many arduous tasks incident to the business. On February 16, 1892, Mr. Bennett was married in Bakersfield to Miss Lulie Jones, a native of Mariposa county, Cal., and daughter of D. E. and Caroline (Wyatt) Jones, born in Ohio and Virginia, respectively. Her father was a miner, but has passed away, the mother making her home with her daughter. Three children were born to Mr. and Airs. Bennett, Jesse L., who is a member of the San Luis Obispo high school class of 1914; Loring F. and Alice Caroline. Mr. Bennett was for several years a member of the board of school trustees in Caliente, serving as clerk for seven years. In 1912 he was an independent candidate for county supervisor and received the election, taking the oath of office in January, 1913, for a term of four years. His former experience as well as his inherent ability in this direc- tion, ably qualifies him for the office and his fellow-citizens have the utmost confidence in his efficiency. He is a stanch Democrat in politics and in fra- ternal connection is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. JOHN ROBERT JESSUP.— Allegiance to the Society of Friends char- acterized the Jessup family both in their English home and in the colonial environment of North Carolina, and their dominant traits were such as marked the Quakers in every part of the world. L^niformly industrious, thrifty and peace-loving, they aided in the early development and upbuilding of the south and particularly wielded a large influence in North Carolina, from which state in the first half of the nineteenth century Caleb Jessup removed to Indiana. At the time of the migration his son, Frank, was a mere lad and from that time until his death he continued to make Indiana his home, engaging both in general farming and carpentering until his death in 1853 at middle age. During young manhood he had married Elizabeth Sanders, who was born in North Carolina, of Quaker parentage, and whose death in 1851 left him a widower for the last two years of his life. Their family comprised eight children and the fifth of these, John Robert, whose birth occurred on the home farm near AA'^orthington, Greene county, Ind., April 4, 1846, was only seven years of age at the time the death of his father left him an or])han. An uncle. James Jessu]). took him 508 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY into his home, but at the expiration of four years he was given into the care of his eldest sister, the wife of Fayette A. Dickinson. Until he was twenty-eight the Dickinson farm continued to be his home with the excep- tion of four years in the army during the Civil war. With the very tirst call for volunteers in the Union service the heart of the youth of fifteen years became fired with patriotic fervor and he determined to go to the front in defense of his country. During November, 1861, he was assigned to Company E, I'^ifty-ninth Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into service at Gosport, Owen county, Ind.> whence he was dispatched to the south in February of the following year. From that time until the close of the great struggle he fought in many decisive battles, endured the hardships of forced marches and underwent privations in camp and on field. In the most strenuous exertion and the greatest danger to life and limb, no one heard a word of discouragement from this lad; on the other hand, he was always willing, courageous and helpful, and proved his patriotism on many a fiercely-contested field. Among his leading engagements were the following: New Madrid, Mo.; siege of Corinth; battle of Corinth, October 3-4, 1862; F'orty Hills, Raymond and Jackson, Miss., in the last-named of which his regiment placed the first flag on the state- house at Jackson ; Champion Hill ; the siege of Vicksburg lasting forty-seven days, where his regiment sustained a heavy loss ; Chattanooga ; Missionary Ridge ; the Atlanta campaign of 1864, including the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Buzzard's Roost, Snake Creek Gap, Kenesaw mountain, Atlanta and Jones- boro; Sherman's march to the sea with the siege of Savannah and the battle of Bentonville; and last, participation in the grand review at Washington, followed by honorable discharge at Louisville, Ky., in August, 1865. At the expiration of the war he returned to the home of his sister in Indiana and resumed his studies, ending with a commercial course in Terre Haute. The marriage of John Robert Jessup was solemnized at Paris, 111., in December, 1874, and united him with Miss Annie Marie Welch, a native of Vigo county, Ind. The young couple began housekeeping on a farm near Hume, Edgar county, 111., and later settled near Decatur, Macon county, in the same state, eventually going from the farm into the city of Decatur for the purpose of operating a dairy. Four children were born of their marriage, namely : Maude ]\larie, Mrs. B. S. Hageman, of Rosedale, Kern county; John Clyde, who died at the age of seven years; Elizabeth Catherine, wife of Frank Gary, of San Francisco; and Harry Warren, of Portland, Ore. The family came to California in 1891, arriving at Bakersfield in December of that year. The first venture of Mr. Jessup proved unsuc- cessful, for the farm which he bought in the Rosedale district eight miles west of Bakersfield cnuld not be made remunerative owing to the lack of water in the Calloway canal. At the expiration of nine years of strenuous exertion he abandoned farming and gave his attention to the teaming busi- ness in Bakersfield, later having a fruit wagon in the Kern river oil field. During January, 1909, he bought out the grocery business of C. C. Minter & Bro., on Chester avenue, and has continued the enterprise wMth the satis- faction of a growing trade and increased patronage on the part of a most desirable class of customers. In politics he always has supported Repub- lican candidates and principles. While still living in Indiana he was made a Mason in Worthington Lodge and later identified himself with Macon Lodge No. 8, F. & A. M., at Decatur, 111., where his name is still enrolled as a member. With his wife he belongs to the Eastern Star Chapter at Bakersfield and in addition Mrs. Jessup is a leading worker (and now president) of the Hurlburt Women's Relief Corps, while he has been inti- mately associated with the activities of Hurlburt Post No. 124, G. A. R., also at Bakersfield. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 509 HENRY R. SCHAFFNIT.— The chief of the Bakersfield fire depart- ment, whose wide reputation for successful work in this important specialty led to his selection for his present responsible post, belongs to a German- American family and is a son of Leonard and Emma (Miller) Schafifnit, natives of Germany and descendants of lung lines of Teutonic ancestry. An uncle, Henry Schaffnit, an immigrant to America in early life, served gal- lantly as a lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil war. Leonard Schafifnit was by trade a cabinet-maker and trained to an unusual degree of skill in the occupation, besides being an expert mechanic, and it was not difficult for him to secure steady employment after he came to the United States and he worked for some years for day wages. When the west was still undeveloped and he was yet a young man, he crossed the plains to California in 1854 with a party of emigrants traveling with wagons and ox-teams, but a short tour of inspection ended his residence in California at that period. After his marriage he lived in St. Louis, Mo., where his eldest child, Henry R.. was born June 27, 1874. Shortly after the birth of that son he took the family to Colorado and settled at Central City, where he built and for twenty-five years conducted the Washington house. His wife died in Denver in 1902 and more recently he has established a home in Los Angeles, his present place of residence. Out of seven children comprising the parental family all but two are still living and the eldest of these, Henry R., received a public-school educa- tion at Central City, Colo., from which place he went to Denver at the age of fifteen years. Ever since then he has been self-supporting. As early as 1894 he became connected with the Denver fire department, where an experi- ence of six years proved most helpful to him in later labors along the same line. In company with George Hale he attended the exhibitions at Kansas City and Omaha and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, where as captain of the life line and pompier work during the fair he led off the best crew in the United States, comprising a fine body of men personally selected by an inspection of the entire country. At the close of the exposi tion he returned to Denver, Colo., as captain of engine No. 2 under Chief Owens. Resigning from that position in 1905 he became chief of the new fire department at Goldfield, Nev., selected by the Board of LTnderwriters. The occasion of his employment had been the need of perfected fire system. The task proved one of great responsibility and many difficulties, but he triumphed over every obstacle, surmounted every difificulty and succeeded in securing for the town a splendid system with headquarters in a new fire house costing $20,000 and containing every equipment for the fighting of fire. January 2, 1911, he was transferred by the Board of Underwriters from Goldfield in order to enter upon similar duties at Bakersfield, where he has since labored with tireless energy and sagacious judgment. The Bakersfield fire department at the present writing has three hose wagons, fcur engines, one chemical engine, one hook and ladder truck and an auto truck, also two large gas pumps and six electrical pumps, the water for which is supplied from an excellent irrigation system with ten- inch mains and six eight-inch laterals. At all times there is a pressure of thirty-five pounds in the plugs. The signal telephone fire alarm system contains forty-one boxes at the present writing, these being distributed with such care that no point is far distant from fire alarm call. Fifteen paid men are in the employ of the department, besides sixteen call men. Under the present chief improvements are being made constantly and efifectively. Four thousand feet of hose have been provided, and two new fire houses are being built. In the course of a few months six automobiles, combination hose, engine and chemical will be installed, the expenditure for all these new facilities amountins: in all to $75,000. and in a short time Bakersfield will 510 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY have a fire department brought to the rank of first place on the coast, this g^ratifying condition resulting from the wise use of the tax-payers' money on the part of the chief in charge. Through membership in the Association of Fire Chiefs of the Pacific Coast and the International Association of Steam Engineers, Mr. SchalTnit keeps in touch with every development in his special work and is therefore thoroughly modern and up-to-date in his ideas. VVhile living in Goldfield he was connected with Montezuma Lodge No. 30. I'. & A. M., and since coming to Rakersfield he has joined the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks No. 266. His marriage took place in Denver and united him with Miss Hattie Schultz, who was born and educated in that city and by wlioiu he has two sons, Robert and Peter. The family hold membership in the Bakersfield Presbyterian Church. ROLAND G. HILL. — The task of converting the Greenfield ranch into an alfalfa and stock farm recently has been assumed by Mr. Hill, who is thoroughly prepared for his large responsibilities by reason of previous suc- cessful experience along the same line of enterprise. The property lies twelve miles south of Bakersfield and includes two thousand three hundred and sixty acres of land. To guests the chief attraction of the ranch is the comfortable and attractive modern residence, presided over graciously by Mrs. Hill, for- merly Miss Edith Baker. A lifelong resident of Kern county. Mr. Hill was born in Cummings \alley and with his sisters. Ruby and Emma, and a brother, Russell (now foreman of the Hill ranch in the Cummings valley) belongs to a family long known and highly honored in this locality. His father, the late Ross Hill, came to Kern county as early as 1882 and embarked in the cattle business, starting a stock ranch on a very modest scale, but working his way forward by sure degrees to a position among the prosperous ranchers of the valley. Since his death, which occurred on the ranch about 1902, his widow (formerly Lottie Gridley) has removed to Los Angeles and there established a home. When sixteen years of age Roland G. Hill left school to take up ranching. The next year his father died and that threw into his care the home ranch of two thousand acres. Assuming the heavy responsibilities with an energetic will, he gave to the work close and undivided attention. A specialty was made of raising horses, cattle and hogs. So well did he succeed that the Hill ranch increased in area from two thousand acres to fourteen thousand acres, the latter being its size in 1912 when it went into the hands of the Tehachapi Cattle Company. The latter organization was founded by R. G. Hill and Messrs. P. G., A. H. and C. W. Gates, three brothers residing in Pasadena and owning vast interests in diiTerent places, including large lumber interests in Arkansas. Tn the present possession of the company are the following holdings: the (ireenfield ranch of two thousand three hundred and sixty acres; deeded land in Cummings valley aggregating fourteen thousand acres; and leased land in the same valley comprising about five thousand acres, making a total of twenty-one thousand three hundred and sixty acres. The cattle in- dustry has been a specialty with Mr. Hill for some years in the past and in developing the Greenfield ranch it is with the intention of continuing in the same business. While some of the cattle are raised on the range, many are ship])ed in from Arizona and kept on the home ranch for fattening. W. W. STEPHENSON.— A citizen of worth and integrity," W. W. Ste- phenson, or "Big Bill" Stephenson (as he is known among his confreres), enjoys to an unusual degree the confidence of all who have known him during his residence in Kern county. To no man is greater credit due for the development of the oil industry in this district. He and a brother, R. M., now an oil operator near Tampico, Mexico, were the only children of W. P. Ste- phenson, who in an early day removed from Iowa to Oregon, sojourned for '<> brief period in Salem, thence removed to Portland, that state, and became HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 513 chief engineer for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, returning to Iowa during the latter part of 1882 and re-establishing himself on the farm in Palo Alto county which had been his home prior to the removal to the west. It was during the residence of the family in Salem, Ore., that William \V. Stephenson was born in that city June 20, 1875, but his earliest recollec- tions are associated with the city of Portland and there he was a pupil in the primary grades of the public school. At the age of seven years he accom- panied his parents to Iowa and from that time until seventeen he lived on the old homestead of the family. Returning to the west when seventeen years of age Mr. Stephenson established himself in Santa Barbara county, Cal., and became interested in the business which he has since followed. The fields at Summerland and Santa Paula gave to him his initial experience in the oil industry. Soon he began to take contracts for drilling. Much of his work was in the interests of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com])any. For three years he continued in contract drilling. Much of the work was in the ocean. Drilling was done by means of wharves built out into the water for a distance of one thousand feet from shore. Experiences in the employ of others whetted his ambition to undertake the business for himself. In the summer of 1899 iie purchased two drilling outfits and brought them to the Kern river fields. The venture proved a success and justified the purchase of four additional outfits in the fall of the same year, so that by 1900 he had six drilling outfits in operation. Upon becoming a stockholder in the Alma, Wolverine and Black Jack Oil Companies, Mr. Stephenson deemed it advisable to dispose of a number of his drilling rigs. Although the Black Jack and Wolverine have since been sold, he still retains a block of stock in each, while he continues as superin- tendent of the Alma Oil Company, which has recently taken over the Alma, Jr., so that the two are practically under one management. The officers of the company are as follows: president, W. H. Mason, Battle Creek, Mich. ; vice-president, J. E. Beard, of Napa, Cal. ; secretary, M. A. Thomas of San Francisco; treasurer, the Canadian Bank of Commerce in San Francisco. The following gentlemen comprise the board of directors: W. H. ^lason and C. E. Thomas, of Battle Creek, Mich.; J. E. Beard, of Napa, this state ; A. Kaines of San Francisco ; and W. W. Stephenson of Bakersfield. Beginning operations in September of 1900, the company now holds one hundred and twenty acres of land, employs eleven men, and has twenty-four producing wells in the Alma and Alma. Jr., with an average net output of twelve thousand barrels per month. The oil interests owned by Mr. Stephenson, including his stock in various oil companies throughout the California fields, by no means repre- sent the limit of his mental activities and commercial relations. As president of the Pacific Motor and Engineering Company, he maintains an intimate association with the development of a business for the buying, selling and renting of motors and for the monthly inspection of motors. In addition the company engages in the manufacture of machinery for the use of bakers and confectioners, also makes a specialty of other machine and repair work, and of the wiring and installing of motors. The headquarters of the con- cern are at No. 527 Mission street, San Francisco. Besides being the prin- cipal owner of this large business. Mr. Stephenson is president and leading stockholder in the Butterworth-Stephenson Company of Portland. Ore., and the Hamilton Cloak and Suit Company, the Midway Equipment Com- pany and the Central Purchasing Company, all of Bakersfield. 'The California Well Drilling Company of Taft, the B. S. & B. Company of Los Angeles and the Western Trust Company of Portland, Ore., have the benefit of the services of Mr. Stephenson as a director and principal 514 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY stuckhulder. As a stockhulder lie is turther interested in the First National Bank of Bakersfield, the California Life Insurance Company of San Fran- cisco, the Inter- Urban Realty Company of Portland, Ore., the Willamette Realty Company of Portland, Ore., the Hydraulic Mining Company of Oroville, Cal., and a number of mining concerns at Randsburg, this state. A stanch believer in life insurance, for years he has carried heavy policies as a i)(.issible protection for his family and large business interests. In land and real estate his holdings are important and include a beautiful home on Perkins street in Oakland, Cal., an attractive residence in the Irvington district of Portland, Ore., property in Bakersfield and valuable holdings at Wildwood. Del Alonte and other points. In December of 1910 Air. Stephenson lost his wife, Mrs. Edna (Nance) Stephenson, by her death in young w^omanhood. A daughter survives, Zada, now a student in the high school at Berkeley, this state. From a business standpoint Air. Stephenson ranks among the most capable men in the oil fields. Taking the past as a criterion and remembering that he is yet a young man, it is safe to state that a brilliant future awaits him. For much that he has accomplished he gives credit to the inheritance of large mechan- ical and engineering ability from his father, who, as has been stated, served for years as chief engineer for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company at Portland. Personally Air. Stephenson is a man who thinks for Iiimself and conducts his researches independently. Consideration for others is a leading characteristic. While he possesses a worthy ambition to make and enjoy his share of the world's wealth, he has never trespassed upon the domain of others in the acquisition of his possessions. A practical demonstration of the Golden Rule has been made in his interesting career. OTTO R. KAMPRATH.— The assistant cashier of the Security Trust Company of Bakersfield is a member of an old eastern family descended from Teutonic ancestors. The genealogy shows that Ferdinand Kamprath in an early day drove overland from New York to Alichigan, accompanied by his family, and took up a tract of raw- land from the government, later devoting his time to the tilling of the soil in that then frontier region. Among his children was a son, Henry F., a native of Buffalo, N. Y., but from childhood a resident of Michigan, where for man}^ years he has engaged in the manu- facture of furniture at Monroe, Monroe county. During young manhood he married Aliss Christine Enselberger, who was born and reared in the vicinity of Monroe, being a daughter of Leonard Enselberger, a pioneer farmer of honored name. Not only are the parents still living, but their three children also survive, the eldest of these being Otto R.. who was born at Alonroe, Mich., November 21, 1875, and in 1891 was graduated from the high school of his native city. Immediately afterward he secured employment as a messenger in the First National Bank of Monroe and later was promoted to be a bookkeeper in the institution. A desire to remove to California caused Air. Kamprath to resign his position with the Alichigan bank and thereupon he came to Bakersfield, where he secured a place as bookkeeper in the Bank of Bakersfield. A few years later he was promoted to be teller. When by consolidation the Security Trust Comjiany was organized October 7, 1910, with a capital stock of S300,000 fully paid in, he was chosen assistant cashier of the new institution. Since its ince])tion the bank has been noted for the conservative spirit of its officers and directors. The men at its head are among the leading financiers of the city. Their judgment is recognized as excellent, their ability as above the ordinary and their energy as boundless. Much credit also is due to the assistant cashier, who fills his position with accuracy, dispatch and mental alertness, thereby winning for himself a recognized ])lace in local financial circles. After coming west he was married at Los Angeles to Aliss Dorothea #^c ^^r.^-- ^'^^zyty^^a / HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 517 Heinicke, who was born at Pleasant Ridge, 111., and by whom he has three children, Gerald, Willard and Marie. The family residence, erected by Mr. Kamprath, stands at No. 2212 Truxtun avenue and both in exterior appear- ance and interior finishings indicates the cultured tastes of the family. As one of the founders of St. John's Lutheran Church, as the chairman of its building- committee, a member of the board of trustees and the present treasurer of the congregation, Mr. Kamprath has been closely identified with the upbuilding of the church and in its annals his name will hold a place all its own. He keeps posted concerning current events and national ])roblems and supports the Republican party in general elections. The board of trade has had the benefit of his intelligent services as a member of its executive committee. WILLIAM TRACY.— It is the proud claim of William Tracy that he is a native son of California. In San Joaquin county, but near Gait, Sacra- mento county, he was born August 8, 1866, being a son of the late Edgar Vernet and Mary (Dix) Tracy, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Ohio. The mother died in San' Joaquin county in 1877 and the father passed away May 2, 1913, when advanced in years. Reared and educated in Pennsyl- vania and Ohio, and married in the Buckeye state in 1852, he had brought his young wife across the plains in the summer of 1852, making the long journey with ox-teams and wagons. At the opening of the Civil war he re- turned east, enlisted in his old home regiment of Ohio infantry, went to the front and served until the close of the rebellion, when he received an honor- able discharge and returned to California. For many years and indeed until he retired from business cares he engaged as a liveryman and owned a stable at Acampo. In his family there were nine children, as follows : Alice, Mrs. J. W. Johnston, of Sacramento; Theodore, of Bakersfield ; Emma, who married Ellis Kilgore and died in Sacramento ; Mrs. Ida Marsh, a resi- dent of Massillon, Ohio; Mrs. Mary Barber, of Amador county; Mrs. Sarah Van A^alkenburg, of Lodi ; William, whose name introduces this article; Anna, wife of James Arp, of Bakersfield ; and Mrs. Nellie Jarvis, who is living in Amador county. The death of his mother when he was ten years of age brought to William Tracy a breaking up of tender home ties and a loss almost irreparable. During the next six years he was given a home by a farmer. After leaving here he lived with his sister, Mrs. Kilgore, of Sacramento, where he finished the grammar school. Mr. Kilgore is of the well-known firm of Kilgore & Tracy, of Sacramento. The happy days spent in Mr. Kilgore's home and about his place of business are among the happiest recollections of Mr. Tracy's childhood days. While yet in his teens he purchased an outfit and engaged in teaming on the large ranches in Colusa county, meanwhile saving his earnings with frugal forethought for the future. Since coming to Bakers- field in January of 1891 he has been actively associated with the farm and stock interests of Kern county. Here he took up a homestead and joined his brother, Theodore, who had secured a claim on the Goose lake channel of Kern river, on the range of Canfield & Tracy, whose herds of cattle the two brothers superintended. In due time William Tracy acquired the Canfield & Tracy holdings and later bought out the interests of his brother, who removed to Bakersfield. By such additions to his original homestead he acquired a ranch of three thousand and eighty acres, lying five miles north- east of Buttonwillow, or twenty-five miles west of Bakersfield as the crow flies. Much of the ranch is in pasture, on which may be seen cattle bearing the well-known brand of 91 and horses with the T brand that in the neighbor- hood has come to stand for qualitv and breeding. One section of the ranch has been put under irrigation and is devoted to alfalfa and grain, the balance being used for range. A special feature of the ranch is the breeding of draft horses, which find a read^- sale in western markets and always command a 518 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY high price. At the head of the drove of over two hundred horses are two Belgian stallions, viz. : Predominant, weight fifteen hundred pounds, and Silver Tip, two thousand pounds, both fine specimens of their popular breed. A rancher whose devotion to agriculture has been so constant and whose interest in county development has continued through so many years must necessarily have identified himself with other enterprises besides those ot ranching, and we find that Mr. Tracy has exhibited a steadfast devotion to every movement of permanent value to the county. Particularly has he been interested in the cause of education. For many years he served as a trustee of the Wildwood school and the district had the advantage of his painstaking devotion to its educational system and his ardent determination to promote the upbuilding of a first-class country school. Although by no means a partisan, he is a pronounced Republican and stanch in his allegiance to party principles. In his marriage to Miss Fannie C. Rowlee, a native daughter of San Joaquin county, he won a wife possessing in eminent meas- ure housewifely skill, artistic talents and deep devotion to country life, and they are earnestly promoting by their united, harmonious efforts the mental development and physical training of their children, Cecil Foster, William Darrel. Frances Fay and Charles Wellington. MRS. WILLIAM TRACY.— Versatility of mental equipment forms a notable attribute of Mrs. Tracy, to whom belongs the distinction of being a native daughter of the state, whose entire life has been passed within the boundaries of the commonwealth, whose education reflects the training offered by its schools and whose refinement of taste indicates a cultured environment from earliest years. A resident of Kern county from child- hood, but a native of San Joaquin county, she is a daughter of that sterling and honored pioneer couple, Charles W. and Martha (Martin) Rowlee, men- tion of whom is made at length elsewhere in this volume. At a very earh'- age she gave evidence of unusual ability and desire for knowledge. Not .satisfied with the opportunities offered by the common schools, she prepared for normal work and then entered the Chico State Normal, where she spent two years in study, pedagogy being her specialty. Next she availed herself of the advantages offered by the San Diego State Normal and after she had graduated frcm that institution in 1902 she took up educational work in Kern county with the intention of specializing as a teacher, but her mar- riage to I\lr. Tracy, April 3, 1904, changed her plans and terminated a brief but highly successful career as an instructor. There was, however, no relinquishment of her interest in schools and schooling, for she has con- tinued up to the present time a capable and enthusiastic promoter of all educational advancement, a firm believer in the value of the public schools and an exponent of modern methods adopted in the most progressive insti- tutions of learning. For her four children, Cecil Foster, William Darrel. Frances Fay and Charles Wellington, Mrs. Tracy cherishes worthy ambitions. That they may receive the best of training and educational advantages is a source of constant solicitude on her part. That their ideals may be of the highest Christian type, not bound by narrow creed or selfish egotism, is her hope for their future. While striving to promote their physical welfare and mental growth, she finds the leisure to devote herself to art and her own paintings adorn the walls of the ranch home as well as the family residence in the city at No. 1919 Orange street. Fond of outdoor life and a lover of the country, she finds great pleasure in developing the natural resources of .their environment. To watch things grow and thrive brings her hap- piness, and whether it is a plant or tree or whether some pet bird or animal, the growth of each interests her intensely. For this reason she surrounds herself with pets. The pea-fowls on the ranch, the fancy poultry and the thoroughbred sheep are objects of deep interest to her. Together HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 521 with Air. Tracy she is es])ecially interested in watching tlie development of "Phoenix" and "Tempe." a pair of masrnificent ostriches now eight vears of age, and brought from Arizona in 1907 when only eighteen months old. They were the first birds of the kind in the entire county and Mrs. Tracy has made a special study < f their needs, growth, the incubation, hatching, etc.. with a view, not only to understanding them, but also to making them a source of revenue. The season of 1013 resulted in an ostrich hatch that is destined to play an important part in the commercial future of the valley, wdien their birds brought forth a troop of eight chicks which were suc- cessfully raised. These were the first ostrich chicks hatched in the county and thus opened a new industry in the San Joaquin valley. This led to the purchase of a troop of fifty-two birds from \V. F. Robison. manager of the Southern California ostrich farm at Idora Park, Oakland. The birds were successfully transported by rail to Buttonwillow and from there they were hauled in wagons five miles to the Tracy ranch, this being accom- plished without injury to any of the birds. The ease with which they are cared for is shown when it is known that they are turned into an alfalfa field surrounded by the usual four-foot woven wire stock fence. When the birds select their mates they are placed in individual pens for nesting. Among these birds there are representatives from three different sections of Africa, i.e.. the South African (the most common breed in the country"), the West Coast and Nubia. The Nubian is the finest ostrich known, having skin of a blush-])ink color and being a larger bird and producing a longer and finer feather than any other breed. The feather industry has grown to such proportions and the demand has become so large that Mrs. Tracy has found it necessary to remove to Bakersfield her factory for cleaning, dyeing, repairing and the manufacture of feathers into plumes and ostrich fancies. Her sister. Miss Hazel Rowlee. has charge of the factory, while Airs. Tracy devotes her attention to the management and superintendence of the ostrich farm. She is recognized among the ostrich farmers as an authority on the nesting, hatching and rearing of the birds. The present successful status of the industry gives great promise for the future and not only the family, but the entire com- munitv finds much of interest in the new undertaking as a novel industry with unique possibilities. CHARLES H. FAIRCHILD.— The records of Pennsylvania show that when William Penn brought over his original colony of emigrants he had among the number a member of the English family of Fairchild, a young man of bold snirit and fearless valor, w^ell qualified to assist in pioneer tasks, and it is said that he became one of the first settlers in the city of Philadel- phia. Later generations remained in the Keystone state and Ephraim Fairchild was born in Bradford county. With the love of the frontier that had been manifested in the original immigrant, he came to California when this great commonwealth was an unknown region without attractions ex- cept for goldseekers, its rich soil undeveloped and its sunny climate unap- preciated. While developing an important business in Sacramento and acquiring large tracts of land in the adjacent valley, his Avife, Sarah Kelton (Ford) Fairchild, also was becoming well known in the west, where she contributed liberally to the press of that day and was recognized as a gifted and popular writer. The schools of his native citv of Sacramento alTorded to Charles H. Fairchild fair educational advantages, of which he availed himself to the utmost. A sturdy, wideawake and ambitious boy, he developed into a suc- cessful man who was never content to do less than his best. From the time that he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company he rose rapidly to positions of trust. Gradually he was given additional respon- 522 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY sibilities. Any doubts that might have been entertained as to his ability were soon changed to satisfaction and therefore he was trusted in a degree not always given to the young. The interests of the company were promoted by his able service as assistant superintendent at Mojave. In recognition of his ability and sound business judgment he was promoted to be freight and passenger agent at Bakersfield, which influential position he held for many years, meanwhile establishing in this city a home made beautiful by the artistic tastes of his wife (nee Margaret H. Fay) and made happy by the ])resence of their four children. He was an influential member of the Episcopal Church, and kind and charitable to those in need. The discovery of oil in Kern county and the instantaneous development of a new industry here did not fail to rouse the enthusiastic interest of Mr. Fairchild. As was natural to a man of his breadth of thought, he at once entered heartilv into the new work. Grasping the business with a celerity seldom surpassed, he became very successful as a dealer in oil lands and acquired expertness as a judge of values and possibilities. Eventually his interests as an oil operator became so important that he resigned from his position with the Southern Pacific Railroad and devoted himself exclusively to oil development thereafter, with the exception that for one year he also engaged as proprietor of the Hughes hotel in Fresno. His most important and profitable connection in the oil fields was as vice-president and a large stockholder in the Calloma Oil Company operating in the Kern river field, the other partners in the organization having been H. A. Jastro and the St. Clair estate. Another successful lease which he promoted with Clarence Berry as partner was the Ethel D., in the west side field. His death occurred May 14, 1910, from hemorrhage of the brain, and brought an unexpected and sudden termination to his far-reaching activities, entailing upon Bakersfield a heavy loss to its citizenship, depriving the Bakersfield Club of one of its honored charter members and removing from the oil industry of Kern county one of its keenest operators. He was a strong partisan in politics, possessing stanch convictions, and was at one time chairman of the Republican County Central Committee. Fraternally he was a n.iember of the Elks, a Mas^n of the Knight Templar degree, and a Shriner. MARGARET H. FAIRCHILD.— The career .)f Mrs. Fairchild is a most interesting as well as an active one. Born in San Francisco, Cal., she was the daughter of Stephen J. and Catherine (Kelley) Fay. both pioneers of California, having come hither from Boston, Mass., and arriving in San Francisco in 18h2. Here Mr. Fav became an extensive general con- tractor, hut when at the height of his career his untimely death occurred in 1869. Her mother also being taken from her when she was very young. Mrs. l^'airchild was reared in the family of Daniel .Sullivan, a wealthy man of San Francisco, and here she received a thorough education. Having abil- it}' and the spirit to ac(|uire a firm foundation in her studies, she rose rajiidly and was graduated from the ])ublic school with a splendid record. Xews- paper work early attracted her, and after acquiring a knowledge of the busi- ness in all its branches, on February 14, 1901, she came to Bakersfield, where her services were given first to the Bakersfield Democrat which was edited by E. .A. Pueschel, then the leading paper of the county. Later she was engaged on the Kern Standard, owned by W. D. Young. Her suc- cess in this work was phenomenal and subsequently she purchased a half interest with Mr. \'onng, still later buying out his interest in the Standard and conducting it as sole owner and proprietor for two years. She then sold the plant to Messrs. C( nklin & Maude. It was at this time that Mrs. I'^airchild became the wife of Charles H. l-'airchild, the ceremony taking place in San Francisco. She is a well-to-do, ])rosperous and thorough lousiness woman, whose ideas of business lead her to transact all her affairs on a strictlv honorable basis. Of the highest HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 525 princil)les. she is conscientiDUs and trustworthy, and her inlluence for gocxl is felt throughuut her entire community. Mrs. Fairchild has a very comfortable residence at the corner of Pine and Twentieth streets, Bakersfield, where she with her gifted and talented children live an ideal home life. Her refining influence has accomplished much to bring them to their present exquisite state, for their well-mannered, cul- tured ways are proof of the best of breeding and training. She is the mother of four children, Ruth, Dorothy C, Gerald Charles and Virginia Fay, and they have brought much comfort and cheer to their deserving mother. R. B. REES, M.D. — \\'hatever of success has come to Dr. Rees is the result of his own efforts and constant study. It was not possible for his parents, John W. and Rachel (John) Rees, to give him any educational advantages, for after they crossed the ocean from their native Wales they had to labor incessantly to secure the necessities of existence. The father, who was a contracting painter in his younger years, now makes his home in Columbus, Ohio, where the mother died in 1910 at the age of seventy- five years. Their son, R. li., was born in Newark, Ohio, and in boyhood attended school at Columbus, that state, whence he went east to Boston in order to earn a liveliliood in a humble position. During leisure hours he studied in the Boston evening high school, where he pursued a special sci- entific course until his graduation. Meanwhile all of his studies had been directed with the ultimate aim of professional work, an ambititju of which he never lost sight through all the financial hardships of youth. During 1897 and 1898 he attended the University of Vermont and in the fall of 1898 he matriculated in the University of Maryland at Baltimore, from wdiich he was graduated in 1900. The degree of M.D. was conferred upon him when he graduated from the medical college of Harvard University at Cam- bridge, Mass., in 1901, after which he practiced his profession for three years in Boston, later serving for tw^o years as resident surgeon in Carney hospital. South Boston. It was there that his splendid talent for surgery first at- tracted attention. In critical operations he proved unusually successful and his time was almost wdiolly given to surgical duties. Since leaving the east he has retained an honorary membership in the Massachusetts State Medical Association. Having successfully passed an examination before the state medical board of California in December of 1906, during March of 1907 Dr. Rees selected Bakersfield as the center of future professional work and estab- lished an r f^ce in this city. Here too he has his home, which is presided over graciously by Mrs. Rees, formerly Miss Edna Clark Wetterman, and is brightened by the presence of an only child, John Wetterman. In Bak- ersfield, as in the east. Dr. Rees makes a specialty of surgery and practices at Mercy hospital, in addition to having built up a large private practice. From two to four o'clock he has oflfice hours in his suite above the Hughes drug store, while during the balance of his time he gives his attention to home and hospital professional duties. Devotion to his specialty is indi- cated bv membership in the Surgical Club of Rochester. Minn. In addition he is identified with the Kern County and California State ^Medical .Asso- ciations, the San Toaquin A'allev Medical Society and the American Med- ical Association, and through these organizations as well as through the reading of current medical literature he keens in touch wqth modern devel- opments in the science of therapeutics. Such has been his devotion to the practice of medicine and surgery that he has had no leisure for partici- pation in political aflfairs or civic enternrises. nor has he been active in any fraternities aside from the Elks and the AA^oodmen of the World. 526 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY J. R. NEFF. — The president of the Neft colonies, who has become closely connected with the material upbuilding of Kern county through the promoting of irrigation colonies in the \\'eed Patch, began to be interested in this region during the year 1907 and, after having carefully studied the soil, climate and possible profitable cultivation of the land in intensive farming through irrigation, purchased property and undertook the devel- opment of the plans he had projected. With a record of successful identifica- tion with the banking business he was qualified by executive ability and thorough knowledge of financial problems to manage and develop large landed interests and those associated with his projects in Kern county have found him to be not only enterprising and progressive, but also far-sighted in discrimination, honorable in action and sagacious in judgment. The original colony which he established in Kern county, known as the Foothill Citrus Farms Colony, is located on section 26, township 31, range 29, and was incorporated during 1907 with a capital stock of $24,000, which is the value of the pumping plant and irrigation system. Upon the first election of officers Mr. Nefif was chosen president and he has filled the position up to the present time, H. A. Moyers of San Bernardino being secretary, while the California State Bank of San Bernardino acts as treasurer. The large tract of land incorporated by the company is held privately by about twenty colonists, who own shares in the water company. The two wells, which are each twelve-inch bores, are two hundred and fifty feet and three hundred and three feet respectively, and produce sufficient water for the irrigation of the land as well as for domestic jnirposes. as needed by the twenty colon- ists now on the tract. During 1912 the company put in electrical motors and centrifugal pumps and since then has used electricity, buying the power from the San Joaquin Light & Po^^ er Company. The products of the land include alfalfa, Egyptian corn, all the fruits known to Southern California ; nut trees, such as English and French walnuts and black walnuts; all kinds of berries, Logan berries doing especially well ; and vegetables of every kind. The Bear Mountain Orange Compan}', of which Mr. Neff is also presi- dent, is located on section 24. township 31. range 29. Kern county, and was organized in 1908. with a capita! stuck of $12,800. on the same plan as the older company. In addition he manages the Orange Belt Farms Company, capitalized at $9,600. and owning the southeast quarter of section 23. town- ship 31, range 29. All of the colonists, numbering now about seventy-five persons, are interested with Mr. Nef¥ in his enterprise. Under his capable leadership, wise judgment and untiring energy, the prospects for future development and growing success are most attractive, and there is every reason to believe that the coh nies will prove most profitable acquisitions to the landed wealth of the county. Many of the persons buying in these tracts have come from Southern California, quite a few being from Santa Ana. and they were influenced to select property here from the fact that the soil and climate ranked with their own section, the water facilities are adequate, and the price of the land was low enough to meet their approval. Nor have they had reason to regret their decision in coming to Kern county. On the other hand, their prospects for the future are the brightest. Mr. NefF was born in Baylor county. Tex.. April 29. 1876. and grew to manhood in that commonwealth, where for some years he held a position as cashier of the Citv National Bank of Childress, also from 1900 to 1904 he served as clerk of the district and count v court of Cottle county. At Austin, that state, he was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Hutchinson, a resi- dent of tliat cit}-. There are two children in the family. Lawrence and Pattie. During the latter part of 1904 Mr. Neff removed to California and settled in .'^an Bernardino countv. but afterward removed to Pomona. Los HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ■ 529 Angeles county, and now makes that city his home, superintending through frequent personal trips the valuable interests which he has acquired in Kern county and in which he has invested heavily with a firm faith in their steady advancement in production and vahiation. JOHN ENAS. — At St. George, Azores Islands, Portugal, John Enas was born April 29, 1852, the son of John Enas, a farmer and builder in that country. His wife, Marianna J. Bettencurt in maidenhood, died in 1911. John Enas, Jr., attended school until fourteen years old. In 1866 he came alone to the United States to earn his own way unaided. Settling first in Stanis- laus county, Cal., he worked part of the time as sheep-shearer, and part as helper on a threshing machine, being employed after this for a few years at difterent points in the state, working for wages. In 1873 he came to Kern county and settled in Delano, where he became occupied in sheep rais- ing for himself, and he soon became thoroughly familiar with all the details of that enterprise. He remained in Delano until 1881, when he bought what is now his home place, consisting of four hundred and eighty acres of land, located fifteen miles west of Bakersfield on the old Headquarters road. Of this one hundred acres were then planted in alfalfa, and the remainder was unimproved. Mr. Enas has since that time been extensively engaged in stockraising, handling horses, mules, sheep and cattle. He has added to his original tract until it now covers an area of over nine thousand acres ; three hundred acres are under cultivation and the remainder devoted to pasture land. He has spent most of his time on his ranch, and it can be said of him that he is one of the most extensive stockraisers in the county. He also owns a section of land in the Kern River oil field, of which one hundred and sixty acres is proven oil land. On this land are twenty wells, of which fourteen are pro- ducing at the present time. In 1906 he accepted the office of vice-presi- dent and director of the Portuguese-American Bank of San Francisco, and he was also a director in the Bank of Bakersfield until it was dissolved. He is now a director of the Security Trust Company in Bakersfield. He is a man highly successful, but he has worked hard to gain the position he now holds, and has justly earned his present prosperity. An expert in stock- raising, his stock is considered the best, and his business enjoys the most flattering recognition. He is a member of the U. P. E. C. and the I. D. E. S. societies, while politically is an Independent Republican. CHARLES SCHIEFFERLE.— An expert knowledge of machinery enables Mr. Schiefferle to creditably fill his responsible position as chief engineer of the \'alley Ice Company's plant in Bakersfield, where although holding the place for a comparatively brief period he has proved himself to be thor( uglily competent for the difficult task entrusted to him. in con- nection with the operation of the large plant. Having helped to install the machinerv, he is thoroughly familiar with everv detail. The day after he arrived in Bakersfield, during March of 1911, he entered the employ of the companv and began to assist in the erection of machinery. Upon the completi( n of the plant he was retained as an assistant and it was not long before his worth and ability were recognized by the management, who in May of 1912 appointed him to be night engineer. On the 1st of July, of the same year, he was promoted to his present place as chief engineer and since then has been in charge of the plant, capacity one hundred and twenty tons. The compan}- makes a specialty of the manufacture of ice for the icing of cars and also for the refrigeration of their large cold-storage plant at this point. Descended from (lerman ancestors. Charles Schiefiferle was born at Northeast, Erie county. Pa., April 25. 1876, and is a son of Jacob and Catherine f^Teehl) Schiefiferle. natives respectively of Germany and Cat- 530 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY taraugus county, N. Y., the latter now a resident of Northeast, Pa. The father crossed the ocean in young manhood and settled in Pennsylvania, from which state he went to New York and enlisted in the Sixty-fifth New- York Infantry. In company with the regiment he proceeded to the front and bore his share in the hardships of camp and the dangers of the battle- field. During an engagement, while in the act of aiming to fire, he was shot through the right wrist and also through the left hand in such a planner that the fingers were cut otT. On account of the disability resulting from gunshot wounds he was honorably discharged. After he had recov- ered sufficiently to resume work he turned his attention to farming and settled on a place near Northeast, Pa., where in February of 1906 his death occurred. The family of Jacob Schiefferle comprised nine children, all but one of whom still survive. Charles, who was seventh in order of birth, passed the years of boyhood on the home farm and in the neighboring schools. At the age of seventeen he was aprenticed to the trade of machinist in the Novelty machine shop at Northeast and there he continued until he had completed his time, meanwhile gaining an expert knowledge of every depart- ment of the trade. During 1898 he began to take contracts to drill gas wells in Erie county and for a considerable period he remained in that business, meanwhile completing an average of about twenty wells each year. Desiring to change his location in January of 1910 he sold out with the intention of removing to the west. A brief sojourn at Cripple Creek, Colo., where he operated a lease, was followed by his removal to California and his permanent settlement at Bakersfield. The progress of this city is of interest to him and he maintains the deepest faith in the future devel- opment and great prosperity of the place. In politics, although not a partisan, he has stanch convictions in favor of Republican principles, while fraternally he holds membership with the Knights and Ladies of Security. GEORGE W. PARISH.— The business of George W. Parish has taken him to many parts of the globe and he has been fortunate in gaining the wide experience and knowledge which alone is acquired by travel. He is the son of George Parish, who served in the Confederate army in the Civil war from 1861 to 1865, and was twice wounded, carrying two bullets to his grave. He was born in Nashville, Tenn., and came to California in 1869, in 1873 taking up a homestead of (.ne hundred and sixty acres in Kern county. where he followed general farming and stockraising, as he had done in the east. He built the old Wilson and Parish ditch before the Kern County Fand Company had control, the water that supplied the ditch being taken from the Kern river. This ditch was four miles long, and attracted considerable atten- tion on account of its completeness. George Parish passed away in 1892. George W. Parish was born August 15, 1869. in Anaheim, Orange county, Cal., where his parents first settled upon coming west. Fie attended school in the old Canfield district, Kern county, also in the Fairview district, and for a time attended in Inyo countw mitil he reached the age of fifteen. In 1872 he was brought by his j^arents to Kern county, settlement being made en what is now the P)ailey ranch, and the next year the homestead was taken up, as above stated. The family moved to Independence, Inyo county, in 1886, and there the father's death occurred. In 18% Mr. Parish returned to Kern county, where he rented the Kiefer ranch and engaged in general farming for six years, in 1900 buying twenty acres of his present property, later adding eighty acres, until he now has one hundred acres at Panama, ten miles southwest of Pakersfield devoted to raising alfalfa hay. In addition to his ranch interests he has also taken an active part in the development of the oil fields in the vicinity, being a stockholder in the IS Oil Cc^m])any in Taft. and was one of the locators of the land. He is also interested in the l\ali- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 533 foniia Midway Oil Company, the I'.lackinore Oil Company and the Wyoming Shamrock Oil Comi)any in W'yoniini;", l^eino- a director in the last-mentitjned company. In truth Mr. Pari.sh may be called a pioneer of Taft, for he built the first business structure and the first residence in town and also started the first store. He also organized the school district and served as the clerk of the first board of trustees, and while filling that office supervised the building of the first school house. In the Panama district he has also served as school trustee. The first store in Taft, referred to above, was established by Mr. Parish in 1S08 with a stock of general merchandise, which was destroyed by fire in 1910. In addition to the property mentioned he also owns other property in Taft splendidly located, as well as property in the town of Rich- mond. For about four years Mr. Parish was engaged in hunting birds of plumage and alligators for their hides. This took him into the different states of South America, Central America and Mexico. He has sold feathers as high as $42 an ounce in New York and London, to which cities he made business trips. At Winside, Wayne county, Nebr., Mr. Parish was married to Miss Min- nie Olmstead, a native of Tekamah, Burt county, that state, the daughter of A. E. and Nancy H. (Conklin) Olmstead. natives of New York and Illinois respectively. The Olmsteads came from Nebraska to California in 1895, and in Kern the death of Mr. Olmstead occurred, while Mrs. Olmstead makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Parish. Mr. and Mrs. Parish have four children. Earl, Donald, Elsie and Jack. A. Y. MEUDELL. — The superintendent of machinery for the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation possesses qualifications that adapt him admirably for his responsible post and that have enabled him to fill with marked eflficienc)' other positions of equal importance. Upon the installation of the machinery and electrical appliances of the great corpora- tion at Bakersfield his services were retained as superintendent -of machin- ery, his selection for the responsible task being induced through his wide reputation as an expert in the line of his specialty. When it is considered that the company operates the street car system in Bakersfield and has laid double tracks to East Bakersfield, besides having built more than one hun- dred and twenty-five miles of feeder lines in Kern county (the principal line being from Weed Patch to a point fifteen miles south of Edison) ; when it is further appreciated that hydro-electric power is furnished for illuminat- ing cities, propelling factory plants and raising water for irrigating purposes. Through his father, (Jeorge ]\Ieudell, who came to America from Edin- burgh, Mr. Meudell is descended from Scotch ancestors, while his mother, Mary (Yeoman) Meudell, was a member of an old New York family identi- fied with the -colonial history of our country. Although he is a native of Chicago. 111., born in 1872. from the age of three years he was reared in Belleville. Ontario, and at a very early age he learned the trade of machinist. Coming to California in 1893 he engaged in ranching at Gardena for two years, after which he worked as a machinist and boiler-setter for J. B. Meyer & Ccj.. of Los Angeles. During 1900 he entered the employ of the Los Angeles Railway Company as engineer and machinist at the power house and thus was identified with the inauguration of the Huntington electric system in that city. After six years in one position he was promoted to be chief engineer in charge of the Central avenue power plant, but soon resigned on account of ill health. W^hile engaged with Charles C. Moore- erecting engineer. Mr. Meudell assisted in the construction of the Redondo electric plant and remained to take charge of the first test, which covered a period of eight months. During 534 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1908 he entered the employ of the Pacific Light & Power Company in Los Angeles and was sent to the Redlands plant as engineer, but after a few months he resigned to take charge of the power plants of the Monterey Gas and Electric Light Company at Monterey and Salinas. Returning from Monterey to Los Angeles he engaged for a brief period as erecting engineer with the Pacific Light and Power Company, leaving that important place in order to accept his present position in Bakersfield v\?hen the corporation installed its plant in this city. Mr. Meudell is very optimistic over the great possibilities of the stiil production in Kern county and owns two small farms in the county. One, of twenty acres, at Lerdo, is given to the raising of hemp, while the other, of ten acres, on the Rosedale road, is devoted to alfalfa. While making his headquarters in Los Angeles he married in that city Miss Bessie Hannam, who was born in Witby, Ontario, and by whom he has two daughters. Mary and Myrtle. In fraternal relations he holds membership with South Gate Lodge No. 320, F. & A. M., in which he was made a Mason. His life has been an existence of busy activities and it has not been possible for him, in any city of his residence, to participate prominently in civic upbuilding or political afifairs, yet he has kept posted on national problems and in sentiment is a stanch upholder of Republican ririnciples. PETER CHARE.— The childhood recollections of Mr. O'Hare clus- tered around the little village of Banbridge, Ireland, where his father, Michael O'Hare, was engaged in business and where he passed the carefree days of early life. The family belonged to one of the oldest and most honored in the north of Ireland and he claimed county Down as his native place, his birth having occurred there December 7, 1843. After a course at college and while still a young man he came to the United States. After a comparatively brief sojourn in Massachusetts he proceeded west to California and set- tled in Mariposa county, where he found employment in the mines. While employed at Visalia in 1869 he accidentally saw a map of Kern Island and being interested froiu the first, determined to come here. The original purchase made by Mr. O'Hare comprised two hundred and fifty acres of unimproved land. This he brought under cultivation and greatly enhanced in value through systematic irrigation. Later he acquired the title to a second farm and this also he put under irrigation, making other improvements of permanent value to the property. Both farms were in his possession at the time of his death, August 26, 1894, and since then they have been rented by his widow, the tenants devoting them to general farm- ing and dairying. In addition to these two properties he was interested in the Buena \^ista canal, of which he had been an original promoter and builder. From the beginning of his citizenship in the United States he voted with the Democratic party, but he was not a partisan in spirit and the only office that he ever consented to fill, which was county supervisor, he won by a nomination without his solicitation. After he had been a member of the board from 1882 to 1886 and had given his influence to all movements for the permanent growth of the county, he refused to continue in the office, preferring to devote liis entire time to nrivate business and agricultural enterprises. The marriage of Peter O'Hare and Miss Marv F. Clancv was solemn- ized in San Francisco in June of 1891. Airs. O'Hare was born in county Leitrim. Ireland, and during girlhood came to the Ignited States, ioining a brother. T. J. Clancy, who was a merchant of San Francisco. Of her mar- riage two sons w'ere born. lames AT. and Peter C. The former, a graduate of the Bakersfield hisrh school in 1912. is n w attending; Santa Clara T^ni- versitv. and the latter is a member of the Kern countv hi?h school class 6fe.(p; /:2>i^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 537 of 1914. Since the death of her husband, which occurred in San Francisco, Mrs. G'Hare has made her home in Bakersfield. JOHN S. OSWALD.— Although his earhest memories are associated with the United States and practically all of his life has been passed in this country, Mr. Oswald is of German nativity and was born at Rodersheim, Rheinpfalz, December 19, 1866, being a son of Vollmanus and Eva Barbara (Goger) Oswald, likewise natives of that part of Germany. During 1867 the father, who was a carpenter by trade, brought his family to America and settled in Pennsylvania, where he found employment in the building busi- ness at Allentown. For less than ten years he remained a resident of the east. The development of the central west was attracting resolute farmers to that section of the country and he formed one of the number who under- took to earn a livelihood from the soil of Minnesota. During 1876 he took his family to McLeod county and secured land near Glencoe, where he engaged in general farming fur eleven years. Lack of satisfactory returns from his farm led him to seek other locations and finally he decided upon Oregon, his son, John S., having preceded him to the Pacific coast where he himself established a home near Eugene, in 1887. A study of soil condi- tions proved gratifying to him and he invested in unimproved farm property, which at the time was selling at low figures. He still lives on his ranch, but of recent years has largely retired from the strenuous activities of younger days. Born in 1837 and his wife six years later, both are still rugged and robust and maintain an intelligent interest in the progress of the world. Adjacent to their ranch lies one hundred and sixty acres owned by their son, John S.. who bought the tract for $1200 and since has had the satisfaction of witnessing such a rapid advance in valuations that farms further from Eugene than his own have sold for $400 per acre. The eldest of seven children, John S. Oswald was brought to the United States in infancy and as soon as old enough to attend school was a pupil in the primary grade at Allentown, Pa. During 1876 he accompanied his parents to Glencoe, Minn., where he attended a private academy. L'pon leav- ing school he learned the trade of carpenter under his father in McLeod county. At the age of about twenty he left home to make his own way in the world. The great northwest was the objective point. For a time he engaged in' carpentering at Spokane, Wash., and later he had employment at South Bend, that state, whence in 1887 he went to Oregon and there joined his parents at Eugene, settling upon a farm in the vicinity. In the spring of 1888 he came to Bakersfield and entered the empJoy of F. W. Hickox as a carpenter. For three years he continued in the same position. Since then he has been associated with the hardware department of the A. Weill establishment. At first as a clerk he proved the value of his services and justified his promotion to the head of the department at the expiration of three years. The marriage of John S. Oswald was solemnized in Bakersfield October 6, 1897, and united him with Miss Maude Hathway, who was born in Owensboro, Daviess county, Ky., and was fourth in order of birth among six children. Her parents, Howard and Phoebe CKinchloe) Hathway, have re- sided in Bakersfield for many years. Of her marriage to Mr. Oswald there is a son, Raymond John Oswald. Ever since making a study of political questions Mr. Oswald has favored the Republican party. Since coming to Bakersfield he has identified himself with Aerie No. 96. of the Eagles, and Bakersfield Lodge No. 266 of the Elks, also the Ancient Order of I'^nited Workmen and the Knights of Pythias. EZRA NEWTON BLACKER.— As the owner of considerable real estate in Bakersfield. whose material upbuilding he has witnessed with civic bob HiSTOKY Ui' KERi\ COUATY pride, E. JSewtoii iiiacker lias an intimate identitication with local attairs. 1 wenty years or more liave passed since tirst he laiiaed in JJakersheld and began to work lor the Kern Lounty J^and Lompany on Toso ranch as a fence-rider. In this long period he lias witnebsed the developnient oi farms, the growth ol towns and the transiormation of the entire county into an aspect of material prosperity. In removing to this state he came direct from his native commonwealth of Indiana, where he was born in Clinton county l^'ebruary ^0, 1868, and where he passed the years of boyhood upon a farm operated by his father, J. A", lilacker. Uf six children iorming the lamily of his father s hrst marriage he was the eldest, the youngest being Robert E., superinlendeiit of the stable department of tne ivern Lounty Land Company at Bakersheld. liy trade a carpenter, skilled with tools and an expert in various forms of cabinet work, E. Newton Ulacker followed the occupation for some years in Jiakersheld after he had resigned his position on the ranch. Upon the starting of Famosa he went to the new town, bought business property, erected a large store building and engaged in mercantile pursuits, also con- ducted an hotel, but his venture had a disastrous termination through the abandoning of the village. Thereupon he returned to Eakersfield in 1900 and purchased a lot on the corner of I and Twenty-third streets. To this lot he moved his building from Famosa and remodeled it into an apartment house of sixteen rooms, which he now manages. In addition he has built eight residences in the same block and the adjoining block on I street. All of the houses were planned and built by himself and represent his own skilled knowledge of his trade. The marriage of Mr. Blacker took place at Crawfordsville, Ind., Sep- tember 2, 1891, and united him with Miss Ida Cave, who was born and reared near that city. The young couple came to California in 1892 and settled in Kern county, where occurred the birth of their two sons, Haven and Carroll. Mrs. Blacker was the youngest among eight children com- prising the family of James E. and Carlotte (Kious) Cave, natives respec- tively of Ohio and Indiana. The mother was a daughter of Martin Kious, an Indiana farmer, .and two of her brothers were soldiers in the Civil w^ar, one meeting his death while fighting for the preservation of the Union. James E. Cave, who engaged in farming pursuits until his death in 1910, was a member of Company M, Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, at the time of the Civil war. in which two of his brothers also participated, as well as their father. Rev. .^fred N. Cave, the latter a commissioned officer and an influ- ential man in his regiment. The skill of the L^nion officer was not confined to military tactics, for as a pioneer minister of the Methodist Episcopal denomination he proved himself to be an able speaker, logical thinker and profound exponent of the Scriptures. Although a native of Ohio, the greater part of his life was passed in Montgomery county. Ind.. and he was known and honored by the Methodists throughout all that section of the country. Throughout all of their mature years Mr. and ]\lrs. Blacker have l^een earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In gifts to the church .they have been generous, while they also have assisted educational and philan- thropic enterprises to the extent of their ability. In national princitiles Mr. Blacker favors the Republican party, while fraternally he holds membership with the ^^''nodmen of the A\'orld. SAMUEL GRAHAM SMARTT.— A native of McMinnville. Warren county, Tenn., Mr. Smartt was born October 21, 1862, the son of Samuel d. and Martha (Graham) Smartt, both of whom passed away in Tennessee. The father followed agriculture as a life pursuit, and during the Civil war served in the Confederate armv for a long period, after which he returned to Ten- C^-^^^-^fyc/l^ (^xJi^^ HISTORY Ui^" KERN COUNTY 541 nessee and remained for ihe rest of his life. Nnie children were born to him and his wife Martha, of whom five are now living, and Samuel G. is the only one of the family to reside in the state of California. Urought up in his native town, Samuel G. Smartt, Jr., received the s-chooling afforded by the local public schools and then learned the carpenter trade which he continued to follow until the year 1887. At this time he decided to come west and his first location was at Fresno where he was employed at raisin-packing for a year. The building business then attracted him and he became engaged in that line of work, in October, 1889, coming to Bakersfield to aid in the building up of that place after the big fire. There was sore need for these workers at that time, as the fire had caused the destruction of many buildings and left the city in a bad state. This has been the field of operation for Mr. Smartt ever since, with the exception of a period between 1906 and 1910 when he spent his time in San Francisco, building among other houses the ^Madison school and the St. Luke's church, which are fine examples of his capable, energetic powers. In 1910, however, he returned to Bakersfield, where he has built many residence and business houses, and, in fact, many of the schoolhouses throughout Kern county have been built under his direction and contract. The Smartt apartments, situ- ated at No. 1715 Eighteenth street, Bakersfield, and owned by Mr. and Mrs. Smartt, were built by him. In Fresno Mr. Smartt married Mrs. Lulu Lisk, a native of Texas. PETER GILLI. — The excellent opportunities afforded by Kern county to young men of energy of temperament and force of character, find illustra- tion in the successful activities of Peter Gilli, a prosperous farmer and the owner of one hundred and seventy acres of highly improved land on the Kern Island road. Less than a quarter of a century has elapsed since he came from Switzerland to America and identified himself with the growing interests of California, where since he has Uxed and labored in Kern county. During the early years of his residence here he worked for wages and sent back to Switzerland a large portion of his earnings, in order to assist his father in paying off an indel^tedness on the home farm. However, as early as 1894, four years after landing in the west, he proved his faith in this locality by investing in land, the original purchase comprising sixty acres. It was no slight task to assume a debt almost burdening in amount and for several years he was scarcely able to meet his payments, but his faith never wavered nor did his courage falter. After selling the place he pur- chased a tract from R. E. Houghton which was then known as the Lincoln farm. Although at the time of buying he could raise only one-fourth of the cash, he finally succeeded in paying for it. In addition he put about $5,000 worth of improvements on the place, including the elegant residence erected in 1910 and containing all modern conveniences, not the least of these being the installation of electric lights and of an adequate water service. Dairying has been one of his specialties and at this writing he has twelve fine milch cows on the farm, besides which he engages in raising mules and hogs as well as in the cultivation of the ground in such crops as are best adapted to the soil and climate. Although the only member of the family now living in California Mr. Gilli was not the first of the name who crossed the ocean from the far-distant -Mpine home. W' hen a young man his father, John Gilli, was attracted to the Pacific coast by reason of tlie discovery of gold and prospected in all the region lying between Bakersfield and San Francisco, but meeting with no special luck in the mines and feeling deeply the isolation from kindred he returned after a time to his native land, where he settled on a farm. About 1905 he lost his wife, Rosa (Grischott) Gilli, since which time he has made liis liome with liis voungest daughter. For years he lived a life of self- 342 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY sacrificin>^- labor and tuilecl early and late to sni)|)ort his family from the products raised on his farm. In the earning- of a livelihood he was greatlv aided by an appointment as a Swiss njad master and when he recently retired from that position, after years of faithful service, he was given a sub- stantial pension by the o()vernment. All of his seven children excepting the fourth, Peter, continue to live in Switzerland. They are named as follows: Eva, Mrs. Florian Cojori ; Rosa, Mrs. Alexander Joos ; Maria, the widow of Albert Ritzzi ; Christine, Mrs. Peter Grischott ; John, who is employed as a custom house official by the Swiss government ; and Elizabeth, who married John Tobler and lives on a farm in her native canton. Descended from an old Swiss family that also boasted of a pedigree going back to ancient Roman blood, Peter Gilli was born in Graubunden, Grisons, Switzerland, Noveml)er 24, 1867, and during boyhood gained a comprehensive knowledge of both the German and old Italian tongues. The schools of the home neighborhood were excellent and after he had completed the grammar course he spent two years in a high school, but did not graduate on account of the necessity of earning his livelihood. Early in life he embraced the doc- trines of the German Lutheran Church and since then he has been faithful in devotion to that denomination. After having worked for one year in a store at Zurich, Switzerland, and two years in Hotel Enderlin at Pontresina in the picturesque Alpine region, he came to California, arriving at Bakersfield April 9, 1890. For five years he worked steadily in the employ of Welling Canfield, a pioneer dairyman of Kern county. From 1895 to 1897 he worked for Chris Mattly, a prominent dairyman of this county, who had come from the same village as himself. Later he rented one hundred and sixty acres lying near Lakeside and belonging to Mrs. R. Chubb. On that place he prospered as a dairyman and general farmer and finally he accumulated an amount suf- ficient to justify the improvement of the raw land which he had purchased during 1894. Since then he has given his attention to his own land, which forms one of the valuable farms of the vicinity. In politics he is a Repub- lican and belongs to the Woodmen of the World. The first trip across the ocean was made by Mr. Gilli during 1890, when on the 20th of March he boarded a trans-Atlantic steamer at Havre, France, and journeyed over the usual ocean route to New York. The next trip was made in 1900, during which year he left California for New York and from there sailed for Europe. En route to Switzerland he visited the World's Fair at Paris and found both pleasure and instruction in that great international ex- ;)Osition. After a happy renewal of friendships with the people of his native canton he came back to work in California and eagerly took up the battle nec- essary to the securing of financial independence. Again in 1908 he returned to his old home in the Alps. In the meantime his mother had passed away, but there yet remained his father, then about seventy-three years of age. Mr. Gilli was married at Bakersfield July 2, 1913, to Miss Avis Haworth, daughter of C. N. and Mary A. (Mattley) Haworth, of El Reno, Okla. She was born in Iowa, and went to Oklahoma with her parents when she was- four years old. WILLIAM BRADLEY PECK.— In his native city of Detroit, Mich., where he was born May 23, 1840, he became familiar with the environment of the frontier and tales of the dangers of the west did not daunt his resolu- tion to come hither. At the age of nineteen he crossed the plains with a large expedition of emigrants. The journey, although not without its dangers, came to an uneventful end and the men dispersed to the various mines, Mr. Peck seeking the placer mines of Hangtown. The camp with its throngs of gold-seekers from every part of the world presented a weird spectacle to a stranger, but he soon became familiar with the work of the mines and the customs of the miners. The life, although one of hardship (^^^ ^u^ HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 545 and deprivation, was not without its zest of adventure and thrilling exploits, but in time he wearied of the unsatisfactory returns and the lack of permanency, so he turned his attention to the buying of horses and the running of a dairy near Placerville, Eldorado county. Like many of the original pioneers Mr. Peck has followed various occu- pations, having been at different times a miner, dairyman, rancher and liveryman, and while none of these callings brought him a fortune he has become the possessor of a well-earned competency. During 1864 at San Jose he married ]\Iiss Hattie Stiner and his second marriage, which occurred in Reedley, united him with Mrs. Amanda (Weeks) Hurney, born in i-'ond du Lac, Wis. Of his first marriage there are two daughters, namely: Euphemia, wife of Joseph Stephens, a farmer at Turlock ; and Lillian, wife of Alfred (liles, who is employed in a dairy business at Fresno. Of Mrs. Peck's first marriage there were three children, Elgin of Bakersfield ; May, Mrs. Carter, of Bakersfield ; and Frank, of New Westminster, B. C. For some time Mr. Peck has made his home on a ranch of twenty acres two and one-half miles south of Bakersfield. This property, which he purchased in 1910, has been improved under his careful oversight. CHARLES NEWTON JOHNSTON.— The Johnston family long has been identified with New England, where C. *N. and his father, John Eldride, were born at Bristol, Me. He was the eighth generation and lineal descendant of Governor Bradford of Massachusetts, the originator of Thanks- giving day. The life of the father was all too brief, but was marked by patriotism and courage. When yet a mere lad he had gone to sea and by slow degrees he rose to be first mate of a vessel. When the Civil war began he offered his ser\ices as a member (if a Maine regiment of infantry, but soon after he had been accepted he was transferred to the United States navy as an ofBcer on the transport, Potomac, from which he rose to the rank of captain. Upon the expiration of his time of service he received an honorable discharge from the navy, whereupon he resumed his former posi- tion as first mate on an ocean steamer. U'hile yet a young man he passed from earth, leaving an only son, Charles Newton, whose birth had occurred November 14, 1865. The widow, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Francis and was a native of Maine, was married again some time after losing her first husband. Her second union was with Joseph Spinney, of Maine, a man of ability and worth, who after bringing the family to California in 1877 settled at Fresno. In that city he engaged in the manufacture of brick and also in the building business as a contractor. Some of the first permanent buildings in Fresno were erected under his personal oversight. Rising to prominence in the city of his adoption he was honored with election to the mayoralty and filled the office for two terms. For some years he owned the I. O. O. l*". building in Fresno, which he had erected during the period of his activities as a contractor. After his death, which occurred at Fresno, his widow removed to Point Richmond. Contra Costa county, and con- tinues to live there at the present time. ^^'hen about twelve years of age Charles Newton Johnston accompanied his mother and stepfather in their removal from Maine to California, where he completed his education in the Fresno schools. During 1879 he left school to take up l)lacksmithing as an apprentice to J. W. \\'illiams, whose shop occupied the present site of the Grand Central hotel in I^>esno. Until the completion of his time he continued in the same shop, but upon starting out for himself in 1882 he came to Bakersfield. where he began to work in a sho]) on the corner of L and Nineteenth streets. For a time he was em- ployed by J. E. Smith and later he was under H. H. Fish, being with the two men about twenty years altogether. Buying the shop in 1907, he con- ducted the business there, which was the oldest of the kind in the citv. It 546 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was in March, 1913, that he moved int(j his new building. The site covers an area of 132 x 115 feet on Eighteenth and O streets and the building, which is two stories, is 70 x 90 feet. This has been fully equipped with the most modern and complete machinery for general blacksmithing ; woodwork, forg- ings and repairing for automobiles is an important feature, and the heaviest kind of work is handled in the shops. The largest automobile stage in the valley was built here and is used for service on the Oil Center stage line. In the conduct of his business Mr. Johnston is ablv assisted by his wife, who lias charge of liis ofifice. The comfortable home which Mr. Johnston built at the corner of C and Twent}-second streets is presided over with dignity and grace by his capable wife, who l)ore the maiden name of Emma Blanche Redstone, and who is a native of Dutch Mat, Placer county, this state. During the era of mining activity her father. Col. A. E. Redstone, with Judge Rhoades and others, crossed the plains in the ■50s with ox-teams from Indianapolis to California, and engaged in mining. Having no luck as a seeker of gold, he turned his attention to journalistic affairs and became prominent in newspaper work. For a time he also w^as employed in the secret service. At tliis writing he and his wife make their home at A\'oody, Cal. His wife, who was before her marriage Mary Josephine Koontz, was a native of Indianapolis, daughter of George Koontz. She was a niece of Re^". Abraham Koontz, the founder of the first Methodist Episcopal Churcli in Indianapolis. George Koontz was an extensive farmer and left to his daughter the farm tliat is now the City Park of Indianapolis. Colonel Redstone returned to Indianapolis and served as Colonel of an Indiana regiment in the Civil war. He was a prom- inent attorney, and was very talented. In California he published many works bearing on the labor problem as well as other philanthropic reforms. When a young lady Mrs. Johnston, then ^liss Emma Blanche Redstone, was graduated from the Oakland high school, after which she was married to F. R. Kalloch, who died leaving her with two children, namely: Rita, now the wife of Herman S. Dumble, of Bakersfield ; and F. R. Kalloch, contractor and builder of the same city. In ISakersfield ^larch 17. 1902. she became the wife of Mr. Johnston. Upon the organization of the first volunteer fire dejiartment in Bakers- field many years ago. Mr. Johnston became a member and at different times he served as foreman of the Eureka Engine Company, also for one term he served as chief of the fire department. Before the incorporation of the city he was chosen a fire commissioner and served as such for two terms, being honored with the chairmanship of the board for one term. Recogniz- ing the imperative need of fire protection, he cheerfully gave his services as long as funds were lacking for the payment of a regular corps of workers. From the time of attaining his majority he has voted the Republican ticket at all national elections, but he is independent in local affairs. After coming to Bakersfield he was made a Mason in 1 bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and was raised to the Royal Arch degree in Kern Valley Chapter No. 75, R. A. M. Later he joined the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and with his wife is a member of Sunset Temple No. 16, Pythian Sisters. Mr. Johnston is an influential local worker in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the encampment. THADDEUS M. McNAMARA, M.D.— The McNamara family is of Anglo-Saxon origin and was founded in America by William 'M. McNamara. lor years a farmer in Illinois. The next generation was represented by T. M.. born on the home farm near Elgin, 111., liut from young manhood a resident of California. The eldest of his three children. Thaddeus M.. was born at Yisalia. Cal.. August 1, 1880, received his early education at St. Ignatius College in San Francisco and then matriculated in St. ]Marv's HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 549 College in Kansas, from which institution he received the degree of A. B. upon his graduation in 1901. On returning to California he entered the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco, where he took the regular course of lectures, graduating in 1905 with the degree of M. D. and with an excellent record for scholarship. Indeed, it was largely due to his capability in clinical work that he received an appointment as interne in the city and county hospital, where he remained for sixteen months. Valuable experience also was gained through a service of eight months as resident physician in ihe emergency and general hospital at Los Angeles. Important professional knowledge was further acquired while acting as interne in the Lane hos- pital of San Francisco. After he had filled that position for ten months he was promoted to be resident physician in the same institution, where he continued during the following year and then resigned in 1909 in order to engage in practice in Bakersfield. In this city for a time he had the advantage of an ass( ciation with Dr. A. F. Schafer, but since the latter has concentrated his attention upon an important professional specialty, Dr. McNamara has succeeded to their private practice. Besides the private practice and hospital activities he has been prominent in the work of the Kern County Medical Society, and is now filling the office of vice-president : he is also a member of the State Medical Society and American JMedical Association. Since coming to Bakersfield he has associated himself with the Knights of Columbus and the Fraternal Brotherhood. \\'hile making his home in San Francisco he met and married Miss Lillian Price, who was born in Stockton and is a graduate of the Lane hospital training school for nurses. Two sons bless their union, Thaddeus M. and Joseph, the elder representing the third generation to bear the same name. JOHN HENRY McMILLEN.— Not alone as a son of that honored pio- neer, Joel McMillen, but because of his own worthy achievements is John Henry McMillen, of Wasco, entitled to prominence in this work. Joel Mc- Millen, a native of Cape Elizabeth, Me., born February 22, 1833, was educated in public schools near his boyhood home and early acquired a practical knowl- edge of the ship-joiners' trade. In 1849, w'hen he was sixteen years old, he came to California with the Simpson brothers, around Cape Horn on a sailer to San Francisco, Simpson brothers becoming successful lumber manufac- turers and dealers in that city. Mr. McMillen was for some years employed at teaming, but eventually engaged in contract work. From San Francisco he moved to Nevada, where he employed himself profitably in teaming and hauling, chiefly in the mining districts. He followed the mining booms here and there in Nevada until 1879. when he came to Kern county and bought a section of land near Poso ranch and engaged in general farming and stock- raising on a large scale. He died December 3, 1896, on his homestead and his wife passed awa}^ October 5, 1902. He married Henrietta Matlock, a native of New York City, who accompanied her parents across the plains to Cali- fornia when she was six 3-ears old, settling at Placerville. It was in Lodi, Sacramento count}', Cal., that John Henry McMillen was born August 11, 1877. His parents brought him to Kern county in 1879. when he was abrut two years old, and he remained at home until after the death of his mother in 1902. He attended school until he was sixteen years old, then took a commercial course in Heald's Business College. San Fran- cisco, from which he was graduated in 1897. Then returning to Kern county, he associated himself w'ith his mother on the old farm, carrying on general farming and stock-raising on a large scale. Mr. McMillen also engaged in breeding and handling for the market horses, mules, cattle and hoijs, con- tinuing this until 1900. when he took up contracting, teaming and haulin.g. together with general grading, the construction of roads and the laying of 550 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY pipe lines, operating- extensively in different parts of the state. For six months he was engaged in teaming and hauling at Coalinga and for three years in the building of levees in the Tulare Lake district and he was busy for a time in the construction of roads at AlcKittrick. In 1910 he took up his residence at Wasco, since which time he has continued in the general con- tracting business and has done the hauling for all the pipe lines constructed out of Lost Hills. He began contracting in a small way and his business has steadily increased until he owns two hundred and fifty mules, which are kept busy the year round in his contract work in different parts of the state. Mr. MciVIillen has lately sold his farming as well as his cattle interests, to devote all of his time to his business of general contracting. His corrals and head- quarters are at Wasco, where he has two large warehouses for the storage of hay and grain for his stock. Mr. McMillen was married in El Monte, Los Angeles county, July 15. 1911, to Miss Mabel James Lambert, who was born in Illinois and came to California with her parents when she was a child. She was educated in the public schools of Pasadena and graduated at the Los Angeles State Normal School, after which she was engaged in educational work for ten years. REV. LOUIS KUEFFNER.— St. John's German Lutheran Church of Bakersfield, under the efffcient ministrations of Rev. Louis Kueffner as pastor, is now making the most gratifying progress in its brief but meritorious history and in its spiritual helpfulness is evincing the source and secret of its numerical growth. In the early part of the twentieth century a few people of that faith decided to promote the establishment of a congregation. The beginning was as a grain of mustard seed, insignificant and unpromising. The few faithful members held occasional services in the old Justice of the Peace hall on I street, opposite from the old court house. It was impossible to support a regular pastor and dependence was placed upon the helpfulness of visiting brethren. Rev. Mr. Norden, who established and first ministered to the congregation, was followed by Elders Baur and Denninger. Later the congregation enjoyed the occasional ministrations of Rev. Mr. Grunow, of Visalia. and still later Rev. Mr. Berner, of Terra Bella. ])reached for them twice a month. During the spring of 1911 the congregation completed their house of worship and an adjoining parsonage, on the corner of Twentieth and C streets, and September 17, 1911, Rev. Louis Kueffner became their first resident pastor. From his earliest recollections Rev. Louis Kueffner had been familiar with the doctrines of the German Lutheran denomination, for he was instructed wisely and thoroughly by his devoted father, an ordained minister of the church. With such an environment in boyhood and with such talents as he possessed, it was natural that he should follow in the footsteps of his father and consecrate his all to the service of the Lord. Born in Fairbank, Iowa, August 22, 1886. he was reared in Illinois and still has hosts of warm friends in that state. His father. Rev. Christian Kueffner, a native of Joliet. 111., received exceptional advantages in preparation for a ministerial career. After he had graduated from Concordia College in Fort Wayne, Ind., he took the complete course of study in Concordia College at Springfield, 111., and was graduated with honors, following which he was ordained to the ministry of the German Lutheran denomination. With the exception of three years in Iowa his entire period of ministerial service was confined to Illinois and he died at Plainfield, that state, while his widow, who bore the maiden name of Anna Wilding and who was born in Illinois, is now a resident of Aurora, same state. Seven children formed their family and all but two are still living. The eldest. Louis, was educated primarily in parochial schools. At the age of fifteen years he matriculated in Concordia College at Milwaukee, Wis., where he completed the study of the classics. Next he attended Con- lllSTom' ()!• Kl^kX COUNTY 551 C(jr(lia Theological Seminary in Si. Louis, Mo., and. after his graduation in June of 1911 he was ordained to the ministry, since which time he has been resident pastor at Bakersfield and supply jiastor of Zion Church at Terra Bella. Returning to St. Louis. Mo., in 1912. he there married Miss Clara Binger. who was ))r)rn, reared and educated in that city and who assists him most graciously and effectively in his ministerial work. Throughout his denomination he has become well known, with the promise of growing influ- ence with ri[)ening years and added exi)erience. As a member of the Califor- nia district of the Missouri synod and also of the Northern California con- ference, he has been identified with organizations for the u])building of his denomination and has added the weight of his labors and influence to the de\'elopment of denominational work. WILLIAM G. WHITE.— The sturdy Scotch-Irish element, which has been so important a factor in the permanent upbuilding of American civiliza- tion, appeared in the ancestry of William G. White of Bakersfield, whose paternal forbears established themselves in Pennsylvania during the colonial period. Both his father. Thomas, and grandfather, James White, were natives of Mercer county. Pa., and engaged in general farming in that part of the state. The former married Mary Miller, whose ancestors, forced to f^ee from Scotland on account of religious persecution, found a harbor of refuge in Ireland and thence crossed the ocean to the new world. The most illustrious member of the family was Hugh Miller, the Scottish geologist and writer of the nineteenth century. One of eight children comprising the parental family, William G. White was born in Mercer county, Pa., June 7, 1876, and passed the years of boyhood on a farm eighty miles from Pittsburg. In addition to attendance at public schools he was sent to the Grove City College. Although reared to a knowl- edge of farming and from the age of fifteen until seventeen practically in charge of a farm, with the supervision of stock and field work, he had no inherent fondness for agriculture and at seventeen he left home to serve an apprenticeship to the trade of bricklayer in Pittsburg. For three years he remained with a Mr. Donovan, an ex )ert in the trade. On the completion of his trade he began to work as a journeyman. From taking small jobs and doing day work he soon rose to contract work and made a specialty of fur- naces and boilers. Meanwhile he had married in his native county Miss Harriet Fisher, who was born and reared in that county and was a member of one of its old families. They are the parents of four children, Gladys Emmalynn. Milan Tadema. Mary Gould and Helen Rowena. The ill health of his wife and the desirability of seeking a change of climate in her interests led Mr. White to remove to the west in 1902. during which year after having traveled over the coast he settled in San Francisco and took up contracting and building. About that time he had charge of the building of the First National Bank of San Jose. Meanwhile his own health had become impaired and he was obliged to remove from San Francisco. Starting with his family for Arizona in 1910, he chanced to stop at Bakersfield, and believing that the climate would agree with him he decided to engage in business here. Since that time he has enjoyed fair health and has been ener- getically engaged in the filling 4 Daniel Burke took up land on Greenhorn mountain, where he ac([uired three hundred and twenty acres and engaged in raising grain, vegetables and st( ck, selling all the products of the farm at the neighboring mines. By degrees he became fairly prosperous and at his death, which occurred August 8, 1900, he was counted among the- large land-owners of his locality. In June of 1862 he had married ATiss Mary Vickers, who was born in Adams county. 111., and in 1860 crossed the plains with her parents in a wagon drawn by oxen, the family settling in Tulare county. Her death occurred in Kern county December 20, 1903. Six children had been born of her marriage, the eldest l^eing Mrs. Margaret Fritz, of Ripon, San Joaquin county. The second, Walter J., forms the subject of this review. The others are as follows: Daniel, a farmer living near Bakers- field; Mrs. Celia Wilkerson. of Bakersfield ; William, who is practicing law in Portland, Ore. ; and X'incent, a resident of San Jose. In order that he might enjoy educational advantages not possible in the vicinity of the mountain farm, Walter J. Burke was sent to Los Angeles and for two years was a student in St. \'incent's College, then located on Sixth and Hill streets. Upon his return to the farm he l)egan to take a verv active ]^art in its supervision, besides pre-empting one hundred and sixtv acres near the old homestead and later buying adjacent property from time to time as his means permitted. Meanwhile he had married at Porterville, February 15, 1892, Miss Sarah Gill, a native of countv Mayo, Ireland, and a capable assist- ant in his enterprises. Mrs. Burke came to New York City in 1880 with a sister, Mrs. Conway, and in 1890 came with her to C"alifornia. Her father. James (lill, a farmer in Mayo, died there. Her mother, Xora X'arlev, is still living on the old farm at an advanced age. I'Lventually Walter Burke held the title to one thousand acres on Greenhorn and this was utilized for stock range ( r grain-raising. For years he made a specialty of raising cattle and horses and in this line of work his judgment was so keen that he prospered to an unusual degree. During 1908 he l)uilt a residence at .\'o. 402 .\ street, Bakersfield, and in B-IO he sold out the stock, disjxised of some of the range and closed out his farming interests, although he still owns three hundred and twenty acres at the old place. In addition he i^wns one hundred acres eight miles south of I'akersfield under the Kern Island canal and this he / HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 563 leases to a tenant, the land beinj;- under cultivation to alfalfa and grain. In- cluded in his city holdings are a frontage of one hundred and fifty feet on Nineteenth and A streets, improved with three cottages, and a frontage of equal size on Chester avenue and Twenty-third street, occupied by three business houses. Property at Princeton, San Mateo county, also is held bv him. and his interests are further enlarged through his position as president of the Apartment House Building Company in Los Angeles, of which he is a large stoclcholder. He also built and owns the Panama apartment building on Second and Flower streets in that city. All of his seven children are at home, namely: Mary. Nora. Teresa. James, Catherine. Alargaret and Walter. The family arc leading members ( f St. Francis' Catholic Church and he has been prominently identified with the Knights of Columbus. In national elec- tions he supports the Democratic partv. JOSEPH LLEWELYN EVANS.— A narrative of the life of Mr. Evans takes us in its early records across the ocean to the rugged lands of Wales, where his ancestors had lived and labored for uncounted generations and where the family held a position of great influence in their community. For years his father. Benjamin Evans, engaged in mercantile undertakings and general farming in the shire of Carmarthen, and here the son Joseph L. was born January 4, 1865. He began to attend the public schools at an early age and afterward studied in Emlyn Academy, from which institution he was graduated in 1883 with a high standing in all of his studies. Immediately after leaving the academy he began to study civil engineering with Davies & Davies. a prominent engineering firm with headquarters at Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Wales, and for several years had charge of their branch ofifice at Lampeter, a flourishing town situated on the border line of Cardigan and Carmarthen. Meanwhile having read much concerning America and believing that it would be possible for him to secure greater success as a civil engineer in the new" world than in the old, Mr. Evans resigned his position in Wales and during 1888 crosseri the ocean to the United States. During the following nine years he made Racine, Wis., his headquarters. His first employment was with the government as civil engineering inspector of improvements on Lake Michigan. During 1890-91 he took a postgraduate course in the University of Wisconsin at Madison and upon his return to Racine entered upon the duties of city engineer, which office he held by appointment or election for six years. During 1897 he came to California upon a leave of absence and, traveling through the state, he became so greatly impressed Avith the possi- bilities of the west that he sent back his resignation as city engineer of Racine. The discovery of gold in Alaska caused Mr. Evans to make a tour of that country. During the earh^ part of 1898 he went to Kotzebue Sound, north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Ocean, having sailed through Bering Straits, this point being so remote that few explorers penetrated beyond it. Two Avinters were spent in the north prospecting and exploring the country. Upon his return to California in 1900 Mr. Evans came to Bakersfield and secured a Dosition in the office of the city engineer and county surveyor. Four months later he was appointed city engineer. Avhich ofifice he filled by successive apnointment from 1900 to 1906. He ])repared plans for a sewer system which were accepted by the board of trustees, and bonds were A'Oted for the purpose, but afterwards for some reason many changes were made in the original plans by another surveyor at the instigation of the board. Manfully Mr. Evans opposed these changes, claiming that they AA^ere not practical as far as eflficiency and permanency were concerned, and so positive was he of his position in the matter that he considered it expedient for him to resign from the office when his advice was not considered. The necessity for the late scAver contract of 1913 has demonstrated that his opinion was correct. Since his retirement from office he has engaged in the private practice of surveying and civil engi- 564 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY neering, being- located in the Maud l)uilding on Chester avenue. Not only in Kern county but in other counties of the state he has at different times been retained as expert engineer in the courts. He laid out the town of Lost Hills. Pentland and Lerdo, laid out and superintended the construction of the new race track upon which the world's automobile record was broken, besides doing other work of a most responsible nature connected with the line of his special endeavors. In l-'ebruary, 1913. he was appointed a member of the Kern County Highway Commission to prepare plans and estimates for the improvement of a system of highways for Kern county. Upon their recom- mendation the tax payers cf Kern county voted $2,500,000 in bonds for the purpose. 'iliroughout the period of his citizenship in the United States the Repub- lican party lias had the allegiance of Air. Evans and the Congregational Church has received his stanch support in religious movements. Fraternally he is identified with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. and is also a very prominent Mason. Indeed any mention of his fraternal and social activities would be incomplete w'ithout considerable reference to his association with Masonry. While in Wisconsin he was made a Mason in Racine Lodge No. 18. F. & A. M., to which he belongs at the present time. Upon locating in Bakers- field he transferred his membership from Racine Chapter, R. A. M., to Kern Valley Chapter, R. A. M., also from Racine Commandery No. 7, K. T.. to Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., of which he is a charter member and in which he has held every ofifice. Chosen in 1908 as eminent commander, he was again elected to that office in 1912 and is the present incumbent, besides being actively associated with Al Malaikah Temple. A. A. O. N. M. S. in Los Angeles. ROBERT M. HOLTBY.— The movement of migration to Canada was largely promoted by a sturdy class of Englishmen who aided in its agri- cultural development by their own patient perseverance and untiring labors. It was in this manner that the Holtby family came to be associated with Canadian farm advancement. .Several generations of the name assisted in the upbuilding of their own community. Upon a large farm near Manchester. Canada, Robert M. Holtby was born Alarch 7, 1847. and in the same locality he received a common-school education, also acquired a thorough knowledge of farming and stock-raising. From his earliest recollections he had heard much concerning the western states. The discovery of gold in California was still a popular theme of conversation during his boyhood. It was said too that this state oft'ered greater inducements to farmers than to miners and thus he early determined to seek the Pacific coast. At the age of nineteen years he sailed from New York around the Horn to Oregon, where he engaged in teaching school for six months. On August 26. 1867. he left Oregon for California, where afterward he made his home until death. With money given him by his father he invested in sheep and started a ranch on the White river in I'ulare countw In time he enlarged his range and increased his flock. His operations became ver\- large in extent and represented an im- mense outlay of money. While in large degree he prospered, he met with many reverses, for the sheep industry always has been characterized by many "ups and downs." During one severe winter he lost six thousand head in the deep snow. The nianagemeiii (if mi 1,-irge a l)usiness necessitated the em])loyment of man}- men and in liis denlings with these employes Mr. Iloltb}- always dis- played the dee;)est consideration and iiiost kindly forbearance, as far as pos- sible overi(X)king their mistakes, but also showing an a])preciation of any special work which they did in his behalf. With ranges widely scattered and flocks in different ])arts of the state, he left their management to trusted employes, but maintained a close perscjnal supervision of all. Por se\'erai vears he made his home on a ranch on Poso creek twelve miles from Bakers- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 565 field. I''roin 1886 until his removal to Bakersfielcl he lived on the Troy ranch, one of the most highly cultivated farms in the entire county. This he sold in 1891 and during the same year removed to Bakersfield, where he erected a large, comfortable residence. It was his intenticm to plant shade trees and improve the property, but ere his dreams had been realized he was called from earth, March 7, 1892, on the day that he was forty-five years of age. The era of struggle had been passed, the days of hardship and toil were to be replaced by a life of greater ease, he was about to enter upon a realization of the fruits of his privation, sacrifices and strenuous labor, when death cut short all hopes of an earthly future. Of Christian principles and manly virtues, he belonged to the type of citizenship of inestimable value to any community and his passing called forth many testimonials of regard from friends of long standing. After he became a citizen of the United States he adopted Repub- lican principles, but never mingled actively in politics and at no time allowed the use of his name as a candidate for office. The marriage of Mr. Holtby was solemnized in San Francisco May 6, 1880, and united him with Miss Celia W oodman, who was born at Paw Paw, Mich., and belongs to an old family of New England that became established on the Atlantic coast as early as 1635. The original home of the family was in England. It was the privilege of Mrs. Holtby as a young girl to receive ex- cellent educational advantages and she is a woman of the highest refinement. Religion has mingled with the other elements that give gentleness and beauty to her character. An attendant upon the services of the Episcopal Church and a contributor to its maintenance, she has found happiness in her religious faith and usefulness in its charitable functions. Her only child, Mrs. Roberta Mor- gan, resides in Bakersfield. Since the death of her husband she has continued to occupy the home which he built for her. OSCAR GLANVILLE, Ph.C— The eldest of four children, Oscar Glan- ville was born at Dover, Kan., June 18, 1885, being a son of William J. and Mary (Sage) Glanville, natives respectively of Missouri and New York. The mother died in Kansas and the father, who still makes his home at Bond, that state, has for years engaged extensively in business as a merchant and miller. After having completed the studies of the Dover public schools Oscar Glan- ville was sent to the Topeka high school and there finished the prescribed curriculum. Next' he matriculated in the Kansas State University at Law- rence, wdiere he remained until he received the degree of Ph. C, upon grad- uating in 1904. Immediately after finishing his studies he secured employment in the pharmacy of a Topeka druggist and later was engaged similarly at Parsons. During May of 1905 he went to Arizona and found work in a pharmacy at Prescott. Coming to California in January of 1906, he first engaged as a pharmacist at Riverside, but during July of the same year he removed to San Diego. Tweve months later he became a pharmacist with the Owl Drug Company at Los Angeles and after six months went to San Fran- cisco in the interests of the same concern. After two years with that organ- ization in San Francisco he engaged to go to Honolulu for Benson, Smith & Co.. and spent six months on the famous islands in the ocean, with his headquarters in the capital city, where he was both salesman and pharmacist. Upon returning to California he spent four months with William England of Marysville and then was an employe for seven months with the Neve Drug Company of Sacramento, after which he spent a year as a pharmacist with a large drug firm in Los Angeles. From that city he came to Mojave in February of 1912 and purchased the Peterson drug store, which since he has conducted under the title of O. Glanville. In addition to the usual stock of drugs, sundries, proprietary medicines and Rexall remedies, he carries a line of Eastman kodaks, also acts as agent for the Columbia and Edison phono- graphs and keeps in stock samples of the various styles and sizes, together 566 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY with records for each. L'pon the organization of the Knights of the Desert he became one of the charter members. In politics he is a Democrat. REV. FATHER JOHN P. HOLDEN.— The f^rst pastor of St. Francis Catholic Church in Bakersfield was Rev. Father P. Carasco, who was followed by Father P. Bannon, whose pastorate extended to June, 1894. Father Jo- seph O'Reilly ministered to the congregation until 1897, when the work was taken up by Father P. Lennon, whose earthly labors came to an end December 11. 1904. At his death he left a bequest of about $2,000 toward the erection of St. Francis Church. Father Lennon bought the lot at K and Eighteenth streets and built the first house of worship about twenty years ago. He afterward bought the site of the present church at I street and Truxton avenue. During his pastorate he had charge also of missions at Delano and Wasco, now separate churches, and of the congregation gath- ered at Kern, now East Bakersfield. He ministered also to the Indian mis- sion at Fort Tejon, and services are still conducted there. For a few weeks after his death Father Quinlan had charge of the pastorate, he being fol- lowed by Father Frund, who was appointed pastor, and he it was who built the brick church and bought the St. Francis rectory. The Sisters of Mercy secured the St. Clair property near the Santa Fe depot for hospital purposes in 1910 and in 1911 abandoned it for the present site on Truxton avenue, to which they removed the .St. Clair house, which was enlarged and remodeled. However, even this was inadequate, and in 1913 they erected an entirely new building facing Truxton avenue. This is a reinforced con- crete and brick building, 108x48, three stories with basement. The present capacity is thirty-six rooms for patients, in addition to wards and two oper- ating rooms. Modern heating and cooling systems with other up-to-date features make this one of the best equipped hospitals in the country. During Father Frund's time he had several well remembered assistant priests — Father Lawrence Donleavy (now deceased), Father John Kelly, Father Schiaparelli and Father Leo Von Garsse. The assistants of Father Holden have been : Father Joseph Daumas, now of Fresno, then Father De Munick, now ( f Los Angeles, Father Marton, now of Oxnard, and the present assistant. Father Morris. Rev. Father John P. Holden is the present pastor of St. Francis Catholic Church, having been appointed to the charge in Noveml>er, 1910. He was born at Belleville, Ontario, Canada, May 31, 1865, a son of David Holden, manager of a lumber manufacturing firm, who lived his active years at Belleville, and passed away there, as did also his wife. Her maiden name was Mary Byrne, and she became the mother of six children. Father Holden being the third in order of birth. The latter was educated at a parochial school at Belleville and at St. Jerome's college, Berlin, Ontario, where he made a specialty of classics and theology and where he was graduated in 1895. He was ordained to the priesthood at Hamilton by Bishop Dowling, October 20, 1895, and became secretary to the Bishop and afterwards chan- cellor of the Hamilton diocese and superintendent of Catholic schools under Bishop Dowling. Later he was for five years pastor of St. Joseph's Church at Hamilton ; but, because of throat difficulties, he resigned to come to Cali- fornia, and in 1910 came to Los Angeles. Before coming to Bakersfield he was acting rector of St. John's church in Fresno, during the temporary absence of Monsignor McCarthy in Europe. The parochial school of St. Francis's church was established in 1910 and now employs four teachers. Among the organizations of the church are the St. Francis Congregation Altar Society, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Ladies' Aid Society and the League of the Sacred Heart, the Sodality of the Children of Mary, the Young Ladies' Sodality, the Sanctuary Boys' Society, the St. Cecelia Choir and the Society of the Knights of Columbus, which is included in the Bakersfield branch of that order. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 569 St. Francis church is a large structure of Gothic architecture, with Gothic spires, cathedral glass windows and beautifully decorated. During 1913 three new altars of Gothic type were installed, the center one being of marble. Plans are now under way to build a new rectory on the church grounds, when the present rectory will be remodeled and used for a sisters' convent and academy ; and a new parochial school will be built adjoining. WILLIAM HUNTER LAIRD, M. D.— One of the early settlers of the San joacjuin \alley, who through many years of identification with the pro- fessional life of this community served faithfully and well, winning the con- fidence of all who knew him, was Dr. William Hunter Laird. Born in Browns county, Ohio, in 1816. he was there carefully reared and thoroughly educated. He entered upon the study of medicine and as a graduate phy- sician came to California in 1859 and practiced for a time at Monterey and vicinity. In 1861 he came to Visalia, where he practiced medicine, riding horseback with his saddle-bags. Subsequently he was located at San Ber- nardino for a time, but later went to Bakersfield where he practiced medicine and became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, which after- wards proved to be in the Kern river oil fields. Along with his many expe- riences in the early settlement of this part of the country he experienced the trials of war in the Mexican war, seeing active service. Dr. Laird passed away in August, 1909. aged ninety-three years, and his death marked the end of a substantial and exemplary career, in which he had met every obstruc- tion bravely and had ministered to the sick in body and mind alike, proving a friend in need and a sociable, congenial and trustworthy fellow citizen. Dr. Laird was married in Bakersfield to Mrs. Margaret (Cox) Pierce, who was born in Georgia and came to Kern coimty in the early days to join her brother, J. K. Cox, a farmer near Bakersfield. where she married. Of this union there were two children, Margaret and William, both residents of East Bakersfield living with their mother, who sold her ranch in the oil fields and is living retired. Mrs. Laird is a member of the Christian Church and she and her children are well known and highly respected throughout the community. W. J. HOLLAND. — The secretary and treasurer of the Rotary Disc Bit Company, Incorporated, was born at Wigan, England, August 12, 1859, and upon the completion of a common-school education he served an appren- ticeship with a firm of mechanical engineers in his native town. At the ex- piration of a term of five years he severed his connection with J. S. A\ alker & Bro., in 1881, and immediately shipped for the United States, settling in San Antonio, Tex., where he engaged in the tea and cofifee business and built up considerable patronage both in wholesale and retail lines. Holland's tea store is now an institution of the southern city and is being conducted efficiently by his father, but after six years in the work he left San Antonio for Missouri and at Sweet Springs, that state, married Miss Eleanor Haw- kins, daughter of a well-known physician of San Antonio. One year was spent in Missouri and one winter in New Mexico, after which he removed to Alabama, settled at Birmingham and remained in that city for eleven years, meanwhile engaging with the Hawkins Lumber Company as manager. Coming to California in 1899 Mr. Holland settled at Fair Oaks, where he still owns a ranch. In order that his three children, Walter H., Eleanor and Ruth, might have educational advantages, he removed to Berkeley and they completed the high-school course in that city, since which time they -have been students in the University. During April of 1910, Mr. Holland came down to Fellows to take charge of the townsite work as an employe of Jamieson, Wrampelmeier and Strassburger, and in that capacity he helped to plat and lease the lots. Since then he has remained in the town, where he represents the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, and is also acting as an official in the Rotary Disc Bit Company. In July of 1911 he was appointed justice of the peace at Fellows, and has since held that office in 570 FIISTORV OF KERN COUNTY the seventeenth township of Kern county. Tn relig-ious belief he has been a Presbyterian and his family are active in that church. SAMUEL CALVIN LONG, M.D.— The call for volunteers in the I'nion army durino- the Civil war received a quick response from Hu,s:h f.ont^". a native of Mercer county, Pa., who went to the front with a regiment from his commonwealth and c^ave faithful ser\ice until the expiration of his term of enlistment. With tiie close of the war he exchanged the uniform of a soldier for the homelv garb of a tiller of th.e soil and thenceforward for some years gave his attention to the management of his farm in Mercer county, where he also operated a coal mine on his land. Accompanied by wife and children in 1879 he removed from Pennsylvania to Iowa and settled in the southwestern part of the state. After ten years in Ringgold county he crossed the line into Taylor county and bought land near Lenox, where he engaged in agricultural ])ursuits until his death in 189L His wife, who survived him for some years and died in Iowa during December of 1899, bore the maiden name of Florin da Campbell and was born in .Mercer county, Pa., of Scotch- Irish lineage ; her mother lived to be ninety-six years of age. The family of Hugh and Florinda Long comprised ten children, namely: Alonzo, who died in infancy : James Campbell, of Lompoc ; Mark, a farmer near Hanford, Cal.; Dr. George L., a physician in Fresno; R. .\., wdio died in Fresno; Anna, residing near the old home at Lenox. Iowa; ?\Irs. Margaret Wvant. of Clear- field, Iowa; Wilbert AI.. of Clearfield. Iowa: Mrs. Susie Gordon, of Lenox, that state; and Samuel Calvin, the youngest of the family circle and the only one to settle in Kern county. Horn near Pardoe, ^Mercer county. Pa.. August 16. 1871, he grew to manhood upon an Iowa farm and received his education princi])ally in country schools. He can scarcely recall when he first deter- mined upon a professional career. At first his studies were directed toward the occupation of pharmacist and during July of 1897 he was graduated with the degree of Ph.G. from the dei)artment of pharmacy. Highland Park Col- lege, at Des Moines. Almost coincident with his arrival in California in August, a month after his graduation, the young pharmacist secured a position in a hospital at Fresno, and for two years had the most valuable experience as interne and pharmacist. During this time he determined to continue his studies with a view to becoming a physician. For some \ears he was a student in the Hahnemann Medical College of the Pacific, at San Francisco, from which he was graduated May 13, 1901. Returning to Fresno, he entered the office of his brother, Dr. George L. Long, but in a short time he determined to seek a new location. October 5. 1901. lu' arri\'e(l in liakersfield, a stranger in a strange city. For some years past he has maintained his office in a suite of rooms in the Woodmen of the World building. As a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy and the California Homeo])athic Medical Institute, he has maintained an intimate identification with organiza- tions for the u])building of his chosen branch of therai)eutics, and is m.edical examiner for several old line insurance com])anies. His fraternal relations have been and still are very important and it ha'^ been a source of pride to him that he has been chosen medical examiner by the various orders with which he has local association, including the ^Voodmen of the World. Fra- ternal P>rotherho( (1. Knights and Ladies of Security, Degree of Honor. Women of Woodcraft, American Yecnnen, American Nobles and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., is a member of Los Angeles Consistory No. 3, Scottish Rite, and Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Los Angeles. The home of Dr. Long at No. 1715 Seventeenth street is presided over hospitably by his wife, who is a woman of culture and was educated in .Simp- son College at Indianola, Iowa. Their marriage was solemnized in Lenox, Iowa, in October of 1902. Mrs. Long having been Miss Nona E. Adams, a J^^^^-^^^^-^^-^'-^^Xo.J^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY S7i native of Belle I'lain, Marshall couiitx, II!., and a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Barton) Adams, the former born in Pittsburg, Pa., and the latter in Cincinnati, Ohio, of English lineage, .\fter he had removed from Pennsyl- vania to Illinois Mr. Adams served as a private in the One Hundred and Seventh Illinois Infantry during the Civil war. Later he continued to culti- vate farm land in Illinois until 1882, when he removed to Iowa and settled upon a farm. His last days were spent in Lenox and there he passed away in 1908. A man of local prominence and civic pride he served for one term as supervisor and gave his support to movements for the material upbuilding of his county. His widow now makes her home with Dr. and Mrs. Long at Bakersfield. She had four other children: \V. B., who is a farmer at Dixon, 111.; E. M. and N. D., both of Des Moines; and Chester, now living in Kansas City. Airs. Long was next to the eldest in the family and was the only one to settle in California. Prior to her marriage she taught several terms of school. Mr. and Mrs. Long are members of the Congregational church, to the work of which both have been generous contributors. They are the parents of two children, Mary Oneita and Hugh Thomas. In politics die Doctor is stanchly Republican. W. P. MONROE. — The Monroe family has the distinction of belonging lo the fine old pioneer element of California. In every instance its members have' exhibited the utmost loyalty toward the great west and wherever known their name is a synonym for patriotic devotion and progressive spirit. The founder of the famil}- on the coast was Wesley Monroe, a native of Illinois and a member of that great throng of immigrants whom the discovery of gold brought tn the then unknown country beside the sunset sea. As early as 18.50 he settled in what is now Tulare county. Later he lived in Sonoma county and follow^ed the occupation of ranching, his large herds being permitted to range over miles of uninhabited territory in every direction from his ranch- house. He married Elizabeth Condry, who was born in Tennessee and died in 1906 in Tulare county. Their family numbered seven children, one of whom, J. D., is a wealthy stock-raiser in Tulare county. Another member of the family, VV. P., was born in Sonoma county, this state, March 26, 1864, and during boyhood aided in the care of the stock in Tulare and Kings counties. From Tulare he came to Kern county in 1899 and in 1901 began to work for the Petroleum Development Company, being promoted to the position of manager in 1906 after five years of energetic efiforts in less responsible capacities. He has charge of the wells of the Petroleum Development Com- pany located on section 2, township 29, range 28. While promoting the interests of the company Mr. Monroe has acquired lands of his own and is now the owner of eighty acres of land, situated on section 34, township 28, range 28. A part of the tract has been placed under irrigation and the balance is available foi* similar work, the proximity of the Kern river proving of the greatest importance to water development. With the completion of irrigating facilities, oranges could be raised on the land, while any kind of garden truck would do well on such soil. The marriage of Mr. Monroe took place in Kings county and united him with Miss Susie Becker, who was born and reared there, and by whom he is the father of three children, Harry, Ruby and Evelyn. The fact that he did not enjoy good educational advantages has made Mr. Monroe solicitous that his own children and the children of other people in the community should receive every modern school privilege, hence he urged the organization of a school district and when such organization was efiiected in 1910 in the Petroleum school district he was chosen a member of the school board. In this capacity he has labored earnestly to secure good teachers and to surround the children with every advantage that will go toward the making of substantial citizens for ■future years. The board of directors of the Petroleum school district, con- 574 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY sisting of Jl. J. Heatli, C liarlcs X. Xcwijcrry and W. P. Monri.e have under construction a new $10,000 school house, which will l)c com])leted for the September 1913 term and will be the finest schotjl house in the Kern River field. While living in Tuhire county he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd h'ellows al Tulare and maintained a warm interest in lodge enterprises. In addition td his eight}' acres of good land he has acquired citv propertv at Richmond on the coast. FRANK S. MATTSON. — From the age of thirteen years up to the present time, when as an experienced and skilled oil operator of fifty years he holds a position of res])onsibility in the Midway field, Mr. Mattscjn has known no business save that of oil production. Familiar with its every de- partment and experienced with the work in many of the most important fields of the entire country, he has had a long and honorable career in his chosen occupation and now, even more interested in the w^ork than when a young man and even more skilled in its details, he is giving acceptable service as superintendent of the Safe Oil Company and the B. H. C. Oil Company. The leases of these small but productive concerns stand on the celebrated 25 Hill, occupying a portion of section 25, township 32, range 23, overlooking Taft and the Midway field, and here he is always to be found, overseeing every phase of production and aiming by intelligent oversight to secure the largest possible returns for the stockholders of the companies. Born in Venango county. Pa., April 14, 1863, Frank S. Mattsoh is the son of Tobias Mattson, a pioneer in the oil industry in Pennsylvania, where he first became familiar with the business. Practically every position from roustabout to superintendent he has filled in dififerent parts of the country. Following in the wake of oil strikes, he worked in the fields of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Indiana, prior to coming to California during 1900. A list of the fields in which he has worked would include many of the best known in the east. After coming to the Pacific coast he made his head- quarters in Fos Angeles fo" a time and then went to Carpenteria, from which place he came to Kern county and the Midway field. In his various re- movals from one field to another he has been accompanied by his wife whom he married in Ohio and w'ho bore the maiden name of Anna E. Behrens. C. H. SELLERS. — I'he Cnion Oil Company, operating on section 8, township 29. range 28, was incorporated under the laws of the state of Cali- fornia by a number of stockholders, principally residents of Los Angeles, where also reside its officers, namely: president, Lyman Stewart; vice-presi- dent, W. L. Stewart: secretary, Giles Kellogg: and treasurer, E. \A\ Alston. The superintendent ( f their refinery, which is said to be not only the first but also ihe largest in the Kern river fields, has been connected with the plant throughout the greater part of its operative history, for the factory was com- pletecl in July of 1902, and he took charge on the L^th of Sei^tember of the same year. Since then the capacity of the plant has been doubled and employ- ment is furnished to thirty-fiA^e men. A total capital of $200,000 has !)een invested in the refinery and the returns secured under the efficient manage- ment of the superintendent have justified the expenditure of this sum. Very early in the develo;)ment of the Mississippi valley the Sellers famil\- removed from the east to Iowa, where for years George Sellers followed the trade of a car])enter and where he married Rachel \\^ells, now deceased, (^i recent vears. since his retirement from active work as a carpenter, he has made his home in San Jose, Cal. In his family there were five sons and three daughters, one of the sons being C. H.. whose birth occurred in Clinton countv, Iowa, March 24. 1876, and whose somewhat limited education was secured in Iowa schools. As a l>oy he helped his father and learned much concerning the trade of cari:)enter, but when fifteen he started out to make his own way in the world, coming to California, where he learned to be a practical Initter-maker in a creamery at San Jose. His introduction to the oil' (7~~- CctVAU-C-}^ Cct,-r-yrr-z.cJ^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 577 business took place when he became interested in a refinery operated by S. W. Palmer, of Oakland. Having no practical knowledge of the industry he began as an unskilled laborer and as a roustabout, but gradually he worked his way up to a more profitable position. During 1902 the company showed their confidence in him by sending him to the Kern river fields as their sui)er- intendent and since the fall of that year he has had charge of the refinery, its progress and development being largely due to his energy and intelligent oversight. A specialty is made of the production of asphaltum for street paving and roofing purposes and in the latter specialty the company has been a pioneer. Through the pipe lines of the Producers' Transportation Company connection is made with the lines of various oil companies. About five thou- sand barrels of crude oil are used daily and the monthh' production of asphalt reaches two thousand tons. \\'ith his wife, whom he married at Martinez, Cal., -and who was Miss Ella Kindig of Chicago, and with their two children, Spencer and Inez, Mr. Sellers has established a comfortable home on the company holdings and there his leisure hours are happily spent. He aided in the organization of the Standard school district and acted as trustee. THOMAS ARTHUR CANNELL.— On the Isle of Man. Thomas A. Can- nell was born June 9, 1854, the son of Robert and Catherine (Kelley) Cannell. There they spent their entire lives, the former conducting business as a hatter in Douglas. There were eight children in the family and two of these, John J. and Thomas Arthur, became residents of California, the former now having a home at Bishop, Inyo county. For several years the two brothers in Cali- fornia engaged in the sheep industry and had large flocks upon the ranges of Tulare. Kern and Inyo counties. The venture proved profitable, but a desire to avoid the migratory experiences of a sheepman led the younger brother to take up land, buy cattle and enrbark in farming and stock-raising in Kern county. During a visit at his old home across the seas Mr. Cannell married. October 19. 1891. Miss Margaret Ann Joughin, daughter of John and Margaret (Kaighin) Joughin, lifelong residents of the Isle of Man and owners of Ballacrebbin. one of the most productive farms of that little countrv. M^rs. Cannell was born in the parish of Jurby on that island and grew to womanhood in the parish of Andrea.s near the town of Ramsey, where she remained until her marriage and where one of her brothers, the present owner of !>allacrebbin farm, still makes his home. Her other l^rother, William D. Joughin. came to California and now operates the Cannell ranch near Isabella. Kern county, on the' south fork of the Kern river. Immediately after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cannell came across the ocean to California and settled in Kern county, where by their united efforts and constant industry they became increasingly prosperous. The brand of the triangle inverted, which Mr. Cannell used, was to be found on man}'- ( f the ranges in this part of the state, for his holdings in stock w^ere exceed- ingly large. One of his ranches comprised several sections of land at (jranite Station, Kern county, while his home ranch was the tract of eight hundred acres near Isabella, a well-improved estate developed from the primeval con- dition of nature through his own painstaking industry and wise supervision. Selling his stock .in 1906 and renting the land, he built a residence at No. 445 South Cnion avenue, Los Angeles, where his widow still makes her home. After c(jniing t(^ the citv he did not retire from business activities, but became an organizer and ])rom()ter of the y\partment House Building Company, of which he acted as secretary, treasurer and a director until his death, and which in 1911 erected a splendid modern apartment building on Second and Mower streets and it should be added that it proved to be such a success that in 1913 the company built an annex of large dimensions. \\'hile on a visit 578 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY to his ranch at Isabella Mr. Cannell died. October 17, 1912, and his sudden demise brought a personal grief ti) a large host of friends throughout his community. All through his life in California he had been a loyal citizen, with progressive views as to local development and upbuilding. Although not a member of any religious movement he attended church and contributed to such work and his wife for years has been a generous member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. ALBERT LEROY HARRINGTON.— Connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as night yard-master at Bakersfield, Mr. Harring- ton is regarded by the officials under whom he works as a most conscientious and careful man, devoted to the business and alive to the responsibilities of his position. From an early age he has been connected with some form of railroad work. Indeed he was only sixteen when he left high school to enter upon railroading, and ever since, with scarcely a vacation, he has continued with different companies in different capacities. In addition one of his brothers and his father also have been identified with railroad work for many years and are now in the employ of the Western Pacific, with headquarters at Stockton, the brother, Arthur, having risen to be a conductor with that road. Two other brothers, Arnold and Lorin L., are employed by the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company at Stockton, the former holding the important position of outside manager. The youngest brother of the five, William, is still with the parents in the Stockton home. The parents of Albert LeRoy Harrington are Lorin and Nettie E. (Hargis) Harrington, natives respectively of Illinois and Iowa. Their eldest son among the five who form the family is Albert LeRoy, whose birth oc- curred at Fontanelle, Adair county, Iowa, November 2, 1882, and whose earliest days were passed upon the home farm there. During 1883 the family became pioneers of Nebraska, where the father took up land in Fill- more county. Results were not favorable and learning of land in Lincoln county available for homesteading he removed there in 1886 and settled near the Platte river. Very soon, however, he went a little further west to Keith county in the same state, where he made a determined effort to develop his homestead into a productive farm. Climatic conditions were such that his unceasing exertions brought little but failure, and finally in 1896 he sought employment on the railroad. For three years he was employed on the mam- tenance of way in Nebraska by the L^nion Pacific Railroad and in 1899 he took his family to Wyoming, where he worked for the same company. In 1901 he worked on the Union Pacific in Utah and during 1903 he went to Nevada for the Central Pacific. Coming to California in 1904 and settling at Stock- ton, he since has been in the employ of the Western Pacific road. As early as 1898 Albert LeRoy Harrington worked on the maintenance of way for the Union Pacific in Nebraska and in 1899 he secured similar work in Wyoming. During 1901 he entered the train service of the Union Pacific road as a brakeman with headquarters at Rawlins. Resigning two years later he came to California and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a brakeman out from Los Angeles. Soon he was trans- ferred to the yards as a switchman. In June of 1904 he was sent to Oakland as a foreman on the maintenance of way. From there in July of 1905 he came to Bakersfield as a switchman in the Southern Pacific yards. Appre- ciation of his fidelity and intelligence appeared in his promotion to be assist- ant yard-master in 1908. and two years later he was promoted again, this time to the responsible post of night yardmaster. Meanwhile in 1908 he had married at Santa Ana Miss Mabelle Buell, who was born in Kansas and reared in California, and who is a graduate nurse from the Sisters' hospital in Los Angeles. They own a comfortable home at No. 607 Quincy street, East Bakersfield. which he erected some years ago and' in which they dis- pense a broad and kindly hospitality. Both are well known in the local HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 581 organization of P^^tliian Sisters, and in addition Mr. Harrington is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles and the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen. Politically he votes with the Democratic party. JUDGE GEORGE FLOURNOY.— The Fhurnoy genealogy is traced hack to the middle ages in France, where representatives of the name bore a part in the activities of the Huguenots. Religic-ns persecutions led to the massacre of many of that faith and to the exile of others from their native country. They became transplanted upon American soil shortly after the first attempts at colonization had been made near the .shores of the Atlantic. The first home of the immigrants was in \^irginia and later some of the family settled in Georgia. Col. George Flournoy. son of Marcus A. Flournoy. was born and reared upon a plantation in Georgia and received excellent advan- tages in the state university at Athens, from which institution in 1854 he was graduated with a high standing. Fie was well qualified for the practice of law and went to Texas to open an office at Austin. Soon he rose to such prominence in the profession that in 1860 he was elected attorney-general of the state. At the opening of the Civil war he resigned from office in order to serve the Confederate cause as colonel of the Sixteenth Texas Infantry and that regiment he commanded until the close of the war. Meanwhile he was often wounded in battle and several times the wounds were serious. l)ut in the midst of physical sufiferings and untold deprivations he continued to lead his men until finally they crossed the Red river, the last Confederate regiment to retreat from the victorious Federal troops. The south having been financially ruined by the war. Colonel Flournoy found no professional opening and accordingly crossed into Mexico, where as captain of the guards of the palace he served in the French army under Marshal Besaine. Upon the downfall of Maximilian he retired with the French army. Returning to Texas, he engaged in practice at Galveston and became wideh' known as an attorney of remarkable ability and professional knowledge. During 1879 he came to California and opened a law office in San Francisco, remaining there until his death, September 20, 1889, at the age of fifty-seven years. While his life was not long as men count years, it was eventful, useful and crowned by the friendship of a large circle of asso- ciates, both professional and social. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Virginia Holman, was born in Tennessee and died in Oakland, Cal. Her father. James Holman. a Kentuckian by birth, became a resident of Ten- nessee as early as 1804 and upon attaining man's estate became interested in the occupation of a planter. During 1852 he took the family to Texas and settled upon a farm near Austin, where in 1867 his long and busy existence came to an end. Three children comprised the family of Colonel and Mrs. Flournoy. Eugenia, the wife of Paul Corti, died in Bakersfield January 27. 1912. Marguerite, the wife of Thomas F. Garrity, died in Oakland in 1905. leaving two daughters. Eugenia and Virginia, both making their home with Judge Flournoy. The next to the youngest child, and his father's namesake, is Judge Flournoy. of Bakersfield. who was born in Austin. Tex., April 20. 1863. and received a classical education in the Jesuit College in the District of Columbia and in the University of Georgia at Athens. After his gradu- ation in 1879 from the latter institution he came to California and began to study law with his father in San Francisco, later for two years enjoying the advantages of study in Hastings Law School. Having been admitted to the bar of California in 1884 at the age of twenty-one years George Flournoy came to Bakersfield, but soon returned to San Francisco, where in 1886 he was elected city and county attorney on the Democratic ticket. So satisfactorv was his service in the very difficult position that in 1888 he was re-elected, serving until 1890. .\fter his release from official duties he devoted considerable time to travel. During March of 1892 he came to Bakersfield and opened a law office. Soon he won recogni- tion through his wide knowledge of jurisprudence. For eight years he served 582 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY as cit_\- attorney o\ I'>akersfiel(l and f^r anotlier three terms lie served as deputy district attorne}' of Kern c(junt\'. In both of these positions he dis- played a broad understanding of the law. especially as pertaining to the statutes of California. March 6, 1911. the board of supervisors appointed him justice of the peace to fill a vacancy caused l)y the death of Judge J. C. Black, a position he has since filled. Throughout all of his active life he has sup- ported Democratic principles and has given to that party locally the benefit of his sagacious mind, unvarying tact and comprehensive grasp of political ■ problems. During the period of his residence in San Francisco he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Huie, a native of Sonoma county, this state, by which union there was one child. Huie. who died in Los Angeles Novem- ber 6, 1912. leaving a wife and a daughter. Roberta, four years oi age. R. W. BESS. — Diversified ex]:)eriences in many of the well-known oil fields in the United States have enabled Mr. Bess to appreciate the advantage ofl^ered by the industry in California and particularly by that portion of the ^tate embraced within the Kern county fields. Through a recent contract he became superintendent and manager of the United Crude Oil Company at Maricopa and since he took possession in March of 1913, under an eight-year lease on a fifty per cent basis, he has raised the production from practically nothing to three thousand barrels per month, doing this by dint of his own persistence, energy and capability, aided by the three efficient workmen whom he employs. Thoroughly and critically competent, he is well qualified to de- velop the lease into a gratifying and growing success. From the time he began in the oil business at the age of fourteen ui) to the present era of managerial connection with a lease, he has been interested in no occupation aside from the oil industry nor has he cared to enter other lines of enter- prise. The lifelong interest in the industry maintained by Mr. Bess results from early environment. When only one year old he was taken by his parents from New York state to Bradford, Pa., in the midst of oil fields of considerable importance, and there he passed the years of youth. Born May 19, 1882, at Bolivar, .-Mlegheny county, N. Y., across the state line from the Bradford fields in Pennsylvania, he was the eldest of six children, whose father, \V. W. Bess, for yeais engaged with the Roberts Torpedo Company and held other positions in the P>radford fields, but is now an employe of the United Crude Oil Compan\' at Maricopa. The wife and mother, who bore the maiden name of ICsther Aldumas McClellan, is an own niece of General McClellan, of Civil war fame. When the family removed from Bradford they lived successively in other oil regions oi Pennsylvania, Ohio, West V*irginia and Indiana, and the son accompanied them in these various moves, eventually coming to California in 1896 and securing employment in the Fullerton oil fields. His first work there was in the capacity of pumper for the old Santa Fe. After one year at Fullerton he proceeded to Coalinga during the period of its first boom. For two years he engaged with a company in that district. At the opening of the Kern river field he came to this county and secured a position as tool-dresser, continuing in the field for two years. From this pt int he returned to Fullerton to work, later went back to Coalinga, and finally left the state in order to study conditions of the oil industry in Colorado. The fields near Boulder, Golden, Greeley and other places became familiar to him through actual experiences as a driller. i'>om Colorado he went into Kansas and engaged in drilling in the oil fields at Independence and Chanute, thence coming back to California, where for four years he engaged in drilling in the Simset, Midway and Santa Maria fields. Early in 1913 he assumed the duties of his present position. During May of 190^1 he was united in marriage with Miss Rose La Vern Freear, daughter of Henry T. Freear, an. old settler of Kern county, a HISTORY OF KRK\' COUNTY 583 C"i\il war \eteran and a man widely known and unixersally honored. Mrs. I'less i.s also connected with the McC'utchen family, one of the most prominent in Kern county. Three children blessed her marriage to Mr. IJess, j-jnt a heavy hereaxement came in the death of two. Leona being- the sole survivor. DELBERT A. SHIVELY.— The history of the Shively family in America dates back to a very early period in the colonization of Pennsylvania and one oi the name, who removed from the Keystone state to Illinois during the first years of the nineteenth century, opened and conducted the first tailor shop ever started in Chicago, later relinquishing business in order to develop property at Freeport, 111., and still later removing- to Iowa to pass his declinin*^ days. The next generation was represented by Samuel A. Shively. who was born near Freeport, 111., and removed with his father to Chickasaw county, Iowa, when all that section of country was an undeveloped wilderness and prairie. vScarcely had he arrived at man's estate when a call came for volunteers in the Union service and he volunteered in the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry, going- with his regiment to the front and fighting in its battles until the expiration of his term of service. The war ended, he engaged in farming near Lawler, Chickasaw county, Iowa, and on his farm there his oldest child, Delbert A., was born June 26, 1866. The family contained two younger children, whose mother, Cornelia (Tisdale) Shively, now deceased, was a member of a very old family of New England. Taking the family to Minnesota about 1872, Samuel A. Shively home- steaded one hundred and sixty acres in Rock county and devoted ten years to the improvement of the tract. Upon disposing of the property he returned to Iowa and settled in Lyon county, but later removed to Missouri and estab- lished a home at Springfield. Thence he went to Chicago and took up. the study of medicine. After having graduated with the degree of M.D., he engaged in practice in Chicago until the time of his death. His eldest son was six when the family went to Minnesota and thirteen when they became residents of Lyon county, Iowa. After he had completed the studies of the common schools he learned the trade of barber in Rock Rapids, Lyon county, and there engaged in the business for himself. The summer of 1895 was spent in Pasadena, Cal., and the visit gave him a favorable impression concern- ing the west. Selling his business at Rock Rapids in 1901 he came to P)akers- field and ])urchased the Southern hotel barber shcp, which since he has con- ducted with efficiency, securing a large trade by reason of recognized skill in the trade. Meanwhile he has become interested in alfalfa ranching in the Rio Bravo country, where he has installed a pumping plant for irrigation of the one huiulred and ten acre tract. He has erected two bungalows, one of w^hich he sold, and the other (at Xo. 2021 Cedar street) he now occupies. Fraternally he holds membership with the Knights of Pythias. The marriage of Mr. Shively took place at Rock Rapids, Iowa, August 2S<. 1887. and united him with Miss Fannie Geisef, who was born at Xormal, McLean county. 111. Their only child. Vera, is the wife of R. C. Hackett of Rakersfield. A graduate of the Rock Rapids high school, she was a teacher prior to her marriage. She was the }oungest among the three children form- ing the family of Frederick and Fannie (Eicher) Geiser, the former a native of Canton Bern, Switzerland, and the latter of France. Shortly after his arrival in the new world ^Ir. Geiser enlisted in an Ohio regiment and served in the Union army throughout the Civil war. After the death of his wife, which occurred in Xormal, 111., he removed to Iowa and embarked in business, and later he resided at Colby, Kans., where occurred his death. April 14. 1899. at the age of sixtv-eight years. J. ROBINSON.— The Revenue Oil Company (J. Robinson, superintend- ent) was incorporated March 17. 1900. with a capital stock of $200,000. and now has its head office at Xos. 404-406 Chamber of Commerce building. Pasadena, Cal.. its president, R. H. Pinney. and secretary, A. K. Xash, both 584 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY being citizens of that place. The board of directors consists of the two officials named, in addition to C. B. Scoville, Isaac Bailey and J. C. Dalton. Five men working under the direction of the superintendent care for the company holdings of forty acres on section 4, township 29, range 28, where since the first work was started seventeen wells have been put down, six of these, however, now out of commission, although by re-drilling the present super- intendent has been able to secure twelve producing wells, six of which are operated by a power jack. The net yield is six thousand barrels per month, an amount largely in excess of former returns and therefore gratifying to those financially interested in the concern. All through his life Mr. Robinson has been identified with the oil industry. Born in Fayette county. Pa.. April 21, 1867, he was fifteen years of age when he began to w^ork in the Bradford field in Ohio and for twelve years he was employed there by the Hazehvood Oil Company. Studying the industrv with assiduous attention, he became familiar with every department and is now able to manage any responsibility, important or trivial. From the Bradford, field he went to the Clinton Rock fields near Toledo, Lima and Findley, and acquired the sole ownership of eight wells, besides a one-fourth interest in twenty-four others. When eventually he disposed of all these interests it gave him financial independence. l)ut the spell of the oil fields w^as upon him and after "wild-catting" in Ohio and finding twelve dry holes, there was little left of his former fortune. Later he prospected in West Virginia, drilled wells in Guernsey county, Ohio, and Barboursville. Cabell county, W. Va., and then took charge of a property owned by J. W. Stone in Wood county, Ohio, whence he changed his headquarters to Illinois, working first at Rob- inson, Crawford county, and then spending one summer at Casey. Clark county. Next he investigated conditions in Oklahoma and from there went to Utah to meet Colonel Dunn with a view to drilling for him, but the two failed to complete their negotiations. Upon coming west to California and landing in the \Miittier field near Los Angeles. Mr. Robinson engaged with the Central Oil Company and later with the Murphy Oil Company as production man. After perhaps three years iin that field he came to the Kern river oil fields in 1910 and since has been iretained as superintendent with the well-known concern whose interests he guards with extreme care. His sons, J( :hn and James, bright youths of nine- teen and sixteen, are a source of pride to him and he is sparing no pains to prepare them for whatever responsibilities the future may hold for them. With his wife, formerly Miss Alice Elthringham of Ohio, he has estab- lished a comfortable home on the company's holdings and such limited leisure as his very responsible position permits is spent in the society of his family and friends, there being no inclination on his part to participate in politics or identify himself with fraternal organizations. E. H. WHITAKER.— The supply house of Fairbanks, Morse & Co... at Shale, over which Mr. Whitaker has been manager since its establishment, is one of the recent additions to the important list of business houses in Kern county having for their object the filling of the needs of the oil operators in this section of the country. Since the opening of the house there has been kept in stock a full complement of oil well supplies of the guaranteed quality for which the name of the firm stands sponsor. Throughout the oil fields near Shale the manager of the house has an established reputation for energy, reliability and sagacious judgment, and he is not only capable but also popular. A native of this state. Mr. \\hitaker was born in the city of Los Angeles September 24. 1877. and at the age of thirteen first came to the Kern river oil fields, since which time he has been more or less closely identified with the business now engaging his attention. For a time he was employed in the shipping department of Fairbanks. Morse & Co., in Los Angeles, but in ^hua>. aSA "^LCULJUCL HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 589 July of 1909 the company transferred him to Bakersfield and during the fol- lowing UK nth sent him from that city to Taft, eventually transferring him in August, 1911, to his present post at Shale, where he was the first and has been the only manager of the supply house. The erection of the store build- ing was carried forward under his personal supervision, the stocking of the room with such equipment as must be carried by such a house also was given over to his charge and the success of the business may be attributed wholly to his oversight. With his wife, whom he married in Bakersfield and who was formerly Miss Josephine Dempsey, he makes his home at Shale. Fra- ternally he is connected with the blue lodge of Masons at Bakersfield and the Improved Order of Red Men at Taft. AUGUST PIERRE EYRAUD.— As far back as the genealogical records of the p]_\raud family can be traced they were residents of that portion of l<>ance embraced within the limits of Hautes-Alpes lying in the shadow of the snow-capped Alps and a short distance to the east of the vine-clad valley of the Rhone. In the midst of this fertile section lies the thriving city of Gap. where Joseph Eyraud was born in 1803 and where, after years ( f active identification with mercantile affairs, he died in 1884, having long sur\i\ed his wife, \^ictoria (Sauva) Eyraud, who passed away in 185.3. While the family name is still represented in Hautes-Alpes the immediate members of this famil}- circle no longer have identification with the region, for the sole survivor and the youngest of the four children, August Pierre, who was born there Ma}^ 15, 1852, has made his home in the United States since 1872. h'or a short time after his arrival in San Francisco he was empkyed as clerk in a hotel and later he worked in a tannery on twenty- sixth and Mission streets, after which, in 1877. he opened the Hotel des Alps on Pacific street. San Francisco. Since 1880 he has made his home in Bakers- field and while during this period he has endured vicissitudes and faced business reverses resulting from fires, by persisting in a course of straight- forward dealing with all he has gained a gratifying degree of financial prosperity. Shortl}' after his arrival in Bakersfield Mr. Eyraud became the pro- ])rietor of the Alps hotel on the northwest cc.rner of Nineteenth and M .streets, where also he conducted a hotel and liquor bi!isiness. During 1885 he took the agenc}^ for \\ ieland's brewery and was able to reduce the cost of bottled beer from $16 to $9 per barrel by having the work done at this ])cint. A disastrous fire in 1889 entailed upon him a heavy loss. Prior to the lire he had bought unimproved real estate on the southeast corner of Nine- teenth and M streets and at once he began to erect the building which he called the French hotel. Upon the completion of the structure he hung at its front the flag of his adopted country. For a number of years he made his headquarters at that place, but during the autumn of 1900 he again met with a heav\- 1( ss through the total destruction of the building by fire. Upon rebuilding he changed the name to the Commercial hotel. This he leased to others, while on the corner he established a wholesale liquor busi- ness. During 1909 he erected on adjacent property a three-story building known as the St. Regis hotel. This gives him a frontage of one hundred and thirty-two feet and a depth of ninety feet, with six store rooms facing on Nineteenth street. In March, 1912, he retired from the wholesale busi- ness to de\ote his time to looking after his city property and his ranches. Besides his other holdings he owns oil lands in the McKittrick field and is also the owner of a fine cattle ranch of nine hundred and sixty acres lying in the Greenhorn mciuntains fifty mile^s northeast of Bakersfield. On the ranch, which is superintended by his brother-in-law, Jules Caillaud, he has a large herd of cattle bearing the brand BO. He also owns two alfalfa ranches under the Kern Island canal, which he is improving and superin- 590 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY teiidini;-. In 1911 he l)uilt a beautiful modern residence on the corner of X and Truxtun avenue, where the famil}- make their home. On the organi- zation of the National Hank of Bakerstield he became an original stock- hclder and he is also a member of the board of directors. Politically he has supported the Democratic i^arty ever since he attained his majority. Fra- ternally he holds membershi]) with the Eagles and the Knights of F'ythias. His marriage was solemnized in I'.akersfield h'ebruary 4, 1884, and united him with Miss Rosalie Caillaud. who was born in Paris, l'>ance. but was ])rought to this country at an early age by her father, Charles Caillaud, who settled in Kern county in 1869 and engaged in stock-raising on his ranch which was afterward known as tiie French ranch. He passed away in 1878, and his widow, Frances (Guillion) Caillaud, reared their family of five children and spent her last days in the home of her daughter, Mrs. .August P. Eyraud, in IJakersfield, where her death occurred in 1911, at the age of seventy-nine. The original settler of the Caillaud family was Eugene, a brother of Charles, who came nn a sailer around Cape Horn in 1849 and arrived in San Francisco that year. Fie engaged in mining and drifted into Kern county in the early days; as early as 1839 he located in the Green- horn mountains, where he was a storekeeper and miner, engaging in placer mining on Bear Trap creek, where he was accidental!}- killed by the caving of the gravel bank in 1886. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Eyraud was August, a promising youth, who died at the age of sixteen years. The only rlaughter, Mrs. .-Mice Ingram, is a resident of San I'Vancisco. WILLIAM PARKS RUSSELL.— Success has marked the experiences of Mr. Russell as a driller. To him belongs the credit of having drilled all the wells on the Acme and all but two on the Sacramento, which two proper- ties laid the foundation to the present prosperity and influence of their superintendent, W. W . Colm, one of the leading men in the Kern river field. Purchasing a block of the promotion stock of the Alberta Oil Company on section 15, 31-22, in the North Midway field, where work was begun in May of 1911, Mr. Russell has since drilled all but two of the wells on the lease of forty acres. Under his able supervision the five wells are now producing an average of five thousand barrels per month and there is every reason to hope for an increased output as the work of development progresses. The president of the company is W. W. Colm of the Kern river field, while Harry Thomas of Bakersfield acts as secretary, and the Security Trust Company oflficiates as treasurer. Capitalized by Kern county men, who repose the utmost confidence in the sui)erintendent, the latter has been able to work unhampered by limitations, and therefore may reasonably hope to reach the success in this proposition that rewarded his efiforts in the Acme, the Sacra- mento and all the other properties with which he has been connected. In the vicinity of the great oil fields of Clarion county. Pa., on a farm owned by his parents, John A. and Hannah (Tippry) Russell, William P. Russell was born May 10, 1864. His father died at the old homestead and the mother, now eighty years of age, is still living on that place. There are six children in the family, namely: Josephine, wife of Ambrose Spencer, who is connected with the iron business at Scranton, Pa. ; Marcus E., an Alaskan gold miner now making his headquarters at Juneau ; Lizzie, Mrs. John Parkin, of Parkers Landing. Pa. ; William P., of California; A. Barton, a farmer living near Foxburg, Clarion county, Pa. ; and Orrin M., a contract driller working in West Virginia. At the age of eighteen years William P. Russell became a roustabout in the Clarion fields. Going from Pennsylvania to West Vir- ginia, he spent fifteen years in the. oil fields of that state and meanwhile ac(iuired a thorough practical knowledge of drilling. In Ohio he engaged in drilling at St. Mary's. An experience of six years in mining in New Mexico w^as sufficient to HISTORY OF KERN COUxVTY 591 prove to Mr. Russell that he was far less interested in mining" than in the oil industry, hence he eventually returned to the West Virginia oil fields and worked at Cairo, Ritchie county. Upon cominf^ to California in 1900 he struck the Kern river field in the height of its fame. At first he worked for the Chicag'o Crude, now a property of the Associated. Later he drilled all the wells on the Acme and all but two on the Sacramento, also drilled on the Sterling and Sovereign leases in the Kern river field, from which he came to the North Midway to take up development work with the Alberta. In 1909 he married Miss Elizabeth' Dunkle, of Parkers Landing, Armstrong county, Pa., a woman of culture and education, and an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. A. A. SLOAN. — In Crawford county. Pa., A. A. Sloan was born .April 24, 1858, the only other child, Alice, dying about 1897. The father. Erastus Sloan, died in 1862, and was long survived by the mother, Rosanna (McGuire) Sloan, whose death occurred November 9, 1911, at the age of eighty-three years. Having completed the studies of the common schools, A. A. Sloan had some experience as a drug clerk at Little Cooley, Crawford county, and at the age of eighteen started west to see the country. The hard- ships of life on the plains of Kansas, Colorado and the Indian Territory did not ap]:)eal to him and he went back to Pennsylvania, there to gain his first knowledge of the oil industry while working at Sawyer City, McKean county. As a roustabout with the Hazelwood Oil Company he experienced the diffi- culties incident to the beginning of work in the great industry. Step by step he rose to be a driller. Successively in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and California he followed the occupation of drilling, and while in Indiana he engaged in contract drilling as a partner of Joseph Wilson under the firm name of Sloan and Wilson. For two and one-half years after his first removal to California in 1887 Mr. Sloan engaged as a driller for the Pacific Coast Oil Company at Newhall. On returning to eastern oil fields he continued as a driller for seven years, when again he was induced to come to California. On this second sojourn in California he drilled for the Santa Fe Company at Fullerton. x\t the ex- piration of ten months he went back to Pennsylvania. January of 1900 found him again in the Fullerton field. During June of the same year he came to Kern county to drill at the old Sunset, having purchased an interest in the Navajo Oil Company. Going to Lompoc in 1901, he worked for the Union Oil Company. On returning to Kern county he engaged with the Bear Creek Oil Company and later was with the Fox C^il Companv. but in the meantime he had spent one year on his ranch at Altadena. His connection with the Engineers Oil Company began July 3, 1913, and already has proved helpful to the interests of the concern on section 14, where he makes his headquar- ters. Fraternallv he became connected with Esperanza Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M., at Fullerton. P)y his marriage to Miss Hattie Bailey, of Jamestown. N. Y., he has an only daughter. Miss Marie Sloan, who has developed marked vocal talent and is now studying voice culture under competent instructors. it being the desire of her parents to prepare her for a successful career in the art. For some years Mrs. Sloan has been a prominent worker in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and in religion she is an earnest adherent to the doctrines of the Congregational Church. JOHN COLE RAMSEY.— On a farm one hundred miles below Pitts- burg, near Morgantovvn. W. \*a., John Cole Ramsey was born June 11. 1875, the son of Josephus A. and Annie E. ('\\^aters) Ramsey. The father, wlm owned a quarter section of fine farming land in West Virginia, was killed in a runaway accident when he was sixty-seven years of age. The mother, who still lives at ^lorgantown, has charge of the husband's estate, besides owning thirty-seven acres adjacent, the whole forming a valuable tract. Of her twelve children seven are now living, namely: John Cole, the eldest of the 592 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY family ; D. V... who has drilled on the Globe division of the General Petro- leum and in other places ; Lillie, Mrs. Charles W. Morris, of Cassville, W. Va. ; Mrs. Maude Pride, also of Cassville; Pearl, Grace and Blanche, who reside on the old homestead in the east. At the aije of nineteen years John C. Ramsey found employment in the oil fields at Cassville. \\' . Va., where he worked for two years in the pipe line department of the Standard Oil Compan3^ Next he entered the producinj^ department of the Standard at Mannin.s^ton, continuinc: there and at Bristol, Pa., and Weston, W. Va. In each of these places he had chars^e of Standard property. Comin^: as far west as Oklahoma in 1904. he worked at Bartles- ville and Tulsa, mainly as a driller. The year 1906 found him in Coalin^^a, w^here he be.Sian to drill in the employ of the California Limited. From Coalin,s:a he went to Sherman and eng^aged with the American Oilfields Com- pany, Limited. Later periods of work kept him in the emplo}^ successively of the Alma, Alma, Jr., and the Blackjack in the Kern river field, after which he came to the North Midway in the interests of Barlow & Hill. One year was spent at Taft. from which place he went to the 25 Hill for T. M. Young. Two years were devoted to various departments of the work on the lease, and he then came to his present position in 1911, since which he has made all the improvements on the property and has converted it into a remunerative proposition. Politically he votes with the Democratic party, and fraternally he is connected with the Moose at Taft and the Elks at Bakersfield. While still living- in the east he married at Oakland, Md., Miss Grace Chesney, a native of Morgantown, W. Va., and they are now making their home on section 14, 31-22, lease of the Midway Gas and Petroleum Company. REV. JOSEPH WANNER.— Of the many Roman Catholic priests labor- ing in California few have charge of a larger territory than that which has been assigned to Father Wanner for his spiritual oversight and none has in larger degree than he the qualities necessary for the successful discharge of great responsibilities. The fact that he is able to speak five languages, Ger- man, French, Spanish, English and Italian, indicates his classical education and fine powers of mind and also makes him somewhat of a cosmopolitan in his outlook upon the world. Father Wanner was born at Belford. Haute Saone, France, October 12, 1865, and is a son of the late Casimer and Marie (Grelle) \^'^anner, the latter a farmer's daughter, and the former a son of Fortune Wanner, an educator and owner of a farm in Haute Saone. The family was of high standing in the community where so many generations had lived and labored. It was pos- sible, therefore, to give the ambitious youth excellent educational advantages and he was sent to the La Chapelle College in France, where he completed the study of the classics. Later he studied philosophy in the St. Sulpician Sem- inary at Vesoul, Haute Saone. On the completion of the course in that insti- tution he went to Switzerland and studied theology at Luzerne near the shores of the beautiful lake of that name. The historic university in which he was a student had been the alma mater of many men of influence in former generations of religious progress. Upon coming to the new world the young priest devoted two years to theological study under the Benedictine Fathers in St. Vincent's Seminary at Pittsburgh, Pa. Ordained to the holy priesthood by Archbishop Feehan of Chicago in 1891, he was assigned to the Chicago diocese as an assistant. Later he was appointed rector of the Holy Ghost Church in Chicago and during his pastorate he established the Sisters of St. Agnes convent and academy in his parish. The demands of the work upon his time and strength were gteat. After a time his health began to sufifer under the strain and it became necessary for him to resign his charge in order to benefit by a change of climate. In this way he was led to come to California during 1903. For three years he served as chaplain at the old mission in San <^^^.^e^2j • Cy/^ ^.^^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 595 Diego and then for a similar period he was rector at Cayucos, San Luis Obispo county, where he built the new church and the parsonage. At the same time he conducted the missions St. Cambria and St. Simeon. During 1906 he was assigned to Tehachapi as rector of St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church, which had been started in 1884 by Father Bannon. In 1910 he built the St. Mary of the Desert church at Mojave. During the construction of the aqueduct he had charge of all the Roman Catholic missions up to Cinco. In addition he has rebuilt the edifice used by the Sacred Heart congregation at Lancaster, Los Angeles county, and has visited regularly the missions at Amelia and Paris. His most distant mis- sions are at Tejon ranch and the Indian mission near Weldon, on the south fork of the Kern river, eighty-five miles from his home, the entire extent of his territory covering one hundred and thirty miles. It is necessary for him to ride horseback over the mountains, for much of the route takes him over roads impracticable for conveyances. To one of his consecrated spirit and tireless energy the hardships of the trips to mission points count for naught in his zealous efforts to advance the kingdom of Christ in the world. While he has traveled extensively in Europe, has visited x\frica and many islands of the Pacific, no country is so dear to him as California and no spot in the commonwealth more interesting to him than his present parish with its widely scattered parishioners, its constant difficulties and its calls upon his sympathies, patience, tact and leadership. JOHN JOHNSON. — Although having recently established a residence in East Bakersfield, Mr. Johnson still makes his headquarters at Weldon on the South Fork of the Kern river, where he was born May 10, 1867, and where now he has stock interests. Much of his life, however, has been passed in other places, for the interests of the stock industry, to which his father devoted the greater part of his active life and in which he has been con- stantly interested, have obliged him to seek different locations and as a boy he spent much of his time in the Sierra country of Kern and Inyo counties. Later on he had a disastrous experience in San Bernardino county in the vicinity of Daggett, where a severe and protracted drought caused him losses so heavy that he was forced to begin anew. The spread of the Texas fever among his herds completed the catastrophe that left him without either stock or capital. However, since returning to Kern county he has been more fortunate. The losses have been retrieved and he now ranks among the prosperous stockmen of his district. Through helping in the care of the stock owned l)y his father, John Johnson, Sr., who was a pioneer of California and a rancher in Kern, Inyo and San Bernardino counties, and eventually a merchant at Daggett, where he died, John Johnson, Jr., learned the stock industry in all of its details. For thirteen years he was employed on the stock ranch of W. W. Landers on the South Fork and his proficiency led to his promotion to the responsi- bilities of foremanship, in which position he continued until he embarked in the stock business for himself. After he had maintained headquarters in the Kelsey valley for some time and had made a most gratifving start in the industry, he unfortunately took his cattle to Daggett in 1908 and there the herd was practically wiped out through the Texas fever and the drought. What was left he sold in 1909 and returned to Kern county, bought a small bunch of cattle and started on the South Fork, where since he has maintained headquarters at Weldon and has ranged his stock on the Manache meadows. The brand of 22 which he uses is common in the district, this proving the size of his herd and the extent to which he has made up for former losses. Buying a residence at No. 916 Eureka street. East Bakersfield. in 1912, Mr. Johnson moved his family to their new home and since then a part of his time has been spent in the city. He is interested in the development of East Bakersfield, maintains considerable pride in its growing prosperity and 596 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY supports all measures for the local upbuilding. Politically he votes with the Republican party. His marriage was solemnized near Weldon, Kern county, and united him with Miss Victoria Seybert, a native of San Bernardino county, but a resident of Kern county since childhood. They are the parents of two daughters and one son, namely: Mrs. Viola Polkinghorn. who lives at Weldon and has one child, Dorothy; Inice and James. The father of Mrs. Johnson is Robert Seybert, who at the age of eighty-two years, still survives, rugged and heartv. and still makes his home at his ranch on the South I'ork. where he is an honored pioneer and prominent rancher. In an early day he came across the plains from IMissouri and settled in California, whose devel- opment he has witnessed during the long period of his identification there- with. CALVIN B. ALEXANDER.— The results of industry and perseverance find a fitting illustration in the successful activities of this well-known farmer of Kern county, who orjihaned by the death of his father when he was only twelve vears of age took up the battle of self-support immediately afterward and from that time onward made his own way in the world. . Not only did he accomplish the strenuous task of self-support when other boys were in school or enjoying the recreations of youth, but in addition he turned over all of his wages to his mother until he was twenty and thus assisted in the general maintenance of the family, including at the time six children, of whom he was next to the eldest. Upon first settling in America it is known that the .Alexander family, established their home in Maine, whence later generations drifted as far west as Ohio. There Isaac Alexander met and married Mary Harshberger. who was born in Ohio of German ancestry and who is still living, physically robust for one of eighty-six years. During the period of their residence in Miami countv, Ohio, the second child in the family, Calvin B., was born on New Year's day of 1853. When only two years of age he was taken by his parents to Miami county. Ind., but seven years later the family returned to their old Ohio home, where the father died about the year 1865. The next year the son was put to work at $8 per month and from that time be worked without intermission for rest or schooling. At the age of twentv he moved to Warren county, Ind.. where he secured Avork as a farm hand. Later he took up farming for himself, working land for him- self in the summer and then hiring out to others in the winter. For twenty years he continued in Indiana. Coming to this state in 1893 and purchasing his first acreage in 1898. Mr. Alexander since has devoted himself industriously to the care of land and of stock. Besides being a large grower of alfalfa hay, he is successful with other crops. In addition he makes a specialty of stock, is considered an excellent judge of horse-flesh and has on his place two very fine Percheron stallions, one of which is his private property, while the other is owned by a company. The home place comprises eighty acres located on section 7. townshi]:) 31. range 29, and under his supervision the tract has been im- proved and greatly enhanced in value. In addition he owns an improved eighty on section 12, township 31. range 28, now operated and occupied by his older son, John C. a ])rogressive young farmer of Kern county, At this writing he also has one hundred and sixty acres under contract. During 1877 Mr. Alexander was united in marriage with Miss Mary .A. .Anderson, of Warren county, Ind., by whom he has four children, namely: John C.. who married Miss Estella McDonald, of Kern cfiunty : Nora A., whose husband, William Patterson, formerly a druggist, is now engaged in farming at Lathrop near Stockton. San Joaquin county; C^hrisline I., the wife of Archie T. Rudrum, a farmer near Stockton; and Arthur Arlington, now in liakersfield. 11ie family has a high social standing in their com- munity and all of its members receive the genuine respect which is their VV^ iBWi^B 'W^^^^^ m C JP'^V "^^ -« ^HBf fl ^^V 1 ^^K M £jlM^m 1 ■■p^ ^j^K .^^^^KK^::f ^1 ^Hf Nl^ ^^^W- ^^W" ~ 'r- ^^^^^^^^^^B* i^''«^ ^^^i'^cy^' jiA^oo^^z^Ucy^ ^^ {^ /n^XJLfO^ti/'tcy^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 599 tluc. In all (.)f his efforts Mr. Alexander has enjoyed the hearty and wise co-operation of his wife, who is a woman of education and culture and possesses the i>'entleness of disposition together with intelligence of mind» that gives her a first place not only in the home, but also in the neighbor- hood. At no time an office holder, Mr. Alexander has always espoused Re- publican ])rinciples. MARION J. SCOTT. — From early life dependent upon his own efforts for a livelihood. Mr. Scott has met every hardship with a cheerful optimism and has risen to a position of considerable importance in the oil industry, being now in charge of the Brookshire Oil Company's holdings in the North Midway field. A native of the commonwealth where all of his life has been passed, he is a typical Californian in energy, progressive spirit and patriotic loyalty. The first three years of his life were passed in Modoc county, where he was born November 22, 1885, but in 1888 he was taken by his par- ents to Santa Barbara and with that portion of the state his early memories are most closely associated. When only fourteen he was orphaned by the death of his parents. He was the youngest of nine children, the most of whom had reached mature 3^ears at the time and were in a position to earn their own livelihoods. With characteristic energy and courage he discon- tinued his studies and took up the task of self-support. From that time to the present he has owed his progress to his unaided exertions. At the age of nineteen years he found employment in the Santa Maria field and ever since that time he has been identified with the oil industry, with the excep- tion of one year devoted to other work. A long identification with the Santa Maria field was broken by removal to the Coalinga district, where Mr. Scott engaged with the Claremont Oil Company during 1908-09. During 1910 he came to Kern county and found employment with the Brookshire Oil Company, which corporation has since had the benefit of his arduous services and competent assistance. When A. P. Kennedy, superintendent of the Brookshire, died July 22, 1913, Mr. Scott was placed in charge of the lease, receiving his appointment as superin- tendent of the Brookshire August 10, 1913, since which time he has devoted himself with conscientious intelligence and excellent results to the many details connected with such tasks. The lease comprises one hundred and sixty acres located in the North Midway field, where three excellent wells give an average monthly production of thirty-six hundred barrels. He has little leisure for outside affairs. The discharge of his duties on the lease keep him closely confined to the property. While living at Coalinga he became a member of the Order of Eagles, but since coming to this county he has not identified himself with any organization of that nature. His marriage took place at Santa Barbara in 1906 and united him with Miss Lottie Foster, of Santa Maria, and they are the parents of two children, ^Marion J.. Jr.. and Mary E., aged respectively four and two years. The family reside on the Brookshire lease in the North Midway field. CHARLES G. WHITTIER.— Allied with an honored pioneer family of New England and a distant relative of the famous poet. John Greenleaf \A'hittier. it has been the ambition of Charles G. WHiittier to add prestige to the name and such has been the result achieved in the midst of the strenuous activities of the oil field and in a region remote from the scenes of youth. As a boy he was familiar with the remote and isolated county of Aroostook in the northern part of Maine, where he was born at Caribou, August 4, 1871. and where he was reared in the midst of an agricultural environment and a wilderness that was bleak and stern and unfruitful. Self-reliance was de- veloped by force of circumstances. Ease and comfort was not possible to the family in their northern home. The most diligent effort was necessary to secure a livelihood from the sterile soil. Strength of body and fortitude of soul were the heritage of those reared in and inured to stern climatic condi- 600 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tions, and the mother, who bore the maiden name of Ruth Keach, is still hale and hearty at the age of seventy-one. The father, Charles Greenleaf Whit- tier, Sr., died at the old Maine homestead in 1912, when seventy-one years of age. The eldest of their seven children is ]\Iilo W., who remains at the old homestead. The second son, Mericos H. Whittier, a millionaire oil operator residing in Los Angeles, was a member of the firm of Green & Whittier, developers of what is now the Green and Whittier division of the Associated Oil Company in the Kern river field. The third son. Colon F., is also an oil operator and a resident of Los Angeles. The fourth son, Charles G., who has lived in California since 1903, is one of the leading oil superintendents in the North Midway field. There are three daughters in the family, namely: ()li\'e. wife of Lester Fair, a merchant in Maine; \'iora, wife of Henry Snusa, of Maine ; and Florence, Mrs. Henry Vinol, who makes her home at Caribou. Upon coming to the North Midway field immediately after his arrival in the west Mr. Whittier joined his brother, M. H., in drilling a discovery well on section 20, 31-22. This was practically the first development work at- tempted in the district. Although oil was struck, the well was closed down and the lease abandoned, after which he went to Coalinga, January 4, 1905. For eighteen months he worked on a lease in which his brother held an in- terest. Going from there to the Los Angeles field he entered the employ oi the Salt Lake Oil Company and for five years continued on their lease, mean- time purchasing a substantial residence in Los Angeles and forming many warm and permanent friendships with well-known operators of that city. For the period of his residence there he held membership with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows in Hollywood. During February of 1911 he re- turned to the North Midway field, where now he engages as superintendent of the Hondo Oil Company, operating on section 15, 31-22. The name of the company is taken from a Spanish word meaning "a deep hole." Wells on the lease average one thousand feet in depth and two hundred and fifty barrels per day in production. Forty-two and one-half acres are leased by the two brothers, M. H. and C. G., who are partners in the Hondo Oil Company. The marriage of Mr. Whittier took place at Portsmouth, N. H., and united him with Miss Mary Coughlan, who was born in County Cork, Ire- land, and at the age of seventeen came to the United States, settling first in Boston. From childhood she has been an earnest member of the Roman Catholic Church. While still retaining their Los Angeles residence, they are now making their home on the lease. MRS. AMANDA RUBY.— The real estate business, which has made such strides in development in this part of the country in the last decade. has ])ruved a most attractive field of labor for the progressive business woman, who recently has come to the fore and procured such good returns that her fellow workers are kept busy looking after their interests and keeping in close touch with her. Airs. Amanda Ruby is a fine example of the self-made woman, whose untiring efifort along this line has made her a most prosperous woman. She is the granddaughter of Frederick Wise, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who was one of the pioneer farmers of Illinois. Frederick and Rebecca Wise were the parents of Jacob Mason Wise, born in Sj)ringfield, Sangamon county. 111., who became the father of Mrs. Ruby. Jacob Mason Wise, was a blacksmith in Sangamon county. 111., for a while and later went to Riverton and then to Mount Auburn, Chris- tian county, same state, but he soon returned to Sangamon county and settled in Niantic. Illiopolis was his next place of residence and later he returned to Mt. vVuburn. He followed his trade for some. years, then was a hardware merchant while at Mount Auburn, but finally returned to black- smithing, which he followed the remainder of his life. His wife, who before her marriage was Nancy J. Millstead, was born in Wheeling, W. Va., and >^- \ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 603 her death occurred in Alt. Auburn. III. Mr. Wise passed away in Mt. Au- burn in August, 1891, aged sixty four years. He was a Mason, and was a popular man in those circles which knew him. Three of the children born to Mr. and J\lrs. A\'ise are now living, viz.: Amanda, Mrs. Ruby; Alvin A., a resident of San Jose. Cal. ; and George O., of Springfield, 111. Mr. Wise served in both the Mexican and the Civil wars. Reared in Illinois, Amanda Wise attended the public schools of the various localities where her parents were settled, and there grew to woman- hood. She married in Springfield, Horace S. Ruby, who was born in Macon county, 111., and reared on a farm there. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company I, 7th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, and was honorably discharged at the end of the great conflict. His death occurred in Bement, 111., in May, 1884. After the death of her husband Mrs. Ruby continued to reside in Illinois until 1891, when she came to Mojave, Cal., where she purchased a hotel and rooming house. This place was burned out twice, but undaunted she rebuilt again and remained there for a number of years, in 1907 locating in East Bakersfield, where she has since resided, looking after her interests. RICHARD T. WILHITE. — That type of manhood which, in spite of vicissitudes and losses, in the face of disappointment, will nevertheless keep steadily at work, with untiring efifort, is represented in the life of Richard T. Wilhite, who was born near Marshall, Saline county. Mo., September 7, 1851. His father, William Wilhite, a native of Tennessee, became a farmer in Saline county, Mo., where he married Martha Woolard, a native of South Carolina. The father was accidentally killed by a runaway horse, and the mother died at the age of sixty years. Of their seven children Richard is the oldest. He received his educational training in the schools of his native place and graduated from the Marshall high school in 1870. Mr. Wilhite worked at farming for a short time, but in 1879 deciding to come west he set out for California. He first located at Modesto, Stanis- laus county, and there obtained employment in the grocery of L. Strauss & Co. at Turlock, remaining there five years. In 1886 he came to Kern county, and for several years worked for Haggin & Carr, later known as the Kern County Land Company. During this time he took up a home- stead claim of a hundred and sixty acres and proved up on it in five years, but he suffered losses and reverses and became in debt to the amount of $1000. Not losing courage, but rather with renewed effort, in 1890 he rented one hundred and sixty acres of land which was under cultivation, and later bought the eighty acres comprising his home ranch, upon which he is en- gaged extensively in general farming, making a specialty of raising alfalfa and grain. In connection with this he has for ten years also carried on a dairy business. Recently Mr. Wilhite disposed of nineteen acres of his place to a Mr. Attwood. On May 24, 1885, Mr. Wilhite was united in marriage with Mattie J. Allen, born in Sawmill Flat, Tuolumne count}^, Cal., on November 24, 1864, the daughter of James M. and Eliza (Bradford) Allen, natives of Missouri and Tennessee, respectively, who came to California in the early days. Mr. Allen died in Bakersfield and his widow now resides in Modesto. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhite have three children, Rodney, of Taft ; Shirley, Mrs. Watson, of Maricopa ; and Veda, at home. By a former marriage to Josephine Bene- dict, who died in Missouri, Mr. Wilhite had one child, Minnie, Mrs. E. K. Blood, of Bakersfield. ALEXANDER H. CROMWELL, D. V. S.— Romance threw its w^arm glow of adventure, travel and thrilling experiences over the boyhood years of Dr. Cromwell, whose present quiet but efficient discharge of the duties of veterinary surgeon at Taft has for its background a career full of excite- ment and more or less danger. The trend of an entire existence was for 604 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY him decided by the fact that in boyhood he lived on the largest cattle ranch in the United States and learned to ride horses almost as soon as he learned to talk. He was born at Anaqua, Victoria county, Tex., September 5, 1878, and was the eldest son of Col. Frank Hawkins Cromwell, a man of varied abilities, particularly skilled in the care of stock. Attracting the attention of Dull Bros., of Pittsburg, Pa., in 1881 he was engaged by them to manage their famous ranch in Texas. Under his able supervision the vast property was enlarged until finally the firm owned one hundred square miles, all under fence, comprising the largest stock ranch in the entire country. In such an environment Dr. Cromwell passed his earliest years and developed fearlessness and self-reliance to an unusual degree. Three times he followed the trail up to the Yellowstone park. The first of these trips occurred when he was only twelve years of age. Leaving the Texas ranch during the latter part of February he made the long trip as a horse herder and reached the Yellowstone the following Christmas. Without accident or loss he brought out three herds of cattle numbering about twenty-five hundred head each, besides one hundred head of saddle horses. Scarcely had he reached the age of thirteen when he joined the celebrated Buffalo Bill show in 1891. Unusual skill in trick riding enabled him to secure a place in this show, which contained in its ring some of the finest riders in the world. During the \\'orld's Fair in 1893 he was with the show near the exposition grounds and did fancy riding which won for him continued applause from the vast throngs crowding the great tent. Besides showing with Buffalo Bill in the principal cities of the United States he accom- panied the circus to other countries and one of the first places visited was Mexico City, where there was an exhibition September 16, 1891. Nor did his travels end with his resignation from the circus work. In addition he has taken work and draft horses in great numbers to foreign countries, doing that work in the interests of large English and American oil com- panies, and for some time he was employed by S. Pierson & Son, of London. A desire to acquire a knowledge of veterinary surgery and dentistry caused Mr. Cromwell to matriculate in the Veterinary Dental College at Detroit, Mich., during 1900. Two years later he became a student in the Veterinary Science Association's College at Ontario, Canada, from which he was graduated in March, 1903, in the veterinary surgical course, and in the same year he received his diploma in veterinary dentistry from the Detroit institution. Returning to Texas in the same year, he engaged in the oil fields at Beaumont and continued in dififerent oil fields of Texas for a number of years. As an employe of S. Pierson & Son, of London, in 1906 he went to the isthmus of Tehuantepec, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he engaged as transportation manager in the oil fields. When the position had become remunerative and the work had developed to large propor- tions, he almost lost his life in an attack of yellow fever during the latter part of 1908. Forced to abandon all work, he boarded a steamer that sailed around the Horn to New Orleans. The long ocean voyage gave him a little strength, but he was still emaciated and weak when he was advised to seek the oil fields of Coalinga in California. The change brought him benefit at once and he is now robust, rugged and fitted to discharge efficiently every business duty. With Dr. W. A. Seabury he built the Coalinga veterinary hospital in 1909, but this building was destroyed by fire in 1911, and since 1910 he has devoted his time to veterinary surgery in Taft, where Dr. Seabury has likewise been his partner. Since coming to this place he has bought stock in one of the oil companies and also has taken up several excellent government locations. Fraternally he is asso- ciated with the Improved Order of Red Men, holds the office of secretary in ^^ ^ i4 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 607 the Taft lodge of Knights of Pythias and is also an honorary member of the Pythian Sisters in this city. NATHAN W. TAUSSIG. — Varied experiences and an association with diversified dccupations have given to Mr. Taussig a broad knowledge of the great Southwest and have deepened in his mind a conviction that Kern countv olTers to settlers of energy and sagacity opportunities unsurpassed by any other section of the great empire by the sunset sea. Practically all of his mei;nories of childhood cluster around San Bernardino, for he was only a little more than three years of age when the family left the East (where he had been born at Cleveland, Ohio, August 30, 1862), and cast in their fortunes with the then insignificant hamlet situated atThe edge of the desert. Vividly he recalls the little schools of San Bernardino, the slow growth of the town and the struggle sustained b}^ the people in their unceasing efforts to secure an adequate supply of water for irrigation. When only fourteen years of age he was hired to drive the stage coach from San Bernardino to Resting Springs in Death Valley. This was a task calling for physical strength, powers of endurance and fearless courage, and the fact that he continued with the company for two years furnishes proof as to his fine physical and mental qualities. When he resigned the position he crossed over into Arizona and secured a position in the quartermaster's department with the government service. Returning to San Bernardino at the expiration of three years Mr. Taussig made a brief sojourn in that town and then proceeded to Barstow to work in a mill connected with the Waterman mines. For five years he remained in the mill, of which for a time he acted as foreman. Next he spent three years with the Barber Mining and Milling Company at Calico. An ardent desire to become a rancher led him to buy property near Santa Ana in 1887. but he found conditions unfavorable and sold in about one year, later returning to the mines. For a short time he worked in the Ibex mill in Death Valley, operated in conjunction with large gold and silver mines. From that place he went to Mexico and engaged as foreman in a mine in Sonora for one year. Upon his arrival in Kern county during 1891 Mr. Taussig bought one hundred and twenty acres of unimproved land at Semi-Tropic, where he spent nine years in a vain endeavor to make a success of agricultural opera- tions. Discouraged by repeated failures, he finally sought another location and in 1900 bought one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land on the Goose Lake channel of Kern river. The new property responded to his efforts for profitable cultivation. Crops of grain were remunerative. Stock- raising brought to him considerable success. Dairying, in which he embarked during 1905, also proved a success. Alfalfa, several crops of which were cut each year, furnished an abundance of hay for the stock. With the profits of a few seasons he felt justified in buying one hundred and sixty acres three and one-half miles north of Wasco and this tract has been put in an excellent state of cultivation. A well seventy-five feet deep is operated by a pumping plant with a ten-horse electric motor, providing a flow of water from fifty to sixty inches, sufffcient to furnish an abundance of water for the irrigation for a quarter-section. During 1911 IMr. Taussig moved to his Wasco ranch, but he still continues to manage the other place. The marriage of Mr. Taussig took place at Santa Ana, Cal., December 20, 1886, and united him with Miss Edith Siegfried, who was born in Waterloo, N. Y., April 27, 1862. She was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Poorman) Siegfried, natives of New York. Mr. Siegfried came to California via Cape Horn in 1849, landing at San Francisco, and for some years he followed mining. After a stay of eight years in the West he returned to New York, where he was married and there he followed farming until his death in 1870. Mrs. Taussig's mother, now ]\Irs. M. A. Hotaling, resides in Orange county. 608 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Cal. Mrs. Taussig was educated in Syracuse, N. Y., and came to Santa Ana in 1882. She is the mother of six children, as follows : Perla E., wife of T. T. Miller of Wasco ; James W., who has been educated in public schools and the Heald's Business College at Riverside ; Leona, Nathan, Theodore and Billie G. ROBERT LEE SCOTT.— The Lakeview No. 2 Oil Company, of which Mr. Scott acts as superintendent, operates a lease of eighty acres situated on section 4, township 11, range 23, and is financed by the following officers and directors : Clarence H. White, president ; Floyd G. White, secretary ; and W. W. Wickersham, treasurer, the three gentlemen named being capitalists residing in Los Angeles. The identification of Mr. Scott with the company dates from February, 1911, and since December of the same year he has filled the position of superintendent, in which capacity he has proved efficient, energetic and resourceful, a thoroughly dependable man for a position of great responsibility. When first he entered the employ of the company he took charge of the drilling of their well No. 2 situated on section 26, town- ship 32, range 24. This well has a depth of forty-five hundred and fifty-five feet and is excelled in depth by only one other rotary well in the entire country, namely : well No. 4, of the Lakeview Annex (Dil Company, located on section 26, township 32, range 24, which has a depth of forty-nine hundred feet. Well No. 2, drilled by Mr. Scott, came in January 23, 1913, with a record of twenty-six hundred barrels as a gusher and is still a most valuable proposition, pumping six hundred barrels per day of twenty-four hours, and furnishing oil of twenty-six to twenty-seven degrees gravity. Eighteen men are employed on the lease, which presents an appearance of prosperous activ- ity and profitable operation. Ever since the excitement caused by oil discovery in the Spindletop region in Texas Mr. Scott has been closely connected with the oil industry. All of his life has been spent in the south and west, where prior to his identification with his present business he had been employed as a structural iron worker. A member of an old southern family, he was born at Lost Prairie, Miller county. Ark., March 19, 1879, and was the fourth and youngest child of William B. and Emily Eliza (Evans) Scott, natives respectively of Virginia and Louisiana. The father, who migrated to Louisiana in early life, there met and married Miss Evans and later removed to Arkansas, where he became well-known locally as an expert judge of stock. About the time that his youngest child was born he was killed by being thrown from a horse. His widow afterward continued to reside in Arkansas, where in a few years she again married ; her death occurred at Texarkana in December of 1904. Three sons survive her and a daughter died in childhood. The eldest son, John Harrison Scott, is engaged in farming at Texarkana, Tex., and the second son, William B., Jr., is employed as a structural iron worker in St. Louis. The youngest child, Robert Lee, who has always been known as Lee Scott, passed the years of boyhood at Texarkana, Ark., where the family moved shortly after the accidental death of the father. A difference of opinion with his step- father caused him to leave home at the age of thirteen, in 1892, and since then he has been self-supporting. For two years he worked on a farm about thirty- five miles from Texarkana, but agriculture was not congenial to him and he was glad to turn from it to general work in a mechanical line, being engaged in saw-mills, shingle-mills and planing-mills as a mechanic. From that he drifted into structural iron work. The owners of the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Works in Leaven- worth, Kan., were at that time extensively engaged in bridge construction through the middle west and Mr. Scott found employment with one of their construction gangs. For two years he was employed in building a bridge on the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf (now the Kansas City-Southern) Railroad HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 609 across the Red river and later he worked on the South Canadian bridge at Sapulpa, in the Indian Territory. With his employers he worked in various parts of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma as a bridge-builder. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he resigned his position and enlisted at Little Rock, Ark., in Company L, First Regiment of Arkansas Infantry, but at the expiration of five months he was honorably discharged, there being no need of his regiment at the front. Returning to the structural iron line of w^ork, he continued in the south and was employed on the North Washataw bridge at Ravia in the Indian Territory at the time of the excitement in the Spindle- top region. Leaving the work in which he had been so notably successful, he embarked in the oil business. March 10, 1900, he began to work at Beaumont and Spindletop. During December of the same year he turned his attention to drilling in the Spindletop field. There he helped to bring in three gushers. Leaving that field in 1902, he went to Evangeline, La., as a driller and super- intendent of production. Upon returning to Texas he continued as a driller. About that time he made the acquaintance of the lady whom he married, February 22, 1904, at Houston, Tex., and who was Mrs. Mary Hill, daughter of John Manning, of Alabama. By her first marriage Mrs. Scott had one child, Mayna, who is now a student in St. Augustine's Academy at Fresno. As owner of a one-half interest in two drilling rigs, with J. W. Boynton, of Beaumont, Tex., as a partner, Mr. Scott took contracts for drilling in a number of fields and made considerable money at such work. Unfor- tunately he and Mr. Boynton invested their means in a venture that lost each of them $8,000 or more, the two wells which they drilled proving to be unproductive. Later Mr. Scott engaged in drilling for the larger companies on the Gulf coast of Texas, but in 1906 returned to his previous location at Saratoga and secured employment as a fireman and pumper. During October, 1910, he came from Texas to California and established himself in the Sunset field, where in addition to serving as superintendent of one of the prominent companies he has acquired an enviable reputation as one of the best rotary drillers in the west. A portion of his time has been given to contract drilling and he has drilled four important wells on the leases of the Pacific Midway, Obispo and Brookshire Oil Companies. ELONZO P. DAVIS.— The call of the frontier brought the Davis familv by gradual migration and with several sojourns in the intervening territory, from the plantations of old Virginia, where they became established during the colonial era, to the coast of the Pacific ocean. The head of the house at the time of the removal to California was Isham Turner Davis, born near Lebanon. Wilson county, Tenn., but a pioneer farmer of Arkansas from a period antedating the struggle with Mexico. In that war he bore an hon- orable part and during the battle of Vera Cruz, serving under the illustrious general, Zachary Taylor, he received a severe wound in the leg. Upon the declaration of peace and the discharge of the army he returned to his Arkansas farm, where for many years he continued the arduous struggle for a livelihood. Meanwhile he had married Miss Mary A. Farley, a native of East Tennessee and a member of an old Virginia family. It became increasingly more and more difficult to earn a livelihood for their large family on their farm, so their thoughts turned longingly toward the west. Finally, during 1869, they started across the plains via Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, loading their necessary equipment in wagons and using oxen for motive power. The son, Elonzo P., was at that time a youth of about sixteen years, strong, willing and industrious. With a kind heart and willing spirit he often stood guard at night in place of older members of the party whose turn it was for such a task and he recalls vividly the loneliness of those occasions and the anxiety caused by the least noise of unusual portent. One cold, rainy night a strange noise put every nerve on 610 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tension. Twice he called, but received no answer. Then he fired. The next morning when an investigation was made the body of a large wolf was found. Fortunately the Indians did not attack them at any time during the long journey. From 1869 until 1871 the family lived at El Monte and from that time until 1876 they made their home in Kern county, but in the year last-named the father, accompanied by all of the family excepting a daughter and Elonzo P., went back to Arkansas, only to return to the west in 1883 and settle again in Kern county, where he died in 1900 at the age of eighty-seven. . Here also occurred the demise of his wife. In the family of Isham Turner Davis there were eight children who reached maturity, Elonzo P. having been the second among these. The eldest, William H., is a mining man at Rosamond, Kern county. Two daughters, JNIrs. Addle Egan and Mrs. Mollie Purcell, are widows living in Bakersfield. Mrs. Sarah Houston resides in Los Angeles and Lucetta, Mrs. Martin Pettis, is a resident of Bakersfield. The youngest sons are John Edward and Robert Lee, the latter a resident of Rosamond, while the former, who lives in Bakersfield, is operating oil land on the west side in the McKittrick field. During early boyhood Elonzo P. Davis attended subscription schools in Arkansas. When the family crossed the plains he was able to do a man's work and proved of the greatest assistance in bring- ing the hazardous trip to a safe consummation. While living at El Monte he earned a livelihood by teaming and working on a farm. November of 1871 found him in Kern county, where he since has made his home. He had lived here but a short time when the county-seat question came up before the people and at election time he rode mule-back through Bear valley and Tehachapi, carrying tickets for voting as well as the other neces- sities of the election. Both l)efore and after the return of his father to Arkansas he engaged in teaming to the mountains and into Inyo county, using twelve or fourteen mules to two wagons. Ever since the autumn of 1881 Mr. Davis has engaged in the livery business in Bakersfield. For the first two years he carried on the Over- land stable located on Eighteenth near K street. Next he bought the old Dexter barn on Nineteenth between L and M streets. After having managed that stable for almost seven years he sold out and soon afterward the barn was destroyed by fire. Meanwhile he had purchased the old French stable, but when the Dexter was rebuilt on Nineteenth between M and N streets, he leased the place and for more than twenty years conducted a livery business at that location. During February of 1910 he leased the Union stable on K and Twenty-first streets and since then he has conducted here a large business in his line. Politically a Democrat, Mr. Davis has maintained a warm interest in local and national issues. During a service of nine years as a member of the ])(iard of education he assisted in raising the standard of the graded schools and putting them into excellent condition for permanent helpfulness. For four years he served as city marshal of Bakersfield. His comfortable home in Bakersfield is presided over by Mrs. Davis, formerly Miss Margaret Hope Taylor, who is a native of Virginia and a member of an old. and cultured family of that commonwealth. About 1879 she was brought to California by her father, J. C. Taylor, who settled in Kern county and engaged in general farming. In this county she received her education and here she became the wife of Mr. Davis. They are the parents of five chil- dren. Myrtle, Elonzo P., Jr., Pearl, Marvin and Erna. In young girlhood Mrs. Davis became identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. ANTON THORAND.— Born in Germany, May 14. 1863. Mr. Thorand is a son of Joseph and Mary (Hanke) Thorand. the latter of whom was born in Germany and died in Illinois. The father brought his family to America when HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 613 Anton was l)ut four years of age, and they located in Trenton, Clinton countv, 111., where he has ever since made his home. He was the father of ten children, of whom six are now living, Anton being the youngest son. Anton Thorand was reared in Trenton, and received but meager educa- tional advantages, being obliged early in life, when but a lad, to go to work in the coal mines in that vicinity. This work he followed until 1889, when he came west and on October 7 or 8, 1897, arrived at Bakersfield, w"here he en- tered the employ of the Sumner Water Company, under Simon W. Wible. He began work at the bottom as a general hand, by his diligent and attentive labor receiving rapid promotion, and in July, 1898, he was made foreman [or the company. He superintended the laying of the pipes and mains (and there were miles of mains and pipe laid) and gave close attention to the plant until it was sold to the Bakersfield Water Compan3\ As he was one of the organ- izers of the present company, Mr. Thorand was elected vice-president of the board of directors as well as superintendent, and in this capacity he has taken an active part in building the new plant, which they immediately proceeded to do. Five new wells were sunk, these yielding them more than ample supply for all present needs; three new electric pumping stations have been installed, giving a service that has become appreciated by the consumers, and that, too, of a splendid quality of water ; and it has all been constructed on the plan that it can be easily enlarged as the population grows and there is greater demand. A storage system is arranged by means of a reservoir with a capac- ity of over two million gallons, constructed on the heights above East Bakers- field. Since the installation of the new ])lant there has been more activity in building operations in East Bakersfield from the fact that the citizens became convinced that they could be assured ( f adequate water supply and a good S3^stem for same. Politically Mr. Thorand is a Republican. WILLIAM J. SCHULTZ.— On the paternal side he is of Teutonic origin, while the Genaud family were of French lineage, and in his own mentality may be seen the attributes of both nationalities, supplemented by traits distinctively American. His father, Frederick F., a native of Ger- many, but from 3'oung manhood a resident of Ohio and for many years a contractor and builder, is now living retired in Cincinnati, where the wife and mother died in May of 1901. Of the five children comprising the family, William J. was born at Mount Carmel, Clermont county, Ohio. March 23. 1879, received his education in Cincinnati, where he lived from the age of six years until after he had attained man's estate. Upon leaving school he became a clerk in a grocery and for three years continued in that business. Coming to California and to Bakersfield during 1901. ^Ir. Schultz pro- ceeded direct to the Kern river field and secured employment as a roustabout. The exercise of ability brought him merited promotion. As a tool-dresser he proved efficient, as a driller he made good, and in a short time he rose to be superintendent of a company, where as in the less important posts of duty he displaved energy, discrimination and sagacity. At the time of his arrival in the .Sunset field Jewell & Blodoett owned the princi])al interests, but the north end of the field was entirelv undeveloped and the importance of the district as an oil center was not realized by the most optimistic residents. The Maricopa Oil Company owned forty acres lying in the southwest quar- ter of section 1, 12-23, and out of this tract they leased seventeen acres to the Gate Citv Oil Compan^^ which later Iwught the land and platted the town site of Maricona. As early as 1903 an extension (^f the Sunset Railroad had been built to ^Monarch (practicallv the nucleus of Maricopa), but it was not until some time afterward that the seventeen acres on section 1 Avere platted and sold. Upon the incorporation of Maricona in 1910 other lands were included in the town site, so that now the town lies on. sections 1.2. 11 and 12, township 12, range 23. Even as earlv as 1902 ]\Tr. Schultz was familiar with 614 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the tract where the present city stands. The possibility of oil discoveries had led him to this locality. For some time he had engaged with a firm of contract drillers. The first well that he drilled for the Maricopa Oil Company came in as a gusher and this led to his appointment as superintendent and general manager of the lease. Later he became interested in the property. In 1906 a corporation known as the Maricopa Road Oil and Development Company was organized with the late Capt. F. F. Weed as secretary and Mr. Schultz as general manager. Four wells were drilled, all proving to be good producers. In the fall of 1908 the Maricopa Road Oil and Development Company sold out to the Gate City Oil Company. The two gentlemen worked together in the utmost harmony and with the most satisfactory results and acquired six hundred and forty acres of land in the gusher belt of the Midway field. The title to this land is held in the name of the Alaricopa Investment Company, with Mr. Schultz as manager, while in addition he is manager of the Maple Leaf, I^uxor and Maricopa Oil Companies, operating on the same section, namely : 22, 32-24. WALLACE MELVIN MORGAN.— Mr. Morgan was born in De Soto, Johnson County, Kan., April 21, 1868. His father was Nelson Wallace Morgan, a native of New York, whose forebears had been residents of New York and the New England states since 1620. His mother was Jeanet Storms, also born in New York, of English-Dutch ancestry. They were married in Michigan, of which state both their families were pioneers, and moved to Kansas during the time when that territory was the principal battleground in the contest over the extension or restriction of slavery. When the Civil War began, Nelson W. Morgan enlisted in the First Kansas Infantry and served through the war. Except for a visit of a few months to her parents in Michigan, his wife, with three young children, remained in De Soto, a little town a few miles east of Lawrence, directly in the path of the guerilla bands that terrorized Eastern Kansas in the days when nearly all the able-bodied men of that section were fighting the larger battles in the East and South. In 1870 Nelson AA'. ?\Iorgan moved his family to iMarshall County, Kan., where he tO( k up a homestead close to the town of Irving, and a few years later moved to the latter place, where he conducted a wagon- making shop during the remainder of his active life. The subject of this sketch grew up in Irving and was educated in the public school of that place with a few months' additional instruction in a little college at Holton, Kan. Up to the time he was twenty-one, outside of the months he spent in school, he worked on farms in the summer, chopped wood in winter, quarried rock, worked in a railroad grading camp, lived a generally vigorous out-door life, and acquired a greater or less degree of proficiency in several of the building trades to which his early intimacy with the wagon-making shop had afl:'orded him a natural introduction. In December, 1889. crops and the general business and industrial outlook in Kansas being uniformly bad, ^lorgan. then just past twenty-one years of age. followed the family instinct to go West, and bought a ticket to Bakers- field, Cal. After six months s))ent on a Rosedale raisin vineyard, he went to Miranionte in the artesian belt in the northern part of the county, where he homesteaded a cjuarter-section of land, farmed and raised a little livestock until June, 1^)02. when he Ixnight the Delano Record and moved to that place. Meantime, on l"»)ruary 18. 1896. he was married to Frances Howard Raymond, a nati^■e of San Francisco, daughter of George A. Raymond and Mary Hatch Raymond. Mr. Raymond is a son of one of the early California pioneers and a desceiulant, through his mother's family, of Abraham Howard, who came to New England in 1722. ( )ne of Mrs. Raymond's ancestors was Capt. Thomas White, o.ne of the original settlers of Weymouth and a resident of Plymouth in 1635. After a nine-months' apprenticeship in country jour- d::::^'^^ciyU^ i^f^^^q • a (T>u / HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 619 nalisni in whicli both Mr. and .Mrs. Morgan learned enough about the art preservative to get out a httle weekly paper without assistance at any stage of its manufacture, they came to Bakersfield, where Mr. Morgan took a place on the newsgathering staff of the Morning F.cho. Since April, 1903, Mr. Morgan has been continuously with the Morning Echo. In the summer of 1904 S. C. Smith, editor and principal owner of the Echo, began a successful campaign for election to Congress, and delegated to the subject of this sketch the duty of editorial writing. Since that time, with one or two intermissions of two or three weeks each, nearly all of the editorials in the Echo have been his work. In addition he filled the position of city editor for a part of the time, and at all times has been one of the paper's general newsgatherers. Since Mr. Smith's death in January, 1913, the editorial direction of the paper has been in his hands. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have one daughter, P'rances, born in FJakersfield on September 6, 1903. ALEXIS FLAGG LOWELL.— The family of which Alexis F. Lowell is a member comes of English extraction and exhibits the tiualities inherent in that race. The initial period of American development found the name transplanted to the soil of New England, where a number of genera- tions has lived and labored and where it is still worthily represented by men of intelligence and patriotism. Genealogical records show that John Lowell devoted his entire life to agriculture in New England. His son, William, a native of Olney, Me., learned the trade of ship carpenter in youth and for years engaged in the occupation, together with that of farming. Late in life he joined his sons in California and died in Bakersfield. By his marriage to Mary Tyler, a native of Maine, he became the father of six sons, of whom Wilmot, Danville and William Harrison died in Bakersfield, which city is still the home of John and Alexis Flagg. The only son who remained in the east was Henry H., who died in Boston, November 20, 1912. The youngest of the sons, Alexis, was born at Concord, Me., November 19, 1846, and attended schools in his native township, where also at an early age he acquired a thorough knowledge of farm duties. An older brother, Wilmot, had come to California about 1862, and in 1873 he joined him here. For two years he engaged in the sheep industry near Hollister with that brother. During 1875 they removed the flock to Kern county and estab- lished their headquarters at Bakersfield. Here for a year or two they were exceptionally successful. Their flocks grazed on the Greenhorn mountains and along the plains, Avhere an abundance of pasturage was to be found. However, the severe drought of 1877 completely changed conditions and wiped out all of their profits, so that their flock of four thousand was re- duced to a scant four hundred. With undaunted courage the brothers began anew. Fortunately they were not again called upon to sustain such a loss or endure such a drought. When they disposed of their flocks about 1887 they did so at a fair profit. About that time they bought three hundred and twenty acres adjoining Bakersfield. This tract they devoted to general farm products and to fruit, particularly to peaches. Eventually the property was sold and a portion subdivided as the Lowell addition to Bakersfield, but Alexis F., having a fondness for the place, bought back twenty acres and planted it to fruit. He continued to superintend the acreage and care for the trees until 1910, when he disposed of the entire tract with the exception of the corner occupied by his residence. In addition he owns six houses in the Lowell addition, as well as other property in the city, and these various places he oversees personally. A\'ith that exception he has retired from all business activities, nor does he take any part in fraternal organizations, nor in politics aside from the casting of a Republican ballot at all national elections. It was the good fortune of Mr. Lowell to have the cheerful co-oi^eration 620 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and capable assistance of an appreciated helpmate. Mrs. Luella (Rogers) Lowell was born in Vanderburg county, Ind., and was next to the youngest among five children, all of whom attained maturity. Her parents, Samuel Curtis and Marilla J. (Sirkle) Rogers, were natives respectively of New Hampshire and Indiana. Early in life Mr. Rogers became a resident of Indiana and took up a raw tract of land, which he developed into a pro- ductive farm. During the summer of 1852 he crossed the plains to Cali- fornia and engaged in mining, but without any gratifying returns. Deter- mining to resume his profession of teacher, he went to Santa Clara county, where he opened and founded the first public school in the county. About three years later he went back to Indiana and resumed farm pursuits. How- ever, the lure of the west had sent its call to his soul and in 1867 conditions were such that he decided to remove his family to Arizona. The trip was made with wagon and ox-teams and he settled in Prescott, where he found employment as a teacher, in addition to which he engaged in general farm- ing, and while living there he also served as internal revenue collector at Prescott. After the death of his wife, which occurred in Arizona, he came to California and spent his last days in the home of his daughter. Mrs. Lowell. Here he passed away in 1909. Another bereavement came to Mrs. Lowell in 1910, when the second son of the family, Raymond Lowell, was called from the home by death. There still survive tw^o sons, William Curtis and Alexis, who are the pride of their parents and in whose welfare they maintain the deepest concern. THOMAS H. SMITH.— For fifty years Mr. Smith has been an active factor in the agricultural upbuilding of the remote but rich valley where he owns valuable holdings in land and stock and where, in the calm fruition of a life worthily spent, he is passing the twilight of a useful existence beneath his own vine and fig tree and surrounded by evidences of his thrifty manage- ment. It is said that his was the second family to locate in this valley and certain it is that none surpasses him in point of long and intimate association with the locality. A typical pioneer in temperament, he was well qualified for the hardships of the frontier and the loneliness of an isolated cattle ranch. As he pursued the even tenor of his way, adding to his acreage and increasing his herds, he did not neglect his duties as a citizen, but gave liberally to com- munity movements and especially interested himself in the starting of schools, for he was solicitous that the young people of the community should receive excellent educations. -Known and honored for miles in every direction from his homestead, he is recognized as a pioneer who aided in the local upbuilding and who achieved success in local enterprises. His own individual success proves the possibilities of the valley and laid the foundation of the extensive stock business continued satisfactorily by his son, Thomas S.. represented elsewhere in this volume. Descended from an ancient Anglo-Saxon family. Thomas H. Smith was born in Bristol. England, in 1824, and from early life followed the sea. In the course of several voyages he saw much of the world and visited many im- portant ports, but he finally decided to locate permanently in the United States. For his wife he chose Miss Sophia M. W'hittock, who was born at Salem, Washington county, Ohio, in 1829, being the granddaughter (on the maternal side) of Major Stanley, an illustrious ofifiicer in the war of 1812. The young couple were married at Salem and remained there for some time, but in 1853 Mr. Smith, lea\ing his wife in Ohio, came to California via Panama. Three years later Mrs. Smith came via the same route and joined him at Oakland, where he had engaged in clerking. During 1859 the family removed from Oakland to Tulare county and Mr. Smith took up land near Visalia, where he embarked in ranching. In 1862 he crossed the line into Kern county and located a claim on the South Fork of the Kern river, where the following year HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 623 he was joined by his family. As time passed his fields <^revv larger, his tracts more widely extended and his herd (;f cattle more important, so that the brand 13 then, as now, became known far and near. It became apparent to him at an early period of his identification with the valley that he must take steps to secure irrigation facilities. Accordingly he took out what is now the oldest ditch at the head of the river, thus bringing under irrigation some four hun- dred acres of excellent land. Because his large ranching interests have kept Mr. Smith remote from the great centers of population, it must not be supposed that he has neglected any duty devolving upon a public-spirited citizen or that he has failed to keep posted concerning national problems. In pt)litics he stanchly upholds Repub- lican principles. An abiding faith in the uplifting influence of religion has deepened his character and harmonized the elements entering into his men- tality. For years he and his wife have been earnest Methodists, loyal to the church of their choice and generous in contributions to missionary and benev- olent causes. Of their six children three attained mature years and two sur- vive. One daughter, Sophia, became the wife of J. B. Batz and is living in Bakersfield. The other, Henrietta, Mrs. J. H. Powers, died in the South Fork district. The only son, Thomas S., is represented elsewhere. EDWARD D. GILLETTE. — As an active, benign personality comi)ining successful business achievement with the highest social, moral and political ideals, Mr. Gillette stands out prominently among the production men in the Midway oil field and particularly on 25 Hill. Since April of 1909 he has been the efficient superintendent of the T. W. Oil Company, whose holding on section 25, township 32. range 23, now shows five producing wells with a monthly production of twenty thousand barrels. In addition he has been appointed superintendent of the W. T. M. Oil Company, also on 25, 32, 23, with six producing wells that average a monthly production of twenty thousand barrels ; and the Carbo-Petroleum Oil Company, on 26-32-23, with eleven producing w^ells and a monthly production of twelve thousand barrels. The two other organizations of which he is superin- tendent (the Los Posos Oil Company and the San Francisco Midway Oil Company) have no producing wells at present and are now idle, while the Los Angeles Midway Oil Company, on 6-31-23, which he owns, also has proved to be unproductive. In the management of the producing companies there is, however, sufificient responsibility to engross the time of even so energetic and forceful a superintendent as Mr. Gillette. Withal he has found leisure to identify himself with influences uplifting to the community. Not only is Mr. ( iillette a native son, but his parents, James O. and Augusta E. (Murley) Gillette, likewise are natives of the state, the latter born and reared in Alameda county. The paternal grandfather, James Gil- lette, the first civil engineer in Humboldt county, this state, started on a surveying expedition in 1849, and in order to take advantage of a short cut to his destination he left the other members of the party. When he failed to put in an appearance a search was made and his body was found where he had been shot by Indians. For many years James O. Gillette has engaged in ranching in Monterey county and there Edward D. was born July 29, 1877. There were three sons in the family. The eldest, Robert L., a skilled machinist, learned the trade with the Union iron works in San Francisco and helped to build the great battleship, Oregon, ^^"hile still a young man he died of appendicitis. The second son, Nathaniel, who studied assaying and became a practical miner, now owns the Gold Hill, a placer claim near the home ranch in Monterey county. The third son, Edward D.. was five years of age when the family removed to Santa Cruz, the father carrying on a lumber business in that city. After two years a return was made to Monterev countv and to the old homestead in the Chelam vallev. 624 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY where the lad was sent to the grammar school until he had completed the course. He had no higher educational advantages. Through wide general reading he has become well informed. When only sixteen years of age he began to operate a threshing machine and he continued at the work for three years, meanwhile threshing thousands of bushels of wheat. When nineteen he went to the Santa Margarita oil fields in San Luis Obispo county and there secured employment in hewing out timber for oil der- ricks and rigs. Next he worked as a roustabout, then as tool-dresser and rig-builder. After some experience as tool-dresser with the San Luis Obispo Oil Company he was transferred back to Parkfield, Monterey county. Eleven holes were drilled there, but no oil was found, nor was he much more fortunate at San Pablo, where he drilled three holes and found two dry and one with only ten barrels. Left penniless by these disastrous experiences, the young man drilled a water well for the Santa Fe Railroad Company at Point Richmond and in that way earned money enough" to pay his expenses to the Kern river field. Arriving here, he went to work for the Associated Oil Company and became superintendent on the Green and Whittier division of that concern. When he resigned his position, July 1, 1908, at the expiration of five years of continuous service, he had thoroughly learned the production part of the oil industry. In the Sunset field he spent one year with the Sunset Road Oil Company and when that concern became the property of the Union Oil Company he remained about ninety days with the new crew, in order that the Union employes might become acquainted with the location and outputs of the wells. During that period, in addition to his responsibilities on the field, he owned the hospital at Maricopa. On leaving the Sunset he was offered the superintendency of the T. W. Oil Company, which he accepted and has since filled. At the time of his first association with the lease well No. 1 had been condemned as hazardous and unprofitable. After drilling twenty-nine days he secured an average of four hundred barrels and there is now a dail}- average of two hundred and fifty barrels. The well was the first profitable venture of the kind on the south side of 25 Hill, where John Conley had first discovered oil and where the Sunset Coast Oil Company had brought in the first well. The pioneers of the hill were Messrs. Barlow and Hill, of Bakersfield. Fraternally ]\Ir. Gillette belongs to Bakersfield Camp No. 266, B. P. O. E. For some years he has been a director in the First National Bank of Taft. His first marriage took place in 1906 and united him with Miss Helen D. Campbell, of San Francisco, who died in 1907 when her child, Isabella Helen, was only thirty days old. In 1910 Mr. Gillette was united with Mrs. Constance H. AVilson, widow of Dr. W. C. Wilson, of South Africa, and a daughter of AA'illiam Harshaw, of Toronto, Canada. The attractive residence of Mr. Gillette on the W. T. & M. lease affords a decided im- provement on the primitive conditions in the oil fields, when canvas tents served as houses. Often Mr. Gillette mentions the fact that the first night on his present lease he spent in a rude shack built on posts over a rough board floor, under which, the first sight to greet his eyes as he awak- ened in the morning, he saw three rattlesnakes ready for action. No local movement is of deeper interest to him than the growth of the Petroleum Club, which owes its organization in part to his energy^ and enthusiasm. In addition to his prominent work in the Petroleum Club and in other local enterprises, Mr. Gillette has been a booster for good roads and maintains a warm interest in the "Three Hours to the Coast" movement, for no one realizes more than he the value to the oil fields (and to all of Kern county as well) of a first-class highway leading to the ocean. HARRY F. MURDOCK.— The citv clerk of Bakersfield traces his lin- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 625 eage to the Old Dominion and bears the name of his paternal grandfather, a Virginian of fine family and irreproachable character, who removed to Illinois when migration was at its flood tide and settled at Vandalia, Fay- ette county. Having acquired skill in the carpenter's trade during youth, he gave attention to that occupation and for years made a specialty of building contracts. Such work occupied his attention in Vandalia until the infirmities of advancing years prevented manual labor. His death occurred in Illinois in 1910. Under his wise supervision a son, E. E., born in Bond county. 111., had been trained to a thorough knowledge of carpentering and had entered upon contracting and building, these activities filling the entire period of his business career. At this writing he makes his home in Omaha, Neb., and though no longer active, he retains full possession of mental and physical faculties and keeps abreast with current affairs of city and nation. His wife, who like himself claims Bond county, 111., as her native home, bore the maiden name of Emma Gill and was a daughter of James Gill, a Virginian by birth and ancestry. Subsequent to his removal from the Old Dominion Mr. Gill followed the occupation of a stage-driver on the plank road between St. Louis and Vandalia. The family of E. E. and Emma Murdock comprised three sons and one daughter, all still living, the eldest being Harry F., who was born in Bond county. 111., September 22, 1871, and received excellent advantages in the grammar and high schools of Greenville, that county. After he had com- pleted the high-school course he spent three years in Greenville College and then gave up educational interests in order to earn his own way in the world. Going to St. Louis he entered the office of the "Big Four" Railroad and held clerkships in different departments, but at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war resigned the position in order to enlist in the service. His name was placed upon the muster rolls of Battery L, First United States Artillery, in Indianapolis, Ind., and soon he was appointed to special duty in the paymaster's department, serving at Pensacola, Fla., until he received an honorable discharge by reason of the adjutant-general's orders. Immediately after his return from the south Mr. Murdock came to California during the autumn of 1898 and entered the Southern Pacific Rail- road offices at San Francisco. The following year he came to Kern as a clerk in the superintendent's office of the operating department with the Southern Pacific Railroad and in a short time was promoted to be pay- master, which position he filled for some years. During July of 1910 he retired from the railroad service. Meanwhile in 1908 he had been elected town clerk of Kern. Upon the consolidation of Kern and Bakersfield July 19, 1910, he was elected city clerk of the new consolidated city. At the regular election in April, 1911, he was chosen to serve as city clerk for a term of four years and he has devoted his time and attention to official duties, having his office in the Producers Bank building. Realizing the need of securing a new and adequate supply of water for Kern, or East Bakers- field, the old Sumner Water Company having failed to keep pace with the growth and to supply the needs of the place, he began individually in 1911 to lay plans to interest people of that section in a new company to take over the old franchise and put in a new water plant and system. He secured an option on the plant for S. W. Wible and organized the Bakers- field Water Company, of which he became secretary and treasurer and one of the largest stockholders. This company sunk five w^ells and put in three pumping plants and a modern system at present sufficient for a period of twenty years. Since the plant's completion he has resigned his official position and management of the company in order to devote his time to other improvements which he is fostering, which are of general interest in the welfare of the communitv. It should be stated that the comple- 626 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tion of the new water system for East Bakersfield has established renewed confidence in that section as shown in the activities of improvement and building that is now going on. In national principles Mr. Murdock favors Republican tenets, but he is not a partisan in any respect and his election to office represents the choice of the people irrespective of political ties. The Spanish-American War Veterans number him among their most interested and loyal members and he is further connected with the Eagles and Woodmen of the World. Since coming to Bakersfield he has purchased propert}' and maintains an active interest in realty developments here and in adjacent communities. His family consists of wife and three children, Elizabeth, Kelton and Virginia, Airs. Murdock formerly having been Miss Margaret Clay, a resident of St. Louis, Mo., but a member of an old Ten- nessee family and herself a native of Nashville. HORACE GREELEY PARSONS.— Thirty years after the Mayflower had made its memorable voyage across the ocean to the new world the first representatives of the Parsons family in America came from England and set- tled among the colonists of Massachusetts, whence a later generation became transplanted upon New Hampshire soil. When the tide of migration began to turn toward the new west Jonathan Parsons removed from his native New Hampshire and settled upon the prairies of Wisconsin, where he developed a farm out of raw land in the primeval condition of nature. In his family was a son, Samos, born and reared in New Hampshire and during early manhood a business man of Dunkirk, N. Y., where he engaged in the manufacture of fanning mills. Later he made a somewhat brief sojourn in Ontario, Canada, whence he removed to Wisconsin and settled in A\"aukesha county. In addi- tion to the difficulty connected with the developing of a large tract of raw land into a productive farm he gave considerable time to public afifairs and served efficiently as a justice of the peace and postmaster. Eventually he became a citizen of Whitewater, Walworth county. Wis., and a stockholder in the Esterly reaper factory. Selling out his interests there in 1874 he came to California and purchased a home in Santa Clara county, where occurred the demise of his wife, Sophronia (Burt) Parsons, a native of New York. His own life was spared to the age of ninety years, when he died at his home. In his family there were four sons and two daughters. Two of the sons were gallant soldiers during the Civil war and one of these, Silas, was killed at Chickamauga while bravely fighting with the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin In- fantry. The other soldier son, William, served in the Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry and remained at the front throughout the entire four years of the war; his death occurred in 1911 in Santa Clara county. The youngest member of the family circle, Horace Greeley Parsons, was born in Waukesha county, \A'is.. August 19, 1847, and received a grammar- school education at Whitewater, that state, later spending a year in the University of Wisconsin. When yet a mere lad he learned the trade of a printer and in it became exceptionally expert. A brother-in-law, L. H. Rann, pul)lisher of the Whitewater Register, began to fail in health and at his solicitation Mr. Parsons agreed to take charge of the paper, which he did with considerable success, having the management of the sheet after the death of the brother-in-law and until the sale of the plant. Later for three years he published the Blue Valley Record at Milford, Seward county, Nebr. At the expiration of that time he moved the plant to Lincoln, that state, and merged the sheet into the Lincoln Leader, a well-known daily. A year later he sold the paper and plant and shortly afterward in 1874 he came to Cali- fornia, where he secured work at his trade in San Francisco. By carefully sav- ing his wages he was able to open a printing office of his own and in it he published twelve or more periodicals, including The Pacific (Congrega- tional), The Pacific Methodist. California Christian Advocate, The Rescue, ai/cd-^d^W^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 629 and other publications. The business proved fairly profitable, but it was too confining for his health and he was obliged to seek other lines of activity. Selling out he began to travel for the Dewey Publishing Company and for eight years he remained steadily in their employ, meanwhile traveling from San Diego as far north as Seattle. After three or four years as pub- lisher of the Grass Valley Tidings and owner of a one-half interest, he returned to the employ of the Dewey Publishing Company, this time traveling in their interests for six years. When the oil excitement was bringing many newcomers to Kern county Mr. Parsons became a resident of Bakersfield in 1900 and the following year embarked in the real-estate business. For a time he was a member of the firm of Williams & Parsons, but since 1906 he has been alone. The distinction of being, in point of years of continuous business, the oldest real-estate agent in Bakersfield belongs to him. City realty and country property have been handled by him with equal success. Besides improving a ranch of one hun- dred and sixty acres he has been interested in orange properties in the Edison section and in other lands. At his office on Chester avenue is located the agency for the Provident Building & Loan Association of Los Angeles and the Continental Building & Loan Association of San Francisco, also the agency for six of the leading insurance companies of the world, viz. : Hart- ford, New Zealand, Scottish Union and National, Law Union and Rock, Manchester of London and Teutonia of New Orleans. Deeply interested in the progress of Bakersfield, he has officiated for two terms as a director of its board of trade and has ranked among its most resourceful members. All movements for the local upbuilding receive his stanch support. He was one of the organizers of Bakersfield Realty Board and was elected its first presi- dent and is now serving his third term. Mr. Parsons' marriage was solemnized in Nevada City, Cal., and united him with Miss Anne Naffziger, who was born near Keokuk, Iowa, and is a graduate of the Laurel Hall school in San Mateo county. Gifted with excep- tional artistic ability, she has devoted herself to music from young girlhood and completed the course in the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston. After her graduation from that noted school she became a teacher of the art and built up a wide reputation for skill as an instructor as well as for proficiency as a pianist. Two children were born of her marriage to Mr. Parsons, the elder being Carrie, wife of George D. Keller, of Los Angeles, and the younger being Horace G., Jr., who is interested in a drug business in Fresno. MILTON DALLAS BERINGER.— Born in Cambria county, Pa., De- cember 5, 1858, Mr. Beringer is a son of John Beringer, a farmer by occu- pation. The latter moved across the line from Cambria county into Clearfield county and spent his last days at Burnside, where still lives the aged mother, Mary Jane (Patrick) Beringer. There were seven children in the family, namely : Milton Dallas ; George Elmore ; Porter Jesse, a machinist now femployed at Tyrone, Pa. ; A, L., an assistant to his eldest brother in the Kern river oil field ; John Oscar, a farmer, who remains at the old Pennsylvania homestead ; Charles ; and Olie, the widow of Clarence McAleese and a resi- dent of Parsborough, Nova Scotia. The youngest son, Charles, was acci- dentally killed in 1906 at a railroad crossing in Pittsburg, Pa.; he left a wife but no children. While yet a mere boy M. D. Beringer aided his father on the home farm and earned extra money as a helper in lumber camps. At the age of fourteen years he secured employment as trimmer and edger with the Empire Lumber and Mining Company of Philadelphia. After he had spent four years with the same concern he went south to North Carolina and secured work as a lumberman in Mitchell countv, where he met and mar- 630 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ried Aliss Callie Franklin, daughter of the late Andrew Franklin, of Elk- park, Mitchell county. Two years were spent in that locality and he then removed to Little River, Blount county, Tenn., where he remained for four years in the employ of a lumber company. From Tennessee in 1907 he came to California and settled in the Kern river oil field. With- out delay he was able to secure a position as engineer with a natural gas engine used in the Central Point division of the Associated Oil Company and he continued in that place until 1910, when he was chosen as foreman of the waterworks system of the Kern River Oil Felds of California, Limited. With his family, consisting of wife and four children, Charles D., George E., Margaret and Mabel, he is comfortably domiciled in the residence of the superintendent. DANIEL BOONE NEWELL. — From Kentucky many men have come out to the W est who have made their marks as citizens and public officials and been factors in the general development of the community. One such is Daniel Boone Newell, of Bakersfield, who bears the name of a distinguished pioneer and has himself won a notable success in the home of his adoption, lie was born May 20, 1865, at Antioch Mills, Pendleton county, Ky. His father, William Stich Newell, a native of Pennsylvania, was brought to Pendleton county by his parents. There he became a prosperous farmer and stockman and remained until 1889, when he took up land near Perkins, Lincoln county, Okla., where he improved a farm on which he died aged eighty-five years. He was descended remotely from Scotch ancestors. His wife, before their marriage Miss Mary Williams, was born in Pendleton county, Ky., and died while on a visit to Bakersfield when she was seventy- two years old. Of the eleven children comprising the parental family ten grew to manhood and womanhood. Daniel B., the seventh oldest, was early put to work on a farm in Kentucky and had brief educational opportunities in public schools, at the age of thirteen taking up the battle of life for himself. Lo- cating in Hickman county, Ky., he worked there for an uncle until 1881. when he went to Fort Worth, Tex., which town was then primitive and without a railroad. There he engaged in farming and stock-raising and he and his brother John bought land. They were quite successful and accum- ulated considerable money, which they lost, however, by failure of a bank in Fort Worth to which they had instrusted it. From Fort Worth Mr. Newell went to Winfield, Kan., where he farmed until 1888, when he came to California, without capital. He and a partner, Charles Hess, came to- gether to Kern county, having only twenty-five cents between them. They found employment with John Hendrickson as choppers of cord wood at $2 a cord. After they had completed a contract for five hundred cords Mr. Newell found work in the bridge department of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in which he was employed about four years. Then becoming a citizen of Tehachapi, he followed carpentering during the first winter and then he purchased the Cuddeback stable and ran it about one year, after which he traded it for a farming outfit. For two years he engaged in grain-raising on two sections of land, but both years proved dry and the venture did not turn out successfully. In the meantime, in 1892, he had been elected constable, in which capacity he served two years to the entire satisfaction of all interested. For six years afterward he was the proprietor of a feed yard at Oarlock, and at the same time he tried mining on the desert without success. In 1901 he located in Bakersfield. For a short time he was employed in the work of the street department, and after that he was for about four years a street car motorman. July 5, 1905, he was appointed an officer on the city police force. In 1906 he was elected on the Republican HISTORY Ui' KERN COUNTY 633 ticket as constable for the sixth judicial township of Kern, and in January, 1907, he assumed the duties of the office. So able and so satisfactory was his service that in 1910 he was re-elected to serve until January, 1915. Since 1903 he has filled the office of deputy sheriff of Kern county. He was made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., and affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Newell is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and of L. O. T. M. At Tehachapi Mr. Newell married Miss Kate Davis, a daughter of James L. and Alartha (Moffett) Davis, and a native of Los Angeles, Cal. Her father, who was born in Missouri, moved to Arkansas and there married Miss Moffett, of Tennessee birth. They crossed the plains to California with an ox-team caravan in 1853, and he was for many years successful as a builder in Los Angeles. He pursued the same business after his removal in 1882 to Bakersfield, where he and his wife both passed away. Of their ten children Mrs. Newell was the third youngest, She was brought up at Bakers- field and educated in local public schools. She has borne her husband two children. Roy and Elsa. Mr. Newell owns his comfortable residence at No. 1015 I street. He is locally active in the work of the Republican party and is a citizen of much public spirit. CHESSMAN J. CHADWICK.— The remarkable development of the oil industry in the Kern ri\er fields may be attributed in large degree to the energy and ability of the men connected therewith and not the least important of these is Chessman J. Chadwick, whose first identification with the business in Kern county dates back to the year 1901 and who now fills a very responsible position as general foreman of the Columbian. M. and S., and the Lorenzo Oil Companies, all located on section 29, town- ship 28, range 28. In addition he has the foreman ship of the Minnehaha Water Company, legally organized as the Minnehaha Oil Company, whose lease is located on section 19, township 28, range 28. Shortly after the discovery of gold in the west Benjamin D. Chad- wick left his eastern home and sailed around the Horn for California, where he landed safely, but without means or friends. In order to secure funds necessary for mining he became a sea-faring man and sailed on vessels between San Francisco and Panama. Later he was a pioneer placer miner in Yuba and Nevada counties. For seventeen years he made his home in Nevada county. Rising to prominence in his chosen occupation, he was elected president of the Sailor Flat Hydraulic Mining Company and con- tinued to superintend the business policy of the organization until its operations were discontinued by reason of the filling in of the Sacramento river at that point. His death occurred in 1903. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Mary A. Landing, resides in Hanford, Kings county, and at the age of sixty-two is physically and mentally well preserved. Out of a family of four sons and four daughters all are still living except two sons. The eldest of the eight. Chessman J., was born in Yuba county, Cal., June 11, 1869, and grew to manhood in Nevada City, where he supplemented a country school education by a course of study in Potter's Academy. When a mere boy he was accustomed to assist his father in mining operations and at the age of sixteen he devoted his entire time to placer and quartz mining. For two years he was employed in the Sierra Butte mine at Sierra City and for some years he continued to work in the mines of Nevada county. Later he leased a hydraulic proposi- tion at Bloomfield and this he operated with considerable profit. When oil was discovered at Coalinga, Fresno county, about seventeen years ago, he went to that point and secured employment as a tool-dresser. Little more than a year was spent in that place, after which he spent about the same time in the Los Angeles oil fields, coming thence to Bakersfield in 634 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1901 and engaging with a contractor to drill on the Sacramentcj lease. Next he drilled on the Sterling and later continued as its foreman under Messrs. Henderson and Martin. Six busy years were spent with the Sterl- ing and when he resigned there he traveled through Nevada, visiting mines of importance, among them those at Tonopah and Goldfield. Upon his return to the Kern river fields in 1908 he immediately was appointed general foreman of the Expansion and soon was promoted to be superintendent, but when that organization was overtaken by the Traders he returned to the foremanship and for the past few years has been retained in that capacity by the Columbian, M. & S., and Lorenzo Oil Companies, also by the Minnehaha Oil Company. Politically he votes the Republican ticket. HON. PAUL W. BENNETT.— Rarely is there to be found in a com- munity a man so deeply honored, so thoroughly respected or so generally beloved as was the Hon. Paul W. Bennett, whose association with Bakers- field covered the period from 1897 until June, 1913, when he passed from his earthly labors. As Judge of the Superior Court of Kern county for the past ten years, he had proved himself one of the state's ablest jurists, commanding the attention of many outside of the county who frequently called upon him to hear important cases away from Bakersfield and the surrounding county. Judge Bennett's birth occurred in Gloucester, Mass., in 1836, and had he lived until June 12, 1913, he would have celebrated his seventy-seventh birthday. His early days were passed in Canada, but as he grew 'tp he evinced a desire to see the west and accordingly sailed from Boston, round the Horn, to San Francisco, whence he made his way to Sonoma county and lived there a short time. Mining then attracted him and he went to the mines and subsequently became a resident of the Owens River valley, in order to investigate the country. When Inyo county was organized he became an undersherifif, at which time the study of law was taking all of his spare time. In 1868 he received the appointment of district attorney of Inyo county and election by the people to a second term followed. Inde- pendence had been his place of residence for some time, but he found it expedient for him to go to Mono county, as he there formed a partnership with the late Senator Pat Reddy, the firm of Reddy & Bennett becoming well known throughout the entire mining sections of Nevada and California. Through handling numerous mining suits Judge Bennett became an acknowledged authority on mining law. In 1884 he went to Stockton to practice his profession and there was associated at dififerent times with J. C. Campbell, David Terry and F. D. Nicol. His unusual ability was soon recognized, he was elected district attorney, but retired after one term. The year 1897 brought Judge Bennett to Bakersfield, where he formed a partnership with the late J. W. Ahern. His reputation had preceded him and his associations with the court work there brought him immedi- ate attention ; his clientele was large and his wise, unerring judgment was sought by scores. With the creation of a second Superior Court depart- ment Judge Bennett was named as judge by former Governor George C. Pardee, and he remained on the bench continuously until his death. He was re-elected after a partial term and at a subsequent election he was nominated by both political parties and chosen without opposition, which was evidence of his popularity and the deep regard in which he was held by his fellow citizens. Many important cases came under his hearing and he presided over many notable ones, not the least of which was the great irrigation suit in San Bernardino that had to do with the use of subter- ranean water, and his decision in that case governs the use of such waters throughout the state today. Like many other strong pul)lic characters, Judge Bennett was not a HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 637 partisan, though a Republican of the old school. Nevertheless Democrats and Republicans alike followed in his support and he was the friend and associate of many of the foremost Democrats in the state. Judge Bennett left a widow, who before her marriage was Sarah B. Potter, a native of IMaine. An only child, a daughter, passed away a few years ago. Judge Bennett was in fraternal circles a Knight Templar and a member of the Elks, and his associates in both bodies mourned the loss of a loyal, high-minded and conscientious member. The loss to Bakersfield was irreparable, to the county it proved to be deep and sorrowful, for the judge was loved not alone for his ability and broad-mindedness, but for his unselfishness and sweet, wholesome character. JOHN HICKEY. — Only those familiar with the hardships and sacrifices incident to the labors of a pioneer preacher can grasp with understanding the record of the life of John Hickey, who while earning a livelihood in an- other occupation labored with unwearied zeal as a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal denomination. As early as 1868, while yet living in Illinois, he was licensed as an exhorter and there began the work which has since become so dear to him. Upon coming to California he found great need of such Christian work as he could ofifer and his was not the spirit to stand aloof when the harvest was ripe and the laborers few. Born in Ireland in 1848, John Hickey was brought to America by an aunt in his childhood and settled in Illinois. There was nothing unusual in the disposition of the boy except his love of study and determination to secure a thorough education. With that object in view he worked at any honest occupation ofifered and saved his earnings with the utmost frugality. After he had finished the studies of the common schools at Godfrey, 111., he beo-an teaching and with the earnings he took a course in McKendree College at Lebanon, same state, and later attended the university at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. At the close of the sophomore year he left college and spent a year in Kearney, Buflfalo county. Neb., as principal of the city schools. From there he came to California in 1875, and settled in Kern county. After teach- ing school in Bear valley he spent three years teaching the Woody School, Linns Valley district, then returned and taught for one year in Bear valley and for two years in Cummings valley. Meanwhile he had studied the soil and had become convinced of its possibilities for agriculture, hence he took up a pre-emption, settled on the land, later bought railroad land adjoining and finally acquired four hundred and eighty acres in one body. Until the farm became productive he taught school in Bear valley, and when he re- signed there he was succeeded by S. C. Smith, who later became United States senator. Discontinuance of work as an educator did not lessen the interest main- tained by Mr. Hickey in the local schools and for twelve years he served as school trustee with the greatest efificiency. Meanwhile he was devoting much time also to his labors as an itinerant preacher, filling some pulpit almost every Sunday and aiding in the starting of congregations of his denomination. During the week he was busy with his ranch, where he raised grain and other crops, also developed quite a large herd of cattle, so that his brand, the letter P, became known all through that section of coun- try. Finally feeling the imperative need of lightening his labors, he left the ranch in 1908 and removed to Tehachapi. For four years he managed the ranch from his town place and then in 1912 disposed of the property, since which time he has been retired. Upon the incorporation of Tehachapi in 1910 Mr. Hickey Avas elected a member of the first board of trustees. At the general election he received a higher number of votes than any candidate. When the board was organ- ized he was chosen chairman and now is deeply interested in the improve- ment of streets and the buildipg of a water system. The village has in him 638 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY a progressive citizen and loyal promoter. Its best interests have been carefully protected by him. In its citizenship he occupies a place of distinc- tion. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., and later became identified with the Los Angeles Consistory. His marriage, in Godfrey, Madison county. 111., August 21, 1873, united him with Miss Laura E. Waggoner, a native of that place and a daughter of Samuel and Louise (Powell) Waggoner, natives respectively of Tennessee and Dela- ware. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Hickey are natives of Kern county, but are now living elsewhere in the state. Edwin C. is employed with the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles ; Mrs. Laura Edith Howland also lives in that city; John H. is connected with the Southern Pacific Company in San Luis Obispo; Mrs. Bertha L. Perkins lives in Los Angeles; and Morris L. has a position in San Luis Obispo. GEORGE C. SPROULE.— At Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada, where he was horn I'^ebruary 10, 1880, and where his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Hardman) Sproule, reside, George C. Sproule became familiar with the oil industry in childhood through the fact that his father was engaged as a driller and in other capacities around oil fields. The family had no means outside of the daily wages of the father. There were nine children and it was absolutely necessary that each one should become self-supporting at the earliest possible age. Therefore George C, who was sixth among the nine, had meager educational advantages, but at the age of sixteen was a contributor to the family maintenance. From being a roustabout in the Oil Springs field he was promoted to be a tool-dresser and for four years he followed that line of work, after which he became a driller. When nineteen years of age he came to the Kern river fields for the first time and secured employment as a tool-dresser. Next he drilled for Chancellor & Canfield in the Midway fields. After he had worked steadily in the Kern county fields for four years he returned to Canada, bought a one- third interest in a well-drilling outfit and embarked in independent contract- ing. Although he returned to California in 1906 he still owns an interesct in the oil outfit, his partners being two brothers, John and Jacob Sproule, Upon his return to the Kern river fields from his Canadian home Mr. Sproule engaged as a well puller on the Monte Cristo. Six months later he entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company and began to drill on the San Joaquin and Canfield divisions. For a time he worked as sub-foreman on the San Joaquin. During June of 1909 he was made foreman on the Green and Whittier division of the Associated and continued to fill the position with ability and devotion for three years. June 1, 1912. he resigned to become superintendent of the Enos Oil Company at an advance of salary. The Enos employs nine men and controls two hundred and twenty acres on section 6, township 29, range 28, where six producing wells (out of a total of twenty) give an average gross return of thirty-two hundred barrels of oil per month. It has not been possible for Mr. Sproule to identify himself with public afitairs in his adopted country, for the duties of his position confine him closely to the oil fields. However, he is intelligently posted concerning public afifairs and evinces a deep devotion toward the land of his adoption. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. When he came to the west he had not yet established domestic ties, but in Kern county he formed the acquaintance of Miss Nora M. Barnes, a sister of Tom Barnes, the popular superin- tendent of the Associated Oil Company. Miss Barnes had come to the west from Conway, Laclede county. Mo., and August 21, 1909, she became the wife of Mr. Sproule in Kern county, where they have established a comfortable home in the oil fields. Their daughter, Imogene Elaine, was born here in 1911. N V c^ "^6 ^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 641 WILLIAM E. UNDERWOOD.— Throup:h long identification with the landed development of Kern county Mr. ITnderwood has been brouo^ht into intimate association with people similarly engaf^ed and has acquired thorough knowledge of soils, climate, crops and methods of cultivation. An expensive series of experiments with dififerent products, particularly with several varie- ties of grapes, finally convinced him that grain and alfalfa are the crops best adapted to successful growth in his district and hence he now specializes with these, adding thereto an important interest in the stock business and par- ticularly in the dairy industry. When he arrived in Kern county February 3, 1890. he bought land in Rosedale colonv and began its development. Now he owns two hundred and sixty-five acres under cultivation to alfalfa and grain and in addition he has on the farm about forty head of stock. When he first came to the colony he bought eighty acres and later added to the farm until he gave it adequate size for grain-raising. Besides the manage- ment of his farm he is interested financially in the Tejon Oil Company, oper- ating in the Kern river field. A member of a pioneer California family, William E. Underwood was born near Stockton, San Joaquin county, November 13, 1864, and is a son of Ezra Edwin and Mary (Hughes) Underwood, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ezra E. Underwood, who came of Cok nial and Revolutionary stock, crossed the plains with ox teams in 1859 and engaged in grain farming in San Joaquin county. There he married his wife, who was a daughter of William H. Hughes, a native of Pennsylvania, afterwards a settler in Missouri, where his wife died. Tn 1849 he brought his children across the plains and settled at Sonora. later locating near what is now Ripon, where he followed stock- raising. Old Uncle Billie Hughes was well known in those parts, where he resided until his death. Ezra E. Underwood settled near Waterford, Stanis- laus county, and was closely identified with the upbuilding of that county, being a member of the county board of supervisors. Upon retiring he re- moved to Santa Cruz, where he died October 7, 1911; his wife continues to reside in the same place. Of this union there were three children, William E. being the oldest; Alfred E. resides near Hollister; Herbert L. is a farmer and dairyman in the Panama district. After he had completed the studies of the public schools William E. was sent to University Mound Collesre in San Francisco and afterwards to the Stockton Business College, so that from an educational standpoint he was well qualified for life's responsibilities. Leav- ing business college at the age of twenty years, he assumed the management of a ranch of sixteen hundred acres owned by his father and situated in Fresno county. The portion of the large tract under cultivation was devoted to wheat-growing and for five years he continued the oversight of the property, meanwhile, plowinc:, sowing, harvesting and threshing upon a very extensive scale. When he left Fresno county it was for the purpose of identifiying him- self with the new Rosedale colony, and he purchased the small tract six miles west of Bakersfield on the Rosedale road where he continues to reside, hav- ing, however, enlarged the farm by subsequent purchase. From 1890 to 1900 he devoted himself chiefly to the cultivation of grapes.. This was not a suc- cess and in 1900 he embarked in dairying, which proved more profitable. Later he specialized with alfalfa, which is well suited to the soil and cli- mate and is perhaps the most dependable and remunerative crop that could be grown in the district. On his ranch he has sunk three twelve-inch wells ; on one ranch of one hundred and sixty acres he installed a fifty horse-power Western engine, which yields a capacity of two hundred inches of water. This latter property he is rapidly putting into alfalfa. He is a stockholder of the Security Trust Companv of Bakersfield. He was married in Santa Cruz. January 1, 1890, to Miss Roxana J. Adams, born in Essex county, Vt., the daughter of Jonathan C. and Elizabeth (Babcock) Adams, born in Vermont. Her parents, who were farmers, still reside in Vermont. 642 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Mrs. Underwood came to California in 1888. Her uncle, Moses Adams, was a pioneer of Modesto. For some years Mr. Underwood has served as a clerk of the board of trus- tees of Fruitvale School District, and in this capacity his intelligence and sagacious judgment have been very helpful to the free educational system of the community. Politically he is a Republican in national issues. He has always stood for public improvement and organized and was president of the Rosedale Improvement Club, and through that organization set out shade trees on each side of the Rosedale road for eight miles between Rosedale and Bakersfield. For years he has been identified with Masonry and has enjoyed fraternal relations with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. WILLIAM BREUCH.— The first representative of the Breuch family to seek a home in the new world was Peter Breuch, a native of Witzenburg, Germany, and a wheelwright by trade, who at the expiration of his appren- ticeship when eighteen years of age crossed the seas to the United States and secured employment in Georgia. His marriage united him with Miss Johanna Wagner, a native of Georgia and now a resident of Denver, Colo. From the south he removed to Wisconsin prior to the opening of the Civil war and settled at Madison, where he was employed at the trade of wagon-maker Twice during the progress of the Rebellion he ofifered his services to the Union, but each time he was rejected on account of injury to his leg. Dur- ing 1871 he removed to Colorado and settled in Denver, where he resided until death, meanwhile engaging in business as a carriage-maker. Of his twelve children all but three are still living and the third in order of birth is William, born at Madison, Wis., July 18, 1864, and reared in Denver, Colo. At the age of eleven years he was taken from school and apprenticed to the trade of machinist in the Denver & Rio Grande shops in Denver, where he completed the trade prior to the age of eighteen. For eleven years alto- gether he continued in the same shops and meanwhile he had attended night schools, so that his education had not been entire!}^ neglected. After two years in the machine shops of the Union Pacific Railroad in Denver and three years in the shops of the same road at Como, Colo., Mr. Breuch spent several months at Pocatello, Ida., in the shops of the Oregon Short Line. Coming to California in June of 1890, he entered the Southern Pacific shops at East Bakersfield on the 1st of July, 1890, and there held a position as machinist. During 1901 he was promoted to be foreman of the machine sho]). in which capacity he has continued up to the present time, being now the oldest employe in the plant in point of years of continuous service. Tie has given his attention very closely to his chosen work and has taken little interest in public affairs. Politically he is independent. After coming to Bakersfield he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he also holds membership with the Uniform Rank. Knights of Pythias, and the Woodmen of the World. The residence of Mr. Breuch, erected under his personal supervision, stands at No. 508 Monterey street and is presided over by Mrs. Breuch, a lady of culture and gracious courtesy. Prior to their marriage, which was solemnized in Denver, July 23, 1885, she bore the name of Ella Sutherland. Born and reared in Denver, she had the advantages offered by the excellent schools of that city. At the time of her removal to California she was in such ill health that Colorado physicians had abandoned all hope of her re- covery. Her present excellent health she attributes to the fine air and un- excelled climate of Bakersfield. The family of which she was a member and in which she was next to the eldest comprised fourteen children, seven of whom are now living. Her parents were Prof. Alexander and Anna (Mills) Sutherland, the former a native of England, the latter a southern lady. The paternal grandfather was a Scotchman by birth and ancestry and for years HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 645 served as an officer in the English army, in which Alexander Sutherland also served as bandmaster and trumpeteer. During the memorable battle of Balaklava the trumpeteer served in the first platoon and sounded the first charge of the Light Brigade under Lord Carrigan. He was one of the few survivors of the charge and received a wound from which he never fully recovered. Upon leaving the army service he crossed the ocean to New York and for a time taught music in St. Joseph, Mo., but in 1859 crossed the plains to Denver, where he organized the first band in Colorado. For years he engaged in teaching band instruments and his reputation as a musician and instructor was the highest. His death occurred in Denver about 1908 and his wife died in that city thirteen years prior to his demise. FRANCIS M. CARLOCK.— The memorable era of the '50s found the Carlock family established among the pioneers of California. The father, George i\L Carlock, who had taken his wife and children from Adams county, 111., to Clark county, ]Mo., made only a brief sojourn in the latter location, but in the summer of 1853 brought his family to the coast via the Platte route, settling at Georgetown, Eldorado county, and trying his luck in nearby mines. Neither the occupation nor the locality proved satisfactory and accordingly he turned his attention to ranching in Washington and there spent his last days. By his marriage to Margaret E. Rohr, who was born in Germany and died in Ivern county, Cal., he had a family of eight children. Of these we note the following: A. B., born February 8, 1833, is a resident of Portland, Ore.; Elizabeth, Mrs. Carter, born September 15, 1834, now lives at Lodi. Cal.; [acob. born April 28, 1836, also makes his home at Lodi ; Ervin W., born December 3, 1842. died at Ashland. Ore., October 14. 1912; Francis M. and Mary (twins), were born in Adams county, 111., August 12, 1844. the latter. Mrs. Pease, dying near Lodi, Cal., at thirty-eight years of age; George H., born August 27, 1847, died in Oakland in November, 1911; and Hiram M., born May 28, 1855, makes Portland his home. When a little less than nine years of age Francis M. Carlock crossed the plains with his parents and he recalls vividly his anxiety on account of the close proximity of the Indians. Their depredations among other emigrants were recounted frequently and caused him great concern as to their own safety, but the end came in due time and without any attacks from the savages. While he had limited opportunities to attend school he yet acquired an excellent education. After clerking a time at Ft. Tones, Siskiyou county, he entered Heald's Business College in San Francisco, from which he grad- uated in 1868. Returning to Siskiyou county he became head bookkeeper for his brother, A. B., in a mercantile business at Ft. Jones some distance from the railroad and near the mountains. During 1871 he went to Portland, Ore., and for a year was connected with a mercantile business, but in 1872 returned to California and became a pioneer of Bakersfield. The first resi- dence in what is now East Bakersfield was built by him in 1874 and he also started in the lumber business there, but in a short time he moved his yards to what is now the corner of Chester avenue and Eighteenth street. Bakersfield. This was the first lumber yard in the town and for some time he carried on the business, but in 1889 the fire completely destroyed his yards and material, after which he did not resume the business. Altogether he was burned out three times and on two occasions, notwithstanding the fact that he had sustained a total loss, he rebuilt. From the time of his arrival in the city until 1904 he also engaged in the transfer business, eventually selling out and retiring from business activities. For thirty-two years his dray-teams were to be seen upon the streets. Since his retirement from the transfer business Mr. Carlock has given his attention to looking after his varied interests. In East Bakersfield he has held valuable propertv, including a residence on the corner of Kern and 646 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Humboldt streets and four stores. Jt is his intention to improve some of the vacant property he now owns. Some years ago he built the Overland stables on Eighteenth street and in 1888 erected a residence at No. 1623 H street, both of which he still owns. From its organization he has been interested in the Sui)erior Oil Company operating at Maricopa and in addition he owns stock in the Sunset Security Oil Company in the Sunset field. In politics he always has supported the Republican party. As early as 1865 he became associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Fort Jones, Sis- "kiyou county, and in 1876 he identified himself with the lodge at Bakersfield, of which he since has been an honored luember and which now he serves as financial secretary. May 1. 1870. at Fort Jones, Siskiyou county, he married Miss Emma E. Tucker, who was born at Milton. Pike county, 111., and during 1865 came across the plains by ox teams with her father, Walter W. Tucker, a Kentuckian by birth. After a six-months trip they first settled in Marion county, Ore., but later came to California. The Tucker family were devoted adherents of the Christian Church and Mrs. Carlock is a firm believer in that faith, aiding in the charities and missionary movements of the church to the extent of her means. Of her marriage seven children were born, but a heavy bereavement came in the loss by death of four of the number. Warren and Edmund R. were still in their infancy when taken from the home, the former being only two months old. The eldest of the family circle, Charles C, died in Bakersfield in 1904. and the youngest, Inez, wife of Duncan McLennan, passed away May 12, 1911, at the family residence in this city. Harriet E. and Howard \\ . reside in Bakersfield, the latter being engaged in a livery business here, while Iva, Mrs. Hayes, makes her home at Healdsburg, this state. The latter's daughter. Azalea, took the prize as a child orator when nine years of age. The Carlock family are of German descent and migrated in 1816 to Virginia, where members of the family still reside and where in 1916 there will be a home-coming and gathering of their descendants from the dififerent parts of the Union. JOHN LEWIS WASSON.— John Lewis Wasson was born near Pleas- ant Grove, Des Moines county, Iowa, April 7, 1844, and was the son of John and Ruth (Sherwood) W^asson. The parents were natives of Sandusky. Ohio, and were early settlers of Des Moines county, Iowa, where they died of cholera in 1849. Of their six children John L. is the third in order of birth and the only one now living. After his parents' death Mr. Wasson went to live on his Grandfather Wasson's farm in the same county, receiving his education in the public schools. In 1864 he crossed the plains with an ox-team to Oregon, where he was employed until 1868. He then came to Stanislaus county, remaining until 1871, when he returned to his old home in Iowa. While there he was married, February 7, 1872, l)eing united with Miss Sarah E. Wilhite, wh(^ was l)orn in Washington, Iowa. Her father, E. K. \\^ilhite, a native of Ohio, was married in that state to Sarah Carr and removed to Washington, Iowa. In 1873 John Wasson with his young wife came to Hanford, Cal., located a homestead of eighty acres in Mussel Slough and proved up on it. In 1883 he sold this place. From 1885 to 1887 he farmed on White river. Tulare county. P.eing entitled to another eighty acres of homestead land, in 1887 he located eighty acres one-half mile west of Delano, which he has im- proved and wdiere he now makes his home. For many years he was engaged in raising grain on the i)lains, but now he devotes his land to raising alfalfa, having improved it with a well, ])umping plant and reservoir. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wasson there are six children: Ida Bell, ]\Irs. Merrill, Lucy May, Mrs. Johnson, Nettie Martha, ^^Irs. George Small, all of Delano; Martin resides in Monmouth, Ore.; Grover is assisting his father on the home ranch and Minnie is unmarried. .Mwavs interested in ^^^i'^^u/^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 651 the cause of education Mr. Wasson has been active in building up schools in the different localities where he has lived and is at present a member of of the board of school trustees of Delano district. In his political views he is strongly Democratic. PIERRE SARTIAT.— His parents, Jean and Mary (Lassalle) Sartiat, were natives of Easses-Pyrenees in the south of France and spent their entire lives in that district, where the father carried on a small farm and to some ex- tent engaged in raising stock. The old homestead was in the village of Escot and there occurred the birth of Pierre Sartiat November 5, 1852. He was the youngest of three children. A brother, Bernard, about four years older than himself, came to America in 1871, settled in California and after his own arrixal in 1872, the two pre-empted land in the mountainous district of Kern county, bought a flock of sheep in partnership and thus started the large agricultural operations that since have made them financially independent. L'pon coming to this country in 1872 and joining his older brother in Kern county, Pierre Sartiat found employment with a sheep-raiser in the Cummings valley. For two years he continued in the same employment and then left to start a flock of his own, beginning in the sheep business and in farm pursuits with his brother and taking up a homestead in the San Emidio district. From time to time they bought property near to their original pre-emption. At this writing they own five thousand acres in one body, lying in the shadow of the San Emidio range, and watered by Salt creek. Cacuya creek and numerous springs. The ranch is one of the best improved in that section of the county. The sheep industrv by no means represents the limit of the activities of the brothers, who also are now engaged in raising horses and Durham cattle and use for their brand the letters SP>. Grain is raised in large quantities upon the ranch. Horticulture gives diversi- fied products and greatly adds to the income from the property, a specialty being made of apples, pears and peaches. Another occupation of importance is viticulture. To care for the grapes in the most profitable manner a winery has been built on the ranch. Some years ago a mine was opened on the land which is known as the Black Bob and in connection therewith a substantial two-stamp quartz mill has been erected. A part of the land is now being developed fcr oil and at present drilling is being actively prosecuted. The marriage of Pierre Sartiat took place in East Bakersfield June 19. 1890. and united him with Miss Mary Louisa Octavie Richaud, who was born at Pont-du-Fosse near Gap, Hautes Alpes, France, and came to Kern county in the fall of 1887. She was a graduate of the Female Seminary in Gap and after teaching four years obtained a leave of absence to visit California and she liked it so well she remained. An only son. Pierre Bernard, was born in Bakersfield April 13, 1892. He was educated in the public schools and au Heald's Business College, San Francisco, and is now manager of the National Hotel. In Los Angeles, in 1911, he was married to Alice Jouglard. The family own and occupy a residence at No. 510 K street. East Bakersfield. In addition the two brothers built and still own the National hotel, on the corner of Baker and Humboldt streets. East Bakersfield. ^Nlr. Sartiat is a Republican and a member of the Eagles. Concerning the early years of his identification with the county he reccnints many interesting experiences, not the least memorable of which has to do with a stranger who stopped one evening at his sheep camp in the mountains and asked for food and lodging. \\'ith the kindness and hospitality ever characteristic of him, Mr. Sartiat will- ingly kept him over night, only to ascertain after the stranger had departed the following da\- that all miaware he had entertained the notorious Vasquez. LEVI ERWiN FOUST.— In its varied departments of activity the As- sociated Oil Company has brought into its service man}^ young men of ca- pability and intelligence, who. finding in the development of its holdings an 652 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY adequate outlet for their energies, are acquiring meanwhile so thorough a knowledge of the oil industry as to give weight to their influence and value to their opinions concerning any lease. The energies of Air. Foust have been concentrated upon the rig-building and house-carpentering of the great corporation in the Midway division. A member of a pioneer Iowa family and himself a native of the vicinity of Des jNIoines, born July 20. 1885, Mr. Foust is the youngest among the four children of A. J. and Electra L. (Bishop) Foust, natives of Iowa and farmers of that state. During 1888 the family removed to California and settled in Kern county, where the father took up agricultural pursuits and where he still owns a farm adjacent to East Bakersfield. The maternal grandfather, Levi Bishop, was a soldier in an Iowa regiment during the Civil war and fought on the side of the Union with courage and devotion. At the time of the removal of the family to the west Mr. Foust was a child only three years. Hence his education was obtained in the schools of Kern county. By study and observation he has become a man of broad informa- tion. At the age of seventeen, during the spring of 1903, he became an em- ploye of the Associated Oil Company on its San Joaquin division in the Kern river field. After he had been in charge of the rig-building gang in that division for a time, in 1908 Mr. Foust was transferred to McKittrick as foreman of rig- building and house-carpentering. The year 1910 found him engaged in a similar capacity in the Midway division, where he has filled the same re- sponsible position ever since, discharging his duties with alertness and energy. Politically he is a Republican. In Bakersfield he was married to Miss Christine Church, a native of San Luis Obispo, this state. Tw^o daugh- ters comprise their family, Dorthy Evelyn and Ellen Loraine. BELLAMY KOSSUTH SAID.— The president of the Kern County Pioneer Society dates his first association with the county from February of 1873 and his residence in California from 1852, when he was brought across the plains by his parents, Elkanah and Jane (Hayden) Said, natives respec- tively of Kentucky and Missouri. The eldest in a family comprising five chil- dren, three of whom are now living, he was born at Shullsburg, Lafayette county, Wis., July 22. 1848. For some years the father engaged in lead min- ing in Southern Wisconsin. In 1848 he went to Panama, where he was at the time of the gold discovery in California. He immediately came to San Fran- cisco, landing in 1849, and after spending some time in the mines he returned to Wisconsin. In 1852 he brought his wife and children to California, cross- ing the plains with ox and horse teams, and settled in Sierra county, where he mined for gold with more or less success. When rumors came concerning the discovery of gold at Virginia City he traveled on foot over the mountains in company with John W. Mackey, another adventurous Argonaut. Later he visited other camps at the times of great mining excitement and he continued to follow the occupation until his death, which occurred in Eldorado county. The death of his wife occurred at Bodie, Mono county, Cal. Their eldest child, Bellamy Kossuth, was four years of age at the time of the removal to California, hence his education was obtained wholly in the west. After he had completed the studies of the common schools he attended Santa Clara College and later was a student at Gates Institute, San Jose. The first occu- pation to which he devoted himself was that of clerking. Upon his arrival in Kern county Mr. Said secured a tract of government land sixteen miles west of Bakersfield under what is now the Pioneer ditch, which improvement he helped to survey and build. Later he bought a tract of one hundred and sixty acres adjacent to his original claim. In addition he managed claims owned by his mother and uncle, so that altogether he had charge of a whole section of land under the Pioneer ditch. The possi- UO.L//ay^ %/h-ouxyt^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 663 the Republican party, while fraternally after the organization of Hurlburt Post G. A. R., at Bakersfield, he was one of its leading and most highly honored members and the incumbent of a number of its leading offices. Mrs. Lowell is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps of Bakersiield, and takes an active interest and is ever helpful in all movements that tend to improve and better the conditions of the city and citizens of her adopted home. HERBERT GEORGE BALL.— The history of the Ball family is traced back to the early period of the American occupancy of California. The first of the name to identify himself with the then unknown west was John Ball, a Kentuckian by birth and education and a member of an honored and in- fluential southern family. Such was the wealth and prestige of the family in the Blue Grass state that in his own name he owned two thousand slaves and vast tracts of land. After removing to Missouri he became heavily in- terested in cattle. During 1848 he was made high sheriff of Missouri, which at the time was undergoing great excitement and trouble owing to the pres- ence of the Mormons, exiled from Hancock county, 111., subsequent to the killing of Joseph Smith earlier in the same decade. In his capacity as high sheriff it became necessary for Mr. Ball to confine Brigham Young in his own home for three weeks. The great Mormon leader when released de- termined to revenge himself upon his jailer and when the latter determined to cress the plains to California, he sent word to him that he would not be permitted to cross the plains alive. However, John Ball was not a man to be frightened by a threat. Instead, he became all the more resolute in his purpose and in the spring of 1848, shortly after Young had been released and had gone to Utah, a large company of Missouri people set out for Cali- fornia. Twelve hundred persons formed the party, which carried a suitable equipment of wagons, cattle, provisions, supplies and, most important of all, a large amount of ammunition. In the outfit were two brass cannon made at New Orleans, with one and one-half inch bore and shooting balls attached together by means of chains from three to seven inches long. The winter of 1848-49 was passed in camp, the men of the party build- ing Fort Hall and fortifying it against the Indians. Every mile of their journey across the plains was contested by savages. Through the country where the Mormons could attack them their progress was one continual warfare. Particularly memorable was the battle of Bloody Hollow, where Ball's forces, consisting of one hundred and six cavalrymen, thirteen scouts (of whom Kit Carson was the leader) and twelve hundred men in the train, met and conquered a great army of Indians and Mormons, inflicting a heavy loss of life. The expedition was the first to get through after the ill-fated Donner party. On account of the hostilities of savages they were forced to take the northern route, and it was not until the spring of 1850 that they landed in California via Portland, Ore. Immediately John Ball put up a canvas hotel in Sacramento. For a few years he met with phenomenal suc- cess, but his large generosity involved him in financial difficulties and his large fortune was spent before his death. He built the first brick house in Sacramento and also built and equipped the first railroad ever in California, this being a road eight miles in length, built primarily for the purpose of hauling wood to Sacramento. From the latter city he moved to Sonoma county and founded Frankville, afterwards known as Santa Rosa, where he died in 1865 from the result of injuries caused by a kick from a horse. Of his family of two daughters and six sons only two are now living. At the time of starting from Missouri William P., son of John Ball, was a child seven years of age. In youth he learned the trade of a blacksmith. For many years he struggled to secure a footing in the business world. Meanwhile he lived as far north as Washington and as far in the other direc- tion as Southern California. During 1856, when taking a herd of eight 664 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY hundred Arizona cattle from the lower jjart of California to Sacramento via the San Joaquin valley, he and his comrades noticed smoke issuing from the hills north of McKittrick. r)elie\ing the smoke to come from a volcano they started an investigation. They ascertained that the Indians had set fire to the hills where the oil oozed out of the earth and the soil was burned to the color and appearance of lava. However, Mr. Ball had no means for developing oil and being anxious to get his herd through to their destination, he gave no further attention to the discovery of oil. Later he worked in the Kern county oil fields, but at this writing he is engaged in the real estate business at Santa Rosa. Born at Healdsburg, Sonoma county, Cal.. July 28, 1875, Herbert George Ball was educated mainly in public schools in Washington, where he finished the grammar grade. As a boy he lived in various places, but principally at Walla Walla, Wash., and San Francisco. From the age of fourteen until twenty-one he was apprenticed to the old California Electric Light Companv (now consolidated with the Edison Power & Light Company). From twenty-one until twenty-six he was employed as an artistic metal worker with Thomas, Day & Co., of San Francisco. Were he not an exceptionally proficient oil superintendent, he could earn his livelihood either as an elec- trician or as a metal worker. While he was working with the metal com- pany an older brother, residing in San Francisco, had made the acquaintance of E. C. Landis, then as now connected with the Kern River Oil Company. Mr. Landis was in need of a blacksmith to work upon his lease and the older brother secured the place for his father, who was an expert at that trade. After the father 'had been working for some time on the lease, a demand developed for an electrician and he recommended his son, Herbert George, who was thereupon requested to begin work at the lease. As an electrician, the young man made good. However, the price of oil began to drop until it was only ten cents per barrel. This meant practical ruin to the oil industry. The plant was shut down, but he was retained as caretaker and when an increasing price caused the resuming of operations he was ready to start in at the bottom and work his way forward bv dint of efiticiency. Since first coming to the oil fields, April 8, 1901, Mr. Ball has never been out of the employ of the Kern River Oil Company nor has he ever been absent from the McKittrick field with the exception of the seven months from January 1st to August 1st, 1903, when his employers sent him over to the Kern river field to observe the water in the wells and learn the best methods of shutting it off. This he did so successfully that he was called to many of the leading leases to aid in similar tasks, among them being the following: West Shore Oil Company, Monte Cristo Oil Company, Green-W' hit- tier Oil Company, Astec Oil Company, Rasmussen Oil Company, Red Bank Oil Company, Del Rey Oil Company, Nevada County Oil Company, Peerless Oil Comjjany, Kern Oil Company, Omar Oil Company and the Reed Crude Oil Company. At this writing he has the Kern River Oil Company's lease of ten acres under contract from year to year and through his enterprise he has made a success of the property. Out of the four oil wells two are producing and give an average monthly output of four thousand barrels. Altogether he has spent tens of thousands of dollars in wild-catting and putting down discover}' wells in the McKittrick field. Associated with Mr. Bandittini of McKittrick and H. S. Williams he put down the discovery well on the L X. L. lease, now a part of the Associated, and sold out to advantage after striking a good flow of oil. Together with Mr. Williams he put down a well to a depth of three thousand one hundred and eighty-seven feet on eighty acres of government land, known as the Leader Oil Company lease. As thev began operations before the government withdrew the land they are HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 667 entitled to a patent. Indications for a gusher of high gravity oil are excel- lent and in that event the lease will become one of the most valuable prop- erties at AIcKittrick. Upon forty acres known as the S. and W. lease, Messrs. Williams and Ball have one well producing one hundred barrels per day. On his lease of ten acres Mr. Ball uses gas for fuel and for generating steam, while he has installed electrical power for pumping purposes. In addition he has an electrical pumping plant on his fine ranch of eighty acres in the Laurel colony, Tulare county, where he is developing a model country home. In politics he is a Progressive Republican, and fraternally he is a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. During 1902 he married Miss Jessie N. Mull, member of a prominent family of Tulare county, and their union has been blessed with two children, Cornelia Elizabeth and Herbert William. FERDINAND A. TRACY.— The life which this narrative depicts began in Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1829, and closed at Bakersfield, Cal., January 9, 1908. The intervening years represented a period of intense activity crowned by the regard of friends. From 1850, when he was attracted to the west by the discovery of gold and crossed the plains with a large expedition of emi- grants, he was identified with the material upbuilding of California and gave to its development an intensity of devotion indicative of his fondness for the commonwealth of his adoption. In the early '50s he was commissioned lieutenant of a company of United States troops to quell an Indian uprising in northern California. The company was successful in establishing peace, and it was the last time these Indians were on the warpath. When his ser- vices were no longer needed Mr. Tracy was honorably discharged. During the period of mining activity he followed the occupation in the Mokelumne region and indeed he never lost his interest in the industry, but after he had left the Sierras he became interested in the mines of Kern county, notably those in the Tehachapi range. From mining he turned to stock-rais- ing. During I860, in search of feed for his herds, he came into the Carissa valley and from there he proceeded to the Kern delta, whose possibilities attracted him. Becoming a resident of Bakersfield in 1862, he operated his stock interests from this point and with Wellington Canfield, under the firm title of Canfield & Tracy, he became a leader in the cattle industry through- out the San Joaquin valley. Their herds increased in size until their brand was more frequently seen than that of any of the stockmen in the state. It is said that during the fifty-six years of their co-partnership, never a word of disagreement arose between the two partners, but they remained in the end as in the beginning close personal friends, congenial associates and devotedly attached each to the welfare of the other. The marriage of Air. Tracy in 1875 united him with Mrs. Ellen Baker, the widow of the founder of Bakersfield. Politically he always advocated Republican principles. Frequently he was called upon to occupy positions of trust in county alTairs, but these came to him without his seeking. In- deed he was so unassuming, so reticent in his own claims, so strong in his dislike for notoriety that he shunned public life and often was superseded by others who had not the moral and intellectual equipment for an honor- able career that he possessed. Had it not been for his exceeding modesty he would have ranked with men known in the annals of the state. His manly nature appealed to men in a manly way. Generous to a fault, hos- pitable in act, attractive in personality and genial in companionship, he made friends of all whether rich or poor. In every sense of the word he was a true gentleman and this was particularly noticeable in his desire to pro- tect all helpless and dependent creatures. The poor had in him a helpful friend, the suffering never sought his assistance in vain. His integrity and honesty were of the kind that sought no personal emoluments, but upheld the highest principles of honor through innate purity of soul. Self-poise 668 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY guided all of his acts and was apparent in every business detail, but it was not the self-control of the selfish man, instead the natural temperament of one ever ready to make sacrifices for others and one who displayed patience and kindness under every circumstance. Possessed of splendid mind, he developed this through a wise and long-continued course of reading. The master-minds of all the ages became familiar to him in his readings and thus he acquired a cosmopolitan culture. A fondness for poetry did not deter him from delving into the intricacies of science and political economy, while in history he was exceptionally well informed. Of religion too he was a thoughtful student and while with innate reticence he never revealed his thoughts concerning the spiritual life, his own deeply religious nature per- vaded his entire existence and made beautiful his adherence to the strong- hold of Christianity. CLAUS PETER CHRISTENSEN.— Many of the enterprising men who are taking an active part in the development of Kern county came here from the fertile country of Denmark and it was there that Claus Peter Christensen was born near Nakskov, Laaland, September 27, 1865. He was reared on a farm and received a thorough training in the local schools. In 1882 he came to Illinois and for a time was employed at farming in Sanga- mon county. In 1884 he came to Shasta county, California, where for eighteen months he worked on a farm and then began placer and quartz min- ing and learned millwrighting, building and running quartz mills in Shasta and Trinity counties. During this time he completed a course in mining en- gineering in the International Correspondence School. Mr. Christensen built a dredger on the Klamath river and a smelter at Keswick, then was superintendent of the Dunderberg mine in Mono county for two years. Wishing to still further perfect himself for his life work he entered Vandernaillen's School of Mines at San Francisco, where he was graduated in 1898. In December of that year he came to Johannesburg, where he built two dififerent cyanide plants and the Phoenix mill. Thence he went to Barstow where he rebuilt a cyanide plant. His next venture was prospecting and mining in Old Mexico where later he was in the employ of the Green-Cananea Company. On his return to California he erected a 100- stamp mill in Calaveras county and then went to Goldfield, Nev., where he spent nearly a year. For the next three years he was engaged in contracting and building in Petaluma when he again returned to the Randsburg district. Here he was mill man in the Atolia mills and afterwards in charge of the mill and cyanide plant of the Skidoo Mines Company, resigning in 1909 to accept the position of superintendent for the Stanford Mining and Reduction Company, which position he is filling with conscientious ability. In Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras county, May 27, 1900, Mr. Christensen was united in marriage with Miss Edna Vaillancourt, a native of Reno, Nev , and they have two children, Cecil P. and Hilda. Fraternally he is a member of the Dania society in Petaluma and Sergeant lodge No. 368, I. O. O. F., San Francisco. Politically he gives his allegiance to Democratic principles. Mr. Christensen is much interested in the cause of education and is clerk of the board of trustees of the Johannesburg School District. GEORGE WALLER. — Two generations of the \\'aller family have been and are now in the employ of the same corporation, holding positions of trust and discharging their duties with efficiency. The second generation is rep- resented by George Waller, now the foreman of the pipe line department- on section 1, township 32, range 23, in the Midway field; and the older gen- eration is represented by his father, J. H., a life-long employe of the Stand- ard Oil Company, and still capable, efBcient and energetic, refusing to give up the work in which he takes great satisfaction, although officials of the company repeatedly have in_i])ortuned him to retire on a pension. An exam- A^^Qr)9^a^,yH, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 671 pie of fealty and devotion is afforded by the long and pleasant connection of father and son with the same corporation. Although a native of West Virginia (born i-'ebruary 15. 1879) Georo-e Waller spent his boyhood years in the Lima oil fields in Ohio, for he was only one year old when his father, j. H. Waller, moved over to Ohio to take up work in the pipe line department of the Standard. The boy was educated in Ohio and finished the high-school course at Fort Recovery, Mercer county, in 1897. Meanwhile he had become self-supporting by working in the Stand- ard office during vacations. As a messenger boy he proved that he had in him the making of an expert oil worker. Always the industry has interested him. To master its details has been his principal ambition in life. The Standard, the only company for which he has ever worked, has given him every opportunity to gain a practical knowledge of the business. At the age of twenty-one he was promoted to be connecting foreman. In that ca- pacity he later worked in Kansas and Oklahoma. Sent back to Illinois, he worked successively at Robinson, Bridgeport, Casey and Stoy, and in 1910 left Stoy for California, being assigned to work in the Coalinga field. For two years and eight months he was connected with the pipe line department of the Standard at Coalinga, from which point he was transferred to the Midway field and has since been foreman of the pipe line department on section 1. While making his headquarters at Robinson, 111., he married Miss Myrtle Jacobs, and they now occupy one of the Standard houses on 1-32-23, where they have a comfortable home. While in Illinois Mr. Waller was made a Mason in the Eaton blue lodge and after coming to this state he became connected with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Fresno. JAMES McKAMY. — Long association with the history of the south pre- ceded an}' identification of the McKamy family with the early settlement of California. The founder of the name on the Pacific coast was J. M., son of James, and a native of Tennessee, born in the vicinity of Memphis in 1822. While serving in the Mexican war from 1846 to 1848 he traveled much through the south and southwest and became interested in the opportunities afforded by the undeveloped country beyond the then confines of civilization. After he had sojourned for a time in Texas he joined an expedition of Argonauts bound for California. The trip across the plains via Fort Yuma occupied nine months of difficulty and danger. Upon one occasion the savages attacked the party and decamped with their stock, but the emigrants followed on horseback and were able to regain the animals. Among the people crossing the plains in this expedition there was a young lady. Miss Eleanor Petty, a native of Alabama, born in 1823. The young couple became acquainted and their friendship ripened into affection. Some time after they landed in California they were married at Stockton, from which point Mr. McKamy engaged in freighting to the mines. Later he took up land on the ]\Iariposa road ten miles east of Stockton and moved his family to the claim, where he engaged in ranching. While the family lived at that location a son, James, was born March 7, 1856. During 1873 the father visited Kern county and was favorablv impressed with the country. Accordingly the following year he- brought his family hither and settled on Poso creek at the old stage crossing, where he embarked in the sheep business unon a large scale. At first fortune favored him. The flock prospered and thrived. Returns were gratifying. However, with the drought of 1877 conditions changed, feed became scarce and water difficult to secure in sufficient quantities, so that he lost all of his flock, thus leaving him prac- tically bankrupted. Forced to besfin anew, he took the family to Glennville, Kern county, and engaged in stock-raisinc: there until his death in 1895. His widow, now eighty-eight vears of age. still remains at Glenn\'ille. For several 672 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY terms he served as supervisor and during part of the time he was honored with the chairmanship of the board. There were four daughters and four sons in the parental family, namely: Isabella, who married P. J. Garwood and lives at Glennville, Kern county; Minerva, J\lrs. Collins, who died in this county; James, city marshal of Bakers- field; John, a farmer living in Tulare county; Julian, a stockman who follows his occupation in the vicinity of Glennville; Daniel, who died in Mendocino county in 1885; Virginia, Mrs. Alfred Harrald, of Bakersfield; and Mrs. Fannie Hughes, of Glennville. The eldest son, James, passed his childhood years on a ranch in San Joaquin county and attended the school of which his father was trustee. The district, indeed, had been organized largely through the influence of the father and still bears the name of the McKaniy school district, although years have passed since the family removed from the vicin- ity. Even before leaving that county the lad had earned his livelihood by teaming and hauling, harvesting and threshing, and after he had permanently located in Kern county in 1874 he aided his father in the care of the sheep. When the flock was lost in the drought of 1877 he entered the employ of Carr & Haggin and operated a threshing machine on their ranch during the summer months. In the spring he engaged in sheep-shearing, a work in which he gained such remarkable speed that he was able to shear from one hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty sheep per day. Leaving the busy activities of the ranch and the farm in 1882 Mr. Mc- Kamy went to Colorado and engaged in mining in the San Juan and Ouray districts. Upon his return to Bakersfield in 1887 he secured a deputyship under the county assessor, Thomas Harding. Later for four years he acted as deputy constable and for two terms of four years each he was constable. In April of 1907 he was elected city marshal and took the oath of office for a term of four years. However, the consolidation of Kern and Bakersfield called for a special election, which occurred July 19, 1910. After a hot campaign he was elected. During April of 1911, at the regular election, he won by a majority of twenty-seven votes. The election was contested and he won in the contest. The city marshal's office is now in- the second story of the fire department house on the corner of K and Twentieth streets and here Mr. McKamy makes his headquarters. In national politics he votes with the Democratic party. In his work as an officer he does not consider party, but endeavors to maintain law and order and to promote the reputation of Ba- kersfield as a law-abiding city of patriotic citizens and high moral standing. Since coming to this city he has erected a residence at No. 2124 E Street. His marriage took place in Bakersfield and united him with Mrs. Emma Gagne. who was born in Ontario, Canada, and died in Los Angeles January 31, 1909, leaving one son, James L. McKamy. In fraternal relations he is a local leader in the work of the Eagles, besides being actively interested in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. GEORGE KAMMERER. — It would be difficult to name any phase of the oil industry with which Mr. Kammerer is not familiar, for he has been connected with the business from childhood and has ever been a close ob- server and careful student of the occupation. A native of Pennsylvania, born at Pleasantville, Venango county, March 11, 1873, he was only six years of age when the familv removed to Bradford in the same state and thus he was made familiar with the oil fields of McKean county. The chief topic of conversation in the neighborhood was some development in oil, so that he grew up to a thorough knowledge of the business, and he also learned much from his father, who was a pioneer driller in Pennsylvania. Ever since thirteen years of age he has earned a livelihood as a worker in oil fields. Industrv and perseverance came naturally to him, and an intelligent mind HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 673 enabled him to i^ras]) every problem presented by the work. The path to success was not easy. For hours each day he worked as a pumper, but pro- motion came as a result of his diligent attention to duty. He was only fif- teen when he was trained in the task of tool-dressing. All through his early life he worked for large firms in the oil and gas fields of the east, mainly in New York and Pennsylvania, and in that way he gained an experience of the greatest value to him in subsequent positions. The Fullerton field was first sought by Mr. Kammerer when he arrived in California in 1899 and for six years he was an employe of the Santa Fe on its leases at that point. He then went to work for the Union Oil Company and spent one year at Casmalia, four years in the Fullerton and three year::^ in the Midvc'ay field. He has been an employe of the Union Oil Company continuously since 1905, and has been in the Midway since 1910. He and his wife, formerly Miss Kathleen Enoch, and their daughter, Virginia, now make their hime in a company cottage on the Bed Rock lease, one mile north of Taft, on section 14, township 31, range 23. In his present position as superintendent of development in the Midway and Maricopa districts, he gives not only faithful, but also intelligent and remarkably efficient service to the Union Oil Company, whose interests have been protected and pro- moted by his alert supervision. Besides his identification with the oil indus- try he has other interests at Taft, where he now owns one-third interest in the Taft garage and where also he is popular in the Petroleum Club, of which he is a charter member. While making his headquarters in the Fuller- ton field he was initiated into Masonry at Fullerton, became a member also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at that place, identified himself with the Elks at Santa Ana and with the Eagles at Anaheim. F. B. GORMLEY,— Born at Marion, Ihd., September 7, 1891, F. B. Gormley is the second son of Thomas and Sarah (Finnigan) Gormley, long residents of Marion. The family consisted of nine children and six of these are now living. The father, a native of West Virginia, born about 1854, has been employed by the Pennsylvania (known as the Panhandle) Railroad Company since 1880, holding the position of telegraph inspector in charge of poles, instruments and lines extending from Logans- port, Ind.. to Bradford, same state. From the age of seventeen years F. B. Gormley has been self-supporting. Upon the completion of the studies of the grammar grade in the Marion schools he turned his attention to the earning of a livelihood and for a time worked at bookkeeping. While he was employed by the Gulf Pipe Line Company at Tulsa, Okla., he received a telegram stating that his older brother, who had come to California suffer- ing from tuberculosis and was temporarily at Maricopa, was very ill and in all probability would soon pass away. Hurriedly severing his business con- necticius at Tulsa he started for California and May 10, 1909, arrived at Mar- icopa, where he cared for his brother until the end came seven weeks after- ward. Accompanying the remains he went back to the old Indiana home and afterward visited with friends and relatives for two months. Upon hi? second arrival at Maricopa he became an employe in the men's furnishing department of the store owned by Coons & Price. Eight months later he entered the employ of the Honolulu Oil Company, with which he continued for nine months, meanwhile filling the position of warehouseman. Resign- ing from the Honolulu he spent three weeks in San Francisco. On coming back to Maricopa he became a clerk in the hardware store of J. F. Blessing, with whom he continued for eighteen months. From April until June of 1912 he visited in Indiana and since his return to Maricopa he has been en- gaged as warehouseman with the Lakeview Oil Company, whose interests he has promt ited by his uniform business tact, strict integrity and recognized capability. 674 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY LAYTON JUDD KING.— An efficient oil operator, Air. King is the son of a pioneer in that business, for his father. John King, a native of Geauga county, Ohio, worked at oil camps in Ohio and Indiana, then re- turned to Ohio to resume the business in the fields of that state and event- ually came to Los Angeles, where he makes his home. While living in Ohio he married Miss Etta judd. who was born in Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family of New England. Their son, Layton Judd, was born in Geauga county. Ohio, in 1880, and received his education in public schools and Geauga Seminary. During 1895 he removed to Indiana with his father and found employment in the oil fields near Alontpelier, but in a short time returned to Geauga county, and resumed drilling in Ohio. Besides working in oil fields he drilled water wells and took many contracts for such woik in Geauga. Cuyahoga and Ashtabula counties. Upon his arrival in Cali- fornia in 1902 he secured a position with the R. D. Robinson Drilling Com- pany as a tool-dresser. Nine months later in 1903 he entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company as a driller in the Kern river field. An experience of nine months as a driller in the oil fields of Cofifeyville, Kan., was followed by the return of ]\Ir. King to California, where in Octo- ber, 1904, he again became an employe of the Associated in the Kern river field. In July of 1905 the company appointed him foreman of the Central Point division in the same field. A merited promotion to be superintendent of the same division came to him in April, 1906, and in February, 1907, he was transferred to be superintendent of the San Joaquin division, at that time the largest division of the entire concern. The year 1908 found him super- intendent of the McKittrick division and in that capacity he developed the valuable holdings of the company in that field. Transferred in February, 1910, to act as superintendent of the Midway division, he since has had charge of development work in the Midway field and Elk Hills territory. When at leisure from the heavy responsibilities incident to his important position he finds his chief pleasure in the society of his wife and four chil- dren, Rupert, Ronald, Reginald and Ethelyn. Prior to their marriage at Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. Mrs. King was Aliss Ethelyn Parker; born in the Buckeye state, educated in its schools, a graduate of the high, school at Burton, Geauga county, she is a woman of education and culture and has many friends back in her girlhood home, as well as in the newer home of the west. In politics Mr. King always has voted with the Republi- can party. Since 1905 he has been connected with Masonry, having been made a Mason during that year in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. H. E. BECKER. — From the beginning of the development work under- taken by the Pacific Crude Oil Company in the Midway field Mr. Becker has had charge of its important enterprises in the capacity of superintendent and has made good in a position demanding boundless energy, great tact, quickness of decision and a thorough knowledge of the oil industry. Since November, 1911, when he entered the employ of the company, work on the lease near Fellows has been started and brought up to a point of great importance and considerable promise. Well No. 1 on the lease came in as a gusher, but in the midst of its first enormous output the rig caught fire. After having burned for. five days the fire was smothered with steam and brought under control. In the seven following months the well produced one million barrels and is now flowing at the rate of two hundred and fifty barrels per day. Well No. 2 came in as a gusher of eighty-five hundred barrels and is still producing seven hundred barrels of 26 gravity oil as the daily output. The latest development has been in well No. 3, the drilling of which was completed in 1913 and which is proving a valuable acquisi- tion to the holdings of the company. In boyhood Mr. Becker lived in his native city of Pittsburg, Pa., where HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 677 he attended the schcjols and at the age of seventeen was graduated from the high school, later completing the trade of machinist as an apprentice in the Pittsburg locomotive works. His father, Elias, a machinist by trade and a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, served throughout the entire period of the Civil war as a soldier in the Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry. Upon com- ing to California in 1901 the son, H. E., learned the oil business in the Newhall field as an employe of the Standard Oil Company. \\'hile in that field he worked first as a tool-dresser and then as a driller. In the Santa Maria field he engaged as a driller with the Union Oil Company. Coming to Mari- copa, Kern county, in 1908, he continued to work for the L'nion Oil Company as a driller. Later he entered the employ of the American Alidway Oil Com- pany, of which he became superintendent, and he was further associated with the Cleveland Oil Company and the Canadian Pacific Oil Company in the Midway field, where since November of 1911 he has worked in the interests of the Pacific Crude Oil Company. Always busily engaged in occupative duties, he has had no leisure for participation in public affairs and has taken no part in fraternal matters aside from being a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. JOHN J. BRINKMAN. — \A'ith characteristic modesty and affection he attributes his success largely to the noble example set by his mother and to the encouraging companionship of his wife. The former, who was Sophronia Beacock and a native of Michigan, is now seventy-four years old and resides at the old Ohio homestead associated with her younger days. The father, Henry Brinkman. was a farmer by occupation and died in 1910 at the age of seventy-three, his death being caused by an accidental injury. The fifth among seven children, John J. was born in \A'illiams county, Ohio. De- cember 28, 1871. and had but meager advantages for an education in his early life. For a time he attended the public schools of Angola, Ind., from which place he went to Kansas, where he earned his livelihood by teaching in the winter and working on ranches during the summer months. His own efforts were made to defray his expenses in the Salina Normal University, from which he was graduated in 1895. Arrival in California during the fall of 1900 and an immediate identifica- tion with the oil fields of Kern county brought to Mr. Brinkman an early and adequate comprehension of the oil industry. Thus apparently by chance he was led into the occupation with which, although indirectly, his greatest lifework has been accomplished. After he had worked in the fields until he thoroughly understood the business he entered the employ of the Hardison Perforating Company. \\'hen he left the employ of that concern many of his friends urged him to secure a perforator of his own and, acting upon their suggestions, he leased two old contrivances, but found them to be unservice- able, so he turned his mind toward the invention of a new machine. In this difficult task he was remarkably successful. However, he was wholly with- out means and unable to build a machine for lack of money. At this crisis the Associated Oil Company came to his aid and built the first machine, also made the first test, which proved the value of the perforator without a question. Even then all was not "smooth sailing," for the Hardison Per- forating Company in 1903-4 brought suits against him in the United States district court for infringement of their patent. The outcome of the case was that y\r. Brinkman was upheld in court on every point of the case. The business having proved very profitable, Mr. Urinkman has been enabled to invest in farm lands and real estate and now owns four hundred acres in the Weed Patch, which by means of artesian water and an adequate pumping system he is bringing under a high state of cultivation. His faith in Kern county is great and he is proving it by his investments, and pos- sessing a commendable spirit, he rightly ranks high among the busi- 678 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ness men of the county. Sharing with him in this popularity is his accom- jilished wife, who prior to their marriage in March. 1908. was Miss Margaret Jenkins of Oakland, this state. They are the parents of two children. Rolla and Helen. CLARENCE S. GREEN.— The business men of Maricopa have been leading factors in its rapid growth and not. the least of these is Clarence S. Green, who during May of 1907 came to the west side and since then has witnessed the entire material growth of the town. At first its destiny seemed uncertain. The mushroom character of the original growth caused many to believe its importance would be temporary, but with each year it has planted its rcots, deeper in the soil of prosperous existence and since 1907 it has developed into a city. rich, progressive and permanent. July 20. 1911, it was incorporated as a city and Mr. Green, who had been chosen a mem- ber of the board of school trustees in 1909, was again chosen to serve the newly-incorporated city in the same office. In fact, it was his work, together with that of other leading men. that rendered possible the successful incorpo- lation. and since then these same citizens have fostered all public enterprises Born at Watsonville, Monterey county, Cal., September 16, 1868. Air. Green has little recollection of his birthplace, for at the age of three year- he was taken by the family to Santa Barbara, where later he was sent to the public school. He began to earn a livelihood as a farm hand and soon be- came an expert in the care of stock as well as in the tilling of the soil. As early as 1889, when scarcely twenty-one years of age he came to Kern county and here he has since made his home, having in 1892 married Miss Mollie Emerson, of Kern county, but who was born in San Luis Obispo county, Cal. She was reared there until she was eighteen years of age, when she came with her parents to Kern county. Three sons were born of the union, Clar- ence, Robert and Edward. The first home of the couple was in the south- west part of the county, where Mr. Green made a specialty of stock-raising and general ranching. During 1904 he moved to the vicinity of Bakersfield and rented land, which he devoted to the raising of general crops and of stock. As previously stated, he came to the west side in 1907 and has been a resident of Maricopa ever since the town started. For one year he devoted his time to contract teaming, next he started a livery stable and six months later he opened a blacksmith shop and started in the harness business also. During 1911 he erected a building for a harness shop and this he now occu- pies, doing an excellent business in the making, repair and sale of harness of all kinds. Although he left his farm some years ago he still retains the tract near Old River twelve miles southwest of Bakersfield, where he owns a well-improved estate of three hundred acres in grain and alfalfa. He is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Bakersfield. also with the Ancient Order of United Workmen in the same city. Mr. Green continues to run the livery, harness, blacksmith and team contracting business at Maricopa, while Mrs. Green, with the help of her three sons, operates the large three hundred acre alfalfa, grain and stock ranch in the Old River district of Kern county. Mrs. Green is the daughter of E. S. Emerson, who was born in Missouri and came to California in the early days. He was with the Government troops in Mexico driving team during the Mexican war and then came up to California and engaged in the stock business. He was married in So- noma county to Miss Julia Duncan, of Missouri, who crossed the plains in 1849 in company with her parents. Settlement was made in Sonoma county, where she grew up to young womanhood and where she was married. A part of her children were born in that county. Later the parents moved to San Luis Obispo county and in 1886 the parents and their family came to Kern county and settled on the I'aleto country land. Here they homesteaded ^J5W-C^-^'^,--^^-'t^ N^./^L-tT'Z^'i-'u.t:^,.^^ tJo^ ^^ eM^ S^ '--2.^:-^-*^ TITSTORY OF KERN COUNTY 683 one hundred and sixty acres. The seven sons also took homesteads there, and this gave rise to bitter litigation which ran through several years, but the case was finally won by the Emersons. HENRY THOMAS FREEAR.— Many years ago, when the nineteenth century had scarcely rounded out one-half of its era of progress, a parish in Norfolk, England, had as its rector Rev. Henry T. Freear. a popular and talented 3-oung clergyman in the Church of England, beloved among his parishioners and deeply mourned when in 1852 death brought an untimely end to his ministerial labors. Surviving him were an only child, Henry Thomas, and the widow, Ann (Stribling) Freear, who was a native of the city of London. After being left a widow she and her small son accom- panied her brother, John Stribling, to the United States and settled with him in Dekalb county. 111., where she met and married Robert Mott, a pros- perous pioneer farmer of the community. Thus it happened that Henry Thomas Freear, whose birth had occurred in London, England, December 18, 1845, passed the years of his youth upon an Illinois farm owned by his stepfather, Mr. Mott, and he gave cheerful aid to such farm work as his strength and years permitted. In 1863 at the age of almost eighteen he enlisted in Company C, Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, and continued in the service until the close of the war, meanwhile receiving a wound in battle which proved slight in imp.ortance and did not prevent him from accompany- ing the regiment through all of its marches and campaigns. At the expira- tion of the war he engaged in farming. At Sycamore, 111., October 24, 1866, he married Miss Mary Garlick. who was born on a farm near Kingston, Canada, and in 1853 removed to Illinois, settling on a farm in Dekalb county, where she was sent to the neighboring schools and trained to a knowledge of housekeeping. Her father, Joseph Garlick, was born in York- shire. England, and died in Illinois ; the mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Holderness, was born in Kingston, Canada, of EngHsh parent- age, and upon leaving Illinois came to California, where her declining years were passed happilv in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Freear. until her death about 1884. For three years after marriage Mr. and Mrs. Freear lived upon an Illincis farm. During 1869 they became pioneers of Nebraska and pre- empted a homestead in Lancaster county near Lincoln, where a small sod house was their home for a number of years. Meanwhile two sons, Horace R. and Charles H., were born on that frontier Nebraska farm. In 1874 the family came to California and located on a claim ten miles south of Bakers- field in the Old River district, where Mr. Freear developed a fine farm out of an uninviting and unpromising quarter section. After disposing of the property he bought another farm of one hundred and sixty acres one and one-half miles from the old place, and this in turn he developed from raw land into a remunerative proposition. The work of improvement was still being prosecuted when death interrupted his activities, March 4, 1902, and terminated the career of one of the most honored and successful farmers of Kern crunty. In religion he had always clung to the Episcopal faith, in politics he had been a stanch Republican and fraternally he held membership with Hurlburt Post, G. A. R.. in Bakersfield. For years he served efficiently as school trustee of the Old River district. As superintendent of roads, which position he held for some years, he maintained a close supervision of the roads of the district. For five years after the death cf Mr. Freear the widow continued to make the ranch her home, but in 1907 she rented the property and removed to Bakersfield, where she erected and now occupies an elegant residence at No. 1709 ?klaple avenue. In addition she has built and now owns two other houses in this city. During 1910 she sold the old homestead to R. L. McCutchen, the hus1)and of her third child. Lena. Her eldest sons. Horace R. and Charles H.. 684 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY are living in the Old River district and Bakersfield respectively, while the fourth child, Joseph P., makes Bakersfield his home. The twins, Burt and Alfred, are now in Maricopa. The youngest members of the family circle are Mrs. Laverna Bess, of Maricopa, and Mrs. Viola Perry, of Bakersfield. In religion Mrs. Freear is of the Baptist faith and has been interested continu- ously in all movements for the religious and moral uplifting of humanity. Since coming to Bakersfield she has become a prominent member of the Women's Relief Corps and has participated in many of its philanthropies and social fimctions. MILO G. McKEE.— This well known citizen of Kern county was born in the town of Adams, Jefferson county, N. Y., October 17, 1862, and attended the public school near his parents' home until he was fifteen years old. Then he learned the tinner's and plumber's trades, at which he worked until his removal to California. He remained in his native state until 1888, when he came to California and located in Kern county. Here he worked as a tinner and plumber until 1891, when he bought twenty acres, which he farmed until 1898. It was in the last-mentioned year that his brother George S. McKee came to the county and the two formed a business partnership. They bought land from time to time until they now have a fine homestead of one hundred and sixty acres all under cultivation, seven miles south of Bakersfield on the Kern Island road, and of this sixty-five acres are in orchard, sixteen in peaches, twenty-six in prunes and ten in apricots, and ninety-five in alfalfa and grain. Jeflferson county, N. Y., was also the birthplace of George S. McKee, who was l)orn December 29, 1860. He was educated in the public schools in his neighborhood and when he was seventeen years old began to sup[)ort himself by farm labor. In 1885. he located in Perkins county, Nebr., where he home- steaded, after which he moved to Ft. Lupton, Colo., and there for eight years was successful as a butter-maker. From Colorado he came to California in 1898, since which he and his brother have contributed to the success which they both enjoy. ]\Iilo G. McKee is a Mason, and both are Republicans. ' CHARLES REMAN SHERMAN.— From practically the very begin- ning of liis identification with the ^Midway field Mr. Sherman has been finan- cially interested in the May's Oil Company and its successor, the May's Con- solidated Oil Company, of which he is now treasurer and superintendent. When he entered the employ of the company in 1909, the work of develop- ment had only begun and he has been identified wath all of the subsequent operations. Shortly after the concern commenced to develop their lease he was elected treasurer of the company and a member of the board of direc- tors, having charge of the office in the Midway field, and in February, 1913, he was appointed superintendent. Articles of incorporation were again taken out in 1911 and the title changed to its present form. The properties of the organi- zation on section 30, 31-23. and on section 28. 31-23, contain seven producing wells, the out])ut of which entitles the company to rank among the most suc- cessful in the entire field. Of Canadian birth, born in Ontario in 1883, Mr. Sherman is a member of an old family of New York state and was second among the four children of Heman and Margaret (Parks) Sherman, natives of New York, the former born at Flizabethtown, Essex county. For many years the father lived in Ontario and acted as administrator of a large estate. After having com- pleted the studies of the public schools at Roche Point, Charles H. Sherman worked in the lumber woods in Western Ontario and saved his earnings in order to secure a college education. He attended the British-American Col- lege in Toronto until the close of the sophomore year, when he returned to the lumber region for another year. Entering the banking business as bookkeeper in the Sovereign Bank of Canada at Aylmer, in five months Mr. Sherman was promoted to be HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 687 cashier and a year later he was transferred to the head ofifices of the bank in Toronto, where he ranked as sixth on a staff of sixty-five men. On account of failing- health he resigned from the bank, where he had established an enviable record for ability as an accountant, and entered the employ of F. B. Chapin. a silverminer at Cobalt, Canada, and in a short time he was pro- moted to be cashier, filling- the same position with the successor of Mr. Chapin. However, at the expiration of. two years he again found his health impaired by the confining work, and he resolved to come to California, where his former employer, Mr. Chapin, had acquired interests in the Midway field. JOEL Wright coulter.— Numbered conspicuously among the young men of Southern California who have forsaken city life for the broad acres, .seeking rather to live his life in the open under the blue skies than to experience the exciting tumult of city life, is Joel Wright Coulter, whose grandfather, B. F. Coulter, is well known in Los Angeles as the founder -of the large establishment known as the Coulter Dry Goods Co., of which F. M. Coulter is now the head. Joel Wright Coulter was born in Los Angeles, October 20, 1886. son of F. M. and Lelia (Lockhart) Coulter. After attendance in the public schools of his native city he was sent to Harvard Military College, from which he graduated in 1905, and then spent two years at the University of California, taking the agricultural course. Subsequently, under his grandfather's instruc- tion, he entered the Coulter Dry Goods Co. as a clerk, and after working in the different departments in order to familiarize himself with the details of the business he finally became head of the toy department. It was in 1912 that Mr. Coulter turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and buying six hundred and forty acres in Kern county, in Buena Vista district, he resigned his position with the Coulter Dry Goods Co. and located on his new place in order to give his personal supervision and aid in the improvement of his land. The tract is splendidly located twelve miles southwest of Bakersfield, and the whole section is irrigated by the Buena Vista Canal. It is gradually being leveled, checked and improved for raising alfalfa. Mr. Coulter expects to have four hundred acres in that crop, and the land not set apart for this purpose is devoted to general farming. In the improvement of his ranch he finds the knowledge which he acquired in agricultural college to be of great benefit, enabling him to run his own levels and surveys, as well as to make field tests and soil analysis, and make the selection of crops. He is making a specialty of stock raising and has already made splendid progress in his undertaking. He built a large eight-room residence, necessary barns and outbuildings, and has introduced every modern device to complete the place and it ranks among the foremost of its kind in the county. On June 22, 1909, in Los Angeles, Mr. Coulter was married to Aliss Edna Barlow, who was born in Ft. Covington, N. Y., daughter of Allison Barlow, who. has been engaged in the real estate business in Los Angeles for many years. Mrs. Coulter was educated in Stanford and is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta Society. Mr. Coulter is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon at Berkeley. They are the parents of one child, Alison Lelia. With his wife Mr. Coulter is a member of the Broadway Christian Church in Los Angeles. CHARLES C. SMETZER.— The president of the Master Plumbers' Asso- ciation of Bakersfield ranks as an artisan of exceptional skill and as a business man of high reputation for probity, careful w^orkmanship and accuracy of judgment. Although the period of his identification with the interests of Bakersfield has not been long in duration, it has been of sufficient length to prove the high cpiality of his citizenship and the substantial nature of his occu- pative knowledge. It was in this city that he completed his apprenticeship to the trade of plumber and worked as a journeyman, later embarking in business for himself at No. 959 Baker street, East Bakersfield, where his wife has 688 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY charge of the office, thus enabling him to devote his entire attention to the carrying out of contracts for the plumbing of residences of every size and style. Since coming to California in 1900 Mr. Smetzer has seen many portions of the state and it is his conviction, founded on experience and observation, that Kern county offers advantages not to be surpassed by other sections of the commonwealth. Of German ancestry and Ohioan birth, he is a son of the late David and Rebecca (Shaffer) Smetzer, who lived upon a farm in Ohio for many years prior to their demise. There were five children in the family and two of these came to California, Charles C. and William, both now living in East Rakersfield. The former, who was next to the youngest among the children, was born in Williams county, Ohio, June 20, 1881, and passed the years of early life upon the home farm, meanwhile having such advantages as the country grammar schools and local high school offered. At the age of nineteen he started out to earn his own way in the world and immediately came to California, where he found employment on a ranch in Tulare county. Next he learned how to manufacture fruit-boxes and thereafter worked as box-maker in packing-houses from Fresno on the north to Redlands on the south, remaining in that business until he turned his attention to the trade of plumber. Since 1905 he has lived in Bakersfield and East Bakersfield and in the latter city he opened a plumber's shop in the spring of 1911, since which time he has devoted time and attention to the doing of first-class work in his special line. The marriage of Mr. Smetzer took place in Bakersfield December 12, 1908, and united him with Miss Ethel Oren, who was born in Topeka, Kan., but was reared and educated in Kentucky. Possessing excellent business ability, she has been of assistance to her husband by taking charge of the office and keeping the books. For some years she has been a leading local worker in the organization of Pythian Sisters, while Mr. Smetzer is an interested participant in the activities of the Knights of Pythias. Local movements of merit receive his quiet but stanch support and in politics he gives allegiance to the Republican party. THE WOMEN'S IMPROVEMENT CLUB,— Under the laws of Cali- fornia and federated with the state federation of Women's Clubs, the Women's Improvement Club of Taft was incorporated in 1912, its object being for civic, literary and choral improvement. The following officers direct the executive policy (f the organization: president, Mrs. W. M. Mikesell ; first vice-presi- dent, Mrs. J. Walter Key ; second vice-president, Mrs. George Seybolt ; record- ing secretary, Mrs. J. P. Plaugher ; corresponding secretary, Mrs. L. P. Guiberson : and treasurer, Mrs. H. E. Smith. The literary and choral depart- «nents are yet in the incipiency of their usefulness, but will be developed at no distant day. Up to the present time the civic branch, as expressed in the Taft branch of the Kern county free library, has been developed to such an extent that there are now four hundred volumes of choice, up-to-date literature, including all branches of history, art, travel, fiction, humor and exploration, as well as juvenile books and magazines, and in addition the leading dailies and weeklies and a number of the best magazines. Co-operation with the county and state lil^rary organizations makes it possible for a patron of the Taft library to secure an}^ book he or she may wish on any desired subject. Since its inception the library has had the kindly co-operation and financial support of the city trustees of Taft. The first home of the library was in the City Hall. The rapid growth of the project demonstrated that more commodious quarters were needed. Four of the leading women of Taft took the matter into consideration. These women, Mrs. Charles Heath, the then president of the Club, and the building com- mittee consisting of "Sirs. L. P. Guiberson, Mrs. T- ^^^ Kev and Mrs. W. M. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 689 Mikesell, gave a note to the bank in order to secure funds for erecting a build- ing in 1912. Donations were not urged, but the money has been raised through entertainments and in other ways. By the 1st of January, 1914, the ladies hope to have the building entirely free from debt, and this in itself will speak volumes for their determination and executive management. The uplifting influence of the library is evident to all. x'Vbout three hundred and fifty books were added to the shelves on the 1st of July, 1913, and immediately afterward the rooms began to be filled with people, old and young, eager to avail themselves of the privilege of reading the choicest output of the large publishing houses of the world. In addition to the books and magazines, the library has been a center for good lectures by local and Kern county profes- sional men and advanced thinkers. The custodian, Mrs. B. J. Krekeler, a courteous and intelligent woman, ably and faithfully attends to the duties of librarian and assists the members of the Women's Improvement Club in a wise endeavor to promote the moral and educational welfare of Taft. LUCIUS JOHNSTON.— The lineage of the Johnston family is traced back to Virginia, where the original immigrant to America made settlement and became a planter of considerable local prominence. Of later generations the pioneer instinct showed strongest in Basil Johnston, a Virginian by birth and education, but throughout young manhood a planter in Tennessee and ultimately one of the first settlers of Jefiferson county. 111., where he took up raw land and developed a farm. Among his children was a son, William Ambrose Johnston, a native of Tennessee and now a resident of Jefferson county. 111., where he has improved and still owns a valuable farm near Mount Vernon. Shortly after the opening of the Civil war he left wife and family and went to the front as a volunteer in the Sixtieth Illinois Infantry, with which he continued until the expiration of his period of enlistment. Upon receiving an honorable discharge from the army he resumed the man- agement of his farm and since has devoted his attention to agricultural pur- suits. By his marriage to Mary Lynch, who was born in Jefiferson county and died there in 1871, he had a family of five children and all but one of these still survive. The eldest, Lucius, was born at the home farm near Mount Vernon, 111., February 25, 1861, and received his education in country schools, supplemented by attendance at Ewing College. During a period of ten years devoted to teaching school Mr. Johnston empkyed all his spare time to the development of the farm which he had purchased when he was twenty-two years of age. The earnings of the school- room were given over to the improvement of the land and to the erection of needed buildings. Later on, besides tilling the soil of the farm and raising stock thereon, he filled the positions of township tax collector and assessor and served with efficiency as a justice of the peace. During 1893 he came to California and engaged in ranching in Kern county. After seven years he left the farm and settled in Bakersfield, where he built his home at- No. 2510 H street, besides erecting three other bungalows which he rents. Immediately after coming to this city he secured a position as chief operator in charge of the main distributing station of the Power Development Company, later known as the Power Transit and Light Company. Recognition of his faith- ful service came in a merited promotion to the position of superintendent of the meter department. When the San Joaquin Power and Light Corporation absorbed the old concern in 1911 he was retained in the same position, which he since has filled with customary attention to details and unswerving fidelity. While engaged in farming in Jefiferson county. 111., Mr. Johnston was first married, in 1883, to Miss Florida Crosno, a native of that county, who died there in 1893. His second marriage occurred in Bakersfield in 1897, uniting him with Miss Lucy Range, a native of Germany who came to San Diego. Cal., when a child. She was educated in the schools of that city and Los Angeles. 690 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY One son, Donald, was born of this union, he now being a student in the Kern county high school. The family are interested in all movements for the upbuilding of Bakersfield and Mrs. Johnston is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of this city. In politics Mr. Johnston votes with the Democratic party. Fraternally he not only belongs to the Woodmen of the World, but in addition he has been very prominent in the local ranks of the Knights of Pythias, which he has represented in the grand lodge, besides holding the ofifice of past chancellor commander. H. H. McCLINTOCK. — To witness the remarkable development of the Midway field and to contribute thereto through the force of his own mechanical and constructive ability has been the privilege of Mr. McClin- tock, who occupies a most responsible position as superintendent in Kern county for the Northern Exploration Company and for the Southern Cali- fornia Gas Company as well as the predecessor of the latter concern, the Tllidway Gas Company. The corporation named, which like the others rep- resents enormous financial institutions, had for its principal task the build- ing of gas-pipe lines from the Midway field to Los Angeles, where the gas is distributed and sold to the various existing gas companies through the agents of the Southern California Gas Company. In turn the latter is associated with the Northern Exploration Company, which engages in the drilling of gas wells and the production of natural gas, a product superior to the manufactured gas for heating purposes. In the local work of these large institutions the commanding person- ality of H. H. McClintock has wielded a permanent influence. Through all his life a resident of California, of which he is a native son, he yet has traveled extensively, has enjoyed the advantages of training abroad and in the course of his career as a marine engineer visited the principal ports of the world. Born at San Jose, Santa Clara county, November 18, 1873, edu- cated in the public schools and business college in his native city, married June 20, 1900, and identified with the Midway field in the early days when its total output was less than one thousand barrels, these facts give a sum- mary of his eventful existence, but fail to indicate the thoroughness of his training and the scope of his influence in occupative enterprises. In early years he served an apprenticeship in the Fulton iron works at San Fran- cisco and at the expiration of four years in that plant he went abroad in order to study marine engineering with a famous firm of shipbuilders in Belfast, Ireland. From the great yards of the firm have been sent forth some of the largest and finest ships that sail the high seas. The ill-fated Titanic was one of their most majestic creations. After a practical experience in marine engine-building that kept him in Belfast from 1899 until March, 1902, Mr. McClintock then returned to San Francisco. For several years he engaged as a licensed marine engineer and master mechanic. Meanwhile he sailed around the world three times and had charge of the engines on a number of the greatest steamships. Meeting Mr. Rockefeller at San Francisco, he was induced to take up pipe- line construction work. For a time he was employed in the mechanical department and for one year engaged as superintendent of the Central Division with headquarters at Hanford. During 1907 he directed the con- struction of the line into the Midway field, an eight-inch pipe to Richmond and the pipes for the water system to Rio Bravo. Since 1908 he has been a very active constructive agent in the development of the Midway, where as previously stated he acts as superintendent of the Northern Exploration Company, the Southern California Gas Company and the Midway Gas Company, the latter recently overtaken by the concern previously named. In July of 1911 he took charge of the construction work for the Western Water Company and from that time until the completion of the task in June, 1912, he superintended the laying of pipes and the building of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 693 line for the concern. Besides being connected with the Elks at Bakersfield he is actively interested in the Petroleum Club at Taft. MRS. HARRIET JASPER.— The Boucher family, of which Mrs. Jasper is a member, descends from old French lineage, but has been represented in America for a number of generations and her father, Stephen Boucher, was a native of New York. During a residence of some years in Indiana he met and married Zoe Rahome, a descendant of German and French ancestry and a connection of the Pollock family, for years influential citizens of Louisville, Ky. Accompanied by his young wife ]\Ir. Boucher removed to Canada and established a home at Chatham, Ontario, un the Thames river, where he en- gaged in the lumber business and also bought and sold grain. The daughter, Harriet, was born at Chatham during the period of the sojourn of the family at that point. During 1866 the family came via Panama to California and spent two years in San Francisco, where the court for purposes of convenience changed the spelling of the family name from Boucher to Boushey. From San P'rancisco Mr. Boushey went to Catalina Island and engaged in lead and silver mining with Temple and W'orkman. 'In the interests of the same gentlemen he came to Kern county in 1881 and located antimony mines in the San Emidio mountains. In addition he and a partner developed some claims of their own, then he bought out the partner and engaged alone in the man- agement of the mill and smelting plant. In 1889 occurred the death of his w-ife and a son, Alexander, who had assisted him in the development of the antimony mines. His own demise occurred July 24, 1891, when he was seventy-eight years of age. Of the other members of the family his son, Dr. JuHus Boushey, died in San Francisco, and a daughter, Anzoe, Airs. Thomas E. O'Hare, died in Los Angeles. Of the four children in the Boushey family who attained mature years JVIrs. Jasper is the sole survivor. She was educated in San Francisco and Los Angeles and in the latter city became the wife of William Jasper, a native of Bremen, Germany, and by occupation a machinist and locomotive engineer. At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Jasper came to California and secured employment as an engineer in San Francisco. After his marriage he removed from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he engaged in the mer- cantile business. About 1885 he came to Kern county, where afterward he assisted Mr. Boushey in the mines until the death of the latter and the subsequent sale of the antimony mine and smelter by the administrator to the Kern County Land Company. Thereupon he came to East Bakersfield and erected a residence for his family. Much of his time was spent in the oil fields until his death, which occurred January 20. 1903, at the age of sixty-two years. He had taken up a homestead in San Emidio, which he left to his wife. Later Mrs. Jasper entered a claim adjoining that which he had developed. Upon it she remained for five years as required by law. Meanwhile she made needed improvements on both places. The stipulated time having expired, she will soon hold a title to her claim. In entering upon such an undertaking after having been left a widow with a large family, she showed commendable energy and a desire not only to secure independence for herself, but also to aid her children in subsequent years, for undoubtedly the land will increase in value with development of the surrounding country and of its own resources. With her family she has been a lifelong adherent of the Roman Catholic faith and for some years past she has belonged to St. Joseph's parish. In politics both she and her husband were quiet but firm believers in the principles tf the Democratic party. Of her seven children we note the following James William is a locomotive engineer now living at San Bernardino George Alexander is employed as cattle buyer for Miller & Lux at Hanford Edith Adelaide is the wife of A. C. Silver and lives in East Bakersfield ; Fred- erick Stephen is an oil-well contractor operating on the west side; Albert L. 694 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY is a locomotive engineer of East Bakerstield ; Emma married ^lark Wilson and lives at Waites, Kern county; and ^lyrtle A. married II. B. Jones and resides in Los Angeles. HENRY FORD CONDICT.— A study of genealogical records indicates that when William the Conqueror crossed the channel to England he had among his soldiers a member of the Condict family, a gallant Norman of noble blood, who bore his part in the triumphal entry of the troops into the British Isles. Wliatever of heroism characterized his subsequent activities and whatever of honor came to his Anglo-Saxon descendants, these possibilities are hidden in the mists of historical obscurity. The next fact that can be ascer- tained in the family history proves that one John Condict came from Wales to America as early as 1640 and settled in the then wilderness of New Jersey. I^'rom him descended Nathaniel Condict, a brave soldier and lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary war, in which he perished ere yet victory had crowned the self-sacrificing efforts of the feeble band of patriots. Among his children there was a son, Silas, a native of New Jersey and a farmer in the vicinity of Paterson, that state, where also he had banking interests. The next genera- tion was represented by Sidney Condict, who was born at Paterson, N. J., became a merchant in New York City, but during 1842 removed to the fron- tier of Illinois and took up government land in McHenry county. From that time until his death in 1856 he labored with unceasing energy to transform the raw tract into a productive farm, but the end came ere he had realized his anticipations of agricultural success. The marriage of Silas Condict united him with Charlotte Reynolds, who was born in New Jersey and died in Illinois in 1874. She was a daughter of Capt. Abram Reynolds, an officer under General Scott in the war of 1812 and a pioneer of 1842 in McHenry county, 111., where he died about 1856. By his own energetic eft'orts he acquired large holdings in land. Not only was he successful in private aft'airs, but in addition he wielded a wide influence in public enterprises and at one time filled the office of sheriff of his county in New Jersey. The family of Silas and Charlotte Condict numbered six children. P^our of these attained maturity, Init only one still survives, Henry Ford Condict. who was born at Newark, X. J., July 5, 1837, and was brought to the frontier of Illinois in 1842. As a boy he attended the country schools of McHenry county. Through the kindly assistance of Hon. E. B. VVashburne, member of congress from Illinois and a distinguished citizen of Galena, in 1854 the youth was appointed to a cadetship in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. Among his classmates was one who, as Admiral Dewey, later acquired a worldwide fame. After he had spent two years in the academy he was forced to resign on account of failing eyes. Returning to Illinois he later married Miss Nancy J. Young, a native of Maine. During 1859 he came via Panama to California and became interested in mining at Deadwood, Siskiyou county. When the news reached him con- cerning the breaking out of war he at once returned to the east and at Manchester, N. H., enlisted in the First New Hampshire Battery Septem- ber 26, 1861. Upon the organization of the troops he was elected lieutenant of his company. Ordered to the front, he fought in numerous desperate engagements, including the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancel- lorsville and Fredericksburg. In the last-named battle the battery was reduced to four guns. This almost total annihilation obliged the young lieu- tenant to resign his commission and retire. Not content, however, to leave the service of the Union he went immediately to Illinois and June 3, 1863, became a member of Company H, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, which he ac- companied to the front. In the historic engagement at Gettysburg his regi- ment fired the first shot. Throughout the balance of the war he bore a gallant part. After the surrender of the Confederate troops he was sent HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 697 to Washington, where he joined in the desperate chase after Wilkes Booth, the slayer of President Lincoln, then a clerk at headcjuarters, administering the oath of allegiance to the Confederates, and afterwards he participated in the grand review and jnne 2, 1865, was mustered out of the service at Washington. Returning to Illinois Air. Condict had charge of the old homestead until 1872.* when he sold out there and came to California. Bakersfield was then a small hamlet, but in the fall of the same year it secured the county- seat and its real development began at that time. For about two years he was proprietor of the old Stage hotel on the present site of the Odd Fellows hall and next he ran the old ferry for one season. During 1877 he embarked in the soda business on Nineteenth street, where the Southern block is, and later he moved it to G and Seventeenth streets. Two years later he bought one-half block across the street reaching from G to H on Seventeenth street and moved to the new location, where he has continued to the pres- ent time, meanwhile building up an important trade in all kinds of soft drinks, making his own syrups and manufacturing his popular products at his headquarters, known as the C. O. D. soda works. At the same time for twenty-five years he followed the truck and dray business, having four large trucks, and was agent for the Standard Oil Company. In 1905 he sold out the truck business and also gave up the oil agency. Since then he has devoted his time to soda works and looking after his private interests. He is secretary and director of the Paraffin Oil Company, one of the oldest producers on the west side, and is a stockholder in the Coalinga Peerless and the U. S. Oil Company. On account of the bad well water, Mr. Condtct, with others, was induced to organize the Bakersfield waterworks, becoming a director and the first superintendent, and putting in all the original pipes. After serving as superintendent for several years he resigned. Near his large manufacturing establishment stands his comfortable residence on FI and Seventeenth streets and here he and his wife hospitably entertain the many friends won during the long period of their residence in Bakersfield. With them is one daughter, Miss Charlotte, while the other daughter. Bertha. Mrs. C. L. Hollis, makes her home in San Francisco. At the adoption of the city charter Mr. Condict was chosen the first city assessor of Bakersfield. Throughout all of his life he has believed in the Republican party and sup- ported its principles. Besides being connected with the Sons of the Revolu- tion, he is a charter member of Hurlburt Post No. 127, G. A. R., and in 1886 was chosen its first commander. When he identified himself with the An- cient Order of United Workmen in 1879 his worth was recognized and he was chosen for official responsibilities. For twenty-three years he served as financier of the local lodge, of which he also is past master workman. After coming to Bakersfield in 1873 he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. During that year also he identified himself with Kern Lodge No. 202, L O. O. F., and afterward he was selected to serve as noble grand of the organization, besides which he became prominent in encampment work and was the first selected to fill the office t;f chief patriarch. FREDERICK S. MAZE.— The emigrant trail across the plains, although less sought by ambitious Argonauts than in the memorable years of 1849 and 1850. was still a popular highway when in the summer of 1853 J. W^ Maze, a Kentuckian by birth and ancestry, traveled the course of its monotonous miles in "prairie schooner" drawn by ox-teams. Accompanying him was Mrs. Maze, formerly Miss Elizabeth Mann, who was born in Missouri about 1834 and who, now an invalid as the result of an accidental fall that broke the hip- bone, is considerately cared for by her son. Frederick S. The father engaged in grain-raising in Stanislaus county and removed from there to Fresno 698 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY county, settling- near Selma about fourteen miles from Fresno. His death occurred about 1^.07 at the age of seventy-eight. Of his seven living children we note the following: Julia is the wife of S. B. Shaw, a carpenter at Visalia ; William E. is engaged in farming in Kern county; Alice married Marshall A. Cotton, a fruit-packer at Visalia; Laura is the wife of C. H. Brown, a team contractor at Fowler ; Zetta married F. S. Jasper, a drilling contractor at Fel- lows ; rVederick S., a twin of Zetta. was born near ]\Iodesto. Stani'slaus county, August 22, 1872; and Christopher E., is engaged in the poultry busi- ness at Fowder. Reared on a farm in Fresno county, Frederick S. Maze began to work in the oil business at the age of fourteen years and since 1899. when he came to the McKittrick oil field, he has given his attention wholly to the industry. At first he was employed in driving teams and handled as many as eight head of horses at one time, hauling heavy machinery to the McKittrick field. When he ceased to work as a teamster he began to tend boilers with the Kern River Oil Company at McKittrick. In 1900 he came to the Midway field as a tool-dresser. However, drilling has been his main business and he has made an enviable record in this department of the oil industry. Eight wells on the Pierpont stand to his credit as a driller. In 1907 he drilled one well at McKittrick, later drilled a well on the Brockton, then returned to the Pier- pont and from that went successively to several other leases. Since 1911 he has been connected with the General Petroleum Oil Company, with which he has made a record for successful drilling on the Nevada Midway, Holloway and other leases. The demands of the work are so engrossing that it leaves liim no leisure for outside affairs.' Early and late he has been at his post of duty. At one time he had five strings of tools running on the Holloway, Scrongo. Nevada Midway and Bankline. also five strings of tools on the Mid- way 32. having charge of a production that averaged about seventy-five thousand barrels per month until February 1, 1913, since which time his entire attention has been concentrated upon the Midway 32. One of his noteworthy achievements was with well No. 14, which came to him as a fishing job November 1, 1912. Practically abandoned, with boiler lost and equipment useless, he undertook a task of the greatest difficulty, and when he was suc- cessful in the attempt, removing the old casing, providing new equipment and making practically a new \vell that in June, 1913, came in as a three thousand barrel per day gusher, he was accorded the heartiest praise for the accom- plishment of a feat than which nothing more difficult had ever been accom- plished in the field. MRS. W. M. MIKESELL.— The president of the W^omen's Improvement Club at Taft has. through co-operation with other progressive women of the city, accomplished much of inestimable value to the community and made pos- sible the Taft library together with allied enterprises inseparable from civic advancement. In the very fineness of its far-reaching influence the spirit of the Club eludes definition. Its officers and members endeavor to exercise the art of kindliness, of light and of progress, and the city of Taft is not unmindful of the obligations of its large debt to these women of large-hearted service and philanthropic natures. In the task of promoting civic advancement the president has received the most able assistance from other officers and from members. Their tasks have been labors of beneficence and philanthropy, and their achievements have marked the pathway of local growth. Born and reared in Pennsylvania, educated in the State Normal School of Pennsylvania and granted a state teacher's certificate in that state. Mrs. Mikesell folUnved the profession of an instructor in schools until her marriage to \\'. M. Mikesell. of Indiana. During 1909 she came to California and settled among the pioneers of the new town of Taft, where Mr. Mikesell became the proprietor of a hardware and fm-niture store and where she has thoroughly M». ^^^h/ryrX^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 701 identified herself with every movement for community development. Of her union with Mr. Mikesell there are two sons, Emerson and William Milton, Jr. To enjoy the friendship of Mrs. Mikesell is a privilege. CJentle in thought, yet positive in convictions and resolute in action, she possesses the qualities neces- sary to a successful presiding officer, yet invaluable also in the home, in the church and in society. The value of her uplifting influence has been seen in many a life outside of her home circle and has been particularly apparent in the philanthropic enterprises of the Women's Improvement Club. The Ladies' Aid Society of the Presbyterian Church of Taft was organized in Mrs. Mike- sell's home at Taft. As an active worker in that organization she has been instrumental in building the fine Presbyterian Church at the corner, of Fifth and Kern streets, as well as the manse, which was built in 1912 and continues to be an uplifting influence in Taft. J. C. PAYNE. — The colonial era of American history witnessed the arrival from Scotland of a sturdy representative of the Payne family, the founder of the name in the new world and a pioneer planter in Virginia. It is interesting to note that Collins' Early History of Kentucky records a dispute and disagreement that arose between General Washington and the progenitor of the Payne family, who were contemporaries, but differed in opinions con- cerning national policies. A Virginian by birth, Duval Payne became an early settler of Miss(.uri and took up a tract of farm land five miles east of Kansas City on the road to Independence. When that property was sold he moved to Cass county. Mo., about fifty miles from Sedalia, and there his death occurred during November of 1862. Years before he had married Mary Jane Wilson, a native of Kentucky, and seven children had been born to the union. The next to the youngest of these, J. C, was born in Jackson county. Mo., March 10. 1853, and was only eight years of age at the time of his father's untimely demise. The widow was left in poverty-stricken circum- stances with a large family, only the eldest of w^hom were able to go out in the world to earn their own livelihoods. Upon the boy of eight devolved much of the burden of the family maintenance and his condition was ren- dered the more pitiable by reason of the Civil war being then at its climax. The portion of Missouri in which the family lived was a hotbed of guerrilla warfare. The lives of all, old and yc.ung, Union and Confederate, were con- stantly in danger. The rising sun of each day gave no prediction of what h^(Trror might befall the community before its setting. The barefoot boy, clad in coarse homespun clothing, had no opportunity to attend school during the war, l)ut as he bravely tried to earn his livelihood he saw much tliat left an indelible impression upon his mind. ^lore than once his life was threatened by outlaw soldiers who sought to get secret information. Quan- trell's gang operated in the neighborhood. At one time he saw six innocent men shot after they had been compelled to dig their own graves. Before the fatal shot was fired each man was required to stand in such a position that his b( dy would drop into the grave he had dug. Finally the long civil struggle came to an end and in 1866 the fatherless lad. who had been given a temporary home with an aunt, Mrs. B. F. Smith, was- taken to Kentucky by his mother, who joined relatives in the vicinit}' of Paris. There he attended the common schools and became trained to farm pursuits. At the age of twenty-four years he returned to Missouri. From 1878 to 1880 he lived in Johnson county and there, in the year last- named, he married ^Miss Martha Cook, who had been born in Indiana, but had spent the greater part of her life in Missouri. During 1883 the family came to California and settled near Selma, Fresno county, where Mr. Payne planted a tract of land to vines and deciduous fruit trees. After the fruit was in bearing condition he disposed of the property to advantage. Next he engaged in raising wheat and had from two thousand to three thousand 702 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY acres in grain, conducting extensive operations and meeting with consid- erable success. During 1902 he removed to Bakersfield, where with his only- child, lames Bruce Payne, he now conducts an undertaking business. The son is a skilled embalmer and a scientist as well. June 10, 1905, he was graduated from the l^arnes School of Embalming and Anatomy at New York and March 4, 1908, from the Cincinnati College of Embalming. The Christian Church of Bakersfield has had the benefit of the capable assistance of the Payne family, who are devoted to the doctrines of that organization. In pulitics Mr. Payne votes with the Democratic party. Fra- ternally he holds membership with the blue lodge of Masonry, the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. For many years he has been a forceful worker with the Kern County Board of Trade and more recently he has served on the executive committee of the Bakersfield Board of Trade, in which he is a leading spirit and enthusiastic worker. Never has he lost an opportunity to "boost" his city, county and state. His faith in the city and his belief in its future prosperity found evidence in his erection during 1912 of a three-story brick building at No. 1928 Nineteenth street. On the top floor the family have a modern apartment fitted up for residential purposes. The basement floor is devoted to a display, sales and stock room and a workshop, while on the first floor are the office, the operating room, the morgue and a funeral chapel with a capacity of one hundred visitors. FRED C. BROCKMAN. — Teutonic descent in an unbroken line is indi- cated by the genealogy of the Brockman family, whose American representa- tive, Fred C. Brockman, the proprietor of the Plant apartments in Bakersfield, is himself a native of Hesse-Darmstadt and identified throughout youth with that important kingdom in Germany. In the neighborhood where he was born December 21, 1866, he attended the national schools and served an ap- prenticeship to the trade of butcher, thus entering into manhood's activities fortified by a fair education and a thorough knowledge of a useful occupation. Meanwhile he had heard much concerning the new world and the oppor- tunities which it offers to men of energy and determination. Determining to try his fortune in the land across the seas, he bade farewell to the friends of boyhood and took passage on a steamship bound for the port of New York. It was during 1884 that he became a resident of the United States and at first he settled in New Mexico, where he engaged in mining at Rio Mimbres. All the ups and downs incident to the existence of a miner and prospector fell to his lot in those early years of effort. There were times when all went well and the returns were fair, but also some seasons of depression and dis- couragement, when the profits of other times were forced to be turned to the payment of losses in unfortunate mining ventures. The Apache Indians were very troublesome in New Mexico and more than once they imperiled his life with their dastardly attacks, but in each instance he escaped in safety. Mining interests in Colorado attracted Mr. Brockman to Ouray in 1890 and there or near by he continued for some time, combining with his work in mines the management of a meat market which he had started shortly after his arrival in Colorado. The next enterprise that engaged his attention was the purchase of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres at Hotchkiss, where he engaged in general farm pursuits and secured water under a canal from the mountains. The presence of irrigation facilities and the fertile nature of the soil rendered possible the undertaking of horticultural enterprises. With this idea in view he platted the tract in tracts of ten acres and sold to fruit-grow- ers, himself retaining ten acres for his home place and planting the land in apples and peaches. The raising of fruit proved profitable, but the high alti- tude affected the health of his wife injuriously and he therefore came to Cali- fornia in the fall of 1912, settling in Bakersfield, where he purchased the Plant .^^.(^Xv-t^/^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 705 apartinents at No. 806 Nineteenth street. The building contains twenty-four furnished apartments and Mr. Brockman conducts a grocery on the first floor. When a lad in his early (iernian home Mr. Brockman was confirmed in the Lutheran Church and ever since then he has upheld the doctrines of the denomination. Fraternally he holds membershi]) with the Woi dmen of the World. During 1896 he was united in marriage .at Delta, Colo., with Mrs. Mattie (Rosenkranz) Esch. a native of Keil, Germany, and a lady of amiable qualities, who since coming to Bakersfield has made many friends and also been greatly benefited in health. Besides being active in church work and a model housekeeper in the home, she takes a warm interest and leading part in the work of the Royal Neighbors and the Women of Woodcraft. By her f( rmer marriage she was the mother of three children, namely: Walter Esch, a fruit- grower residing at Hotchkiss, Ct lo. ; Mrs. (lertrude A'^incent, of Spokane, Wash. ; and Flsa. who makes her home in Denver. CHARLES E. COOPER.— It is conceded by competent judges that few citizens of Kern county are more familiar with soil conditions and pn^perty valuations than Charles E. Cooper, who conducts a real-estate, insurance and loan business in Bakersfield, with office at No. 1514 Twentieth street. One of his specialties has been the agency for the Chester Park tract on Fourth street and Chester avenue, on the east line, comprising one hundred and forty-four lots well located on the main thoroughfare of Bakersfield from north to south four blocks from the street car line. In addition he acts as agent for the Mountain View tract in the Edison district east of Bakersfield and three miles from Edison station. By virtue of long residence in the west Mr. Cooper has acquired the enthusiasm and mental breadth characteristic of those who breathe the air of mountain or sea. Besides the qualities that come through long association with the west, he inherited the substantial characteristics that belong to the sons of Iowa. That commonwealth was his early home and Janesville, Bremer county, his native community, while a nearby farm gave him an in- itiation into agricultural knowledge as well as valuable information concern- ing soil necessities and possibilities. His father, a man of sterling worth and of considerable prominence in Bremer county, traced his lineage to Peter Cooper, who coming from England to America during the colonial era founded a numerous family whose influence has been felt in the majority of the states of the Union and whose present-day representatives are contributing effect- ively to the material upbuilding of their varied localities. That eminent writer on horticulture and recognized authority on olives and olive culture, Elwood Cooper, the millionaire olive grower of Santa Barbara, is a distant relative of our subject. With the self-reliance that has characterized every generation of the family in the new world Charles E. Cooper started out to earn his own way in the world at an early age and became a resident of Denver, Colo., where for fifteen years he engaged in the real-estate business. Meanwhile he enjoyed a substantial prosperity in material matters and became popular in the most refined social circles. A later period of real-estate activity was passed in San Francisco, whence he came to Bakersfield and in this city he has won recog- nition through marked business ability and agreeable personality. Giving his attention very closely to realty enterprises, he takes no part in politics aside from voting the Republican ticket at all elections. In religion he holds to the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church. Aside fn m his large real-estate business ]Mr. Cooper is resident agent for the Philadelphia Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia and the West Coast Life of San Francisco, as well as agent for the Continental of New York (with assets of $26,000,000), the Firemen's Insurance Company of Newark, the Fidelity Phoenix of New York (with assets of $17,000,000). the New Jersey Fidelity and Plate Glass 706 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Insurance Company, the American Union i^^ire Insurance Company of Phila- delphia, and the Fire Association of Philadelphia. In September, 1913, Mr. Cooper was elected president of the Bakersfield Realty Board and also selected one of the committee of five to secure the ap- pointment of fifteen freeholders to draft a new charter for the city. December 3, 1913. at the Van Nuys Hotel in Los Angeles occurred the marriage of C. E. Cooper and Miss Cora May St. Clair, a member of one of the pioneer families of Bakersfield, whose father. L. P. St. Clair, was the first mayor of Bakers- field, owner of the first electric light plant and a pioneer in the oil business. Mrs. Cooper had been identified with the oil business prior to her marriage and was a lady of prominence in her home city. Her brother, L. P. St. Clair, is president of the Independent Oil Producers agency. ST. LAWRENCE OIL COMPANY.— Numbered conspicuously among the prosperous oil producers of the Kern county district is that of the St. Lawrence Oil Company, wdiich represents the industry in its best form and fur- nishes to the investigator a splendid example of the methods employed in that industry. The company operates a- one hundred and sixty-acre tract, it being the southeast quarter of section 5, township 32, range 23, and is com- posed of San I'^rancisco investors, who started operations there in VOH, I. B. Strassburger of that city being president. Under great difficulty well No. 1 was drilled, but at length was finished in November, 1910, when it was perforated and came in as a gusher about the same time as the No. 2-6 on the C. C. AI. Oil Company's holdings. The well flowed from fifteen hundred to two thousand barrels and was soon placed under control. It is still producing, which marks the unusually fine con- ditions of the vicinity. The company has since put down five more wells and all are producers of better than twenty-one gravity oil. Ably superintending it is William G. Follansbee, who has met with signal success in his opera- tions. JOHN C. MARLEY. — The superintendent of the Stratton Water Com- pany has been identified with the Midway field since January of 1910, when he came to Fellows to enter upon the duties connected with his present positicjn. The organization of which he has charge and which ranks as the pioneer water concern of the entire field obtains water from a system of four wells, having a capacity of about thirty thousand barrels per day. A resident of California since 1895, John C Marley was born at Winterset, Madison county, Iowa, in 1859, and is a son of J. A. Marley. a florist during his lifetime. After he had completed the studies of the grammar and high schools he became an apprentice to the trades of millwright and carpenter, which he learned thoroughly and in which he became unusually skilled. However, instead of following these trades, he turned his attention to a department of the railroad business and for some years acted as station agent for various roads in Iowa, his first work being done with the Burlington Railroad. After his arrival in California in 1895 he worked as a millwright with the Demming- Palmer Milling Company. An important position as superintendent of the Holmes Lime Company at Felton, Santa Cruz county, he filled for six years, and upon resigning from that place he came to Fellows at the begin- ning of the A'ear 1910, since which he has developed the business of the Strat- ton Water Company and also has engaged as local representative of the Midway Oil Company of Oregon, having charge of the holdings of that con- cern in the Midway field. His family, consisting of wife and son Donald, still maintain a residence at No. 640 Post street, San Francisco. Mrs. Marley was formerly Miss Ida Hollingshead, of Albia, Iowa, where she was born and reared. In politics Mr. Marley votes with the Republican party, while fra- ternally he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the ^Modern Woodmen of America and the P>aternal Brotherhood. :4a^^--^>^./i? HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 733 hood. Dr. Ballagh was a resident for the most part of Portersville, where he attended ^he grammar school and took the first year of higli-school work. Later he was graduated from the Fresno high school. From Fresno he came to the Kern river fields and worked as a pumper on the Imperial and 33 lease- holds, also on the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company. Mean- while he frugally saved his earnings in order to assist in the payment of his expenses while studying dentistry. September 6. 1*06, at the age of twenty years, he matriculated in the University of Southern California, where he took the full course of three years, graduating in 1909 with the degree of D. D. S. Immediately after graduation he came to Maricopa and entered upon profes- sional work. Soon after the Maricopa fire in 1910 he and his brother, E. E.. erected a substantial concrete building, 50x40, on California street, centrally located, and divided into two store rooms and ftur offices, his own office being located in this block. THADDEUS W. HELM, M.D.— Dr. Helm was born at Elkrun, Fauquier county. Va.. October 14, 1850, a sen of John G. and Pauline (Jones) Helm. In both lines of descent he came of old and honored Virginian families and in the paternal line he traced his ancestry to Wales. When he was yet but a boy he was taken by his parents to Blackwater, Cooper county, Mo. He was reared on a farm and when he was eighteen became a traveling salesman. Four years later he went to Texas and there became a school teacher and a medical student. Eventually he entered the medical depart- ment of the L^niversitv of Missouri at Columbia, from which he was gradu- ated with the degree of M. D. in 1877. It was at Brookston. Tex., that Dr. Helm be?an his medical practice. After a brief experience there he removed to Ballinger, in the same state, where he practiced with much success for about ten years. Sometimes he traveled sixty or seventy miles on horseback to see patients, carrying his medicine and a few surgical appliances in his saddle-bags. As he attained prominence as a physician he won admiration as a m.an and popularity as a citizen and the office of coroner of his county was conferred upon him. In 1888 he came to Lemoore, Kings county, Cal., where he labored professionally until in 1891, when he settled in Bakersfield. His office was long located on Nineteenth street, but eventually he removed it to the Producers Bank Building. In California, as he had been in Texas, he was called bv his ad- miring fellow-citizens to places of trust and honor and he filled the offices of coroner and public administrator of Kern county. In his political affilia- tions he was a Democrat, and was active as a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Encampment and Canton, being captain of the last mentioned. He was an active member of the Kern County Medical Society, of which he was twice elected president and of which he was vice-president at the time of his death, which occurred November 1, 1910. Fle was long identified also with the California State Aledical Association and with the American Medical Association. A believer in the evangelical religion and in the ministry of the church for the physical benefit of men, he was an admirer of General Booth, and his method of work for humanity. In Paris. Texas, November 27, 1879, Dr. Helm married Miss Mollie Hathaway, a native of that town. She was a daug^hter of T- ^^^ Hatha wa}' and a granddaughter of William M. Hathaway, natives of Virginia and mem- bers of an old Southern family which traced its descent from English an- cestry. Her father, who removed to Missouri, and thence to Paris, Tex., was a farmer and a well-known and popular merchant near Paris. In the course of events he removed to Ballinger, Tex., where he died. During the Civil war he was a gallant officer in the Confederate army. His wife, who before her marriage was Miss Naomi Yarnell, was born at Nashville, Tenn., and died in Texas. Her father. W^illiam Yarnell, a native of England, was 7ZA HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY a planter in Tennessee, and later in Moniteau county, Mo., where he passed away. Mrs. Helm grew to womanhood in Paris, Tex., and was duly gradu- ated from Shiloh Academy. The children born to Dr. and Mrs. Helm are Lena, Thaddeus W., Jr., De Witt T., Homer H. and Francis. Thaddeus W., Jr., was educated as a mining engineer at San Francisco. Mrs. Helm is a member of the Rebekahs, of which she is past officer, is president of the Fra- ternal Brotherhood, and is an active member of the Salvation Army. L. T. THOMPSON. — One of the most capable and enterprising citizens of Bakersfield, who has won a wide reputation for his exceptional capability in the execution of his duties as superintendent in the oil fields, is L. T, Thompson, who has supervision of the Monte Cristo Oil & Development Com,)any and the West Shore Oil Company, both in the Kern river oil fields, and the Monte Cristo Oil and Developnient Company at Maricopa, as well as the Marion Oil Company at Taft. All of these are operated independently of the Standard and Union Companies, and are among the heaviest producers in Kern county. Born at Roseburg, Ore., December 14, 1880, Mr. Thompson was given the opportunity of a good educational training, being sent to the public schools and then to business college at San Francisco, where was laid the foundation of his business knowledge. His first position was that of stenog- rapher for Fink & Schindler; he also kept their books, and some time later he became private secretary for Lieutenant Ballanger, in the department of Quartermaster General, of San Francisco, where he remained for a year. Mr. Thompson's ambitions led him to look for a broader field of labor, and he was attracted by an advertisement of an attorney in San Francisco, Henry Ach, president of the Monte Cristo Oil Company, who was searching for a competent bookkeeper and stenographer for the work in the Kern river oil fields. He procured the position and came to the oil field in 1903 to take up the work there, at which time the Monte Cristo had forty wells. Mr. Thompson's interest in the real work of the oil fields was imme- diately aroused and he became anxious to know more of the actual workings of the business. At the same time he knew that the only way to accomplish this was to begin practically at the bottom and work his way to the top by actually doing the work himself. It was at this time that his wife came to his rescue, for taking up his work as bookkeeper and stenographer she familiarized herself with all his system of work and the details of the busi- ness, in order that her husband might go to work as a laborer. He began as a tool-dresser and all 'round man for the company at Maricopa, then became driller there, and so well did he fill those positions that he was put on as drilling foreman, which he occupied until 1908. At this time he received the position of foreman of the Monte Cristo Company, but he soon after was given the superintendency, as he was then recognized as authority on the work. He is now the general superintendent of all their divisions, and his practical knowledge of the work has made him invaluable to his company. He is firm and just with his workers, keen and thorough in all his executions, and an upright, honorable man in all his dealings. The Monte Cristo's offi- cers are as follows: Henry Ach, an attorney of San Francisco, president; T. L. Rosenthal, a wholesale shoe man of San Francisco, vice-president; A. A. Power, of San Francisco, secretary, and L. T. Thompson, general super- intendent. The London, Paris & American Bank of San Francisco is their treasurer. The Monte Cristo employs fifty men, and its daily pay roll is $128; the West Shore twenty-two men, and its daily pay roll is $60; the Monte Cristo Company at Maricopa twenty-five men, and their daily pay roll is $70; and at the Marion Company, at Taft, there are two men. The Monte Cristo Oil Company has acquired six hundred and forty acres at Lost HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 737 Hills by deed, and one hundred and one acres in the T^iUerton oil fields under lease, which will be developed in the near future. Mr. llionipson was married in 1*07 to Miss Mabel Crosland. and they are the parents of one child, Louis T., Jr. Their home is on the ^Monte Cristo lease. Mv. Thompson has proved himself to be a man of thrift and has in- vested in six houses in Bakersfield. He is a Mason and a Republican. DOMITILO CASTRO.— In Hermosillo. Sonora. Mexico. Domitilo Cas- tro was Ijorn May 3. 18.v, the son of Thomas and Concepcion (Coronado) Castro, both natives of Sonora. ^lexico. Thomas Castro, the father, was born in Banamichi, Mexico, and in 1867 broug-ht his family to Kern county. Cal.. where he started in the stockraising business, locating- about three miles southwest of the present town of Bakers- field, on sections twelve, thirty and twenty-seven. He here pre-empted a hundred and sixty acres, and later homesteaded a like acreage in Mt. Breck- enridge, having at the time a large number of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. His death occurred January 14, 1900, when he was seventy-three years old, and he was buried in Union cemetery, where his wife had also been laid to rest. Mrs. Castro, also born near Banamichi, Mexico, was the daughter of Jesus Coronado, who came to California in 1877, soon returning- to Mexico, where he passed awav. Her death occurred in Bakersfield April 25, 1896. Nine children, eight sons and one daughter, were born to Thomas Castro and his Avife, as follows : Ramona. widow of L. O. Castro, residing- in Kern City; Lee, a stockman near Bakersfield; Domitilo, mentioned below; Manuel, who died near Bakersfield; Thomas C, a farmer and stockman of this city; Perfect© C, who is in the hotel business at Lost Hills ; and Luciano A., E. P., and Emilio, are farmers and stockmen near Bakersfield. Domitilo Castro remained on his father's home farm and followed stock- raising for many years after he had left the public schools. In 1879 he mar- ried and bought an eighty-acre ranch in sections nineteen, thirty and twenty- eight, on Union avenue, about six miles south of Bakersfield. Here he en- gaged in farming, making a specialty of raising alfalfa, later raised cattle, hogs, horses and mules, and the land is now seeded to alfalfa. The ranch is under the Kern Island ditch. The homestead now consists of one hundred and sixty acres near the mouth of Ft. Tejon canyon, which he proved up and improved for a stock range. After proving up he leased the place and located in East Bakersfield in order to give his children better educational facilities. Since then he has been engaged in the cattle business on his father's estate in the Breckenridge mountains. The brand which he uses, DC, is being recorded. In January, 1911, after renting his ranch, Mr. Castro built a home in Bakersfield on an acre of ground, at No. 1101 Brown street, and he also owns other property. His wife, whom he married September 6. 1879. in Bakersfield. was before her marriage, Lucy Cage. She was born in Berryessa, Napa county, the daughter of Edward Cage, who was born in IMississippi and served in the Mexican war. Mr. Cage came across the plains with ox teams in 1849, settling in Napa county, where he followed farming for a time, then removing to Los Angeles. Later he was a farmer near Bakersfield, but finally he returned to Napa county, where he died when over sixty years of age. His wife, Mrs. Macaria (Arenas) Cage, a native of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, came with her parents to Napa county, where she now makes her home. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cage five are living. Robert died in Kern county; John is a stockraiser living in East Bakersfield; Mary, Mrs. Swiggart. died in Bakersfield ; Lucy is Mrs. Castro ; Dixie is Mrs. Lee Castro of Kern county ; Alice is Mrs. Barry of Napa ; and Edward is a resident of Williams, Cal. Mrs. Castro's maternal aunt, Mrs. Antonia Rainey, was the wife of the late Andrew Jackson Rainey, who for many years was supervisor of Napa county, and through his eflforts were built the 738 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY mountain roads into Capell and Berryessa valleys, and it is the concensus of opinion that they are the finest mountain ruads in the state. ^.Irs. Rainey resides in Napa with her daughter, Mrs. Reams. Mrs. Castro received her education in the public schools of Los Angeles and in 1874 came to Kern county with her parents. To the union of Domitilo Castro and his wife were born nine children, as follows : Marguerite, who is a trained nurse in Oakland, Cal. ; Domitilo Frank, who is in the oil fields near Fresno; Louis Alfred, who is an oil driller located in Bakersfield ; Albert Hamilton, who farms the alfalfa ranch; Andrew Martin, who is an oil driller at Taft ; Adlai Stevenson of Coalinga; and Lucy May, Felix Clarence and Amelia Gertrude, at home. Mrs. Castro is a meniber of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, her husband being afifiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. They are devout members of the St. Joseph Church of East Bakersfield. CLARENCE DENVER BENSON.— A native of California, Clarence Denver r.enson was born in San Bernardino, November 1, 1878. His father, L H. Benson, came from Illinois to California when a boy with his parents in 1852, crossing the ])lains with ox-teams to San Bernardino. In early days he followed freighting on the desert and later mining. In 1896 he came to Rands])urg, where he has resided ever since. His wife, Etta Tallmadge, was l)orn in Los Angeles county, the daughter of Frank Leslie Talmadge, a pioneer of Southern California from New England. C^larence was the second oldest of a family of eight children and received his education in the public schools of San Bernardino. When seventeen he entered the enii)l(iy of the Santa Ve in his native town and continued with the conr)any until 18')8, when he came to Randsburg, engaging in mining with the Yellow Aster and in other camps in Kern and San Bernardino counties. In May, 1906, he removed to Goldfield, .\ev., where he mined and was also proi)rietor of the Merchants hotel. [n 1910 Mr. Benson returned tn Randsburg as foreman in the Con- st ilidatcd Mines Company, and in 1913 was appointed superintendent of the mine, bis experience making liim well (pialified to fill the important duties of ilic i)osition. in (loldfield, Xev.. Mr. l5enson was- married to Miss Grace .\. McCann, a native daughter of California and they have two children, Talmadge Edward and Denver William. Mr. Benson's membership with the Xative Sons ( f the Golden West is with Arrowhead Park r No. 110, San T.ernardino. JAMES MONTGOMERY. — Randsburg has many loyal citizens who are generous m their sii])])ort of movements for the betterment of their community. l)nt none more so than Mr. and Mrs. James Montgomery. Mrs. Montgomery is serving accejnably as ])ostmistress of Randsburg. while he is devoting his time to mining as well as assisting his wife in performing the duties of the ofiice. James Montgomery was born August 1.^ 18.^4, in Bortadown, County Armagh, Ireland, where he was educated until sixteen years of age. He then made his way to New York City, where he remained for seventeen years, during which time he engaged in the grocery and tea business. In 1887 he removed to Omaha. Neb., where he was in tlie commission business. In 1896 he located in Randsburg, Kern county, and has since been engaged in mining. In Septendjer, 1896, he discovered and located the W. J. B>ryan group of mines and with others he developed and worked them. These mines rank among the high grade ore properties. Aside from these he is also the owner of several other claims and mines. in Genesee county, N. Y., occurred the marriage of Mr. Montgomery to Mi.ss Josephine Gushurst, a native of Rochester, N. Y.. whose education was obtained in the ])ublic schools and convent at Rochester. April 12. 1910. (^yf!M).(A. ^ f^ff~i-i^yyi^<^^ HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 741 Airs. Alontj^omery was appointed postmistress at Ranclsburg by President Taft and has served acceptably in that capacity ever since, beino^ aided l)v Mr. Montgcinierv; and to.^ether thev are well and favorably known. ALONZO B. ROBINSON.— F. D. Robinson was a native of old Vir- p^inia, who moved to Missouri, from which state he enlisted in the Alexican war. After serving- until the close of the conflict he was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth in 1848. In the spring of 1849 he came to California, crossing the plains w'ith ox teams. Eager to try his fortunes in the gold mines he went to Eldorado county. Later he removed to Mendocino county and took up ranching, which he followed the remainder of his life. His marriage united him with Orpha Ilackler, a native of Tennessee, who crossed the plains with relatives in 1852. They were married at Diamond Springs, Eldc.rado county, and of the nine children born to them five are living, Alonzo being the third in order of birth. He was born December 8, 1858, in Ander- son valley, Mendocino county, attending school there until he was about seventeen years of age. P^ollowing the custom of many boys of that day he took up work on the home farm for a while, but he w^as and:)itious to do for himself, and at the age of twenty secured emj^loyment in the lumber mills, leaving this, however, to engage in sheep shearing, and later again entered the lumber business as shingle sawyer. His experience in handling stock began in 1879, when he bought and sold stock for a short time, two years later, in the summer of 1881, taking a position as tree-feller, wdiich he continued ^'or some years. At the age cf twenty-four, on December 6, 1882. Air. Robinson came to Kern county, which has been the field of his labors ever since, and he began w-ork for his father-in-law. Three years later he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres on the west side, which is now part of his holdings in this county. In 1888 he went into the cattle business for himself, adding to his pr< perty from time to time in order to have a wide range for his stock, until he now owns and controls a large stock range in San Emidio district. His home ranch of one hundred and sixty acres eleven miles southwest of Bakersfield is well improved and under irrigation from Stine canal, and devoted to grain and alfalfa. On December 2, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rcbinson and Mary J. Rector. Her father w-as Bartley Franklin Rector, a large sheep owner in the county, who came to California across the plains in 1847 and followed mining. Later, in 1879, he came to Kern county and engaged in the sheep business, which he built up to a most flourishing state. Mrs. Robinson was born in Yountville. Xapa county, October 2, 1861, and to her and her husband were born six children. Albert D.. of Alaricopa, married Lillie Denny, and they have one son. Byron D. ; Minnie M. married \V. E. Wood- son, and they have one child. Alary AL; Stella D., Frank E.. Archie A\'. and Dorothy B. are unmarried and living at home with their parents. Along with his extensive ranching interests. Air. Robinson has taken an active part in oil development, and owns an interest in several fields in Kern county. Withal, he has been active in politics, serving from 1901 to 1903 as deputy assessor under A. P. Lightner, and later being elected to the office of constable, which together with the office of deputy tax collector he filled for three years, and he has filled the position of trustee of the Paleto school board for sixteen years. He is a member of the Alodern Woodmen of .America and the \\'( odmen of the World. LEON BIMAT. — While it may be a source of gratification to Air. Bimat that he cast in his fortunes with those of the great western country, he has never forgotten the land of his birth and the home of his youth. On the con- trary he cherishes a deep, intense devotion for France and particularly for the department of Basses Pyrenees, lying in the shadow of the lofty Pyrenees mountains, near the northern border of Spain. The memories of youth binil him to that peaceful farming country. There his ]iarents. Edward and 742 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Marie (Merisou) Bimat, passed their uneventful but useful lives and there the former earned a livelihood for the family through the tilling- of the soil and the raising of stock. The five children survive their parents and three of them have established homes in the United States. The fourth among the five. Leon, was born in the village of Preslion, Basses Pyrenees, November 22, 1859, and began to help on the farm as soon as old enough to work. Thus he learned to be industrious, painstaking and efficient. He can scarcely recall the time when first he decided to migrate to the new world. During July, 1878, he arrived in San Francisco, where he found employment as a gardener. Coming to Kern county early in 1880 Mr. Bimat entered the employ of a sheepman, in whose interests he took the flock to Los Angeles county and from there to Inyo county, thence returning to Kern county. These various moves were made for the purpose of securing free range for the flock. Since 1881 he has engaged in the sheep business for himself and specializes with Merinos and Shrcpshires. the former valuable by reason of their splendid fleece, and the latter ofifering special advantages on account of their dual value of fleece and mutton. Various interests in both business and residence property in East Bakers- field, where during 1910 he erected a substantial residence on the corner of Kern and Nile streets, bind Mr. Bimat to this place. Here he was married May 14, 1892, to Miss Malvina Rostain, a native of the village of Manse, department of Hautes-Alpes, France, and a daughter of the late Joseph and Marie (Cesmat) Rostain. For years before his death her father had engaged in farming and stock-raising in France. In a family of six children (only three of whom survive), she was third in order of birth and came to the United States during 1891, settling in Bakersfield, Cal. Her only surviving brtither. Val Rostain, settled in East Bakersfield, as did also a sister, Mrs. Jeanne Bon- net, while another sister, Marie, Mrs. B. Bimat, made her home on a ranch near Bakersfield until her death in 1911. Since becoming a citizen of the United States Mr. Bimat has. voted with the Republican party. In religion he and his wife are earnest members of the St. Joseph Catholic Church. Their family comprises five children, of whom the two eldest, Edward and Felsie, are graduates of the class of 1912 Kern county high school, while the three younger children, Leon jr.. Pascal and George, are attending the public schools of East Bakersfield. JAMES H. PENSINGER.— There are to be found in the famous oil fields of Kern county operators who came hither from Canada, workers from the east and foreigners from other lands, but comparatively few of the large number of men identified wnth the development of the oil industry at this point can claim that they are natives of Kern county and lifelong residents of the same region. Such a statement may be made in regard to James H. Pensinger, formerly superintendent of the Colloma Oil Company on section 31, township 28, range 28, and now foreman of the Traders Oil Company's lease. Throughout all of his life he has been identified with this portion of California and his earliest childhood memories cluster around Kern county, where he was born February 16, 1878, and where he lived as a boy in poverty but in comfort and independence, helping with the maintenance of the family through his energetic labors on the home farm. The father, Jerry Pensinger, had been a gold miner in Nevada and a man inured to the hardships of frontier existence. When he came tt) Kern county in 1872 settlers were few, towns small and the future outlook discouraging, but with characteristic optimism he secured land and set himself resolutely to the task of supporting his family. As soon as the children were old enough to assist, they became assets of value to the family welfare. Since the death of the father the widowed mother has remained on the home farm of eighty acres situated southwest of Bakersfield. Of her seven children the sixth in order of birth. James H.. displayed great HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 743 physical prowess even in early life and his splendid constitution has enabled him to do the work of two men without injury to himself. All through his life he has been a hard worker and in boyhood was earning his own livelihood when other lads of his age were enjoying school advantages. In 1900 he mar- ried Miss Lulu Hunter, by whom he had one child, Bessie. Upon discontinuing agricultural work in favor of other pursuits Mr. Pensinger finally drifted to the Kern river fields about 1904 and there secured employment with the Provident Oil Company. He was later with C. B. Colby and the Colloma Oil Company, and October 1, 1913, became lease foreman for the Traders Oil Company under Joseph Raney. C. H. DAWLEY.— Born January 26, 1844, in Ashtabula county, Ohio, when ten years old Mr. Dawley removed with his parents to New York, where in Chautauqua county he was reared to manhood. He learned the carpenter's trade, and later took up well drilling, and it was at Scrubgrass. A'enango county, Pa., that he first drilled for oil, beginning as a laborer. For five or six years Mr. Dawley continued this work of drilling, in the meantime becoming familiar with all the methods employed in the work, and then removed to Nebraska, near Lincoln, where he engaged in carpen- tering and iDuilding. This was his home for twenty years, but in 1904, learning of the new industry opened up in California, he moved to Kern county, where he procured employment on the well-working gang of the Del Rey lease. The Del Rey has eleven producing wells, the production being from eight to ten thousand barrels per month, and they employ on an average from five to six men all the time. Under Mr. Dawley's able management it has proved a paying enterprise, and it is largely due to the close attention and well-informed acquaintance which Mr. Dawley has with the conduct of the business. In 1869, before coming west to Nebraska, Mr. Dawley married Miss Hattie M. Bates, and for many years they made their home on the Del Rey property, where now Mr. Dawley resides alone, his wife having died August 24, 1912. Both of their children died in infancy. W. W. COLM. — As superintendent of the Sacramento Oil Company and the Acme Development Company. W. W. Colm heads interests which represent the most active industry in this part of the county. He is a native of Butte county, Cal., where he grew up, and attended school at Sacramento, and later entered Bainbridge College, from which he graduated. He has proved himself to be a clever, sagacious manager of the firm he represents, and has brought it to a paying basis by his own efforts. The stockholders of the company reside mostly in Sacramento, and the officers of the Sacramento Oil Co. are, J. L. Gillis, president, Charles Robb, vice-president, D. W. Car- michael, secretary and treasurer, and W. W. Colm. superintendent ; of the Acme Development Co., Charles Robb, president, Charles Richardson, vice- president. J. L. Gillis. secretary and treasurer, and W. W. Colm, superin- tendent. According to experienced oil men. there is no lease in the Kern river field which has been better drilled or better managed or can show better results in general than the twenty acres owned by the Acme Development Co. under the efficient management of Mr. Colm. Drilling on the Acme was begun on April 1, 1907, and eight wells were put down with one string of tools. The deepest of these wells is nine hundred and fifty feet, and the shallowest is nine hundred feet. None of the wells is large, but all are uniform prcjducers. The drilling w^as completed on October 5, 1907, with no dry holes, no sp( iled wells, no poorly finished jobs and no breaks of any kind in a uniform run of clean, successful work. In connection with this record it should be stated that this section (twenty-nine) is probably the easiest and cheapest part of the field to drill, but even considering this fact the 744 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY record of ei^^ht good producing wells in six months with one string of tools is one of which any superintendent may well be proud. The product of the company has been exceedingly high, the receipts for which reached a large figure. The records show that up to Alay 1 of this year the wells have steadily increased in production, so that the prospects are that the Acme property will go on paying for itself many times over before its wells are pumped dry, which time is variously estimated from ten to forty years. This territory is underlaid with four hundred feet of oil sand, pro- ducing oil of fourteen gravity. I\f r. Colm has been manager of the Sacramento Oil Company ever since it was started. This lease covers forty acres, and has ten oil wells and three water wells, and is fast developing to a highly productive point. Under his experienced management there is a splendid future success assured the company. Mr. Colm married Miss Alary E. Flickinger, of Pennsylvania, and thev make their residence in the Kern river oil fields, where they are surrounded by many warm friends. JAMES HEROD.— On the bluffs above East Bakersfield commanding a most magnificent view of the valley stands an attractive country residence known as Plainview home, which with its complete equipment of modern conveniences, including a private water plant operated by electricity, offers every boasted advantage of the city, together with the many indisputable benefits associated with suburban life. An admirable adjunct of the home is the rose garden, while scarcely less attractive are the groves planted to trees of oranges, lemons and grape fruit. The Herods come of a very old Kentucky family, whose first representa- tive in Indiana, John Herod, settled on a tract of raw land near Greencastle and developed the claim into a productive farm. The next generation was represented by Baila Herod, born and reared on the Indiana farm, an agri- culturist throughout his active years, but now living retired at Coatesville, Hendricks county, that state. His wife, who also has spent her entire life in Indiana, bore the maiden name of Harriet Minter and comes of an old and honored Virginia family, her mother having been a sister of John Clark Ridpath, the famous historian. There were ten children in the family of Raila Herod and all but two of these attained to maturity, while six now survive. Three live in California. Airs. Scofield having her home on Chester avenue, Bakersfield, and Lester living on Cedar street in the same city. The next to the oldest member of the family, James, was born on the old home- stead near Greencastle, Ind., October 24, 1858. and received a country-school education. Starting out for himself in 1880 he found employment on a ranch near Wellington, Sumner county, Kan., and there he worked for two years. In April of 1882 he arrived in California, and after a month in Los Angeles came on to Kern county during May. His identification with this county therefore covers a period of more than thirty years. After having worked first as a day laborer and later as a foreman for Dr. D. O. C. Williams on San Emidio ranch for some time, Mr. Herod resigned in 1885 in order to take up ranching for himself. At first he en- gaged in raising stock in a general way, but later he drifted into the dairy industry, and in it he was very successful. The ranch in the Panama dis- trict which he still owns, comprises one hundred and twenty acres under irrigation and mostly in alfalfa. During November of 1911 he leased the ranch and removed to his present home in the suburbs of East Bakersfield, where he continues the dairy business as a retail dealer in milk. While living on the ranch he assisted in the organization of the First Congregational Church of Panama, and in it he served as treasurer and a trustee until his removal to East Bakersfield, when he and his wife became members of the Pilgrim Congregational Church. For several years he served as a director of the Farmers' Mutual Telephone Company of Kern county, which he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 747 assisted in or^^anizing- and steadfastly promoted in its important work of bringing- telephone lines into the entire district. In politics he always has voted with the Democratic party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. The first marriage of Mr. Herod united him with Miss Nellie Crocker, a native of Gilroy, Santa Clara county. Cal., and a daughter of J. C. Crocker, a pioneer of Kern county. Mrs. Nellie Herod died on the "home ranch, leaving two children, namely: Mrs. Stella G. Hastings, whose husband has leased the ranch owned by Mr. Herod ; and Lester E., who is engaged in the stock business in Breckenridge district. In 1897 in Bakersfield occurred the marriage of Mr. Herod and Miss Mary A. May, a native of Healdsburg, Sonoma county, Cal., and a lady of education and culture. There are no children of this union, but with them lives an adopted son, Rov, born in 1900 and now a student in the public schools. Mrs. Herod is the eldest of the six living children of Frank and Amelia (Alexander) May, natives respect- ively of Pennsylvania and St. Clair county. 111. During the Civil war Mr. May served as a volunteer in the First Virginia cavalry regiment. At the close of the war he removed to California and settled in Sonoma county,^ where he married a daughter of Charles Alexander, the honored pioneer of Alexander valley in Sonoma county. In St. Clair county, 111., where he was born, Mr. Alexander married Achsah Smith, a native of New York. In 1849 he crossed the plains with ox teams. His family joined him in 1852, coming by way of Panama. After mining a while he located in the valley that was named for the family. In 1872 Mr. May came to Kern county with his wife and family, which then comprised two children, four children having been born in Kern county. Settling in the Panama district, he took up a claim and began to develop the barren tract into a productive farm, starting housekeeping in a box house 14x14. Largely through Mr. May's intUience the Farmers' canal was constructed and it proved of great benefit to the early settlers. Until his death in 1892 he continued on the same ranch and engaged in the stock business. The ranch is still owned by his widow, who is now making her home with Mrs. Herod at Plainview, East Bakersfield. FRED. P. BOLSTAD, D. D. S.— Born in Minnesota. March 20, 1878, Dr. Bolstad was educated in public schools of the east. After coming to Cali- fornia he matriculated in the dental department of the University of Southern California, where he took the regular course of lectures and exoeri- mental work and was graduated with the class of 1909. For a brief period following his .srraduation he had charge of an office in Covina. January 25, 1910, he arrived in Taft for the purpose of entering upon professional work and here he since has engaged in practice. September 15, 1911, he moved his suite to the Key building, where he now has pleasant quarters and every iacility for the satisfactory continuance of professional work. August 22, 1911, he was united in marriage with Miss Grace M. Bursell, and they have estab- lished a comfortable home in Taft, where they are prominent socially. A number of the fraternities receive the co-operation and assistance of Dr. Bolstad in their philanthropies and social functions, among these being the Woodmen, of the \\'orld. the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Camp No. 266, at Bakersfield. Inter- ested in political problems and stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party, he has taken a warm interest in national issues and has kept posted concerning large governmental afifairs. Particularly deep has been his interest in local matters. Any measure for the upbuilding of Taft receives his warm support, for he is an enthusiastic booster of the city. After the incorporation of Taft he was elected the first city clerk November 7, 1910, and at the ex- piration of his term he was re-elected April 8, 1912, since which time he has continued to give close attention to the duties of the clerkship, which office he has filled with credit to himself and satisfaction to the general public. 748 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY LEONARD HOPPER.— A native of Stuart, Guthrie county, Iowa, Leonard Hopper was burn November 14, 1881, and was educated in the public and high schools in Iowa. When he removed with his parents to CaHfornia and located at Fresno he was seventeen years of age. So well has he prospered in this country that he has adopted it as his permanent home, and is one of those who has only the best to say of the west and its environ- ment. In Fresno he worked for two years as a steam engineer, at the same time taking a course in the International Correspondence School at Scranton, Pa. Coming to Bakersfield in 1900 he continued at his trade for two years, when he purchased the Gusher lunch counter. This was located on the present site of the Brower building and at the time he assumed proprietorship boasted only three or four stools. From this small beginning he built up a large business which he sold after three years. In 1906 he bought out the American Towel Supply Co. at Bakersfield, which at the time was doing a small business, the new proprietor increasing it sixfold. After taking a course in Heald's Business College, from which he graduated in 1908, he branched out in the laundry business on a large scale, starting the American Laundry, of which he is the sole proprietor. After starting the enterprise he purchased the site and erected the large and commodious building at No. 2125 I street, and has installed the latest and most modern machinery and other facilities that go to make it up-todate in every respect. So well has the business pros- pered that today it is the largest one of the kind in the county. Mr. Hopper employs fifty people on an average, of whom sixty per cent are women, and his weekly payroll amounts to $600. Twenty thousand dollars were expended in May, 1908, by Mr. Hopper in the erection of this building and the business. Mr. Hopper has become most popular in the social as well as the business world of Bakersfield. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Moose, also the Woodmen of the World, in which he has taken great interest. C. E. BALLAGH. — The superintendent of the Apollo, 4-Oil and Amaurot Oil Companies in the Kern river field, who is recognized as one of the able men of the business, claims California as his native commonwealth and is justly proud of the fact that he has spent his entire life within the limits of this great state. The ministerial duties of his father, Rev. R. Ballagh, caused the family to be residents successively of a number of flourishing towns in the interior of the state, and it was while they were living at Vacaville, Solano county, that C. E. was born, March 31, 1880, but subsequent changes made him familiar with different villages. During the sojourn of the family at Selma. Fresno county, he attended the high school there and began to earn his own livelihood upon the completion of his educational course. When nineteen years of age he came to Kern county seeking employment. The first job he secured was at McKittrick, where he learned the task of tool- dressing and where he worked with the Eldorado Oil Company for five months. Since 19C0 he has been employed in the Kern river oil field in various capacities with different companies. For a time he was retained as field foreman with Green and Whittier, while he also held a responsible position with the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company. During January of 1911 he became connected with the 4-Oil, and as the two other leases are under the same ownership he acts as superintendent of all. The marriage of Mr. Ballagh took place March 3, 1909, and united him with Miss Myrtle Barker of Bakersfield, a niece of the late Congressman Smith, one of the most distinguished citizens ever identified with the devel- npment of the San Joaquin valley. Since his marriage Mr. Ballagh has (iccupied a substantial cottage provided by the company on the Apollo lease. Although still young in years, he is one of the pioneer oil men of Kern countv and has not only a long, but also an honfirable record in the industry. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 751 THOMAS WILEY BROWN.— The justice of the peace of the fifteenth township of Kern county, who hkewise serves as city recorder of Maricopa, has been identified with the history of California ever since the '50s and for a number of years has made Maricopa his home, having come to this locality in order to fill a position as foreman for the Occidental (now the Sunset Monarch) Oil Company in 1900. An occasion not to be soon forgotten is a visit with Judge Brown, for he is an interesting conversationalist, possesses a remarkable memory and narrates incidents connected with pioneer days in a manner impressive and entertaining. Notwithstanding his advanced years and arduous life he is as active, whether measured physically or mentally, as many men of fifty, and not only is still an omnivorous reader, but a clear thinker, logical reasoner and forceful debater. The busy round of a frontier existence and the almost utter lack of educational advantages did not dwarf his fine mentality, but in the intervals of leisure on ranch or in mine he has familiarized himself with the best literature of the past and present, has thoroughly enjoyed the works of Charles Dickens .and Walter Scott and has been a constant admirer of the brilliant poemis of Edgar Allan Poe. With an exact memory that never fails he quotes classical poems in their entirety and shows a wide acquaintance with both English and American writers. Both the paternal and maternal ancestors of Mr. Brown were living in America prior to the Revolutionary war. His grandfathers Brown and Slocumb were soldiers in the war of 1812. His father, John Hancock Brown, son of Thomas Brown, was born in Louisiana in 1808 and was named in honor of the illustrious signer of the Declaration of Independence. In lineage he was of Scotch-Irish extraction. Excellent advantages were bestowed upon him in youth and he was sent to one of the best schools in New Orleans. He was said to have been one of the best Greek and Latin scholars of his day. In his family there were three children, the eldest being Thomas Wiley, born at Fairfield, Wayne county, 111., November 4, 1842. The second. George E., of Berkeley, this state, is interested in mining and oil lands. The only daughter, Julia, is the wife of John G. Knox, deputy county clerk of Tulare county. When the father came across the plains to California during the summer of 1850 he left wife and children in Southern Illinois and in 1853 they joined him, coming via Panama. The mother, Caroline, was an own sister of Judge Rigdon B. Slocumb, of Wayne county. 111., and a native of Morganfield, Union county, Ky., being a descendant of English ancestors who settled in North Carolina in the colonial era of colonization. In the early part of the nineteenth century the family migrated from the Pedee river region to Kentucky and a later generation settled in Illinois. Although about eleven years of age at the time of coming to the west Judge Brown had attended school only three months in his whole life, nor were his school advantages in California any more satisfactory, but fortunately he had the opportunity of learning from his father, who was teacher, preceptor and companion to him. The work of earning a livelihood was strenuous, but a little leisure was always found for Study and of this he availed himself to the utmost. While still quite young he engaged in placer mining in Eldorado, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. Familiar with both placer and quartz mining, he has devoted much of his life to the work, but never has met with the success his efforts justified. Besides mining all through the west he even went into Old Mexico. At one time he owned land now in the heart of Porterville, this state, and Phoenix, Ariz., but he sold it before its value was known ; he now owns valuable residence property in East Bakersfield. Throughout his entire life he has been consistent in his allegiance to the Democratic party and since coming to Maricopa he has served as the first city recorder., having turned over to the city $2783.50 as fees of his office during the first year. 752 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The marriage of Thomas Wiley Brown and IMiss Cornelia Glass was solemnized March 11, 1867, and was blessed with two children. The sole survivor, Russell, of Maricopa, married Miss Stella Dunlap of Bakersfield and they have one child, Thomas Calvin Brown. Mrs. Brown was a daughter of Rol)ert and Jane (Miller) Glass, natives respectively of Virginia and Alabama, but residents of Texas from childhood. The Glass family originally came from Ireland, while the Millers were of German ancestry. The parents of Mrs. Brown were married in Texas and lived there for many years after- ward, her birth occurring in that state. During 1853 they joined an expedition composed of seventy-five families and crossed the plains and deserts through New Mexico and Arizona into California. \\'hen near the present site of Deming, N. M., the expedition camped to rest their teams. All around them were Indians and one of the braves seized Mrs. Brown, then a babe of eight months, and endeavored to escape with her in his arms. Evidently the intentic-n was to extort a ransom. The dastardly act was seen by J. P. Ownby, who took aim and fired at the Indian, thus saving the life of the child. No other event occurred to imperil the lives of any and at last they safely landed in Los Angeles, where Mr. Glass bought ten acres one block from the present site of the Downey building. Having no thought of its future value, he sold it later for a small sum. When Mrs. Brown was nine years of age the family removed to Tulare county and settled six miles south of Visalia, where the father took up land and engaged in ranching. Through intelligent and unw'earied industry he became well-to-do. His death occurred in California at the age of sixty-nine. When the mother was about seventy-six she went to New Mexico to visit her daughter, Mrs. J. P. Ownby, and during the course of her sojourn there she was taken ill and died. There were seven daughters and two sons in the family. Amanda married J. P. Ownby and they were early settlers of Bakersfield, but eventually located in New Mexico, where Mr. Ownby engaged in raising sheep and also carried on a hotel business until his death; his wife also has passed away, leaving three children. Laura and her husband, Solomon Slinkard of Los Angeles, are both deceased and left nine children. Corley, of East Bakersfield, is engaged in contract teaming. Dora married E. S. Baalam, who has an orange grove at Lemon Cove, Tulare county. Cornelia, the fifth in order cf birth, spent her girlhood principally in Tulare county and there married Mr. Brown. Sarah and her husband, J. C. Turner, formerly a carpenter in Bakersfield, are both deceased and left six children. Barbara Ellen, deceased, was the wife of M. C. Purcell, a sheep- man living at Bakersfield, and at her death she left six children. William is a teaming contractor in Bakersfield. The youngest member of the family, Louisiana Beauregard, married Henry ]\Iuller and lives on a ranch six miles east of liakersfield. JOSEPH BENSON FRY.— One of the self-made men active in the recent history of Bakersfield, Kern county, was Joseph Benson Fry. w'ho was born in Iroquois county, 111., July 28, 1852, and died at Bakersfield, May 26, 1911. He was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Frazier) Fry. His father, a native of Ohio and a pioneer in Illinois, passed away in the latter state ; his mother, who also was born in the Buckeye state, died in Indiana. His father's brother, John Fry. a member of an Illinois regiment which served in the Civil war, died in 1873 as a result of hardshi]) and exposure in Libby Prison at Richmond, Va. Twelfth in order of birth of his parents' fourteen children, three of whom are living. Joseph B. Fry was reared on a farm in Illinois and educated in public schools near his boyhood home. When he was about sixteen years old he went to Girard, Kans., and found employment on a farm near by. Sep- tember 29, 1872, he married Miss Joanna Banks, who was born near Quincy, A.dams Countv, 111., the daughter of Willis Banks, a native of Kentucky, who (^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 755 came with an ox-team caravan acrtjss the plains to California in 1850. Later Mr. JJanks returned east to l)ring- out his family, but being fearful of Indian attacks he gave uj) the idea of coming to California and in 1861 located at Girard, Kans., honiesteading land, a part of which is now within the city limits. During" the war he was burned out by bushwhackers, who drove his cattle away and he was compelled to go to Marmaton to reclaim them. After the war he returned to his home in Girard and later located eight miles from that town. In 1880 he came to Bakersfield and in 1881 died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Fry. His wife, who was Miss Eveline Thomas, was born in Kentucky, a daughter of James Thomas, who removed to Illinois and later to Kansas, where he died and where his wife also passed away. Of their seven sons and seven daughters, six of whom are living, Mrs. Joseph B. Fry was the next to the youngest child and the ynungest daughter. She was ten years old when her parents took her to Kansas, where she was edu- cated in the public schools. I'ntil 1876 Mr. Fry farmed; then he came to Trinity county, Cal., where he worked six months in the mines. In July, 1877, he came to Bakersfield as foreman on Poso creek for the Kern County Land Company. After an unsuccessful attempt at farming at Fresno, he returned to his work as fore- man for the Kern County Land Company at Bakersfield. Next he tried again to farm near Paso Robles, but did not win out and again returned to Bakers- field and engaged in general contracting and heavy teaming. In this business he was very successful and was soon able to build his fine residence at No. 925 Eighth street, on a property of one and one-third acres which was also his business headquarters. Eventually he acquired four other residences and a store in Bakersfield, all on Chester avenue, the store being on the corner of Eighth street. His business grew so large that he came in time to give em- ployment to a large number of men and teams. He had the contract to lay the pipe line for the Standard Oil Company from the oil fields in Kern County to Point Richmond, which occupied a year in building. Since his death his widow has had his business interests in charge, and is looking after her property also. In politics he was a Republican. Socially he affiliated with the Elks and the Indeuendent Order of Foresters. Mrs. Fry is a member of the Christian Church and of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She has five children : Bertha. Mrs. W. W. Ramage of Bakersfield ; Charles H., a well known rancher in Kern county; Hattie, Mrs. Freal Neighbert, of Bakersfield; Arthur Delano, a b( okkeeper in the employ of a local concern; and Lola, Mrs. Floyd Busby, of Bakersfield. WILLIAM ALBERT LAYERS.— David Lavers, pioneer, father of William Albert Lavers, was born in Nova Scotia, in January, 1831. and came to California in 1852, when he was about twenty-one years old. For a short time he was employed in the mining regions, but soon took up farming in San Jose and in 1855 settled at Glennville, Kern county, taking up a government claim on one hundred and sixty acres of land. The story of his success is briefiy suggested in a statement that he is now the owner of three thousand acres of land, sixty acres of this under cultivation, three acres in orchard, and he is extensively engaged in breeding horses, cattle and hogs. For several years past he has been in practical retirement from active life and his business interests have been in charge of his son above mentioned. Miss Anna Cook, born in New Brunswick, March 6. 1848, became his wife. They had five children named as follows: Morton A.. Mattie A., Minnie S., William A. and Fred D. The two daughters have passed away. It was on the old Lavers homestead near Glennville that William Albert Lavers was born November 12, 1886. He was educated in the public schools at Linn's Valley and learned the carpenter's trade at Wilmerding school in San Francisco, graduating in 1905. After leaving school he returned to 756 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Linn's Valley to take chari^e of his father's extensive land interests, and so successfully has he handled them that he is recognized as one of the fore- most of the younger business men of his community. PAUL CHATOM. — P.orn April 4, 1.S63, in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, Paul Chatom is the son of ^lichael and Maria (Magnaghi) Chatom. [Michael Chatom had varied experiences in the gold fields of Australia, where he made a small fortune, and upon returning to his native Switzerland, built up a tannery and butcher shop, which he continued to operate successfully until his death in 1868, when his son Paul was but five years of age. His widow still survives, at the age of seventy-three, making her home in Switzerland in the old home. Four sons and one daughter were born to Michael Chatom and wife, viz. : Albert, Paul, Michael, Jack and Fannie (who was a sister in the convent in Genoa City and is now deceased). Paul Chatom attended the public schools of his native village and also St. Joseph's College at Locarno, Switzerland. In 1882 he came to California and was first engaged in the building of the Southern Pacific Railroad from Reading to Roseburg, Ore., and thence to Shasta county, Cal. The next year he worked in the Maison Doree restaurant at San Francisco, where he remained for a year, going from there to Merced, where he had charge of a restaurant for Johnny Smith. After conducting the latter place for two vears he went to Modesto, where he engaged in the same business on his own account, and here met with gratifying prosperity. Two years later he sold out and went to Santa Barbara, where he soon built up a fine business, but after five or six months was obliged to relinquish this interest because of poor health, and going from there to Phoenix, Ariz., he accepted the position of steward in the Commercial hotel. After six months he returned to Fresno and opened up The Reception, a fine restaurant there which he conducted for the next two years, in 1890 disposing of it and coming to Bakersfield, which place suited his tastes so well that he has ever since made it his home. For one year he ran the Mocha restaurant, and then leased the Monte Carlo restaurant for five years. During the panic of 1893 he lost about ten thousand dollars, which left him without funds and almost dis- heartened. Nevertheless he dauntlessly opened up a small place in the east end of Bakersfield, which he called The Klondike, in which business he was enabled to save a little money and his next move was to embark in the furniture business which he built up to a flourishing condition. Ill luck, however, seemed to follow him, for the last mentioned place was destroyed bv fire and the loss was considerable. He then took charge of the Bakers- field Club for five years, during which time he exercised the utmost economy and his thrift proved valuable to him, as he was soon able to open the restaurant over which he is at present the proprietor, the Mascot, located in the old Berges building, on Nineteenth street, for which he obtained a three years' lease. He then purchased the Packard property at No. 1517 Eight- eenth street, where he erected the brick building 30x65 feet, which is occupied by the New Mascot, also purchased the residence at No. 1521 Eighteenth street. In 1909 he erected the splendid Mascot Apartment house on Six- teenth street, and a year later the Chatom apartment on Seventeenth street. In 1890, Mr. Chatom was married to Miss Laura Rose Wall, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and two children were born to them : Paul, a student in the University of California ; and Virginia, who is being educated at the convent of the Notre Dame, at San Jose. In politics Mr. Chatom is a stanch Repub- lican, always voting that ticket. JAMES MARCUS HAYDEN.— A diversity of occupations and the various environments which have surrounded him in his work have con- tributed to James Marcus Hayden his wide knowledge of afifairs. his broad business experience and his clear insight into affairs in general. The son of Capt. Marcus A. and Eliza (Proctor) Hayden, he inherited from these HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 759 two sturdy children of Kentucky the many admirable traits of those country- men. The father was engaged in the general merchandise business at May- ville, and during the war served as a captain in a Missouri regiment under General Price. After receiving an honorable discharge from duty in the war he resumed his mercantile pursuits, and ])Oth he and his wife passed away in jNIissouri. Afr. Hayden, who was born in Lexington. Mo., March 26, 1869, is the only surviving child of his parents. Reared in Lafayette county, that state, he attended the local public schools and was later sent to the Wentworth Military Academy at Lexington, where he was schooled in the rigid prin- ciples of honor, courage and trustworthiness. His first occupation was rail- roading, as agent at Corder, Mo., for the Chicago & Alton Railroad, with which company he continued at various points for a period of three years. He then for six months filled the position of city agent for the Burlington & Missouri at Deadwood, and became interested in mining in the Black Hills region. Butte, Mont., was his next location and when the Rossland, B. C, excitement was reported he made his way to British Columbia, where he mined at dififerent places for some time with varying success. An oppor- tunity to return to railroading led him to return to the States and he accepted the position of agent at American Fork, Utah, for the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. In 1906 he came to California and entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company in the pipe line department at Corcoran, when he was transferred to Coalinga. Here he was bookkeeper for a short period, his ability being soon recognized by his promotion to superintendent of the Coalinga division, and in this capacity he served with splendid success for three years, and in 1911 was transferred to the main office at Bakersfield as chief accountant under J. M. Atwell. When the property at Lost Hills was purchased by the company he was sent there to superintend the division and as such opened the work and continued the supervision until July, 1912, when he resigned to enter the mercantile business for himself in Lost Hills, where he has already built up a good trade. Mr. Flayden was married in Logan, Utah, September 21. 1905, to Thelma Johnson, who was a native of Logan. They have three children, Thomas, Marcus and James, Jr. The family make their home in Wasco, where they enjoy the friendship of a host of well-wishers. Mr. Hayden is a Democrat. CHARLES MINER VROOMAN.— The genealogy of the Vrooman family is traced back to the old Knickerbocker stock that formed a most important element in the colonial upbuilding of New York. During the Revolution the family had representatives at the front and bore its share in the sanguinary struggles of the period. Joseph Brown Vrooman, a native of New York state and a land speculator through his active years, married Abbie Chapman, of Stonington, Conn., whose ancestt rs had served in the navy during the Revolutionary war and had been identified otherwise with the early history of New England. The only living son of this marriage. Judge Charles Miner Vrooman, was born in the city of Rochester, N. Y., November 29. 1852, and received a public-school education in his native town, later attending the University of Rochester, from which he was graduated, in 1873. with the degree of A. B. Afterward he held a position as teacher in the Rochester high school. Coming to California in 1877 and settling in the then sparsely inhabited county of Kern", he was duly chosen principal of the Sumner (now East Bakersfield) schools, a position that he filled acceptably for five years. After having taught in East Bakersfield and other parts of Kern county until 1889, he then gave up the work of a teacher to engage in stockraising on Mount Breckenridge. From his advent in the county his summers were spent in the South Fork country and he has been a permanent 760 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY resident of this section since 1905, meanwhile maintaining- a close association with local advancement along every line of progress. The title ])y which Judge \'ro(.man is familiarly known came to him through his occupancy of the office of justice of the peace of the first judicial township of Kern county, to which office he was elected in 1910 on the Repub- lican ticket. During January of 1911 he took the oath of office and entered upon its duties, which he has since discharged with impartiality, efficiency and exceptional promptness. The judicial district is the oldest in the county and he has in his office the docket extending back into the '60s, when it was a part of Tulare county. His office is located at Isabella, it being the most central place in the judicial township. On the organization of the Bakersfield Lodge, Knights of Pythias, he became one of its charter members, and in addition he is a member of the Delta Psi. In the midst of his labors as a stockraiser and as a justice he has never lost his early interest in educational matters. The relinquishment of the work of teaching did not mean an aban- donment of interest in the profession. In every way possible he has striven to promote the success of the public school system, which he believes to lie at the very foundation of all future prosperity and progress in our country. For eight years he served as a member of the county board of education and during part of the time he was honored by being chosen president of the board, in which ca])acity he was instrumental in promoting the welfare of the schools and advancing the standard of education in the county. JAMES E. CHITTENDEN.— The state of Illinois has taken a place in the history of the development of western America as a stopping place for pioneers from the East and a breeding ground of pioneers destined for the tar west. Among well known citizens of Kern county, Cal., who were born in the Prairie State none are better or more favorably known than is James E. Chittenden, of Glennville. Mr. Chittenden was born in Warsaw, Hancock county, 111., Alay 17, 1839, and when he was old enough entered public school there and studied until he was about fifteen years old. His father, E. F. Chit- tenden, crossed the plains to California in 1852 and the rest of the family, the mother and four children, came to the state in 1855 by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and settlement was made at Calaveras, fifteen miles from Stockton. There James E. worked for his father until he was twenty-four years old, and then for six years he was a salesman in the employ of Bowen Brothers in Stockton. Taking up his residence in Sacramento he was employed during the ensuing six years in "a pre duce house. For a time he was a proof reader on the Sacramento Union and assisted in the delivery of the paper to its subscribers. .After his father's death he returned to .Stockton in order the better to help care for the household. There he engaged in the notion and cigar business, continuing this for seme time, besides which he was agent for and manager of the Stockton Theatre. Subsequently he became agent of the Southern Pa- cific road at Banta Station. His identification with Kern county dates from the year 1875 and soon after coming here he located at Sumner, where he estab- lished himself in the general commission business which ultimately grew to large proportions. In 1890 he settled on the property which has come to be known as his home place, on Sandy creek near Glennville. It consists of three hundred and twenty acres, of which about sixty-five acres are under cultivation, thirty acres in alfalfa and the remainder in fruit. His chief busi- ness, however, is the raising of horses, cattle and hogs. His buildings, ap- pointments and implements are thoroughlv up-to-date and his methods are modern and productive of the best results. Politically Mr. Chittenden is a stanch Republican. In 1888 he was united in marriage with Mrs. Elizabeth (Clapp) Rigby, a native of Eldorado county, Cal. She passed away October 17. 1905, having become the mother of five children, of whom four are living, as follows : Virgil E., a rancher in Linn's s^ ^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 763 valley; Justin L., who assists with the ranch duties; Julia F., who presides over his household ; and Elbert F., in Porterville. CHRISTIAN AND MARGARET BAPTISTA.— Anionjr the enterpris- ing citizens who have aided in the developing of farm lands in Kern county we find Mr. and Mrs. Ilaptista, who have been industrious, energetic and hduorable in their efTort to secure a competency, which they have accom- plished and are now living comfortably on their twenty-acre ranch in the Buena Vista district, while they lease their other ranch for dairy purposes. Mrs. Baptista was in maidenhood Margaret Wolf, a native of Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, and was the daughter of Peter and Mary (Solis) Wolf, both natives of that canton, where they followed farming fur a liveli- hood. \\'hen Margaret Wolf was eight years of age there occurred a tragedy in the family. WHiile her father and mother and three of their children were making hay on another place an earthsHde occurred in which they lost their lives, thus leaving the eight-year-old girl and her brother Christ, ten years of age, orphans. The brother still resides on the old home place. Her girlhood was spent in the home of her grandfather, George Solis, a farmer in Grisons, where she attended the common schools. In early life it became necessary for her to learn habits of self-reliance, and these have stood her in good stead in her later years. Having heard very favorable reports from people returning from trips to the United States, she concluded to cast her fortunes in the New W'orld and in 1889 crossed the ocean and came forthwith to Hastings, Adams county, Neb. The next year, in 1890, she came on to Bakersfield, Cal., where she found satisfactory employment. February 3, 1894, in Mrs. Ellen M. Tracy's home, occurred her marriage with Christian Baptista. He was born in Iner-ferera, Canton Graubunden, Switzerland. July 25. 1865, the son of John and Minnie (Meule) Baptista. farmers in the Alps, where he was reared, receiving his education in the free schools of his native country. In 1887 he came to Kern county, Cal.. where he was employed by the Kern County Land Company. After their marriage they engaged in grain-raising in the Old River district until 1896, when they purchased twenty acres under the Stine canal in that same district. This was seeded to alfalfa and later they added to it until they had fift3'-six acres all in alfalfa and a dairy herd of thirty-five cows. They met with de- cided success and in 1909 leased the ranch. They now own and resirle on their alfalfa ranch in the Buena Vista district, where they live comfortably and well. \\'ith them resides their niece. Augusta Piper, who has brought youth and joy into their home, and they take genuine pleasure in bringing her up and doing for her as if she were their own child. Mr. and Mrs. Baptista are both Reoublicans in their political views. AA'hile Mr. Baptista is a member of the Woodmen of the World, his wife is an active member of the W'omen of W'oodcraft and in religion is a member of the Baptist Church in Bakersfield. H. GUY HUGHES. — Kern county has many citizens born within the borders of the state, not a few of them within her own borders, wdio are leaders in the various industrial and commercial movements which are rapidly making her great. H. Guy Hughes was born on the Hughes homestead at Glennville in 1887. a son of William B. and Fannie (McKamy) Hughes. His father, who was born in Missouri in 1849, was brought across the plains by his parents, leaving his native state when he was about nine months old. The family settled at Sonora, Tuolumne county, and there he passed his childhood and while yet but a boy began working in the mines. Such local advantages as were available were afforded him, however, and when he was sixteen years old he became a student in a business college at Stockton. After the removal of the family to Glennville he bought the old Hight place and engaged in stock-raising, wdiich he continued until his 764 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY death. Fannie McKamy was born in Stockton, Cal., June 7, 1866, and was married in June, 1886, when she was about twenty years old. She bore her husband two children, H. Guy and Florence. The father died January 4, 1897. Coming to Kern county in 1870, his life here embraced the era of small and crude things and he experienced many of the hardships incident to pioneer life in this part of the country. For a time he was in charge of a large bunch of cattle in Arizona and he often drove cattle to San Francisco to market, the round trip consuming three months. He was interested in education and long served as school trustee in the Wicher district. In many ways he demonstrated a public spirit which was potent in the advance- ment of worthy local interests. The grandparents of H. Guy Hughes, in both the paternal and the maternal line, were pioneer emigrants who came across the plains from the east. H. Guy Hughes attended public school and high school until he was seventeen years old, meantime and afterward, busying himself on the farm. He was only ten years old when his father died and his mother came natur- ally, while he was yet very young, to depend on him in many matters of importance. He went to work in the oil field in 1908, but eventually returned to the home farm and devoted himself to general farming and cattle-raising. He was married to Miss Fannie Guthrie, a native of Tulare, Cal. He has from early manhood taken an active interest in public matters of importance, has been clerk of the board of education three years and is now filling the office of school trustee. BARNEY A. ANDERSEN.— The father of B. A. Andersen, the late Fred- erick Andersen, for years was a merchant in Germany, where the mother, Anke, still makes her home. There were nine children in the family, but the eldest, Barney A., was the only one of the large family to establish a home in California and he came to this country and state in 1881 after hav- ing learned the trade of a tailor under his father at Uhlebull, Germany, where he was born November 12, 1863, and wdiere he had received an excellent German education in the national schools. A brief experience in farming followed the arrival of Mr. Andersen in California. From the neighborhood of Los Angeles he went to San Francisco and learned the trade of dyer and cleaner, which he followed for some lime in the employ of others. As soon as possible, however, he embarked in the business for himself. Coming to Bakersfield in December of 1900 he bought property and built a dyeing and cleaning establishment on the corner of Eighth and L streets. In a short time he had built up a large trade. IMeanwhile he established his up-town office on Nineteenth street, later removed it to No. 2027 Chester avenue and eventually purchased a lot at No. 1669 Chester avenue, where he built a suitable structure for the prosecution of the business. Prosperity had crowned his efiforts and the future looked bright before him. when suddenly he was stricken by the hand of death and passed away May 19, 1910, in Los Angeles, where his body was laid to its last rest. In his last days he had the consoling influences of a deep religious faith, for he was an earnest member of St. John's German Lutheran Church in Bakersfield and had served ably as president of its board of trustees, doing all within his power to enlarge the sphere of its usefulness as well as to exemplify in his own daily acts the inspiring and uplifting influence of its doctrines. After he became a resident of Bakersfield he identified himself with various fraternities, including the Independent Order of Foresters, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Improved Order of Red Men. Surviving Mr. Andersen are his widow and daughter, Frieda, the latter now the wife of Martin Fechtner, of Bakersfield. Prior to her marriage in San Francisco in 1893 Mrs. Andersen was Miss Louise Van Goethem. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 767 Although born in Collinsville, 111., she has lived in California since the age of four years and received her education in St. Paul's school, San Francisco. Her father, Frank Van Goethem, was a member of an honored old Flemish family, while her mother, who bore the maiden name of Bern- hardena Keisker, was a native of (jermany. After a residence of some years in Illinois the family came to California and Mr. Van Goethem secured work as a tanner in San Francisco, where the daughter was reared, edu- cated and married. Heing a woman of business ability as well as social charm, she has cared for her husband's interests with discrimination, has disposed of his business and now manages the property with discretion and energy. JOHN JEFFERSON DARNUL.— As one of that illustrious band of pioneers who braved the dangers and endured the hardships of a new country in order that the way might be paved for the greater prosperity and the easier life of our great era cf progress. Wv. Darnul occupies an enviable posi- tion in the regard of the people of Kern county. While his identification with this section of the state dates back as far as 1873, it by no means covers the duration of his residence in the west, for as early as 1855 he crossed the plains and became a permanent resident of the new commonwealth. He was at that time a youth of nineteen years, re bust of constitution, indus- trious in habits of work, persistent in application and well qualified to suc- ceed in the west, although he had received only scant educational advantages and had been deprived of all the opportunities considered so essential to twentieth-century progress. Since coming to Kern county life for him has meant a close association with local development. The first nineteen years in the life of John Jefiferson Darnul were passed in Arkansas, where he was born in Pope county October 2, 1836. His father, Cook P.. Darnul, was born and reared in Illinois and there married Miss Petray, who died in Arkansas leaving an only child, J( hn J. Later the father was united in marriage with Elizabeth Shinn. By that union eight children were born, but only two of these survive, viz. : Mrs. Pauline Petray, of Linn's valley and Mrs. Hannah Wiley of Calaveras county. The parents spent their last years in California and died in Calaveras count^^ During the five months spent in crossing the plains from Arkansas to California the eldest son of the family, then a youth of nineteen, proved an indispensable assistant in the capacity of driver of the ox-teams and in the other work incident to such an arduous undertaking. Arriving at Sacramento, he pro- ceeded to the mines, but did not find the occupation of miner sufficiently profitable to induce continuance therein. AVith the exception of that early period of activity as a miner, he has devoted himself entirely to general farming, although he is now retired. Settling in Sonoma county in 1858, Mr. Darnul there engaged in ranch- ing. Later he was similarly occupied in Ventura county. Since 1873 he has made his home in Kern county, where he was the first settler on the north side of the Kern river, on the site of what is now Oil Center. From that neighborhood he removed to Linn's valley in 1894 and has since occupied and operated a farm comprising two hundred and forty acres. While owning a quarter section at Oil Center he decided to dig a ditch, in order that he might irrigate the land from the Kern river. During the prosecu- tion of that work he discovered deposits of petroleum in the soil, being indeed the first to note the presence of oil in that field of later fame. Through his efforts the Kern River Water and Irrigating Ditch Company was organ- ized and incorporated, thereby establishing the now well-known Beardsley canal. In addition to doing valuable work in the development of the canal, he was associated with another important enterprise in Kern county, viz. : the first street railroad in Bakersfield, for which he did considerable grading. 768 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY FREDERICK LAYERS. — Near Glennville, where he was born October 26, 1888, Frederick Lavers was educated in the public schools. Later he was sent to Stockton as a student in Heald's Business College and con- tinued there until the completion of the commercial course in 1910, after which he acted as bookkeeper for a Bakersfield firm for six months. After a subsequent short sojourn at the parental home he removed to Hanford, Kings county, but in a short time he returned to his native county and pur- chased forty acres, comprising his present homestead. Upon this farm he has engaged in intensive agriculture. October 22, 1910, he was united in marriage wath Miss Mary Engle, who was born at Granite Station. Kern county, and is a daughter of David Engle. The only child of this union, David, bears the name of both of his paternal grandfathers. The discovery of gold induced David Lavers, the father, to come to the Pacific coast. Born at Windsor, Nova Scotia, in January, 1831, his was the childhood of poverty, the boyhood of self-sacrifice and the youth of privation. At the age of sixteen he accompanied his parents to Cum- berland county. Nova Scotia, but work being scarce and illy-paid he soon went on to Massachusetts, where he was better able to earn a live- lihood. During 1852 he sailed from the Long wharf at Boston on a ship bound for San Francisco via the Horn. The voyage occupied six months of tedious travel not altogether exemot from danger and privation, but in the end anchor was cast safely within the Golden Gate. For almost one year he worked in Stockton, but the great floods of 1853 caused him to leave that section and to secure employment at San Jose. During 1855 he came to Kern county and mined in the Greenhorn mountains as a day laborer, after which for one year he worked on the ranch owned by William Lynn, then for a while engaged in mining with Samuel Reed. However, he soon began to realize that the only avenue to financial independence was the securing of a farm and, having no means with which to make a pur- chase, he took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres which now lies half a mile south of Glennville. As best he could with scanty means and no machinery, he began to improve the land. Later a stage coach made regular trips betW'Cen Visalia and Havilah, the then county-seat. There was con- siderable patronage of the old coach and this gave him an incentive for a new enteri^rise. Building the first hotel in the northern part of the county, he started the first hotel in Linn's valley and from the first had a fair patronage. The hotel later was converted into a private residence and now gives him a comfortable home for his old age. For two years he engaged in mining on the White river and later mined the Ball moimtain mine, where he met with gratifying success. The year of 1859 found David Lavers joined by his father and mother, the former of whom aided him in stock-raising, while the latter acted as ranch housekeeper besides hx king after the hotel. The assistance of his parents proved very helpful to him, while at the same time he was able to give them every comfort for their last days. Meanwdiile he purchased railroad land as he was able and added to his holdings until now he has the title to three thousand acres, the larger part of which is utilized as a stock range. In the early days, when population was meager and money scarce, he had constant difficulty in meeting expenses and his life was one of labor and incessant self-denial. During the winter of 1856-57 he drove with three head of oxen and a wagon of potatoes through to Ft. Tejon and then made a trip through Tulare county from Porterville to Millerton, selling the spuds at high prices. .As people began to settle in the region it became easier for him to dispo.se of his crops and existence became less of a drudgery, while the newcomers welcomed his advice and friendship with gratitude. From the first he was a local leader and his interest has continued up to ^^^^^^^^^K^^^^^^^^^^^F^^^ M**--«s,,.,^^S ■ ^^^^^HH ^^^^^Mm^W >■ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^BWiKi fc\ ^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^K ''j^^^l ■ '^^^H^H ^^^^^^^^^IHffiL' ^^^H ^^^^I^Hi^'-#'i ■ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 771 the present time. The land fur the Glennville cemetery was donated by him. He is an elder of the Presbyterian Church, has been a school trustee and is a Republican. It was not until about forty-four years of age that David Lavers estab- lished a home of his own. October 30, 1875, he was united in marriage with Miss Annie Cook, who was born in New Brunswick. Canada, in 1848. The wedding occurred at Dorchester, New Brunswick, Mr. Lavers having g(jne east from California for the purpose of winning his bride. They settled in Kern county and successfully managed their farm in Linn's valley, so that eventually they became one of the wealthiest families of the entire district. Five children were born of their union. Two daughters, Mattie and Minnie, died at the old home farm near Glennville. Three sons survive, namely: Morton, of Bakersfield ; William, who is assisting his father in the stock business ; and Frederick, a farmer near Panama. PETER LAMBERT.— The zeal, untiring effort and thrifty habits char- acteristic of the French race are conspicuously found in the life of Peter Lambert, whose birth occurred in the lofty mountains of Hautes Alpes, in the small village of Ancel, February 15. 1852. He was named for his father, who reared him in his native home and gave him the advantages of a thor- ough schooling, meanwhile teaching him the rudiments of farming in order to prepare him for the rugged road toward self-support and independence. He remained at his father's side until he reached the age of twenty, at which time he determined to visit an uncle, John Roux, who was a pioneer miner in far-off California and who had become a prominent sheep man in Los Angeles. In January. 1872. Mr. Lambert left his mountain home and came hy way of Havre to New York City and from there on an overland train to San Francisco. Cal. Being held up in the mountains by the heavy snow storms he did not reach the latter point until March and he immediately boarded a boat for Los Angeles. His uncle took him into his employ and he was soon well informed in the sheep business, in April driving a flock across the mountains to South Fork, Kern county. Twenty-five months later he drove them into (jilroy, where they were disposed of to buyers from San Francisco. He then returned to Los Angeles to drive another flock, this time to the Mexican border below San Diego, where he remained until December. Riding a saddle horse to San Fernando, he took a stage to Bakersfield and then went by rail to Delano, where he entered the employ of Germain Pellissier. a prominent sheep man, remaining with him until June, 1875, when with his two brothers he purchased a flock of sheep which they ranged in the north of Kern county. The drouth of 1877 caused a loss of one-third of the sheep and one of the brothers dropped out of the partnership; in 1880 Peter Lambert purchased the other brother's interest and continued the business alone until 1884, when he sold his sheep. He had watched closely the development of the industry and the advancement in the method of handling sheep. He saw how the range was being fenced and realized that the safest mode of continuing in the stock business was for the individual to own landed interests, broad acres on which to range his stock. Accordingly, he in 1883 ])urchased a school section, two and a half miles east of Granite station, and he afterward purchased railroad lands adjacent until he had over eleven sections, or something over seven thousand acres of land. At the time of the oil boom, however, he was induced to sell seven sections, retaining two thousand and eighty acres which he still owns. This land is well watered by springs which afford ample water for the stock the year round. In the year 1895 he again embarked in the sheep business and continued it until 1898, when he again sold, owing to the drouth of that year; but three years later, in 1901. he purchased a flock of sheep in New ^lexico and bringing them to Kern county, continued 772 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the business until 1908, when he sold his flock and has since rented his ranch for a cattle ranch. Since 1889 Mr. Lambert has made his home on his present place in East Bakersfield. owning a valuable piece of property on Humboldt near Kern street. He was married in that year in Sumner, now East Bakersfield, to Miss Malvina Rambaud, who was also born in Hautes Alpes, France, and who came to Bakersfield the year of her marriage. They have a daughter. Marie. In his politics ]\Ir. Lambert is a Republican. HENRY LOUIS BORGWARDT.— An honored place among the Cali- fornia pioneers of the '50s is held l)y Mr. Borgwardt of Bakersfield, who has been a resident of Kern county since 1868 and meanwhile has contributed to the development of the agricultural and stock-raising interests of this portion of the state, as well as to the material upbuilding of his home city. Of German nativity and lineage, he was born July 30, 1832, in the city oi Lubeck. By reason of the town being one of the principal harbors along the Baltic coast and therefore a headquarters for sailors and also through the fact that his father, Capt. Henry Borgwardt, was a pilot and captain on an ocean vessel, he himself early turned to the sea as affording a means of livelihood and at thirteen years of age shipped on the barque Luba which was engaged in the South American trade. For four and one-half years he remained on the same vessel and afterward sailed on other ships, at times from Lubeck and often from Hamburg. During 1854 he left Ham- burg on the New Ed that sailed around Cape Horn, making stops only at Valparaiso, Chile, and other leading ports, and arriving at San Francisco on the 28th of November after a tedious voyage of six months. A desire to hunt for gold led the young sailor to abandon his trade for the more uncertain occupation of mining. For some years he engaged in placer and hydraulic mining on the middle fork of the American river in Eldorado county. With the exception of a brief period, beginning in 1859. devoted to the dair}- industry, he remained in the mines of California and Nevada until 1868. when he permanently retired from the work and took up sheep-raising on I\:)so creek in Kern county. At that time Havilah was still the county-seat and few settlers had identified themselves with the development of the region. Range was plentiful and the sheep industry, with favorable weather, ofifered large possibilities. Pre-empting one hundred and sixty acres on the creek and building a cabin for his family, Mr. Borgwardt remained there for thirteen years. Meanwhile he experienced the ups and downs incident to the business. His heaviest loss resulted from the drought of 1877 and four years later he sold all of the sheep and retired from the business. At the time of removing to Bakersfield and acquiring eighty acres adjacent to the city limits, Mr. Borgwardt turned his attention to the raising of alfalfa on the tract. A portion of this he cut for hay and the balance was used for the pasturage of stock. With the growth of the city, he decided to lay out the land into lots and this he did in 1889. ITnion and California streets forming the beginning of the Borgwardt tract, from which a large number of lots have been sold and which has the advantage of lying twenty feet higher than Bakersfield. The supervision of the property naturally took the owner into the real-estate business and for more than twenty years he has given his attention almost wholly to such work as related to the development of his sub-divisions. Shortlv after he arrived in San T-'rancisco at the close of his long voyage from Germany he was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Peterson, who was born in Schleswig- Holstein. (Germany, and came to America in the same ship with Mr. Borg- wardt. Their long wedded life of mutual happiness and helpfulness was broken 1)\- her death in |une, 1003. Vine children had been born of their -<^^^ayU^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 177 union, namely: Mary, who died in Bakersfield June 3, 1888; Henry, who for twelve years served as sheriff of Kern county and died here in August, 1904; Andrew, who died in this city June 10, 1878; William, a rancher near Bakersfield ; Dora, who was taken from the home when only one month old; Charles, living in Fresno; Francis, a merchant at Mill Valley; George W., who follows the painter's trade in Bakersfield ; and Morris, who is also a resident of this city, and his family make their home with Mr. Borgwardt. As early as 1872 Mr. Borgwardt became identified with the Bakersfield Lodge, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a Republican. JOSEPH GIRARD. — Alany of the men who have contributed materially to the development and upbuilding of Kern county have come here from the south of France and among these we find Joseph Girard, who is one of the old settlers of Delano, coming as he did to this vicinity in 1889. tie was engaged in the sheep business up to 1909, since which time he has been in the cattle business. He was born in Ancelles, Hautes Alpes, France. January 4, 1869, being the son of Francois and Delphino (Jullian) Girard. From a boy Joseph Girard made himself useful on the farm, becoming thoroughly familiar with the stock business, a knowledge that was of the greatest assistance to him after he came to California. In the local schools near his home he received a good education and training. When nineteen he determined to migrate to California, having an uncle, G. Jullian, and a brother, Emil, in San Francisco, and he accordingly left the old home to seek his fortune in the land of the Golden West, arriving in San Francisco in December of 1888. Here he remained for three months and in March, 1889, came to Kern county, where he entered into partnership with his brother, Philipp, and they continued together in sheep raising. Purchasing a ranch sixteen miles w'est of Delano, which was their headquarters, they introduced full-lilooded merinos, thus bringing their flock to a very high grade. In 19C9 they sold their flocks and began the cattle business, in which they are very successful, raising short horn Durhams for beef cattle. They continue using the same brand, a small circle within a circle and joined by a bar on opposite sides. Their ranch comprises about five thousand acres, all under fence, being well watered by springs and by a pumping plant ; two sets of buildings have been erected, one at the Springs and the other at the pumping plant. A\'ith his family he resides in Delano, where he owns fifteen acres, adjoining the city, with a comfortable residence. In 1905 he visited his old home in France and there met the lady who became his wife October 18, 1905. She was Eva Chabot, who was also a native of Hautes Alpes, born October 27, 1887, the daughter of Louis and Marie (Marron) Chabot. who were both teachers and for many years engaged in educational work. Mr. and Airs. Girard have had five children, four of whom are living: Arthur M., Justin F., Marcel P., deceased, Emil J. and Josephine Marie. Mr. Girard is public-spirited and a Republican in politics. JOHN KAAR. — Born in New Jersey in 1845, he traced his lineage to Germany through the Kaars, while on the maternal side he came from Scotch forefatliers. At an early age he removed from New Jersey to Illinois in company with his father. George Kaar, and settled on a tract of raw land near Princeton, where he soon learned to be helpful in the difficult tasks connected with the improvement of a farm. Meanwhile he was permitted to attend the country schools during the winter months when his help on the farm was not needed. During young manhood he married Miss Emma LeFever, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in California in 1909. Having acquired a thorough knowledge of brick-making, he settled in Benton county. Ind., and embarked in the manufacture of tile and brick, but at the same time carried on a farm in that locality. Bringing his familv to California in 1894, John Kaar arrived at Kern 778 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY (now East Bakersfield) on the 5th of March and established a home on Central avenue. Immediately he became interested in the manufacture of brick. In connection with this industry he engaged in contracting and building. It soon came to be understood that he was an unusually skilled workman. Indeed, his reputation in that regard has not been surpassed. In Kern he erected a number of brick residences and cottages that are still owned by his children and it is said that they stand today apparently in as good condition as the day they were completed. People in a position to make authoritative statements assert that he built more residences and buildings in Kern than any other man in the town. Other enterprises enlisted his sympathy and co-operation, l)ut it was to the building business that he gave his keenest abilities and most unwearied devotion and until his death in 1909 he ranked among the most proficient and successful build- ers in Kern. Surviving him are five children, all of whom are well-known residents of East Bakersfield, namely : Eliza, Mrs. O. F. Howell ; Nellie, ]Mrs. David Sheedy ; George S., manager of the Citizens' Laundry ; Charles H., who is engaged in the automobile business as pro])rietor of the Studebaker Garage, at Eighteenth and L streets, Bakersfield; and Jacob P., a real estate dealer and rancher near Bakersfield. J. FRANK FOX. — Among the revered and beloved pioneers of California none was more thoroughly grounded in the facts historical and geographical, political and industrial, pertaining to the state than the late J. Frank Pox, who C( mbined with this knowledge the faculty of putting it into writing with that graphic ease and clever pen which attracted many readers. He was a member of a well-known, historic family, his maternal grandfather, Enoch Page, a native of New Hampshire, having seen active service in the French and Indian war, as well as the Revolutionary war. He held the commission of captain in the latter controversy, and he was with Washington when he crossed the Delaware and was present at the Battle of Bennington under General Stark. The Fox family was one of the oldest in Somerset county, Me., and Fox Hill was so named for the family. J. Prank Fox was born in Athens, that county and state, on April 2, 1826, and was there reared to young man- hood. In 1851 he came to California via Nicaragua and made San Francisco his destination. His first occupation was aiding in the building of the first steam- boat on Mission Bay. In 1853 he was United States consul in Old Alexico, where he remained for about fifteen years. He traveled considerably and was a newspaper correspondent, his natural bent being to accumulate knowledge and write down his ideas of conditicms and observations, which always proved entertaining as well as instructive. He later spent several years on the frontier of Texas and in 1876 returned to California. After spending a few years in Oakland and Sonoma county in ]\Iay of 1886 he located in Kern county, homesteading a ranch two and a half miles west of Delano. He improved a larm of one hundred and sixty acres and resided there until his retirement, and thereafter made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Martin, until his death, October 12, 1913. Mr. Fox was married in Mexico to Miss Lucita Benavidez, who was born in Pueblo, Mexico, of Castilian extraction. She passed away in Delano. Six children were bi rn to this union, of whom l)ut two arc now living, Mrs. Alice J. Pox-Martin, and Mrs. Emma DeSoto of Stockton. Mr. Fox was an ardent supporter of Republican principles, and was always well posted on current topics. He was an able historian, a clear and forcefid writer, and was at the time of his death writing the history of National Presidential Cam- ])aigns, covering the ])eriod from 1828 to the present, drafting principally from his own recollections, and it bids fair to be one of the most interesting works of its kind ever published. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 781 RICHARD JAMES MARTIN.— Just west of the flourishing town of Delano is situated a ranch of eighty acres whose well-improved condition together with the fine cattle seen on the ranch evidence the thorough con- ception of the details essential in the dairy business which the proprietor, Richard J. Martin, has been able to give them. A member of an old family, Mr. Martin was born in Bristol. England, August 5, 1864, the son of Alfred and Ann (Garland) Martin of that place. The father was a merchant and shoe manufacturer. He brought his family to the United States, locating at Colum- bus, Ohio, in 1869, and two years later found him located thirteen miles southwest of Tulare, Cal., on a homestead wdiich lay two miles from Tulare lake. It is interesting to note that at this time there was a steamboat plying on the lake. Alfred Martin followed the stock business until he was obfiged to retire from active labors, and thereafter he made his home in Tulare, where he passed away at the age of eighty-four years. His wife passed away at the age of eighty years. Six children had been born to this worthy pioneer couple, four now surviving. The youngest child born to his parents, Richard J. Martin was reared on the parental farm and received his literary training in the public school of the locality. He was married in Visalia March 5, 1890, to Miss Alice J. Fox, who was born in Monterey, daughter of J. Frank Fox, who was a pioneer in Cali- fornia and one of the first settlers in the vicinity of Delano. Mrs. Martin was educated in the public schools of Oakland and Santa Rosa, and later received a thorough musical training at Pacific University, Santa Rosa. For many years she engaged as a music teacher and her splendid talent was recog- nized and deeply appreciated by all her associates. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Martin resided in Tulare until 1893, when they located permanently in Kern county and engaged in the dairy business. On their ranch is a pump- ing plant with a caoacity of sixty-five inches, and Air. Martin is sowing most tif the acreage to alfalfa. The dairy business is conducted on the most sanitarv and carefully-adjusted plans, and the vicinity around Delano is supplied with its product, a portion being shipped to Tulare. Together with these dairy interests Mr. Martin owns valuable residence property in Delano and three hundred and twenty acres further west. He is an active member of the Wood- men of the World and affiliates too with the Modern Woodmen of-America at Delano. Mrs. Martin is a member of the Women of Woodcraft at liakers- field and the Royal Neighbors of Delano, of which latter she has been pre- siding officer for two terms. Socially active and popular they are prominent in religious and musical circles, and Mrs. Martin has been organist for both the Methodist and Baptist churches at Delano at different times for the past twenty-five years. As ardent Republicans the Martins take public-spirited interest in all local issues and unite with all good purposes for the common welfare. E. H. LEIERITZ. — A feature of the modern building in Bakersfield is the development of the bungalow plan. When Mr. Leieritz came to this city in December of 1908 to make his home and to embark in contracting, he brought with him many ideas profitably utilized in Los Angeles, his former place of business, and in addition he evolved many original ideas of his own that added to the beauty and utility of these artistic structures. The first bungalow in this city was erected under his supervision. At once the popu- larity of the plan was pronounced. Since then over one hundred bungalows have been erected from his own plans and under his personal supervision, all of these buildings constituting a distinct addition to the attractions of Bakersfield as a city of pretty homes. By virtue of his birth in Los Angeles Mr. Leieritz ranks as a native son. His parents, George and Julia (Meyers) Leieritz, were natives respectively of Alsace, Germany, and Kansas City, Kan., and are now living on a farm at 782 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Downey. Cal. The maternal grandfather, Ernest Meyers, born and reared in Germany, became a pioneer of Kansas and served throughout the entire Civil war as a member of a Kansas regiment of infantry. After some years in Kansas, George Leieritz came to California and settled in Los Angeles, where his son, E. H.. was born October 11, 1880. There were thirteen chil- dren in the family and it is a noteworthy fact that all but two are still living. The fourth in order of birth, E. H., received his education in the Los Angeles schools and later served an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter in his native city. Upon having gained a thorough practical knowledge of every detail connected with the occupation he began to work by the day, from that he gradually drifted into contract work. After three years as a contractor in Los Angeles he came to Bakersfield and here he has enjoyed a successful business experience and has also become a member of the Bakersfield Club. Accompanying him to this city was his wife, whom he had married in Los Angeles and who was formerly Miss Elizabeth Kennedy, member of a family that came to California from her native city of Burling- ton, Iowa. One child blesses their union, Francis Louis. JACOB WALTER.— Since 1901 Mr. Walter has devoted his time to the management of his interests, which include the ownership of the Walter's hotel building on Nineteenth street, a ranch near Corners, eighty acres in the Weed Patch, forty acres in peaches and apricots near Beardsley school house and an alfalfa ranch under the Beardsley canal three miles northwest of Bakersfield. The village of Lohningen, Canton Schafifhausen, Switzerland, near the bor- der of Germany, was the childhood home of Jacob Walter, who was born there October 7. 1840, being a son of Johannes and Ann (Bollinger) Walter, lifelong residents of the same region. There w^ere seven children in the parental family and Jacob is the youngest of the three now living. As a boy he assisted on the farm operated by his father, who being a practical weaver as well as a farmer taught the lad the trade of a linen weaver. At the age of twenty-five years he relinquished his work in Europe and came to the United States, in 1865, where he found employment in a factory in Chicago. From there in 1868 he removed to San Francisco and learned the trade of a baker and cook. The following year found him employed as a cook in Sacramento and in 1872 he went to Nevada, but from there in 1873 he came to Bakersfield as the first cook in the Arlington house. At the expiration of five months he bought out the City bakery on Nineteenth street and operated this in connection with a restaurant. Upon being burned out in 1889 he erected a brick block on Nineteenth between L and M streets. The structure, still known as the Walter's hotel, is 99x68 feet in dimensions, on a lot 99x1 15>4 feet, and in addition to the hotel a grocery and a bakery also lease space on the first floor. Since the retirement of the original proprietor in 1901 the hotel has been rented and he has devoted his attention to the management of his large property interests. Upon the organization of the Security Trust Com- pany he became one of the first stockholders and still retains shares in the concern, besides being interested in the Los Angeles Fire Insurance Company. The attractive family residence at No. 1008 Truxtun avenue is graciously presided over by Mrs. ^^^alter, formerly Miss Evelena Funk, whose native home was in Eldorado county, this state, but who had lived in Bakersfield for some time prior to her marriage. A lifelong resident of the state and a mem- ber of a pioneer family, she cherishes a deep devotion to the welfare of the west and with her husband finds pleasure in the reunions of the Society of Pioneers, to which both belong. Their family comprises four children, name- ly: Gustav, Mrs. Olive Grogg, Leo and Gertrude, all of whom make Bakers- field their home. The political views of Mr. Walter bring him into sympathy with the Republican party and he always has kept posted concerning prob- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 785 lems of national or civic importance, his devotion to the city leading him to fill the office of city trustee for a period of two years. MRS. ELLEN M. TRACY.— As a link between the deprivations of frontier existence and the refinements of twentieth-century civilization the life of Mrs. Tracy possesses a rare and permanent interest to the residents of Bakersfield, who appreciate the importance of her optimistic faith to the early upbuilding of the city and the value of her unfailing hospitality to the social amenities of the then frontier town. Rooted deep in her soul, a part indeed of life itself, is her love for California, whither she came during the '50s and to whose material progress she has given of time and physical strength and mental resources. Particularly has she been interested in the advancement of liakersfield, the city named in honor of her first husband, Col. Thomas Baker, and dear to her not only for that reason, but also on account of her own long identification therewith. As the pioneer woman resident of the then unattractive hamlet, she and the Colonel, himself one of the few white male citizens, lived in an adobe cabin which he had built on the corner of Nineteenth and N streets. During the first three years they spent in the cabin it had no floor save Mother Earth. There was, however, in the hospitality extended by the mistress of this primeval home a gracious- ness, a warmth and a kindness that won the heart of every visitor. Descended from Holland-Dutch ancestry, Ellen M. Alverson was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., December 21, 1837, being the daughter of a talented physician whose birth had occurred in Perry, Wyoming county, N. Y., in 1808 and whose remarkable professional attainments had led to his selec- tion to serve as a lecturer in the medical department of the University of Michigan. After resigning that position he removed to Marengo, Iowa county, Iowa, where he engaged in practice for twenty years and became widely known for skill in diagnosis and accuracy in the treatment of disease. Upon his removal to California in 1874 he opened an office at Bakersfield and scon built up a practice that extended into all of Kern county, con- tinuing in active professional labors until shortly before his death, which occurred in 1879 at Tehachapi. Prior to his departure from New York he had married in Genesee county Miss Charlotte Graves, who was born in Perry, that state, and in 1866 died at Marengo, Iowa. From her earliest rec- ollections Mrs. Tracy was familiar with the frontier. During the '40s the now cultured and populous city of Ann Arbor was an insignificant hamlet whose one claim to distinction was its seat of learning, then as now one of the great educational institutions of the country. For a time she attended school in that town, but in young girlhood she came to California, where at Visalia in 1857 she became the wife of Col. Thomas Baker, one of the noted pioneers of the west. In all his work he had the benefit of her shrewd counsel and active co-operation. While he was acting as receiver of the United States land office at Visalia an occasion arose when he had $20,000 on hand be- longing to the United States government and to be taken to San Francisco for deposit. When preparing for the journey an Indian smuggled to him a note written on a dirty piece of paper and warning him that Vasquez and his band were planning to rob him in the stage when he took the govern- ment money to San Francisco. The woman's wit of Mrs. Baker saved the day. She suggested that she accompany him, taking their infant son, Thomas A., (now the sheriff of Kern county), believing that by so doing the desperadoes would conclude that they were not taking the money with them. The ruse was successful. The money was packed in a buckskin sack and placed in the bottom of a carpet-bag, with baby clothes on top. On Monday morning they mounted the stage and departed from Visalia. By eight o'clock on Tuesday night they were in San Francisco and the money had been turned over in safety to the proper authorities. After the Colonel's death his widow made her home in Kern county and 786 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY took charge of his estate. During 1875 she married Ferdinand A. Tracy, a pioneer citizen and extensive stockman, whose demise occurred in Bakers- field January 9, 1908. Mrs. Tracy now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. John M. Jameson, of Bakersfield. In this city she still owns real estate purchased In' her first husl)and during frontier days. From all of his lands and possessions she saved eighty acres located in the vicinity of O and Twenty-seccnd streets. On Nineteenth street she erected a neat frame house, but shortly after the completion of the residence it was destroyed by fire, July 7, 1889. The tract of eighty acres was mostly subdivided and sold off in lots. From it she donated the site for two public institutions, one of these being the Children's Shelter, where about fifty or]:)hans are cared for. Under her supervision were erected a number of residences that were a credit to r)akersfield. She is a member of Bakersfield Chapter No. 125, O. E. S., and for the past fifteen years has been worthy chaplain. AMBROISE VILLARD.— Near Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France, Ambroise Villard was born July 1, 1851, the son of Ambroise and Amiee (Rambaud) Villard, farmers near Gap, where they reared their nine children, of whom five are living, Ambroise being the oldest. Educated in public schools in his native land, Mr. Villard lived with his parents till in 1872, when, having heard good reports of the Golden West, he came to California to try his fortune. Settling in Ventura county, Cal., he worked there for wages three years, after which he engaged in sheep raising for himself in that county, herding his sheep through the San Joaquin valley into Inyo county. In 1877 he made his first trip to Kern county, but he did not locate here permanently until 1881, at that time making his headquarters in Delano. By adhering steadily to the business which he had undertaken he finally made a success of it, bringing to bear in its fruition a good knowl- edge of affairs and a strong personality. In 1903, after over thirty years con- tinuous experience, he sold his sheep in order to give his attention to cattle raising, a business which he has since developed to large proportions. Eight- een miles east of Delano Mr. Villard took up a claim to which he later added from time to time by the purchase of adjoining land until he became the owner of forty-eight hundred acres all in one body. All of his cattle and horses bear the brand: which he has adopted as his trade mark, which is a "V" and "A" closely connected, "VA." All in all Mr. Villard's business career is one of which any man might be proud.. Coming to this country with very little capital, he has won a place as leader of leaders in a great state. As he has found good opportunity he has invested in enterprises of different kinds, always with profitable results. He is a stockholder in the First Xaiional Bank of Delano and in the Delano-Linn's valley telephone system, in which he is a director, and is also interested in the Rochdale store here. In San Francisco, January 29, 1887, Mr. Villard married Eugenie Marie Faure, also a native of Hautes-Alpes, France, born January 24, 1868. Upon coming to California she resided in Los Angeles until coming to Kern county. Mrs. Villard became the mother of eleven children, as follows. Ambroise, deceased; Albert, who in 1912 was married to Agnes Panero ; and Adriene, Eugene, August, Joseph, Mary, Jule, Gabriel, Annie and Daniel, all of the last mentioned at home, and the older sons assist their father in the cattle business. WILLIAM TYLER. — 'IMie honor of having recorded the first deed in Kern county belongs to this well-known California pioneer of 1859. who although of Canadian birth, is of American parents, and allows none to surpa.s's him in devotion to the commonwealth of the Stars and Strioes. The old homestead where he was born June 20, 1836, stood in Napierville, Que- bec, Canada, onlv a few miles north of the New York state line, and the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 789 later residence of the family, at Iberville, Quebec, was almost equally near to the United States. His father, Orange Tyler, a member of a colonial family of New England, was born at Thetford, Orange county, Vt., in 1801 and from there reniDved to the province of Quebec, took up land and acquired considerable property first at Napierville and later in Iljerville, where he remained until death. In the same Canadian district occurred the demise of his wife, Mary (Poutre) Tyler, who was of French extraction. After having been a student in the public schools of Iberville and an academy at Bakers- field. A't., William Tyler went to New York City to earn a livelihood and from there in 1859 came via Panama to California, making the voyage on the Star of the West to the Isthmus and the Golden Gate on the Pacific. After he had landed at San Francisco May 17, 1859, he went direct to Amador county and began mining at Jackson, but was unsuccessful and returned to San Francisco in 1862. A brief experience during 1863 as a clerk in a general mercantile store at Santa Clara was followed by a return to mining, but this time Mr. Tyler went into Nevada and prospected at Aurora and also in the Mont- gomery district. From there in 1864 he and a companion walked across the country a distance of three hundred miles, down the Owens river, through Walker's Pass and through a valley where only three days before the Indians had massacred a party of white men, finally landing at Havilah. Kern county, after a perilous and wearisome journey. Shortly after his arrival the county was organized with H. D. Bequette as the first county clerk and he chose as his deputy Mr. Tyler, who in that capacity recorded in his own handwriting the first deed in the county. For several years he was employed in a mine owned by Dr. de La Borde. During 1869 he went to Los Angeles, then a picturesque but small and unpromising Spanish village. Returning to Kern county in 18/0 he resumed mining and pros- pecting, but later gave his attention to boring wells in the interests of L. R. Hodgkins. L'pon establishing a permanent home in Bakersfield he held deputyships under various county ofificers, including the position of deputy assessor under T. E. Harding. Later he held the office of county auditor for two terms of two years each, after which he engaged in the real- estate business for some years with his brother, Edmond Tyler, and since retiring from that business he has devoted his attention to the oversight of his personal interests. At this writing he acts as manager of the Tyler Timber Company of Delano, Kern county, in which capacity he superin- tended the planting of one hundred and sixty acres in eucalyptus trees and has a general charge of the two hundred and forty acres owned by the company in the vicinity of Delano. Mr. Tyler is a widower and his home in Bakersfield is presided over by his daughter, Miss Louise Adelaide. His wife, whom he married in San Francisco and who bore the maiden name of Carrie B. Evans, was born at New Durham Ridge, N. H., and died in San Francisco October 24. 1902. The only child of the union, who possesses her mother's energy of tempera- ment and charm of manner, is a popular guest at social functions and also a leading worker in the Eastern Star. Fraternally Mr. Tyler was made a Mason in Dorchester Lodge. ¥. & A. M., at St. Johns, Canada, and now holds membership with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., to whose philanthropies he has contributed generously and regularly for years. In politics he votes with the Democratic party. W. W, KELLY. — Genealogical records attest to the Anglo-Saxon origin of the Kelly family and their emigration from England to Alabama, where occurred the birth of G. M. Kelly, a son of the original immigrant and him- self a pioneer of 1857 in California. When a young man he had married Miss Sarah Henderson, who was born in Illinois in 1837, and the eldest 790 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of their children was an infant when they joined an expedition bound for the western coast. A brother-in-law, Capt. Bass Parker, acted as leader of the emigrant train and all went well until a shortage of provisions led to changes in the route. The party divided, the larger part going by way of Salt Lake in order to secure necessary supplies. A smaller body decided to proceed via Mountain Meadows and started along that highway without fear of trouble. The savages fell upon them and massacred them without mercy. Shortly afterward the larger expedition came along and first learned of the disaster when they found the dead bodies of their former companions. The bodies were given a Christian burial and the party then came on to California. Always afterward Captain Parker clung to the belief that if the smaller party had remained with them, they wt uld have formed a force sufficiently large to withstand any assault made by the Indians. Arriving at Visalia in the autumn of 1857 G. M. Kelly made a temporary home there, but soon went to Elkhorn in Fresno county for the purpose of conducting a stage station. In the fall of 1858 he again came to Visalia and bought land one mile south of town. The property still remains in the family. Immediately after his arrival he put up a crude cabin of shakes with a puncheon floor. Later he replaced this with a better house and eventually erected a modern house. The original tract of forty acres has been enlarged until the fine stock and grain farm now includes one hundred and ninety acres. Since the death of Mr. Kelly in 1884 at the age of fifty-three years the widow has continued at the old homestead and now occupies the third house built on the tract. Of her eleven children all but one are still living, W. W., the fifth of these, having been born in Visalia, this state, July 22, 1863. When the Native Sons of the Golden West organized a parlor in Visalia he became one of its charter members. During early life he assisted his father on the farm and at the age of sixteen clerked in a store. After the death of his father he remained at the old homestead for some time, meanwhile engag- ing in the dairy industry, general farming and the raising of alfalfa. Upon coming to P)akersfield in 1895 Air. Kelly started in the agricul- tural implement business with W. C. Baker and Van Stoner. Eventually they sold out to A. F. Stoner, the present owner, for whom Mr. Kelly acted as manager until 1902, resigning then in order to embark in the real-estate l)usiness. Since then he has been among the most active and successful handlers of property in the county and has bought and sold various farms, also bought lots and built residences in Bakersfield. Altogether he has erected about sixty houses. Included in his activities may be mentioned the improvement of one-half block on Thirteenth and I streets, where he built four houses, one of these being his own modern and comfortable residence. In the organization of the Bakersfield Realty Board he was deeply inter- ested and became its first secretary, holding the office for a long time. Besides real estate he has an insurance department and represents the- Mary- land Casualty Company, Phoenix Assurance Company of London, Con- necticut Fire Insurance Company of Hartford and American Surety Com- pany of New York. The fraternal relations of Mr. Kelly bring him into active association with the Modern Woodmen of America, Woodmen of the World. Knights of Pythias and Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically he always supports the men and measures advocated by the Republican party. His marriage took place in Kern county and united him with Miss Lillie Pulliam, who was born in Clinton, Henry county. Mo., and is the daughter of T. J. Pulliam, a builder by occupation. The only child of the union, Edward A., a graduate of the Kern county high school, now assists Mr. Kelly in the real-estate and insurance business. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 793 LEWIS B, CROW. — A native son, Lewis B. Crow, of Delano, Kern connty, was born on the Stanislaus ri\er near Ripon, San Joaquin county, Cal., June 2, 1859, and has lived in Kern county since 1892. He is the son of A\'illiam H. and Barbara E. (Dye) Crow, l3orn in Kentucky and Ohio respectively. Married in Scotland county. Mo., they were farmers in that state as early as 1852. The father first crossed the plains alone to California with ox-teams. Returning east, he again crossed the plains in 1854, bringing with him his wife and one child. Settling in Sonoma, he later located on a ranch near Ripon, where he followed stock-raising and grain-raising until his death, in 1884. His wife died about 1866. Of their union were born five children, three daughters and two sons, of whom two daughters and one son are living, Lewis B. Crow being the youngest member of the family. After leaving the grammar school, young Crow was for two years a student at Santa Rosa College. Having completed his education, he was for two years an assistant to his father in stock-raising, \\4ien at length he left hoine he went to Waterford, the same county, where he farmed rented land seven years. Failing to make a success there because of adverse con- ditions which it was impossible for him to overcome, he came to Kern county in 1892, locating at Delano. For fifteen years after his arrival he worked for wages at general farming. In 1907, having accumulated a little capital, he engaged in the butcher business at Delano, an enterprise which has since commanded his best efforts and advanced him to a good position in local business circles. The business covers a wide territory, extending throughout the northern part of Kern and southern Tulare county, delivery being made by automobile. I'^arming also has had his attention and he has been much more successful in Kern county than he was in Stanislaus county. At this time he is operating over six thousand acres of rented land, raising wheat which he gathers with a cond)ined harvester. As occasion has furnished opportunity he has had to do with various business interests and he is at this time a stockholder in the local telephone system, the Delano & Linn's Valley Telephone Company. Since his young manhood Mr. Crow has been interested in politics and wherever he has lived he has been in a public-spirited way active and helpful in the promotion of local interests, and from time to time he has filled various offices of importance. "While still a resident of Stanislaus county he was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of sheriff. In 1906 he was appointed a justice of the peace at Delano to fill a vacancy and afterward elected to the office of c(.nstable. Both these offices he filled with signal ability and fidelity. Fraternally he affiliates with Camp No. 460, \A\ O. W., at Bakersfield. THOMAS BLAINE WISEMAN.— The opportunities offered by the great northwest attracted Abner \Mseman from his native commonwealth of Kentucky during the year 1884, when, accompanied by his wife, Sarah E. (Abney) Wiseman, and their children, he established a home in Walla Walla. For some years he was unusually successful and carried on a grain business representing large interests. In all probability he would have become very wealthy had not the unfortunate panic of the Cleveland admin- istration occurred, but in 1894 he was forced to give up his business, having lost many thousands of dollars. The following year he moved to California and began anew in the world, but he never regained his lost fortune and his children were obliged to become self-supporting wdien yet (piite young. At this writing he makes his home at Sawtelle, Los Angeles county, and is practically retired from business cares. He served in the Civil war as mem- ber of the Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry for three years and then joined the Eighth Kentucky Infantry, serving until the close of the war. He is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic. There were six children in the parental family, the eldest of whom, 794 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Annie, married Jefferson D. Wiseman and died in 1895, leaving two children. The eldest son, George AV., resides at Sawtelle, where he owns diversified interests as proprietc r of a livery stable, flour and feed business and ice business, also buys and sells real estate ; he was a member of the Thirtieth United States Infantry and served in the Philippines during the Spanish- American war. Martha married J. R. Armstrong, of Turlock, Stanislaus county, Cal., now engaged in ranching and in the commission business, besides being proprietor of a store and postmaster at Irwin, Stanislaus county. Joel S. is a contractor and builder at Sawtelle and Haldon. Ray is an inventor, residing at Santa Monica. The youngest of the six members of the family circle was Thomas Blaine, whose birth occurred at Walla Walla, Wash., April 23, 1885, and who was ten years old when the family came to California, where he attended the public schools of Santa Monica. At the age of thirteen he left school and began to learn the carpenter's trade. When seventeen he began to take contracts for building and in the same year he built the Christian Church building in Sawtelle, also the Sawtelle branch of the Santa Monica Bank and the first railroad depot at Sawtelle on the Los Angeles Pacific road. B. A. Nebeker of Santa Monica was his first backer. Later W. E. Sawtelle, founder of the village of that name, Roy Jones of Santa Monica, and L. D. Loomis, seeing his ability, industry and his skill in construction, backed him financially in his contracts, and this was of the greatest assistance to him. The mid-winter edition of the Los Angeles Times in 1903 devoted considerable soace to the young contractor and emphasized the remarkable success which he had achieved when still less than twenty years of age. Mr. A\'iseman removed from California to Arizona and on the day of his arrival became superintendent of construction on the government cus- tom-house building at Douglas. For eighteen months he continued at that place, meanwhile building perhaps more than twelve stores and public structures, several buildings for the Arizona & Mexico Realty Building Com- pany, the Nihart building and the store owned by the Douglas Wholesale Feed & Fuel C( mpany, and he also drew plans for and built the branch territorial jail at Douglas. On his return to California he became draftsman and superintendent of construction for leading architects of Los Angeles. During the latter part of 1909 he removed to Bakersfield and took up archi- tecture as manager for Train & Williams, of Los Angeles, whose interests he purchased in 1910. During February of 1911 he tock the examination before the California state board of architecture and received his license as architect. At this writing he is the youngest licensed architect in the state and enjo3^s the distinction of being the only person who has passed the state board examination without a technical training or scholastic course in architecture and without having received university or high-school education. The marriage of Mr. Wiseman took place in Lcs Angeles in 1902 and united him with Miss Alice F. Thacher, a native of Onyx. Kern county, and they haA'e three children, Chauncey E., Thomas B., Jr., and Alice. The par- ents of Mrs. Wiseman were Oliver and Bertha Thacher, the former a soldier of the Civil war (having served in a Pennsylvania regiment) and a pioneer of 1869 in Kern county where for some time he resided at Havilah, then the county seat. Later the family removed to Los Angeles, where Miss Thacher met and married Wr. Wiseman. In the early part of his business career Mr. AA'iseman had the contracts for the Roy J( nes residence at Santa Monica, the Santa Monica garage and the Savannah school in El Monte. Since coming to Bakersfield he has the following buildings in this city to his credit: Hotel Euclid, Plotel Manchester, Baldwin building, Gardner build- ing. Hotel Moronet, Scofield building, Fl Reposo C(irte, Echo building, Mor- gati building, and the manual arts building of the Kern comity high school; HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 797 also ill the outside districts, the Bank of Maricopa, Coons & Price building and the Bush building at Maricopa; the Conley school at Taft ; Midway school at Fellows ; grammar school at Wasco, the Helm and Cormack build- ings and the Greene building at Wasco; Lowell school at Turlock and Haw- thorne grammar school in the same town ; and the Merced Security Savings Bank at Atwater, Cal. He is a member of the Los Angeles Architectural Club and the American Institute of Architects. EDWIN THOMAS LEWIS.— Allured by reports concerning the pos- sibilities of the then unknown west, Josuah Flood Lewis, a native of Pike county, JNIo., while a young man left his lifelong home during the summer of 1851 and crossed the plains to California in an ox-team train. The tedious trip contained the usual round of excitement and danger, but came to a safe and uneventful end with the arrival of the expedition at its point of dispersion. As he had brought cattle and horses across the country from Missouri, it was his desire to find land suitable for a stock range. In his search for a suitable location he visited Tulare county and selected a tract of land above Visalia, where afterward he engaged in the stcck industry with more or less success. During the residence of the family on that ranch Edwin T. Lewis was born March 12, 1858, and in due time he was sent to the Visalia school, later attended the Porterville school, and after his par- ents moved to Kern county in 1869 he became a pupil in the Woody school. The father continued as a stock-raiser in this county until his death in 1879. Leaving home, the son worked on farms in California and Arizona for a time. Upon returning to this part of the state Mr. Lewis worked at Tehachapi for a short time, then engaged in the cattle business at Kernville for two years and for a similar period made a specialty of hog-raising in Linn's valley near Woody. During 1880 he became an employe on the Miller & Lux ranch, where he continued for about a year, and in 1881 he became a vaquero on the Buena Vista ranch owned by the Kern County Land Company. ]\Iean- while he had attained his majority and was thus able to carry out a long cherished plan, that of taking up government land under the homestead laws. For his tract he selected a quarter section in Jerry slough, where at once he began the task of cultivation of the virgin soil. He bored the first artesian well on the undeveloped portion of Jerry slough, obtained a flowing well, and since then has put down other wells to obtain water for irrigation and built a reservoir to store the water. He still retains one hundred and forty acres, and engages in general farming and stock-raising. To earn means necessary for the development of his ranch he entered the employ of Mr. Canfield, for whom he worked about eleven years, and thus secured the start so indispensable to a pioneer rancher. A glance at his splendid stand of alfalfa convinces a stranger as to the adaptability of the soil to that crop, for at times the hay grows as high as seven feet, and each year he cuts four or five crops, averaging six tons to the acre. Few sections of the state are as well adapted to alfalfa as this part of Kern county and it is largely to this fact that Mr. Lewis owes his high rating as a farmer and his suc- cess in the stock industry. THOMAS HOPPER.— The agent of the AA'ells-Fargo Express Company at Bakersfield has been familiar from boyhood with the business in which he now engages, for he was but a lad when he began to act as assistant to his father, an express agent in a California town, and thus he gained a practical experience of the greatest value to him in later positions of responsibility. All of his life has been passed within this commonwealth and his native vil- lage, lone, afifcrded him fair opportunities in an educational way. It was in this town that his father, Benjamin, who was born and reared in the vicin- ity of Liverpool, England, and came to California at the age of eighteen to 798 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY engage in mining ventures, served as agent fur the Wells-Fargo Express Company for many years, in addition to carrying on a general store. The town being situated at the terminal point of a railroad possessed considerable commercial importance and formed the trading point for people living in every direction therefrom. Naturally, also, the express business had much importance and the agent trained his only son to assist him in every way possible. The wife and mother, who bore the maiden name of Mary Miller and was born at Volcano, Amador county, died at lone, in the same county, when her two children were very small. The younger of the two, Thomas, was born at lone August 21, 1879, and remained at home until he was twenty-one, meanwhile working in the store of his father. When starting out for himself he was given a position with the Wells-Fargo Company as messenger between lone and Gait, Sacramento county. Two years later he resigned in order to become a messenger on the Santa Fe Railroad out from Fresno and at the expiration of three years he was promoted to be agent at the Southern Pacific depot in that city. The next promotion brought Mr. Hopper to Bakersfield in 1910 as agent for the Wells-Fargo Express Connany, whose interests he since has man- aged at this point with characteristic intelligence and sagacity. Although still a young man, he has had an experience of sixteen years in the business and is thoroughly familiar with all of its details, so that he possesses every qualification necessary for positions of great responsibility in the express service. In the various places of his residence, when voting at all, he invar- iably has voted the Republican ticket, for he believes in the principles and platform of that party and attributes the growth and prosperity of our coun- try to the wise leadership (if its statesmen. His family comprises wife and one daughter, Ramona Marbine, Mrs. Hopper, formerly Gertrude Scott McArdle, having been a native of Placer county. JOE M. ATWELL. — The general superintendent of the producing de- partment of the Standard Oil Company in California comes of an old and honored American lineage. Through his father the genealogy of the family is traced to remote Scotch ancestry. The maternal records indicate a direct descent from the illustrious Ethan Allen, leader of the Green Mountain boys in the famous attack upon Ticonderoga, the brave and fearless man who hav- ing crossed the lake to the fort at dawn marched at the head of his untrained and insignificant command, captured the garrison and called on the captain (according to tradition) to surrender in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress. The deference shown to Allen and the respect entertained for his sagacity appears in the fact that he was sent into Canada to endeavor to persuade the Canadians and Indians to ally themselves with the Americans. However when later in the same year of 1775 he made an attack upc n Montreal he lost many of his men and himself fell into the hands of the enemy and was sent to England as a prisoner of war. Tracing the family history through the nineteenth century we find that Ethan Allen W^ashburn, the lineal descendant of the Revolutionary com- mander, left his native Vermont to aid in the agricultural upbuilding of Michigan, which at the time was beyond the confines of civilization. Not only did he develop a farm in Lenawee county, of which he was one of the early settlers, but in addition he served as the first sherifif of that county, filled other public offices of trust and responsibility, and further had a local reputation for skill as a veterinary surgeon. Among his children there was a daughter, Lura Washburn, a native of Adrian, Lenawee county, Mich., where in young womanhood she became the wife of John Atwell. who was born in Port Henry, N. Y. For some years Mr. Atwell engaged in the lumber business, but later he became interested in Michigan mines. Event- uallv he devoted his entire time to the mercantile business in Glasgow, ■ ■F .^^ - v^'^^^I^^^H ■ ^H ^ ^^ ^\ll ^^^1 ^K^^^^^^^ |te^ J H P ^^^^^^^1: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ■ 74^ E ^ ...r^^'-; # j (/3x^6!i^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 801 Lenawee county. Of his two children the sole survivor, Joe M., was born in Adrian, Mich.. January 26, 1868, and received a fair education in grammar and high schools and in Brown's Business College. For two years after lca\ing school he worked along agricultural lines. The first association of Mr. Atwell with the Standard Oil Company occurred during the year 1889. At the beginning of the construction of the refinery at Whiting, Ind., he entered the employ of the corporation, occupy- ing different positions and remaining at the same place for about eight years. Next he was transferred to Kansas and assigned to work on the construction of the refinery at Neodesha, where he remained for one year. Returning to Indiana and to Whiting, he was assigned to the paymaster's office with the Standard Oil Company. In the general offices at Whiting he held different positions, remaining there until 1900, when he was transferred to California as a special agent. As superintendent of construction he had charge of the pipe-line work through the oil fields of Southern California and the Santa Maria and San Joaquin valleys. Meanwhile he had been united in marriage, at Oakland, this state, with Miss Emma WAdie, of Cleveland. Ohio, and had established a h( me at Bakersfield, where he is now a popular and prominent member of the Bakersfield Club. Since 1908 he has officiated as general superintendent of the producing department of the Standard Oil Company's oil fields in California and since 1911 the headquarters of his business have been at Bakersfield. In earlier years he was a member of the Transporta- tion Club of San Francisco. JOHN BIDART. — Third in a family of twelve children born to Jean and Catherine (Inda) Bidart, ten of these children now living, John Bidart was born in 1867. in Basses-Pyrenees, in the town of Urapel, where he received his education. He remained in his native country until he reached his majority, when he fulfilled a long-felt desire to come to the United States and try his fortune here. In 1888 he reached California, and coming to Kern county engaged in the stock business, starting with sheep, which he ranged during the winters in Kern county ; in the summers, how- ever, they were ranged in the mountains in the counties of Kern, Inyo, Tulare, P^resno, Merced, Stanislaus, Mariposa, Kings, Mono, Sonoma, Cala- veras, Tuolumne, Amador, Lassen, Eldorado, Placer, San Luis Obispn, Ven- tura and San Joaquin, thus covering an enormous amount of territory. He is one of the largest sheep men in the county. He also raises cattle, horses and hogs of the best variety, his hcgs being the Poland-China breed, his sheep Merino, cattle the full blooded Durham variety and his horses are roadsters and saddle bred. Mr. Bidart has his residence in East Bakersfield, while his ranch head- quarters are at Rancherio on Kern river. His ranch on Kern Island covers about four hundred acres, which is planted to alfalfa and corn, and this is situated about twelve miles south of Bakersfield. Fifteen hundred head of cattle are run out of Rancherio, and are raised with such excellent care and attention that their reputation in the market is ranked among the best. Mr. Bidart's experience in the stock-raising business has covered a quarter of a century more or less, and it is to this that he owes his present pros- perity and exceptional success. He is known far and wide as an authority on breeding and the care of stock, and his advice is often sought by those whose experience has not been so far-reaching. W^hen Mr. Bidart started in the sheep business supplies were carried on the backs of pack animals, while today he uses an automobile to go from ranch to ranch and to his various flocks. Mr. ['.idart was married in East Bakersfield to Miss Marian Inda. who like himself was a native of Basses-Pyrenees, France. To them have been born five children. Leonard. Catherine, Francois, Louisa and John Anton. The 802 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY last-mentioned child died in 1913. Another child born to the parents now bears the name of John A. RALEIGH A. MOORE.— With ihe tide of migration that carried the sturdy American pioneers from the shores of the Atlantic ocean to the undeveloped prairies that stretched out toward the setting sun, the Moore family became established in Ohio and thence was transplanted upon the soil of Indiana by Samuel Moore, a resourceful frontiersman whose ener- getic temperament left a permanent impress upon his own neighborhood. William F., son of Samuel, and a teacher by occupation, married Sarah E. Danely, who was born in Indiana and died near Mattoon, 111. Descended from fine old southern stock, Mrs. Moore was a daughter of Ira Danely, a Virginian who removed to Indiana in a very early day and developed a large farm from the raw prairie land. After his marriage the young school- teacher followed his chosen calling with patient devotion, but when the Civil war began he felt that he owed a duty to the Union and accordingly offered his services as a private in the ranks. During July of 1861 he was enrolled in the army and sent to the front, where he bore a brave part in the battles of the Seventy-first Indiana Infantry. The death of officers in the company and his own superior knowledge of military tactics caused him to be chosen to lead his men in several engagements and he was elected their captain, but before the papers had been received commissioning him to the office, while he gallantly led his troops, he fell on the battlefield of Kenesaw mountain in 1864. At the time of his tragic death he was still a young man. His son, Raleigh A., who was born at Worthington, Greene county, Ind., February 22, 1859, was taken into the home of an uncle, who gave him such advantages as his means permitted, sending him to the grammar and high schools of Worthington until he had completed the regular course of study. Upon starting out to make his own way in the world Mr. Moore went to Kansas in 1879 and took up land near Beloit, Mitchell county. The country was new and few attempts at improvement had been inaugurated. The location, in the north central portion of the state, was somewhat remote from the sections of the commonwealth already improved and developed. In time he became the owner of a half-section farm where he made a spe- cialty of Polled Angus cattle. Like all who lived in Kansas at that time he enjoyed seasons of prosperity alternating with years of discouragement and heavy loss, but eventually he sold his holdings at a fair profit. During 1890 he came west to Oregon and spent a year in Salem. The year 1891 found him in California, a newcomer in Kern county, where he l)ought unimproved land in the Beardsley district. Through his industry and saga- cious management the tract was converted into a valuable farm and he cultivated the place with profit until, feeling the need of lightening his labors, he relinquished agricultural activities and in 1907 began to engage in the real-estate business in Bakersfield, where now he handles both city and country property, has been a leading associate of the Bakersfield Realty Board and is also a charter member of the Kern County Board of Trade. After going to Kansas Mr. Moore was married in Beloit to Miss Mary M. Talley, who was born in Greene county, Ind. They became the parents of two children, Fleda O. and Columbus F. The family are identified with the Bakersfield Christian Church and have been among its most generous supporters. Every department of congregational activity has felt the impetus of their devoted zeal, while as a member of the official board and also as a member of the building committee at the time of the erection of the new edifice Mr. Moore has been associated intimately and inseparably with the policy of advancement manifested by the church. In fraternal relations he has been identified with the Ancient Order of United ^^'orkmen for many years. In politics he is a Republican. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 803 BENJAMIN F. AND MAYME B. SUITER.— With the early coloniza- tion of America the Suiter family crossed the ocean from Holland and set- tled among other Dutch colonists of Pennsylvania, where several successive generations lived and labored. Benjamin F., Sr., was born in Davenport, Iowa, of Pennsylvania parentage, and he lived in Illinois throught)Ut the greater part of his useful existence. During young manhood he married Lydia Page, who was born in New York and received a classical education in Lombard University. Two children were born of their union, the son, Benjamin F.. Jr., having been born in Mercer county, 111., December 15, 1864, about the time of the death of the father in ,\ndersonville prison. Leaving his home and family, the father had served at the front as a member of the Ninth Illinois Cavalry and in one of the battles during the fall of 1864 he fell into the hands of the enem3% by whom he was conveyed to the historic south- ern prison to end his days in suffering and privation. After his death the mother, who was a woman of fine mind and exceptional attainments, sup- ported herself and children by teaching school. As soon as the son was old enough he began to be self-supporting and thus made it easier for his mother, whose last days were passed in comfort and whose death occurred in 1893 in Illinois. Coming to California in 1884 Benjamin F. Suiter, Jr., spent four years near Mojave, Kern county, whence he returned to the old home in 1888 and became a student in Lombard University. While attending that institution he served as non-commissioned ofificer in the Illinois National Guard. After leaving the university he engaged in general merchandising at Oneida, Knox county, 111. During the fall of 1893 he came to California for the second time. At Palo Alto he conducted a mercantile establishment and in that university town, June 26, 1895, he was united in marriage to Miss Mayme Bass, principal of the Palo Alto schools and a woman of exceptional educa- tion, ability and attainments. Born near Chicago, 111., she was the daughter of Joseph and Jane (Gordon) Bass, who died when she was a child of three, and she was adopted by her uncle. Dr. Cyrus A. Bass. With the latter and his wife, Anna (Van de Voort) Bass, she came to California in childhood, and settled at Pleasanton, z-Mameda county, where she attended schoi 1 under Prof. C. E. ]\Ierwin, a talented educator. In 1886 she was graduated from the San Jose State Normal, the youngest member of a class numbering sixty- three students. After graduating she taught in the schools of Alameda county for seven years. On the opening of the schools of Palo Alto she was chosen the first principal. The choice reflected credit upon her ability and success as an educator, for there were more than one hundred applicants. During the two years of her connection with the schools of the university town she gave them a substantial organization and systematized the standard of the grades, so that the work was in excellent condition at the time of her resignation. In religion she has been for some years a warm believer in the doctrines c;f the Christian Science Church. Of her marriage there is -one son, Gordon Page Suiter. Removing from Palo Alto to Oakland in 1900, Mr. and ^Irs. Suiter resided in that city for two years and meantime he located oil lands. Before a railroad had been built into the Sunset field in Kern county he located at that point and in 1905 removed to the Coalinga fields, where he had the able assistance of his wife in land and oil ventures. The family came to Bakers- field in the spring of 1907 and since then Mr. and Mrs. Suiter have engaged in the real-estate business in partnership, having offices at No. 1615 Nine- teenth street. They are Republicans in politics. W. A. FERGUSON.— The original promoter of the Knob Hill Oil Com- pany and likewise the first and only secretary of the organization, Mr. Fer- guson merits recognition for his continuous connection with the concern. 804 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The history of the company has been one of uninterrupted success. The striking of oil in the lease, September 15, 1900, marked an epoch in the devel- opment of the Kern river oil field, for therewith passed the experimental stage of the work and since then the field in the opinions of its friends and investors has been the safest oil proposition in the entire state. It is worthy of mention that the company has never made an assessment on its stockhold- ers, nor has it ever failed to declare monthly dividends in the past ten years. Since the first derrick was built in July of 1900 under the supervision of Air. Ferguson and since the first well was completed, as previously stated, in Se|)teniber of the same year, with a fiow of two hundred barrels, there have been many other wells sunk by the company, which now owns thirty- six producing wells on its lease. The concern has been incorporated with a capital stock of $25,000 and with James Porteous as president, W. J. Kittrell, secretary, the Fresno National. Bank treasurer, and W. A. Ferguson super- intendent, the three gentlemen named acting as directors together with G. T. Willis and F. Cathgart. The Ferguson family comes of Scotch lineage and was established in California by J. R. Ferguson, a native of Kentucky, born in the city of Lex- ington, where in early manh( od he married Jnlia Dryden, a native of Mis- souri. After their marriage they lived upon a Missouri farm until 1862, when they disposed of their holdings and crossed the plains in a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen. Six months were spent in the tedious journey. Settlement was made in Santa Cruz county, where Mr. Ferguson engaged in general farming and stock-raising until the infirmities of age obliged him to relin- quish all responsibilities. Both he and his wife are eighty years of age and continue to make their home in Santa Cruz county, where their son, W. A., was born March 15, 1870, and where he spent the first fourteen years of life. In a family of eight children, all but one still living, he was fourth in order of birth. The eldest child. Belle, is the widow of J. T. Lowry and lives in Los Angeles. Mollie is a resident of Fresno. Charles, now in the Kern river oil field, is a stockholder in the Knob Hill Oil Company and superintendent of its power plant. Marie is the widow of Charles Sexton, a court reporter in Los Angeles. Ida, Mrs. S. F. Mitchell, is living in San Francisco, and Fred, the youngest of the family, engages in the raising of stock in Fresno county. At the age of fourteen years W. A. Ferguson moved with his parents to San Benito county and settled near Hollister. Later he accompanied the family to Georgetown. Fldorado county, where he completed the studies of the common schools. After leaving school he began to work on a stock ranch south of Fresno and from there he came to Kern county in 1899. Among his personal friends was j. E. Ellwcod, who sank the first oil well in the Kern river field and had the first lease (written on brown paper) with the late Thomas Aleans, the same covering section 4, township 28. range 28. which property, later absorbed by the Associated, is known as the Central Point lease. Through the instrumentality of Air. Ferguson a lease was secured from the Aztec Oil Company, managed b}' B. F. Brooks, said lease covering forty acres on section 4. township 28. range 28. Upon the organiza- tion of the Knob Hill Oil Company, in which he was a large factor and principal stockholder, he returned to Fresno, but later established his home at No. 2029 Truxtun avenue, Bakersfield. Besides his home place he owns several other residence properties in the city and his local investments are enlarged through the ])urchase of stock in the new Bakersfield National Bank. .\t Fresno in 18<)3 he married Miss Theo Ormsby. of that city, and they arc tlie parents of three children. The daughters. Cleo and Tina, are graduates of the F'akersfield high school and the only son, Robert, a bright lad of twelve years, is a student in the grammar school of the city. /^zyp^t-i^ (^.,-<^;t.^2i^^''^t*^^ M^i$-i%&l,U^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 809 JOHN E. CALDWELL.— By birth and ancestry he is a southerner and his early childhood days were passed in his native commonwealth of Mississippi, where his father, the late W. A. F. Caldwell, M. D., had a high standing as a physician and surgeon. During the Civil war he went to the front as a surgeon and endured all the hardships and privations incident to that long struggle, returning to his Mississippi home at the close of the conflict to take up again his private practice in the midst of the associations long familiar to him. It was not until 1879 that he removed from Mississipi^i and for four years he engaged in professional work in Arkansas, whence in ]8(S3 he brought the family to California. He made his home near White Ri\er, Tulare county, where, having given up the practice of medicine and being a great lover of horses, throughout the balance of his life he devoted his attention almost wholly to raising horses, besides raising a few cattle. His death occurred in Tulare county, which is still the home of his widow, Mrs. Sarah J. (Cochran) Caldwell. Of their ten children the third in order of birth, John E., forms the subject of this article. Educated in grammar schools, he has made the cattle industry his life work and has continued in Kern county since young manhcjod, with the scle exception of three years spent in Arizona. Having been joined by a brother, James Robert, in 1909 Mr. Caldwell em- barked in the cattle business upon a somewhat larger scale than heretofore, the two brothers buying the French ranch of nine hundred and sixty acres, in addition to which they own a ranch of eight hundred acres at Granite. Both ranches are well watered and therefore ofTer exceptional advantages to cattle-raisers. Besides the land which they own they lease land in Kern county. Through a long and intimate identification with the stock industry in Kern county Air. Caldwell has become known to men in the occupation and every wdiere he is hcnored for ability, intelligence and energy. Particu- larly is he prominent and popular in the vicinity of Ciranite, where he makes his home and has his headquarters. Liberal and enterprising, he favors all movements for the upbuilding of Kern county. He is a member of the Eagles. JAMES ROBERT CALDWELL.— A firm believer in the future of Kern county and in the excellent opportunities it affords to men of intelligence and energy is to be found in the person of James Robert Caldwell, whose early identification with this and Tulare counties gave him a positive knowledge of conditions existing during the '80s and whose later association with the stock industry here, dating from 1909, makes him familiar with twentieth century possibilities, ^^'hile he has great faith in the county its citizens have an equal faith in him and few men are more popular than "Bob" Caldwell, whose genial disposition, progressive outlcok upon life, kind heart and energetic temperament are as well known as his name- itself. At the time of first com- ing to this county and state in 1883 he was a 3^outh of about fifteen years, at the impressionable and plastic age when the impressions are the most tenacious and the faculties of observation the most alert. Although a later sojourn of many years was made in another section of country, it was only to return to Kern county with renewed faith in its advantages and increased desire to identify himself with its agricultural development. A member of an old southern family, James Robert Caldwell was born in Sumner, Miss., in 1868, and is a son of the late W. A. F. Caldwell, M. P., a graduate physician and skilled surgeon, whose quiet and successful practice of the profession in the south covered many years, broken only by arduous service as a surgeon in the Civil war. During 1879 the family moved across the Mississippi river into Arkansas, but not being satisfied with conditions in that state, they came to California in 1883, where afterward Dr. Caldw^ell engaged in farming and stock-raising in Kern and Tulare counties. His death occurred in Tulare county and the widow is still living at the old homestead there. Of the ten children in the family all but four are still living, James 810 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Robert being the fourth in order of birth. After coming to California he at- tended school in Kern county for a brief period, but for the most part he gave his time to the cattle industry. During 1891 he went to Arizona, where he embarked in the cattle business. As soon as able, he purchased a ranch in the Williamson valley. After having continued in stock-raising for a long period, in 1909 he disposed of his interests and returned to Kern county, join- ing his brother, John E., a cattleman in the Greenhorn mountains. The brothers purchased the old French ranch of nine hundred and sixty acres in these mountains, adjacent to the government reserve. An abundance of rain- fall enables the land to afford excellent grazing for the stock. In addition to this large trgct, the brothers own eight hundred acres near Granite, a tract well watered and used exclusively for their large and growing cattle business. January 17, 1913, Mr. Caldwell was bereaved by the passing of his wife, Laura M. (Cook) Caldwell, who left four children, Claude, Alice, Harry and Walter. Giving his attention closely to his important cattle interests and devoting his leisure to his home and family, Mr. Caldwell has had little opportunity or inclination to enter into public life, political campaigns or fraternal activities, and the only organization in which he has been especially interested is the Woodmen of the World. JOHN L. GILL. — The Gill family to which belongs the present editor of the San Joaquin Valley Farmer is an old historic one in the United States, many of its members numbering among the pioneer citizens who have aided in the development of the country, settling first in Virginia, and then pioneer- ing in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. John L. Gill grew to manhood in Kirks- ville, Mo., where he was born March 24, 1872. His grandfather, John Gill, was one of the early builders of the west. He was a native of Ohio. Upon going to Indiana he helped remove the Indians from that section to Kansas, and deciding to settle in the west he became a pioneer in Missouri and a large landowner in Northeastern Missouri before the war. Developing his land he had it in splendid condition when the war broke out, as a result of which he lost most of it. The parents of John L. Gill were married in Missouri, the father, W'il- liam Maxwell Gill, "being an only son. He was a self-educated man, well read in history, the scriptures and belles-lettres, and was extremely intel- lectual. He enlisted in the Ninth Iowa Cavalry and served during the Civil war. For forty years he was in the newspaper business in Missouri and California. He established the Kirksville (Mo.) Graphic, and was at one time half owner in the Kirksville Journal. He married Anna M. Link, and they came together to California and settled at Lemoore in what is now Kings county. There he established in connection with his son John L. the Lemoore Leader and he made his home in Lemoore until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1901. The mother of John L. is still living, making her home on a hundred and sixty-acre ranch situated about eleven miles from Bakersfield. These children were born to the marriage of William Maxwell and Anna M. (Link) Gill; Maud, who is the wife of L. C. Hyde, cashier of the National Bank of Visalia ; John Louis, who is mentioned I)elow ; William E., who is a farmer in Kern county, having a ranch of a hundred and sixty acres eleven miles northwest of Bakersfield; Samuel, who is manager cf the Walter Scott Company store and resides in Selma ; Frank, who is manager of the \\'alter Scott Company store at Kingsburg; Bert, who is a plumber and resides at Lindsay ; and Harry, who is an accountant and connected with the K. T. & O. Company at Coalinga. John L. Gill was early taught the printer's trade by his father. Gradu- ating from the Northeastern jNIissouri Business College he early became interested in the business and evinced a ])articular talent for that trade. AVhen he was seventeen vears of age he came with his parents to California HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 811 and settled at Lemoore where he established the Lemoore Leader in partner- ship with his father. Competent at so early an age to conduct a newspaper business he early branched out for himself, and for one 3^ear was editor and manager of the xA.nti(;ch Leader, which he conducted successfully. He then established the Sanger News and the Wasco News, the latter of which he conducted for fourteen months and brought it to a high state of success. Selling the Wasco New^s he then bought out the San Joaquin Valley Farmer, and this he is at present conducting along the most modern and up-to-date lines. This paper is a first-class family weekly with a circulation of about two thousand copies. The subjects treated are the current topics of the day, good short stories and some serials, the object being to put before the sub- scribers the best literature obtainable, be it fiction, history or politics. In 1900 Mr. Gill married Miss Ida May Whitmore, of Sanger, and to them six children have been born, viz. : John Louis, Jr., William, Ruth, Doug- lass, George and Wilbur. In fraternal relations Air. Gill is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and the Woodmen of the World and in political sentiment unites his forces with those of the Progressive party. JOSEPH F. ENDERT.— Mr. Endert was born at Crescent City, Del Norte county, Cal., 1^'ebruary 24, 1878, the eldest of four children of Joseph Bernard and Clara (Fleming) Endert. His father, a native of Ohio, and of German descent, was born in 1851, and in due time crossed the plains to California. After living many years in San Francisco he removed to San Diego, where he was employed in the construction of the first wharf, and whence he came forty-two years ago to Del Norte county, locating at Crescent City, where he attained distinction in many ways. He filled the office of sher- iff of Del Norte county for sixteen years and that of tax collector for fourteen years, and he is also well known for his long connection with the banking business as a director of the Del Norte County Bank. The first theatre at Crescent City having been destroyed by fire, he was the builder of the second theatre in the town ; he erected an ice plant and bottling works and became the owner of valuable timber land and of much city property. His wife was a daughter of John Fleming, a Pennsylvanian, who came overland to the Pa- cific coast with ox-teams, went up the Snake river and down the Columbia river to Astoria, Ore., and had memorable experiences in the Rogue River Indian war in which he served. He farmed for a time and then established the Del Norte Hotel at Crescent City, which he owned until he removed to Eureka, where he passed away. It was in the public school at Crescent City that Joseph F. Endert began his education. Later he studied at the Van Der Naillen School of Engineering at San Francisco, making a specialty of electricity and graduating in 1901. Until 1904 he was associated with his father in different enterprises at Cres- cent City, then went to San Francisco to become a traveling salesman with the John M. Klein Company, in which capacity he made his earlier visits to Kern county. Later he organized the Sterling Electric Company, afterward known as the Pacific States Electric Company, with headquarters in San Francisco and branches at Oakland, Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles. He severed his relations with that concern in 1910 to succeed J. H. Carr as proprietor of the Kern Valley Electric Supply Company in Bakersfield, which under his man- agement has built up a large trade in Bakersfield and vicinity, affording ample service in the way of appliances and repairs to all who use electricity in any form. Mr. Endert furnishes estimates for any work in the electrical line and contracts awarded to him are carried out according to latest scientific methods. He makes a specialty of fixtures, carrying a large stock of electric and gas and electric goods, and has wired and furnished fixtures for most of the resi- dences and bungalows built in Bakersfield in recent years as well as for the Redlick, Tegeler and Brower buildings, the Kern County court house, the 812 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Southern Hotel and the Security & Trust building. He did the electric work in more than two hundred cottages in 1910, averaging more than one cottage a day for eight months. From time to time he has interested himself in other business enterprises. For years he has been a stockholder in the Olsen & Mahoney Steamship Company, which owns thirteen vessels in the coasting trade out of San Francisco. He is a member and director and vice-president of the Builders Exchange of Bakersfield and a member of the California State Electrical Contractors' Association. In his political alliance he is a Democrat. He is identified with the Bakersfield Club and with the Merchants Association of this city and afftliates with the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Native Sons of the Golden West. He married at Bakersfield Miss lola Havey, a native of Oroville, Butte county, and they have a son, Joseph Francis Endert. DOMINGO BORDA.— Mr. Borda is the son of Martin and Dominica (Latsalda ) [jorda, l)otii of whom passed away in their native France, at Basses Pyrenees. The father followed farming, and was well informed on all the details of that work. Six children were born to this union, four of whom grew to maturity and are now all living in California. Born December 12, 1863, Domingo Borda was brought up in his native place at Cambo, and there was sent to the public school, to attain what edu- cation that school afiforded. \^'hen he reached manhood he decided to try his luck in the New World and came to the United States in 1884, locating in California. His first employment was with a sheep man in San Bernardino county, driving between San Gabriel and Pomona valley, and also between Perris and San Jacinto. Four years later he bought a lot of sheep and em- barked in the sheep business in San Jacinto, following this until 1894, when he drove them to Tehachapi, in Kern county. After remaining there four or five summers he decided to range them near Famosa, about four miles east of there on the plains, and in the summers in the mountains of Garcia. Mr. Borda resides at No. 719 Nile street, East Bakersfield. He home- steaded a quarter of section twenty-six, one mile frcnn Buena Vista Lake, and built a house and barn. In all, his place covers one hundred and sixty acres, on which he raises grain. He also owns an eighty-acre ranch about five miles south of Bakersfield, which is under irrigation and planted to alfalfa. In Tehachapi Mr. Borda married August 28, 1902, Mary Etcheverry. who was also born in Basses Pyrenees, I'>ance, and to them have come four children: Catherine, Pierre, Baptiste and Michel. Politically Mr. Borda is a Republican. CHARLES F. JOHNSON.— As manager of the Consolidated Pipe Com- pany at llakersfield, president of the Kern County Board of Trade and presi- dent of the Kern County Democratic League, Charles F. Johnson is throw- ing the influence of his aggressive and forceful personality into the upbuild- ing of this part of California. Significant of the future of Bakersfield is the increase in its manufacturing plants. One of the recent accessions of local industries is the Consolidated Pipe Company, manufacturers and jobbers of riveted steel well and water pipe, galvanized steel irrigation pipe, hydrants, gates, valves, flanges, tanks and sheet metal pipe of every description. The present plant located in Los Angeles covers about three acres of ground space, furnishes employment to upwards of one hundred and fifty skilled mechanics and is under the personal direction of able business men includ- ing the president, Cius D. Harper; the vice-president, Bert G. Harper; and the secretary, N. W. Myrick. When the officials determined to establish a new ])lant in Bakersfield they chose Mr. Jcihnson as its manager and since December 13, 1911, he has filled the position with energy, tact and skill. The plant is located on Union avenue at the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. Born in San Francisco October 31. 1865, Mr. Johnson accompanied the family to Los Angeles in 1870, when according to census reports the popula- ^:> ^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 815 tion of that place was only five thousand two hundred and seventy. All of the subsequent growth he has witnessed with pride and interest. On both sides of the house he represents the pioneer element of California. His widowed mother, who now makes her home with him in Bakersfield, bore the maiden name of Mary M. Johnson and was born in St. Joseph, Mo. During the memorable summer of 1849 she traveled across the plains in a wagon drawn by oxen. .After the arrival of the family in Sonoma county her father, David C, who had been a miller and merchant first in Tennessee and later in Missouri, became a pioneer of Healdsburg and turned his attention to farm pursuits. Later he tilled the soil in Merced county. During 1870 he removed to Los Angeles and there he remained a resident until his death in 1882. His daughter in young womanhood had become the wife of John Henry Johnson, a native of New York City and a pioneer carpenter of San Francisco, where he had the contract for the building of the old Lincoln school and other public structures. While yet a young man he passed away, leaving his widow to care for their children, whom she then took to Los Angeles, the home of her father. There were four sons in the family and three of these are still living, Charles F. being next to the eldest. After he had studied for a short time in the Los Angeles high school he left in order to earn his own livelihood. Entering the Los Angeles woulen mills in a very humble capacity he worked up to be a weaver. When the late B. F. Coulter took over the mills he was made assistant superintendent of the plant and uj)on their being closed down, he was tendered a clerkship in the Coulter mercantile establishment. Upon resigning his position in the Coulter store Mr. Johnson entered the employ of the Harper-Reynolds Hardware Company as a shipping clerk and later was transferred through other departments until he was made a traveling salesman for the firm in Southern California. For twenty-six years altogether he continued with the same firm, but eventually resigned in order to accent the management of the Consolidated Pipe Company's plant in Bakersfield. While lus identification with Bakersfield has not been of long duration, already he has become associated with movements for the local upbuilding and has proved a factor in commercial progress. The recognition of his abilities, led to his unanimous choice as president of the Kern County Board of Trade while his devotion to the principles of Democracy caused him to be elected president of the Kern County Democratic League. For years he was actively connected with the United Commercial Travelers. During his residence in Los Angeles he was a leading worker in the Royal Arcanum and Modern Woodmen of America, while since coming to Bakersfield he has joined the Woodmen of the World. Prominent in the D. O. K. K. and Mira- monte Lodge No. 79, K. of P., until his removal from Los Angeles, he had officiated in the latter as chancellor commander and also was a member of the Grand Domain of California. In Los Angeles occurred his marriage to Miss Clara L. Dangerfield, a native of London, England, and a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Dangerfield, now residents of Los Angeles. The only living child of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson is Clinton Shields Johnson, who was educated in the Los Angeles Polytechnic high school. Occidental College and Holman's Business College and is now engaged as bookkeeper for the Con- solidated Pipe Company of Bakersfield. GEORGE N. PEMBERTON.— A Californian by birth, having been born in Napa in 1873. George N. Pemberton is a son of R. W. Pemberton, who came to California in the pioneer days. He was brought up on farms in Kings and Kern counties, where he attended the public schools. After farming for some time he engaged in the wood and hay business in Hanford for about twelve years. During this time he also operated the Henry Burris ranch and in one year put u]) twelve hundred tons of hay. On the place he also burned 816 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY charcoal, having three large pits burning at one time. For ten years of the time he had wood choppers busy, sometimes as many as fifty men cutting wood on the grant, and during this time he cut the willow and oak wood from a strip ten miles in length. He also ran a horseshoeing shop and was pro- prietor of the Corey House. Selling his interests in Hanford, Mr. Pemberton leased land from Cham- berlain and Carr and raised barley and grain on about one thousand acres. In April, 1911, he located in Lost Hills, where he built the Pioneer House, the third building erected on the townsite, and at the time there were only five derricks in the Lost Hills oil field. Here he is engaged in raising corn on fifteen hundred acres near his old adobe house on the southwest end of Tulare Lake, and for the purpose is utilizing his forty head of mules and horses. He is also engaged in contract teaming and heavy hauling. The marriage of Mr. Pemberton occurred in Fresno, uniting him with Margaret B. Winsor, who was born in Newfoundland, and to them have been born four children : George, Evelyn, Alvina and Irene. Fraternally Mr. Pemberton is a member of the Eagles. ELIAS MARQUESS DEARBORN.— The identification of the Dear- born family with California dates from the early period of American oc- cupancy and from the exciting era of gold discovery, for it was during 1849 that Elias Dearborn, a youth of some seventeen years and a native of Bangor, Me., came via the Horn to San Francisco for the purpose of trying his luck in the vast and unknown west. The stories concerning the presence of gold in the streams and mountains aroused his ambition and allured his imagination to test by actual experience the prospects of the country. It was not, however, his good fortune to make any valuable discoveries or to gain wealth from the mines of the state, although he worked in many from the north country as far south as Havilah in Kern county. Eventually he decided that any chance for independence must come to him from another occupation besides mining and he turned to the stock industry, taking up land in the Rincon country, Kern county, and eventually becoming the owner of large tracts of land and large herds of cattle. Until his death about 1907 he continued to make his home on the ranch. Three years after his demise his widow died in Mojave. Prior to their marriage in Los Angeles she had been Mrs. Elizabeth (Lemon) Covington. Born in Indiana, she was a young girl when the family crossed the plains in a prairie schooner drawn by ox-teams, and from that time she continued to make California her home. Of her union with Mr. Dearborn there were three children, two now living, Elias Marquess being one of twins ; the other son. Jacob, has charge of the old Kern county homestead. While the family were living in the Rincon country Elias Marquess Dearborn was born on the home ranch October 30, 1872. The first seventeen years of his life were spent on the farm. Having comoleted the studies of the common schools he went to Los Angeles and matriculated in Wood- bury's Business College. From that institution he was graduated in 1895. In the mean time he had studied law in an evening school. Upon his return to Kern county he settled in Mojave and engaged in mining and prospecting. An appointment as justice of the peace in July of 1898 was followed by elec- tion to the office during November of the same year and for four years he filled the position with fidelity, resigning by reason of removal to Caliente. In the latter village he not t nly engaged in mining, but in addition for one term he served by election as justice of the peace for the fourteenth town- ship of Kern county. On returning to Mojave in 1910 he again was selected to serve as justice of the peace for the tenth township and ever since he has filled the position, besides engaging in the real-estate business, in mining and in farming. The town hall in ^Nlojave was erected by him and he also HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 819 has built other buildings in the town, where now he owns residence and business property. In addition he owns a ranch in the Rincon country. As a justice of the peace Judge Dearborn shows impartiality and a wide knowledge of the law. Some of the cases brought to his court have per- tained to mining rights and have been of great importance. Although some- times appealed to higher courts of the state, there has not been in a single instance a reversal of his decisions. His family consists of a daughter, Catherine, and his wife, who was Miss Catherine Cuddahy, a native of Colo- rado, but a resident of Mojave at the time of their marriage. In national politics he has given stanch support to the Democratic party. Frequently he has been selected to serve as a member of the county Democratic central committee, has twice been delegated to the state convention and always his work has been efficient, intelligent and helpful. For years he has served as a member of the Mojave Board of Education, his principal service having been as clerk of the board, in which responsible post he has been vigilant, energetic and thoroughly capable. J. E. GILLESPIE.— The treasurer of the firm of Templeton & Co., under- takers and funeral directors, of Bakersfield, was born June 22, 1865, on a farm near Evansville, Ind., where his father, Jacob E. Gillespie, now deceased, engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Matilda Wilson, is still living, at the advanced age of seventy- six years, and now makes her home with her son in Bakersfield. Other members of the family have become prominent in localities further east. A brother, Re\\ M. L. Gillespie, is a Presbyterian minister at Fayettville, Ark., and has a wide acquaintance among the leading men of his denomination. A half-brother, C. A. McGrew, acts as manager of the Evansville (Ind.) Coffin Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of caskets and undertakers' supplies. After he had completed the studies of the public schools and had attended the Oakland City (Ind.) Normal School, J. E. Gillespie became an in- structor in that institution and for three years followed the profession of an educator. During 1894 he became connected with the Evansville Coffin Com- l)any as a traveling salesman and for sixteen years he represented the con- cern in Illinois and adjacent territory, meanwhile becoming familiar with the requirements of the undertaking business, a knowledge that stands him well in hand since he became connected with the firm of Templeton & Co., in Bakersfield. After he came to this city he was bereaved in 1910 by the death of his wife, Mrs. Ida (Harris) Gillespie, who left two children, Cecil, now seventeen years of age, and Finis L., twelve years old. On June 22, 1912, Mr. Gillespie married Mrs. Ella V. Harris, of Philadelphia, Pa., who is delighted with her new social environment at Bakersfield and is an active worker in the Presbyterian Church. The firm of Templeton & Co. may be denominated the pioneer undertaking business of Bakersfield. Jacob Niederauer, the pioneer undertaker of Bakers- field, sold to Morton & Connelly, who in turn sold to Dixon & Sons, and eventually Messrs. Templeton and Gillespie bought an interest in the busi- ness, including the original Niederauer funeral records. On the corner of Nineteenth and V streets the firm has erected funeral parlors. The commo- dious and attractive building, which is 32x110 feet in dimensions, is built in the colonial style of architecture. Instead of being grewsome or dreary in aspect, it is beautiful in its architectural simplicity and cheerful furnishings. The building contains a vestibule, hall, family reception room, chapel with accommodations for upwards of one hundred persons at funerals, a laying- (lut room and a morgue with a cement floor, also a stockroom and a casket showroom, with fireproof vault and all the other modern conveniences for the management of such a business. A lady attendant has charge of the bodies (if women and children. In the laying out of the dead Mr. Gillespie himself is 820 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY exceiJtiunally efficient, being a graduate of Clark's School of Embalming in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Uarnes schtol in Chicago and the Myers School of Eml^alming in Cincinnati. Automobile ambulance service has been installed by the tirm, this being the only service of the kind from San Francisco to Los Angeles. By the use of the latest scientific methods bodies are prepared for shipment to all parts of the world and in this respect the firm yields superiority to none. ROBERT T. NORRIS.— An honorable lineage is indicated by the gene- alogy of the Nurris family, who belong to the Anglo-Saxon race and were identified with England in the remote period to which the records can be traced. The colonial era of x-Xmerican development found them associated with the agricultural upbuilding of the eastern states and several genera- tions remained near the Atlantic seaboard. During the Revolution they fought for independence. As the tide of migration began to turn toward the west one of the name removed from South Carolina to Tennessee and settled upon a plantation, but eventually removed to Missouri to spend his last days. Rev. Abner Norris, who was a son of the frontier emigrant, was born in Tennessee and died in Missouri. Throughout life he earned a live- lihood by farming, but much of his time was given to the ministry of the Baptist Church, in which he labored without salary but with a simple-hearted devotion that aided greatly in the local upbuilding of the denomination. In early manhood he had married Jane Evans, who was born in Kentucky, but in childhood went to Missouri with her father, Samuel Evans, and later came to California. When ninety-eight years of age her death oc- curred at Bakersfield. The Evans family is of Welsh lineage, but has been identified with American history for a number of generations. There were six sons and four daughters in the family of x\bner and jane Norris. Five of the number are still living. It is a noteworthy fact that three of the sons, Samuel, David and Robert T.. served during the Civil war as members of Company H. Fourth Missouri Cavalry, United States Volunteers, and finally received honorable discharges at the expiration of the struggle. All settled in Missouri, and David remained there until his death ; Samuel removed to California and died in Long Reach in November, 1912. Robert T., who was seventh among the ten children, was born near Platte City, Platte county. Mo., March 4, 1841, the date of the inauguration of William Henry Harrison as president of the United States. For a time in boyhood he was a pupil in a subscription school and later he attended a free school. March 26. 1862, he volunteered in Company H, Fourth Mis- souri Cavalry, and was mustered in at Stewartsville as corporal, from which later he was promoted to be sergeant. \A'ith his regiment he bore a part in battles throughout the south, particularly in Texas and Arkansas. The war ended, he was mustered out 'xA^pril 18. 1865. at Warrensburg. Johnson county, Mo., and during the same year, in Dekalb county, that state, he married Miss \"irginia Tvler. who was born in Ohio and died at Riverside. Cal., in 1899. The family home continued to be in Missouri until 1875, when Mr. Norris came to California and spent one year at Visalia. March of 1876 foimd him a resident of Kern county, where he located a homestead in the Weed Patch and embarked in agricultural pursuits. Later he took up and improved a desert claim. Finally he had eighty acres in alfalfa and made a snecialty of selling hay. When he sold that property he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres in this county and became interested in the cattle industry. Coming to Bakersfield in Aucrust of 1888. he bought property, planted trees and encaged in raising alfalfa, besides improving the place he still owns. Meanw^hile he spent some years on a ranch in Riverside county ^ 3 T^^f^iA.^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 823 and after his return to Bakersfield he began to operate the City dye works on Eighth and X streets. This business he still owns and manages, his trade extending through Bakersfield and East Bakersfield and into the Kern river oil field. A few years after the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Maggie A. Brooks, of Healdsburg; she was born in Kentucky and died at Bakersfield July 6. 1911. Of his first marriage there are two children. The daughter, Alfarata, married William W. Baker, associated with Mr. Norris in the dye works; they became the parents of eight children, seven living. The son. Perry, owns and manages the dye works at Chico, this state. In religious belief Mr. Norris adheres to the Presbyterian faith. Politically he votes with the Republican party. After coming to Bakersfield he became as.sociated with Hurlburt Post No. 127, G. A. R., and holds office as senior vice-ccmmander. CHRISTIAN WEICHELT.— A native of Zillis, Graubunden, Switzer- land, born February 12, 1869, Christian Weichelt was the only son of John and Freda (Readhauser) Weichelt, who died at seventy-six and seventy-seven years respectively. Bidding farewell to his parents March 29, 1889. Mr. Weichelt proceeded to Havre, France, from which point he sailed to New York. At the expiration of fourteen days he landed in the new world and at once crossed the continent to California, landing at Bakersfield April 30, 1889. For six months he worked under Christ Stockton on the Lakeside ranch, then spent four months under Mr. Pyle on the Sixteen ranch, and from there went to Mono county, where under Mr. Reese as foreman he worked on the railroad and in a sawmill for eighteen months. During the winter he worked on Mr. Neigh's ranch near Mono Lake. In the spring he proceeded to San Francisco, looked up his former employer, Mr. Reese, and asked him for work. Within an hour he was given a position as helper to carpenters in the employ of Runtra Bros., with whom he continued for six months. About that time Mr. Rahtree brought him to the notice of Mr. Button, a large and prosperous cement contractor, who taught him the cement business with the utmost thoroughness and then gave him steady employment in San Francisco. After having continued with Mr. Dutton for four years Mr. Weichelt re- turned to Bakersfield in 1897 and found employment in a dairy operated by John Ellis, afterward entering the employ of a cousin, Gaudenz Weichelt, with whom he continued for two years. During six months of the time he drove a milk wagon. Going up to Tehachapi. he spent one winter on the Fickett ranch. Returning to Bakersfield in the spring he engaged with George Beardsley in the dair}^ business, Mr. Beardsley having purchased the dairy formerly owned by Gaudenz Weichelt. Later he was with Klepstein Bros. and then with Goode Bros., continuing steadily at work until 1904, when he suflfered a very severe attack of typhoid fever. For some time his life hung in the balance. It was four months before he was able to leave his bed and even longer before he was able to do the lightest work. When he had finally regained his strength he entered the employ of T. H. Fogarty, a strckman on L^nion avenue. After a year with him he assumed the management of the Herschfield fruit orchard on Union avenue and there he was engaged for four years, thence returning to Bakersfield to enter the employ of Weitzel & Lar- son. In the fall of 1887 he married Miss Mary Heim at the old Andersc^n dairy near Stockdale. Mrs. Weichelt was born in Germany, whence in 1892 she had immigrated to California. From early life she has been a devoted member of the Roman Catholic Church and her two children, Freda Alma and Hilda Pauline, are being reared in this religious faith. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Weichelt has voted with the Republican party in local and general elections, while in fraternal connections he holds membership with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is one of the strongest and most active union labor men in the citv of Bakersfield and is vice-president of 824 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Local No. 130, Cemeni Workers, and always the delegate to the Labor Council. ERNEST E. YARBROUGH.— Lcng identification with the oil industry in Kern county, dating- back tu the opening of the Kern river field and extend- ing almost continuously up to the present time, has made Mr. Yarbrough an expert in his judgment concerning the possibilities of any lease and enables him to fill with accuracy and intelligence his present position as superintend- ent of the leases of the State Consolidated Oil Company in the McKittrick, North Midway and I'ellridge districts, in which capacity he has engaged with efficiency since July of 1911, besides being a stockholder in the same concern. A resident of California since 1891, Ernest E. Yarbrough came to the state from Kansas, where he was born near Winfield, Cowley county, Feb- ruary 12, 1879. His parents. Newton L. and Mollie Yarbrough, were natives res[)ectively of Missouri and Illinois and homesteaded a claim in Kansas, where the father engaged extensively in stock-raising. The purchase of land adjacent to his original claim gave him a large acreage to superintend and cultivate. During 1891 he removed from Kansas to California and settled in Sonoma county, where he and his vs/iie own and conduct a summer resort, known as the Yarbrough farm, one mile north of Guerneville. Of their two children the elder. Ernest E., was about twelve years of age at the time of settling near Guerneville, where later he attended school during several terms. From the age of sixteen he has been self-suporting. His first experience in the industrial world gave him employment in a sawmill at Guerneville for one vear. after which he spent another year in the McFadden mill above Spring- v-ille. With the opening of the Kern river oil field ]\Ir. Yarbrough sought em- ployment in the new center of oil development. In a short time he had gained a knowledge of dressing tools. After a period of employment with Anderson & Morton in 1900 he came to the McKittrick field to work as a driller with the Dabney Oil Company. .\ year later he went to the Sunset field, but another twelve months found him liack in the McKittrick field, where he did consider- able important work in drilling. About that time (1905) he was induced to seek employment in the famous Goldfield mines in Nevada and later he located and develt ped mines at Lida, Nev., where he remained for a year or until sell- ing the property. From that district he went to the Needles, now known as California hills, where he discovered and located the Gold Dollar group of mines and the Bluebird claims. Upon selling these properties he took employ- ment with a Los Angeles capitalist and as a mining expert traveled through almost every ptrtion of Nevada and Arizona. Returning to IMcKittrick in 1907, he began to work with the Associated Oil Company as a driller, but in March of 1909 he transferred to the State Consolidated Oil Company for similar work, since which he has been promoted to be superintendent of the company's holdings in the McKittrick, North Midway and Bellridge fields. While in Los Angeles he met and married Mrs. Sadie (Woods) Riggan, who was born in San Francisco and by her first marriage had two children, Stan- ley and Helen. CHARLES TEMPLETON, Jr. — An identification of several years with the undertaking firm of Tem])leton & Co. brought Mr. Templeton into promi- nent relations with the business men and commercial activities of Bakers- field, where he is known and honored as a young man of ability and com- mendable public spirit. Born in the southern part of Illinois, at ITarrisburg. Saline county, July 28, 1884. he received a fair common-school education in that state and also acquired there his early knowledge of the undertaking business, being a graduate of the Chicago College of Embalming, class of 1902. Later he had the advantages afl'orded by a post-graduate course in the Renaurd School of Embalming in New York City. During 1909 he was united y.-w"^ ,^ \ 'i^H^T^H^^BI ^ '•*^^ tfL J ^^x ••'*' '^^^^^ /y^ (^ //^ J^7Z^:^^ ^^C^ S^c^^-^^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 827 in marriage with Miss Alal)el Robinson, a native of Illinois, and accom])anied by her immediately after his marriage he came to Bakersfield, where in the same year he acquired an interest in the undertaking business of Dixon & Sons, buying out F. S. Dixon, Sr., in the establishment originally founded by Jacob Niederauer, then sold by him to Morton & Connelly, who in turn sold out to Dixon & Sons. January 1, 1913, Mr. Templeton sold out his interests in the said firm of Templeton & Co. to J. C. Flickinger. Mr. and Mrs. Templeton have one son, Charles Frederick. TOMAS ECHENIQUE.— Jose Maria Echenique. father of Tomas. was born in Maya, Navarre, Spain, where his son also was born. He followed farming all of his life, his death occurring at the home place. His wife, Petra Dendarieta, now deceased, was born there, and was the mother of seven children, all of whom are now living, Tomas being the youngest. The birth of Tomas Echenique occurred April 19, 1878, at the same place where his father first saw light of day, and there he spent his young days, receiving his educational training in the local school. As he grew up he became interested in accounts of the new world, and in 1897 finally started for America, full of ambition and purpose to succeed in his new efforts. On January 24, 1897, he came to San Francisco, and in less than a week he procured employment with a sheepman at Huron, Fresno county, where he remained for some time, learning all the details of the business. As he was energetic and thrifty, having the future in mind, he saved his earnings, and in 1903 bought a small flock of sheep, which installed him in the sheep business on his own account. The ensuing year brought him good results, and in 1904 he came to East Bakersfield to make his home, ranging his sheep during the winters in Kern county, and in the summers in the Tehachapi mountains. His ranch headquarters are on Poso creek. On April 4, 1908, Mr. Echenique married one of his countrywomen, Miss Jeanne Etcheverry, born in Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees, becoming his wife. They are the parents of two children. Marie and Jeanne Mathilda. J. I. WAGY. — It would be practically impossible to name any enterprise for the upbuilding of Maricopa and vicinity that has lacked the sturdv sup- port of Mr. Wagy, but perhaps his most important association is with the West Side Water Company, of which he is manager, director and principal owner. The m; st serious problem in the oil districts of Kern county has been to secure pure, wholesome water for house use, and it is indeed fortunate that Mariccpa, located in a desert country, should be in possession of an abundant supply of gocd water furnished by the W^est Side W^ater Comoany, a con- cern incorporated in 1910 with a capital stock of $100,000. The method of organization included the placing of one thousand shares at $100 each, and of these ninety-two thousand have been issued, Mr. Wagy being owner of four- fifths of the entire stock and therefore almost sole proprietor of the business. The water is available for domestic and other purposes. Several of the finest springs located in the Coast Range mountains toward Ozena form the source of supply. In four-inch mains, by means of the gravity system, the water is piped to Maricopa from Ventura county, a distance of eighteen miles. Sub- stantial tanks have been built and lines ( f mains laid with particular reference to use for fighting fires, and under a pressure of ninety nounds a three-fourths stream can be thrown seventy-five feet into the air. When the pure mountain source of the water is appreciated, it will be understood that it is entirelv free from disease germs and may be used freely bv all citizens who value their health. The successful putting through of an undertaking so important as the water company by no means represents the limit of the business activities of Mr. Wagy, who is further known as the proprietor of the Gordon livery stables at Maricopa and engaged in a general contracting, hauling and house-moving 828 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY business, owning and working sixty head of horses and mules. The develop- ment of land also has enlisted his fc.rceful labors. South of Bakersfield he has developed a fine alfalfa ranch. In the Coast Range mountains he has estab- lished the Ozena ranch, a vast tract embracing four thousand acres, whereon he now has approximately seventeen hundred head of cattle. To listen to a recital from the friends of Mr. Wagy concerning his finan- cial success and large possessions and to glance at his stalwart figure indica- tive of robust health and sturdy strength, one finds it difficult to believe that he came to California without means and broken in health, given up by many friends as beyond hope of recovery. He was born near Chillicothe, the county-seat of Ross county, Ohio, February 13, 1865, and passed the years of childhood principally in Richland county, 111., where his father engaged m farming. From early life he was not rugged and health considerations caused him to come to California in 1888. With resolute determination he earned his own livelihood in spite of his lack of strength. Soon he began to show marked improvement and it was not long before he was able to endure the most difficult tasks. The first industry that engaged his attention was the raising of grapes. Securing twenty acres in Tulare county, he planted a vineyard and soon had his tract covered with grape vines of the raisin varie- ties. It was no slight task to remove the sage brush that had covered the land, plow and cultivate the soil, plant the vines and care for the vineyard until it had become productive, but he proved equal to the emergency. The busi- ness, however, did not attract him as a source of permanent income, so he sold out and then bought a shoe store in Tulare, where he remained for two and one-half years. Coming to Kern county in 1893 Mr. Wagy settled east of Lake Buena Vista near the present site of Conner's Station and there he rented grain land until a succession of dry years made the occupation unprofitable. As early as 1894 he began freighting from Bakersfield to the west side oil fields and engaged in hauling between the two points until 1901. From 1904 until 1907 he was verv successful in the mercantile business at Sunset and during 1907 he had a real-estate office in Los Angeles, where he dealt in west side oil lands. At this writing he owns eighty acres of oil lands lying one mile east of Maricopa. For some years, indeed since the beginning of oil activities at Maricopa, he has been interested in this locality and his faith in the future of the town itself has been exhibited by the erection of a substantial residence, provided with modern conveniences and with all the comforts usually seen only in the large cities. This home is presided over graciously by Mrs. Wagy and is brightened by the presence of their two sons, Julian and Philip. Mrs. Wagy was Julia Maples of Bakersfield, her father, T. W. Maples, having long been a well-known citizen of that place. ARCHIE H. DIXON. — The secretary of the undertaking firm of Temple- ton & Co.. who is also filling the position of deputy coroner of Kern county, claims Kansas as his native commonwealth and was born, reared and edu- cated at Fairview. Brown county, that state, whence in 1901 he removed to California in company with his father and mother and wife. During the period of his residence in Bakersfield he has been identified with movements for the local upbuilding and assisted in conducting the undertaking business of Dixon & Sons, in which his father, F. vS. Dixon, was the senior member and leading partner. Later, through the purchase of the interests of the senior Dixon by Messrs. Templeton and Gillespie, the name was changed to Temple- ton & Co., and as such is now conducted. A new building has been erected, modern in every respect, and every convenience has been added for the satis- factory management of the business. In addition to acting as secretary of the company Mr. Dixon since 1911 has served as deputy coroner, having received the appointment from the present coroner and public administrator of Kern HISTORY' OF KERN COUNTY 831 county, viz.: W. A. McGinn, who is also an attorney and has offices in the Morgan building. I>y the marriage of Mr. Dixon to Miss Jessie Culverhouse. of Kansas, there is one daughter. Alta. JOHN WEICHELT.— The science of dairying as taught and worked out in Switzerland has formed the basis of the success which has come to John Weichelt in the field of dairying in Kern county. Thoughts of his boyhood home take him back to the beautiful surroundings in which the parental farm was located, nestled among the mountains of Switzerland, and there, September 14. 1880, he was born in Zillis. Canton Graubunden. His parents were Gottleib and Katherina (Wald) Weichelt, natives of the same locality, and stanch communicants of the Lutheran Church, in the faith of which they reared their seven children. All of the children are living and filling their appointed places in the activities of the world: Chris- tian, who still makes his home in Switzerland; Gottleib, a rancher in the Panama district. Kern county ; Gaudenz, a resident of Bakersfield ; John, the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Katherina Mattly, wife of Christian Mattly, of Bakersfield; Mrs. Mary Koch, the wife of John Koch, of Panama; and Carl, a resident of Bakersfield. With his brothers and sisters John Weichelt was given the best educa- tional advantages that the schools in the neighborhood of the parental home afforded, and like them, too, he was given a practical training in the duties that fell to them as the sons and daughters of farmers, all working together with a common interest and all reaping a benefit that accrues from unity of purpose and common weal. He was about seventeen years old when he assumed the responsibilities of life on his own account, leaving the con- genial surroundings of his boyhood for the unexplored field of activities that awaited him in the United States, whither he came in 1897. April 13 of that year found him in Kern county, and as he had a. good knowledge of the dairy business his search for employment was brief. He was for- tunate in securing employment with Christian Mattly, in whose service he remained for four years, during which time he became familiar with the dairy business as conducted in this country and also became familiar with the language and customs of his adopted home. After leaving Mr. Mattly's employ he worked at the harness-maker's trade in Bakersfield for about a year, but as it was not to his liking he turned his attention once more to the dairy business and has followed it ever since. His first venture, in 1903, was in company with his brcther Gaudenz, they renting the farm of their former employer, Christian Mattly, the property comprising five hundred and fifty-two acres well adapted to the industry. The partnership lasted three years, at the end of which time Gaudenz Weichelt removed to his own place and John continued to manage the property alone. Here at times he had as high as one hundred and seventy-five head of Durham cows and the land not used for pasturage was devoted to alfalfa. The raising of this com- modity was not confined to supplying his own needs, but formed a source of income in the sale of seed, the yield at times running as high as five hun- dred pounds to the acre. A change in Mr. Weichelt's activities was necessi- tated by the sale of the Mattly ranch in 1912, when he moved onto a ranch of his own which he had purchased in 1910. This consists of eighty acres one mile west of the Old River school house, in the district of that name, and here he makes a specialty of raising grain and alfalfa. In 1913 he raised a banner crop of oat hay, the yield being over four tons to the acre, the largest crop of the kind ever raised in the vicinity. The ranch is splendidly supplied with irrigation, water being provided by the Stine canal, and he also has installed a pumping plant on the property for irrigating the orchard and gardens and for domestic use. The marriage of Mr. Weichelt occurred in Bakersfield and united him with Mrs. Pauline (Ruefernacht) Conger, a native of Yelta, Crimea, Russia. 832 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Her father, Gottleib Ruefernacht, was a native of Canton Bern, Switzerland, while the mother, Fredericka Metzger, was born near Ulm, Wurtemberg. Mrs. VVeichelt was educated in Yelta and came to California in 1893. Mr. Weichelt and his wife are members of St. John's Lutheran Church, Bakers- field, and in sympathy witii Republican principles. SAN JOAQUIN HOSPITAL.— With the opening- of the San Joaquin Hospital, October 0, 1910. the city of Bakersfield and the surrounding country were giyen the opportunity of prompt and skilled attention in surgical opera- tions and critical illnesses, and thus was met a need felt for many years not only by physicians but by all interested in the general health of the com- munity. The building occupies an excellent location at No. 2628 I street, being removed from the noise of the commercial centers of the city, yet suffi- ciently near to render expeditious and easy all trips with ])atients or any com- munication for business purposes. The three-story structure, erected by the well-known contractor, M. T. Kean, at a cost of $20,000, represents a total investment of $30,000 on the part of its owners. Misses Margaret Ouinn and Mary O'Donnell, the fgrmer a native of Richmond, Ind^, and the latter a native of Philadelphia. Both are professional nurses, skilled in every depart- ment of the healing art and particularly efificient in surgical operations. Since the erection of the building and the opening of the hospital Miss Quinn has served as the executive and business manager while Miss O'Donnell is in charge of the surgical department. In erecting the hospital the owners considered suitability to climate and therefore placed a broad porch on the south and west, thus tempering the strong rays of the sun, while at the same time admitting an abundance of light and allowing the cooling breezes to mitigate the heat of midsummer. The general ward for men is on the first floor with toilet and bath adjacent, while similar quarters for women have been equipped on the second floor. In addition there are about twenty private rooms; some equipped with private baths, a large kitchen, dining room for nurses, doctors' dining room and doctors' dressing rooms. The most remarkable room is the one equipped for operations. This has a Baldwin operating table, adjustable at any angle, which is a great advantage in surgical operations. The floors are made of tile ; walls are enameled. Adjoining the operating room is the sterilizing and doctors' scrub room, which is also tiled and enameled. The operating room is constructed of glass on practically three sides, making the department very light and thus facilitating delicate operations. In an adjoining room two enameled wash basins have hot and cold water faucets controlled by pedals so that nothing except water touches the hands of the surgeon while cleaning them preparatory to the operation. The arrangements of the entire operating department are absolutely sanitary in every respect. No expense has been spared here, for the owners appreciate the incomparable importance of perfec- tion of detail in every matter relative to surgical operations. At the same time they exercise equal care in all departments and fever patients or chronic cases receive the same skilled supervision given to those undergoing operations, so that each class of patients has the experienced care of trained nurses and the vigilant attention of conscientious physicians. E. E. WINNEY. — Among those industrious and persevering men who have come to the coast to aid in making for progress and development the younger generation has carried with it the essential spirit and vigor which is so necessary in the fight for success in a new country. Among the latter we find E. E. \^'inney, manager of the King Lumber Company, and also pro- prietor of the bowling alley at Maricopa. Mr. Winney is a native of Manning. Carroll county, Iowa, born June 17, 1884. He attended the public schools and then became a student at Humboldt College, where he was graduated with the class of 1904. He had taken the nt)rmal business course, and after his grad- uation became engaged in teaching school until March 17, 1905. On the first HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 835 of tlie following- April he arrived at Spokane, Wash., and became an employe of the W^ashington ]\Iill Company, after a short time being placed in full charge of the cutting dei)artment of the sash and door works. Here he re- mained employed for about fifteen months, and then went to V^ancouver, B. C, to take charge of the sash and door factory of the Fairview Cedar Lumber Company, where he was employed about eight months. Through the intro- duction and kind offices of his former employer at the Washington Alill Com- pany, G. W. Palmer, he secured a position with the West Side Lumber Com- pany, at Tuolumne, and he continued there as assistant salesman until in December, 1908. At this time he came to iVIaricopa, where he became manager of the King Lumber Company, and also the proprietor of a bowling alley. Mr. Winney was married in San Luis Obispo county to Margaret Smith. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Elks, of Bakersfield. OTTO FRANK RINALDL— The family of which Mr. Rinaldi is a member comes of Italian and German descent and was established in Cali- fornia by his father, Charles Robert Rinaldi. a German by birth and education, but after the '50s a resident of the Pacific coast country. With a partner he established the first furniture store in Los Angeles, but in a short time he disposed of the business in order to undertake agricultural pursuits near San Fernando. After years of varying success as a stock-raiser, during which time he also served as deputy sheriff, he sold his property to the city of Los Angeles and it is now the reservoir for the Owens river aqueduct. Since his death San Fernando has continued to be the home of his wife, who was Francisca Valdez, a native of Los Angeles and a member of a prominent old Spanish family of that city. Of their seven children all but one are still living. The third in order of birth, Otto Frank, was born at San Fernando, this state, December 12, 1872, and received a public-school education, mean- while learning the details of farm work and stock-raising. xA.t the age of twenty-one he began to learn the trade of blacksmith in Los Angeles and on thoroughly mastering the occupation he opened a shop in San Fernando, but soon abandoned the business in order to devote himself to the butcher's trade. For a time he conducted a meat market at Newhall. Meanwhile dur- ing 1902 he had purchased the butcher shop at Randsburg and had put his brother in charge of the business, but at the expiration of two years he closed out other interests in order to devote himself to his enterprises in Kern county. As proprietor of a Vv'holesale and retail meat market Mr. Rinaldi has important interests in Randsburg, from, which point he sells meat to all adjacent places. Aside from conducting the market he engages in retail ice delivery and also acts as agent for the Maier Brewing Company of Los Angeles. A suitable warehouse has been provided for storage purposes. Since 1910 he has had charge of the stage between Johannesburg and Ballarat, also between Johannesburg and Skidoo, a distance of one hundred and ten miles, covered by three trips each week. In addition he hauls all the freight and supplies from Johannesburg to all points as far as Skidoo. For this work he utilizes about seventy-live head of horses and mules besides a large number of wagons and freighting outfits. Since coming to this part of Kern county he has purchased three hundred and twenty acres in the Kelso canyon in the South Fork country. Of this half-section he has put forty-five acres under cultivation to alfalfa and beans. As farmer, business man, agent for various companies and stage-coach operator, his interests are diversified, important and engrossing, and leave him little leisure for outside enterprises, although we find him a leader in local politics. During 1912 Governor John- son appointed him supervisor of the first district, to fill out the unexpired term of William M. Houser, deceased, and he remained in the office until the expiration of the time specified. While still living in San Fernando he was 836 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY made a Mason in San Fernando Lodge No. 343, F. & A. ^M., and since coming to Kern county he has been prominently identified with Randsburg Aerie No. 188 of the Eagles. His family comprises a son Fred, and Mrs. Rinaldi. formerly Miss Laura Nieto. a native of Los Angeles and member of an old family of that city. C. E, REAL. — The Real family descends from a long line of Teutonic ancestry and was founded in the new world by I'rederick Real, a native of Germany, who desirous of improving his condition sought the opportunities of America and settled in Salem. Mass.. where he met and married Ellen Gill- man, a native of that city and a descendant of French forefathers. For years he was associated with a shipping business, but during that long period of useful activity he had an interval of travel and experiences in the west. Upon hearing of the discovery of gold in Califc rnia he came to the Pacific coast during 1849. proceeded direct to the mining camps and began to prospect for himself, meeting with some encouragement for a time. As soon as his success began to wane he returned to the east with his little store of gold and erected in Salem a large and comfortable home for his family. The young- est of his twelve children, C. E., was born in Salem December 29. 1861, and shortly before his birth the father was taken from the home by death. The amount he left was small, wholly insufficient to the support and rearing of so large a number of children ; therefore C. E. began to support himself while yet he was a small lad. Various occupations earned a livelihc od for him. but he worked principally in shoe, glue and box factories in Salem. Coming to California during 1883 at the age of twenty-two years C. E. Real landed in Los Angeles with only $75 in his possession. The first job he found was that of working on the section and he went to work eagerly and continued perseveringly. In May of 1884 he came to Bakersfield and for a time worked under E. M. Roberts on the old McCord ditch. Proceeding next to Stanislaus county, he engaged in wheat farming for three years, but found little or no profit in the \enture. As early as 1886 he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres at Rio Bravo, sixteen miles west of Bakersfield. Proving up on the land, he continued to till the soil until the financial panic of 1893-94, when unable to meet his interest he lost the entire property. He was thus left to begin anew at the bottom once more. Afterward he bLUght and sold city property and oil stocks and of recent years has been proprietor of the Peerless cafe, at No. 1819 Chester avenue, Bakersfield. In addition he owns a ranch of forty acres three miles southwest of this city, also a ranch (.f one hundred and sixty acres about thirteen miles west of McKittrick. At the time of the organization of Section 12 Oil Company he was a prime mover in the enterprise and has since continued as a stockholder, the concern now being a dividend-payer. The McKittrick Oil Company and Section 25 Oil Com- pany also have the benefit of his identification with their interests as a large stockholder and in addition he owns town property in Bakersfield, so that he has retrieved the losses of times of panics and is now comfortably provided with a competency. During 1902 he married Miss Bettie Monkmyer. by whom he has one daughter, Ellen, born in 1904. In political belief he supports I^emocratic principles and fiaternally he holds membership with the Eagles. OLA G. DIXON. — The four members of the undertaking firm of Temple- ton & C\i. ha\c each c( ntributed effectively to the development of the business and not the least prominent of these partners is Ola G. Di.xon, who has been connected with the concern ever since he became a resident of Bakersfield and gives of his time to its upbuilding as one of the essential factors in the welfare of the city, liorn in Kansas in 1880, on the 2d of November, he re- ceived the best educational advantages afforded l)y Fairview. his native place. In addition to completing the study of the various grades of the grammar school, he is a graduate of the high school. At the age of twenty-one years HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY • 837 in 1901 he came to California in company with other members of the family and for a time made his home in Los Angeles, where with his brother, A. H. (now depnty coroner of Kern county), he conducted a store. After six years in business in that city he removed to Bakersfield and united with his father and brother in carrying on the undertaking concern of Dixon & Sons, now known as Templeton & Co., and he has continued with the same estabhshment since its change of name, devoting himself to assisting in the discharge of the important duties devolving upon the company. Through his marriage to Miss Ethel ]\Iunsinger. a native of Kansas, he is the father of two children, Dorris and Hazel. V. G. HUTCHINS. — Reared to a knowledge of the oil industry, the son of one of the pioneer oj)erators in the Los Angeles fields, it was but natural that V. G. Hutchins should select the business as his chosen avenue of occu- pative activity. The enthusiasm that he always has possessed for the work appears in the fact that, having graduated from' the Los Angeles high school on a Friday during 1907, he reported for duty the following Sunday at the Coalinga oil fields and at once began an identification with the industry that has continued, although in another district, up to the present time. Still a young man (he was born October 23, 1885), he has every reason to look for- ward to many years of continued usefulness and increasing influence in his chosen calling, and taking the past as a criterion a prosperous future may be predicted for him. His parents, Alvin G. and Ida Hutchins, continue to make Los Angeles, their home and the former, now forty-six years of age, has en- gaged in the cil business ever since the first discoveries were made in the Los Angeles district. Familiar with Los Angeles from his earliest recollections, educated in its schools, acquainted with its progress and interested in its activities, V. G. Hutchins is a typical Californian in every sense of the word. From youthful years the oil industry has engaged his attention. After he went to Coalinga he engaged in dressing tools on a rotary drill for the Associated Oil Company and scon acquired a practical knowledge of the work. From Coalinga he came to Maricopa in October of 1908 and since then has engaged in drilling on almost all of the wells on the Ruby lease. On the 1st of July. 1912, he was promoted to be superintendent of the Ruby Oil Company on section 2, township 11. range 24 of the Sunset field, where he has charge of a lease < f twenty acres with ten wells, from which is secured a net monthly production of fifty-five hundred barrels. Giving his attention closely to the oversight of the company's interests, he has had little leisure for political or fraternal activities, but has become a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Bakersfield and is a con- tributor to its various enterprises. During 1909 at Los Angeles occurred ills marriage to Miss Cora E. Canfield, daughter of N. O. Canfield, a pros- ])erous rancher of Tulare county and a niece of C. A. Canfield of Los Angeles, the influential and widely known oil operator. "Sir. and ]\Irs. Hutchins are the parents of a (laughter, Frances Ida. GEORGE KAY JOHNSTON.— Dr. Johnston was born in Santa Barbara county, Cal., April 1, 1876. After attending public school he worked on a ranch until he was twenty-one years old. He then matriculated in the Kansas City Dental College, taking the regular course, and in the year 1902 was grad- uated from there with the degree of D.D.S. He then returned to his native state and opened a dental office in San Francisco, practicing there until 1904, but in a short time he removed to Lompoc and was there for four and a half years, following his chosen work. Thence in 1910 he came to Taft, where he has since successfully practiced with gratifying results. His profession is Doctor Johnson's chief interest in life. To serve the public zealously, to give satisfaction and to build up an honorable, as well 838 • HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY as a lucrati\e, ])usiness has been his aim, and he has won this l)y untiring- energy and effort. He has suffered losses, and it has been only his perse- verance and tenacity of purpose which have enabled him to be successful. A week after coming to Taft he was burned out and had to begin again with renewed effort, which only makes him more to be admired. Dr. Johnston was married in 1906 to Miss Eleanor F. Lowe, daughter of James F. Lowe of San Jose, who is an ex-State Senator. Two children have come to them, viz. : Bernard L. and Enna. ORRIN R. TAYLOR.— A native of New York state, Air. Taylor was born januar}' 2Z, 1843, in Tioga county, where his father, Alonzo F. Taylor, was also born. The facher was a shoemaker and farmer by trade and with his wife, Sarah M. (Ellis) Taylor, and their family, removed to Summit county, Ohio, where they remained nine years, subsequently going to Orland, Ind., where he passed away. The mother, who was born in New York, still survives at the age of ninety-four years. Nine children were born to this worthy couple, of whom six are now living. The eldest, Lorenzo, also served in the Civil war, being a member of the Twelfth Indiana Cavalry, and his death occurred in Angola, Ind. Orrin Taylor was about seventeen years of age when' his parents re- moved to Indiana, having ( btained his educational training in the public schools in Ohio. He entered the Orland Seminary to take a preparatory course before entering Hiram College, but his enlistment for war cut short this course of study. Enlisting on August 14, 1862, he was mustered in as private in Company B, One Hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, August 24, and on the day before he was ordered to the front he was married to Miss Mary E. Barnard, who was born in Steuben county, Ind., daughter of John A. Barnard, a native of Massachusetts and a farmer in Indiana. Mr. Taylor saw active service until June, 1863, wdien he was mustered out on account of physical disability. He re-enlisted in 1864, becoming a member of Com- pany K, One Hundred and Fifty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until after the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge September 5, 1865, when he returned home. He then bought a farm near Orland, and engag^ed in general farming for eight years, then embarking in the hardware business, which he continued until failing health caused him to relinquish those interests. Realizing the need of a more moderate cli- mate he came to California in November, 1892, and located in Kern county, where he farmed for about eight years; in Rosedale. He then made his way to Panama and, buying a forty-acre farm there, engaged in agricul- tural pursuits for some years. Two years were spent in the grocery busi- ness in Porterville and he then returned to Panama and bought a half inter- est with his daughter, Mrs. Hastings, in the general merchandise establish- ment, and here he still continues in business. His wife passed away in Porterville in 1908; she was the mother of three children, of whom two survive, Ona E., Mrs. Hastings of Panama, and Orrin Ross, of Douglas, Ariz. Mrs. Hastings is the mother of three children, Guy, Esther and Thelma; she is n clever business woman, able, thrifty and full of that splen- did integrity which proves the most important characteristic in a noble makeup. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religion he unites with the Congregational church in Panama and is a member of its board of trustees. To him is largely due the credit for the upbuilding of this church, as he served as one of its founders in Panama, having drawn <:he plans and aided in the building of the church edifice as well as the parsonage, and he gave freely of time, labor and means. J. W. RAGESDALE. — From the organization of Taft up to the present time Mr. Ragesdale has been a large contributor to the material growth cf the place and as a member of the city board of trustees, as proprietor of a large and ])0])ular hotel, as a stockholder in \ari()us concerns for the devel- (P ^ 3a^/. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 841 opnient of public utilities and as the optimistic projector of civic enterprises of worth, he justly occupies a position of permanent intluence in the midst of a growing citizenship. Attracted to this place in January of 1910, almost one year prior to the organization of the town under its present name, he immediately discerned a favorable opening for an hotel business. The Alvord hotel, which he acquired shortly after his arrival, occupied small quarters at the time, but by building a substantial addition he has provided am])le accommodations for the traveling public. The distinction of being a native son of California belongs to Mr. Ragesdale, who was born in San Joaquin county in 1862, being a son of John W. and Sarah (Ketcham) Ragesdale. As early as 1847 the father made his first trip across the plains to California, coming from his home common- wealth of Kentucky. Later he returned to Kentucky, but again made the tedious trip across the plains to the western coast, this time to make a permanent settlement. Some time after settling in the state he met and married Miss Ketcham, who had come to the west in 1852 by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After years of residence in San Joaquin county the family removed to the town of Merced, where the son, J. W., was appren- ticed to the trade of blacksmith. For fourteen years he devoted himself to that occupation with skill and perserverance and during much of the period he operated a shop at Madera. Meanwhile he studied mines and mining, in which he gained considerable experience through opening up a quartz mine in Maricopa county. The most profitable venture ever engaging the attention of Mr. Rages- dale was the organization of the Fortune mine by a company of which he became president. The mine was named in honor of Mrs. Fortune, one of the stockholders of the company, and the name did not prove a misnomer, for the results were such as to delight everyone concerned. At intervals during ten years Mr. Ragesdale owned important interests in mines. From 1896 to 1898 he was connected with the Alameda mine at Randsburg. With the advent of the oil industry at Coalinga he sought that field, where he operated successfully in oil stock. From Coalinga, after a season of suc- cessful activities, he came to Taft in 1910 and has since devoted his time largely to the management of the Alvord hotel, which he owns jointly wnth R. H. McCreary of Hanford, under the firm title of Ragesdale & McCreary. In all of his hotel enterprises he has had the capable co-operation of his wife, formerly Miss Annie Pratt, a woman of energy, amiability and business judgment. Their only son, Elmer, is now in Mono county, this state. Upon the organization of the California Well Drilling Company at Taft Mr. Ragesdale became a charter member, but after some time he disposed of his interest in the concern. For the purpose of aiding the people of the town in their efiforts to secure water, he helped to organize the Taft Public Utility Company, a concern established by a few leading men of the place and engaged in the business of bringing water to Taft in tank cars, from which it was distributed to private customers. The directors, H. A. Hop- kins, R. H. McCreary, C. C. Painter. R. L. Wood. C. A. Ford and J. W. Ragesdale. were actuated by a desire to help the town rather than from monetary motives and when they sold out to the Consumers' Water Com- pany in 1912 it was at actual cost. The first electric light company was organized by Mr. Ragesdale, who became its first president ; it was organized for the purpose of securing electricity for the town and received the ener- getic assistance of Mr. Ragesdale as a promoter and stockholder. However, the original owners soon sold out to the San Joaquin Light and Power Cor- poration, the present owners of the plant. The pioneers in this utility move- ment managed to generate electric current from the power furnished by a large Fairbanks-Morse engine and the small concern was well and success- 842 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY fully managed by Mr. Ragesdale as president of the company, with the fol- lowing hoard of directors: C. C. Painter, H. E. Smith, A. A. McCumber, J. A. AJnrdock, E. L. Burnham and I. A. Felter. PETER ETCHEVERRY.— The facilities for stock-raising and agri- culture that are bringing Kern county increasingly into public notice induced Mr. Etcheverry to identify himself with the Rosedale district after fourteen years of experience in this portion of the country. Starting in 1908 on an unimproved tract of eighty acres, he has since erected a farmhouse and other buildings and has put the entire tract into alfalfa. The farm is under the Beardsley canal and he has put in an excellent pumping plant. A native of Basses-Pyrenees, Erance, born at x^ldudes April 4, 1875, Peter Etcheverry is a son of John and Catherine (Laxague) Etcheverry, who still live in that district in France, owning and occupying a farm that lies in the valley and extends into the foothills near the lofty Pyrenees. Fine cattle are kept on the farm and a specialty is made of the manufacture of cheese and butter, to which work the owner and his wife still give their per- sonal attention. The family comprises nine children, namely: Mrs. Maria Laxague, on a farm in Basses-Pyrenees, France ; Jean, on, the old homestead in Basses-Pyrenees; Martin, a farmer still living in France; Peter, of Kern county; Mathilda, Mrs. Fernando Etcheverry, on a farm in Kern county; Mary, Mrs. D. Bordo, also on a farm in Kern county ; Michel, a partner of his brother, Peter ; Jennie, wife of Tomas Echenique, of Kern ; and M. Eouise, wife of Aliguel Echenique, also a resident of Kern. Michel Etcheverry was born in Aldudes, France, January 6, 1882, re- ceived his education in the common schools and came to Kern county in 1901. Two years later he became associated with his brother Peter in the sheep industry, and in 1908 in the farming enterprise, to which he has since given his entire attention. He was married in 1910 to Miss Marguerite Othar, born in Basses-Pyrenees, France, and they have one child, Mathilda. On coming to California in 1894 at the age of nineteen Peter Etcheverry joined his older brother, Jean, who had preceded him to the new world by a number of years and had been one of the early settlers of Kern county, there embarking in the sheep business. For five years the young Frenchman worked in the employ of the older brother, but about 1899 he bought a few head of sheep and gradually acquired a flock of considerable size. From that time until 1908 he gave his attention wholly to the sheep industry, then with his brother Michel bought eighty acres of land, all now in alfalfa. In 1909 at East Bakersfield Peter Etcheverry married Miss Catherine Saldonbehere, a native of Basses-Pyrenees, who died seven months later. Subsequently Mr. Etcheverry was married again, October 28, 1913, in East Bakersfield, being united with Miss Marianne Saroiberry, a native of Al- dudes, France. Since coming to this country Mr. Etcheverry has made a study of political conditions and is now an ardent supporter of Republican principles. JOHN J. HENDRICKSON.— The ancestral home of the Hendrickson family was situated in the village of Husum on the western coast of Schles- wig-Holstein and (;wing to the location being in close proximity to the North sea various members of the family in generations gone bv followed mari- time ])ursuits. but Henry V., having learned the trade of watchmaker in youth, devoted all of his active vears to the occu])ation, including also the sale of jewelry and the repair of watches and clocks. All of his life was passed in Schleswig-Holstein and there also occurred the death of his wife, Catherine (Johnson) Hendrickson, daughter of Caot. John J. Johnson, wlu) was commander of an ocean vessel that took him in the course of many voyages to the principal ports of the wi rid. There were five children in the family of Henry V. Hendrickson and of these John j. was third in order of birth, he having been born in 1841 at the familv home in Husum. From his HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 845' earliest recollections he was familiar with the sea and very naturally there- tore, upon coming to the United States, in 1856 at the a"ge of fifteen, he took up a sea-faring- existence. The early voyages -out from New York City took him to the Mediterranean sea and South America, after which for sixteen months he sailed on the Maygi to the Philippine Islands and around the Cape of Gocd Hope, thence back to New York. At the age of nineteen years he shipped as mate on the J. N. Hicks out of New York via southern ports to England with cargoes of cotton. Three trips were made on that vessel, after which he shipped as boatswain on the Minnehaha via Cape Horn to San Francisco, and his arrival there in April of 1862 brought to an end all identification with the occupation of a sailor. Six months after landing in the west Mr. Hendrickson went to the mines in the Slate range, located in San Bernardino county. After a few months he proceeded to Los Angeles in 1863 and engaged in supplying its residents with w^ater from a water-cart filled by buckets dipped into the zanje or ditch that ran down Los Angeles street. Recalling the appearance of that place during the period of its early history, he has witnessed its subsequent rapid development with constant interest. During the early days he and Charles Russell prospected for oil at Santa Paula and near the San Fernando mis- sion, only to find, after they had discovered quantities sufficient to make production profitable, that the land office at Los Angeles had all of that land recorded as a portion of a large grant. Coming to Havilah, Kern county, in 1864, he operated the Del{:)hi hotel with Andrew Denker and found the business profitable owing to the fact that Havilah " was then the county- seat and the headquarters for stage lines running from Visalia and Los Angeles. At different times he conducted other hotels on the desert and more than once he had trouble with the hostile Indians, but he suffered small loss from their depredations. In the Tehachapi mountains he bought and later operated an hydraulic mine, which eventually he sold to John Brite. Meanwhile he had pre-empted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres and had taken up a homestead of eighty acres, also bought an adjacent tract of one hundred and sixty acres, so that he acquired the title to four hundred acres four and one-half miles east of Tehachapi. On the land now stand the cement wcjrks of the Los Angeles aqueduct. Upon leaving the ranch Mr. Hendrickson embarked in the lime business and built his first kiln on a claim in the mountains, where he opened and operated quarries. Later he had kilns in other places. After the limestone had been burned to lime, the product was shipped to Los Angeles. Bakers- field and Fresno, where a large trade was established. In addition to managing the lime business he owned a one-half interest in a mercantile busi- ness at Tehachapi for two years, having A. Weill as a partner. \\^hile mak- ing his headquarters at Tehachapi he there married Mrs. Elizabeth Jane McVicar, who was born in Missouri and during 1863 was brought across the plains by her parents, Dr. Russell and Margaret (Cook) Peery, born in Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. Mrs. Peery traced her ancestry back to the Cooks who came from England in the Mayflower. Dr. Peery was a pioneer physician of Missouri and Nebraska. The trip west was made with wagons and ox-teams and came to an uneventful termination. Three years later Dr. Peery returned to Johnson county. Neb., and there passed away. By her first marriage Mrs. Hendrickson has three daughters, namely : Mrs. Laura Tourpin, of Tacoma, Wash. ; Mrs. Margaret Jones, of Taft, Cal. : and Mrs. Emma Lovejoy, of Los Angeles. There are two sons of the second marriage. The elder, John James Hendrickson, is connected with the San Joaquin Light & Power Company. The younger, Edward Hale Hendrick- son, has charge of the postal savings bank department in the Bakersfield postoffice. 846 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY After his marriag^e Mr. Hendrickson lived for many years upon a grain and stock ranch of tv\u hundred and forty acres situated near Tehachapi. The management of the lana brought him financial prosperity. When event- ually in 1905 he retired to Bakersfield, it was with a competency repre- sented bv the continued ownership of the fine ranch and by other invest- ments. In r.akersfield he makes his home at No. 637 R street, where he owns one and one-third acres of land, the whole forming an attractive and valuable property. The ranch is rented to tenants and brings him an im- portant annual revenue, for the land is the very choicest in its locality and the presence of fine springs enhances its value. While living on the ranch he maintained a warm interest in the material and educational upbuilding of that neighborhood and contributed to all progressive enterprises, and this excellent public spirit he has continued to manifest since coming to Bakers- field to make his home. From young manhood he has been an advocate of Republican principles. During the administration of President Grant he served as i)ostmaster at Tehachapi and for years he also served as a trustee of the Tehachapi schools, besides holding other local offices that gave him an opportunity to work for the advancement of his community. OCTAVE CHASTAN. — Jean Chastan was born in France, where he fol- lowed the trade of shoemaker all his life, his death occurring there. He married Philomen Bressong, and their children were four in number, three of whom are now living. Octave being the third oldest in the family. The mother of these children also passed away in France. Octave Chastan was born January 9, 1872, in Embrun, Hautcs-Alpes, France, and was sent to the public school there to obtain his educational training. Fie learned the shoemaker's trade under his father, and continued to work at this trade until 1895, when he came to California and settled in Sumner, now East Bakersfield. For four years he was in the employ of Philip and Joseph Girard, sheepmen at Delano, and then purchased a flock of sheep, engaging in the business for himself in the vicinity of Delano, but he now herds his sheep in both Kern and Tulare counties along the line be- tween the two counties. His herd consists of from two to three thousand head of fine merino sheep, and he has always found a ready market for them, as they are recognized as well-bred and well-kept animals, of the best variety. Mr. Chastan was married in East Bakersfield to Berthe Espitallier, also a native of Hautes-Alpes, and they make their home in East Bakersfield. where T\Tr. Chastan has bought a residence at No. 1410 Baker street. CHARLES SOWASH.— The opportunities afiforded by Maricopa. Kern county, to men of self-reliant and persevering energy find a most noteworthy illustration in the activities and success of Charles Sowash, the proprietor of the Sowash Clothing Store of Maricopa, the stock of which embraces fur- nishings of all sorts for gentlemen's wear. They are extensive boot and shoe outfitters as well and handle a fine and uo-to-date line of clothing supplied from the shops of Adlers Collegiate, Royal Tailoring and Lamm & Company busi- ness houses, whose reputations for good taste and the fine quality of their materials are widely known throughout the country. Born October 17, 1881, in Pittsburg, Pa., Charles Sowash was the son of Dr. M. F. Sowash, an eminent, well-known physician there, who for a time served as county physician and made his home in Pittsburgh. From the latter Charles Sowash inherited his logical mind and unusual ability which early evidenced itself in the honors which he received at graduation from the high school when he was eighteen years of age. At this time he stood third in the order of scholarship, ranking high in the estimate of his preceptors, and upon his graduation he became engaged in the paymaster's department of the Penn- sylvania Railway Company. Later he was employed by the Westinghouse Electric Company, serving in the cashier's department, and so well did he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 849 fill that position that he was entrusted with large sums of money, handling hundreds of thousands of dollars each week. However, the duties of this ])osition finally became so irksome as to impair his health, and he was obliged to relinquish it and remove to California, where he settled at Chino and for a period was timekeeper for the American Sugar Beet Company. Going from there to Los Angeles, he was in the auditor's office of the Santa Fe Railway Company for one year and then went to Bakersfield where he filled the posi- tion of cashier for the latter company for four years. In the meantime his quick observation and the close study of conditions prompted him to invest in Maricopa interests and he resigned from a very lucrative position in order to take charge of his business interests in the last named place. He came here permanently in 1908. He has rebuilt his store building, which accommodates a stock to the value of seven thousand dollars and which is up-to-date and first class in every respect. Mr. Sowash enjoys a wide patronage and his pleasant, genial manner and kindly disposition have not only made him deservedly popular in the business and social world of his community, but have brought him many patrons. In 1910 Mr. Sowash was married to Miss Eliza Humphreys, of Pitts- burgh, Pa., who with her husband enjoys a wide circle of friends. H. G. MOSS. — The development of the Kern River oil district has at- tracted capital from all portions of the United States and even from abroad, but in an especially large degree California capital is invested in this great district and it is western capital (the Spreckels interests) which owns the great corporation known as the Sunset Monarch Oil Company. Every depart- ment of this organization has been established and developed with a view to permanence. Modern equioment has been introduced. Large tracts have been acquired. The work of oil development is still in its infancy. The demands made upon managing employes are therefore unusually great. Particularly is the post of superintendent, filled by H. G. Moss, one of arduous application and engrossing oversight. Mr. Moss comes of English family and naturally possesses the character- istics of the Anglo-Saxon race. Fie was born in the shire of Cumberland, Eng- land, May 23, 1871. His family came to California when he was fourteen years of age and settled in Orange county. At the time the discovery of oil was made there he began with a pick and shovel as a day laborer and for several years he continued in the district near Los Angeles. Then he became a stu- dent in Van Der Naillen's School of Engineers at San Francisco. For three winters he carried on engineering studies in that institution. After leaving the San Francisco institution Mr. Moss engaged as a civil and mining en.gineer. Unfortunately he decided to go to Alaska and there he lost everything he had, returning after two seasons in that country as emoty of purse as when he first began to be self-supporting. On his return in 1900 he heard of the discovery of oil in the Kern river field. Immediately he joined the throng of operators making for this new prospect. Here he began to take contracts for drilling on the property of the Reed-Conde Oil Company. For some time he continued to drill, meeting with alternating success and dis- couragement. However, his work and ability attracted attention and he w^as appointed superintendent of the Eastern Consolidated Oil Company, with wdiich he continued for seven years or until his acceptance of the position of superintendent with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company in 1908. Since that time he has devoted himself with unwearied assiduity to the many responsibilities connected with his position, taking no part whatever in political aft'airs or fraternal organizations, although when living in Orange county he was con- nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With his wife, formerly Miss Clara Finley, of Orange county, and their two children, Zada and Mar- garet, he has established a home on the company property near Maricopa. 850 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY Under his oversight are the various tlepartnients necessary to the correct continuance of the l)usiness. The interests of the company are large and inchide one hundred and sixty acres, without wells, situated on section 7, township 11, range 23; also ninety acres with five wells, on section 26, town- ship 12, range 24; a quarter section and another tract of sixty acres, both on section 2, township 11, range 24, having twenty-seven wells, the whole form- ing a total of four hundred and seventy acres with thirty-two wells. HENRY H. FENNEMAN.— The L'nited Electric and Mercantile Com- pany, established at Taft during 1910 under the title of Fenneman Bros., and incorpi. rated with its present title in January of the following year, has the following well-known citizens of Taft as its ofificers : E. C. Kelermeyer, president; L. R. Buchanan, vice-president; J. Pope, secretary, and Henry Fenneman, treasurer, superintendent and general manager. The concern acts as general contractors for electrical machinery and electrical work of all kinds, and makes a specialty of wiring oil rigs, installing motors on oil leases and wiring buildings for electric light. All of their work is guaranteed to stand the inspection of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Earn- estly recommending the wiring of oil rigs in iron conduits, they have filled many contracts of this nature for many of the large operating companies. At their office, which is also their warehouse and workshop, they carry a complete line of fixtures, motors, batteries, fans and the celebrated Mazda lamps, the most perfect light manufactured. A great number of Monarch Mazdas have been installed by them in the district. Besides having con- tracts for electrical wiring of many cottages, they also had the contracts for the work on the buildings erected by Smith Brothers and Dr. Key, the Taft garage, C. B. Callahan building, Conley school, First National Bank of Taft, Hotel Alvord and the new Mariposa hotel built by C. A. Fox, a leading citizen of Taft. While this list is by no means complete, it will give some idea of the important nature of the contracts carried by the firm to stic- cessful consummation. The manager of this large business was born and reared in Indianapolis, Ind., and at the age of twenty years entered the employ of the Sanborn Electric Company of that city, afterward continuing with the firm for ten years altogether. Meanwhile he rose to be construction foreman and was assigned to important work in St. Louis, Mount Carmel, 111., Chicago, and Soringfield, Ohio. For two years and nine months he worked without vaca- tion or change on one government job at Fort Benjamin Harrison, where among other tasks he completed the wiring of forty-six two-story houses. At the opening of the war with Spain he was eager to enlist and when vol- unteers were being accepted for service in the Philippines he became a mem- ber of the Sixty-first Comi)any of the Sixth Coast Artillery of Baltimore and was sent with the regiment to the islands, where he remained for two years and nine months, meanwhile serving as electrician with the rank of sergeant. When peace was declared and the troops were returned to the United States he went back to Indianapolis to resume work with the San- l)orn Electric Company. September 19, 1910, he arrived in Taft, where in partnership with a brother, W. H. Fenneman, now the manager of the Inde- pendent Oil Well Supply Company, he organized the firm of Fenneman Bros., now known as the United Electric and Mercantile Company. Being an expert electrician as well as a capable business man, he is well qualified for the successful supervision of the business and is making good in his important responsibilities. While li\ing in Indianapolis he married Miss Vona Louthain of that city, a young lady of education and culture. Since coming to California he has allied himself with various organizations of a fraternal nature, including the Bakersfield Camp No. 266, B. P. O. E..-«-at '^iy^^^fo^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNriY 853 Bakersfield ; also the Improved Order of Red .Men. 'IVibe of Pocahontas and Kni,^"lits of P}thias lodo^ed in Taft. EPIFANIO P. CASTRO.— Ao:ricultnre has been the life work of Epifanio J'. Castro, who has been identified with the farming interests of Kern county since he was able to work, following- the pursuit of his father. Born April 7. 1872, in Kern county, Cal., he was the son of Thomas Castro, a picjneer settler of this county. Thomas Castro was born in 1830 in Sonora, Mexico, where he grew to manhood and married. In 1867 the Revolution broke out, and because of his political inclinations he decided to remove from there, coming to Bakers- field, Kern county, where he remained for the balance of his life, successfully engaged in stock raising. His death occurred here when he was sixty-eight years old. It is of interest to note that the Castros are near relatives to the late Gen. Jose Castro, one of the most prominent historical figures in the state of California. Twelve children were born to Thomas and Concepcion (Coronada) Cas- tro, nine of whom grew up, as follows : Ramona, Leonides, Domitilo, Manuel Tnow deceased), Thomas, Luciano, Perfecto, Epifanio P. and Amelia. The mother of these children passed away at the age of sixty-three years. Epifanio P. Castro received his education in the public schools of Kern county, attending until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to work for his father on the ranch. Until he was twenty-three he gave his entire time to this work, giving his father every assistance in his power, and look- ing after the home place. Then for two years he worked for the Kern County Land Company, in 1896 buying a forty-acre tract four miles south of Bakers- field on Kern Island road, which he has cultivated and brought to an excel- lent state of production. He has labored industriously and his property is yielding a fine crop which he markets at a substantial price. In 1913 he leased the Brundage ranch of one hundred and seventy-five acres on South Union avenue, and here he is engaged in horticulture and hay and grain raising. HON. HOWARD ALLEN PEAIRS.— A strong, forceful mentality whose judicial bent is no less pronounced than its humanitarian tendencies indicates that Judge Peairs has inherited the substantial qualities that char- acterized the early settlers of America. The ancestral lineage can be traced to several countries, for the Peairs and Davis families were of Welsh origin, while the Byers geneak)gy indicates a mingling of the blood of the Scotch, the Irish and the Dutch. In the life record of the Judge a careful student of humanity may note the thrift of the \A elsh, the sturdiness of the Dutch, the logical temperament of the Scotch and the humor of the Celt, mingled with the enterprise that is distinctively American, the whole combining to form a personality at once progressive and conservative, vividly interesting, and well adapted to leadership in any community. The forebears were .mostly Presbyterians in their religious views and mostly farmers in their chosen life occupations. V/itli the drifting of the tide of emigration toward the west they became transplanted from Pennsylvania into Ohio, where some of the Peairs family were among the earliest settlers of Zanesville. Another removal took the family across the Mississippi and out to the prairies of Kansas, where John Byers Peairs and his wife, Jerusha (Davis) Peairs, who was a native of Germantown, Pa., became pioneers of Law- rence during 1876. Of their seven children the third, Howard Allen, was born near Zanesville. Ohio, September 25, 1861, received his early educa- tion there, and after the age of fifteen continued his studies in Lawrence, Kan., where he spent considerable time at the university. In order to pay his way through college he taught school, but it was not his desire to make a life work of pedagogy; on the other hand, his talents seemed to point 854 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY toward the law and he took up special law studies under D. S. Alford, an influential attorney in Lawrence. In 1888 he was graduated from the Uni- versity of Kansas with the degree of LL.B. and the same 3'ear was admitted to practice before the courts of Kansas. Afterward he received the degree of A.B. from the same university. F"or a time he was a member of the firm of Poehler & Peairs in that city. During the entire periud of his continued residence in Lawrence he was popular with the faculty at the university and frequently, in the absence or illness of one of the professors, he was engaged to act as substitute in the chair. [Meanwhile he mastered a number of studies in the institution, where he specialized in analytical chemistr3^ law, pharmacy, history and economics. In the course of his identification with the bar of Kansas he became inti- mately acquainted with William Allen White, General Funston, James H. Canfield, Messrs. Kellogg and Franklin, ex-Governor Stubbs of Kansas and ex-Governor Hadley of Missouri, together with many other men who since have become eminent in various avenues of endeavor. For a short time he was connected with the Kansas City Journal and for another peric d, begin- ning in 1898, he was connected with the Indian service, where he developed various advanced ideas in vocational and manual training and also com- menced to apply these methods of instruction. Certain unfavorable tendencies in health led Judge Peairs to remove to California in 1898 and here he soon regained his former ruggedness and strength. For a time he engaged as a manufacturing chemist in Los Angeles. His knowledge of pharmacy and analytical chemistry has led him at times into research work wholly unallied with his law practice, yet interesting to him and often quite important. An instance of his original investiga- tions api)ears in his profound knowledge of every phase of food adultera- tion and it was this thorough information that enabled him to assist in the drafting of the national pure food law passed in 1906. Having embarked in the practice of law in Los Angeles, he soon found himself at the head of a growing clientele and his worth as an attorney has been demonstrated repeat- edly in cases of great responsibility. A stanch Republican of progressive sentiments, in 1912 he was his party's candidate for the assembly and was elected to represent Los Angeles county in the legislature of 1913. Among the important bills which he introduced and championed may be mentioned the medical bill, the juvenile law, the Torrens act relating to an improved system of land titles, the law fixing the age of consent at eighteen years and the asexualization bill. The marriage of Judge Peairs in Lawrence, Kan., united him with Miss Helen Webber, by whom he has two children, Marion and Howard Allen, Jr. Fraternally he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and Los Angeles Lodge No. 278, F. & A. M., and Fraternal Brother- hood. Upon the death of Judge Bennett of Bakersfield, Governor Johnson, August 14, 1913, appointed Judge Peairs to fill the vacancy caused by the passing of the jurist. Since coming to Bakersfield he also has been made judge of the juvenile court. At present he is advocating a project for the establishment of a vacation or "opportunity" farm in Kern county, the same to comprise about one thousand acres, to be devoted to the industrial and vocational training of the boys and girls of the cnunty, the idea being that during vacations spent on the farm each child will be taught some special work. W'ork, not merely as a necessity, but also as a desirability, will be made attractive to their plastic minds. Machinery of all kinds is to be explained to the boys who show a fondness for agriculture or mechanics. Horticultural courses and agriculture are to be taught to youthful fruit- growers and farmers. Classes in cooking and hygiene would be made as interesting as possible. In facl, the object of the great enterprise would HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 857 be to belter i^rcpare the youth of the county for life's responsibihties, thus eliminating the work of the juvenile courts. FRANK O. BRATT.— A native of Nebraska, Frank O. Bratt was born in Nemaha county May 26, 1874. The same county in Nebraska was the place of residence and of marriage of his parents, Garrett and Salome (Grove) Bratt, the former now deceased, and the latter, at the age of fifty-eight (1912), still a resident of Riverside county, Cal. It was during 1891 that the family removed from Nebraska, where the father had conducted a wholesale and retail furniture business at Hastings, and established their home in Riverside county, where the only daughter, Miss Ina. passed away at the age of eighteen years. Upon coming to California the family brought considerable means with them, but during the panic of 1893-94 the City Bank of Los Angeles failed and about $8,000 which the father had deposited in that institution was entirely lost to him. Having gained a very helpful experience in the stock business while assisting his father on the home farm, Frank O. Bratt has had the practical benefit of such work in his later operations. During 1902 he went to Nevada and engaged in teaming and freighting between Austin, Tonopah and Gold- field. By means of his two fourteen-mule teams he was able to haul twenty- eight tons each month and for this he received $100 per ton. The profits, however, were not as large as this statement would seem to indicate, for his expenses were proportionately great, hay being worth $100 per ton and barley for feed $135 per ton. When at the expiration of two years the railroad had been completed and thus rendered further association with the hauling business undesirable, he left Nevada in 1905 and came to Kern county, where during some years he engaged in the stock business as a partner of the late John E. Bailey, a prominent and well-known resident of Bakersfield. During the lifetime of Mr. Bailey they handled as many as three thousand head of cattle in one year, as many as four hundred head of mules and about two hundred head of hogs. While mainly engaging in the stock business, Mr. Bratt also had a fourteen-mule team engaged in hauling borax. After the death of Mr. Bailey, which occurred February 22. 1912, Mr. Bratt formed a partnership with Joseph L. Bailey, a nephew of John E., and together they purchased the ranch and stock and cc'ntinue farming operations on a larger scale than ever. They have the home ranch of five hundred forty-seven acres, also one thousand acres on the plains. Having gone extensively into the dairy business they put in an auxiliary pumping plant with a capacity of one hundred fifty inches. They are large producers of alfalfa for their cattle and hogs. The marriage of Mr. Bratt took place in 1898 and united him with Miss Lucy Clark, a native of Inyo county, this state. Two children bless their union, namely: Margaret, iDorn in 19C0; and Francis, born in 1910. The family now occupy the commodious brick residence of the late Mr. Bailey at No. 1002 Nineteenth street. In religious associations Mrs. Bratt belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church and has been a generous contributor to its missionary enterprises. Politically Mr. Bratt votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen and the Foresters. JOHN E. BAILEY. — It is a matter of family history that the religious persecutions connected with the early history of Scotland forced the Baileys to flee from that country across to Ireland, where they established a per- manent home in the north country. James Bailey, a farmer by occupation, has spent his entire life in county Down, as has also his wife, Rosanna (Edgar) Bailey, who ti o claims Scotland as the country of her ancestors. Both are still living, he at ninety and she at eighty-five years (1912) and both retain their physical and mental faculties to an unusual extent considering their great ages. Of their six children all but one have preceded them to the grave. The onl}^ one living is Matthew, who resides on a farm in county Down. 858 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The next to the oldest, John E., was born November 28, 1852, in county- Down, eighteen miles from Belfast, and there he passed the days of boy- hood on the home farm and in the neighboring school. During 1869 he left Ireland and came via Panama to San Francisco, thence proceeded to Sonoma county and found employment on a farm. His identification with Kern county dated from 1872, when he secured -work as a farm hand. Husbanding and saving his wages with frugal care, he was enabled in 1877 to acquire the title to eighty acres eight miles southwest of Rakersfield on the Kern river. By subsequent purchases of adjacent tracts Mr. Bailey increased his ranch to five hundred and forty-seven acres, all under irrigation, the main conduits being two ditches, one on each side of the river. About three hundred acres were put into alfalfa and on the balance of the tract grain and corn were raised by irrigation. Although he rented much of the ranch during his last years, he retained one hundred and sixty acres of alfalfa land and found the hay very essential to his industry of cattle-feeding, in which he specialized. For twenty years he engaged in raising cattle on his mountain ranch of three thousand acres at the Dead Ox and even after he sold that large tract he still retained his cattle for a few years. After he had sold the large drove he began to buy steers from others as he needed them in his feed-yards. In addition to his ranch holdings Mr. Bailey owned property in Bakers- field. On the corner of Nineteenth and M streets he conducted a livery busi- ness until the stable was destroyed by fire in 1889. Later he erected on the same site the Cosmooolitan hotel and ran it for many years until it burned to the ground in 1907. He then discontinued the hotel business and only partially built up the lots. On Nineteenth street he erected the Decatur, one of the finest rooming houses in the city. Included in his other property was a modern and substantial residence on the corner of Nineteenth and O streets. Besides this valuable real-estate he owned one-half interest in the Southern, the largest hotel in Taft, also owned a large amount of stcck in the Kern Mutual Telephone Company which operates a line from Bakersfield to Maricopa and Taft. Some years after coming to Kern county he married Miss Carrie Voges, a native of New Orleans, La., but from girlhood a resident of .the west ; she died January 1, 1905. The fraternal associations of Mr. Bailey included membership in the Eagles, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Foresters. His death, which occurred February 22, 1912, was a distinct loss to these lodges as it was to other interests in Bakersfield and the county. From the re-incorporation of Bakersfield until the consolidation with Kern, a period of about eleven years, he served as a member of the board of trustees and for the four years prior to the consolidation he was honored with the chairmanship of the board, a position corresponding to that of mayor and carrying with it all of the heavy resp( nsibilities and official duties connected with the mayoralty. It should be mentioned that during the last five years of ]\Ir. Bailey's life he was assisted in the management of his diversified interests by his nephew. Joseph L. Bailey, a native of county Down, Ireland, and a son of Matthew Bailey. Joseph L. Bailey was a graduate of the Royal University of Ireland in Dublin. Coming to California in 1907 he assisted in the manage- ment of his uncle's general affairs, and after the death of his uncle, he and Frank O. Bratt purchased the ranches and stock and are continuing stock- raising and dairying on a large scale. In the management of the ranch and in making improvements the new owners are following the policy and methods wliich ])roved so successful with the elder IVIr. Bailey. EDWARD F. EILAND.— Although by occupation an oil-field worker and more interested in that occupation than in any other industry, at the present time Mr. Eiland gives his attention wholly to the duties of city marshal, an appointment to the office having been conferred upon him March 1, 1913, by the board of city trustees, at the expiration of a year's service HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 861 as night watchman. From the age of fourteen he has Hved in California, but Texas is his native commonwealth and he was born at Henderson. Rusk county, June 3. 1875, being a son of E. H. and ]\Iary L. (Moore) Eiland, natives respectively of Alabama and Texas, but now living retired at Fresno. Cal. Throughout his active life the father engaged in teaching school. The parental family comprised nine children and seven of these are still living, the third in order of birth being Edward F.. who was fourteen years of age at the time of coming to California. After a year at Templeton, San Luis Obispo county, he removed to Fresno county and began to work upon a farm there. From an early age he was familiar with the oil industry and had considerable experience in the fields as a roustabout, later rising to be a tool-dresser and from that being promoted to production foreman. While working for J. C. McDonald on the Amazon he became a driller and to a considerable extent he has made a specialty of that branch of the oil business. For a time he had charge of various properties for Barlow & Hill, the capitalists, of Bakersfield. As a city official Mr. Eiland has had a harmonious connection with civic affairs. Cool-headed and quick in action, he is well qualified for the position of marshal and has the city's business well in hand. The place is quiet and orderly, fortunately having none of the rougher element to be found in some towns. The difficulties that confront some marshals have not come into his experience at Taft, but should they arise he would receive the stanch support of his many friends and the practical aid of other city officers. He still owns a farm in Fresno county and also has city property at San Diego. Twice married, his first wafe, who bore the maiden name of Frances M. Pitts, was born in Chalome valley, Monterey county, Cal., and died in 1904, the body being interred in Mountain V^iew cemetery in Fresno county. Of that union there are two sons, Franklin W. and Benjamin, now sixteen and thirteen years of age respectively. The |)resent wife of Mr. Eiland. whom he married at Stockton, was Miss Mabel Askew, of Visalia. MRS. MARY J. AVILA. — Descended from a long line of Portuguese ancestors, Mrs. IMary J. Avila was born on the Azores islands and received a fair education in parochial schools there. Her father, John J. Scares, now eighty-two years of age. still makes his home on these islands, but her mother, Isabel, has passed from earth. On the Azores occurred the birth, May 22, 1861, of Manwell Jose Avila, a descendant of a Portuguese family of high standing and ancient pedigree. When but eighteen years of age he left his native place and crossed the ocean to America, proceeding from New York to San Francisco and securing employment in the west. As the years passed busily with their cares and labors he gave no thought to marriage or a home of his own, but when finally he returned to the Azores to visit the home of his bo^diood he there met Miss Soares, then a charming young lady of eighteen years. Instantly a change was made in his plans and a new purpose entered into his life. When after a visit of one year in Portugal he returned to California in 1893. it was with the thought of saving his earnings with the utmost frugality in order that he might establish a home of his own. During 1898 he sent for his betrothed, who took passage from one of the Portuguese harbors on the steamer, Pininiolar, which after a voyage of seven days landed her on American soil on the 27th of September. From New York she traveled across the continent to San Francisco, where Mr. Avila awaited her coming and where they were united in marriage. For twenty years Mr. Avila remained an employe of Miller & Lux and at the time of his death he was superintendent of their sheep department, having charge at times of as many as one hundred thousand head of sheep. In the discharge of his great responsibilities he gave universal satisfaction 862 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to the firm and acted wilh rare discretion and almost unerring judgment. In the meantime he had purchased eighty acres on Union avenue about eight miles south of Bakersfield and had commenced to improve the property with a view to establishing a permanent home here, but his plans were brought to naught by an untimely fate. While at Hanford he became ill with ptomaine poisoning and was brought to the hospital at Bakersfield, but no remedies availed to^ lighten his suffering and after four weeks he passed away November 19, 1910. Besides his wife he is survived by their four children, Gloria, John, Manuel and Isabel. During 1911 ]\Irs. Avila erected on their farm a residence that for beauty and convenience is surpassed by few within the limits of Kern county and here she and her children have established their home, meanwhile winning the regard of neighbors and holding- a prominent positi(.n in the membership of the Roman C^atholic Church of Bakersfield. CARLOS GRANT ILLINGWORTH.— The oldest established general store in the Mojave Desert, which is situated in the town of Randsburg, Kern county, and its several branches which are found in the smaller towns in this vicinity, are owned by Carlos Grant Illingworth, the inventory of whose stores in 1912 showed stock amounting to $100,000. Mr. Illingworth's childhood was passed in various places, he having been born in Mt. Carroll, Carroll county, 111., April 30, 1873, and from there brought by his parents when he was aged five years to Wichita, Kan. Here he was sent to school for a short time, in 1887 moving with his parents to California and settling at Pomona, where they stayed but a short time. In the same year they moved to Upland, San Bernardino county, and Mr. Illingworth went to work for himself. Buying a team he started into the contracting business for grading and leveling land, remaining in this vicinity until 1896, when he came to Randsburg to contract with the Yellow Aster Mine Company to haul ore for them. This he followed until the time the company built their plant in 1898. when he embarked in the general mercantile business, which has proved such a successful undertaking. It is fitting here to relate that the extent of Mr. Illingworth's capital at this time was a thousand dollars worth of stock, and when it is considered that he is now the owner of a large flourishing establishment with a number of branch stores and four ware- houses, it is readily understood that he is peculiarly fitted for the conduct of this form of business. One of the branch stores is located at Atolia. San Bernardino county. In connection with his mercantile business, Mr. Illing- worth has also engaged in mining, at the present time working the Santa Ana group, and he also owns the Pearl Wedge mine. These have proved profitable, and promise to bring in exceptional results in the near future. In 1913 he incorporated the G. B. Mining & Reduction Company, of which he is majority owner, and serves as president of the company. They built a twenty-ton capacity roll mill and engaged in mining and milling the ore. They have already found it necessary to increase it to fifty-ton capacity, which has been done, and the showing made demonstrates that it is one of the best mines in the state. The ])lant was built to mine and mill $4 rock profitables, Init at 285 feet they have $42 rock and find it necessary to build the new mill mentioned above. Needless to say the outcome far exceeds his expectations. Mr. Illingworth married Leah Blanch Fiaker. who was born in Ottawa, Canada, their marriage occurring June 17, 1909. Mrs. Illingworth came to California in January, 1908. and has since made it her home. She assists her husband in making their establishment the modern, well-equipped place of business it is today, and is a popular and pleasant woman. They are the parents of two children. Myrtle, born March 12, 1910; and James Grant Illingworth. born January 2. 1913. ]vlr. Illingworth is interested in the cause i4{^ ^lA- <^ u /^ c^, £>C-i^ yyj^ (7c^?'iy HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 865 of education and is a member of the l)oard of trustees of the Randsburg district. JACOB BAUMAN. — Since his arrival in California during 1887 and his settlement in Kern county the following year Mr. IJauman has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits and by his individual success has proved the possibilities of dry farming when rightly prosecuted. Wheat raised by this process makes an excellent crop in most years and harvests as high as fifteen hundred sacks of grain of finest quality, so that his large wheat- fields fc rm a positive asset in his agricultural^ operations. The first land, a tract of eighty acres, which he acquired in the county was secured by pre-emption and lies on section 14 of township 28, range 29, in the famous Weed Patch. Later he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres en section 4, township 30, range 30. The final acquisition of land gave him the title through purchase of three hundred and twenty acres on section 8, township 30, range 30, so that his landed possessions now^ aggregate five hundred and sixty acres. On the tract last acquired he has erected a comfortable cot- tage, also a barn 50x60 feet in dimensions, together with a granary and such other buildings as the needs of the work render desirable. In addition he has fenced the half-section and has further enhanced its value through a well three hundred and fifty feet deep, pumped by means of a four horse-power gasoline engine. Bern, Switzerland, is the native canton of Mr. Bauman, and August 20, 1860, the date of his birth, his parents having been Jacob and Susan (Stadtman) Bauman. lifelong residents of Switzerland, where the father gained modest success through intelligent labors in the dairy industry. _ There were seven children in the family, namely: Susan, who married in girlhood, became the mother of fifteen children and died in Switzerland; Magdalena, who is married and remains in her native country ; Jacob, of Kern county ; Christ, who immigrated to America, settled in Ohio and died there, leaving seven children; Annie and John, both of whom died, unmarried, in Ohio; and Fred, a resident of Bakersfield, Cal. Frcm an early age Jacob Bauman was familiar with the care of stock and the rudiments of farming. The home farm comprised only twenty-five acres, but was made remunerative through intensive methods of cultivation and he was taught to be useful in every department of the farm work. The family were identified with the German Lutheran Church, in which he was confirmed at the age of sixteen. Upon attaining his majority in 1881 Jacob P.auman came to the United States and secured employment as a farm laborer near Cleveland, Ohio. Returning to Switzerland he there married, February 2, 1884, Miss Margaret Tschanz, a native of Canton Bern, and a daughter of the late Christ and Margaret (Von Gonton) Tschanz, the former a farmer by occupation. Re- sides Mrs. Bauman there were three other daughters, Magdalena, Anna and Mary, in the Tschanz family and one son, Christ, who died at nineteen years of age. The three sisters of Mrs. Bauman are married and reside in Switzerland. Upon settling in Ohio after his marriage Mr. Bauman found work in a stone quarry at Cleveland and later farmed near that city, whence he came to California in 1887 and identified himself with the agricultural upbuilding of the west. MRS. ELIZABETH COOLBAUGH.— The matron and superintendent of the Kern County Children's Shelter is of western birth and has spent the greater portion of her life in California. As early as 1843, when the first movement of wdiite settlers- was being made in the direction of the Pacific coast and ere yet paths had been blazed for the emigrants, Alexander Blevins, a native of the vicinity of Lexington, Ky., crossed the plains of Oregon accompanied by his wife and their three small children. The trip required the greatest courage and fortitude. Dangers seen and unseen surrounded them all of the way as well as after they had settled in a little cabin near 866 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Salem, where the hardy pioneers took up a six hundred and forty acre donation land claim from the government. The tract was in the primeval condition of nature and he made a number of improvements, also placed the land under profitable cultivation. While living on that ranch a daughter. Elizabeth, was born. The family removed to the Livermore valley of Cali- fornia during 1857 and there Mr. Blevins engaged in ranching and stock- raising, but later he moved to Stockton and finally to Lodi, where he passed away at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Levina Vanderpool, was born in Tennessee, lived in Kentucky during girlhood, and now, at the age of ninety-four years, remains at the (■Id homestead in Lodi. There were in the Blevins family twelve children, all of whom attained maturity and seven are now living, Mrs. Coolbaugh having been the fifth in order of birth. In childhood she attended the public schools and later was graduated from the Stockton Young Ladies' Seminary. Her marriage took place at Lockeford, San Joaquin county, and united her with David H. Cool- baugh, who was born in Bradford county. Pa., came via Panama to Cali- fornia in 1860 and engaged in general contracting and in stock-raising near Stockton. During the spring of 1881 he canie to Kern county and settled six miles south of Bakersfield, where he had charge of thirty-three hundred acres of land for G. M. Fisher. Six hundred and forty acres of the tract, known as the Berkshire farm, were improved through his personal labors, After nine years on the ranch he came to Bakersfield and here engaged in general teaming and contracting until his death, which occurred April 30, 1898. Fraternally he belonged to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while in religious matters both he and his wife from early years were earnest supporters of the Methodist doctrines. Since the death of Mr. Coolbaugh his widow has remained at their home in Bakersfield and has had charge of the interests left her, representing the savings of their years of economy and wise management. A woman of large charities and deep sympathies, she always has been a worker for the needy and sufifering. It always has been her aim to help the poor to help themselves, but no one is quicker than she to realize that there are occa- sions when they must have help or all is lost. Upon the organization of the Associated Charities she was chosen the first registrar and continued to fill that oflfice until 1912, when she resigned. With Mrs. Yancey she organized the Juvenile court committee for Kern county, having been chosen for the work by Judge Bennett; the court has for its object the mental and moral upbuilding of waifs of humanity whose early path in life has turned tow-ard evil. About the beginning of the twentieth century, with Mrs. Yancey and E. J. Emmons, she started the Kern County Rescue Society for the preven- tion of cruelty to children. October 19, 1906, there came to Bakersfield a woman with three half-fed, half-clothed children, with only a few crackers between them and starvation. These children were taken temporarily by Mrs. C. P. Larsen. Upon investigati( n Mrs. Coolbaugh and Mrs. Yancey found they could not provide a home for the children anywhere in the state without the mother relincpiishing her right. There was need of a home where helpless children could be left until the father or mother was able to support them. November 12, 1906, these courageous women rented a cot- tage of six rooms at No. 1408 Eleventh street. They had not a cent of money to pay the rent nor a piece of furniture to put in the house, but they did have the promise of Mrs. M. E. Stephenson to work free of charge for six months. Donations had been made for the victims of the San Francisco disaster and some of these supplies, not being needed there, were available for use and gave a start in bedding, groceries and other supplies. Rev. Angus Mathewson donated new matting for two rooms, window shades, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 867 bedstead and kitchen furniture. Others responded gladly. In six months after the house had been secured the way opened for the Kern County Children's Shelter to be incorporated as a state institution, April 16, 1907. At that time thirteen children were being supported. May 24, 1907, the first officers were elected, also an advisory board of seven gentlemen. Dur- ing 1908 twenty-one children were supported in the Home under the care of Mrs. M. E. Stephenson, who was retained at a fair salary. In September of 1910 the institution was moved to its present quarters, No. 920 Twen- tieth street. On the first tag day, which was celebrated in Bakersfield in 190^^ nearly $6,000 was raised to pay for this building, the site for which was donated by Mrs. Ellen M. Tracy. Generous men of Bakersfield donated the furniture. In all of this work Mrs. Coolbaugh bore her share and as superintendent she now de\'otes all of her time to the worthy philanthropy, finding a constant pleasure in the thought of helping these little ones in their unequal struggle against adverse circumstances. The Shelter has accommo- dations for forty-six children in single beds. The furnishings are simple but substantial and the arrangement of the house conduces to convenience. Per- haps no part of the^ building is a source of greater pride to the superin- tendent than the Sunshine room, a bright, sunny, pleasant room, where the sick ones are cared for and nursed to recovery, and where, when not needed for hospital purposes, the children enjoy many a pleasant hour of recreation and play. In their health and in their preparation for future usefulness through instruction in simple tasks suited to their years, the children have the sympathetic oversight of the superintendent and the other philanthropic women whose names are indissolubly associated with this worthy enterprise. ERNEST L. BLANCK. — A life of varied activities, during the course of which he has been familiar with conditions in three dififerent parts of the world, has given to Mr. Blanck a cosmopolitan knowledge of men and afTairs. The first eight years of his life were passed in New Zealand, where he was born May 17, 1878. Reared in Seattle and educated in its public schools, he was on the threshold of maturity when in 1897 gold was dis- covered in the Klondike. With eager hopefulness he started for the north. The long overland journey to Dawson was safely consummated and he then began to prospect in the gold fields, where he met with the usual round of success and failure, prosperity and adversity. Taken altogether, how- ever, the returns were satisfactory and when finally he returned to Cali- fornia to establish a home he still left interests in the north so important and valuable that he returns each summer to superintend their development. With the first starting of a village on the site of Fellows Mr. Blanck came to the new place in January of 1910 and on the 7th of February formed a partnership with H. J. Lawton in the general mercantile business, buying a location and putting up a suitable building which the firm still occupies. Accompanying him to the town were his wife and only child, Lois, and the family are comfortably established in a home of their own. Mrs. Blanck, prior to her marriage in 1902, was Miss F. E. Boynton and lived in Berkeley, this state. Since coming to this county Mr. Blanck has joined the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks in Bakersfield. During his sojourn in Alaska he was associated with the Arctic Brotherhood and Camp No. 7S, Fraternal Order of Eagles, at Nome. The store of Lawton & Blanck, Inc., contains the Fellows postoffice. for Mr. Lawton was chosen the first postmaster May 26, 1910, and in July, 1912, Mr. Blanck was appointed postmaster, succeeding his said partner, whose interests in the large mercantile store he bought out at the same time. As dealers in general merchandise Lawton & Blanck, Inc., gained a wide reputation. The line of goods is the best of its kind. Mr. Blanck acts as 868 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY exclusive agent fc;r the canned goods of Sussnian & \\'ormser, also for Carson gloves, Hannan shoes and Selz Blue shoes. Not only does he main- tain a large trade in Fellows, but he has customers in the entire district surrounding the town. His two delivery autos are used for the convenience of customers in a radius of six miles of town. ALEXANDER BERGES.— Born in France March 19, 1862, Alexander Berges at the age of fifteen years bade farewell to friends and native land and crossed the ocean to the new world, where at first he se- cured employment in San Francisco. In 1880, three years after his arrival in California, he came to Kern county and with this section of the state his subsequent interests were intimately identified. During 1889 at Bakersfield occurred his marriage to Miss Margaret Rouquette, a native of San Luis Obispo county, Cal., and a daughter of Peter and Dora (Cer- vantes) Rouquette, both now deceased. As a girl from the age of eight years Miss Rouquette lived on Palata ranch, a large stock farm, of which her father served as foreman for a number (f years. Later the parents removed to Bakersfield and here she met and married Mr. Berges, their union resulting in the birth of six children, namely : Alexander, Jr., Leopold, Grace, Henrietta, Armand and Eugene. At his death, which occurred on Christmas eve of 1910, Mr. Berges left to his family a valuable estate, including the Quitol ranch of one hundred and sixty acres in Ventura county, the Sunset ranch of six hundred and forty acres and the home place of eighty acres on Union avenue six miles south of Bakersfield. It was as a stockman that Mr. Berges made his greatest success and the raising of sheep was his specialty, his prominence in the occupation proving a special adaptation for the work. Since his death Mrs. Berges has remained at the elegant country residence and has managed her landed and stock interests with the assistance of her oldest son, a young- man of worth, of character and energy of temperament, well adapted to take up the father's work with every hope of future success. The family hold membership with the Roman Catholic Church of Bakersfield and are gen- erous in their contrilnitions to its maintenance as well as to general philan- thropic projects. On May 10, 1912, occurred an accident which caused added sorrow to the Berges family. While at work on the Sunset ranch, near Maricopa, the horse which young Leopdld Berges was riding fell down on him and broke his left leg above the knee. As a result of this injury he died July 14, 1912. He was an exceptionally bright and able young man. iVlthough less than twenty-one he was of great assistance to the mother in operating the ranches. WITTEN W. HARRIS, A.B.— The ranks of labor have no champion more sincere in purpose, more l)rilliant in mind or more helpful in counsel than Witten W. Harris, who as an editor of the Union Labor Journal has cast in his fortunes with those of the great army of workmen toiling cour- aget usly for their daily bread. The Kern County Labor Council, recogniz- ing the imperative necessity of a sheet devoted to their ov/n interests, estab- lished the Union Labor Journal during 1904 as a weekly and its pages have since been used for the advancement of the labor organizations of this local- ity, at the same time posting all readers concerning the great field of social- ism the world over. The Journal is a six-column quarto, pungent in denun- ciation of the evils of the age, acute in criticism, penetrating in its analysis of national problems and characterized by an editorial poiicy as effective as it is forcible. In lineage Mr. Harris represents two families, thi se of Harris and Witten. that have been identified with American history since the colonial period and that had representation in the patriot armv' during the Revolu- tion. His parents. \\\ M. and Marv (Witten) Harris, were born in Ken- c^^-^i^^ ^^i HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 871 tucky and Virginia respectively and now make their home in Bakersfield, but for years engaged in farming near Albany, Gentry county, Mo., where the father held the office of county assessor for several terms. The original home of the Harris family in America was upon the eastern shore of Mary- land, but the tide of migration afterward took them to Kentucky and Mis- souri. There were eight children in the parental family and all arc^now living, the third being Witten W., who was born near Albany, Gentry county, Mo., August 17, 1872, and received his early education in the public schools, afterward taking the complete course of study in Christian College at Albany. During the spring of 1897 he was graduated with the degree of A.B., after having paid all the expenses of his college course by means of teaching and preaching. Ordained to the ministry of the Christian Church, he held a pastorate at Princeton, Mo., prior to his graduation and afterward he was elected by the state board of the denomination as evangelist for the district south of the Missouri river in the state of Missouri. For two years he engaged actively in evangelistic work through all of Southern Missouri under the auspices of the society. Meanwhile he had been a deep student of theology. The result of his studies caused him to espouse the cause of the higher critical school of Biblical interpretation. His views therefore took him away from the teachings of the church to which he belonged. Being too liberal for sympathetic and harmonious relations with the church, he resigned his position and retired from the ministry. A brief connection with the Cabool Democrat at Cabool, Texas county, Mo., gave Mr. Harris an experience in the work of editor and publisher and after he had sold that paper he held similar positions with other journals. From 1905 until 1909 he served as editor of the Union Labor Journal in Bakersfield, but retired to remove to Oakland and establish the Harris print shop. At the expiration of two years he left Oakland on account of the ill health of his wife. Hoping she might be benefited by the climate of New Mexico he established a home near Albuquerque, but the change proved of no avail and she passed avvay in June of 1912, leaving four children, Gerald, Robert, George and Witten. She bore the maiden name of Louise Murphy and was born in Dekalb county, Mo., but her marriage was solemnized in Springfield, Greene county, that state. After her demise Mr. Harris returned to Bakersfield and again took up the editing of the Union Labor Journal, which owes much to his wise editorial policy and devotion to the labor movement. During 1909 he served as a member of the state board of con- trol of the Socialist party. WILLIAM G. TALBOT.— The Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, which has engaged the services of Mr. Talbot as manager of its Taft branch, is a well-known corporation organized under the laws of the state and dealing in steel and galvanized tanks, steel well casing, riveted steel water pipe and irrigation supplies. In the oil fields of Kern county the trade of the company has mostly to do with oil and water storage tanks of every size and description, from the small galvanized iron tank to the largest steel tank. Stove-pipe casing also is manufactured by the concern in large quantities, while the Taft shop further engages in riveted steel work. A large business is carried on in the irrigated sections of the county in the way of water-well casing and water pipe for surface irrigation, so that the company in its various departments controls an extensive and valuable trade. Besides the shop and office at Taft, there are offices at San Francisco, Los Angeles and Fresrto, also factories at Los Angeles and Richmond, so that access is easy and shipments prompt to every portion of the state. The first fourteen years in the life of William G. Talbot were passed in l)Ourbon county, Ky., where he was born November 7, 1882, and whence in 1896 he came to California in company with his fatlier. Dudley Talbot. 872 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Tlie family settled in Los Angeles county and the youth grew to manhood there, working for a time upon the orange grove of his father, but after sixteen years of age employed in business houses and principally retained in a clerical capacity in railway offices. About 1910 he became connected with the Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, founders of the second supply house at Taft. where a building was erected in 1908 and T. H., brother of \\\ G. Talbot, put in charge as manager. Until William G. suc- ceeded to the management of this shop he was employed at Richmond and Los Angeles by the same company and meanwhile gained a thorough knowl- edge of every phase of the work. With his wife, who was formerly Miss Lucy Craig, of Kansas City, he has established his home in Taft, where he is a prominent member of the Petroleum Club and popular among the men of the West Side oil field. R. T. BAKER. — More than one-half century of progress has marked the history cif California since R. T. Baker came hither with a small expedition of emigrants, who to the number of about thirty, including men, women and children, crossed the plains during the summer of 1857 and early in the autumn landed safely at Sacramento, he then being about twenty years old. Clark county in Illinois was the native place of R. T. Baker and there his father, James, died at the age of seventy, many years after he had removed thither from his native Kentucky. The mother, who bore the maiden name of INIalinda Fry and was born in South Carolina, came to California after the death of her husband and made her home with her son. R. T.. in Los Angeles county, where she passed away at the age of sixty- seven years. L^pon his arrival in California Mr. Baker had proceeded from Sacramento to Solano county and had engaged in farming near Dixon, where he made his home from 1857 until 1895 and then for seven years engaged in farming in Los Angeles county. Meanwhile he had married Miss Mary A. Bailey, who at the age of four years, in 1849, had been brought across the plains from Illinois by her father, Peter Bailey, a pioneer of Solano county, where she was reared to womanhood. Born of tlieir marriage were three children. The eldest, Vina, is the widow of John A. Johnson and lives in Kern county. The only son, Frank C, is engaged in the oil business in Kern county, near Maricopa, and the youngest. Louisa. Mrs. McGar. died in Yolo county, leaving six children. Liax'ing purchased in 1902 a tract of land in Kern county Mr. P)aker brought his family to this place and since then has devoted his attention to the improvement of his property, which comprises twenty acres on section 19, about twelve miles south of Bakersfield. Quietly following the duties of his chosen occupation and caring little for outside activities, he never- theless maintains a warm interest in all movements for the general upbuild- ing of Kern county. Ever since he cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln he has continued a stanch advocate of Republican prin- ciples and a voter for measures promulgated by the leaders of that party. Various fraternal organizations have had the benefit of his active co-opera- tion, most important of these having been the blue lodge of Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen. EDWARD C. KELLERMEYER.— The Independent \Ye\\ Supply Com- pany, (if which Mr. Kellermeyer is treasurer and in the promotion of which he has maintained a warm interest, was incorporated under the laws of Cali- fornia April 6, 1912, with a capital stock of $500,000. Practically a closed corporation, its stock has not been placed upon the market and its stock- holders have been fully satisfied with the management of Lheir interests on the part of the directors of the concern. The main office of the company is located in the Bank of Bakersfield building at Bakersfield and the officers are as follows: William H. I^'enneman. of Coalinga. president; William H. V ^ ^ -.^ ^ ^ ' \ .^tf^^^^B m ■ ^J ; - riw-" ■■ ' -^JHH^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 875 Landme3^er, of Los Ang-eles. vice-president ; Clarence Wilson, of Bakersfield, secretary; and E. C. Kellermeyer, treasurer, also manager of the Taft branch. Identified with the Taft branch of the concern since June of 1912 and a resident of California since 1901, Mr. Kellermeyer came west equipped for practical work l)y thorough training as a machinist and by superior mechan- ical skill that already had made him an expert in the building and repair- ing of bicycles and in similar tasks. He is a native of the city of Indian- apolis, Ind., and was born January 13, 1876, being a son of A. F. \V. and Minnie (Teckenbrock) Kellermeyer. The latter, a native of Germany, was brought to America in infancy and grew^ to womanhood in Indianapolis, where her parents were pioneers. The former, a mechanic by trade, still follows his chosen occupation in Indianapolis, and in the same city the paternal grandfather, a native of Germany, now eighty-seven years of age, had a long and active career as a railroad mechanic and inspector. The parental family included five children, named as follows : Harry, a machinist employed at his trade in Indianapolis ; Edward C, the only member of the family to leave his native city; Walter, who is connected with the Indianap- olis fire department ; Charles, an employe of the Indiana Trust Company in Indianapolis; and Clara, who is employed by a large business corporation of Indianapolis. Having completed the studies of the grammar school. Edward C. Keller- meyer served an apprenticeship of four years to the trade of machinist with Sinker & Davis and meanwhile acquired a thorough knowledge of the occu- pation. The bent of his mind was toward such w^ork and he has shown unusual aptitude in the care and repairing of machinery. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he engaged with the Standard bicycle works in Indian- apolis for two years and for a similar period he was with the Waverly Bicycle Company, after which he held a trusted position as machinist with the Central bicycle works, also in Indianapolis. After a year with the last- named concern he went to Logansport, Ind., and secured employment in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Coming to California in 1901. he secured work as a roustabout with the \\\ T. AIcFie Supply Ctmipany of Los Angeles. From the delivery force he worked his w^ay up to be a city salesman. June 29, 1902, he arrived in Bakersfield, from which point he proceeded to the Kern river oil fields and for nine months remained there as a field solicitor. Returning to Los Angeles he remained for a year, then came back to the Kern river field and entered the service of the 33 Oil Company as a lease foreman. A year later he resigned the position, returned to Los Angeles and resumed work for the W. T. McFie Supply Company, whose supply department he superintended for nine months. As an employe of the Oil Well Supply Company he arrived in Maricopa May 1, 1907. Four months later he was sent over to McKittrick to take charge of the branch at that point. After a year as manager of that branch he was transferred to Moron (now Taft), where he built the Oil Well Supply Com- pany's store. On the completion of the store he became its manager and continued to fill the position with the greatest efficiency until he resigned, April 1, 1912, for the purpose of organizing the Independent Well Supply Company. Since coming to Taft he has been interested in various local (organizations and enterprises, particularly the Taft Petroleum Club, of which he is a charter member. His marriage took place in Coalinga and united him with Miss Florence J. Williams, daughter of B. C. \\'illiams, who is engaged in the real-estate business at that place. JOHN E. HUBBARD.— The Buckeye state gave to California in the first and second generations many citizens of thrift, enterprise and high moral character, who have taken a manful part in the work of development which has made the state one of the greatest in the Union. John E. Hub- 876 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY bard of Delano, Kern county, was born in Butle county, Cal., December 8, 1872, a son of William and Nancy (McBride) Hubbard. The father was born near Ottawa, Putnam county, Ohio, July 9, 1849, and the mother was born in Hancock county, that state, June 22, 1850. Of their marriage, which occurred near Sacramento, January 1, 1872, six children were born. The elder Mr. Hubbard was blessed with only limited educational advantages in the east and early in life began to "give his attention to agriculture. In 1864 he came to California and settled in Yolo county, where he farmed for a time, or until he pre-empted a tract of his own near Oroville, Butte county. After remaining there for two years he returned to Yolo county and resumed farm- ing. Later he was similarly employed in Stanislaus county until 1884, when he located in Fresno. From there in 1886 he came to Kern county and located seven miles east of Delano, where he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres which has been his home ever since. Besides the homestead he also, with his son, is the owner of four hundred and eighty acres which is devoted to grain raising. In connection with his agricultural endeavors he takes contracts for leveling land for alfalfa and orchard purposes, using a large steam roller in the operation. The six children comprising the parental family are John Edson, Chaun- oey N., Rachel E. (Mrs. Simpson of Munson), Rilla A., Oren F., and Archie F. John E., the eldest of the family, was early in life, enrolled in a public school, where he continued his studies until 1879. Later he was a student for three years in the public school at Oakdale, Stanislaus county. After the removal of his parents to Fresno he continued his studies there until 1884. Coming to Kern county with his parents in 1886, he busied himself until he was nineteen years old in assisting his father on the farm. By the time he was twenty-one he was master of the secrets of successful farming and his father took him as his partner in a dry farming enterprise which has proved a successful undertaking. For three years, from 1905 to 1908, they farmed in Tulare Lake basin, but on account of floods during the rainy season their efforts did not meet with the results they had anticipated. In connection with their farming they operate a steam harvester and leveler, a thoroughly up-to-date outfit which has been in wide demand. In April, 1908, John E. Hubbard married Miss Alice Harris, who was born in Missouri. HARVEY NEWTON McCULLOUGH.— An illustration of the power of a determined will in the overcoming of obstacles appears in the life activi- ties of Mr. McCullough, who during boyhood encountered many vicissitudes and endured countless hardships. The family were of southern birth and associations, yet of Union sympathies, hence they suffered from the Civil war in an unusual degree and undoubtedly the heaviest loss of all was the death of the father while serving with the First Arkansas Infantry in the Federal army. This gallant soldier, Marion R. McCullough, was born in North Carolina and became a pioneer of Arkansas, where he started to improve a tract of raw land. IVFeanwhile he had married Lovenia Robinson, a native of North Carolina, who died in February, 1856, and their only child, Harvey N., was born August 17, 1853, at the home farm near Harrison, Boone county. Ark. After he left home to serve under the flag of the Union news was scant and privations many for his son left behind. It was learned that he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war and later word came of his death from hardships. The community being intensely southern in sympathy, the boy was taken to Missouri by the federal troops for protec- tion, and found refuge at Springfield, that state, where he remained until it was safe for him to return to the old homestead. Going back about 1866, he found the stock stolen, the farm despoiled and the old home scarcely fit for human habitation, but he undertook its restoration. On account of all these privations it had not been possible for the youth to attend school. At the age of seventeen he began to feel his deprivations ^a^.^^ ^ /Tf^cJ/,^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 879 so greatly that he determined to attend school and for several years he was a pupil in free and pay schools. When finally in 1876 he completed the course of study in Crooked creek school district, he was presented with a quilt made by thirty-six young" ladies, each of whom had sewed her name into a piece of the quilt. Through all the changes of later years this present was retained and no diploma ever gave to its recipient greater pleasure than the handiwork of these young girls. In 1877 Mr. McCullough traveled with ox-teams to the Round valley in Arizona, where he arrived after a trip of ninety-five days. The following year he proceeded to Phoenix, Ariz., and took up farming, but in the same year he went back to Arkansas. During the return trip, which was made with horses, he had an encounter with the Apaches and narrowly escaped with his life. Returning to Arkansas and resuming agricultural pursuits, he continued there until 1882, after which he spent a year at Silver City, N. M. For some years afterward he engaged in farming near Phoenix, Ariz,, and from there came to California in 1889, settling at Bakersfield. For a year he teamed in the employ of H. A. Jastro, and on his return after a brief trip to Phoenix he became interested in raising strawberries on the Kern river, where he owned an apiary. Five years later he sold out and returned to Bakersfield, where he opened a wood yard on the corner of Humboldt and Sacramento streets. Since then he has continued at the same location and meantime has built up a large trade in groceries, grain, hay, feed and fuel. At this writing he owns two corners with two residences and has recently completed a brick store building, 40x150 feet in dimensions. His family consists of one daughter and two sons, namely : Mrs. Mary Sterwalt, of San Diego ; James, who is engaged in farming at Phoenix, Ariz. ; and David, who assists his father in the grocery, feed and fuel business. In politics Mr. McCullough gives stanch support to Republican principles, while fraternally he has been prominently connected with the local work of the Knights of Pythias. ALBERT HAMILTON CASTRO.— The ancestral home of the family was in Mexico, where was born the father of Albert Hamilton Castro, by name Domitilo Castro, he in turn being the son of Thomas and Concepcion (Coro- nado) Castro, both natives of Mexico. It was in 1867 that the grandfather of Mr. Castro brought his family to Kern c( unty to embark in the stock-raising business three miles south- east of the present town of Bakersfield. Homesteading a half section, he later became owner of a stock range in the Breckenridge mountains, having at the time a great number of head of stock, and at his death, January 14, 1900, he left to his nine children a substantial heritage. His wife, who was the daughter of Jesus Coronado, a pioneer of California, passed away in Bakersfield April 25, 1897. Domitilo Castro was the third in order of birth of their children, and with them he received the benefits derived from the public schools of the district. Remaining on his father's ranch he fol- lowed stock-raising for many years and September 6, 1879. married Miss Lucy Cage, who was a native of Napa county, Cal., and the daughter of Edward and Macaria (Areneas) Cage, the former born in Mississippi and the latter a native of ^lexico. Besides Mr. Castro's home five miles south of Bakersfield he owns a hundred and sixty acres at the mouth of Fort Tejon canon, and where he ranges his cattle, bearing the brand DC. In 1911 he left the ranch to move to his residence at No. 1101 Brown street, Bakers- field, which he had built. He also owns ether property in Bakersfield. The children born to Domitilo Castro and his wife were: Marguerite, who is a trained nurse at Oakland; Frank, who is a blacksmith in Coalinga and is married to Effie Godley, of Bakersfield; Louis, who is an oil man at Mojave; Albert H. and Andrew M., twins, the latter an oil driller at Taft for the K. T. & O. Company; Adlai, in the employ of the American Petroleum Oil Company; Lucv M., Felix C. and Amelia, at home. Of these Albert 880 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY HamiltDii (astro was l)()rn in IJakersfield September 29, 1886. After i^jradu- ation from the grammar school he attended high school and then took a course at the Bakersfield P)Usiness College, from which he was graduated in 1908. He immediately found employment in the Sunset oil field at Maricopa, where he hecame a tool-dresser. In the latter capacity he worked for the Western Minerals Oil Compau}- and continued in their employ for fifteen months. In 1911 he assumed the management of his father's ranch, five miles south of Uakersfield, where he raises chiefly alfalfa, hay and barley and is making a success of it. His forty acres of alfalfa he cuts five times a year, his annual product amounting to two hundred tons of alfalfa, while he also raises annually fiftv tons of barley. He has also taken up a one hundred and sixty-acre tract in the Breckenridge mountains, twenty-seven miles east of I'akersfield. Mr. Castro is a trustee of the Fairview school district, and is greatly interested in the cause of education. Fraternally 'he is a member of the Red- men, Woodmen of the World, and the Knights of Columbus. JOSE J. LOPEZ. — The honored old Castilian family of Lopez became established in the new world when Claudio Lopez, an ofBcer in the Spanish army, crossed the ocean during one of the revolutions that occasionally dis- rupted Mexico and gave efficient service in the quelling of the disturbances. In recognitioji of his capable assistance the Mexican government appointed him an Indian agent for Southern California and he established his home at San Gabriel, Los Angeles county, where he continued to reside until his death. Next in line of descent was Estavan, a native of San Gabriel and a lifelong resident of Los Angeles county, where he died after many years of successful identification with the stock industry. The following genera- tion was represented by Geronimo Lopez, who was born in Los Angeles and is now living in the San Fernando valley, hale and robust notwithstanding his eighty-four useful and active years. Until he retired from business cares he engaged extensively in the raising of sheep and cattle and ranked among the leading stockmen of his locality. His old homestead, situated one and one-half miles north of San Fernando, has been purchased by a company which intends to build thereon the last dam of the Los Angeles aqueduct. During early manhood he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Lopez and thus became allied with a family whose maternal ancestors held rank among the prominent pioneers of Southern California. Under the priesthood administration her father, Pedro Lopez, a native of Los Angeles, held office as administrator of the mission of San Fernando, but his main occu- pation in life w^as that of stock-raiser and for many years he followed that pursuit with industry and fair success. His daughter, Mrs. Lopez, has reached the age of eighty-one years and is physically and mentally vigorc^us for one of that advanced age. The family of Geronimo and Catherine Lopez comprised sixteen chil- dren, of whom eight daughters and two sons are now living. Jose J., the eldest of all, was born at the family homestead in Los Angeles October 22, 1853, and at the age of seven years accompanied the family to the San Fer- nando valley. ITntil twenty-one years of age he alternated his time between Los Angeles and the ranch, meanwhile attending the public schools and also gaining under his father a very comprehensive knowledge of the stock business. Coming to Kern county as early as 1874, he embarked in the sheep business and made his headquarters at the Tejon for three years. Meanwhile his success with his flock attracted the attention of others and led to his selection as manager of the sheep industry for General Beale at Rancho el Tejon. During the seven years of his incumbency of the position of manager he had charge of about sixty thousand head of sheep. At the expiration of that time the sheep industry was turned over to J. W. Forbes and Mr. Lopez HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 883 was transferred to the cattle and horse departments, both of which he super- intended fur twenty-one years. In these industries no less than with sheep he proved exceptionally resourceful, sai^acious and succesful. Finally, twenty-eight years after he had become identified with the ranch, he was chosen its manager, at the same time being appointed manager of Rancho Costec. la Liebre and Los Alamos, by Truxtun Beale, with whom he can- tinued for four years or until 1909, when he retired, after an identification of thirty-two years with the Beale interests, and removed to Bakersfield, erecting a residence at No. 1203 Chester avenue. On May 1, 1912, the Tejon Ranch Company that purchased all of the interest in the estate of the late Gen. E. F. Beale, comprising the four above-named ranches with stock and improve- ments, induced Mr. Lopez to accept the management of the four ranches, and he is once more actively engaged in the management of large affairs with which he has been so closely identified in Kern county. On his large ranch of eight hundred acres near Gorham station he keeps fine droves of cattle, using not only the brand of L with a cross, but also L with an Indian arrow, which brand was used by his father for sixty-three years. The marriage of Jose J. Lopez was solemnized in Bakersfield May 27, 1885, uniting him with Miss Mary Winter, who was born at La Providencia rancho, near Burbank, Los Angeles county, the daughter of James P. and Jennie (Christie) Winter, natives of Aberdeen, Scotland. .Mr. and Mrs. Lopez have one daughter, Margaret Pearl. Upon coming to the United States Mr. and Mrs. Winter crossed the plains to California, locating in the southern part of the state. They now make their home in Kern county, near the Tejon ranch. HUGH A. BLODGET.— The records of the family show that Arba Blodget, a native of Massachusetts and a soldier of the war of 1812, migrated to New York state, and took up land from the Holland Land Company. An ac- cident caused his death while yet he was in the prime of usefulness. The farm which he had purchased in Chautauqua county, N. Y., and which extended over the state line into Pennsylvania, was the birthplace of his son, Wil- liam O., and grandson, Hugh A., but the former, having little taste for agriculture, gave up farming for merchandising. Upon the outbreak of the Civil war he" ofifered his services to the Union and aided in raising a com- pany, of which he was chosen lieutenant. While a member of Reynolds division, fighting in front of the historic stone wall at Gettysburg, he was slightly wounded, and his death, which occurred in 1865, when he was forty-one years old, was the result of exposure and arduous campaign duty. Three days before his death his wife passed away, leaving three orphan children. Prior to her marriage she bore the maiden name of Esther A. Spencer. Born in Warren county. Pa., she was a member of an old established family of that section. Hugh A. Blodget was born October 23. 1855, and was about ten years of age at the time he was doubly orphaned. During the next seven years he made his home with his maternal grandmother and meanwhile took a course in the Jamestown Collegiate Institute. Quite early in life he became self- supporting and destiny turned his steps toward the west. During Decem- ber of 1872 he arrived at Windsor, Sonoma county, poor in purse, but rich in hope. For two years he clerked in a store during the winters and worked on a ranch in the summer. After coming to Kern county he worked on a ranch for about two months, after which for two years he served as clerk in the office of the county recorder. Next he became bookkeeper in the Kern Valley Bank. During 1884 he was chosen cashier of the bank and in 1902 was made its president, but the following year, owing to the pressure of outside business, he retired from the bank, since which he has devoted his energies largely to oil development and refining business. 884 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY One of tlie first promoters of the oil industry in the Sunset region, dur- ing 1890 Mr. Blodget, associated with Solomon Jewett and Charles Barnard, put down the first wells drilled in that district, but the project did not prove a success and Mr. Barnard withdrew from the field. Although Messrs. Blodget and Jewett continued further experiments with undiminished energy, it was not until 1897 that they met with any results. Mr. Blodget organized the Phoenix Refining and Manufacturing Company in 1907 with Arthur Webster as its manager and himself as president, since wdiich time the com- pany has built up a large refining plant. The enterprise then started has developed into one of much importance to Bakersfield and Kern county and is the largest manufacturing concern in the city and county. This corpora- tion on its own account and that of its allied companies maintains a monthly pay roll of approximately $.^000, which supports mau}^ families and which is distributed among the various merchants of Bakersfield. It uses exclusively in the manufacture of its various products, oils, distillates and greases, Kern county crude oils and Kern county fullers earth. Through the medium of its superior and economic gas engine distillates and lubricating oils, which are sold at prices which represent only a reasonable profit on the cost of manu- facture, this corporation will be instrumental to a large degree in rapidly developing this awd adjoining counties through pump irrigation. Mr. Blodget expresses himself as feeling a pardonable pride in this achievement as he has been a resident of Kern county for more than thirty-nine years. Those competent to judge assert that no one has done more than Mr. Blodget to encourage and develop the oil business in Kern county. His ample facilities for ascertaining facts and his clear judgment have been given to the industry from the first, while his reputation for reliability has counted for much in the business. In addition to aiding in the development of the oil producing and oil refining business he has been a leading factor in local enterprises of permanent benefit. The first sewer system of the town, a private enterprise, received his financial aid. Railroad and street transporta- tion have been promoted by his foresight ; also the gas and electric light svstems. As a director of the Bakersfield Board of Trade he has encouraged all measures for the upbuilding of the city. That he has a firm faith in his chosen town appears from his many investments in real estate and in the building of an elegant residence, where he and his wife, formerly Miss A. L. Park, dispense a gracious hospitality. Mrs. Blodget, who was born in Wisconsin and came to California during 1878, is the mother of three chil- dren, Haselton P., Ruth and Anna L. Fraternallv connected with the Masons. Knights of Pythias and Benev- olent Protective Order of Elks, Mr. Blodget has been a local leader in each order. In politics he always has supported Republican principles. Into whatever line of activity he has entered his fine mental endowments have proved helpful to the work in question. Particularly has this been the case in educational afifairs. A firm believer in the public schools, he has given freely of his time, means and intelligence to promote the educational system of Bakersfield and it would be difficult to name any citizen whose contribution to this line of public welfare has been of more value than his own. Appointed on the school board May 24. 1898, he was regularly chosen to the office at the ensuing election. Ever since that time he has served as president of the board. I'nder his incumbency the schools have increased in enrollment four fold, wdiile in efficiency they have reached a point abreast of the best schools of the state. The natural energy and wise zeal charac- terizing Mr. Blodget in all of his other dealings has been carried into this department and the result has been highly gratifying to all patrons of the citv schools. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 887 WILLIAM J. DOHERTY.— A son of William M. and Alice (Keville) Doherty, he was born at Derby, Orleans county, Vt., in 1848. Der])y lies near the line of Quebec and a little further to the north in that province, at Sher- brooke, the father owned and operated a large farm for years, also engaged in lumbering there and in Vermont, shipping ship timbers to Portland and con- tinuing in the lumber industry as long as he lived. In this way the son gained a thorough knowledge of such work and later he was sent to Lowell, Mass., (the native place of his mother) to serve an apprenticeship to the trade of a carpenter. Upon the completion of his apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman for three years at Fall River and for a similar period at Worcester, Mass., after which in 1876 he came to California and followed his trade in San Francisco and Oakland. Thence he went to Arizona and devoted three years to contracting and building at Tucson. Upon his return to California he helped to build up Tulare, after a disastrous fire had almost destroyed the town. Meanwhile in 1875 his brother, George C, had established himself in the building business at Bakersfield and also had engaged in the management of an apiary, continuing both lines of work until his death in 1894. He served for one term as supervisor of Kern county and filled other positions of local trust. A visit to this brother gave Mr. Doherty an opportunity to bid on the construction of the Southern hotel. The contract was given him and in 1889 he erected the hotel, but sixty days after he had turned it over to the owners it was destroyed by fire. Meanwhile he had joined with his brother in the bee business. In dilTerent parts of the county he had from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred colonies, but these he sold upon engaging in the lumber business. While he has built many houses in Bakersfield, including his own residence at No- 2504 Nineteenth street, and has also had contracts for important public buildings, including that for the Roman Catholic Church in 1905, his leading business associations have been with the lumber industry. After he completed the Southern hotel he was absent from the city for a year and upon his return in 1890 he became interested in the lumber business. A company of men had been organized to take over five thousand acres of timber land on Mount Breckenridge and under the title of the Kern County Lumber Company they built a saw mill. A road was built to the mill on the east slope of the mountain, about thirty-five miles from Bakersfield. From the first the Fresno Flume Company made a determined efifort to put the new concern out of business. The easiest way to accomplish their purpose was to drop the price of lumber. This they did, so that the organ- ization at Bakersfield, after operating the mill for two years at a great loss, abandoned all effort to continue their enterprise. Their troubles were enhanced by the sudden death of their manager, Mr. Lincoln, and the stock of the company was almost worthless. About that time Mr. Doherty nego- tiated with a Bakersfield lumber firm to buy their business and take over their yard. Having almost closed the deal, he ordered a large consignment of lumber from Oregon. Meantime the Fresno company bought the yard after secret negotiations. It was necessary for him to find a place to unload his lumber, shipped from Oregon, so he secured the corner of Eighteenth street and Chester avenue and started in business. His next step was to go to Fresno and endeavor to buy mountain pine from the company there, but they refused to sell. Immediately he secured an option to lease the property of the Kern County Lumber Company on Mount Breckenridge and when he had taken over the mill and lumber he incorporated the Union Lumber Company, with himself as president, manager and sole owner. Heavy teams were utilized to haul the pine lumber to the Bakersfield yard. A need for more space caused him in 1902 to buy another yard on the corner of Truxtun and Chester avenue, where now stand the new Hall of Records and the Catholic Church. A year 888 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY after he had established a yard at that point he was burned out, whereupon he bought one and one-half blocks on I and Fifteenth streets, along the Santa Fe Railroad, where he established a new lumber yard and built and operated a planing mill and box factory in connection. In the fall of 1905 he sold the business to J. H. Mallett of San Francisco, who still operates the Union Lumber Company at the same location. Having purchased in 1911 the entire tract and holdings of the old Kern County Lumber Company, consisting of forty-seven hundred and sixty acres with a large area of timber, approximating forty million feet, Mr. Doherty immediately prepared to resume the manufacture of lumber and put the roads in shape so that gasoline trucks could haul heavy loads from the mill to Bakersfield. His long experience and thorough knowledge of timber con- ditions in this part of the state give promise of continued success in the lumber business. While carrying on extensive business afifairs he has nut withheld his support from civic enterprises, but has been a liberal contributor to move- ments for the advancement of Bakersfield along every line of endeavor. His first marriage united him with Miss Theresa Leeper, by whom he had one son, Earl L., now engaged in the real estate business at Larkspur, Marin county. Fie married (second) Gertrude Borgwardt of Bakersfield and has two children, Keville and William Henry. His present wife, whom he married in Bakersfield in the year 1904, was Miss Lillie C. McClaskey, a native of Marysville, Cal. Aside from taking part in numerous social and literary organizations she is identified with the Rebekahs and Mr. Doherty also belongs to that lodge, besides being a member of the Bakersfield Lodge and Encampment, I. O. O. F., and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. The father of Mrs. Doherty, Hon. Calvin McClaskey, crossed the plains with a large expedition during the summer of 1851 and settled in Yuba county. An attorney by profession, he turned his attention to law practice after having endeavored in vain to find a fortune in the mines. During 1872 he established an office at Susanville and for years he was a prominent citizen of Lassen county. Through his service as county judge he received the title of Judge McClaskey, by which he was known among his acquaintances. W'hile still a resident of Yuba county he was elected to the state assembly and served during the sessions of 1869-70, while during 1883 and 1884 he served as assemblyman representing Plumas, Lassen and Sierra counties. His marriage at Virginia City, Nev., in 1865, united him with Miss Anna J. Slavin, who two years before had come from the east by way of Panama. As a legislator he achieved considerable prominence. GEORGE A. McLEAN. — Possession to a marked degree of unusual business ability and well-grounded information of his particular line has been evidenced in the responsible position held by George A. McLean, who, after entering the employ of the Kern County Land Company, so proved his valuable services that he was promoted to the superintendency of the North Side Canals with headquarters at what is known as the Calloway headquar- ters in the company. A Canadian by birth, he is of Scotch extraction, his father, Archie McLean, being a native of Scotland. When a young man the father had come to Ontario to follow his trade of mason, but instead he em- barked in contracting and building. In about 1888 he came to Riverside, Cal., where he followed contracting mason work, later removing to Colton. While at Riverside he was engaged in constructing the Gage canal for the Riverside Water Company. He still makes his home at Colton, having fol- lowed contracting in different parts of California. His wife, before her mar- riage, Phoebe Harris, was born in Ontario, and she is making her home in Colton, in the enjoyment, with her husband, of a beautiful afternoon of life. Of their -family of four children three survive. The second eldest child of his parents, George A. McLean was born in jf. (^^ ^U^ec^U^ /toU^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 891 Cathcart, Ontario, May 3. 1884, and a few vears later was brought to Cali- fornia by his parents, who gave him splendid opportunities for an education. After graduating from the local high school at Colton he entered the San Bernarchno TUisiness College and was graduated, being thortmghly equipped to enter the business world. For the subsequent year he was in the employ of the Colton Cement Company as storekeeper, and then entered the sur- veying department of the Bay Cities Water Company, spending most of the time in Santa Clara county. His next employment was with the Union Con- struction Company at Calaveras and Tuolumne counties in the engineering department on the construction of power plants, and then was with the Pacific Improvement Company on a topographical survey of the peninsula. In 1Q08 he came to Bakersfield to work in the engineering department of the Southern Pacific Railroad, continuing in this connection until March, 1910, when he started his association with the Kern County Land Company as bookkeeper and foreman at the Calloway headquarters. It was not long, however, when his qualities and fitness for the special line of work attracted his superiors and on January 1, 1911, he was made superintendent of the North Side Canals with his headquarters at the above ranch. Mr. McLean's marriage occurred in Colton to Miss Cora Lee Sisson, who was born in Missouri. Two children bless their union, Edith Lee and Virginia Phcebe. A. C. JULIUS KIRSTEN.— A native of the kingdom of Prussia the subject of this biographical review was born at Nordhausen December 7, 1859, being a son of Frederick and Emelia (Ferchland) Kirsten, natives of Germany and lifelong residents of Prussia. For many years the father offici- ated as mayor of Rossla. By trade he was a glazier. The only child in the family was Julius, who was educated in the Kelbra gymnasium and served an apprenticeship to the trade of confectioner at Nordhausen. On the close of his term he went to Russia in 1878 and found work at his trade succes- sively in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Odessa. When the time for military examination drew near he returned to Germany, but there was exempted from service, so he immediately started for New York. After landing Janu- ary 29, 1882, he experienced no delay in securing employment in a bakery in the metropolis, where during the same year he married Miss Frances Pope, who died in October of 1888. Meanwhile he had come to California and worked for five months in San Francisco. Later he followed his trade for three years in Honolulu. Upon returning to San Francisco he bought a bakery, but the business proved unprofitable and he went to Guatemala, where for fourteen months he engaged in business. Next we find him in Costa Rica. After four years in that and other Central American states and four months in New Orleans, during 1896 he returned to San Francisco, where he followed his trade at the Clifif House. Later he was similarly engaged in Spokane, Colorado Springs and El Paso. From the last-named city he traveled into Mexico, then returned to the east on a tour of inspection, later finding employment in Denver, Colo. There was much to interest him in these various places and sections of the country, nor did he find less inter- esting the three years spent in Arizona. Meanwhile a tract of land he had owned in Washington was sold and with the money he bought a bakery at Florence, Cal., but at the expiration of ten months he sold out, and August 16, 1908, settled in Mojave, where on J street he erected the building in which is housed his present fine bakery and delicatessen. In politics he is a Republican. HON. MILTON T. FARMER.— The judge of the superior court depart- ment No. 3 of Kern county has the distinction of being a native son as well as a descendant of a California pioneer of 1850 and a representative of old American stock identified with the colonial and Revolutionary eras. 892 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Tradition associates the Farmer family with many interesting events in the Old Dominion, whence some of the name crossed the mountains into Ken- tucky. From the Blue Grass state, his native commonwealth. George Farmer migrated to Iowa and settled among the pioneer farmers at Riverton, a fron- tier community of small population. From that region he went to the front with an Iowa regiment during the Civil war. His service was made note- worthy by crnspicuous valor and one of the war heroes passed away when he met his death from a wound received while campaigning in Tennessee. Among the surviving members of his family there was a son, George Thomas Farmer, born at Rivcrton. Iowa, and a pioneer of Yolo county, Cal., where he married Miss Gertrude Ruggles, a member of a family identified with New England during colonial times and represented in the army of patriots during the Revolution. Born in ^^'oodland, Cal., Airs. Farmer was a daughter of L. D. Ruggles, a native of Illinois and a California pioneer of i850. After a somewhat prolonged sojourn in Yolo county, during which time Milton T. Farmer was born at Woodland December 7, 1883, the Farmer family sought a more southerly h cation and during 1884 became residents of Tulare county, where the father was a witness of the historic Mussel Slough fight. The family comprised eight children, of whom the four youngest. Theodore P., Paul, Clarence W. and Lucile B., make their home with their parents in Kings county. The eldest daughter, Leta D., is the wife of Dr. Lincoln Cothran, of San Jose. The second son, Lyman D., is the present sheriff of Kings county, and the second daughter, Ethel R., is the Avife of Simon Levy, a banker of Visalia. From his earliest memories Judge Farmer was reared on a ranch in Tulare county, where he completed the grammar-school course of study in the Excelsior district, one of his earliest teachers having been Harry VVeems, now of Wasco. After he had grad- uated from the Hanford high school in 1901 he matriculated in the San Jose State Normal and continued in that institution until he had completed the studies in 1903. As principal of the Grangeville school in Kings ccunty he proved to possess a decided bent for the high calling of a teacher and it was with universal regret on the part of the patrons of the school that his resignation was accepted in January, 1906, in order that he might pursue the social science course of study in the L^niversity of California. In addition he took up the study of law. During 1909 he received the degree of A.B. and two years later t!ie degree of doctor in jurisorudence was tendered to him. During the period of his connection with the institution he played on the Varsity football team with high honors and for two years engaged as manager of athletics. A period of connection with the office of Judge Bolton in San Francisco and the management of a private office associated with W. J. Hayes of Oak- land, gave Judge Farmer considerable experience in the law. In December, 1911, he was appointed as one of the counsel for the State Banking departnient, but resigned the pc sition in 1912, as well as relinquishing his lucrative pri- vate practice, in order that he might accept an appointment tendered by Governor Johnson .August 14, 1913. as judge of superior court department 3, Kern county, in which most responsible post he has justified the wisdom of the appointment and proved his wide knowledge of the law. His marriage took place .August 21, 1912, and united him with Aliss Helen M. A'oung, of Berkeley, a native daughter of Visalia, but reared principally in Seattle, Wash., and a graduate of the University of California. The only child of the union is Milton, Jr. Aside from his association with the bench and the bar Judge Farmer has numerous afifiliations, being a member of Pomeroy Capter, Phi Delta Phi, University of California; Phi Beta Kaopa, National Scholarship Fraternity; Hanford Parlor No. Z7 , N. S. G. W. ; Durant Lodge HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 895 No. 268, F. & A. M.. of Berkeley, Los Ang-eles Consistory, and Berkeley Locli^e No. 1002, Order of Elks. MERCY tiOSPITAL.— The new and elegant Mercy Hospital, which occupies a block of ground on Truxtun avenue between B and C streets, is a branch of and was built by the Sisters of Mercy, whose Mother House is located at West Washington and Concord streets, Los Angeles. The Bakers- field institution dates from February 19, 1910, when the St. Clair property, near the Santa Fe depot, was secured. It was soon discovered that this loca- tion was too noisy for a he spital site and the block on which it now stands was bought and the building removed to it and enlarged. The new building, which was dedicated by Bishop Conaty November 9, 1913, is on the Spanish renaissance order, constructed of concrete below the ground, while above it is brick plastered with white Medusa cement and inlaid tapestry brick. It is 108x48 feet in dimensions and is three stories high, with a high base- ment besides. A complete steel frame forms the center of the building and the roof is of Spanish tile. Thirty-six private rooms, the greater number of them with private baths, constitute this hospital and there is on each floor a well- equipped diet kitchen. In the center of the building is an electric automatic passenger elevator, which was the first of its kind in the city. The stair- ways are located one at each end of the building. Two glass sun parlors and a large veranda for the patients are located on the ground floor, and the operating department, which is said to be without exception the finest equipped in the state, having every facility with which to obtain the best possible results, is on the third floor. A great many special features have been provided for the lighting of the operating department as well as the entire building, an electric light signal system is installed, the entire lighting arrangement being a decidedly fine addition. The interior of the building is finished in white enamel, all the doors being finished in mahogany. A vacuum steam heating plant, which is also a source of supply for the sterilizers and the diet kitchens, provides the heating. Separate kitchen and laundry room are located at the rear of the hospital building and the old hospital of two stories is connected with the new by means of a steel bridge. In connection with the hospital the Sisters manage a large parochial school, under the St. Francis' church, the pastor of which is Father Hclden, who is given further mention elsewhere. CHARLES HENRY McCOY.— Even prior to the discovery of gold in California a considerable amount of emigration had been turned toward the west and as early as 1848 the McCoy family joined a party of home-seekers whose course of travel took them across plains, deserts and mountains, and through Nevada near the present site of Winnemucca. Toward the end of the tedious journey the Indians became more and more annoying. Finally, in fear of their lives, the McCoy family deflected their path from the destina- tion originally planned and turned north into Modoc county, where they became the very first white settlers in Surprise valley. Taking up land, they embarked in the cattle industry. Abimdance of water and pasturage enabled them to prosper, but for years the}- continued to find the red men troublesome. An old log house on Eagle creek was fortified for use whenever the Pitt River or Modoc Indians went on the war-path. John Henry McCoy, who was a native of Arkansas, had not attained man's estate at the time of the migration to the west and all of his active life was passed in Modoc county, where he was prominent, honored and influential. While serving as sherifif. which office he filled with energy and courage, he was shot down in cold blood by a Mexican. The white settlers, aroused by the death of a pioneer of such splendid qualities of manhood, lynched the murderer. Surviving Mr. McCo}^ were his young wife and two sons. The elder. Charles Henry, is a resident of Kern countv, and the x'ounger. lames, who went to Oregon, is now an 896 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY extensive rancher of Lake count3^ The wife and mother. EHzabeth (Moulton) McCoy, was brought across the plains in infancy by her parents, who became pioneers of Surprise valley. After the death of her husband 'she continued in the cattle business and is still living- at Bear ranch, the old homestead. On the Modoc county ranch Charles Henry McCoy was born January 31, 1870, and there he was reared to manhood. In 1877 his father was murdered. At that time and even later Indians frequently made raids into the valley and stole the cattle, so it was necessary to maintain an unceasing vigilance. From his earliest recollections he was familiar with horses and accustomed to the saddle. While yet a small child he began to ride the range and round up the cattle. As soon as he was old enough to manage the stock, his mother turned the supervision of the property over to him, but the failure of his health forced him to seek a different climate. Acting upon the advice of physicians he went to Arizona in 1895. Some time was spent in that territory and in New Mexico and Colorado, where he was interested in the cattle business. During 1899 he was one of five men appointed by the United States govern- ment to serve as "broncho busters" in the Philippines. After his arrival at the seat of war he engaged in breaking and training wild horses. At the out- break of the Boxer disturbance he was sent to China with the American troops, remaining at Pekin until quiet had been restored, when he was ordered to return to the Philippines. Having completed the work of training horses, he was placed in charge of pack trains in different parts of the islands. More than once he was forced into skirmishes with the natives, but in each instance he came off victorious. Returning to California in 1906, Mr. McCoy came to Kern county the following year and secured employment in riding after cattle on the range. During 1909 he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and became a stationary engineer at Caliente, where now he has charge of the pumping plant. Besides a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Honey Lake valley he owns sixty acres of fertile land in the Weed Patch. His marriage was solemnized in Lassen county and united him with A^Iiss Katherine Bond, a native of that county and a daughter of Jeremiah Bond, now living retired on his large ranch in the Honey Lake valley. Three sons, Marvin, Bernard and Lester, comprise the family of Mr. and Mrs. McCoy. In addi- tion to caring for her husband and sons with exemplary diligence and house- wifely skill, Mrs. McCoy has been an earnest worker in the Methodist Church, an official member of the Native Daughters of the Golden W^est, and a leading member of the Rebekahs and the Order of the Eastern Star. IRA B. DAVIS.— Since 1911 Ira B. Davis has been a resident of Caliente. where as a clerk under John Ripley, postmaster, he became familiar with the management of the office, winning recognition as a capable man in such responsibilities and rendering possible his own appointment as post- master in June, 1913. In filling the office he has for a deputy his wife, who also engages as operator of the Caliente long distance telephone. Springhill, Champaign county, Ohio, is the native place of Ira B. Davis and January 27, 1851, the date of his birth, his parents being Benjamin and Sarah (Patton) Davis, natives respectively of Kentucky and Virginia, but during their married life residents of Ohio. The father died on the home farm in 1873, having survived his wife for many years. Of their fourteen children all but one attained years of maturity and three of the sons were soldiers^ in the Union army during the Civil war. Two events impressed themselves vividly noon the youthful years of Mr. Davis, one of these being the departure of his older brothers for the war and the other being the death of his mother. With these exceptions his early life was uneventful. He attended the country schools and the St. Paris high school and in vacations assisted his father on the home farm. Upon leaving school he learned the butcher's trade at West Liberty, but did not like the occupation and turned HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 897 to other pursuits. For a time he clerked in a general store. Following the drift of emigration toward the west, he took up land in Kansas during 1880 and developed a farm near Burlingame, Osage county. The marriage of Mr. Davis was solemnized at Emporia, Kan., March 25, 1881, and united him with Miss Belle Beckes, who was born in Indianapolis, Ind., and received an excellent education culminating in a course of study in the Emporia Normal. For a time prior to her marriage she engaged in teach- ing school in Kansas. Her parents, Caleb and Mary (Graham) Beckes, were natives of Indiana. After the death of Mrs. Beckes in that state the father removed to Kansas in 1859 and took up a claim in Osage county, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. The last days of his life were passed in Emporia. After his marriage Mr. Davis remained in Kansas and continued in farming until 1893, when he removed to Salem, Fulton county, Ark. Later he spent some time in Missouri, but removed from there in 1900, after which he spent four years with the Sandoval Manufacturing Company in Sandoval, 111. For a time he later engaged as a foreman with a manufacturing concern at Galesburg, that state. Upon resigning his position in 1911 he came to Caliente, since which time he has been connected with the postofifice. Both he and his wife are stanch believers in Republican principles, but partisanship has not entered into their service in the ofifice, which has come to them through meritorious service rather than political prestige. Mrs. Davis has been iden- tified with the Presbyterian denomination since girlhood. In fraternal rela- tions Mr. Davis is a member of the Court of Honor. Their only daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Schaubert, is living in Colorado, her home being at Cripple Creek. JAMES LINDSAY BRUCE. — During the nineteenth century represen- tatives of the Bruce family came from the Highlands of Scotland to the shores of America and established themselves in Canada, where for many years George Bruce, a son of the original immigrant, engaged in the drilling of oil wells and the operating of oil leases at Petrolea, County Lambton, Ontario, near the river St. Clair. Since his demise, which occurred in his home town, his widow, who bore the maiden name of Mary Lindsay and was born in Ontario, has removed to California and is now living in Bakersfield. Of their seven children there now survive four daughters and one son, James Lindsay, who was next to the oldest among the children and was born at Petrolea, Canada, August 2, 1876. As a boy he became familiar with that narrow strip of country lying between Lakes Huron and St. Clair. The family home was only fifteen miles from the river that joins these two lakes and he was there- fore very near to the United States. While yet a small boy he began to assist his father in such work as was possible for him to do in the oil business. At the age of sixteen he became a tool dresser. Two years later he became a driller, running a string of tools. When about twenty years of age he ceased to w-ork for his father and began in the employ of other oil operators. Coming to California in 1901 and seeking the oil regions of Kern county, Mr. Bruce drilled on 25-Hill one of the first wells sunk there. In 1902 he became an employe of the Associated Oil Company. At first he filled a very humble position. Gradually he worked up from one position to another, each more important than the former, and at the expiration of four years he was made general superintendent of the company's affairs in the Kern river field. After having been connected with the company for ten years Mr. Bruce resigned August 1, 1912, in order to devote his entire time to the automobile business and to his personal interests. The Southern garage, of which he is now the proprietor, stands at the corner of Twenty-fifth street and Chester avenue and in construction represents the mission type of architecture. Brick and cement used in the building render it practically fireproof. The storage capacity is sufficient for fifty cars. Reliable work is done at reasonable prices. Repairing is done promptly and satisfactorily. He has the agency for the 898 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Bnick automobile for Kern county and the garage is also the headquarters for the Packard, Chalmers and other cars. Every facility is to be found in the garage in the way of modern machinery and improved tools. The vul- canizing shop is complete and expert service is guaranteed. Although the present proprietor has been connected with the business for a short time only, he has gained great popularity among owners of automobiles and has won his share of repair work as well as orders for new cars. In addition to his inter- ests in Bakersfield he owns property in Los Angeles and also has forty acres of fine orange land in the Porterville district. In politics he is stanchly Republican, while socially he holds membership with the Bakersfield Club. After coming to California he married in Bakersfield Miss Maude Lingwood, who was born in Missouri. They have two daughters, Velma and Silva. B, H. SILL, — Long before the American occupancy of California had bec( me an historic fact Daniel Sill had identified his destiny with that of the then unknown West, where with his own hands and the aid of such few carpenters' tools as he could secure he put up the fifth house ever built in San Francisco. (This was the Sill blacksmith shop marked 35 on picture of San Francisco 1846-7.) His first trip to this country occurred as early as 1832, when the Spanish and the Indian inhabitants had as yet been undisturbed in their dreamy, contented existence by the arrival of throngs of eager, enterprising settlers of ether races. It was as an employe of the Hudson Bay Fur Company that the young man had come to the West from Michigan, where he left his wife and children to await his return. The fascination of the West impelled him to remain, and in 1830 his family joined him, among them being a son, Daniel. Jr., who came overland from Dowagiac, Mich. Meanwhile the energetic pioneer had followed various occupations besides working for the fur company. His trade of blacksmith earned him a livelihood at various places. For a time he engaged in the stock business at Monterey and after gold was discovered he spent some time at the placer mines, later engaging in the building business. Daniel. Jr., spent his mature years prin- cipally in the Santa Clara and Sacramento valleys, where he engaged in farm pursuits. Both he and his wife, who bure the maiden name of Sarah Mayhew, are now deceased. The next to the youngest among eight children, six of whom are still living, B. H. Sill was born in Santa Clara County, Cal.. June 7, 1869. and grew to manhood upon a farm in the Sacramento Valley. W^hile still a very small child he was bereaved by the death of his mother. At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice in a carriage factory at Marysville, this state, where he served for six years, meanwhile gaining a thorough knowledge of carriage-making. The occupation, however, did not interest him and when his apprenticeshio had been terminated he began to work on a farm owned by Hon. Leland Stanford in Tehama County, this state, where he helped to plant five thousand acres in a vineyard of choice grapes. Later he aided in the establishing of a winery and distillery on the ranch. During the five years of his employnient with Governor Stanford he attended school at Vina. As early as 1890 Mr. Sill made a trip to Bakersfield, but it was not until 1898 that he became a permanent resident. Meanwhile he had been employed at Seattle and Spokane as well as in other western cities. Shortly after his arrival in this city he assisted in the organization of the Fred Gunther ConiDany. capitalized at $1.3.000, of which he is the president. In politics he has voted with the Democratic party ever since he became of the age required for the exercise of the franchise. Fraternally be is connected with the Elks. By his first wife. Catherine Collins, he has one son. Daniel, now a student in the Harvard INIilitary school in Los Angeles. After the death of his first wife he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Bresna- ham. a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., and one son. Benjamin N;. blesses ^ fi'* f ^ } • S^^t^l HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 901 their union. Aside from other interests Mr. Sill since coming to Kern Ccnnty has bought oil lands and acquired part ownership in oil wells. BERNARD BIMAT.— Since 1906 he has owned and worked forty acres under the east side canal eight miles southeast of Rakersfield, where alfalfa is raised profitably by the aid of abundant irrigation and where he also has given profitable attention to the raising of Percheron horses and sheep. His judgment concerning horses is seldom at fault. At a glance he seems able to detect defects and appraise values, this being the result of natural intuition and early experience in the business. From boyhood he was trained to under- stand equine flesh and he also learned to ride trotters and runners in the races, but as he grew tow^ard manhood his increasing weight prevented a continuance of riding in races. His love of horses comes perhaps as an inheritance from his father, Edward Bimat, who made a specialty of raising standards and thoroughbreds on his farm and who was considered one of the best judges of horses in the entire locality. The mother, who was Mary Mirasson-Casteigt, member of a very ancient family of Basses-Pyrenees, is still living at the old home in the French valley lying beneath the shadow of the mountains. The youngest of five children, all stilf living. Bernard Bimat was born at Precilhon, Basses-Pyrenees, France, and received his education in local schools, the high school at Oloron (of which he is a graduate) and the Normal School at Lescard. For a year he was employed in the revenue department of the government. A brother and sister having gone from the old home to Cali- fornia, in 1885 he joined them in Kern county, where the brother, Leon, was engaged in the sheep industry. For two years he w^as employed as a herder, after which he bought six hundred ewes from his brother and began to range his flock m the mountains of Kern, Inyo and Mono counties during summer months, bringing them down to the valleys for the winter. From 1891 to 1893 he engaged in partnership with his brother. The free trade measures of the Cleveland administration caused the ruin of his sheep business and in 1894 he turned to teaming and ranching. Taking a homestead on section 26. 32-30, he proved up on the land, built barns and house, and engaged in raising grain, cattle and horses. Later he bought one hundred and sixty acres in the Cummings valley, moving to the place in order that his children might have educational advantages. Meanwhile he ran his cattle on the range between Tejon and Cummings valley, using for a brand a triangle wnth the base down, beneath which were two connecting bars. At a later date he brought the cattle to the Long Tom country, but eventually sold the entire herd to John Bidart. Since then he has resumed the raising of sheeo and has sold his mountain ranches. In East Bakersfield he married Miss Mary Ros- tain, who was born in TTautes Alpes, France, near the village of Mans, and died in Kern county in 1911, leaving five children, namely: Marie, now Mrs. Vidailliet, of San Pedro; Leon, Edward and Bernard, Jr., who remain with their father on the home ranch; and Felix, who died in 1913 at the age of four years. Mr. Bimat is a member of the Druids and politically votes with the Republican party. JEAN MOYNIER. — A native of Canton Ogier, Hautes Alpes, France, born xAugust 4, 1864, he was a son of Jean and Marie Rosalie (Gugler) Moy- nier, the former a stockman in Ogier, and later the owner of a farm at St. Bonnet. Since his death the wndow has continued to reside on the old homestead at that place. There were six children in the family and four of these are now living. The eldest. Jean, was reared on the farm at St. Bonnet, received his education in local schools and learned the sheep business under the wise supervision of his father. At the age of seventeen in 1881 he came to America, arriving in Los Angeles in April. After a month with an uncle, Francois Gugler, in that city, in May he came to Kern county, where he found employment in the care of sheep. So frugal was he in expenditures 902 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY that in fourteen months he had saved $500, which he invested in a small flock of sheep. From that he built up a profitable business. Just at the time when the future seemed most promising the free-trade movement of 1894 resulted in a panic that depreciated prices and he was left penniless. Forced to begin anew, Mr. Moynier entered the employ of others and saved his earnings with such care that in a few years he was able to buy another flock of sheep. From that time to the present he has continued steadily in the business. The sheep are now ranged in two separate bands. For many years he has engaged in buying and shipping sheep, or in shipping flocks for growers, and at times he has shipped out for growers as many as fifteen hundred carloads in one year, which means that he is kept very busily engaged in that line of the work. Meanwhile he also manages his ten-acre ranch just east of East Bakersfield, where he and his family make their home. For a time he served as sheep inspector for Kern county under the state inspector. Movements for the benefit of the sheep industry in this section receive his stanch support. He is a progressive and public-spirited citizen, alive to the welfare of his adopted country. In national politics he votes the Republican ticket. During 1884 at East Bakersfield he married Miss Marie Lorette, who was born in Oloron, Basses-Pyrenees, and in 1881 came to Cali- fornia, settling in Kern county. They are the parents of ten children, viz. : Mrs. Pauline Chevell'icr, of East Bakersfield; Louis, of San Francisco; Mrs. Jennie Geraud and Mrs. Marie Martin, both of East Bakersfield ; Leon, an assistant of his father in the sheep business and in the care of the home farm ; Sidonie, Mrs. Ricon, of East Bakersfield; Harry, also assisting his father; Henriette, Emily and Jean. WILLIAM L. KIZZIAR.— The genealogy of the southern family of Kizziar is traced to England, where the records of the ancestry are lost in the maze of tradition. In that country th.e family name was Kizziah and the change to the present form was made about the time of the immi- gration to America. It is known that James Kizziar and his father were Englishmen by birth, while a grandson of James, Thomas J. Kizziar, was a native of Alabama, the identification of the family with the new world hav- ing occurred between these generations. From Alabama the family migrated westward to Arkansas and William L., son of Thomas J., was born in Pike county, Ark., in 1847, there passed the years of childhood and owing to the poverty of the family and the' scarcity of schools had the most meager edu- cational advantages. Guerrilla warfare imperiled the lives of the Arkansas people in his boyhood and the outbreak of the Civil war precipitated grave dangers. Although he was only fourteen and one-half years of age he thought it a matter of safety to enlist in the Confederate army. Accordingly he became a private in Company I, Thirty-third Arkansas Infantry, which went into service with one hundred and eleven men and finally was reduced to but four men. Their service was peculiarly dangerous. In the thickest of the most sanguinary battles these gallant young southerners were always to be found, fighting with valor for the cause which they had espoused. After the surrender of Vicksburg he escaped and found his way back to the old Arkansas home, where he again enlisted at the re-organization of Com- pany I and later was sent down to Louisiana under General Price. At the close of the Red river campaign his command was dispatched to Tyler, Tex., and he finally was mustered out at Marshall, that state, at the expiration of three years of service, during which he took part in some of the most terrific fighting of the whole war. About five weeks after being mustered out Mr. Kizziar took the oath of allegiance to the government at Washington, Hempstead county, Ark., and then engaged as' a teamster in the employ of the federal government. Soon he gave u]) the work and returned to the old homestead, where he assisted his father in putting in a crop. After the same had been harvested ^ '^ ^ r jM ^ EB r^y^^^^H A^^^^^^^^^^^K^^H ' p^ ^'^H ^^^^^^^^^^1^^ '^' ^K. £ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 905 he secured employment in railroading". In this occupation he had his share of danger and difficulty and rose to a position of trust solely as a result of his own perseverance, industry and sobriety. At first he worked as a brakeman on the Little Rock & Memphis railroad, now a part of the Iron Mountain railrt ad. Next he was made a fireman and then a freight engineer, from which he soon was promoted to be a passenger engineer, making daily trips between Little Rock and Memphis. His identification of four years with the same company was gratifying to himself and satisfactory to his superiors, whose confidence he won by his dependable character. However, it had been his ambition to engage in farming and accordingly he resio-ned his position, went to Texas and took a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres twelve miles west of Waxahachie, Ellis county, and took up the stren- uous existence of a rancher. For almost fourteen years he remained on the farm, but 'eventually the lure of railroading drew him back to his old occupation and he became car inspector at Cleburne, Tex., in the employ of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railroad. While filling that position a most unfortunate accident occurred and he was almost crushed to death between two passenger coaches. The injury was so serious that it was fully six years before he had recovered his health and even to this day he suffers from the effects of the accident. It being impossible for him to do heavy work he returned to farming, his children being old enough to relieve him of the greater part of the work. After two years on a Texas farm he moved to Oklahoma and settled on an unimproved tract near Mangum, Greer county, where he remained for three years. Upon coming to California in 1903 Mr. Kizziar secured employment as stationary engineer in the Kern river oil fields. For three years he re- mained in the employ of the Associated Oil Company. Since then he has superintended his ranch and also has engaged in the buying, improvino- and selling of real estate in Bakersfield, where he makes his home. For years he has been a devoted, zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. At this writing he acts as a member of the official board besides filling the office of Sunday-school superintendent. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons. In politics he has voted with the Democratic party ever since he attained his majority. In Texas in 1868 he was united in marriage with Miss Neta E. Burks, of Ellis county, that state. They are the parents of ten children and also have thirty-five grandchildren and two great-o-rand- children, of whom they are very proud. The eldest daughter, Frances A., now Mrs. J. K. Blair, of Texas, has nine children. Amanda I., Mrs. J. A. Austin, who lives on a farm north of Bakersfield, has three children. Mary Jane is the wife of R. L. Ralph and lives three miles north of Bakersfield ; they have a family of three children. William L., a farmer livino- at Kern, this county, married Miss Ollie Hargett and has six children. Elizabeth is the wife of F. H. Newton, a dairyman living nine miles north of Bakers- field. John J. married Lillie Hargett. James S., a farmer west of Bakers- field, married Odessa Lindsey and has one child. Oda, Mrs. G. W. Taylor, has three children and lives on a farm in Oklahoma. Alvin M., a farmer four miles west of Bakersfield, married Pearl Stancliffe and has two children. Lulu married T. D. Goodpasture, of Bakersfield, and they have one child. The mother of this family was before her marriage Neta E. Burks, and was born in Ellis county, Texas, the daughter of John Wesley and Louisa (Martin) Burks, the former a native of Alabama and the latter of Tennessee. The Burks family is an old Southern English one. The parents were mar- ried in Tennessee, where the father was a farmer and drover. In 1848 they moved to Texas and in 1850 settled in what is now Ellis county, where they ever after remained, the mother passing away at the age of eighty-two, while the father was eighty-six years at the time of his death which occurred 906 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Easter Sunday in 1910. His wife survived him but four months. Fifteen children had been born to them and the parents lived to see twelve of these grow to maturity; at the time of their death their family, including their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and their wives and hus- bands, as the case might be. numbered five hundred and thirty-six. CHARLES HENRY FREEAR.— A son of Henry T. Freear, mention of whom is made elsewhere Charles H. was born in Lincoln, Neb., June 2, 1872, and in 1874 was brought to California by his parents. Reared on the Kern county ranch of the family, he attended the common schools in the winter months and during the summer vacations learned the rudiments of agriculture as an assistant to his father. After he had completed the course of instruction in the public schools he entered the. Stockton Business College and remained there until he was graduated in 1882, after wh4ch he returned to the home ranch. In a short time he started out independently as a farmer. The first investment he made consisted of twenty acres of raw land. This he leveled and placed under cultivation to alfalfa. Although he had been obliged to go heavily in debt on the purchase, it was not long until he had the property clear of incumbrance. Then he bought an adjacent tract and this, too, paid for itself through the raising and sale of alfalfa. After a time he became interested in the stock business and fed the hay principally to the st( ck. When finally he had acquired one hundred acres forming a valuable alfalfa ranch, he specialized in the dairy business and maintained on the ranch a fine herd of Jersey cows. At Old River, Kern county, November 28, 1893, occurred the marriage of Charles H. Freear and Miss Cleoria A. B. Crabtree, a native of Santa Maria, Santa Barbara county, Cal. The young couple spent the early years of their wedded life in Alexico, where Air. Freear had been engaged as an assistant to an uncle. John W. Garlick, in the management of a sugar plan- tation at Tapachula in the state of Chiapas near the border of Guatemala. For three years they lived on the sugar plantation and during that period their eldest child, Cleoria Luella, was born. The two younger children, Laura Lorena and Charles Elmo, are natives of Kern county. Mrs. Freear was the voungest of four children, the others being as follows : Mrs. Cora Hobbs, of Old River; Mrs. Carrie Gale, of San Francisco; and Clyde, of Klamath county. Ore. The parents of this family, Ephraim Jasper and Laura (Foster) Crabtree. were natives respectively of Texas and Boston, Mass. About 1851, when nine years of age. Air. Crabtree crossed the plains with his parents, following the southern route from Texas. For a long period he lived in the vicinity of Porterville. where he married Miss Foster and where he conducted a stock ranch. Later he engaged in the stock industry near Santa Alaria. where he was bereaved by the death of his wife. Ui)on retiring from active cares he came to Kern county to make his home with his daughter, Mrs. Charles Freear, and here in 1908 his useful life came to an end. Selling out his dairy farm in the fall of 1911, Mr. Freear came to Bakers- field and built three cottages on the corner of Chester avenue and Eleventh street. The corner residence he has since maintained for his family home and here he and his wife extend a gracious hospitality to friends from every part of the county. Much of his attention is given to the buying and selling of city property and farm lands and he is considered exceptionally well posted as to the merits of Kern ctunty property. In politics he supports Republican princinles. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World, while his wife and two daughters are leading workers in the Order of W^omen of W^oodcraft. CASWELL AND SIDNEY WALSER.— Coming into Walker's Basin from Caliente by way of Piute one arrives at the ranch of the AA'alser broth- ers, with its herds of cattle and green meadows, a scene of beauty that lends pleasure and delight to the eye. Their father, Daniel Wagner Walser, a t HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 909 pioneer of Kern county, was born in Jefferson City. ]\Io., February 9, 1834. The grandfather was reared on the Yadkin river in North Carolina, where the ancestors resided during the Revolutionary war, taking part in the strug'de for freedom, as well as seeing active service in tlie war of 1812. In 1852 Daniel W'alser crossed the plains with ox-teams, locating in Eldorado county, where he followed placer-mining with its ups and downs. In 1856 he came to Tulare county and there he engaged in buying cattle and selling them in the mines in California and Nevada until 1864, when he came to Walker's Basin, Kern county. He located a ranch at the lower end of Walker's Basin, which he afterwards sold to Walker Rankin, and then purchased a ranch at the head of the Basin from Williams and Wyatt. and continued the cattle business, buying adjoining land until he had three thousand acres. On his retirement to Santa R^-sa, he sold the cattle interests to his sons, who continue the business. In 1866 he was ap'iointed one of four commissioners to organize Kern county from parts of Tulare and Los An- geles counties, and in July of that year the board met at Havilah and ap- pointed the first officers to hold an election and divided the county into voting precincts. He has been prominent in different enterprises in the county. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Bakersfield. and with others he set out the Wible orchard, one of the largest fruit farms in the county. He married Mary Lightner, a sister of A. T. Lightner of Bakers- field, and of the union were born seven children : Charles and William, de- ceased ; J. Caswell and Sidney Johnston (the Walser Bros.); Frank and ]\Iaria, deceased ; and Daisy, Mrs. Wallace of Santa Rosa. J. Caswell and Sidney J. Walser were born in Walker's Basin in 1869 and 1871, respectively, receiving their education in the public schools, while Sidney also attended business college in Los Angeles. The brothers learned the raising and care of cattle from boyhood and became proficient in all tne details of the business. When gold was discovered at Dawson in 1898, Caswell started for the Eldorado, going over Chilcoot Pass. On the way he was taken ill at White Horse, and after nine days arrived at Dawson. There for sixty days he remained in the hospital; after recovering he located and bought claims. In 1899 Sidney Walser made the trip to Dawson by the same route, and being ice-bound he walked the remaining eighty miles to his destination. They both followed mining. Caswell returned to Kern county in 1901, and Sidney in 1903. They then began the cattle business, leasing their father's place, and later on purchased the cattle. Of the three thousand acre ranch, about six hundred and forty acres are in meadow and under the plow. The ranch is well watered by streams and springs from which water is obtained for irrigation, and it is the consensus of opinion that it is one of the finest stock ranches in the county. They are not only large growers and feeders of cattle, but extensive shippers to the Los Angeles and San Fran- cisco markets, and both are members of the National Live Stock Association, and the Stockmen's Association of Kern county. Caswell Walser was married in San Francisco to Blanche Dunlap, who was born in Glenville, the daughter of Calvin Dunlap, a native son of Cali- fornia. Mr. and Mrs. Caswell Walser have one child, Wanda. Sidney A\'alser married Josephine Dunlap, also a daughter of Calvin Dunlap. THOMAS E. KLIPSTEIN.— The Klipstein family is of colonial con- nections and ^descends from Dr. Philip Klipstein, a native of Hesse-Darm- stadt, Germany, and a physician of remarkable talent, who served as a surgeon in the Revolution and afterward engaged in the practice of medicine at Winchester, Va. In the second generation from his is Henry W. Klip- stein, a well-known cattleman of Kern county, represented alsewhere in this volume ; and in the third generation is Thomas E., son of Henry W., and a native of the vicinity of Warrenton. Fauquier county, Va., born February 14, 910 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1877, but reared in the neighborhood of Bakersfield from the" age of about eleven years. As a youth he attended the Kern county high school and Woodbury Business College at Los x*\ngeles, from which latter institution he was graduated in 1902. After a year with his father on the home ranch he became connected with the Kern County Alistract Company, of which he was elected secretary. Meanwhile he became interested in oil lands. With others in 1909 he incorporated the Eight Oil Company, of which he since has been secretary and wdiich from the start has met with success in the locating of oil lands. Among the holdings of the company is an oil-producing property near Fellows, comprising one hundred and sixty acres in the North Midway field. An important possession t.f the company includes several sections in the Elks hills, where valuable ledges of fuller's earth have been developed and where they have erected a mill for its manufacture. In thickness the ledges nni from one foot to ten feet, thus making a most valuable deposit. With the development of this property and the management of oil lands, Mr. Klipstein found his time so occupied that he resigned his secretaryship with the abstract firm and now devotes himself to oil and real-estate inter- ests. An addition to his responsibilities is found in the handling of farm and city holdings on his own account. Quite recently he completed a modern, substantial bungalow on D street, and there he has established a comfortable home, graciously presided over by Mrs. Klipstein, a cultured woman and accomplished musician. She was Miss Louise Wilson, a native of Virginia and a daughter of T. A. Wilson, one of the old employes of the Santa Fe Railroad. Reared in California, she is a graduate of the Los Angeles State Normal and has a large circle of warm friends in Los Angeles, where she resided prior to her marriage, September 21, 1912, and where her family still make their home. In politics decidedly Democratic, Mr. Klipstein has re- cently been indi rsed by the state and county central committee, as well as Congressman Church for the position 'of postmaster at Bakersfield. On the organization of the Bakersfield Club he became a charter member and still takes part in the work of the organization, besides being allied with Bakers- field Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. FRED J. MARSH. — Alany i)roperty holders around the city of Bakers- field have benefited materially in the development and growth of that city, ihe value of their holdings constantly increasing with the tide of advance- ment, making those fortunate owners well-to-do and prosperous. That por- tion of land owned by Fred J. Marsh, whose thirty-acre ranch is situated on Union avenue, two miles south of Bakersfield proper, has materially in- creased in value during the past few years, and as Mr. Marsh has ably improved it and cultiva'ted the entire expanse to most profitable results, it has proved a most judicious investment on his part. The son of a farmer, born May 18, 1869, in Beatrice, Nebr., Mr. ^larsh there grew to manhood, receiving his training in the common schools and assisting his parents on the home farm. In 1891 he married Mrs. Rosetta Bull, and with her came to California in 1896, his desire to make his home here' finally being fulfilled. He immediately purchased his present place near Bakersfield and "has here spent his labors to his great satisfaction. Besides these holdings he has eighty acres below Panama, which has proved a wise purchase and bids fair to become very valuable in the near future. Mr. Marsh is a Woodman of the World, in which he holds a deservedly estimable place, and in politics he votes with the Democratic party. He holds a prominent place among the citizens of Bakersfield, and has taken more than a passing interest in all its affairs. JAMES M. STEVENS.— The proprietor of the Old Panama blacksmith shop is popular among the ranchers of his district and has acquired a large 1 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 913 business due to his ability to accomplish the tasks brought to him to the entire satisfaction of his customers. After coming to California he selected Kern county for the field of his labor and he has found it so remunerative and encountered such splendid opportunities that he has decided to stay here, and pronounces it to be by far the place of best chances for young men that he has ever seen- James M. Stevens was born in Chesterfield, Macoupin county, 111., on March 5. 1885, the son of Lewis M. and Sarah J. (VVatkins) Stevens, na- tives of Bufifalo. N. Y., and Medora, 111., respectively, and worthy farmers, now living at Chesterfield, 111. Of their six children James, the oldest, passed his boyh( od on the farm, receiving his education in the public and high schools of his native place. In 1902 he started west and at Pecos City, Tex., learned the blacksmith and horseshoers' trade. In 1904 we find him at Carlsbad, N. Mex., following the same business. In 1911 he came to Kern county, Cal., and soon afterward bought out E. D. Harrison's blacksmith business at Old Panama, continuing the business. He and his helpers are kept busy all the time, having a successful and profitable trade. He holds membership in the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Wood- men of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religious belief he is a Presbyterian, and politically is a Democrat. JOSEPH WERINGER.— Born in Vienna, Austria, February 3, 1855, Joseph Weringer came to the United States in 1876 and spent several years in travel through dififerent states, stopping at intervals in Michigan, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The course of his extensive journeyings brought him a: last to the Pacific coast and he was so favorably impressed with conditions that he determined to remain, and since the fall of 1881 he has lived in Kern county. For a time he was proprietor of the City brewery, also was interested in a wholesale liquor and ice business for ten years. Having been familiar with and interested in the copper mines in Michigan, Mr. Weringer was in a position to examine appreciatively specimens of ore brought from the vicinity of Woody. His faith in the copper was so great that in 1891 he removed to Woody in order to develop the mines. Since then he has done a large amount of development on the Greenback mine. Shaft No. 1 paid for itself from the grass roots down and its vein shows one hundred and fifteen feet wide. Shaft No. 2 is a vein showing three hundred to four hundred feet in width and at a depth of one hundred feet was found native copper and other very high grade copper ores. The first ore that he shipoed brought no profits on account of the high freight rate and exorbitant smelting charges. The discovery that the mine was on patented land changed his line of operation and resulted in the purchase of the property by him, since which time he has secured better freight rates and has shipped over $40,000 worth of ore as shown by government reports and smelter receipts. In carload lots the smelter reports show more than thirty-one per cent copper. Through the purchase of adjacent lands he has become the owner of nearly three thousand acres, nearly all copper-bearing, and he is now the sole owner of the Greenback mine. It is his present plan to erect at an early date a concentrating plant, after which he will ship the concentrates. Eventually he hopes to erect a smelting plant in the oil fields, centrally located for all the mining interests of Kern county. In addition to being one of the best-showing copper properties in California, the tract possesses valuable deposits of iron ore as yet unde- veloped, also contains wolfromite, the highest gr^^Je tungsten ore. Surrounding the mine at Camp Weringdale, which is located about one- quarter mile above the old Woody store, Mr. Weringer has platted a town site, has erected a modern garage and blacksmith shop where a specialty is made of auto supplies and repair work, and also maintains a general mercantile store. One of the principal attractions of the tract is a large hotel for the 914 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY accommodation of the public, near which may be seen a large fig orchard with trees forty-four years old and still bearing. The grounds have been improved for the pleasure and convenience of guests. In addition Mr. Weringer has an orange grove, on which in 1908 he raised the largest oranges produced at that time in California. Some of these weighed two pounds and measured eighteen and one-third inches in circumference. The ranch beyond the mine is utilized for the pasturage of cattle, horses and' mules. For the accommodation of the stockmen of the district he has erected corrals and . installed a large Fairbanks and Morse stock scale, vv'hich is arranged so as to weigh stock on hoof, or in wagons and trucks. In shaft No. 2, at the second or water level, they have now struck high- grade copper ore. Ten men are employed at present and ore will soon be shipped to the smelters. The first marriage of Mr. Weringer was solemnized in Bakersfield and united him with Mrs. Lucy Miller, who was born in Baden, Germany, and died in Bakersfield, leaving two children. Afterward Mr. Weringer married Miss Rosa Haberstroh, a native of Baden, Germany. No children were born of that union. His only son, Franz Joseph, born in Bakersfield December 14 1886, is a graduate of Heald's Business College in San Francisco and Van der Nailen's School of Mines, Berkeley. He is a chemist of ability and is now assisting his father in the management of their large interests. The only daughter, Frances J., is the wife of Elmer H. Woody, a cattle man of Wot (ly. In national principles Mr. AA'eringer is a Democrat. EDWARD MAURICE TRUESDELL. — For twenty years a resident of California and for nine years associated with the material development of Kern county, Mr. Truesdell is familiar with the remarkable growth of the past two decades and has been a personal contributor to the general progress by his own efficient labors. Although a native of Illinois, he is a member of a Kentucky family and spent much of his early life in the Blue Grass state, where his father, Harmon B., was a native and lifelong resident of Campbell county. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Ann Nicholson, was born at Lima, Adams county. 111., of Pennsylvania parentage, and passed away in Kentucky. Of the thirteen children comprising the parental family all attained mature years, but only six are now living, Edward Maurice being the eldest of the entire number. Boni at Lima, 111., April 6, 1861, he attended the public schools of Campbell county, Ky., and at the age of sixteen left the home farm to take up the burden of self-support. For three years he was employed as a night watchman on cotton boats on the Washita river. Going from there to Ohio he was engaged for six years as general foreman of the Addyston ])ipe works at Cincinnati. Next he went to Virginia, where for eighteen months he held a position as general foreman with the Radford Pipe & Steel Company at New^ Radford, on the New river. Returning to Cincinnati and holding positions with dififerent firms until New Year's of 18'^'4. Mr. Truesdell then made preparations to remove to the west and February found him in California, where his first work was on the Horseshoe ranch near Los Angeles. Next he engaged as sujierintendent of orange groves at Glendora. I-'or seven years he wa^rked in the Santa Fe oil fields, where he acquired proficiency as a driller. Coming to Kern county in 1905 he took up a homestead one mile from Lerdo, where he put down a twelve-inch well by his own labor, built a house and proved up on the property. Meanwhile he secured a standard rig and engaged in drilling water wells. For several years he made a specialty of that laborious work, but eventually disposed of the rig. Renting his Lerdo ranch of one hundred and sixty acres he took up a desert claim of a quarter section near Mojave, where he put down tw^o wells and built a neat bungalow\ After living there about a year he sold the place and since then has made his home in East Bakersfield. The first wife of Mr. Truesdell. who bore the maiden name of Addie Hutch- \Xi (77 ^^ /i^CU^eatrix, who are remaining at home. At Havilah in 1901 Mr. Williams was married a second time, being united with j\Irs. May (Palmer) McClure, who was born in Merced, Cal Her father. Frank C. Palmer, was for many years prior to his death super- visor of Mariposa county. Mrs. \A'illiams was a graudate of the Mariposa schools. Her first marriage was to George ?\IcClure, who died in Mariposa county, and of the uni^n there was one child, Georgia, a graduate of the Dinuba high school, and now a teacher. Of the present union there are five children : Elva, Helen. Clara. Violet and Hazel. Mr. Williams has always been a Democrat. I-'or many years lie has been clerk of the lioard of Trus- tees of the ^^'alker"s Basin school district, and is greatly interested in main- taining a high standard for the district schools. He is also one of the state fire wardens in the Kern Natii nal Poorest Reserve. ALBERT M. TAYLOR.— The manager of the Fellows branch of the Ass( ciated Supply Com])any has been a resident of California since the latter part of 1906 and in various capacities, each rising above its predecessor in point of importance, he has been connected with the same firm since August of 1908, having first been retained as clerk in different departments, then promoted to be assistant storekeeper, and finally, in November, 1912, trans- ferred to the Fellows branch as manager, which responsible Dosition he fills with efficiency. Although a native of Iowa, born near Brandon, Greene County, May 17, 4880, but little of his life has been passed in that state, for he was only four years of age when the family removed to Missouri and settled in Gentry County. His parents, Levi W. and Margaret B. (Albert) Taylor, were natives of Ohio. At the time of the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia the father, who was then a young man without domestic ties, crossed the plains with a party of emigrants and tried his luck in the gold fields without any great success. Upon returning east of the mountains he settled in Iowa and took up farm pursuits. During 1884 he removed to Missouri and eventually became a resident of Oklahoma, where he died at Anadarko. Later his widow came to California, where she now makes her home in Bakersfield. In a family of six children that grew to maturity and are now all living, Albert M. Taylor was the fourth child. After he had finished the grammar grade in Gentry County, Mo., he took up the study of telegraphy and soon became an assistant on the Q system, rising to be an operator and agent on that line. Frcm Missouri he went to Colorado. At the time of the Boxer rebellion in China he enlisted in the regular army. In June of 1900 his name was enrolled as a private in Comnany K, Eighth United States Infantry. With his command he set sail from San Francisco on the 31st of August and proceeded across the ocean on a transport. The original destination was Nagasaki, Japan, but later orders changed the course of the vessels to Manila where in December of the same year he was transferred to the signal corps. After having served on different parts of the various islands of the Philippines and particularly on the Negros, Cebu and Panay islands, where his skill as an operator proved of value to the command, he was houi rably discharged in March, 1903, by special order of William H. Taft, then secretary of war. Next he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the telegra:)hic division under the jurisdiction of the Philippine constabulary and from that rank he rose to be first lieutenant. During the fall of 1905 the telegraphic division was removed from constabulary jurisdiction and placed under the postoffice department, Mr. Taylor thereupon being appointed a district post- office inspector. Upon his resignation from that position in November. 1906, he returned to San Francisco and from there went south to Long Beach, where for two years he served as a deputv in the office of the city assessor. In that city he married Miss Bessie B. Boettcher, who was born in South HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 939 Dakota and by whom he has two sons, Albert M., Jr., and Eugene E. Since leaving Long Beach he has been connected with the Associated Supply Com- pany, with whose officials he has a high standing for integrity, intelHcrence and business acumen. Since his return from the Philippines he has held mem- bership with the Spanish-American War Veterans, and during the period of his residence in Long Beach he was a prominent member of Company L, Seventh Regiment, California National Guard. ROGER WHELAN. — The country of Ireland has presented to the United States some of its ablest citizens who have figured prominently in both political and commercial fields, as well as in all the fields of labor found in this country requiring tact, keen perceptive ability and industry. Roger Whelan is one of her sons who came to the United States in 1862 to build up his fortune and make it his home. Settling first in the state of Connecticut, he engaged in the general work of farming, which he followed for some years, in 1870 coming to California, which had attracted him by its exceptional crops and unusually fine climate. Upon his arrival in California Mr. Whelan first Icjcated in Yolo county, where he engaged in ranching, coming from there, in 1873, to Kern county. It was at this time that Air. Whelan became interested in sheep raising, realizing the profits attained thereby, and accordingly he bought six hun- dred and forty acres of land in the Tehachapi valley and began farming and stock raising, which became his chief occupation. He raised high grade cattle, hogs and sheep which increased in number so that he w^as obliged to add to his holdings until he owned a thousand acres. When he entered into the stockraising business Air. Whelan moved onto his ranch before the town of Tehachapi was in existence, and he has seen it expand and grow into a thriving, prosperous place, taking an active part himself in its de- velopment. In 1913 he sold his ranch and stock and located in Wilmington, where he purchased and also built several houses, and the same enterprise exhibited in building up the Tehachapi country is shown in Wilmington. THOMAS S. SMITH.— Son of an old pioneer, T. S. Smith was born at Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., October 25, 1861, his parents being Thomas H. and Sophia AI. (Whittock) Smith, who have further mention in another part of this publication. A long line of Anglo-Saxon forbears have contributed to Air. Smith's inheritance, his father being a native of Bristol, England, born in 1824, and throughout his life and the rearing of his family he has exhibited marked traits of that excellent race. In 1862 Air. Smith was brought by his parents into Kern county where the business interests of the father increased rapidly and brought with them a degree of success which has always prevailed. Before the end of the year 1863 they were making their home on the south fork of the Kern river and a few years later he was sent to school in Havilah, which was then the county seat. Later he pursued his studies in Kernville until he was nine- teen, at which time he took up the activities of a business life and entered the cattle business. This line of enterprise was naturally the one to which he would turn, as his father had become well known throughout the vicinity as a large and successful cattle grower. Attentive, alert and strictly honest in his every dealing he soon acquired an enviable position in the cattle business world. He has added to his holdings from time to time as his success has become more assured until he is now the owner of about a thousand acres of land and six hundred head of well-kept, fine cattle. Always interested in the progress and general advancement of his native country. Air. Smith has never been found wanting when his help was needed, especially in the local work of his party, his political principles being Republican. For his wife he chose a native of San Francisco, Aliss 940 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Ella P. Alerriain, who has proved a helijniate in the true sense of the word, by her quiet influence and unfailing co-operation being invaluable to her husband in his many enterprises. Three children have been born to this union, Hattie M., Stanley L. and Helen. The family home is on the South Fork near Onyx, Cal. DANIEL WAGGONER WALSER.— Born near Jefferson City, Mo., February 9, 1834, D. W. Walser is the son of Squire P. and Elizabeth (Wag- goner) Walser. The former was born on the Yadkin river, North Carolina, and on both sides descended from old Southern families of German descent. On the maternal side his grandfather Laup served in the Revolutionary war as a commissioned officer under Gen. George Washington. Squire Walser, a farmer in Tennessee, was there married, his wife being a native of that state. They removed to near Jefferson City, Mo., where they spent their last days. Of the five children Daniel was the youngest and is the only one living. His childhood was spent on the Missouri farm, and he received a common school education. In 1852 he crossed the plains with ox- teams, being en route four months and seventeen days. The first four years were spent in placer mining, after which he came to Visalia, arriving in November, 18.56, and engaged in the cattle business. He bought cattle in Los Angeles, then only a small adobe town of about four thousand, and drove them by way of Ft. Tejon and Placerville to Nevada, selling them in the mines, and generally making two trips in a season. In the fall of 1863 he went with a party overland to Arizona, but not being satisfied with the outlook he returned to Los Angeles, and there, in December, 1863, met the lady who afterwards became his wife. Her father, A. T. Lightner, Sr., was then living in Walkers Basin. Mr. Walser arrived there in January, 1864, and on March 24, 1864, he married Miss Mary F. Lightner, born in Lexington, Mo., January 6, 1845. (For more facts relative to the Lightner family, refer to biography of Mrs. Walser's brother, A. T. Lightner, Jr.) Mrs. Walser was only five years of age at the time of crossing the plains and her education w^as obtained principally in San Jose, coming to Kern county in 1857. After their marriage Mr. Walser bought a claim in the lower part of Walkers Basin, where he resided for two years, when he sold and purchased a part of his present place at the head of Walkers Basin on which he imme- diately located. After clearing the meadow of willows, grubbing and break- ing the soil, he erected suitable buildings. A part of the place is a natural meadow and is well watered with large springs and a creek that is called Walser's creek. He purchased land adjoining until it contains twenty-seven hundred acres and is considered one of the finest stock ranches in Kern county. All these years he was engaged in the cattle business. At first his brand was a 7 with a bar ; this he sold and afterwards established as his brand the quarter circle L which his sons still use. He first raised thoroughbred Shorthorn and afterward Herefords. His business was not limited to Walkers basin, for in 1867 we find him driving a flock of five thousand head of sheep from Oregon to San Francisco, where they were sold, and he also at one time owned ranches in Tulare county, where for some time he engaged in wholesale and retail butcher business in Visalia. With J. J. Mack and S. W. Wible he set out the first commercial prune orchards in the county; was one of the organizers of the Bank of Bakersfield and a director of the bank for nine years, when he retired. Of late years he has been retired from active business, having turned the business over to his two sons, and he divides his time between his old home in Kern county and Santa Rosa. Mr. and Mrs. Walser had seven children, of whom three are living: John Caswell and Sidney J., who are operating the ranch and are extensive cattle /yyhy\-aJ^ ^-'^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 943 men in Walkers Basin, and Daisy, Mrs. Morgan Wallace of Santa Rosa. In July, 1866, Daniel Walser was one of four commissioners appointed by an act of legislature to organize Kern county. The other members of the com- mission were Col. Thomas Baker, J. M. Brite and Michael Erskine, all de- ceased but Mr. Walser. They met at old Havilah and there laid the county out into voting precincts and called the first county election and arranged for the survey of the county line. One year later Mr. Walser became a candidate and was elected supervisor and served as chairman of the board for one term. During all these early years he gave of his time and means to upbuilding and furthering the interests of the county. Always interested in the cause of edu- cation he was a member of the first board of school trustees of Walkers Basin district and aided in building the first school house. Mr. and Mrs. Walser are both members of the Baptist church in Bakersfield. Mr. Walser is a Democrat and a leader in the councils of his party in Kern county. JEREMIAH McCarthy.— Born on a farm in County Cork, Ireland, April 13, 1843, Jeremiah McCarthy was reared on the farm and educated in the national schools. In 1862 he came to Boston, Mass., and for two years he worked at farming ; then was an employe of the weighers and gangers. Having heard many encouraging reports from California he became inter- ested and in 1867 came out west to see the land of gold and sunshine. He arrived in San Francisco, February 7, 1867, coming on the Moses Taylor from San Juan del Sur, he having made the journey to the Pacific coast via the Nicaragua route from New York city. He was employed by the Spring Valley Water Company until 1868, when he entered the employ of the Cen- tral Pacific Railroad at Palisades, Nev., where he worked on repairs, swing- ing a hammer and using the shovel. In 1870 we find him working on the construction of the railroad at Lathrop. In 1871 he became a foreman on construction for the Northern Pacific in Washington, where he remained until 1873, then returning to California to become foreman for the Southern Pacific at Borden and other places along the road to Tehachapi, where he was extra foreman. In 1881 he again took a position as foreman on construction of the Northern Pacific, working in Washington, Idaho and Montana, and while there was promoted to general foreman. On his return to California in 1883 he became foreman on the hill, as it is called by railroad men, and after two years at Tehachapi he was eight years at Keene. In November, 1893, he became foreman at Bealeville and continued in that capacity until 1907 when he resigned and retired from railroading to engage in farming and stock-raising. He owns six hundred and forty acres at Bealeville where he has made the necessary improvements for carrying on the raising of hay and cattle, his two brands being the quarter-circle under the figure 3 and a double J with bar underneath. Mr. McCarthy was first married in Tehachapi to Hattie Walsh, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and died in Dixon, Cal. His second marriage, June 15, 1898, was with Mrs. Mary (Heskin) Davron, a native of County Mayo, Ireland, the ceremony being performed in Tehachapi by Rev. John Reynolds. Of this union are three children : Jeremiah Michael, Thomas Patrick and Eugene. By her former marriage Mrs. McCarthy has one living child, Mortimer. Having been reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic church, Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy are members of that church. JOHN G. STAHL. — As president of the Kern Live Stock Association, and as a director of the California Jersey Breeders Association, Mr. Stahl holds a position in the state which evidences his extensive knowledge of the many fine points of the cattle business, as well as an executive ability which is capable of a vast amount of labor. He has made a scientific study of the business, and has put forth his utmost effort to bring about the finest and best results. 944 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Mr. Stahl came to Kern county in 1887. His early life was spent in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was born January 16, 1864, and where he at- tended school up to the age of twelve years. He was obliged to look after himself at an early day, owing to the death of his father, and until he was seventeen worked on farms through Ohio. Going to Nebraska he worked there for about a year, in the fall of 1882 coming to California and procur- ing work on the Nadeau ranch in Los Angeles county. In 1887 he came to Kern county and engaged in the hauling of borax from Death Valley to Mojave, driving the twenty-mule team for about two years. He then took up a homestead and timber claim adjoining the Tejon ranch, on which he carried on dry farming. Besides serving as school trustee there he also gave public service as justice of the peace and his fulfillment of the duties of these offices proved highly satisfactory to the community he represented. Some time later he sold out and came to Bakersfield and for two years engaged in hauling oil from the oil fields to town. In 1902 he leased one hundred and sixty acres of land for five years on what is called the Island, and on this property he engaged in farming and' dairying. In the year 1906 he purchased eighty acres of land, but did not come into possession of it until 1907. This land he developed and improved, and in April, 1910, he sold it and came to his present place. Associating himself with H. R. Pea- cock, he went east with him in 1911 and assisted in the purchase of cattle for Mr. Peacock's ranch, of which he was the manager for three years. JEAN EDWARD BERTRAND.— A native of France, Jean Edward Bertrand was born in Basses-Alpes, January 25, 1870, the son of Jacques and Josephine (Bernard) Bertrand, farmers and stockraisers in that country. Jean was brought up on the farm in France and educated in the local schools. Having heard reports of splendid opportunities in California, when twenty years of age he determined to come hither and start for himself. He arrived in San Francisco June 10, 1890, and in September of the same year came to Delano, Kern county. He immediately entered the employ of a sheepman and three years later bought a flock of sheep and ranged them in Kern, Inyo and Tulare counties, meeting with great success. In 1899 he sold his sheep and purchased ten acres on Brundage Lane, adjoining Bakersfield, and there he began farming. Mr. Bertrand was married in East Bakersfield in July, 1899, being united with Lola Bauer, a native of Bakersfield and the daughter of Fred and Belle (Kilbreth)) Bauer, born in Germany and San Francisco, respectively. Her parents were stock raisers in Kern county. The father died in 1902, while the mother makes her home in Bakersfield, where the daughter was reared and educated. With the aid of his wife Mr. Bertrand engaged in farming and stock raising, in which they have been very successful. In 1913 tliey sold their place on Brundage Lane and purchased forty acres ten miles southwest of Bakersfield in the old river district under the Stine canal, where they are raising alfalfa and grain. He also owns a one hundred and sixty acre ranch two miles above Granite Station which he uses for cattle range in the summer, his brand being J. B., and he is meeting with merited success. Mr. and Mrs. Bertrand are the parents of four children, as follows: Jean Edward. Josephine Martha, Frederick and Dorothy. MIGUEL ECHENIQUE.— The sheep business, which has proved a source of most gratifying results to many who have come to the Golden State to try their fortunes, has become the successful vocation of Miguel Echenique, who made his way hither from his native country of Spain to follow his brother, Tomas, who had settled in California and become inter- ested in the sheep raising industry. These sturdy sons of Spain were the children of Jose Maria and Petra (Dendarieta) Echenique, the former a HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 947 farmer and stockman in Navarre and the father of seven children. Of these Miguel was the fifth and was born in Navarre January 4, 1874. The local school of his native place afforded Mr. Echenique his educa- tional training and he completed his course of studies in the Spanish lan- guage. The year 1899 brought him to Kern county, Cal., where his brother Tomas had settled, and he immediately began work for a sheep grower herding sheep. By industry and economy he soon found himself in the pos- session of means and in 1905 he purchased a flock of sheep and began for himself a business that he has continued to the present time. His increasing flock he ranges on the plains and" in the mountains of Kern, Inyo and Mono counties, and his stock has an enviable reputation in the market for its special quality and fine condition generally. With his wife, whose maiden name was Marie Louisa Etcheverry and whose birthplace was Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees, France, he makes his home in a comfortable residence at No. 801 Quincy street, East Bakersfield. Mrs. Echenicjue was the daughter of John and Catherine (Laxague) Etcheverry, who still reside on their farm in the lofty Pyrenees. One child was born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Echenique, which took place in East Bakersfield in 1911, and they have named him Tomas to perpetuate the name of Mr. Echenique's brother. HENRY DIBBLE WEST.— When the tide of pioneer travel to Cali- fornia was yet at its height there came across the plains during the summer of 1853 Dr. Charles N. and Martha (Dibble) West, natives respectively of New Hampshire and Connecticut. The young couple settled in Stanislaus county, where occurred the birth of their eldest child, Henry Dibble, April 23, 1854. Later the family removed to Santa Cruz county, where the mother died ; and at this writing the father, active and mentally alert notwithstanding his ninety-one busy years, is living in San Francisco. The eldest child received public-school advantages supplemented by attendance at the University of the Pacific, San Jose. A clerkship in the store of an uncle, Elisha Giddings, at Turlock gave him his early knowledge of mercantile pursuits. Later he was employed in the store of Simon Jacobs at Plainsburg, Merced county, still later conducting a mercantile establishment at that place on his own account. In 1881 he moved the business to Hanford, two years later selling out to be- come manager of the store of Manassa & Jacobs at Traver. During his resi- dence at Traver he served for several years as justice of the peace and also acquired farming interests. Upon his arrival in Kern county in 1889 he lo- cated a homestead in the Weed Patch. After proving up on the property he sold it and bought three hundred and twenty acres of school land three miles south of what is now Edison. On that place he engaged in raising grain and stock. During 1900 he bought twenty acres in the Fairfax district, three miles from East Bakersfield, where he engaged in raising alfalfa. Forty acres have been added to the original twenty, and both being under the east side canal, he has an excellent alfalfa ranch. Besides operating the land he sold hay to the oil companies iii the Kern river field and continued in the hay business from 1904 until his death, which ( ccurred January 20, 1911, on the home ranch. Politically a Democrat, a citizen of progressive views and splendid public spirit, he had served as deputy county assessor and for seven years had been clerk of the school boards in both Mountain View and Fairfax districts. An organizer of the First Presbyterian Church of Bakersfield, to which his wife and all the members of her family still belong, he served as a trustee and elder and aided largely in the erection of the house of worship on O street. The marriage of Henry Dibble West and Rebecca E. Lauder was solemnized at Plainsburg, Merced county, February 20, 1881. Miss Lauder was a native of Rockburn, Huntingdon county, province of Quebec, Canada, and was the eldest daughter in a family of eleven children, six of whom now 948 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY survive. The father, Andrew Lauder, a native of Montreal of Scotch descent and a wheelwright and carpenter by trade, married Eliza Waller, a native of Ireland. Leaving his family in Canada he came on to California in 1868 in search of a suitable location. The mother died in 1869 and it was not until 1875 that the children joined their father in California, settling at Plainsburg, where he had engaged in carpentering and also served as justice of the peace. His last days were passed at Merced. During the last twelve months of his life he was an invalid as a result of a stroke of paralysis. It fell to the lot of the eldest daughter in this large family to act as housekeeper after the death of her mother and hence she had not the opportunity for a collegiate education, yet she is the possessor of unusual business ability and always has been, not only a home-maker, but a practical assistant in the business affairs of the family. One year after the death of her husband she left the farm and settled at No. 2020 E street, Bakersfield. Aside from the home ranch she owns fifty acres of citrus land near Edison, on which there is a deep well and a pumping plant sufficient to irrigate the land for alfalfa and fruit. The family also has one hundred and sixty acres on Cedar creek near Poso Flat, where a specialty is made of the raising of draft horses. Her eldest sons, Henry D., Andrew L. and Albert, are in charge of the farming operations of the estate. Mrs. Martha Treadway lives on a farm near Bakersfield; Mrs. Emily Kiger makes her home in East Bakersfield; Mrs. Laura Parker is a resident of Bakersfield. The three youngest children. Ruby, Francis S. and Charles W., remain with their mother in the Bakersfield home. THOMAS J. CORNISH.— Whatever of success Mr. Cornish has achieved (and it has been noteworthy) it must be attributed to his own persistence in the midst of the discouraging experiences of his early years. He was born in Cornwall, England, August 8, 1870, being the only son of John and Elizabeth (Ball) Cornish, honest and well-to-do farmers of that shire. At the age of six months his father was taken from him by death, after which he and his niother went to live with his grandfather, George Ball, a farmer of Cornwall. The boy was sent to the St. Columb schools and thus acquired a knowledge of the three R's. At the age of seventeen he left Cornwall for Canada and in Toronto served an apprenticeship to the trade of a baker under his uncle. Mr. Tonkyn, who did all in his power to give the lad a correct knowledge of the principles of the bakery business. Upon the completion of his time he came to the States and followed his occunation at Buffalo, N. Y., and Austin, Pa., after which in 1903 he came to California. The failure of his health prevented him from devoting his attention to his trade and therefore, having invented and patented an oil burner for bake-ovens, he engaged in the manufacture and sale of this article. While able to earn a livelihood he made no financial progress and at the time of his arrival in Bakersfield during June of 1908 he had little capital except his restored health and a thorough knowledge of the baking business. Having no acquaintance with business men and no financial standing, he worked for one year on a salary and then began baking on a very small scale. In his subsequent success his wife has been of the greatest assistance. Indeed, to her intelligent co-operation he attributes in large part the splendid f-tanding he now enjoys as a business man and skilled baker. Prior to their marriage in Niagara Falls, N. Y., she was Miss Bessie Mcintosh, a resident of Buffalo, N. Y., having been born at Springville, Erie county. Possessing ability of an high order, she has been able to promote the success of the busi- ness in which her interest has been as great as his own. For a time after opening his bakery Mr. Cornish did all of the baking without help and during the first two weeks his boy delivered the goods with a basket. That soon proved inadequate and he rented a horse and wagon. As soon as he had saved sufficient money he bought a horse and wagon, but HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 951 still used the rented vehicle. The bakery goods proved popular with critical housekeepers. The demand increased from time to time and now he uses five wagons besides one automobile for delivery purposes. Bakers are kept steadily at work and five thousand loaves of bread are baked every day, besides pies, cakes, cookies, and other bakery goods in like proportions. His payroll amounts to $2500.00 per month and about $30,000.00 per annum. Three modern ovens of large capacity are in constant service. The bakery, which is by far the largest in Kern county, is located at No. 1127 Nineteenth street, with a large branch store at No. 1610 Nineteenth street. Plans are made for a new factory for the manufacture of bread and bakery goods on a larger scale and a much greater variety. This factory will be installed with latest and most modern machinery for bakery goods. The capacity will be increased ten times in all the different lines. J. KELLY RUSSELL.— The cashier of the National Bank of Bakers- field traces his genealogy to several old and honored colonial families, among them being not only the Russells, but also the Duncans, Kellys and Rays. His father, George C. Russell, a native of Bardstown, Ky., and an extensive stock-raiser, made a specialty of breeding the thoroughbred and standard horses for which the blue grass region has been famous for more than a century. The farm which he owned and operated stood in the heart of that noted region, six miles from the city of Lebanon, and from it were sent out a number of rare specimens of equine perfection. One of these animals made a record of 2:11 in Cleveland more than twenty years ago. In judg- ment of horses he was regarded as an expert and in their training he ac- quired a local reputation. By his marriage to Annie Kelly, who like himself remained a lifelong resident of Kentucky, there was an only child, J. Kelly, born at Lebanon, Marion county, Ky., December 26, 1873, reared at the old homestead, educated in public schools and a graduate of a local high school. Regarding the ancestry of the mother of George C. Russell (who was a member of the Duncan family) it may be stated that during the eighteenth century three brothers left their native Scotland and crossed the ocean to the new world, where they became separated. Concerning the fate of two of these brothers nothing is known with accuracy. The third, Henry Duncan, who was born September 3, 1710, in Scotland, and who became a pioneer of Virginia, married Rebecca Briggs, who was born January 7, 1710. By their union seven sons and three daughters were born and six of these became pioneers of Kentucky, namely: Coleman, Charles, George, Henry, Fanny and Rebecca. The first-named, Coleman, married Mary Lyne, and they be- came the parents of seven sons and three daughters. Among the sons was George, born August 11, 1750. and married to Nancy Connelly, member of a colonial Virginian family. The family of George and Nancy Duncan com- prised six sons and three daughters. Of these there still survived as late as 1897 two, the eldest and the youngest, viz. : John S., eighty-two years of age, and Jennie, who was at that time past sixty. The mother of J. Kelly Russell was a daughter of John J. and Susan Jane (Ray) Kelly and a granddaughter of Richard W. and Mary (Knott) Ray, of whom the late ex-Governor J. Proctor Knott was also a lineal de- scendant ; and also a granddaughter of George P. and Ann (Kelly) Kelly. George P., a son of John and Jane (Payne) Kelly, was born April 6, 1793, and died April 27, 1847. Ann, the wife of George P. Kelly and a daughter of James and Nancy Kelly, was born February 21, 1796, and died in Obion county, Tenn., September 27. 1830. John J., son of George P. and Ann Kelly, was born November 23, 1818, and died July 12, 1861, while his wife, Susan Jane, daughter of Richard W. and Mary (Knott) Ray, was born April 28, 1824, and died December 19, 1895. The Ray family was prominent and active in the early colonization of Kentucky. About the year 1774 three brothers, John, James and William Ray, removed from Maryland to Ken- 952 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tucky and settled near the present site of Harrodsburg, Mercer county, where William was soon killed by the Indians. John and James represented the very highest type of physical manhood, being over six feet tall, muscular, broad-shouldered, fearless and brave, endowed with remarkable powers of endurance and with every requisite of the typical pioneer, Indian fighter and woodsman. During their first years in Kentucky they made extensive ex- jylorations of the surrounding wilderness. In one of these trips they visited the wild lands of Kentucky county (now Marion county) and there they entered large tracts of land in the western part of the county near the present site of Raywick. During the year 1794 a number of families (including the Rays, Beards and Knotts) from near the present site of Ellicott Mills in Maryland re- moved to the wilderness of Kentucky and settled on the lands of John and James Ray, including the present site of Raywick and the surrounding country. Even before the migration of that colony as early as 1792, Thomas P. and Frances (Ray) Knott, had left Maryland for Kentucky and had taken passage on a flat-boat at Pittsburg, whence they sailed down the Ohio river to the Falls near the present site of the city of Louisville. Leaving the boat at that point, they traveled by wagon to the new colony near Raywick and in the primeval wilderness established a frontier home. Their family in- cluded the following-named children: Nancy, who married Anthony Bick- ett; Joseph P., who married Maria I. McElroy; Mary, wife of Richard Ray; Thomas P., who married Frances Payne; Frances, Mrs. Stephen Bristow; Jane Hart, who died unmarried at the age of twenty-five ; Samuel, who mar- ried Elizabeth Ray; Lloyd, who married Martha Allen; and Ellen, who died at the age of sixteen. Included in the Ray family were the following brothers and sisters: John S., who married Kitty Beard; Samuel, who mar- ried Rosa Everhart ; Frances, Mrs. Thomas P. Knott ; Deborah, Mrs. Lloyd Thurman ; Mrs. John Barbee. whose husband was the son of a noted general ; Lloyd, who married Nancy Wicklifife, a sister of Governor Charles A. Wick- lifife and Robert Wicklifife, the most famous lawyers of their day in Ken- tucky; and William (known as Col. Billy Ray), who married his cousin, Sarah Ray. In life, character and attainments J. Kelly Russell has added prestige to the honored name which he bears. After leaving school he became a mes- senger in the Marion National Bank in Lebanon, Ky., and later was pro- moted to be bookkeeper. Upon resigning that position he came to Califor- nia, where for eight years he was connected with the Edison Electric Light and Power Company of San Francisco. After a period of service as assistant cashier he was placed in charge of a branch office in San Francisco and be- came office manager of the Western Light & Power Company, in which also he was secretary and a director. When he resigned that responsible position he became credit man and confidential secretary for Swabacker Bros., a firm of wholesale conunission merchants, with whom he continued until the busi- ness was sold and the partners retired. During January of 1911 he came to Bakersfield as assistant cashier of the Bank of Bakersfield and a year later was promoted to be cashier, remaining in that capacity until the bank was discontinued at its old location November 1, 1912, having been consolidated during the previous month with the Security Trust Company. However, in the meantime he had become convinced of the great possibilities of Bakers- field. Entertaining the most optimistic opinion of the city's future develop- ment, he was anxious to continue in the banking business at this point. Ac- cordingly through his own efiforts. supplementing the enterprise of other pro- gressive citizens, a new bank was organized March 6, 1913, and on the 15th of April the National Bank of Bakersfield, with a paid-in capital of $100,- 0(X).00. began in business. The success of the institution has surpassed the most sanguine hopes of its projectors. Conservative loans and judicious in- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 955 vestments govern the policy of the managers, who make their motto, "Not the largest business, but a safe business at all times." The officers are as follows: C. L. Claflin, president; F. H. Hall and W. A. Bonynge, vice- presidents; J. K. Russell, cashier; F. J. Galtes, assistant cashier. The fol- lowing are the directors : C. L. Claflin, F. H. Hall, W. A. Bonynge, J. O. Michelle, J. K. Russell, Joseph Redlick, George Haberfelde, A. P. Eyraud, W. W. Kelly, L. P. Keester, J. B. Batz, E. D. Burge and E. M. Brown. Since coming to this city Mr. Russell has allied himself with the Bakers- field Club and Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. During the period of his residence in San Francisco he met and married Miss Aimee Rogers, a native of Los Angeles and a graduate of the San Jose high school, her father, William J. Rogers, having been a well-known citizen of San Jose. LEWIS ROGER BUCHANAN.— Of western birth and formerly a resi- dent of various parts of the west, Mr. Buchanan was born at Coal Creek near Pueblo, Colo., November 7, 1882, and is a son of John L. and Mary Ann (Buck- bee) Buchanan, the former a laboring man for years employed as a well-digger by the Santa Fe Railroad Company. There were three children in the family, namely : Lewis Roger, of Taft ; Ora P., a partner of his older brother in the pool hall at Taft ; and Eva May, who married J. W. Skaggs. an employe at McKittrick of the great corporation of Miller & Lux. When the eldest child was a mere infant the family removed from Colorado to the Indian Territory, where the father was employed in digging wells for the Santa Fe. About 1885 another move was made to Oregon, where the father first engaged in construction work at Cascade Falls. The mother died at Roseburg. that state, when Lewis R. was a lad of ten years and afterward he left the schools of Roseburg, finishing the grammar-school studies at Myrtle Point, Coos county. During 1900 he came to California and settled at Hanford, where his father still resides. After having been variously employed until 1906 Air. Buchanan then spent a short time in Los Angeles at the carpenter's trade. During the winter of 1906-07 he worked as a carpenter at Coalinga. In a short time he was made head rig-builder for the Imperial Oil Company and for two years he filled the position with efficiency. Shortly after the great fire at Taft he came to the town and began to work in the rebuilding of stores and houses. Much of his work was done for the J. F. Lucey Company, the Union Tool Com- pany and the McCutchens. Besides putting up shops, stores and houses in town he engaged in building houses on the leases in the Midway field and in 1911 he had charge of the erection of the Fellows hotel. Forming a partner- ship with his brother, he started the pool and billiard hall which has been conducted by them up to the present time. About November of 1912 he received the appointment of chief of the Taft fire department. After coming to Taft in April, 1910, he organized and became manager of the baseball nine of the town. In various fraternities Mr. Buchanan has been influential. While making his headquarters at Coalinga he was made a Mason in Coalinga Lodge No. 387, F. & A. M. Upon the organization of the Improved Order of Red Men, Tribe No. 233, at Taft. he became a charter member and was chosen the first presiding officer. In addition he has been prominent in Taft Lodge No. 426, I. O. O. F., and at this writing is a member of the building committee having charge of the erection of the new hall on Center street. The corner stone was laid June 21, 1913, and the building completed in the fall of the same year. FRANK TEMPLETON WILLIS.— Mr. Willis is one who has had much experience as a stationary engineer and has taken a three years' course in engineering with the International Correspondence School. He now holds the position of foreman in charge of the pumping plant of the Chanslor-Can- field Midway Oil Company located six miles west of McKittrick in the Little 956 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Santa Maria Valley. The plant supplies water for the company's oil opera- tions in the North Midway at Fellows. It comprises a system of deep wells and the water is pumped over the hills and delivered at a distance of fourteen miles to the Fellows Camp and has a capacity of about fourteen hundred barrels per day. Frank Templeton Willis was born in Mt. Vernon, Posey county, Ind.. October 29, 1876, and is the son of Joshua and Hannah (Templeton) Willis, natives of Mt. Vernon, Ind., and White county, 111., respectively. They were farmers at Mt. Vernon, but now reside in Wickenburg, Ariz. Of their three children Frank is the oldest; he was brought up in Lakin, Kans., where he was educated in the public and high schools, graduating in 1893. when he began to learn engineering in Victor, Colo., and in time became a stationary engineer. Later he held positions with mining companies in different parts of Colorado, Montana, Oregon and Arizona, and during this time learned min- ing in all its details and held positions as foreman and superintendent of mines. He was for five years foreman of the water service department of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad at Prescott, Ariz., a position which he resigned in September, 1910, to accept his present position as foreman of the Chanslor-Canfield Midway Oil Company's water plant, since which time he. has remodeled the plant to its present efficient service and capacity. Mr. Willis was married in Phoenix, Ariz., to Miss Anna Wilson, who was born in Oakland, Cal., and to the union have been born three children : Dorothy, Frances and Charles. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and with his wife is a member of the Women of Woodcraft. Mrs. Willis is a member of the Presbyterian Church. For many years Mr. Willis was a member of the Stationary Engineers Union and is a Democrat. HARRY MILO ELWOOD, M.D.— A thorough preparation for the practice of medicine and surgery qualifies Dr. Elwood for successful work in his chosen calling. As the surgeon at Mojave for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific Railroads, and as a private practitioner with a large list of families to whom he acts as physician, he stands at the head of the men of his profession in his community. The older of two children. Dr. Elwood was born at Nunda, Livingston county, N. Y., May 9, 1880, and is a son of Homer C. and D. Estelle (Gif- ford) Elwood, natives res])ectively of Nunda and Gainesville, N. Y., the father for sixteen years a manager in the postoffice department of the govern- ment service, but more recently and at present a partner in a wholesale hard- ware business in the city of Buffak>. After he had completed the studies of the grammar and high schools of Nunda and had enjoyed the excellent ad- vantages of being a Normal post graduate, H. M. Elwood matriculated in the medical department of the University of Buffalo, where he completed the regular course and was graduated in 1905 with the degree of M.D. Spe- cial opportunities for the study of nervous diseases came to him during a service of one year as interne in the New York state hospital and later he engaged in private practice in Buffalo, from which city in January of 1909 he came to Los Angeles and since then he has engaged in professional work in California. Not long after his arrival in the west the young Doctor received an offer to take up surgical work for the Los Angeles aqueduct project. By the nature of the work there were frequent accidents among the workmen and the company desired to secure the services of a physician of ability, surgical skill and thorough medical knowledge. In their selection of Dr. Elwood they were peculiarly fortunate, for he was by temperament and education qual- ified for the difficult task of establishing and maintaining hospitals in the different fields of labor extending from Saugus as far north as Haiwee. Dur- ing the period of aqueduct construction work he started and conducted hos- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 957 pitals at Cinco, San Canon, Le Brun and Monolith, meanwhile establishing headquarters at Mojave, where ever since he has made his home. His wife, formerly Elizabeth Gray, was born at Tombstone, Ariz., and is a daughter of John Gray, who served as a division engineer of the aqueduct. After severing his coimection with the aqueduct Mr. Gray was engaged by the Pierson Engineering Company to put through a four-track subway power and light tunnel in Barcelona, Spain, which was successfully accomplished by him, after the failure of foreign engineers. Politically the Doctor votes with the Republican party. In religion he is of the Baptist faith. Made a Mason in York state in Nunda Lodge No. 682, A. F. & A. M., after coming west he became identified with Los Angeles Consistory No. 3, Scottish Rite of Los Angeles. In addition he is associated with the Royal Arcanum, also the Alpha Chapter of the Alpha Omega Delta. C. A. FOX. — The town of Taft has doubtless no more' energetic and ])opular citizen than the proprietor of the Mariposa Hotel and cigar business, who is now busying himself in the erection of the forty thousand dollar hotel building, a three-story brick structure which promises to be the most sightly building in the town. Mr. Fox has been in Taft since November, 1909, and since then he has evidenced his sincerity in making it his adopted home by broadening his interests and taking an active part in the com- munity Avelfare. A native of Cass City, Tuscola county, Mich., his birth having oc- curred September 20, 1870, he was but six years of age when brought by his parents westward to Texas. His boyhood was spent at Honey Grove, that state, where he attended the public and high schools, and his first busi- ness interest was running a cotton gin at Monkstown when he was eighteen years of age. He learned the trade of jeweler, serving an apprenticeship, and conducted a successful jewelry business in connection with the cotton gin at Monkstown. He next went on the road, and for a time made Port- land, Ore., his home, going later to San Francisco and then to Mariposa county, at the latter place becoming proprietor of the general store known as the Horseshoe. At the inauguration of activities in Taft he came to this town and invested in property, which has so increased in value that he has become a wealthy man. His place of business is strictly up-to-date, having every line of equipment necessary to make a place of recreation complete, a barber shop, club room and news depot being maintained in connection with the billiard and pool room. The marriage of Mr. Fox took place in Minnesota, uniting him with Miss Maude M. Roney, who has surrounded herself with a host of friends. CONRAD RITZMAN. — Not a few representatives of the Swiss nation- ality have found their way to California and almost invariably they have proved to be thrifty, industrious and persevering people, a splendid acces- sion to the population of the west. Of the late Mr. Ritzman it may be said that he displayed the traits of his countrymen and during the long period of his identification with our state he proved himself to be a capable work- man and honest citizen. He was a member of an agricultural family of Switzerland and was brought up on a farm in Canton Zurich, but had no desire to enter the occupation as a means of livelihood, therefore he was apprenticed in boyhood to the trade of stone-dresser, later serving his time at the miller's trade, in which he became very proficient. During young manhood he married Miss Susanna Beck, who was born and reared in Zurich. They established a home in Canton Zurich, where were born their two children, Carl and x-Mice. The latter, however, was taken from the home by death at the early age of five years. Crossing the ocean from the old country and proceeding to California, during 1882 Conrad Ritzman entered the employ of the Starr mills as a 958 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY stone-dresser. Later he bought and operated a mill at Roseville, Placer county. The destruction of the plant by fire entailed upon him a heavy loss and forced him to begin anew. Coming to Bakersfield he found work as a stone-dresser in the Kern river mills and the excellent character of his services led to his promotion to be head miller, in which capacity he continued for many years. In the meantime he had been very economical and thrifty, so that he had accumulated a neat sum for investment. Upon resigning from the mill he bought the northwest corner of Humboldt and Baker streets and erected a frame building, in which he engaged in the liquor business. When the frame structure was destroyed by fire he erected the Ritzman building, a brick structure, 76 x 100 feet in dimensions, con- structed with a view to use as retail stores. For a time he engaged in business, but on his retirement he rented the room to other parties. His death occurred October 4, 1910, at his home in Bakersfield. The only son of the late Conrad Ritzman and the sole survivor of the family is Carl Ritzman, who was born at Flaach, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, in 1870, and came to the United States in 1882, after which he attended public schools and acquired a knowledge of the English language. For some years he was employed on farms in Minnesota, but upon his return to California he learned the trade of car-repairer in the Southern Pacific shops at East Bakersfield and is still a member of the Car Repairers' Union, although since the death of his father he has not followed the trade, but has given his attention to looking after his interests. Politically he votes for the men and measures promoted and sustained by the Republican party. HARRY SYLVESTER KNIGHT.— Three different commonwealths have formed the environment for distinct periods in the life of Mr. Knight, who passed the first twelve years of his useful existence in Iowa and spent the ten ensuing years in Nebraska, but since 1888 has been a resident of Cali- fornia, identifying himself with the development of the west and proving a trustworthy citizen and capable farmer. Jasper county, Iowa, is his native place, and March 13, 1866, the date of his birth. When only five years of age he was sent to the country school near the home farm. There were very few children in the district and in order to secure the number absolutely necessary before a teacher would be furnished for the school, every available child was sent as a pupil, hence his early initiation into the tasks of the schoolroom. The same little primitive country building remained the center of his educational activities and his daily pleasures for the next seven years and then he bade farewell to boyhood friends and accompanied his parents to Valley Junction, Douglas county. Neb., where they took up land and gave close attention to the cultivation of a prairie farm. Until attaining his ma- jority he worked for his father, after which without means or friends he came to California to take up the battle of life alone and single-handed. After his arrival in Pasadena in 1888 he began to team and to haul freight. Identified with Kern county since 1890, Mr. Knight first settled in the Weed Patch district and spent three years on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres included in the claims of "Lucky" Baldwin. Although he lived there only those few years he placed the land under cultivation and greatly enhanced its possible returns. Next he removed to the vicinity of the Tejon ranch and engaged in dry farming for eight years. Discouraged by lack of success, he finally left the ranch and removed to Bakersfield. where he took contracts for the grading of streets. In addition he teamed to and from Oil City. The Standard Oil Company's interests kept him in the oil fields for four years and meanwhile he also built oil tanks on contract. During 1904 he leased one hundred and forty acres sixteen miles west of Bakersfield for a term of five years, with the privilege of purchase at the expiration of the term of rental. From the first he was pleased with the land and convinced RESIDENCE OF HARRY SYLVESTER KNIGHT, RIO BRAVO, CAL. PUMPING PLANT ON THE KNIGHT RANCH AT RIO BRAVO, THROWING A 350 MINER'S INCH STREAM HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 961 of its possibilities for general farming. Therefore, instead of awaiting the end of his lease, he took up negotiations with the owner in three years and the year 1907 found him with the title vested in his own name. In addi- tion he has since bought three hundred and twenty acres on section 4, this being wholly unimproved. Altogether he now owns an entire section of land, the home place having one hundred acres under cultivation to alfalfa and grain. One of his specialties is the raising of horses, cattle and hogs and he now has two hundred head on the farm. It is said that he has here the best water well in the entire county, the supply being abundant and of superior quality. The pumping plant, which was the first brought into the locality, comprises a forty horse-power engine manufactured by the Besse- mer Gas Engine Company and operated at a cost of seven cents per hour. It is a twelve-inch well, in which is placed a No. 8 centripetal pump, bring- ing a stream of water flowing at the rate of about three thousand and eighty- five gallons each minute, or three hundred and fifty inches of water. It has the best record of any single well in the county. After coming to California Mr. Knight formed the acquaintance of Miss Clara Day, who was born in Contra Costa county, this state, August 28, 1872, and is a daughter of John Day, a hunter and a farmer in Contra Costa county. They were united in marriage on New Year's day in 1892 and are now the parents of seven children, namely: Errol, Lydia, Loma, Doris, Virginia, Hal and Alta. G. H. GALBRAITH. — The era of early American occupancy of Cali- fornia witnessed the arrival in San Francisco of John Galbraith, an advent- urous youth of Irish birth and ancestry, who sailed around Cape Horn and at the end of a tedious voyage landed in San Francisco. Although he landed here almost penniless and friendless, his own energy enabled him to sur- mount obstacles and achieve success. The Celtic wit carried him through many a trying situation and gave him friends in every circle. To the crude conditions of the nascent west he adapted himself with ready ease and such was his popularity that at one time he was elected by a large majority to represent his district of San Francisco in the state senate. With the exception of some years spent in Virginia City, Nev., during the period of the great mining excitement in that region, he remained in San Francisco until his death and during much of the time he was proprietor of a grocery establishment in that city. By the marriage of Hon. John Galbraith and Ellen McCary, who came via Panama to San Francisco at an early age and who is now living in Bakersfield, there were four children, the only son and youngest child being G. H., whose birth occurred in San Francisco February 22. 1875. The schools of his native city gave him fair advantages. After he had been graduated from the San Francisco high school in 1890 he secured a clerical position with a mercantile agency and continued in the same place until 1897. During that year he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a clerk in the San Francisco warehouse. Later he was transferred to the freight house in the same city and there continued until 1907. Meanwhile the ordeal of the earthquake and fire had placed him under a great strain. The work of the department became greatly involved. Under the pressure of his responsibilities his health became impaired and he found it necessary to resign. In order to recuperate he followed ranch- ing for nine months in the Santa Cruz mountains eight miles from Santa Cruz. Upon coming to Bakersfield in September of 1908 Mr. Galbraith entered upon his duties as chief clerk of the freight office. For two years he filled the position with ability and tact. In recognition of faithful service he was promoted in September, 1910, to be freight agent at Bakersfield and con- 962 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tinued in the position until May of 1912. But he had determined to embark in business for himself and became proprietor of the Bakersfield Truck Company, which he now owns and operates. Under his active supervision the business has been made successful. In addition to the use of teams and wagons he owns two auto trucks and these are kept in almost constant use. Some time since he acquired by purchase a block of land on the Santa Fe Railroad and on Fifteenth and S streets. On this site he has erected large stables, garage and storeroom as a headquarters for rigs. The main office is at No. 2016 Chester avenue. In politics Air. Galbraith votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he is connected with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. His family consists of two sons, Howard and Donald, and his wife, formerly May Helen Lowney, who is a native daughter of San Francisco and a graduate of the Polytechnic high school of that city. Thoroughly educated in the schools and naturally talented, she has been of the greatest assistance to her hus- band, for she is not only a wise mother but a capable home-maker. She represents the third generation of the Lowney family in California. Her father, Thomas, was brought to this state when only a year old by her grandfather, Timothy Lowney, who had been a shipbuilder in Massa- chusetts and crossed the plains in 1849, and who for some years served as a foreman in the Mare Island navy yard, afterwards was proprietor of a car- riage repository in San Francisco. Eventually he became very prominent in the public life of San Francisco and filled a number of important offices, among them that of superintendent of streets of that city. Thomas Lowney was a graduate of San Francisco Boys' high school and St. Mary's College, and continued the business established by his father. KENT S. KNOWLTON.— In an era when horticulture to an ever in- creasing extent is attracting the attention and commanding the highest talents of the people of California the office of county horticultural commissioner imposes great responsibilities upon its incumbent, who necessarily must be an authority upon the subject, a man of wide information and wise judgment, and one regarding a public office as a public trust. After having engaged for one year as deputy to Dave Hirshfield, then the horticultural commis- sioner of Kern county, Kent S. Knowlton was commissioned to the office April 1, 1912, by the board of supervisors, who selected him after thoughtful consideration of the matter, and with a realization that the office, in a county as large as Kern and one just entering upon a great horticultural develop- ment, demands more than ordinary ability on the part of its incumbent. Already it has been proved that no mistake was made in the selection of Mr. Knowlton, who is a man of progressive tendencies, a warm admirer of Bur- bank, and an influential member of the State Association of County Horticul- tural Commissioners. One of his first steps after entering upon official duties was the preparation of a county map outlining the lands suitable for suc- cessful orange-growing. On the completion of the map and after having made a most careful study of the subject, he gave it as his opinion that there are at least two hundred and fifty thousand acres of mesa land in the county, upon which the growing of oranges can be made a commercial success. Although from his earliest recollections a resident of California, Mr. Knowlton is a native of Nebraska and a member of an old Pennsylvania family. His father, O. V.. was born at Spottsylvania, Pa., but accompanied his parents to Illinois in early life and settled near Marengo. When only fifteen years of age he enlisted in the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry and served during the three last years of the Civil war, returning home with a record which, considering his extreme youth, was not only meritorious, but almost remarkable. About 1885, accompanied by his wife, Julia (Huntington) Knowlton. and their children, he came to California and settled at Fullerton, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 965 where his wife died in 1902. Ever since coming to the west he has been interested in the orange business. Meanwhile he has been prominent as a citizen and influential as a worker in the Grand Army of the Republic. Dur- ing the summer of 1913 he was elected commander of the Southern Cali- fornia Association at the Huntington Beach encampment, an honor richly merited by his long connection with the Army. Of his five children the eldest, Charles S., of Fullerton, is an expert in the budding and grafting of oranges; the second, Avis S., resides at home; Hollis is an employe of the Lord Motor Company in Los Angeles and Ruth C. is a student in the Fullerton high school. In this family of five the second son and third child, Kent S., was born July 23, 1883, in Nuckolls county, Neb., near the village of Davenport. The scenes of his early recollections are in Orange county, this state, where as a boy he attended public school and learned to bud, graft and plant oranges. When sixteen years of age he became an employe of C. C. Chapman, who had purchased the Leffingwell ranch near Fullerton and who since has devel- oped the largest orange ranch in the state. After fourteen months on that place he went to Riverside to work in a packing house. Later he spent a year under a contractor, A. A. Polhemus, engaged in the construction of a breakwater at San Luis Obispo. Next he took the full course of three years in the California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo, where he specialized in dairying and horticulture. Upon completing the course and finding no imme- diate opening in the line of his special preparation, he went to the mining districts of Nevada and engaged as an engineer and freighter, also for a time carried on a feed business. Returning to California, he worked in the Santa Maria and Coalinga oil fields, thence came to the west side fields of Kern county, where, finding an available opening in the line of his preferred occu- pation, he turned his attention to horticulture and is now county commis- sioner, with office in the court-house. Aside from the duties of the office, he finds leisure to participate in the work of the Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield and since 1911 has been a member of Troop A First Squadron of Cavalry, National Guard California, in which he ranks as sergeant. PIERRE DUHART. — An intimate association of some twenty-five years with the sheep and farming industries of California has enabled Mr. Duhart to conduct his farming operations along the most successful lines, and his active citizenship and untiring efiforts toward the benefit of his community have been deeply appreciated by all who have come to know him. He is a native of the Cantcn of Hasparren, Basses-Pyrenees, France, his birth having occurred there in 1857. His father, Jean Duhart, was a farmer and stockman in that vicinity and he reared his son in that environment, imparting to him the rudiments of that occupation and thus preparing him for his life's work. His educational opportunities were naturally limited, as at that time there was no demand for public schools as now, and the young bt»y grew to young manhood learning the lessons necessary for his development more by observation than by teaching. In 1888 he came to Los Angeles, and later followed farming and sheep raising in Orange county for a period of five years. Then purchasing a flock of sheep he ranged them in Orange and San Bernardino counties. In 1894 he came to Kern county with his flock and ranged them in this vicinity, becoming so pleased with the country that he brought his family and settled in Tehachapi, where he built a comfortable residence which he still owns. He sold his sheep in 1905 and then purchased a forty-acre tract of land, located three and a half miles southwest of Bakersfield, which he immediately set to work to improve. Leveling it, he sowed it to alfalfa and corn, and the place is irrigated by the Stine canal. Mr. Duhart was married in Los Angeles to Miss Elizabeth Borda, a 966 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY native of Cambo, the beautiful watering place of France, in Basses-Pyrenees. An only child has come to them, Lida, who is a graduate of the Kern county high school, class of 1912. The family worship at St. Francis Catholic Church. Politically he is a Republican. HENRY E. SMITH.— From early life identified with the oil industry and employed in the eastern oil fields at an age when the majority of boys are receiving educational advantages, Mr. Smith correctly stands among the most experienced men in the oil fields centering around Taft. Born in Pennsylvania April 8, 1862, he passed the days of childhood in Venango and Crawford counties and had meager opportunities to gain an education. While in text-books he advanced no further than a knowledge of the three R's, by reading and observation he has become a man of broad culture and wide information, with a reputation for being particularly well informed in the oil industry. By working in various departments and in several capacities he acquired a versatile familiarity with the business. During 1890 he became an employe of the Standard Oil Company at Franklin, Pa., and remained with them there for three years, after which he bought an oil lease and devoted two years to its improvement. Next he represented the Standard Oil Company at Gibsonburg, Sandusky County, Ohio, for a number of years and then was transferred to their interests at Marion, Ind., where he remained for eight years. On the 6th of March, 1909, iVIr. Smith and his family arrived at Bakers- field after a quick trip from their former eastern home. On the 8th of the same month they came to what is now Taft, and here he engaged as store- keeper for the Standard Oil Company, having charge of their warehouse. On the present townsite of Taft he erected the first rooming house in the new town, it being the first building erected for business purposes, and was completed two weeks before the disastrous fire which wiped out all the busi- ness houses which were then located on Sidetrack No. 2. Since then he and his wife have continued to operate the rooming business and meanwhile have established a regular patronage among people whose business interests often bring them to this district. Upon the organization of a company to operate an electric light plant Mr. Smith was chosen vice president and a director of the new concern, which later became a branch of the San Joaquin Light & Power Company. When the Chamber of Commerce was established he was chosen its first vice president and gave of his time and influence to place the new venture upon a substantial basis to aid in the material upbuild- ing of the town. His marriage took place at Olean, N. Y., in March of 1886 and united him with Miss Mary Fitzpatrick, a native of Canada. One son, George, blessed their union. in all his life's work Mr. Smith has had the most hearty co-operation of his excellent wife. She has not only carefully managed many of the business afifairs connected with their household and rooming house, but has taken a decided stand for the civic betterment and the social and moral upliftment of Taft. She bears the distinction of having been the first woman to vote at a general municipal election at Taft. She is treasurer of the Woman's Improvement Club of Taft, and is a very active spirit in the St. Mary's Catholic Church of said city. She was elected the first president of the Altar Society of the Taft church, a position which she still fills with ability and fidelity. In company with Mrs. Fred O'Brien and Mrs. J. McEnany of Taft she started out with a subscription list and raised $1600 for the building of St. Mary's church the first week, thus insuring the splendid concrete church edifice at the corner of Kern and Second streets, which is under the pastorate of Father Prendiville and belongs to the East Bakersfield district. In fraternal relations Mr. Smith has allied himself with the Loyal Order of Moose since coming to his present place of residence and his interest in the organization has promoted its numerical growth in substantial measure. M-^- ^JU^ y^a^LM' >l" ^rnn^iX^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 969 With a number of other prominent men of the town he was instrumental in securing the incorporation of Taft, the vote for which was taken November 7, 1910, resulting in the town being made a city of the sixth class. At the regular election, April 8, 1912, he was elected a member of the board of trustees, receiving forty votes more than even the most successful of the other nominees. Upon the organization of the board at its first meeting he was chosen president, a deserved tribute to his intelligence and one which received the warm approval of the general public. REV. EDGAR R. FULLER, A.M.. B.D.— The life which this narrative depicts began August 15, 1864, in New York state, on a farm near Gouver- neur in St. Lawrence county a short distance from the river of that name. The home was one of unostentatious comfort, in which high thinking and lofty principles of honor were made the chief objects of character develop- ment. Sturdy and patriotic New England ancestry was represented in the pedigree. The parents, Charles Thatcher and Ora Frutilla (Manley) Fuller, were natives of northern New York. The family lineage traces directly to the illustrious Dr. Samuel Fuller, who was a passenger on the Mayflower, phy- sician of the colony and deacon of Pilgrim Church, Plymouth, Mass. There were six children in the immediate family and two of these, together with the parents, have passed from earth. Of the four survivors, and fourth in order of birth, was Edgar Roselle Fuller, now pastor of the First Congrega- tional Church of Bakersfield and one of the leading men of the denomina- tion in Southern California. Whatever of ministerial success has come into the life of Rev. Mr. Fuller, whatever of culture he has achieved, whatever of good he has accom- plished, may be attributed to his own indomitable determination, coupled with an inheritance of splendid moral and mental qualifications and the religious zeal that led his ancestors in centuries agone to seek freedom from persecution in the new world. The substantial position of his parents came from character rather than wealth. There was little to aid him in his edu- cational aspirations, yet with characteristic determination he started out to secure first-class advantages. To accomplish this result it was necessary not only to earn a livelihood, but to lay aside a considerable amount for college expenses. Self-reliance was thus developed. The struggle that he expe- rienced in trying to gain an education lent him strength for the subsequent struggle to establish a church in the midst of a discouraging environment. After having completed the course in the Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary he studied for one year (1882) in the Dansville Seminary and in September of 1883 matriculated in the Hiram (Ohio) College, from which he was graduated in 1890 with the degree of A.B. Meanwhile in the fall of 1885 he had married in Hiram, Ohio, Mrs. Julia (Buckingham) Mowbray, a descend- ant of the Buckinghams of New England and the Mastersons of Virginia, who was then a widow, with one child, Henry B. Mowbray. After his mar- riage he took his wife to Florida and engaged in ministerial work until 1888, meanwhile being ordained as a preacher of the Gospel. He returned to Ohio and completed the classical course at Hiram. In 1893 his alma mater con- ferred upon him for literary work the degree of AM. As a high school teacher and minister he earned an amount sufficient to defray his college expenses and complete the classical course in Oberlin Theological Seminary at Oberlin, Ohio, where in 1896 he received the degree of B.D. at graduation. A successful pastorate of one year at Imlay City, Mich., was terminated because the failing health of IMrs. Fuller rendered imperative a radical change in climate. From among several opportunities he chose the call to the First Congregational Church of Bakersfield. This was accepted with the hope that the California climate would prove beneficial to his wife and in that hope he was gratified by her steady improvement. Church conditions 970 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY at Bakersfield then were discouraging to an unusual degree. Had he been a man of less determination he would have given up the charge as hopeless. There were not more than twenty-five church members that could be found and their house of worship was a small frame building on Fifteenth street facing a large open irrigation ditch and the Santa Fe Railroad tracks, then being built. The church had been organized in 1892 by Rev. A. K. Johnson, D.D., who ministered to the charge for a time, followed by Rev. J. W. Phil- lips. The pulpit was then vacant for six months, after which Rev. Mr. Fuller was called. Most of the members favored disbanding. However, the home missionary superintendent, Dr. James T. Ford, importuned the new pastor to make a last desperate effort to maintain the church, assuring him that it would be no discredit to him if he failed in such an apparently hopeless undertaking, while if he succeeded it would prove his own ability and the zeal of his few parishioners. Studying the problem with prayerful earnest- ness, he decided to accept the call, provided a change of location was secured as the first step. Accordingly a lot was purchased on Seventeenth street near G and thither the old box building was removed, then enlarged and remod- eled to better suit the needs of the work. In 1898 a parsonage was erected. Later the corner lot was bought, giving them an area of 132x116 feet and ren- dering possible such an adequately equipped plant as a working church in a growing city requires. So prosperous has been the work under the present pastorate that the membership, now numbering more than two hundred and twenty-five per- sons, plans to erect a more suitable building in the not distant future, it being the intention to erect a building, in the mission style of architecture, that covers the entire lot, plans for which are now in hand and the progress of the building fund foreshadows early realization. Fifteen years ago few would have predicted that the church could have reached its present size, zeal and prosperity. Nor has the work of the congregation been limited to the spiritual and material needs of the local parish, for with missionary en- thusiasm they have planted a mission for the Alexicans and another for the Chinese and the former receives regular pastoral supervision. In addition they organized the Pilgrim Congregational Church in East Bakersfield and have generously supplied funds to maintain and equip the work. Aggressive and laborious as has been his local work, it has not represented the limit of his activities. Elected a member of the board of directors for the South- ern California Home Missionary Society in 1904, and later of the State Con- ference, he has helped mould the work of his own denomination. Requested to take the supervision of congregational work throughout his own county, which then had, besides the church at Bakersfield, another at Rosedale and a schoolhouse appointment at Wasco, he has seen seven Congregational churches organized and four of these come to self-support and acquire good properties. These are East Bakersfield, Oil Center, Panama, Greenfield, ]\Ic- Kittrick, Mountain View and Maricopa. When the total number had reached five a Congregational Association was formed in the county and this has been a source of great help in the work of religious upbuilding. The steady growth of the cause in Kern county is largely due to the tact, ability and sagacity of Mr. Fuller, whose keen intelligence may be seen in every forward movement, as his consecrated spirit is seen in the devo- tion to the work evinced by the majority of the members. It is a source of gratification to Rev. and Mrs. Fuller that her son, Rev. Henry B. Mowbray, now filling the important position of associate pastor of Pilgrim Presbyterian Church at Cleveland, Ohio, is a recognized specialist in Bible school and all lines of institutional church work, and they also maintain a just pride in the only child of their union, Clarence Mark Fuller, a young man of exceptional ability, now a trusted official of the National /^&^V^AixM fi. "^.tyiAMy^i^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 973 Petroleum Company, also president and manager of the C. M. Fuller Com- pany, Incorporated, dealers in oils, asphalt and real estate. MARSHALL R, COWAN. — At the beginning of the nineteenth century the tide of emigration brought members of the Cowan family into Ten- nessee and it is authoritatively stated that Ross Cowan, a native Virginian, was the lirst white man to establish a home in the wilds of middle Ten- nessee, where he built his cabin as early as 1800. His son and namesake lived and died in Tennessee, where he followed the occupation of a planter. Among the children of the second Ross Cowan there was a son, James Wilson Cowan, who married Jennie Williams and settled upon a farm in Tennessee, of which state both he and his wife were natives. After their children were grown they gave up their Tennessee home and came west to California, settling in Kern county, where the father since has become a prominent and influential farmer. All of their children also live in Kern county with the exception of their eldest son, Frank, who resides in Mem- phis, Tenn., and follows the trade of a cement contractor. The only daughter, Mamie, is the wife of Arthur M. Cravath, employed as a tool dresser for the Associated Oil Company in the Kern river field. The youngest son, Manney G., engages in general farming south of Bakersfield. The second son and third child, Marshall R., was born at Winchester, Tenn., December 1, 1880, and received such limited advantages as the means of the family rendered possible. As a boy he helped with the work on the plantation. Industry and energy aided him to secure a foothold and also to pay his expenses for two terms in the Tyrrell Normal College at Deckard, Tenn. At the age of twenty-one years he came to California in 1901 and settled temporarily at Bakersfield. Two years later his parents, brother and sister joined him in this county. For one year he was employed in the coop- erage department of the Vulcan refinery in the Kern river fields. Next he entered the employ of the Central Point Oil Company of the Associated, where he acted as gang-pusher of the well pullers, continuing with the same organization for eighteen months. The two following years were spent in the employ of the Peerless and afterward he lived for nine months in San Francisco, where he was engaged as fireman with the Geary Street Railroad Company. While employed in San Francisco he married Miss Ida T. Carlson, daughter of the late John Carlson, at one time a well-known mine contractor living at Bakersfield. There is one child of the union, James \A'ilson Cowan, Jr. Upon returning from San Francisco to the Kern river fields Mr. Cowan secured a position without difficulty, for his former record was in his favor and he was known as a young man of industry and energy. During 1907 he was made foreman under George A. Betts, superintendent, of the Yellowstone, Seaboard and Section 6 Oil Companies, and since then he and his family have made their home in a comfortable cottage on the section 6 lease. There are ten acres in each of the leasee. The Yellowstone produces forty-five hundred, the Seaboard three thousand and Section 6 about eighteen hundred barrels per month. February 1, 1913, he was made superintendent of the Yellowstone Oil Company, which necessitated relinquishing the fore- manship of the Seaboard and Section 6, and he is now giving his entire time and attention to the Yellowstone. Fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the W^orld at Bakersfield and politically he is a Democrat. ABRAHAM JACOBY.— The genealogy of the Jacoby family shows an unbroken line of thrifty merchants and prosperous business men identified with various sections of Germany, but particularly with West Prussia, where Marcus Jacoby, for years a leading merchant at Loebau and a man of the utmost integrity and the highest character, died at the age of ninety- seven years. In the same Prussian town occurred the death of his wife, 974 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Henrietta, daughter of Israel Lowenstein, a volunteer in the arm}' of the illustrious Napoleon and a participant in the march to and the retreat from Moscow, being one of the fortunate few who was able to eventually reach his home in safety. The family of Marcus and Henrietta Jacoby comprised eight sons, one of whom,, Solomon, is a retired merchant and former coun- cilman of Magdeburg. Germany. Another son, Herman, now of Los Angeles, gave the most devoted service to the Union army in the Civil war, going to the front with the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry. Among the numer- ous engagements in which he bore arms was that of Gettysburg, where he was wounded. For many years he has been a leader in Grand Army work in his home city, as well as an unusually prominent merchant and progressive citizen. It is concerning another son of this family, Abraham, that these lines are written. Born at Loebau, West Prussia, June 30, 1852, he received an excellent German education in local schools and the gymnasium. During ]\Iay of 1868, when almost sixteen years of age, he left home to join his older brothers in Los Angeles, then a sleepy town with only five thousand inhabi- tants. The brothers, who had established themselves in the place as early as 1861, already had built up a mercantile business, the nucleus of the great mercantile house of Jacoby Bros., now well known throughout South- ern California. From the first Abraham Jacoby was interested in the new location and in the environment so different from anything common to earlier experiences. With an eager desire to secure an English education he entered the College of Southern Methodists near Downey, where he worked his way by dint of unceasing industry and forceful application. Next he secured a clerkship in Los Angeles with I. W. Hellman, merchant and banker, being employed in both places of business, and later engaged in business in San Bernardino. With the inauguration of the present firm of Jacoby Bros., in 1879, he became one of the active partners and not a little of the remarkable success enjoyed by the business may be attributed to his intelligent devotion and wise sunervision in the early years of struggle. As owners of a growing retail business on Main street and an important wholesale establishment on Los Angeles street, Jacoby Bros, witnessed and contributed to the commercial development of their home city. When the interests of their large trade demanded consolidation of the retail and wholesale departments, removal was made to Spring street, whence later they transferred their store to the central location now occupied on Broad- way. Patrons of their store came not only from the city, but also from all parts of Southern California. From the first up to the present time they have sustained an enviable reputation for exclusiveness of styles, variety of merchandise and reasonableness of price, and these characteristics have made their great department store popular and profitable. As the financial manager of the firm, Abraham Jacoby not only guarded their vast mercantile interests, but also developed their real-estate holdings to enormous propor- tions and in 1888 he laid out a sub-division and opened Los Angeles street between Eighth and Ninth. In 1889 he established the first public market in the city at Los Angeles and Ninth streets, and this market was the nucleus of the present large market in Los Angeles that is second to none in the United States. His idea was the full market basket, dealing direct from consumer to producer. For a time he served as president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, both of which organizations profited by his keen insight into details, his optimistic citizenshi]:) and his wise discrimina- tion. The first investments made by Mr. Jacoby in Kern county included five sections of unimproved land in the Weed Patch and one and one-half sections at Bakersfield, all purchased as early as 1887. During 1893 he 'UrUX^ ^IccAyOCOy^^C^ ^ '/^^.^^^Z^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 977 acquired the title to ei.s^hty acres in the city of Bakersfield, which he still owns. At other times he bought other holdings. Finding that the climate here agreed with his health more than that of the country south of the Tehachapi range and believing that Bakersfield has a great future before it, he located in this city in order to develop his property and also to engage in business as a sub-division specialist. Already his efforts in the latter line have added millions to the value of Kern county property. Much of his success in sub-division work is due to wise advertising. Just now he is enthusiastically promoting a plan fur a park of eighty acres and also for a free market in Bakersfield. It is his belief that Bakersfield, having cheap fuel for factories at its very door, is destined to become a great manu- facturing city. The presence of oil and gas combine to make it an ideal location for factories and he can see nothing ahead but steady growth and ultimate greatness. Such views make him a booster for Kern county. At his ofiice on Nineteenth street near Chester avenue he spends much of his time in plans for property development and there he often is sought by citizens desiring advice on realty problems, for his long and successful experience gives weight to his counsel. Having lived in Southern California since 1868 and having owned property in Kern county for more than a quarter of a century, he is thoroughly posted concerning the advantages of this locality in comparison with those of other sections of the west and no trivial depression or discouragement detracts from his faith in city and county. Since coming to the west Mr. Jacoby has been identified prominently with various organizations for benevolence and philanthropy, also has been associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was made a Mason in the West Gate Lodge No. 335, F. & A. M., of Los Angeles, while in political views he has been a stanch adherent of the Republican party ever since he became a voter. Some years after coming to Southern Cali- fornia he was married in Los Angeles to Miss Louise Lazard, a native of Los Angeles and the daughter of Solomon Lazard, a pioneer and influential merchant of that western metropolis, also one of the founders and for a time the president of the Los Angeles Water Company. Mr. and Mrs. Jacoby are the parents of two daughters, Carolyn and Rosalie. CHARLES RECHNAGEL.— The foreman of the Knob Hill Oil Com- pany in the Kern river fields is a sturdy, efficient and enterprising Danish- American, who has made his own way in the world from the age of seven years and in spite of hardships innumerable, with the most meager educa- tional opportunities, has learned to read English, German and Danish liter- ature, at the same time speaking the language of the Danes with extreme ease and fluency besides mastering the English tongue in ordinary conver- sation. That a man could attain such linguistic skill and at the same time forge ahead to business prominence argues much for his mental alertness and keen intelligence of temperament. It was his good fortune, during a visit back to Denmark in 1910. to win for his wife an educated young lady of that country. Miss Marie Rosendahl, who although not yet familiar with the English language received an excellent education in her native land and is furthermore well trained in the domestic arts. Bo'rn in Schleswig-Holstein. Germany, September 8. 1866, Charles Rechnagel is a member of an old Danish family and at the age of seven- teen crossed the line into Denmark in order that he might become a citizen of that country. When seven years of age he was employed to herd cow^s. Later he was given more diflficult work. The pav was small, but sufficient to meet his simple needs. After he went to Denmark he received two hundred marks a year, the mark being a German coin equivalent to about 978 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY twenty-four cents of our money. Believing that he could do better in the new world he left Denmark in March of 1900 and crossed the ocean to New York, thence traveled to. Nebraska, where for two months he worked as a section hand on the railroad in Kimball county. The work did not suit him and he determined to come further west. Accordingly he journeyed to Fresno county, this state, where he secured an unimportant job with Lowry & Ferguson, extensive farmers of the locality. When Gus Ferguson became superintendent of the Knob Hill Oil Company he suggested that Mr. Rechnagel leave the Fresno county farm and come to the Kern river fields to work as a teamster. The suggestion was carried out and he has lived here since October of 1901, meanwhile holding different positions until about 1908, when he was promoted to be foreman. A man of excep- tional worth, he has proved faithful and industrious in the highest degree. Aside from voting the Democratic ticket he takes no part whatever in the politics of his adopted country, but gives his undivided attention to the fore- manship of the company holdings. Out of thirty-six wells thirty-three are producers and twenty-eight of these are pumped from one jack, the net pro- duction averaging twelve thousand barrels per month. AUGUST KRATZMER.— The Kratzmer family is of Danish origin. The capital city of the kingdom was the birthplace of Christian and Caro- line (Keck) Kratzmer and in Copenhagen also their last days were passed, the former throughout active life having earned a livelihood through his ability as a musician and through his services as bandmaster of the King's orchestra, a position of great honor and dignity. The parental family consisted of seven children and all but two of these attained mature years, but the only one to locate in the United States was August, the next to the youngest and a native of Copenhagen, born August 5, 1852. Primarily educated in a private school, later he was sent to a college in Copenhagen and on the completion of the course in 1864 he continued his studies at a military school until 1866. Starting out to make his own way in the world, he crossed the ocean to America and settled in Chicago, where he served an apprenticeship to the trade of wheelwright. On the completion of his time he engaged in business for himself, opening a carriage shop on Thirty- ninth street in Hyde Park, Chicago. Having sold the business, in 1877 Mr. Kratzmer came to Bakersfield and, being favorably impressed, he decided to remain. As foreman of the wagon shop at Bellevue he engaged with the Kern County Land Company, but resigned in 1884 in order to embark in business for himself. On H and Nineteenth streets, Bakersfield, he bought a lot and built a shop, where he engaged in blacksmithing and carriage-making. In 1891 he sold the place and leased from the Kern County Land Company a place on H and Twentieth streets. During 1898 he sold his tools and supplies to the com- pany and bought a lot on Twenty-first and I streets, where he built a foundry, the first of its kind in Bakersfield. At the expiration of four years he sold out to Webster & Co., after which he engaged in ranching for one year. Returning to his former line of work, for four years he carried on a blacksmith and carriage shop on I street between Eighteenth and Nine- teenth streets. Meanwhile he had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of raw land thirteen and one-half miles northwest of Bakersfield. On relinquishing business enterprises he moved to the farm, which is under the Calloway canal, in the Rosedale district. Abundance of irrigation adapts the place to alfalfa, which in turn renders possible the raising of cattle, horses and poultry. To provide summer range for the cattle, a mountain ranch at Granite is leased. In addition to his farm Mr. Kratzmer owns a resi- dence lot on I street near Twentieth, which being close-in property has rapidly advanced in value. In politics he is independent. The co-operation aU^ -gLe;t ,^-mM. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 981 and advice of his capable wife has been invaluable to him in his work. Mrs. Kratzmer, who is a sister of R. A. Edmonds, the present postmaster at Bakersfield, was born in Lane county, Ore., and at the time of her mar- riage to Mr. Kratzmer in Bakersfield she was Mrs. Lavina Brown, the mother of a son, Frank A. Brown, now living in San Francisco. Of her second marriage there was one child, Lotus Jule, a resident of Bakersfield. JABEZ RIGHT GIST.— A long period of identification with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company has proved the value of the services of Mr. Gist and the importance of the position which he has filled with marked efficiency for many years. As early as 1891, when the shops were moved from Tulare to Kern, he came to the new plant in the capacity of store- keeper. Considerations of health led him later to seek a change of location, although this did not bring a severance of his relations with the railroad. When he returned to Kern in April of 1896 he was made engine inspector. Eventually he was promoted to be stationary engineer, which position he fills with such intelligence, neatness and orderliness that in 1911 he received a medal from the inspector of power plants for the Southern Pacific system and the following year he was awarded an additional bar on the medal in recognition of his efficiency as engineer. The lineage of the Gist family is traced back to Christopher Gist, the companion and friend of George Washington. From that Revolutionary hero descended J. C. Gist, a native of Jackson county, Tenn., and for years .i farmer near Tompkinsville, Monroe county, Ky.. where also he served as a justice of the peace. In that county he married Kittie M. Marrs, who was born there, of Scotch descent, and whose death occurred in Tulare, Cal, at the age of seventy-three years. The family removed from Kentucky to California in 1875 and settled in Yolo county, afterward acquiring farm land in the vicinity of Madison, that county. Removal was made to Tulare county in 1881 and a ranch was acquired. In addition to cultivating the land Mr. Gist served from 1884 to 1898 as justice of the peace. When seventy- seven years of age he died in Tulare. The parental family comprised ten children and all but three of these attained maturity, five being alive at the present time. The next to the 3'^oungest, Jabez Right, was born in Jackson county, Tenn., September 13, 1860, and as a boy attended country schools in Monroe county, Ky. At the age of fifteen he accompanied the family to California, where he immediately began to assist his father in the cultivation of a farm. During 1881 he removed with his parents to Tulare county arid resumed agricultural operations at that point. At Tulare in 1885 he married Miss Sarah Abbie Boone, a native of Jones county, Iowa, and a daughter of George W. and Sarah Ann (McCuI- louch) Boone, the latter a native of Ohio, the former a direct descendant of Kentucky's famous pioneer, Daniel Boone. The Boone family came from Iowa to California in 1876 and Mrs. Gist attended the public schools of Tulare until she had completed the regular course of study. By her marriage there are two children. The son, Mervil Ward, is employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Los Angeles. The daughter. Ruby Grace, is the wife of T. B. Kunselman, of Los Angeles. Entering the Tulare shops of the Southern Pacific Company in the fall of 1887, Jabez Right Gist has continued with the same corporation up to the present time. After his first three years in railroading he was transferred to the clerical department of the Tulare shops. In 1891 he came to Kern (East Bakersfield) as store-keeper. Two years later he was transferred to Los Angeles, where he worked in the car department as air inspector. Returning to Kern in April of 1896, he has since been with the same plant, first as engine inspector and later as stationary engineer. Since coming to East Bakersfield he has acquired property, including two houses on Kentucky street. For two 982 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY terms he served as trustee of the city library. As a member of the board of education in East Bakersfield he gave long and satisfactory service. The erection of the Beale avenue school and the enlargement of the Baker street school were largely the result of his energetic efforts. During his entire term of office he gave practical evidence of the genuine interest felt in school affairs by making an official visit to each school two or three times a year, suffering the loss of his wages for every day thus given to educational interests. Since the age of eighteen years Air. Gist has been a member of the Chris- tian Church. For years he was a member of the board of trustees and during part of that time he served as president of the board. The interest which he maintains in the church is also felt by his wife. Both likewise are interested in the work of the Eastern Star. After coming to this city he was made a Alason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and as master of the lodge he participated in the exercises connected with the laying of the corner stone of the new Kern county courthouse in December, 1910. Besides being a prominent Mason he is connected with the Independent Order of Foresters and while living at Tulare was an active lodge worker in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From the time of casting his first presidential ballot for James G. Blaine he has supported Republican nominees at every election and has maintained a warm interest in public affairs. ARTHUR E. RAINE. — Several generations of the Raine family were identified with Kentucky, where Albert E. and his father, James B., were born in the vicinity of Bowling Green and where the latter, a planter by occupation, had served with conspicuous bravery for the lost cause. The struggle ended and his old home locality disrupted by the sanguinary con- flict, he determined to seek a home elsewhere. Accordingly during the sum- mer of 1865 he crossed the plains, accompanied by his family, which included Albert E., then a lad of about twelve years. Settlement was made at Ana- heim, where years afterward the firm of J. B. Raine &. Son became very prominent along the line of its chosen specialties. Throughout that section of the state they planted orchards and vineyards for absent owners, also bought land for themselves, which they set out in horticultural products. In addition they engaged in hop culture and farming. Eventually the senior member of the firm retired from business pursuits and now, vigorous and sturdy notwithstanding his more than eighty years, he is living retired at Santa Ana. Meanwhile the business is l)eing continued by Albert E., who resides on his valuable walnut orchard near Orange. During young manhood he married xA^nna King, who was born in Huntington, W. Va., and died at the family residence in 1892, leaving three sons. The eldest of the sons, Arthur E., was born at Santa Ana, this state, i'^bruary 8, 1880, and attended the grammar and high schools of his native city. l""or three years he served an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the Santa Ana machine shop. At the expiration of his time he entered the Orange County Business College in Santa Ana, of which he is a graduate. During 1900 he came to Bakersfield for the first time and here he secured a position as accountant and private secretary to George Easton of the Easton, Eldridge Company, a San Francisco firm, who were pioneers in the Sunset oil fields. A year later he became connected with the construc- tion department of the Southern Pacific Railroad and had charge of the material used in the building of the Kern river branch. Upon the comple- tion of the road he was transferred to the Atlantic system of the Southern Pacific as private secretary to George W. Boschke. chief engineer in charge of the company's docks in Galveston, these being the largest of the kind in the world. Upon the com]:)letion of the construction w< rk at that point Mr. Raine returned to Bakersfield as an accountant and stenographer in the transporta- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 985 tion department of the Southern Pacific Railroad. During May of 1903 he resigned an excellent position in order to enter the employ of the Bakersfield iron works as bookkeeper and stenographer. At the time he was the only clerical help in the office, but the business grew steadily and when Henry D. McCoy resigned in 1904 and E. C. Wilson was appointed to fill the vacancy as manager, Mr. Raine became chief clerk, continuing as such until June of 1909, when upon the resignation of Mr. Wilson he was promoted to be manager. He filled this responsible position to the satisfaction of the company until February 1, 1913, when he resigned. Shortly afterward he associated himself with S. W' right Jewett, and unde/ the firm name of Jewett & Raine engaged in buying and sub-dividing Kern county lands, and the result is that they are doing more to bring new people, not only from different parts of California but from the Middle States and Rocky Mountain region, than any other firm in the business. Both members are native-born Californians and believe in the great future of the state and particularly as ]Mr. Raine ex])resses it, "Kern, the county that made California famous." The residence of Mr. Raine occupies the corner of Twenty-fourth and B streets, Bakersfield, and is graciously presided over by Mrs. Raine, formerly Miss Ann MacMurdo, who was born in Bakersfield, Kern county, where her father, W. R. MacMurdo served for eighteen years as county surveyor and now follows the occupation of a civil engineer. The family of Mr. Raine comprises, besides his wife, their two children, Arthvir E., Jr., and Kathleen Ruth. Fraternally he holds membership with the Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Native Sons of the Golden West. Upon the organization of the Bakersfield Club he became a charter member and since then he has served as a member of its board of directors. E. B. CAMPBELL. — The superintendent and manager of the Section 5 Oil Company, the King Refining Company and the Petrophalt Paint Company, is further identified with the Kern river fields through being successor and owner of the Capital City Oil Company, which is now suc- cessfully producing in this district. While having made his home in Cali- fornia since 1892, he is a Canadian by birth, having been born in that country January 13, 1859, the son of a Baptist minister. In the early history of the Kern river field Mr. Campbell became well informed in mat1:ers pertaining to oil production, oil refining, the asphalt industry and the manufacture of petrophalt paint which one of his subsidiary companies has produced with success. He first became identified with the so-called Lincoln Oil Company, being jiersuaded to invest largely in the project upon the representations of the treasurer of the new concern, who was president of the Oakland Bank. Having the utmost confidence in the men at the head of the proposition he did not investigate, but invested in this concern. When he came to the Kern river field he at once saw that the proposition had been grossly mis- represented to him, and that the territory was outside of the real oil field. Immediately he severed his connection with the company as a director and notified his friends of the frauds he had discovered, being fortunate in saving his friends from loss, but unfortunate in losing his own investment. Having determined with resolute fortitude to regain what he had lost in the place where he had lost it. Mr. Campbell secured a lease on twenty acres and organized the Section 5 Oil Company. In this he likewise met with personal disap])ointment, as oil declined from ten to fifteen cents per barrel to a point below the cost of production, and he sold out to the Associated Oil Company, receiving .stocks and bonds for the company's rights under the original lease. Soon afterward he converted said stocks and bonds into cash and purchased a part of section 9, where he immediately began the work of development. His stockholders maintained implicit faith 986 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in him and later large profits for them justified that confidence. The Section 5 Oil Company now owns the holdings on section 9, where it has eight pro- ducing wells with a monthly production of several thousand barrels. The credit of building the first refinery in the Kern river fields belongs to Mr. Campbell, who became interested in the subject through the repre- sentations of an enthusiastic employe, formerly connected with a Standard oil refinery. After much discussion and study he resolved to put in a small refinery and this he built himself. Although built on a small scale it demon- strated the feasibility of refining the Kern river oil and the value of the by-product and asphalt for street paving. He organized a stock company called the King Refining Company, named after the late W. B. King, attor- ney-at-law, of San Francisco. The stock was sold to a few of their friends, being a close corporation. Only a small proportion of the stock was sold, and the industry was built up mainly from the earnings of the corporation. The company has surpassed the most sanguine expectations of its stock- holders. It erected a refinery which ran the first seven years day and night without shutting down, and is still running at a capacity of seven hundred tons of asphalt per month. The residuum oils are taken by certain other oil manufacturing concerns and largely used in the manufacture of lubricants. Still another industry growing out of the refinery business and under the management of Mr. Campbell is the manufacture of petrophalt paint, now being made on a large scale by a company known as the Petrophalt Paint Company and located in the Kern river field. This paint is non-cor- rosive and a most excellent preservative, and is extensively used in painting oil and gas pipes. Three coats of the paint ordinarily make pipes immune to rust and well-nigh everlasting. This company has been doing business about five years and has painted several hundred miles of oil lines, this paint being considered one of the best preservers of iron when buried in the ground or subjected to salt water or alkali. It is also used very largely now by all large concerns on the coast, such as the Associated Oil Company, the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railways in their oil departments, the Southern California Edison Company, the Lacey Manufacturing Company and the -Llewellyn Iron Works, and is now being handled extensively by such concerns as Fairbanks-Morse, J. F. Lucey Company, the Associated Supply Company, and by nearly all of the other large supply houses on the Pacific coast. The paint is now becoming very popular for the painting of steel structures and all metal surfaces either hot or cold, being used for heated surfaces such as smoke stacks and boiler fronts, and is also being used largely for roof paint on account of its lasting qualities. At times it has been thought that the Sunset and Midway fields with their gushers were so far superior to the Kern river fields, that comparison became absurd. If, however, the steady production of the Kern river fields is taken into account it will be seen that the latter field is one of the greatest importance. Take for instance well No. 1 of the Section 5 OiJ Company, located on the county road in section 9: It was the first one put down by Mr. Campbell and has now produced steadily for twelve years. Its pro- duction keeps right up to fifty barrels per day and produces as much now as ever, 18,250 per year, or 219,000 barrels since it was drilled, at fifty cents per barrel. It has produced more than $100,000 in wealth. The Kern river field is therefore one of the best paying propositions in existence. The oil storage in the Kern river field is the largest of any field in the world, the soil being of such a nature as to hold oil in earthen reservoirs of enormous capacity, running from four hundred and fifty thousand (450.000^ to one million barrels each. The Standard Oil Company is the first in capacity, with approximately fifty million barrels, besides about one hundred thirty-five-thousand-barrel steel tanks. Then come the Associated Oil Com- HISTORY OF K.ERN COUNTY 987 pany, Petroleum Development Company and Producers' Transportation Company, which have many million barrels more storage. Here is also located the first oil pipe line pumping plant. The Standard Oil Associated Pipe Line Company and Independent Transportation Com- pany pump under several hundred pounds pressure three eight-inch streams of crude oil across the valley and over the mountain to several seaports from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor. The total cost of these enterprises runs well up to twenty millions of dollars, making the Kern river field the head and one of the greatest oil centers in the world. HENRY B. TRUE.— Born in Androscoggin county, Me., August 28, 1848, Henry B. True was the son of John True, who died when Henry was a babe. Consequently he was reared on the farm by his mother, working at farm duties and attending school during the winters. In 1865 he came to Windsor, Sonoma county, and in 1867 to Los Angeles county and followed farming near Los Nietos. On May 26, 1870, Mr. True was married near Porterville to Miss Mary Gilliam, a native of Dallas, Ore., and the daughter of Robert and Julia Ann (Chance) Gilliam, who were born in North Carolina and Logan county Ky., respectively. Crossing the plains in 1846 with ox-teams to Oregon Mr. Gilliam took a Donation Land Claim. In 1858 he came to Contra Costa county, Cal., and afterward to Stockton. In 1864 he located in Visalia and in 1865 in Porterville. The father died in Dallas, Ore., while the mother, aged eighty-nine years, makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. True. The latter is a near relative of Gen. Cornelius Gilliam, a pioneer Indian fighter in Oregon, who had command of the soldiers against the Indians and was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun. Mrs. True is the third eldest of a family of eleven children. Coming to Kern county in 1872, Mr. True worked at the blacksmith trade in Glennville until 1878, when he started the first blacksmith shop in Weldon, continuing in business there for five years. He then purchased his present place of one hundred and sixty acres three miles east of Weldon and has improved the place so it is under irrigation, and he is engaged in raising alfalfa, grain, cattle and hogs and meeting with merited success. Mr. and Mrs. True have one child, Lillian D., now Mrs. Diment, of Exeter. Mrs. True has aided her husband materially in his efforts to suc- cess and is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. True was a member of the board of school trustees of the Weldon district for eighteen years and politically is a Democrat. C. C. LITTLE. — Some distance above the point where the waters of the Penobscot empty into the ocean and lying on the eastern bank of that turbid, restless stream, lies the quiet little city of Bucksport, near which for many years J. L. and Fannie (Blood) Little have made their home on a farm. At the same old homestead occurred the birth of C. C. Little on the 26th of April, 1884, and in all probability his life might have been passed in the community had not ill health forced him to seek a less rigorous climate. His common-school education had been completed and he had carried on the studies of the East Maine conference seminary at Bucksport for some time, when the failure of his health cut short his seminary course and caused him to seek a more genial climate than that of his own state. Arriving in Cali- fornia during August of 1904, he entered the Chestnut W^oods Business College at Santa Cruz, from which he was graduated in July of 1905. Mean- while he had been restored to fair health by the invigorating influence of the sunny western climate. A brief period of service as bookkeeper in San Francisco to H. H. Blood, president of the Gold Peak Mining Company, convinced Mr. Little that outdoor occupation would better conserve his health. Accordingly 988 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in December, 1905, he was transferred to the company's headquarters in the Amelia mining district of Kern county and was given a position as assayer and superintendent of the cyanide plant. A course of study in a school of mines in San Francisco had qualified him for such work and he filled the responsible position with intelligence and adaptability. From that district he went to Piute in the fall of 1909 and engaged in the building of a mill and concentrating plant for the Little Mining Company, owners and operators of the Lulu mine. Since February of 1912 he has acted as proprietor of the Caliente hotel, a two-story concrete building, of fireproof construction and convenient interior arrangement. Being independent in his attitude toward public questions, he has not identified himself with any political party, nor is he particularly interested in fraternal affairs, although holding membership with the Woodmen of the World in Bakersfield. In the supervision of the hotel he has been assisted by his wife, who was Miss Nettie Fitch, of Bakersfield, a native of that city and educated in its schools. They are the parents of two daughters, Margaret and Mabel. FRANK MERRILL WORTHINGTON.— The superintendent of the San Joaquin division of the Southern Pacific Railroad is a member of a pioneer family of the west and himself claims California as his native com- monwealth. The Worthington genealogy goes back to the colonial era of American history and the records show that Timothy Worthington mar- ried Maria Merrill February 12, 1823, at Hebron, Washington county, N. Y., whence they soon removed to the then frontier of Indiana and took up a tract of raw land in Elkhart county near the village of York. From them the lineage is traced through their son, Samuel Merrill Worthington, a native of Hebron, N. Y., but from early life familiar with the vicissitudes incident to existence upon the frontier. The discovery of gold in California turned his attentic n toward the far west and with several friends he determ- ined to seek the mines. The young men boarded a sailing vessel in New York City and sailed around the Horn. The voyage was one of great hard- ship. For seventy days they were becalmed. Meanwhile the supply of food and water ran short. Every heart was filled with joy when finally the vessel entered the Golden Gate and discharged its passengers in San Fran- cisco, whence naturally a rush was made for the mines. After several years as miners the young men decided to go back to the east and return with stock and implements to aid in farming. Two young men went back with Mr. Worthington and they became brothers-in-law by marrying three sisters. The marriage of Samuel Merrill Worthington took place in Granville, Licking county, Ohio, ]^larch 4, 1858, and united him with Miss Julia Ann ITillyer, a native of that town. The young couple spent a few months in Indiana and then joined a party bound for California. Owing to trouble with the Indians the government stopped all travel across the plains, which forced them to remain at Leavenworth. Kan., for some time. The journey was resumed in April of 1859 with a train of thirty wagons, some drawn by oxen and others by horses. As Mr. Worthington was then in ill health his wife drove their four-horse team and also cared for her small babe, besides ministering to the invalid. To those who had taken the trip and knew of its roughness she was a heroine. At times it was necessary to chain the four wheels of the wagon, on the rear of which all of the men would ride, in order to prevent a somersault, as the way was rough and steep. Only one wagon could be taken down at a time. About fifty men were in the party. They started with a thousand head of cattle, but nianv perished on the way because (.f the scarcity of feed and water. The trip was full of danger and anxiety. The train ahead of them had been attcked by savages and some of the travelers had been massacred. The train following them also met with misadxenture and losses from /- M. y^f^i-^^^ci^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 991 Indians. This party fortunately escaped, although they had several encount- ers with the Indians. They always found that kindness won. At one time they were forced to sell a pony rather than incur the enmity of their unde- sired guests. Two of the white men, while hunting for camp quarters, suspected Indians of a theft and determined to bring them back to camp for justice. Wiser men realized the mistake, but the two persisted in a spirit of fun. Thus they incurred the enmity of the Indians, who vowed to have their scalps. Intercessions were made and the Indians were persuaded to leave, but they departed in anger. The train had two very anxious days. At every moment they feared an attack by the savages in retaliation for the trouble. Meanwhile a consultation was held and the party decided, in case the two men were demanded, they would be given up, as they alone should suffer the consequences of their own deed. The entire party already had gone through the experience of viewing a war-dance and bonfire and they did not wish to continually encounter Indians during the remainder of the trip. Fortunately, however, nothing further was heard concerning the matter. It was the custom at camping time to form a corral with wagons with the men taking turns as guards. On one occasion they camped for several days to permit the cattle to rest and the women to do their baking and laun- dering (for they had more conveniences than previous trains), Indians sud- denly appeared. Spying a tiny babe, the smaller of the two infants in the company, they determined to possess the child, and it was with difficulty that they were dissuaded from their purpose. In order to refuse them yet retain their friendship, various articles were bestowed upon them as peace offerings. The train never traveled on Sunday unless for lack of feed and water. Toward the last provisions became very scarce and when finally the party reached Sacramento in October, 1859, they greatly enjoyed a feast of potatoes and salt, the former bought at cost of twenty cents per pound. From Sacramento the members of the expedition scattered in various directions. Mr. and Mrs. Worthington went to San Lorenzo, Alameda county, where a sister of the latter was located, having preceded them to California via Panama. Having been reared to farm work, Mr. Worthington decided to engage in ranching and he selected a claim in Santa Clara county in the foothills between Milpitas and Warm Springs. There he remained for some time, but eventually the Nevada mining excitement made him rest- less and desirous of a change, so he took his wife and three children over the mountains by team to Dayton, Nev., where he was employed in the mills as amalgamator. However, the climate of Nevada did not agree with his wife and she returned to California, accompanied by the three children. The only accident of the trip was caused by meeting a team between sta- tions on a steep and narrow grade, which resulted in the loss of a second wagon containing freight. On their return to California the family settled at Haywards, Alameda county, and about 1870 the father returned from Nevada to resume agricultural pursuits. Of a strong religious nature he and his wife were charter members of the Haywards Congregational Church and he served as an official until his death. Of a gentle, retiring nature, he was never so happy as when surrounded by his family or able to aid some one. The end came in accord with his life, so quietly that not even the loved companion by his side knew of the call until he was gone ; always desirous of not becoming a burden, his prayer had been answered. Of his family there survive only Frank M. and Cora M. The latter married John Penney in October, 1880, and they have an only daughter, California Myrtle Penney, who in February, 1911, became the wife of Dr. Robert D. Healey, a very successful osteopathic physician. The Penney and Healey families reside at Pacific Grove, Monterey county. 992 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Born near Hay ward, Alameda county, Cal., March 11, 1862, Frank Mer- rill Worthington was educated in local schools and Heald's Business College in San Francisco (of which he is a graduate), also the University of Cali- fornia. During 1880 he became baggageman with the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company at Madison, Yolo county, where he learned telegraphy. Next he became a brakeman and then was made conductor between Elmira and Madison. During September of 1886 he resigned and went to Los Angeles, where later he worked under Superintendent Aluir of the Southern Pacific. After a short service as brakeman between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in 1887 he became conductor between Los Angeles and Kern. Upon the death of his father he resigned his position in order to settle the estate and upon his return in 1894, there having been a change of superintendents, he was obliged to begin again as brakeman, but soon he was promoted to be a conductc r and after a time he was selected as traveling conductor. From 1898 to 1900 he served as train master on the San Joaquin division and then became assistant superintendent of the Tucson division. In December of 1906 he was appointed superintendent of the San Joaquin division with his headquarters in Bakersfield. At that time the division included the Southern Pacific from Los Angeles to Fresno with all of the branch lines, also the line between Saugus and Santa Barbara, comprising nine hundred and four miles. Since then the line from Saugus to Santa Barbara has been taken out of the division, but as many new miles have been added, so that the total mileage is practically unchanged. Besides filling the many responsible duties connected with his prominent position Mr. Worthington acts as a director in the First National Bank of Bakersfield and also in the Producers' Savings Bank. Politically he keeps posted concerning national problems and' votes with, the Republican party. He was made a Mason in Bakersfield No. 224, F. & A. M., member of Kern Valley Lodge No. 75, R. A. M., and Bakersfield Commandery, K. T. His family have been identified with the Emanuel Presbyterian Church of that city. His marriage took place at Hayward, Alameda county, April 23, 1882, and united him with Miss Sarah Frances Hampton, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Henry HaniDton, M. D., a pioneer physician of Ventura county. Mrs. Hampton died in December, 1912, at ninety years of age. The other surviving members of the Hampton family are Mrs. Glenn Wallace and Mrs. Worthington, also three grandchildren, Mrs. A. A. Lee, of Los Angeles, and Edwin and Frances Wallace, of Venice, Cal. Ethel Marguerite, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Worthington, was married to Arthur Albert Lee in Los Angeles April 23, 1906, and has one son, Merrill Worthington Lee. ANDRE ANDRE.— Near Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Mr. Andre was born Sep- tember 18, 1854, and trained to till the soil, care for growing crops and tend the flocks of sheep on the home farm. His parents, Ambroise and Marian (Brocheir) Andre, died in France, the latter during 1875 and the father in 1897. During the decade from 1875 to 1885 the elder Andre lived in California, but a homesick longing for his beloved native land led him back to France to spend his last days in the midst of the friends and scenes beloved of his youth. In a family of ten children, only three of whom are now living, Andre Andre was the first-born and for that reason he was perhaps unusually self- reliant and industrious. The care of the young children and the necessity to work early and late that so many might be supported taught him the importance of frugality and industry. As he labored quietly at home he heard much concerning California and early resolved to seek a livelihood in this portion of the new world. At the age of nineteen he left home for New York and thence traveled west. Eighteen days were spent on an emigrant train between New York and San Francisco. After saiHng via HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 995 steamer on the Pacific from San Francisco he landed at the harbor of San Pedro, September 24, 1874. Ever since then he has kept more or less closely in touch with that city, where for twenty-five years he has owned a residence on Pleasant avenue. A stockman in Los Angeles county gave the young French lad employ- ment as a sheep-herder and he remained for eighteen months with his first employer, after which he herded sheep for Eugene Garnie for eighteen months and then spent five months in the same work for the San Fernando Company. By 1878 he had saved enough to buy a small flock of sheep. These he ranged in various parts of Los Angeles county, but in 1881 he drove the flock across the Tehachapi mountains, arriving in Kern county on the 3d of December. He continued in the sheep business until 1889, when he sold the flock and returned to Los Angeles. Returning to France in 1890, he spent seven months in the old home neighborhood, and during that \'isit, October 28, 1890, he married Miss Inez Nichols, who was born in Hautes-Alpes and died in Kern county May 28, 1913. Five children, all at home, form the family of Air. Andre, namely: Andre, Louis, Gabriel, Irene and Inez. The family are communicants of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church. From 1890 to 1895 Mr. Andre made his home in Los Angeles, but spent much of his time on the range with his sheep. During 1895 he brought this flock of sheep over the Tehachapi and settled in Kern county, where he devoted his time to the occupation until 1906. At that time he sold the sheep in order that he might devote his attention wholly to farm pursuits. During January of 1904 he had purchased sixty acres on the Kern Island road a few miles south of Bakersfield. This tract he has improved with residence and barns and has developed an abundance of irrigation from the Kern Island canal, so that grain and alfalfa are raised with profit. Dur- ing 1912 he added to his possessions by the purchase of eighty acres on Union avenue. This tract also is under irrigation and is in alfalfa. For the present the larger farm is operated by a tenant, the care and cultivation of the sixty leaving Mr. Andre no time for more than a close supervision of the other property. EUGENE RICHARD CARLTON.— The manager of Hotel Carlton at Caliente has been a resident of California from early childhood, but claims South Dakota as his native commonwealth, having been born at Custer, Custer county, on the 20th of September, 1884. From the age of four years he has lived in California, first in Tulare and then in Kern county. With this portion of the state he is familiar by long residence and active busi- ness identification. Through his kindly efl:"orts he has been enabled to provide a comfortable home for his parents in their declining days, while his energy and enterprise have benefited also his own financial and business standing. The family of which he is a member comes of old southern extraction. His father, A. T., a native of Hickory county. Mo., gave his support to the L'nion at the time of the Civil war, entering the army and serving as a private until the expiration of his time. After the war he aided in quelling a number of Indian outbreaks and meanwhile had several nar- row escapes. After his marriage in Missouri to Telutha Minter he removed to the Dakotan frontiers and settled on the plains of Custer county, where he entered a claim, proved up on the land, developed a stock ranch and labored indefatigably, but without the merited returns of prosperity and comfort. Hoping to be benefited by a change, in 1888 he brought the family to California and settled at Tulare where with his wife he resides on a small farm within the city limits of Tulare. Among their nine children, six now living, Eugene Richard is the third eldest. On leaving the Tulare high school Eugene Richard Carlton secured em- 996 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ployment as clerk in a grocery and later conducted the old Exchange gro- cery with considerable success. When he sold out in 1901 he devoted the proceeds of the business to buying a small place fcr his parents, after which he started anew in the world. A brief experience in the teaming business in Bakersfield provided him with funds utilized in- the establishment of the firm of Carlton & Crockett, which in January of 1913 bought the hotel at Caliente. After the building had been remodeled and overhauled, it was opened as the Hotel Carlton, with Mr. Carlton as the affable and popular landlord. Since then he has devoted himself faithfully and intelligently to the management of the hotel, giving little attention to politics aside from voting the Democratic ticket, and taking no part in any fraternities aside from the Eagles and the Improved Order of Red Men. After coming to Kern county he was united in marriage with Miss Effie M. Cootes, of Bakers- field, a native of San Diego, and they have one son, Eugene Richard, Jr. ROBERT BURTON.— In Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Burton was born Sep- tember 28, 1877. AA'hen only two years of age he lost his father, David Burton, an attorney of prominence, whose untimely death cut short a most hopeful career and left the family without means of support. There was another son, William, two years younger than Robert, and these two were taken into the home of their maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph King, of Kansas City, Mo. When Robert was nine years of age he was orphaned by the death of his mother and two years later he started out to make his own way in the world. From that time forward he was self- supporting. Having always been fond of horses and experienced in their man- agement, he became a jockey and followed the circuit. For a time he worked with Bob Burns. The life was exciting, the experiences thrilling and the work interesting, but the boy whose admirable control of horses won many a cheer in closely contested races lacked the educational opportunities and the refined environment that would have been his if his cultured parents had survived. From the race-track he went to the sea and shipped as cabin-boy from New York City, afterward sailing from one port to another and visiting Japan, China, Africa, South and North America, and the princinal seaports of Europe. When he left the sea he returned to jockeying and followed the circuit to San Francisco, where later he was variously engaged, then came to Kern county in 1903 and settled down to learning the oil business. For a time he worked on the San Joaquin division of the Associated and the Peerless lease in the Kern river field. Going to the Santa Maria field Mr. Burton engaged as gang pusher for eighteen months. Meanwhile he assisted in the construction of a pipe line for the Pennell Oil Company. Later he worked for the Brookshire and Rice Ranch Oil companies. Upon returning to the Kern river field he again took a position with the Associated and later was with the Enos Oil Company as foreman and superintendent. After a service of five months in the latter office he resigned to come to Maricopa, where he joined the force of the J. F. Lucey Supnly Company. In the interests of that concern he went to Taft and worked in the oil business there. In September of 1911 he was called to the super- intendency of the Muscatine Oil Company, a close corporation. In San Francisco he married Miss Delia Lewis, a native of Tulare county, this state, and by the union there are two daughters, Bernice and Fay. Some years ago he purchased two lots at Richland, but with that exceotion he has not invested in land. Politically he votes with the Republican party and fraternally is associated with the Eagles, but he has little leisure for public affairs or fraternal activities, his attention being given closely to the production of oil for his companv and his time being spent wholly on the forty acre lease, on section 1, 11-24. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 999 E. M. HAMILTON. — The great improvement wrought at Willow Springs, eight miles west of Rosamond, shows what can be done on the desert by developing the natural resources of the county. It has become the show place of the region. Nine years ago it was barren land covered with brush, and today it is improved with fields of alfalfa, orchards and vine- yards. Mr. Hamilton studied the country and found that by laying cement pipes for sub-irrigation it resulted in producing larger crops and of sweeter and finer flavor. The fruits of the orchard and vine have been tested and found to contain twenty-two per cent of sugar. The soil in the locality is good and being surrounded by water the climatic conditions are most excellent. On account of these existing conditions Mr. Hamilton built a sanitarium with the idea of furnishing a retreat for those afifiicted with pulmonary trouble and kindred ailments. E. M. Hamilton was born near Mt. Sterling, Brown county. 111., Feb- ruary 22, 1833, his educational advantages being those of the common schools of his day. When sixteen years of age he left the home farm and began boating on the Mississippi river, and he rose from third cook to first steward. In 1853 he discarded his kid gloves and picking up an ox whip, drove five yoke of oxen across the plains, arriving in Oregon, and from there he worked his way to California. For a time he followed mining in northern California and then began 'farming at Shasta City. At one time he owned the Caiion ranch on a part of which the city of Redding is now built. In 1861 he returned east and in 1862 enlisted in Company D, First Minnesota Regiment and later, on the reorganization, he was in Company B, First Battalion. Among other battles he served in the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Deep Bottom, Ream's Station. Siege of Petersburg and Richmond. After taking part in the Grand Review he was mustered out and honorably discharged and then returned to Maine where his parents lived. For a time he followed farming and afterwards the trade of stone mason. In 1872 he followed the Robinson mining excitement to Montana. From 1873 until 1875 he followed contracting in Minneapolis, and in the year last mentioned he located in Los Angeles, Cal., in the same line of business. He also estab- lished the first artificial stone works in Los Angeles. In 1896 his health became so impaired that he came to Antelope valley and in October, 1896, he camped at W^illow Springs. He began prospecting and discovered the Alida mine, which he developed, later building a stamp mill, and in -two years took out $200,000 of gold from the mine. Some time afterwards he sold the mine. About 1904 Mr. Hamilton purchased Willow Springs from the Beale estate and since that time has made valuable improvements on the desert, having groves of willows, cottonwood and mulberries. His experiments with raising the silk worm proved a success and showed the adaptability to rais- ing silk. In connection with the sanitarium he has a grocery store, garage, blacksmith shop, ice and cold storage plant, electric light plant, public hall and theater, and telephone. He obtained the postofifice and has since been the postmaster. He built the Hamilton house at Rosamond, a two-story fireproof building. ]\Ir. Hamilton has been married three times ; the first time was in Min- neapolis to Sarah Landson. who died there, and the three children born to them are also deceased. He was married again in Minnesota to Harriett Mofifitt, who died in Los Angeles. Of their four children three are living. Fred is the manager of Willow Springs ; Lester resides in Los Angeles ; Eugene is deceased; and Truman is proprietor of the Hamilton House at Rosamond. Mr. Hamilton's third marriage was with Mrs. Elsie E. Galloway, a native of Canada. While residing in Los Angeles he served three terms as 1000 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY councilman, being elected on the Independent ticket. He is proud of the fact that during his service he voted to have electric lights on the street corners. He is of an inventive genius and has made many useful inventions, among them asbestine sub-irrigation to apply water below the surface of the ground thus keeping the surface dry. He holds membership in Kenesaw Post, G. A. R., and the Society of Los Angeles Pioneers. JOHN ADOLPHUS FRY.— The Teutonic origin of the Fry family has given to its various members the traits of excellent manhood, thrifty habits and loyal citizenship evidenced in all branches of the family, many of the representatives proving valuable to their chosen country by heroic efifort in war, and patriotic helpfulness in time of peace. The founder of this branch of the family in America was Col. Philip Fry, who was born in Germany and came at an early day to the United States, settling first in Virginia, where he founded the well-known southern family, many mem- bers being prominently identified with the American Revolution as active participants. Col. Philip Fry himself served under Gen. Nathaniel Greene and spent the memorable winter at Valley Forge with his regiment ; in the Battle of Brandywine fought shoulder to shoulder with the famous Lafayette. Later his son, William Livingston Fry, was commissioned an officer in the Indian service under Zachary Taylor. Gathering up the Indian tribes re- maining in the Southern-Atlantic states, he recorded them, and then took them to the Cherokee country in Indian Territory, which at that time was a vast wilderness. For his valuable work in this direction he was com- missioned Colonel. He afterwards removed to Alabama and there reared his family of three sons and two daughters, the eldest of the family being Johu Adolphus. On November 14, 1827, John A. Fry was born in Huntsville, Jackson county, Ala., where he grew up and acquired an excellent education, his parents affording him more than usual advantages in this direction. His first marriage, to Dian Olan, which occurred in Alabama in 1850, was blessed with two children, Calvin Columbus and William Harrison, the latter a farmer in Kings county. After the death of the mother in Alabama, Mr. Fry decided to try his fortunes in the new west, reaching California in 1862 and. settling at Sonora, Tuolumne county. With his brother Wesley and Levi Street, he engaged in the mercantile business for a while, and later engaged in mining. Associated with his brother, S. Wesley Fry, James Hodges and Captain Turner, he embarked extensively in the mining industry, and together they owned the Rawhide with a twenty-stamp quartz mill. This mine brought in such splendid returns that they became very wealthy, as wealth was counted in those days. This mill and mine were later burned and flooded and were finally abandoned. With his brother Mr. Fry also owned the Comstock of Sonora, the Calder, the Jackson, the Blue Jacket and the Rock Pile mines. In 1870 Mr. Fry gave up mining and went to Stockton and engaged extensively in agriculture or grain-raising, owning his own headers, threshers and stock, as well as everything necessary to extensive farming, and each year farmed many hundreds of acres of land. But in spite of close application the venture did not prove a success and he disposed of his property and in 1873 went to Hollister, where he engaged in the hotel business. Fatalities seemed to follow Mr. Fry in close succession, for in 1875 the Bank of California, in which he had his account, failed and he found himself ruined financially. At this time he proved what a dauntless spirit and a courageous heart will do to help an individual retrieve his losses. He came to Bakersfield in the fall of 1876 and became connected with the early HISTORY OF KJtRN COUNTY 1003 operatiuiis of the Kern County Land Company, then known as the liaggin & Carr Company, lie worked under the superintendency of Mr. Carr for several years and in 18/9 became superintendent of the Rosedale ranch, north of Bakerstield, which consisted of many sections. In 1884 he pur- chased a half section of land near Rosedale and began farming for himself. Mr. Fry was a consistent Democrat in politics and in fraternal circles was a Royal Arch Mason, at the time of his death being the second oldest Mason in the state of California. His death occurred in Coalinga April 6, 1912, and he was buried in Bakersfield with impressive Masonic services. He and his wife and family were Presbyterians. Mrs. Fry, who before her marriage was Miss Mattie Dorsay, was a native of Arkansas, having been born in the Ozarks. She was a member of an English and Scotch family, her father having been burn in Maryland, whence at an early day he and his family removed to Arkansas. Mrs. Fry came across the plains with her par- ents in 1852 and married her husband in Sonora, Cal., February 14, 1865. She survived him but ten days. Mr. Fry was the father of seven children, two by his first marriage and five by his second. Frances M. is now the wife of L. P. Guiberson, who has further mention in this publication. John W. is superintendent of the William McKittrick ranch, south of Bakersfield. Dessie M. is the wife of Plenry Dubbers, a farmer and stockman; Mrs. Dubbers has taught school in Kern and Fresno counties for twenty-five years and is one of the county's most successful instructors. Helen M. is the wife of Roberts Coats, of Bakersfield. William, the brother of the half blood, is a ranchman near Lemoore, Cal. Calvin died in Kern county, unmarried, and Charles Adolphus in his childhood. The father of these children was at his death one of the best known and most loved pioneers in the county. He had occasion to lend his aid to many unfortunates among the Rosedale colonists and he gave of his stores with a free and generous hand. All in need found in him a ready giver and his memory is held dear by many who have been rescued from want and hunger through his kindly assistance and forethought. Mr. Fry never held any public office, but his life was full of duties well done, and he was ever deeply interested in the welfare of his community. DANIEL H. BLOOD. — Among the men who cast their lot in Kern county and helped to build it up to the best of their ability we find Daniel H. Blood, who was born near Ovid, Clinton county, Mich., December 10, 1849. He is the son of Daniel and Susan (Turner) Blood, natives of New York state, who were honored farmers of Clinton county, Mich. Daniel H. was educated in the schools of his vicinity and was brought up on the home farm. After reaching his majority he engaged in farming, thereafter, except for the period that he followed the mercantile business and later ran a grist mill. Being desirous of locating in California Mr. Blood leased his farm and in March, 1891, came with his wife and family to Bakersfield. The first two years were spent in farming in the Rio Bravo district and he then pur- chased three and one-half acres on Dracena street, Bakersfield. This they improved and brought to a high state of cultivation, setting it out to l)erries of all kinds which he continued to raise for many years, afterwards following carpentering until his death, December 24, 1905. Mr. Blood was married in Ovid, Mich., November 12, 1873, when he was united with Miss Adelia Jones, who was born in Yates county, N. Y. When a mere child she went with her parents, Silas E. and Fannie (Eldred) Jones, to Clinton county. New York, where they were farmers. Mrs. Blood was reared in Michigan where she also received her education. They were the parents of four children : Ella, Mrs. McCloud of Hollywood ; Clifford, de- 1004 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ceased; Fred M., of Braly ; and Roscoe, who resides with his mother in Bakersfield. Since her husband's death Mrs. Blood has continued to reside on Dracena street, where she built a new residence and enjoys meeting her many friends, who esteem her for her many acts of kindness. Fraternally Mr. Blood was a Mason in Laingsburg, Mich., but after coming to Bakersfield he afifiliated with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224 F. & A. M. JOSEPH SERAN. — Lockhaven stock farm located five miles southwest of Bakersfield, comprises six hundred and forty acres devoted to raising alfalfa, Holstein cattle, Percheron horses and Yorkshire hogs. The latter were exhibited at the state fair in 1913, taking fourteen blue ribbons and four gold medals. The owner of the ranch is Otis Lockhart of Los Angeles, while Joseph Seran is the superintendent of the ranch and he is intensely interested in having all stock of the purest blood and highest grade. On the ranch is a herd of full blooded Holstein cattle, one hundred and forty-two of them comprising the dairy. Joseph Seran was born in Lenape, Leavenworth county, Kan., January 26, 1874, the son of Capt. William L. and Amanda (Lashley) Seran, born in Aura, N. J. The father enlisted as a private in Company H, Twelfth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. Afterwards he 'was commissioned captain of Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth U. S. Colored Troops and after the close of the war was ordered to Ft. Bliss, Texas, where he was quarter- master's quartermaster. He was mustered out October 31, 1867, then located in Lenape, Kan., and engaged in farming. Later he removed to Muskogee, I. T., making his home there until he retired, and he now resides with his son. The mother died in Oklahoma in 1909. Of their family of ten children nine are living, Joseph being the fifth • oldest. His boyhood was spent on the farm, securing his education in the public schools. He fillowed farming in Indian Territory until 1905, when he came to Los Angeles county and became superintendent of the Lockhart ranch in Inglewood. In 1911 he came to Kern county to take charge of the Lockhaven stock farm at Gosford to which he gives his best efforts. In Indian Territory occurred the marriage of Joseph Seran with Cora Stackhouse, a native of Missouri and they have one child, Otis. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Seminole Lodge No. 106, F. & A. M., but his mem- bership is now at Inglewood. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Republican. KARL SCHNEIDER. — A native of Germany, Karl Schneider w^as born at Laugenbach, Weisbaden, October 19, 1850, the son of Christian and Katherina (Schob) Schneider. The father was a contractor and builder in Laugenbach, where he and his wife died. Of their seven children Karl was the third oldest and received his education in the public schools, after which he became a stationary engineer, being employed in the iron mines in Herdorf. In 1883 he came to the United States, locating in Marion county, Kan., where he followed farming and later also worked as a carpenter and afterward as a bricklayer. In 1892 he located on a homestead twenty-two miles west of Hennessey, in Kingfisher county, Okla. He made valuable im- provements, bought land adjoining and had four hundred and eighty acres which he devoted to raising grain and stcxk. In 1910 Mr. Schneider brought his family to California and located on a farm of one hundred and eighty-two and one-half acres which he purchased eight miles northwest of Bakersfield. He has made improve- ments, built a residence and barns, sunk a well and installed an engine and pumping plant for irrigating alfalfa. He is also raising grain and hay. WM ■r C^ ;^^^^^^l Jl >*r^^^^H^^^^^L ^l^^^^^l l^l Mk- ^^^ 1^ m. :■ j^^^l HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1007 Mr. Schneider was married in Marion county, Kan., to Louise Ortner, who was born in Caucasus. Russia, the daughter of Christian and Kathrina (Miller) Ortner, who emigrated to Marion county, Kan., and later to Okla- homa. To Mr. and Mrs. Schneider were born twelve children, ten of whom are living, namely: Carrie, Mrs. Voth, who resides in this county; Samuel, a farmer in Blaine county, Okla. ; Amelia, Mrs. Sinner of Shafter, this county; Karl, a farmer in Kingfisher county, Okla.; and Hannah, Ezra, Isaac, William, Louise, and Herman, who reside at home. Mr. Schneider and his family are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. GEORGE M. WILKINS.— The growth and prosperity of a city is evidenced by its building operations and in this respect the advance of Bakersfield has been more than notable. Much capital has been invested in new buildings, the designing and construction of which have called for trained ability of a high order. Many architects and builders who would have made their marks in much larger cities have found here a worthy field for their endeavor, and among the most successful of them is George M. Wilkins, who is at the head of the Builders' Exchange as its president. Mr. Wilkins was born in Nevada, Mo., May 20, 1873, a son of Alexander and Martha J. (Pryor) Wilkins. His father, Alexander Wilkins, Jr., was a son of Alexander Wilkins, Sr., a native of Scotland, who became a contractor and builder in Vermont and lived out his days there. The younger Alex- ander Wilkins was born and reared in Vermont and early learned the builders' trade. In the course of events he removed to Wisconsin, from which state he went to the Civil war as a member of a Wisconsin regiment which did gallant service in that struggle. His brother, A. B. Wilkins, was an officer in the same regiment, and another brother, Matthew, also fought under the stars and stripes on southern battlefields. Alexander is now a resident of Bakersfield, where he lives retired. His wife, Martha J. Pryor, was born on Pryor's creek in Vernon county. Mo., a daughter of James P. Pryor, a pioneer in that vicinity, and she, too, is living. Of their thirteen children four sur- vive, George M. being the eldest of these. When he was six years old he was taken by his parents to Barry county. Mo., and he grew up and attended public school in that vicinity. His natural inclination led him to a knowl- edge of the carpenter's trade and at eighteen he began work as a journeyman at Fort Worth, Tex. Later he located at Dublin, Tex. He availed himself of an opportunity to take a commercial course meanwhile, and later pursued a course in architecture under the system of the International Correspondence School at Scranton, Pa. From Dublin he went to Osawatomie, Kans., and thence removed to Kansas City, where until 1899 he was employed in con- structing refrigerating cars for the Armour Packing Company. After that he took up farming in Barry county. Mo., but in 1901 found himself in Truckee, Cal., superintendent for the McClellan Construction Company. In 1903 he established himself as a contractor and builder at Fresno and about a year later he went into the real estate business at Long Beach, handling property there and in Los Angeles with considerable success, acquiring a residence on Hermosa street. In 1907 he took up his residence in Bakers- field, opening an office as an architect and builder, and since that time he has drawn plans for over four hundred buildinf^s. He was for a time super- intendent for James Arp, but resigned in 1909 to accept a local superin- tendency of the business of the Lindgren Company of San Francisco. At Long Beach Mr. Wilkins married Miss Anna J. O'Hanrahan, a native of Dublin, Ireland. Fraternally he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America. One of the organizers, in 1910, of the Bakersfield Builders' Ex- change, he is now president of that body. In all his relations with his fellow citizens he is public-spiritedly helpful to all local interests. In 1912 he purchased fifteen acres in the Mayflower addition, subdivided it into one hundred and fifty, lots, and erected five residences and a store, 1008 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the last mentioned being- on Brundage lane and Wilkins street. He opened up the store with a line of general merchandise and the business is under the management of Mrs. Wilkins. A splendid example of Mr. Wilkins' abil- ity as an architect and builder may be seen in the fine residence which he owns at No. 2700 Chester avenue. WILLIAM T. RATLIFF.— The attainment of a considerable degree of financial success and commercial prestige may be attributed to the self- reliant, energetic labors of Mr. Ratliff and his persistence in the face of repeated discouragements that would have brought failure to a man of less determination. In addition to the ownership of an important business, conducted under the title of the Bakersfield Produce and Implement Com- pany, he engaged in the poultry and dairy business and owned and occupied a well-improved ranch of fifteen acre^ situated on Jewett lane. It was his good fortune to have the assistance of one son in the store and of the other son on the ranch and the three, working in harmony, gained the confidence of business associates as well as a satisfactory financial return for their investment of time and capital. Ill health overtook Mr. Ratliff in the midst of his business success, and in the hope of regaining his former strength he went to Long Beach, where his death occurred June 5, 1913. Noting the history of the Ratliff family we find that Milton Ratliff was born in Kentucky and returned to that state to spend his last days after many years of active business association with the city of Indianapolis, where still lives his widow, Elizabeth (Bracken) Ratliff and where occurred the birth of their two children. Of these the only one to attain mature years was William T., whose birth occurred December 2, 1863, and whose educa- tion was secured in Indiana public schools. For a time during young manhood he engaged in farming in Boone county, Ind., but in 1891 he closed out his interests in that state and came to Bakersfield. Near this city he became interested in general farming, stock-raising and fruit-growing. Afterward he engaged in shipping hay and grain. The discovery of oil caused him to discontinue the running of a stage to Glenville and take up the freighting business to the Kern river field and to the west side field. At first he kept only two horses, but the demands of the business caused him to enlarge his stable until finally he owned ten teams of fine horses. As an employe and as manager of the pit owned by the Union refinery Mr. Ratliff held for three years a position involving constant work and many responsibilities. During the following two and one-half years he engaged as a carpenter in the building of the roofs of the large reservoirs owned by the Standard Oil Company. Upon resigning that position he embarked in the livery business, buying the Panama stable in Bakersfield and later buying the old Diamond stable on Chester avenue. After operating both barns for two and one-half years he disposed of them and bought the Union stable on K street. For two years he operated that business and then sold to E. P. Davis. We next find him connected with the oil industry on the west side as an organizer of the Sunset Security Oil Company. Upon the incorpc ration of the concern he was made vice-president and manager. The company acquired one thousand acres, most of it on section 29, town- ship 11, range 23, in the Sunset field. During January of 1910 he resigned Viis official position with the company and in September of the ensuing year he bought a one-third interest in the Bakersfield Produce and Implement Company at No. 1711 Chester avenue. Afterwards he bought out both of his partners, maintaining in his establishment a complete line of heavy and shelf hardware, agricultural implements, paints and oils, feed and seed, dairy and poultry supplies. In 1884, while living in Indiana, he was married in Boone county to Miss Rosa Emmert, born in Montgomery county, Ind., by whom he had four children, namely: Carrie, Mrs. H. A. Martin of Taft; HISTORY OF KFRN COUNTY 1011 Opal. Mrs. Arthur Bean of San Francisco; Joseph William, who assists in the store; and Ora Warren, who manages the little ranch. In politics Mr. Ratliff voted with the Democratic party. Fraternally he w^as identified with the Elks, Eagles and \\'oodmen of the World, and was also a member of the Bakersfield Merchants' Association. Mrs. Ratliff is a member of the Women of Woodcraft. OTTO HAESE. — The postmaster at IMojave is one of those capable, efficient young men who have been attracted to this section of the country through the development and construction work connected with the Los Angeles aijueduct. While coming hither merely to fill a temporary position on the clerical force of a contractor, he saw the opportunities of the country and, being an enthusiastic Democrat, he was induced to seek the appointment as postmaster. The recommendation of prominent Democrats and his own high reputation combined to bring him the position. June 6, 1913, President Wilson signed the papers tendering him the appointment and on the 7th of July he took charge of the office, at the same time purchasing the stationery and magazine business formerly conducted by Mr. Preble, and in addition he has charge of the public long distance telephone station. From a very early age Otto Haese has been forced to make his own way in the world unaided by others. He was born at Manitowoc, Wis., October 16, 1883, and was only eight years of age when his father, Carl Haese, a farmer of Wisconsin, was taken from the family by death. Few opportuni- ties came to the orphan lad. Early in life he became self-supporting. For five years he engaged as a clerk in a hardware store. During much of that time his wages were only $2 per week, but he was gaining a business experi- ence of great value to him. While clerking during the day he devoted the evenings to the study of telegraphy. At the age of nineteen he was appointed assistant agent at Hilbert Junction for the Wisconsin Central Railroad. Six months later he was appointed assistant agent at Forest Junction, Calumet county, in the emplo}^ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. Three months later he was transferred to Menominee, Mich., to act as night operator and then became day operator and ticket agent for the St. Paul at the same place. At the expiration of three years he entered the Gem City Business College in Quincy, 111., from which institution he was graduated in 1908. Coming to Los Angeles, a stranger on the coast, he secured employment as chief clerk for Dr. O. C. McNary at the Soldiers' Home hospital in Sawtelle. Three months later, in November, 1908, he came to Mojave to act as stenog- rapher and bookkeeper for D. J. Desmond, subsistence contractor on the Los Angeles aqueduct. In due time he was promoted to be chief clerk in the subsistence department and continued with Mr. Desmond until he was appointed postmaster at Mojave, when he relinquished an important clerical position in order to associate himself with the permanent interests of the town. PAUL C. HILL. — A native of Massachusetts, Paul C. Hill was born in Groton August 2, 1886, the son of Capt. Joseph C. Hill, also a native of Groton. When the latter was fourteen years of age he went to sea and was in Calcutta during the Sepoy rebellion. He enlisted and served in the Fifth Bengal Yeoman Cavalry for one year and for his valued services he was presented with a medal from Queen Victoria. When he was eighteen years old he was the first man on record in the state of Maine to volunteer for the Civil war, enlisting in the First Maine Regiment as a private. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, was later transferred to the staff of General Rosecrans, and still later commissioned captain in the Fifth Kentucky Cav- alry. Some years after the war he served as chief of the Indian bureau in Washington for five years. Afterwards he entered commercial life and was for many years in charge of the western agency of the Scott's Emulsion Company in Japan, China and India, until his death in Yokohama. The mother was Charlotte Caryl, a daughter of Alexander Hamilton and 1012 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Elizabeth (Kipp) Caryl, the former being a manufacturer of horseshoe nails in Forge Village, Mass. Paul C. Hill was reared in the various places where his father was located, having the advantages of the public school. When fourteen he began working for the Illinois Steel Company in Chicago and at seventeen became foreman of the blast furnace. In 1906 he spent six months with the Alleghany Ore & Iron Company at Iron Gate, Va., and then was foreman of the blast furnace of the Lackawanna Steel Company at Buffalo. In 1908 he was emploved with Allen & Burke drilling gas wells in western New York. In 1909 Mr. Hill came to California and was employed by the Standard at Coalinga, later with the Coalinga Oil Company, afterwards in the pipe line department of the Standard for one year, then a year with the Santa Fe Company. In January, 1912, he became foreman for the General Petroleum Company at Lost Hills and afterwards was made superintendent of the Lost Hills division for the same company. HON. BENJAMIN BRUNDAGE.— The genealogical records of the Brundage family bear evidence concerning their long and honorable identifica- tion with America as well as their Anglo-Saxon extraction, indicating also that the name was established in the new world by three brothers from Eng- land, one of whom settled in York state, another in New Jersey and the third in Pennsylvania. Thomas, a native of New York and a descendant of the orig- inal immigrant to that state, followed the tide of migration into Ohio, where he took up raw land near McCutchenville, Wyandot county, and improved a large farm. In his family there was a son, Benjamin, who became a success- ful attorney and honored jurist of Bakersfield, rising to influence through his own unaided eft'orts and the development of his splendid mental faculties. Working his way to the law through faithful services as a teacher, he was ad- mitted to the bar and practiced law at Sandusky, Ohio. At the time of Mor- gan's raid he enlisted and served as a private in a regiment of Ohio state militia. Immediately after receiving an honorable discharge from the army in the spring of 1865 he came to California and for a few months sojourned in San Francisco, where he acted as agent for an insurance company. During the autumn of 1865 he arrived in Kern county and opened a law office at Havilah, then the county-seat. In a short time his ability had won recogni- tion. When the question of county-seat removal began to be agitated he was engaged by citizens of Bakersfield to appear before the state legislature and secure the passage of a bill for the removal, which task he engineered to a suc- cessful and satisfactory consummation. Shortly afterward he removed his office to the new county-seat and continued his practice from this point. On the adoption of the new constitution he was elected the first superior judge and filled the position for one term, later returning to his private practice, which he conducted with unimpaired ability until six years prior to his demise. The close of his useful existence came Januarv 29, 1911, when he had reached the age of seventy-seven years. Upon coming west Judge Brundage was unmarried and it was in Cali- fornia that he first met the young lady who became his wife in the city of Sac- ramento, March 27, 1870. Mary B. Lively was born in Yelvington, Daviess county, Ky., and is now a resident of Bakersfield. At a very early age she was brought to the west by her father. Dr. Joseph Lively, who crossed the plains with wagon and oxen during the summer of 1850, and after a short sojourn in Nevada county began to practice medicine at Santa Clara in the county of that name. Later he removed to Glennville, Kern county, where from 1866 until his removal to Irvington, Alameda county, he engaged in professional work. For a time he also conducted the Hotel Glennville. His demise occurred at Watsonville. At the time of the removal of the family to 9w. 9^ ' (2^-^>^^^-t.c.^^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1015 Kern county the daughter was a young lady, well educated for that day and a decided accession to the social and educational circles of the community. She was one of the first school teachers in Havilah and there she met Judge Brundage, who filled the oflfice of school trustee. Their marriage was blessed with three children and two of these, Benjamin L. and George H., are still living. Throughout the county where for so many years he made his home Judge Brundage was well known and universally honored. HERMAN H. SCHUTZ.— Born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, March 17, 1862, Mr. Schutz was the son of John and Catherine (Leverer) Schutz, farmers in St. Gallen, who in 1881 brought the family to Missouri, locating near Spring- field, where Mr. Schutz followed farming until his death about 1898. Mrs. Schutz came to Bakersfield, where her son Herman had removed and here she passed away in 1906. Five of the seven children survive them, Herman H. being the eldest ; he was brought up on the home farm and received the usual common school training in his native land. Reports of the encouraging out- look in America and a great desire to see the new country and try his fortune, impelled the family to migrate to the United States. For three years he followed farming in Springfield, Mo., after which, in 1884, he came to Cali- fornia. Turlock, Stanislaus county, was his first stopping place, and there he immediately found employment, starting at well-boring, which has since been his occupation. Two weeks later he bought the rig and engaged in contracting for the boring of wells in Stanislaus and Merced counties, having his headquarters at Turlock. It was in 1887 that he finally located in Bakers- field, as he recognized this to be a more central point for his line of work. At this time the boring was done by hand power, and later by horse power, but Mr. Schutz now has a steam engine rig and also a gas engine rig, which do the work more rapidly, and much more effectively. His .work takes him all over the county, where he has bored wells from fifty to twelve hundred feet in depth, and he has brought in some good flowing wells. For many years he has done all the work for the Kern County Land Company. In addition to his well-boring business Mr. Schutz is interested in ranch- ing at Wasco, his property having been improved from a desert tract. Of his three hundred and twenty acres, two hundred acres are already under cul- tivation to alfalfa and it is the intention of Mr. Schutz to sow^ the whole half- section to alfalfa. The pumping plant is equipped with a thirty-two horse power engine. Mr. Schutz has built two sets of buildings and has two tenants on the place. Prior to improving the above-mentioned property he improved four other ranches in the Rio Bravo country with wells and pumping plants for general farming and alfalfa. His home is at No. 2111 Twenty-first street, Bakersfield. He belongs to the Independent Order of Foresters and is a Republican. LOUIS FRANK JOHNDROW.— French-Canadian ancestry is indicated by the genealogy of the Johndrow family. The first of the name to establish permanent residence in the States was the father of John B., who when the latter was a lad of thirteen years removed to York state. The youth was even then familiar with the shipping industry and for years he followed the lakes, but eventually, wearying of the constant exposure necessary to such an existence, he settled down on a farm. Naturally he chose a location not far distant from the lakes. The land which he developed was located in Jefferson county. N. Y., near lake Ontario, where so much of his previous life had been passed as a sailor. From that time until his death at the age of eighty- eight he continued on the same property and meanwhile he made a specialty of dairying and kindred activities. During young manhood he had married Julia Cornaire, a native of France, who died in New York at the age of forty- eight. Of their eight children only two survive. Of the entire family the next to the youngest was Louis Frank, born 1016 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY January 7, 1850, at the home farm in Jefferson county, N. Y., near lake Ontario. From very early life he made himself useful on the farm. Flis father being a dairyman, it was natural that he should be instructed in milking, cheese-making and similar work. Efficient, energetic and persevering, his assistance was of the "utmost value in the management of the stock and the land. It was not until 1876 that he decided to leave the old homestead and seek an opening in Mexico. January 1, 1877, he left Watertown, N. Y., on an emigrant train bound for San Francisco, where he arrived at the expiration of fifteen days of tedious travel. The country was so much to his liking that he abandoned all intention of proceeding to Mexico. Fur a time he worked in a dairy at Gilroy, Santa Clara county. Next he spent eighteen months in Monterey county, where he drove a stage between Soledad (then the end of the railroad) and Paraiso Springs. Returning from there to Gilroy, he became cheese-maker on the old Bloomfield ranch for E. A. Davidson, who manufactured drum cheese averaging about sixty pounds to the cheese. While in the employ of Mr. Davidson, aside from cheese-making, he milked a string of twenty-two cows or more, so that he was kept busy eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. On one occasion he had just finished making the cheese at 1 p. m., when the cows were brought in. About six milkers had left and help was scarce. Sitting down on the stool with his pail, he continued to milk until after sundown, at which time he had milked a total of sixty-eight cows for the day. .The next work that occupied the attention of Mr. Johndrow after leaving Gilroy was that of conducting a milk business at No. 1015 Valencia street, San Francisco. During 1882 he spent a few days in Bakersfield and received a favorable impression concerning this part cif the country. Having closed out the business in San Francisco, in 1884 he started for Bakersfield to establish a permanent home in the locality. At San Jose he bought one hundred and seven head of fine dairy cows. These animals he drove through to Bakers- field, where he landed November 22, after twenty-two days of hard travel. The cows were not acclimated and in the next summer all but thirty-five died. Seven months later he sold the balance for $35 per head. He had paid $50 per head for the bunch, besides the expense of $4 each in bringing them to Kern county, so that in seven months he had lost $6,0C0. Had he brought his money to Bakersfield instead of bringing the cows and had he invested in some of the si)lendid land for which this county is noted, he would have been prosperous from the start. However, he did not allow the failure to discourage him. \A^ith undaunted courage he started anew. His knowledge of the dairy business was so thorough that Carr & Haggin engaged him to take charge of their dairy of three hundred cows, which were then grazing on a ranch extend- ing on both sides of Nineteenth street from the Panama slough west. For some time he had charge of the manufacture of cheese and butter and man- aged the large dairy acceptably to all concerned. Having bought forty-four acres on section 4, township 31, range 27, in the Panama district, in 1892 Mr. Johndrow resigned his position with the great corporation of land-owners and devoted himself to the improvement of the land. It was not then known what products could be raised most profitably in the district, hence he experimented with prunes. The results were disastrous. In years when prices were high he had no crop and in seasons of large yield he could get only a very low price for the fruit, so at the expiration of twelve years of struggle he grubbed out the fine large trees and sowed the land to alfalfa. Thereafter with alfalfa and hogs on the land he was greatly pre spered. Eventually he sold the property and in November, 1911, came to Bakersfield. where he erected two houses on the corner of Eleventh and N streets. In one of these he makes his home; the other is rented. While operating his ranch in the Panama district he became inter- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1017 esterl in the Loveland Produce Company at Bakersfield. Since 1904 he has engaged in buying hay and grain for the firm and meanwhile also has had charge of the storage of the products in two large warehouses at Wible and Gosford. Since coming to Bakersfield he has given all of his time to the business of the firm. Before leaving the east Mr. Johndrow was made a Mason in Chaumont Lodge No. 172, A. F. & A. M., at Chaumont, Jefferson county, N. Y., and his name has been enrolled among its list of members ever since 1876. In politics he has voted with the Republican party from the time of attaining his majority. His family comprises Mrs. Johndrow and their boy, Louis Frank Johndrow, a child of nine years. Prior to their marriage at San Jose October 3 1883, Mrs. Johndrow was Miss Fannie Pyle. Her father, William Pyle, crossed the plains to California in 1850. For a time he ran a ferry across the Sacramento river. Afterward he engaged in wheat farming in Solano county and later in Fresno county. His last days were passed in Santa Ana, this state. The wife and mother, Mary Mack, is living at San Jose and at the age of eighty- four is hale and hearty. During the residence of the family in Solano county the daughter, Fannie, was born, and she accompanied her parents in their various removals, receiving her education in the public .schools and at the L^niversity of the Pacific at San Jose. WILLIAM ARTHUR SPROULE.— The Sproule family was established in the United States during the year 1846 by William A. Sproule, Sr., who brought his family of eight children across the ocean from Ireland and set- tled in Connecticut. Taking up the business of an undertaker, he continued to follow that line of work until his death. Prior to his departure from the home country he had lost his wife, Letitia (Henderson) Sproule, who was born in Ireland and was forty-five years of age at the time of her demise. Among their eight children the next to the voungest was William Arthur, who was born in Belfast, Ireland, June 25, 1842, and therefore had reached only the age of four years at the time of the landing of the family in the harbor of New York. As a boy he lived in the Greenwich, Conn., home and attended the public schools. When the Civil war began he had completed an apprenticeship to the trade of landscape gardener and had followed the occupation first in Connecticut and later in Pennsylvania. Enthusiasm for the Union cause led him to volunteer his services as a soldier. During 1862 he was assigned to Company K, One Hundred and Forty-third Pennsylvania In- fantry, which was mustered into service at Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, and sent to the front with the old Fifth Army Corps under General Warren. With characteristic courage the young soldier bore his part in the battlefield and on the dreary line of march as well as when suffering the deprivations of camp- life. Not only did he bear arms in many small battles, but in addition he fought in eighteen decisive and bitterly contested engagements, including those of Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Antietam, the Wilderness, second bat- tle of Bull Run, Spottsylvania Court-house, Cedar Mountain, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. Fortunate was his experience, for at no time was he ser- iously wounded, although he had many narrow escapes. When peace had been restored he received an honorable discharge in June of 1865 and resumed the ordinary vocations of the workaday world. For some years subsequent to the Civil war Mr. Sproule was employed as a landscape gardener in and near New York City and many of the most beautiful grounds along the Hudson river bore evidence to his skill and cul- tured taste. After coming to California in 1871 he spent two years as fore- man on the Campbell ranch in Kern county and in 1873 established his head- quarters in Bakersfield, where shortly afterward he bought sixty-six feet of frontage on the corner of I and Twenty-first streets. At that time Bakersfield had one store and a very few houses. It would seem as if there was little 1018 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY need for a landscape gardener in a community so obscure and isolated, but with the incoming of people and the building of residences he was given constant employment in his chosen occupation. For twenty-two years he followed landscape gardening. Meantime he laid out many of the beautiful grounds that make Bakersfield a city of beauty and a source of pride to its residents. Since retiring from the occupation in 1910 he has devoted his attention to the oversight of his private affairs and with his wife, who was Frances Greg- ory, a native of Connecticut, he enjoys the esteem and regard of the friends won during the long period of residence in the city. Mrs. Sproule was the daughter of John and Alary (Osborn) Gregory, natives of Danbury, Conn., and Poughkeepsie, N. Y., respectively. Her father was a merchant in South- port and there died, while her mother passed away in Bakersfield. In pol- itics Mr. Sproule has been stanchly Republican and in religion has adhered to the Episcopal faith in which he was reared. Their family numbers two sons and a daughter. The eldest, Warren, is now a clerk in a hardware store in Los Angeles, and the second, Albert, who is a conductor on the Southern Pacific Railroad, makes Watsonville his headquarters, while the youngest, Mrs. Jessie Argabrite, is living in San Diego. ROWZEE F. SHACKELFORD.— Born in Brite's Valley, near Tehachapi, May 17, 1879, Mr. Shackelford is a son of "Dick" Shackelford, whose life record appears elsewhere in this volume. During bcyhood he lived at the old home farm in Brite's Valley and attended the public schools of that locality. In work and in recreation the years of youth passed unevent- fully. When he reached the age of twenty years he started out to make his own way in the world. The Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1899 gave him empl( yment as a fireman out from Needles running east and west, but the following year he resigned and returned to the farm to assist in the cultivation of the property. Returning to the railroad work in 1903, he again became a Santa Fe fireman out from Needles. In 1906 he was promoted to be an engineer and was transferred to Bakersfield, where he has since been retained by the company and where he has become a well-known and popular citizen. The marriage of Mr. Shackelford was solemnized in Los Angeles in February. 1905, and united him with Miss Lillian Mae Culver, a native of North Prairie, Waukesha County, Wis. Their union has been blessed with two children, Ray and Marie. The fraternal and occupative associations of Mr. Shackelford are important and varied and include membership with the Eagles and the Masons. At the time of being made a Mason in Tehachapi LodgeNo. 313, F. & A. M., he was raised by his father, a Mason of the pioneer period and long a prominent local worker in the order. For some years Mr. Shackelford has held membership with the Kern Valley Division No. 739, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, at Bakersfield. In addition he has been prominently identified with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and at one time was honored with the presidency of Kern River Lodge No. 731 in Bakersfield, of which he is now recorder and financial secretarv as well as one of the leading workers. G. M. BUMGARNER, M.D.— In his native town of Guthrie, Ky., Dr. Bumgarner began to read medicine with Dr. Marshall when eighteen. For the arduous duties of a physician he had laid well the foundation of a thor- ough classical education, having been graduated with the class of 1889 from the college at South Carrollton, Muhlenberg county, Ky. This institution conferred the degree of A.B. upon him, while the degree of M.D. came to him in 1892 from the Beaumont Medical College at St. Louis. It is stated that he was not only one of the most gifted and intellectual members of the class, but the youngest as well. Upon leaving college he served for one year as interne in the Missouri Baptist Sanitarium in St. Louis, a position that gave him many valuable opportunities for different practice. After- rS-^^Hg-t^ "t^ ^AL«^cXy6Cu^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1021 ward he practiced his profession for eight years at Martinsburg, Audrain county, Mo., and meanwhile in 1893 married Miss Annie, daughter of Dr. J. N. Moorman, of South Carrollton, Ky. Leaving Missouri to engage in professional work in the west, Dr. Bum- garner established his home and office at Escondido, San Diego county, in 1901, but in 1906 removed to the newly-developed Imperial valley, where he engaged in a general practice in the city of Imperial. From there in March of 1910 he came to Bakersfield, where he and his wife, with their two chil- dren, Polly and Waldo, have a comfortable home at No. 1722 Blanche street. At the time of the epidemic of typhoid he was appointed by the board of county supervisors to the position of county health officer and since Decem- ber of 1910 he has filled the position with devotion, tact and intelligence, endeavoring to conquer conditions that give rise to local epidemics and to so conserve the health of the community that such disastrous experiences may be prevented. The office of Dr. Bumgarner is on the second floor of the Brower building, on Nineteenth street. ALEXANDER R. M. BLACKHALL.— Alexander Reith McLag- gan Blackball was born in the shire of Inverness, Scotland, March 7, 1882, being a son of Alexander and Agnes (Reith) Blackball, both natives of Aberdeen. The father, a man of exceptional powers as a financier, is one of the heads of a large banking institution and even now, at the age of sixty-one, he wields a large influence in the financial circles of his part of Scotland. Three sons and one daughter comprise the family. The second son, John, is connected with Lloyd's Bank at Coventry, England, and the third son, Douglas, holds an important position with the William Galloway Company at Waterloo, Iowa. The youngest member of the family, Miss Agnes Blackball, now residing with her parents at Nairn, Scotland, has studied music in Germany and is a fellow of the Royal College of Music in London. Graduated in the classical course from the Royal Academy at Inverness at the age of eighteen years, Mr. Blackball immediately thereafter entered the Royal Bank of Scotland as a junior clerk. For two years he continued with that institution, in which his father was one of the leading officials. Leaving for London in 1902, he entered the English office of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and for three years held positions of in- creasing importance with that great concern. During 1905 he was sent over to the New York branch of the said bank, where for two years he engaged as an assistant accountant. From there he was transferred to San Francisco in the fall of 1907. After a successful identification with the western branch of the house he was transferred to Hong-Kong as an assistant official in the great original bank, where he remained for more than a year. When returning to Great Britain on a year's furlough he stopped at San Francisco to visit friends and in that city he met A. M. Kemp, the first vice-president of the South- ern California Gas Company, who urged him to come to Taft and accept the office of auditor with the Northern Exploration Company. After due consid- eration he accepted the ofifer, resigned from the Hong-Kong Bank and estab- lished himself in the Midway field, where he is now connected with the Petro- leum Club and identified with various organizations for the permanent up- building of the district. April 16, 1913, at Berkeley, Cal., he was united in marriage with Miss Grace L. Pack, daughter of John Wallace Pack, a resident of Berkeley and an employe in the San Francisco mint. JAMES A. CLARK. — A native of Tennessee, James A. Clark was born in Celina, July 29, 1869, the son of Hayden and Lillie A. (Davis) Clark, the former born in Kentucky and the latter in Tennessee. For many years they were farmers near Celina, but are now residing at Sulphur W^lls, Ky. Of their eight children, seven of whom are living, James was the second oldest and was educated in the public schools of Tennessee and Kentucky. At the age of fifteen he removed to Greensburg, Ky., where he attended the high 1022 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY school, after which he took a course at the Glasgow Normal. During these years he followed teaching, thus paying his own way during his normal course, as well as at Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Louisville, where he was graduated. For some years Mr. Clark was engaged at teaching and as a bookkeeper and then entered the employ of the Louisville & Nashville railroad, working up in the transportation department, and in due time became a conductor on the road, filling the position until 1900. He then resigned to try to secure a quarter section of land in Oklahoma. He remained at Cordell, Okla., but in the drawing for a location was unsuccessful, so he came to Kern county, Cal., arriving in 1904, and immediately entered the employ of the Kern County Land Co., and was soon made a foreman on the Poso ranch, a position which he filled for seven years and then served in the same capacity on their Lake- side ranch until 1912. At this time he became foreman of the Canfield ranch, where he is now devoting his time to the advancement of the company's interests. Mr. Clark was made a Mason in Beach ville Lodge No. 619, F. & A. M., at Sulphur Well, Ky., was demitted, and is now a member of Bakersfield' Lodge No. 224. MEL P. SMITH.— The president of the California Market Companv has risen to an influential position among the business men of Bakersfield notwithstanding the fact that in youth he was handicapped by lack of means and of educational advantages. From thirteen years of age a resident of California and for the same period associated with Bakersfield, he was born in Ottawa, Kan., in 1884, being a son of M. P. and Mary (Price) Smith, natives respectively of Quincy, 111., and Kentucky, but after 1897 citizens of the great West. At this writing the father fills the position of boiler inspector for Kern County. There were only three children in the family and of these the only daughter married W. H. Breene and resides at Arkansas City, Kan. The second of the three children, Mel P., began to learn the meat business in 1898, when he entered the employ of J. J. Anderson, manager of the wholesale and retail meat market handling the output of the ranches of the Kern County Land Company. From the most humble position the youth rose to employment of greater responsibility and when the California Market Company was incorporated April 8, 1909, he was selected as president and manager, L. P. Keester being secretary and treasurer. The headquarters of the company are at No. 1618 Nineteenth street, where every modern convenience has been provided for the efficient conduct of the business. The California Market Company handles the product of the Kern County Land Company's ranches and averages from $40,000 to $50,C00 per month, the products including beef, pork, mutton and poultry. Slaughter houses have been provided in a convenient location and to these are conveyed the products of the company's ranches, as well as considerable stock purchased from the farmers of the county. September 15, 1912, the California Market Company began to make extensive imnrovements in their retail store at No. 1618 Nineteenth street. The entire inside ( f this market has been remodeled at a cost of $11,000; and it is now unsurpassed in convenience and elegance by any similar plant on the Pacific Coast. The Monroe system recently installed has proven a valuable addition to the equipment. Indeed, the entire plant contains every modern improvement, creating an efifect that reflects business system, artistic ideas and orderly oversight. While the work naturally demands much time and constant supervision, Mr. Smith still finds leisure to participate in local afifairs of the Democratic party and to maintain active relations with the Elks and the Bakersfield Club. In his marriage he became united with a Bakersfield family of high standing. It was on Christmas day of 1910 that he was united with Miss Maude Day, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1025 of this city, a young lady of excellent education and wide acquaintance. They are the parents of a son, Melvin Paul, who represents the third generation to bear that name. VIRGINIA BRAMHAM.— The owner and manager of the \'irginia Pipe Line Contracting Company, although still a young man, has reached a high degree of success by sheer force of will and by the exercise of constructive ability. The concern which he founded and has since operated engages ex- tensively in the Midway, Sunset, Lost Hills and Coalinga fields. Any enu- meration of its contracts means practically a record of the development of pipe-line construction through this part of the state, and in addition he has made a specialty of teaming, trucking and heavy hauling throughout the west side fields. Recently he had the contract for the laying of the fire system of water mains in Taft, affording the city a line that will pruve of untold value in case of a fire. Several lines for the General Petroleum have been laid in the Midway and one has been constructed to the Lost Hills, besides which he has had large contracts with the California Natural Gas Company, has laid all the pipes for the Western Water Company in the Midway and at Fellows, has laid all the water mains for the August Oil Company and the water lines for the California Amalgamated. The main line supplying Fellows with water and owned by Fleck Bros., was constructed by his company, also the oil mains at Fellows for the Bankline Oil Company and the water mains at Taft for the Northern Exploration Company. Recently the company closed a con- tract with the General Petroleum for the construction of an eight-inch oil pipe line, a loop across the Tejon Pass. This will be the second line con- structed by the General Petroleum across the Pass, intersecting the Mojave line at Lebec and together with the line previously laid, forming a loop-line through the Tejon Pass. Descended from honored English forbears and representing an influential family of the Old Dominion, Mr. Bramham was born at Charlottesville, Albe- marle county, Va., December 22, 1881, and grew to manhood on the old home- stead, aiding his father in the mercantile establishment of the latter, as well as on the farm where they lived. At the age of sixteen he went to the oil fields (if West Virginia, where he began to work in the construction of pipe lines. When he left West Virginia at the age of nineteen he had a thorough knowledge of every detail connected with such work. The year 1900 found him at Spindletop, Tex., and for ten years he was connected with pipe-line construction in Texas and Louisiana. Meantime he worked successively for the Texas Oil Company, the Gulf Refining Company, the Gulf Pipe Line Com- pany and held an imnortant positi( n as superintendent of construction for the Evangeline Oil Company of Louisiana. Coming to California from Louisiana in September of 1909 he engaged with the Producers' Transportation Company, for whom he had previously worked in Louisiana. The filling of an important contract took him to McKittrick. Later he came to the Midway field and superintended the laying of an eight-inch oil line from the Midway to Santa Barbara. After six months with the Producers' Transportation Company he entered the service of the Honolulu Oil Company and in four months had completed a water system for their entire lease. Next he came to Taft, where December 1, 1910, he organized the Virginia Pipe Line Contracting Company and since has engaged in business, with headquarters in this city, where a sister presides over his comfortable home. FREDERICK SMITH.— Among the business men of ability in Kern county we find Frederick Smith, who has charge of the store of Miller & Lux at Buttonwillow. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, July 17, 1861, being the son of Dr. Joseph Harker Smith, a graduate of the University of Glasgow with the degree of M.D., and a practicing physician in Blackburn until his death at the age of forty-nine years. His widow. 1026 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY who was in maidenhood Jane Sutcliffe, also of Lancashire, died in 1910. Frederick, the only child of the union, was educated in the public school of Blackburn and at Mintholme Colleg-e, from which he was graduated in 1881. He then studied medicine for a while, but not liking it he entered commercial pursuits and was a clerk in mercantile establishments until he came to Massachusetts in 1886. Coming to California the next year, Mr. Smith purchased a small ranch at Los Gatos, which he sold a year later, and then engaged in superintend- ing ranches in the Cupertino district in Santa Clara county. Becoming well versed in the fruit business he built the first fruit dryer at Wawawai, Wash., and after starting it he returned to his former work in Santa Clara county. Five years later he went to Mendocino county, where he was with the Cot- toneve Lumber Co. until he accepted the management of a dry goods store in San Rafael. After five years he resigned and started a private messenger service in San Francisco, which was continued until 1910, when he entered the employ of Miller & Lux as storekeeper at Buttonwillow, Kern county, which position he is filling acceptably. Fraternally Mr. Smith is a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Eagles, of which latter order he has been secretary. He is a com- municant of the Episcopal church and politically adheres to the principles of the Republican party. FRANK A. FETHER.— In Fulton county, Ohio, Mr. Fether was born near Pettisville, January 1, 1868, son of Alexander and Sarah (Gu3^man) Fether, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and now residents of Bakersfield, Cal. The father, who for years engaged in the milling busi- ness in Fulton county, Ohio, drifted from that occupation into the oil in- dustry and took contracts for production in that state as well as in Indiana. After removing to California and settling at Bakersfield in March, 1900, he engaged in drilling oil wells by contract. Now at the age of seventy-three years, he is living in retirement from business cares. Of his six children four are now living. The second son, Louis C, was killed on New Year's day of 1908 by a dynamite explosion on a lease in the Kern river field. A daughter, Effie, died in Toledo, Ohio. Mrs. Celia Klofenstein is a resident of Los Angeles and George is engaged in drilling water wells for the Santa Fe in Arizona. The youngest member of the family circle, Harry, born in 1884, began to work in the Kern river field in 1901 and is now foreman of production with the United Oil Company. Upon leaving high school at the age of sixteen years Frank A. Fether began to assist his father in his drilling contracts, by which work he soon became competent in the care of the tools and as an assistant in drilling. At different times he worked in many of the oil fields of Ohio and Indiana. With the money earned in the oil business he paid his expenses while attending the Wauseon Normal in Fulton county, Ohio. Fortified by a varied experi- ence in eastern fields, he came to California in 1900 to take up work in the same business. After an experience as driller in the Kern river field with different companies, in 1902 he was made superintendent of the Monte Cristo Oil Company, which responsible position he filled for more than four years. A brief time spent in the Whittier field as superintendent of the Central Oil Company was followed by his entrance into the Utah oil fields in 1907 as superintendent of a lease in the Virgin river district. Returning to California January 1, 1908, he entered upon the duties of superintendent of Section 25 Oil Company in the Midway. Under his supervision four wells were drilled and brought into paying production. Upon resigning that position he be- came superintendent of drilling for the Standard Oil Company. Later he was promoted to be assistant general superintendent. From the Standard he went to the Palmer Oil Company in the Santa Maria field, where he con- tinued for two and one-half years, until 1913, when he became superintendent HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1029 of the United Oil Company in the Midway field. By his marriage to Miss McGuire, of Antwerp, Ohio, he has two sons, Donald and Kenneth. While living in Ohio he was made a Mason in Bryan Lodge No. 215, A. F. & A. M., at Bryan, Williams county, and since coming to the West he has identified himself with the Elks in Bakersfield Lodge No. 266. DAVID E. MARTIN.— The superintendent of the Oakland Midway Oil Company, owners of a lease of thirty acres on section 13, 31-22, was born near Lettsville, Louisa county, Iowa, June 1, 1856, and is a son of the late David and Mary (Walters) Martin, natives of Pennsylvania. Allured by the rich soil of Iowa, the father left Pennsylvania in the hope of bettering his condition in the newer state, but poverty retarded his efforts and hampered his success. His rented farm was scarcely equal to the task of supporting the family and returning a revenue to the owner. There were five small children (David E. the eldest) to be cared for and four of these are now living. W^hen a call was made for volunteers during the stress of the Civil war, the father left his home and family and offered his services to the Union. Accepted as a private in the ranks, he was sent into camp to be drilled in military tactics, but he died suddenly before the company had been ordered to the front. The mother survived him for many years and eventually died about 1908 at Batavia, Iowa, at the age of seventy-five years. When the father died the task of caring for the children proved too great for the widowed mother and she therefore put the eldest child, David E., in the care of Jim Thompson, of Louisa county, it being the agreement that at the age of twenty-one he should be paid $100 besides a horse, saddle and bridle. For some years all went well. The boy worked on the farm in the summers and attended the country school in the winter months. However, at the age of nineteen he began to grow dissatisfied. The fact that his chum, Anson Kelly, had been made an engineer on the Rock Island Railroad turned' his thoughts toward railroading and he determined to be a fireman. At first Mr. Thompson protested against losing his services, but finally he agreed to let him go and gave him $100. Then his mother raised objections, stating that if he must leave the farm, she wished him to return to relatives in Penn- sylvania. His consent to this measure was secured, a ticket was purchased for Scrub Grass, Venango county. Pa., where he duly arrived December 8, 1875. Immediately he found that all of his cousins and uncles were engaged in the oil industry and a resolve was formed in his own mind to engage in the same work. An excellent training was had in the employ of Isaac Dean, a large oil operator who gained a national reputation through being the Greenback nominee for vice-president in the days of Horace Greeley. After some ex- perience as a day laborer with this gentleman, the latter presented him with an entire outfit of standard tools and entered into a contract with him to drill seven wells at $1.25 per foot. The work was to be done at Bullion, Venango county. The job was completed in one year and netted the young contractor $2,000. At Crawford's Corners in Venango county, Pa., during the fall of 1878 he drilled a well for John P. Crawford and struck a strong flow of natural gas. Next he drilled a well for William P. Crawford and struck oil. Prior to that time wood and coal had been used for steam purposes. After starting the oil well Mr. Martin suggested to William P. Crawford that he provide suf- ficient two-inch pipe so that his boilers could be connected with the gas well on the land of John P. Crawford. The gentleman shook his head in discour- agement of such a proposition, stating that gas would not run through a two- inch pipe for such a distance (one mile). The insistence of the young driller, however, won the day and the two-inch pipe was procured, the main laid, the gas fed into the boilers and the experiment proved a success. Thereupon the authorities at Hugginsville were encouraged to lav an inch pipe from the same gas well to their city during the winter of 1878-79. The pipe was run up 1030 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY about twelve feet high in the center of the public square, where the gas burned day and night. The History of Pennsylvania verifies the statement that this was the first experiment in using natural gas for lighting in the state. Soon afterward mains were laid and natural gas became available for cooking and other domestic purposes. Thus it will be seen that David E. Martin played a very important part in the utilization of natural gas. Encouraged by his first success, he engaged in contract drilling at Bradford from 1879 to 1882. Meanwhile in Venango county in 1879 he was united in marriage with Aliss Mary IMatilda Hufifman, a daughter of D. Hufifman, a farmer and coal miner living near Mechanicsville. 'l^hey are the parents of three children, namely: S. H., superintendent of the Sterling division of the Associated Oil Company; Mary Elizabeth, wife of N. B. Harris, who is connected with the detective service in Los Angeles; and Golden Loretta, wife of Russell Vaughn, a driller on the Oakland. As drilling contractor for H. B. Porter, of Titusville, Pa., in 1882 Mr. Martin drilled the first well in the Clarendon field. After three years in that field he went to Titusville, where he engaged in the oil business and also pur- chased a home. In the interests of the Union Oil Company and at the request of Milton Stewart, of Titusville, he came to California, settling at Santa Paula in 1892, after which he drilled in that field for three years. Later he engaged in contract drilling in the Los Angeles field, but the work was entirely different from similar work in the Pennsylvania fields, consequently he did not meet with success. Selling his interest in the drilling outfit, he \vent to Whittier in 1897 and engaged as superintendent for Central Oil Company, which corporation was greatly prospered by reason of his executive super- vision. After five and one-half years on the same lease, in July, 1902, he came to the Kern river field and took charge of the Sterling Oil Company. During 1903 he spent four months at Point Angelus, on the west coast of Mexico, where he built two rigs and started the task of developing a large property for the Mexican republic under the presidency of General Diaz. However, it was soon discovered that the rigs were too far from the seepage and there- fore the project had to be abandoned. After a short visit in Mexico City, where he received the pay for his services, he returned to the Kern river field and resumed work with the Sterling. At the expiration of four and one-half years with the Sterline lease Mr. Martin went to Utah in October, 1907, and remained there until jMarch, 1908. meanwhile engaging in wildcat drilling under the supervision of H. H. Blood. Upon his return to California he took charge of the American Petroleum on the Niles lease at Sherman Junction, where he remained for three months. Next at Maricopa he had charge of the Fulton for one year. From there he went to Bvron and Salt creek to open up the Wyoming field for ^^^illiam G. Henshaw, of Oakland. The venture proved successful. A fine flowing well was secured. After one year in Wyoming he returned to California and entered the service of the January Oil Company on 25 Hill, where he remained for two vears. March 11, 1912, he became superintendent of the Oakland ]\lid- wav Oil Company. Since beginning his duties in this capacity he has built ^11 the houses on the lease and has transformed the district from sage brush to a finelv improved holding, with three wells making an average of six thousand barrels each month. A fourth well will soon be brought in, thus increasing the production. After coming here he bought forty acres near Edison. W. N. THOMPSON. — A Texan, Mr. Thompson was born at Cleburne, .August 24, 1885, and is next to the oldest among the four surviving children of H. F. Thompson, a farmer in the Lone Star state. The discovery of oil at the Spindletop caused him to go to Beaumont when he was only fifteen and ever since then he has supported himself through his labors in oil fields. Nat- urallv he began as a roustabout. The hardships of the life did not dishearten HISTORY OF KF.RX COUXTY 1033 Iiini. P'rom the first he determined to acquire a thorough knowledge of every department of the industry. When only seventeen he was an experienced tool- dresser, gang-pusher and driller, his first experience as a driller having been gained in the Sour Lake field in Texas. When nineteen years of age he was .steadily employed by the Texas Oil Company as a driller in the Saratoga field, in which district oil was struck at a depth of about sixteen hundred feet. During his service with that concern he brought in some profitable wells, a number of them being gushers. For four months he engaged in drilling at Evangeline, parish of Arcadia, La., and later he spent eight months drilling in West Texas on a wild-cat well. During the period of work in that part of the country he was married in New Mexico, August 12, 1910, to iVliss Norena Hughes, a native of Texas. From that state he and his wife came to California and settled at Coalinga in February, 1911, after which for fourteen months he engaged in drilling for the Kern Trading & Oil Company, from them in March, 1912, coming to the Standard Oil Company at Taft. With his wife and son, Horace W., he has a comfortable home in the residence formerly oc- cupied by Cyrus Bell during the period of his service as division sunerintendent for the Standard. The now justly celebrated well of the Standard Oil Com- pany, known as the McNee No. 10 on Section 36, was drilled by means of rotary tools and brought in during July, 1912, under the foremanship of Mr. Thompson. Without doubt it is the largest gusher in California today. It approaches the celebrated Lakeview- itself. GEORGE LEE SNIDER.— The transplanting of the Snider family from Germany to Pennsylvania took place in the era of colonial settlement in America. Later generations removed from the Keystone state to Ohio and A. W. Snider, a native of Montgomery, Hamilton County, Ohio, established the famil}^ fortunes still further toward the west, removing first to Illinois and later to Missouri, where he engaged in the manufacture of lumber. About 1877 he became a pioneer of Florida and settled at Ouincy, Gadsden County, where he operated a sawmill and made a specialty of the manufacture of lumber. Years of active business pursuits were followed by retirement to private life and in 1908 he and his wife joined their youngest child in East Bakersfield. where he still makes his home. For a number of years before the consolidation he served as a trustee of Kern. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ellen Conover, was born in Newark, N. J-, of Scotch and Dutch ancestry, and died in East Bakersfield. Five children comprised their family and the youngest of these, George Lee, was born near Carthage, Mo., November 22, 1875, but was only two years of age at the time of the removal to Fl( rida. During boyhood he attended the public schools of Ouincy, where later he learned the trade of a machinist and the details of the sawmill business. Arriving in Bakersfield on a November day in 1886 with only $16 in his possession, George Lee Snider immediately inquired concerning employ- ment and was fortunate in securing work at once. The day after his arrival he began to work for the Kern County Land Company and for tliree years he continued in their warehouse department, meanwhile being promoted to the foremanship of the Sumner warehouse. Upon resigning from that company he entered the machine department of the Southern Pacific shops, where he remained a valued and trustworthy employe until June of 1904, resigning at that time in order to engage in business for himself. Ability as a mechanic led him to embark in the bicycle business. For a time he had a shop in a basement on the corner of Humboldt and Baker streets. Soon, however, he outgrew those quarters. From there he removed to No. 985 Baker street. Next he purchased unimproved property at No. 958 Baker street, where he erected a frame business building, 22x90 feet in dimensions, equipped with the conveniences desirable for the satisfactory management of his affairs. In 1913 he moved the old building and erected a new brick 1034 HISTom' OF KI^RX CO I' XT Y building, 25x60. two stories, with an addition 25x30 feet. He occupies the entire building- for his business. Resides owning his business builcHng and a residence at No. 1012 Sacramento street. East Bakersfield, Mr. Snider owns a stock ranch near Glennville and is engaged in raising cattle and horses. In Calvary, Ga., he married ]\Iiss Lochie L. Herring, a native of that town and a daughter of P. H. Herring, who for years has held the office of county ordinary. They are the parents of three chiUlren, Leota Ellen, Lloyd Conover and George Lee, Jr. The family hold membership with the Chesboro Methodist Episcopal church in East Bakersfield. The Bakersfield Motorcycle Club numbers Mr. Snider among its most interested members. Politically he votes with the Democratic party in general elections. Perhaps no movement of public importance interests him in a greater degree than does that of education. The public school system has in him a stanch friend. When the consolidation of Kern with Bakersfield took place he was serving as a member of the Kern board of school trustees. At the first election (special) he was chosen a member of the Bakersfield board of education. At the regular election in June of 1911 he wa§ re-elected to serve for a term of four years. NICKLAS TSCHURR.— A native of Switzerland, Nicklas Tschurr was born in Donath, Canton Graubunden, January 9, 1888. His father, Chris Tschurr, was a farmer and dairyman at Donath, where he was also a mem- ber of the board of village trustees. In this Alpine village Nicklas received his education in the public and high school, assisting his father and learn- ing the dairy business from the time he was a boy. In 1907 Nicklas Tschurr determined to try his fortune in the United States, and having heard good reports from Kern county, Cal., came here forthwith, arriving in April, 1907. For eighteen months he was employed as buttermaker at the Swiss-American Creamery, after which he leased land and ranched with such success that three years later, in 1912, he was able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of wild land tw^o miles south of the Old River school house. This he has put under the plow and into grain, while twenty acres has already been checked and sown to alfalfa. It is his intention just as soon as it is possible to have it all in growing alfalfa and engage in the dairy industry that he understands so well. The place is all under irrigation from the Stine canal. He has put up substantial improve- ments, such as a comfortable bungalow and a large barn. Politically he es- pouses the cause of the Republican party. J. C. McDonald. — -To serve the Combination Midway Oil Company as superintendent and to hold rank among the thoroughly reliable operators in the west side field does not represent the limit of activities of Mr. McDonald, for being a carpenter and builder by trade, he obtained the contract for the building of the I. O. O. 1'. hall on Center street, Taft. The summer of 1913 was largely devoted to the task of building this hall, which is 50x118 feet in dimensions, with a cement basement surmounted by two stories, of pressed brick construction, with plate-glass front. It is natural that Mr. McDonald should show skill in carpentering, for he was l)r()ught up to a thorough knowledge of the trade by his father, J. W. McDonald, a contractor and builder in Missouri, more recently a resident of Lemoore, Kings county, Cal. Born in Centralia, Mo., July 28, 1881, J. C. Mc- Donald was orphaned by the death of his mother when he was only two years of age and the loss of her afl^ectionate oversight cast a gloom over the days of his boyhood. On the day that he was eighteen he left Missouri for California. To earn a livelihood he was prepared by a knowledge of carpentering. Imme- diately after his arrival in Bakersfield he secured day work with Superintendent Canfield on the Central Point. In a short time he had mastered the business of ])erforating wells and he continued at that work in the Kern river field until 1'>'02, when he went to Los Angeles to take up work as a carpenter and o H o o d z o p O H HISTORY OF KF.RX COUNTY 1037 builder. Four and one-half years were spent in that city and in 1907 he returned to Kern county, came to the Midway field and secured a position with one of the companies engaged in development work. For a time he was with the Amazon and Alpine Oil Companies. For some years he has been asso- ciated with Barlow & Hill, the well-known oil operators of Bakersfield, and for them he has built rigs in the North Midway field and more recently has had charge of the Combination Midway Oil Company on section 2, 31-23. At Bakersfield in 1901 he married Miss Lizzie McMahan, of Missouri, and -they and their children, Erwin and Irma, occupy a cottage on the lease of the Combination Midway, where also he has his office and headquarters. CELSUS BROWER. — Descended in direct line from Jacob Brower (or Brauer, as originally spelled), who came from Holland to New York during the seventeenth century, Celsus Brower was born in New York City July 21, 1840, and received the advantages of the New York free schools and free academy. However, owing to ill health, he left the academy during the second year of his attendance, and in October of 1859 came to California, where he settled in Sierra county and engaged in the hotel business. The floodtide of patriotism sweeping through Sierra county in 1863, he joined a company organizing there under promise of incorporation with an expedition under General Banks against Texas, which falling through, and failing of muster-in under a commission received as second lieutenant in the Sixth California Infantry, he served on extra duty in the commissary department in San Francisco during the remainder of his term. Upon being mustered out as sergeant-major in 1866 he immediately was appointed chief clerk in the offices of the mustering and disbursing officer, the acting assistant provost- marshal general and superintendent of volunteer recruiting service, under Gen. Washington Seawell, an officer noted for system and integrity in the performance of his official duties. Upon the closing of the military department and the arranging of its records for preservation at Washington, the interim between that time and coming to Kern county was divided by Mr. Brower betw^een service as inspector of customs at San Francisco and a visit in the east. In search of health, which had been shaken through pulmonary afifection, he left San Francisco in October, 1872, and settled at Bakersfield, where since he has made his home. Business activities in Bakersfield began with the keeping of books for the firm of Livermore & Chester. In 1873, upon assignment of the affairs of the Cotton Growers' Association to J. H. Redington in trust for settlement, he was appointed attorney-in-fact for the trustee, with manage- ment of the business, which later was absorbed b}^ Horatio P. Livermore and continued under the name of the Livermore agency of Kern county. The various litigations over water rights resulted finally in the transfer of the Livermore property to J. B. Haggin. Mr. Brower was retained as secretary in charge of the canal department of Haggin & Carr until the year 1898, when ill health forced him to resign and seek change through a visit in the eastern states. Returning in the fall of that year, when the Haggin & Carr lands were about to be offered for colonization, he accepted a position with L. C. McAfee in the management of the colony sales under the name of the land department of J. B. Haggin, subsequently turned over to S. \\'. Ferguson upon a general change in the business of Haggin & Carr to the Kern County Land Company, in present existence. Upon the approach of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America the Kern County World's Fair Association was formed for the purpose of gathering and installing a Kern county exhibit at the Chicago exposition. Having been selected as secretary and manager. Mr. Brower completed the assembling and installation of Kern county's products at that exposition. As of more inti- mate association with the afifairs of Bakersfield. it mav be stated that Mr. 1038 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Brower was the first president of the Board of Trade, elected in 1889; first president and afterward secretary of the Southern Hotel Association, director variously in the Kern Valley Bank and the First National Bank of Bakers- field ; secretary of the Bakersfield school department since 1897, a position still held, and in which, in association with E. P. Davis, a trustee, and H. A. Blodget, subsequently the president of the school board, the school affairs of the city were wrested from political influences and placed upon a constantly advancing line of progress. At present Mr. Brower is interested in oil and real estate, also in the management of his office building recently erected in Bakersfield. The Brower building is a four-story brick building on the corner of Nineteenth and I streets, in the center of the business district, which was erected in 1910-11, is the most up-to-date office building in the city, having all the modern conveniences. J. H. WHALEY. — It would be impossible to make an extended mention of the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Company without considerable reference to the popular superintendent, J. H. Whaley, whose association with the great corporation has been conducive to the profitable development of its holdings in the famous Midway field. Equally impossible would it be to mention either the superintendent or the property without extensive reference to the presi- dent of the company, Capt. William Matson, of San Francisco, a wealthy and influential sea captain, who owns large holdings in that city and is also a large stockholder in the steamship line and president of the Matson Navigation Company. In the course of his many voyages to the Hawaiian Islands he has formed the acquaintance of capitalists in Honolulu and some of these gentle- men organized the Honolulu Oil Company, choosing the Captain as presi- dent. The majority of the stock is held in the island city. The honor of being a native son of California belongs to Mr. Whaley, vvho was born in Placer county July 18, 1870, and was one of three sons attain- ing to maturity. Of these Edward is now deceased and C. C, a carpenter, is living at Santa Maria, this state. The parents, John O. and Margaret E. (Hol- land) Whaley, were natives respectively of Missouri and Georgia. As early as 1852 the former came across the plains with a train of wagons and ox-teams. Arriving in California, he mined in Placer county and later engaged in farm- ing. His marriage to Miss Holland was solemnized in Sacramento county. For some years he has been living a retired life at Santa Alaria. enjoying in his declining days the comforts accumulated during an identification with California of more than sixty years. From an early age Mr. Whaley was self-sup]iorting and upon his arrival in Kern county he secured empkyment as a day laborer for the A. N. Towne Company, on the Towne ranch south of Bakersfield. With the opening of the Kern river oil field he became interested in the oil industry and ever since then he has devoted himself with energy to the business. After seven months in the Kern river field he went to the Sunset field and worked with a drilling gang. For seven years he was engaged at Coalinga with a number of promi- nent companies, but much of his association with the industry has been in the Midway field. After a year as superintendent of the Commercial Oil Com- pany he came to the Honolulu at the request of Captain Matson, whose ac- (|uaintance he had formed while engaged as a driller. For some years he has made his home on the company property. After coming to Taft he aided in the organization of the blue lodge, became one of its charter members and is the present master, besides which he is a Scottish Rite Mason and belongs to the Fresno Consistory. WALTER PALMER.— One of the native sons of Kern county is Walter Palmer, born at Claraville November 21, 1876, the son of Robert Palmer, who was a pioneer of California and Kern county and whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1041 Robert Palmer from a boy was reared on the Palmer ranch in Hot Springs valley, receiving a good education in the local schools. He was actively helpful to his father in the stock business and learned ranching and the cattle business. He also tried his hand at mining and began develop- ing one of his father's old claims, the Ticknor creek })lacer mine, where he has been mining for many seasons. In 1910 Mr. Palmer joined with his mother in operating the Palmer ranch, where they are engaged in hay and stock-raising. Ninety acres of the ranch is devoted to alfalfa and he is making a specialty of raising hogs. GREEN BROTHERS.— In 1907 John L. and Bert Green purchased eighty acres five and a half miles south of East Bakerslield, upon which an excellent system of irrigation was established. Here they engaged in raising alfalfa for hay until leasing the property in 1912. The brothers are native sons of the state and were born in Santa Barbara county, John L., January 12, 1873, and Bert, March 17, 1875, being sons of J. W. Green, an honored citizen of Kern county and Californian pioneer, having come to the state January 6, 1846, and now acting as road overseer under Supervisor J. M. Bush, whose wise judgment in selecting him for the responsible position is proved by the excellent work done on the county roads. The father being unable to give the sons any financial help, it was necessary for them to take up the battle of self-support when still young in years and they therefore had only limited educational advantages, although through reading and observation both have become well informed. After having spent the years of early life in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties they came to Kern county in November of 1891 and began to earn their livelihoods as teamsters. For some years they made a specialty of hauling freight to "Old Sunset". Working early and late and saving their earnings with frugal fore- thought, they were able to secure an amount finally that justified them in buying land, and thus they have become property owners solely through their own unaided and long-continued efTorts. The younger brother is un- married. The older brother, John L., in 1900 was united in marriage with Miss Margaret T. Wright, a resident of Sacramento and a native daughter of the commonwealth, her father, Oren Wright, having been a pioneer of California. The brothers have been stanch in their allegiance to the Demo- cratic party ever since they became voters, but neither has sought ofificial honors or local party leadership. Fraternally they hold membership with the Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield. In regard to the future of Kern county both are optimistic. Appreciating the possibilities of the land, the fertility of the soil and the advantages of the climate for the production of many valuable agricultural crops, they discern for their community a future of material prosperity and enlarged imoortance, and their^own diligent efiforts and unwearied industry are promoting the attainment of this desired result. The brothers sold out their stock and dairy interests December 10, 1912, and rented their eighty-acre ranch for five years. John L. has assumed the superintendency of the H. R. Peacock stock farm, situated nine miles south of Bakersfield. wdiile Bert is taking charge of the W. W. Frazier stock and hay ranch of four hundred and forty acres, near the Gosford ranch, one mile west of Gosford Station. ROBERT R. McGUIRE.— A reputation as one of the experienced and skilled drillers in the Midway field belongs to "Bob" McGuire, who has had an extensive training in many of the oil fields of the United States and who is perhaps as favorably known as any west side oil man. It is natural that he should be interested in the oil industry, for his father before him. although a farmer by occunation, devoted much time to the oil business in the pioneer period of its development in the York state fields, and in addition his only brother. Harrv H.. now in Olean. Cattaraugus county. N. Y.. has been a 1042 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY skilled driller for some years and recently had charge of a very important drilling contract in the Brazilian fields of South America. Besides these two brothers there is a sister, Eva, who is now the wife of R. L. Turner, employed in the Fullerton oil fields in California. The father, J. G. McGuire, a native of New York, is now deceased ; the mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Gross, is now making her home at Santa Paula, Ventura county. The first twelve years in the life of Robert R. McGuire were passed at Olean, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., where he was born December 24, 1882. After the death of his father the family came to California and settled at Santa Paula, where he completed the studies of the grammar schools. He also attended the Ventura high schools for two years. At seventeen he began to \vork in the Santa Paula oil fields. For a time he was engaged in laying pipe lines for the Union Oil Company and later he was with other companies in the same field. Coming to Kern county in 1^01 and engaging with Easton. Eldridge & Co., in the Sunset field, he remained with that concern for eight months. Upon returning to the Santa Paula field he secured employment with Hobson & Co., with whom he continued for four months. Coming again to Kern county, he went over to the Kern river field and engaged with the California Mutual Oil Company. In a short time he left for McKittrick, where he dressed tools on the Southern Pacific lease and then for some years engaged in drilling under the superintendent, W. E. Ott. An experience with the Kansas oil fields began in 1905 and continued for one and one-half years, dur- ing which time he drilled successively at Peru, Bolton, Sedan and Cofifeyville. Upon his return to California and the resumntion of work with the Union Oil Company, he was put to drilling in the Santa Maria field. Eighteen months later he went to San Luis Obispo and took charge of the drilling for the Southern and Encinal Oil Company. From there he went to Humboldt county and drilled for the Petrolia Oil Company, but was not able to find oil in pro- ductive quantities. Returning to the Midway field, he took charge of the Golden Gate Petroleum Company near Maricopa and again suffered the dis- appointment of drilling without success. His next experience as a driller w^as on the Sunset Extension. From there he went to the Northern Exploration Company as field foreman and six months afterward, in 1913, he entered upon his present duties as drilling foreman on the lease of the Honolulu Con- solidated Oil Company, situated on section 10, 32-24, in the Midway field. JOHN P. JOHNSON. — The Scandinavian countries have given to the Ignited States numerous industrious citizens, whose untiring effort, econom- ical habits and thrifty manner of living have made them prosperous home- makers, bringing their families up to be loyal, patriotic citizens of America. In Kern county there are large numbers of these residents, who have brought their wf rldly goods here with the intention of settling and making California their permanent homes, and almost inevitably they have prospered and be- come well-to-do and contented. John P. Johnson, owner and manager of the liquor house situated at No. 705 Sumner street. East Bakersfield, was born on the island of Oeland, Sweden, September 22, 1882, and his early youth was there nassed on the farm of his parents. The father. J( hn P. Tohnson. Sr., was a nati\e of Sweden and tliere passed his entire life, following agricultural pursuits. He was prosperous and so en- abled to give to his children the advantages of a thorough educational training, rearing them to become representative men and women. In such an atmos- phere John P., Ir., grew to manhood, working on the farm with his father during his vacations from school until he reached the age of seventeen years, then embarking for the new world to try his fortune among the people of the far west. Sailing for America he upon arriving immediately made his way to San Francisco, where he arrived in 1900, and after a month came to Bakers- field, where he has ever since resided. Until January, 1909, he was employed ^^^^^ /%^^^^^«i^/' HISTORY 01<^ KRKX COUNTY 1045 by various firms, gaining a foothold in the business world, and at this time he purchased an interest in the Leader Hfjuor estal^lishment, which he con- ducted with such success that in January. 1912, he accepted an coffer to buy it. After selling the business to G. Galli he was persuaded by the new owner to remain as manager. His knowledge of the conduct of the place and his familiarity with its details made him invaluable in this direction. In June, 1912. he bought back the Leader and is now its sole owner. Mr. Johnson has been thrifty in liis manner of living and keen in invest- ing his accumulations, and he owns property in East Bakersfield. including city lots and a residence, which have become valuable holdings. He and his charm- mg wife, who was Miss Marcelle Phillips before her marriage, reside in their well-built home in East Bakersfield, where they give a hearty welcome to their many friends. Mrs. Johnson was born in East Bakersfield and is a daughter of Jean Phillins, well known in this town. In party afifairs Mr. Johnson in- terests himself with the Republican party, though he does not hold political ofifice or have any desire for same. He is a member of the Eagles and the Order of Mrose. GEORGE HASTINGS.—In a family of nine children, four of whom are living, George Hastings was third and was born in Newmarket. Highland county, Ohio, September 1, 1851. When four years of age he was taken to Illinois by his parents, James and Rebecca (Dill) Hastings, natives of Ohio, who settled in Chicago. Eventually the father became a pattern-maker in a shop in Rock Island, 111., where he remained throughout the balance of his life. His wife also died in Illinois. When the family removed to Rock Island the son was a boy of nine years and afterward he attended the public schools of that city until sixteen years of age. when he was apprenticed to the trade of a machinist in the Rock Island shops in Chicago. Upon the completion of his time he was given work as a fireman on a Rock Island train out of Chicago, and in 1876 he w^as promoted to be an engineer from Chicago to Peru, and Peoria, 111., after which he served successively with the Illinois Central, the Wabash and the Frisco roads. Coming to the Santa Fe road he was retained for a time as machinist in the Albuquerque shops and in January of 1882 was given an engine. Five months later he was transferred to Arizona and stationed at Winslow as headquarters. Beginning in the fall of 1884 Mr. Hastings had a run between Needles and Mojave, after which he had charge of an engine from Barstow to Mojave, making his headquarters in the latter town. Nor was there any change in his location when he was given the helper engine over the Tehachapi moun- tains, and he still makes his home in Mojave, where he owns a cottage erected by himself. For years he has been interested in the work of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. His marriage took place in Peoria, 111., and united him with Miss Ida West, who was born in New York state and died at Mojave in ^lay of 1909. Five children had blessed their union, namely: Mrs. Eva Parton, of Mojave; Howard, who died at the age of twenty-two years ; William and Elmer, both employed in Los Angeles ; and Bessie, who remains with her father. Always interested in the cause of education, he has been active in the upbuilding of the grammar schools of Mojave, having been a member of the board of trustees for about thirteen years, most of the time serving as clerk of the board. Fraternally Mr. Hast- ings holds membership with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Masons, having been made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313. F. & A. M.. and also being connected with Tehachapi Chapter No. 188, Order of the Eastern Star. ANGUS McLEOD CRITES.— For a period of more than one-half cen- tury Mr. Crites was intimately identified with the upbuilding of California, and for forty years he made Kern county his home, meanwhile associating himself with manv movements for the local advancement. It was his privi- 1046 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY lege to witness a radical transformation in the conntry. Its crudities gave place to refining influences and its primeval aspect became merged into an attractive environment of great productive possibilities. Today it boasts of a population as refined and cultured as is to be found in the state. Born near Massena Springs, St. Lawrence county, New York, on the St. Lawrence river, in 1838, Angus McLeod Crites was a youth of seventeen when he followed the tide of emigration toward the far west. During 1855 he sailed from New York on a ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving there, he walked the entire distance across to the Pacific coast and then boarded a ship bound for San Francisco. On his arrival he secured work on Alcatraz island and later helped in the building up of Fort Point. By practical experience he gained a thorough knowledge of carpentering and the millwright's trade. After he came to Kern county in 1864 he was employed as a millwright at Havilah and built several quartz mills, including the mill for the Big Blue mine at Whiskey Flat. From there, in 1868, he went to Rio Bravo and built the farm buildings for Jewett Brothers. Next he became interested in the sheep business, bought a flock and ranged them on the plains and mountains, later locating land in Keene district, on what is now the road between Te- hachapi and Bakersfield, and building a house at that place. Like many other of the early sheep-growers, he left that industry for the cattle business and in time he became the owner of a very large herd of stock. In addition to his cattle interests he served as deputy county assessor, and at the time that the railroad ended at Caliente he was serving as justice of the peace. He was married in 1870 to Miss Louesa M. Jewett, whose biography appears else- where. His death occurred September 28, 1904, and removed from among his family and friends one who ever had been devoted to their welfare, a pro- moter of their happiness as also of the general community prosperity. In the annals of the county history his name is worthy of a permanent place. MRS. LOUESA MARIA CRITES.— The distinction of having been the first woman teacher in Kern county belongs to Mrs. Crites, who as Miss Jewett began to teach at Tehachapi May 20, 1867, and continued in the same position for five months. It is interesting to note how many pupils she had in that first school and to what families they belonged. The school was com- posed of the following pupils : five of the Dozier children and the same number from the Wiggins family; f( ur of the Brites family, one Hossick, two Hart children, four of the Cuddeback family, three of the Tyler and one of the Hale family, and Nellie Calhoun, later a celebrated actress, who was then seven years of age and staying with her grandmother, Airs. James Williams, at Old- town. At first the teacher boarded with the Dozier family, but when their house was destroyed by fire she was taken into the Wiggins home, from which place she rode on horseback to her school. The original agreement provided that she should teach for three months, but when the patrons of the school found that if she taught for five months they could draw public money for her salary the change was made and she remained for a longer term than originally stipulated. W'hen she made the trip to Tehachapi she rode horseback, as there was only a trail. Born at Weybridge, Addison county, Vt., in 1833, Louesa IMaria Jewett was a daughter of Solomon Wright Jewett, the most prominent im- ]'jorter and breeder of merino sheep of his day. Further mention of the family appears elsewhere in this volume, in the sketch of her brother, the late Solo- mon Jewett. The best educational advantages of the locality were given to her during girlhood and of these she availed herself to the utmost. After her graduation from the seminary at Middlebury, Addison county, she went south to Virginia and taught in a young ladies' boarding school in Mecklenburg county. During 1860 she went to Texas to serve as teacher in private schools in Gonzales county and continued in that position until 1866, when, after hav- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1047 ing" spent the summer in Wisconsin, she came in the autumn to CaHfornia by way of Panama, arriving in Kern county January 17, 1867. Until her mar- riage she made her home with her brothers, Solomon and Philo D., on the Kern river. As previously stated, she was the first woman teacher in the county. Miss Jackson, who was the second, soon followed her in the work. Rev. Mr. Edwards, a Presbyterian clergyman, officiated at the marriage of Angus McLeod Crites and Louesa Maria Jewett, which was solemnized at Visalia, August 30, 1870. Four children came to bless their union. The eldest, Fidelia Belle, died at the age of eleven years and eleven months. There are three sons now living, namely : Angus Jewett, who is superintendent of the Peerless Oil Company ; Arthur Saxe, cashier of the First Bank of Kern ; and George Solcmon, a supervising engineer at Tucson, Ariz. From girlhood Mrs. Crites has been an earnest Christian. CYRUS FELIX DEMSEY, M.D.— The strong qualities that made members of the Demsey family desirable citizens in every locality in which they settled were well represented in the make-up of Cyrus F. Demsey, who lor over sixty 3'ears was a resident of this state, tvv-enty years of this time being passed in Mojave, where as physician during the earlier years and as postmaster in later life he rendered conscientious service to his fellow-citizens. Ohio was the early home of the Demsey family, and in Portsmouth C. F. Demsey was born April 30, 1838. The schools of his birthplace supplied him with a good educational foundation and the locality otherwise contributed to his well-being until he attained young manhood, when the interest in Califor- nia which had then become so general throughout the country attracted him to the west. By way of Panama he reached California in the early '50s and was interested in mining more or less until the breaking out of the Civil war. As a member of what was known as the "California Hundred," he returned east and enlisted his services for the defense of the Union, becoming a private in Company A, Second Massachusetts Cavalry, and during the three years of his enlistment he was twice wounded. It was after his service in the army that he turned his attention toward a professional life, having in the mean- time determined to become a physician and surgeon. With this idea in view he went to Chicago and matriculated in Rush Medical College, from which well-known institution he was graduated in due time with the degree of M.D. Subsequently he established an office for the practice of his profession in Missouri, and later in Macon county, Illinois, but still later he returned to California and for a number of years carried on a very successful practice in San Francisco. The year 1892 marked the advent of Dr. Demsey in Mojave, and here as in his previous places of residence his ability received recognition and he built up a commendable practice. Mining also engaged his attention to some extent, and in April, 1906, he was honored with the appointment of postmaster at Mojave under President Roosevelt, and under President Taft he was reappointed in 1909. He continued to fill the office with efficiency up to the time of his death, which occurred March 27, 1913, when he was seventy-five years of age. In Los Angeles, in January, 1902, Dr. Demsey married Miss Matilda Kern, a native of BlufTton, Ohio, their marriage resulting in the birth of one child, Naomi Kern. Mrs. Demsey, a woman of strong and deep personality, was peculiarly fitted to be an able helpmate to her husband. Dur- ing the later years of his life she was his valued assistant in the postoffice and so well fitted was she to become his successor in office that following his death she was appointed to fill the vacancy. Optimistic as to the future of the west in general and of California and Mojave in particular. Dr. and Mrs. Dem- sey gave proof of their faith by the purchase of real estate from time to time, ultimately becoming owners of considerable property. This they improved for business purposes, the postoffiice being located in one of their buildings, 1048 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and they also erected one of the lari^est and most comfortable residences in the city, which is still owned by Mrs. Demsey. LLOYD P. KEESTER.— The secretary and treasurer of the California Market Company holds a prominent position among the rising young busi- ness men of Bakersfield, with whose interests he first became identified as a resident in 1901 and as a partner in the present business during 1906. The market which has developed even beyond the most sanguine anticipa- tions of its projectors occupies a central location on Nineteenth street and, remodeled as recently as 1912. is now unsurpassed by any similar plant in the entire state. In identifying himself with the west Mr. Keester came hither from Kahoka, Clark county, Mo., where he was born October 23, 1884, being a son of William Keester, a native of Lima, Ohio, and for years a hardware merchant of the Missouri town, but now retired from business activities. After he had graduated from the Kahoka high school Mr. Keester became a student in the business department of the Highland Park College at Des Moines, Iowa, where he completed his education. From boyhood he had been a frequent assistant in the hardware store of his father and after leaving college he clerked for one year with the Wengert-Bishop Hardware Com- pany of Kansas City, Mo., returning from that place to Kahoka, where for tW'O years he assisted his father in the store. From Missouri he came to California during 1901 and settled in Bakersfield, where he learned the butcher business as an employe of J. J. Anderson, on the site even at that time known as the California market. Being credit man, he also became familiar with business conditions in the town and with the financial respon- sibility of customers. Together with Mel P. Smith, also an employe of the same market, in 1906 Mr. Keester purchased the business which since has grown to very large proportions. The California .Market Company was incorporated in 1908 with ]\Ir. Smith as president and Mr. Keester as secretary and treasurer. In 1911 the firm built and opened a wholesale warehouse and cold storage plant, on the west side at Taft, where they maintain a supply of wholesale meats, provisions and produce, operating their own refrigerator car line between Bakersfield and Taft, and in addition they own and operate the Pa- cific market at Taft for the accommodation of the retail trade. The history of the business has been one of rapid, but conservative and substantial growth. Mr. Keester is a leading member of the Bakersfield Merchants' Association and the board of trade, also keeps well posted concerning the policies of the Democratic party, to which he adheres with conscientious devotion. Fra- ternally he holds membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Since coming to Bakersfield he has established domestic ties through his marriage to Miss Frances Gagne, a native of Oakdale, this state, and to secure a suitable home he erected on the corner of Twenty-second and E streets a modern bungalow supplied with every comfort and furnished iu a manner reflecting the culture of the family. He is a director in the National Bank of Bakersfield, which he helped to organize in the latter part of 1912. This institution threw open its doors to business Anril 1, 1913, and will be located on the southwest corner of Eighteenth and Chester avenue. J. E. GARDNER. — An experience in the lumber woods of Michigan, while radically different fri m the work in the oil fields, nevertheless prepared Mr. Gardner for such enterprises, for he had to combat with many difficulties of a similar nature. There was the same isolation from the great centers of popu- lation and the same shadow of aloofness from the world's activities, yet the same specialized interest and intense devotion to the work at hand. When he gave up the work in Michigan lumber regions and came to California oil dis- tricts, arriving at Bakersfield March 13, 1905, he was eager to accept any kind of employment. The first that offered w^as as roustabout with the East Puente HISTORY OF KI^RX COUNTY 1051 Oil Company and for a lung time he continued with the organization, rising meanwhile to the position of superintendent of the lease. Descended from an old eastern family, J. E. Gardner was born in Isabella county, Mich., March 30, 1882, being a son of L. C. and Mary (Watson) Gardner, the latter deceased. When seven years of age he accompanied other members of the family to Huntington, Ind., the change being made for the convenience of his father, who was a railroad man for many years. Later, however, the latter returned to Michigan and is now living retired from active cares in the little village of Rosebush in Isabella county. There were two marriages, so that Mr. Gardner has five half-brothers and sisters in addition to his own sister, Oleva, wlio is the wife of Olin Walker, a farmer of Isabella county. As a schoolboy he lived in Indiana and attended the schools of Huntington, completing the grammar grade and taking two years in the high school. During 1902 he was graduated from a business college at Ypsilanti, Mich., and thereafter worked in the lumber woods until his removal to the west. May 18, 1904, he was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Belle Graham, of Isabella county, Mich., and they now have two sons, Lyle D. and Thomas L. Understanding every department of production, Mr. Gardner became an efficient superintendent. Close attention was given to every detail. Having simple tastes, he laid aside a portion of his earnings each year and thus was enabled to make some advantageous investments in Bakersfield income prop- erty. His position with the East Puente Oil Company he resigned April 1, 1913, after eight years of satisfactory service and received the best of recom- mendations. Moving to Bakersfield, where he has valuable' real estate, on the 28th of April, 1913, he ooened up the Chester avenue meat market at No. 2709 Chester avenue, where the firm of Gardner & Calkins engages as retail purvey- ors of fresh and salt meats, poultry, eggs and game in season. PAUL HORNUNG.— The business originally conducted by the C. M. Stoll Company and purchased during 1910 by Paul Hornung forms one of the most complete of the kind within the limits of Kern county. A central and desirable location in the Masonic Temple, originally secured by the earlier organization, has been continued by the present proprietor, who from child- hood has been skilled in harness-making and also possesses an exj^ert know- ledge concerning machinery and vehicles. Besides acting as agent for the Henney buggies, Studebaker wagons and Oliver chilled plows, all of which have an established reputation and a steady sale in the community, he deals in wagons and buggies of other makes, carries implements called for by the farmers of the county, has a valuable stock of harness and saddles, and makes a specialty also of carriage and automobile trimming, these varied lines of business activity enabling him to furnish employment to a large corps of workmen and thus become a valuable factor in the industrial life of his city. Besides the capital invested in this business, which reaches the large total of $18,000, he has about $5,000 invested in a business at Ventura, where he started in business in 1905. The name Hornung is indicative of Teutonic ancestry. Paul Hornung was born in Oberferrenden. Germany, January 6, 1876, and passed the years of early childhood at Nuremberg, where his father, Henry Hornung, followed the trade of harness-maker. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Mar- garet Stoll, and who is still living in Germany, is a sister of George Stoll, who during 1884 brought his nephew, a boy of eight years, to California. In a family comprising four children Paul was next to the youngest and after coming to this country he made his home with the uncle, who apprenticed him to the trade of a harness-maker and gave him common-school advantages. For four years he served as an apprentice at Red Blufif, this state, and then worked as a journeyman at Sacramento for six months Thence, at an age of eighteen he came to Bakersfield and engaged as a harness-maker for 1052 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY his uncle, C. M. Stoll, continuing there for nine years and then going to Ventura to embark in business. Skilled in his trade, he has met with a success abundantly merited and constantly increasing. During 1901 he was united in marriage with Miss Edna Herrington, of Fresno, and by this union he has one child, Ventura. It has not been possible for him to engage actively in public affairs, because the interests of his large business demand his entire time, but he keeps posted concerning national issues, voting the Republican ticket at all elections. In Alasonic relations he holds membership with the Blue Lodge, Royal Arch, Chapter, Commandery, Eastern Star and Amarinth, also is fraternally connected with the Woodmen of the W'orld and the Knights of Pythias. A thorough believer in the city of Bakersfield and Kern county, he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch in Kern county sixteen years ago and has recently (1913) bought forty acres at Rio Bravo. In addition he is the possessor of one of the best residence lots in the Kruss tract, where he will soon erect a bungalow which will be up-to-date in its appointments and suited to the cultured and refined tastes of himself and wife. He still owns his original residence at Ventura. WILLIAM HARMON. — At this writing Mr. Harmon makes his home upon a mining claim, comprising the southwest quarter of section 34, township 29, range 30, in which township and range as early as 1891 he located about twelve hundred acres mostly valuable for clays and gypsum, and on this property he has continued to keep up the assessment work. Altogether he has twelve mining claims, some of which have valuable deposits of fuller's earth, pottery and china clay, aluminum and silver, while in a few there are indications of gold. In the southern part of Illinois, in Randolph county, William Harmon was born February 14, 1852, being a son of William and Sarah (Gant) Har- mon, the latter deceased in Randolph county during middle age. The father, who was born and reared in that county, removed from there to Kansas about 1876 and settled in Saline county, where his death occurred some years afterward. There were seven children in the family, namely: Lila, Zachariah, Eliza, William, Robert, Rosamond and Mattie. The fourth in order of birth, AA-'illiam, passed the years of boyhood in Randolph county, where he had somewhat meager educational advantages. In the early part of 1871 he left home for Kansas and secured emploj^ment in a sawmill in Montgomery coun- ty, but in a short time he returned to Illinois. During the autumn of 1872 he again went to Kansas, this time taking up a pre-emption fourteen miles west of Oswego. On that tract he remained until he had proved up on the property and brought it under cultivation. Meantime he married and two daughters were born of this union. The elder, Leonora, is the wife of John A. Slininger, a cigar manufacturer living in Bakersfield. The younger. Vio- lante, is the wife of Paul Weichelt, at present engaged as a mechanic for the Kern County Land Company and resides at Bakersfield. It was on the 17th of March, 1886, that Mr. Harmon arrived in California from Kansas and concluded his long railroad journey at Goshen on the main line, from which point he proceeded to the vicinity of Kettleman plains and took up a homestead. After having proved up on the land in 1893 he came to Kern county in the same year and took up a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch, choosing as his location the southwest quarter of section 12, township 31, range 29. During 1898 he proved up on his claim. Later he bought three hundred and twenty acres forminq- the east one-half of section 26, township 30, range 29. Both of these tracts he has im- proved and placed under cultivation, but he now rents them to other parties for farming purposes. Since 1901 he has been interested in mining claims, and of late years he has devoted much of his time to their development, HISTORY OF KKRX CC^UNTY 1055 although he also engages in the teaming business to some extent. Ever since attaining his majority he lias voted with the Republican party. WILLIAM FRANKLIN WHITAKER.— The engineering ability pos- sessed by Air. Whitaker has made him a potent factor in the development of the San Joaquin valley and enables him to fill with unquestioned success his present positions as civil engineer for the Kern County Land Company and superintendent of canals for the Kern County Canal & Water Company. Descended from an old eastern family, he is himself a native of Indiana and was born in Boone county, January 20, 1880. During boyhood he attended the public schools of that county and the high school of Lebanon. Upon leaving Boone county he came west to California in the latter part of 1898 and for six months carried the chain for a surveying party employed by the Kern County Land Company. From the first the work interested him and he manifested ability for the occupation, therefore he determined to educate himself for :-imilar activities. Going to Palo Alto in the fall of 1899 he matriculated in the Leland Stanford University, where he took the regular course in civil en- gineering and thus became qualified for what has proved to be his life work. A subsequent position kept him in Santa Clara county for eighteen months. As an employe of the Bay Cities' Water Company he held a responsible po- sition in the preliminary work connected with the securing of a large water supply. Upon returning to Bakersfield in December of 1904 Mr. Whitaker was employed in the engineering department of the Kern County Canal Company. The following year he was given charge of the canal system and since then, in the capacity of superintendent, has had the oversight of the ooeration and maintenance of the canals owned by the Kern County Canal & \A''ater Com- pany. Giving his attention closely to personal matters and business concerns, he has taken no part in elections aside from the voting of the Democratic ticket. The Bakersfield Club has received the benefit of his active member- ship and he is further allied with the Masons in this city. During 1907 he married Miss Gertrude Scribner, by whom he has one daughter, Mary Eliza- beth. The religious views of the family bring them into affiliation with the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Whitaker is a member of an honored pioneer family of Bakersfield, her father, W. H. Scribner, having been an early settler and also one of the most progressive men of the community. The Scribner opera house is a monument to his enterprise as a builder and he also erected build- ings on Chester avenue, besides being one of the builders of the Grand Hotel. In his death, which occurred in 1906, the city lost one of its efficient citizens. EARL NORTHROP. — It is the younger generation that is materially aiding in the development and forging to the front in Kern county, and among this class we find Earl Northrop, proprietor of the Wasco-Lost Hills auto stage line, who was born in Plover, Pocohontas county, Iowa, in 1891, the son of T. D. and Lillie (Conley) Northrop, natives of Batavia, N. Y., and Attica. Green county. Wis., respectively. The parents were farmers in Iowa, then ranchers at Durango, Colo., and Farmersville, Tulare county, Cal., and still own the farm in the latter place, but now reside in Wasco. Of their seven children Earl is the second oldest. His early life was spent on the farm in Iowa and a cattle ranch near Durango, Colo., where the family had moved in 1899. While making himself generally useful on the cattle ranch he also attended the public school in the vicinity. In January, 1910, Mr. Northrop came to Visalia and in May of 1911 to Wasco, Kern county, where he entered the employ of Martin & Dudley as a chauffeur, afterwards working in the same capacity with the Associated and the Universal. Early in 1913 he started the mail stage line between Wasco and Lost Hills, a distance of twenty-one miles, and for the purpose he uses two automobiles. Aside from the daily trips he makes special trips to ac- 1036 HISTORY OF KERN. COUNTY commodate the public. He is an eiierj^etic young man and b}^ close application is making a success of the undertaking. PATRICK GILLESPIE.— Before the world had been aroused by the remarkable story concerning the discovery of gold in California there had come around the Horn as early as 1847 an active young Irishman bearing the name of Patrick Gillespie. Being near the early gold mines, it was but natural that he should hasten to the scenes of mining activity as soon as he heard of the great discoveries at Sutter's camp. For some years he and his wife lived at Placerville and there occurred the birth, November 22, 1849, cf a son to whom was given the name of the father and whose earliest recollecions cluster around that strange and bustling town then known by the unattractive and suggestive appellation of Hangtown. When he was a mere lad he was accustomed to go on horseback to Coloma, Eldorado county, twice each week, carrying for a merchant of Placerville a generous amount of gold dust in buckskin ])urses hid in the bottom of a flour sack. Although prowlers constantly lurked along the highway, seeking to steal the gold dust from miners, the small boy was allowed to pass unmolested, for no one suspected that gold would be entrusted to his care. At the age of seventeen the young miner left the mines to seek other avenues of occupation. Teaming presented the most favorable opening and he began to haul freight to Virginia City. At first he had a single team, but later he became the owner of two twelve-mule teams. The bell arrange- ment on the housings of the leaders of the team is well known and was adopted by him as a precaution and means of safe travel. On his trucks he hauled the first locomotive ever brought into Virginia City. Long after the railroad had connected the east and the west and even after branch roads had brought interior points into close connection, he continued in the team- ing business and found not only a livelihood in the work, but also much that was interesting and pleasant. When he sold out in 1880 he became a fireman on the Central Pacific railroad and continued as such for five and one-half years, when he was promoted to be engineer. When he resigned from the Central Pacific in 1888 he came to Sumner (now East Bakerslield) and secured a position as engineer with the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- |)any. For some years he has been running the switch engine in the East Bakersfield yards. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- men and Enginemen and ranks as one of the oldest engineers on the Southern Pacific road. A firm believer in the principle of every man aiding in the upbuilding of his town, Mr. Gillespie has not only erected his family residence at No. 926 K street, but in addition he has built seven other houses in East Bakersfield and six of these he still owns. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias. In politics he votes wath the Democrats and his wife. a warm adrnirer of Speaker Clark, was the first woman in Kern county to contribute to the Champ Clark campaign fund in 1912. Mrs. Gillespie bore the maiden name of Melissa Adams and was born and educated at Ludlow, Windsor county, Vt., being a daughter of Abel and Abigail (Spaulding) Adams, natives of Vermont, the former a direct descendant of ex-Presidents John O. Adams and John Adams. From 1882 until she came to California Mrs. Gillespie was a resident of Nevada, and at Reno, that state, Rev. Mr. Lucas performed the ceremony that united her with Mr. Gillesnie. By her first marriage she was the mother of two children. The only son, Bert Coolidge, died at Sumner, Kern county. The daughter, Katie Coolidge. mar- ried T. J. Yeargin and resides in Sacramento. For many years Mrs. Gillespie has been an earnest and devoted member of the Presbyterian Church and a generous contributor to denominational activities. H. D. JOHNSTON.— Until twenty-one years of age Mr. Johnston lived in Ontario. He was born near Guelph and reared at Windsor. He is a ^^^Mui^ *■ V HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1059 son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Aloorej Johnston and belongs to an old Cana- dian family whose name originally was spelled Johnstone, the final "e" having been dropped for the purpose of convenience and brevity. After he had completed the studies of the common schools he attended the Windsor Colle- giate Institute and during his vacations devoted his time to the study of telegraphy, in which he soon became an adept. During 1899 he entered the employ of the Great Northern Railroad Company at St. Paul, Minn., where he spent seven months as division relief agent. From there he was trans- ferred to the Cascade division of the same road at Everett, Wash., where he remained for a year. Next he received an appointment as agent at Burlington Junction. V\^ash. Coming to California in March of 1901 he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and officiated as cashier of the freight office at Santa Barbara. From that city in 1909 he was transferred to Fresno as clerk in the freight office. In January of 1910 he was promoted to be agent at Porterville and there remained until May of 1912, when he was transferred to Bakersfield as freight and passenger agent for the Southern Pacific road. He maintains a deep interest in every feature of the business and is a member of the Pacific Coast Freight Agents' Association. While engaged in the freight office at Santa Barbara he formed the acquaintance of and was united in marriage with Miss Rosa Beatrice Logan, a native daughter of that coast city and a young lady of education and culture, who had been given the best educational advantages by her father, Dr. D. D. Logan, a retired surgeon in the English army with a splendid record for professional service both in India and England. S. WRIGHT JEWETT.— The family of Jewett has an honored and influential representative in this native son of California, a citizen whose prominent association with Bakersfield and whose identification with the development, of many of its important projects causes his name to be insep- arably connected with the local history. The interests of a lifetime of useful- ness endear him to Bakersfield. Here he was born at the family residence on Jewett avenue, May 24, 1877. Here he received the advantages ofifered by the grammar and high schools. In this vicinity, under the wise training of his father, Solomon Jewett, one of the most prominent upbuilders of Kern county, he gained a thorough knowledge of the stock industry while yet a mere lad. He was taught to discriminate between poorly-bred stock and the better grades and soon became an expert judge of cattle and sheep. With a natural liking for stock and a decided ability in the direction of their manage- ment, it is probable that he would have made a specialty of the business throughout life had not other interests intervened, but even with many enter- prises to engross his attention he has retained in some degree his association with the stock industry. When the oil business began to be one of the most promising oppor- tunities for young men in Kern county, Mr. Jewett relinquished his activities in stock and began to study oil operations. In 1898 he entered the employ of Jewett & Blodgett and from a very humble position rose to be a driller, meanwhile acquiring a very comprehensive knowledge of every department of the work. Notwithstanding the many experts now identified with the work in this county he is considered one of the best posted men concerning local fields. As a stockholder and director he is connected with the Jewett Oil Company, a concern operating in the McKittrick district. During 1901 he made a trip to the east and to Canada and at Riceberg, province of Quebec, was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Eleanor Potter, a native of Montreal, a young lady of culture, and an earnest member of the Episcopal Church. Two children have blessed their union, Philo Landon and Lois Evelyn. From the time of his marriage until the closing of the Kern Yalley Bank Mr. Jewett was connected with that institution of Bakersfield, first holding a position as bookkeeper, then receiving a promotion to be assistant cashier 1060 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY and finally becoming vice-president of the concern and member of the board of directors. As a financier he possesses exceptional qualifications. His judgment of men and of valuations is keen and shrewd. His personal char- acteristics are such as to win and retain the friendship of associates. Since his retirement from the banking business he has devoted his attention to his oil and stock interests and to the oversight of his landed holdings. At this writing he owns eighty acres on Kern Island, where the soil and the prox- imit}' to Bakersfield make the market-garden business profitable. The irri- gation facilities for the tract are adequate and permanent. In addition he owns a two hundred and forty acre alfalfa ranch at Rosedale with a sixty horsepower pumping plant having a capacity of two hundred and twenty inches, and a stock range just east of the Kern river oil field and embracing three sections of land. While at no time has he sought political prominence, his opinions nevertheless are firm and positive, and bring him into sympathy with the Republican party. The Bakersfield Club numbers him among its members and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks also has the benefit of his capable co-operation in the local lodge. FRANK ERWIN BLAIR.— The genealogy of the Blair family extends back to a lung line of Scotch ancestors. The first American representative, James A. Blair, came from his native Scotland across the waters of the Atlantic to the new world and settled in Pennsylvania, where he passed the balance of his life in industrial pursuits. In the family of the Scotch- American emigrant there was a son, Brice Hugh Blair, whose birth occurred at Shadegap, Huntingdon county. Pa., and whose early years were devoted to attendance at school and to the learning of the carpenter's trade. At the age of twenty-one he sought the larger opportunities of the west and settled in Illinois, where he followed the occupation of a cabinet-maker for some years. W hen news came concerning the discovery of gold in California he immediately sold out his interests in Springfield and invested the proceeds in the common fund, started by a party of six, toward the purchase of mule teams and wagons. Properly outfitted, the small party joined a larger expe- dition and started across the plains in the spring of 1848. During the spring of 1849 they landed at Gold Hill. A year later Mr. Blair arrived at Sacra- mento. For two years he mined in or near Coulterville, Mariposa county. Later he had the contract for hauling brick and sand used in the construction of the first insane asylum built at Stockton and on the completion of that task he took up agricultural pursuits in Santa Clara county. Three years after- ward he outfitted to haul freight between Stockton and Coulterville. When the Indians were moved from the reservation at Stockton to Fort Tejon a position as guide with the expedition was given to Mr. Blair, who later resumed agricultural pursuits in Santa Clara county. Next he opened a mercantile store at Santa Clara and at the same time engaged as agent for the Wells-Fargo Company at that point. While living in Santa Clara he married in 1859 Miss Jane Quinlin, who was born in Ireland, but had accompanied her parents to New York at a very early age and in 1858 came via Panama to California. Immediately after their marriage the young couple began housekeeping at Napa, where Mr. Blair engaged as agent for a steamship line. During 1863 he secured employment as millwright in the old flour mill, but two years later he resigned to remove to Vallejo, where he was employed in the Mare Island navy-yard as foreman of the ship- joining department. When the yards were closed down in 1874 he removed to Oakland and took up carpentering, but in April of 1876 returned to the vicinity of Napa and engaged in ranching in the Foss valley. There he re- mained until his death, which occurred May 9, 1891. There likewise occurred the demise of his wife in 1900. Four children comprised the family of Brice Hugh Blair. All are still living. The eldest, Frank Erwin, was born in Napa, this state, May 15. 1860, Cr^ls2^«l^ C^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1063 and completed liis education in the high school of Vallejo, after which he aided his father in the care and cultivation of the ranch in Foss valley. From 1882 until 1884 he engaged in ranching near Chico, after which he settled in Los Angeles and established a teaming and transfer business at No. 3 Market street. The business continued under his management for six years and when it was sold he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a carpenter and builder. Two years later he resigned the place and entered the vSanta Fe employ, being from 1892 until 1898 stationed at Mojave as car inspector. Meanwhile he built a cottage in that place. The position at that ])(:int had been sought by him with the hope that the climate might benefit the health of his wife and in this respect the change proved most gratifying. During October of 1898 he removed to Napa and engaged in ranching near that city, whence during April of 1900 he came to Bakersfield as car inspector for the Santa Fe Railroad. Transferred to Point Richmond during the spring of 1901, Mr. Blair remained with the railroad there until February of 1904, when he entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company as car inspector. Later he was transferred to Bakersfield to take charge of the Union tank line department of the Standard Oil Company, with which concern he has since remained in the same capacity and meanwhile he has bought his present home at No. 1217 Baker street. In politics he has given stanch support to the Republican party. For two years prior to the consolidation of the two cities he served as trustee of the Sumner school district. Fraternally he is a trustee of the Loyal Order of Moose, an active worker in the Woodmen of the World and a charter member of Napa Parlor No. 62, N. S. G. W. Since 19C6 he has served as a member of the board of library trustees for the city of Bakersfield. Mr. Blair's family comprises four children and his wife, the latter hav- ing been Lizzie Agnes Hayes, a native of Ottawa, 111., their marriage occur- ring in Los Angeles June 18, 1890. Mrs. Blair was the daughter of Michael and Honora (O'Brien) Hayes, early settlers of Ottawa, 111. The father served in the Civil war in a Massachusetts regiment. The mother spent her last years in Lcs Angeles. Mrs. Blair was graduated from the Ottawa high school, and in 1884 came to Wilmington, Cal., where lived her uncle, T. B. Hayes, then LTnited States marshal for the district. The children born to Air. and Mrs. Blair are as follows : Herbert, May, Brice and Frank. O. C. BANGSBERG.— The responsible position of superintendent of the power plant, canal and lands on the Kern river for the Pacific Light & Power Corporation, of Los Angeles, is filled by O. C. Bangsberg, who was born near Christiana, Norway, November 27, 1879. His father. Christian Bangsberg, was a builder, but in 1882 disposed of his interests and brought his family to La Crosse, Wis. There he engaged in contracting and building until 1897 and then purchased a large farm in Vernon county. Wis., which he still operates. O. C. Bangsberg graduated from the La Crosse high school and Avhen eighteen years of age entered the employ of the Central Electric Company, of La Crosse, as a fireman. Being greatly interested in the science of electricity and desirous of making it his life-work, he took a course in electricity in the International Correspondence School of Scranton, Pa., from which he was duly graduated. Meantime he had risen to the place of chief engineer with the La Crosse Gas & Electric Company, having charge of three electric light plants and one gas plant. Desiring to come west to seek greater opportunities, Mr. Bangsberg re- signed his position in 1910 and came to Cheyenne. Wyo.. where he was con- sulting engineer for the Northern Colorado Power Company. In June of 1912 he accepted the position of electrical operator for the Pacific Light & Power Corporation at Redondo Beach, Cal., and in August of the same year he was transferred to Borel, Kern county, as power house foreman at the power plant, and in May of 1913 he was made superintendent. The power plant is 42 1064 HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY the largest in Kern county. The twelve miles of canal gives a fall of two hun- dred and sixty feet. The water enters five large pentstocks, to which are con- nected five waterwheels, each generating 2500 k. w., and the electricity thus generated is transmitted by two three-phase power lines to Los Angeles, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles, where it is connected with the Pacific Light & Power system, furnishing power for operating the cars of the Pacific Electric and Los Angeles railways, as well as the suburban lines. Superintending this large plant and looking after the company's vast hold- ings takes all of his time and he is kept continually busy. During this last year four of the five waterwheels have been replaced by the latest type of Francis turbines, thus greatly increasing the efficiency of the plant. In La Crosse, Wis., Mr. Bangsberg married ]\liss Josephine Tucker, who was born near Rufifalo, N. Y., and they have one child, Ralph. Mr. Bangsberg was made a Mason in Acacia lodge Xo. 11, F. & A. M., at Cheyenne, Wyo. In religious views he is a Methodist. Politically he is a Republican. CHARLES D. HITCHCOCK.— The ability as a prtduction man which Mr. Hitchcock displays is particularly noteworthy, inasmuch as his identifica- tion with the oil industry does not cover any lengthy period of years. As superintendent of the Kern Crown Oil Company he manages a lease of one hundred and sixty acres, on section 23, township 32, range 23. The honor of being a native son belongs to Mr. Hitchcock, who was born in San Luis Obispo county, April 7, 1878, and passed his early years upt n a ranch. His father, the late Isaac N. Hitchcock, a native of Ohio, joined an exuedition of Argonauts bound to California during the eventful summer of 1849 and reached Eldorado county at the end of a tedious but uneventful journey. Like the majority of early settlers he tried his luck in the placer diggings. When he had made his little stake he decided to quit the mines and embark in the cattle business. Accordingly he looked up a location in San Luis Obispo county, took out a claim to land, developed a ranch and ultimately acquired one thousand acres in his home place. Mean- while he had married Elizabeth Gibson, a native of Missouri, but a resident of Eldorado county after she had crossed the plains with her parents during the '50s. Seven children comprised their family, namely: Annie B., Mrs. Gay, a resident of Cambria, San Luis Obispo county; Eugene L., who is engaged in the creamery business at Santa Barbara ; Etta, wife of C. K. Bright, who is engaged in the real-estate business in San Diego ; Alvin, of Cambria, Cal., a stock-raiser and proprietor of a meat market ; Charles D., of Kern county ; Lillie, who married Henry Pugh, a grain farmer of Monterey county, and died at twenty-two years of age; and Thomas F., who is employed as a driller in the Lost Hills field. At twenty years of age Charles D. Hitchcock left the home ranch and went to Tu( lumne county, where he began to work on the Eureka gold mine. Later he was employed at the Black Oak mine as a foreman and held a similar position with the Liberty quicksilver mine at San Luis Obispo. Ill health forced him to relinf|uish work in gold mines during K08 and it was then that he directed his attention to the oil business. His first experiences in the industry would have discouraged a man less optimistic than he, for while operating unsuccessfully in the Arroyo Grande he lost practically all of his savings. Forced to begin anew, he came over to the Midway in February, 1910, and secured employment as a pumper. Since then he has not lost a day from his work and meanwhile he has been promoted so that he is now suoerintendent, a fact that bears testimony concerning his ability and the intelligence with which he has grasped the difficulties of the industry. At no time has he been deeply interested in public affairs, yet he keeps posted concerning the issues of the age and in politics votes with the Demo- cratic party. With his brother, Alvin, he owns two farms in San Luis ^"Z.e^UC^ HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1067 Obispo county, one of these comprising- nine hundred and twenty acres, while the other is three hundred and sixty acres in extent. In addition he owns a meat market in Cambria with the same brother as a partner, and he now devotes his savin^s^s to these large and important interests, which eventually will assume a moneyed value commensurate with his most optim- istic expectations. His marriage in Alameda united him with Miss Agnes Tucker, daughter of Ira N. Tucker, and by this union there are two children. Ira and Verna, six and four years of age respectively. ANDRE VIEUX.— Writers on the growth and development of California have had occasion frequently to refer to the part played by Frenchmen in bringing about the wonderful advancement v^hich has given this state world- wide fame. Andre Vieux, of Delano, Kern county, was born in Sainte Laurent, Hautes-Alpes, France, August 18. 1870, the son of Victor and Madelena (Vol- laer) Vieux. He has no personal recollection of his father, for that parent died when he was only one year old. Necessity forced him to begin to earn his own livelihood at the age of eight years, and three months schooling each year was the extent of his advantages for obtaining an education. Until the year 1889 he continued to work out on farms, giving his earning therefrom to his mother. In the year mentioned, however, he came to the United States, landing in Los Angeles May 22, 1889. After working for six months in that city he came to Delano, his residence here dating from November 7, 1889. For several years he was employed as a sheep herder in this vicinity. Mr. Vieux made an unfortunate move in loaning his money to sheepmen, for in the panic of 1894 he lost all of it and was compelled to defer his own ambition to man- age a business of his own. In 1896, however, he was able to purchase some sheep, which he fed among the hills of Inyo and Kern counties. By buying and selling stock to the very best advantage whenever opportunity was presented he soon won a notable success. Such operations he continued until 1910, when he sold his sheep and engaged in cattle raising, importing fine stock from Mexico, but he soon sold out and again engaged in the sheep business. Gradu- ally he has acquired real estate holdings of considerable value. In October, 1905. he made an investment in a hardware store at Delano, which he owns and is conducting at this time as the Delano Hardware store. In 1904 he bought out the general merchandise store of Faure Brothers, continuing the business with success, until it is now one of Delano's most dependable concerns. Mr. Vieux was also one of the organizers of and a director in the First National Bank of Delano. As a citizen Mr. Vieux is known for his generous and patriotic public spirit, which impells him to aid to the extent of his ability any movement which in his good judgment promises to enhance the fortunes or prospects ot any considerable number of his fellow citizens. He has consistently demon- strated his solicitude for the upbuilding of Delano by taking a prominent part in all work conducive thereto. A man of progressive ideas, he favors all political measures looking to the improvement of the condition of the people at large. Fraternally he affiliates with the Bakersfield organization of the F". 0. E. He was married in Los Angeles to Airs. Amiee (Yillard) Rostin, born in Hautes-Alpes, France. In national principles he is a Republican. JOSEPH REDLICK.— Any mention of the large commercial enter- prises of Bakersfield would be incomplete without reference to the important business founded by the four Redlick brothers, namely: Henry, Samuel B., (deceased in 1904). A. L., and Joseph. Such was their enterprise and such their keen commercial insight that they not only established and built to large proportions the department store in this city, but in addition they owned and operated a chain of similar stores at Tulare, Fresno, Stockton, Sacra- mento and Jackson, and upon selling out these several establishments they became the owners and proprietors of the Redlick-Abrams Company and the 1068 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Redlick-Newman Company, both of which have established large furniture stores in San Francisco and have built up an enormous trade in the line of their specialty. Meanwhile the Redlick Mercantile Company at Bakersfield has advanced in power and prestige with the constant growth of the city and under the able and systematic supervision of its secretary and manager, Joseph Redlick, has attained a position unsurpassed by any similar institution in the San Joaquin valley. Throughout practically all of his life Mr. Redlick has lived in centers of the oil or gas industry. A native of the oil district of Pennsylvania and in early life a resident of the Indiana gas district, he now claims as his home Bakersfield, the commercial center of the oil and natural gas district of Kern county and easily a leader among all the districts devoted to the production and development of these indispensable factors of a modern civilization. Born at Meadville, Pa., May 2, 1860, he is a son of the late Ludwig Redlick, member of an old Teutonic family and himself likewise of German birth. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Bertha Sheftel, is also a native of Ger- many and now makes San Francisco her home. Besides the four sons already mentioned as having been the founders of the Redhck Mercantile Company, there were four daughters in the family, namely: Mrs. P. E. Newman, of San Francisco; Mrs. Henry Latz, of Bakersfield; and Misses Fannie and Louisa, both residing in San Francisco. Becoming a resident of Indiana at an early age, Joseph Redlick entered upon business activities at the age of twenty-one and with his brothers conducted a shoe store in Fort Wayne, where he made his first ventures into the realm of business and gained his first experiences in merchandising. The lessons learned in those days of youthful earnestness proved invaluable as aids to a later large success. During 1889 the brothers disposed of their interests in Fort Wayne and came west to San Francisco, where they soon acquired business interests of growing importance. May 10, 1895, they open- ed a small store in the Galtes block in Bakersfield. It was not long before they had outgrown those modest quarters. During 1901 they moved into the J. B. Berges building, which had been erected and fitted up esoecially for their use and occupancy. There they enjoyed continued growth. Toward the expiration of their lease of ten years they began to plan for still larger quar- ters. With this object in view they acquired a quarter of a block, 115x132 feet in dimensions, on the corner of Chester avenue and Eighteenth street, and on this site they erected a substantial structure at a cost of $100,000. January 1. 1911, the Redlick Mercantile Company formally took possession of the building and moved into their new quarters. This is said to be the finest and most commodious store building in Kern county, while it is also architecturally substantial, convenient and attractive. A perfect system of ventilation was introduced and the sanitation also is without fault, therefore the health of employes has been conserved. Steam heat renders the building comfortable during the winter months and electric lights add a desirable fea- ture to the interior completeness. The ladies' rest room contains every com- fort and there are also lavatories for both sexes, these arrangements being as complete in behalf of employes as in the interests of customers. A stranger entering the great building is impressed with the healthful, contented appear- ance of the employes and with their uniform courtesy of manner, and this is explained by the attention given to their welfare by the proprietors and also ]:)y the fact that a profit-sharing system has been adopted whereby the employes may buy of the cajiital stock of the company according to their merit and worth. This was a concession in the interests of the employes, for the company was founded as a close corporation, with the members of the family owning all of the stock. These modern innovations and many other matters not herein mentioned iCH^cul^ S / "ULA^ytit^^^^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1071 express the views of the secretary and manager concerning lousiness affairs, the welfare of his employes and the interests of his customers. Thoroughly up-to-date in commercial affairs, he represents the twentieth century merchant of the west, brilliant in mind, keen in insight, skilled in the art of salesman- ship and original in ideas. In regard to the welfare of Bakersfield and Kern county he is optimistic. Their future wealth and prosi:)erity he cannot doubt. Judging the future by the past he sees a long era of growth stretching ahead of this district, with assured prosperity for the men who have been foremost in the work of upbuilding. An active spirit in the organization ( f the Bakersfield Board of Trade, Mr. Redlick was serving as its president in 1906 and took the initiative in the matter of relieving the sufferers of the San Francisco fire and earthquake. Immediately upon hearing of the catastrophe he sent a dispatch to the mayor of San Francisco inquiring whether money or provisions were most desired. The answer came back, "provisions." Through his energy and promptness a large consignment of provisions from Bakersfield reached the stricken city and did much to meet the material needs of its unfortunate people. For some years he has been a leading member of the Bakersfield Club, also has held membership with Masonry and the Eastern Star, with the Knights of Pythias, the Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. CHARLES E. KITCHEN.— A man well known for honesty and integ- rity of purpose and who had the respect and confidence of his fellow-men was the late Charles E. Kitchen, justice of the peace of the fifth judicial township of Kern county, and who was also engaged in mercantile business in Famoso. A native son, Charles E. Kitchen was born in San Jose, Cal., January 7, 1869, the son of John and Wilhelmina (Henry) Kitchen, natives of England and Germany respectively and both pioneers of California. The father was a farmer near San Jose, but afterwards engaged in the insurance business in San Francisco, which he has fcllowed to the present time. Of the family of four children Charles E. was the second oldest and received a good education in the schools of Oakland and San Francisco and later was employed in a printing office in San Francisco. He became a member of Company A, Fifth California National Guard. Coming to Kern county in 1890 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land at Semi- Tropic and in drilling for water obtained a flowing well. He followed farm- ing and fruit-raising there, but later purchased a ranch at Famoso, where he raised grain. In 1905 he built a store and put in a stock of general merchandise in Famoso which business he conducted successfully until his death, which occurred on Christmas day, 1913. He was also postmaster at Famoso, but in June, 1912, he resigned the position. Meantime, in 1902, he was first elected justice of the peace for the fifth judicial district on the Republican ticket and so ably and well did he conduct his court that his constituents re-elected him to the office in 1906 and again in 1910 and at the time of his death he was serving his twelfth year in the position with a fairness and justice of decision that won him the commendation of all who knew him. In January, 1903, in Famoso occurred the marriage of Mr. Kitchen to Miss Mary Lois Smith, who was born near Bloomington, McLean county, 111., the daughter of Dr. W. F. Smith, now^ of San Francisco, who served in an Ohio regiment in the Civil war. Of their union were born four children as follows Thomas E., Olga, McKinley and Albert. Always a believer in Republican principles Mr. Kitchen aided in the hustings of his party and was a prominent and influential man therein. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Delano Lodge No. 309, F. & A. M. in 1902 and was a member of Bakersfield Aerie No. 93 F. O. E. He was 1072 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY greatly interested in the welfare of Kern county and very optimistic for its future greatness, and being a liberal and enterprising man, was ever ready to give of his time and means toward any project that had for its object the enhancement of its great natural resources. Mr. Kitchen died December 25, 1913. and the funeral was heM in Oakland under the auspices of the Masons. HARRY D. FETHER.— The United Oil Company's production foreman, who has been identified with the Midway field almost continuously since April of 1901, is a native of Ohio and was born at Archbold, Fulton county, March 19, 1884, being the youngest son of Alexander and Sarah (Guyman) Fether, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio. F'or a number of years the father engaged in the lumber business at Archbold and became the sole owner of two sawmills, and at one time was engaged in furnishing hardwood lumber to the Studebaker firm at South Bend, Ind., to be used in the manufacture of their high-class vehicles. Unfortunately he was induced to dispose of his huiiber interests and embark in the oil industry. At first it appeared that his prospects were fair. While drilling in the vicinity of Bryan, Williams county, Ohio, he struck gas. Indications seemed so favorable that he piped the gas into the city of Bryan and sold to consumers there, but in a short time the supply was exhausted and he was left a heavy financial loser. Next he turned to contract drilling in Ohio and Indiana oil fields. Eventually he came to California and at present he and his wife are living in East Bakersfield. Their eldest son, Frank, who is also represented in this work, holds a very responsible position as superintendent of the United Oil Company. The second son, Louis, while drilling for the Nevada Oil Company in the Kern river field, was killed January 1, 1908, by a dynamite explosion. Surviving him is an only son, Victor, now fifteen years of age and living in Los Angeles with an aunt, Celia, wife of John Klofenstein, a tailor. Besides Mrs. Klofen- stein there was another daughter, Effie, who died unmarried in 1898. The youngest members of the family are George and Harry D., the former engaged at present in drilling water wells at Peach Springs, Ariz., for Mrs. A. B. Canfield. After completing the studies of the grammar grade Harry D. Fether attended the high school at Bryan, Ohio, for two years. Meanwhile in ]\Iarch, 1900, his father and brother, George, had come to California and engaged in contracting and drilling at Maricopa. In the fall of 1900 Frank and Louis joined the others in the west, whither the youngest son followed in 1901, immediately afterward beginning to work as a tool-dresser wnth his father at Maricopa. In the same year he went to the Kern river field, where for five months he worked with Green & Whittier as a tool-dresser. Next he engaged at the Monte Cristo lease as a roustabout and pumper, from which he was promoted to be well-puller, tool-dresser and foreman successivel3^ During the summer of 1904 he spent three months in the east, returning with his mother in the fall and then securing employment as a driller on the Monte Cristo in the Kern river field. As a cable tool driller he is considered an expert and since the fall of 1904 this has been his special line of work. For about one year he drilled on the Sesnon, Piedmont and Lunda Vista leases for Sanguinetti and later he continued in the Kern river field as an employe of the Kern Trading and Oil Company. When their sixty or more wells had been drilled and they had shut down six strings of tools, he went to Utah and spent two and one-half months at Virgin City. Upon returning to Kern county he spent three years with the Standard in the Midway field and then drilled without success on a prospect well at Dolgeville, near Pasa- dena. From Bakersfield he next came out to Fellows and engaged with the Kern Trading and Oil Company as a driller for a year, resigning in order to take a vacation trip back to his old Ohio home. Two months later he came HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1075 back to Fellows and entered upon liis duties as production foreman with the United Oil Coni])any. which position lie now fills with energy and ability. CHARLES KERR. — After having passed his childhood days unevent- fully near Belfast, county Antrim, Ireland, where he was born in August of 1830 and whither his ancestors had emigrated from Scotland, Charles Kerr came to the United States when scarcely fifteen years of age and settled in Philadelphia, Pa., there learning the trade of a butcher. Upon learning of the discovery of gold in California he determined to seek the west and during 1850 he traveled via Panama to San Francisco, where he spent a long period of commercial activity. Forming a partnership with Hugh O'Neil and Barney Horn he opened a meat market and conducted a wholesale and retail business, with slaughter house on the wharf. The partners later engaged in business at the Presidio and eventually at South San Francisco, but subse- quently the partnership was dissolved and each man continued in business alone. llie identification of Charles Kerr with Bakersfield and Kern county began in 1885, when he bought the Jackson farm of several hundred acres on Kern Island and engaged in raising alfalfa and stock. Upon selling the tract he bought two farms of one hundred and sixty acres each, situated five miles south of Bakersfield and well adapted to alfalfa and stock. On that place he became extensively engaged in the breeding of thoroughbred horses, buying the mares from J. B. Haggin and increasing the drove until at the time of his death he had .on the ranch one hundred mares of the finest pedigrees, together with two valuable stallions, Apache and Kismit. It was his custom to hold an annual sale in San Francisco. Upon these days he placed upon sale at auction all of the animals that could be spared from his large herd and the quality of the stock was such that great crowds of horsemen, not only from all over the coast, but also representative horse- men from the east, came to the sales every year. His life was full of activi- ties and both as a business man and as a rancher he won a high reputation in the state. While he had little leisure for participation in politics and never consented to he Id office, he was always depended upon to cast a straight Democratic ballot at elections. When almost seventy-seven years of age he passed away April 20, 1907, and the body was taken to St. Mary's ceme- tery, Oakland, for interment. For a time after the death of her husband ]\Irs. Kerr continued to man- age the ranch, but eventually the horses were sold and she erected for her home a substantial residence in Chester Lane, Bakersfield. Still later, in 1911, she erected and removed to a modern and attractive residence on I street, where in the afternoon of existence she is surrounded by every material comfort and enjoys the affectionate regard of her circle of friends. The other house and also the alfalfa farm are rented. Mrs. Kerr, who bore the maiden name of Jennie Dean, was born at Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire. Scotland, and her earliest memories of childhood cluster around that place. Her par- ents, James and Agnes (Mackenzie) Dean, were natives respectively of INTanchester, England, and Port Glasgow, Scotland, and her father died in the latter place, he having settled there as a civil engineer in early manhood. Her mother died in San Francisco at the age of eighty-six years. The only child in the family, Mrs. Kerr grew to girlhood at the old homestead and during 1852 came to California via Panama, settling in San Francisco, where August 7. 1866, she became the wife of Charles Kerr. Two children blessed the union. AVilliam D. and Jennie K., Mrs. Sylvester, both residents of Bak- ersfield. Mrs. Kerr has been a generous contributor to those movements of a public nature bearing upon the material prosperity or educational ad- vancement of the community. P. J. CUNEO, M.D.— The Cuneo family has been located in Kern since 1076 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1893, at which time Bartholomew and Adelaide Cuneo brought their children to this place, where they have since maintained a home, the former now conducting a restaurant at No. 903 Sumner street. They are the parents of eight sons and one daughter, namely: Peter J., who was born in San Fran- cisco December 22, 1884, and was nine years of age at the time of coming to Kern; Charles, who is connected with the general office of the Southern Pacific Railroad' Company in San Francisco; Emil, who is associated with an oil company at Taft ; Albert, bookkeeper in the First Bank of Kern ; Rose, chief deputy in the county recorder's office; Frank, who is employed in the office of the superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railroad; Will, an em- ploye in the Southern Pacific freight office; Alfred and George, who are students in the Bakersfield high school. After having completed the studies of the Kern grammar school and the Bakersfield high school, from which latter he was graduated in 1904, P. J. Cuneo entered the Hastings Law College, an institution affiliated with the University of California and located in San Francisco. At the completion of the regular course of study he was graduated in 1907 and admitted to the bar of the state of California. However, he felt himself less drawn toward the law than he had anticipated and in spite of his excellent college record he deter- mined to seek another field of work. During 1908 he passed the state exam- ination of the pharmacy board and then entered Cooper Aledical College of San Francisco, the medical department of Leland Stanford University, and there he continued his studies until he received the degree of M.D., u])on his graduation in May of 1911. In the following August he was ex? mined by the state medical board and received a license to practice medicine and surgery in California. Meanwhile he had accepted an appointment as interne at S1. Luke's hospital and there he continued throughout the term, the work proving of the greatest benefit to him in broadening his professional knowledge and giving him valuable experience in surgery. Since his return to East Bakers- field, the community where he passed his school days and where he has many oldtime boyhood friends, he has devoted himself to the building up of a private practice. MRS. REBECCA TIBBET.— Among the very first settlers on Kern Island and a pioneer of Kern county is Mrs. Rebecca Tibbet, who came hither on March 1, 1864, with her husband and four children. Grandma Tibbet, as she is called, was born in La Grange county, Ind., July 31, 1835, and was the daughter of Nathaniel and Annie (Lawrence) Callahan, natives of Delaware and Ohio, respectively. In her native county Rebecca Callahan was brought up and received her education in the local schools of the day. There she was married April 24, 1853, to Edward Tibbet, a native of Ohio. The week after their marriage they started on their honeymoon trip, which arrangement included a trip by boat to St. Joe, Mo., and thence they crossed the plains by the overland trail with ox teams, being en route from May 3 until November 25, when they arrived at San Gabriel mission. They located in Arroyo Seco. now Pasadena, then a Spanish grant, where ulr. Tibbet was engaged in cutting wood, which he disposed of in Los Angeles. In 1864 they located on Kern Island and purchased an eighty acre farm from Colonel Baker and later homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres adjoining, all of which now adjoins the city on the south. They paid for the eighty acres by raising beef, beans and vegetables, and afterward con- tinued farming and stockraising. Mr. Tibbet died in 1879, at fifty-two years of age. Since her husband's death she continues to reside at her old home, making it her residence except when she visits her children. She became the mother of twelve children, seven of whom grew up as follows: Eliza, Mrs. W. T. Hoke, of Los Angeles ; George, deceased, at one time city marshal of Bakersfield ; William, who was killed by the desperado McKinney while performing his duty as a HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1077 deputy sheriff; Alfred, who died at his home near Bakersfield October 26, 1913; Emma. Mrs. C. P. Larsen, who resides in Bakersfield; Edward, also of Bakersfield ; and Burton M., of Taft. Mr. and Mrs. Tibbet were pioneer members of the Methodist church and assisted in organizing" the First Methodist Episcopal church in Bakers- field, in which Mr. Tibbet was trustee and class leader as well as superin- tendent of the Sunday school. About twenty years ago, when the Salvation Army was organized in this city, Mrs. Tibbet became a member and has since been active in the cause. SIDNEY POWERS. — When the various countries of Europe were con- tributing of their brain and brawn to the colonization of America there were not wanting immigrants from the rugged hills of Scotland to aid in the herculean task of founding a new nation and among these colonial settlers were representatives of the ancient Scotch family of Powers, whose early home in the new world was among the gallant cavaliers of Maryland. It is said that the Scotch formed an important element in the early history of that state, where they were noted for energy of character and success in business. Originally planted in that colony, the Powers family became iden- tified with Virginia through the removal thither of Richard Powers, a gen- tleman of Maryland nativity and education. The next generation was represented by Sidney Powers, Sr., a native of Cumberland county, Md., but throughout much of his life a planter in Virginia, where he owned a large plantation in Stafford county not far from the city of Fredericksburg. A quiet, uneventful devotion to farming, that continued imtil his death in 1896, was broken only by the advent of the Civil war, which found him enthusi- astically advocating the doctrine of states rights and he served throughout the war as a private in the Confederate army. During young manhood he had married Mar)^ Ann Thompson, a native of Fauquier county, Va., and a descendant of an old Scotch-Irish family. Since the death of her husband she has continued at the old homestead in Staft'ord county near Fredericks- burg, where her sixth child, Sidney, was born March 30. 1880, and where also had occurred the birth of her other children. There were eleven in the family and all but one of these still survives. When attending the country schools in Virginia and working on the home farm, Sidney Powers, Jr., was impressed by the lack of opportunities in that region. Hearing much concerning the west, he resolved to seek an opening somewhere along the Pacific coast. Accordingly as soon as he attained his majority and was free to start out for himself, he began to make plans for removal to California. December 18, 1901, found him newly arrived in Bakersfield, where the following day he secured employment in a livery stable owned by R. A. Moncure. A few months later he began to work at the butcher's trade under Mr. Graves. Later he assisted in the building of the steel tanks of the Standard Oil Company in the Kern river field, fol- lowing which he worked in the White Star dairy for nine months. His next position was with the Kern County Land Company, for which he continued as a collector for almost eight years. Eventually he resigned the position in order to embark in business for himself. During June of 1910 he purchased the Ideal stables at No. 2221 I street, in Bakersfield, which he since has con- ducted with efificiency and success, having since the acquisition of the business equipped and improved the property, which now includes two stables, one a brick building 80x100 feet in dimensions, and the other 75x80, both substantial in construction and convenient in arrangement. While he has not maintained an active interest in public affairs, he is decidedly Democratic in his sym- pathies and adheres to the political faith in which he was reared. Fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the World. At the time of his arrival in Bakersfield he was a young man without domestic ties and it was not until some years afterward that he established a home of his own, his marriage in 1078 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY Bakersfield uniting- him with Miss Mary W. Wilson, by whom he has one son, Thomas Sidney, and who like himself is of Virginian birth and education, a native of Isle of Wight county and descended from an old and honored family of the southeastern portion of the Old Dominion. CHARLES H. HELDMAN.— Nestling in the foothills on the north slope of Piute mountain near Bodfish, Kern county, is the ranch of Charles H. Heldman, who owns four hundred and forty acres of land on which he has a full bearing orchard of apples, pears, cherries, peaches and plums, the place having been improved from the wild land, and which bears evidence of his energy and enterprise. Missouri is the native state of Charles Heldman and Augusta, St. Charles county, the place of his birth, where he first saw the light of day August 17, 1849. His parents were of German nativity, and he was orphaned by his father's death when he was three years of age. In Augusta, where he was reared, he attended the public schools, and when a lad he began to learn the cooper's trade under his stepfather, Eberhart Fuhr. In 1871 he went to Colorado and thence to Montana, being engaged at mining. In the fall of 1871 he made his way to the Pacific coast, following his trade in San Fran- cisco until the spring of 1872, when we find him in Utah, remaining there until the fall of 1872. In that year he became a miner in Pioche, Nev., and in 1873 he started for Panamint, at the time of the excitement in Death Valley, where he prospected until the spring of 1874, and then came to Kern county. Soon afterward he began mining on the Bodfish, where he built an arrastre and operated it for seven years. Next he located and opened the Centennial mine on Erskine creek, operating it until he sold it to good advantage, when he purchased the present ranch from the railroad com- pany and began improving it, and during the past seventeen years has wrought a wonderful change in the appearance of the place. He dug a ditch, taking water from Bodfish creek for irrigating his alfalfa, while he irrigates his orchard from a spring. His orchard is thrifty, and a large producer. Mr. Heldman has been a constant reader and having a retentive mem- ory, he has accumulated a fund of information which makes him a very inter- esting and entertaining conversationalist. He is very broad in his views and is a member of the Thomas Payne Historical Association, as well as The American Secular Union. DAVID W. MADDUX. — Among the native sons who have rendered a creditable showing and been instrumental in the development and improving of the natural resources of Kern county we find David W. Maddux, born at El Monte, Los Angeles county, the oldest child of William and Joanna (Mar- ney) Maddux, the date of his birth being March 1, 1856. His father died in 1858 and in 1859 the family removed to Hillsboro. Ore., where rhey resided for about five years, then removing to a place near Salem, Ore., and remaining until 1866. They then returned to California and h^cated on a ranch at the foot of Mt. Diablo, in Contra Costa county. On this ranch David Maddux worked faithfully for a few vears, mean- lime attending the i)ul)l!c schools near his home. From a boy in his teens he earned his own livelihood by working on ranches. He spent two years prospecting near Tombstone, Ariz., during the early excitement of that cele- brated frontier mining camp, and then spent two years at Temple Junction. Tex., where he engaged in cotton growing. However, neither the business nor locality pleased him very much and he resolved to return to his native Cali- tornia. In 1884 he located in the Semi-Tropic district in Kern county and with (ither members of the family improved the place by boring artesian wells. He obtained two excellent flowing wells and set out orchards and sowed fields of alfalfa. In 1895 he located on the ranch that now has the Santa Fe wells, six miles west of what is now McKittrick. On this place he engaged in farming HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1081 with his brother, William A., and later he traded his farm in Semi Trcjpic for the place on which he now resides, also located in the Little Santa Maria valley. He also homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres adjoining, im- proving it, building a comfortable residence and suitable barn, and since proving up on it has also purchased other lands and now owns about six hundred acres on which he is raising hay and stock. On his original farm he bored three wells and obtained a large flow of excellent water which he has lately sold to the Santa Fe Company. Mr. Maddux has also become interested in real estate in Bakersfield, owning a residence on Twenty-third and M streets, and with his partner. M. S. Platz, built eight bungalows on the corner of Twenty-third and D streets. While he has never aspired to public office he is interested in the success of the Republican party. M. M. LICHTENSTEIN. — An artistic and imposing business establish- ment of Bakersfield is the jewelry store situated at No. 1414 Nineteenth street and owned by The Lichtenstein Jewelry Company. When Mr. Lichtenstein came to this city in 1910 and selected fcr his store the central location he now retains, he decided to reproduce in the fixtures a Parisian establishment which he had admired during one of his trips abroad. The development of the idea proved successful. In all probability there is no other store in America simi- larly equipped and finished, and visitors in Bakersfield invariably pause before the store in admiration which always finds expression in terms of highest praise. The walls are made of French plate mirrors, while the large square showcases of French plate glass rest on marble bases, the entire equipment representing an expenditure of $8500 and testifying silently as to the elegant tastes of the owners. The Lichtenstein family comes of German lineage. M. H., .father of M. M., was born near Berlin, Germany, and at the age of thirteen came to the United States with his parents, settling in St. Louis. After he had grown to manhood -he went to New York City and there with his father engaged in the millinery business. Tales of the discovery of gold in California lured him to the west, for he was of an adventurous disposition, fond of travel and fearless in danger. During 1850 he landed at San Francisco after an uneventful vo.yage via Panama. For a time he was employed in the express business in San Francisco, but in 1852 he started an express and exchange business between that city and Sacramento. It was his characteristic love of adventure that led him to join the filibustering expedition organized by William W^alker, who attempted, with a force of four hundred men, to make himself master of Nicaragua. In that brief but disastrous campaign he had even more excite- ment and danger than he liked. He narrowly escaped execution with many of the other members of the expedition. The fate which others met he for- tunately escaped. Without doubt he owed the preservation of his life to the fact that he wore his Masonic emblem. As he made his way alone up the coast, riding on a burro, he suffered many hardships, went through many exciting experiences and often traveled on very short rations. When finally the unfortunate adventure had reached a safe termination, Mr. Lichtenstein returned to San Francisco, secured employment and re- mained until about 1870. Joining the rush to Pioche, Nev., at the time of the Raymond-Ely excitement, he met with good luck and made a fortune of $150,- 000 in the mines. However, being a true Californian of the old school and fond of speculating on the Stock Exchange, he soon lost his entire fortune. Nothing daunted, he began at the bottom once more and as soon as he had a suf- ficient capital he engaged in the jewelry business in San Francisco. In spite of his frequent losses on the Stock Exchange, he became well-to-do and con- tinued to conduct a large jewelry trade until the time of the fire. After that he failed rapidly and April 21. 1907. he passed away. Surviving him and still 1082 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY living in San Francisco is his widow, Mrs. Toba Lichtenstein, who settled in that city in 1865. Of their ten children four sons and one daughter still sur- vive. The youngest son, M. M., was born in San Francisco September 5, 1872, and received his advanced education in the city high school and Heald's Business College. After he had graduated from the latter institution in 1887 he engaged in the jewelry business with his father on Stockton street, but after the fire he opened a store on Market street near Powell, where he con- tinued until his removal to Bakersfield. Meanwhile he made his first trip abroad in 1894, when he met Miss Mathilda Herzog, a native of Mainz. They later married at San Rafael, Cal., where she visited relatives. During 1909 they made a long and enjoyable tour of Europe. All public movements receive the support of Mr. Lichtenstein when he is convinced of their utility. In politics he votes with the Democratic party. Several fraternities have the benefit of his cordial co-operation. At this writing he acts as secretary of Bakersfield Parlor No. 42, N. S. G. W., and with others is endeavoring to develop and pre- serve all of the historical places in Kern county. JESSE L. KELLEY.— The ability to judge stock accurately Mr. Kelley inherits from his father, the late Thomas Kelley, who was considered a successful stockman of his day and locality. Born in Maine, he had set- tled in Missouri during young manhood and by gradual development he had built up a large stock industry, owning thousands of head of cattle, horses and mules. Early in the '50s he had crossed the plains with a party of men desirous of inspecting the west. Soon he returned to Missouri, but subse- quently he made four other trips to the coast, at times traveling with ox- teams and at times with horses. In addition to his homestead of fifteen hundred acres near Marysville, Nodaway county. Mo., he acquired large tracts of farm lands in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Eventually he sold his stock and closed out his extensive interests in Missouri, removing from that state to California, where he settled in Humboldt county. There he soon became interested in the stock business and on his large ranch near Ferndale he always kept a drove of fine horses as well as many head of mules and cattle. On that ranch he remained until his death, which occurred at the age of eighty-six years. While living in Alissouri, Thomas Kelley had met and married Mary Lee, who was born in Kentucky and died in Missouri. At an early age she left her home in the Blue Grass state in company with her father, Noah Lee, a native Kentuckian and a member of a pioneer family of that com- monwealth. F"or years Mr. Lee was one of the extensive and prominent farmers of his county in Missouri. The twelve children of Thomas and Mary (Lee) Kelley are living at the present writing and the youngest of the large family, Jesse L., was born at the old homestead near Marysville, Nodaway county. Mo., April 2, 1878. Reared on the farm, from boyhood he was familiar with the stock industry in every department. As a boy he was able to point to the defects in a horse or steer. He also studied their diseases' and the best cures for each. When only eleven years of age he was trading in horses and while some of his trades were more fortunate for the other party than for himself, yet each was a stepping-stone in his training and added to his knowledge of animals. As early as 1893 he made his first trip to California and at San Francisco followed the riding of race horses. In other large cities of the United States he engaged in the same work. WHien twenty-one years of age Mr. Kelley began to buy and sell stock at Marysville, Mo., where he had a yard of his own and operated with a skill that was little short of remarkable in view of his youth. Older dealers in stock were amazed at his trained judgment. After some years in the same place he decided to remove to California. During 1899 he located in San Francisco and engaged in buying and selling horses and mules, fre- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1085 quently returning to Missouri on business, but always considering Cali- fornia his home. Since 1906 he has engaged in business in Bakersfield and has become the largest shipper of stock in the entire San Joaquin valley. His shipments of horses and mules have been especially large. Growers of stock have come to place every confidence in his judgment and have found his prices the best that the market justifies. Four miles from Bakersfield on the Kern Island road he owns a fine alfalfa ranch of eighty acres and finds the care of the property an enjoyable change from his business afifairs in the city. While he never has been active in politics nor has sought office he keeps posted concerning public affairs, and votes the Republican ticket at general elections. By his marriage in Marysville, Mo., November 20, 1900, to Miss Mattie McLean, who was born and reared near Marysville, Mo., he is the father of two children, Floyd and Clara, now students in the Bakersfield schools. JAMES ALEXANDER. — Everywhere, in every community, people look up to Scotchmen as an example of that which constitutes good citizenship. The Scotchman is a worker, an economist, a lover of country and a friend of educa- tion and enlightenment. He prospers and, prospering, helps others to prosper. The citizen of Weldon, Kern county, Cal., whose name is at the head of this brief notice daily impresses upon his neighbors the truth of these reflections. Born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, October 22, 1875, a son of David Alexander and a descendant of old and honorable Scottish families, he was early placed in the public schools of his native place and studied hard until he was twelve years old, when he was obliged to lay down his books and help to earn the family livelihood. Owing to his father's ill health, the boy had from a very early age much responsibility in the conduct of the family affairs. When he was eighteen years of age, in 1893, the whole family came to America and, making their way to California, settled before the end of that year on what is now James Alexander's ranch on the South Fork of the Kern river. He took charge of affairs and they leased from the A. Brown Company until 1911, when they purchased the place. Mr. Alexander owns two hundred and forty acres, one hundred and ninety acres of which is under cultivation. It is under irrigation and about one hundred acres is in growing alfalfa. He is also a grower of grain and is engaged quite extensively in the breeding of cattle, hogs and horses, also cattle and hogs for the market, his brand being a JA joined. Fraternally Mr. Alexander is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, affiliating with Kernville Lodge No. 251. He is a member of the board of trustees of Weldon School District and is clerk of the board. A suc- cessful man, of public spirit, he has been a promoter of many local move- ments for the general good. June 27, 1907, he married Miss Grace L. Bishop, in Kings county. She was born in Nova Scotia, daughter of William A. Bishop, who brought his family to California. Mrs. Alexander was educated in Santa Clara county and was graduated from the state normal at San Jose in 1900, engaging in educational work until her marriage. Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Alexander and his wife, Mabel and Alice. The mother of Mr. Alexander died in 1906, and his father now lives with him. J. W. BATES. — As field superintendent of the Fairfield Oil Company, Mr. Bates has charge of one hundred and twenty acres lying on section 13, 31-22, a similar tract on section 19, 31-22, all of section 11, 31-22 (which is undeveloped), and twenty acres on section 19, 30-22, at McKittrick, upon which there are seven producing wells. The average production runs from ten thousand to twenty thousand barrels, and it is the ambition of the superintend- ent to develop the leases to the fullest degree possible, with the hope that the returns may be commensurate with justifiable expectations. Prior to coming to the west Mr. Bates made his home in New Hamp- shire, where he was born January 18, 1889, where he received a common- 1086 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY school education and where he was trained for the responsibilities of the busi- ness world. 7\n interesting experience at Dartmouth College was brought to a close with his graduation in 1910. In the course of his study in that institution he had been prominent in a number of societies and fraternities. In the fall of 1910 he left the east and came to California, where a friend in San Francisco secured work for him in the McKittrick oil field. The position was not one of importance, being that of mule-driver. To work strenuously and laboriously did not daunt him in the least. By the quiet discharge of uninteresting duties he prcjved that a college graduate was not superior to manual labor and did not disdain the humblest duties. Soon he was promoted to be a tool-dresser and in May, 1913, he was made manager of the Fairfield Oil Company, which has four wells and one now drilling. During 1912 occurred the death of his father, F. C. Bates, for years the owner and proprietor of a large boot and shoe business at Somersworth, Strafford county, N. H. Surviving him are the wife and daughter, still residents of New Hampshire, and the only son, who inherited the shoe business. Being pleased with California and the oil busi- ness, Air. Bates has given over to his mother the management of the store at Somersworth and she in turn has entrusted it largely to an experienced old employe long connected with the establishment. AUGUST MAUREL.— Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France, was the birthplace of August Alaurel, the date being July 11, 1865. His father, Francois Alaurel, being a farmer, he was reared to that pursuit, attending school until he reached the age of fifteen. In 1882 he made his way to the United States, coming directly to the Pacific coast and followed gardening in San Francisco for a while, in January of 1883 coming to Sumner. Mr. Maurel found work with a sheepman on the plains, being thus occupied for about three years, when he purchased a flock of ewes and started out for himself. This he has since continued with such marked success that he is designated as one of the large sheepmen in the county. His herd at starting consisted of about fifteen hundred head, but at times it has reached twelve thousand. For the first seven years he ranged his sheep at Poso Bridge, then between Kern river and Poso creek, then for about ten years at Granite Station and vicinity, and still later in the Weed Patch and Rock Pile country. Mr. Maurel owns property near San Bernardino, but he has always made his home in Kern county, his place of residence being now at the corner of Eureka and Owens streets. East Bakersfield. He has invested in real estate in this city and owns five other residences which are valuable pieces of prop- ertv. He was married in East Bakersfield July 12, 1893, to Miss Marie Robert, who was also a native of Hautes-Aloes, France. They are the par- ents of three children, ^•iz. : August G., who is attending Fleald's Business Colles^e, San Jose; Alice, attending Bakersfield Business College; and George. Mr. Maurel is a member of the Order of Eagles and the Druids, and in politic; i''; n stanch Renublican. JEREMIAH SHIELDS.— -Among the ancestors of Jeremiah Shields on the maternal side his great-great-grandfather McElroy came from Scotland and settled in county Londonderry. Ireland, where later generations have been identified un to the present time. The Shields familv were distinctly from conntv Donen-al, that being the lifelong home of James and Catherine (Mc- Elrov) Shields. The earlv associations of their son, Jeremiah, bound him clnselv to that county, where he was born on New Year's day of 1843 and where he was reared on a farm sixteen miles from the city of Londonderry. Mav 4. 1868, he landed in the city of New. York, penniless but hooeful, and possessing a robust constitution that enabled him to endure without harm the heavy work of later years. After a brief sojourn in New York City and Phila- delphia he went to Omaha. Nebr.. and secured employment on the construc- tion work of the Union Pacific Railroad. The vast plains were almost wholly CpiUyC^-^^^^o&/' HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1089 unsettled and Laramie, the last station on the line, was a hamlet of a few tents. The particular task of the young immigrant was that of laying track and for over one year he was given steady employment by the contractors. When finally the work was completed he came by train to Sacramento in January, 1869. He followed farm work until 18/1, and then removed to Lodi, where he secured work as foreman of track repairs for the Central Pacific Railroad. For five j^ears he filled the position with praiseworthy fidelity and efficiency, after which he spent six months in Oakland. Coming to Kern county for the first time in September of 1876, Mr. Shields became foreman of the vSouthern Pacific Railroad at Tehachapi, being the first permanent incumbent of the position. The work entailed many re- sponsibilities, yet it was so congenial and acceptable that he refused an offer to bec( me roadmaster of the Mojave and Needles branch, preferring to con- tinue in the foremanship. In the highest part of the mountain section there were six tunnels w-ithin one mile. The dangers of earth slides and winter snows were so constant that he kept a vigil night and day. Nothing affords him greater gratification than the fact that during the period of his occu- pancy of the position, covering almost sixteen years, there occurred no acci- dent that could be attributed to carelessness on his part. In the mean- time he had taken up land and when in December of 1891 he resigned as fore- man it was for the purpose of giving his entire time to farming and stock- raising. He now owns two hundred and fifty acres one and a half miles west of Tehachapi. While he still owns the ranch, since 1903 he has resided in Bakersfield, where he owns a comfortable residence at No. 1612 H street. Ever since he became a citizen of our country Mr. Shields has advocated Democratic principles. Formerly he served as a member of the county Democratic central committee. For years in Tehachapi he held office as school trustee, but that position came to him less through his desire for, political preferment than through his known interest in educational affairs and his intelligent realization of the needs of the schools. The Democrats of his dis- trict secured his election as a member of the board of county supervisors in 1894, his duties beginning in January of the next year. At the expiration of the term in 1898 he was again chosen to fill the position. The end of the term, January 1, 1903, was also the beginning of his first term as county treasurer, to which responsible post he was elected by the Democratic party of Kern county. During 1906 he was re-elected and so satisfactory was his service that when the time came for the next election, 1910, he had no opponent, being again chosen his own successor, to fill the office until New Year's of 1915. The details connected with the office are many and the responsibility great, but he has proved equal to every emergency and has vindicated the choice of his party. During his busy and successful life he has had little leisure for participation in social functions or fraternal activities, and the only organiza- tion with which he has been prominently connected is the Order of Knights of Columbus, which he serves as a trustee. In his marriage, which occurred at Sacramento in 1873, he was united with Miss Catherine Shields, a young Irish girl of gentle character and industrious habits, well qualified to assist a poor but ambitious man in his efforts to secure success. Six sons and one daughter blessed their union, namely: Minnie, deceased in 1874 at six months of age; James D., employed as a stationary engineer in Bakersfield ; Henry P., a painter in this city; George F., a machinist, who follows his trade in Los An- geles; Jeremiah P., now serving as deputy county treasurer; Edward J., who holds the position of locomotive engineer for the Santa Fe road out of Bakers- field ; and Hugh M., a cartoonist and commercial artist now following his chosen occupation with recognized success in San Francisco. WILLIAM A. MADDUX.— Among the men who have done much to improve land and build up the agricultural resources of Kern county we find 1090 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY William Maddux, a native son, born in El Monte, Los Angeles county, No- vember 6, 1858, the son of William and Joanna (Marney) Maddux. In 1850 the father crossed the plains with ox teams to Los Angeles, Cal., where he met and married Miss blarney, who had also crossed the plains, coming with her uncle, Fielding Hathaway, in 1852. Mr. Maddux was one of the early merchants of El Monte, but before he had an opportunity to accomplish much in his line he passed away late in the fall of 1858. There were two children born of this union. The oldest, David W. Maddux, is also a resident of Kern county, residing on his farm near McKittrick. The mother, who married the second time to J. E. Morgan, is again a widow and resides in San Jose. William A. Maddux was reared from the time he was eight years of age on the farm in Contra Costa county, the place being located at the foot of Mt. Diablo, and he attended the public school at Clayton. As early as thirteen he began paddling his own canoe by working on ranches, besides performing his duties on the home place. He spent two years farming at Pilot Grove, Falls county, Tex., and in 1884 came with the family to Kern county. Here he located land at Semi-Tropic and drilled artesian wells and was successful in improving the place, sowing alfalfa and setting out orchards and vineyards which were irrigated from the flowing wells. Fie still owns one hundred and sixty acres in that district. In 1895 he located a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres at the foot of Temblor mountain in the little Santa Maria valley, six miles west of McKittrick, which he improved and proved up on and has also purchased land adjoining until he owns eight hundred acres of land. On the homestead he sunk a well and at a depth of one hundred and thirty-eight feet he struck an abundant flow of good water, thus richly enhancing the value of his place. Fraternally he is a member of Delano Lodge No. 356, I. O. O. F., and politically is an independent Republican. HYMAN BLOCK WELLS.— This young man has by industry, energy and perseverance actjuired a ct)mpetency and has the esteem and confidence of his fellow men. Although not a native son he was reared in California, coming here with the family when he was two years of age. His birth occurred in Ashley, Pike county. Mo., January 26, 1877. The father, James M. Wells, was a farmer in Ashley, when he was married to Susie Block, also a native of that county. In 1877 James M. Wells came to California, the family joining him in 1879. Until 1886 he followed farming at Lemoore, and from there removed to Coalinga, where he purchased land from the railroad and from individuals as he made the money to buy them out until he acquired about five thousand acres in that vicinity. After years of successful farming he retired to Visalia, where he and his wife now live, enjoying the fruits of their labors. Of their ten children Hyman B. is the second oldest ; he was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools of Coalinga and at the San Jose Business College. After finishing his schooling he rented his father's farm for one year, then entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company at Mc- Kittrick and became superintendent of the water department which supplies McKittrick and the McKittrick oil fields with water. In 1908 he resigned and located his i)resent homestead of one hundred and sixty acres six miles south- west of McKittrick, where he has made the improvements and built his home. In March, 1913, he proved up and obtained a title to the land from the government. He also leases adjoining land from Miller and Lux and is raising about four hundred acres of grain hay, in which he has been verv successful. In Hanford occurred Mr. Wells' marriage with Miss Eva Merrill, who is a native daughter, born near Stockton, and to them have been born three children : Susie Marie. Thelma Elizabeth and Kingsley Hyman. Fraternally Mr. Wells is a member of the Woodmen of the World and politically is a Republican. Mrs. Wells is a member of the Women of W^oodcraft and the Order of the Eastern Star. OC^ (^^^>i^^^2>i^-l^^^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1093 MAX NUNEZ.— Among the men of affairs who have left their imprint on the growth and upbuilding of 'East Bakersfield is Max Nunez, who was born at Old Ahnaden, Santa Clara county, in June, 1859, and there he grew up, receiving his education in the local schools. Although the schools offered limited opportunities, he being of a studious nature continued his research for knowledge and became a well-informed man. His father was a contractor at the Almaden mines and Max aided him in packing cinnabar ore from the mines to the mill. Next he spent some time in HoUister and in 1882 he came to Sumner, now East Bakersfield, and for a time he engaged in the liquor business. Subsequently he founded the waterworks, obtained the franchise to supply the town of Sumner, as it was called, with water and put down wells, laid the mains and started the waterworks, managing it until he sold it to the Sumner Water Company. After this Mr. Nunez spent many years as roadmaster, building, looking after and improving the public roads in his district. Then he built sheep- shearing stations where during the season he employed about three hundred hands to shear the multitude of sheep of the prosperous flock owners of those days. He became the owner of very valuable property in East Bakers- field, some of it located on Baker and Grove streets, which have become valuable business holdings. The death of Mr. Nunez occurred January 8. 1905. He was a very liberal and enterprising man and in his death the city lost one of its most generous upbuilders. His wife, who survives him, was in maidenhood Rosa Looez. a native of Sinaloa, Mexico. She continues to reside in East Bakersfield. looking after her real estate interests and building up her property. E. E. BALLAGH. — It is conceded among residents of the west side that no citizen of Maricopa was more intimately identified with its incorporation and subsequent civic upbuildins: than E. E. Ballagh, who. while ens-aging in insurance and real-estate activities, handling and selling oil lands, farm lands and town property in Kern county as well as lands and city lots in and near Porterville, has also been able to give the city most able and intelligent service in the canacity of clerk. Upon the incorporation of Maricopa as a city in July of 1911 he was chosen the first city clerk and the following year was re-elected, to serve until 1914. As a member of the board of trustees he is a co-worker with C. W. Beatty (mayor), W. E. Thornton, James Wallace, H. C. Doll and C. Z. Irvine, the other city officers being as follows: M. Y. White of the First National Bank, citv treasurer; T. W. Brown, city recorder; L. R. Godward, city attorney; H. J. Babcock, city marshal; Harry Parke, fire chief; Dr. H. N. Taylor, health officer; and L. L. Coleman, city engineer. The Maricopa board of health, whose vigorous measures have urged forward all enterprises for the promotion of healthful sanitary conditions, comprises the following gentlemen under Dr. Taylor as chairman; F. T. Torpey, R. R. Lucas, L. T^. Coleman and H. J. Babcock. A native Californian and the son of an able and popular Presbyterian minister, E. E. Ballagh was born at Red Bluff, Tehama county. By reason of the various removals of the family from one Presbyterian parish to an- other, he attended public school in different places. After he had finished his hish-school studies he matriculated in the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, where he was graduated after a thorough course in the department of electri- cal engineering. As an engineer he found his first employment at Glennville, Cal. From 1904 to 1909 he was a salaried employe of the Consolidated Cop- per Company, his field of labor being principally in the mines of Cananea, state of Sonora, Mexico. Meanwhile in 1907 he married Miss Minnie L. Campbell, daughter of Daniel Campbell, a California pioneer who passed away on Christmas day of 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Ballagh have an only son, Ernest M. 1094 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Together with his brother, Dr. H. A. Ballagh, during 1910 Mr. Ballagh erected the Ballagh block at a cost of $6*,000. This is a cement building, 50x40 feet in dimensions, and divided into four offices, one of these being occupied by Dr. Ballagh for a dental office. Throughout the period of his residence in Maricopa, his work as real-estate agent as well as the office of city clerk have given to Mr. Ballagh an excellent opportunity to study condi- tions on the west side. \Mnle selling real estate in town Mr. Ballagh also has handled oil lands and has watched with unceasing interest the growth of the oil industry as new wells and deeper sands are constantly being developed in the field tributary to Maricopa. What the extent and wealth of the field will be, he states, is only a matter of conjecture, but exaggeration would be diffi- cult. The Coronation well on section 4, township 11 north, range 23 west, producing about eight hundred barrels per day, has increased the extent of the proved oil district by many thousands of acres on which there is still practically little development. The Edmunds Midway and Knickerbocker Oil Companies, operating northwest of Maricopa, have penetrated a lower stratum of oil sand and these remarkable gushers, each producing from five thousand to six thousand barrels daily, will in all probability be the cause of the redrilling of all of the adjoining sections of land heretofore producing from a shallower depth. El Camino Oil and Development Company, oper- ating on the flat five miles east of Maricopa and passing through excellent showings, is being watched in its work with exceptional interest, for a pro- ducing well there will widen and lengthen the area of the field, also will sub- stantiate the reports of geologists who maintain the continued trend of the main 35 Hill anticline to that point. On the southeast of town. Anaconda well No. 14 is in operation. To the northwest and southeast the develop- ment is extending gradually, but with substantial success. On the northeast the Maricopa Queen has brought in two fifteen hundred barrel-per-day gushers within the past year. The world of progress moves onward and INIaricopa is no exception to other districts in the development of its tributary territory. Mr. Ballagh reports companies organizing for development in the mountains and plains west of Maricopa, where indications are favorable for new fields. Progress is seen not alone in the oil industry. The farmer and stock-raiser are begin- ning to take up the adjacent fertile acres, the miner is prospecting in the mountain beyond, and the market gardener and fruit-raiser are experimenting with intensive cultivation of land. All of these workers are looking forward with eager anticipation to the building of the highway from Maricopa to the coast. It has been the joy and pride of the pioneers of Maricopa to build a sub- stantial modern school building, to maintain a hospital with modern equip- ment, to put in street lights, erect a fire department house and also a city hall. A sewage system is being installed to meet the needs of the town for many decades to come. The water supply for the fire system is gravity pressure, capable of throwing six streams of water to a height of seventy-five feet. A new jail has been completed. Although many improvements have been made, there still remain ample funds in the city treasury. WILLIAM N. FORKER.— As the holder of the responsible position of \\'ater Commissioner in Kern county, Cal., William N. Forker fills a most important place in the general working of that department, and as inspector of the oil production there he assumes a vast amount of responsibility, for there is doubtless no greater producer in any other state in the United States than in Kern county. Mr. Forker received his appointment from the Board of Supervisors, who showed excellent judgment in their choice of him as he has well proved to them, and no man perhans in the oil fields today has a more practical idea of that industry and its branches than has he. Born in Clarion county. Pa., he worked from boyhood in the oil fields in that vicinity, starting ^-^. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1097 from the bottom and working gradually uj) to an important place. In 1900, when the discovery of oil in Kern county attracted many to this part of the state, Mr. Forker decided to come here. He first engaged in the West Side oil fields, since which time he has helped to develop several of the producing wells of today. His experience in these fields has enabled him to gain an insight into climatic conditions and the general system of working these pro- ducers, and he is reputed to be an authority on the oil question. Mr. Forker married Miss Soto, who with her talented daughters are active workers in St. Francis Catholic Church of Bakersfield. The daughters are highly gifted musicians, while the son, William M., a student at the University of California, is a baseball pitcher of reputation. They make their home at No. 2724 Nineteenth street, Bakersfield. ERNEST KARNS.— No production foreman in the North Midway field gives to his work more exclusive, more conscientious attention than char- acterizes the capable activities of Ernest Karns, who in his identification with one of the great organizations in the oil industry has proved markedly efficient and thoroughly reliable. The next to the youngest among six children, Ernest Karns was born near Clarendon. Warren county, Pa., and at an early age was taken to the vicinity of Rising Sun, Ohio, by his parents. Pierce and Amanda (Kleinfelter) Karns, likewise natives of Pennsylvania. For years the father has been an expert driller and has devoted himself to the oil industry, which he now follows in the Midway field in Kern county. When a mere lad Ernest Karns entered the oil business as a roustabout. Step by step he advanced. In each position he proved reliable and diligent. After a time as pumper he was trained to be a tool-dresser and from that he rose to be production man, which work he was following at the time of his removal from Ohio. Coming to California in 1908, he secured employment in the Midway field. His first job was that of well-puller on the Oregon Midway, from which he came to the service of the C. C. M. O. Co., commcnly known as the Santa Fe, one of the greatest producing companies in the state, and since 1912 he has been production foreman for this gigantic corporation. Aside from voting the Republican ticket he takes no part whatever in politics, nor is he interested in fraternities, but prefers to devote his time wholly to the duties connected with the C()mpan_Y's production. EDWARD STEWART BROWN.— Through a long line of worthy American ancestry the genealogy of the Brown family is traced back to Ire- land and from that country to Scotland, where all authentic records are lost in a maze tf traditional lore. W^orthy of especial note is the long and honor- able record of Robert S. Brown as a locomotive engineer, first v/ith the Ill- inois Central Railroad and later with the New York Central in charge of the North Shore Limited, the fastest train between Syracuse and Buffalo. Dur- ing the period of his service on the Illinois Central he witnessed the destruction of Chicago by the great fire cf 1871. On resigning from that road he removed back to New York state and settled at Rochester, later going on the old home- stead ten miles northwest of that city. By his marriage to Jane E. Bascom he had three sons, Edward S., Herman Bascom and Archibald R. After a splendid record as an engineer he met his death in 1891 in an accident at Rochester and nine months later his wife passed away. Their son, Edward S., was born in Chicago July 17, 1871, and received his education in the Albion hisfh school and the Brockport Normal. The occupations which had interested his fore- bears did not attract him. Railroading, in which his father had achieved note- worthy distinction, did not fascinate him with its possibilities, and the occupa- tion of cabinet-making, which his grandfather, Dennis Patrick Brown, had followed through a busy life, in these later years has been taken by the great factories out of the hands of the skilled artisans. The modern industry of 1098 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY oil production gave him an opening of interest for the present and of promise for the future. Arriving in California May 16, 1897, Mr. Brown at once found em- ployment in the Fullerton field. Starting in at the bottom, he continued for five and one-half years on the lease of the Puente Oil Company. Meanwhile he became an expert driller and when he left the Puente it was to work as driller for the Olinda Land Company. From Fullerton he went to Santa Maria, where he was associated with the Union Oil Company for nearly three years. Afterward he drilled on various leases. For perhaps a year he engaged as drilling foreman with the General Oil Company at Santa Maria. Since De- cember of 1909 he has been connected with the Pinal Dome Oil Company, owners of two tracts of eighty and one hundred and sixty acres respectively, all located on section 23, 31-22. As foreman he has charge of the lease and is engaged in drilling a new well. Already there are ten active wells, with a monthly production of about twenty thousand barrels. In addition to managing the interests of the company on the lease Mr. Brown maintains a warm interest in national problems and is a reader of papers and periodicals, although naturally he finds the publication of oil news more interesting than the news of other enterprises or of political questions. While in New York state he was made a Mason and later he was raised to the Royal Arch Chapter at Santa Maria, where also he and his wife were con- nected with the Eastern Star, and he further was connected with the Elks at San Luis Obispo- At Greigsville, Livingston county, N. Y., he married JNIiss Sarah E. Clement, a capable woman, whose co-operation in her husband's work is shown by her willingness to board and care for the men on the lease. The two sons also co-operate as much as possible, the elder, Robert S., being now a driller on the Pinal Dome lease. The younger, Edward Archibald, who is now a student in the California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo, gives his entire vacation season to the task of pumping on the Pinal Dome, it being his present plan to embark in the industry upon the completion of his college course. JOHN P. SAMUELSON.— Few men have traveled more widely or seen more of the world than has John P. Samuelson, now the transportation fore- man f( r the General Petroleum Company at Taft. As a boy he became familiar with the interesting old city of Stockholm, Sweden, where he was born May 12, 1878, and where his father, David Oscar Samuelson, still conducts one of the largest bakeries of the capital. As far back as the records can be traced his ancestors were people of worth and intelligence. Caring little for travel, but devoted to their own country, they were not tempted to leave Sweden and it is thought that all of the living representatives of the name, wath the excep- tion of John P., continue to make that land their home. By the marriage of David Oscar Samuelson to Anna Louisa Samuelson, now deceased, there were three sons, one of whom, named for his father, now owns a meat market and other properties in Sweden, while the youngest, Nels A., also a resident of Stockholm, is engaged in the automobile livery business. The second son, John P., left home at the age of seventeen to become a sailor on the high seas. As an employe on Swedish and American sail boats and steamships he visited the principal ports of the world. After having followed the sea from 1895 to 1899, ]\rr. Samuelson gave up the life of a sailor and became a miner in Alaska. There he had many adventures. Nome was a very small place when he first arrived in the town and he saw much of its development during the following years. Fairbanks also was frequently visited by him. His prospecting tours took him to every part of the country. Aside from mining he gave attention to no work except ditching. From 1899 until 1909 he remained continuously in Alaska with the exception of three return trips to the United States for the winter months. 1 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1101 In November of 1909 he arrived in Taft, which then presented an uninviting aspect owing to the recent fire. Having a financial interest in the Bed Rock lease, he began to work there as a production man. From May of 1910 until May of 191 i he had charge of the Nome Oil Company in the Elk Plills, from which lease he came to the Esperanza Consolidated Oil Company (the nu- cleus of the General Petroleum). Transportation rather than production has appealed to him. Throughout his connection with the General Petroleum he has acted as transportation foreman. To him is given the oversight of all freight. He handles the materials used for drilhng and the machinery used in connection with production. Under his supervision is all freight for the leases and properties of the General Petroleum Oil Company in th.e Central Midway, Belle Ridge, Lost Hills, Shale, Maricopa, McKittrick and Fellows fields, and on the Globe, Buena Vista. Sibyl, Continental. Nevada, Brunswick. Section 22, Oakburn and Carnegie divisions. From the first Mr. Samuelson has believed in the future prosperity of Taft. Acting on that belief, he acquired three houses and lots in the town. In one of these bungalows, erected by himself and occupying a desirable loca- tion on the corner of Kern and Fifth streets, he and his wife have a com- fortable home, the hospitality of which is known to every friend. After com- ing to Kern county Mr. Samuelson was married at Bakersfield, his wife being Miss Ethel Fawce'tt, of Chico, a native daughter of California, her father being John Fawcett, a prosnerous orchardist living in the vicinity of Chico. While living in Alaska Mr. Samuelson became connected with the Eagles in Nome and since coming to Kern county he has become a member of the Loyal Order of Mocse at Taft. ALBERT JAMES McCOMBS.— The success of the well-known citi- zen of Kern county whose name is above is the legitimate fruitage of in- dustry, enterprise and integrity. These are the foundation stones on which he has most ably builded. Albert James McCombs was born in Cedar county, Iowa, March 3, 1875, and when he was about a year old was taken by his parents to Kansas and a little later to near Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebr., where he lived until after his twentieth birthday and where he at- tended public school until he was about seventeen. He began life for himself as a farm hand and early acquired a knowledge of ranching and stockraising. In 1895 he came to California and settled at Hanford,. Kings county, where he worked for a time for wages. Three years later he came to Kern county and entered the employ of H. L. Weems, apiarist, with whom he remained two years and during the ensuing three years he was foreman of the Palms fruit ranch at The Palms, three miles south of Wasco. While there he also engaged in the bee business, and at the end of four years he disposed of his thirteen hundred stands to good advantage. In 1904 he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land two miles east of Wasco, most of which is under alfalfa, and in 1908 he acquired eighty acres known as the Golden Gate fruit orchard, upon which he grows peaches, grapes and prunes. In Wasco he installed a cold storage plant and built a shop with a capacity of two tons. Here he engaged in the wdiolesale and retail butcher business, his slaughter- house being located two miles east of town on his alfalfa ranch. He now has two hundred acres of land under cultivation, and is engaged successfully in the breeding of hogs and cattle. In politics and in measures for the general good Mr. McCombs has long been active and casts his ballot for Republican candidates. He is a Blue Lodge Mason, belonging to the lodge at Delano, and affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. December 17, 1903, he married Miss May E. Bacome, who was born in Cedar county, Iowa, in June, 1885, and they have a daughter and son, Edna May and Albert J., Jr. A. S. MORTON.— The senior member of the undertaking firn-" of Morton & Connellv is a Californian bv birth and unswervinglv loyal to the material 1102 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY upbuilding- of Bakersfield, with whose business interests he has been asso- ciated in an influential degree. Suisun City, Solano county, is his native place and October 18, 1859, the date of his birth, his parents having been Thomas H. and Sophia (Barnes) Morton, the latter a California pioneer of 1849. The father, a New Yorker by birth, made two trips to California in the pioneer days. After their marriage in New York City the parents came west and conducted the first hotel established at Suisun City, engaging actively in business until his death in 1877. The youngest among five children who attained mature years and the only son in the family, A. S. Morton was given such advan- tages as the common schools afforded. From an early age he was self-support- ing. While yet a young man he carried on a hardware and furniture business in his native town. Forming the acquaintance of his present partner, VV. B. ConnelW, he became interested in undertaking and began to study the art. of embalming, in which he soon acquired unusual skill. No expense has been spared to gain proficiency in his difficult occupation. Besides having grad- uated from the Renaurd school in New York he is a graduate of the Chicago College of Embalming. It is said that he and his wife have a technical knowl- edge of embalming that is equalled by few members of their craft. Equally skilled in the occupation is the partner, Mr. Connelly, manager of the Suisun City branch of the business, and a graduate of the New York School of Em- balming, also the Carl L. Barnes school in Chicago. Many years ago Jacob Niederaur established an undertaking establish- ment in Bakersfield, the first business of its kind in the community. Upon his death the estate offered the business for sale and it was purchased March 1, 1901, by Morton & Connelly, who since have added every modern facility for the proper care of the dead. At the time Mr. -Morton came to Bakersfield to as- sume the management of the business it was supposed that the climate of this section was tco warm to permit a body to be kept for any length of time after death. Through his skill in embalming he proved the fallacy of this belief. Soon after he began in business a Chinaman died and the body was brought to the undertaking establishment for embalming. This work accomplished, the body was kept in perfect condition for seventy-three days before shipping to Hong Kong. Later a letter was received by Mr. Morton stating that the body was received at Hong Kong in first-class condition, notwithstanding the long period that had elapsed since death. In the possession of Mr. Morton there are also many other letters from relatives of deceased persons, testifying as to the satisfactory manner in which the remains of the dead were pre- pared for distant burial. During 1903 the firm of Morton & Connelly purchased and brought to Bakersfield the first ambulance ever used in the city. This conveyance, which cost about $1400, is equipped with every modern device. The office and parlors of the undertaking establishment possess every modern convenience. The chapel, with a seating capacity of two hundred and fifty, is offered free to patrons. The display room contains caskets and burglar-proof vaults, while the store room is in the basement. An embalming room and private laying-out rooms are so arranged as to insure entire privacy even though a numl:)er of cases should happen to be in charge at one time. Five hearses are utilized, suitable for all ages and occasions. Outside of the interests of his business Mr. Morton is known as a genial gentleman of cultured tastes and progressive spirit. While living at Suisun City he became identified with the blue lodge of Masonry and later he asso- ciated himself with the Eagles, IMoose and Woodmen, in all of which organ- izations he has been interested and liberal. His marriage united him with ^^liss Eleanor E. Dunn, by whom he has two children. The son, Raymond A., formerly secretary to the Flotaling estate, is now bookkeeper with a San Fran- cisco firm and is regarded as a rising young man. The daughter, Mrs. Hazel A. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1105 Stephens, resides at No. 511 Chester avenue, Bakersfield. In order that they may devote their entire attention to the business Mr. and Mrs. Morton occupy apartments in the same building with their undertaking establishment, at No. 1712 Chester avenue, from which headquarters they respond promptly to all calls. Mrs. Morton has proved of the greatest assistance to her husband in the business. GEORGE J. PETZ.— In Newark, N. J., Mr. Petz was born June 22, 1860, son of Charles and Mary (Burghof) Petz. The father was born in Germany, and settled in Newark, where he followed landscape gardening, and there he died. Mrs. Mary Petz was also a native of Germany, and her death in 1892 was the result of an accident on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad, the end taking place in Newark. Three children had come of their marriage, one of whom has passed away. George J. Petz was the second of his parents' children. He grew to manhood in his native cityj attending the public schools, upon leaving which he learned the butcher's trade. For five years, until 1877, he followed this trade, and then made his way to Florence, Marion county, Kan., where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising until 1886. He then removed to Colorado Springs, in the spring of 1888 going to Durango, Colo., and in the fall of that year decided to go west. He started with mule-team and wagon across the mountains and Death valley, arriving in Kern county, Cal., a short time later, and immediately became employed in general team- ing for Haggin & Carr in Bakersfield. After the fire in 1889 he bought out the American bakery, a small concern situated on the corner of Eighteenth and Chester streets, which business he continued to conduct until 1893, when he sold out and traveled for a while representing different lines. One year was spent at Enid, Okla., and he finally returned to Bakersfield, in September, 1897, entering the employ of the Kern County Land Company, in the building of their headgates, and he has since been associated with them in dift'erent capacities. So efificient and apt did he prove himself that in 1901 he was placed in charge of the department of the headgates and is today carrying out those duties to the complete satisfaction of his em- ployers^ Mr. Petz erected a residence at No. 905 K street, Bakersfield, where he and his wife make their home. On December 5, 1883, in Florence, Kans., Mr. Petz was married to Miss Ida 'M. Howard, who was born in Wisconsin, daughter of George H. and Elizabeth (Allen) Howard, the former a native of New York and the latter of Pennsylvania. George H. Howard settled in Wisconsin, later going to Trenton. ' Iowa, and then to Florence, Kans., where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, moving thence to Leadville, Colo. In 1886 he came to Bakersfield, locating on government land in Santiago canyon, which he improved, later returning to Iowa, staying for a time at Banning, that state, and then to Arkansas, where his death occurred. Mrs. Howard ')assed away in Iowa. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Howard, of whom Mrs. Petz was the youngest. Mr. and Mrs. Petz have no children, but give much of their time and attention to social activities. He is a member of the Order of Eagles, is past officer of the subordinate lodge of the Encampment. I. O. O. F.. a member of the Canton of the same order, a member of the Order of Moose, and the Rebekahs. Mrs. Petz is a past noble grand of Rebekah Lodge No. 47, I. O. O. F., a member and chief of honor of Valentine Lodge. Degree of Honor, and a member of Hurlburt Post, No. 115, W^ R. C. In his political views Mr. Petz is a Republican. GEORGE W. COFFEE.— For more than thirty years the capable activ- ities of George W. Coffee identified him with the stock industry in Kern 1106 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY county, whither he came in young manhood and to which he gave the remain- ing years of a useful existence as rancher, stock-raiser and progressive citizen. From childhood he was familiar with the stock business. He could scarcely recall the time when he first began to assist in the care of cattle. Little by little he came to be an expert judge of stock and understood the best methods of caring for them, of treating their ailments and of promoting their prepara- tion for the markets. Through this accurate knowledge of the business he was chosen superintendent of the stock interests of Carr and Haggin in Kern county and from that position he drifted into business for himself. Although not a Californian by birth, the conscious existence of Mr. Coffee was practically associated with this state, for he was only two years of age when his father, Eli, brought the family across the plains with ox-teams and wagon. The previous home of the family had been in Jefiferson county, Mo., where he was born December 13, 1855, but after 1857 the home was on a ranch near Visalia, Tulare county, and there the boy was educated in common- school branches and in a knowdedge of farming and stock-raising. Upon starting out for himself in 1876 he came to Kern county and entered the employ of Carr and Haggin. He remained with them as superintendent of stock and resigned only when he had determined to embark in the stock business for himself. The small herd which he had at first increased by slow but sure degrees and a high order of ability was manifest in his supervision and suc- cessful oversight. While owning large tracts of land in the Greenhorn moun- tains and ranging his droves there, he maintained his home and headquarters on a ranch four and one-half miles from Bakersfield and there, January 19, 1907, death came to him, terminating his useful activities and depriving the community of a citizen of recognized worth. He was a Democrat. Surviving Mr. Coffee are his wife, Mrs. Charity F. (Thompson) Coffee and their three daughters, Georgia, Mrs. Staley, of San Francisco, Anna, Mrs. Smoot, of White River, and Dorothy, who resides with her mother. Prior to their marriage, which was solemnized in this city, Mrs. Coffee had engaged in teaching for some years and had been successfully identified with educational work in K^ern county. The family of which she is a member belongs to pioneer Californian associations. Her father, Isaac N. Thompson, who had been born in Virginia and reared in Michigan near the city of Niles, came to California by way of the Horn in 1849, attracted by the discovery of gold. The mines, however, did not long engage his attention, but he was so pleased with the west that he located here permanently. After some years in the state he re- turned to Michigan, married Miss Anna Smith, a native of that common- wealth, and returned to California accompanied by his young wife. After a short sojourn in Sacramento he settled near Santa Clara and there Mrs. Coffee was born, reared and educated. .There, at the age of ninety years, Mr. Thompson still makes his home, continuing the pleasant associations en- deared to htm through long residence in the same locality. Many years ago he lost his wife, who passed away at the age of forty. Of the seven children comprising the family, all but one are still living. Mrs. Coffee having been next to the oldest of the numl:)er. Since the death of her husband she has con- tinued the stock business established by him and has superintended affairs with an energy meriting the most satisfactory results. WILLIAM J. BROWNING.— Important as may be the work of the specialist if individual ad\ancement is to be considered, it is the man of affairs who contributes most largely to the general prosperity. A man may engage in one enterprise calling for the investment of moderate capital and the em- ployment of only a few assistants and achieve a notable personal success. But the man who sets numerous enterprises going must necessarily employ a larger capital and many more helpers, thus ctmiing in contact with the public through manv axenues. Of the latter class is ^^^illiam I. Browning, of Delano, who HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1107 as will be seen has worthily conquered success in many fields of endeavor. Mr. Browning was born at Phillips Flat, Merced county, June 10, 1854. His father, Jacob A. Browning, was born in New York City. He was a pioneer of California, coming across the plains with teams in 1851. He ran a trading post in Mariposa as early as 1853 and was also engaged in the stock business until bis death in 1865. He had married in Mariposa, in 1853, Elizabeth Marr, who was born in Scotland and came with her parents in the sailing barque Glou- cester around Cape Horn to San Francisco, arriving in the spring of 1849. Grandfather John Marr brought with him several houses already framed, which he put up in the new town, which had just had its name changed from Yerba Buena to San Francisco. The mother is now living with a daughter in Kansas City. William J. Browning's educational advantages were restricted to those of the common school in the summer months, terminating when he was four- teen years old. He was only eleven years old when he went to work in the Washington mine in Mariposa county where he was employed two years. Then, going to Merced county, he found work with a butcher, for whom he drove a delivery wagon two years and worked in the meat market one year. In 1871 he took up surveying as a member of the force of U. G. Curtis, at Modesto. He was engaged on railroad surveys and surveyed the town site of Fresno before that town was started. Later he was employed at Hermosa and in Merced by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Then for a time he handled printing on commission. In 1874 he began hunting game for market and from that time down to a comparatively recent date he has em- ployed many hunters and has himself hunted from time to time. At times his operations have been on a large scale, giving work to from thirty to forty men experienced in hunting, trapping and killing game and preparing it for market. In 1885 he received an ofifer of $1030 for one thousand live rabbits and engaged actively in rabbit trapping. In 1887 he invented and perfected the Browning system for capturing rabbits in large drives and he has for years shipped many live rabbits to all parts of the United States, Mexico and Eng- land. For seven years he conducted a fishery on Tulare lake, and his expe- riences as hunter and trapper formerly took him to all parts of the state. In 1884 Mr. Browning took up a homestead on which he moved and which he improved, living there until in 1892. By subsequent purchases he in- creased his holdings to two thousand acres. In association with Andre Vieux he is the owner of eight hundred ticres of fine orange land. He has acquired property in Tulare county which is under productive cultivation. For some years he has made his home at Delano, where he is the owner of the New Central Hotel, and he is active in the handling of real estate. In 1888-89 he in- h,talled the first pumping plant in Tulare county. At that time it was small, but he has increased its capacity to one hundred horse power and he is exten- sively engaged in raising alfalfa, cattle, horses, mules and hogs for the markets. He is a member of the board of directors of an important local irrigating sys- tem, is a member of the Beard of Trade of Delano, is interested in oil fields in Maricopa and is extensively engaged in stockraising and general farming. As a citizen he is helpful in a public-spirited way to all important movements. He was married in 1884 at Merced, Cal., to Miss Emma Wheating, a native of New Orleans, and they have one daughter, Ethel. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of the Eagles and the Native Sons of the Golden West. V. D. McCUTCHEN.— It is possible that the distinction of being the youngest business man in Bakersfield belongs to Van Dixon McCutchen, the proprietor and manager of the Chester machine shop located on the corner of Chester avenue and Twenty-fourth street. When only seventeen vears of age, in November of 1911, he embarked in the automobile business 1108 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and opened the garage and repair shop which has continued under his successful management ever since. Although a native of Arizona (born at Prescott September 13, 1894), Van Dixon McCutchen has lived in Kern county from his earliest recollec- tions. The third among four children, of whom the others are Preston (at Taft), Ollie and Perry, he is a son of J. B. and Margaret (Dixon) Mc- Cutchen, natives, respectively, of Iowa and Los Angeles, Cal. The father came west in early life and worked for a time at Sacramento, afterward taking his wife and family to Prescott, Ariz., whence he came to Kern county in 1894 and ever since has engaged in farming and in oil operations. With his brothers he became a pioneer in the Maricopa oil field and did much to aid in the early development of that district. Further mention of his career is made elsewhere in this volume. Reared on the home farm in the Old River district, V. D. McCutchen alternated attendance at school with work on the home place, but all of the time he studied machinery and when yet a mere lad he displayed remarkable mechanical skill, which led him to embark in the repair and machine business in Bakersfield. A skilled motorcyclist and an expert in the use and repair of that machine, he has become a member of the Federation of American Motorcyclists and mam- tains a warm interest in the activities of that growing organization. HARRY C. RAMBO.— A native of Iowa, Mr. Rambo was born in Monroe county. I'^ebruary 4, 1866, and in 1874 was taken to Union county, that state, by his j^arents, William and Rebecca (Moffett) Rambo. Edu- cated principally in the schools of Union county, he was there fitted for the activities of the world and was taught to be self-reliant and industrious. From an early age he was self-supporting. Of a persevering, industrious nature, he prepared himself for a life of able service in agriculture. Self- reliance was his watchword and independence his aim. Upon coming to California he alternated between Fresno and Kern counties for the first six years. His interests were manifold and included contract freighting, the dig- ging of ditches, the buying of land and the raising of grain and fruit. As early as 1887 he came to Kern county and at once began improving a ranch in the Semi Tropic district. In 1893 he began grain-raising on land of the Kern County Land Company, meanwhile learning much concerning the soil and its possibilities. During 1899 he established himself in Bakersfield and for five years was associated with the Chamberlain Canning Company. Later he embarked in the plumbing and tinning business. Other interests also engaged his attention, among them being the introduction and instal- lation of oil burners and the sale of distillate, and the incorporation of the Western Burner and Fuel Company. He was president and manager of the business, the office of the company being located at I and Twentieth streets. Upon disposing of his business interests in Bakersfield during 1906 Mr. Rambo traveled for about two years in Texas in the interest of oil and min- ing. With Mr. Wickard and others he was the first to develop the Chelite Tungsten mine at Randsburg. After farming for a year on South Union avenue he next became interested in farming and the dairy business at Wasco and Semi Tropic, having sold his six hundred and forty acres that he and his brother had purchased in partnership. The cultivation of the land has occupied his attention for several years, the experience enabling him to ascertain what products are best adapted to the soil. Meanwhile he has put much of the land into grain and alfalfa, having found these two products remunerative beyond his most sanguine expectations. Applying his knowl- edge and experience he incorporated the Wasco Land and Stock Company. the company purchasing nine hundred acres eleven miles .west of AA'^asco. and he has since been manager, ^^^ells have been sunk on the property and a pumping plant installed with a capacity of one hundred inches. In addi- /(jpom"' A)< /^oocc^. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1111 tion to raising alfalfa and grain the dairy business is followed with splendid success. Recent developments show strong indications of oil of a high grav- ity, although no satisfactory tests have resulted. Mr. Rambo was married in Bakersfield F"ebruary 4, 1908, to Miss Bertie Blalock, born in Texas, the daughter of James F. and Nancy (Tank- ersley) Blalock. The latter brought their family to California, locating in Kern county, where the daughter was reared and educated in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Rambo are the parents of two children, Ethel and Gilbert. In his religious views Mr. Rambo is a member of the Congrega- tional Church in Wasco, of which he was one of the founders and a member of its first board of trustees. C. H. ACKERLEY.— Born in Los Angeles county, May 27, 1885, Mr. Ack- erley was reared on his father's ranch and from an early age has been an ex- pert telegrapher, filling positions of responsibility at various points in the state. June 26, 1911, he was united in marriage with Miss Maude Withers, a native of Kansas City, Mo. Since coming to Taft he has erected a number of cot- tages and in one of these he resides with his wife and son, C. Harold, Jr. When only eighteen years of age Mr. Ackerley was sent to Kern Junc- tion to act as telegraph operator for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at that point, previous experience as an assistant having qualified him for larger responsibilities. From Kern Junction he was transferred to Hazelton, then known as Sunset. April 1, 1909. he came to Moron and took charge as sta- tion agent, continuing with the Southern Pacific at this place until December ], 1911, when the Santa Fe assumed the management here and since then he has been retained by the latter company. As early as 1902 the Sunset Railroad was built from Bakersfield to Hazelton. A branch was built from Pentland Junction to Fellows during 1908 and was opened for business early in 1909, and a branch from Fellows to Shale was constructed during 1911. The whole system from Kern to Monarch (Maricopa) and from Pentland to Shale is now known as the Sunset Railway Company's road. A Southern Pacific box car was headquarters for all the freight business at Taft and was utilized for a time also as office for the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Wells-Fargo Express Company. An experience at Hazelton, where the receipts for one month amounted to $500,000, qualified Mr. Ackerley for the heavy responsibilities at Taft, which in 1910 had the third largest freight business in the state, being surpassed only by San Francisco and Los Angeles. The responsibilities of the freight agent were heavy. The business was much congested. To add to his difficulties, he not only had a very inadequate office, but also an insufficient force. There were only six helpers at first. When the company realized the enormity of the business, he was allowed an increase and given twenty-two assistants, while the telegraph and express offices were removed. The shipments now are not as great as in the boom days of 1910, yet the amount is satisfactory and the revenues gratifying. Taft is now a day and night office, with three telegraph operators and nine clerks and warehousemen, besides the station agent himself. A waiting room has been provided for passengers, conve- niences have been put in, the accommodations for freight have been enlarged, and the agent finds his work far less strenuous than in the early period of development. For one year after he took charge he was the only agent be- tween Pentland Junction and Fellows and he handled as much as $500,000 per month for the Southern Pacific in freight and passenger charges. In those days about eighty cars of water were brought to Taft everv twenty- four hours and from the tanks distributed throughout the oil fields. Shipments of oil from the fields were also continuous and unprecedented. Since then pipe lines have been built that convey the greater part of the oil cut of the west side fields, although two large train loads of tanks are still shipped out 1112 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY daily and two switch engines attend to hauling freight to and from Pentland Junction and Shale and intermediate points. While the Southern Pacific was first in charge of the freight business, by contract the management was given over to the Santa Fe December 1, 1911, for a period of five years, the Southern Pacific to resume control December 1, 1916. Immediately after the Santa Fe .came into charge the name Moron was superseded b}- that of Taft, reforms were inaugurated, improvements made and a passenger service adopted that enables a man to leave San Francisco in the morning and reach the oil field of the Midway during the evening of the same day ; or, leaving Los Angeles in the evening, any of the west side points will be reached in the morning. MRS. AMELIA H. MAY. — One of the pioneer women who have given of their best etforts and energies toVvards the development and upbuilding of Kern county from a region of unbroken desert to one of broad fields of growing crops is Mrs. Amelia H. May, who was born in St. Clair county, 111., September 18, 1848, the daughter of Charles and Achsah (Smith) Alex- ander, natives of St. Clair county, 111., and Wayne county, N. Y. respectively. The father was a farmer in St. Clair county until 1852, when he brought his family to California by way of Nicaragua route, locating m Sonoma county, where he purchased a farm from his uncle, Cyrus Alexander. This had been a part of theSotoyome grant and there they followed horticulture and farm- ing on the Russian river until they died. The Alexander family trace their genealogy to Scotland. The progenitor of the family, Hugh Alexander, came to America in 1736, afterwards locating on a tract of land in Sherman's Valley, now Perry county, Pa. He was very active during the Revolution in the cause of freedom and served as a deputy from Cumberland county on the Com- mittee of Safety in Philadelphia, Pa., June 18, 1876. Of the family of Charles and Achsah Alexander there' were five children, three of v/hom are now living, Amelia H. being the oldest. Hei childhood was spent in Alexander Valley, Sonoma county, attending the pubiic schools and Alexander Academy in Healdsburg, the latter having been founded by her uncle, Cyrus Alexander. After completing the academic course she followed teaching in Sonoma county until her marriage October 31, 1867, to Frank P. May, who was born in Pittsburg, Pa., October 31, 1845. At the age of seven- teen he left school and ofifered his services to the cause of the Union in the First \^irginia Cavalry, which formed a part of the famous Light Brigade and during his service was wounded in the right leg. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he was honorably discharged with the rank of lieutenant. After the war he came to Sonoma county, Cal., where as stated he was mar- ried. They engaged in farming until April 11, 1872, when they came to Kern county and located in the Old River district, where they homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres and began making improvements, engaging in general farming and stock raising and as rapidly as possible checking the land and sowing it to alfalfa. However, his labors were cut short before his ambition was accomplished, for he died in 1892. After his death his widow continued the improvements; she now owns eighty acres under the Farmers canal devoted to raising alfalfa and stock; it is leased, and she makes her home in Bakersfield. Her family consisted of six children, four of whom grew up: Mary, Mrs. J. W. Herod, of Bakersfield; Chester, who died at thirty-seven years of age ; Howard, living in Arizona ; and Cora, Mrs. Bowen, of Maricopa. Mr. May served as a member of the board of trustees from the org.iniza- tion of the Panama school district until his death. Mrs. May is a devoted Christian woman and is an active member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bakersfield. J. S. WORLEY. — The difficulty in securing water has been one of the most serious problems confronting the people of Taft ever since the founding of the town. Not only was the cost of water altogether unreasonable and Q/\'^^2^^-^^^^^^^. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1115 exorbitant in the first years of the town's history, but it could be secured at any price only after the most self-sacrificing efforts on the part of the pioneers. That a more reasonable price is now possible results from the sagacious policy adopted by the Consumers Water Company, an organiza- tion subsidiary to the Western Water Company, and the successor to the Taft Utilities Company, which was incorporated and financed by a number of the representative pioneers and public-spirited citi- zens of Taft. For two years, 1910-12, the concern placed water within the reach of those desiring it for domestic purposes. The water was bought at Kern or East Bakersfield and shipped to Taft in tank cars, from which it was forced out into two twelve hundred-barrel tanks on the hill, thence gravitated down to the residence and business section of Taft. Neces- sarily this was done at a high cost, viz. : twenty cents per barrel. The Consumers Water Company has completed its connection for domestic and mechanical use and now supplies water at a maximum of twelve and one-half cents per barrel, with a discount for cash, if paid before the 10th of each month, so as to bring the price down to nine cents per barrel to the private users. In addition the company provides water for fire pro- tection to the municipality of Taft. During June of 1913 the city of Taft completed a water system which at its expense had been constructed and installed for fire prt-tection. Under the agreement now in force the Con- sumers Water Company pumps into a large tank, of fifty-five thousand barrel capacity, situated at an altitude of five hundred feet on the crest of 25-Hill, enough water to provide adequate fire protection, the same having a pressure originally of two hundred and fifty pounds per square inch, which however has been reduced by valves to one hundred and twenty-five pounds. The Western W^ater Company, to which the Consumers is subsidiary, has a reputation for large enterprises. An immense concern, capitalized in Kern county, incorporated for $500,OCO under the laws of California, it has had the guiding genius of such men as F. H. Hall, C, B. Colby and others, and has laid mains to supply with water the oil fields of the west side as well as all the towns situated therein. A native son of the state, Mr. Worley was born in San Bernardino December 20, 1865, and is a son of the late Benjamin and Harriet (Court- ney) Worley, pioneers of the west. The parents were married in Ohio and shortly afterward joined an expedition bound for California, making the journey overland through Colorado and Utah. Although they passed the site of the Mountain meadow massacre shortly after that catastrophe they were not attacked by Indians nor did they meet with other misfortunes, but arrived in health and safety at their journey's end. The family com- prised six children and the third of these, J. S., was sent to the San Bernardino schools, where he received a good rudimentary education. Long before a tie or rail was ever laid he traveled over the route where after- ward he carried a chain and helped to survey for the road built by the Santa Fe from Needles, Ariz., to San Bernardino, Cal. In such work he received his first training as a civil engineer. Later he was connected with the construction of the water system for the Bear Valley Water Company of Redlands and on the completion of the plant he continued in the employ of its oflficials, being, indeed, for eighteen years a trustworthy manager of its lines. When he resigned the position, it was for the purpose of entering the emoloy of the Edison Power Company as a civil engineer and con- struction foreman. Largely due to his efforts was the erection of power house No. 1 on the Kern river. To him was given charge of the entire system of the Edison Power Company, which for the first time made him a resident of Kern county. The completion and management of the aqueduct and power house occupied the years from 1907 to 1910 inclusive and in 1116 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY June of 1911 he entered the employ of the Western Water Company, taking- charge of the construction of pumping station No. 1. In addition he super- intended the laying of mains and the installing of engines and power plants. During February of 1912 he came to Taft, where since he has been in charge of the business of the Consumers' Water Company. MICHAEL THEODORE KEAN.— A native of Michigan, Michael T. Kean was born in Marine City, St. Clair county, May 9, 1853, a grandson of John Kean, Sr., who served the American cause gallantly in the war of 1812, being present at Hull's surrender. John Kean, Jr., father of Michael T., was born at the old home of the Keans in Ireland and settled in Michigan at a comparatively early date. A man of business ability, he became a con- tractor of government work and had to do with much important construc- tion in St. Clair county, including a light house and jobs on St. Clair Flats. When not busy with contracting, which was his chief business, he devoted himself to farming. He married Mary Moran, a native of Ireland, and they both passed away in Michigan. Of the five children of the worthy couple just referred to M. T. Kean was the first born and three others are living. When he was old enough he was put to school in St. Clair county, where he studied until he was fifteen. He was then apprenticed to the ship carpenters' trade in his native town, working six months without pay, then fcr a time at fifty cents a day and later at $1 a day. After com])leting his apprenticeship in 1872 he went to Lincoln, Neb., where he found employment as a carpenter and where he soon entered the University of Nebraska to take a three years' scientific course. It is greatly to his credit that he worked his way at that institution, earning money at odd times with which to pay all his expenses. Before his course was finished, however, he was obliged to give up his studies because of an afifection of his eyes. Entering the employ of the Fitzgerald & Mallory Con- struction Company as a carpenter, he was soon advanced to the position of general foreman of their work on such lines as the B. Si M., in Nebraska and Kansas ; the M. P. in Nebraska and Kansas ; and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in Wisconsin, ^linnesota and Iowa. W^hen the M. P. Compau}^ built its road to Pueblo in 1888 he was its general foreman in bridge and building construction. When the work was finished he took up contracting and build- ing at Pueblo, with a real estate business on the side, prospered for awhile, but in 1893 fell with others under the influence of the panic. Not disheart- ened at having been thus "reduced to the ranks," he went back to carpenter work. In 1895 he came to San Diego, Cal., and was foreman of carpenter work for Spreckels until the fall of 1897, when he resigned and went to Arizona for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company as foreman of bridge and building construction between Albuquerque and Needles. He was thus employed until September. 1901. when he took up his residence in Bakersfield, where after working at his trade for a short time he became foreman for Burleigh and was put in charge of work on the Producers' Bank building, then in course of construction. Later he was similarly employed on the Metrooole Hotel building. About 1902 he began contracting at Bak- ersfield on his own account, and among the artistic and substantial structures which he has since erected are the B. P. O. E. building, the Baer building, the Hotel Koesel, the Morgan block, the Moronet building, the Herrington-Cohn building, the Hambleton building, the Rainier building, the Blue & Gold Bottling works, the Kern Valley garage, the San Joaquin hospital, the Car- lock stables, the Manual Arts building, an addition to the Noreiga hotel, and many handsome residences in Bakersfield ; much fine work throughout Kern county, including the Maricopa school house and the Rio Bravo bridge across the Kern river; besides other notable buildings in near-by districts of the state, and superintended the building of the Kern County high school. V ^^^^^^^^^^^^K #^i^' JP^^^ ^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^H w >^^^H ^^^k '^' J^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^ ..}jdJH ^^^1 ^H^ ^H ^H H HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1119 In Bakersfield, July 6, 1912, occurred the marriage of Mr. Kean, uniting him with Mrs. Victoria (Adams) ]\Iichener, a native of Gonzales, Tex., who came to California when a babe, in 1867, with her parents, crossing the plains with ox and horse teams. Her father, Thomas Adams, born in Illinois, was married in Tennessee to Nancy Taylor. He became a stockman in Gonzales, Tex., served in the Mexican war and in 1867 brought his family to Cali- fornia and located in San Diego county where he and his wife died. Through- out California Mr. Kean is known as the father of organized labor in Kern county and he was president of the labor council for two years. One of the organizers of the Builders' Exchange of Bakersfield, he was its first president and is still president of its board of directors. Fraternally he affiliates with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. JACK HARDING.— The Harding family is of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. Joseph Harding crossed the ocean to the United States at the age of eighteen years and enlisted from New York City for service in the Union army. In company with his regiment he went to the front and participated in a number of serious engagements, in one of which he was wounded through the right leg. At the close of the war he came to California and entered the machine shops at the Mare Island navy yard, where he com- pleted his apDrenticeship and where he has been steadily employed from that time to the present, being not only one of the oldest and most experi- enced, but also one of the most skilled and capable machinists in the yard. After settling in Vallejo he married Miss Mary Lawrence, who was born in Canada, but at an early age accompanied her parents to California and settled at Vallejo. In a family of three children, two still living. Jack Harding was the eldest and his birth occurred at Vallejo in 1871, his education was obtained in Vallejo schools and his business training came to him in one of the mercantile establishments of that town. From the age of fourteen until he was twenty-one he worked under S. Dannebaum, a well-known merchant of the place, whose experience and ability proved of assistance in the early business training of the apprentice. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Harding went to San Bernardino, secured a position as a clerk and remained for three years. Returning to Vallejo, he retained his former position for a short time. Next he embarked in the clothing business with Harry Titcomb as a partner in the firm of Harding & Titcomb. Upon disposing of his interests in that store in 1905, he removed to Hanford and became manager of the clothing department of the Kuttner-Goldstein Company. From Han- ford he came to Bakersfield in 1908 as manager of Redlick's clothing depart- ment and in this city he became a member of the firm of Harding & Bert- rand, clothing merchants, in 1911, but in January of 1913 disposed of his interest in that business, since which time he has owned and conducted an exclusive tailoring establishment. While still living at V'allejo Mr. Harding was made a Mason in Naval Lodge, F. & A. M., and later he was initiated into San Pablo Ledge, I. O. O. F. Politically he has voted with the Republican party ever since he attained his majority. His marriage took place at Colusa, Cal., in 1899, and united him with Miss Willie May Beville, who was born, reared and educated in that city. As a girl she was given exceptional musical advantages and became one of the most skilled musicians in her home town, where also she was an active worker in the Episcopal Church. The Order of the Eastern Star also has received the benefit of her talented co-operation. Her parents, William T. and Lutie Beville, were natives respectively of Virginia and Missouri. Throughout the period of the Civil war Mr. Beville served as a private in a Virginia regiment of the Confederate army and afterward he came to California, settling near Colusa, where he eventually 1120 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY became a prominent farmer and where also he served with fearlessness and efficiency as sheriff for a period of two terms. WILLIAM WILLARD PENSINGER.— Born December 4, 1868, in Grand Rapids, xMich., Air. Pensinger was taken the next year to Nevada, where the parents remained for three years, then settled at San Luis Obispo for a time. In 1874 they came to Kern county, and here he attended school in the New River district until he reached the age of sixteen years. Until he was twenty-three he worked for his father on the home place, and then rented land and started to farm for himself, also engaging in teaming and hauling. He remained on this place for about two and a half years, then leasing two hundred and forty acres for the purpose of general farming. This he followed for about three years, also engaging to some extent in stock-raising, and then gave up the place and entered the employ of Mr. Frazier, a general farmer, for whom he worked about eight years. While working here, three years before moving on same, he bought a tract of twenty acres and later twenty more, and he now has the entire forty acres in alfalfa. The property is located four miles southwest of Bakers- field and is under the Buena Vista canal. The average cuttings amount to about six tons to the acre, which evidences the productive state of his land and the careful management of it. In addition to this Mr. Pensinger does some stock-raising, but he devotes a large portion of his attention to his hundred stands of bees, which he has had on his place for the past twelve years. This business has proved highly profitable from a business standpoint, and Mr. Pensinger has made a deep study of its conduct, taking great pleasure in the work. He is also interested in eighty acres of the family estate which he operates, besides renting sixty acres more, and now runs a farm of one hundred and eighty acres devoted to alfalfa, grain and pasture. He is fond of out-door life, interested in all that is up-to-date, and is withal a capable, successful ranchman and politically is a Republican. DAVID ALBERT JACKSON.— The genealogy of the Jackson family indicates a colonial identification with the new world and a participation in the Revolution by William Jackson, whose son, William, Jr., bore a valiant part in the war of 1812 under Gen. Andrew Jackson. In one of the engagements of that second struggle with England he was wounded so seriously as to render necessary the amputation of an arm. After the close of the war he returned to Pennsylvania, where his son, Samuel, was born and reared in Chester county. He engaged in the iron industry on the Octoraro river near Coatesville, Pa. In that state he married Miss Mary A. Moore, who was born in county Derry, Ireland, but at the age of nine months was brought to America by her parents, who settled in Pennsylvania. Eventually Samuel Jackson and wife removed to Iowa and acquired large interests in the vicinity of Cedar Rapids, where they continued to reside until death. They were the parents of six sons and three daughters. The four sons old enough to bear arms enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war and gave to their country the patriotic devotion and courageous service which had characterized their ancestors in previous wars. The youngest member of the family was David Albert Jackson, who was born near Coatesville, Chester county. Pa., March 7, 1850. and he received his primary education in the schools of that county. His desire was to become a mining engineer, and with that aim in view he entered the Hebron academy at Cochranville. However, before he could graduate his parents arranged to remove to Iowa, and he finished his course under private instruction in Montezuma, that state, where he received the degree of M. E. Soon thereafter he became chief mining engineer for the North- western Fuel Company at their coal mines in What Cheer, Iowa, these mines consisting of the properties of the Star Coal Mining Company and ^ ^ (fijZ^lA^..-^^^^ ^-^l^ HISTORY ()]' KI'.RX COUNTY 1123 ihe (iranger Coal Company. Later as general sui)erintendent he developed these properties and they acquired the largest coal mining interests in the state. During 1893 he resigned his position with the company and came to Calil\M'nia, where he established his home at Fresno. As an expert in examining mines in California and Nevada he soon gained a wide reputa- tion. In 1900 he first became interested in the oil industry. After a brief period of prospecting at Coalinga he came to McKittrick in February, 1903, as superintendent for the San Francisco & McKittrick Oil Company. When their oil wells were shut down he returned to Coalinga as superintendent for the Fresno St. Paul Company, but at the expiration of two years he returned to liis former comiections in McKittrick, where a test well had developed oil in paying quantities and where the San Francisco and McKit- trick Oil Company now owns one hundred and fifty-five acres with seventeen wells, sixteen of these being producers. In addition to superintending the large enterprises owned by this concern Mr. Jackson holds office as secre- tary and superintendent of the Jackson Oil Company, operating one hun- dred and eighty acres of adjacent oil land. The marriage of Mr. Jackson was solemnized at Whitewater, Wis., and united him with Miss Helen E. Vincent, a graduate of the State Normal School and the Conservatory of Music, and a woman of the highest culture and refinement. The family, which consists of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and their only child, Jessie Nena, are attendants at the services of the Fresno Presbyterian Church, and fraternally Mr. Jackson was formerly active in Masonry, having been made a Mason in Montezuma Lodge in Iowa. P. E. BOWLES, JR.— As far back as 1903 the organization of the Reward Oil Company was promoted by the elder Mr. Bowles, with other capitalists. Immediately afterward the property was placed under develop- ment. At this writing the company owns one hundred and eighty acres, on which they are drilling well No. 40. It is worthy of mention that the wells are without exception good producers of fifteen and sixteen gravity oil, their splendid development indicating the foresight and executive ability of the president, P. E. Bowles, Sr., and the secretary-treasurer, Fred McNear, while the large production proves that the manager, P. E. Bowles, Jr., understands the difficult art of increasing the output of an already profitable enterprise. The comfort of their workmen has been a matter of special interest to the company. Their welfare is made a matter of serious concern and constant solicitude. A commodious and comfortable clubroom has been erected for their pleasure and in it has been provided a large hall equipped for moving picture shows, so that the men in their hours of leisure have an inviting place for rest and recreation. Many years ago when he was but a youth P. E. Bowles, Sr., made a trip into Kern county with a friend and investigated the since famous Weed Patch. Since then he has never ceased to maintain a warm interest in this section of the country. His optimistic faith in its future has led him to make large investments here, both mineral and agricultural. In the midst of many large enterprises in San Francisco and Oakland, where he is president of the American National Bank of San Francisco, the First National Bank of Oakland and the First Trust and Savings Bank of Oakland, he became interested in the pioneer development of the McKittrick field. where he promoted the California Standard Oil Company, later selling these interests to the Associated Oil Company. In addition he promoted the Reward Oil Company, of which he is still the head and his son the manager. The Result Oil Company, of which his son also acts as manager, is another enterprise that has had the benefit of his executive leadership. In his marriage he became connected with a very influential California family, tor his father-in-law, the late George W. McNear, of Oakland, was for years 1124 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY the most extensive grain sliipper on the Pacific coast, besides being one of the pioneer operators in the Kern river and CoaHnga oil fields. Valuable lands at Coalinga were located under his personal selection and in that field he became one of the largest stockholders in the W^estern Oil Companv and the Maine State Oil Company. Born and reared in Oakland, this state, a graduate of the high school of that city, P. E. r»owles, Jr., was sent from high school to the University of California, where he took the course in mechanical engineering until the close of the junior year. While at Berkeley he became a member of the Iota Chapter of the Zeta Psi. l-'rom California he went east to Columbia University in New York City, where he took the scientific course and was graduated in 1907 with the degree of B. S. For a short time afterward he engaged with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in charge of bridge work on a new line built from Idaho to Seattle. That position he resigned in order to act as private secretary to Victor H. Metcalfe, secre- tary of the navy, and thereafter he made his headquarters at Washington, D. C, until the resignation of the cabinet officer in 1908. Returning to Oakland, he took charge of general outside work for E. B. and A. L. Stone, a large contracting firm of that city. Upon his resignation in 1909 he came to McKittrick as foreman of the Reward Oil Company, of which he is now manager, besides being superintendent of the Result Oil Company. Together with his father and Mr. McNear he opened territory in the North Midway field on section 26, 31-21, where two wells of 19 gravity oil have proved a great success. The land thus developed has been absorbed by the Reward Oil Com]:)any, which also owns considerable land on section 1, 29-21, McKittrick front, having now one producing oil well on that tract, and in addition the company owns oil lands on the Bellridge front, so that their holdings altogether aggregate an amount surpassed by few of the great organizations engaged in the development of the field. On July 31, 1913, Mr. Bowles was married to Miss Jessie N. Jackson, daughter of D. A. Jackson, superintendent of the San Francisco & McKittrick lease. ANDREW FERGUSON. — The general traveling production agent for the Kern Trading & Oil Company, now in charge of the McKittrick division, has been connected with every department of the oil industry and now fills a very responsible position with the most noteworthy efficiency. Since he was a youth his activities have been in the one line, following in this respect the example of his father, John Ferguson, one of the pioneers of the California oil fields and a man of unusual information in regard to their development. The family is of Scotch lineage. As far back as the genealogy can be traced, it shows an identification with the highlands and the historic regions around Dundee, where both John and Andrew Ferguson were born, the latter on the 24th of May, 1875. The former, a marine engineer by trade, traveled much over the high seas and on one of his voyages anchored in the port of San Francisco, from which place he made a tour of inspection throughout the state. An old acquaintance from Scotland, a Mr. Kelsey, had settled in Tulare county and had improved a farm near Visalia. Through his representations of that part of the country the new settler was induced to locate at Goshen, where he opened a blacksmith shop. For three years he met with encour- aging results, but the failing health of his wife induced him to seek a new and more healthful location. The following three years were spent at Salinas as owner of a large blacksmith shop. During that period he first became interested in contracting for water wells and from that he drifted into the business of drilling oil wells. Assisted by his son, Andrew, he drilled one of the first wells in the Coalinga field and he also drilled in the Kern HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1125 river field for the Trumbull Oil Company, pioneers in that district. Later contracts and wild-cat propositions took him to Vacaville, Suisun City, Monticello in Napa county and Pleasanton in Alameda county. Now at the age of sixty-two, he is living in retirement from business cares and finds a pleasant home with his son, Andrew, in the latter's residence at Fresno, where also lives the wife and mother, who was Annie Mudie, a native of Scotland. The family comprises one daughter and four sons, all living. The eldest of the family, Andrew Ferguson, was eleven years of age when the family immigrated to California in 1886 and six years later he began to assist his father in the oil industry, working for some time in the capacity of tool-dresser both in the Coalinga and the Kern river fields. With a brother he contracted to drill a well on the Lake county line for the Anglo-American Oil Company. After he had incurred a very heavy expense in the prosecution of the work the company failed and that precipi- tated his own financial collapse. Forced to start anew, he returned to Coalinga and found employment. Later he drilled wild-cat wells near Red Bluff. Upon going back to Coalinga he secured employment with the Zier Oil Company. A year later he was promoted to be superintendent of their lease and in that capacity he continued for six years, meanwhile building up the production from nothing to fifteen thousand barrels a month. Resign- ing that superintendency, he entered the employ of the Kern Trading & Oil Company, with which he has filled various positions in the line of suc- cessive promotions, being now traveling production agent, a post that neces- sitates considerable travel over the different leases. For convenience as headquarters, he established his home in Fresno, where he owns property at No. 413 Fresno avenue. In politics he votes the Republican ticket. Fraternally he holds membership with the Improved Order of Red Men and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is an honorary member of the Rebekahs, with which his wife also is associated. In Los Angeles he married Miss Georgia Burkley, a native of Boston, Mass., but from childhood a resident of California, her parents settling in Los Angeles, where she com- pleted the course of study in the high school. WILLIAM J. McCarthy.— A personal connection with the manufac- ture of boilers in many of the most extensive boiler works in the country qualified Mr. McCarthy for successful independent work when in 1909 he came to McKittrick, built a plant of suitable dimensions and modern equipment, and embarked in the business of making boilers and tanks, having for his field of patronage the entire w^est side of Kern county. To build and sell boilers and tanks of the highest quality and greatest depend- ability does not represent the limit of. his identification with the locality, for in addition he has been a homesteader and through personal residence on a quarter-section of land fourteen miles west of McKittrick he has acquired the title to a ranch, on which grain, vegetables and melons may be raised with profit, irrigation being provided by means of a pumping plant of sixty inches capacity. The business in which ]\Ir. AlcCarthy has been markedly successful is one familiar to his earliest recollections, for his father, J. J-, was a boiler-maker by trade and for years prior to retirement from business he was head of the firm of McCarthy & Sons, boiler-makers, of Indianapolis. Both J. J. McCarthy and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Catherine Murphy, are still living in Indianapolis, where their second son, Frank, is now president of the board of aldermen. There were fourteen children in the family and of these eight are now living. The eldest of all, William J., was born in Indianapolis, August 3, 1871, and as a boy attended the gram- mar and high schools of that city. When sixteen years of age he became an apprentice to the trade of boiler-maker with Sinker & Davis. Having 1126 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY completed the trade, he went to Chicago in 1889 and remained there for two years, after which he worked with his father for a time. During the financial depression of 1894 he returned to Chicago and resumed work. Later he was employed in Alexandria, Ind., and thence went to Kansas City, -Mo., where he filled a position as superintendent of the Urie-Snyder iron works. After a time as superintendent of the Ducktown Copper & Iron Company at Isabella, Tenn., he went to Columbus, Ohio, to engage as superintendent of the Borger Brothers boiler shop. Next he held an impor- tant position as superintendent of the boiler shop of the Power Mining & Machine Company at Milwaukee, Wis., from which place he went to South Bend, Ind., to serve as superintendent of a boiler shop owned by the Folsom ^Manufacturing Company. Coming to California after a successful identification with the before- named plants, Mr. McCarthy engaged at San Francisco as superintendent for T. J. Monahan & Co., and later was with the Pacific boiler works in the same city, remaining with them as superintendent until his removal to McKittrick in 1909. His citizenship in this place has been helpful to local development and is proving profitable to himself. In national politics he has voted with the Republican party. Upon the incorporation of McKittrick he was chosen a member of the first board of trustees. However, having decided to take up a homestead and being thereby obliged to take up resi- dence on the claim, he resigned the office of trustee, but after his return to McKittrick and at the time of the resignation of Mr. Hubband in 1913 he was elected to fill the vacancy, since which time he has been most efficient as trustee. Fraternally he is connected with the Loyal Order of Moose and is past sachem of the Red Men. His marriage was solemnized in Marion, Ind., and united him with Miss Nellie Smith, a native of Delaware county, that state, and by the union there is a son, Robert Edwin. HARVEY LURANUS ROSS.— Fortified by an extensive experience in the production of oil in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, Mr. Ross eventually gave up identification with the east in order that he might asso- ciate himself with the growing oil industries of the Pacific coast region and from July of 1904 until he retired from active business life he had his headquarters in the Kern river fields, where he became known as a dependable workman and a competent superintendent, also as a true gen- tleman, carrying with him not only the culture and refinement characteristic of the east, but the breezy good-nature and broad-hearted sympathies more especially characteristic of the west. The position to which he was appointed July 15, 1912, that of superintendent of the Patricia Oil Company, he resigned September 15 of that year. Harvey L. Ross is a son of James and Elizabeth (Smith) Ross, life- long residents of Venango county. Pa., and farmers there until death ended their activities. Six children comprised their famil3% namely: Henderson, nnw proprietor of a store at Reno, Venango county; Harvey Luranus, the only one to settle in California ; Mary, Mrs. James Manson, of Rockland, Venango county; Edward, who prior to his death July 18, 1911, engaged successfully in the oil business in Ohio ; Lizzie, Mrs. Charles Gaggin, who lives near Pittsburgh, Pa. ; and Carrie, who married Edward Bell and lives near Freedom, Beaver county. Pa. The second son was born August 13. 1855, in the village of Emlenton, \^enango county. Pa., where he attended school as often as possible. The l:)road information he now possesses is the result of extensive reading rather than attendance at school. At an early age he became self-supporting. The first work which he secured in the oil business was in the "Scrub" grass field, where he was hired as a pumper. Next he worked in the Clarion field and afterward he was employed in the McKean county fields for about six years. Leaving Pennsylvania for New HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1129 York he found employment in tlie ISolivar oil fields, where he continued about six years and during much of the time he had charge of production. From New York he went to West Virginia and secured work at Sisters- ville. Tyler county. ['"or fifteen years he remained at the one place and during fourteen years of that long period he was em])loyed by J. T. Jones, an extensive and influential oil ()])erator. l^pon leaving West Virginia he came to California and thereafter until his retirement he was engaged in the Kern river fields, his first position being that of foreman for the Capital City Oil Company and later he had charge of the Acme Development Com- panv until he became superintendent of the Patricia. The marriage of Mr. Ross was solemnized at Oil City, Venango county. Pa., and united him with Miss Mary Farren, daughter of James Farren, for years a well-known Venango county farmer. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Ross was blessed with twelve children, but a deep bereavement came to them in the loss of five of the number by death. Seven have attained mature years and the four eldest of these have left home to do for them- selves in the world, the girls entering homes of their own and the boys taking up the oil business in which they are thoroughly trained. Clifford. the eldest of the eight, is now a driller in the Kern river fields. Effie, Mrs. Lovring, is living in Kern county, and Freda, Mrs. Ellsworth, makes her home at Maricopa. Claude, the fourth child, is working in Oklahoma in the oil industry. Kahle. Kenneth, and Flossie are still with their parents in the famih- home at the corner of Eleventh and Kern streets. East Bakersfield. ARTHUR W. RENCH.— An important business enterprise of East Bakersfield is the Metropole meat market at No. 810 Baker street, which established about 1900 on a very small scale, has developed into a large and popular concern that receives the patronage of people throughout the entire community. Although it has been owned by Mr. Rench for a comparatively brief period, he has the advantages of previous experience in the same busi- ness and is well qualified to maintain the reputation established under former management. In connection with the market he and his partner operate a slaughter-house two miles east of town, and from there beef and pork of the choicest qualities are brought to the market for sale. Much of the life of Arthur W. Rench has been passed in California and Bakersfield has been his home since 1894. The youngest of the four children of Dan and Emily (Foote) Rench, natives respectively of Maryland and New- York state, he was born at Tooele, Utah, June 4, 1877. His father had crossed the plains during young manhood and settled in Utah, where he served as a deputy sheriff at Salt Lake City and lived for a time at Tooele. After his death the mother removed to Kansas with her children, the youngest of whom was then four years of age. Eight years later she brought them to California and settled in the Antelope valley, where her father, Erastus Foote, had moved from Utah in a very early day. For a few years the family lived on a ranch in the valley. Meanwhile the son, primarily educated in Kansas in the schools of Lawrence and Topeka, had finished his schooling and was ready to take up the task of self-support. In search of employment he went to Los Angeles and engaged as delivery clerk for various stores. Coming to Kern county in 1894 and engaging in horticultural work for a year, Mr. Rench then secured work in Odell's market on Nineteenth street, where he learned the trade of butcher. A year later the market was bought by Graves & Baker and he continued in their employ, but later left them in order to run a meat wagon through the country. When he sold the wagon he entered Mr. Anderson's employ in the California market, which with Mel P. Smith as a partner he bought in 1907. Afterwards Lloyd P. Keester became a partner and the business was incorporated with Mr. Rench 1130 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY as vice-president. During- 1910 he sold his interest and purchased the City market on Nineteenth street in partnership with Louis Johnson, but in 1912 sold that business and in April of the same year he bought from Jean Estribou the Metropole market, which he now owns in conjunction with Forrest Cassady ; this has now grown to an extensive wholesale business. Besides owning one-half interest in the market he owns real estate in Bakers- field and an alfalfa ranch of one hundred and twenty acres about four miles southeast of the city, while his identification with Bakersfield is rendered even more intimate and important through his membership in the board of trade and the Merchants' Association. With his wife, who was formerly Mrs. Delia (Cox) Laird, and whom he married at San Diego, he has estab- lished a comfortable home in East Bakersfield and has a host of friends in the town. In politics he always has voted with the Republican party, while fraternally he belongs to the Eagles and is a contributor to the philanthropic and social interests of the order. HARRY B. PHELAN.— The president of the board of trustees of McKit- trick was formerly a professional baseball player of more than local fame, and recent interests in other directions have not lessened his love for a good game. With his old-time skill he has promoted the success of a local club, devoting many of his leisure hours to such work and watching the reports from the great metropolitan teams with true professional zeal. However, this interest does not lessen his energetic oversight of the drug store (the first in McKit- trick), which he owns and manages and which has a profitable accessory in the form of a modern and well-equipped soda-water fountain. LTpon the in- corporation of the city he was elected a member of the first board of trustees and has since continued in that office, being at present chairman of the board and as such an influential factor in every measure for the local upbuilding. On a quarter-section homestead eight miles east of Tecumseh, Johnson county, Neb., Harry B. Phelan was born August 1, 1876, being a son of James A. and Mary E. (Clotfelter) Phelan, natives of Galesburg, 111. The paternal grandfather, Jacob, was also a pioneer of Johnson county, where the father shortly after the close of an honorable service in the Civil war as first lieu- tenant of a company in the Thirty-second Illinois Infantry, took up a raw tract of government land in the midst of an undeveloped region, practically bevond the then confines of civilization. The transformation of the raw tract into a remunerative farm was no slight task, but he engaged in it with enthus- iasm and tireless energy. For years he made a specialty of buying and feed- ing cattle, shipments of which he sent to Kansas City in carload lots. The Johnson county farm is still his home, but with advancing years his activities have narrowed and he has enjoyed a leisure richly merited by industry and honesty. Among seven children, all but one of whom still survive, Harry B. Phelan was fourth in order of birth. After he had completed the studies of local schools he was sent to the State Normal School at Peru, but at the close of the junior year he left college for the purpose of entering the professional baseball field with the Des IMoines team. After a year as catcher he was transferred to the Atlanta team in the Southern league, where he was catcher for one year. The next two years were spent as catcher with the North- western Indian School at Genoa, Neb. With the opening of the Spanish- American war he ofifered his services as a soldier. Assigned to Company I, Sixteenth United States Infantry, he served as first sergeant in the Philip- pines for two years and four months. With his command he was ordered back to the United States and honorably discharged from the service. Re- turning to the old homestead he aided in the manag-ement of the ranch and also carried on a barber shop at Tecumseh, but in 1905 he came to California and played with the Bakersfield team. Next he was assigned to the Fresno team in the Coast league. After the earthquake he retired from baseball and c7e^^ c/^>z^ ^y^^^^^^O. (lu^tlL. J^£>yAc HISTORY OF K1-:RX COUNTY 1133 came to Kern county, where he started a barber shop at McKittrick and since has engaged in other lines of business. In San Francisco he married Miss Elizabeth E. Hock, a native of that city, now sharing with him in the respect of acquaintances in Kern county. While at Atlanta, Ga., he was made a Mason in East Point Lodge No. 288, F. & A. M. For a time he was actively connected, at Peru, Neb., with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In addition he has afifiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men. Politically he votes with the Democratic party. PETER SALIS. — Born in Arvis, Graubunden, Switzerland, January 26, 1865, Mr. Salis attended school in his native land. He was the eldest son of five children born to Melchior and Agnes Salis. The father died in 1874 when his son Peter was only nine years of age. Being the eldest of the family he had to help his mother look after the property. Completing the grammar school when he was fifteen years old, he continued on the home place until he came to the United States in 1889. As he had determined on California .as his point of destination he set out from home and arrived here December 28, 1889. On January 1, 1890, he was employed by Wellington Canfield, for whom he worked for two years, being the only employer he had after reaching the United States. With John Koch and iNIichel Mazolt as part- ners he leased two hundred and fifty acres of land on Union avenue from J. C. Anderson, and later a six hundred and forty acre section adjoining, upon which he engaged in dairying and raising alfalfa, the dairy consisting of sev- enty cows. The partners remained here for about five years, but during the last year the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Salis continued alone until 1897. He then purchased land to the amount of a hundred and twenty acres on Jerry slough, which was all unimproved land. He cleared it of sage brush and sunk a flowing artesian well, with a capacity of ninety-six inches, and con- structed a reservoir to irrigate the farm, which was devoted to raising alfalfa and the dairy business. In the early days of his experience on the farm the coyotes howled at his door, but before he left it was comfortably improved with residence and buildings. On account of the flood in 1907. when the waters came down Jerry slough, he came to what is now his home place, originally a tract of forty acres. To this he later added twenty acres adjoining and now has sixty acres planted to alfalfa, besides which he also carries on a small dairy business. In June, 1870, was born Miss Ursula Stofl:'el, in Arvis, Switzerland, who, October 15, 1892, became the wife of Peter Salis, and they have two children : Agnes, who graduated from the Kern County high school at Bakersfield in 1912 and now attending the University of California; and INIelchior, who is attending the jiublic school. Mrs. Salis was the daughter of Anton and Ursula (Bernhard) Stoffel, of an old Graubunden family. She came to Hastings, Nebr.. in April, 1889. and to California December 28, 1889. She has been an able helpmate and com- fort to her husband and both are deeply interested in giving their children the best educational advantages in their power. In 1901 Mr. and Mrs. Salis with their two children visited his old home, relatives and friends. After a four-months' trip they returned to their home near Button W^illow. Mr. Salis is a member of the Woodmen of the World. WILLIAM D. JOUGHIN. — Among those men who have given of their time and best energy towards the development of Kern county we find William D. Joughin, who was born on the family farm, Ballacrebbin, in the Parish of Andres, Isle of Man. He was the son of John and Margaret Ann (Kaighin) Joughin, who were proprietors of Ballacrebbin and were of old families of that Isle, the families having lived there for generations. William D. was born November 12, 1870, and received his education in the local schools of the parish. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed as a 1134 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY grocer in Ramsey. After three years, disliking' the trade, he concluded to take up farming instead and he returned to the old farm, and after his father's death he continued to live with his mother, until her death, after which he de- termined to come to California, where his sister, Mrs. T. A. Connell, resided on the south fork of Kern river. On May 1, 1898, he came into Kern county, where he remained for one year with Mr. Connell. This was his introduc- tion into the cattle business and farming", as it was done in California. In 1899 he went to Bishop, Inyo county, where he was for eight years employed in the cattle business. He then returned to the south fork and with J. Robert Stephen rented the Connell ranch, and since then the two have operated it in partnership. Aside from the Connell ranch of eight hundred acres they also lease the Patterson and Cook ranches on the south fork adjoining, and they also lease the Five Dog ranch at Granite station for ranging their cattle. On the south fork the ranches are irrigated from the ditches and they are ex- tensively engaged in raising alfalfa and grain. The balance is used for pas- ture and range. They make a specialty of raising and feeding cattle and hogs for the Los Angeles market. The brand is a triangle inverted. At the First ^Tethodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, June 3, 1912, occurred the marriage of Mr. Joughin and Miss Ethel Christian, a native daughter of Kern county, and the daughter of Robert Christian, one of the old-time merchants of Kernville. Mr. Joughin was made a Mason in Winnedumah Lodge No. 287, F. & A. M., at Bishop. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Isabella and a believer in protection and Republican principles. M. L. WEITZEL. — The name of Weitzel is indicative of Teutonic ancestry and we find that the genealogy of the family points back to a long identification with Germany. The first representative of the family to seek a home in the new world was Frederick Weitzel, who left his native land in young manhood, crossed the ocean to America, proceeded from New York to Michigan and settled in Detroit, where he followed his trade of a mill- wright. After a time he moved to the southern part of Indiana and bought a tract of farm land which he developed, while in addition he managed a saw and grist mill. The second generation in America was represented by Lewis Weitzel, a native of Detroit. Mich., but throughout the greater part of his life a resident of Indiana. Like his father, he engaged in farm jnir- suits and also conducted a saw and grist mill. A man of ability and intelli- gence, he rose to political prominence and for many years served as chair- man of the county central Democratic committee in Dearborn county. For four years he served as deputy sheriiT of that county and so well did he fill the position that he was chosen sherifTf, in which capacity he rendered efficient service for another four years. During 1882 he left Dearborn county and went further north and west in Indiana, buying a farm in Boone county, where he continued to reside until his death. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Margaret Weitzel, a resident of Boone county and a native of Germany, whence in early life she was brought to the new world by her father, Henry Miller, the family settling in Indiana and taking up land in Dearborn county. .All of the ten children of Lewis -and Margaret (Miller) Weitzel are still living. One of the youngest members of the family was M. L., a nati^■e of Dearborn county-, Ind., born June 3. 1872. but from the age of ten years until he was twenty a resident of Boone county, where he received a public-school education. \\'hen sixteen years of age he became an appren- tice in the machine shcps of the Midland Railroad, where he remained until he had acquired a comi)lete knowledge of the machinist's trade. Upon starting out for himself he came to California in 1892 and settled in Kern county, where lie ho])e(l to secure employment in the railroad shops. In o^^c ^cAct. ef^^^^c?-C4a^^,^^jL4jL, ■ W^ffl ^ ^^ IKm 1^1 Imt/k ^ m _■ ^^H^^^ ^fl ^^r.r^ ^K' M C^^^C/Uytli a^^i^^^ ^^^T^^V-^^Yl^^Z-^V^-^.^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1139 this hope. hoWever, he was destined to be disappointed, for work was slack and no new hands were being- added to the force. P^arm work pre- sented itself as a temporary source of livelihood. During January of 1893 he was employed on Tutman's ranch and the following month he went to the Underwood ranch. From there he went to the warehouse and packing house July 26. 1893. and on the 10th of October of the same year he became an employe on the Lindgren ranch, where he remained for a long period of productive activity. It was during 1898 that he first became interested in cement work, to which he since has devoted his entire time. After having been employed for some years as foreman of cement construction he began for himself in 1906 and since then has risen to a position among the leading cement contractors in Kern county. Some of the finest work of the kind in Bakersfield is the result of his efficient skill. To his credit there are also seventeen substantial cement and brick reservoirs in the oil fields. Upon the organization of the Builders' Exchange he became a charter member and since has maintained an intimate association with affairs in this progres- sive body. In 1912 he incorporated the Weitzel-Larsen Contracting Com- pany, of which he is general manager, the company being organized for the purpose of engaging in general contracting on an extensive scale. Some years after coming to Kern county he married Miss Annie Psherer, a native of this county, and by the union there are two children, Henry and Gertrude. He belongs to the Woodmen of the World, and is a Democrat. MICHEL ANSOLABEHERE.— Mr. Ansolabehere in early life made himself helpful at the old home farm near Baigorry, Basses Pyrenees, France, where he was born March 5, 1871, and where the first twenty years of his busy existence were vineventfully passed, in a round of farm duties and school work. A desire to see something of the world and to try his fortunes in California led him to leave his old home in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. Crossing the ocean, he arrived in Kern county in December. 1891, and without difficulty found employment as a herder of sheep. In the same year as himself there also came to Kern county his brother, Gratian, who was born in France in 1868 and who since 1895 has been intimately associated with the younger brother in stock-raising and agricultural activi- ties. By his marriage to Clara Aharabide. also a native of France, he has three children, Marie, John and Babe. After he had worked for different sheepmen about four years, Michel Ansolabehere bought a flock of sheep and engaged in business in part- nership with his brother, Gratian. since which time the two have co-operated in their enterprise. It was their custom to summer their flocks, comprising from four to six thousand head, in ]\Iono county, from which place they brought them down to Buena Vista lake and other favorable points to feed through the winter. During 1909 the two brothers bought in the Rosedale district three hundred and twenty acres eight miles northwest of Bakersfield, under the Beardsley canal, and since then they have pvit the property under cultivation to alfalfa. During 1913 they disposed of their sheep in order to give their entire time to the raising of hay for the market. Neat buildings have been erected on the half-section and the large tract shows the thrift, intelligence and constant care of the owners. In politics both brothers vote with the Republican party. The younger brother married in East Bakersfield in 1909 Miss Mariana Irulegy, who was born in Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees. I'>ance, and by whom he has two children, Margaret and John CORNELIUS DUNNE.— Born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1861, Cor- nelius Dunne attended the national schools and learned carpentering. At the age of twenty years he left the old home and crossed the ocean to America, where for a year he worked in Boston. IVIass., meanwhile being employed in the Tremont hotel. At the expiration of the twelve months he came 1140 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY west and entered the railroad service, his first work of that kind being in a roundhouse at Needles. A 3'-ear later the Southern Pacific Company built into Needles and he secured a position in the department of bridge- building. About 1884 he was transferred to Mojave and here he has smce remained. At the time of his arrival very few buildings had been put up at this point and he has witnessed the steady growth of the equipment here. For two and one-half years he was employed as car-repairer, after which he served as inspector of trains for seven years. Next he was made foreman of gangs and in 1910 he became car foreman, which position has since taken all of his time. With judicious economy Mr. Dunne has saved his earnings, investing them in California property, so that now he is the owner of two houses in Mojave, one hundred and sixty acres of fine farm land in the fertile and famous Weed Patch of Kern county and a walnut grove of twenty acres near Anaheim, Orange county, these various properties representing his own unaided efforts to attain independence. In politics he has been staunch in his allegiance to the Republican party. After coming to Kern county he was married at Keene to Miss Mary O'Meara, a native of San Francisco and a sister of P. J. O'Meara, represented elsewhere in this volume. The Dunne family comprises five children, namely : Catherine, Dennis, Margaret, Francis and Eugene. The eldest is a graduate of the Los Angeles Normal, class of 1913, and the second is a graduate of the 1913 class in the Fresno high school. Margaret is attending the Sisters' School in Los Angeles and Francis is a pupil in the Fresno high school, while the youngest son is a pupil in the local schools. LEWIS H. LARSON.— The proprietor of the Home Transfer & Stor- age Company, who has been a citizen of East Bakersfield since November of 1901, claims Missouri as his native commonwealth and was born at St. Joseph, Buchanan county, December 19, 1858, being a son of Kittel T. and Mary (Kennard) Larson, the latter a native of Louisville, Ky., and the former of Norwegian birth and ancestry. After having learned the trade of black- smith in his native country the father migrated to the new world at the age of twenty years and soon settled on a farm near St. Joseph, Mo., where in addition to tilling the soil and raising stock he devoted considerable at- tention to his chosen occupation. A building on the farm was utilized as a shop and farmers from all directions came there to avail themselves of his skill in repair work and in horse-shoeing. Eventually he retired from the farm and established a home in St. Joseph, where he died at the age of sev- enty-three years, having survived his wife, who was fifty-six at the time of her demise. Of their five children the third, Lewis H., was reared on the home farm and attended country schools. After he had completed the com- mon-school branches of study he devoted his entire time to farm work. When the family removed to the city of St. Joe he engaged in the teaming business. Three years later he became the proprietor of the Red Tank oil line and conducted a retail oil business for four years, after which for five years he carried on a retail milk business as proprietor of the Globe dair}- in his home town. Upon leaving Missouri for California and settling in Kern (now East Bakersfield), Mr. Larson secured employment in the boiler-shop of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, with which company he continued for three and one-half years. Upon resigning the position he embarked in the dairy business. In order to have ample space for the industry he bought three blocks of ground and eleven lots on East Nile street, where he operated the Kern dairy for five years. At the expiration of that period he sold the dairy herd and closed out the business. Next he became interested in the transfer business under the title of the Home Transfer Company. Later ^ K !^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1143 he bought the interests of the Home Transfer & Storage Company, under which name the business since has been conducted. Near his residence at No. 1600 Nile street he has built a storage warehouse wath ample facilities for the storage of furniture consigned to him by patrons. For business purposes he keeps three wagons in steady use and at this writing maintains his ofifice in his home. Much of the original acreage has been sold, but he still retains one block of land and therefore has sufificient room for all the demands of the business. While living at St. Joe, Mo., Mr. Larson married Miss Vetura L. Moore, a native of that city and there deceased. Three children survive of that marriage, namely : Mrs. Lulu Lee Boden, of East Bakersfield ; Nora E., wife of O. P. Coats, of Fresno ; and George S., who is employed as a driver in the transfer business. By his marriage to Miss Christina Olson, who died in St. Joe, Mr. Larson is the father of one son, Andrew K. His present wife, whom he married at St. Joe in 1898, was formerly Mrs. Debbie (Shaffer) Etzweiler, a native of New Buffalo, Perry county, Pa., and a daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Radel) Shafifer, also natives of the Keystone state. During the Civil w^ar Mr. Shaffer served as a private in a Pennsylvania regi- ment and was wounded in an engagement. After having engaged in farm- ing in Pennsylvania for some years in 1876 he removed to Kansas and settled on a farm, but later followed the trade of shoemaker at Ellsworth. From Kansas he came to California and briefly sojourned at East Bakers- field, thence went to Long Beach, where he died at eighty-one years of age. His wife had died in Pennsylvania, leaving four children, two of whom now survive. The youngest child of that union w^as Debbie, who in Kansas became the wife of Jacob L Etzweiler, a carpenter and builder by trade. Mr. Etzweiler was born at Millersburg, Dauphin county, Pa., and died in Texas, leaving the widow and six children. Four of the children survive, namely : Mrs. Katherine E. Johnson, of East Bakersfield ; Minnie, a grad- uate nurse living at Coffeyville, Montgomery county, Kan. ; Harry, now at Maricopa, Cal. ; and Jacob, who is employed at Oil Center. Mrs. Larson has been actively identified with the Ladies of the Maccabees, Pythian Sisters, Rebekahs and Fraternal i\id, while Mr. Larson holds membership with the Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Brotherhood and Pythian Sisters In politics he upholds Democratic principles. FRED W. CRAIG.— Mr. Craig was born in New York City, June 25, 1826, a son of Archibald and Ann (Coffin) Craig, natives of New Jersey and of New York state, descendants respectively from Scotch and from English ancestors. They both lived out their days and passed away in New York City. The father was long cashier of the Chemical Bank of New York. All of their seven children are deceased. Fred W. Craig began his education in New- York City and when he was twelve years old went to Monmouth county, N. J., to live with an uncle. Later he became a clerk in a store and thus gained an intimate knowledge of the mercantile business. In 1848 he went to Spring- field. 111., where in 1852 he was a salesman in the hardware store of Mr. Pease, his uncle. Responding to the lure of gold, he turned his face tow^ard California. Sailing from New York on the Ozark, he came around the Horn to San Francisco, the vessel putting in at Rio for repairs, and landed in July, 1853. From San Francisco he went to Placerville. which town was then known by the not euphonious but accurately descriptive name of Hang- town. After a short time we find him in Sacramento, where he was a clerk in a commission house eighteen months. Next he established himself at Indian Diggings, Eldorado county, as a merchant, where for two years he sold goods that were hauled into the camp from San Francisco. In 1857 he became proprietor of a restaurant at Oroville. which he continued wdth suc- cess for two years. In 1861 he made his first trip to Kern county. .After a 1144 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY short stay there he tarried briefly in Tulare county, then returned to San Francisco. Late in that year until deep snow he was a clerk in a store at Caribou. Later he was variously employed until 1864, when he took up his residence in Kernville, where he was employed in general merchandising as a clerk until 1866. In this year he established a store on Kern river, near Kernville, which in 1870 he removed to Havilah. Meantime, in 1868, he had been elected to serve three years as supervisor. He was re-elected in 1871 and in 1873 he resigned to take the office of county clerk, which he assumed in March, 1874, about a month after the county seat was located at Bakersfield. Before the close of the year last mentioned his store was burned down. In 1875 and again in 1877 he was re-elected county clerk, in which office he served continuously six years. He was for some years postmaster of old Kern, but resigned the place to accept the office of justice of the peace for the third judicial township, which he ably filled for two terms. In 1894 he was recalled to the office of county clerk, by election on the Republican ticket, and assumed its duties in January, 1895, and served until January, 1899. From then until his death he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business, holding a commission as notary public. He had been a citizen of East Bakersfield since 1875 and built his fine house there in the summer of that year. In politics he was a Republican. Fraternally he affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He married, at Havilah, Miss Hava M. Crosby, a native of Illinois and also a pioneer of Kern county of 1851. Their daughter, Anna M., is librarian at the East Bakersfield branch of the Beale Memorial Library. JESSE ROY ROGERS.— When the first adventurous emigrants crossed the ocean from Great Britain and landing in Virginia planted the English flag on a spot which they named Jamestown in honor of their king, there was among the number a gallant young Englishman bearing the family name of Rogers. From the time of the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 through the more than three centuries following, his descendants have been loyal to America and brave in the defence of their country in war. During the Revo- lutionary struggle several of the name were in the army, among them the great grandfather of Isaiah Rogers, whose grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812, while his father went to the front during the Mexican conflict. He himself, of Kentuckian birth, nevertheless opposed slavery and felt so strongly in favor of the Union cause that he left his native commonwealth to take up arms for the north. Relatives were of southern sympathies and friends also joined the Confederacy, but he persisted in his course, although deeply regretting the estrangement that necessarily followed. Some time after the war had come to an end he established his home in Louisville, Ky., where his son, Jesse Roy, was born on New Year's day of 1875. Removing to Missouri in 1879, he established the family on a farm near St. Louis. Eventually he retired from agricultural pursuits and settled in Carthage, Mo., where he now^ makes his home. By his marriage with Miss Nancy Davis, he became allied with an old southern family early resident in South Caro- lina, although her birth had occurred in Alabama. The Davis family traces its genealogy back to the Grahams, of well-known Scotch-Irish lineage. Among eight children comprising the family of Isaiah Rogers and of whom five are still living. Jesse Roy Rogers was third in order of birth, and he was six years of age at the time the family removed from Kentucky to Missouri. It was in the latter commonwealth therefore that he received his education. When fourteen years of age he left school and began to serve as an apprentice to Robert (iraham, a plasterer in Kansas City, with whom he continued for five years, meanwhile learning every branch of the busi- ness. On the conclusion of his apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman in Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Omaha aufl Denver. By persistent effort HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1147 he became an expert in his occupation. The demand for high-class work- men in Los Angeles led him to establish himself in that city during 1900, after which he devoted several months to filling contracts in that city. One of his most important contracts in that city was the plastering of the Chamber of Commerce building. Removing to Long Beach in 1901 he at once took a merited position among the leading men in his line. Among his principal contracts in that place were those for the Long Beach National Bank, the First National Bank of Long Beach, the City National Bank, Carnegie Library and Kennebec hotel. A great number of smaller jobs kept him busily occupied in the same locality until 1907, when he began to follow his trade in and near San Diego. Coming to Bakersfield in March, 1909, he entered upon occupative tasks in this city and in Kern county, where he had the contracts for the plastering of the Elks building, the New Southern Annex, the Brower building, Redlick building. Manly apartments, Koesel hotel, A/forgan building, Russ residence. Manual Training school, Morrow & Barnett building, and numerous other structures in Bakersfield, besides the schoolhouse in Maricopa and other contracts at points near to his home city. In 1912 he branched out into general contracting in partnership with Joseph E. Yancey, and the firm of Yancey & Rogers have built the Fellows high school annex, have plastered the Bakersfield Club building and have remod- eled the City Hall. Upon the organization of the Builders' Exchange he became a charter member and one of the directorate, besides which he has oflficiated as second vice-president. While living in Kansas City he met and married Miss Cora Gray, a native of Illinois, and with her and their only child, Albert Edisdn, he has established a comfortable home in Bakersfield. EMMETT L. HAYES. — The general manager of the large business in Bakersfield conducted under the title of Hayes & Murray belongs to an old southern family and is himself a native of the south, born at ]\Iurfrees- boro, Tenn., August 28, 1882, being a son of the late Thomas and Mar- garetta (Burgess) Hayes. The former, born in North Carolina, became a resident of Tennessee in early life and identified himself with agricultural pursuits there, continuing in the same locality until death. After removing to that commonwealth he had married Miss Burgess, a native of Tennessee and a lifelong resident of tlie state. They became the parents of ten chil- dren who attained maturity, but only five of these are now living and only one, Emmett L., the next to the youngest, has established a home in Cali- fornia. After he had completed the studies of the country schools he was sent for one term to the Baptist University at Murfreesboro and at the age of fifteen left school and home to begin the battle of self-support. As a clerk with the Mayo Grocery Company at Dresden, Tenn., he gained his first experience in business. That his services w^ere satisfactory appears in the fact that Mr. Mayo took him to Mayfield, Ky., and upon the estab- lishment of the firm of McEllrath. Brooks & Mayo' made him cashier of the department store. The work was congenial and the returns satisfactory, but Mr. Hayes found the constant confinement to the cashier's desk altogether too great a strain upon his health and he resigned in 1901, coming to California and securing a temporary position with J. J. Owen & Co., in San Bernardino. For a brief period he also clerked in a grocery ov^ned by Feetham & McNeill. The year 1902 found him in Bakersfield, where for eighteen months he held a position with Dinklespeil Brothers, grocers. Next he entered the grocery department of Hochheimer & Co. Upon resigning that place he removed to Madera and became manager of the grocery department of Rosenthal- Kuttner Company, but in a few months came back to Bakersfield to serve as manager of the grocery department of Hochheimer & Co. During April of 1907 he purchased from Tipton Mathews the first and only grocery 1148 HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY business in Wasco, where he not only conducted mercantile pursuits, but also acted as postmaster. With P. A. Murray as partner, in 1909 he opened a grocery in Bakersfield. For a few months he ran the two stores, but in the autumn of 1909 he disposed of the store at Wasco, and since then has devoted his entire time to the management of the Bakersfield establishment. Starting in business with groceries exclusively, the firm later added a com- plete line of hardware and now have in stock not only these two lines, but also paints and oils, roofing and fencing. The location of the store on I street between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets is sufficiently central to be easy of access to all its customers and it enjoys the patronage of a large number of city people, besides a goodly contingent from the country. The Ashton Baking Company, organized in 1912, with the firm of Hayes & Alurray as owners of one-half interest, under the management of Mr. Hayes has built up a successful patronage, equipped a new shop and ovens and turns out an excellent product that finds a ready sale in increasing quantities. The supervision of the two separate lines of business keeps the manager busily occupied, but he nevertheless finds leisure for active participation in the Kern County Board of Trade and served for three years as a member of its executive committee. In addition he keeps well posted in the policies of the Republican party, which he supports with ballot and influence. Made a Mason in Delano Lodge, F. & A. M., he was raised to the Royal Arch chapter in Bakersfield, where also he has identified himself with the Elks and Woodmen of the World. At Visalia, in April of 1907, he married Miss Mamie Murray, a native of Tulare county, this state, and a daughter of P. A. and Henrie L. (Hess) Murray, the former a pioneer engineer on the Southern Pacific Railroad and also a member of the firm of Hayes & Murray. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are the parents of two children, Thelma Vivian and Jack Murray. The family live at No. 317 Eighteenth street, in the Kruse tract, Bakersfield, where they own a recently completed and attractive residence. He is a director in the Colorado Pacific Land Company, the owners, platters and improvers of Kruse tract, one of the finest residence portions of the city. WILLIAM WALLACE. — Inventive ability of a high order would have brought worldly fame and material prosperity to Mr. Wallace had not his career been cut short by untimely death when he was forty-one years of age. Notwithstanding his passing ere he had reached the zenith of his powers he left behind him a reputation for inventive skill based upon inven- tions that now are in constant use. As a machinist his skill was so great that many considered him a genius. From childhood he had the faculty of grasping the intricate details of any piece of mechanism and to him more pleasing than the usual sports of youth was the success with which he could put together the numerous parts of a machine into working order. As is common with men of his type, he had his discouragements and reverses, but he never allowed failure to depress him or to retard even momentarily his enthusiastic labors upon his patents. Evidence of his ability and of the successful business supervision of his widow appears now in the Wallace Pump Works, located at No. 718 Twentieth street, Bakersfield, where are manufactured some of his most important inventions. Born in Pennsylvania in 1869, apprenticed in youth to the trade of a machinist near Pittsburg, and removing to California about 1900, Mr. Wallace first secured employment as an expert machinist in the Bakersfield iron works, and later, as superintendent of the machine department for Reed Brothers, engaged in the manufacture of the Parker pump on Chester avenue. After a time he went to the Kern river oil field and started a machine shop, but the venture had a disastrous termination, and in one year he returned to Bakersfield to start anew. Here he opened a machine HISTORY OF KF.RX COUNTY 1149 shop on Twentieth street, where he engaged in reboring oil well pumps. During 1905 he obtained a patent for rebrushing oil well pumps and in 1908 he patented the Wallace interchangeable oil well pump, which now is manufactured in large numbers and used with gratifying success by the largest companies in the county. At the time of his death, which occurred October 9, 1911, he was engaged with a number of other patents, but his untimely demise prevented their completion. He belonged to the Maccabees. In New York City occurred the marriage of William Wallace and Miss Sadie Summers, who was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, being a daughter of Christian Summers, a native of London, England, but for many years a manufacturer in Copenhagen. From childhood she was trained in the doc- trines of the Lutheran denomination and she always has been a generous contributor to that church as well as a firm believer in its creed. Possessing business ability of a high degree, at the death of Mr. ^^'allace she determined to maintain the business and manufacture his patents. The results have proved the wisdom of her decision. It has been her good fortune to secure the services of Perry McAninch as manager; with his skilled and capable co-operation she has engaged in the manufacture of the Wallace Interchange- able oil well pump and the AX'allace bushed pump. The plant, of which she is sole proprietor, stands on Twentieth near O street and is operated by electrical powder. WILLIAM J. ROOKS. — The American genealogy of the Rooks family extends back to the period of the colonization of the Atlantic seaboard. Andrew J- and Jane (Smith) Rooks, now residents of Baldwin's Park, Cal., are natives of Georgia and their son, William J., was born November 2, 1864, in that state, at a small hamlet known as Newton Factory. In early life Andrew^ J. Rooks followed the trade of blacksmith at Monroe, Walton county, his native Georgian cit}^ from where he served as a sharpshooter and scout throughout almost the entire period of the Civil war, being a member of Company C, Ninth Georgia Regiment, C. S. A. There were but three of his nine children who lived to years of maturity and the eldest of these, W^illiam J., has followed the occupation which he learned so thor- oughly under the skilled instruction of the father. Beginning to learn the trade when sixteen years of age, he served his apprenticeship at Newton Factory and then spent two years in a carriage factory in Atlanta, Ga., after which he conducted a shop of his own at Snellville, same state, for tw^o years. Next we find him in Alabama, engaged in the car-shops of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at Decatur, where for eighteen months he specialized in the manufacture of coach and engine springs. After three and one-half years in the car-shops he opened a carriage-shop of his own in Decatur, where he engaged in the manufacture of carriages and wagons with considerable success. Upon selling out his interests in the south in 1901 and coming to Cali- fornia to make his home, Mr. Rooks was first employed in the Pike carriage- shop in Los Angeles, next was in the Tabor shop in the same city, and then for two years and three months served as foreman of the blacksmithing department in the car-shops of the Pacific Electric Railroad Company at Sherman. From Los Angeles he went to Hollywood, where he conducted a blacksmith's shop for three years. Meanwhile he bought and sold real estate and was able to leave the city with a profit of $10,000. Next he bought twenty acres in Azusa and engaged in raising oranges and strawberries. The latter crop was particularly profitable and brought him returns beyond his most sanguine expectations. November of 1909 witnessed the location of Mr. Rooks in Kern county, where in 1907 he had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of alfalfa land for $12,000. After securing $5,000 in rent from the place he sold it for 1150 HISTORY nV KERX COUNTY ?25,000 and had previously purchased a tract of four hundred acres, also about the same time purchased four hundred and ten acres of improved land under the ditch. On this property he put down a well three hundred and fifty feet deep, thus securing an abundance of water for irrigation. Eventually he sold the entire acreage and then, in November of 1912, he bought a blacksmith's shop at No. 617 Grove street, where he and his son have since made a specialty of horse-shoeing, although doing also a general lilacksmith and rei:)air business in the line of wagons and carriages, also the manufacture of automobile springs and machine forgings. \Vhile living in Alabama Mr. Rooks married Miss Theodosia P. Mason, who was born near Stone Mountain, Ga., in Gwinnett county. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom the following survive: Mrs. Lulu James, of Tulare; Mrs. Bessie Ward, of Florida; William J., Jr., member of the firm of W. J. Rooks & Son; Murray, now at Taft ; Mrs. Linnie Sutliff, of Escalun, San Joaquin county ; Eunice, Cleo, Morence and Lyman, who remain with their parents in the Bakersfield home. The family holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In national principles Mr. Rooks is stanchly Democratic and fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Bakersfield. REGINALD FRANK HAIMES.— Since coming to Bakersfield during April of 1895 Mr. Haimes has been identified with the Kern County Land Company, first as an employe on the Poso ranch and later as a clerk at the Kern island headquarters. Each of these places was made his headquarters for a number of years. To the work of both he gave the satisfactory service that furnishes abundant reason for promotion. Appointed in September of 1907 to the responsible position of payroll clerk in the Bakersfield ofiice, he now gives his time and attention closely to the responsibilities of the place and discharges every duty with painstaking fidelity. For a consid- erable period he devoted his leisure hours to military tactics and for seven years he served in the California National Guard, retiring with the rank of sergeant. Enlisting in the old Company G of the Sixth Regiment, he remained with it after the re-organization into Company L, Second Regi- ment. At the time of the great fire in 1906 in San Francisco he was sent with other members of the guard to that city. The third in a family of six children. Reginald h'rank Haimes was born in Liverpool, England, February 22, 1875, and was a son of the late Francis and Elizabeth (VVinsborough) Haimes, natives of Devonshire. For many years prior to his death the father had engaged as a wholesale tobacconist in Liverpool and it w^as there that R. F. Haimes attended school from 1881 until about 1889. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed on an English merchant shi]), Crompton, which sailed to lUirma, Asia, thence returning to Dundee. On the voyage he rounded the Cape of Good Hope twice, repeating this on a subsequent round trip between Liverpool and Calcutta. The next voyage of the Crompton took him from Cardiff, Wales, to Portland, Ore., thence back to England, thus rounding Cape Horn twice. When he passed the Horn for the third time it was on a voyage to San Francisco. Having concluded the apprenticeship he left the vessel at San Francisco in the fall of 1894, intending to become a permanent resident of the west.' A brief experience in the coasting trade out from San Francisco was followed by removal to Napa, where Mr. Haimes secured employment as clerk in a hardware store and from there in the spring of 1895 he came to Kern county, the location of his sul:)sequent activities. In the city of Bakersfield he erected a comfortal)le residence at No. 2729 Twentieth street, and here he and his wife, with their only child, Kathleen Greta, have a home whose delightful hospitality is often enjoyed bv their wide circle of friends. (2*^- J. ^ /^<^i^i^^^^^^-^iicyty " HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1153 Airs. Hainies was reared and educated in Liverpool, England, and is a woman of culture and charm, popular in social functions and an interested partici- pant in the work of the Pythian Sisters, to which, as also to the Knights of Pythias, Mr. Haimes belongs. Since becoming a citizen of our country he has espoused Democratic principles and always gives his vote to the men and measures advocated by that party. Although reared in England, Mrs. Haimes is of Irish birth and lineage, and was born at Banbridge, county Down, which likewise was the birthplace of her parents, Martin and Selina (Crawley) Kehoe. The parents removed from Ireland to Liverpool, England, where Mr. Kehoe engaged in business as a merchant tailor, remaining in the same city throughout the balance of his life. There were fourteen chil- dren in the Kehoe family and six of these are still living. The youngest, Margarita, was educated in public and private schools in Liverpool and came to Bakersfield May 17, 1908, where on June 7, 1908, was solemnized her marriage to Mr. Haimes, and since then they have remained residents of this city. JOHN P. PLAUGHER.— The Plaugher stable at Taft, for which Mr. Plaugher paid T. T. Hunter $7,000 and the value of which has been increased by subsequent purchases and improvements, does not represent the limit of his investments, for outside of his holdings in Taft he owns a house and lot at Hueneme, Ventura county, four lots in Del Monte Heights, Monterey county, two lots in Oakland and forty acres in unimproved farm land situated three and one-half miles northwest of the court-house at Fresno, besides which he is a stockholder in the Amber Oil Company. A resident of California since the 4th of July, 1896, on which day he arrived in Los Angeles, J. P. Plaugher had earned his own livelihood for a decade before he came to the west. The family of which he was a member comprised ten sons and two daughters, and the old home was in Pendleton county, W. Va., one and one-half miles from the state line of Virginia. There he was born September 8, 1873, and there he worked early and late as a boy, deprived of every educational advantage and in that way greatly handicapped for the activities of the business world. When scarcely more than sixteen he left home and he has not since been beneath the old roof nor has he visited the neighborhood whose only memories are of hardship, sacrifice and poverty. Having considerable mechanical ability, he found employment in running a traction engine which at different times operated a threshing machine, a hay baler and a wood-saw. March 4, 1892, he left Harrisonburg, Va., and proceeded to Lima, Ohio, where two older brothers were employed in the oil fields. For a year he engaged as teamster and roustabout with the Manhattan Oil Company. During the spring of 1893 he entered the emplov of the Standard Oil Company as a tool-dresser on the Marion and Bellefontaine pikes east of Lima. At the exoiration of eighteen months the plant was shut down and he then became a boiler- maker in the Solar refinery (the largest refinery in the entire worldV After eight months he was made foreman of the crew that built the railroad car tanks, but a year later he was obliged to give up the work on account of threatened deafness. Transferred to the yard as a pipe-fitter, having charge of a gang of five men, he continued with the Standard Oil Companv at the Solar refinery for eig^ht months, after which he drilled for the same corpora- tion at St. Marys, Ohio. Resigning from the employ of the Standard June 28. 1896. Mr. Plaueher came to California, and on the 7th of July began to work in the Little Sespe canyon at Santa Paula for the Union Oil Company, with which he continued for five years as a driller. The boom began in the Kern river field in 1899 and perhaps a year later he had his first experience in that 1154 HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY field, where he was employed as a driller on the San Joaquin division of the Associated. Later he was with the Imperial and 33 Oil Companies, after which he engaged as rig-builder and well-driller for the Rhode Island and Connecticut and California Oil Companies. From that work he went to section 27 of the Coahnga field, where he brought in the flowing well that laid the foundation of the later fortunes of the California Oilfields, Lim- ited. August 1, 1901, he married Miss Emma Webb, daughter of E. C. Webb, and a native of Bradford, Pa., but at the time of their marriage a resident of Santa Paula. One son, Edward W., was born of their union. Mrs. Plaugher is a woman of ability and executive force and has been a leading worker in the V\ omen's Improvement Club of Taft. An experience in drilling a well in San Benito county proved so dis- astrous that Mr. Plaugher was not only left penniless, but also with a heavy debt that eventually was paid in full. After having worked for some time with the California Oilfields, Limited, he resigned on Thanks- givmg day of 1908 and returned to Fresno, where he had bought residence property. From there he proceeded to section 6 in the Kern river field, where he drilled to a depth of twenty-nine hundred and eighty feet, but failed to strike oil. With the failure of the Big Indian Oil Company, in which he had been a shareholder, he again suffered a heavy loss. In 1909 he became a driller on the Santa Fe lease, but left that place in September, 1910, in order to work for Wallace Canfield on the lease of the Kern Trad- ing & Oil Company. Having resigned his position with that large concern he bought a livery stable in Taft, October 11, 1912, and has since engaged in the livery business and in contract teaming. Eleven head of horses were in the barn at the time of purchase and since then he has added seven- teen, so that he now owns twenty-eight horses besides two mules. The equipment has also been enlarged by the purchase of new vehicles. In- cluded with the barn and the stock in the purchase were four lots, 100 x 125, on Center street, and two lots and houses in block 15, Kern street. Shortly after coming to California he was made a Mason in the Santa Paula blue lodge in 1896 and is now a member of Los Palmas Lodge No. 366, F. & A. M. GEORGE \V. PREMO.— The name of Premo indicates the French lineage of the family (the name being originally spelled Primeau, but after- ward changed to Premo for convenience) and the records further show that from France they became transplanted in Canada upon the soil of the province of Quebec. Born near Montreal, Michael Premo came to the United States in early life and during the latter part of the Civil war served as a private in a Michigan regiment of volunteers. Later in the '60s, while still a young man, he came via the Horn to California and settled UDon a tract of rav*' land in San Joaquin county. Early in the '80s he removed to Tulare county, secured a tract of land, developed a grain farm and for years conducted agricultural pursuits upon a large scale. About 1903 he retired from farming and estab- lished a home in Los Angeles, but more recently he has come to Bakersfield with the expectation of passing the remaining years of his life in this growing city. The marriage of Michael Premo united him with Miss Maggie Minges, who was born in San Joaquin county, this state, and died at Pcrterville. Her father, John Minges, a native of Germany, came to the United States with his parents in boyhood and in the eventful summer of 1849 crossed the plains with oxen to California, where he remained until his death in Stockton. There were nine children in his family. A mechanic of exceptional ability, he ranked among the successful men of his day and k cality. Inventive ability led him to experiment with improvements in farm implements. He invented and patented the first combined harvester, but sold the patent to Shippey of GEORGE DELEIXO VICTORIA DELFINO HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1157 Stockton, who in turn sold to Mr. Houser the original model of the com- bined harvester of today. In addition he invented and ])crfected a header as well as other improvements in machinery. There were eight children in the family of Michael and Maggie Premo. Seven of these are now living, namely: Walter, who is engaged in the real- estate business at Porterville; Fred, a contractor doing business at Tulare; George W., of Bakersfield ; Emily, wife of F. L. Tubbs, of Tulare; Charles O., who is associated with his eldest brother in the real-estate business at Porter- ville; Marguerite, now a student in the University of California at Berkeley; and Kenneth, who was educated at Porterville. All of the children but the youngest are graduates of the Tulare high school. The third son, George W., was born at Stockton, this state, January 18, 1878, and was reared on a farm in Tulare county. After he had been graduated from high school in 1897 he spent two years as a student in the scientific department of the Univer- sity of California. Next he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company, in whose interests he came to Bakersfield in 1903. Later he devoted one year to the butcher business in Kern as a member of the firm of Tubbs & Premo. At the time of the great fire in San Francisco he went to that city, where he engaged in the real-estate business for a year. Upon his return to Bakersfield he resumed a connection with the Southern Pacific road, but at the expiration of two years resigned his position as conductor and turned his attention to realty work in Bakersfield. For a time employed by Ballagh & Nighbert, in September of 1912 he bought their interests and now engages in the real-estate, loan and insurance business at No. 1717 Chester avenue. In addition to being an active member of the Bakersfield Realty Board, he is still a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Politically he favors Republican principles. In Bakersfield occurred his marriage to ]\Iiss Ethel Carlisle, who was born in Stockton and completed her education in the Tulare high school. A son, George W., Jr., blesses their union. Mrs. Premo is a daughter of J. H. Carlisle, a pioneer of Tulare county, now living at Fresno, this state. GEORGE DELFINO.— Near Milan, Italy, George Delfino was born, De- cember 15, 1872, and there attended school until twelve years old, after which he worked for his parents for about eight years. In 1892 he decided to come to America, and accordingly arrived in the United States that year, coming direct to California and settling in Tulare county, where he obtained work. In 1894 he came to Kern county, where he became an employe of the Miller & Lux Land Company, remaining with them until 1898. when he started out for himself. With three others he rented two sections of land, which they worked for two years, at the end of which time he worked alone, in 1900 purchasing forty acres on Kern Island road, four miles south of Bakersfield, and here he lived for six years. He bought his present home place of forty acres in 1907, and in 1912 forty acres adjoining and he now owns and operates one hundred and twenty acres of land, all under irrigation and cultivation to alfalfa. His place is well improved with residence and buildings and is located three miles south of Bakersfield. Mr. Delfino married in Bakersfield Victoria Blanche, who was born in July, 1883, in Italy. She came to Bakersfield with her parents at the age of fi ur years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Delfino occurred July 28, 1900, and six children have been born to this marriage: Marciano, Willie, Joe, Dalsolina L., Frank and James. PAUL CORTI. — A son of Louis and ^lary (Ariguni) Corti, farmers of Italy, Paul Corti was born in that country near the city of Milan, November 1, 1838, and was next to the youngest in a family of nine children. Only two members of the once large family are now living and none excepting himself ever came to the United States. Reared on a farm, he can scarcely recall the 1158 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY time when he first determined to seek a livelihood elsewhere and to see some- thing of the great world. The ambition of boyhood came into realization during January of 1860, when he saw for the first time the metropolis of the world and began to be familiar with the sights of old England. For three years he served an apprenticeship in London to the trade of mirror-making and cutting. At the expiration of his time he sailed on the ocean ship, Exeter, to South Africa, reaching the Cape of Good Hope after a voyage of four months and settling in the town of that name. However, there were only a few white people as yet at the cape and he could not secure steady employment at his trade, nor did the surroundings cause him to desire a permanent residence in South Africa. The island of New Zealand next attracted Mr. Corti to its citizenship and for a time he lived at Auckland, but later went to Dunedin. During the war between the native tribes and the white settlers he helped to guard the city of Auckland. At the time of the first mining excitement at Otago he hastened to the camp and there prosoected and opened a placer mine which he named the Garibaldi. Associated with others, twelve in all, he put in hydraulic mining machinery and developed the property, remaining at the mine for four years. Meanwhile he married Miss Susan Carroll, who was born at Lancaster, Eng- land, and died at Bakersfield, March 15, 1903, leaving five children. During the spring of 1869 he disposed of his holdings in New Zealand and accompanied by his family went to Melbourne, Australia, thence north to Sydney and Newcastle, from there by a sailing vessel to Honolulu. From the Hawaiian Islands he and his family came via steamer to San Francisco, where they landed May 19, 1870. During the same year he came to Kern county, whose county-seat was then still located at Havilah. At first he worked in the Morrell sawmill. Next he spent a winter on a farm in Bear Hollow, Linn's valley. The following winter was spent at the very top of the Greenhorn mountains. As early as 1873 Mr. Corti pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres on section 18, township 31, range 27, which, together with adjacent land, he still owns. During 1874 he assisted in cutting a ditch out of the old river twelve miles south of Bakersfield. The following year the little canal, which is known as the Stine ditch, was opened and made available for use by settlers. In this ditch he owned an interest and from it he secured the water necessary for the cultivation of his claim. During 1876 he began to develop his farm and to make the necessary improvements. In 1878 he sowed fifteen acres of the ranch to alfalfa. It has been cut for hay, or pastured by stock, or cut for seed every suc- ceeding year, a period of thirty-five years, and is still a good stand. At diflfer- ent times he bought adjoining tracts, so that now he owns the whole of section 18. As early as 1875 he bought two cows and started in the dairy business. By gradual increase he became the owner of a herd of seventy milch cows, besides having a large number of stock cattle. From 1882 until 1888 he and his family lived in San Francisco, but returned to the ranch in the year last- named and resumed the dairy industry as well as stock-raising. The family came to Bakersfield in 1901 and Mr. Corti erected a house on the corner of Twenty-second and E streets, but later bought his present home on the corner of Twenty-first and E streets. Two years after the death of his first wife he married Miss Eugenia Flournoy, a sister of Judge George Flour- noy, and a native of Texas, but this estimable lady was called from earth January 27, 1912, leaving a large circle of friends to mourn her untimely death. The family have been identified with St. Francis Catholic Church ever since they came to Kern county and ]\lr. Corti is also a member of the Knights of Columbus. In politics he adheres to Democratic principles. About 1905 he sold all of his stock on the ranch, which he has since rented to a dairyman, the latter keeping about one hundred head of cows on the place. (^>$?^^*<7-c <^ /^Z^^z/a a^lrC^CA^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1161 About three hundred and twenty acres are in alfalfa and perhaps an equal amount in pasture, so that the ])ro])erty is exceptionally well adapted to the dairy business and indeed is now considered one of the finest dairy farms in the entire county. MRS. EMMA LEA V AND A VEER.— Born nl St. Louis de Gonzat^ue. near Montreal, province of Quebec, Mrs. Vandaveer is a daughter of Michael and Genevieve (Maheu) Primeau, both natives of St. IMartine, Chateauguay, Quebec. Both the Primeau and the INTaheu families came originally from France and were of old and honored ancestr}' in that country, while their French-Canadian descendants displayed the same qualities of thrift and indus- try that had characterized the ancestors in Europe. For years ^lichael Primeau engaged in farming near St. Louis de Gonzague, but with all of his arduous labors he could give to his children few advantages aside from helping them to secure good educations. There were four children in the family and three are still living. Mrs. Vandaveer, who was the youngest of the family circle, completed her education in the Notre Dame convent at Huntingdon in Lower Canada, near York state. After she was graduated from the convent she engaged in teaching school for five years, but since coming to California in May of 1887 she has been interested principally in the hotel business. For seven years she managed the Petrolia hotel in Santa Paula, after which she followed the same business in San Francisco. Upon coming to Bakersfield in 1904 she continued in the same line of activity and for eight years managed the Boston hotel. This property she sold February 13, 1913. From the first identification of Mrs. Vandaveer with Bakersfield she has had a deep faith in its future prosperity and growth. The upbuilding of the city is a matter of personal interest and pride with her. The many favorable features for community growth have impressed her deeply. As an illustra- tion of her faith in local upbuilding it may be stated that she has erected four large and substantial houses in the city, three of these being located on the corner of Twenty-first and E streets, and the fourth standing at No. 2727 Twentieth street. Throughout all of her life she has been a devout Roman Catholic, an earnest worker in the church and a large contributor to its charitable enterprises. St. Francis' Catholic Church has in her not only a faithful, but also an active and capable member. As president of the Altar Society, promoter of the League of the Sacred Heart and treasurer of St. Francis Ladies' Aid Society, she has been identified inti- mately with organizations for the upbuilding of the church and the enlarge- ment of its sphere of usefulness. CHARLES H. KAAR. — The growing importance of the automobile industry won the apreciative recognition of Mr. Kaar to such an extent that during September of 1911 he relinquished other business interests in order to accept the agency for Bakersfield of the Studebaker automobiles. The garage is established at Eighteenth and L streets, the dimensions being 115^2x132 and covering more floor space than any one-story garage in California, having room for about a hundred and seventy-five cars. It is equipped with machine shoo run by electric power, has a vulcanizing depart- ment, electric battery charging department and carries a full line of acces- sories and supplies. It was on the .Sth of March, 1894, that Charles H. Kaar first landed at East Bakersfield, in company with his father, John Kaar, the latter one of the honored upbuilders of this community and a man of sterling traits of character. (His biography appears in this publication.) There were hve children in the family and the fourth of these, Charles H., was born near Lochiel. Benton county, Ind.. January 15, 1878, hence was sixteen at the time of the removal to California. For two years he was a student in the public schools, but in 1896 he gave up his studies in order to earn his own liveli- 1162 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY hood. The first wfirk which he undertook was the learning of the brick- layer's trade and in this occupation he served a thorough apprenticeship. At the expiration of his time he worked as a journeyman, visiting various points of the west and finding temporary employment at San Diego and other California cities, as well as Reno, Nev., and elsewhere. After taking contracts for mason work he began also to contract for houses and other buildings and upon his return to Bakersfield in 1907 he engaged in con- tracting and building, which he followed until he entered the automobile business. Meanwhile he erected a number of houses in Kern, some of which he si Id, but still owns eight at the present time, including the resi- dence which he erected for his family. To his efforts in no small measure was due the organization of the Builders' Exchange in 1910 and he was honored by being chosen its first vice-president, which ofifice he filled for one year and then withdrew from the organization upon giving up his build- ing activities. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and has been a generous contributor to the philanthropic work of the order. In marriage he became united with a native daughter of Kern county, Miss Agnes Montgomery, who was born and reared here, received an excellent education in Bakersfield and has made her lifelong home in this community. Two children bless their union, John and Emma. JACOB FETROW KAAR.— With other members of the family Jacob F. Kaar came to East Bakersfield in 1894 at the age of fourteen years and in this vicinity he has since been a resident, promoting local activities by his own admirable qualities of manhood and his devoted loyalty to the community. Son of John Kaar, mentioned elsewhere in this publication, he was born at Lochiel, Benton county, Ind., July 31, 1879, and received a fair education in the schools of his native locality,- but at an early age he left school in order to earn his own livelihood. When fifteen years of age he began to learn the butcher's trade. Every department of that business soon became familiar to him. His judgment concerning fat stock was excel- lent even when he was a mere lad and now it is doubtful if any man in the county surpasses him in that respect. At the age of nineteen he engaged in the business with his father, John Kaar, and a brother, Charles, but at the expiration of six months he began to assume the entire management of the industry and when he was less than twenty-one he bought the interests of his two partners. Not having any money of his own he went in debt for the entire sum, but such was his resolution and so accurate was his judgment that in eight months he was able to discharge the entire indebtedness. His next stej) was to start a bank account, in order that he might accumulate the capital necessary for the buying of stock. The small shack on Baker street with its limited space (20 x 20) sooii became inadequate to the needs of the growing business, whereupon Mr. Kaar's father assisted him in the buying of his present site in East Bakers- field and here he erected a brick block of two stories, 50x90. Later he added a third story. The first floor contains a laundry which has an annex of 40 X 100. A grocery and the meat market occupy the remaining space on the first fioor, while the upper stories are devoted to a rooming establishment. Modern conveniences aid the proprietor in his effort to give the people of his town the best service and meat of the finest quality. The trade is so large that the slaughtering of the beeves forms an essential part of the business and this work is done at the slaughter-house one and one-half miles southeast of the city. Besides owning this important business Mr. Kaar has other interests, including the ownership of an eighty-acre ranch at Rosedale, where irrigation enables him to put the entire tract into alfalfa and thus engage profitably in the raising of hogs. In addition he owns valuable residence property in East Bakersfield. In fraternal relations he holds mem- HISTORY OV KKRX COUNTY 1165 bership with the Knio;hts of Pythias, vvliile politically he votes with the Democratic party. His marriage took place in Jjakersfield and united him with Miss Laura Edna Wells, a native of Lochiel, Ind., the recipient of excellent educational advantages and a devoted adherent of the Congre- gational Church. Their family consists of three daughters, Emma Carolyn, Laura Edna and Marv Elizabeth. REV. J. J. PRENDIVILLE.— St. Joseph's Catholic Church, East Bakers- field, was founded in 1900 as a mission by Eather Patrick Lennon, who con- tinued to officiate as pastor until it was made a separate pastorate in 1907. It was then that Eugene Hefiferman became the first resident pastor and he was succeeded in March, 1910, by Father J. J. Prendiville, the present pastor, who soon after his arrival also began holding services in Taft and Maricopa. In September, 1911, Eather Prendiville built the Catholic Church at Taft, a $5,000 edifice. He originated the plan, following the old mission style, be- sides which he superintended the building, selected the lumber and his efforts have produced one of the finest churches in the San Joaquin Valley. He has also built a church for St. Patrick's congregation in Maricopa and he is holding services in Fellows. St. Joseph's Church and parsonage occupy about half a block of ground on Kern street, East Bakersfield, and among the dififerent societies are the Children of Mary, League of the Sacred Heart, Total Abstinence Society and The Sanctuary Society for Beys. In 1911 St. Joseph's Dramatic Society gave a play that proved a success and was repeated in the Bakersfield Opera House for the benefit of St. Francis Church. The pastor, Eather Prendiville, was born in Ireland, was graduated at St. Brendaus Seminary in Killarney, then studied theology and philosophy at Carlow college. In 1907 he was ordained priest by Bishoo Foley for the Los Angeles diocese. He was assistant to Monsigneur Fisher at Holy Cross Church, Santa Cruz, until March, 1910, when he was appointed to St. Joseph's Church. IRA HOCHHEIMER.— The Hochheimer department store on Chester avenue, extending one entire block from Nineteenth to Twentieth street, rep- resents the tireless supervision of its present manager, Ira Hochheimer ; as well as the ability of his father, Amiel Hochheimer, who is yet living, at the age of sixty-two ; Moses Hochheimer, an uncle, now deceased, a man of great executive ability and a moving spirit in the upbuilding of this establishment : Monroe Hochheimer, who acts as assistant manager at the present time ; M. H. Wangenheim, deceased, a former manager and a merchant possessing unusual faculty for organization ; and Henry Wangenheim, who has charge of the San Francisco offices of the four Hochheimer & Co. stores. Duly organ- ized as a corporation under the laws of the state of California, the company operates in all four departments stores in this state, one at each of the follow- ing places : Willow, Germantown and Orland in Glenn county, and Bakers- field, the establishment at Willow having been the first in the chain of stores. The brothers, Amiel and Moses, both of whom were natives of Penn- sylvania but residents of California from early years, embarked in mercantile pursuits at Dixon, Cal., but upon the completion of the railroad went to Wil- low, Glenn county, and established a store at that point, later establishing the three other stores still owned by the corporation. About the year 1900 Moses Hochheimer and M. H. Wangenheim, both now deceased, came to Bakersfield and purchased from Mr. Belau the establishment known as the Pioneer store. At that time there were twelve employes. Business was con- ducted in a single store-room on Chester avenue, immediately north of the alley between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets. Today the business supports one hundred and fifty employes and ranks as next to the largest mercantile establishment in the entire San Joaquin valley. .\n entire block of ground 1166 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY floor space is occupied on the east side of Chester avenue from Nineteenth to Twentieth street, in the Hopkins, Brodek and Scribner and Grand buildin^^s. The manag^er of this orreat business enterprise was born in the city of San Francisco August 6, 1876. The store at Willow was established in the same year (1876) and his parents moved thither, so that he grew to manhood in Glenn count}^ Besides having such advantages as were offered by the public schools he took a regular course of study in the University of California, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1898. Immediately after gradua- tion he returned to Willow and became manager of the store at that point. Four years later, upon the death of M. H. Wangenheim, the manager of the Bakersfield store, he was transferred to this city to fill the vacancy and thus at the age of only twenty-six assumed responsibilities of a very weighty nature. The presidency of the company is still held by Amiel Hochheimer, who remains actively in the business world and displays an energy scarcely less than that of his younger years. His brother, Moses, wdio died in the year 1912, is remembered kindly by the people of Bakersfield, where he was considered the leading merchant of the town and a man of high-minded, noble and humanitarian impulses. At one time Mr. Hochheimer served as lieutenant (in the staff of Governor Gillett. Notwithstanding his business responsibilities he is sociable and companionable and finds relaxation from business cares through membership in various organizations, including the Bakersfield Club, Army and Navy Club of San Francisco, Argonaut Club of San Francisco, and the Shriners and thirty-second degree Masons. EDWARD F- MILLARD.— The Millard family comes of old English lineage and the first representative of the name in America was Stephen W^illiam Millard, a native of the shire of Somerset, England, and a pioneer of 1852 in California, having been allured on the long voyage around the Horn by reason of tales heard concerning the rich mines of the then unknown west. By the time of his arrival, however, a reaction from mining had begun and many were seeking their livelihocds along other lines of labor. It was to ranching that he turned his attention after he had landed at San Francisco and had taken a tour of inspection toward the interior of the state. For a time he held the position as foreman of the ranch owned by Lyman Beard at Mission San Jose. Later he began to farm rented land for himself, living for a time at Sunclglen, Alameda county, where his son Edward F. was born August 12, 1875 ; but later removing to Irvington in the same county and during 1892 coming to Kern county to take up general farming. For a number of years after his arrival in California he remained a bachelor, but after a time he met and married Rebecca Lively, who was born in Kentucky and at the age of three years had been brought across the plains by her parents, the lamily making the long journey in a wagun drawn by oxen. Among nine children comprising the parental family, seven of whom are now living, Edward F. Millard was next to the youngest. As a boy he at- tended country schools in Alameda county. At the age of fourteen he began an apprenticeship to the trade of printer. Three years later, when the fnmih- came to Kern county, he secured work as a type-setter in the composing room of the Weekly Echo under ^Messrs. Gregory and Smith, with whom he re- mained for eighteen months. Next he began to be interested in horticulture and general farming. The study of the fruit industry proved interesting to him. He devoted much time to developing kinds of fruit adapted to the cli- mate and soil of Kern county. After about ten years of labor in fruit-growing and kindred pursuits he became a conductor with the Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway Company and in that position proved alert, capable and courteous. For about six years, beginning in 1906, he was connected with the ofiice force of the Power Transit and Light Company, continuing in the meter department after the concern had been absorbed hv the San Joaquin HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1167 Light and Power Corporation. During- 1912 he received a merited promotion to the position of window clerk. Politics has not received a great amount of attention from Mr. Millard, yet he keeps in touch with national problems, favors progressive measures in 1( cal affairs and votes with the Republican party in the general elections. Fraternally he holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of America. In Bakersfield, May 4, 1902, occurred his marriage to Miss Josephine Cowing, who was born in Tulare, this state, and completed her studies in the Kern county high school. Descended from old Anglo-Saxon ancestry, she is a daughter of John Cowing, an Englishman who came to California in young manhood and engaged in farm pursuits. After he had settled in Tulare county he met and married Sarah Baley, a native of Georgia. Upon his removal to Kern county he purchased land five miles from Bakersfield and devoted many years to the development of the property, making of it a productive and val- uable tract. For some years he and his wife have lived in Los Angeles. GEORGE CARL HABERFELDE.— As proprietor of one of the most important furniture establishments in the San Joaquin valley and as secretary of the Bakersfield Merchants" Association, Mr. Haberfelde has been intimately identified with the commercial upbuilding of his community and holds a posi- tion among those enterprising, capable and resourceful merchants who sur- mount obstacles and rise superior to misfortune. Of German birth and an- cestry, he was born in Nuremberg, November 20, 1871, and was a son of John and Barbara Haberfelde, also Bavarians by birth. For some time the father carried on a factory where he manufactured frames for pictures and for mir- rors, but influenced by the reported opportunities of the new world he closed out his interests in Bavaria and brought the family to America about 1880. After a brief sojourn in New York City he went further west and settled in Chicago, where George C. served an apprenticeship to the trades of cabinet- maker and upholsterer and gained a knowledge of the furniture business of the utmost value to his later undertakings. There are four sons and one daughter in the parental family and all of these now reside in California, one brother, Henry, having come to Bakersfield after the arrival of George C. in this city. The year 1891 witnessed the arrival of George C. Haberfelde in California and the establishment of his headquarters in San Diego, where he opened and operated a bakery. At the expiration of two years he disposed of that shop and resumed work in the furniture business as manager of a large San Diego firm. During the period of his residence in that city he married Miss Alvina Schmidt in 1894 and they are the parents of four children, Albert, Clarisse, Ed- mund and Roland. The family removed from San Diego to Bakersfield in 1897 and here Mr. Haberfelde later bought out the furniture business of Jacob Nie- deraur at Nineteenth and K streets. Although almost wholly without means, he had a good credit and was able to maintain a business of growing im- portance. The little frame building where he first started in business has since been replaced by the Fish building. But before it had been removed it proved inadequate to the demands of his increasing trade and as there were no large store buildings in Bakersfield at the time he secured a shack a little larger than the original place cf business. When he removed to it he had a total capital of only $200. From that small beginning he rose to prominence and success. By the prompt payment of his bills he maintained an excellent credit. Little by little he increased his stock of furniture until it represented a valua- tion of about $8,000. Just then, when he had only a small insurance protection of $600, a disastrous fire entirely destroyed the building and left him worse than penniless. L^ndismayed bv the great disaster. Mr. Haberfelde began in business once more, for his reputation was so high that he had no difficulty in securing on 1168 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY credit all the merchandise he desired. By his upright treatment of customers he had won their friendshij) and they rallied to his support. In a short time he had regained his former position in commercial circles and since 1908 he has occupied commodious quarters in the Dinkelspiel building at Nos. 1904-1906 Nineteenth street, having the most extensive establishment of its kind in the county, of which he is now the pioneer furniture dealer. In former years he was compelled to buy his furniture through middlemen, but even then he had resolved that when the business justified different procedure, he would go to headquarters for the source of his supplies. It is now possible for him to buy direct from the factory and thus save all of the profits of the middlemen, which in turn enables him to give to his customers the advantage of the reduced rates at which he buys. With all of his heavy business responsibilities he finds leisure to serve efficiently as secretary of the Kern County Merchants' Association, besides which he has been connected actively with the Knights of Pythias, W't odmen of the World and Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics he supports Democratic principles. LEONIDES CASTRO.— With nothing but a stout heart and his good health to aid him, it is to his credit and a high compliment to his abilities that Leonides Castro has reached his present standing, due largely to his un- daunted effort and determined industry. He was born May 18, 1856, in Sonora, Mexico, sen of Thomas and Concepcion (Coronada) Castro, who were pioneers of Kern county. Leonides, familiarly known as Lee, is the eldest of their twelve childrey^even of these now surviving. In his boyhood it was necessary for him to ^^in the support of the growing family and as he gave his time to work on tlWliome farm it left little opportunity for attend- ing school. Meager as were his faciHties for gaining an education he never- theless became a well-informed man, self-study and observation, coupled with a quick mind and a retentive memory, being largely responsible for this. In 1867 he came with his parents to Kern county and here he worked for his father more or less until he was twenty-five years old. He first settled on Panama ranch, where his father engaged in stockraising and general farming, later purchasing a hundred and sixty acres on section twelve. In 1876 he and his brothers were taken into partnership by the father and together they farmed this tract for about two years, when Lee Castro withdrew and entered the employ of Miller & Lux as horsebreaker. He remained with this com- pany for ten years, after which he was with the Kern County Land Company, engaged in the stock business. In 1890 he bought twenty acres of land, five miles south of Bakersfield. From time to time he added to this until he now owns one hundred and twenty acres, devoted entirely to general farming, with the exception of about eighty acres in alfalfa, under the Kern Island canal. It should be stated that the oldest ditch in the county was built by his father and was known as the Castro ditch. Thomas Castro built this for four and a half miles by the aid of ox-teams, plows and men to do the shoveling. Mr. Castro is raising horses, mules, cattle and hogs. He has three jacks and two stallions, all splendid specimens, and in his herd are some large, well- built mules and horses. For his cattle, horse and mule range he owns four hundred and eighty acres on Cottonwood creek, on the south slope of the Breckenridge mountains, where he also has access to a large public range. His brands are two Js with an inverted C above and VC. He is also engaged in contracting and teaming, grading and leveling of land. Mr. Castro was married in Sacramento, Cal., in 1880, to Miss Dixie Cage, who was born in Napa county, the daughter of Edward Cage, a pioneer of that county, whose sketch appears in that of Mrs. Domitilo Castro, her sister. Mrs. Castro was reared in Los Angeles and Kern counties, and was educated in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Castro became the parents of ten chil- dren, five of \vh(^m are hving. Named in order of birth, the children are: HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1171 Charles, who hel]js his father and superintends the farm and stock business; Daniel, assisting^ in the care of the cattle ; Robert, who died at twenty years ; Henry, who died at the age of eighteen ; Sylvania, when twenty-two ; Annie, when six years; John, who is with Miller & Lux; Lottie, Mrs. Hughes, of Kern county ; Martin, attending the Kern county high school ; and Louisa, who died at fifteen years of age. Mr. Castro is a Democrat. The family resi- dence is at No. 708 Oregon street, East Bakersfield. ALFRED SWOFFORD.— Born in Daviess county. Mo., February 20, 1874, Mr. Swofiford there grew to manhood, giving diligent attention to his studies at the local schools, and becoming a healthy, well-bred and am- bitious young man. Attracted early to the west and hearing reports which assured him of a good chance to improve his circumstances, he came to Cali- fornia in 1898, in March of that year locating in Tulare county, where he found employment and worked for about two years. Coming in April, 1900, to Hill's Valley, Fresno county, he went to work on a wheat ranch, of which J. W. Carpenter was proprietor. The latter did freighting as well as farming and ran two twelve-mule freight teams in hauling lumber from the sawmills of the Pine Ridge Lumber Company in the mountains to Fresno. Mr. SwofTord began as a teamster and worked his way up to be head teamster, continuing at this job until July, 1902, when Mr. Carpenter sold out to the Reed Brc thers of Reedley, Cal., and he continued in their employ doing team- ing until 1905. During this interval the Reed Bothers, H. M. and E. R. Reed, were filling their freighting contract to haul ujw^the heavy freight consisting of material and machinery for the Kern Rive^P^wer Company, now known as the Huntington Electric Power Plant, twelve miles below Kernville. At times Mr. Swofford handled teams of eight, sixteen, twenty-four and thirty- two horses, as the weight demanded, and machinery, some pieces weighing as much as fifty-two tons, was hauled, this necessitating the utmost skill in driving and the most accurate solving of the problems of directions and the careful management of his teams. Freight machinery, lumber and cement were carried for this firm, and Mr. Swofiford hauled the first and last load, his services proving most valuable to his employers. The job was completed in November, 1904. He remained with the Reed Brothers until July 1, 1905, then driving sixteen-horse teams for the borax contractor. Hank Hawn, and hauled borax from the Frazier Borax Mines in Ventura county to Bakersfield, taking eight days to make the round trip. In about November, 1905, he went to Los Angeles and engaged with Donovan-Bourland as a teamster, and remained with them through the winter, then returning to Bakersfield. He went to logging for the Frazier Borax Company until September, 1906, and through September, -October and November of that year was at Edison hauling heavy machinery for the Edison Electric Company as teamster for the Short Broth- ers, who had the contract for hauling all that heavy machinery. It was while in this employment that he drove thirty horses and hauled some nieces of machinery w^eighing as much as twenty-eight tons apiece. In 1907 he re- engaged with the Frazier Borax Company and became head teamster, work- ing for them until January, 1908, when he was transferred to Lang, Los Angeles county, and there continued teaming until August 1, 1908. when he went east to Missouri for a three months' visit, during August, September and October. The first of November found him back in Kern county and he then leased the Beekman ranch for five years, this being his present place, which bids fair to become one of the most productive places in the county. Mr. Swofiford has s')ent much time in corn-growing and has evinced a great interest in its production. In 1912 he grew several acres of corn which in yield and quality would compare favorably with that grown in Missouri. He has raised fine corn as a second crop after the first crop (of barley hay) has been taken ofif. In 1912 he planted several acres in this manner and found to his 1172 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY surprise that the second croj) c)utyielde(l the corn planted as the first crop over two tons to the acre and tlie ears were exceptionally large and fine. So successful has he been in this venture that he is becoming a specialist on corn- raising. Mr. Swofiford is also interested in the breeding of good horses and is a shareholder in the celebrated Union Avenue Horse Company, owner of one of the best imported stallions ever brought to this state. Politically Mr. Swofiford is a Democrat. E. W. WALTERS. — A personal identification with Kern county cover- ing one-quarter of a century and a connection wath ranching for twenty years of that period entitle Mr. Walters to rank among the pioneer farmers to whose optimistic labors, unwearied application and large-hearted devotion the county owes in large degree its high standing as an agricultural center. When eventually approaching age imposed its limitations upon his strength and necessitated his retirement from ranching he sold the farm that had been his home for twenty years and removed to Bakersfield, where he has bought lots, erected a number of cottages and now makes his home, having no labor more arduous than the supervision of the six houses he still owns. It is but natural that a man who fought under the stars and stripes during the Civil war and who has been a lifelong student of governmental problems, should maintain a patriotic interest in every movement bearing upon our national prosperity and continued development. Political economy has been studied bv him for many years and has made him a Socialist. In a family of seven sons (all now deceased excepting tw^o) the fourth in order of birth, E. W. Walters was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, Janu- ary 15, 1842, being a son of the late Isaac and Isabelle (Correll) Walters, natives of Ohio, where the mother remained until death. The father, who had followed the trade of blacksmith in the Buckeye state, removed to Illinois during 1858 and embarked in the mercantile business. The last years of his life were passed in Missouri- and there his death occurred. At the time of the removal of the family to Illinois in 1858 E. W. Walters was a youth of sixteen years, rugged and energetic, well qualified to do a man's work in the breaking of new land and placing under cultivation of a farm. When twenty years of age he was accepted as a private in the Union army, becoming a member of Company H. Fifty-seventh Illinois Infantry, during August of 1862. With his regiment he marched to the front and bore an active part in the contest between north and south. His principal engagements were those at Resaca, Dallas, Snake Creek Gap, Peach Tree creek, Kenesaw moun- tain, j^ovejoy Station and Atlanta. From beginning to end of the great march to the sea he was with the troops, enduring the hardships of forced marches, the fatigue of camp routine and the dangers of frequent skirmishes. On that march the most important battles in which he bore a part were at Golds- borough and Benton ville. As one of "Sherman's Greezers" he marched in the grand review at Washington, D. C, and from that city was ordered to Louis- ville, Ky., where in August of 1865 he was mustered out of the service. From there the regiment proceeded to Chicago, where he was honorably discharged. A clerkship of about twelve months was followed bv the marriage of Mr. Walters in November. 1866, and his removal to an Illinois farm. For twenty years he followed agriculture in that state, after which, from 1886 to 1888, he made his home in Creston, Iowa, and thence came to California in 1888, settled in Kern county, took up a homestead and began to transform the virgin soil into a productive ranch. The task was one of great difficulty. The arduous nature of the work might have daunted one less persevering than he, but in the end he had the satisfaction of owning an improved ranch, with neat residence, other substantial buildings, fences, fine stock, needed ma- chinery, etc., the property being one of the best in the San Emidio country. In 1908 he sold the ranch and came to Bakersfield. Avhich has since been M. cJUi^ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1175 the home of himself and wife, the latter formerly Miss Mary E. Scott, and a native of Sistersville, Tyler county, W. Va. Her father, John Scott, removed to Adams county and later to Hancock county. He and his wife, Mary E. Scott, both passed away in Illinois. Of the four sons and three daughters, two are living-. Three of the sons served in Illinois regiments in the Civil war, two of them giving up their lives in battle. Mrs. Walters, next to the youngest of the children, was brought up in Illinois. To herself and husband six children were born, five of whom are living. Named in order of birth they are as follows: Mrs. Etta I. Allen, of Los Angeles; Frank A., a farmer at Lerdo; John R., an oil driller on the west side; Oscar E., who died in infancy; Thomas E., who served in a California regiment in the Spanish- American and Philippine war, and now employed in the Kern river oil field; and Raymond I., a plumber engaged in business in Bakersfield. For many years Mr. Walters has been connected with Hurlburt Post No. 126, G. A. R., while he also is identified with the blue lodge of Masonry. Mrs. Walters is a charter member of Hurlburt Relief Corps No. 115, W. R. C, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. JOHN OLIVER HART.— Kern county, Cal., is particularly for- tunate in having a board of supervisors composed of men large in char- acter and in achievements. Prominent among these is John Oliver Hart, supervisor representing the third supervisorial district. Mr. Hart is a native of Kern county, a son of Joseph Bishop Hart, whose father, Joseph B., early located in Texas and came overland with ox-teams to California, through the Indian counLry, by way of Fort Yuma, to Elmonte, soon after 1850, accompanied by his son and other members of his family. Joseph Bishop Hart obtained his schooling at Elmonte and engaged in stock- raising and farming, operating for many years near Keene, Kern county. In 1897 he sold his land and located at East Bakersfield, where he is now living aged sixty-nine years. He was a pioneer at Tehachapi, where he engaged in farming, stockraising and freighting with ox-teams from Los Angeles across Tehachapi to Havilah. In the latter enterprise he was assisted by his brothers Aaron and Martin and sometimes by others. Once his outfit was attacked by Indians near Walker's Basin and his two brothers were killed, a companion named Dawson making his escape. Jo- seph Bishop Hart married Mary A. Finley, a native of Texas, who was brought to California while a child by her father, John Henry Finley. She grew up in Fresno county to be a true woman of the west, and bore her husband three sons and three daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters are living. John Oliver Hart, the eldest, was born at Tehachapi, October 21, 1871, and obtained his education in the public schools. He early gained a prac- tical knowledge of the stock business, and after having assisted his father for some years, began to raise cattle in the mountains for himself. The brand he used was one which his father had established and was one of the early brands used in the county. It represented a heart with a yoke underneath, connected. In 1899 Mr. Hart settled in East Bakersfield, building his residence on Grove street, and he has since made his home there, giving attention meanwhile to his extensive stock interests. His stock range on the Kern river is one of the best in this part of the county. He has become well known to the business community as the local repre- sentative of the Union Hardware & Metal Company, the Associated Oil Company and Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Some of these relations have been maintained for twelve years. He was long foreman for the Asoociated Oil Company and severed his connection with Fairbanks, Morse & Co. only because of his election as supervisor of the third district, to which he was chosen as a Democrat in November, 1910. He took the oath of office, to serve four years, in January, 1911. and is making an enviable 1176 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY record as an official, taking an active part in public improvements, such as road building, the building of the court house and the Kern river bridge and jail. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, Eagles and the Order of Moose. As a citizen he has demonstrated his public spirit in many ways. He was married, at Tehachapi July 2, 1897, to Miss Carrie Roberts, daughter of Lewis and Nellie (Miller) Roberts, natives, respectively, of Canada and Vermont, both of whom are living in Globe, Ariz. She was born in Burling:on, Vt., and accompanied her par- ents to Idaho in 1882 and thence came to California in 1896. ^Ir. and Mrs. Hart have four children, Lila, Nora, Agnes and John. PETER PETERSEN.— A native of Denmark Mr. Petersen was born at SwGnborg, on the Island of Fyen, May 23, 1879, being the second oldest of a family of twelve children born to Hans and Katrina (Hansen) Petersen. The father is a carpenter in his native place, but the mother is deceased. Peter Petersen was educated in the public schools until fourteen years of age, when he began working at the carpenter's trade under his father, continuing with him until he was seventeen. In the meantime, having saved some mcney, he began attending the high school and after completing the course he entered the Government Dairy School at Joelland, working his way through school and graduating in 1902. He further perfected him- self as an engineer by taking a course at the Engineers' School in Odense, after which he became manager of a creamery at Skaro, Denmark. Having a desire to try his fortunes in California he came hither in 1906 and the first six months was an engineer with a gas well-borer near Stockton. He was then manager of a creamery in Oregon, later buttermaker at Layton, Cal., and later held a similar position in Fresno. In 1911 Mr. Petersen came to McFarland and became manager of the McFarland Creamery Company, engaged in the manufacture of butter, and since then the company has taken first prize at the state fair for the best quality of butter in the state. The company is also engaged in the manu- facture of ice. Mr. Petersen owns twenty acres three-quarters of a mile west (i McFarland, where he has built his home and is engaged in intensified farming and the dairy business. He has two pumping plants yielding one hundred and twenty-five inches of water, not only supplying his own place with ample water for irrigation, but also sixty acres adjoining, all devoted to raising alfalfa. He has on the place a herd of sixteen cows, all full- blooded and high grade Holsteins. Mr. Petersen was married in Denmark in 1906, being united with ^liss Christene Willumsen, and they are the parents of one child. Harry. Having been reared in the Lutheran Church, he and his wife adhere to that faith. ISAAC W. HARBAUGH.— Mr. Harbaugh was born in Washington county, Md., October 20, 1855, a son of Lewis F. and Anna (Hoffman) Harbaugh of old Maryland families. His grandfather, Alexander Har- baugh, served as a captain through the war of 1812. After he had completed the studies at the public schools Isaac W. Harbaugh entered a business col- lege in Baltimore and took a commercial course. Leaving college at the age of eighteen he began to work for his father and continued with him for three years, when he started out to earn his own way in the world. During 1877, he came to the west and became a resident of California, where for six years he was employed as a bookkeeper in a store in Mendocino county. Thence he went to Fresno to join his father, who had embarked in farm pursuits in that section of the state. In 1889 he came to Kern county and bought a quar- ter-section of unimproved land from the railroad company. The tract, which he still owns, lies twelve miles west of Bakersfield in the Rosedale district and in addition he owns one hundred and sixty acres between his home place and Rosedale, and he also owns property in Bakersfield. His quarter-section ^ JlyU^\^^i^<^ HISTORY OF Kl^RN COUNTY 1179 rancli is rented and lie devotes his attention to the raising of alfalfa, grain and stock on his home place, where now he has seventy-five head of hogs, the same number of cattle and twelve head of horses. The success crowning his well- directed efforts has been enhanced by the unceasing co-operation of his wife, whom he married August 10, 1898, and who bore the maiden name of Cecelia Burr. She is a native daughter of the state, having been born in San Francisco, where her parents were early settlers. Her father, Charles H. Burr, served in the Seventh Battery Wiscc nsin Light Artillery during the Civil war, and he passed away October 27, 1911. Her mother was before her marriage Martha L. Cantrell, a native of the state of New York, and she now makes her home with Mrs. Harbaugh. The education of Mrs. Harbaugh was acquired in the public schools and the University of California, and she was engaged in teach- ing in Kern county until her marriage. There are two children in the family, Charles L. and Clarence Arthur, whose training for future usefulness in the world forms the chief ambition of Mr. Harbaugh and his capable wife. The father is interested in the cause of education and is clerk of the board of trus- tees of the Greeley school district. The family attends the Episcopal church of which Mrs. Harbaugh is a member. GfiORGE A. YANCEY.— Two miles south of the town proper of Bakersfield, Kern county, lies the improved and up-to-date farm of George A. Yancey, a farmer of prominence in the community, who has prospered well since his coming to California in 1897, at which time he became a permanent and loyal resident of the county, giving his support to all projects proposed for the advancement and development of his community. William Yancey, father of George A., w^as born in Tennessee and was formerly a resident of Indiana, where in Benton county his son was born March 12, 1860. He married Maria Onesettler, born in Pennsylvania, and together they made their way to California in 1895, settling in the Weed Patch in Kern county. Inured to the hardships of pioneer life, they soon found themselves the owners of an improved and well-cultivated farm which they had acquired by their hard labors from the land in its wild state, and many happy days were spent there in the enjoyment of their well-earned prosperity. The father passed away in 1903, the mother, now at the age of seventy-two years, making her home at Glennville, Cal. Receiving his primary education in his native county, George A. Yan- cey made his home in Indiana for many years, growing to manhood and developing splendid traits of character which his parents had inscilled in him in their quiet, even home life. At the age of twenty-six he removed to Cass county. Mo., where he was married to Miss Sadie Bateman, a native of Coshocton county, Ohio, the daughter of Mathew and Marsha (McFar- land) Bateman, who were natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. She was reared in Cass county. Mo. Wx. and Mrs. Yancey became the parents of two children, Gertrude, who is now the wife of Bob Kincer, a farmer of Gosford ; and John, who is at home with his parents. Mr. Yancey made his home in Missouri for many years, following the vocation of farmer, which has been his life work. His interest had ever been turned toward the west and with the thorough understanding of a farmer as to the exceptional conditions of the fertile soil and the climate in California, he decided in 1897 to follow his parents to Kern county, where upon arrival he purchased his present forty-acre farm on Union avenue and Brundage lane, just two miles south of the town of Bakersfield. Building house and barns, he set out to improve this land and such has been his success that today he is the owner of one of the best producing and generally well-kept farms in the vicinity devoted principally to alfalfa. His wife is also the owner of twenty acres of land on Union avenue, which tract is situated six miles south of Bakersfield and is a select piece of property. A Democrat in political matters, Mr. Yancey is well versed in party affairs and is alive 1180 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY to all questions of importance concerning his party's welfare. He unites fraternally with the Modern Woodmen and Mrs. Yancey is a member of tlie Congregational church. AGUSTIN SANZBERRO.— The exercise of judicious foresight and care- ful management, supplementing perseverance and untiring industry, has enal)led Mr. Sanzberro to achieve independence while yet a young man and within a comparatively brief period from the time of his arrival in California, a stranger in a strange land, unfamiliar with the soil of the country. Only a few years have elapsed since he purchased his present well-improved farm nine miles northwest of Bakersfield. At the time of buying the tract of one hundred and sixty acres, no improvements had been put on the property and the possibilities of the soil were little known. Under his keen over- sight and wise judgment as to cultivation, large crops of alfalfa are annually cut and fed or sold. Irrigation is provided by means of the Beardsley canal. Combined with or supplementary to the making of hay, the owner of the ranch devotes much time to the sheep business, in which indeed he has been more or less interested from boyhood and in which his experience, skill and expertness are unquestioned by those standing at the head of the business in the county. Born in the village of Bastan, Navarra, April 2, 1878, Agustin Sanzberro is a son of Julian, a farmer, and was reared on the old home farm, giving his time to the aid of his father until he had reached the age of twenty. Mean- while a brother, Marcos, had preceded him to California and the reports he sent back induced the younger brother to join him in Kern county, where he arrived in February of 1898, ready to earn a livelihood as a herder of sheep. Starting out from East Bakersfield, he gave his attention to the care of the flock of his brother and ranged the sheep on the plains to the north- east. After five years as a herder he bought a flock of his own and started in business for himself, making his headquarters in Mono county, where he found an abundance of feed and water. Even when he bought his present farm in 1909 he did not relinquish his interests in sheep, but still owns a flock and finds their care neither laborious nor unprofitable. However, he no longer travels with the flocks over the ranges, but since his marriage in 1910 to Miss Catherine Etchart, of East Bakersfield, a native of Basses-Pyrenees, he has remained on the home farm, devoting himself earnestly to its care, cultivation and improvement. With his wife he holds membership in St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Fas' Bakersfield. Politically he is a Republican. D. B. COOK. — Experience in various lines of work in various parts of the east did not prove profitable to Air. Cook, who dates the beginning of his prosperity from the time of his removal to California. By birth and lineage he is a Virginian, identified with that part of the Old Dominion that during the Civil war remained true to the Union and resulted in the erection of a new commonwealth. West Virginia. Born in Rowlesburg, Preston county, in October of 1856, he is a son of the late Isaac Cook, likewise a native of Preston county and long a resident of that locality. During 1860 he crossed the Ohio river into Ohio and settled in Washington county, where he engaged in farming for a long period, ultimately, however, removing to Michigan to spend his declining days Since his demise the widow, who bore the maiden name of Alcinda Newman, has made Chicago her home. Of their thirteen chil- dren only five are now living, the next to the eldest being D. B., whose birth occurred in the decade 'prior to the Civil war and whose memories therefore include the privations incident to that period. The migration of the family to Michigan, in the hope that better fortune awaited them in a newer country remote from the scenes of the war, caused him to earn his livelihood during youth as a worker in the northern lumber woods. Having learned the trade of a l)lacksmith. he followed that occupation in Kansas and for a time I HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1183 conducted a shop of his own at Seward, with, however, very little profit from the undertaking". From Kansas to Ohio and from blacksmithiuij;- to lumbering represented the next change in the life of Mr. Cook, who later spent some time in lum- bering in Preston county, W. \'a., thence going to the city of Washington and from there to Lewinsville. V'a. It was the next move that brought him to California and to Kern county, where he has made his home since 1903. Arriving here with little means,- he secured employment as a pumper in the Kern river oil fields. Later he filled a similar position at McKittrick, wdiere he soon embarked in the butcher's trade and also carried on an hotel. Mean- time in 1905 he had bought a tract of land six and one-half miles northwest of Bakersfield, under the Beardsley ditch. This he leased to tenants for three years, but in 1908 sold out his business interests and settled on the place. where he since has engaged in raising alfalfa. The forty acres are in the highest possible state of cultivation. Large crops of alfalfa are harvested and sold and the owner has found the investment a profitable one- While living at Mc- Kittrick he held membership with the Improved Order of Red Men. G, F. STROBLE. — A citizen who conscientiously devotes himself, his abil- ity and his high integrity to the public service is richly worthy of all the honor that can possibly come to him. To hold an office is at the best an unsatisfac- tory task, unsatisfactory at least to the incumbent. However well he may do there will always be persons who will censure him ; but there are a few officials who, like G. F. Stroble, constable of the third judicial tow^nship of Kern county, Cal., win almost universal approval. Mr. Stroble was born near Burgettstown, Washington county. Pa., February 3, 1862, a son of Frederick and Elizabeth Stroble, who were of German birth. The father, a native of Wurtemberg, became a miner in Pennsylvania and later in West Virginia and was eventually killed by an accident while at work. His widow died at Steubenville, Ohio, December 8, 1910, in her eighty-fifth year. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter, all of whom are living. John Frank's home is near Steubenville, Ohio. Charles lives in Idaho and Fredericka is Mrs. Ahrns, of Washington county. Pa. G. F. lived at St. Mary's, W. Va.. until he was thirteen years old, then returned to Washington county. Pa., where he was educated in public schools. He farmed there until 1888, or until about twenty-six years old. It was in that year that he came to Kern county, Cal., and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- pany as fireman, running on trains between Kern and Tehachapi. In 1894 he w^as elected constable to the third judicial township and in January, 1895, entered upon the duties and responsibilities of his office. In 1898 he was re-elected as an Independent and received a plurality of votes over two regu- larly nominated opponents. In 1902 he was re-elected on the Republican ticket by a good majority, and again in 1906. In 1910 he was re-elected over opDcsing nominees of both parties, and if he lives will serve until January, 1915, a period of twenty years from the time he entered upon his first term. The fact that he has been so many times re-elected is sufficient evidence not alone of his popularity, but of the obligation under which he has put the people of his district. He was for nine years a member of the library board of Kern City and seven years of that time was its chairman until the ccn- solidation of that institution with the Beale library. Having prospered, perhaps not as he has deserved, but in a satisfactory degree, he has acquired considerable valuable residence ])roperty and in 1911 erected a large resi- dence at No. 714 Kentucky street. In May, 1913, he and Judge Marion sold the corner of O and Baker streets, 150 x 135 feet, which they had owned and improved jointly, to the city of Bakersfield for the site of the new library building in East Bakersfield. As a citizen Mr. Stroble has always been pul)lic-s])irited and helpful to 1184 HISTORY OF KF.RX COUNTY all worthy interests. He is influential in local Republican councils and is a member of the Lutheran Church. He was made a ]\Iason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Knights uf Pythias. He married at Fresno, October 4, 1891. Miss Maggie Emma Garrett, a native of Tennessee, and they have two children, Vance and Georgie. Mrs. Stroble is a member of the ]\Iethodist Episcopal Church South, a Pvthian Sister, and is past matron of Bakersfield Chapter, O. E. S. HERMAN S. DUMBLE. — Comparatively few of the men now active in the business affairs of Kern county can claim this as their native place, but such is the distinction enjoyed by Herman S. Dumble, whose birth occurred December 13, 1868. at Havilah, then the county seat. The family had been established in the west by his father, E. H. Dumble, a native of Chambersburg, Pa., and a pioneer of the '50s in California, who after having crossed the plains with wagons and oxen engaged in mining in the Sierras and along the Kern river. For some years he conducted a general store at Havilah, but later he engaged in the mercantile business at Los Angeles, returning to Kern county about 1874 and settling at Bakersfield, whither the county seat had been taken in accordance with the popular vote. Near town he began to improve an alfalfa and fruit farm. By his success in growing the first lemons and oranges in Kern county he proved that it was possible to raise citrus fruits here. Too much credit cannot be given him for his participation in the progress of horticultural activities. Believ- ing that the soil and climate equalled those of more widely advertised regions, he undertook to prove his theory by actual experiment and thus accomplished work of inestimable value to the county. When Kern and Kings counties were still a part of Tulare he held the office of assessor. As a pioneer he labored for the advancement of his chosen locality and when he died in 1903 many tributes of respect gave evidence of his high citizenship and the appreciation in which his services were held. After he came west he married Drusilla Skiles, who was born in Texas, came to California during the early '50s via the southern route and died at Bakersfield during 1881. The trip to the coast had been made with her father, who first settled at El Monte and later cultivated a part of the John Wolfskin ranch near the present site of Saw telle, but eventually removed to Kern Island and engaged in general farming throughout his remaining years. The parental family included five children, three of whom are now living, one, W. R., being now with the Kern County Land Company at Bakersfield. The eldest member of the famih^ circle, Herman S., received a public-school education. At a very early age he showed that he had unusual ability as a mechanic, hence was sent to the Jones Mechanical Institute in San Francisco, where he completed the regular course ol training. Afterward he engaged in drilling wells and in installing pumping plants and machinery for irrigaticn and stock purposes, this work taking him through Kern, Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties, and giving him a wide circle of acquaintances as well as a general appreciation of his skill in his chosen work. During 1898 he became superintendent of the machin- ery department of the Kern County Land Company and since then he has devoted his entire time and attention to the oversight of the shop, discharging his many responsible duties with tact, skill and promptness. Some years ago he erected a comfortable residence on the corner of B and Twentieth streets, Bakersfield, where he and his wife and their chil- dren, Charles and Frances, have an attractive home hospitably open to their many friends in the city and adjacent communities. Mrs. Dumble was formerly Miss Rita Kalloch and was born in the state of Washington, Init had lived in Bakersfield for some time before their marriage. Frater- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l L 1 ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1' m '-'lii' < HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1187 nally Mr. Dumble is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias, U. R., in which he has been the recipient of official honors. From early life he has been staunch in his allegiance lo the Democratic party and at one time he served as a member of the county Democratic central committee. Upon the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he was selected as a member of the board of trustees and in April of the next year, at the first general election he was re-elected to the position, where he has rendered faithful service as a member of various committees and has been particularly efficient as chairman ot the street committee. JOHN E. ROBERTS.— One of the enterprising and industrious citi- zens of East Bakersfield who is making every effort possible to obtain a com- petency and one also who is well known in fraternal and social circles there is John E. Roberts. His father, Henry O. Roberts, was born in Kentucky, but was reared in Indiana, where he was a farmer in Ripley county all his life, and where his death occurred. He was married to Zela Graham, born in Indiana, and to them were born three children, of whom John E. was the eldest, having been born April 7, 1871, in Versailles, Ripley county, Ind. After attending the common schools of this native place, John E. Roberts was sent to the Versailles Normal school, where he received a thorough training. He then ftllowed farming, first in his native state, and then in Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa, and upon hearing such excellent reports of the prospects in this country, he in 1895 set out for the west, arriving in California in May of that year. In August following he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Co., as bridge builder at Tulare, after which he became a fireman for the same road running out of Bakers- field to Los Angeles. For four and a half years he remained in this position, giving it diligent attention and becoming so familiar with that work that in 1903 he was promoted to locomotive engineer and he holds that position to-day. He has invested in forty acres of farming land on Union avenue, about three-quarters of a mile south of Bakersfield, upon which he has installed an electric pumping plant and is raising alfalfa. In 1901, in the city of Los Angeles, Mr. Roberts married Miss Georgia Sommars, who was born in Springfield, 111., daughter of Alichael Sommars, who was a brick mason in Illinois, where his death occurred. Her mother, who before her marriage was Margaret Devereaux, also passed away in Illinois. Mrs. Roberts is an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star of Bakersfield, while her husband is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., Bakersfield Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., also of Sumner Lodge, K. of P., and of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. He votes the Republican ticket, and is actively interested in the welfare of that party. BENJAMIN F. SEIBERT.— One of the substantial citizens of Kern county, who has been actively identified with its business life for a period of over twenty-five years is Benjamin F. Seibert, who came to this county in March, 1886. He was born April 20, 1867, in South Vineland, Cumber- land county, N. J., and at the age of six years moved with his parents, Ben- .^C^ jamin and Mariiha J. (Sell) Seibert, to Reno, Nev. where they remained one year, thence moving to Ogden, Utah. They w"ere at this point but a short time, and then moved to San Francisco and from there to San Diego, where thev remained bvit a year and a half, going from there to Anaheim in 1876. The schooling received by Mr. Seibert was naturally varied, as he was obliged to change schools as his parents moved on from place to place, but he was mentally of a bright mind and he learned easily. He studied at school until he reached the age of about fourteen and in December, 1882. began to learn the blacksmith's trade. He came from -Anaheim to Kern 1188 HISI'ORY OF KRRX COUNTY county in March, 1886. and secured employment with C. N. Johnston, with whom he remained for eleven years, working at general blacksmi thing and proving himself an able and energetic laborer in this line of work. Then he moved to the Panama district and started in the business for himself, opening up a well-equipped blacksmith shop, and here he has since been engaged in building up a fine trade. In 1908 he bought an acre of land at Panama, Cal., and the next year moved upon it, having his shop built on the home prop- erty. Mr. Seibert was in Bakersfield to witness the flood of 1893, having been there also at the time of the big fire on July 7 , 1889. Mr. Seibert was married December 23, 1890, in Los Angeles, to Clara L. Searle, who was born in Stanislaus county, Cal., and attended the public schools in her native county and in Los Angeles. She came with her parents in 1877 to Kern county, and lived on what is known as Reader Hill, at present the site of the Santa Fe depot, and they lived there a year and a half, at that time moving to Los Angeles, but in 1889 they returned to Kern county to make their permanent home. Mr. and Mrs. Seibert have three children: Frank S., Arthur A. and Vera V. Politically he believes in the principles of the Republican party, and fraternally is connected with the Woodmen of the World. PETER HIEMFORTH.— Still in the prime of life (for his birth occurred in Leelanau county, near Traverse City, Mich., September 30, 1867), Mr. Hiemforth may expect many years of continued usefulness in the farming circles near Rosedale and in all probability these will also be years of increased gains through his experienced management of farm land. Educated in public schools of Michigan, his native commonwealth, Peter Hiemforth assisted his father, Frederick Hiemforth, at home during vacations and after he left school at the age of fourteen he gave his entire time to the work of an assistant to his father on the home place. At the attainment of his majority he left home and began to work for wages, at times being on farms and at other times working in lumber mills. Being of a frugal nature, inclined to save his wages instead of dissipating them in amusements, he was able in the course of a few years to buy the equity in a tract of one hundred and twenty acres. Later he increased his hold- ings through purchase until he had one hundred and ninety acres, where he engaged in raising wheat and also made a specialty of potatoes. To the regret of his many friends there he was obliged to dispose of his hold- ings and seek a more healthful climate. Attracted to California, he arrived in Kern county during April of 1903 and at once settled near Rosedale, where he now owns one hundred and fifteen acres, of Avhich all but five acres is in alfalfa. At the time of his purchase of the tract it was wholly unimproved. The task of preparing the place for alfalfa was one of great difficulty and necessitated incessant toil, but he has his reward in being the owner of one of the fine alfalfa farms in the county. While some of the hay is sold each year, much of it is fed to his dairy herd of thirty-two Jersey cows and to the other stock kept on this splendid alfalfa ranch. He has lately put down wells and installed a pumping plant with a capacity of two hundred inches. In his work he has had the assistance of his wife, whom he married in Northport, Mich., November 26, 1891. and who bore the maiden name of Jennie Scott. She was born in Northport, ■Mich., and was the daughter of Andrew Scott, a native of Ireland, who came to the United States and served in the Civil war in a Michigan regiment. Mr. and Mrs. Hiemforth are the parents of four children : Andrew, Kate, Theodore and Phillip. Mr. Hiemforth was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. and also holds membership in the Woodmen of the World, while he is politically a Republican. He takes a great interest in keeping up the standard of the free schools and with that end in view he has con- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1191 sented to serve as a member of the board of school trustees of the Rosedale district. FERNANDO ETCHEVERRY— The opportunities afforded by the Rosedale district as an agricultural region and its adaptability to the profit- able cultivation of alfalfa induced Mr. Etcheverrv to invest in a tract of eighty acres in 1908 and the following year he came to the place in order to take up the task of building a house and barn, checking the land and sowing it to alfalfa. The farm lies eight and one-half miles northwest of Bakersfield and is under the Beardsley canal. During 1913 the owner sunk two wells to a depth of one hundred and five feet with water rising to within twenty-seven feet of the surface, and has since had an abundance of water, pumping by means of an engine of fifty-horse capacity producing two hundred and fifty inches of water and thus afTording adequate irri- gation for the valuable property. Of French birth and lineatre, Fernando Etcheverrv was born in Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees, March 1, 1869, and was the only child of Michel and Louisa (Chabano) Etcheverrv, the former still living on his farm in France, the latter being deceased. In boyhood Fernando was sent to school during the winter months and trained to help on the farm during the summer, but when sixteen, in 1885, he left France to seek a livelihood in the new world. At first he joined two aunts (Mrs. Peter Gastambide and Mrs. Domingo Gastambide), near Los Banos, Merced county, Cal., where he soon found employment as a herder of sheep, an occupation made familiar to him through earlier life in the valley extending from the Pyrenees moun- tains to the Bay of Biscay, a region peculiarly suited to the sheep industry. In 1890 he came from Merced county to Kern, now East Bakersfield. Mak- ing this place his headquarters, he engaged in the sheep business, ranging his flocks on the plains and in the mountains. Meantime, in 1892, he became proprietor of the Pyrenees hotel on Sumner street. After four years as a partner of F. ]\L Noriega, he purchased the interest of his partner and then continued alone for two years. Meanwhile he had continued an identi- fication with the sheep industry. For eighteen months he owned a flock, but, not being able to give the sheep personal attention owing to his business interests, he sold them to ether parties. Soon afterwards he began to im- prove his Rosedale ranch and, having sold out his hotel interests to his former partner. Mr. Noriega, he since has devoted himself exclusively to the raising of alfalfa. He has been a useful man to his community, an up- builder of East Bakersfield and Kern county, an earnest supporter of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in East Bakersfield and a contributor to move- ments for the benefit of the people. In politics he has voted with the Re- publican party ever since casting his first ballot. At the time of his arrival in Kern county he was unmarried and at East Bakersfield September 4, 1902, he was united with Miss Mathilda Etcheverry, also a native of Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees, and a daughter of John and Catherine (Laxague) Etche- verrv, farmers in France. They have two sons, Felix and Peter. J. G. RUPP. — Since first coming to the Kern river fields during the spring of 1900 Mr. Rupp has risen by dint of his own untiring persever- ance and constant application from a very humble identification with one of the oil concerns to a position of influence and responsibility. It has been his privilege, partly through chance and partly through his own plans, to secure considerable experience in the oil industry in other parts of California and in other states of the v/est, so that he has the distinct advantage of being able to utilize at this place ideas of worth tested out at other points. During the spring of 1912 he was called to the superin- tendency of the Ojai Valley Petroleum Company, proprietors of forty acres situated on section 21. township 28. range 28. Under his supervision there are sixteen producing wells, exclusive of the Melwood lease operated 1192 HISTORY OF K1":RX COUNTY by the same company. The holdings of the company are located in the extreme northwest corner of the Kern river fields. Born in Luzerne county. Pa.. December 17, 1871, J. G. Rupp is a twin brother of Al Rupp of Bakersfield. At the age of seven years he accom- panied other members of the family to Kansas, where he received a common-school education. By chance his early industrial efforts brought him into the oil business and he learned the work in every detail, serving as roustabout, tool-dresser, driller and in other capacities up to that of superintendent. As a driller he has worked in variovis parts of the west, one of his principal experiences being in the San Juan fields in San Juan county, Utah. While working in Colorado he was married at Boulder, that state, Miss Sarah Hand becoming his wife. They have three children, Mariam, Georgia and Kermit, and the family now occupy the superin- tendent's cottage on the company holdings. Called to his present position in May of 1912 by the company of which R. A. Sweet of Los Angeles is president, Mr. Rupp has devoted his attention closely and untiringly to the many responsibilities incumbent upon him in his effort to transform the holdings of the concern into a dividend-paying investment and in the meantime, while thus working, he has won the confidence of stockholders in the organization as well as the respect of other leading oil men of the field. MRS. MARGARET H. PREBLE,— No one among the older residents of Moiave occupies a higher place in the esteem of the people than does Mrs. Preble, who since coming to this city during 1891 has won the friendship of everyone with whom she has maintained business or social relations. Not only is she a woman of gracious and attractive tempera- ment and agreeable disposition, but in addition she possesses ex- ceptional mental qualities and has a broad education supolemented by the self-culture of later years. Shortl)^ after her arrival here she was tendered the appointment of postmistress under President Harrison. So satisfactory was her service that she . also received the appointment under President Cleveland and remained in the office for ten years altogether. Meanwhile, in order to increase the small income received from the office, she carried a stock of notions, confectionery and stationery, and also secured an appointment as manager of the long distance service of the Pacific Telegraph & Telephone Companv. As there was no location suited to her needs she bought a lot on Main street and built the store which she has since occupied, and in addition she erected a modest cottage for a home, thus surrounding herself with the simple comtorts that she found essential to the highest happiness. From early life a resident of California, Mrs. Preble was born at Springbrook, Erie county, N. Y., being a daughter of Capt. A. J. W. and Phylancy (Gilson) Palmer, natives, respectively, of Erie county and Pembroke, Genesee county, N. Y. After some years of fairly prosperous activities as an architect and builder in New York state. Captain Palmer came to California in 1859 and settled at Sacramento. During the Civil war he served as captain of a company of militia from that city. For years he was employed as a bridge-builder or as superintendent of bridge-build- ing for the Central Pacific Company and meantime he constructed the first snow-plow ever used on that railroad. For a time he had charge of the car department at San Diego. Upon leaving the California South- ern & Central Pacific Railway Company he formed an alliance with the Santa Fe as manager of their car department and bridge building and continued in that capacity until his death in San Bernardino at the age of sixty-eight years. In that city also occurred the demise of his wife, who had been a resident of California ever since making the tedious trip from New York via Panama to San Francisco during 1863, some vears before HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 1193 the building- of the lirst railroad across the continent. They were the parents of six children, namely: Mrs. Margaret H. Preble; H. J., who died in Sacramento county; S. A., former mayor of Santa Cruz, this state; Mabel, who died in girlhood; Charles M., now living" in Santa Cruz; and Mrs. Hettie A. Dunn, of Sacramento. Graduated from the Sacramento high school at the age of seventeen years. Miss Margaret H. Palmer taught school for four years afterward in Sacramento. Three months after starting she was promoted to be principal of the intermediate department and continued in that post throughout the balance of her work as teacher. At Sacramento in 1874 she became the wife of Charles B. Preble, who was born in Massachusetts and died at Alojave January 5, 1899. T'or a time during the earlv ]>art of his identification with the west he had been connected with a manufactur- ing business in San Francisco. After going to Barstow in 1885 he served as a clerk in the California Southern & Central Pacific office. During 1891 he came to Mojave as a clerk in the freight department of the Southern Pacific, which position he filled throughout his remaining years. In poli- tics he favored Republican principles and his widow holds to the same political views, although when in charge of the postoffice her friends and supporters were not limited to that party, but included the entire popula- tion, irrespective of partisan affiliations. In religion she has adhered to the Congregational faith from childhood and has maintained a deep, generous interest in movements for the uplifting of humanity. JO. P. CARROLL. — As secretary of the Bakersfield Aerie of Eagles and house manager of the club headquarters in this city, Mr. Carroll has been closely identified with one of the popular and prominent organizations of his home town. Through his own personal energy and capability he has been instrumental in forwarding the success of the club enterprise. Work- ing in harmonious relations with the house committee consisting of Messrs. F. Gunther, C. A. Newman, Sam Sweitzer and N. R. Solomon, and ably seconding the executive leadership of the local president, he has promoted the welfare of the fraternity and enhanced the success of the club through his sagacious judgment as house manager. Having earned his own liveli- hood from the age of thirteen years and having been in practically every section of the west, he has gained a wide acquaintance and everywhere he is known as a wide-awake, hustling and genial citizen, typical in tempera- ment of the breeziness of the coast and reflecting in mental attributes the qualities belonging to men of the west. Born in the city of St. Louis, Mo., April 1, 1854, reared and educated in that place, Mr. Carroll had to stop school at the age of thirteen in order to earn his own livelihood. As a messenger for the Western Union Tele- graph Company he learned his first lessons in the business world. After a time he was promoted by the company and at the age of seventeen he was acting as chief tracer for the St. Louis office, but the failure of his health forced him to resign, thus abandoning a career that gave every promise of success. During 1872 he arrived in San Francisco. Removal to the west had been influenced by the hope of regaining his health through a change in climate. In that city he secured employment as clerk in a hotel. However, the anticipated physical benefit was not realized and he acted upon a sug- gestion that he try the air of the mountains. During 1874 he spent some time at Silver City. Idaho. Later he spent several years on a cattle ranch near Grant's Pass in Oregon. By riding the range as a cowboy he not only gained physical benefit, but in addition acquired a thorough knowledge of the country and of the stock industrv. Other occupations associated with a frontier environment were followed from time to time. When gold was dis- covered in the Klondike he went to Alaska with a crowd of prospectors, but the trip gave him no returns aside from a knowledge of a most inter- 1194 HISTORY OF KERX COTXTY esting country. When other strikes were made in the United States and Canada he was among those who sought the new mines, but none of these expeditions proved profitable from a financial standpoint. Facility of expression and an ability to state facts in an interesting and concise manner had taken Mr. Carroll into the journalistic field at an early age and frequently he acted as correspondent for San Francisco dailies from mining camps in California and Nevada. During 1891 he came to Visalia, Tulare county, to take up journalistic work in connection with the Visalia Times and while in that town he acted as correspondent for the San Fran- cisco Call. After five years in Visalia he joined the first rush of miners to Randsburg in 1896, since which time he has been a resident of Kern county, although there have been intervals of absence from the county in the interests of enterprises at other places. Since coming to Bakersfield he has been engaged as correspondent to various city papers and also has been prominent in local politics as a leading Republican. During 1901 he became a member of Bakersfield Aerie No. 93 of the Eagles. At this writing he is serving his fifth term as secretary of the lodge and by virtue of that office he is in charge of the Eagles Club, besides which he has been induced to serve as an associate editor of the Eagles' magazine. On the second floor 'of the Niederaur building, at a cost of $12,000, the Eagles have fitted up a club-house that is one of the "show" places of Bakersfield. The visitor first passes into a lobby and reception room, fur- nished in weathered oak, with massive davenports, desks, chairs, rockers and a center table with all the leading newspapers and magazines, the whole being provided for the comfort of the members and visiting brethren. The ladies' parlors and dressing room are furnished in mahogany and birdseye maple. Handsome pictures adorn the walls and the electric light chande- liers are works of art. In the bufifet there are card tables and a collection of steins that is growing in number and interest, also a bulletin board con- taining the names of a]:)plicants for membership as well as letters from absent brothers. A billiard room adjoins the buffet and in a corner thereof is a den, a favored place for members, for from its balcony one can sit in ease and comfort, looking up and down the streets and watching the hurry- ing crowds as they pass. The secretary's office is the headquarters of Mr. Carroll. The lodge room, 75x60 feet in dimensions, has a seating capacity of six hundred and is provided with a fine Emerson piano. An eagle with outstretched wings stands on the altar in the center of the hall and a paint- ing of the same bird gives an artistic effect to the ceiling of the room. When dances are given the hall is transformed into a ball room, over whose polished floor the devotees of the dance glide merrily at the frequent social functions given by the club. To complete the comforts of the place a banquet hall has been built with a capacity of two hundred and connected therewith is a kitchen containing every modern equipment known to the culinary art. The Eagles have every reason to be proud of their luxurious quarters and the people of Bakersfield, irrespective of fraternal affiliations, evince the hichest gratification in the public spirit that has resulted in the acquisition of the handsome and modern club rooms. HARRY A. ETZWEILER.— Born at St. Joseph. M..., January 22, 1886, .Mr. F.tzweiler is a son of Jacob, a Pennsylvanian. and an architect and builder by occupation. Several buildings and warehouses in St. Louis and Galveston were erected under his supervision and from plans of his own drawing, while in addition he served for some years as a government in- spector of construction work at Galveston. Flis death occurred in 1910 and four of liis children grew no, Catherine, Minnie, Harry .\aron and Jacob. The mother. Mrs. Debbie (Shaffer) Larson, is now living in Bakersfield. to which city Harry A. came in 1900 at the age of fourteen vears. For a short time he worked in a brick yard. From that time until HISTORY OF KERX CXJUNTY 1195 1905 he served an apprenticeship to the trade of boiler-maker. Meanwhile he had the further advantage of night study in the National Correspon- dence School. For one year he engaged as boiler-maker in the Los An- geles lioiler works under George Hanke, after which he became an em- ploy of the Pioneer boiler works in the same city. As foreman of con- struction with the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Light Company he en- gaged in installing gas tanks. Such was his success in completing a $30,000 job, with three hundred workmen under him, that he was engaged by the Fulton engine works to superintend a similar work, representing about the same outlay of money. As a representative of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Company he was sent to Los Vegas, Nev., and remained there for ten months, working as a boiler-maker. Returning to Bakersfield in June of 1908, Harry A. Etzweiler soon engaged with the Kern Trading and Oil Company in the Kern river field, where as boiler-maker and superintendent of concrete work he proved so efficient and reliable that he was sent to the Kerto division February 7, 1911. Mr. Etzweiler's present position in the boiler department of the Sunset-]\Ionarch Oil Company dates from July 28, 1913. During 1907 he married Miss Mamie Davis, daughter of Ola and Celesta (Edgar) Davis, of Los Angeles. Two daughters blessed their union, namely: Hazel, who died in November, 1912; and Audrey D., two years old. Be- sides being a leader in the Kerto Club, Mr. Etzweiler is identified with the Loyal Moose and the Woodmen of the World. With his wife he has maintained a deep interest in the organization and maintenance of the Kerto Sunday-school, which now numbers forty pupils. In addition he formerly served as superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday- school at Kern and also aided in the organization of the Epworth League and the Junior League. JEAN BAPTISTE CAPDEVILLE.— One of the first to settle in the town of Tehachapi, and who since 1892 has been one of the prime movers in its advancement, is Jean Baptiste Capdeville. A native of France, he has f'ince 1888 made California his home, and is numbered among the most exten- sive sheep growers in the state. He was born in the town of Osse, Basses- Pyrenees, France, October 17, 1868, the son of Jean Pierre Capdeville, a farmer and husbandman, who served for seven years in the French army. His wife, who before her marriage was Marie Anne Iriate, still survives. Of the eight children born to this couple Jean B. was the third. Until he was thirteen years old he attended public school and thereafter until he was twenty he followed farming in his native land. Full of ambition to achieve greater suc- cess in life than he felt he could gain by remaining there, he came to America in November, 1888, making his way directly to San Francisco, Cal., where for a year he was employed in the butcher business. He then moved to Porter- ville. Tulare county, and there his experience in the herding and care of sheep began, for in 1894 he had gathered enough knowledge of the business, as well as sufficient capital, to enable him to embark in the business on his own ac- count. He bought a flock of sheep and ranged them there for a while, later bringing them to Kern county, where ever since he has engaged in the busi- ness on a very large scale, having from four to seven thousand head at various times. Mr. Capdeville came to Tehacha])i in 1892, again in 1902 and finally in 1909, at which time he made it his permanent place of residence. He has acquired property holdings here as well as in Bakersfield, and has put forth every effort to aid in the public activities of Kern county, his keen observation as to its needs and his accurate ideas of carrying out the details of all projects making him valued among the citizens. In 1912 he erected the most beauti- ful residence in Tehachapi. On Se])teml)er 21. 1905, the marriage of Jean B. Capdeville and .-Vnue Fillet 1196 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY took place in Los Angeles. She was born in La Doux, France, in 1885, and is the mother of four children as follows : Magdalene, Bertha, Annie and Albert. Mr. Capdeville was a member of the Knights of Pythias in Tehachapi until the lodge surrendered its charter. FRANK W. WALLEN.- — Numbered among those enterprising men of Kern county who have come here with ambitious spirit and undaunted courage to face the hardships of a new country is l'>ank W. Wallen, whose productive ranch covers forty acres in this county, all under cultivation. A native of Sweden, born in Skane on February 1, 1863, he was there during the early part of his life, attending school until he was fifteen years of age. His parents were farmers and he was reared as an agriculturist, but when fifteen years old was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade for three years. After completing this he came to Michigan and for a short time remained there, later going to Mon- tana, where he worked taking contracts for teaming and hauling. Mr. Wallen had attended school for a short time also in the United States. In Montana he also followed the livery business for a time, and his line of work carried him through various parts of the state. Remaining there for a period of six years he then moved to the Bradford oil district of Pennsylvania and worked there as a tool-dresser, then as a driller, until he came to Kern county, Cal , arriving in the year 1899. Having gained experience in the oil fields in the east he had little difficulty in procuring a position in the oil fields here, and went to work as a driller in the various fields of Kern county. During this time he lived in Bakersfield for about twelve years, working most of the time in the oil fields, and in 1911 bought the forty acres of land four miles south of Bakersfield, on the Kern Island road, which is now his home place. Here he engages in general farming, hog raising and the poultry business, his large assortment of chickens consisting of Rhode Island Reds, Minorcas and Plymouth Rocks. Mr. Wallen is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a Mason of the Knight Templar degree, being also a member of Islam Temple, N. M. S., of San Francisco. He was married August 2, 1896, in Pennsylvania to Capitola Hyatt, who was born in Elk county, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1877. They are the parents of four children, as follows: Leonard C, Francis Capitola, Irene M. and Lilas. JAMES THOMAS MAGUIRE.— With the development of a community and Vv'ith the increasing of its industrial interests comes the many facilities of labor to lend their hand in alleviating the burden and smoothing the rough places in the road of progress. One of the most important of these, if not the most essential, is the telejdione, which in its installation will bring the com- munity in touch with outside interests, report its progress and eradicate jour- neys and troublesome drawbacks through loss of time. It is to James T. Maguire that the West Side district is most indebted for its fine telephone and telegraph system, for it is due almost entirely to his efforts and zeal that they were first placed in the vicinity. Mr. Alaguire was born May 10, 1873, in San Jose, Cal., the son of Patrick J. Maguire, who had learned the iron moulding trade in Boston, whence he had made the trip across the plains to the Pacific coast. In San Francisco he engaged for a few years in the wood and coal business at the corner of Third and Folsom streets until his marriage to Bridget McMahon, when he located at the Hacienda mine, in Almaden. Santa Clara county, and followed mining. Continuing thus until 1871 he then located in San Jose, where he was the first to engage in the local express and draying business, and this he continued to follow tmtil his retirement. His death, when he was seventy-two, took place September 16, 1905, and his wife passed away six weeks later. Of their eight children, seven of whom grew to maturity, James T. was the third eldest. Educated in the public schools, Mr. Maguire later entered Santa Clara HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 1197 Colleoe and continued his studies until his sophomore year when he took a course in the Garden City Business College in San Jose, from which he was graduated in 1892. His first employment was with the Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Company, and later he began as an apprentice with the Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Company. By careful and observing work he ddvanced through the different departments, mastering all of them, and he soon rose to be district superintendent of constructions, covering territory from South San Francisco to Santa Barbara. Later he was transferred to Oakland in the same capacity, covering territory from Eureka to South San Francisco, including San Francisco and Oakland. In 1905 he was transferred from the construction department to the commercial department and sent to Bakers- field as manager for the company, and the next year he was made manager at Los Angeles. Meanwhile he had become interested in the oil business on the west side, and he returned to Bakersfield in 1907 as manager for the Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Company, finding time to devote to his per- sonal business while managing that territory. Until March 1, 1911, he con- tinued thus and then resigned to devote all of his time to his own afifairs. Mr. Maguire was the pioneer telephone man on the west side. In 1908, associated with C. S. Garfield of Bakersfield, but now of Ocean Park, he started to build the teleohone line from Bakersfield to McKittrick and the first station was in Tetzlaff's store. Then he built the line into jMaricopa, establishing the second station in Coons and Price's store in that place. When Taft started to build up, they built their line in there, and the third station was placed in Hopkins grocery store at Taft. The next station was in Fellows, in the Lawton and Blanks store. In all these fields they extended their lines to the different wells or company headquarters and business assumed such proportions that they erected a new building at Maricopa for their station. About the same time a new station was built at Taft on the south side of the railroad, but when the business district of the town was moved on to the north side they built on that side also, and there their headquarters are now found. In Fellows they built and established their own station and ofiice on the main county road, just north of town, and in McKittrick they also found it exDedient to move into their own building. The telephone system embraces the vast oil fields of Sunset, Midway, North Midway, McKittrick, Bellridge and also the Buena Vista and Elk Hills, covering an extensive area and including about seven hundred subscribers. At the time of the incorporation, in 1908, the firm became known as the Kern Mutual Telephone & Telegraph Company, with C. S. Garfield as president and manager. It was thus continued until J\Ir. Maguire resigned from the management of the Pacific States and he then assumed the presidency and general management, which he still retains, making his headquarters in Taft. On August 29, 1896, Mr. Maguire was married at San Jose to Miss Blanche Kamp, a native daughter of San Jose, the daughter of Aemilius and Cynthia (Morse) Kamp, who both crossed the plains in ox-team trains, the father as early as 1849. He was a pioneer nurseryman and horticulturist in Santa Clara county, and later was superintendent of Oak Hill cemetery. Both parents are now living retired in San Jose. Mr. Kamp had not received many educatic nal advantages in early youth, but he was ambitious to learn and by stud}^ and close observation he became a learned man, well informed on current subjects and the master of several languages, acquiring culture and intellect of a high order. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kamp four are living, of whom ]\Irs. Maguire is the second eldest. She was educated in the public schools and at Notre Dame College at San Jose. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. oNIaguire, Maybelle Berniece, James Thomas, Jr., and John Patrick. The father is a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., of which he is past Exalted Ruler, and he is also 1198 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY a member of the Bakersfield Club, serving as a member of the board of trustees and as treasurer until his business interests took him to the West Side. He is also prominent as a Knight of Columbus. In political issues he is a Democrat and is a member of the Kern County Democratic Central Com- mittee. The family residence, which he erected in Bakersfield in 1909, is located at No. 2318 T, street. ROBERT PALMER.— That he should have worked his way forward from po\erty to independence and, notwithstanding the handicap of being thrown upon his own resources at an early age before he had secured a common-school education, should have broadened his mind by self-culture and habits of close observation, proves that Mr. Palmer was a man of more than ordinary force of character and energy of purpose. The conditions that environed his early years were made discouraging by the death of his father, Edward Palmer, a native Kentuckian and a lifelong resident of the Blue Grass state, where his death occurred about 1829. About 1834 the mother, Martha (Patton) Palmer, removed to Illinois with her family and settled at Jacksonville. At that time Robert, who was born in Kentucky May 7, 1823, was a lad of eleven years, scarcely ready to take up the dif^cult burden of self-sup])urt, yet forced to do so by reason of the circum- stances of the family. It was as a miner that he earned a livelihood. While the work was difficult and physically exhausting he managed to find time for reading and developed into a manhood of broad mental vision, qualified in mind and body for the difficult task of pioneering. The discovery of gold in California changed the entire tenor of the life of Mr. Palmer, who early in 1850 joined an expedition bound for the w^est. The journey was made on horseback and with pack-animals. What might have been a tedious, uneventful trip was made memorable through several attacks on the part of savages and Mr. Palmer long carried in his arm a wound made by an arrow. Fortunately, however, none of the party was killed and it was without loss that they landed at Hangtown in August, immediately after which the young gold-seeker went to the Sierras to engage in placer-mining. After about ten years in the mines of that region he came to Kern county in 1860 and became interested in the mines at Kernville (then called Whiskey Flat). During 1862 with three other prospectors he located and developed placer mines at Claraville. This attempt proved success- ful. While working the mines he began to buy cattle and selected the LH brand for his herd. In 1876 he purchased from J. M. Lewis a tract now known as the Palmer ranch. To this raw land in Hot Springs valley he brought his family and frc^m that time until his death, May 30, 1905, he gave his atten- tion to the raising of cattle and to general farming, meanwhile winning the warm friendship of associates and co-workers throughout the valley. So great was his popularity that he could have had local offices had he chosen, but, while always voting the Democratic ticket, he steadfastly refused to run for public office. The marriage of ]\Ir. Palmer at San Francisco June 14, 186r), united him with Miss Rose Glennon, a native of Kells, county Meath, Ireland, and a daughter of James and Mary (Brady) Glennon, the former superintendent of a large estate in that county. During May, 1863, ]\liss Glennon crossed the ocean to New York City. January 13, 1864, she embarked on a vessel for Panama and on the 8th of February she landed in San Francisco, where she lived u]) to the time of her marriage. Afterward she made Kern county her h(uiie and at this writing, although spending her time largely with mar- ried daughters in Los .\ngeles, she still owns the old homestead of two hundred and eighty-two acres in Hot Springs valley. The ranch is devoted to alfalfa and stock and is without a superior on the Kern river, the present manager, Walter Palmer, continuing the careful oversight maintained by his w O Cd tn > r HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1201 father. The family consisted of twelve children who attained mature years, namely : Robert, a stockman of Kernville ; Margaret, wife of William Wear, of Wallace, Idaho; Richard, who died in Los Angeles in October, 1894; Edward, now living in Oregon ; Mrs. Mary E. Moberly, of Los Angeles ; Lee Palmer; Rose, wife of Dan Burke, of Panama, Kern county; Walter, on the home farm; Mrs. Hettie Curtis, of Hollywood; Mrs. Rebecca Dunn, of Los Angeles ; Patton, deceased ; and Mrs. Nellie Beaty, of Los Angeles. The children received fair educations. From 1876 until 1883 the parents were the only family in the entire valley having children and, public schools not having been established, they were obliged to hire at their own expense a teacher, but in 1883 the arrival of other people with children necessitated the establishment of free schools, which important work Mr. and ]\Irs. Palmer promoted, as they did all movements for the general upbuilding of the South Fork country. HENRY HOSKING. — That Kern county has offered exceptional oppor- tunities to young men of industry, intelligence and steadfastness of purpose is illustrated by the success here attained by Henry Hosking, an Englishman by birth and education, but since the autumn of 1885 a resident of the San Joaquin valley and for a long period of rising importance an employe of the Kern County Land Company. When eventually he resigned the respon- sible position which he held with that large corporation it was for the pur- pose of developing and improving a tract of land which he had purchased some years before and for which he had paid by installments out of his w^ages. Thrift as a farmer is indicated by the appearance of his valuable tract of eighty acres lying on the Kern Island road six miles south of Bakersfield. The first recollections of Mr. Hosking cluster around the shire of Corn- wall, England, where he was born March 8, 1863, and where he received a fair education in the schools of the Church of England. His parents, Richard and Mary (Sandow) Hosking, were lifelong residents of Cornwall, where the former died at eighty and the latter when eighty-one years of age. For a long period they had earned a livelihood for their family from agricultural efforts and had leased and cultivated a Cornwall farm, retiring only when old age rendered further manual labor impracticable. There were nine children in the parental family and of these Henry was fifth in order of birth. When nineteen years of age he took passage for America on one of the steamers of the White Star line that landed him in Quebec early in 1882. In compan}' w'ith his friend, Whitsed Laming, he traveled to Kansas and settled in Leavenworth county, where he secured work on a farm near Tonganoxie. For three years he continued in the same locality and in the same line of work, after which he came to California and joined his brothers, Richard and Andrew, who had preceded him to the Pacific coast. Immediately after arriving in Bakersfield he secured employment as a ditch-tender for the Kern Count}- Land Company, in whose employ he continued for nineteen years, meanwhile receiving promo- tions from time to time until at last he was made foreman of the water courses and canal system of the corporation. Upon leaving the employ of the com- panv he removed to his farm six miles south of Bakersfield and here he has since followed a practical and profitable system of agricultural work. The marriage of Henry Hosking and Emily Lincoln White took place in Bakersfield, to which city the bride had come from her native commonwealth of Iowa. Her parents, Bushrod and Margaret (Cork) White, were natives respectively of Virginia and Kentucky and were married in the Blue Grass state, whither Mr. White had removed at an early age. The next removal took them to Iowa and from that state they came to California and became pioneers of Kern county, where they made many friends among the early settlers. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hosking there are two sons, Ronald R. and Raymond H.. the former a graduate of the commercial department of 1202 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the Kern county high school and the latter a high-school student, both being young men of fine minds and excellent abilities. In religious connections the family hold membership with the Bakersfield Episcopal Church, and politically Mr. Hosking is a Republican. THOMAS C. CASTRO.— A native of Santa Ana, Sonora, Mexico, Thomas C. Castro was born December 21, 1864, the son of Thomas and Concepcion (Coronado) Castro, both of whom were natives of Mexico. (For a full ac- count of the parental history refer to the sketch of Domitilo Castro.) Of their children Thomas C. Castro was the fifth in order of birth. Reared in Kern county, where he attended the public schools and learned the business of his father, that of raising stock, he became well versed on all matters pertaining to that line of work, remaining on the home place until he was seventeen. He then went to Nevada, where he entered the employ of a ranchman who was largely interested in stock-raising, and after three years with him came to Bakersfield again and followed ranching on the home place for a short time. He soon started out for himself, purchasing a twenty-acre tract, which he cultivated, and it was not long before he had a fine herd of cattle, also raising horses, both draft and roadsters. These are Belgium and Standard bred animals, and he has had many of the finest horses bred in the state on his place. His short-horn cattle, of Durham variety, have at- tracted much attention, and he has taken much pride in their exceptionally fine condition. He also ran cattle on the Breckenridge mountains. He now has forty acres of land under cultivation to alfalfa, about three miles south- west of Bakersfield, where he makes his home. In Bakersfield, in 1885, Mr. Castro was married to Maria Gonzales, a native of Sonora and the daughter of Guadalupe and Natividad (Peralta) Gonzales, both natives of Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Castro became the parents of five children, as follows: Angel, Mrs. Charles E. Castro, of Bakersfield; Ramon; Carmelita, Mrs. Winn, and Josephine, Mrs. O'Brien, both of. Bakers- field; and Thomas Mcllvain. The family are devout members of the St. Francis Catholic Church, of Bakersfield, toward which they are liberal con- tributors, helping greatly in the building of the church. In politics Mr. Castro is a Republican. AUGUST AMOURIG.— The only one of three brothers to settle in Cali- fornia, August Amourig was born at Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France, September 4, 1865, and is a son of Etienne Amourig, a farmer and stockman between the Rhone river and the Alps mountains. As a boy he helped with the care of the' stock when not in attendance upon the neighboring free schools. Dur- ing October of 1884 he crossed the ocean to America and settled permanently in California, where he found steady work in the employ of sheepmen on the plains. From the first he frugally saved his wages. Within two years he was able to buy a small band of ewes. This gave him a start in the sheep industry. Enjoying the free life of the plains and the care of the sheep, it seemed as if he would be favored by fortune, for his flock increased from year to year tintil it numbered about thirty-five hundred head. A change came in 1893. when the Democratic administration began to urge the removal of the tariff on wool, thus greatly injuring the sheep business. To make matters worse, a severe drought came at the same time. The result was that the young sheep-grower lost the work of nine years and began anew without any means. After having worked about six months for wages Mr. Amourig had earned enough to buy a team and he then engaged in the raising of grain near the lake. It was possible in that section to raise alfalfa and he secured excel- lent returns through allowing his hogs a free range of the meadows. Unfor- tunately as he was again prospering he made the mistake of going on the plains to raise grain and two dry years left him penniless. His next venture was the cutting of wood along the river. This he sold in Bakersfield and earned enough to buy a team. At the time of the first oil boom he engaged HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1205 in teaming to the oil fields, driving an eight-horse team. Later he bought two lots in Kern and erected a cottage, making his home .there and engaging in general farm work near the town. At first he specialized with alfalfa and later he also operated a dairy. The purchase of forty-six acres under the Mill ditch proved an excellent investment. This land, situated about one and one-half miles from Kern, was under irrigation and in alfalfa, from which he secured five or six cuttings each year. In 1911 he bought four lots on Grove near Baker street, Bakersfield, and erected a livery barn where he now conducts a feed and sales stable, also sells hay and grain. Since becoming a citizen of this county he has supported Republican principles in national elections. Fraternally he holds membership with the Foresters of America. H. H. BROWN. — Indiana claims Mr. Brown a native son ; his birth occurred in Ripley county, that state, about fifty miles south of Indianapolis, on June.l, 1860, and here his early youth was spent. At twenty-two years of age he removed from there to Kansas, where he remained for four years en- gaging in agricultural pursuits and accustoming himself with the many details and habits of that life. In 1891 he came to Kern county, Cal., and taking up a liomestead in the Button Willow country, proved up on it, and this was the field of his labors for six years. In 1907 he purchased his present place of twenty-nine acres on Union avenue, about two miles from Bakersfield. Suc- cess has come to him in every project, and this has been largely due to his untiring effort in his undertakings, his clever manipulations of them and his unusual executive ability, which has served him well in his building operations especially, where he has had great need of those characteristics to bring about favorable results. The Brown block in East Bakersfield, which he has built, is a brick structure, 65x75 feet, three stories in height, and the arrangement is such as to make twelve apartments, of three and four rooms, four stores and basement, the stores being given over to mercantile firms. In addition he has built six cottages in East Bakersfield which are well-built and modern in every way, their general appearance being most artistic. On his farm, which he calls the Locust farm, Mr. Brown has found time to devote himself to the poultry business on a large scale, handling mostly thoroughbred Leghorns and the Silver-Laced Wyandottes, his poultry holding a wide and enviable reputation. In 1881 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Emily Hamilton, who was born in Jackson county, Ind., and to them were born six children, five now surviving, viz. : Pearl married A. J. Ferguson, a farmer in the Panama district, six miles south of Bakersfield, and they are the parents of three chil- dren. Fay, Fern and Harold. Ralph married at Denver, Colo., Miss Clara Fisher ; he served as soldier in the Philippines. Stanley is mailing clerk in the postofiice at Bakersfield. Harold and Helen are attending the high school at Bakersfield. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are members of the Baptist church at Bakersfield, and in politics Mr. Brown is a stanch Republican. CLARK DAVIS MORRIS.— The development of the Morris ranch of eighty acres lying on section 31, township 30, range 28, is due to the pains- taking and intelligent labors of Clark D. Morris since first he acquired the property about 1904 and established a home thereon. The neat appearance of the tract, with its meadows of alfalfa and its orchard of assorted fruits, indi- cates the systematic oversight of the owner, while his love of comfort and order appear in his substantial residence and outbuildings. Prior to the removal to this property he lived three miles to the north and three years before that he had experimented with dry farming near Rose station, to which point he had removed from his native county in Missouri. The family of which he is a member became established in Missouri perhaps one hundred vears ago and his parents. Joshua B. and Elsie (Baker) ]\Torris, were lifelong residents of that state. Their family comprised seven children, five of whom attained mature years, namely: John F. ; Clark Davis; Clay B.. who died at 1206 HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY about twenty-five- years; Julia, ^Irs. R. L. Edwards, of Bakersfield ; and Alice, wife of Albert Whitmer and a resident of Palo Alto, this state. On the home farm in Montgomery county, Mo., about seventy miles west of St. Louis, Clark Davis Morris was born Deceml)er 9, 1859, and his educa- tion was received in the country schools of the locality. During 1888 he married Miss Lucile S. Garrett, a native of the same county as himself and a daughter of W'ilson and Mary (McMahan) Garrett. Very early in the colonial settlement of the new world the Ciarrett family became established in Virginia, where William B. Garrett was born in 1795, and where the birth of his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Ockmon, occurred August 27, 1805. With the occupation of agriculture ^^'illiam B. Garrett harmoniously united the trade of a millwright and after he removed to the prairies of the middle west he built the first mill in Callaway county, Mo. Among his children was a son, Wilson, a native of Virginia and an early settler of Moi^tgomer}- county. Mo., having taken up land in that region when all of the surrounding country was in the primeval state of nature. In early manhood he married Mary McMahan. daughter of John F. and Polly (Blackwell) McMahan. na- tives of Kentucky, the former born June 29, 1804, and the latter November 18, 1806. After the death of Mr. Garrett, which occurred in Missouri, his widow came to Kern county and now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Morris. Be- sides this daughter, who was sixth in order of birth among the sons and daughters, she had eight children, named as follows ; Lydia, who passed from earth at the age of eighteen years ; Henry L., a resident of St. Louis, Mo. ; Mary A., living at Bonneterre, St. T^rancois county. Mo. ; John F., who died in 1910; Emma C, whose home is in Montgomery City, Montgomery county, Mo.; William B., of Choctaw, Okla. ; James M., living in Kern county; and Benjamin C, of Bakersfield. Although now (1912) seventy-eight years of age, Mrs. Garrett retains the full possession of her physical and mental faculties and enters fully into the activities of the world around her, being especially interested in and devoted to her grandchildren, whose happiness and welfare are ever dear to her. Mr. and Mrs. Morris became the parents of six children and four of these are now living. Elden G., Howard R.. Fletcher M. and Lucile. Politically Mr. iMorris votes with the Democratic party. Although reared m the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church and identified with that denom- ination in Missouri, he and his wife became prime movers in the organization of the Greenfield Congregational Church, which was established on Sunday, May 12, 1912, with twenty-one names on the list of charter membership. For the present these members and others of the community who worship with them are holding religious services in the Greenfield schoolhouse and enjoy the ministerial oversight of Rev. Mr. Reiley as pastor. MILES R. MARTIN, JR. — The acquisition of one hundred and sixty acres of raw land two and one-half miles northwest of McFarland marked the be- ginning of the identification of Mr. Martin with this portion of Kern county, whither he had come in 1909 and into whose possibilities and resources he has since investigated with gratifying results. From the first his impressions con- cerning the county have been favorable. During January of 1913 he became the owner of the quarter-section he now c perates. The need of water was im- perative. Immediately after buying the raw tract he sunk two wells and in- stalled an electric pumping plant which yields him over one hundred and ten inches of water. The entire quarter section has been leveled and he is rapidly sowing the whole acreage to alfalfa. Modern improvements are being made and the place presents a well-tilled appearance, with every prospect of becom- ing one of the most valuable alfalfa ranches in this part of the county. Born in Clarion county, Pa., September 13, 1873, Miles R. ?klartin. Jr.. is the son of the late Miles R., Sr., who was a native of New Jersey and resided HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1207 near Newark, that state. Through a considerable period of prosperous activity he was in business as a wholesale coal merchant. Later he became an oil operator in the Clarion field in Pennsylvania, where a brother, Mahlon C, had preceded him, the latter becoming also largely interested in railroads as well as in manufacturing. One of the greatest enterprises attempted by the two gentlemen was the building of a street-car line in Bogota, South America. At the age of fourteen years Miles R., Jr., entered the office of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad as supervisor's clerk at Lima, Ohio, where he continued for several years. Going east to New- York City, he engaged as clerk with the L^nited States Rubber Company and continued for ten years in the same office. Upon resigning he returned to Pennsylvania to look after the business interests of his father and for two years he remained in that state. During 1905 he went to Bogota, South America, and entered upon the duties of acting general manager of the Bogota City Street Railroad, of which his father was treasurer and his brother the general manager. During the absence of the brother in Europe and elsewhere he served as manager for two years, after which he came to California in 1907 and took up mining pursuits at Hart, San Bernardino county. In that locality he bought, developed and sold mines. Some of his interests there he still retains. While living in that part of the state he was made a ^lason in Needles Lodge No. 326, F. & A. AL, and later he was raised to the Scottish Rite Consistory in Bakersfield. His marriage took place at Paterson, N. J., in 1904, and united him with Miss Frances May, a native of Elizabeth, that state, and a daughter of William F. May, a manu- facturer conducting business in New York City. CHARLES L. TAYLOR. — Significant of the abundant opportunities of- fered by Bakersfield to men of business ability and untiring energy is the suc- cess already achieved by Charles L. Taylor as proprietor of Taylor's bargain store at No. 1333 Nineteenth street on the corner of K, an establishment built up through his own painstaking industry and tireless devotion to busmess. That there is "no royal road to success" his own history indicates, for it has been only by indefatigable industry and keen sagacity that he has laid the foundation of a large business and has gained a rank among the progressive merchants of the city. Selecting as his specialties articles of small value, he built up an establishment known as the five and ten-cent store, in which he carries a full line of glassware, crockery and stationery, also many styles of neckwear and underwear, jewelry and hosiery, with such other articles and notions as may usually be found in stores of the kind. The tremendous sales enable him to buy at the very lowest prices. The goods are moved rapidly and thus everything is new, in excellent condition, pleasing to the most fas- tidious. An amount between $18,000 and $20,000 has been invested in the stock of merchandise. The proprietor of this large business is a native of Ohio and was born at ^^^inchester in the southern part of that state March 10, 1868. From an early age he has been self-supporting and always his interests have been along general lines of merchandise. As a youth in Ohio he clerked in general stores and acquired a knowledge of dry-goods enterprises. The first mercantile ven- ture that he made was at Antrim, Ohio, where he conducted a general store. When he came to California in 1900 he selected Bakersfield as his headquarters and secured employment in the laundry at this place, where he held a trust- worthy position for four years. During 1905 he organized and opened a five and ten-cent store out of which he has developed his present large establish- ment, which each year shows a healthy growth in its trade and a satisfactory enlargement in patronage. Many regard his success in business as phenome- nal, but it is rather the anticipated result of his energy, sagacity and keen business talent. Mr. Taylor is at present engaged in erecting a new brick two-story build- ing (plans by Architect J. M. Safifell), on Chester avenue between Seventeenth 1208 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and Truxtun, 53>4xlOO feet. Ground was broken March 15, 1913, and it is expected that building will be completed by September 1, 1913. The entire first floor will be occupied by Taylor's bargain store, and the second floor will be devoied to offices. While the store has taken much of Mr. Taylor's time, attention and capi- tal, he has had other interests, notably the Tejon Oil Company, of which he is vice-president, and in which he owns a one-eleventh interest as a stockholder. The members of the concern are principally residents of Bakersfield, the wells being located only six miles from this city. The company is a dividend-payer and has excellent prospects for a growing success. Five years before coming to the west Mr. Taylor married Miss Ola Beggs, of Antrim, Ohio, and they are the parents of one son, Raymond, born in 1900. The family hold member- ship with the Bakersfield Presbyterian Church and contribute generously to religious movements. In fraternal relations Mr. Taylor is connected with the Elks, Woodmen and Workmen. In politics he is a Republican. GEORGE H. SALLEE.— The superintendent of the Volcan Oil and Refining Company has spent the greater part of his life in California, but claims Missouri as his native commonwealth and Kentucky as the home of his paternal ancestors during the pioneer era, while his maternal progenitors were members of an old family of Roxbury, Mass. His parents, Jasper N. and Lucinda (White) Sallee, for years worthy and industrious members of the farming population of Missouri, eventually established their home in California and embarked in stcck-raising and general farming in the far west. At this writing they have retired from active cares and are living comfortably and happily at Dinuba, Tulare county, the father being quite rugged notwithstand- ing his seventy-two useful years of existence. The family consisted of two sons and six daughters. The second child, who was likewise the second son, George H., was born in Knox county. Mo., on the last day of the year 1870 and attended the country schools near the home farm in that state. After he came with his parents to California in 1883 he also attended the public schools of the state, but for the most part in boyhood he helped his father with the farm work. While yet a mere lad he did a man's work in the care of the stock and the tilling of the soil. The early home of the family was in Amador county, where he helped to improve and place under cultivation a tract of one hundred and sixty acres. When twenty years cf age George H. Sallee removed from Amador to Tulare county, where he became interested in fruit culture, making a specialty of a vineyard and also raising peaches and pears, in which way he aided his father in securing a financial foothold as a horticulturist. While residing there he formed the acquaintance of Miss Jeannette McWherter, with whom he was united in marriage in 1903. Three children bless their union, George McW.. Fay and Fern. Mrs. Sallee is a sister of George McWherter, a prosperous fruit-grower in Fresno county, and a daughter of Elias and Jeannette (Ben- nett) McWherter, the former deceased in 1901 and the latter, at the age of sixty years, still living at the old homestead in Fresno county. As early as December of 1901 Mr. Sallee came to the Kern river fields and secured employment as a boilerman for the Nevada Oil Company. Six months later he transferred to the Peerless, with which company he continued for six years, meanwhile working in every department except that of drilling. By constant study and practical application he developed into an efficient worker and his services were called into requisition as superintendent by the Del Rey Oil Company. After eighteen months with the Del Rey he entered the employ of the Volcan in 1909. At that time the organization was known as the Cleveland Oil Company, but through bankruptcy of the proprietors the plant reverted to its original owners, the present officers being as follows : C. H. Wagner of San Diego, president; S. S. Johnson, postmaster at National HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1209 City, vice-president ; Mr. Nolan of San Dieg-o, secretary ; and the People's National Bank of National City, treasurer. Mr. Sallee is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery at Bakersfield. CHARLES CLARENCE PIERCE.— Mr. Pierce claims Indiana as his native commonwealth and Lake county as the place of his birth, which occurred January 12, 1859. During 1872 he came to the Pacific coast in com- pany with his parents, Isaac B. and Emily (Hayward) Pierce, and settled'in Santa Barbara, where his education, primarily carried on in Indiana schools, was completed through the grammar grade. Upon attaining the age of seven- teen years he left high school, where he had studied for several terms, and then took up the task of earning a Hvelihood. At first he worked for his father, but at the age of twenty-one he left the home place and removed to the Tejon canyon, where he remained for six years, meanw^iile buying land of E. D. Parks and also acquiring a ranch of three hundred and twenty acres that had been owned by Joe Short. In many respects the location was unsatisfactory and he was led therefore to dispose of his holdings, whereupon in about 1888 he bought from H. A. Blodgett a farm cf one hundred and twenty acres, ad- joining Bakersfield on the west, and he has so improved it as to make it a source of a growing income and an object of admiration to those familiar with the work of its transformation into a profitable holding. For some eight or ten years he engaged in the dairy business and meanwhile built up a herd of milch cows of known quality and breeding. Since relinquishing his dairy interests he has engaged in the raising of grain and alfalfa. Eighty acres were sown to alfalfa which gives him a meadow of superior excellence and large yield, there being from five to seven tons cut to the acre, with four and some times five cuttings a year. Forty acres are in grain, which usually give a gratifying yield. Mr. Pierce has kcated a desert claim of two hundred and forty acres, six miles north of Bakersfield on the Glennville road, where he has developed water, sinking a well to the depth of four hundred and twenty feet. This gives an abundance of water for growing of citrus fruit, to which the soil and location is well adapted. The marriage of Mr. Pierce took place December 23, 1880, and united him with Alice Maude Hunt, who was born in Chicago, 111., June 29, 1862. and received her education principally in the schools of that city. At the age of fifteen years, during October of- 1877, she came to California with her parents, Joseph and Mary (Deming) Hunt, and established the family home at Santa Barbara, where she continued to reside until her marriage. There were five children in the family, namely : Grace A., who was graduated from the Kern County high school and passed away at the age of twenty years; Herbert L., of Ccalinga; Clifford E., at Taft ; and Jennings J. and Irene M. Mr. Pierce is a school trustee and belongs to the Woodmen of the World. JUDSON DAILY MARSH.— The eldest of three children, of whom the youngestj Homer, is with an automobile firm at Tecumseh, !\Iich., and the second, Genevieve A., is a trained nurse in Seattle, Wash., J. D. Marsh was born at Hillsdale, Mich., July 2, 1879, and is a son of Embery F. and R( sa (Berry) Marsh, natives respectively of New York and Michigan, and the former now employed by the Peerless Oil Compan}^ in the Kern river fields. It was not possible for the 3^outh to secure desired educational advantages, for he became self-supporting at an early age. After having served an apprentice- ship of three years under Frank Van Riper of the old iron works at Hillsdale and having been employed also for three years in the Alamo gas engine works in the same town, he went to Jackson at the age of twenty-one and secured a position with the Jackson Automobile Company. Under William Deal, who is still engaged as a machinist and manager with the company, he helped to build the first gas automobile ever turned out by the firm. Later he spent six months in the employ of the Cook Manufacturing Company, builders of gas engines. 1210 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Returning to Hillsdale, he had charge of the tool room at the Alamo for one year and of the testing room for a similar period. Upon his return to Jackson he engaged in experimental work for the Lockwood Ash Motor Company and during the two years of his identification with the firm he developed a marine motor that eventually became very successful, bringing the company a wide reputation. In the interests of the Hall-Rittenhouse Heavy Duty Gas Engine Com- pany, a large corporation organized at Bucyrus, Ohio, Mr. Marsh finally perfected and built a large engine. Upon the completion of the model he be- came chief inspector for the firm while they were building the first twenty- five engines. Next he was sent out to erect engines in different parts of the country, his first work of the kind being at Elk Rapids, Mich., the next at Traverse City, that state, and the third at Oklahoma City. As an expert in the employ of the Buckeye Engine Company of Salem, Ohio, he next installed engines for that firm in Dodge City, Kan., Whitewater, Kan., Hutchinson,- Kan., Guthrie, Okla., Mulvane, Kan., and Oklahoma City. From the last- named place he went to Kansas City to erect an engine of one thousand horse- power for the Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway Company. Later he completed the erection of a gas engine at Joplin, Mo., next he was called to Ponca, Neb., for a similar purpose, and then came to California to erect at Maricopa two engines of three hundred and twenty horse-power. From Mari- copa he was called to the Kern river oil fields to erect a gas engine of five hundred horse-power for the Peerless Oil C( mpany, whose superintendent, A. J. Crites, quick to see and appreciate mechanical genius, immediately hired him as chief engineer. Since then he has installed another engine of the same kind. These two engines use natural gas from the oil wells on the Peerless lease for fuel and, with their aggregate of one thousand horse-power, are conceded to be the largest and finest gas engines in the field. When the chief engineer accepted his present position he brought hither his family, consisting of his wife (whom he had married at Hillsdale, Mich., in 1901, and who was Miss Louise Weisel, of that city), and their children, Gladys, Norma and WiUiam. WESLEY WASHINGTON HILLIARD.— Before coming to this state Mr. Hilliard was engaged in farming in Texas, where he was born at Camerc^n, Milam county, March 9, 1881, and where he grew to manhood on a farm. The family comes of old southern lineage. His parents, J. H. and Rosalia (Hop- per) Hilliard, were natives respectively of Florida and Texas. The former is engaged in stock farming in Runnels county, Tex., and the mother died in the Lone Star state about 1889. There were three children who attained mature years, namely : Wesley Washington, of California ; Fannie, Mrs. S. S. Price', and William M., both living on farms in Mills county, Tex. At the age of about nineteen years W. W. Hilliard accompanied other mem- bers of the family to Mills county, in his native commonwealth, and there he assisted his father in running a stock ranch. From 1900 to 1904 he continued in Mills county, but in the latter year he came to California, arrived in Bakersfield on the 11th of Decembe/and on the 17th of the same month se- cured a position as a roustabout on the Central Point division of the Asso- ciated Oil Company in the Kern river field. After an experience of six months as a roustabout and at the expiration of ten months spent in California, Mr. Hilliard returned to Texas and resumed general farming and stock-raising. liowever, the quiet round of agricultural duties no longer satisfied him and at the end of eighteen months he returned to the Pacific coast, this time first going to Seattle, Wash., and there working for one month. Wages were lower in that city than in Kern county, which fact caused him to seek California once more. The trip was made by boat to San Francisco and thence by train to Bakersfield, where HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1211 he arrived in Alay of 1907. Since then he has been connected in some way with the oil industry in Kern county. In the Kern river field he worked for the Imperial, Federated and Kern Trading and Oil Company. While with the last-named concern he devoted his time to tool-dressing. After two years as a tool-dresser, in 1910 he did his first drilling on the Cleveland Oil Com- pany's lease in the Kern river fields. Receiving an offer to enter the employ of the E. A. Hardison Perforating Company, he accepted August 1, 1910, and at first worked from the Bakersfield headquarters, operating on leases in the Kern river field. Meanwhile the west side was making a phenomenal development and his employers deemed it advisable for him to change his center of work to that stirring locality. During November of 1912 he and J. W. Wood began to operate on the west side, where his expert knowledge of a most difficult enterprise has given him the confidence of oil operators on all (_ f the leases. Giving his attention closely to business duties, he has little time and less interest in public affairs, nor has he been deeply inter- ested in social or fraternal organizations, although during the period of his residence in Texas he united with the Mullin Camp, Woodmen of the World, and in addition he is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose No. 473, at Bakersfield. FRANK A. BYRNS. — The superintendent of the pipe line department of the Standard Oil Company at Lost Hills was born in Oil City, Pa., Jan- uary 31, 1879. His father, M. A. Byrns, was connected with the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania all his life and he is still an active business man, now engaged in general merchandising at Cranberry. Venango county. From a youth Frank A. Byrns grew up familiar with the oil industry. After graduating from the Oil City High School in 1896 he began the oil business under his father, continuing until 1899, when he entered the em- ploy of the Kenawah Oil Company in West Virginia, but two years later he left their employ to become pumper for Guffy & Galey at Weston, W. Va. In the spring of 1901 he was employed at Deadwood, Dak., putting in a gas system, on the completion of which he came to California in September, 1902, and entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company as stationary engineer, under W. V. Miller. The next year he filled the same position at Coalinga, afterwards becoming field ganger. In 1909 he was transferred to San Pablo in charge of the storehouses, but he was later returned to Kern county by the company as assistant superintendent of the pipe line depart- ment at Lost Hills. In January, 1913, he was made superintendent of the department, a position he is now filling with his usual tact and ability. In Stockton, Cal., in 1906, occurred the marriage of Mr. Byrns with Miss Margaret Neville, a native daughter of San Francisco, and they have one child, Frank L. Mr. Byrns is well and favorably known and fraternally is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. PERCY L. ROBINSON.— An aptitude for mechanical work inherited from his father who. although an agriculturist by occupation, exhibited ex- ceptional skill in the handling and repairing of machinery, early turned the thoughts of Mr. Robinson toward the earning of a livelihood through an occupation demanding mechanical skill and in the selection of the oil indus- try as his life work he has made no mistake, as his rising success abundantly proves. Of English birth and lineage, he displays the dignity, strong per- sonality and practical common sense that have characterized his nationality from the beginning of history. When he came to the United States in 1908, accompanied by his wife and infant child, he proceeded direct to California and secured employment in the Kern river fields, where since 1911 he has engaged as sub-foreman under S. H. Martin, having charge of the pump work on the Sterling division of .the Associated Oil Company. The shire of Bedford is Mr. Robinson's native place and January 24, 1212 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1881, the date of his birth. As a boy he lived on a farm operated by his father, Henry R., who not only showed wise judgment in the tilling of the soil, but in addition was so capable in the handling of machinery that he was regularly employed in the running of threshing machines and similar work calling for considerable skill in mechanics. While attending school until fourteen years of age, the son during vacations had every opportunity to assist his father with the machines and thus he developed his native talent for such work. During December of 1903 he was united in marriage with Aliss Susan Sophia Johnson, a native of the adjoining shire of Buck- ingham in England, and for some years after marriage he remained in Eng- land, earning a livelihood for his family through mechanical and kindred work. At Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, their eldest child, Ethel Maudie, was born, and a second daughter, Lillian, was born in the Kern River oil fields. After settling in Kern county Mr. Robinson engaged in the oil indus- try and was with various concerns, but principally the Cleveland Oil Com- pany, until his selection for his present position with the Associated Oil Company. He belongs to the Woodmen of the World and Loyal Order of Moose. HON. JAMES WILLIAM FREEMAN.— The life which this narrative delineates began in Culpeper county, Va., November 6, 1821, and closed at Bakersfield, Cal., October 10, 1890. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, going to Mariposa county, thence to Tulare county and becoming one of the fcunders of Visalia. While living there he represented Tulare county in the state senate, and it was at this session that he succeeded in passing the bill to form Kern county out of Tulare. At the time of the mining excitement in 1854 he became a resident of Keyesville and later engaged in practice at Havilah, at that time the ccunty-seat of Kern county. For four- teen years he served as district attorney of Kern county and his oratorical skill, fluency of speech and soundness of logic made him a power in profes- sional circles. The title of General, by which he was known, came to him through his leadership of a company formed at Visalia at time of the Civil war. The larger opportunities offered by Bakersfield caused him to give up the happy associations of years and he removed from Havilah to the later county-seat, where, just after the completion of his new home, lie passed away, followed to the grave by manifold tokens of affection and sincere regard. Fraternally, he was a Master Mason. From early life until the close of his useful existence he supported Democratic principles. The marriage of James W. Freeman and Mrs. Martha Ann (Burkett) Brown was solemnized in Sacramento, Cal., October 13, 1876, and resulted in the birth of a daughter, Mattie. now Mrs. O'Reilly, of Pasadena. Mrs. Freeman, who still occuoies the residence in Bakersfield built for her by the General shortly before his death, was born in Lexington, Tenn., and received her education in Arkansas public schools. Her parents, James and INIary (Greer) Burkett, were born in Tennessee, the former in 1818 and the latter in 1821 ; both died in Arkansas, the mother during 1863 and the father in 1876. Shortly after leaving school Miss Martha Ann Burkett became the bride of Dr. Leonidas Brown, who was born in Tennessee September 18, 1839. At the outbreak of the Civil war, which occurred shortly after he had graduated from a medical college in Tennessee, he volunteered as a surgeon in the Con- federate army, was assigned to the First Tennessee Regiment and remained at the front until the end of the struggle. Twice wounded in battle, he car- ried two bullets in his body throughout the balance of his life and they were finally the cause of his death. When the south no longer had need of his services as a surgeon he began to practice in Arkansas, where, December 22, 1867, he was united in marriage with Miss Burkett. The young couple set- tled in Texas, but about 1870 they came to California and established a home HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1213 at Havilah, where he served several terms as county physician. He resigned from that office when the county seat was moved to Bakersfield. His death occurred October 20, 1875, from the effects of his army service. Besides his wife he left an only child, Dardan L. Brown, now a resident of Bakers- field. For many years Mrs. Freeman has been a member of the Kern County Pioneer Society. Upon the death of Mr. I^Yeeman the following resolutions were passed by the bar of Kern county, October 14, 1890: Whereas : Almighty God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to remove from our midst our esteemed fellow citizen, beloved brother attorney and able jurist, the Hon. J. W. Freeman, and Whereas: He being one of the oldest residents in, and organizers of Kern County, California, and Whereas : He has represented this part of the State of California in the Senate of this State for the period of two terms, and has represented Kern Count^^ Cali- fornia, as District Attorney thereof, for about sixteen years, and Whereas : He has been a kind husband, a loving and indulgent father and mild and honorable in all he did, and Whereas : His death has deprived Kern County, California, of one of its ablest and most honorable lawyers, and the people of this county and the members of the Kern County Bar in particular of one of their purest, noblest and truest friends. Resolved : That while we deeply deplore his untimely death, w-e bow our heads in humble submission to this evidence of divine will. Resolved : That the relatives of the deceased have our deepest sympathy in this their hour of affliction. Resolved: That in the death of the Hon. J. W. Freeman, not only has his, family, relatives, the members of this Kern County Bar, and the judicial interests of this county, sufifered irreparable loss, but society at large has been deprived of one of the most useful members and brightest lights. Resolved : That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this court, and a copy thereof be sent to the family of the deceased, and one to each of the newspapers published in the County of Kern, State of Cali- fornia, with a request to publish the same. Thomas Rhodes, J. W. Mahon and Alvin Fay. Committee. DELL J. HOLSON.— In Silver City. N. Mex., where his yruj:h was spent, Dell J. Holson first saw the light of day on September 10, 1874. He was the son of Thomas W. and Nannie (Rees) Holson. the former a native of Glasgow, Scotland, while the mother was born in the Alps, Switzerland. Both early settlers in Colorado, it was there they met and married. For a time the father followed mining and then ran quartz mills. Removing subsequently to Silver City, N. Mex., he became interested in the stock business and had a cattle ranch near the city which proved so profitable that he followed that as his life work and the family are now making their home there. Three children were born to this couple, our subject being the second, and he was the first white boy born in Silver City. Receiving the education afforded by the grammar and high schools in his native city, the boy early learned the cattle business and became so thoroughly inured to the life of a stockman that he has followed it ever since. He is very proficient with the lasso and in the saddle is much at ease, and he was considered one of the best riders and ropers in that section, having won in contests on many occasions. When he was twenty-one he took charge of his father's cattle ranch and conducted it most successfully, later forming the Holson Cattle Company, of which he was president. They ran a very large herd of cattle until 1910, when the company sold out and dissolved and Mr. Holson then came to Bakersfield to enter the employ of the Kern County Land Company as cattle shipper. Tw^o years later he was promoted to stock foreman of the Stockdale division, and in August. 1913, on the death of the late Temple Taylor, he was promoted to superintendent of the division, which includes five of the company's ranches, thus reaping the reward for earnest, pams- 1214 HISTORY OF KKRX COL^XTY takino^ labor and an unsullied record in the employ- of the larg^e company for which he is working-. Mr. Holson was married in Silver City, N. Mex., to Miss Lillian Clayton, a native of Texas and a g^raduate of the Silver City Normal. They have two daughters. Gladys and Fay. Mr. Holson was made a Mason in the Silver City Lodge No. 8, F. & A. M., and is a member of the Isaac Tififany Lodge No. 13, I. O. O. F., and of the Knights of the Maccabees. Mrs. Holson is a devout member of the Presbyterian Church. In political senti- ment Mr. Holson is a Democrat. J. J. DEUEL, SR. — Descended from French-Huguenots, Mr. Deuel fur- nishes a fine illustration of the possibilities before a skilled Amer- ican mechanic, for he has maintained an excellent reputation at his trade, besides showing ability as a farmer. Born at Wellsville, Columbiana county, Ohio, September 20, 1856, he began to earn his own livelihood at the age of eleven years and for some time was employed in the oil fields of Penn- sylvania and West Virginia. From 1871 until 1875 he served an apprentice- ship to the trade of boiler-maker in Pittsburg, Pa., whence he came to Cali- fornia in the year last-named, settling in San Francisco, where he worked for a steamship company until June of that year. Next going to Los An- geles he worked for almost two years with the George M. AVheeler geograph- ical survey and in the meantime surveyed from the Mexico line to ]\Iount Whitney: During that period he was on top of every large mountain in California as far north as Mount Whitney. Leaving the west Mr. Deuel for ten years engaged in building bridges, tanks and boilers for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and in the mean- time maintained his home at Wellsville. Ohio, where in 1879 he married Miss Flora Virginia Eaton. His next location was at Pensacola, Fla.. where for twelve years he was engaged as foreman with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, having entire supervision of all boiler work for the company. Leaving Florida he returned to California and settled at Kern, where for five years he was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The particular task in which he engaged was the changing of the engines from coal to oil. When that task was completed he left the railroad employ and began to work for the Axelson Machine Company in Bakersfield, delivering the pumps and fittings to the Kern river oil fields. Meanwhile he bought from Louis Smith eighty acres situated five miles southeast of Bakersfield. comprising one-half of the northeast quarter of section 2, range 29, where he now makes his home. This he has improved with three wells, one having a two-inch pump operated by a six horse power engine, and the other two have four-inch centrifugal pumps operated by twenty horse power oil engines which can deliver eighty inches of water. Mr. and Airs. Deuel are members of the Bakersfield Christian Church. Besides their own three children they have reared two other children, sisters. Flora and Eva Ramsey, the elder of whom is now the wife of a blacksmith at Kern. Of their own children, J. J., Jr.. holds a very respon- sible position as sales manager with the Axelson ]\Iachine Company for the state of California; the only daughter, Lottie M., is the wife of Henry Pierce and lives at Pensacola, Fla. ; and the younger son, H. P., follows the trade of a boiler-maker at McCook, Neb., where he is employed by a railroad company. JEAN B. ESTRIBOU.— Besides the management of the Afetropole market, Mr. Estribou devoted much time to the raising of cattle and alfalfa, for which purpose he bought and improved a ranch two miles south- east of town, and there he built and now maintains a slaughter-house. In addition to raising cattle on the ranch he buys elsewhere, for his trade is large and there is a constant demand for beef of the finest quality. It is said that HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 1215 few men in Kern county excel him in judging the best points of stock and he shows especial skill in selecting cattle capable of being developed into the best quality of beef. In 1912 he sold his retail market, but continued the whole- sale beef business and then started the Estribou delicatessen, in the Metro- pole block, from which place he manages his wholesale business. It is equipped with a modern refrigeration plant. From early life Mr. Estribou has made his own way in the world, but the necessity of self-support, instead of proving a detriment, developed in him qualities of frugality, self-reliance and thrift and proved the foundation of ultimate success. During childhood he lived in Basses Pyrenees, France, where he was born June 16, 1865, in the village of Ogeu. The second child in the family and the only one to attain mature years, he was only five when death deprived him of the loving care of his mother, Marie (Fayance) Estri- bou, and later his father, Paul, spent some years in Buenos Ayres, South America, engaging there in the stock business until his death. The break- ing up of the home threw the boy upon the world at an age. when he should have been in school, but in spite of this handicap he has acquired by self- culture a broad knowledge of the world. In boyhood he served an appren- ticeship to the trade of butcher. Coming to California in 1882 and arriving in San Francisco, he worked at the dairy industry on the bay and also found emplovment in a laundry, as well as in other lines of business. During 1893 he came to Kern county and two years later opened the Metropole market at East Bakersfield. Since then he has erected on Humboldt street a substantial brick residence, said to be one of the finest homes in the place. This beautiful home is presided over by his wife, whom he married in San Francisco and who was Miss Sophie Laborde, a native of Basses Py- renees, France. Five children blessed their union and the three youngest, Paul, Alfred and Denise, still remain to brighten the home with their pres- ence. The eldest, Mrs. Jeanette Bryan, is living in Bakersfield, and the second, Frank, a graduate of Heald's Business College at San Jose, is now a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Kern. Besides being a leading member of the Board of Trade, Mr. Estribou has allied himself with other movements for the business and material upbuilding of his chosen place of residence. In politics he votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles, Druids, Woodmen of the World and Improved Order of Red Men. CECIL H. HANNING.— A native of Maine, Mr. Banning was born in Littleton, Aroostook county, July 14, 1872, the son of Merrell B. and Martha J. (Levitt) Hanning, farmers in Aroostook county. The father served in a ]\raine regiment during the Civil war for four years and eight months as a second lieutenant. Cecil H. Hanning is the youngest of four children, all living. As a boy he was sent to the public school near his home and studied in that New England institution until he was eighteen years old. The ensuing year he spent in labor on the family homestead and in 1891 he came to California, arriving November 24 and settling on the South Fork of the Kern river in Kern county. Being without capital with which to start in life on his own account, he worked for wages eight years and in 1899 found himself able to set up as a farmer in a modest way. Renting four hundred and eighty acres of land, he engaged in general farming and stock-raising. At this time he has three hundred and seventy-five acres under cultivation, grows much grain and alfalfa and has two hundred and sixty head of cattle and two hundred and fifty hogs. December 25, 1900, Mr. Hanning married Miss May M. McCray, who was born at Kernville, October 26. 1880, and they have three children, John C, Charles F. and Ruth. H. P. JENSEN, O. D. — A patronymic indicative of Scandinavian ancestry finds confirmation in the fact that Dr. lensen is a native of the fine old king- 1216 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY dom of Denmark and a descendant of a race identified with that rugged coun- try from a period when authentic history lapses into tradition. His father, Mads, a man of exceptional expertness in the jewelry business, followed that line of work for years in Odense, Denmark, and later in Scranton, Iowa, where he still makes his home and carries on a prosperous trade. By his marriage to Caroline Larsen he had two children, the second of whom, H. P., was burn at Nyborg, on the east coast of the island of Fyen, Denmark, Octo- ber 27, 1875. In addition to the usual public-school opportunities he had the privilege of a polytechnic course. During vacations he assisted his father in the store and thus gained a thorough knowledge of the jewelry business while yet a mere lad. Accompanying his father to the United States in 1895 he remained with him in Iowa for a brief period and then drifted west to Kansas, where he secured a position as manager of a jewelry business in Great Bend, continuing in the same place for five years and then resigning in order that he might enter upon a course of professional study. From his young boyhood the study of diseases of the eye had interested Dr. Jensen and as much of his work in the jewelry store had to do with the fitting of eye-glasses and spectacles he began to specialize along this line, the result being that in 1900 he matriculated in the Kansas City College of Ophthalmology. At the completion of the regular course of study he was graduated in 1902 with the degree of O. D. and with an exceptionally fine record for successful work. Not content with the information thus acquired he took a pcst-graduate course in Dr. Hamilton's School of Ophthalmology, a department of the Columbia Medical College of Kansas City. After the com- pletion of the second course he opened an office at St. Joseph, Mo., where he built up a growing and valuable practice during the eighteen months of his residence in the place. Desiring, however, to establish a home in the west he came to California during 1907 and spent six months in a tour of inspection through the state. At the expiration of the time Dr. Jensen selected Bakersfield as his future field of professional endeavor and at once opened an office at No. 1413 Nineteenth street, where he began the practice of ophthalmology. In 1912 he removed to his present quarters at No. 1513, where he has a suite equipped with every modern appliance for the successful prosecution of his work. Possessing superior ability along inventive lines, he recently invented a cylindrical grinding machine superior to any similar appliance now in the market and it is his expectation to utilize this invention in his own grinding establishment, which is operated by electricity. Recognized as a master of all diseases of the eye, he is consulted in all such cases in the community, not only by the patients themselves, but very frequently by physicians and other opticians, and his record for prompt and successful diagnosis of eye troubles entitles him to a position among the leading men of his profession in the state. To assist him in his practice he has his wife, whom he married in Fresno and who was Miss Lena Weiser, a native of Texas. Being a grad- uate of the California Optical College of San Francisco, she is thoroughly competent to assist him in the most delicate and intricate operations. Along the line of professional developments he finds pleasure and profit in asso- ciation with members of the American and California Optical Associations and further has served as vice-president of the Central California Optical Association, in which he ranks as a leading member. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, politically votes the Republican ticket at all national elections and in religion adheres to the Lutheran denomination, the church of his forefathers and the faith in which he was reared in his early home in Denmark. GUS ODEMAN. — A member of a family of eleven children and fifth among the nine that attained maturity, Gus Odeman was born at Sayrsborg, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1217 Norway, December 16, 1878. His parents sent him to school and brought him up in the faith of the Methodist Church. Like many of the boys of the community, he early went to sea. When only fifteen years of age he earned his livelihood as a sailor on the North sea. About 1896, after three years in brief voyages on that water, he shipped before the mast of an English vessel that started from Frederikstad on a cruise around the world, touching port at Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. At the time of stopping at Honolulu the plague raged in that city. The vessel was then turned toward America and cast anchor at Tacoma, where it was sold, over- hauled and loaded with lumber for the Australian markets. Altogether he made three voyages to Australia. In 1902, after having sailed several times around the world, first under the English flag and later under that of France, he settled in San Francisco and announced his intention of becoming an American citizen. During the two following years he was in the revenue service ale ng the Pacific coast and as a salmon fisher in Alaskan waters. During 1904 he retired from the life of a sailor after eleven years spent on the high seas. A brief period of employment as fireman on a dredge on the San Joaquin river was followed by promotion to be a leverman, but soon Mr. Odeman was obliged to leave on account of an attack of malarial fever. The doctor ordered him to the mountains, but a sojourn in Shasta county did not bring restoration of health and he then began work at a logging camp in the Santa Cruz mountains, where soon his strength was restored. Upon leaving the logging camp he spent five months as a fireman on river boats in the San Francisco bay, after which he engaged in fishing at Santa Cruz and followed kindred occupations in the same locality. Later he spent a few months in dredging at Moro Rock. For eighteen months he was employed in the vicinity of San Pedro, where a passageway for ocean vessels was being opened up to Wilmington. From there he entered the employ of the J. F. Lucey Company of Los Angeles, and was engaged in constructing siphons in connection with the building of the Los Angeles aqueduct which conveys the waters from the Owens river on its way to Los Angeles. Much of his work was in connection with the construction of the San Antonio and Dove Spring Camp siphons. W^hen the job neared completion, he resigned for the work had been replete with accidents and inimical to life. Since then he has been in the Sunset and Midway fields. He has worked for the United Crude and American Oil companies and for the Monarch refinery, owned by the Sunset Monarch Oil Company, but more recently has been a pumper in the employ of the Boston Pacific Oil Company. Since coming to the oil fields he has invested in a tract of sixteen acres in Merced county and it is his intention to improve the propertv bv planting fig trees. GEORGE CARLOS SABICHI, M. S.,'M. D.— Romance enters into the association of the Sabichi family with California. As early as 1838 Matthias Sabichi, of Austrian birth, came from Vienna to Los Angeles and there won a bride from an old family long resident at the Mexican capital. Two sons. Matthias, Jr., and Frank, were born of the union, the younger of these claiming October 4. 1842, as the date of his birth. When eight years of age. his mother having passed away, his father decided to take the boys to England in order that they might have the advantages of a liberal education. At that time Los Angeles was a mere hamlet without schools worthy of the name. The dis- covery of gold was drawing immense throngs to the west, but was not in- creasing the population of the southern part of the state. To a man am- bitious for his sons, there seemed little opportunity in the Spanish pueblo that as yet had not become imbued with American enterprise. Accordingly father and sons started on the long journey to the old world. While they were crossing the Isthmus of Panama the father was suddenly stricken with* 1218 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY yellow fever and succumbed to the disease, leaving the young boys alone and friendless. When the unfortunate voyage had come to an end and they were landed in England, the American consul, Joseph Rodney Croskey, received them into his own home, became a foster-father in every sense of the word and carefully attended to their education. Upon the completion of a course of several years in the Royal Academy at Gosport near Portsmouth. England, where he had received a practical education, Frank Sabichi was given a commission in the English navy and cruised through the waters of Europe, visiting the principal cities of the con- tinent, besides seeing much of the Orient. In his voyages he found abundant opportunity to acquaint himself with the history, customs and languages of the various countries, and thus he became fluent in the use of all the lan- guages of the south, of Europe. His own misfortunes had made him self- reliant. Forced to care for himself from an early age, he became observant beyond his years, while association with cultured people in addition to his own thorough education gave him a culture of manner and dignity of address. Dui-ing his service in the navy he took part in many historical adventures, notably the Sepoy war in India and the siege of Sebastopol. Upon more than one voyage he visited the Philippine Islands, whose wealth and possi- bilities greatly impressed him. Notwithstanding the fact that he was both popular and successful in the navy, he never ceased to yearn for the land of his birth and during 1860 it became possible for him to return to Los Angeles. Having determined to prepare himself for the practice of law, he entered the office of Glassell, Smith 8z Patton, at that time leading lawyers of Southern California, and there continued until he was admitted to the bar. Through familiarity with the language of the then prevailing population and through knowledge of local afifairs, Frank Sabichi came rapidly to a substantial and remunerative practice. However, as a practitioner in a com- munity of small population he felt himself to be hampered, and so gradually entered into business enterprises, eventually retiring from practice in order to give his entire time to personal matters. Several important land syndicates and projected railroad systems received his practical counsel and co-operation. He became a director in the San Jose Land Company, which controlled a vast acreage now in the heart of the orange belt of Southern California. Appre- ciating the necessity of extending railway lines throughout the country, he became associated in the promotion of the Los Angeles & Ballona Railroad and for a time acted as vice-president of the company. His purchases of real estate in Los Angeles testify as to his sagacity and foresight. The twenty acres formerly the family homestead are now included in East Seventh street, a thoroughfare of great commercial importance, whose first establishment was in a great measure due to the activity of Mr. Sabichi. From the first he had a great faith in the future of the city and this c( nviction he supported by personal investments, which eventually brought him wealth. As a progres- sive citizen he maintained a warm interest in political and public afifairs. Every movement for the local advancement received his aid. It was not his desire to accent public office, for his business affairs engrossed his attention and were more to his taste than public service. After repeated refusals to become a candidate he was elected to the city council in 1871 and re-elected in 1874, acting for the latter term as president of that body. The presence of a man of executive abilitv and civic rectitude being necessary in the council in 1884 to establish an additional water supply, he reluctantly consented to be- come a member of the board. During his incumbency he took up and con- cluded negotiations by which the city acquired immensely important water rights upon Los Feliz rancho, which in later years became of strategic advan- tage to a city of constant development. During 1893 Mr. Sabichi was urged to permit his name to be presented to President Cleveland for appointment as minister to Guatemala. Thirty-nine HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1219 senators and twenty-six assemblymen of the state legislature, irrespective of party affiliation, the justices of the supreme court of California, the bench and bar of San Francisco and Los Angeles, together with merchants, bankers, lawyers and captains of industry throughout all of the state, inscribed a memorial to the president presenting the abundant and admirable personal qualifications of Mr. Sabichi and his fitness for the delicate task of repre- senting the national government in the southern country. In addition to many other public offices, Mr. Sabichi served several times on important commissions cif the city, particularly the park commission and the board of police commissioners. Besides being a charter member of the Pioneer Society of Southern California he was identified actively with the Native Sons of the Golden West and held in it the office of grand trustee until his death. The marriage of Frank Sabichi took place May 4, 1865, and united him with Magdalena, daughter of William Wolfskill. The story of the life of Mr. Wolfskill is replete with interest and adventure. One of the earliest settlers of Los Angeles, he became the owner of a broad domain which in- cluded within its limits the first orange grove planted in Southern California outside of the old missions. This consisted of one hundred acres. When the Southern Pacific Railroad was brought into the city the family donated a part of this valuable grove of fifteen acres to be utilized for depot and freight yards. The example of his honored father-in-law and the remembrance of his own father, so long since dead, aroused in Mr. Sabichi a desire to add to the prestige of their names and he spent his whole life as one who has a trust in his keeping. When finally he passed from earth April 12, 1900, he was fol- lowed to the grave by tributes of admiration and praise from the many who had occasion to test his generosity, appreciate his worth and esteem his gracious dignity. His widow, at the age of sixty-eight years, is still making Los Angeles her home. Among the children of Frank and Magdalena Sabichi the following at- tained mature years: Francis Winfield, who died at the age of forty; Magda- lena, x^gatha, Joseph Rodney, George Carlos, William W., Louis M., Rosa and Beatrice. Juanita, Ruth Naomi and Leopold died in early years. Of those who attained maturity George Carlos Sabichi, \[. S.. M. D., was fifth in order of birth. After having been sent through the grammar grades of the public schools in the city wdiere he was born November 4, 1878, he became a student in St. Vincent's College and there in 1898 received the degree of B. S. During 1899 he was granted the degree of M. S., after a thorough post- graduate course. Next he took biological studies at Berkeley, where he be- came a charter member of the Beta Xi, of Kappa Sigma. With the advantage of such excellent classical and scientific training, he matriculated in the medi- cal department of the University of Southern California, where he studied for four successive years, being given the degree of M. D. in June, 1904. at the time of graduation. From that time until 1906 he acted as house surgeon in the Los Angeles County hospital, with a capacity of nine hundred and fifty beds and wbere his advantages for practical experience were unexcelled. There he laid the foundation for the wide reputation in surgery he now enjoys. Dur- ing 1906 and 1907 he served as first assistant surgeon at the National Soldiers' Home for Disabled Soldiers at Sawtelle. Cal., receiving the appointment to the position from Brigadier-General La Grange. At the same time he carried on a general practice at Sawtelle and Los Angeles. Upon resigning his post at the hospital he went east for post-graduate study and took a course at Columbia University, New York City, where he made a specialty of surgery and received the degree of M. D. Returning to Los Angeles in June of 1907, he was married there on the 26th of that month, his wife being Miss May Myers, whose mother is a direct descendant of Gen. Robert E. Lee and whose father, John Myers, is an honored pioneer of Los Angeles. There are two children in the family of Dr. Sabichi, namely: Isabelle Magdalena and 1220 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Juanita Ronero. On December 27, 1912, the University of Southern California granted Dr. Sabichi the degree of Doctor of Medicine, an honor extended to only such of the alumni whose work has proven highly meritorious. A residence at Randsburg during 1907-08 was brought about by the ap- pointment (if Dr. Sabichi as chief surgeon for the Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company, which employs about one thousand men. From Randsburg he came to Bakersfield in April, 1908, and here in addition to conducting an of- fice practice and acting as family physician he has become consulting surgeon for the coast lines of the Santa Fe, covering the entire system from Albu- querque to Los Angeles and from Bakersfield to San Francisco. He has his office in the Producers' Bank building and his residence at No. 1620 Seven- teenth street. Alcng the line of his profession he has maintained an active as- sociation with the Los Angeles Medical Society, the California State Med- ical Association, the American Medical Association and the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. In addition he has acted as surgeon for the Knights of Columbus, of which he is a leading member. Other organ- izations to which he gives allegiance are the Fraternal Brotherhood. Modern M^oodmen of America and Woodmen of the World, also Bakersfield Parlor No. 42, Native Sons of the Golden West, in which he has been honored with the office of president. The Mu Sigma Mu and Bakersfield Club have his name enrolled upon the list of members and his interests have been broadened still further by an active identification with the National Geographical Society. DR. CHARLES H. SEARS.— A native of Michigan, Charles H. Sears was born in Battle Creek, the son of Allen H. and Edna (Howe) Sears. His boyhood was spent in Michigan where he learned the trades of blacksmith and horseshcer. Upon coming to California in 1886 he secured empL yment on the Richard Gird ranch near Pomona, where for two years he had charge of the machine work. Upon leaving the ranch he went into Pomona and opened a blacksmith shop en Second street and Garey avenue, where now stands a large implement house. At that time Pomona was a mere village, giving little prospect of its present high state of development, and he worked with other pioneers to secure needed civic improvements. Grad- ually his shop increased in importance and ten hands found steady employ- ment. While living in Pomona he first began to practice veterinary surgery, although he can scarcely recall a time when he was not interested in horses and successful in caring for them. A practical knowledge of the profession was acquired under Dr. W. J. Fleming and upon the death of the latter he succeeded to the veterinary practice, later passing a most creditable examination before the state board of veterinary examiners. From Pomona Dr. Sears removed to San Bernardino in 1900 and engaged in veterinary practice, thence coming to Bakersfield in January of 1905. Since then he has conducted a veterinary hospital at No. 2211 Chester avenue, where now he has forty head of horses in his care. This being the only hospital of the kind in Kern county and having a reputation for skilled management, it naturally receives the bulk of the practice for miles around Bakersfield. As a member of the State Veterinary Medical Association the Doctor keeps in touch with the work throughout California and meets every improvement with an earnest determination to avail himself of its advantages. Asa judge of horses his reputation is widely extended, while in the breeding of fine animals he also has been successful. A number of well-known horses have come from his barns and he still owns Richard B. by Woolsey, a three-year-old with a record of 2:16, trial 2.06; also Donello, said to be without a superior along the coast, record of 2:18^^, trial 2:10; besides other animals that stand at the head in the list of equine favorites throughout the state. HENRY F. DEVENNEY was born in Santa Ana. Orange county. Cal., May 11, 1879, the fourth oldest of the eight children born to John and Eliza HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1221 (McDonald) Devenney, who were born in Pennsylvania and Iowa respec- tively. The family came to California in 1874 and located at Santa Ana, where the parents were farmers. Eventually they retired to Bay City, where they now reside. Henry F. Devenney was brought up on the ranch and received his educa- tion in the public schools of Santa Ana, on the completion of which he fol- lowed farming- until he entered the employ of the Santa Ana brickyard. In a short time he resigned and engaged as foreman of the Stanton ranch at Brookhurst for four years. At the end of that period he came to Wasco in August. 1909, locating a homestead of eighty acres six miles south of town. Afterwards he obtained title to it and since then has improved the property. In February, 1911, he entered the employ of the Fourth Extension Water Company, having charge of their engineering and pumping plants. He also purchased a local water system, which he has extended, and is supplying water for domestic use to his patrons in Wasco. He is a firm believer in the future prosperity of Wasco and has invested his surplus and owns two resi- dences in town. In Anaheim occurred the marriage of Henry F. Devenney and Miss Mar- garet L. Williams, who is a native daughter of Orange county. Of the union there is one child, Carl Henry. Politically Mr. Devenney is a Republican, Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and w^ith his wdfe belongs to the order of the Fraternal Brotherhood. JOSE SOLA w^as born in the city of Ochagarvia, Province of Navarra, Spain, June 20. 1881, where he grew up on the farm and received his education in the local schools. He aided his parents all he could and also managed to work out and in that way made enough extra money to attend night school. W'hen nineteen he enlisted in the Spanish army, serving three years and be- coming a corporal. While in the army he learned the barbers' trade and fol- lowed it until his honorable discharge in December, 1902, when he came to California and in the same month to Bakersfield. Not understanding the language or customs, he accepted the first place he could find, that of sheep herder for Miller & Lux. After eleven months in their employ and five months with the Kern County Land Company he came to Tehachapi, where he worked for Jamison at the Lime Kiln for four months and was then taken sick. Upon his recovery he went to San Francisco, where he established himself in the barber business on Powell and Broadway. On selling out he worked in the Palace shop until three days before the earth- quake; he had taken a boat for San Pedro and thus escaped the terrors of that period. Then working at the trade in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and San Pedro, he next opened a barber shop in Fresno and while engaged in business there he married IMiss Ignacia Errea, also a native of Spain. On account of his wife's health he sold his business in Fresno and re- moved to Tehachapi, Two years later he opened the Yellowstone barber shop, where he has been successfully in business ever since and is well and favorably known. He has built a residence in the town where he resides with his wife and three children, Mike, Ignatius and Margaret. Fraternally he is a member of Fresno Aerie No. 39, Eagles. He is favorably impressed with the country of his adoption and his admiration for the Stars and Stripes impelled him to acquire American citizenship November 20, 1911. Politically he adheres to the principles of the Republican party. HIBBARD SMITH WILLIAMS.— Having been brought to California when only four years of age, Mr, Williams is a typical Californian in all except nativity, and no one is more enthusiastic than he regarding the future possibilities of this state. In this respect he resembles his father, the late Charles H. Williams, who from the time of his arrival in Los Angeles in 1222 HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 1874 until his death in 1879 always contended that it would eventually become the greatest city along the Pacific coast. The faith he cherished concerning the future of Los Angeles he backed by his actions, acquiring the title to about five city blocks in the downtown district. It was not his privilege to live to witness the fruition of his hopes and the realization of his optimistic faith, but by his identification with T. E. Rowan in the real estate business he promoted civic development and became a factor in permanent upbuild- ing. F(T years he was an influential Knight Templar. At dififerent periods of his life he had lived in the three great sections of the country: the east, where he was born at Boston, ]\Ias§., and where he engaged in the stationery business at Waltham ; the middle west, where he settled after the Civil war in Floyd county, Iowa, and built and operated a flour mill at Rockford ; and, lastlv. the far west, where his closing years were spent. The marriage of Charles H. Williams united him with Miss Emma Irene Hibbard, a native of Milwaukee, and now Mrs. E. I. Winslow. of Fresno. There were three sons of the first marriage and of these Hibbard Smith Williams was born at Rockford, Floyd county, Iowa, November 18, 1870. Only the vaguest memories remain to him of the old Rockford home and the flour mill built by his father near the placid Shell Rock river. After the age of four years he lived in Los Angeles, where he attended the public schools, the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Business College. Early in life he began to work as a freight clerk with the Hancock- Banning Company, after which he attended business college until gradua- tion. Having a desire to study machinery, he apprenticed himself to the trade of a machinist with Fairbanks. Morse & Co. in San Francisco, con- tinuing with them from 1898 until 1901. On the 15th of January of the latter year he came to the Kern river oil field, engaging as a bookkeeper and assis- tant foreman with the dreen-Whittier Oil Company. Seeing the possibili- ties of the oil industry, he determined to learn all of its details. With that object in view he went into the field and took anv position possible to fill. For a time he was employed as a pumper. Later he learned drilling. After fourteen months he entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company as division superintendent at McKittrick. arriving at this place April 15, 1902. For seven years he filled the position, discharging its duties with the great- est efficiency. Meanwhile he had opened up the McKittrick field for the company and had accomplished much in their interests. When finally he resigned from their employ in 1909 it was for the purpose of carrying on the Pacific iron works at McKittrick, which place he had purchased in partner- ship with J. M. Smith. Later he bought out the interest of his partner, since which time he has been sole proprietor of the plant. A specialty is made of the manufacture of oil well machinery, fishing and drilling tools. The distinction of being the largest manufacturing business in the north- west part of Kern county belongs to the Pacific iron works. Steam and elec- tric nower enable the work to be conducted with dispa'ch. Besides carrying on this important plant Mr. Williams is known as the pioneer wild-catter in the McKittrick field. Some years ago he drilled a well on the Leader Oil Company's lease in North McKittrick, but found no oil. With a Ball and Williams outfit he drilled a well in the same field that still gives out a solendid production, but his interests in this well have been sold. About 1911 he obtained a lease of forty acres seven miles north of McKittrick, where he put down a well to a depth of fourteen hundred feet and obtained a good supply of oil. Considerable profit has come to him through his specu- lation in the oil game, in which he has taken many hazards, but has come out in excellent financial shape. He has given very little attention to poli- tics, but votes the Republican ticket in national elections. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he is also identified with the Bakersfield Club. His marriage took place in Los Angeles HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1223 and united him with Miss Delia A. Bowlsby, who was born at Elizabeth, Jo Daviess county, 111., but has been a resident of California from girlhood. AUGUSTINE AMOUR.— Born at Marseilles, France, February 12, 1881, and reared at Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Mr. Amour was orphaned in lioyhood. While still very youne; he served an apprenticeship to the trade of butcher, wc^rking for his board and clothes, and at the conclusion of his time receiving: regular wages. Neither the trade nor the sur- roundings afforded him satisfaction. Prospects for the fu.ure seemed discouraging. Hearing much concerning the favorable openings in California he determined to come to the west. When he first reached the state and landed finally in Bakersfield in November, 1903, he was without means, but he experi- enced no difficulty in earning a livelihood through the herding of sheep. A year later he went to San Francisco and in about three months proceeded to Napa county, where for three years he held a position in the dairy department of the state hospital. Upon coming to Bakersfield with the intention of becoming a permanent resident, Mr. Amour embarked in the bakery business on Humboldt street. In time he bought the lot and building, continuing in that location until August, 1913, when he rented the place. Immediately thereafter he began to improve his lots on the corner of Kern and Grove streets, where he has erected a two-story brick structure, 37x52 feet in dimensions. The Amour building will be utilized for a store and a rooming house, both under the per- sonal supervision of Mr. Amour, assisted by his wife, who was Miss Alberta Riccalde, a native of the province of Asturias, Spain, but a resident of Cali- fornia from girlhood. Their family comprises two children, Augustina and Albert. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Amour- has been stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party. In fraternal relations he is con- nected with the Druids. ALFRED SIEMON.— Born in Van Buren county, Iowa, January 2, 1881, Afred Siemon is a son of William and Josephine Siemon, who for a consider- able period made a home in Iowa, but when their son had become a pupil in the eighth grade of the public schools they moved to Missouri, settling in Caldwell county. Later he became a student in the high school of Brecken- ridge, Caldwell county, and continued there until his graduation with the class of 1898. In his early life the family made a number of removals and thus he was privileged to see something of the country in Iowa, Missouri and Colorado before they came to California in 1902 and established their home in W^hittier, Los Angeles county. The presence in that section of a con- siderable number of members of the Society of Friends had attracted them to Whittier, where for four years he attended the Friends' College in the classical course. Before he had completed school he had fixed his ambition upon the profession of law and his first studies in that line were conducted in the law office of A. Moore at Whittier, where also he served for four months as a justice of the peace, but resigned at the time of going into Los Angeles to pursue his law studies. There he matriculated in the law department of the University of Southern California and while carrying on his studies in that institution he earned a livelihood as a law clerk in the offices of H. T. Gordon and A. P. Thompson. While still in the Thompson law office, during the July session of the district court of appeals, Mr. Siemon was admitted to the bar in 1908, and in the following year he finished his work at the law school. While employed as law clerk he had acquired a thorough knowledge of stenography and type- writing and his skill in the art proved of great advantage to him in his work in law offices. Possibly his most important and most helpful position, from the standpoint of experience gained, was that of salaried assistant for one year to Oscar A. Trippett, general attorney for many extensive interests in South- 1224 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ern California, and special attorney for the California National Bank, the Home Telephone Company, the William R. Staats Company, the Lowe Gas Company and other corporations. The prominence of Mr. Trippett in trial cases gave Mr. Siemon an opportunity to appear in court on motions, etc., and he also became an expert in the preparation of briefs, so that when he opened an office in Bakersfield he was thoroughly qualified to attend to the interests of clients in every department of the law. Since establishing himself in this cit}' he has been associated with W. W. Kaye, with offices in the Hop- kins building, and the firm has become well known throughout all of the San Joacjuin valley. Six months before he came to this city he had married, in July, 1!;09, Miss Inez Bennett, of Whittier, Cal., and they have a pleasant home in Bakersfield, brightened by the presence of a daughter, Josephine, and a son. Bennett. The family hold membership with the First Methodist Episco- pal Church, in which Mr. Siemon officiates as a steward and in addition he has been for many years an active adherent of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, in which organization he rendered intelligent and constant assistance during the period of his college and university attendance. Mr. Siemon is taking an active part in furthering the work of the Good Citizenship League of Bakersfield E. S. FOGG, M. D. — Northern Kern County is fortunate in having located in its midst the person of Dr. Fogg, a man of much professional ability, high ideals and strong moral worth. He is well and favorably known, not only among his patients and wide range of practice, but among the men of his profession in the county. His birth occurred in Cumberland County, N. J., August 28, 1867, and he is the youngest child of a family of eight children born to Joseph H. and Rebecca W. (Davis) Fogg, both havinof been born in that county. On his paternal side he is descended from an English family, members of which came to Philadelphia in its early settlement and were Quakers. On the maternal side he is of Welch extraction. His parents were farmers so that. early in life Dr. Fogg learned the rudi- ments of farming, receiving his preliminary education in the public and high school at Shiloh, N. J. After completing the high school he took the scientific course at Alfred university in western New York, where he remained two years. During this time he became acquainted with Dr. Mark Shepherd and the association with him decided him to study medicine when he should have acquired the necessary credits to enter medical college. He next spent two years in the scientific department at Milton college. Rock county, Wis., and then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was graduated in Julv, 1897, with the degree of M. D. For one year he attended the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital and then began the practice of his profession in Bridgeton, N. J., a place in his native county where he continued with marked success until 1910. During this time he was surgeon to the Bridgeton hospital for about ten years. Coming to California in 1910 he located in Wasco in the fall of the same year and here he has met with deserving success as a physician and surgeon, having attained a large and lucrative practice throughout the northern and northwestern part of Kern county. He is the local surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. The marriage of Dr. Fogg to Miss Emma Bullock was celebrated in Shiloh, N. J., his wife being a native of Derbyshire, England, and they have one child, Katherine. Fraternally he is a Master Mason. E. K. BLOOD. — When the eastern states were giving up some of their finest young people to aid in the settlement of the vast regions to the west, Daniel H. and Susan (Turner) Blood, natives of Ontario county, N. Y., joined the tide of westward emigration and betook themselves to the then wilds of Michigan. Clinton county had few settlers when they arrived to take HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1225 up residence there. One of their first steps was the locating of a claim and the securing of title to land, from which they endeavored to develop a farm. Near them sprang up a tiny village, which Mr. Blood named Victor in honor of his native town of Victor in New York. At that place in 1856 occurred the birth of a son, E. K., who was next to the youngest in a family that com- prised twelve children, eight of whom are now living. In boyhood this youth had few advantages. The country was new, schools widely scattered, the towns small and industries stagnant. The new tide of progress had not yet begun which was to make of Michigan one of the greatest states in the union. Theirs was the pioneer task of working in the midst of discouraging difficulties and earning a livelihood by the most strenuous and unceasing exertion. CominGT to California during 1893 and settling- at Bakersfield, where later he built a residence on Dracena avenue, Mr. Blood began to work at his trade under Erank Hicox. Eor two years he continued with the same employer and during the latter part of the period he acted as foreman on jobs. Later he worked for James Rich and Mr. Ashton. About 1899 he began to take con- tracts for building. Since then he has built numerous public structures and private residences, including the Noriega block in Ea^t Bakersfield at No. 525 Sumner street, the barns for the Union Ice Company in Bakersfield, the Gregory building. Ideal Livery Stable, home of J. B. Wrenn and residence of Arthur Crite as well as many others. Eor three years he was employed on contracts in Monterey county at Carmel by the Sea, where he built stores and cottages and aided in the early construction work in that popular resort. Erom the time of attaining his majority he has voted the Republican ticket and his interest in national issues has been that of a progressive, loyal citizen. In religious belief he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church and has been unvaryingly generous in contributions to such work as well as to gen- eral philanthropic projects. Before leaving Michigan he had married Miss Carrie Chapman, a native of that state ; she died at Bakersfield, leaving an only child, Laverne. Afterward he was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Wilhite, a native of Missouri, and by this union there is a daughter, Agnes. EDWARD F. BRITTAN.— Born in x-Xdams county. Iowa, October 2, 1881, ^^r. Brittan received a good common-school education there, and at the age of about eigfhteen he removed to Montana with his parents, L. A. and Olive J. (Moore) Brittan. The parents settled on a large farm near Boze- man, Montana, and there the father engaged in the real estate business while the boys took care of the farm, raisins: many cattle. Edward E. became a student in the Montana Agricultural College at Bozeman and finished the sophomore year, coming then to California and securing employment in the vicinity of Los Angeles. Eor one year he was employed as an officer in the Whittier reform school, but resigned that position in order to take up the study of law in the University of Southern California. In order to pay his way through the law school he secured a clerkship in the law office of Wood- ru+t & >'cClure, with Avhom he continued for two years after he had been admitted to the bar in 1908, and his service in their employ proved of the greatest assistance to him through the gaining of a wide experience in their large practice. Coming to Bakersfield in 1910 he opened a law office in the Havden building- and upon the completion of the Brower building engaged an office in this block, where since he has given his attention to a general prac- tice. Mr. Brittan was elected chairman of the Republican Central Commit- tee of Kern county in 1912, in which capacity he is still serving. In October, 1912, he was united in marriage with Miss Edna H. Smith, daughter of Bedell Smith, deputy county clerk of Kern county. ERSKINE BEMUS.— During the colonial period of American settle- ment the Bemus family crossed the ocean from England and settled on the Atlantic seaboard in New England. Later generations aided in the coloniza- 1226 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tion of New York and in Genesee county, that state, occurred the birth of S. J. Bemus, son of Asael, a fifer in the war of 1812. Throughout much of his life he followed the occupation of an architect, first in Dunkirk, N. Y., and later in Curry, Erie county. Pa., where he passed from earth at an advanced age. In young manhood he had married Laura Richardson, who was born in New York and died in Pennsylvania. Of their three children the eldest, Erskine, was born in Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 25, 1849, and received public-school advantages in his native county and in Erie coun- ty, Pa. In the fall of 1864 when only fifteen years of age he offered his services as a volunteer in the Union army, was accepted as a private, and at Meadville, Pa., was mustered into Company E, One Hundred and Third Penn- sylvania Infantry, with which he went to the front. The greater part of his service was in North Carolina. At the expiration of the war he was honorably discharged at Harrisburg, Pa., in June of 1865, and returned to his home with a meritorious record for fidelity to his country and gallant service in the army. In later years he has maintained an intimate association with the Grand Army of the Republic and is now actively connected with Hurlburt Post. A vear in school followed the return from the war and in 1866 ^Ir. Bemus removed to Ohio, first living in Ashtabula and later in Urbana. At an early age he took up the study of architecture and ever since he has followed the occupation. For seventeen years he was the leading ' architect in Sidney, Shelbv ci unty. Ohio, where he designed and superintended the erection of an opera-house, school-bouse and many private residences as well as a num- ber of churches. Meanwhile during 1897 he spent six months in Pasadena and thus became interested in California. After his return to Ohio he resumed occupative work at Sidney, but he never ceased to reflect with pleasure upon his western experiences and eventually he closed out his Ohio interests, removed to California in 1909 and took up the work of an architect in Bakers- field. His ability as an architect appears in the Labor Temple building, the Bakersfield garage, the Barlow, Baer, Jamison and Beggs residences, and other buildings of unusual attractiveness. Since coming to Bakersfield he has officiated as president of the board of trustees in the Baptist Church and has been a leading local worker in that denomination. Fraternally he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While living in Urbana, Ohio, he married Miss Lucy Fisher, who was born in Defiance, that state, and died at Sidney in 1908. Throughout her years of maturity she had been an earnest member of the Baptist Church and a liberal giver to charit- able movements. Surviving her are six children, namely: Temperance, Mrs. Given, of Sidney, Ohio; Mrs. Clara McLeod, of Bakersfield; Mrs. Beatrice Stefifa, of Los Angeles ; Alice, who owns and conducts the Sweet shop in Bakersfield; Denton, a cement contractor in Sidney, Ohio; and Harry, who is engaged in the building business in Bakersfield. JOHN A. PICKLE.— From the time of his arrival at the McKittrick oil fields during November of 1902 up to the present time, with the sole excep- tion of two months spent in the Coalinga oil fields, Mr. Pickle has been em- ployed on the quarter section which includes the ten-acre lease of the Kern River Oil Company and the lease of one hundred and fifty acres owned by the Jewett Oil Company. Since July of 1909 he has filled the position of superintendent of the latter company, whose large lease now has fourteen wells, ten of them producers, with a monthly average of eight thousand bar- rels. The company takes its name from the president, Philo Jewett, of Bakers- field. The vice-president, FI. A. Blodgett, and the secretary-treasurer, A. Weil, also are Bakersfield capitalists. As early as 1851 the Pickle family established itself in California. During the fall of that year John F. Pickle, a native of Alabama, came across the country with a herd of cattle and settled on a tract of raw land in Sonoma HISTORY OF KKRX eorx'!^' 1227 • county. Later he lived for brief periods in Mendocino, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Orange counties, and now, hearty and robust for a man of eighty, he is making his home at Ukiah. All of his twelve children attained maturity and only one is now deceased. From their father they inherited a robust constitution and under his training each was prepared for life's responsi- bilities. John A. was born in Alendocino county April 30, 1879, and attended school in his native county and Santa Barbara county, followed by one term in the public schools of San Diego county. From the age of thirteen years until nineteen he aided in the cultivation of farm lands operated by his father in San Diego and Orange counties, and afterward for four years he helped to cultivate a farm in Mendocino county, from which he came to the oil fields of Kern county to enter upon an occupative identification that has reflected credit upon his intelligence and industry. During 1905 he was married at Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, to Miss Lulu Gavin, of Potter valley, Mendocino county. Besides owning a city residence at Santa Rosa he has purchased a tract of forty acres near the Rosedale colony in Kern county, where he is improving a small farm and bringing the land under excellent cultivation. In politics he votes with the Democratic party. Fraternallv he is connected with the Improved Order of Red Men at McKittrick. PINKNEY J. WALDON.— Near Enterprise, Ind., P. J. Waldon was born ]\Iarch 11, 1837. a son of Isaac and Lucinda (Bennett) Waldon, the latter of whom died in Indianapolis, Ind. The former, a lifelong farmer, removed from Indiana to Missouri in 1839 and remained in that state for five years, returning to Indiana in the spring of 1844 and settling at Rising Sun, Ohio county, where he died in the fall of the same year. Of his family of four daughters and five sons there now survive two daughters and three sons. The third in order of birth, Pinkney J., was two years of age when the family went to Missouri and seven when they returned to Indiana. As a boy he lived in Ohio and Switzerland counties, which adjoin each other, lying near the state of Ohio and the Ohio river. Owing to the early death of his father he had no educational advantages, but was forced to support himself by farm work from boyhood. During the first raid by Morgan in 1862 he enlisted as a member of an Ohio regiment of state militia and served as guard along the Ohio river until receiving an honorable discharge. During April of 1863 he started overland for the west and cnssed the plains with a mule team. Stopping in Nevada, he secured work in the mines at A'lrginia City and continued there for five years. With packmules for the carrying of supplies Mr. \^'aldon came to California on horseback in 1868 and settled in Kern county, where he took up land in the Canfield neighborhood. Lack of water prevented him from securing satisfactory returns fr(any and the efficient business manager to whose keen, capable supervision may be attributed the growing importance of the organization, traces his lineage to Scotland and exhibits in his own forceful personality many of the qualities that brought fame to the representatives of that country. He is a son of David and Isabelle (McKay) Calhoun, natives respectively of Edinburgh and Inverness, Scotland, but from early life resi- dents of Nova Scotia, where they bought land near Pict(;U and developed a large farm. It was at that old homestead George Calhoun was born Sep- tember 7, 1850, and from there, after having gained such book-learning as the country schools afforded, he went forth to earn his own livelihood in the world. Early travels took him to Maine, where in 1864 he began an appren- ticeship to the trade of a stone-cutter and served his time with fidelity, meanwhile acquiring a thorough knowledge of the occupation. When ready to do journeyman work he engaged in contracting. Later for five years he had charge of the Boston water works and during the period of his superin- tendency he put in all of the city reservoirs. A new line of business next engaged the attention of Mr. Calhoun, who embarked in the publishing business in New York City as an employe of F. A. Munsey at the very beginning of the latter's spectacular career as a pub- lisher. Later he held an important position with Robert Bonner on the New York Ledger. Upon resigning from that publishing plant he went with the George INIunro Publishing Company as a traveling salesman. After he had traveled for one year in their interests, they stationed him in Chicago as western manager and for sixteen years he continued in that city, meanwhile promoting their interests by his energetic application to business. During the later years of his identification with the company he had become inter- ested in California oil fields. In 1901 he began the organization of the National Oil Refining and Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated under the Arizona laws and capitalized at $1,000,000, with himself as president and general manager. Both of these positions he has retained to the present time. Construction work on the refinery was begun in 1903. The following year the plant was started for the refining of oil and the manufacture of asphalt, the latter prtduct now being shipped to every part of the world. The refinery is situated in the Kern river oil field and has a capacity of fourteen thousand tons of asnhalt a year. Aside from asphalt they also rnanufacture gasoline, gas-engine distillate, coal oil and a variety of lubricating oils. Among- the leading brands are the Golden State, Pioneer, Superior and National. In order that he might be able to devote all of his time and atten- tion to the refinery the president in 1906 established his home in Bakersfield and as a result of his wise judgment and keen ability he has been able to develop one of the largest refineries in the entire state. In 1912 he organized the Bakersfield Investment Company, of which he is president and his son IS secretary and superintendent. At Hanford the company built a refinery for the manufacture of light oils. The first marriage of Mr. Calhoun took place in Conwav, N. H., in 1870 and united him with Miss Nellie G. Bachelder, who was born in New Hamp- shire and died in Chicago May 3, 1906, leaving an onlv child, George W., now the superintendent of the National Oil Refining and Manufacturing Com- pany. At Bakersfield, November 8, 1908, occurred the marriage of ^Ir. Cal- houn and Miss Alice M. Rogers, of Covington, Ky., a lady of cultured mind and many attractions, who shares with him in the respect and regard of acquaintances. For years he has been closely interested in ^lasonic afifairs and meanwhile he has taken many of the degrees of the order. First made 1238 HISTORY OF KERX CC^UNTY a Mason in Hope I.odge Xo. 244, A. F. & A. M., in New York City, he later iden tilled himself with Lincoln Park Chapter No. 177, R. A. M., in Chicago, also Chicago Council No. 4 and Oriental Consistory, Scottish Rite, in Chi- cago. While still residing in that city he also became connected with Lincoln Park Commandery No. 64, K. T., and Medinah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.. in addition to maintaining an intimate association with the work of Mizpah Cha])ter No. 549, Order of the Eastern Star. ARTHUR WEABER.— During the early portion of the nineteenth cen- tury P>enjamin Weaber, a Pennsylvanian by birth, became a pioneer in the sparsely settled regions of Illinois adjacent to the city of Chicago. The gov- ernment land which he first pre-empted formed a part of the vast swamp district near Naperville, Dupage county, but later he took up land at Brush creek, Cook county, fifteen miles out from Chicago, and from there eventually he removed to a tract of raw land two miles from the present site of Riverside. Among his children there was a son, Edward, born prior to the removal of the family from the vicinity of Allegheny, Pa., and throughout life an industri- ous tiller of the soil, giving time and attention to no other occupational calls, except that he served with quiet heroism during the Civil war as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. It is a noteworthy fact that he had three brothers in the same company, while four of the Townsend famil}^ brothers of his wife, also served in the same company. In spite of participation in many desperate engagements and the dangers inci- dent to long forced marches and camp life, all of the number returned except one of the Weaber brothers, who fell in battle. For some years after the war Edward engaged in farming in Illinois, but during 1876 he took his family to Kansas and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Russell coun- ty. His death occurred ten years after he had settled upon that farm. Two years before had occurred the demise of his wife, Alida May (Towmsend) Weaber, who was born near Bufifalo, N. Y., and at an early age had been taken to Illinois by her father, Gilbert Townsend, pioneer of the region adjacent to Chicago. Among four daughters and two sons comprising the family of Edward Weaber, all of whom are still living with the exception of one daughter, Arthur W^eaber was next to the oldest and was born at Hinsdale, Cook coun- ty, 111., April 6, 1868. but at the age of eight years accompanied the family to Kansas. That country was then new and unimproved. Little opportunity to attend school came to him. His present wide fund of information results from self-culture rather than attendance at school. From the age of twelve years he gave his entire time to the work of the home farm, where the struggle for a livelihood was stern and discouraging. After the death of his mother and father he started out to make his own way, returning in 1887 to Illinois, where for eighteen months he was employed as a switchman in the Chicago yards of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. During that time he studied telegraphy and then was given employment as an assistant in ofifices between Chicago and Aurora, where he continued for eighteen months. Next he was appointed assistant agent at Hinsdale. During December of 1889 he came to California and after a brief sojourn at Delano, Kern county, on the 1st of March, 1890. he was aopointed agent for the Postal Telegraph Company at Bakersfield. This position he has since held with the exception of one year, when as an employe of the San Joaquin Valley (now the Santa Fe) Railroad he held a position as assistant agent at Bakersfield for three months and as agent at Wasco, Kern county, for nine months. At the expiration of the year he resigned and returned to Bakersfield where he resumed the agency of the Postal Telegraph Company. His high reputation as a citizen and his devo- tion to Republican principles led that party to nominate him in 1902 for city treasurer and tax collector, and he was elected by a gratifying majority, not HISTOF^' OF KF.RX COUNTY 1239 only that time, but in 1906 at the expiration of his first term. Upon the con- solidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he was chosen to act in a similar capacity for the new town and in April of 1911 he again was elected to the offices of city treasurer and tax collector. When the stationery store belonging to the Scribner estate was placed on sale during 1907 Mr. Weaber acquired the business and since then he has occupied the quarters at No. 1822 Chester avenue, where he carries a full line of stationery, ofifice supplies, carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, fountain pens, sporting goods, toys, books and games, and other articles to be found in a first-class establishment of that kind. In the store he has the Postal Telegraph office as well as the ofifice of the city treasurer and tax collector. As a business man he has proved his worth, while as a citizen his standing is the highest. As a member of the Kern County Board of Trade and Bakers- field Merchants' Association he has been identified with two leading organiza- tions for the material upbuilding of the city. After he came to Bakersfield he here married Miss Myrtle Tyler, who was born at Shaftsburg, Mich., and by whom he has two children, Ora and Perry. His fraternal relations are extended and include membership in the Yeomen, Ancient Order of United Workmen (in which he is past master workman). Woodmen of the World, Modern Woodmen of America and the Degree of Honor (in which he has held leading official positions), beside which with his wife he has been identified with the AVomen of Woodcraft at Bakersfield. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McCULLOUCH.— The McCullouch family traces its history back to an early identification with that of America. The first of the name to establish a home in the central west was John, born at Pittsburg, Pa., in 1804, and by trade a weaver and spinner, working for some years in a factory in his native city, but attracted to the Mississippi valley during the period of its early development. Settling in Iowa in 1848, 'he operated a sawmill and a planing mill at Ozark on the Maquoketa river in Jackson county. The mill was run by water power and became popular among pioneers throughout all that section of the country. To establish a lumber yard and engage in the lumber business followed as a direct result of his suc- cessful management of the mill and until his death in 1868 he continued to be one of the leading business men of Jackson county. By his marriage to Mary McSurley, v/ho was born at Youngstown, Ohio, in 1815, and died in Iowa in 1887, he became the father of seven sons and four daughters. Six of the eleven children still survive. One of the sons, Alfred, enlisted in the Twelfth Iowa Infantry at the opening of the Civil war and while gallantly fighting at Shiloh he was Avounded and captured. While imprisoned at Macon, Ga., he died, and another son, Charles, died at St. Louis while on his way home from the front, having served through the war as a member of the Twenty- sixth Iowa Infantry. The youngest of the sons, Benjamin Franklin, was born near Canton, Jackson county, Iowa, September 23, 1849, and was a child of about twelve years when the war opened. He recalls vividly the uneasiness of that period and the sorrow of the family over the untimely fate of his older brothers. From childhood he had been taught to be useful. His work in the lumber yard and the mill gave him such a thorough knowledge of the business that at eighteen he was able to run the sawmill at Ozark without assistance. After two years there he operated a similar business at Clay Mills for seven years. An experience with other occupations followed and in April of 1879 he came to California. On the 23d of that month he arrived at Tulare, where he engaged at carpentering for three years. As manager of a warehouse he spent one year at Tipton, Tulare county. Entering the employ of the Puget Sound Lumber Company in 1885, he became a salesman in their Tulare yard and continued as such for twelve years. A resident of Kern countv since 1898, Mr. McCullouch for ten years 1240 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY acted in the capacity of stationary engineer in the Southern Pacific shops at Kern, now East Bakersfield. Since 1908 he has been a yard salesman for the King Lumber Company in Bakersfield. His long experience in the business and excellent knowledge of different grades of lumber give value to his serv- ices. Meanwhile he has erected four houses in East Bakersfield, but all of these have been S( Id and he now resides on Terrace \\'ay. a suburb of Bakers- field, where he owns ten acres of land under irrigation and devoted to alfalfa, poultry and fruits. Before leaving Iowa he had married Miss Emma Bick- ford, who was born in Jackson county, that state, and died at Tulare, Cal., in 1884. Of that union there are two children now living, namely: James A., on the ranch ; and Mrs. Mary J. Bishop, of Bakersfield. The second marriage of j\Ir. McCullouch took place in Tulare and united him with Miss Mary J. Berry, a native of Oregon. The nine children of their union are named as follows: Mrs. Eulalia Blalock and Mrs. Frankie Karpe, both of East Bakers- field ; Mrs. Veldora Maston, of Los Angeles ; Mrs. Mida Garrett and Mrs. Marie Finn, both living in East Bakersfield ; Naomi, Eva, Leo and Emma, who remain with their parents in the suburban home. While living at Tulare ]VIr. and Mrs. McCullouch were prominently connected with Rebekah Lodge No. 118, and in addition he was past noble grand of Tulare City Lodge No. 306, I. O. O. F., also past district deputy grand master and a leading local worker in the order. Poliricallv he is a Democrat. DAVID WHITSON NELSON.— The superintendent of the city schools of Bakersfield is a descendant of a colonial family of old Virginia, whose earlier representatives bore an honorable part in the material upbuilding of the colony and whose later representatives followed the tide of migration across the mountains into the blue grass regions of Kentucky. Still another generation crossed the Ohio river into the undeveloped country of Indiana and rendered pioneer service upon that then frontier of agriculture and civilization. Into such a pioneer family Rolla T. Nelson was born in Indiana, the son of a Kentuckian who developed a farm in the state further north. He, how- ever, turned to carpentering rather than to agriculture and made the building business his principal occupation, following it for some years in Hendricks county and later in Boone county, where he died. When a young man he had married Mary E. Jordon, a native of Indiana, now residing in Boone county. The family comes of Irish extraction and her father, David Jordon, came to America from the north of Ireland, settling in Indiana. In the old country he had learned and followed the trade of a weaver, but in the new world he gave his attention to general farming. The familv of Rolla T. Nelson comprised nine children and seven of these are still living, one, L. E., being a resident of East Bakersfield. The next to the eldest in the family circle, David Whitson Nelson, was born in Hendricks county, Ind., May 30, 1856, and began his education in public schools in Boone county, later taking the regular course of study in an academy at Battleground, Tippecanoe coun- ty. It was not possible for his parents to give him the advantages his ambi- tious spirit craved. With typical resolution he determined to earn his own way through college. Fortified by that high ambition, he began to teach school while yet a mere youth. For a considerable period the work of teach- ing alternated with attendance at institutions of learning. By his own eflforts he completed the course in Wabash College as far as the close of the sopho- more year. In the same way it was possible for him to spend several terms at the Lebanon Normal and a similar institution at Ladoga, Ind., where dili- gent application to study qualified him for important future responsibilities. The first position of especial importance to which Professor Nelson devoted himself was that of principal of the literary department in the insti- tution for the education of the blind at Indianapolis, Ind., where he taught for eight years, meanwhile winning a high place in the regard and confidence of those having the oversight of the school. With the end of the eighth year HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1241 he resic^ned in order that he might take some pedagogic work of especial value to future educational work. For the accomplishment of his purpose he matriculated in the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute, from which he was graduated in October of 1893 with high honors. Immediately after gradu- ating he came to California and established his residence at Bakersfield, where for a year he served as deputy county recorder under T. A. Wells. Meanwhile he had secured a position in the Beardsley school and at the beginning of the fall term entered upon his duties there, where he continued for two years. During 1896 his ability was recognized by' election as supervising principal of the Bakersfield schools and he has continued for eighteen years in the same position, the title in 1904 having been changed to that of superintendent. Un- der his administration a remarkable improvement has been effected, manual training has been introduced, the schools have been well graded and brought to a h'^h stpudnrd. Fraternally Professor Nelson is a Master Mason. Prior to his removal to the west he was married in Lebanon, Ind., to Miss Clara Ross, who was born and reared near that place. In national principles he favors the Demo- cratic partv. Along the line of his chosen profession he has maintained a warm interest in the work of the California State Teachers' .A.ssociation and is also an associate member of the National Educational Association. Ever since he established his home in Bakersfield he and his wife have been identi- fied with the Methodist Episcopal Church and at this writing he is officiating as a member of the board of trustees. Upon the organization of the Beale library he was chosen a member of the board of trustees and for several years he liP'^ 'serve^^ as secretarv of that bodv. WITXIAM HENRY THOMAS.— Of Welsh de'^rent Wilh'am Henry Thomas' family was founded in America early in the '30s by his father. John Thomas, a native of Caermanthenshire, in the southern part of Wales and by trade a harness-maker and saddler. After he had crossed the ocean to Penn- sylvania and had taken up land in Union county he followed his chosen occupation while at the same time he devoted some attention to the clearing of a farm near Buffalo Cross Roads. For a short time subsequent to bis im- migration he remained immarried, but among the fair daughters of Union County he chose a wife and then established a home of his own. The capable woman who remained the companion of his maturity and advanced years was Lydia Ann Hartman, a native of Union county and a member of a very old and honored family of that portion of Pennsylvania, her father, Jacob Hartman, having been likewise a native of the same county, where he devoted his active years to farm pursuits. While the family were living near what was then known as Buffalo Cross Roads (now Buffalo R^ads) a son was born in 1847 to whom was given the name of AVilliam Henry and who is now city recorder of Bakersfield. The tide of migration was taking men and women to the unimproved prairies of the Mississippi valley and the Thomas family joined in the westward movement, during 1852 establishing a home at Cedarville, Stephenson county. 111., where the father found emplovment as a saddler and harness-maker. Another move was made during 1865 and settlement was made in Iowa, where a fine farm was developed near IMarshall- town. Both the fa<:her and mother remained in Iowa until their death. The parental family comprised eight children, all but one of whom at- tained maturity and three sons and one daughter now survive, the eldest being William Henry, whose birth occurred August 22, 1847, and whose bovhood from five years was passed in Illinois. One of the most vivid recollections of his youth is that of hearing the celebrated debate in Freeport, 111., between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. When scarcely seventeen years of age in the soring of 1864 he enlisted as a private in Company F, One FTun- dred Forty-second Illinois Infantry, and was mustered into service at Spring- field, that state, after which he accompanied the troops into Kentucky and 1242 HISTORY OF KERN CdUNTY Tennessee. The enlistment had been for a hundred days only, but they were kept in service al^ont six months and in November, 1864, he was honorably discharged at Springfield. Immediately afterward he enlisted as a member of Company G, Forty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and again he accompanied his regi- ment into Confederate territory, where he participated in the siege of Mobile and the taking of Fort Blakely, the final engagement of the war. His regi- ment was retained in the south after the close of the long struggle and he wis finally mustered out at Baton Rouge, La., in February of 1866. Meanwhile his father had removed to Iowa and had settled upon a farm near Marshalltown, where the young soldier joined him. At once' he began to assist in the im- provement of the land and the raising of the crops. The years passed by swiftly and for some years he was connected with the sheriff's office in Mar- shall county. In 1881 he left Iowa for California, settling in Los Angeles and engaging in the real-estate business. From that city in 1888 he removed to Fresno to continue the same line of business. From 1890 to 1893 he made his home in Chicago, but during the year last-named he returned to the west and February 28, that year, settled in Bakersfield, where he was employed as superintendent of the horse department with the Kern County Land Com- pany. For a long period he continued in the same position and even after he had resigned from their employ in 1902 he continued to handle horses, a work in which he was unusually proficient. In 1907 he was elected city recorder of Bakersfield and at the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he was elected to the same position, to which in April, 1911, he was re-elected for another term of four years. In Bakersfield he married Miss Arvad Mel- linger, a native of Stephenson county. 111. Since coming to this city he has identified himself with Hurlburt Post, G. A. R.. and has been generous in his contributions to its charities. Poliliically he is a Republican. JAMES H. PARKER.— The force that resides in individual character and that impels to the development of mental powers finds an illustration in the life of Professor James H. Parker, assistant superintendent of the schools of Bakersfield and a leading promoter of educational work in the city. The promise that he gives of increasing usefulness in the public school system afifords gratification to those who watch the careers of the native sons and the descendants of our western pioneers, for he claims California as the place of his birth and is the son of one of the early and extensive ranchers of Butte county. The elder James Parker, who was a native of Wayne county. Mo., and a corporal in the Union army during the Civil war, left Missouri for the west shortly after the close of the struggle in which he had borne so honorable a part. Upon his arrival in California he selected for his future home a tract of raw land near Chico and thereafter gave his attention to the developing of the place into a productive and remunerative ranch with abundant pasturage for his fine herds of stock. Eventually he became the owner of two large ranches in Butte county, and these were not only utilized for stock range, but also for the raising of grain and hay, and in each department of agriculture he met with encouraging success. When he began to feel the encroachment of age with its attendant infirmities he sold his farms and retired to private life. The last eighteen months of his life were passed in East Bakersfield and he died here in 1911, while the death of his wife, who was Mary E. Reese, a native of Missouri, occurred in Butte county, June 9 of the following year. There were ten children in the Parker family, and all but two are still living. The fifth in order of birth, James H., was born at the old home- stead near Chico December 23, 1881, and grew lo manhood at the ranch. meanwhile attending neighboring country schools. From youth he exhib- ited keenness of intelligence and acuteness of mental powers. It was his ambition to fit himself for educational work. With this object in view he began the study of pedagogy in the Chico State Normal School and there- HISTORY OF KKRX COTXTY 1243 after continued in the same institution until he was ,e:'raduated with the class of 1906, after which he enj^aged in teachint.';- in Siskiyou county. From that county he came to East Bakersfield in 1907 to become an instructor in the Washinijton school, where the follovvins^ year he served as assistant principal in charge of that work. Effectiveness in discipline and thoroughness in in- struction led to his retention in the same office. Upon the consolidation of the school work at the union of the two cities in 1910 he was elected assistant superintendent of the city schools, which position he has since filled with ability, tact and fidelity. Meanwhile he has kept in active touch with the work of the State Teachers' Association and the San Joaquin Valley Teach- ers' Association, in both of which he is a member, while in addition he has become an associate member of the National Educational Association. Since coming to Bakersfield he has become identified fraternally with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. In religious views he is in harmony with the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church and has been a regular contributor to its maintenance and philanthropies. Politically he gives his allegiance to Republican principles. ERNEST V. BENJAMIN. — It is not uncommon to read in fiction of young men who through sheer force of ability and character forge their way to the front and take their place among the leading men of public affairs or captains of industry. In actual life such occurrences are rare, since wealth or influence or prestige form important elements in determining the position of men. It may be said, however, that in the instance of Mr. Benjamin ability and acumen have brought him to prominence without the aid of facti- tious circumstances. The fact that he is a member of the management com- mittee of the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited, which forms one of the most important oil-producing organizations in the entire district, bespeaks the possession of an high order of business judgment. Nor is his only asso- ciate on the committee. W. W. Orcutt of Los Angeles, less talented than himself, for he stands among the most influential geologists of America and has an enviable reputation as a specialist on matters pertaining to the geology of the oil fields of California. On section 33, townshio 28, range 28, the Kern River Oilfields of Cali- fornia, Limited, own six hundred and forty acres, formerly belonging to the old Imperial and 33 Oil Companies. In addition they own all of section 1, township 29. range 28, also have four hundred and eighty acres on section 25, township 28, range 27, and three hundred and seventy acres on section 19, township 28, range 28. Besides this large acreage the company is acquiring lands in the Santa Maria and other fields. The Standard is now putting down a deep well on section 35 to test the territory in this respect and if successful the Kern River Oilfields will no doubt proceed to further development. They have two hundred and forty wells on section 33 and are deepening some in order to get better results from the new air-compressor system. Of English birth and lineage, possessing the force and aggressive char- acter that has made the Englishman a dominant powder in the world, Mr. Benjamin is a native of London, England, and was born April 28, 1883. WILMOT LOWELL. — Probably few men were more intimately identi- fied with the early upbuilding of Bakersfield and Kern county than was Wilmot Lowell, and certainly none exhibited a greater devotion to its wel- fare, according to his means, than did he, for whenever possible he contributed of time and means and influence to progressive projects. Few of the enter- prises advanced for the general welfare lacked his enthusiastic support and sagacious aid. Among the early settlers who came here from the east and established homes in this growing country, none was more loyal to his adopted community, none more generous in the maintenance of neighborhood enterprises, and none more highly honored for worth of character than was the late Wilmot Lowell, who for years ranked among the leading sheep- 1244 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY raisers of Kern county, later engaged in horticultural pursuits in the suburbs of Bakersfield and finally became interested in the real-estate business and in the building up of comfortable homes for the people. For some years the city had the benefit of his executive ability in the office of trustee and the Methodist Episcopal Church persuaded him to fill the same position in their local work. Besides the building up of property on Eighteenth street and on Chester avenue he was interested in the building of the Southern hotel and also donated one acre of ground to be sold for the benefit of the Beale library. In honor of his memory and in recognition of his generous aid, a room in the library bears the name of the Lowell room. Born at Concord, Me., November 16, 1836, Wilmot Lowell was a son of ^^''illiam and Mary (Tyler) Lowell, likewise natives of Maine, and a grandson of John Lowell, a farmer by occupation and of English ancestry. The parental family consisted of six children, namely: Wilmot, Danville and William H., all of whom died in Bakersfield ; Henry, who died in Boston in 1912; John and Alexis, both now living in Bakersfield. When advanced in years the father relinquished his farming activities in Maine, also retired from ship-carpentering, in which he had engaged to some extent, and came to Bakersfield, where he remained until death. About 1862 Wilmot Lowell came via Panama to California and settled in the vicinity of Hollister, San Benito county, where he engaged under Flint & Bixby, and there gained his first knowledge of the sheep industry. The work proving congenial from the start, he soon made preparations to enter the same. After he came to Kern county he continued the sheep business with his brothers, William H. and Alexis, meeting with alternating successes and reverses. Their home ranch, which has since been laid out and built up as a part of the city of Bakersfield, w-as sold soon after they discontinued the sheep business, in 1887. to the Lowell Land & Improvement Co., and was laid out as the Lowell addition. In this company Mr. Lowell held a one-fifth interest and filled the office of president. He gave his entire attention to the upbuilding of this addition and to other real estate holdings which he owned until his health failed and he was obliged to relinquish active work. During 1902 he resigned as city trustee and his death occurred December 14, 1905, at his residence in Bakersfield. From young manhood he had sustained Republican tenets and given his allegiance to the party in all elections. The marriage of Mr. Lowell took place at Westboro, Mass., in 1889 and united him with Miss Sarah Elizabeth Flagg, daughter of Alexis and Mehitable (Lowell) Flagg, natives respectively of Vermont and Maine, the mother dying in her native commonwealth, and the father in Massachusetts, where he had followed general farming. Mrs. Lowell was born in Wilming- ton, Windham county, Vt., and is the survivor of two children. Her educa- tion was received in the schools of Maine and qualified her for the responsi- bilities of business. Since the death of Mr. Lowell she has remained at the family residence. No. 1119 Eighteenth street, and superintends personally her varied interests and continues as far as is possible Mr. Lowell's deep interest in and devotion to the advancement of Bakersfield. COL. ARTHUR SAXE CRITES.— The title by which the cashier of the First Bank of Kern is familiarly known comes to him through his service as lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment, California National Cuard. His experience in military tactics, however, has not been limited to the Guard, for he holds membership with the Spanish-American War Veterans by right of identification with that recent struggle. During May of 1898 his name was enrolled as a member of Company G, Sixth California Volunteer Infantry, stationed in camp at San Francisco, and drilled during the summer to an intimate knowledge of all military details. Upon being mustered out in December of the same year he held the rank of quartermaster sergeant. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1245 At the reorg^anization of the National Guard in 1899 he became a member of Company G, Sixth Regiment, and was elected its captain. From the first he was popular with the members of the Guard, who about 1905 elected him major of the regiment. When the Sixth was mustered out in May, 1907, he re-enlisted as a private in Company L, Second Regiment, California National Guard, and was promoted to be first sergeant, later was chosen second lieu- tenant and battalion quartermaster. On the 20th of October, of the same year, he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment, which com- mission he has held ever since. A son of Angus McLeod and Louesa Maria (Jewett) Crites, early set- tlers of Kern county, Arthur Saxe Crites was born near Caliente, this county, February 4, 1879, and in childhood walked a distance of four miles to the grammar-school in Keene. Later he became a student in the Kern county high school, Bakersfield, and when he completed the course in 1895 he was a member of the second graduating class of that institution. Before the Spanish-American war he engaged in ranching, but after his return in December, 1898, he became bookkeeper for the Kern County Land Company. Later he entered the Kern Valley Bank and after two years as bookkeeper he was promoted to be assistant cashier, which position he filled for three years. Meanwhile the First Bank of Kern had been organized in 1901 and early in 1905 he and G. J. Planz bought a controlling interest in the institu- tion, of which he since has been cashier and manager. Jn addition to the management of this well-know^n banking institution Col. Crites acts as secretary and manager of the Kern County Mutual Build- ing & Loan Association, al.so is a member of the original board of directors of the Security Trust Company (now the largest banking institution in Kern county) and has other interests that identify him intimately with the financial affairs of city and county. From early life he has been strong in his adher- ence to Republican policies and at this writing he acts as a member of the county central committee of the party. Masonry appealed to him in young manhood by its philanthropic principles and spirit of brotherhood. As past master he is connected with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. Al. Besides being king of Bakersfield Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., he officiates as prelate of Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., also is associated with Al Malaikah Temple, N.M.S., in Los Angeles. Three children, Emma C, Arthur Saxe, Jr., and Angus D., have been born of his union with Miss Nellie L. Duncan, who was born near Quinc}', 111., but came to California at an early age and was a resident of Bakersfield at the time of their marriage. BENJAMIN LEONARD BRUNDAGE.— In the passing of Benjamin L. Brundage, on August 20, 1913, in Los Angeles, the city of Bakersfield lost one of its most conscientious, enterprising and liberal citizens, one whose efforts toward the advancement of civic interests, whose un- selfish activity in the development of conditions and whose per- sonal progressive spirit aided not a little in the rapidity with which Bakers- field has come to the fore. Probably best known as the city assessor of Bakersfield, he for a number of years officiated as secretary of the Bakers- field Board of Trade and in this position spared no effort to promote the permanent prosperity of the community. Mr. Brundage was a lifelong resident of Kern county, the son of Benjamin and Mary B. (Lively) Brundage, and was born in Glennville March 2, 1871. From the age of one year he lived at the county-seat where he became well kncnvn not only through his offfcial capacity, but also as an enterprising business man. as an extensive rancher and progressive horticulturist, and as an automobile dealer as well. Primarily educated in the local schools, he later was sent to Hopkins Academy in Oakland and then entered the L'niversitv of California as a member of the class 1246 HISTORY OF KERX COUXTY of 1892. For years he operated with success the Brundage ranch of four hundred and seventy acres, which is devoted to general crops. In 1912 he constructed a brick and concrete business block at the corner of Fif- teenth and I streets, which he devoted to his automobile business. For some years, beginning in January of 1899. Mr. Brundage acted as deputv cotmty assessor under J. M. Jameson. During April of 1899 he was chosen city assessor for the first time and since then he has been re- elected at the expiration of each term. His long retention in the office furnishes abundant evidence as to the trustworthy quality of his services and the devotion which he gave to every duty while in office. As a Democrat he was a loyal party leader, a champion of the principles for which that organization stands, and a believer in its adaptability to promote national prosperity. l)uring the year 1906 Mr. Brundage married Miss Virginia Stark, who was born in the county of Los Angeles, and was educated in Bakersfield, and who survives him. Mr. Brundage was a prominent and most popular mem.ber of the Elks and the Knights Templar, which orders graciously conducted his funeral service with the attendant honors, and he was laid to rest in Union Cemetery, Bakersfield, mourned by not only a host of loving friends and relatives but by an entire community who deeply felt the loss of one whose generous motives and untiring energy had contributed so much to their well being. His memory shall live long in the hearts of those who have benefited by his kindly and thoughtful acts and he has gone to eternal rest with the assurance of having done his duty well, justly earning the praise, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." CHARLES W. CURTZWILER.— The Curtzwiler family lineage is traced to Germany and after emigration from that country the original name of Kurtzweiler was for convenience changed to the present spelling. Charles, father of Charles W., was born and reared in Cologne, but after the death of his father he accompanied the widowed mother and other mem- bers of the family tc) the new world. A brief sojourn was made in Kentucky and then removal was made to Holgate, Henry county, Ohio, where his mother passed her last days. Attracted to the west by reports concerning its mining possibilities, Air. Curtzwiler tried his luck in the Sierras, but found no gold to reward his laborious efl^ort. For a time he conducted a hotel at Waterford, Stanislaus county. Later he lived at Tulare and eventu- ally removed to Merced, his present place of residence. Some time after he came to the west he married Miss Eureka Garrison, who was born in this state and died at Tulare. Her father, William T. Garrison, came of a colonial family of New England and was an emigrant across the plains during the era of the prairie schooner and the overland trail. For years he engaged as a contractor in the building business, but is now retired from active labors and makes his home in Tulare. The family of Charles Curtzwiler comprised six children, of whom five are still living. The eldest, Charles W., was born July 22, 1880, during the residence of the family at Waterford, Stanislaus county, and he was six at the time of their removal to Tulare. He was graduated May 24. 1901. from the Tulare high school, an.d on tlie 6th of July following he arrived in Kern county. L]) to September 1. LX)3. he had been employed as a clerk for two dififerent firms, after which lie was engaged as mailing clerk with the Kern Count \^ Land Comijany. with whom he has continued ever since, by promo- tion going from one position to another until in April of 1910 he was made water clerk for the concern. Since that time he has devoted himself assid- uously to the duties of the position. The marriage of Mr. Curtzwiler. which was solemnized in b'ast Bakers- field in March. 190.^. united him with Miss Minta Lawhorn and has been HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1247 blessed with two daughters, Constance and Wilma. Mrs. Curtzwiler is a na- tive of Kansas, but was reared and educated in Visalia, where her father, John W. Lawhorn, resided for many years prior to his demise. In recent years Mr. Curtzwiler has erected a comfortable and attractive residence at No. 2728 Twentieth street and there he spends his leisure hours in the society of family and friends. Although a believer in Democratic principles, he is not a partisan and takes no active part in political movements. In religion he is in sympathy w^ith all measures for the uplifting of humanity, but maintains an especial interest in the Congregational Church, of which his wife is a member. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. MRS. EMERETTA C. SYBRANDT.— The supervisor of music in the public schools of Bakersfield has utilized her rare talents in developing among her pupils a love for and a knowledge of the art to which she has devoted a lifetime of intelligent study. Four years of successful work in this position have given to the people an admiring recognition of her ability and eflficiency. Thoroughly educated in the rudiments of music, pos- sessing a native talent for the art supplemented by the best educational opportunities the east afforded, at one time she made a specialty of the lead- ing parts in operas and oratorios, but with her marriage in young woman- hood to George Sybrandt, of Albany, N. Y., she retired from professional labors. Thereafter for four years, until the untimely death of Mr. Sybrandt, she irradiated a home life with the tender ministrations of wife and mother, giving to her husband the cordial co-operation and loving helpfulness of the true wife, and surrounding their two children, Ida and Paul, with self-sacri- ficing care which became even more watchful after the death of their father. Although a resident of the east for a considerable period and enjoying the advantages of its splendid conservatories of music, Mrs. Sybrandt l,^roudly claims California as her native commonwealth, the home of her early girlhood, Rocklin, Placer county, having been her native locality and the environment of her earliest memories. She cannot recall the time when her interest in music began. It seemed a part of her being, an innate pos- session of her soul, giving expression to the deepest thoughts and holiest aspirations of her nature. Fortunately it was possible for her to develop her conspicuous talent for the art and she was trained under competent in- structors in Boston, Mass., Albany, N. Y., and Syracuse, N. Y., where for some years she held a prominent position in musical circles. Her married life was passed in New York and after the death of her husband at Albany, that state, she returned to California, where for eight years she taught music in the bay cities, mostly at Alameda. For a time she was the solo soprano in the Unitarian Church and later held a similar position in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, both in Alameda. Later, at San Jose, she held positions as solo singer in the First Congregational Church and Unitarian Church, after which she took charge of the choir of the First Presbyterian Church. Meanwdiile students under her wise guidance were trained in a knowledge of music and carefully prepared to enjoy a steady progress and an ultimate success in the art. When the board of education in Bakersfield during 1909 sought an artist competent to serve as supervisor of music in the public schools, her enviable reputation led them to ofi"er the position to her and it has been a matter of subsequent congratulation that they were successful in enlisting her interest and securing her acceptance of the difficult and responsible position. CLARENCE LESTER HEROD.— The sixth in a family of ten, C. L. Herod was born near Greencastle. Putnam county, Ind., a son of Bailey and Harriet (Minter) Herod, and a brother of James Herod, mentioned else- where. Reared in Putnam and Hendricks counties. Ind.. he had 1248 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY such advantages as the local schools afforded. In 1887, when yet a mere lad, he came to California and began to work at Big Pine in Inyo county. Soon, however, he crossed the state line into Nevada and secured employment in Fish Lake valley in Esmeralda county as a laborer on a ranch owned by N. T. Piper, who in a short time, recognizing his efficiency, placed him in charge of a general store at Oasis. At the same time he had charge of the postoffice which was in the store room. Leaving Nevada in 1890 he came to Kern county and became connected with his older brother, James, in the dairy business, operating the Keefer ranch in the Panama district and manufacturing butter for the Bakersfield markets. At the expiration of two years he sold his interest to the brother and secured a clerkship with Dunkelspiel Brothers, later holding a similar position with other Bakersfield firms, and in 1910 associating himself with the Ardizzi-Olcese Company. The marriage of Mr. Herod took place in Bakersfield December 10, 1895, and united him with Miss Louise Yoakum, a native daughter of Kern county and a lady of business ability and social prominence. Her father, William Yoakum, was born in Missouri and crossed the plains to Cali- fornia before a railroad had been built across the continent. Afterward he engaged in mining and milling until his death. Particularly was he asso- ciated with the development of three of the well-known old mines of Kern county, viz.: Long Tom (where he built a mill), the Little Hattie and Isa- bella. Some time after coming west he married Callie Gilbert, a native of Texas. Three daughters blessed their union. The youngest of these, Louise, was born at the Long Tom mine in this county. The eldest daughter, Harriet E., formerly a teacher in Bakersfield, is now the wife of J. S. Douglas, of the San Emidio ranch. The second daughter, Minnie, now Mrs. W. F. McKinzie, of Lebec, Kern county, also engaged in teaching in the Bakersfield schools for some years. Mrs. Yoakum, who afterward became Mrs. Pettit, crossed the plains with her parents in the days when wagons and oxen were utilized as the only sure means of transportation across the deserts and plains. Her father, Robert Gilbert, had served in the Mexican war and had traveled through California as early as 1848, but returned to Texas and it was not until some years later that he brought the family to live in the west. The present home of Mrs. Pettit is at Fort Tejon Canyon, where she owns a ranch. Mrs. Herod was educated in the Kern county schools and has always remained a resident of this community. Politically she favors the Democratic principles, while her husband is equally stanch in allegiance to the Republican party. Besides being prominent in the local work of the Women of Woodcraft, she is a charter member and leading worker in Tejon Parlor No. 136, Native Daughters of the Golden West, at Bakersfield, in which organization she was formerly the president and is now the recording secretary. LEWIS CASS WORTHINGTON.— Descended from an old southern family that became established in Virginia during the colonial period of our national history, Lewis Cass Worthington was born in Oregon, Ogle county. 111., in 1848, and is a son of the late John and Nancy (Drummond) Worthington. Primarily educated in the public schools of Ogle county, he later enjoyed the advantages of study in Mount Morris Seminary, an old, influential and leading educational institution of northern Illinois. After being graduated from the seminary he left Mount Morris and returned to the home farm, later being interested in agricultural pursuits in Illinois for a few years. During 1874 he came to California and secured employment in the building of the west side canal at Los Banos, Merced county. In a short time he was promoted to be superintendent of construction and from that he became superintendent of canals and ditches at Madera. The same line of work kept him l)usy in that county for some time and there he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1249 filled important contracts with trustworthiness and fidelity. When less activity began to be manifested in the building of canals he turned his at- tention to ranching, although he never wholly abandoned the work of building canals and irrigation systems. About 1894 he came to Bakersfield and became interested in the teaming business as well as in contracting, since which time he has become widely known as an authority and an expert in all canal and irrigation work. Several of the modern irrigation systems of California have been built wholly or in part by him. The Stevenson sys- tem he built in its entirety. The San Joaquin and Kings river canal was pushed to completion through his energetic oversight, and in addition he built a ])art of the Turlock and Madera systems, as well as sixty-four miles of the Sutter-Butte system of canals. Since the death in Bakersfield in 1907 of Mrs. Worthington, who was a native of Oregon, Ogle county. 111., and bore the maiden name of Alice R. Mix, Mr. Worthington has made his home in this city with his daughters and has continued to superintend his varied local and outside interests. His eldest daughter, Lois Worthington, M. D., now the wife of Frank Davis, was graduated with the degree of M. D., from Cooper Medical College De- cember 8, 1897, and since then has engaged in professional practice, her office being now in the Producers' Bank building in Bakersfield. Prominent in the profession, she maintains a w^arm interest in the work of the American and California State Medical Associations. Socially she has been influential in the organization of Native Daughters at Bakersfield. The second daughter, Jean Worthington, D. D. S., now the wife of Jack Bennett, an oil operator with headquarters at Bakersfield, is a graduate of the dental department of the University of California and now has a dental office in her home city. The youngest daughter, Mazie Worthington, D. D. S., a graduate of the dental department of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Fran- cisco, now has a suite of rooms for dental practice in the Producers' Bank building in Bakersfield. Dr. Lois Worthington, who is a native of San Leandro, Alameda county, became the wife of Frank Davis in Bakersfield October 15. 1906. Since March of 1902 Mr. Davis has lived in Bakersfield and meanwhile has filled a responsible position as yardmaster with the Santa Fe road. Born at Marca, Macon county. 111., he is a son of John T. Davis, a native of Illinois and now residing in the Randsburg district. A farmer by occupation, he came to California during the '80s and settled at Rosedale, where he devel- oped a tract of raw land. Later he removed to Tehacliapi, entered a claim and improved a farm. Upon selling that place he took up a desert claim in the Mojave desert, where at the age of seventy-eight he is still activel}^ at work as a farmer. Of his five living children only two settled in California. The eldest of the five, Frank, w^as born May 4, 1864, and at the age of eighteen years secured work as a brakeman on the Illinois Central road. Later he worked in a similar capacity with other roads, after which he was promoted to be a conductor on what is known as the Big Four road out from Urbana, 111. His first trip to Bakersfield occurred about twenty-five years ago and he spent a short time in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. On returning to Illinois he was employed as yardmaster in the Peoria yards of the Peoria & Pekin road, but resigned the position to settle permanently in California during the fall of 1901 and after a few months with the Santa Fe at Fresno- he was transferred to Bakersfield as yardmaster for the same road. EDWIN L. FOSTER.— Significant of the importance of Bakersfield is the fact that it has attracted to local professional circles men of breadth of thought, energy of temperament and acuteness of reasoning faculties, among whom not the least conspicuous or influential is Edwin L. Foster, attornev- 1230 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY at-lavv. Like the majority of the i)rofessional men of the community, he is on the sunny side of life's prime, with a future of 2"rowin_o; possibilities 1)efore him and with a present reputation that comes from a profound knowledge of the law. not only as related to California, but also as aiiplied to other states and the general government. W^hen he assumes a case his clients realize that his vast fund of legal kn(l^^•ledge, his personal probity and his resourcefidness are enlisted in their favcM-, and they repose in him a confidence v/on by a knowledge of the skill with which invariably he has conducted all of his cases. Having once given himself to a case in the courts, he becomes a persistent fighter for his client and gives the closest attention to every detail connected with the affair. In support of progressive projects he is e(!|ually capable and persistent and the city has in him one of its most able citizens and public- spirited men. Prior to removing to California with his parents in 1885, Mr. Foster lived in Macoupin county. 111., where he was born at Brighton, July 8, 1871, and where he had received his elementary education. After coming to the west he comnleted his high-school course and also took a thorough course in the law. Admitted to practice in the superior court of California in 1898, he at once established himself for professional work and has since practiced in this state, with the exception of a few years spent in the east as an attorney in Massachusetts and New York City. Through his education, which to some extent was acquired in Massachusetts, and also through a residence in the east in the years 1902-1905, he gained an excellent knowledge of conditions in that part of the country and has found the information of value to later activities. Since coming to Kern county in February of 1905 he has risen to prominence among the attorneys of Bakersfield, where he maintains his office in the Andersen building at No. 1669^ Chester avenue and where he has proved a distinct and influential acquisition to the professional element of the community. HON. CHARLES LEMUEL CLAFLIN.— For generations uncounted the bright aspiring minds of the youth of every locality have turned tov/ard the law as offering an opportunity for the exercise of their unquestioned talents and as affording a desirable avenue to future success. In choosing the law as his life work Judge Claflin was influenced by a decided preference for the ])rofession and by a recognition of talents of his own admirably qual- ifying him for such activities. That his choice was wisely made thirty years of successful practice have proved beyond question. Since he came to Bakers- field he has risen to leadership among the members of the Kern county bar and has built up a large practice whose basic strength is his own exceptional ability and unwavering integrity. As the senior member of the firm of Claflin & Owen, he has established a large corporation practice, has been chosen to attend to the law business of the First Bank of Kern and the National Bank of Bakersfield and exerts a wide professional influence founded upon his thor- ough knowledge of the law. Judge Claflin was born at Lebanon, Van Ikiren county, Iowa, August 17, 1858, received a public school education, studied law in an of^ce at Keosauqua, Iowa, came to California in 1880 and the following year was admitted to prac- tice in Modoc county, where he began upon professional work. During 1882 he was elected district attorney of Mode c county and held the office for one term. In 1890 he was elected superior judge of Modoc county. For six years he continued on the bench and won recognition through impartial service and wide knowledge of jurisprudence. Upon retiring from the office January 1, 1897, he resumed private practice, remaining in Modoc county for three years, and thence removing to Bakersfield in 1900 at the time of the great oil boom in Kern county. In his removal to Bakersfield he was accompanied by his wife, whom he had married in Modoc countv in 1884 and who was Miss Nellie HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1251 Welch, of Nevada county, this state. Their family consists of six children, namely : Harlan A\\, Charles L. Jr., Anita E., George E., Harry L., and Theo- dore R. Besides the family residence in Bakersfield and other city property, Judge Claflin owns farming lands and also has acquired interests in the oil fields, the entire investment representing an aggregate of large value. Pro- nounced in his allegiance to the Republican party, he nevertheless seeks no offices at its hands and the positions which he has filled came to him, not through political influence, but in recognition of his superior qualifications and splendid type of citizenship. The years of maturity he has devoted to the law and as a counselor he exhibits ripened judgment, while as an advocate he shows a profound knowledge of legal technicalities. Indeed, in every de- partment of the profession his talents are manifest and his standing assured. MRS. LOUISA J. CARVER.— Throughout an identification of more than sixty years with California it has been the privilege of Mrs. Carver to witness the remarkable development of the state, the building of railroads, the starting of towns, the opening up of ranch lands and the foundation of the remarkable material prosperity which makes the sunset state a favored region of destiny. The atmosphere of romance lingers around her eventful life, yet in the actual passing there has been less of romance than of unquestioned adherence to duty and a courageous endurance of the hard- ships incident to frontier existence. No memory of girlhood stands out more clearly in her well-stored mind than that of the crossing of the plains dur- ing the summer of 1850. The family had lived on a ranch near Jefiferson City, Mo., where she was born and where at an early age she had been trained to a knowledge of housewifely arts and practical farm duties. Her father, Hiram Hughes, a pioneer of brain and brawn, with the sturdy physique of the frontiersman, had left his native Tennessee for Missouri at the age of seventeen years and settled near Jefiferson City with his parents, who were farmers and stockraisers. Some years after going to Missouri he married Lucinda Johnson, a native of Kentucky. On their Missouri farm two children came to bless the home, the younger being Napoleon, who be- came a cattleraiser and died in Linn's valley many years after coming to California. The elder of the two children, Louisa J., was a young girl on the threshold of womanhood at the time the family crossed the plains. March 9, 1850, they started on the long journey as members of an expedition that numbered seventy-two men and thirty-one wagons. Ox-teams were used to draw the wagons and in addition Mr. Hughes started with sixty head of loose cattle, but unfortunately he lost the greater number of these on the load. The report of trouble at Salt Lake City led them to deflect their coiu-se from that point, so they traveled via Sublet's Cut-ofif and on the 31st of August arrived at Hangtown (now Placerville). In common with the majority of the early settlers Mr. Hughes at first earned a livelihood in the mines. After some years he embarked in the stock business in Tuolumne county. From there he removed to Stanislaus county. Eventually he came to Linn's valley and bought a raw tract of land. The development of the ranch engaged the remaining years of his activity and he resided there until his death at eighty-one years of age. His wife lived to be eighty-three. During the long journey across the plains the young girl had acci- dentally met on one occasion a youthful Argonaut, Joel Carver, who was crossing the plains with a large expedition from Missouri, but not connected in any way with the Hughes party. By chance the young couple met a second time in Sonora in 1851 and were again introduced. Their acquaint- ance ripened into affection and they were married in Calaveras county Feb- ruary 27, 1853, after which they settled on a stock ranch in Stanislaus county fifteen miles from the present site of Oakdahe. Mr. Carver was born 1252 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in Springfield, 111., January 27, 1832, the original Carver homestead having stood within two miles of the state capitol. During boyhood he accompanied his parents to Missouri and settled near Neosho, but in 1850 he again sought a location further west, this time traversing mountains and deserts to en- gage in mining and ranching in California. The year 1869 brought Mr. and Mrs. Carver to Linn's valley as pioneer stockraisers. Arriving here, he continued to use the brand adopted by him in Stanislaus county, but finding a similar brand in use in the valley he was compelled to change. Thereupon he adopted the brand H with a bar over it, which Mrs. Carver has cc ntinued to use up to the present time. In all of his work she proved a most efficient heloer and they worked together hap- pily and successfully until his death in 1885. The care of the house and of the children did not represent the limit of her wonderful energies. Hour after hour she would ride on the range helping in the care of the stock and the rounding up cf the cattle. No difficulty daunted her ardent spirit. No hardship depressed her optimistic soul. To such as she success cannot fail to come. That it came to her is the legitimate result of her splendid execu- tive ability, keen foresight and unwearied perseverance. The old Dunlap place of four hundred acres formed the first purchase of the Carver family in Linn's valley. Realizing that the range would soon be taken uo so that cattle could not roam at large, Mrs. Carver understood that the only successful way to conduct a cattle industry was through the ownership of vast areas. Acting upon that conviction, she began to fortify her business by purchasing large tracts. From the railroad she bought the Coyote ranch, a tract of forty-four hundred and eighty acres, lying just northwest of Woody, Kern county. This great ranch lies in one body and is fenced, besides being well watered by large springs and affording early feed for fattening cattle in the spring. Across the county line in Tulare county Mrs. Carver later purchased the Coho ranch of thirty-two hundred acres in one body, fenced, and amply watered by a branch of White river. The large property is utilized for a breeding ranch. At Bull Run meadows she also owns nineteen hundred and twenty acres in a body, located in the Forest reserve, so that she is able to avail herself of the government privilege of renting thcusands of acres from that vast range. The home farm on IJpper Poso creek in the upper jiortion of Linn's valley has been increased and now comprises five sections or thirty-two hundred acres. About four hun- dred acres are rich meadow lands and, being irrigated from Poso creek, yield an abundance of hay and feed. The property is well improved with a commodious and comfortable residence as well as the buildings necessary to the proper management of a great ranch. On all of the ranches a spe- cialty is made of raising Shorthorn Durham cattle. A devout believer in the home mission of women, Mrs. Carver always made her home, her husband and her children the paramount issue in her active years, although such was the versatility of her talents that she could also engage in outside activities without neglect to more intimate duties. Four of her seven children are now living. The only son, Jefif Carver, is a stockman in Linn's valley. The daughters are Mrs. Lou Conner, also of the valley ; Mrs. Annie Huey, of Tulare county ; and Mrs. Rose Danner, of Willows, this state. LIcme and ranch have not engrossed the entire thought of this remarkable pioneer. It has been her pleasure to keep in touch with the development of the state and to contrast its present height of develop- ment with the primeval conditions prevailing when first she saw the Pacific coast country. Nor does she live wholly in the past, interesting as its mem- ories are and eventful as was its record. Modern questions of suffrage and various movements to improve industrial and civic conditions receive her sympathetic, and in som'e cases active, interest. While always a Democrat HISTORY OF KERN COITXTY 1253 politically, she has been content to play a passive role on all public ques- tions and her devotion to the development of county and commonwealth has been free from partisan spirit. FREDERICK J. ECKHOFF.— A native of Baltimore, Md., Mr. Eckhofif is the son uf John l£ckhuii\ who was born in Hanover, Prussia, and who became an early resident of Baltimore, ]\Id. Thoroughly grounded in the knowledge of stock-raising he became a dealer in that line, filling con- tracts for the provision of stock, and he built up a good business. In 1846 he removed to St. Louis, Mo., locating just south of the city, where he con- ducted a small stock yards, there dealing in live stock. He had married Annie Berger, also a native of Hanover, and her death occurred in St. Louis. They became the parents of five children, four of whom now survive, Fred- erick J. being the second eldest. It was on March 15, 1841, in Baltimore, Md., that Frederick J. Eckhoff first saw the light of day, and he was but five when taken to St. Louis by his parents. He had the advantage of attending the public schools in a large city and made rapid progress there, in the meantime hel)ing his father in his stock business. In 1865 he started across the plains to California, which had been the destination he had long had in mind. With horse and mules he came, taking the route via Salt Lake to Northern California, and after four months of hard travel arrived in Plumas county. The Indians were then on the w^arpath and the train had several serious combats with them and during the trip six of them were killed. Upon arriving in California for some months Mr. Eckhoff was engaged in mining near Ouincy. From there he went on horseback via Carson City and Owens river into Arizona and then back into California again, arriving in Kern county December 25, 1869. He worked at mining for various parties in different places for some time making his headquarters at Havilah, Kern county, but finally entered into the project for himself. With others he was interested in the remodeling of the 5 Stamp mill at Clairville in the Piute Mountains, but this did not prove a profitable undertaking and he decided to give up mining as it was too unsatisfactory at that time. In 1876 Mr. Eckhoff started in the liquor business in Kernville, and con- tinued successfully engaged in that work until 1888, when he located in Bakersfield and engaged in the same business in partnership with Thomas E. Owens, but later sold out to his partner. Mr. Eckhoff has done a little real estate business in connection with these interests. Mr. Eckhoff was married in Bakersfield, in 1907, to Miss Louisa Raaz, who was born in Oakland, Cal. ROLLIN LAIRD. — The present city attorney of Bakersfield belongs to an honored pioneer family of California and traces his genealogy to Scotland, whence cne of the name crossed the ocean to America shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war. When the great unknown west first attracted worldwide attention through the discovery of gold Peter Laird determined to cast in his lot with the enthusiastic army of Argonauts bound for the mines of the coast. Accompanied by his family, in 1851 he came across the plains with a prairie-schooner and a drove of stock. In the care of the stock he was aided by his boy of seven years, John W. P., whose extreme youth did not prevent him from attempting to do a man's work in the long and fatiguing journey. The difficult tasks devolving upon father and son were rendered less arduous through the constant encouragement and cheerful aid of the beloved wife and mother, a woman of deep religious spirit and gentle char- acter. She bore the maiden name of Julia A. Pierce. While still a young woman, needed in her home and unspeakably dear to her family, she was taken from them by an unfortunate accident. The family had settled in Eldorado county and the father had engaged in mining at Mokelumne mines, where he established his wife and children in camp. One day in 1854, while Mrs. Laird was Iving in a hammock, a mine blast occurred and she 1254 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was killed by a flying- rocket when one of the powder charges exploded. Her passing • was mourned not alcine by the immediate family, but also by the miners, to all of whom she had been a friend, benefactor and nurse. After the Laird family had lived for some time at the old mining camps of Diamond Springs and Shingle Springs, about 1858 they moved to Sacra- mento county and became interested in the stock business. During the latter part of the '60s they removed to Inyo county. Peter Laird died at the home of his son, Judge J. W. P. Laird, at Bakersfield in January, 1910, at the age of eighty-nine years. John W. P. Laird was born at Mount Carroll, Carroll county. 111., May 28, 1844, and in 1851 came across the plains from Missouri with his parents. Later he worked in the mines and on ranches. While engaged in the cattle industry he procured some law books from an t -Id-time attorney in Sacramento and after the day's work was done he read law by the camp fire. Thus by dint of hard work, both manual and mental, he fitted himself for the career of an attorney. When he resolved upon a legal career he was considerably past thirty and in 1879, soon after he was admitted to practice before the California supreme court, he was elected district attorney of Inyo county, serving as such until 1886. During the first administration of President Cleveland he served as register of the Independence land office. His first ap- pearance as an attorney in Kern county occurred in 1890, when he came to Bakersfield as special prosecutor in the trial of W. T. C. Elliott for murder, the case resulting in mistrial, and Elliott was never acquitted or found guilty. Being well pleased with Bakersfield, Mr. Laird determined to estab- lish an office in this city and in May, 1891, he arrived here, being followed by his family in July. In the practice of law he formed a partnership with Jackson W. Mahon, then a young attorney just rising to prominence, now a supericir judge of Kern county. The pleasant and profitable association was terminated after a few years by the election of Mr. Mahon to the bench. Later Mr. Laird formed a partnership with H. L. Packard and this con- nection existed until 1903, when he was appointed district attorney to suc- ceed the late J. W. Ahern, an able lawyer and a loyal friend. Such was the ability with which the vacancy was fiilled that in 1906 Mr. Laird was regu- larly elected to the office and in that capacity he was regarded as an able prosecutor and a fearless champion of the people's cause. A recognized leader of the Kern county Democracy, Mr. Laird exercised a wide influence in the party councils and in 1900 was elected assemblyman on the regular party ticket. While a member of the house he served on the Pardee investigating committee during the Chinatown scandal in San Fran- cisco, taking a prominent part in the investigation. In the fall of 1910 the Democrats nominated him without opposition to represent the thirty-second district in the state senate. At the election Kings and Tulare counties gave large Republican majorities, which defeated him, although he carried his own county by a flattering vote. Upon the death of Judge Ben L. Brundage, less than a year before his own demise, he was a member of the committee on resolutions and in that capacity gave a deserved tribute to that honored California pioneer, whose career in the law was long and brilliant. While living in Inyo county in 1872 Mr. Laird married Henrietta Mc- Laughlin, who had come to California ten years before and whose death occurred at Bakersfield during 1900. They were the parents of three sons, Ernest, Lester and Rollin, all residing in Bakersfield, where the eldest son is employed as court reporter and the youngest serves as city attorney. After the death of his first wife Mr. Laird married again and is survived by his widow, also by four step-daughters, namely : Mrs. A. K. Miller, of Berkeley; Mrs. Ralph Knight, of Stockton; Mrs. Oscar Reynolds, of Helena, Mont. : and Mrs. Ralph Toland, of Bakersfield. During the latter part of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1255 1910 ill health began to assail the Judge (for by that title he was commonly known) and early in 1911 he spent three months in the mountains near Weldon, but the change of climate proved of no avail. A few days after his return from the mountains he dropped dead from heart failure on the sidewalk a short distance from the residence of his step-daughter, Mrs. Miller, in Berkeley, whither he had gone to put himself under the care of physicians. The body was brought to Bakersfield and interment was made under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity, of which he was an honored member. Universal regret was felt on account of his sudden demise. None knew him but to admire him for his splendid qualities of mind and heart. It was profoundly felt that in the upbuilding of the community he, as a member of the bar, ranked with the most brilliant who ever practiced law in the broad San Joaquin valley. His youngest son, Rollin, whose career has somewhat resembled his own up to the present date and who is be- lieved to possess many of his sterling characteristics, was born in Inyo county, this state, September 8, 1880, is a graduate of the Valparaiso (Ind.) Law School in 1909, was admitted to the bar in Indiana and during the same year in Los Angeles, from which place he returned to Bakersfield to engage in practice. Elected city attorney in 1911, he is filling the office with such efficiency that his friends predict for him greater honors and a bright future in the political world. FRITZ CHARLES NOEL.— Authentic history reveals the identification of the Noel family with the Huguenots in France as far back as the year 1416 and indicates their sufferings during the religious persecutions that culminated in the famous massacre of St. Bartholomew. Exiled from their home land, the Noels sought refuge in Germany and thence migrated to Sweden, where they lived and flourished for many generations. After having engaged for years in the lumber business at Stockholm, F. A. Noel removed with his family to England and secured a position with the Maxim-Norden- felt machine gun works in London, where he spent his remaining years in successful business activities. By his marriage to Hilda Rampe, who is like- wise deceased, he had a family of six children, of whom four are now living, namely : Frederick Adolph, a lumber merchant in London ; Fritz Charles, the only one of the family to settle in America ; Ernest Rudolph and Gerda, both residing in Paris, France, where the former is a proficient and prominent civil engineer. Stockholm, Sweden, is the native city of F. C. Noel and May 11, 1867, the date of his birth. He was educated in a high school in Sweden and in the City of London College. At the age of fifteen he accompanied his par- ents from Stockholm to London and at the age of twenty-one he crossed the ocean to America, settling first at Montreal, Canada, where he secured em- ployment on the Montreal Herald. During 1892 he came to the United States and established himself in Chicago, where he engaged with the Chicago Tribune until 1898. While living in Chicago he met and married Miss Alartha Klove, of Leland, 111., and for some years he carried on the Leland Times, an eight-page weekly which he had founded. This he still owns, although since he came to California in 1911 he has leased it to others. During 1901 he visited his relatives in London and Paris and trav- eled through other parts of Europe, finding in the tour much to interest and impress him, but returning to the United States more than ever con- vinced of its superiority to the old world. Upon his removal to the west Mr. Noel bought ten acres of orange land one and one-half miles south of Edison, in the Porter Land colony, and this he has commenced to improve. In addition he owns his residence at No. 1745 Orange street, Bakersfield, and recently purchased forty acres at the lower end of the Weed Patch near the Tejon ranch, as well as one hundred 1256 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY acres at Lerdo, the new fibre center. Together with Mr. Soper, who owns one hundred and forty adjacent to his forty, he has undertaken the devel- opment of water on the land, with the intention of planting the tract to orange trees as soon as adequate irrigation is assured. The real-estate firm of G. W. Shearer & Co., formed in May of 1912, and constituting a continuation of the old company of Sears & Shearer, is com- posed of two energetic young men, G. W. Shearer and F. C. Noel. Mr. Noel's family consists of his wife and three children, Gladys J., Frederick A. and Myra H. They are popular in social circles and are regular attendants at the services of the First C( ngregational Church of Bakersfield. GEORGE W. SHEARER.— The senior partner in the real estate firm of G. W. Shearer & Co. is a member of an old ea'^tern family and was b( rn in Franklin county, Pa., on Christmas day of 1879, being fourth in order of birth among the five living children that comprise the family of Jacob F. and Margaret (McCartney) Shearer. The eldest of the five, Annie, married S. R. Fortna, a farmer living in Franklin county, Fa. The second, Mac W., is engaged in general farming in that county, where also lives the second son, Frank S., a capable farmer. The youngest member of the family circle, May, is the wife of Calvin Leidig, proprietor of a meat market at Orrstown, Franklin county. The only one of the five to leave his native county was George W., who has been a resident of California since 1907. The father, now sixty-five years of age and a man of considerable means, has devoted his entire active life to agricultural pursuits and is still a large landed pro- prietor and stock-dealer at Upper Strasburg, Franklin county, where for years he and his wife have made their home. By working on the home farm and by teaching school in- Franklin county for four years, George W. Shearer earned the money necessary for the completion of his education. In a business college at Lancaster, Pa., he studied bookkeeping and shorthand and thus became qualified for the posi- tion which he secured with the Chambersburg Electric Light & Power Com- panv. Upon giving up that place he taught one term of school and then became an instructor in stenography and typing. After two years as a professor in a commercial institution he resigned in 1907 in order to come to California, and here he immediately secured a place with the Associated Oil Company at Oil Center, Kern county. At the expiration of two years with the oil company he embarked in the real estate business, opening an office in the Oil Exchange building, Bakersfield, in May of 1909, and at this location he has since continued. During May of 1911 the firm of Sears & Shearer was organized with W. L. Sears as senior member. June 1, 1912, the com- pany was re-organized and is now composed of G. W. Shearer and F. C. Noel; both voung men of integrity, ability and energy. Since coming to this county Mr. Shearer has acquired property in East Bakersfield and Wasco, also a tract in the Lost Hills district and citrus lands at the lower end of the Weed Patch near the Tejon Pass. Arrangements have recently been made whereby the firm of G. W. Shearer & Co. are the exclusive agents for the new seven thousand acre colony at Lerdo, Kern county, which is owned by the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation. It is here that the ramie plant is being successfully culti- vated and grown, and it is here also where the inventor, G. W. Schlichten. has located one of his justly famous decorticating machines. The ramie plant has heretofore been grown principally in the Orient, in India, China and Japan, where labor is cheap. Mr. Schbchten's great invention, however, will now make it possible to produce the ramie fibre at a cost cheaper than it can be produced by hand work in India, China or any other country. This venture at Lerdo is attracting attention from far and near, so much so that the agricul- tural department sent to Lerdo the expert, Professor Dew^ey, to investigate HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1257 and report on this industry. Ex-Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson has said that Schlichten's invention is the most important and valuable to the fibre industry of any machine since the cotton gin. It does the work of three thou- sand men and revolutionizes the former expensive and wasteful hand method. Since the ramie fibre can be used in making twines, ropes, threads, fishing nets and lines, as well as cloths of the finest and most durable texture, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to see that Lerdo and its new industry will socn hold an important place in the industrial development of California. Ramie cloth has the fine, beautiful gossamer-like tissue of China or Japan linen. It is the identical cloth from which was made for the ancient queens of India bed sheets so fine and thin that they could be drawn through finger rings; while the Bible reveals the fact that ramie cloth was linen that was used in wrapping the bodies of the mummies, and the quality of the cloth is elsewhere fitly expressed in the words "raiment of fine linen." NEWELL JONATHAN BROWN, M. D.— The principle of heredity appears in the selection of a profession by Dr. Brown and in his gratifying success as a surgeon and medical practitioner, for the genealogical records show that on one side of the house seven successive generations rose to local prominence as physicians and it has been a source of gratification to him that two of his sons have entered the profession, for which they exhibit a decided talent. Although of Canadian birth, he is a member of an old family of New England, whom chance or destiny caused to cross the border line into the province of Quebec. During the colonial period of our national history the family came to this country from England and his grandfather, Capt. John Brown, a native of New Hampshire, served as an officer in the war of 1812. Later he crossed into Quebec and engaged in farming. On that trip he was accompanied by his family, which included a son, Ozias Gilbert, a native of Epsom, N. H., near the city of Concord, born March 27, 1806, and died at the old home December 25, 1901, at almost ninety-six years of age. He too became a farmer in the province of Quebec, where he met and married Margaret Foss, a lifelong resident of Canada and of Scotch extraction. It is through the Foss ancestry that the heritage of professional ability is derived, their male representatives having been men of remarkable intelligence and manifest talent in surgery. The youngest of six children, Dr. Brown was born March 10, 1854, in Stanstead, province of Quebec, a short distance across the line from Vermont. It was the desire of his father, Ozias Gilbert Brown, that he be educated for the medical profession and his own talents turned his ambitions in that direc- tion. After he had graduated from a local academy he matriculated in McGill University, a famous medical college at Montreal, where he studied medicine for three years. He then entered Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, being graduated from that institution in November, 1875, with the degree of M. D. Immediately he came west as far as Iowa, where he opened an office at Red Oak, but in 1877 he removed to Grundy county, the same state. The following year he married Miss Celia Frances Eastman, who was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, being a daughter of Lieutenant-Governor (later State Sena- tor) E. W. Eastman, deceased in 1884. Dr. and Mrs. Brown are the parents of four sons, namely : Newbern Nuckolls, M. D., of Bakersfield ; Newell Jon- athan, Jr., M. D., of Tehachapi ; Austin Foss, a druggist and pharmacist by education; and Oilman Grenough, who is now engaged in farming near Modesto. Professional labors became so exhausting and increased with such rapidity that Dr. Brown failed in health. During 1878 he spent three months in Colorado, camping and living an outdoor life in Elbert county. The result was so gratifying that he decided to remain and engage in practice. When he moved further west five years later his health was re- 1258 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY established and his practice large. Esta])lishing an office at Hailey, Blaine county, Idaho, in 1883, he soon became known as a successful physician and surgeon. For many years he served as coroner and health officer of Blaine county. Meanwhile he had become owner and medical director of the Miners' hospital, the leading institution of the kind on the line of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. Much of his time was given to the care of patients in the hospital, which had a capacity of fifty beds and was equipped with every modern convenience for the care of the sick or the needs of operative surgery. As surgeon for the Oregon Short Line Railroad he also had a considerable practice. More than eighteen years were spent in Hailey and they were filled with professional successes. Meanwhile, how- ever, he had begun to realize the limitations of the region from an educa- tional standpoint and a desire to give his sons better educational advantages than Idaho afforded caused him in 1901 to remove to Los Angeles, where he opened an office at No. 423^^ South Spring street. In addition to private practice he engaged as professor of dermatology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Los Angeles, from which institution his eldest sons, Newbern N. and Newell J., Jr., twins, were graduated in 1905. Newell J., Jr., afterward opened an office at Tehachapi, where he is now surgeon for the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific Railroads. Newbern N. came to Bakersfield in the fall of 1907, and two years later he was joined by his father, the two having since practiced together with offices in the Oil Exchange building. In addition to their large private patronage they act as surgeons for the Santa Fe Railroad. The two sons and their father have maintained an active association with the county, state and American Medical Associations. The son, Austin F., is also a resident of Bakers- field, so that the youngest son, a resident of Stanislaus county, is the only member of the family living away from Kern county. In politics all affiliate with the Republican party. While making his home at Hailey, in 1884, Dr. Brown was made a Mason in Hailey Lodge No. 16, F. & A. M., of which he is still a member; he was raised to the Royal Arch in Alturas Chapter No. 5 and served as high priest. In 1887 he was made a Knight Templar in Boise Asylum Commandery No. 1, and the same year took the Scottish Rite thirty-second Consistory degrees and the K. C. C. H. in Hailey. On his removal to Los Angeles he affiliated with Los Angeles Con- sistory No. 3, of which he is still a member, and since coming to Bakersfield he has been elected president of the Scottish Rite Association. He is also a member of El Kalah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Salt Lake City, being a charter member. He holds membership also in the Los Angeles Lodge No. 9^, B. P. O. E., and with his son, Newbern N., belongs to the Bakersfield Club. CAPT. ALVIN E. MORGAN.— Throughout the greater part of his life a resident of Bakersfield, where until his death he followed the building busi- ness, Capt. Alvin Edgar Morgan found another field of useful service in an identification with the California National Guard. When about twenty-four years of age he enlisted and was accepted as a member of Company .G. Sixth Regiment of the California Guards. Later through consolidation this became merged into Company L, Second Regiment, from which he was transferred to the hospital corps as sergeant. Later he was returned to Com- pany L as first sergeant, from which he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. During the chaotic condition in San Francisco following the fire he was on active duty as first sergeant. During 1911 he was success- ful in organizing Troop A of the First Squadron, California Cavalry, and immediately after the organization he was chosen captain, which office he filled with ability and characteristic energy until his death February 20, 1913, when he was buried with military honors. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1259 Born at Rochelle, Ogle county, 111., September 8, 1875, Alvin Edgar Morgan was a son of C. M. and Ida (Canfield) Morgan, natives respectively of Illinois and Wisconsin, and now residents of Kern county. The father, who is a plastering contractor by trade, came to Bakersfield during 1884 and joined a brother, Alfred, then superintendent of the McClung ranch. The brother until his death in 1910 retained him in the capacity of foreman and since then he has been employed as night watchman on another ranch in this county. Of the eight children comprising his family all but three still survive. The eldest of the family. Alvin Edgar, attended the primary schools of Illinois and the grammar schools of California, and while still a mere lad acquired a thorough knowledge of the stock business. Upon starting out for himself he became an employe and learned to manufacture soda in the C. O. D. soda works, remaining with that company for nine years in all and holding the position of manager during the latter part of his connec- tion with them. In 1906 he went to San Francisco and worked at the trade of a carpenter, remaining for eighteen months. Meantime he took a corre- spondence course in the drawing of plans and in general architecture, also in the building business. From San Francisco he came back to Bakersfield and secured employment as foreman for Mr. Lindgren. During the eighteen months of his association with that contractor he aided in the building of the New Southern hotel, Tegeler building. Hotel Florence and Security Trust Company's bank. Upon severing his association with Mr. Lindgren he engaged in business for himself and since then had made a specialty of building cottages and bungalows, meanwhile having erected his own resi- dence on the corner of Ninth and L streets. This comfortable home is pre- sided over with dignity and economy by his capable wife, whom he married in Bakersfield and who was Miss Mamie Long, a native of Lawrence, Kans. She is the daughter of Elisha and Jennie (Canfield) Long, and came to California in 1897. Of the marriage cf Mr. and Mrs. Morgan was born one son. Alvin Reese. In fraternal relations Captain Morgan held membership with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. J. M. SAFFELL. — The genealogy of the Safifell family indicates an honorable southern lineage dating back to the colonial era. Nor was there, in the entire American history of the family, any member more intelligent in mind, more efficient in service, more patriotic in citizenship or more earnest in religious work than Rev. Samuel Peck Safifell, who was born in Tennessee, November 29, 1820. With scarcely any educational advantages, he pos- sessed such great native endowments and such intense spiritual devotion of character that at the age of only seventeen he was a lay preacher of local lame. The bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of his district, recogniz- ing his superior talents, ordained him to the ministry of the Gospel. Through- out a long and active life, while earning a livelihood in various occupations, he gave his services gratuitously in frontier communities. After a week of arduous labor as carpenter, wheelwright or wagonmaker (in all of which trades he excelled) he was never too weary to devote the entire Sabbath to preaching and other work of a similar nature. Remote and isolated regions, where people had no church privileges, felt the impetus of his generous aid and helpful sermons. At different periods of his mature years he lived in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and California, and in each of these states he accomplished much for Christ and His church. Born in Tennessee and deceased in Fresno, Cal., the interval between birth and death represented an era of intense religious activity and self-sacrificing" labors for the uplift- ing of humanity. By the marriage of Rev. Samuel P. Safifell and Mary A. Watson, who was born in Lawrence county, Ala., January 9, 1823, and died in Fresno, Cal., there were thirteen children and seven of these are now living. J. M.. the 1260 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY fourth among the survivors, was born in Marion county, Ark., February 27, 1858, and at the age of six years accompanied his parents to Illinois, when ten years old moved with them to Kansas and at twelve returned with them to Arkansas. In each of these states he attended public schools. As soon as large enough to assist his father he began to learn the trade of carpenter. After he arrived in Kelseyville, Lake county, Cal., in November of 1873 he earned his livelihood at carpentering. After he had removed to Red Bluff in 1877 and had taken employment under Flans Hansen, builder, he began the study of architecture, his interest in the specialty having been fostered by the exceptional ability as architect and designer displayed by his employer. Initial experience as architect and superintendent of construction came to him with his location in Fresno, where he remained for eleven years, mean- while meeting with gratifying success. The first four-story building erected in the town was the Fresno Loan and Savings Bank, which he designed and superintended. Other important buildings were planned under his super- vision. A long period of intense devotion to professional work undermined his health. Unable to continue in business, he gave up his interests in Fresno and for seven years traveled in different parts of the west, working when able, roughing it in camp, living in the open air and seeing much of the country, while gradually regaining his strength. As early as 1901 Mr. Safifell came to Bakersfield for the first time. In a temporary residence of eighteen months in this city he laid the foundation of the high professional standing he now enjoys. Among his architectural plans were those for the First Bank of Kern and the Mortenson hotel. Upon leaving this city he spent a number of years at San Pedro and there super- intended the construction of various large structures as well as private homes. Returning to Bakersfield in 1909, he since has devoted his time to the work of architect and superintendent of construction, having planned in this period the Axelson machine building, the Verdier building and many schoolhouses and residences. To a large degree he has recovered his health, so that it is possible for him to give to his profession the close attention and painstaking care it demands. By his first marriage he has a son, Joseph, Edward, now a resident of Trinity county. By his second wife, who was Miss Ella Milne, a native of Nevada, he has four children, namely: Frank, now in Los Angeles; Mrs. Laura Zuver, whose husband is employed in the Kern river oil fields ; Melvin and Lillie, of Bakersfield. Reared in the Meth- odist faith, Mr. Safifell always has retained a deep aft"ection for that church and a practical interest in its progress. Politically he votes with the Renub- lican party. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. JAMES SHANNON ADAMS.— As engineer for the North-American Oil Consolidated in the Midway field Mr. Adams is well qualified by an aptitude for mechanical engineering inherited from his father, a competent engineer at one time largely interested in saw-milling and lumbering. LIntil about seventeen years of age Mr. Adams lived in Michigan and he was born in Isabella county, that state, August 6. 1891, being the only surviving son of Thomas G. and Sarah Jane (Muma) Adams, the latter of whom died in 1905. The two daughters in the family, Sarah L. and Hattie Irene, still reside in Michigan, the former in Detroit and the latter at Clare, Clare county. The father, who engaged in lumbering and also operated an engine at Gilmore, Clare county, finally removed from Michigan to the Pacific northwest and is now living in Washington. From early life he had a local reputation for skill as a mechanic and for ability to handle any kind of an engine. Training his only son with exacting care, he taught the lad in early years to understand every detail connected with engines and to operate them with unerring skill. Natural ability developed by care- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1261 fill training has enabled the younger man to make good as an engineer. jNIarch 12, 1908, he arrived in Bakersfield, and secured work in the Kern river field. During July of 1911 he went to Los Angeles, but soon returned to the Kern river field. In March of 1912 he came to the Midway field and secured work as an oiler under Mr. Caffrey on section 16 division of the North American Oil Consolidated, with which corporation he has continued up to the present time, and since January, 1913. has been filling the position of engineer. January 1, 1913, he was united in marriage with Miss Mildred Leone Whittekin, a native of Pennsylvania, and immediately after his mar- riage he brought his wife to the section 16 division, where they now occupy one of the company residences. JOHN V. UPTON.— At Dundas, Richland county. III, Mr. Upton was born December 22, 1863, a son of Isaac and Cynthia (Malick) Upton, the former born in Kentucky of Irish descent, and the latter a member of an ancient and honorable Teutonic family whose genealogy is recorded back two hundred years in German history. The parental family numbered five chil- dren and John V. was the only son who attained mature years. After he had completed the studies of the country schools he devoted himself to gen- eral farming and in 1888 left Illinois for California, where he investigated conditions in Kings, Tulare and Kern county. August of 1888 found him in the county last-named, where he pre-empted the southwest quarter of section 30, township 30, range 30, and during the period of pre-emption he earned a livelihood at ditch work in Tulare county. During October of 1895 Mr. Upton bought one-half section of school land forming the south half of section 24, township 30, range 29, and of this tract he still owns one hundred and sixty acres, devoted to dry farming, in which he is regarded as an expert. The family home is located on the forty- acre tract three and three-fourths miles southeast of Edison and eleven and four-tenths miles southeast of Bakersfield, where he and his wife have a comfortable ranch-house, brightened by the presence of their children and made happy by mutual devotion and harmony. In April of 1899 Mr. Upton returned to Illinois and there married Miss Mary J. Hershey, of Lawrence county. Upon his return to California he settled on the ranch and has since labored with undaunted determination to develop the land. His task has been one requiring great courage and optimism. For years he was obliged to haul water from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company's tank at Bena, not only paying a high price for the water, but in addition devoting much time to the difficult work of hauling all that he needed on his farm. Under all of his discouragements he has not lost faith in the ultimate success of agriculture in the district and in the final value of his ranch for general farming purposes. In his family there were eight children. One son, Robert v., was only one week old at the time of his death. The surviving children are Isaac M., Cynthia E., Roy Smith, Ruth' Lucile, Ina M., Bertha M. and Elizabeth Irene, the latter born June 6, 1913. All are intelligent and ener- getic and are a source of pride and joy to the parents. HENRY C. DUNLAP.— Throughout this, his native county, Mr. Dun- lap has a wide circle of acquaintances, particularly among the county officials and their assistants, for he has acted as courthouse custodian ever since Jan- uary 1, 1895. A member of a pioneer family of Kern county, where he was born December 10, 1863, Henry C. Dunlap descends from good old southern stock and is a son of James and Lucy (Ellis) Dunlap, both natives of Texas, the latter now deceased, but the former is a resident of Tulare county. The Ellis family removed from Mississippi to Texas during the early settlement of the Lone Star state, while the Dunlaps lived in Missouri during the early part of the nineteenth century. There were six children in the parental fam- 1262 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY ily, but of these one daughter died in infancy and one son, Thomas, who had rendered efficient service as deputy under Sheriff W. J. Graham, died in Kern county at the age of twenty-six years. The only surviving daughter, Emma, married H. L. Conner, now superintendent of a large ranch near Tipton, Tulare cuunty. Two sons, John and J. W.. are prominent stockmen and ranchers in that county. Henry C, who has been a lifelong resident of Kern county, married in April, 1888, Miss Callie Slinkard, who was torn in Los Angeles county and their union has been blessed with four children, namely: Clotean. now the wife of F. P. Harmony, of Missouri; Breer M., a bookkeeper at Weil's department store, Bakersfield ; Leonard J., bookkeeper for R. Pyle, Bakersfield ; and Ward J., who is a student in the Bakersfield schools. Like Mr. Dunlap, Mrs. Dunlap also comes from pioneer California families, who originally came from the south. Her father, Solomon Slinkard, was a native of Arkansas, while her mother, Laura (Glass) Slinkard, was born in Texas. The mother crossed the plains with her parents while a mere girl, and the father was about twenty years of age when he came to California. They were married in Los Angeles county and had nine children, of whom Mrs. Dunlap was the fifth child. The father prospered excep- tionally well in Los Angeles county for a while, but owing to the ill health of his wife he sold out there and moved to Tulare county, settling on the White river, near California Hot Springs, where he engaged in the cattle business. Both are now^ deceased, but are well remembered by a host of pioneer friends in Los Angeles, Tulare, as well as Kern counties, where many of their children, including Mrs. Dunlap, grew to maturity, and en- joyed all the experiences and incidents common to the well-to-do pioneer California ranchman's life. VINING E. BARKER. — Perhaps throughout the entire county of Kern there is not to be found a more complete and sj)lendidly conducted ranch than that of Vining E. Barker, its wide area of three hundred and twenty acres of well-irrigated, productive land evidencing the untiring energy and clever management of its details. This was originally the property of an uncle of Vining Barker who was a native of New York and left there in 18.S1 to make a home in California. He came by way of Panama and was engaged in mining for a time in various places, in 1872 locating in Kern county, where he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land and followed farming until his death December 25, 1895. Vining T. Barker was born February 22, 1851, and brought up on the home farm in Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich., wdiither his parents, Albert and Julia (Wilcox) Barker, had come from New York in the early days. Driving from New York over the difficult corduroy roads, they settled in Lenawee county, Mich., where they bought a claim ; there the father, who was a native of New York, passed away. Receiving all the advantages af- forded to him by the local public schools, Mr. Barker then attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Cincinnati, Ohio, and after graduation was engaged in the mercantile business in Morenci for a time. His first trip to California occurred in 1877, and he returned to the coast in the fall of 1890 expecting to make a visit, but the many advantages appealing to a youtig man finally influenced him to make California his home, and returning to the east to dispose of his interests, he came back and superintended the farm of his uncle in Kern county for a time, later ]mrchasing it from his estate. The ranch is situated about fourteen miles southwest of Bakersfield in the Old River district, under the Stine canal, and here are raised alfalfa and stock, and a flourishing dairy business is carried on. Irrigation is also procured from a flowing artesian well that has a depth of six hundred and fifteen feet, the orchard, vineyard and garden being irrigated and water for domestic use is supi)lied. It is known to be one of the finest flowing wells in HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1263 the county. There is also on the ranch a large artificial lake in which fish abound and the whole effect of the place is one of beauty, system and pro- ductiveness. Along with this interest Mr. Barker has oil property in Mc- Kittrick, and he is a stockholder in the United States Oil and Develop- ment Company. The marriage of Mr. Barker occurred in Morenci, Mich., February 22, 1882, uniting him with Miss Ella Dean, who was born in Wauseon, Fulton county, Ohio, daughter of James S. and Eunice E. (Clemmans) Dean, the former born in Chemung county, N. Y., and the latter in Ohio. James S. Dean served in the Civil war in Company A, Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, holding the office of lieutenant. He was a large farmer in Ohio and resided in Wauseon, where he died in 1905 ; his widow still survives. Mrs. Barker was educated in the college at Ada, Ohio, and with her husband shares in the friendship of a host of well-wishers. They have one child. Jay A. Barker, of Bakersfield. In politics Mr. Barker is a Republican. MATEO SMITH. — Loyalty to local development is a characteristic of the citizens of East Bakersfield and in this attribute Mr. Smith stands second to none. After having been variously occupied at other places, in 1907 he be- came identified with the real-estate business in this place and has since been successful in handling property for others, developing his own holdings, and buying, selling and trading real estate. To an unusual degree he under- stands valuations in his home towm and he also exercises a keen foresight concerning future increases and the upward trend of the realty market. Be- sides his residence at No. 905 Fremont street, which he erected some years ago, he owns other property in the city and he is also the owner of a small ranch three miles out, where he is interested in the raising of alfalfa and stock. In addition he owns interests in oil companies and oil lands in the fields of this county. A native son of the state, Mr. Smith was born at Gilroy, Santa Clara county, October 21, 1868, and is a son of the late Charles and Carmen (Pas- caida) Smith. The father, an Austrian by birth and a sailor by occupation, was attracted to California by the discovery of gold and during 1849 rounded the Horn, sailed up the Pacific and cast anchor in the harbor of San Fran- cisco. For some years he followed mining and in addition he also owned and conducted hotels. After having conducted an hotel at Old Alameda he fol- lowed the same business in Gilroy and later in Hollister. While engaged in placer mining in Tuolumne county he died there at the age of seventy-four. Later his wife, who was a member of a pioneer family of Santa Clara county, came to East Bakersfield to make her home with her son, Mateo, and here she died at seventy-three years of age. There were eleven children in the family and five of these are still living. Of the eleven Mateo was fifth in order of birth. From ten years of age he not only supported himself, but also aided in the maintenance of the family. It was impossible for him to secure a good education, but he has acquired a broad fund of inforrnation through habits of close observation and through the intelligent cultivation of his mental faculties. After having been a helper in a dray business at Hollister for a number of years :Mr. Smith came to Bakersfield in 1886. His energy and versatile talents led him to acquire a thorough knowledge of carpentering and of plumbing and steam-fitting, besides the trade of a stationary engineer, which last-named occupation he followed not only in this city, but also in the moun- tain sawmills. All of these trades he followed more or less and should he choose, he could now earn a livelihood at any of them. In addition he has been interested in mining and has improved a number of claims, but this work he has found far from profitable. Among the principal points of his mining ventures Keyesville and Piute have been the most important and now 1264 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY he also has claims on Mill creek in the Breckenridge mountains. While min- ing at Keyesville he located a ledge, Good View, out of a small strata of which he took $6,000, but that entire sum he afterward sunk in attempting a further development of the same ledge. While mining has been an interest- ing occupation for him, as for all who have ever entered it, it is his belief that the greatness of California consists less in its mines than in its rich soil, its possibilities of horticulture and agricultural cultivation and its superb climate. His marriage took place in East Bakersfield February 12, 1911, and united him with Mrs. Delia (Fowler) Miller, a native of Kirksville, Mo., and the mother of one child, Mary Elizabeth, by her first marriage. Mrs. Smith is the daughter of Dr. R. M. and Martha (O'Brien) Fowler, natives of Berlin, Germany, and Dublin, Ireland, respectively. The father was a graduate physician from the University of Berlin and for many years practiced medicine in Kirksville, but he is now retired and looking after his large real-estate interests. Mrs. Smith is a graduate of the State Normal at Kirksville. Most of her life has been spent in business ; since coming to Bakersfield she has engaged actively in the real-estate business and is ably assisting her husband. She has charge of the renting department, which she is bringing to marked success, and has a large clientele among the large property owners of the city. GEORGE S. MAY. — The president of May's Transfer and Storage Com- pany, incorporated under the laws of the state of California, has had many interesting experiences since first he embarked in the draying business in 1898. The incident which led to the starting of the business was in itself apparently insignificant. The proprietors of what was then the leading transfer ctmpany of Bakersfield caused his arrest, as he thought very un- justly, for hauling a trunk without a city license. A second complaint against him caused him to embark in the business for himself and he then organized the Opposition Transfer Company. For a year his sole equipment comprised one horse and a wagon which had been rebuilt from an old hotel bus, the whole worth about $40. One of his first friends and helpers was Las Mon- toya, who aided in the rebuilding of the wagon. Opposition of every kind was presented, but he steadily gained in the competing game against his business opponents. Soon it became apparent that the trade required addi- tional equipment. Accordingly he bought out the George Carlock Trucking Company and thus secured needed wagons and horses. Later he took in the Union Transfer Company on a percentage basis and on his suggestion his brother, Charles A., purchased that concern, becoming one-third owner with his brother. About three months afterward Charles A. bought out Wood's Transfer Company and thus became one-half owner in the whole business. Disposing of their trucking and draying interests, the brothers devoted themselves strictly to the transfer and storage business and for fifteen years have handled the business of all the theatrical companies in Bakersfield. Meanwhile they secured the government contract for hauling mail between the depots and the postoffice. They also secured the contract with the Wells- fargo Company for transfer of packages between the depots. Last of all they won the commercial trade of the city. From a very modest beginning their trade increased steadily and now they utilize eleven transfer and dray- age trucks. Trunks and suit-cases formerly were stored in a room, 10x16, which previously had been used as a harness-room in their barn. Soon this small space proved inadequate. Other rooms were rented, but each in turn became too small for the growing business. It then became necessary to erect a suitable storage warehouse and in August of 1911 the brothers began the construction of a building, 50x110 feet in dimensions, with a capacity of ten thousand square feet. This fireproof structure stands on the corner of Stockton and Humboldt streets, East Bakersfield, and the large barns stand HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1265 in the same block not far distant from the residences of the two brothers. The office of the company is in the basement of the Old Fish building in Bakersfield. The capital stock of the company, $20,000 paid in, was secured by the sale of two thousand shares of stock at $10 per share. A native son of the state, George S. May was born at Sierraville, Sierra county, near Truckee, Nevada county, where his father, George, was a popu- lar pioneer, a well-known miner and the manager of a sawmill. The pos- sessor of musical ability of a high order (although undeveloped) he learned to play the violin and was in constant demand at the country dances of the early days. In that way he came to be known as "Fiddler" May. His warm- hearted disposition brought him hosts of friends, .while his remarkable exec- utive ability made him a leader in pioneer circles. While engaged in mining he had business relations with Senator Jones of Nevada and Senator Stewart and at one time he was a partner of Senator George Hearst. For some years his life record was a history of the mining development of the west, whither he had come during the eventful year of 1849. Born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1829, he had gone to Springfield, that state, in early life and thence to Springfield in Illinois. As soon as he heard of the discovery of gold in California he made preparations for the trip to the west and during the summer of 1849 he crossed the plains with ox-teams. In 1850 he arrived at the placer mines above vSacramento. For a time he hauled freight with oxen from Sacramento to Yuba City, Yubatown, Grass Valley, Nevada City and other early mining camps.. The first shaft on the Yellow Jacket in the near vicinity of the Com- stock lode in Nevada was sunk by George May, who received his pay in ore and sold the same for $100,000, but unfortunately lost the entire fortune in a similar venture with the Golden Curry mine. Later he was elected sheriff of Nevada county, Cal., and during the Civil war he served as United States marshal. When the war closed he began in the livery business at Nevada City, but was unfortunate in having his stables twice destroyed by fire. From that county he went to Sierra count}^ and there married Miss Isabelle Davis, daughter of T. J. Davis, Jr., an honored pioneer, and grand- daughter of T. J. Davis, Sr., commonly known as "Grizzly" Davis on ac- count of his record in the killing of bears, and at the time of his death the owner of the land now occupied by Davisville in Yolo county. In the family of George INIay there were ten children, but three of these died in infancy. The seven now living are named as follows : George S., of this article ; Grace G., wife of Henry Williams, of East Bakersfield; Charles A., represented elsewhere in this volume ; John Clarence and James Albert, farmers in the Weed Patch ; Lillian E., who married Clay Phillips, now living on a farm in the Weed Patch, but employed for some years as manager of associated stores in the various oil fields of the state; and Arthur, also a farmer in the Weed Patch district. When George S. May was five years of age the family moved from Placer county to a farm at Tracy's Crossing, Kern county, but later removal was made to Havilah, near which place the father engaged in cattle ranch- ing. After a time return was made to the valley three miles south of Bakers- field. During the gold excitement at Bodie, Mono county, the father pros- pected in that region. Later he managed the Whiskey Hill mine in Calaveras county, where he took out as high as $40,000 per month. On his return to Kern county he resumed farming. He then went to Randsburg, where he became interested in the Buckboard mine and was also a factor in developing the townsite of Randsburg. While engaged in filling a logging contract at Breckenridge mill he died suddenly of heart failure, August 12, 1899, mourned by friends in every part of the state. The widow, now sixty years of age, lives at the old homestead in the Weed Patch. Their eldest son. George S., 1266 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was married in 1897 to Miss Trinity Silva, who was reared in Bakersfield and educated in the Methodist Episcopal University at Los Angeles. Mrs. May is an own sister of the lieutenant-governor of the state of Colima, Mexico. By her marriage she is the mother of two daughters, Evelyn B. and Berniece D., aged eleven and thirteen respectively, both students in the Paige Sem- inary for Girls at Los Angeles. This school has an attendance of one hun- dred and thirty-six girls, ranging in age from eleven to nineteen. In June, 1913, each of Mr. May's daughters took one of the three prizes offered for the best scholarships. DAVID L. HOENSHELL.— Well known as a contractor of Bakersfield and a resident of this citv' since September of 1889, Mr. Hoenshell is a native of Coshocton county, Ohio, and was born in the year 1860. Rural environment made agriculture familiar to his boyhood years, for his father, John, tilled the soil as a means of livelihood for the family. After he had acquired a knowledge of the three R's in the country school near his home he was apprenticed to the trade of a carpenter and during the course of his service he was sent into the timber to fell the trees and hew in pieces the logs ; by so doing he gained a thorough knowledge of lumber in its natural state and the information thus acquired was a help to him in later expe- riences. Upon attaining his majority he left home to make his own way in the world and following the trend of emigration toward the west found a place of sojourn in Kansas, where he engaged in farming in Atchison county. Later he became interested in the stock business and also conducted a butcher shop in the same locality. Coming to California during 1885 he proceeded from Los Angeles to Tulare county and found employment in agricultural pursuits. During the spring of 1889 he became agent for the Union Ice Company at A'isalia and in September of the same year he re- moved to Bakersfield as agent for the same company, which shipped in large quantities of natural ice from Truckee. Until 1893 there was no other ice business conducted in Bakersfield. He continued with the firm until 1898 and then resigned his position in order to engage in other enterprises. Ever since 1898 Mr. Hoenshell has engaged in contracting and building. For four years his principal task was the building of derricks in the oil fields. For more than two years, about 1906-07, he gave his whole attention to a contract for roofing the twenty-eight reservoirs of the Standard Oil Company, each of these reservoirs covering seven acres. Of recent years he specialized in bungalows in Bakersfield and residences in the west side oil fields as well as in other parts of Kern county, while his splendid reputation lor excellence of work has brought him contracts from Orange, Santa Bar- bara and Ventura counties. In addition to the filling of numerous contracts for buildings in the oil regions and for city and country residences, he ha= erected a number of jniblic buildings and in every class of construction he has been alike successful. At one time he held stock in the Superior Oil Company and at this writing he owns an interest in the Parafifine Oil Com- pany. During 1891 he bought a corner on Eighteenth and H streets. At that time there were only a few scattered houses west of Chester avenue, where now business blocks of substantial construction abound and it is safe to pre- dict that eventually a valuable block will occupy the site which he still owns. In addition to this fine city property and other town realty, he owns one hundred and thirty acres of fine ranch land in Kings county. While living in Atchison county, Kans., he married Miss Hattie Handley, a native of Indiana. They are the parents of four children, of whom the eldest, Hattie, is a successful teacher, and the second, William, follows the trade of a machinist. The two youngest, Toby and Rosse, are high school students. Fraternally Mr. Hoenshell is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. For seven years he was deputy sheriff under Henry Borgwardt. HISTORY U¥ KERN COUNTY 1267 GEORGE E. WHITAKER.— Tor thirteen years George E. \V hitaker has been a practitioner at the Kern County bar. ilis father, JJenjamin L. VV hitaker, was born in Ireland, as was also his mother, the former being assistant cashier of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin. His death occurred when he was but thirty-four years, before the birth of George E., which took place in Derby, England, on October 22, 1866. Later the widowed mother married the late Dr. J. H. Stallard, of San Trancisco, a native and resident of England, who was a man of wealth and spent most of his time in travel. Owing to unfortunate mining investments which swept away his fortune, the family left England to reside permanently in San Trancisco, where Dr. Stallard resumed the duties of his profession, enjoying a large and lucrative practice. George E. Whitaker was educated at Rugby school in England, after- ward going to the Government Military College at Versailles, Trance. Upon his arrival in San Francisco he proceeded to fit himself for a mercantile career by taking a business course in the Heald's Business College. Shortly after completing such course he left for the Hawaiian Islands to accept a position. He remained in the islands between nine and ten years, occupy- ing a position of trust and responsibility with one of the largest sugar corporations there. During all of this time he had cherished the desire to engage in the practice of the law and ' devoted a great portion of his spare time to its study, for which he was well grounded by reason of his course at Rugby, as well as by the practical business experience he had acquired in the island. He resigned his position and returned to San Francisco about 1894, and a short time after his return he entered the law office of Walter H. Linforth, one of the leading attorneys of that city. On August 28, 1896, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of the state of California and later on was admitted to practice in the United States Court. After his admission he formed a law partnership with Walter H. Linforth, under the firm name of Linforth & Whitaker, with offices at No. 310 Pine street, in the old McCreary building, San Francisco. Soon thereafter the partnership was enlarged by the entrance of Hon. Grove L. Johnson, father of Governor Hiram Johnson, the firm name becoming Johnson, Linforth & Whitaker, with suite of offices located in the Call building. This partnership continued about a year, when the senior member removed to Sacramento and the law business was con- tinued by Linforth & Whitaker, who kept the same offices and built up a lucrative practice, continuing thus until the end of 1900, when it was dissolved by mutual agreement. About this time there was great excite- ment over the discovery of oil in the Kern River field in Kern count}^ and this, connected with the fact of his growing intimacy with the late Harry V. Reardon. who ofiFered him a partnership, determined Mr. Whitaker to come to Bakersfield, where he and Mr. Reardon started a law office under the firm style of Reardon & Whitaker, with offices in the Stoner Block. Mr. Reardon had already reached an eminent position as trial lawyer, having for several years been the trial lawyer for the .land dcDartment of the Southern Pacific Railway Company and having risen to distinction in his own countv of Butte. His father, Judge Reardon. was District Judge of Placer and Nevada counties. The youns: law firm rapidly forjjed to the fore, but in 1903 was disrupted bv the death of Mr. Reardon. leaving Mr. Whitaker to conduct the large and constantly increasinsr practice alone and he has ever since retained the same location for his office and field of operation. * Mr. Whitaker has a clear, active lep-al mind, and his tireless work, un- questioned integrity, courteous and aflFable manner, profound knowledge of law and his excellent business judgment have brought his success 1268 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in abundant measure. He has the unquahfied respect of court and bar alike, while he numbers amon^ his clientele many of the leading corporations and oil companies known to Kern county. Although a clever criminal lawyer, his successful ventures in the oil business and his large clientele among oil men and financiers divert his time and efforts mainly to civil practice in which department he has become very proficient. Although a general prac- titioner, his corporation practice has become very large and he has in con- sequence reaped w^ealth in goodly measure. In his political views he holds steadfastly to the principles of the Republican party. At San Francisco in 1889 he was united in marriage to Miss Nettie M. Sisson, the niece of A. W. Sisson, late of the well-known constructing firm of Sisson, Crocker & Co.. who won wide acquaintance as contractors on the Union Pacific and South- ern Pacific Railroads. Mr. Whitaker has abiding faith in the future of Bakersfield and Kern county. PIERRE VILLARD. — After more than twenty-five years of industry as an employe of others or as the owner of a flock of sheep, eventually Mr. Villard was in a position to invest in a tract of Kern county's splendid irri- gated land and since then he has concentrated his attention upon the improve- ment of his farm. A son of Pierre, Sr., a farmer in France, Pierre \^illard, Jr., was born in Hautes Alpes April 19, 1862, and arrived in Kern county October 3, 1881. For many years he was engaged as herder for the flock owned by Peter Lam- bert, an influential stockman of that day. Meanwhile he made his headquar- ters at Sumner (now East Bakersfield). During 1898 he bought a small flock of sheep and for the next decade he gave his time largely to the care of the drove, ranging them in Kern, Inyo, Fresno or Tulare county as con- ditions directed or the necessities of pasturage rendered advisable. In 1907 he sold the sheep and invested the proceeds in the purchase of seventy-one acres on Brundage lane near Union avenue six miles south of Bakersfield. The land is under irrigation from the canal and is devoted to grain and al- falfa, besides being improved with family orchard and vineyard,- neat farm house and substantial barn. In Bakersfield, July 20. 1907, he married Miss Rose Grimaud, a native of Hautes Alpes, France, and they are the parents of two children, Peter and Rose. The family holds membership with St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in East Bakersfield. GEORGE W. KUEHN.— Shortly before the outbreak of the Civil war there came from Germany to the United States a young man named William Kuehn, a native of the vicinity of Hamburg and the possessor of very limited means, but of an excellent education in his native tongue. Settling in Penn- sylvania , in 1861, he immediately enlisted as a private in Company E, Fifty- fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, and went to the front with his regiment, taking part in a number of important engagements. Three years of active service had been passed when he was seriously wounded at the battle of Drury's Blufif. The wound was so serious that the amputation of a leg was made imperative. For many months after the operation he was unable to work, but meanwhile he had received an honorable discharge from the army, and as soon as possible he entered a business college in Philadelphia, where he took a commercial course. Soon afterward he opened a lumber yard at Minersville, Schuylkill county. Pa., and there he remained in business until his final retirement at an advanced age. For almost thirty years he also served as the city justice of the peace. At Minersville, where he still makes his home, he married Alice Jones, who was born near that city, of Welsh parentage. Eight children were born of their union and seven are still living, George W. being next to the eldest of the number and a native of Minersville, born 'March 30, 1872. Upon the completion of a high-school course in his native city Mr. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1269 Kuehn served an apprenticeship to the trade of moulder in Minersville. However, his tastes led him to a study of music rather than to the life ot a tradesman. From childhood he had loved music and had displayed excep- tional ability in that art. This led to the takinc;- up of its study at Dana's Musical Institute in Warren, Ohio, where he remained a student until he was graduated at the completion of the regular course. Meanwhile he had made a specialty of the piano and clarionet, in both of which he possesses exceptional proficiency. From 1898 until 1900 he engaged in orchestra work, traveling in different states and teaching students who had advanced beyond the rudiments of the profession. Meanwhile he had married at Warren, Ohio, Miss Efifie Smith Pinkard, who was born in Illinois, but grew to womanhood in Ohio. The ill health of his wife caused him to leave the east in 1900, with the hope that she might be benefited by the sunny climate of California. It happened that he arrived on the coast shortly after oil had been discovered in the Kern river field. Emigration was turned to Kern county and he saw in Bakersfield an excellent field for his professional activi- ties. Accordingly he established a home here and began as an instructor of the piano, in which he has been successful from the start, being not only the pioneer piano teacher in the city, but one of the most prominent and popular. Kuehn's orchestra, the principal organization of the kind in Bakers- field, was started under his personal supervision and has been trained to a degree of professional skill apparent in its rendition of the most difficult compositions. The gratifying position held by the orchestra may be attrib- uted in large part to the painstaking and intelligent supervision of the leader, whose musical temperament enables him to guide the instruments with fine feeling and judicious restraint. Mr. Kuehn saw the possibilities of Bakers- field soon after he came and purchased the northwest corner of G and Twenty- first streets, where he built three substantial residences, one of which he occu- pies, and in another he has his studio. Having given time and thought and attention very closely to professional duties, Mr. Kuehn has had neither the inclination nor the leisure for partici- pation in public affairs and indeed takes no part in such aside from casting a Republican ticket at national elections. Of the two daughters born of his marriage Margaret is the only survivor, Estella having died at the age of seven years. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church and also are interested in the activities of the Women of Woodcraft, their membership in the same resulting from his association with the Wood- men of the World. In addition he has been identified for years with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. STANISLAUS GRIMAUD.— Sturdy French ancestry has contributed to Stanislaus Grimaud that strength of character, firmness of purpose and shrewd business ability which has placed him among the most successful stockmen of Kern county. He was born December 13, 1854, in St. Bonnet, among the lofty Hautes Alpes, France, the son of an active and thrifty farmer of that place, Pierre Grimaud, who married Marie Boyer and became the father of eleven children of whom but two survive. The parents are both deceased. Exceptional educational opportunities were those afforded to Mr. Gri- maud, his studies in the public schools being supolemented by a course at the college in Grenoble, and being naturally of quick mind and keen percep- tion he imbibed the principles of developing his intellect with such celerity that he was ready to face life's problems when still quite young. In No- vember, 1873, he left France for America with the intention "of making Cali- fornia his destination, and coming via Havre and New York arrived in San Francisco January 10th, following. He immediately set to work to procure emplovment, and went to work in a coffee and spice factory for nine years. In 1882 he came to Delano, Kern county, to enter the employ of a sheep man, and two years later he bought a flock of fifteen hundred sheep and began to 1270 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY engage in that enterprise for himself, ranging his flocks around Delano and the mountains of Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. In 1892 he made a trip to his old home, his visit lengthening to fifteen months, when he returned to Kern county to resume his sheep business. In 1901 he sold his sheep and removed to Paulina, Crook county, Ore., where he again engaged in sheep raising, his flock numbering five thousand head, and he also had three hun- dred head of cattle. Deciding to return to Delano he sold his business in November, 1909, and upon arriving in Kern county bought a band of sheep and continued until 1912 in the sheep raising business, but then sold out. In January, 1913, he bought forty acres near the Kern Island road, seven miles south of Bakersfield, and engaged in dairying, which still is his busi- ness. All the land is under irrigation, and alfalfa and grain are raised in abundance. A large dairy herd is kept and the most excellent facilities used for the dairying. Mr. Grimaud was married January 19, 1889, to Miss Rosine Borel, who was born in St. Laurent, Hautes Alpes, France, and came to California in 1888. Three children have come to this union, Emma, who was educated at St. Mary's Academy, The Dalles, Ore. ; Stanislaus, who also attended St. Mary's; and Adrien. Mr. Grimaud is Republican in his politics. MAURICE NICOLAS.— The sterling integrity and honesty of purpose noticeable in every business transaction and in every association of life place Mr. Nicolas high among the French-American farmers of Kern county, while the possibilities offered by this county to such energetic, industrious farmers as he, find illustration in the growing success attendant upon his labors. In the early period of his residence in America he made Minnesota his home, but the rigorous climate and the lack of satisfactory returns from the cultivation of the soil led him to dispose of his stock and implements there and direct his activities toward work in the far west. In coming to this country, a lad of only sixteen, unfamiliar with the English language or the conditions of life in the new world, he had the advantage of being directed and advised by uncles, a number of whom had come to this country in preceding years. His parents, Joachim and Anna (Andre) Nicolas, were lifelong residents of France, where the mother died in 1874 and the father in 1897, the latter having devoted all of his life to agricultural pursuits in his native- province. There were three children in this family and the second of these, Maurice, was born at the old homestead in Hautes Alpes February 16, 1869, and alternated his time in youth between the country schools and the usual routine of farm work. As previously stated, he was only sixteen when he cast in his fortunes with the possibilities of the new world. Two uncles, Frank Andre and Father Jean Andre, had settled in Minnesota and in 1885 he joined them in Renville county, where he worked for wages on a farm. Perhaps a year after his arrival in this country Mr. Nicolas began to operate land as a renter, an uncle having established him on his own farm, where he learned agricultural affairs as conducted in that part of the world. The farm was under cultivation principally to wheat, but other products also were raised. In 1891 the young tenant sold off his implements and stock and came to Los Angeles, where he entered the employ of a brother-in-law, Andre Andre, a large sheepman owning flocks in the mountains and on the range not far from that city, and mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Dur- ing 1894 the sheep were brought to Kern county in order to have the advant- age of the excellent pasturage afforded by this section of the state. Here, as in Los Angeles county, Mr. Nicolas was given charge of the stock, which thrived under his efficient oversight. Finding the industry interesting and profitable, in 1900 he bought a flock and entered into partnership with Mr. Andre, ranging the large flock in Kern, Tulare and Inyo counties. After some years of personal ownership of a flock in 1906 he sold the sheep, with- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1271 drew from the partnership and gave himself the merited enjoyment of a trip back to France, where he spent four months in visiting the scenes famiHar to his youth and renewing acquaintanceship with kindred and boyhood friends. Upon his return to Bakersfield he bought forty acres on Union avenue five miles south of the city, under irrigation from the central branch of the Kern Island canal, and well adapted to the raising of grain and alfalfa, which are the principal products of the farm and form the leading and re- munerative activities of the thrifty owner. He is a Re])ublican in politics. PHILIP WINSER. — Descended from an old and honored family of Kent, England, Mr. Winser was born near Tenterden, October 29, 1863. a son of Albert and Mary J. (Beaufoy) Winser, natives respectively of Kent and Norfolk. The latter passed away in 1908; the former, hale and rugged for one of eighty-one years, is now living retired at his country home, Rats- berry. The family consisted of ten children, but of these Philip was the only one to seek a location in California and it was during 1891, after he had finished his education in different English schools and had followed farming in his native shire for fifteen years, that he became a resident of Tulare county, having joined the Kaweah Co-operative colony, of which he was elected a trustee. While the colony did not prove to be a financial suc- cess, he had learned much concerning the soil and its needs during the period of his experimental work as a colonist. Such lessons brought later returns of great value. Having purchased and cleared a tract of land on the North Fork of Kaweah, he joined with a few neighbors in building a ditch for irri- gation and then planted an apple orchard. For a time he got some returns by selling grafted nursery stock. Before he had received any returns from the land he worked in the employ of others in order to meet expenses of a livelihood and of the improvement of the tract. When finally the apple trees came into full bearing Mr. Winser found that he had more than could be sold in his regular trips among the residents of near-by towns. Exeter, Hanford and Visalia furnished him with excel- lent markets during the first year of his sales. Meanwhile he had heard much concerning Bakersfield and in October of 1904 he hauled a load across the country to this city. Immediate sale was made at a fair price. Return- ing home, he loaded and shipped a car to this place, but the apples having been put in the car loose arrived in poor condition and scarcely paid ex- penses. Quick to learn the lesson, he carefully packed his next consignment in boxes loaded with care, then shipped his car, which arrived intact. Mean- while he had received favorable mention for his fruit and twice had been awarded medals for his apple exhibit at the Central California fair. For three winters he and his wife spent about three months in Bakersfield, hand- ling and selling their shipments from the ranch. During 1906 they erected a house at No. 216 Twenty-second street, but later they bought a lot and built a comfortable home at No. 200 Twenty-second street, where they have since resided. For the convenience of the handling of the products of his farm Mr. Winser has built two cellars with a capacity of twenty-five tons, and he is now in a position, through the running of two wagons in Bakersfield, to market his own crops, also to buy and market the crops from other ranches. He has a regular route for his wagons and delivers to customers apples, walnuts, dried fruits, oranges, lemons, almonds and grape fruit. The apples come from his ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, twelve miles above Lemon Cove in Tulare county, while the other products are bought from ranchers and fruif-growers of Kern and Tulare counties. On his ranch he has nine acres in Ben Davis and Winesap apples. Since coming to Kern county to make his home Mr. Winser has bought a number of lots and has built several houses in Bakersfield and East Bakers- field, these being now rented to tenants. At Tulare, February 17, 1892, he 51 1272 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY was united in marriag^e with Miss Mary Blanche Beaufoy, who was born in Dover, Kent, England, and by whom he has a son, Lindley, a member of the Kern county high school class of 1915. They are both believers in social- ism and regard its theories as offering a practicable solution to the growing labor evils of the age. The family to which she belongs comprises eight children and three of these came to California, the others, William and Albert Beaufoy, being also residents of Bakersfield. Their parents, the late Samuel and Mary A. (Ayling) Beaufoy, were natives respectively of Nor- folk and Surrey, England, and lived for many years in Dover, where Mr. Beaufoy engaged in mercantile pursuits for a time and later followed the occupation of an accountant. It was not until 1905 that Mr. and Mrs. Winser returned to England to make their first visit among the friends- and relatives known to their earlier years and in that visit, as well as in a later trip made in 1912, they had a pleasant vacation. HERBERT WILLIAMS WALFORD.— Interesting experiences have individualized the career of Herbert W. VValford, who at different periods of his life has made his home in Europe, Africa and America, and therefore has gained a broad knowledge of the world through travel and habits of close observation. In all of his travels he has found no place more to his liking than California and no country more genial and attractive in climate than this land t f sunshme and flowe's. \'\ hue attracted hither in the hrst in- stance through considerations of health he remained through his own satis- faction with prospects and people, and even after a long period of service in the Boer war he still bore in mind the thought of California, returnmg hither after a service of five years under the British government in Africa. Mr. Walford was born in Weston Super Mare, Somerset, England, and is a member of a family of musicians. His parents, Edward and Fannie (Mable) Walford, were natives respectively of Bridgewater, Somerset, and Millverton, England, and now make their home at Fenny Stratford. The family comprises four sons and three daughters. Among the seven, Her- bert W., born September 26, 1870, was fourth in order of birth and is the sole member of the family to establish a home in the United States. The father, a musician of al)ilily and a teacher of considerable prominence, for some years acted as manager of concert tours given in all parts of the British Islands and participated in by all of the children, each of whom he trained for a special part. The specialty of Herbert W. was comic and character song, but he was also proficient with the 'cello and mandolin. As the family traveled extensively he was educated under the charge of a governess. Dur- ing 1895 he sufifered the loss of his voice and that experience changed his entire future. Hoping to be benefited by a change he came immediately to California intending to remain but three months. Six weeks after his arrival, owing to an attack of malaria, he sought the fine air of the San Emidio mountains, where he rapidly recuperated. At the expiration of three months in California he wrote to relatives in England that he had decided to remain one year. Before the end of the year he had gotten into the saddle in the employ of the Kern County Land Company and was busily engaged in riding the range, punching cattle and bossing ditch gangs. When the year came to a close he had decided to stay for three years and by that time he liked the country so well that he determined to remain until he had lived in the west for five years altogether and this determination he carried into action. Returning to England in 1900 with the intention of going on to the Paris Exposition, Mr. Walford fell a victim to the war fever before he had started for Paris and enlisted in the same year as a member of the Baden- Powell Mounted Police or South African Constabulary. Gallant service caused his promotion to the rank of corporal at the expiration of seven months and two months later he was commissioned sergeant and posted at the depot troop, their military base. Having gained the sergeant's stripes for HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1273 services in the field, he obtained permission from the colonel for his marriage to his fiancee, Miss Edith Maynard, an English girl, who was born and reared at Bletchingley, Surrey, being a daughter of William and Alice (Smith) Maynard, the former still a contractor and builder in Bletchingley. Just before he started for Capetown to join his intended, who came out from England to be married, the sergeant was promoted to the rank of troop sergeant major and as he traveled to Capetown he had as an escort a corporal and two troopers, the war being still under full swing. The marriage was solemnized in April of 1902 and at the end of a week the groom returned to his post at Heidelberg, Eastern Transvaal. Three months after the close of the war he was honorably discharged in January of 1903 and then became connected with the Central South African Railroad Company as foreman of construction work. Being able to speak the native Zulu and Basuto languages he was well qualified to manage his crev/ of almost seven hundred natives. Later he was appointed store-keeper in the resident engineer's office at Braamfontein and next was transferred to the signalling department of the chief engineer's office in Johannesburg. Although offered induce- ments to remain in South Africa he resigned his commission April 27, 1905, and returned to England on the Saxon. After a visit of three months with relatives and friends in England during September of 1905 Mr. Walford returned to California and imme- diately resumed work with the Kern County Land Company. For four months he held a position as foreman of a ditch camp, after which he took up water measurements. Five years later he resigned to become bookkeeper for M. T. Kean, contractor. At the expiration of four months he again re- signed, this time to become assistant dispatcher with the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation and after ten months in that capacity he was pro- moted to his present position in the main offices of the company. On his return to Bakersfield he built a residence at No. 2009 Twenty-second street, and this attractive home is presided over graciously by Mrs. Walford and is brightened by the presence of four children, namely : Guy, who was born at Johannesburg, Africa; MoUie, whose birth occurred in Surrey, England; and Jack and Dorothy, both of whom were born in the Bakersfield home. The familv are members of the Episcopal Church of Bakersfield and frater- nally Mr. Walford, prominent with the Knights of Pythias, holds rank as first sergeant of the Uniform Rank of that Order. JOSEPH J. HALTER.— Born in Neckarsulm, Wurtemberg, Germany, August 19. 1858, Mr. Halter attended school there and then entered horti- cultural college at Hohenheim, graduating in 1879. In 1882 he came to the United States and located first in Montgomery county, Ohio, where he remained for five years, being employed in ' a nursery. In the fall of 1890 he came to California to start a nursery for E. E. Elliott in Kern county, and he remained here for a year giving valuable service to his employer. He then took charge of the vineyard of Mr. Galtes and after two years moved to Tehachapi, w^here he engaged in grain farming, and also stockraising. In 1904 he came to his present home tract of twenty acres at Panama, which he now owns and in addition to this he rents two hundred and forty acres, eighty of which adjoins the homestead farm. He devotes most of his time to general farming, dairying and stockraising, and in addition finds time to run an apiary of sixty stands of Italian bees, which has proved a great success. Mr. Halter is an active member of the Woodmen of the World. He is a well-known man in his community, and has many friends and acquaint- ances. Up-to-date and reliable, he is a citizen that takes deep interest in his countrv's welfare, and though he has never held office, he is ever ready to do a public-spirited man's duty if called upon. Mr. Halter was married October 5, 1891, in St. Francis Church at Bakersfield, to Odella Rothen- 1274 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY fluch, who was born in Alsace Lorraine, Germany, June 3, 1871. They are the parents of nine children, as follows : Lena, Bertha, William, Carrie, Josie, Clair, Anna and Martha. E. W. RANDOLPH.— The Randolph homestead was on the Massa- sinawa river near Marion, Grant county, Ind., and for years its care en- grossed the attention of Jacob Randolph, who had removed thither from his native Ohio. While yet in middle age he died at the old home farm in March of 1880, leaving to his wife and children the memory of an honorable existence devoted to the discharge of the duties devolving upon him as head of a household and as a progressive citizen of the community. Of his five sons the third, E. W., born on the home farm December 7, 1869, is now the sole survivor. The wife and mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Connelley and was ])orn near Marion, Ind., has married again since the death of Mr. Randolph and is now a resident of the village of Upland, in Grant county. The death of his father forced upon Mr. Randolph the responsibilities of self-support when he was only ten years of age, and ever since then he has "paddled his own canoe." The family with whom he made his home allowed him to attend school in the winter months, so that his education was not wholly neglected. By doing chores in the mornings before school and in the evenings after he returned to the home he paid for his board, while in the summer months he proved very helpful in the fields long be- fore he was large enough to do a man's work in the world. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the trade of a sawyer in Grant county. From that he drifted into the work of a planing mill. During 1891 he went to Upland, Grant county, where for fifteen years he held a position with T. J. Deeran, owner of the largest '^laning mill in all that section of the C( untry. In his place he was almost indispensable and his resignation in March of 1907 was greatly regretted by all those connected with the plant. Resigning with the intention of settling in the west, he came at once to California and has since been connected with the Union Lumber Company of Bakersfield. Promoted from one position to another, since October of 1907. he has been mill foreman, and upon the destruction of the plant by fire in 1909 he helped in the work of rebuilding, had charge of the millwright work and installed the machinery, this being thoroughly modern and complete. His comfort- able home at No. 1131 Eighth street is presided over by his wife, formerly Lissa Marshall, who was born at Upland, Ind., and is a daughter of Milton Marshall, an old settler of Grant county, a prosperous farmer of that section of Indiana, and for four years a member of a Union regiment during the Civil war. In national politics Mr. Randolph votes with the Democratic party. Fraternally he belongs to the lodge and encampment of Odd Fel- lows and with his wife holds membership with the Rebekahs in Bakers- field. ARTHUR B. FILBEN.— The citizens whose identification with Kern county has proved of the greatest value to local advancement are those who have endeavored to ascertain the most profitable crops for farm production, those who have developed important business enterprises and those who in other avenues of labor have promoted the general welfare. Not the least prominent nor the least successful of such public-spirited men are the Fil- bens, father and son, the former of whom has developed a particularly valu- able ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, while the latter now acts as man- ager of the same. The planting of sixty acres of the tract in a vineyard of muscat grapes seemed in the nature of an experiment, but the results justi- fied the undertaking, for it was discovered that the product possessed a flavor unsurpassed by the grapes of even the famed Fresno vineyards. Much of the ranch has been put into alfalfa and grain, both of which are well adapted to the soil of Kern county. During 1904, after Arthur B, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1275 Filben had completed the studies of the San Francisco schools and the San Jose Academy, he came to Kern county to assume the management of this productive property. At that. time Wasco was known as Dewey, and it possessed the insignificance of a small hamlet remote from all business activity, but later the development of oil brought the district into consider- able prominence and enabled Mr. Filben to engage successfully in the real estate business. At the present time he has charge of a number of sub- divisions in Wasco and in addition he manages twelve hundred acres of land well adapted to orange culture. The management of these various interests leaves him little leisure for outside matters, but we find him cheerfully co- operating in all movements for the progress and advancement of the county. He has the distinction of being a native son, his birth having occurred Aug- ust 1, 1884, at Manchester, Mendocino county. October 1, 1907, he was united in marriage with Miss Louise Gustavus, who was born at Antigo, Wis., October 1, 1888. Two daughters, Dorothy F. and Helen, comprise their family. In referring to the ancestry of the Filben family we find that they descend from colonial residents of New England. The father. Rev. Thomas Filben, a native of Boston, Mass., born in 1857, accompanied his parents to San Francisco at the age of five years and attended the public schools of that city. During 1880 he was graduated from the College of the Pacific at San Jose. He then engaged in educational work in Mendocino county and was a member of the county board of education. Afterward he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. For twenty-five years he held pastorates in San Francisco and Sacramento and adjacent points, and the value of his labors was evident in the results secured. As early as 1883 he superintended a Chautauqua at Pacific Grove, which was the first of its kind in California and the second in the United States. For a time he acted as superintendent of instruction at the summer sessions and even at the present time he retains an important identification with the work. Upon first visiting Kern county during 1892 he formed a business connection with the ranch of six hundred and forty acres owned by the Palm Fruit Company, Incorporated. His services as manager were retained for a considerable period. About that same time the Rosedale colony was established and small tracts were planted to grapes as well as various deciduous fruits. Al- though owning interests in Kern county he continued to make San Fran- cisco his home from 1892 until 1905, when he bought the present home place of one hundred and sixty acres near Wasco and here he has since lived with his son, being retired from all active cares, but maintaining a warm interest in every movement for the further development of the large resources of Kern county. Realizing the imperative need of irrigation facilities, he put on his ranch one of the very first wells in this part of the county. The pump- ing plant comprises a gasoline engine of fifty horse-power with a flow of two hundred and fifty inches, abundantly sufficient to provide water for all the needs of the ranch. RALPH H. THOMPSON.— A love of travel and adventure characterized the early years of Mr. Thompson, who when yet a mere boy started out for himself in the world and earned a livelihood by manual labor as he traveled from place to place throughout all of that vast region stretching west from the Rocky mruntains. From his earliest memories he was familiar with the vast unsettled plains of Texas. Born in that state May 10, 1879, he learned a love of freedom from its great expanse of unpeopled lands and from the lure of its sun-kissed valleys. Yet the Lone Star state did not satisfy his thirst for adventure, which led him on and on into the mines of the west, the great timber lands of the northwest, the lofty mountains and the broad plains of America. It is a noteworthy fact that when only eighteen he made a trip overland through the British possessions into Alaska. In the midst of the exposures 1276 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and harclshi]js of such an adventure many might have perished, but a robust constitution carried him through in safety and he arrived at Dawson in splen- did physical condition for active mining operations. The great discovery of gold in the Klondike was made shortly after his arrival and stimulated him to increased exertions, resulting in the establishment of a location on No. 32 above on Bonanza, where he opened a mine and engaged successfully in mining for a year or more. From boyhood he had been interested in mining and it was his faith in the possibilities of the Alaskan fields that led him to the Klondike before gold had been discovered in that field. As early as 1896 Mr. Thompson had made his first trip to California and then and later he saw much of the country through his travels among the mines and lumber camps. WHiile at dififerent times he has visited the greater part of the United States he has found no region whose climate and oppor- tunities interest him more than California and the state has in him a loyal citizen. When the "wanderlust" of early years had given place to a desire to establish himself in the permanent citizenship of a community he selected California as his chosen home and Bakersfield as the center of his business activities, arriving here in 1906 and embarking in the business of a contracting painter. In boyhood he had been trained in both painting and carpentering, and always more or less he has fi llowed these occuoations, so that he was prepared to take up contracting with every assurance of a successful outcome for his labors. His comfortable home at No. 822 Oregon street is presided over bv his wife, formerly ]\Iiss Antonia Jacomini and a native of Bakersfield, where she was educated and married. One son, Charles, blesses the union. For some years Mr. Thompson has been identified with the Builders' Exchange of Bakersfield. In addition to the management of his contracts in the building business he is proprietor of the Buck stables on Baker street in East Bakers- field, where he conducts an important livery, feed and sale business. Frater- nally he holds membership with Sumner Lodge No. 143, K. of P., and is past chancellor c* mmander. CLARK APPLEGARTH.— The superintendent of the Applegarth Re- fining Company possesses the energy of temperament, activity of mind and sa- gacity of judgment that secures for his business undertakings an excellent measure of success notwithstanding opposition of a most formidable nature. The high quality of his product and the untiring energy of his nature have been the two elements entering into his steady progress. The production of asphalt for paving forms his special line of business and his product, the Williams asphalt mastic, a patented mixture, has a refutation for quality and dura- bility that is not excelled by any of the productions of the modern industrial l^lants of the country. Since he became the active head of this business and se- cured the entire control of the plant he has increased the output by a slow but steady development. At this writing the refinery uses two hundred and fifty barrels of crude oil per day and turns out approximately twenty tons of as- ])halt in the same time, the average production per month being almost six hundred tons. The distinction of being a native son of California belongs to Clark Apple- garth, who was born in INTerced September 25, 1877, and is a son of Clark and Martha (Norman) Applegarth. During his early childhood the family re- moved from Merced to Hanford and in the latter town he received his school- ing. From youth he has been self-supporting and always his inclinations turned him toward the oil fields, so that he acquired an expert knowledge of the oil industry while still quite young. At the age of twenty years he went ro the oil fields of South Coalinga, Fresno county, where he secured work as a day laborer. Little by little he worked his way out of the ranks of unskilled laborers. The first experience he ever had as a driller was secured in the South Coalinga fields. Other parts of the industry became familiar to him while HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1277 working at that place. From Coalinga he went to Stockton and secured work as a day laborer for the Davis Refining Com])any, manufacturers of asphaltum. In addition he worked for the Tesla Bricquette Company. From a very humble position he worked up step by step until finally he was made superintendent of the Davis Company and it was while connected with that organization in its large refinery that he mastered the production of asphaltum. While living at Stockton and engaged in the manufacture of asphaltum there Mr. Applegarth was united in marriage with Miss Emma Thyarks, by whom he now has one son, Norman. From Stockton he was sent to Alma, Mich., to put the Alma IMastic plant on a paying basis, in which he succeeded. The time spent in the east proved most helpful to him from a business stand- point and gave him a thorough familiarity with the production of the patented product in which he since has specialized. Upon his return from Michigan he leased the old Volcan refining plant from the Volcan Oil and Refining Com- pany and since 1906 he has devoted his energy to the building up of the plant. SCOTT & GOODMAN.— The first store in the little settlement at Re- ward was started by M. P. Scott and took the form of a mercantile estab- lishment containing a stock of goods suited to the needs of oil operators, through which he gained a wide circle of friends in the entire field. Increase of popularity came to him wi:h his appointment as the first postmaster of the new town, a position that he since has filled with marked efficiency, although having disposed of the store in which for a time he had his ofifice. Recently he has associated with himself his nephew, H. S. Goodman, who like himself is a native of Roanoke, Roanoke county, Va., descended from an old family of that commonwealth. A son of Joseph and Lou (Scott) Goodman and a graduate of the National Business College of Roanoke, Mr. Goodman came to the Pacific coast shortly after he had completed his studies in the commercial school. Not long after his arrival in Kern county he became connected with his uncle, M. P. Scott," in the mercantile establishment and in the operating of the Reward postofifice. Since the sale of Mr. Scott's former business, uncle and nephew have been partners in a general store carrying a stock of sta- tionery, confectionery, cigars and notions, and they are well known through- out all this part of the oil field, where their sterling qualities and exceptional business capability have brought them the confidence of acquaintances and the warm regard of intimate associates. In their efforts to promote the prompt delivery of mail to the people using the Rew-ard postofBce they have instituted a service direct from the train at McKittrick, which saves about two hours delay in the delivery of the mail bags at their ofifice. In many other ways they have promoted the convenience of the patrons of the office. Both maintain warmest interest in the upbuilding of the community and the' development of this portion of the oil field. In politics both are Democrats. M. P. Scott is a native of Princeton. Mercer county. Va., (now W. Va.). his birth occufring January 4, 1860, the son of Dr. John D. Scott, who was a mechanic of such exceptional ability that he made the principal portion of his dental instruments, and these he used in his practice until the time of his death at Roanoke, Va., about 1907. He moved to Christiansburg when his son was only a year old. and it was there that M. P. Scott passed his boy- hood days. \Vhen he reached the age of nineteen he began to clerk in a general mercantile store at Floyd Court House, Floyd county. Va.. and continued there for four years. He then went to Roanoke, Va., where he lived for twenty-five years, a part of this time being in business for himself and the remaining time working as a clerk. At Roanoke he was led to overbuy real estate during the boom and when the panic between 1893-1898 occurred he met with financial disaster, losing everything, so that it took him three years of hard work for wages to pay his debts, which he cleared up entirely. In May, 1908, he came to California, being at the time in a nervous 1278 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and greatly debilitated state of health. Putting up a tent he camped for six months and drove a team for the Benedict & Merrill Company, meantime circulating a petition for a post ofifice to be established at Reward. In Aug- ust, 1909, he was appointed postmaster of the newly established ofifice (which was begun in March, 1909), and in December he received his commission and supplies. Mr. Scott has never married. CHARLES DICKINSON. — Long experience in eastern oil fields pre- pared Mr. Dickinson for critical recognition of the values of western districts and the fact that he has been a stanch upbuilder of the Maricopa field, an earnest advocate of its possibilities and a generous contributor to its progres- sive projects, furnishes ample evidence as to his faith in its future. Of east- ern birth, born at Silver Creek, Chautauqua county, N. Y., he began to work in the Ohio oil fields at a very early age and for ten years he experienced the reverses and successes incident to oil operations in Wood county, Ohio, where he filled almost every position from that of roustabout to foreman. Altogether he worked in Ohio oil districts for ten years and then came west to California, where he secured employment in the Whittier and Ventura oil fields. Coming to Maricopa in 1904 he engaged with the Adeline Oil ComDany. on whose property he drilled eight wells, besides drilling four wells on the Adeline Extension Oil Company's property. Altogether he has drilled twenty Avells in the Sunset field. Having become intimately acquainted with Barlow & Hill, oil operators, of Bakersfield, he has entered into business rela- tions with them, their combined interests owning the Adeline and Adeline Extension properties at Maricopa. While living in Ohio he married Miss Mary Weaver, a native of that state, and they now have a substantial resi- dence on the Anaconda lease. Besides being manager of the Anaconda lease of forty acres with three producing wells, located on section 12, 11-24, Mr. Dickinson is proprietor of the Maricopa Realty Company, a director and one of the largest stockholders in the Maricopa Bank, builder and owner of the Dickinson block, the original locator of the Adeline Extension Townsite subdivision in Maricopa, and with others a leading factor in the erection in 1911 of a two-story brick block, 63x93 feet in dimensions, the largest and most attractive public building in the city, occupied by the Maricopa postoffice and the Carroll hotel, the Maricopa Drug Company, and the Wells-Fargo Express Company. The fine structure now occupied by the Maricopa Bank received his substantial support in its erection. With all of his other varied interests Mr. Dickinson finds time to serve efficiently as vice-president of the West Side Good Roads Club, of which F. W. Train is president and Charles Barnhart secretary, among the other active members being J. I. Wagy, L. L. Collman and C. Z. Van de Hork. In this official capacity he energetically promotes the "Three Hours by Auto to the Coast" movement, a project which it is estimated will cost $200,000, but will be worth far more than that sum to the people of -the west side. Indeed, the building of the road would ensure the future of Maricopa. GEORGE D. HENDERSON.— Allured by the hope that he might find in California more attractive Imsiness opportunities and a more healthful climate than his own Canadian country could boast, during the year 1878 William P. Henderson, a bookkeeper formerly employed by a Toronto con- cern, brought his family to the western coast of the United States and settled in San Jose. A later removal established them at Ontario, San Bernardino county. At the time of coming to this state there were four children in the family and another child, named Muriel Grace, was born after the location of the family in the Santa Clara valley. Two other daughters. Margaret and Lillian, both of Canadian birth, are now residents of Los Angeles. The older "-"on, Thomas, a civil engineer bv occupation, is connected with the Kerckhofif mining interests in Los Angeles. The younger son. George D.. born in To- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1279 ronto, Canada, February 4, 1875, was only three years of ag'e at the time of accompanying" the family to the west, hence his early recollections cluster around sights and scenes in the Santa Clara valley. Although ambitious to acquire a good education, he had no opportunities to attend school aside from the grammar grade, but the lack of thorough schooling has not greatly handi- capped him. Industry and determination have enabled him to forge ahead and earn a livelihood. While yet a mere lad he worked in the press-rooms of Wannop & Forbush, also Goodwin & Thomas, and other job printing firms of Los Angeles. When news of the discovery of oil in the Kern river field reached Mr. Henderson he resigned his position and came at once to Kern county. As this was in the year 1898, he ranks among the earliest workers to secure em- ployment in the Sunset field. Beginning as a day laborer with Messrs. Blod- gett and Jewett at the old Sunset refinery, he soon gained an excellent knowledge of the industry and was able to fill the position of foreman with the old Occidental Oil Company, many of whose wells were put down under his supervision. During 1903 lack of transportation facilities caused the oil industry to languish. Some of the companies stopped work and a large num- ber of the workers sought other fields. It was then that Mr. Henderson de- cided to try his luck in the gold mines. Proceeding promptly to Searchlight, Nev., he secured employment in the Duplex mine and became foreman of the shaft gang. In a short time he left that country for New Mexico and at Fierro, Grant county, gained a valuable experience in copper mining during an employment of one year with the Hanover-Bessemer Iron Ore Associa- tion. The spring of 1908 found him again in Kern county. For a short time he was employed on section 35, with the Sunset Road Oil Company, but in the same year he came into the employ of the Sunset Monarch Oil Comoany. That he has won the confidence of superior officials is evident from the fact that in January of 1911 he was promoted to be foreman of section 2 lease with twenty-five producing wells. ALPHONSE CHAUVIN.— Descended from French ancestors, Mr. Chau- vin was born at Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America, December 23, 1880, a son of Jean Baptiste and Clerice Chauvin, the former a native of Marseilles, France, and now living retired at Las Mees in that republic. Generations of the Chauvin family had engaged in the manufacture of shoes and the tanning of leather. Naturally therefore he turned to the hide and leather business in early life. After his marriage he took his young wife to South America and settled in Buenos Aires, where he established a plant for the tanning of leather. His travels took him throughout the Argentine Republic, in every part of which he interested himself in the buying of hides. Prosperity came to him. By degrees he acquired a large fortune. Meanwhile his son, Al- phonse, at the age of two years had been sent to Marseilles, France, to be cared for in the home of an uncle. The parents themselves later went back to France, hoping' to enjoy life and health among their old friends, but soon the mother passed away and not long afterward the father lost almost his entire fortune through the failure of the Bank de la Provincia, in which he was a heavy depcsitor. Hoping to retrieve his losses he returned to Buenos Aires and remained for a time, but without the success of the first sojourn in that city. In addition to the son, Alphonse, the family included twins born in France, but only one of these attained mature years, namely : Emile, now a teacher of languages at Bogota, Colombia, South America. From two until ten Alphonse lived in France. When he returned to South America with his father he had a thorough knowledge of the French language. Later he stud- ied Spanish in the Argentine. Upon his return to France he was sent to the public schools. At the age of fourteen he became a bell boy in one of the leading hotels of IMarseilles. Later he was employed at Nice, Monte Carlo 1280 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and Geneva, next going to Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, and from there to London. At Nice he had served an apprenticeship in a bakery. While in London he wished to enlist in the English army for service in the Boer war, but upon asking the advice of a friend, Mr. Todd from Genoa, he was urged to keep out of the army and at the same time advised to go to Genoa, where a position as Lalian-English interpreter would be tendered him on the Prince line of steamships. Accepting at once, he traveled via France to bid his father farewell and then started on the long journey. At the expiration of his second voyage to America, January 1, 1903, he decided to remain, so resignea the position and found employment in New York City. During the excite- ment caused by the discovery of gold at Tonopah, Nev., he traveled across the continent to the scene of the new camps, and remained there long enough to clear up some gold. While en route to San Francisco and when as far as Reno, word was re- ceived of the earthquake and fire at San Francisco. Mr. Chauvin pursued his way to Oakland, where he entered the relief service. His linguistic ability enabled him to be of great assistance as an interpreter. When the excite- ment had somewhat subsided he engaged to go to Costa Rica, Central Amer- ica, in order to hunt birds for the San Francisco Museum. In addition while in the southern country he engaged in hunting birds for their plumage, which he shipped to the New York markets. Within eight months he had cleared about $2,000. For the purpose of continuing such work he went to Barran- quilla, Colombia, South America, but found that the government had imposed heavy fines and penalties for shooting the particular kind of birds desired. This brought the object of the expedition to an end. Later he was joined by his brother, Emile, from France and the two went to Bogota, where the younger brother remains. His own attention was given to the purchase and management of an English soap factory. Raw material, however, was so difficult to procure and so expensive that he abandoned the manufacture of soap. Intending to again hunt birds of plumage, he pushed into the interior, but there fell seriously ill with malaria, and for some time hovered between life and death. At such a crisis he was fortunate in having as a nurse Miss Elena Gonzales, whose mother owned a ranch of fifteen thousand acres in that section of the country. When the invalid had regained his strength through the ministrations of the beautiful young Spanish nurse, the two were married at Bogota, and for a time afterward he engaged with his brother in the man- agement of a school of languages in that city. Chance brought Mr. Chauvin into contact with the great magician, Ray- mond, at Panama, where he entered into a contract with him to act as man- ager and interpreter. AccomDanied by his wife, he traveled with the Ray- mond party through Colombia and Venezuela, thence proceeded to the ad- joining islands of Grenada and Trinidad, also exhibited in various cities of the larger West Indian group and toured through the Barbadoes and St. Vincent's Island. The itinerary of the party included Brazil, but the yellow fever being very prevalent in that country, Mr. Chauvin refused to continue and resigned at the Barbadoes. With his wife he then visited Canada, where he engaged with a stock company of actors and in that work visited the principal cities of Canada and Nova Scotia. Later he went south to Mexico, where he met with svtccess in his specialties. Since 1910 he has lived in California and has carried on a bakerv business in Kern county. Since coming here he has identified himself with Blue Lodge No. 426, F. & A. M., at Taft." JAMES ALLEN BARR. — The developments that have made the Kern county oil regions the cynosure for the eyes of the world and that have attracted hither young men of brain and optimistic faith, drew to their ever- present possibilities James Allen Barr, the manager of the store of the Asso- ciated Supply Company at McKittrick and a young business man of excep- tional capability, well qualified by training and experience to take charge of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1281 the responsibilities associated with a position of unusual importance. Throughout almost his entire life Mr. Barr has lived in California, but Kansas is his native commonwealth, his birth having occurred in the city of Topeka on the 5th of September, 1887. In company with other members of the family he came to the west and settled in the little town of Sanger, where he attended the grammar and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1907 when nineteen years of age. In a family of six children, all still living, James Allen Barr was next to the eldest. His father, W. M. Barr, a native of Iowa, and during young manhood a merchant in Topeka, Kan., married Miss Janie Chambers Allen, who was born in West Virginia and died at Sanger, Cal., during 1902. Sub- sequent to the removal of the family to the Pacific coast, W. M. Barr engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Sanger. Upon his election in 1907 as cashier of the Sanger State Bank he closed out his other interests and gave his time wholly to the banking business. Upon the merging of that institution into the First National Bank of Sanger he remained as cashier. Following his graduation from the high school James Allen Barr entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company at Oil Center, where he continued for one year, resigning his position in order to take a business course in the College of Commerce, University of California. One year was spent in that institution. Upon his return to Oil Center he entered the employ of the Associated Supply Company in 1909, and was sent to the McKittrick field immediately. As an assistant in the Company's stores at IMcKittrick, Oil Center and Fellows, he gained the experience and the familiarity with the business that qualified him for promotion and since December of 1912 he has served with efificiency as" manager of the store at McKittrick. DAVID EDWARD THOMSON.— Born near Piano, Tulare county, July 8, 1869, D. E. Thomson is a son c f \\'illiam Thomson, who came to California in 1865 and became a merchant near Piano. The grandfather of David E. Thomson was a native of Kilmarnock, Scotland. In the public schools of Piano our subject received his edu- cational training. Upon leaving school he drove stage from Visalia into White River for some years until he reached his majority, when he went into the cattle business on Deer Creek in Tulare county. In 1894 he left his home place and made his way to Lone Pine, Inyo county, Avhere he followed the cattle business for two years, at which time he came to Randsburg, Kern county, as one of the first settlers, in October of 1896. He took a position with the Yellow Aster Mining Company with whom he remained for a short time. However, he was not the man to be satisfied with working for others, and he branched out for himself, locating in the Struger district, where he remained for about ten years engaged in mining. For four years he worked for a wholesale liquor concern, but finally gave that up to devote his time to his own interests. At present he is one of the proprietors of the Houser hotel at Randsburg, and he also has some mining property, all of which is a source of income for him, which is extremely gratifying. Aside from the hotel business he is agent for the Bakersfield Brewing Company. Since No- vember, 1912, he has been conducting a meat market in Randsburg; also a retail ice business. As a public-spirited and interested citizen Mr. Thomson has served his adopted town as constable, and also as deputy sherifif, and his services have been most satisfactory to his fellow-citizens. He is a popular member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and his name is well-known in that locality as that of a reliable, conscientious man. Politicallv he is a Republican. Mr. Thomson was married February 12. 1908, in Los Angeles, to Sadie Nieto, who was born in Los Angeles, and they have two children, Ploomey Jane and Edward. Mrs. Thomson's parents were of old Southern California families and the town and vallev of Los Nietos were named for her father, he 1282 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY being the owner of a very large landed estate; his death, however, occurred when he was still a young man. E. R. LONG. — The growing business interests of Bakersfield have a capable representative in E. R. Long, who for some years has conducted a wholesale hay and grain business with office in the Fish block. Since coming to this section of the state he has formed a wide acquaintance among the farmers of the San Joaquin valley, from whom he buys hay and grain in large quantities for shipment to his customers in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Ship- ments are made in carload lots, the cars being filled at various stations along the line of the railroad, thus affording the utmost convenience to the farmers who deliver the product and enabling them to avoid the annoyance of long hauls. In other instances, when the hay is purchased in the bulk, Mr. Long himself attends to the matter of baling and hauling, and these large interests make him a very busy man indeed during certain seasons of the year. As a commission man he has proved resourceful, energetic and industrious, and by integrity in all transactions has won the steady patronage of a large number of customers. Allen county, Ohio, is Mr. Long's native place, and he was born near Lima, January 7, 1875, being a son of M. H. and Clara A. (Cochran) Long, the latter of whom passed away many years ago. The father, who engaged in the hay business in Ohio for many years, came to California about 1908 and is now living retired in Los Angeles. E. R., who was the eldest child in the family, has an own brother and one half-brother living. When not in school he assisted his father in the hay business and thus early acquired a thorough knowledge of the industry now engaging his attention. At the age of nineteen years he came to California and settled' in Los Angeles, where during 1895 and 1896 he was in the hay commission business. Later other business enterprises commanded his time and gave him the training essential to successful business activities. When he came to Bakersfield in 1903 he embarked in the wholesale commission business with E. H. Loveland as a partner and gave personal supervision to the hay business of the firm. After five years in the co-partnership he retired from the firm in order to establish a business of his own, and since then he has maintained an office in the old Fish building in Bakersfield, but spends much of his time in various parts of the valley buying hay and baling it for the markets of the city. The marriage of Mr. Long took place in 1905 and united him with Miss Minnie B. Painter, of Los Angeles, by whom he has three children, Helen Anita and Orley Delbert, and a baby girl yet unnamed. In political views he votes the Republican ticket, but never exhibited any partisanship in his opin- ions, on the contrary placing a genuine public spirit ahead of narrow partisan strife. From early life he has been interested in religious affairs and now is a leading member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bakersfield. Here, as well as in his former home in Los Angeles, the church has had the benefit of his sincere interest, generous contributions and unwavering devo- tion. He is trustee of the official board and the Sunday school superintendent, which latter position he has faithfully held for the last eight years. JOSEPH BAUMGARTNER, SR.— The founder and first president of the. Bakersfield Brewing Company was born in Koetzing, Bavaria, Germany, February 19, 1859, and died at his home in Bakersfield April 2, 1912, at the age of fifty-three years. As a boy in his native land he served an appren- ticeship to the brewers" trade and gained noteworthy skill in the occupation, so that when he crossed the ocean to the new world he experienced no diffi- culty in securing steady employment. After a sojourn in New York City he went to the then new district of Winnipeg, Canada, where he held a position as brewmaster in the Drewry brewery. Removing from Canada to Pennsylvania he worked as a brewmaster in Allegheny and was a trusted employe of the large concern operated by Hipley & Son. Meanwhile he had HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1283 been utilizing every experience so that he might qualify himself for inde- pendent business undertakings and when he went to Latrobe, Pa., in 1893, he built the Latrobe brewery, which later he sold to a syndicate, operating under the title of the Pittsburg Brewing Company. The venture had been profitable and he had laid the foundation of a substantial fortune during his Pennsylvania experiences. His next enterprise took him to Iowa, where he built a brewery in Sioux City and conducted the same under the title of the Sioux City Brewing Company until he sold in 1899 at a gratifying profit. When the Iowa venture had been brought to a successful consumma- tion Mr. Baumgartner went to New Jersey and built a brewery at- Camden. This likewise proved a profitable investment and during 1910 he sold for D simi that represented large returns for his capital and labor. Imme- diately afterward he came to California and settled in Bakersfield, where he purchased a desired site on Twenty-fourth street and there erected a brew- ery with a capacity of thirty thousand barrels per annum. The plant repre- sents an investment of $300,000 and the product, known as the Lion brew, was put on the Bakersfield market for the first time May 2, 1912, since which time it has leaped into great popularity. The Bakersfield brewery was from its start equipped with every appli- ance and improvement that modern science could suggest, including two electrically driven boilers of one hundred horse-power each ; fourteen chip casks of one hundred and ten barrels each ; fourteen stock tubs of one hun- dred and eighty-five barrels each ; twelve fermenting tubs of one hundred and ten barrels each, and the capacity of the outfit is one hundred and twenty barrels to a brew. In the refrigerating room ten new chip-casks, with a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels apiece, are now being installed, while the bottling department has added a National soaker of the Bcrry-Wehlmiller make, with a capacity of one hundred barrels per day, said machine insuring the highest possible sanitary service. The bottles are soaked in two separate antiseptic solutions and twice rinsed in hot water, after which they are taken to the new Eick washer, where they are thoroughly scrubbed by a most ingenious mechanism. Being thus thoroughly cleansed and rinsed, the bottles are next filled by means of a new Henes-Keller rotary counter pressure filling machine, and promptly corked by means of a "Jumbo" crowner. The prod- uct is then treated to a thorough pasteurizing process, and finally labelled by means of a new Ermold labeling machine. Thus the whole process of bottling is done by a complete set of the latest and most approved machinery built for that purpose, in the most cleanly and sanitary manner which busi- ness ingenuity has thus far been able to devise. The company's large and constantly increasing trade has necessitated the use of two new auto trucks of one and one-half and three tons capacity respectively. The most skilled brewers are employed and the best of ingredients are utilized, the aim being the highest stage of perfection possible. The insti- tution is destined to become an important factor in the future development of the city. Much of the material used will be produced in Kern county, so that farmers will be benefited. However, some of the hops will be imported from Bavaria and Bohemia, these varieties being essential in the manufacture of their beer. A well ninety-three feet deep has been driven on the premises, which is pumped at the rate of one hundred and seventy-five gallons a min- ute. Employment is furnished to about thirty persons. The company was incorporated for $200,000, with the following officers : Joseph Baumgartner, Sr., president; John Baumgartner, vice-president; William Baumgartner, treasurer; and Joseph Baumgartner, Jr., secretary. The death of the founder in no respect changed the plans of the institution, for John and W^illiam for years have been practical brewers, while Joseph, Jr., has been thoroughly familiar with everv detail of the office work. There has been, therefore, no 1284 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY essential change in the management since the death of the founder of the business. The marriage of Joseph Baumgartner, St., united him with Miss Mar- garet Brautigam, a native of Bavaria, and now a resident of Bakersfield. Eight children comprise the family, namely : Joseph, Jr., John, William, George, Ruse, Anna, Charles and Alargaret. PATRICK LAMB. — Descended from an honored eastern family Patrick Lamb was born at Mount Clemens, Mich., June 11, 1869, and is a son of the late Frank and Mary (Feller) Lamb, the former of whom, an attorney well known among professional men in Mount Clemens and also widely acquainted in Kentucky, passed away about 1898 after a long and successful career as a lawyer. After his decease the widow went to Kansas to make her home. A lady of culture and education, she had made a specialty of the saidy of music in girlhood and for years was recognized among the most skilled and proficient musicians in Mount Clemens. The family comprised five sons and one daughter, viz.: Patrick, Charles C, Hugh B., Frank C, Ralph and Mamie, the last-named being a trained nurse residing in St. Louis. After having completed the studies of the grammar and high schools of his native city, Patrick Lamb started out to make his own way in the world. When seventeen years of age he found employment in the Lima oil field in Ohio, where he worked his way up from roustabout to tool dresser. Succes- sively he was employed in the fields at Findlay, Signet and Bowling Green, Ohio. From that state he went over into West Virginia and engaged in drilling at Sistersville. A desire to see more of the world led him to Kansas, where he had considerable experience in the Neodesha oil fields. Returning to Ohio, he resumed work at one of the oil centers in that state. The same industry took him to Bartlesville, Okla., in the boom period of that oil center. At different times he engaged in other oil fields, principally in the Caddo field in Louisiana. Again going to Oklahoma, he resumed work at Bartles- ville, and also made brief sojourns at Cleveland, Nowater, and Kiefer. Im- mediately after coming to California early in 1908 he secured employment in Kern county, where he has engaged successively as driller on the Santa Fe lease, with the Consolidated Midway and Western Minerals for one year each, with the Gate City for five months, the Sunset Extension for seven months, and lastly with the Miocene, where at present he is retained in the capacity of driller. GEORGE W. SHAFFER.— A member of an old eastern family, G. W. Shafifer was born ()ctol)er 19, 1881, at Cumberland, Md., also the birthplace of his father, Conrad, while his mother, Alice, also claimed Maryland as her native commonwealth. When yet a mere infant he was taken by his parents into a timber and mountainous region about twelve miles west of Cumber- land, and there the father secured employment in connection with the running of a sawmill. Later, however, the parents removed to a farm and took up agricultural pursuits, which they have since followed in the vicinity of Cum- berland. Besides their only son, who was the youngest child, thev had three daughters, Jessie May, Cora Jeanette and Clara Belle. From childhood the son exhibited an inclination toward mechanical work. One of his favorite pastimes was the making of wooden models for engines. Any department of mechanics became a hobby with him. His first practical experience was gained while operating the engine in the saw-mill for the W. C. W^hite Lum- ber Company. At the age of twenty-one he became an apprentice in the Westinghouse shops at East Pittsburg, Pa., where he won the good-will of the foreman and gradually worked his way out of the ranks of unskilled laborers. An idea of the remarkable exactness demanded by the shop superinten- dents of their workmen may be sained from the statement that, while varia- tions of one-fourth of .001 would be allowed to pass, any greater variation HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1285 would not be accepted and the workman must take up the task again. While at times this extreme accuracy seemed needless, in the main every worker in the shops saw the justice of the demand and strove with painstaking care to bring his work up to the mark of perfection. Such training was of invaluable aid to Mr. Shafifer then and has assisted him in later positions, causing him to discharge every duty with unfailing accuracy. After he had spent five busy and heloful years in the Westinghouse shops- he entered the employ of the Union Switch and Signal Company at Swissvale,. Pa., but resigned his posi- tion at the expiration of six months in order to come to California. On the 6th of May, 1908, he arrived in San Francisco and there he was engaged to enter the employ of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Company at Mojave, this state. For two years he worked as a machinist with the construction corps at Mojave, his leading jobs being the repairing of steam shovels, gas engines, concrete mixers and automobiles. Upon leaving that place he came to the oil fields near Maricopa and entered upon his duties as machinist with the Monte Cristo Oil and Development Company in the Sunset field at Maricopa. Since coming to this locality and engaging in his present position, November 11, 1911, he has had charge of all work in a mechanical line upon the two Monte Cristo leases at Maricopa and Kern river, besides which he is pre- pared to do outside job work. PARKER BARRETT.— As the original locator of section twenty-five, on which the well-known gusher Lakeview appeared, Parker Barrett became prominent in the oil fields in Kern county, but he has been identified with va- rious industries throughout the west in which he has evidenced his keen business judgment and unquestionable integrity in whatever he finds at hand. His enterprise has taken him into the fields of mining, railroading, contracting and building, and the automobile business as well as the oil industry, and his vast experience in these lines has served him in good stead in his de- cisions and movements. His father, Uriah, a native of Ohio and of old Quaker family, was a pioneer in Jasoer county, Iowa, owning the original site of Grinnell, that state, where Parker Barrett was born September 3, 1860. However, Uriah Barrett returned to Ohio and located in Belmont county until 1866, when he removed to ]\Iarshall county, Kans., and settled at Barrett, on Vermilion creek, where he passed away. His wife was Nancy Beall, a native of old Virginia, whose death occurred in Kansas. Six of their seven children are surviving them, Parker being the third youngest and the only one of the family living on the coast. From the age of six Parker Barrett lived on his father's farm at Barrett, Kans., and attended the local schools. When eighteen he went to Nevada to follow mining and stock ranging for two years, and then returned to Kan- sas to remain a year. The year 1884 brought him to California and he soon made his way to Kern county, and in Caliente entered the bridge and building department of the Southern Pacific railroad. One year later he went to the mines in Piute, where he spent a year and then, in 1886 went on to Tulare, where he again entered the employ of the Southern Pacific, serving this time as fireman on the run between Tulare and Bakersfield and north to Lathrop. In 1889 he was promoted to engineer and in this capacity drove the engine between these same points, but the railroad union trouble in 1894 influenced him to give up railroading and for two years he mined in northern California in Shasta and Trinity counties. The inauguration of the oil industry in Kern county caused him to come back to Bakersfield and in 1900 he made a loca- tion on 25 Hill and succeeded in getting a well under way, when he sold out and engaged in contracting and building in Bakersfield. In 1906, when the Standard Oil Company began the construction of their pipe line on the west side, he located there and continued in the contracting and building business, making his headquarters at Maricopa. In this business Mr. Barrett was asso- ciated with J. A'l. Dunn, they making a specialty of rig building until Mr. 1286 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Barrett sold out his interests to his partner. In 1908 he began locating oil iands in partnershij) with Messrs. Freed, Dunn & Stroud, the company locating on fractional 25, 34 and 8 and fractional 30, building rigs on a large scale. Later they sold their improvements to the Lakeview Oil Company, leasing their property to them, with the result that the world-renowned gusher made its appearance. Associated with Messrs. Dunn, McReynolds & Derby, Air. Barrett also located sections 24, 26, 14, 12, 2, 4 and 8 in Buena Vista Hills, which were leased to Captain Mattson, now the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Co. Valuable wxlls have been struck and the property is considered the best oil holdings on the west side, as there is a production of gas as well as oil and they are now the greatest natural gas producers in the state of California. Mr. Barrett is now associated with J. M. Dunn in the M and F Garage under the firm name of J. M. Dunn Auto Company and he is serving as vice presi- dent. They handle the Overland, Stutz and Marion cars and the business has shown rapid increase since the organization. Along with his many business interests Mr. Barrett is largely interested in the Bank of Maricopa, and with his investments and oil property has be- come a well-to-do man. He married in Bakersfield Miss Oma Dover, a native of California, who bore him three children, Percy M., Gladys E. and Thelma. Socially he is a member of the Bakersfield Club, the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Athletic Club. FAUSTINO MIER NORIEGA.— Born in Santander, Spain, February 15, 1856, when fifteen years old Mr. Noriega left his parents' home and became errand-boy in a nearby city, but when tired of his work came to Cali- fornia in 1872, his choice of location being influenced by the fact that his god- father, Vincent Noriega, lived in Tulare county. The journey here was an event to the untraveled boy and consumed many weeks, for he immigrated first to New York, and from there came to the coast by way of the Isthmus of Panama, reaching San Francisco October 4, 1872. His first experience of importance was not calculated to impress him favorably with his adopted country, for upon stepping off the train at Oakland he broke his ankle. Recovering, he was taken by friends to Visaiia, and in December of the same year he came tc Kern county. By working with his cousin at sheep herding he in time man- aged to save enough money to take up land on his own responsibility. He homesteaded eighty acres and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres just west of Famoso, which he afterward sold to the Kern County Land Com- pany. In 1879 he became identified with this company as a sheep driver. In 1882 he entered the employ of Miller & Lux and was foreman of their sheep department until 1893. During this time his operations as buyer and seller were conducted on a large scale and he had from thirty to forty men under his charge. That his services were satisfactory in the extreme is evidenced from the fact that he remained with the same employer for twelve years. In December, 1893, Mr. Noriega came to Sumner, now East Bakersfield, and erected on Sumner street the Ivaria hotel, now called the Noriega, for which he was obliged to borrow $3,500, and of which he is still the proprietor. He also erected the new brick hotel Pyrenees on Kern street which cost $9,000, and besides is the owner of other houses and property in the town. His inter- est in sheep continued unabated, as for many years he was half owner of about eight thousand sheep which during the winter were grazed on the plains and in the summer were driven to the mountains of Inyo and Mono counties. Fie owns one hundred and sixty acres at Saco, about eight miles from Bakersfield, which is devoted to the raising of alfalfa and is under the Beardsley canal, and besides this he owns range land for his stock. Mr. Noriega was one of the organizers of the First Bank of Kern and has been a member of the board of directors and its vice-president from the beginning. On February 14, 1893, Mr. Noriega married Louise Inda, a native of HISTORY Ol' KKRN COUNTY 1287 Basses-Pyrenees. France, and they have five children, Martha Lena, Julia, Christena, Frank and Albert. About 1899 Mr. Noriega erected a large mod- ern brick residence on Baker and Oregon street which the family now occupy. JOHN RICHARD WILLIAMS.— An early period in the colonization of Virginia found the Williams family associated with the Old Dominion and Henry F. Williams was born in Prince William county, that state, being a son of John Williams, a lifelong resident of the commonwealth. When a mere lad the former acquired a thorough knowledge of carpentering and fol- lowed the same in Washington, D. C, from which city in November of 1848 lie started for California. At that time no news had been received in the east concerning the discovery of gold, but he had been interested in the west from the reports of General Fremont containing accounts of its climate and soil. With the idea of coming west firmly fixed in his mind he secured passage on the steamship Falcon, which left New York December 1, 1848, for the Isthmus of Panama. There were no passengers bound for California except a few gov- ernment officials, four missionary clergymen and four young mechanics, he being one of the latter. When the ship reached New Orleans en route to Chagris, news of the discovery of gold having reached that point, the ship was there filled to overflowing with men whose sole object was to hunt for gold, with no intention of settling permanently in the west. At Panama a wait of several weeks was necessary before the arrival of the steamship Cali- fornia, which, crowded to the point of sufifocation, finally conveyed the ardent Argonauts to San Francisco. Upon landing almost everyone of that \'ast throng rushed for the gold diggings, but the young carpenter, who had brought with him a complete set of tools for cutting down lumber and build- ing houses, did not swerve from the resolution he had made before he learned of mining afifairs. No wharf had been built for the accommodation of passengers or the unloading of cargoes. The passengers crowded the small boats that conveyed them to the beach from the ship, anchored in the bay. Mr. Williams waited until the second day, when the crowd having diminished he was able to take his tools with him. Immediately after landing he secured a job, which was to fit up a small postofifice for Charles L. Ross, who had been appointed the first postmaster by the postal agent, Hon. William Van Voorhies, an appointee of President Polk and a fellow passenger of Mr. Williams on the steamship from Panama. As he fitted up the first postoffice for San Francisco, Mr. Williams might justly be called one of the founders of the town. That honor he claimed for himself throughout all of his later years. As soon as he had saved enough money he built a carpenter shop, the first in the city, and over it he hoisted his sign in large letters, this being the first sign of any kind in the town. The shop was located on the east side of Montgomery street between W^ashington and Jackson streets. Sometimes it was necessary to elevate the little shop on stilts, for the waters of the bay would come up to it and cover it to a depth of several feet. The location proved convenient for the landing of lumber and other materials when brought in lighters from the ships lying at anchor in ihe bay. There being no wharf at which the vessels could discharge their cargoes, it was necessary to float them ashore at high tide in small barges, of which there was great need for more. That fact being apparent to the young carpenter, he decided to supply the deficiency and cast about for a partner with money. He was fortunate to win the consideration of Hon. Henry T. Robinson, who had been a fellow passenger on the ship and had brought money with him. Later he was elected a state senator from Sacra- mento to the first legislature and also became prominent as a member of the constitutional convention. He agreed to advance $500 for materials to con- struct a barge, which Mr. Williams would build, and the latter constructed the boat on the beach near what is now the intersection of INTontgomery and 1288 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY Jackson streets, and from that spot floated it into the bay at high tide. The \-enture proved successful. The barge was rented at $50 per day until it had ])aid for itself. Then it was sold to a sea captain, Mott, for $2,000 and the new owner handled it with large profit. The cost of landing freight from "ships at that time was almost as great as the freight charges are now from Boston to San Francisco. The next venture of Air. Williams proved even more successful than the first. A\'ishing to build another barge and having the means to do so alone, he found that it was impossible to secure lumber of the desired quality. Then he conceived the idea of going to the nearest body of timber "land and manu- facturing by hand the necessary timber. Capt. W. A. Richardson owned or controlled a timber tract near Sausalito and he consented to the establishing of a logging camp on his land, also agreed to haul on his schooner any sup- plies, needed. A competent ship carpenter was made foreman at $16 per day and he hired his assistants at $10 per day, with an additional man as cook and man of all work around the camp. Camp supplies and implements were ordered from the store of C. L. Ross & Co., and the expedition boarded Rich- ardson's schooner at Clark's Point for Sausalito. Mr. Williams trusted every- thing to his foreman and did not go near the camp. In less than three weeks Captain Richardson brought the party back in his schooner with the barge in tow, filled with the waste and surplus material around the camp, all of which was of such value. in his construction work that the venture proved highly profitable. The barge was given in charge of Captain Johnston, with an option to buy one-fourth interest for $1,000; and he managed it so well that it paid $150 per day until it had nearly paid its full cost. Then it was sold outright tor $4,000. The same day it sold at that sum a full rigged barque lying at anchor in the bay, which had been deserted by the crew, sold for only $3,000, all of which was due to the fact that there were no buyers for barques at the time, but barges were in great demand, for as yet the first wharf (known as Long wharf) had not been built. All things considered, Mr. Williams always believed this to be the most successful venture of his life, and yet he was then scarcely twenty-one years of age. His first full day in San Francisco, March 2. 1849, had been the twenty-first anniversary of his birth. Many more years of usefulness were given-him in the city he loved so well and when he passed away March 16, 1911, it was shortly after he had celebrated his eighty-third an- niversary. W bile in the main the career of Mr. Williams was very prosperous and he accumulated large holdings, yet he was not without his reverses, the most serious of which was connected with the contract for the building of the Second street cut. Through a technicality he lost $250,000 and was left a bankrupt. However, to a man of his indomitable determination and great faith in San Francisco, continued disappointment was impossible and in time he retrieved those losses. As agent for the Pacific Improvement Company he came to Kern county and laid out the town site of Sumner, which later was known as Kern and eventually was made a part of Bakersfield. With headquarters in San Francisco, he had the exclusive agency for property owned by that con- cert! throughout the state. Through his efforts and as a result of the donation of part of his commission, he induced the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a depot at Sumner. Acquiring property at Kern, he aided in building up the town, although he continued to reside in San Francisco, where in the early days he was associated in enterprises with Huntington, Crocker and other pioneer magnates. For many years he served as secretary of the state Demo- cratic central committee and for a considerable period he was a school director in San Francisco. After coming west he was made a Mason, being the first to enter the order in the state, where later he rose to the Knight Templar degree. On the organization of the Society of California Pioneers he became HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1289 one of its first members and ever afterward retained a warm interest in its reunions. While his holdings suffered temporarily from the great fire in San Francisco, that disaster did not diminish his faith in his beloved city and he always cherished the optimistic belief that after the completion of the Panama canal his own city would rank in population and importance close to London and New York. During the pioneer period of California's history Catherine E. Duval, a native of Florida, came to the west via Panama and settled in San Francisco, where she still makes her home. In young womanhood she became the wife of Mr. Williams. Five sons and five daughters blessed their union, of whom the sixth in order of birth, John Richard, was born in San Francisco October 13, 1875. After graduating from Heald's Business College he became an assistant in his father's office. In order to manage the family holdings in Kern county he came here February 22, 1899, and embarked in the real-estate business, also bought lands and improved farms for alfalfa. With his father and C. J. Lindgren he built a private sewer system, which has been extended until now there are about six miles of sewer in Kern. The system is now owned bv Williams Brothers, the interests of Mr. Lindgren having been bought, and about 1909 the firm of Williams Brothers was established by John Richard, Thomas C, Fairfax and Duval. Besides engaging in business as contractors and builders, they carry on a general real-estate business, also build up their own holdings, and own one hundred and sixty acres adjacent to Kern or East Bakersfield, suitable for addition purposes. At least nine residences have been built by them in this part of town. They maintain an office at No. 410 Hum- boldt street and control interests of great value and importance. In the fall of 1911 they with others organized the Bakersfield Water Company, which purchased and rebuilt the old Sumner Water Company's system. The com- pany sunk three new wells and installed a new pumping plant. This is now a modern and up-to-date water system with ample capacity to care for the needs of the community. Mr. Williams is president of the company. Besides his other activities John Richard Williams still devotes consid- erable time to his large farm, which is now under irrigation and in part is devoted to alfalfa, although he also makes a specialty of horses and cattle. In national politics he favors Democratic principles. Chosen a trustee of the Kern library, he had served as its secretary for four years when the consoli- dation with Bakersfield merged the insitution into that owned by the laro-er city. For one year he served as city marshal, during wdiich time he succeeded m straightening out vexatious matters relating to the collection of licenses. Upon the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he became a member of the board of trustees and at the regular election held in April of 1911 he was re-elected for a term of four years, since which time he has acted as chairman of the public safety and light committee and has promoted many measures for the permanent upbuilding of the city. The Bakersfield Club numbers him among its interested adherents. CHRISTIAN P. LARSEN.— Recollections of his boyhood home take Mr. Larsen back in memory to the fertile farm occupied by his parents in Laaland, Denmark. The father, Hans, who was a well-to-do farmer, died when his son, C. P., was six years old, and the mother, Martha, passed away when he was eighteen. Four children were born of their marriage and C. P. was born July 9. 1861. After the death of his father he was taken into the home of an uncle, who sent him to school and taught him to be useful and self-reliant. The little island of Laaland, where he was born, is one of the most productive of Den- mark's holdings; as land w^as held at a high figure and wages were small Mr. Larsen gave up the hope of becoming a landowner there and came to the United States. During 1879 he made the voyage and found employment in Cleveland, where he learned brick-making and follow^ed the occupation for a 1290 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY considerable period. As early as 1888 he came to California and became a worker in one of the brickyards of Los Angeles, but from there in 1891 he came to Bakersfield, his present home. After a brief experience in the brickyard owned by H. A. Jastro Mr. Larsen was promoted to the position of foreman. When the yard was closed down two years later he was given the foremanship of Curran's brickyard, where he continued for nine years, finally resigning in order to take up con- tract work for himself. For a time he worked alone as a cement contractor, but more recently he has been a member of the firm of Weitzel & Larsen, manufacturers of woodstone for floors, builders of cement walks and curbs, and contractors for foundations and basements of buildings of all kinds. The firm conducts a large business. Upon the organization of the Builders' Exchange Mr. Larsen became one of its members and still maintains a warm interest in the organization. Fra- ternally he has been a member for years of the Ancient Order of United Work- men. When he came to Bakersfield he was a single man, but on September 22, 1892. he was married to Miss Emma Agnes Tibbet, a native of this city and a daughter of Edward and Rebecca (Callahan) Tibbet, the former born in Ohio and the latter in Indiana. Many years ago Mr. Tibbet became a pioneer of Kern county, where he took up land, developed a ranch and engaged in general farming. Since his death Mrs. Tibbet has continued to reside at the old homestead situated on the Kern Island road. There are three daughters in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Larsen, namely: Clara Belle, Julia May and Frances Arline, of whom the eldest, a graduate of the Kern county high school, class of 1913. is now a student at the Fresno Normal. ISAAC DENTON STOCKTON, M.D.— The association of the Stockton family with America dates back to the colonial period of our history. During the war of 1812 a young Kentucky physician and planter, Robert Stockton, served as an aide-de-camp to General Jackson and participated in the memor- able battle of New Orleans. Although a southerner by birth and education, he became an abolitionist and his desire to remove from an environment where slavery was practiced caused him to settle in Illinois shortly after his return from the war. Southern Illinois had very few settlers when he established a frontier home in one of its counties. The slaves he had inherited were freed by his voluntary act. So kind had he been to them always that they had no desire to leave him, so they built cabins near him and ministered to his needs as he did also to theirs, forming an harmonious little settlement of frontier farmers. In the struggle to establish a comfortable home he had the wise and constant co-operation of his wife, who was Phoebe Whiteside, a native of Kentucky and a niece of Gen. Samuel Whiteside, the pioneer Indian fighter in whose honor a well-known valley of Kentucky received its name. Born in Southern Illinois in 1815 shortly after his father had removed thither, Isaac Denton Stockton grew to manhood on the frontier. During the Black Hawk war he served under Captain Gates and although but a lad he had the unique distinction of bringing in the last prisoner of that struggle, an Indian who had sought his life. Being a splendid shot, he was sent out on reconnoitering expeditions and many a narrow escape he experienced during those perilous times. Participation in frontier warfare did not lesson his am- bition to secure an education. After he had graduated from Shurtlefif College at Upper Alton, 111., with the degree of A.B., he entered the Jefiferson Medical College of Philadelphia, where "he took the complete course of lectures and received the degree of M.D. Later he received the same degree from a New York city institution. His first professional experiences were difficult and try- ing, for they kept him in the south during long epidemics of yellow fever and smallpox. In recognition of his services the government tendered him a certificate that entitled him to practice medicine in every part of the United HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1291 States. Settling- in Williamson county, 111., and opening an office, he soon became prominent in the profession. In addition to a large practice he oper- ated a coal mine and also established a wagon factory and Ijlacksmith shop, where he made wagons for use on the Santa Fe trail. As he kept fourteen fires in constant use, it is evident that his business was extensive. Accompanied b}^ his family and driving a herd of cattle. Dr. Stockton traveled by wagon and ox-teams from Illincjis to Kansas during 1854 and set- tled in Linn county, where he founded Mound City. There he took up land and also practiced his profession, besides taking a prominent part in public alTairs. One of his closest neighbors. Dr. James Montgomery, later became a very desperate character during the border troubles and even at that time was so notorious that only Dr. Stockton's intervention prevented a duel between him and John Goodall. About 1855 the Doctor and "Gabe" Sutherland took three wagonloads of bells from Kansas to Texas and sold them at a fair profit. With a large sum of money they started to return to Kansas, but soon were held up by two desperadoes. Their lives were saved by their promptness in hiding behind trees, from which refuge they used their pistols to such good effect that the robbers were finally routed. However. Dr. Stockton received seven wounds, one of these passing through the lungs and forming the imme- diate cause of his death in 1897. Three physicians ministered to him in a hotel at Austin, Tex., and after weeks of sulTering he was able to return home. The sympathy for him Avas great and neither the hotel authorities nor the phy- sicians would accept a cent from him. although they had been untiring in their kindnesses. Resigning as a member of the Kansas territorial legislature early in 1856, Dr. Stockton started for California at the head of a large expedition of neigh- bors and friends, outfitted with three wagons with three yoke of good oxen to each wagon, also a large bunch of loose cattle which he had purchased at $12.50 per head. The route took the party via Forts Laramie and Bridges. The grass was excellent and when California was reached the cattle were in such good condition that they brought $60 per head. Being an old Indian fighter and understanding many of the Indian dialects. Dr. Stockton was placed in charge of the entire train and w^ent w^ell-armed, prepared for any emergency, but his train was not molested, although those ahead and behind suffered from the depredations of the savages. When he landed at Santa Rosa he found only one store, a blacksmith shop and a saloon. Seeing the place, Rebecca, a little daughter of the family, queried, "Mother, don't you think this will make a town some day?" Her optimistic prophecy has seen its ful- fillment. One and three-fourths miles from Santa Rosa on the Guerneville road Dr. Stockton purchased one hundred and sixty acres at $1.25 per acre. AVhile he practiced medicine he also began to improve the land. Forty acres were planted to fruit trees or vineyard. Twelve and one-half acres were put in grapes of sixty different varieties. The balance of the forty was planted to Gravenstein, Pippin and Russet apples, and he thus became one of the pioneer apple-growers of Sonoma county, now justly celebrated for its splendid out- put of that fruit. Eventually the land was sold for $200 per acre, but its value is now far beyond that figure. Coming to Kern county in the fall of 1872 he entered one hundred and sixty acres in the center of w'hat is now the Lake- side ranch. He became the leader in the organization of the Farmers Canal Association and was one of the three directors. They perfected a ditch from the Kern river known as the Panama canal, taking its name from the Panama slough, the latter being used in part as a ditch. When completed it was a success and was the largest ditch in the county up to that time. Its operation interested capitalists, who took up the irrigation project on a more extensive scale. This has resulted in Kern county having the largest irrigation system in 1292 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the world. Here Dr. Stockton eng-aged in raising sweet potatoes, often clearing $100 per acre. Exhibited at Philadelphia during the Centennial Exposition of 1876 was a sweet potato from his farm. It weighed twenty-five and one-half pounds and is supposed to be the largest ever grown. Five of such tubers would fill a barrel. In addition he sold alfalfa seed that brought him about $40 an acre. Eventually he sold the farm to his son, C. C, who in turn sold it and adjacent property, the whole forming a part of what is now known as the Lakeside ranch. During the period of his residence in Williamson county, 111., Dr. Stockton married Louisa Marion Spiller, a native of Tennessee and a daughter of Ben- jamin Spiller, an abolitionist who freed his slaves and settled among the pio- neers of Williamson county. Dr. and Mrs. Stockton were the parents of nine- teen children, sixteen of whom reached maturity and thirteen are now living". After the sale of their Kern county ranch the Doctor and his wife removed to Florence, Los Angeles county, where occurred the death of Airs. Stockton. He then spent some time in the northern part of the state, after which he becam.e a member of the household of his daughter, Mrs. Rebecca Chubb, on Kern Island. There he died in 1897, at the age of eighty-two years. In the days of the slavery agitation he had been stanch in his advocacy of the freedom of the slaves, believing their enslaved condition to be a blight upon the honor of our great country. From early manhood he aided in the work of the Chris- tian Church and while living at Santa Rosa he contributed generously toward the establishment of the Christian College there, assisted in founding the institution and gave it the benefit of his timely aid and practical counsel, as indeed he did with many other movements for the religious, educational and material upbuilding of his adopted commonwealth. SOLOMON JEWETT.— The Jewett family traces its lineage to Edward Jewett of Lincolnshire, England, and has been represented in America since the year 1638, when the founder of the name in the new world crossed the ocean to Plymouth, Mass. Later generations removed to Connecticut. Sam- uel, son of Thomas and Eunice (Shafter) Jewett, left Connecticut for Vermont and out of the forests near Weybridge, Addison county, cleared a place for a home. During the pioneer era of the sheep industry in Vermont their son, Solomon Wright Jewett, was one of its leading men. While Wisconsin still remained a part of the great undeveloped wilderness he removed thither and settled at Racine. When advanced in years he came to California and died at Summerland, Santa Barbara county. He was born at Weybridge, Vt., in 1808, and died in 1892. His only sister married Peter Saxe and became the mother of John Godfrey Saxe, the illustrious poet. The name of Solomon Wright Jewett acquired national prominence through his association with the sheep industry. The stock journals of his day frequently contained articles from his pen concerning the sheep business, these usually being accompanied with drawings which he made for the purpose of illustrating the form of animals, peculiarities in their constitu- tions or conditions of fleece. As early as 1834, when only twenty-six years of age, he was known as the largest flockmaster in Vermont and during that year his ram, Fortune, took the first prize at the New York state fair. He was the first importer of French merino sheep into the United States and those that he imported in 1859 cost him $9,000 in freight alone. To him belongs the distinction of establishing the breed all through this country and in South America and so high was the reputation of his stock that at times he sold rams of his own raising for $5,000 each. To California he brovight some of the first and finest merinos ever seen in the state, where his sons, Philo and Solomon, had succeeded him as the leading sheep-breeders of their day- In addition he brought the first bees to California and sold them in Sacramento at a fair price. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1293 Twice married, Solomon Wright Jewett was the father of three children by his first wife, who bore the maiden name of Fidelia Bell. The only daughter of that union, Louesa M., is now Mrs. A. M. Crites, of Bakersfield. The older son, Solomon, who forms the subject of this review, was born at Weybridge, Vt., March 13, 1835, and died at Bakersfield, Cal., December 26, 1905. The younger son, Philo D., removed from Bakersfield to San Francisco in 1881 and there died. By his second wife, who was Mary Catherine Jewett, Solomon Wright Jewett was the father of six children. Of these Mrs. Mary Kendrick, of Alton, 111., is the wife of Algernon Kendrick, at one time presi- dent of Shurtlefif College. Susan died at St. Helena, Napa county. Charles E-, who served in a Wisconsin regiment during the Civil war, later came to Cali- fornia and acted as cashier of the Kern V'alley Bank until his death, May 30, 1892. While attempting to rescue two children, who while picnicking had fallen into the Kern river, he met a tragic death by drowning. Mrs. Martha C. Nash lives in Vermont; Fidelia has been a teacher in the San Francisco schools for forty years ; and "Sirs. Kate W. Swett makes Cambridge, Mass., her home. From the age of eight years, at which time he drove a fiock of sheep from Vermont to Albany, N. Y., Solomon Jewett engaged in the sheep industry. After leaving Vermont he taught school for a time at Racine, Wis., and from there in 1858 went to Nebraska, where he ran a ferry-boat on the Missouri river. During 1859 he started for Pike's Peak, but on the journey he met so many discouraged men returning to their eastern homes that he changed his plans, proceeded to Nevada, and in 1860 landed in the San Joaquin valley of California. Soon he came to Kern county and engaged in raising sheep on the Tejon ranch, securing a start by going shares with Colonel Vineyard. Soon afterward Philo D- Jewett crossed' the plains. The two brothers formed a partnership in the sheep business at Rio Bravo (Brave river) ranch above the village of Kern. When they sold their lands and flocks in 1874 to the Wool Growers' Association, Solomon Jewett bought land just north of Ba- kersfield at Jewett's lane. Prospered in his undertakings, he acquired large flocks of sheep that ranged on the plains and among the foot-hills. It was not until 1899 that he sold his sheep and turned his attention exclusively to cattle. Meanwhile he had become the owner of six hundred and forty acres irrigated by the Beardsley canal, six hundred and forty acres under the Mc- Cafifery canal and three hundred and twenty acres under the Emory ditch. The admirable irrigation facilities enabled him to raise any desired crops, but he made alfalfa his specialty. To create an impression that the sheep industry and agriculture repre- sented the limit of the activities of Mr. Jewett would be to do an injustice to a man of extensive interests, progressive spirit and unusual faculty for the management of diversified affairs. To him belongs the distinction of having built the first store in Bakersfield. During 1874 he organized and became president of the Kern Valley Bank, opening for business in a frame building on the corner of Eighteenth street and Chester avenue. During 1869 he erected a very substantial building of brick which was destroyed by fire on the day of its completion. Undismayed by the calamity, he immediately rebuilt, this time with excellent results and for years he retained the management of the bank after it had been removed to the new building, continuing indeed to act as president until he died. Among the very first workers in the oil fields, during the 70s he discovered oil in the ]\IcKittrick field and organized the' Buena Vista Oil Company, later the firm of Jewett & Blodget, which secured the rights of way for the railroads to McKittrick and to Maricopa. As presi- dent of the Jewett Oil Company he was a pioneer in the McKittrick field and later mined for asphalt. When the county-seat was removed from Havilah to Bakersfield in 1872 he was serving as chairman of the board of supervisors and had charge of the removal of the county records to the new quarters. In 1294 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY politics he steadfastly supported Republican principles. Fraternally he was a Mason of the Kni<:^hts Templar degree and also held membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In every respect Mr. Jewett was a man of large affairs. Beginning to learn the sheep business at an age when the majority of boys are not yet out of the primary department in the public schools, he worked his way forward steadily, surely and tirelessly- When finally he reached his goal of success he did not forget other strugglers ujion life's vast highway, but cheerfully aided those less fortunate than himself. A man of broad sympathies, no cause that had for its object the good of men appealed to him in vain. The impress of his sturdy character, his rugged honesty, his public-spirited helpfulness and kindly nature is indelibly fixed upon Kern county, which he honored with his high-minded citizenship and which in turn honored him with an affectionate regard. As measured by results, civic, educational and financial, he was one of the greatest men the county has produced and an active force of vital importance in its upbuilding. In his home and in his children he was sigJially blessed. His first wife, who died in 1879 in Bakersfield, was Emma Landon, a native of Vermont and daughter of Philo Landon, a farmer. Four children survived her and three of these are living, viz. : Philo Landon, a prosperous agriculturist of Kern county; Mrs. Kate Moncure, of Berkeley; and S. Wright, a business man of Bakersfield. The second wife of Mr. Jewett was Aliss Lois Rice, a school teacher, who died eight years after their marriage. In San Diego in 1889 he married Mrs. Catherine A. McConkey, who survived him. FREDERICK BEVAN TOUGH.— The resident geologist of the Kern Trading and Oil Company in the Sunset and Midway fields was born in Baltimore, Md., December 3, 1885, and is a son of L. M. and Elizabeth C- (Bevan) Tough, the latter still a resident of Baltimore. The father, now de- ceased, was at one time manager of an ice and cold-storage plant in Baltimore and later had charge of a similar business at Detroit, still later going to Kansas City in a similar capacity. There were three children in the family, namely: Littleton M.. of Columbus, Ohio, now engaged as civil engineer with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; Elizabeth B., a resident of New York City ; and Frederick Bevan, who was primarily educated in the Baltimore public schools and at the age of nineteen entered the Johns Hopkins Univers- ity. Excellent advantages for the study of mathematics and physics Were af- forded him in that institution. A foundation for engineering skill was laid in those years of study. During the fall of 1907 he entered Columbia University at New York City and continued there until his graduation in 1910 with the degree of E.M. While studying that course he also became proficient in geology. Coming to California in July of 1910, he engaged with the Kern Trading and Oil Company in the Kern river field. November of the same year found him at Coalinga as resident geologist, but in July of 1912 he was trans- ferred from that station to the Midway-Sunset district, where he has since given efficient service to the corporation in the capacity of resident geologist. One daughter, Edith Lyttleton, has been born of his union with ^liss Edith Wells Sioussat, daughter of L. M. Sioussat, of Baltimore county, Md., an old and prominent family of that locality. ROBERT W. WITHINGTON.— A member of an old family of the east, Mr. Withington was born in 1838 at Apollo, Armstrong county. Pa., a short distance northeast of Pittsburg. The schools of his boyhood were few in number and crude in instruction, hence he had little education save what he acquired by reading and observation. The trip around Cape Horn in 1853 was in itself a liberal education and gave to him a comprehensive knowledge of the western hemisphere. Upon his arrival in San Francisco he proceeded at once to the mining regions of the Sierras and for years engaged in mining in Calaveras, Tuolumne and .Mari])()sa counties, alternating the occupation HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1295 with work as a teamster. Drifting about from place to place, he landed at Havilah in the early days before it was the county-seat. There he established headquarters and engaged in freighting to Los Angeles. When Bakersfield was still a new town and before it had been granted the county court-house, Mr. Withington came to the town and became a large purchaser of property. After his death, which occurred in February, 1897, at the age of fifty-eight years, his estate improved the corner of Nineteenth and K streets and they also continue to own a corner on Eighteenth and K streets, both of these properties having been purchased by him prior to the rise in land values. In politics he was a Democrat. In California he married Rachel Free- man, who was born in Austin, Tex., and died in Bakersfield in 1902 at the age of fifty two years. As a young girl she had crossed the plains with her father, Rev. John A. Freeman, a pioneer Baptist preacher, still living and now a resident of Los Angeles. Of the union nine children were born, but three of the family, John W-, Robert W. and Claude, are deceased, the two first- named having died in Bakersfield at the ages of thirty-eight and thirty years respectively. The surviving members of the family are Mrs. Harriet LeMay, Mrs Callie Sweitzer, Carl, Lester, Norma and Lysle W., all residents of Bakersfield. JAMES ALBERT MORGAN.— Among the men who are aiding in ad- vancing the efficiency of the Bakersfield lire department is James Albert Morgan, who has charge of Engine House No. 4. He was born in Chicago, 111., April 22, 1891, the son of Paul and Louise (Morton) Morgan. The father was for many years an engineer on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- road, running out from Chicago until he met his death in a head-on collision in the Chicago yards. The mother is still residing in Chicago. Of their union there were three children, J. A. being the second oldest and the only son. After completing the grammar schools he entered the employ of Montgomery Ward as messenger boy, being later advanced to shipping clerk. After two years and three months with the firm he resigned and became express messenger for the Great Northern Express Company between St. Paul and Duluth, a position he filled for three years, when he accepted a place in the St. Paul office of the Adams Express Company as trailer for two years- In 1910 Mr. Morgan came to San Francisco, Cal., where for about a year he was employed in the shipping department of the Fuller Paint Company. It was in 1911 that he came to Bakersfield and January 7, 1913, he joined the fire department as driver of the big gray team at Engine House No. 2 and in July of the same year he was transferred to No. 1 engine house as hose- man. As in all positions he filled the trust with conscientious ability which in turn led him to his promotion, October 10, 1913, to lieutenant, when he was transferred to Engine Company No. 4 on Pacific street, East Bakersfield. JESSE STARK. — One of the pioneers of Kern county was Jesse Stark, who was born May 10, 1832, in Bowling Green, Ky., the son of Robert Edward and Mary Virginia (Reed) Stark, natives of Kentucky and Virginia respec- tively. They were planters in Kentucky, whence they removed to Texas and in April, 1853, started across the plains with their family in a train of a hundred wagons, arriving in Los Angeles in November, 1853. In the same wagon train was a little girl of nine years who was destined to play a very important part in the life of Jesse Stark. The little girl was Permelia Brown, who was born in Texas in 1844, the daughter of W^illiam Harrison Brown, a native of North Carolina, who was bringing his family overland to California from Texas. The wife and mother was Elizabeth Stowell, a native of Ohio. In January, 1862, in Los Angeles occurred the marriage of Jesse Stark and Per- melia Brown, after which they removed to the ranch in the Ft. Tejon country which he had located and on which he had engaged in the stock business soon after his arrival in the state- He purchased land and in time became 1296 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY an extensive land owner and stockman. In 1874 he located with his family in Bakersfield, where his death occurred in 1876. After his death Mrs. Stark continued to make her home at the old family residence at the corner of Chester and Fourteenth street, from which place she has all these years been directing and looking after her many interests. Here. too. she reared and educated her five daughters, all of whom reside in Bakersfield, as follows: Ella, wife, of A. F. Stoner ; Virginia, Mrs. Ben L. Brundage; Frances, Mrs. H. L. Packard; Lida, Mrs. S. N. Reed; and May, wife of Charles P. Fox. Mrs. Stark is a member of the Christian Church. Jesse Stark is affectionately remembered by all who knew him for his moral worth, integrity and high regard for honor. MRS. CATHERINE A. JEWETT.— A useful, contented and prosperous existence marked the life of Mrs. Catherine A. Jewett, one filled with duty well done, with a never-failing interest in her fellowmen. a generous and helpful attitude toward every unfortunate individual who crossed her path, and a sympathetic understanding which brought with it comfort and blessing. Naturally endowed with unusual mental faculties, she was a perfect leader in the circles in which she moved, imparting of her intellect with such ingenious judgment as to aid the less advanced in a quiet yet forceful manner. Her artistic taste and splendid ability won her the admiration of many friends and she was prominent in the work of the Eastern Star, in which she was a member of the local chapter at Bakersfield for a number of years. It was through her that the woman's club house was built in that city. In her youth Mrs. Jewett was surrounded with many incentives to large accomplishment- She was born in Chicago, 111., the daughter of Thomas S. and Statira (Brooks) Parker, who were natives of New York state and pioneers of Chicago. After Mr. Parker had engaged in mercantile pursuits in Chicago for a considerable period he disposed of his interests in that city and came to California on account of ill health, in 1887 settling at San Diego, where both he and his wife spent their last days and passed away. Catherine A. was the only child of their union who lived to maturity, and to her were afforded the privileges of a thorough education in the public schools and a select seminary at Chicago, where she married David E. McConkey, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. Some years after the death of Mr. McConkey, w^hich oc- curred in San Diego, she was married to Solomon Jewett, whose death oc- curred in Bakersfield, Cal., December 26, 1905. Mrs. Jewett had taken up her home with Mrs. L. H. Stevens in Los Ang- eles, with whom she lived until her death, and where she became prominent in fraternal and social circles and surrounded herself with many loving friends. In religious faith a member of the Episcopal Church, she took an active part in all of its departments, giving her most unselfish aid and inter- est. To touch upon all that enlists the sympathy and tenderness of woman, to note a splendid breadth of mind and a conscientious and joyous spirit, would in a brief manner picture the character study of Mrs. Jewett, whose death, No- vember 13, 1912, removed from this sphere a stanch, straightforward woman, whose left hand knew not what the right hand did, yet whose unswerving judgment was the lever which brought soothing and sweet relief to many a troubled mind, and whose soft and gentle ways were a peace and comfort to all. THOMAS WILEY PINNELL.— The men who hold responsible posi- tions in the fire de])artment must be endowed by nature with keenness of per- ception and decision and also a natural coolness under excitement in order to accomplish the results that are not only expected but demanded of them. A young man having these qualifications is Thomas Wiley Pinnell, a native son of California, born at White River, Kings county. June 13, 1891. the son of W. E. and Addie (Montgomery) Pinnell. born in Stanislaus county and Iowa respectively. The father from early life followed the range and excelled as a HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1297 rider and roper, becoming known as one of the most efficient in California and Texas. For some years he was cattle foreman for the Sharon estate in the San Joaquin Valley. He finally gave that up and followed blacksmithing and now holds a position with the Monte Cristo Oil Company at Oil Center. Of the family of eight children Thomas Wiley Pinnell is the second oldest. From boyhood he rode the range with his father in Madera county, meanwhile attending the public schools. In 1905 he came to Bakersfield and after leaving school he was appointed a mail carrier, serving about three years. December 18, 1912, he entered the fire department as a call man and September 9, 1912, he became a regular. After the completion of Engine House No. 3 he was pro- moted to lieutenant in the department and placed in charge of the house, to which he gives all of his time and best efforts. Fraternally he is a member of Bakersfield Camp No. 460, W. O. W., and Kern Lodge No. 202, I. O. O. F. JOSEPH BRESSON. — Among the Frenchmen who have made a success iri Kern county is Joseph Bresson, proprietor of the Universal Hotel in East Bakersfield, who was born in Orciere, Hautes-Alpes, France, October 29, 1883. He grew to young manhood on his father's farm, receiving a good education in the local public schools. In November, 1900, he left his home and friends and about a month later arrived in Delano, Kern county, where he immediately found employment with a sheep man. After continuing in the occupation about four years he purchased a flock of sheep and herded them in the moun- tains and on the plains for a few years, or until he sold the bunch and located in Kern, now East Bakersfield. Here he purchased the bakery on Humboldt street from M. M. Espetallier and continued the business for two and one-half years, when he sold out. For over five years he was employed at the Plantier Hotel, and in May, 1913, he bought the Universal Hotel, which he conducted with splendid success until he sold it in February, 1914- He is now confining his attention to looking after his investments. Besides other property he owns a comfortable home at No. 508 Humboldt street. Mr. Bresson was married in East Bakersfield November 30, 1907. being united with Mary Roux, who was also born in France. Her father, Joseph Roux, was at one time a pioneer sheep raiser in Kerr county but later sold his interests and returned to France, where he now resides. To Mr. and Mrs. Bresson were born three children : Irene. Louise and Ernest. In politics Mr. Bresson is a Republican. GEORGE THOMAS NIGHBERT.— The history of Kern county would not be complete without a mention of the life history of the pioneer of Lost Hills. George Thomas Nighbert, who aided in the survey of the town site in September, 1910, built the first building and opened the first eating house and later built the first hotel and has continued in business ever since. He came to California in April, 1871, remaining in Gait, Sacramento county, until 1884. when he removed to Visalia, where for seven years he was proprietor of the Millwood Hotel. During this time he was nominated by the Republican convention as the party's candidate for sherifif of Tulare county, but being of the minority party was defeated. In 1901 he located in Bakersfield and became proprietor of the Gait House at the Santa Fe station for a year and then the Cosmopolitan Hotel for four years and the Princeton for two years. During this time he purchased his home at No. 2115 Nineteenth street, where he and his family still reside- On the discovery of oil at Lost Hills he came immediately and was the leading factor in building the first buildings in the place. George Thomas Nighbert was born at Palmyrna, Macoupin county. 111., February 13, 1849, the son of Joseph A. and Hannah (Wiser) Nighbert. He was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools until he was four- teen years of age, when his father died, after which he made his living by working on farms in that vicinity. In 1871 he came to California. 1298 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY In Lodi, Cal., occurred the marriage of Mr. Nighbert with Miss Josephine Smith, a native of San Joaquin county, the daughter of Andrew and Mary (Doyle) Smith, pioneers of California who crossed the plains with ox teams in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Nighbert have four children : Fred Wright, superintendent of streets of Bakersfield ; Fred A., also of Bakersfield, engaged in the real estate business ; Clyde A., a music teacher now studying at the Shepherd School of Music, New York City ; and ]\Iaude E.. Mrs. Irwin Tup- man of Globe, Ariz. Mr. Nighbert has always been greatly interested in the growth of Kern county and is liberal in his efforts to advance the importance of this section- Fraternallv he is a member of the Odd Fellows and Encampment and of the Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. OSCAR RICHARD OCHS.— Among the enterprising business men of Wasco is Oscar Richard Ochs, who has taken an active part in the building business in Kern county. He was born in Okawville, 111., August 9, 1878, the son of George and Josephine (Ferguson') Ochs. The father served in an Illinois regiment in the. Civil war. In 1883 he brought his family to Fresno, "fterwards locating in Coalinga. where he followed contracting and building and still continues to make that his home. Oscar Richard Ochs was the youngest of seven children, receiving his education in the public schools of Fresno. From boyhood he began to learn the carpenter's trade. After spending three years in the Hollenbeck and Bush planing mill in Fresno he spent two years in a sash and door factory at Sea- side, Ore. Returning to Fresno he engaged in contracting and building in partnership with his brother, Walter J- In 1906, after the fire in San Francisco, Mr. Ochs engaged in the same line of business there until 1908, when he located in Coalinga and while there did a large business. Among some of the buildings he erected are the follow- ing: The Sullivan Hotel, Bennett. Phelps, Cheney, May, Amy, Wells-Fargo and Rockwell buildings, the Union High and Polk schools. Southern Pacific depot and numerous residences. In 1910 located in Taft, where he was very active in the building up of the town. Among his contracts were the Smith, First National Bank, Axelson Machine Company, and Telephone build- ings and the Bank apartment house, also the Realty building in Maricopa. During this time he also carried on building in Wasco, where he now resides, doing a general contracting business. He built the Bank of Wasco building, Wasco Mercantile Company store, McCausland, Beck with, Gordon and other residences. In San Francisco occurred the marriage of Mr. Ochs to Madeline Mc- intosh, a native daughter of San Francisco, and to them have been born three children: Herbert (who died when three years old), Allen and Gertrude. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red M'en. CAPT. FRED N. SCOFIELD.— One of the most active workers in the oil field has been Capt. Fred N. Scofield, who was one of the organizers of the Independent Oil Producers Agency, serving as an active director of same from its inception imtil the spring of 1912, when it had grown to such proportions ^.hat it handles one-third of the production of oil in the state of California. In this agency Captain Scofield represented the East Puente Oil Co., in which he held interests and it was at the time of disposing of these interests that he withdrew from the aforesaid agency of which he had been prominently connected on its executive committee. Descended from an old family of New York state, Capt. F. N- Scofield was born at Paw Paw, Mich., December 5, 1858, and was given a common school training. During early life he lived in Chicago, but in 1876 he made his way to California and settled at San Diego. For many years he engaged in HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1299 the mining business and the oil industry, which latter proved a source of such attraction to him that he afterward became one of the prime movers in its production. Meanwhile he had his headquarters successively in Arizona, Col- orado and California, but made his home most of the time at Phoenix, Ariz., whence he had moved in 1880 and where he was leading- citizen and influential man. Years ago he held a prominent place in the Arizona National Guard and having received a commission as captain, thus acquired the title by which he since has been known. Since he removed to Bakersfield in 1901 he has been interested principally in the oil industry and in addition he managed his large and valuable stock ranch in Humboldt county, this state. It is said that few men in Kern county are more familiar than he with the condition and prospects of its oil industry and the heavy investments which he has made in the Kern river, McKittrick and Midway fields prove his deep faith in the growing pros- perity of these districts. The Scofield home on the corner of Third and D streets is one of the most attractive in Bakersfield, four acres of ground providing an appropriate setting for the modern residence. Besides his residence Mr. Scofield has erected a three-story brick apartment house on Chester avenue, which is known as the Chester Apartments, and the Pioneer Mercantile building. While making his home in Arizona Captain Scofield was united in mar- riage, at Phoenix, with Miss Margaret Fogal, a native of Los Angeles, by whom he has five children, George, Vera, Frederick, Addie and Edna. Politic- ally he is a Republican. When the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks estab- lished a camp at Phoenix he became one of the charter members of the or- ganization and maintained a warm interest in lodge afifairs as long as he re- mained a resident of that city, and he still retains his membership. FORD ALEXANDER.— As a member of the Allison & Berry Company, Incorporated, and manager of their Taft branch, Mr. Alexander has been of the utmost practical aid in the expert well-shooting which has given to the firm the appropriate name of "The Dynamiters." From the main ofifice at Glendale, Los Angeles county, and from the branches at Coalinga and Taft, the company transacts a business covering all the oil fields of California and influencing in large degree the results obtained in production work. The three members of the firm. Messrs. Allison, Berry and Alexander, are practical oil operators, familiar with every department of production and supply, and identified with the industry in different districts prior to their organi- zation into the present concern. About 1910 Mr. Allison conceived the idea of the practical efficacy of dynamiting the wells, for the purpose of open- ing up the cavities in the sand, releasing the oil and increasing the produc- tion. The idea proved to be feasible. A company was formed and after Mr. Alexander was admitted as a third partner, papers of incorporation were filed and a -close corporation formed. At the present time patents have been applied for on the invention of cap protectors and on single electric wire- shooting appliances. The claim is that the electrical processes of exploding the dynamite insure absolute safety. Large magazines are maintained at Glendale, Taft and Coalinga. The junior member of the firm, Ford Alexander, was born in Washington county, Ohio, near the county-seat town of ^Marietta, April 20, 1886, and is a son of James Alexander, a pioneer oil operator in the Marietta field. He was the eldest of three children, the others being Laura Hope Alexander (now^ a school teacher in Washington county), and James Glenn Alexander. After completing the studies of public schools and a local academy. Ford Alexander began to earn a livelihood in the oil business. At the age of eighteen he took charge of the estate of James D. Lehmer, who had owned one of the principal oil properties in southeastern Ohio. For eight years he continued in the capacity of general foreman. LTpon resigning that position he came to Cali- fornia. On Christmas eve of 1911 he arrived in Taft. The following dav he 1300 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY exploded two -shots for the Allison & Berry Company, and in May of 1912 he purchased a one-third interest in the concern, which later was incorporated. While still living in Ohio he married Miss Nellie E. Hendershot, of Washing- ton county, and they are the parents of two children, Garnet and J. Boyd. In politics he is a Republican of progressive sentiments. Since coming to Taft he has been an active worker in Taft Lodge No. 426, I. O. O. P., in which he now officiates as chaplain. ASA ADDISON CROSS.— A native of the state, Asa Addison Cross was born near Glennville. Kern county, April 17, 1867, and has lived in Kern county all of his life. He was the son of Joel and Julia (Whistman) Cross, natives of Illinois and Missouri respectively, His father crossed the plains when a young man and after a residence for a time in Mountain View, in 1846 located in Linns Valley, where he followed the vocation of stockman until his death. His mother was brought across the plains by her parents in 1846, her father, J. W. Whistman, running the first stage line in Santa Clara county ; she is now Mrs. Grant of Weldon. To her union with Joel Cross there were four children, three of whom survive. Asa A. Cross attended the public schools in Linns Valley and at Weldon until he was twelve years old, from which time he looked out for himself. His first employment was with W. W. Sanders in the cattle business on his ranch and then with Andrew Brown, ranching for four years. It was not until 1894 that he was in business for himself as the lessee of the Wallace ranch of six hundred and forty acres, on South Fork, which he operated four years. Then for two years he worked a tract of the A. Brown land, and after that he leased the Palmer ranch in Hot Springs valley. During all these years he was gen- erally successful, gradually but surely acquiring capital, and in 1908 he was enabled to buy his present ranch of two hundred and fort}' acres. He has devoted the place to general farming and stock-raising, giving attention to hogs, cattle and horses, and has one hundred and five acres of his land under cultivation. This is under irrigation and used for raising alfalfa and grain. His brand is the capital O. Mr. Cross married Olla Beaty. who was born in Kernville, April 9, 1883, and she has borne him eight children: Lola (deceased in infancy), Eula (de- ceased at three years), Dell C, Claude and Clifford (twins), ]\Turiel, Nell and James Kenneth. As a citizen Mr. Cross is progressive and public-spirited, and for five years has been a member of the board of trustees of Weldon school district. A Democrat in politics, he is not without a recognized politi- cal influence which he exerts uniformly for the good of the community. Mrs. Cross was the fourth child born to John and Elvina (Peniberton) Beaty, the former a native of Pulaski county, Ky., and the latter of Missouri. Mr. Beaty came across the plains in 1858 with ox-teams, finally making his way to Kern county, where he mined on Greenhorn mountain for, a time, afterward for four years in Oregon, and then returning to Kern county, engaged in teaming until he retired. He now resides in Los Angeles. His marriage occurred in Visalia in 1859 and to this union a family of nine chil- dren were born, of whom six are living. The mother died in Kernville. P. J. McCUTCHEN.— To battle against ill health in youth is to face tre- mendous odds in life's unending struggle for advancement. That Mr. Mc- Cutchen, while yet a young man, should not only overcome invalidism and reach a condition of excellent health, but in addition should establish a busi- ness of growing volume, testifies much concerning his force of will and energy of character. Although not himself a native of California, Mr. McCutchen is a member of one of the old families of Kern county, and his father, J. B. McCutchen, still has charge of the old home ranch about twelve miles southwest of Bakers- field in the Old River district. During a sojourn in Arizona in young man- hood he married Margaret Dixon, who was there born in Skull valley ; her HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1301 mother was the first white woman ever married in Arizona and the Dixons also were very early settlers of that part of the country. Born in Arizona February 3, 1889, P. J. McCutchen was brought to Kern county by his par- ents in 1892 and grew to manhood on the Old River farm, meanwhile attend- ing the school in that district. For a time he also studied in a commercial college in Fresno and in 1909 he was graduated from Heald's Business Col- lege at Santa Cruz. In spite of ill health he has been a worker from his youth up and steadfast persistence in the performance of each duty, together with practical care of the body, has restored him to strength and given him the promise of a useful life. For three years he worked on the ranch for his father and received one cow a month for his wages. In this way he laid the foundation of a herd of fine milch cows and at the present time he owns thirty- nine head, the majority being pure-bred Jerseys, although in the bunch there are to be seen a number of Durhams and Holsteins. In 1912 he bought the Jersey dairy milk route and has since supplied customers at Taft with the best quality of milk, delivered twice a day from the Old River ranch. CHARLES A. DAILEY.— From an elevation at Taft the stranger is in- terested in observing the derricks that extend in every direction as far as the eye can see. To the northeast and southwest for a distance of fifteen miles, and six miles across the main range of hills to the Buena Vista and Elk range, probably every section of land contains from half a dozen to half a hundred oil rigs, not all of course representing producing oil wells, but indicative of the great activity of the region. To the north of Taft and adjacent to the city lie the holdings of the Standard Oil Company, in whose interests Charles A. Dailey is engaged as cable-tool foreman. Mr. Dailey was born in Wells county, Ind., January 2, 1880, and is the son of Michael Dailey, a lifelong worker in the oil fields of the east and middle west. Trained early in boyhood to a knowledge of the industry, he became self-supporting at the age of seventeen, when he secured a position in the oil field at Montpelier, Ind., working as an assistant to his father and learning the details of the occupation. At one time and another he worked in a num- ber of the best-known Indiana fields. Coming to California in 1908, he spent five months in the Los Angeles fields, and in 1909 became a pioneer at Moron (now Taft), where he has since been connected with the Standard, first as a driller, then as a driller foreman and now as cable-tool foreman. So closely has his attention been given to occupative duties that, aside from identifica- tion with the Elks at Bakersfield, he has formed no fraternal ties nor has he taken any part whatever in public or political affairs. The Standard employs two systems of drilling, namely : the old-time cable-tool standard drilling system and the newer rotary system. LINDSEY B. LITTLE. — Trustworthiness and intelligence have been the keynote to the gradual rise of L. B. Little, recently appointed superin- tendent for the Standard Oil Company in the Midway field as successor to Cyrus Bell. In turn the latter has been promoted to the place held by F. M. Atwell, of Bakersfield, while Mr. Atwell has been transferred to San Fran- cisco to fill a post of great trust for the Standard in that city. Mr. Little re- flects credit upon his family and upon South Carolina, his native common- wealth. Attending strictly to business, unmarried, not connected with politi- cal affairs and caring little for social functions, with no fraternal associations aside from membership with the Elks when living at Jennings, La., and identi- fication with the Masons of the thirty-second degree and Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, he has given practically all of his mature existence to the oil industry. In Gaffney, S. C, where he was born May 16, 1881, L. B. Little attended the public schools and had his first experience of business while clerking in a store. For a year he was employed as fireman on the Southern Railroad in South Carolina. Upon attaining his majority he went to Jennings, La., and secured work as a roustabout. For six vears he remained in the same 1302 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY field and during" four years of that time he was employed as a driller. While in Louisiana he entered the service of the Standard, and when he came to California in 1908 he drilled at Altaniont as an employe of the same corpora- tion. In the summer of 1909 he came to the Midway field, where at first he worked as a driller and then as tool foreman, from which position in July, 1913, he was promoted to be division superintendent in the Standard's produc- tion department. OTTO P. LINDGREN.— The village of Norkoping in Ostergotland, Sweden, on the shores of the Baltic sea, formed the environment familiar to the childhood of Otto P. Lindgren, who was born there July 20, 1873, being among the youngest in a family of twelve children, seven of whom are now living, all but one of them in the United States. The parents, John and Marie (Johnson) Lindgren, died respectively in 1905 and 1893 at Norkoping, where the father had engaged extensively in building and general contracting. The surviving members of the family are named as follows : Mrs. Mathilda Lindstrom, of Norkoping, Sweden ; Charles J., president of the Lindgren Construction Company, of San Francisco; Mrs. Annie Excell, of Kansas City, Mo. ; A. Frederick, of San Francisco ; Hilma. Mrs. Manley, of Bakersfield ; Otto P. ; and Ellen, now living at Merrick, Long Island, N. Y. When only twelve years of age Otto P. Lindgren was brought to the United States by his older brother, Charles J., who settled in Chicago. Two years later they came to California and settled in Los Angeles, where the lad of fourteen years served an apprenticeship to the trade of a bricklayer. September 9, 1889, he came to Bakersfield and worked at his trade in the rebuilding of structures ruined by the disastrous conflagration of two months before. Later he be- came foreman for his brother, who was the most extensive contractor in the city at that time. W'ith full charge of all the brick work for the Lindgren Construction Company, he continued in active employment until July, 1911, when the firm disposed of their Bakersfield interests, and since then he has engaged as foreman for different contractors. He is now conducting the Union Cigar Store at Chester and Twenty-first streets. Of recent years Mr. Lindgren has erected four brick houses in East Bakersfield and one of these, built in 1910, is owned by himself and occupied by his family, this residence occupying an attractive location at No. 818 Ore- gon street. April 20, 1899, occurred the marriage of Mr. Lindgren and Aliss Myrtle Carter, who was born at Santa Ana. Cal., being the youngest daughter of David Carter, an honored pioneer now residing at No. 1600 Kern street, East Bakersfield. When a mere youth Mr. Carter left Illinois for Utah, but finding little inducement to remain there he came to California. At the time of his arrival in Bakersfield the place was a very insignificant hamlet, and he frequently hunted wild game on the present site of the Southern hotel and also where stand other buildings of permanent and substantial construction. Mrs. Lindgren has spent the larger part of her life in East Bakersfield or in Bakersfield, and received an excellent education in the local schools. Of her marriage there is an only child. Otto Frederick. In politics Mr. Lindgren is a Democrat and fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the World. Upon the organization of the Bricklayers' International Union Local No. 3, Septem- ber 10, 1901, he became one of its charter members and from that time to the present he has l)een very influential in its activities. Formerly he was hon- ored with the ofifice of president and at another time he was elected secretary, while at this writing he is filling the office of treasurer. He also holds the position of first vice-president of the California State Conference of Brick- layers, Masons and Plasterers' Union of America, and has been called upon at different times to proceed to different cities on the Pacific Coast as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia, to settle labor disputes. In May. 1898. he volunteered for the Spanish-American war, enlisting in the Hospital Corps of the Fourth Army Corps, with the expectation of going to the Philippines, but HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1303 the corps was not ordered there. He was mustered out and honorably dis- charged December 18th, 1898. He is a member of Shafter Camp No. 3, Spanish-American ^^^'^r. \"eterans, and is a member of its board of trustees. JOHN A. RAYMOND.— The Raymond ancestry is of old French lineage, represented for generations in Hautcs-Alpes, and John A. Raymond is a native of the vicinity of Gap, born August 2, 1881. During boyhood he learned the essentials of agriculture at home and the three R's in school, so that he was qualified for the responsibilities of maturity. As early as 1887 his father, August, had left the little farm for America and had settled in California, where he became interested in the raising of sheep. For a con- siderable period the length of his sojourn in the west was uncertain, but eventually he decided to remain and therefore sent for his wife and children, who joined him in Kern county in 1898. The mother, Rosalie (Martin) Ray- mond, died in this county, and here in 1904 also occurred the death of the father. Of their four children, Mrs. Rosie Rambaud lives in Kern, Peter is engaged in the sheep business with our subject, and Louise is the wife of Eli Blanc, of Kern. The second in order of birth among the four children was Jean (or John) August, who on his arrival in California in December, 1898, found work with Jean Escallier, known as "Fourteen," who was a sheepman in Delano, and later had employment with others in the same line of work. At the end of about five years he formed a partnership with his father and brother, the three buying a flock of sheep to range on Poso creek. Upon the death of the father, the two brothers succeeded to his interests and since then they have worked together, ranging their flocks on the plains or in the Tehachapi mountains as abundance of pasturage and water render advisable. The com- fortable home of John A. Raymond at No. 924 Humboldt street. East Bakers- field, is presided over by Mrs. Raymond, formerly Miss Rose Eyraud, who was born in Hautes-Alpes and by whose marriage there are two children, Marcelle and Jean. WALTER E. DAVIS. — The City meat market under the capable owner- ship and management of the two partners, Messrs. Venator and Davis, has risen to a prominent rank among the business enterprises of Tehachapi, where since August of 1908, ]\Ir. Davis has made his home and business headquar- ters. The establishment in town has been equipped with every modern convenience to be found in model city markets, while at some distance from tow^h the partners own and operate a slaughter house. To supply their whole- sale and retail trade, they ship in cattle by the train-load from Arizona and their operations reach an aggregate of many thousands of dollars every month. A modern cold-storage and ice plant has been added to their equip- ment and as the machinery has a capacity of three thousand pounds daily they are able not only to keep their own refrigerators supplied with an abundance of ice, but in addition they sell to consumers throughout the town. Besides their other operations they sell water for city consumption, having a deep well and pumping plant that furnishes more water than is needed for the use of their own business. The youngest among four children, Walter E. Davis was born at Lowell, Washington county, Ohio, September 11, 1879, and is a son of Walter and Elizabeth (Trapp) Davis, natives respectively of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The latter, at the age of seventy-three years, is still living at the old Wash- ington county homestead. The former, who served in the Thirty-seventh Ohio Infantry during the Civil War. took up mercantile pursuits at an early age and rose from a clerkship to the management of a general store of his own. Later he engaged in farming near the town of Lowell, and there he died about 1892. At the time of his death his youngest child, Walter E., was a boy of thirteen and from that time he became self-supporting. With characteristic energy he determined to work his way through school and so 53 1304 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY learned the butcher's trade, from which he earned enough to pay his expenses in the Lowell high school and Marietta College. After he had completed the studies of the freshman class he left the institution at Marietta and matricu- lated in the Ohio Valle}^ Business College, where he remained until gradua- tion. During 1898 he came west as far as Colorado and started a butcher shop on Nineteenth and Curtis streets, Denver. From 1899 to 1901 he en- gaged in mining in New Mexico and Arizona, after which he embarked in the meat business in Prescott, where he remained for about six years. Coming to California during April of 1908 he settled in Tehachapi four months after- ward and since then by energy, intelligence and business acumen he has de- veloped a valuable trade. The Tehachapi Board of Trade has had the benefit of his services as a progressive citizen and an upbuilder of the town. Al- though a stanch Republican, he has not been active in politics nor has he displayed a partisan spirit in his support of public measures. Fraternally he holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of America. While engaged in business at Prescott he met and married Mrs. Susie (Merrill) Robbins, who was born and reared in that Arizona city and who by her first marriage had one daughter, Maude. Her education was secured in the Prescott schools and in that city she was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which she has belonged since early life. CHRIS CAYORI. — A native of Switzerland. Chris Cayori, who now lives fourteen miles southw^est of Bakersfield, was born in Zillas, Graubunden, July 2, 1878, and has been a citizen of Kern county, Cal., since 1896. His father, George Cayori, was a native of the same place, and followed farming in the Alps. He married Menga Catrina, and both are still living on the old home place. Of their five children Chris was the third in order of birth. He attended public school in his native land until he was fifteen years old, and during the succeeding three years was employed by his father. He had heard much of the opportunities offered in America to honest, industrious men of enterprise and upon coming to the United States, made his way direct to Kern county, Cal. For ten years, or until 1906, he worked at dairying, then leased one hundred and sixty, acres of alfalfa land, the old Chubb place, which he has operated to the present time. In 1912 with his partners, Peter and Hill G. Mattly, he bought the old Chris Mattly place of five hundred and sixty acres, upon which their efforts are concentrated.' All the land is under the Stine canal and planted to alfalfa. This property they are developing into a good dairy plant, and they are raising cows with a view to the early establish- ment of what they confidently expect to make one of the best producing milk and butter establishments in the county. In connection with these prepara- tions, they have also given their attention quite successfully to the breeding of mules. Politically he is a Republican. EUGENE VERDIER.— Since 1878 Eugene Verdier has been a resident of California, and since 1883 has made his home in Kern county, having in the meantime figured prominently in the upbuilding of Kern, now East Bakers- field. He was born in the department of Gers, Hautes-Pyrenees, July 4, 1863, and attended the schools of his native place until fifteen, when he came to San Francisco with friends, there attending public school for two years, when he began working in a restaurant. In 1883 he came to Sumner, after- wards Kern, and now East Bakersfield, where he engaged in the sheep busi- ness, ranging his flocks on the plains and in the mountains until 1886, when he sold out and returned to .San Francisco, but in 1889 he again returned to Kern and purchased two separate corners on Humboldt and Baker streets, afterwards selling one corner to the First Bank of Kern for the purpose of erecting their bank building. On account of their making this permanent improvement, Mr. A^erdier reduced the price of the lot $500. He afterwards built a concrete hotel building on the other corner, 75x75, two stories, which he leases and which is known as the Imperial Hotel. In February, 1908, he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1305 located at Granite Station, where he is the proprietor of the hotel and store and is the postmaster at Elmer, as the postoffice is named. In connection he owns and operates a stock ranch located six miles above Granite. Mr. Verdier was married in San Francisco to Miss Marie Laborde, also a native of Basses-Pyrenees, France, and they have two children : George, who has charge of the ranch, and Eugene, who is in charge of the store, and is assistant postmaster. Fraternally Mr. Verdier is a member of the Eagles and Owls, while politically he is a Protectionist and Republican. In 1911 he made a trip back to France, visiting the place of his childhood after thirty- four years' absence. FLOYD H. BARNETT. — Prior to the Revolutionary war the Barnett family became established in Virginia, where successive generations lived and jabored and where they bore themselves courageously alike in war and peace. One of the brave soldiers of the Revolution was Isaac Barnett, who partici- pated in a number of memorable engagements with his comrades of the Vir- ginian troops. A son and namesake of this Revolutionary hero left the Old Dominion for the then primeval forests of Tennessee and his son, Frank, was a native of Washington county, that state, while the next generation is represented by Floyd H. Barnett, a great-grandson of the Virginian patriot- In his marriage to Emily Randolph, a native of Tennessee, Frank Barnett became allied with a very prominent and patriotic family originally connected with the settlement at Jamestown. The most distinguished representative of the name was Payton Randolph, who two times served as president of the continental congress. At the old homestead near Sparta, White county, Tenn., Floyd H. Barnett was born August 25, 1876, and from there he accompanied the family to a cattle ranch near Ranger, Tex., where he learned the stock business and also received a high-school education. At the age of twenty he went to Colorado and found work in the Cripple Creek mines. Next he went to the eastern part of Oregon and engaged in mining in Baker county, besides running a stage line out of that town. A later tour of inspection took him to Idaho, where he became acquainted with the Thunder moun- tain and other central districts in that state. He made a special study of the development of mines, assaying and mining geology and became well posted in his line of work. At the time of the famous strike in Nevada he was early on the ground and later he devoted himself to promoting mining enterprises and managing properties. A visit to Bakersfield in 1910 con- vinced him of the possibilities of the place and caused him to establish a real-estate office here for the handling of city and country properties as well as oil lands, his headquarters being at No. 1917 I street. AVith the Bakers- field Realty Board he has become prominently associated and has added to its meetings the benefit of his sagacious judgment and hopeful spirit. The Fraternal Brotherhood and Ancient Order of United Workmen number him among their well-known members. HARRY C. BUSBY. — The Busby family is of old Virginian ancestry. During the Civil war William V. Busby, a young Virginian who was born and reared at Hampton Roads, entered the' Confederate service and re- mained at the front until the surrender of arms and the defeat of his cause. Returning to the old neighborhood he resumed the trade of a brick mason and under the adverse conditions incident to the reconstruction period patiently endeavored to gain a foothold in the industrial growth of the country- In the belief that better opportunities awaited him elsewhere, he removed to Indiana and engaged in the manufacture of brick at Indian- apolis. From 1878 until 1884 he aided in the material upbuilding of Kansas City, where he was a member of the firm of Sibley & Busby, contractors and builders and brick manufacturers. Next he engaged in the manufacture 1306 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of brick at Rich Hill, Mo., whence he removed to Denver, Colo., to take up contracting. From 1893 until 1900 he followed contracting and building in St. Louis, but in the latter year he retired to Dallas, Tex., where his last days were passed. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Louise Clark, was born at Asbury, Miss., and died in Los Angeles. The youngest of the three children comprising the family of the Virgin- ian soldier, Harry C. Busby was born in Indianapolis, Ind., June 26, 1877. On the conclusion of a grammar-school course, when he was sixteen, he became an apprentice to the trade of brick-layer in Denver, Colo., but in the same year accompanied his parents to St. Louis, where he completed the trade under his father. Returning to Denver in 1899 he spent a year at the trade in that city, whence in 1900 he came to Los Angeles. As an employe of Carl Leonardt he had steady work and an important experience m every department of brick contracting, so that when he came to Bakers- field in 1911 he was well qualified to engage in the contracting business lor himself. At first he engaged in business with A. C. Silver under the firm title of Silver & Busby and among their contracts were those for the Quincey and Ochavich buildings, the Citizens laundry and the addition to the Eagles Hotel. Since the spring of 1913, when the partnership was dis- solved, he has had the contracts for the Presbyterian Church, the raised gardens of the court-house square, the Bakersfield Club and the Amour building. In national elections he votes the Republican ticket. Fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World. Since coming to Bakersfield he has established his residence at No. 827 Nile street, where with his two children, Harry Gilmore and Clara Elizabeth, and his wife, formerly Miss Clara A. Gilmore, whom he married in Denver and who is a native of Iowa, he has a comfortable home. ARCHIBALD EDWIN DALTON.— The Dalton family comes of old English lineage. The founder of the name in the new world was Capt. George W. Dalton, a native of England, who at the age of eleven ran away from home and became a sailor. Ultimately he was made captain of a vessel in the English merchant-marine service. When finally he retired from a sea-faring life he came to the United States and settled in Ohio at Cir- cleville, and there occurred the birth of his son, Edwin Henry. The excitement caused by the discovery of gold in California directed the attention of Captain Dalton toward the then unknown west. Accom- panied by his family he boarded a sailing vessel bound for the Pacific coast via Cape Horn. The ship cast anchor in the harbor of San Pedro October 29, 1851, and on the same day the newcomers arrived in Los Angeles, where they made permanent settlement. The old sea captain found great pleasure in developing a tract of land. His death occurred at the family home on Washington and Central avenues and the surrounding tracts were left to his heirs. Edwin H. owns a home at No. 1436 East Washington street and Archibald Edwin owns a house at No- 1420, on the same street. The father served with efficiency for twenty-eight years as water overseer for the city of Los Angeles, but more recently he has given attention largely to the sale of city realty and in addition he now serves as vice-president of the Industrial Oil Company of Los Angeles, owning large holdings at Olinda. The marriage of Edwin Henry Dalton united him with Hattie E. Dye, who was born in Missouri and is now living in Los Angeles. At an early age she came to California with her father, George W. Dye, crossing the plains with oxen and settling on what is now Figueroa street and Slauson avenue, Los Angeles. The Dalton family numbered eleven children and all are still living. The next to the oldest, Archibald Edwin, was born at the Los Angeles homestead December 20, 1875, and received a high-school education, after which he worked for several years in the city water HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1307 department. In 1899 -he began an apprenticeship to the trade of sheet-metal worker with the Consolidated Pipe Company of Los Angeles. On the com- pletion of his time he remained with the company as a paid employe. In December of 1911, when they started the works in I>akersfield, they assigned him to this point for the purpose of installing the machinery. Working with great energy and expedition, he enabled the company to open the plant January 10, 1912. Since then two buildings have been added and additional machinery installed, all of this work being done under his supervision as foreman of the plant. Aside from voting the Republican ticket he gives no attention to politics. Fraternally he holds membership with the Maccabees. In Santa Ana he married Miss Josephine McDonald, who was born in Los Angeles and is a graduate of the high school of that city. The eldest in a family of twelve children, she is a daughter of A. S. McDonald, one of the pioneer shoe merchants of Los Angeles and now a well-known retired business man of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton are the parents of four children, Edison, Naudine, Douglas and Juanita- JOHN M. DUNN. — A year before the first great rush of gold-seekers across the plains to California a father and three sons started on the long journey from the east. It proved to be the last journey which the father was destined to make, for ere they had reached the mountains a fatal illness run its course and the three sons laid his body in a last resting-place in the Flint hill region of Kansas along the old Santa Fe trail. One of these three brothers, W^illiam T., was born in Pennsylvania in 1832 and at the time of the death of the parent he was a youth of sixteen. In disposition he was courageous, aspiring and his absolute disregard of precaution or fear amounted at times almost to recklessness, yet a kind destiny seemed to guard his steps and he passed through countless dangers unscathed. For many years he acted as a guide with Kit Carson on the plains, the latter being his tutor as a scout, and he also had many experiences with Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill as companions. When Wild Bill finally was fatally shot he fell back into the arms of the young scout. After some years of dangerous experiences on the plains William T. Dunn tried mining in California and it was not long before he was able to return east with a fortune. Going via Cape Horn to New York City, he there purchased a seat on the stock exchange, where in less than two years he lost $250,000. Coming to California once more he again took up mining and though less successful than on the first trip, he made enough to start in farming. Later he went to Missouri, bought land in Chariton county and remained there until his death at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ann Lingo and was born in Missouri of Pennsylvanian parentage, had passed away when her children were small. Of the children, five are still living: Cyrus, of Texas; Mrs. Maggie Allen, of Arkansas; Mrs. May Heavilin, of Bakersfield ; John M. and J. F., of Bakersfield. John M. was born April 8, 1880, at the old home farm in Chari- ton county. Mo., near Marceline. From an early age he was self-supporting. Employment with the Little Pittsburg Coal Company enabled him to pay his expenses through school. Leaving school he traveled in Illinois and Iowa for Snyder, Buell & Lavin of the Chicago stockyards and for Eubank & Hutton of the Kansas City stockyards. Later the buying of stock took him into Oklahoma, Indian Territory, California and Texas. As a cowboy on the range in the round-ups of cattle he was considered to be unexcelled in the management of horses and cattle, but this was not to his liking as a permanent means of livelihood, so he changed to carpentering and served an apprenticeship of two years at the trade. For two years he worked in the oil and gas fields near Elk City, Kan., and at the opening of Lawton, Okla., he engaged in carpentering and building in the new town. 1308 . HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The year 1901 found Mr. Dunn in California and Kern county, where he followed rig-building and contracting in the Kern river and west side fields. At the time of the great fire in San Francisco in 1906 he went to that city to fill a position as superintendent for Carroll Bros., contractors. Returning to Kern county in July of 1907, he engaged in contracting and rig-building in the Maricopa district. Soon afterward he became interested in oil lands with Parker Barrett and located several claims. It was this firm who located all of section 34 and fractional 25 that gave the Lakeview gusher to the world. When they located the property it was a wild-cat proposition and the people declared the two partners were insane and that their rig in two years would be sold for kindling wood. Undaunted by such dire pre- dictions they developed the property and the remarkable success is well known. In other fields that looked more promising they lost money, but here they made a large sum. They located the Consolidated Midway gusher on fractional section 30, section 8 at Pentland Junction where good wells were struck and the great Matson tract in the Buena Vista hills, also a success. In each location they did the first work, but in order to hold the properties from jumpers they have been obliged to spend as much as eleven days and nights on the spot without rest or change of clothes. Mr. Dunn is still interested in lands in different oil territories and during the winter of 1910 he spent several months in Washington, D. C, aiding to put through the Sixty-first congress the celebrated Smith bill, which afforded temporary relief to oil operators. The M. and F. garage in Bakersfield, said to be one of the largest and most complete in all of Kern county, was purchased during June of 1912 by Mr. Dunn, the business being conducted under the name of the J. M. Dunn Auto Company. The company was incorporated June 22, 1912, with himself as president, Parker Barrett, vice-president, and Mrs. J. M. Dunn, secretary. The company is agent for the Knox automobile, Knox truck and fire apparatus, also the Moreland truck, and the Stutz and Overland automobiles. The first-class location of the garage and the business-like methods pursued by the proprietors are bringing a high class of patronage to the place, which has proved very popular among owners and drivers of machines. The partnership of Mr. Dunn and Mr. Barrett which was so successful in the oil lands has continued very agreeably and profitably in other enterprises, notably in the M. and F. garage. In addition to the enterprises mentioned Mr. Dunn manages the Dunsmuir ranch eleven miles south of Bakersfield and adjoining the Alameda farm, and here he raises alfalfa and grains. He also owns other valuable property in Bakersfield, including his residence, Panorama Heights, situated on the heights above the city. Mr. Dunn is a member of the Bakersfield Club and the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles. In Bakersfield he was united in marriage with Miss Selena Ritter, who was born in Helena, Mont., and by whom he has two children, William H. and Marjorie T. GEORGE W. CALL. — The association of the Call family with the agri- cultural development of the new world began with the arrival in this country of seven brothers from the north of Ireland. In the old country they had been known by the surname of MacCall, but they dropped the prefix upon their immigration to America and ever since their descendants have borne the name of Call. The lineage of the ancestors is traced to Scotland, but a religious persecution forced them to flee from their country and they found refuge in the north of Ireland. Prior to the Revolution the seven brothers became pioneers of our own land, where several of them served with patri- otic spirit and great bravery in the first struggle with England. From one of the Revolutionary soldiers the line is traced down to Hiram H. Call, a native of Ausable Forks, Essex county, N. Y., and a machinist by trade. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1309 During- early manhood he was employed in a rolling-mill and later he became a locomotive engineer. He helped to build some of the first engines ever used on the Erie Railroad. Afterward he took his family to Illinois and settled in Belleville, St- Clair county, where from that time until his death he was employed in a nail-mill. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Jerome, was born at Keyesville, Essex county, N. Y., and died in St. Louis, Mo. Only two of their six children are now living. The youngest member of the family was George W., born at Kingston, Luzerne county. Pa., July 4, 1860, and educated in the public schools of Lancaster, Pa.,' and Oxford, Warren county, N. J. After he had accom- panied other members of the family to Illinois he learned the trade of nailer at Belleville, where he completed an apprenticeship of four years. At Belleville, during 1884, he married Miss Nannie E. Smart, a graduate of the Emporia (Kan.) State Normal School and a woman of fine mental endow- ments. An only child blessed their union, Joel, now a skilled and expert machinist, connected with the San Joaquin & Eastern Railroad. Removing from Illinois to Missouri in September of 1885, Mr. Call entered the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. At first he engaged as passenger brakeman running from Kansas City (where he made his home) to Nickerson, Reno county, Kan., and later he was employed as baggageman between Kansas City and Pueblo, Colo. In 1888 he resigned and became an apprentice machinist in the roundhouse of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Kansas City and there completed the trade- Seven years later he was promoted to be foreman of the roundhouse and continued in the position until his removal from the city. August 16, 1898, he and his family arrived in Bakersfield. On the 17th he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as foreman of the truck depart- ment in the roundhouse. December 27, 1900, he was promoted to be night roundhouse foreman. Since coming to Bakersfield Mr. and Mrs. Call have erected their resi- dence at No. 808 Monterey street and they also have purchased the Haber- felde apartments on Nineteenth and I streets, which Mrs. Call manages. In addition for a time they owned a ranch of fifteen acres nine miles from Bakersfield and improved the property with a pumping plant and a fine stand of alfalfa, after w^hich they disposed of the place to advantage. In social circles they have made many friends and they also are prominent and popular in various fraternities, Mrs. Call being a leading member of the Royal Neighbors and the Degree of Honor, while he has identified himself with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. WILLIAM HENRY DEAN TAYLOR.— The genealogy of the Taylor family as far back as the records can be traced indicates an intimate identi- fication with England and an association with the commercial development of Lancashire. The first to establish a business in the new world was John Taylor, who left his native shire to establish a manufacturing industry in New York City, thereafter maintaining a high position among the manu- facturers of the metropolis of the western world, but at the same time con- tinuing his business and social relations with Lancaster. Indeed, for a number of years his family residence was maintained in Lancashire and thus it happened that his son, William, was a native of that English shire, although reared for the most part in New York City, where in due time he joined his father in the manufacturing business. Frequent visits to England gave him a large circle of acquaintances in Lancashire, where he married Aliss Mary Dean, daughter of Samuel Dean, a farmer in the shire. It was at Failsworth, Lancashire, that William Henry Dean, son of William, and grandson of John Taylor, was born, although like his father he was 1310 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY reared almost wholly in New York City. In addition to attending the schools there he was for a time a student in the College of the City of New York. Mr. Taylor set sail from New York in 1867 on a vessel bound for the Isthmus of Panama- There he was employed for one year as a freight clerk with the Panama Railroad Company. During the fall of 1868 he secured a position as purser with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the steam- ship Colima, plying between Panama and San Francisco. Until 1871 he con- tinued with the same company and then resigned in order to take up ranch- ing in California. He first purchased a tract of ranch land near Clayton, Contra Costa county, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising until 1893, meanwhile enduring the hardships incident to the bringing under cultivation of a large tract of raw land. After disposing of his interests in Contra Costa county in 1893 he came to Kern county, where ever since he has been an efficient and trusted employe of the Kern County Land Com- pany. Until 1897 he engaged as a clerk at the Poso ranch and then was transferred to Bakersfield to act as clerk in the cattle department of the company. During 1899 he was appointed bookkeeper for the company at the Stockdale ranch, where he has since remained. From early life he has been an Episcopalian and since coming to Kern county he has been a com- municant in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in which he has officiated for two terms as vestryman. On the organization of the Bakersfield Club he became a charter member. In addition he holds membership with Bakers- field Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and Kern Lodge No. 76, K. of P. While making his home in Contra Costa county he became interested in political problems and espoused the principles of the Democratic party. E. J. THOMPSON.— Although a resident of the west throughout the greater part of his life (having moved with the family to Montana when fourteen years of age), Mr. Thompson claims Canada -as his native country, his birth having occurred January 25, 1874, at Brantford, in the province of Ontario. During early childhood he lived in Syracuse, N. Y., where his father, Joseph, followed the trade of a saddler and harness-maker. Remov- ing to Montana in 1888 the father established himself in business at Missoula, and there continued until his death, the mother, Jennie (Lee) Thompson, later coming to Bakersfield and making her home here with her son, E. J., until death ended her labors. There were five children in the family and three of these are now living. The youngest of the number. E. J., was only sixteen when he became self-supporting and even before that he had earned a little during vacation months. Being of a resolute, independent spirit, he was anxious to earn his own livelihood at as early an age as possi- ble. His first steady employment was as call-boy with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Missoula. Step by step he worked his way from one position to another. Merit won his promotion in the face of rivalry and competition. Eventually he was made a conductor on the North Coast limited and the Burlington limited, overland passenger trains of the Northern Pacific. A visit to Kern county during June of 1911 convinced Mr. Thompson that there was an opening for an auto stage line between Bakersfield and Oil Center. With him decisions have been made with promptness through- out his entire life and this instance was no exception to the usual rule. W^ithout delay he ordered a three thousand pound White gas truck, removed his family to Bakersfield, established a home in the city and began business as proprietor of the Oil Center stage. During June of 1912 he admitted Fred L. Smith into partnership and they added another White truck of one and one-half tons. The third truck was secured in November, 1912, and was another White of three thousand pounds, with a new body, built HTSTOKY OF KF.RX COUNTY 1311 by C. N. Johnston, of Bakersfield. This last car has the advantage of greater convenience and larger capacity. In 1913 they purchased four more White trucks, one of them one and a half tons, and the others fifteen hundred pounds, to be used for a rapid auto stage line to the different towns in the west side oil fields, making the forty miles in two hours and two round trips a day. Sixteen round trips are made daily to the Kern river oil fields and at times of great rushes seventy passengers have been carried in one car, but this, although not beyond the power of the car itself, is far beyond the seating capacity of the trucks. It is estimated that since the first stage was started to the Kern river field more than two hundred thousand passengers have been carried, yet never has one of them been injured in the least nor has any accident ever occurred- While living in Montana he was a prominent local worker in the Order of Railway Con- ductors, but took no part in politics or in any of the fraternal activities of his locality. His marriage in Minneapolis, Minn., united him with Miss Edna Ordella Lee, who was born in Seaforth, Huron county, province of Ontario, and by the union there is one daughter, Laura Blanche. THOMAS CHARLES COPPIN.— The two confectionery establishments known as Copj)in's Bon Bon on Nineteenth street and Coppin's Cupid's Palace on Chester avenue in Theatre row stand as an evidence of the ability and superior business judgment of their promoter and proprietor, Thomas Charles Coppin, who came to Bakersfield in 1902- The more recent of his two shops, Cupid's Palace, established during February of 1911 at No. 2028 Chester avenue, occupying a space 26x120 feet with a balcony, is said to be the finest confectionery establishment between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the rear of the building a manufacturing equipment has been provided, where under strictly sanitary conditions are manufactured all varieties of sweetmeats and ice-cream for the wholesale and retail trade. The family of which Mr. Coppin is a member belongs to Cornwall, England, and his father, Edward, after an adventurous existence in different parts of the world, has returned to Land's End to spend his last days. In early life Edward Coppin was allured to the gold mines of Australia, but found there little opportunity to gain the hoped-for wealth of the mines. After his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Riddles, a native of Cornwall, he set- tled in Ontario, Canada, where he held an ofBcial position under the domin- ion government. Coming to the United States he took up a homestead in Richland county, N. Dak., at the same time entering land and locating a tree claim from the government. The utmost difficulty was experienced in im- proving his three-quarter section and transforming it into a remunerative farm. After the death of his wife, which occurred on the farm, he sold his Dakota property and returned to England to establish his home. Of his ten children all but two are still living. The eighth in order of birth and the only one to settle in California is Thomas Charles, whose birth occurred at INIitchell, Ontario, Canada, June 4, 1879, and whose educa- tion was secured in Dakota country schools. When only twelve years of age he began to work in a store at Hankinson, N. Dak. During vacation times and after fifteen he gave his entire time to a clerkship, but resigned in January of 1899 and came to California. In San Francisco Mr. Coppin learned his trade under Confectioner Schafer, a man of skill and originality. Coming to Bakersfield in 1902 he bought a small confectionery owned by Mrs. Hartzel on Nineteenth street near Chester avenue, where he remained for eighteen months- Removal took him to No. 1524 Nineteenth street, where he built up the substantial business known as Coppin's Bon Bon, following this with Cupid's Palace. In addition to the management of his large business interests he owns inter- ests in the Jerome Verde Copper Company at Jerome, Ariz., has become prom- 1312 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY inently connected with the board of trade in Bakersfield and has further identi- fied himself with many civic enterprises of note. Since coming to this city he has married Miss Alta Graham, a native of Selma, Cal., and at this writing they, with their daughter, Thelma Corease, make their home at No. 2224 Nineteenth street, where he owns a substantial residence situated only five blocks from the heart of the city. Reared in the faith of the Church of England, he has been stanch in his allegiance to the Episcopal Church and fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. SAMUEL J. DUNLOP.— The oil interests of Taft have an exceptionally capable representative in the manager of the Dunlop Oil Company. Since the formation of the company and its acquisition of forty acres lying on section 26, it has been officered by the following capitalists : C. H. Holbrook, Jr., president; W. L. Maguire, secretary; John D. Spreckels, Jr., and Samuel J. Dunlop, directors, the last-named also acting in the capacity of manager. As the resident executive head of the company's interests he has drilled five producing wells and during the year 1912 has superintended the putting down of four more wells. It was during 1909 that the manager located permanently in Taft bringing to the new home in the oil fields his wife and daughter, Lela, the former having been Miss Ellen Tombs prior to their marriage in 1892 in Fresno, this state. At the time of his arrival Taft was a mere hamlet. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 2, 1867, Samuel J. Dunlop began to earn his own livelihood at a very early age and was only sixteen when employed at railroading in Michigan. Two years later he went to Chicago, where he remained for eighteen months- From 1885 until 1902 he was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and his long retention in positions of increasing importance by the same company indicates his fidelity and energy. From Chicago he was transferred to California and made Needles his headquarters. Meanwhile, upon the discovery of oil in Kern county, he had come here in 1899 and had purchased location rights to section 26 for $15 per acre. The following year he promoted and became the first president of the Mount Diablo Oil Company, but later transferred his capital and energies to the development of the interests with which he now is identified. After he had established his headquarters in Taft he joined with George Barr in starting and conducting a hay, grain and feed busi- ness under the firm title of Dunlop & Barr, and this barn has .since been carried on under the same management. The people of Taft elected him a trustee of the city April 8, 1912, and since then he has been a helpful factor in promoting civic development. He still retains his connection with the Order of Railway Conductors, although no longer identified with the railroad service. In addition he retains membership in Camp No. 99, B. P. O. E., of Los Angeles. JOHN F. BENNETT.— A few miles from Warsaw, the county-seat of Kosciusko county, Ind., John F. Bennett was born September 19, 1845, being a son of Benjamin Bennett, a Pennsylvanian by birth and the son of German parents who became immigrants in the new world. The mother bore the maiden name of Susan Irwin and was born in Kentucky of Irish ancestry. The family had little means and the struggle for a livelihood was unceasing, so that John F., instead of attending school, devoted his attention principally to aiding in the family maintenance- When the Civil war opened he was less than sixteen years of age, and consequently was not eligible for service. After a time, however, he was accepted as a private in Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Infantry, assigned to the front under General Rosecrans. Having enlisted for ninety days only, at the expiration of that time he was honorably discharged at Indianapolis, Ind., in September HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1313 of 1864. Again he enlisted, this time for one year, as a private in the One Hundred and Fifty-second Indiana Infantry, serving with Company D. He received his second honorable discharge at Charleston, W. Va., August 30, 1865. Not long after the close of the Rebellion Mr. Bennett went to Michigan and embarked in the lumber business as a sawyer. Much of his work was done in Kent, Montcahn and Newaygo counties and at Big Rapids, Mich., and the lumber was rafted down the Flat, Grand and other rivers. After he had worked almost ten years in the forests of Michigan he came to California in 1875, settling in Eureka, which was the headquarters of his lumbering business for nine years. November 10, 1875, he lost an eye through an accident in a sawmill. November 10, 1884, exactly nine years after the first catastrophe, he lost three fingers of the left hand through another sawmill accident. The second accident completely incapacitated him as a sawyer and proved a serious misfortune. Obliged to seek another occupation, Mr. Bennett removed to Orange county, this state, and embarked in business as a vineyardist. The twenty- five acres which he purchased had been planted to grapes of a fine quality, but unfortunately a mysterious blight fell upon the vineyard and nothing could be found to stay the progress of the disease. The entire vineyard finally died and he was left practically bankrupted. Looking around for another location he came to Kern county in 1892 and took up a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres in the Tejon country, living on that place for five years and then proving up on the claim. His home place com- prises twenty acres, and he also has forty acres one and one-half miles north of it. During his residence at Eureka he married Miss Ella Roterman, of that place. They have a son, Leland, now a driller in the oil fields. Ever since giving his support to Abraham Lincoln during the war Mr. Bennett has supported Republican principles. A. M. KIDD.— Born at Reynoldsville. Pa., May 19, 1875, A. M. Kidd is a son of the last Benjamin B. and Nancy Kidd, likewise natives of the Ke3^stone state, where the father, a skilled mechanic and carpenter, built the first house in Oil City. About 1878 he took the family to Kansas and pre-empted a homestead in Ottawa county, where he devoted a number of years to the most arduous work of transforming a tract of raw prairie into a productive farm. During 1892 he moved to Missouri and settled at Joplin, where his wife died in 1896 at the age of forty-six years and where occurred his demise in 1903 at the age of fifty-five years. In the parental family there were seven children, namely: Archie M., of the Midway field; Mattie, Mrs. Marion Warren, and Annie, Mrs- Robert Conover, both the wives of grocerymen in Seattle, Wash. ; Onna C, employed as a tool-dresser in the Midway field ; Benjamin C. and Nancy, residents of Seattle ; and James, who died at an early age. The paternal grandfather, the well-known Wil- liam Kidd, now about eighty-eight years of age, retired about ten years ago to Verona, a suburb of Pittsburg, where he is highly respected and lives in affluence. He owned a farm just outside of Milltown (now a part of Pittsburg) and on his property drilled a well and struck a strong flow of gas. He was one of the pioneer men in the natural-gas industry in Pittsburg and built one of the first (if not the first) natural-gas lines ever run into iTiat city. Immediately after the removal of the family to Missouri A. M. Kidd began as an apprentice in a machine shop at Joplin, where he served for three years. In that term of service he laid the foundation of his present comprehensive knowledge of machinery. Afterward he was employed as a journeyman machinist. During 1898 he enlisted in Company G, Second Missouri Infantry, and served as sergeant-major until the expiration of his 1314 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY lime, when he was honorably discharged. Returning to Joplin he became foreman in the machine shop of McNeal & Co., and continued in the same place until 1902. ]\Ieanwhile he had married, March 8, 1899, at Lexington, Ky., Miss Maud M. Kidd, a descendant of Scotch ancestry and a native of Kentucky. .Although having the same family name the young couple were not related. They are the parents of three living sons, Kay Kelso, Albert Collins and Cecil William, and lost another son, Archie H., at the age of fourteen months. Upon leaving Missouri, after three months in Colorado Mr. Kidd went to New Mexico and for a year followed his trade at Alamogordo, Otero county. A year was also passed in work at Tucson, Ariz., whence he came to California and found employment in Los Angeles. Two years later he came to Bakersfield and at the expiration of another two years he removed to Coalinga, where he was employed as a machinist for four years. Since December of 1911 he has engaged as foreman of the machine shop of the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Company and has eight men working under him. He is affiliated with the blue lodge of Masonry at Taft, the Scottish Rite Consistory at Fresno and the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at San Francisco. FRANK C. JEWETT.— The manager of the Wasco hotel, who is like- wise the owner of extensive interests in the oil fields at Maricopa and Lost Hills, has been identified with business affairs in Kern county since 1900 and particularly has been active in his association with the oil industry. During boyhood he lived in Kansas City, Kan., where his birth had occurred September 30, 1882, and where his brief period of schooling was received. When a small lad he began to work at odd jobs and do chores for neigh- bors. Coming across the country to California in 1900 he landed in Bakers- field and from there proceeded to Maricopa, where he secured work in the oil fields. For seven years he followed this occupation, then opened a hotel and saloon at Maricopa, owning and occupying the first two-story building erected in that oil town. In 1910 he sold out the business at Maricopa and the next year he became a resident of Wasco, where he bought and still owns a part interest in the Wasco hotel. Since coming west he has identified himself with the Eagles. W^ith the discovery of the Lost Hills oil field, some twenty-five miles west, he became an investor in the new district and has appreciated the impetus given by the valuable discovery to all lines of business. The marriage of Frank C. Jewett took place in Los Angeles October 1, 1911, and united him with Pearl Pickering, who was born in Kansas and during girlhood came to California with her parents, settling at FuUerton. Orange county. The family represented by Mr. Jewett originally comprised six children, three of whom are living, he being the. youngest. His father, Lorenzo, was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, February 12, 1842, and attended school between the years of six and eleven, then stopped in order to help in the work on the home farm. After a number of years in that state he removed to Missouri and resumed agricultural pursuits. The next move took him to Illinois, where he engaged in farming for eight years. Later he moved to Johnson county, Kan., where he placed under cultivation a large tract of land which he had taken up from the government. Although he engaged in farming in Kansas for thirty-six years he was not particularly successful, for he lost his crops often through droughts and ether calamities impossible to overcome. Meanwhile in 1885 he had visited California and had been favorably impressed with the country, especially with Kern county, so that in 1901 he' came to the west as a permanent resident. \\'hile living in Kansas he had taken a warm interest in politics and had served as constable. The year 1902 was spent in Bakersfield. whence in 1903 he moved to Maricopa and found employment in the oil HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1315 fields. From Maricopa he came to Wasco and is now living with his son, retired from farming and from all business cares. During 1878 he married Miss Nancy Squires, who was born in Athens county, Ohio, and died in Kansas January 6, 1888, while still a young woman, leaving a family of small children. LE ROY RANKIN. — A native son of the state, Le Roy Rankin was born June 17, 1873, in Walker's Basin, Kern county, and is the son of Walker Rankin, a pioneer represented elsewhere in this volume. As soon as he was old enough he began the acquisition of an education in the public schools. At eighteen he entered the Kern County High School, where he was a student two years. For some years afterward he was employed by his father, obtaining a practical knowledge of the cattle business. In 1901, in partnership with his brothers, he leased eight hundred and fifty acres of land, and together they operated this successfully. In 1908 he located on what is now his homestead, a ranch of two hundred and forty acres, formerly a part of the old Wirth property, near Weldon on the south fork of Kern river, and engaged in cattle-raising and in the growing of grain and alfalfa. His land is irrigated from south fork, and he has one hundred and eighty acres in alfalfa. He owns a goodly number of horses and five hundred head of cattle and his ranch is well improved and thoroughly modern- For his brand he uses the capital R. Fraternally he is a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. He married. May 17, 1911, Miss Marie Wake- man, who was born in Michigan in 1888, and they have a son named Le Roy, Jr. Mr. Rankin operates successfully not only the fine property above referred to, but four hundred and twenty acres of leased land. E. J. ERB. — The surname of Erb indicates the Teutonic origin of the family, which for several generations has had representation in America and as early as 1849 became established temporarily in California through the removal hither of Peter Erb, a native of Pennsylvania. After he had engaged in mining for a few years with fair success he returned to Pennsyl- vania via Panama. Later he followed farming in Ohio and then in Indiana, after which he migrated to Minnesota, took up land from the government and improved a farm. The last six years of his life were passed in North Dakota, where his death occurred. Surviving him is his wife, Catherine (Ferciott) Erb, who was born in Washington, D. C, of French descent, and now, at the age of eighty-six, makes her home with her son, E. J., in Bakersfield- There were eleven children born of her marriage and nine of these are still living. The seventh, E. J., was born at the home farm near Lewiston, Winona county, Minn., October 9, 1866, and received his early education in his native county, but later had the privilege of attending Battle Creek (Mich.) College. At the age of sixteen years he accompanied his parents to North Dakota and there assisted in the development of a fron- tier farm. Upon attaining his majority and starting out to make his own way in the world, Mr. Erb came to California and settled in San Diego during 1887. Shortly after his arrival, having meantime learned the trade of carriage- maker, he bought one-half interest in the largest shop in San Diego. For six years the business was conducted under the title of Parrott & Erb. As a salaried employe he remained there until 1899 and then came to Bakersfield, where with William Drury he started the Pacific iron works on Twenty- fourth and M streets. Later the plant was removed to McKittrick and established in the first building completed in the new oil town. For a time they prospered, but when the price of oil dropped to ten cents and hard times ensued his partner sold out to him and later he was obliged to close the shop in 1905, eventually finding a buyer for the plant. Meanwhile for two years he was justice of the peace and deputy county coroner. 1316 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY After a brief period of work as superintendent of the shops of the Southern Pacific Oil Company in the Kern river field, in 1906 Mr. Erb resigned that position to open the Bakersfield garage on the corner of Nine- teenth and G streets. During 1907 his old friend and former partner, Wil- liam Drury, became associated with him as partner and in the same year {hey incorporated the Bakersfield Garage and Auto Supply Company, with Mr. Erb as president and Mr. Drury as secretary and treasurer. Soon out- growing their quarters, in 1908 they purchased the corner of Twentieth and G streets, where they built a one-story garage, 115x122 feet in dimensions- In a brief period the new space became too small for the growing trade. During 1909 they erected a second story with an elevator and on this upper floor they placed their machine and repair shop with a complete and up-to- date equipment. In 1913-14, finding it necessary to still further enlarge their building, they purchased the corner of Twentieth and H streets adjoin- ing their garage. Here they erected a two-story building 62x149, making a frontage of an entire block on Twentieth street. The second floor of the new building is devoted to manufacturing, while the first floor of the same is used for offices and supply store. The latter is arranged so that auto- mobiles may be driven through the center of the store, thus enabling cus- tomers to make their purchases without leaving their cars. In addition to a complete vulcanizing department, there is a charging and repair department for storage batteries and electric automobiles. The firm acts as agents for the Oakland car and the White automobiles and trucks, also fire apparatus. About 1906 Mr. Erb started the first car used in the rent service in Bakersfield. There was constant demand for the machine and it soon became necessary to keep three cars on hand for rent, but eventually he sold out in order to devote his entire attention to the agency and the garage. Besides owning one-half interest in this substantial business he has real estate in Bakersfield and Kern county and is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Bakersfield. In politics he votes the Republican ticket. Fraternally he is connected with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E-, while along civic, business and occupative lines, he holds mem- bership with the board of trade, the Bakersfield Merchants' Association and the Southern California Automobile Association. E. C. SMITH. — From the age of seventeen years up to the present time Mr. Smith has been associated with the oil industry in Kern county and meanwhile he has occupied practically every position from roustabout up to general foreman. He is now general lease foreman for the Section 25 Oil Company, commonly known as the 25 Hill Oil Company, whose holdings include three hundred and twenty acres lying on section 25, 32-23, and whose oil wells, thirty-five in number, average a monthly production of fifty thou- sand barrels. The stock of the comoany is held principally in Bakersfield by the wealthy oil firm of Barlow & Hill. Clinton, Summit county, near Akron, Ohio, is the native place of E. C. Smith, and February 24, 1883, the date of his birth. The family was founded in Clinton by his grandfather, William Smith, a typical pioneer of the period and locality, and for many years intimately identified with the material growth of Summit county, where he died at ninety years of age. Among his children was a son, Charles, who prospered as a farmer, acquired the title to three valuable country estates in Ohio and became the owner of three boats on the Ohio canal. When a stroke of paralysis ended his career in 1910 at the age of seventy-two years he left a large estate that still remains intact, under the personal supervision of his wife, Adeline (Young) Smith, a capable woman who at sixty-five years retains much of her earlier strength of body and mind. Of her twelve children five are now living and it was largely through the efforts of her youngest child, E- C., HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1317 that the estate will not be divided during her lifetime. The Young family were contemporaries of the Smiths in the early development of Summit county, where the father of Mrs. Smith, John Young, arrived with all of his worldly goods in a wagon. Attracted by the then "small town of Akron, he chose a home in the place and ever afterward remained in the same location. His death occurred whea he lacked only .five years of having rounded out a full century. Between the years of six and seventeen E. C. Smith was a pupil in the grammar and high schools of Clinton. Starting out to earn his own way in the world, he arrived at Bakersfield in March, 1900. Here he found public interest centered in the Kern river oil field. Joining the early devel- opers of that district, he found employment as a roustabout on the 33 and Imperial leases. It was not long before he had learned to do expert work as a tool-dresser. After two and one-half years he went to the Monte Cristo lease, where he was employed for five years. During a later period of work on the Associated lease he became a driller and for perhaps a year he engaged in drilling on the C^nfield division. Next he was sent to McKittrick by Superintendent Bruce. In that field he engaged as produc- tion foreman and later as drilling foreman for the Associated. He accepted an important position as a superintendent of the Reward, one of the McKit- trick leases, but owing to the ill health of his wife and his desire to take her to Ohio for a change of climate he resigned after holding it one and one-half years- Mrs. Smith had been Miss Mabel Church, of Bakersfield, and her death occurred in 1912. After an absence of nine months, Mr, Smith returned to Kern county, where he took a position under Ed Gillette and after two years he engaged as a driller on Syndicate No. 2, from which place he came to his present position February 10, 1913, and since then has devoted his attention closely to the responsibilities of general lease foreman. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. GEORGE C. KELLEY. — From boyhood associated with the oil indus- try, it has no phase with which Mr. Kelley is unfamiliar and he has filled practically every position from roustabout to superintendent. At the present time he fills a responsible place as production foreman on section 22 division of the North American Oil Consolidated, whose holdings on section 22, 32-23, comprise one hundred and seventy-five acres. Entering upon these duties in 1910, he since has witnessed a remarkable development in the company's properties. The lease has been developed with such rapidity that it contains fifty-five oil wells and from the fifty-three now active there is an average monthly production of seventy thousand barrels. Although his earliest memories are associated with Ohio, George C. Kelley is a native of Kansas and was born in a sod-house in Lane county, June 2, 1887. His parents, John A. and Emma (Severns) Kelley, are now living on a rented farm in Allen county, Ohioj but the father has worked perhaps more in the oil fields than on a farm, and he is well posted in every detail of the oil business. The family comprised five sons and two daughters and the eldest of these, George C, attended the common schools in Ohio. In early youth he worked on a farm during the summer months, but later he gave all of his time to the oil business, which he learned in every detail. His father being employed as a pumper on a lease at Spen- cerville, Ohio, he was taken on the same lease and taught to be useful in many ways- From a roustabout he worked up to be a well-puller. From the age of fifteen until nineteen he continued in the Spencerville district, thence going to Oklahoma, where he worked at Tulsa during much of the next two years. Besides his experience in the Oklahoma oil fields he was employed for a time in the Muncie oil fields in Indiana and the Robinson 1318 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY oil fields in Illinois. For six months before coming to California he made his headquarters in Ohio and at Spencerville he was united in marriage with Miss Myrtle Hogue, daughter of W. M. Hogue, formerly of Spencer- ville, but now employed on section 16 of the North American. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley have one son, Paul, born in 1910. By correspondence with Mr. Kurtz of the North American, Mr. Kelley had secured a position as tool-dresser in the Midway field, so he left his eastern home and came to Bakersfield, arriv- mg at his destination November 1, 1909, ready to begin work without delay. There was then only one well on the lease that was making oil, but since then the development has been remarkable and the upbuilding of the division has been constant, much of this progress being attributable to the energy of Mr. Kelley in his capacity of production foreman. Since coming to the west he has bought a ranch of thirty acres in Merced county. FRANKLIN C. KELLEY.— At Mendon, Mercer county, Ohio, Franklin C. Kelley was born November 15, 1875. The name in America was established by his great-grandfather. After a voyage of six months on a sailing-vessel this original immigrant, who came from Dublin, Ireland, landed in New York during 1760 and eventually became a pioneer of Knox county, Ohio. In young manhood he married Henrietta Shritchfield, who lived to be ninety-eight years of age. Among their descendants was a grandson, Caleb A. Kelley, who now at the age of seventy-seven years is living, retired from agricultural labors, at his home in St. Marys, Auglaize county, Ohio. All of his children were born of his first marriage, which united him with Eunice Griffin, a native of the vicinity of Mendon, Ohio. The children are as follows: Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Murlin, a farmer near Mendon, Ohio; John, formerly an oil man, but now farming near Spencerville, Ohio; Francis, a farmer near St. Marys, Ohio; Lenora, who married Edgar Hawkins, a farmer near Celina, Ohio ; Foster, who is engaged in farming near Mendon, Ohio; Joseph, formerly a farmer, but now engaged in the oil industry in the Robinson fields of Illinois ; and Franklin C, the youngest member of the family and the only one to settle in California. The family, however, has another representative in the Midway field, for George C, son of John Kelley and nephew of Franklin C, is now engaged as production foreman on the section 22 division of the North American Oil Consolidated. When eighteen years of age Franklin C. Kelley began as a roustabout in the St. Marys (Ohio) oil field. In that district the average depth of the wells was from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet and, as old-fashioned methods of well-pulling were still in vogue, he was assigned to the task of driving a horse for such work. For seventeen years he continued with the J. H. Van Wormer Oil Company at St. Marys and meantime he rose from one position to another- AMien eventually he resigned it was for the purpose of coming to California and joining the force of the North American, in accordance with an agreement made with Mr. Kurtz. November of 1909 found him at Moron, from which point he immediately went to section 22 division and began his duties as a roustabout. After seven weeks he was transferred to the section 16 division. Since then he has come to the front as a production man. The two leases, sections 16 and 22, produce an average of one hundred and fifteen thousand barrels per month and this places him among the foremost production superintendents of California. On section 22 there are fifty-three and on section 16 twenty-six producing wejls with George C. Kelley as production foreman with the former lease and Keith LeGar as production foreman with the latter division, the general superintendent being William C. McDuffie. a resident on section 16 division. President Titus resides in San Francisco, which .city is also the place of residence of the vice-president, Duncan McDuflfie, and the secretary-treasurer, HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1319 C. L. Nance. While living in Ohio Mr. Kelley married Miss Josephine Lewis, by whom he has two children, Lenore May and Guy A. Since com- ing to the west he has invested in farm property and now owns a tract of twenty acres in Merced county. CHARLES E. ALLEN.— The Allen family has been identified with horticultural activities in the Santa Clara valley from the very infancy of the fruit industry in that locality. As early as 1862 L. S. Allen, a native of New York stale, settled among the pioneers of the valley and put out one of the first prune orchards planted in this entire valley- In the ensuing years he had his share of discouragements and successes, but no adverse circumstance has lessened his deep affection for the valley and its people, and he is still living on the old homestead, hale and hearty, notwithstanding seventy-three years of life with its struggle and hardships. His wife, now deceased, was Miss Emma Meeks, a native of Iowa. A brother-in-law, E. L. Bradley, had the distinction of planting the first prune orchard ever set out in the Santa Clara valley and the entire connection of the family with that part of the state has been long and honorable. Out of eight children who attained maturity and who formed the family of L. S. Allen, seven are still living, the fourth, Charles E., being the only one to engage in the oil business. The others live in or near San Jose and have devoted themselves to ranching. Near San Jose, where he was born September 15, 1880, Charles E. Allen passed the years of boyhood upon the home ranch. Fair educational advantages were given to him and he was graduated from the San Jose high school with the class of 1900. For a time thereafter he assisted his father in horticultural work. The excite- ment caused by the discovery of oil attracted him to the Kern river field during May of 1902, at which time he secured employment with the Standard Oil Company and was detailed to a pipe gang engaged in the construction of the line from this field to Richmond. In a short time his ability was recognized by his promotion to the position of foreman and as such he had the supervision of a gang numbering one hundred men. The company sent him to Coalinga in 1904 to take charge of field work and to assist in the construction of pipe lines. Returning to the Kern river field during 1906 he engaged for a year as ganger and then became general foreman for the Standard, in charge of the construction of pipe lines and the building of stations. In the next few years he worked at all the stations along the line to Point Richmond and had charge of the building of the station at McKit- trick, returning in 1909 to the Kern river field, where since he has been retained as chief ganger for the company. During 1909 he married at Oakdale, Stanislaus county. Miss Jessie Johnson, by whom he has one daughter, Margaret Dorothy. Coming to the west from Nebraska, where her father. Dr. W. H. Johnson, had been a well-known practitioner in the city of Lincoln, Mrs. Allen had received in that place excellent educational advantages and had been identified with the Christian Church, while since coming to Bakersfield she has also been a member of that church. FRANCIS M. POWELL.— The Missouri division of the Associated Oil Company, under the field foremanship of Mr. Powell, has reached an_ average monthly production of approximately eighteen thousand barrels net and thus ranks among the important organizations doing business in the Kern river fields. The holdings of the company lying on section 29, town- ship 28, range 28, consist of the following: Alva, ten acres with four produc- ing wells ; Hecla, ten acres with three producing wells ; Bolena, ten acres with six producing wells ; Gillellen, ten acres, four wells ; Vernon, twenty acres and six wells; Missouri, twenty acres, seven wells; and Richmond, ten acres with three wells, making a total of thirty-three producing wells. The field superintendent, who moved into the Kern river fields January 22, 54 1320 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1909, became identified with the 7\ssociated three days after his arrival, at first filling a position as well-puller and after six months being promoted to the well foremanship. A year later he was made field superintendent, which post he has since filled with recognized efficiency. At Newhall, Los Angeles county, Cal, "Sir. Powell was born April 10, 1883, being the son of John F. and Dora (Lake) Powell. The mother died April 29, 1^901, at the age of forty-seven. The father, a Bostonian by birth, came to the Pacific coast in 1873 and settled at Los Angeles. Although now seventy-three years of age, he is active physically and mentally, maintains a warm interest in the development of Los Angeles county and in his home town of Newhall serves as a justice of the peace as well as mining recorder. Since the death of his wiie his comfortable home at Newhall has been presided over by his daughter, Florence Marie, besides whom he has two other children, Francis Matthias and Alfred Clyburn. The elder son com- pleted the studies of the Newhall grammar school when about fourteen and then began to earn his own way in the world. March 17, 1897, he became a roustabout for the Pacific Coast Oil Company in the Newhall field, and he continued at that work until November 1 of the same year. An uncle, Alexander Mentry, being superintendent of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, gave him a position in a minor capacity at the water station pumping plant. In a short time he was given charge of the engines, pumps and general water system- On New Year's of 1901 the Pacific Coast Company sold out to the Standard and on the 15th of April of that year, Mr. Powell was transferred to the production department. For one year he remained in the general production department of the Standard, which transferred him April 15, 1902, to the Kern river fields in order that he might assist in putting in the eight- inch pipe laid by that organization from the Kern river fields to Point Rich- mond on the bay. December 13, 1902, the Standard transferred him to Newhall, where he was assigned to work in the production department and there he remained until August 31, 1906. Meanwhile he had felt the need of better educational advantages and when he resigned his position he entered the Southern California Business College as a student in the com- mercial department, graduating August 2, 1907. In addition to this course of instruction he had taken an English course in the International Corre- spondence Schools at Scranton. While working in the Newhall field Mr. Powell formed the acquaint- ance of Miss Reath Prall and they were married August 14, 1904, in Santa Paula, Ventura county, her home town. They are the parents of one child, Florence Helen. During her residence in Santa Paula Mrs. Powell was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church. After his marriage Mr. Powell was employed as field foreman with the Union Oil Company in the Santa Paula fields, but that position he resigned December 31, 1908, and a few weeks afterward came to the Kern river fields, where he has since been connected with the Associated and where he and his family occupy the foreman's house on the Alva lease, on section 29, township 28, range 28. E. D. HIGLEY. — Continuous application has marked the activities of Mr. Higley from early life. When yet a mere lad he became self-supporting and at the age of eighteen he had gained a skill in carpentering such as is not always possessed by those having years of experience in the occupation. Starting out with scanty education and no money, assuming domestic obli- irations at an early age, he was handicapped in his first efforts- A native of Nebraska, born in Lincoln county March 7, 1880, he was familiar from his earliest recollections with the isolated frontier, the broad ranges lying beyond the then confines of civilization. Nor did removal to North Dakota broaden his outlook upon the world, for the homestead there stood aloof HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1321 ■•> - - from the great markets of the country and had little to offer in comfort or opportunity. At the age of eighteen he married Miss Ella Ree McKay, a young lady living in Wells county, which adjoined his home county of Kidder. The little home started upon the plains of North Dakota was barren of comforts, yet within its walls there was much of joy and con- tented work. As the land was brought under cultivation and ere it had become a source .of income, the young homesteader earned his livelihood as a carpenter. Believing he could better his condition in California Mr. Higley brought his family to the coast in 1906 and has since been employed in the oil fields. It is his intention to soon establish the family home at Waits, Kern county, so that his work may not take him far distant from his wife and four children, Eunice, Gurdon H., Lois Amy and Elberta. After coming to this locality he worked with different companies, including the Southern Pacific (six months), Canfield (five months) and Merrill Crude (two months), after which he was employed by Captain Black for eighteen months in the building of oil derricks. For two months he worked in the Sunset and Midway fields, but with that exception he has limited his labors largely to the Kern river fields. For a time he conducted a livery business, located upon the lease of the Bald Eagle Oil Company in the Kern river fields, but recently he sold out his interest to his partner, W. B. Austin, who continues the business at the same location, while Mr. Higley gives his entire time and attention to contracting and building. His specialty is the building of derricks, in which he has become so expert that his services are in constant requisition. In fraternal relations he hold membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. S. H. MARTIN. — The foreman of the Sterling division of the Asso- ciated Oil Company, who likewise holds a position as superintendent of the Sovereign Oil Company on section 31, township 28, range 28, has been familiar with the oil industry from his very earliest memories- The incum- bent of his present responsible positions since 1907, he meanwhile has pro- moted the financial welfare of both organizations and has guided every detail with a careful eye and keen discrimination. The Sterling owns one hun- dred and sixt}^ acres, but leases forty acres to the Vesta Oil Company and twenty acres to the Sovereign, the balance of their tract containing forty- one producing wells. The Sovereign shows ten producing wells. Both companies are equipped with every modern convenience for the prosecution of the work and conduct all affairs in a model and business-like manner. Born in Venango county. Pa., July 14, 1880, Mr. Martin is a son of David E. Martin, now of Kern county, the present superintendent of the Oakland Midway Oil Company on the west side. Business changes took the family from one point to another and the son, primarily educated in Pennsylvania, later had excellent advantages in the Los Angeles high school and in a commercial college of the same city. After he had graduated from the business college he devoted himself wholly to the oil business, of which he previously had gained an expert knowledge. His father, who had come from Pennsylvania to take charge of the department of drilling for the Union Oil Company at Santa Paula, Cal., went to Missouri, where he became superintendent of the Whitney Water Supply Company at St. Louis. During 1896 he came again to California and settled in Los Angeles, where his son, who previously had assisted him in his work with the St. Louis organization, became yet more helpful to him in the work of dressing tools for drilling. When only nineteen years of age S. H. Martin engaged as a driller with the Central Oil Company of Whittier, Cal., and for four 3^ears he con- tinued in the same place. From there he went to the lower part of Old 1322 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Mexico near the Pacific ocean and engaged in drilling for oil at Pochutla, state of Oaxaca, where he was employed for eight months. Meantime he acted as geologist for the Pacific Coast Oil Company of Mexico. From Mexico he transferred his labors to Lower California, where he drilled a well for a company capitalized at Birmingham, Ala. Returning to the United States he engaged in drilling with the California Oilfields, Limited, at Coalinga, and later had similiar work at McKittrick, Kern county, where he drilled on the Reward lease. After having held a position as driller with the Union Oil Company in Ventura county, he went to Los Angeles county and started work on the Oilman property at Sherman. Having engaged in the oil industry in so many different places and with so many varied com- panies, he was well prepared for successful effort when finally he came to Kern river fields in 1905. After two years as a driller in 1907 he became superintendent of the Sterling and Sovereign, which he since has managed with success. Since coming to Kern- county he was married at Bakersfield to Miss Ethel Fall, of Globe, Ariz., by whom he has two sons, David and Joe. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Elks at Bakersfield. HENRY ERICKSON.— The superintendent of the Junction Oil Com- pany in the Kern river fields is of Pennsylvanian birth and Scandinavian descent. Born at Oil City, Venango county. Pa., June 19, 1880, he was sixth in order of birth among the nine children comprising the family of John and Caroline Erickson, both of whom were born in Sweden, but at early ages became residents of Pennsylvania. The family lived upon a farm near Venango and the son began to assist in the tilling of the soil as soon as old enough to handle machinery and horses. Scanty educational privileges came his way, for from boyhood his was a struggle for self-support. In spite of the handicap of lack of schooling he has become a man of broad general information. When twenty-one years of age he left the farm for the oil fields near his home and ever since then he has been connected with the oil industry. After a brief experience as a pumper he was promoted to be a tool-dresser, in which he soon became quite skilled. After a year at Oil City he went to Indiana and soon became field foreman for the Ohio Oil Company at Marion, where he continued for three years. The next district that attracted the young man was the oil fields of Illinois, where for thirteen months he engaged as foreman and pumper with the Campbell Oil Company at Casey- From Illinois he came to California and settled in the Kern river oil fields, where he secured work as a foreman with the West Shore Oil Company. A year later he was made foreman for the Section 5 Oil Company, remaining with them for eight months and then resigning in order to return to Pennsylvania, where he worked at Oil City lor six months. Upon his return to the western oil regions he secured employ- ment in the Santa Maria fields in Ventura county, where he had charge of the installation of gas engines for the Union Oil Company. Eight months later he returned to the Kern river fields, where for a short time he served as foreman of the Capital City Oil Company. September 15, 1910, he was chosen superintendent of the Junction Oil Company, a corporation composed prin- cipally of San Francisco capitalists. Eighty acres of land are owned by the company and the work of development has only begun. Of the eight pro- ducing wells six have been redrillecl and the average net production is between five thousand and six thousand barrels per month. Having given his atten- tion to the details of the oil industry and to his own particular responsibilities, Mr. Erickson has not had leisure for participating in public affairs or local enterprises, but he aims to keep posted concerning all enterprises of worth to community or county. While living in Santa Maria he became identified with the Knights of Pythias at that place and since coming to Kern county he has joined the Loyal Order of Moose at Bakersfield. By his marriage to HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1323 }Aiss PTattie Irwin of Oil City, Pa., he has two children, Lawrence and Mary. J. A. C. MILES. — Although a resident of California during the greater part of his life and since December of 1910 identified with the Kern river oil fields, Mr. Miles was born November 16, 1887, on a large sugar plantation of Hawaii. The death of his father, G. W. Miles, who had been a traveling sales- man, caused a breaking up of family ties and resulted in the fatherless boy being taken into the home of an uncle. William E. Miles, in San Francisco, where he was reared and educated. There were two younger children in the family and both of these still reside in Honolulu, Fannie Isabel being the wife of Paul Burns, of that city, while William E. conducts a dairy and stock ranch and a banana plantation in the same district. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Jennie K. Harvey and who at the age of forty-seven (1914), is still a resident of Hawaii, is a sister of the late senator, Hon. Frank Harvey, from the territory of Hawaii. A thorough education secured in the San Francisco high school was supplemented by specialized work through correspondence courses in elec- tricity and electrical engineering, and in that way Mr. Miles laid the founda- tion of a broad expert knowledge inestimable in its value to subsequent endeavors. During early youth he became an apprentice with the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company of San Francisco and Oakland. From a very humble position he worked his way rapidly to a post of importance, and before he was twenty-three years of age he had been appointed chief installer. Through the influence of his uncle, William E. Miles, who is a man of prom- inence in the oil fields and now serving as secretary of the Apollo, 4-Oil and Amaurot Oil Companies, he secured a position as bookkeeper for these organi- zations in December of 1910, since which time he has been identified with the Kern river district, and here, at Oil Center, he was united in marriage with Miss Hazel Long, daughter of John Long, of Missouri. M. J. PEARL — Since the acquisition of its great holdings by the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited, in 1910, as well as prior to that date with the old Imperial and 33 organizations, Mr. Pearl has been one of the trusted employes. Not content to be merely a good workman, he has always tried to do whatever came to his department better than he ever had wrought before. Not only is he active, alert and industrious, but in addition he has a genial temperament and his kindly spirit radiates cheer and carries encour- agement to other workers around him. He was the son of poor parents and was born at Williamsport, Pa., May 5, 1864, removing with the family to Kansas at the age of seven years and receiving a limited education in Topeka schools. Later through his own efforts he paid his way through St. Mary's College in Kansas. In the town of St. Mary's he married Miss Blanche San- nier and six years later moved to Flagstafif, Ariz., where he found employment with the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company. For two years engaged as a plumber with that concern, Mr. Pearl later spent six years with the same company in the capacity of stationary engineer. From Arizona he came to California in 1907 and settled in Kern county, where immediately he secured work as a plumber and steamfitter on the Imperial and 33 leases, being retained in the same department when the firm of Keith, Mack & Guggenheim in 1910 was overtaken by the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited. Since coming to this county he and his family have been members of St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church of Bakersfield, while frater- nally he is connected with the Eagles, Woodmen of the World and Modern Woodmen of America. The family home is a cottage on the company prop- erty and the family comprises six children, Irene, Edmund, Clement, Joseph, John and Clarence, of whom the eldest sons are now employed in the oil fields. PHILIP BACH.^ — ^Philip Bach is of German extraction, his grandfather 1324 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY having been born in Baden-Baden, Germany- His father, Philip Bach, was engaged in the dry goods business at Ann Arbor, Mich., being a member of the firm of Bach & Able there. He married Nancy Royce, whose people came to Michigan from Massachusetts, and they were the parents of Philip, Jr. The father died in 1895, and the mother in 1871. Born in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county, Mich., October 20, 1863, Philip Bach was there reared to manhood, attending the public schools, and finally becoming a student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Ill health, however, compelled Mr. Bach to relinquish his studies and he went to New Mexico to regain his strength. He began in the store-keeping business at Alma, Socorro county, then at Cooney, going from there to Magdalena, whence he found his way to Silver City, Grant county, at which latter place he kept a general store and also became interested in silver mining. Having in the meantime gained his former good health, in 1897 he came to Los Angeles, CaL, to engage in the securities brokerage business, but after a year and a half at this line of work he gave it up and went to Portland, Ore., where he secured a position in a dry goods store. After a year and a half there he returned to Los Angeles, and when oil was struck in Kern county, he came here and was employed by J. A. Chancellor and C. A. Canfield to take charge of the twelve wells belonging to the Canfield Company. As superintendent of this com- pany Mr. Bach increased this property to fifty-seven wells, and so successful was he in the conduct of it that, in 1902, when it was taken over by the Asso- ciated Oil Company, he was retained by the latter as foreman of the Canfield division, which position he has since held. The Canfield produces thirty thou- sand barrels of oil per month and is numbered among the best producers in the oil fields. Mr. Bach makes his home on the Canfield properties, where he and his wife, who before her marriage in 1905, to Mr. Bach, was a Mrs. Page, give hearty welcome to their numerous friends and acquaintances. Mrs. Bach is a daughter of John R. Matlack, of Philadelphia, and sister of William V. Matlack, mayor of Bakersfield, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this publication. MARTIN COYNE.— A native of Ireland, Martin Coyne was born at Castleray, County Roscommon, in 1860, a son of John and Mary (Rourke) Coyne. His father died when the son was about four years old, and the mother passed away at Avon, Livingston county, N. Y., in 1875. Of their twelve children Martin was the third youngest. Six of them preceded their mother to the United States, and she brought over the remaining six in 1870. He was a student for a time in the public school at Avon, N. Y., but early went to work on farms in the vicinity. Accompanied by an older brother, James Coyne, he came to California in 1876 and joined their brother, Bartley, in the Santa Clara valley. They engaged in farming there and in Yuba county more than a year- James and Bartley went back to New York state. Martin remained at Smartsville for a time, mining in the winter months and herding cattle during the balance of the year, then went to Nevada county and mined at Bloomfield until he met with an accident caused by a cave-in, by which he was buried up to his head in a heavy mass of gravel for more than half an hour. When he was dug out it was found that his arms and legs were crushed and he was laid up two years, during which he completely exhausted his little supply of money. His first employment after the accident was as a clerk in the Derbeck hotel, where he remained two years gradually improving in health. Then for three years he engaged in the liquor business in Nevada City. In 1886 he established a liquor store at Fifth and D streets, San Diego, which he operated until 1892. Early in that year he came to Bakersfield and was employed in the Hermitage saloon until 1904, when he bought the establish- ment which he has since managed and which is now the property of the firm HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1325 of Coyne & Hewitt. In 1909 the business was removed to its present location on Chester avenue. Air. Coyne erected his beautiful residence at Eighteenth and D streets at an expense of $10,000. He was one of the organizers of the Par^ffine Oil Company, was a member of its first board of directors, has been one of its directors ever since and was for a time its vice-president. The company put down two wells in the Templor country without success, but later operations on 25 Hill were productive of l)cttcr results. It now has six wells which produce about twenty thousand barrels of oil per month. He is also interested in the U. S. Oil & Mining Company, of which he is a director and vice-president and which has sunk four producing wells at IMcKittrick. He is a director and vice-president also of the Bakersfield Six Oil Company, which owns one hundred acres at McKittrick, and in numerous other cor- porations engaged in the development of the California oil fields. At San Diego Mr. Coyne married Miss Nellie Hewitt, a native of Schenectady, N. Y., who has borne him five children, Marguerite, George, Helen, Esther and Mary. Marguerite is a graduate of Notre Dame College, San Jose, and George is a senior in Kern county high school- Mr. Coyne served as an officer in the Royal Arch, is a member of the Elks, and as a member of the Board of Trade and otherwise he has demonstrated a public spirit wdiich has placed him in the foremost ranks of citizens of Bakersfield. ALVA HUNTER. — Among those self-reliant, self-made citizens of Kern county who have solved the vital problem of achieving success in spite of the many impediments which have crossed their paths in the new country is Alva Hunter, the efficient and well-known superintendent of the Nevada Oil Com- pany, which is known as one of the most i^rofitable producers in the region. Alva Hunter is the son of Aaron and Charlotte (Grant) Hunter, born in Indiana in 1872. He was twenty years old when he came wnth his parents to Bakersfield, Cal., and he immediately began to work for the Kern County Land Company. Subsequently he farmecLKi San Luis Obispo county, this state, and it was here that he became interested in the oil business, obtaining employment at Rio Grande as tool-dresser for L. D. Heine. A year later, in 1902, he came to the Kern River field and secured a position as driller for the Nevada Oil Company, at which he worked for a year and a half. He remained with this company from that time on and proving himself to be so well-grounded in the details of the work, that in 1910 he was made superin- tendent of the company- Some idea of the company may be obtained from the information that it has twenty-two wells, and produces about ten thousand barrels monthly. Mr. Hunter fills the office of superintendent of this company and enjoys the con- fidence of his employers and the respect of all with whom he has business relations. In 1909 Mr. Hunter was married to Miss Efiie Walker, of Arkansas, and they have two children, Nellia A. and William Grant. Mr. Hunter takes no part in public afliairs, holding no offices, but he is actively interested in the Republican party, and votes that ticket. His home is on the Nevada holdings. C. L. GIBONEY. — At an early age the obligation of self-support de- volved upon Mr. Giboney. who assumed such responsibilities with the cheerful aptitude that has marked every step of his busy existence. When only fifteen years of age he began to hustle for himself, yet he did not abandon all efl-'orts toward securing an education ; on the other hand, side by side with his energetic devotion to material affairs was a persistence in educational work, so that he not only was able to graduate from the Kern county public schools but in addition lie took a commercial course in the business college at Bakersfield. A native son of California, he was born December 23, 1885, and at the age of sixteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of a machinist at Needles, at the same time learning the blacksmith trade. Later 1326 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY he engaged as a horse-shoer at a railroad camp in Arizona. When the Edison plant was installed on the Kern river he went to Havilah in Kern county, where he worked under the contractor, J. B. Reed. It was the latter who had induced him to locate in the town. Besides doing general work in the black- smith shop he did the greater part of the horse-shoeing in the Kingman blacksmith shop. An opening for a bookkeeper occurred in the department store of Hoch- heimer & Co., at Bakersfield, where Mr. Giboney found employment for which his talents qualified him in an admirable degree. So well did he succeed as bookkeeper for the concern that at the expiration of eighteen months he was made cashier and was given charge of the entire office force in the store, where he remained through a period aggregating five and one-half years. On May 4, 1908, he became bookkeeper for the Associated Oil Company. In a short time he was made chief clerk. After two years of ofilice labor he was given a position as outside man and since then he has acted as foreman in the oil department- In every respect he has given satisfaction to the company and his work has reflected credit upon himself. In addition to handling the oil produced by the Associated, he also handles all that is bought by the company in the Sunset, A'Tidway and McKittrick fields. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Bakersfield. His marriage at Fresno united him with Miss Rose Basye and they have an adopted child. E. A. GROGG.— The Fellows Mercantile Company, although one of the recent institutions of Kern county, is unsurpassed in the character of its establishment and in the appreciation of its patrons. June, 1910, the company was incorporated with a capitalization of $10,000, and on the 1st of August their house of business was opened, with E. A. Grogg as treasurer and manager, C. W. Dickinson as president and John Patterson as vice-president. In every respect the store would do credit to a city far larger than Fellows. The son of Samuel J. Grogg, an Ohio farmer, E. A. Grogg was born in Fayette county, that state, January 15, 1863, and became inured to the hard loil of the farm at a very early age. Leaving the country at the age of nineteen he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. When twenty he became a clerk in a country store at Balbec, Jay county, Ind., and continued there for eight years, after which he clerked at Pennville for four years- Continuing in Jay county, he established himself as proprietor of a general store at Bryant, where he remained until 1903. The complete failure of his health forced him to sell out and seek a difl:'erent climate. Going to Florida, he bought a small ranch near the town of Ripley and there engaged in the poultry industry. The illness of a brother caused him to leave Florida to be with the invalid during an operation at Mobile and later he sold the Florida place, returned with the brother to Indiana and cared for the sufiferer until the end came after an illness of six months. The management of a store at Dunkirk, Jay county, kept him in that town for a time, but later he availed himself of a better opening in the county-seat town, Portland, where he was connected with the department store of Cartwright & Haddington. A desire to see the west caused Mr. Grogg to relinquish his interests at Portland, Ind., from which place he went to Portland, Ore., in October of 1907. In 1908 he came to California, settled in Tulare county and became manager of the Rochdale store at Orosi. After one year he embarked in the gent's furnishing business. At first there was every indication of success, but a panic resulted from the depreciated values of raisins, the principal crop of the locality, and he was forced to retire from business at a considerable loss. Thereupon he sought a new location and was led to establish himself in Fellows, where he has a business that is solid, growing and substantial and that merits and receives an excellent patronage from the community. JAMES LOWELL ANNETTE.— The founder of his name in the new HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1327 world, J. Wyatt Annette, led an eventful existence from the time that he left his native France and crossed the ocean to America, settled in Missouri and engaged in coal mining near St. Louis, until he was impelled to join an expedition of Argonauts who crossed the plains with wagons and ox-teams early in the '50s. Upon arriving at his destination he began to mine on the Feather river. At first fortune seemed to favor him, for he struck gold and with seven partners developed a profitable mine. After they had taken out as much gold as they were able to carry, in buckskin bags fastened to their bodies, they left the mine and started with their treasure for a place to market the gold, but as they were crossing Feather river all were drowned- On- lookers were powerless to aid them, for the weight of the gold caused them to sink before help could reach them. The unfortunate gold-miner left a son, James William, a native of the vicinity of St. Louis, Mo., and from young manhood a resident of California, where he planted an orchard of Bartlett pears in Lake county. By his mar- riage to Fannie Baker, who was born in Missouri and died in California, there was only one child, James Lowell, born at Kelseyville, Lake county, Cal, November 14, 1880. and reared on the home farm, meanwhile attending local schools and the Kelseyville academy. At the age of nineteen he became an apprentice under ]\Ir. Kemper in the old Star mills at South Vallejo. Three years later he left the mill temporarily in order to take a course of study in the Oakland Polytechnic Business College, but after his graduation^ in 1904 he returned to the mill to resume his trade. Two years later he resigned as second miller there to accept a position as head miller with the Dixon Milling Company, but stayed there only five months, resigning in order to become head miller of the Kern river mills with the Kern County Land Company, coming December 27, 1906, to the plant where he has continued ever since. In addition to acting as head miller of this mill Mr. Annette started and for one year operated the Annette bakery, where he put in the first dough mixed in Bakersfield. After selling the bakery he started on Nineteenth street the A. & L. sweet shop, which he sold about 1910. He now owns twenty- seven acres near Lakeport which he set out to Bartlett pears. Mr. Annette is a Republican. While at Vallejo he was made a Mason in Solano Lodge No. 229, F- & A. M., is a member of Bakersfield Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., and Al Malaikah Temple. N. M. S.. of Los Angeles. In Vallejo occurred his marriage to Miss Lillian Steffan, a native of that city and a graduate of the high school there. For many years her father, Philip Stefifan, has been engaged in the wholesale and retail meat business in Vallejo. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Annette com- I)rises two daughters. Madelyn Beth and Doris. FREDERICK E. MANNEL.— The youngest in a family of four children and the only one of the number to establish himself in the United States, Frederick E. Mannel was born in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, November 30, 1864, and was named after his father, the manager of the zoological gardens in Dresden. An excellent education was afiforded him through attendance upon grammar and high schools in Dresden and he was educated with a view to becoming a medical practitioner, but the profession did not appeal to him and he emigrated to the United States in 1880. With him he brought letters of introduction to William Conklin, manager of the zoo in Central park, New York City, and that gentleman gave him employment for a year. During 1881 he shipped to Montevideo, South America, impelled by a desire to see some- thing of that part oi the world. Upon his return to New York he proceeded west to Montana in 1882 and secured work in the government employ. Some time later he went back to Dresden to visit friends. It was during 1885 that Mr. Mannel saw California for the first time. After a brief sojourn in San Francisco he proceeded to Sonoma county and 1328 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY bought a small vineyard near Mark West Springs, later locating near Colfax, Placer county, where he planted vines and developed a valuable vineyard. Upon the sale of that property he removed to San Jose and became a retailer of oil and gasoline, continuing the business until 1896, when he sold out and started upon a trip around the world. The beginning of his journey took him to the old German home and gave him an opportunity again to renew the associations of childhood. Traveling through Germany and Denmark, he went thence to Norway and Sweden and as far north as Spitzbergen, after after which he returned to Germany and from there traveled through Austria and Russia, next back to France and from there to England. A long voyage from London took him to Cape Town, Africa, and after debarking he traveled with a hunting expedition to Fort Salisbury. The trip was made with wagons and oxen and enabled the men to prospect and hunt in leisurely manner.^ Upon leaving the party he traveled on foot across the Zambesi river into the interior of Africa, where he passed six months in exciting explorations among the natives. From there he traveled back south to Transvaal, Orange Free State and Cape Colony. Australia was the next country visited, where he made a study of the pearl fisheries on Thursday Island, later visiting Port Darwin at the extreme northern end of the continent. Next he went to the island of Timook, his intention being to investigate some oil formations, but the natives were on the warpath and rendered personal investigations impossible. He next sailed for the Philippines and made a sojourn in Manila. In China he visited Shanghai, Hong-Kong and other points. En route to the United States he stopped at Yokohama, Japan, and Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, landing in 1899 at San Francisco, whence he came to Bakersfield. With friends he secured a tract of oil land on section 11-29-21. His associates having been misinformed, decided to abandon the work at a depth of five hundred feet, but afterward this was found to be excellent oil territory. Next he prospected at McKittrick and in the Sunset and Midway fields, after which he went to Coalinga, bought a lease and extended the field three miles toward the north. On coming back to Kern county he developed his property in the Midway field and afterward as manager of the Mountain Girl lease put down several Avells that became good producers. With others he secured the building of the Standard pipe line into the Midway field- During 1908 he started the Bakersfield soap works, which he developed into a plant of considerable size and importance. As the organizer of the St. Lawrence Oil Company operating on section 5 in the Midway field, for some time he held a large number of shares in the concern, but later sold his interest. Further he organized the Successus Oil Company now operating on the McKittrick front. The marriage of Mr. Mannel and Miss Elsinore Hutton took place in San Francisco. Although a native of Indianapolis, Ind., Mrs. Mannel was reared in Alameda, Cal., where her father, Edward L. Hutton, was at the head of a mercantile establishment. After coming to Bakersfield Mr. Mannel built the residence which he now occupies at No. 2116 B street and which is brightened by the presence of his two children, Elsie Hutton and Frederick E., |r. Since 1912 he has been manager of the Mannel-Minor Petroleum Company operating on the Balridge lease of two hundred acres. The com- pany was organized that year by himself and F. F. Minor and he is vice- president and manager. Two wells have been completed and a third started. One of these at a depth of two thousand feet, has a capacity of two hundred barrels per day of twenty-five gravity oil- Politically he is a Republican. J. G. EDWARDS. — The farming element of Kern county has a note- worthy representative in the person of J. G. Edwards, who after having fol- lowed the ( ccupation of a millwright for years in Missouri finally met with reverses that took from him the fruits of his long toil, forcing him to start HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1329 anew at an age when he might have been justified in anticipating ease and comfort. It was his good fortune, in choosing a new location, to select Kern county for a home and here he has retrieved the losses of the past, so that he and his capable wife are now surrounded by every comfort. Their success has been made possible by the possession and ownership of a fertile farm in the Weed Patch. Working contentedly and happily and enjoying life to the ut- most, they do not shut themselves out from the sorrows uf the world and are especially in sympathy with the anxieties of the laboring man in his efifort to provide food and raiment for his family. Mr. Edwards is a Socialist. As a soldier in the Civil war he fought for the Union and in times of peace he has been equally loyal to the nation. Although himself of American birth, he is a descendant of Scotch progenitors. His father, Hugh Edwards, was born in Scotland, but crossed into Ireland during boyhood and as a young man became an immigrant to the United States, where he spent his remaining years in Pennsylvania. In that state he married Miss Catherine Cantwell, a member of a Welsh family. By trade a wagonmaker, he engaged in the manu- facture of vehicles in Pennsylvania throughout the balance of his life. When gold was discovered in California he was employed to build wagons for the trip to the coast. Born near Johnstown, Pa., February 8, 1839, J. G. Edwards was one of three children who attained mature years. A brother, Charles G., twelve years older than himself, died in the army during the Civil war. His younger sister, Catherine, Mrs. McKnight, died in Philadelphia. At the age of twelve years he went to Coshocton county, Ohio, joining an uncle, Guy Edwards, a millwright and farmer. In that community the uncle had a reputation as an expert mechanic. The most intricate jobs were taken to him. It was under such excellent direction that the lad took up the occupation of mill-building. While thus engaged he enlisted in the Union army as a substitute. Becoming a member of Company F, One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Ohio Infantry, he engaged in guard duty below Baltimore, was stationed for some time in Virginia and West Virginia, and later was assigned to the secret service for duty in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania. At the expiration of two years and eight months at the front he received an honorable discharge. A period of activity as a millwright in Ohio was followed by the removal of Mr. Edwards to Missouri, where he took up his trade in Greene county. There in 1872 he married Miss Torinda \\ Tuttle, who was born in Indiana and at the age of twelve years accompanied relatives to Missouri. Until 1892 Mr. Edwards continued to live in Missouri and meanwhile he built or bought and sold mills in about six of the leading counties of southeastern Missouri. At first he was prospered, but reverses began to fall upon him and eventually he was obliged to give up the business. It was then that he came to California and secured work as a ranch-hand for Blodgett, Fish & Daggett. Next he spent a year in the employ of Captain McKittrick. Meanwhile he had saved his earnings and thus was enabled to buy twenty acres in 1895, three years after his arrival in Kern county. The place cost him $1,000 including the water right from the east side canal. From that invest- ment he has been able to earn a livelihood from year to year. The older son, Charles, is a mechanic and farmer living at Salem, Ore. The yovmger son, Arthur, is an oil-well driller, now following his trade at Vera Cruz, Mexico. The only daughter, Katie V., is the wife of A. E. Wilson and lives on a ranch in Kern county. H. J. HATH. — Considerations of health brought Mr. Hath to California when twenty-four years of age and since then he has lived in Kern county. A native of Michigan, he was born September 1, 1878, in Clinton county, seven miles north of Lansing and seventy miles east of Grand Rapids. His father, James M., for years a farmer in Clinton county, died there in 1900. 1330 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and the mother, Lovina (Burdy) Hath, still remains at the old homestead. The parental family included eight children and of these H. J. was next to the youngest. Like the other children, he was early taught to aid in the work on the home farm and during winter months attended a country school. Later he had the advantage of a course of study in a business college at Lansing. During 1901 he was united in marriage with Miss Stella M. Dunn, of Shia- wassee county, Mich., and they have two children, Elno and Thelma. Realizing that he could not hope to live long if he remained in Michigan he came to California in 1902 and here he has had the satisfaction of com- pletely regaining his strength and has done well from a business standpoint, so that he has had no reason to regret his removal to the west. After coming to this county he worked in the Southern Pacific shops at Kern for seven months and then came to the Kern river oil fields, where ever since he has been employed, at first as a day laborer and since August 1, 1911, as fore- man of the machine shop on the lease of the Kern Trading and Oil Com- pany. Ever since boyhood he has displayed mechanical ability and has pre- ferred work with machinery to other forms of labor, so that he finds his present position congenial and suited to his abilities. In political affiliation Mr. Hath is a Republican and fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World. In 1912 he was elected trustee of the Petroleum school district, in the Kern river field, where is being erected an elegant $10,000 school house, the finest structure of its kind in the field. MRS. SARAH GLENN. — One of the early pioneers of California, whose many experiences of untold hardship and deprivation are often retold to the many friends and relatives who now surround her, is Mrs. Sarah Glenn, now making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Morris Borgwardt, of Bakers- field. She was born November 21, 1835, near Nashville, Tenn., daughter of Neal and Charity (Hall) Dennis. She was the fifth of her parents' family of eight children born in Tennessee, three others being born in Texas, and she was twelve years old when brought to Texas, ox-teams and horses fur- nishing the means of transportation and travel, and a settlement was made at Belton, Bell county, that state, where the father followed farming. Mrs. Glenn was but fourteen when she was married to James Madison Glenn, who was born in the southwest February 22, 1821. The couple crossed the plains in wagons drawn by ox-teams to California and her eldest son, John Glenn, a cattle man at White River, Tulare county, was born on the journey, which took seven months and three weeks. In this company crossing the plains, which took place in 1854, were the Dunlap, Arnold and Brite families and they shared in many exciting and terrible encounters. At the head of the Gila river, the Glenn band was overtaken by Apache Indians, and it was only through the kind intervention of Adolph Moore that bloodshed was averted. However, a member of the band, by name Jim Houston, brother of Mrs. Dunlap, was shot by the Indians in trying to recover twenty-three head of horses which had been stolen. The first stop was made at Los Angeles, where the Glenns remained during 1854-55 and then went to Visalia, where the year 1856-57 was spent, and later they lived at the upper crossing of the San Joaquin river. Then returning to Tulare county, they lived for a year on the Kings river, whence they went to Linn's valley and later moved to Havilah. Upon their return to Linn's valley they settled here and Glennville was named after Mr. Glenn, who followed his trade of blacksmith, building the first shop of that kind in the vicinity. He con- tinued to follow this trade and conduct the blacksmith shop at Glennville until his death, which occurred in 1883, and at his death there passed away one of the most sturdy and energetic pioneers California has ever known. Six children survived him. John A. is a cattleman at White River, Cal. Charity became the wife of William Melburne, and now resides at Terra Bella. William is at Oxnard. Ventura countv. Virginia Lee is the wife of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1331 Frank C. Beale, of Visalia. Neal is a ijardener of Los Angeles. Etta is the wife of Morris Borgwardt, of Bakersfield, who is the custodian of the Emer- son school. Mr. and Mrs. Borgwardt have two children, Sibyl, who is a freshman in the Bakersfield high school ; and Henry Lawton, who is in the Bakersfield grammar school. JOHN BRECKENRIDGE BRITE.— The Brite family, of which John Breckenridge Brite is a member, has been so closely identified with Kern county, as to give its name to one of that county's fertile valleys, and Brites Valley has been the center of their industries for many years. While his parents were in Southern California, whither they had gone because of ill- ness in the family, John B. Brite's birth occurred in El Monte, Los Angeles county, December 20, 1866. He is the son of John M. Brite, the pioneer settler of the Tehachapi region, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this publication. John B. Brite received the education afforded by the local public schools of his vicinity, attending until he was sixteen, when he went to work for his father, continuing thus until he was twenty-one. For four years in partnership with his three brothers, he ran the home ranch, and it was finally divided among them, John B. becoming owner of three hundred and twenty acres, which he has since cultivated and where he has made his home. Aside from ranching, Mr. Brite was in the livery and blacksmithing business in the town of Tehachapi in 1902, but his large land interests engaged most of his time and he found it necessary to give them his entire attention. Consequently he disposed of the business and returned to his farm. Mr. Brite at present is owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres of land and has about seven hundred acres of it under cultivation, the produc- tion of which finds a ready market. It has been proved that the land under cultivation is well adapted for fruit, vieing with any in the Tehachapi region, but the chief production on Mr. Brite's land is wheat and barley. He owns a combined harvester and in connection with his tilling the soil he raises thoroughbred Poland China hogs, having about four hundred head on his place. He has some fine cattle, using his father's old brand, the half moon and capital J. In January, 1909, Mr. Brite was married to Belle Smith, a native of Pennsylvania, and they have made a pleasant and hospitable home in the valley. HENRY SANGUINETTL— One of the oldest superintendents now op- erating in the Kern river fields, and one who has seen great changes take place in this locality, is Henry Sanguinetti, who at present superintends the works of the Linda Vista, Piedmont and Sesnon Oil Companies, and is man- ager of the Oakland Water Company, being also superintendent of the Broadway Oil Company. Mr. Sanguinetti was born in Vallicita, Calaveras county, Cal., where his father, John Sanguinetti, settled upon coming to America. The latter was one of the "forty-niners" who were attracted to this part of the world by the report of the discovery of gold. Reaching this state, he worked in the mines and later took up farming, and here he and his estimable wife, Rosa (Campa) Sanguinetti, lived and raised their family of five children, four sons and one daughter. The mother is now living, at the age of eighty- three years, on the old homestead of Calaveras county, where Mr. Sanguin- etti's three brothers and sister also reside. Henry Sanguinetti was born August 16, 1867, and his public school education was supplemented by a course at the Stockton Business College, from which he was graduated. He worked with a construction gang in Calaveras and Amador counties, building stamp mills, flumes, hoists and all structures pertaining to mine operations. In 1886 he came to Kern county and did repair work on the Long Tom Mine about twenty-five miles north of Bakersfiel-d, and in 1889 came to Bakersfield to engage as a contractor and 1332 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY builder. It was in the spring- of 1900 that he decided to go to Alaska, where he was employed in building the Snattesham stamp mill, situated about thirty miles northeast from Juneau. This took him a year, after which he returned to California, coming direct to the Kern river oil field, having been sent hither by Frank Littlefield, who operated the Snattesham stamp mill, and here he has since remained. Mr. Sanguinetti has drilled about thirty- six wells, and in his work has proven himself a man of great constructive genius and a capable draftsman. Before going to Alaska, in 1900, Mr. Sanguinetti was married to Miss Marie Meinecke, of Vallicita, Cal., whose parents were pioneers of Cala- veras county, of German descent. Before her marriage she was a teacher in the schools in her native county, and with her husband has always taken a deep interest in school afifairs. He helped to organize the Toltic school district, and now serves as clerk of the board of trustees. Mr. and Mrs. Sanguinetti have three children, Marie, Dorris and Henry, Jr. Mr. Sanguinetti is a stockholder in the Linda Vista, Piedmont and Broadway companies, and he now reaps the benefit of his stanch integrity and unfailing effort in their conduct. JOHN H. AUGSBURGER.— Born and reared in Ohio, John J. Augs- burger, the father of our subject removed to Indiana, devoted his active life to agricultural pursuits and died July 8, 1911, at the old homestead. Surviving him are the widow and six children. The former, who bore the maiden name of Fannie Hirschy, was born in Indiana, descended from Swiss forebears, and is still living on the old home farm in her native common- wealth. The place lies near the eastern Indiana oil fields in the vicinity of Geneva. The six children are as follows : Rebecca, wife of Charles Tremp, of Woodburn, Allen county, Ind. ; Noah, a farmer near Linn Grove, Adams county, Ind. ; Albert, who is engaged in farming near Bern, Adams county, Ind.; Ella, who resides with her mother; John H., who was born near Linn Grove, Ind., December 11, 1884, and is the only member of the family to remove from the old home state ; and Elmer, who now has charge of the homestead near Linn Grove. The next to the youngest son com- pleted his education in the Linn Grove high school, where he took a course of three years. At the age of seventeen he engaged as a roustabout with the Standard Oil Company in the Geneva district. After two weeks as a roust- about he began pumping. From that he rose to be a tool-dresser and then a driller. Two years were spent in the Casey field, where he worked suc- cessively for several different companies. For the next two years he worked in the Glenn Pool field in Oklahoma, and during 1909 came from there to California, where he worked at Orcutt in the Santa Maria field. A year later, in 1910, he came to Kern county and for two years drilled in the vicinity of Maricopa. July 16, 1912, he became connected with the Kern Trading & Oil Company in the North INIidway division of the Sunset field near Fellows. As lease foreman, with headquarters on section 23, 31-22, he holds a very responsible position with one of the greatest concerns operat- ing in this county, and has won the confidence, not only of higher offfcials of the corporation, but also of co-workers and other employes, all of whom unite in testifving as to his ability, intelligence and devotion to duty. DAN McDonald.— The birth of Mr. McDonald occurred in Boston, Alass., January 1, 1870, and he received a public-school education in his native city. During 1893 he became an employe in the shipyards at Newport News, Va., and later he drifted to the Southwest to identify himself with the vast region that was drawing on the east for men of energy and intelligence. For nearly a year, he rode the range in Oklahoma and Indian Territory for different cattle outfits. After leaving there he drifted into Montana and followed the same occupation with John Murphy on the Seventy-Nine Horse Ranch near Billings, but resigned at the time of the discovery of gold in the Klondike, intending to accompany an expedition to HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1333 Nome. However, he had gone no further than Seattle, when he was taken seriously ill with pneumonia. When finally he had recovered his health he went to Butte, Mont., and engaged in mining. Next he engaged in mining at Brigham, Utah, and from that point proceeded to San Juan, Colo.; thence to Bland, N. Mex., from which place he went to Jerome and Bisbee, Arizona. Employment in Los Angeles filled the years between 1898 and 1902. During April of the year last named Mr. McDonald came to Mojave, where ever since he has made his home. For six years he followed mining with the Exposed Treasury Company and the Queen Esther Company, after which he embarked in the liquor business, becoming proprietor of the Los Angeles House, since which time he has built an annex to the house. In addition he has erected a cottage in the same block, which he used in connection with the hotel. In Los Angeles he married Miss Lillie E. Taylor, a native of Eng- land. By the union he is the father of four children, Lillie, Mabel and ]\Iary, twins, and Joseph. In politics he always has been stanch in his allegiance to the Democratic party. Fraternallv he is connected wich Bakersfield Lodge No. 473, L. O. O. M., and also with the Los Angeles Aerie No. 202, F. O. E. NICK BRITZ is the son of John and Gertrude (Salm) Britz, both of whom were natives of Germany and are now^ deceased. The father was a farmer and a member of an old and much respected family in that country. Six children came to their marriage, four having survived the parents, and Nick, who was the youngest and only one to come to America, was born June 29, 1860, near Sarbruchen or Treves, in Rhenish-Prussia. He was brought up in his native place and sent to the schools there, meanwhile aiding his father on the home farm. In 1881 he came to the United States and after stopping in Pennsylvania for a while he went to Pueblo, Colo., at the time of the building of the Bessemer Steel Works there, being employed on the construction of the blast furnace. In December, 1882, he came to Cali- fornia and secured employment in the Hills Ferry hotel, later doing farm work, and in 1884 he came to Bakersfield, where he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. Not long afterward he was transferred to Los Angeles by that company and worked in the roundhouse at Colton and Lancaster. In 1889, he returned to Bakersfield, first entering the employ of the German hotel, then the Walters hotel, after which he decided to start in business for himself. He opened up a liquor business on the corner of K and Nineteenth streets in 1892, and later added the French Cafe, but this he later sold and has since continued the original business, in which Gaudenz W'ei- chelt also -has an interest. Besides this business Mr. Britz is interested in the Los Angeles Fire Insurance Company. Nick Britz was married in Santa Cruz, Cal., to Miss Josephine ]\Iatske, who was born in Berlin, Germany. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Order of Eagles and the Order of Royal Arch. He is a Democrat. J. R. LOCK. — An identification with the Associated Oil Company that began in November of 1909 and that kept him at the McKittrick holdings of the corporation for a considerable period, has since brought Mr. Lock to the company properties at Fellows, where he is now employed as head machinist, having charge of all outside work pertaining to the machinery at the com- pany properties one and one-half miles northeast of the town. Long experience as a machinist qualifies him for expert work in this important department of the devolopment work of the concern. A Missourian by birth, Mr. Lock was born near Darlington, Gentry county, December 18, 1877. The farm where uneventfully were passed the years of boyhood and youth had been occupied by his father since 1856, when that hardy pioneer took up the land and began the transformation of the raw prairie into a remunerative, productive estate. Now unable to continue the heavy agricultural labors of his younger days, he has leased his farm of three hundred and eighty acres and is enjoying the comforts of old age. By his 1334 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY marriage to Eliza Williams, who died in 1894 at the age of forty-four years, he had a family of five sons and one daughter. All are still living with the exception of one of the sons. The youngest soh and next to the youngest child, J. R. Lock, was reared at the old homestead and received a common- school education. Upon starting out to make his own way in the west, he left Missouri in February, 1898, and removed to Colorado. For a short time he remained at Pueblo. Afterward he foimd employment in the mines at Crip- ple Creek, where his first employment was that of fireman for the hoisting engine. Within one year he was promoted to be hoisting engineer, which responsible task he continued most successfully for a few years. Upon coming to California in February, 1909, Mr. Lock proceeded to Fresno and for two years was employed in running the pumps at the St. George winery. From there he removed to San Joaquin county and secured work as foreman of the R. C. Sargent estate on a ranch comprising one hundred and fifty thousand acres. During three and one-half years he filled the position and had charge of a herd of five thousand head of cattle. In order to prepare so large a drove for the markets it was necessary to raise large amounts of alfalfa and grain and all of such work was placed under his charge. While engaged as foreman on this ranch he met and married Miss Emma A. Blohm and they and their three sons, James S., Arthur R. and John H., now occupy a comfortable cottage on the property of the Associated near Fellows. From the ranch in San Joaquin county Mr. Lock came to Kern county and engaged with the old Amalie gold and silver mine near Caliente, where he had charge of the hoist for four years, and since giving up that work he has been continuously with the Associated. His attention is given wholly to the duties of his position. He is a member of Taft Lodge No. 593, L. O. O. M. L. A. HIRSCH. — Merit and persistence are the qualities that have con- tributed to the rapid rise of Mr. Hirsch in the oil industry. Although still a young man, scarcely yet in the prime of manhood and with years of possible continued usefulness stretching before him, his knowledge of the oil business is not surpassed by that of men many years older than he and his intelligent application to the work forecasts increased results for the future. As lease fore- man of the American Oilfields Company, with headquarters on section ^6, 31-22, he is identified with production work on one of the greatest properties in the state. Descended from an old eastern family, L. A. Hirsch was born at St. Marys, Auglaize county, Ohio, March 22, 1887, received a fair education in the grammar and high schools of his native town, and at the age of eighteen years became a pumper in the employ of the Standard Oil Company. Ever since that time he has continued in the same occupation. Upon leaving Ohio he went to Illinois, still as an employe of the Standard, and for a time he worked in the oil fields at Westfield, twelve miles north of Casey. A later position with the Silurian Oil Company at Bridgeport occupied him for two years and four months, after which he came to California in September, 1910, and found employment on section 22 division of the North American Con- solidated. After a short period with that company, on May 6, 1911, he became lease foreman with the American Oilfields Company, and has since filled this responsible position with creditable efficiency. With his wife, whom he mar- ried in Bakersfield and who was formerly Miss Blanche Worman, of St. Marys, Ohio, he has established a comfortable home on section 36 in a com- pany residence. HERMAN AUGUSTUS WEFERLING.— The organization of the Te- hachapi Hay and Grain Company, effected in 1909 through the efforts of a number of progressive local men, has added another enterprise to the com- mercial activities of Tehachapi and has been pushed forward to a gratif3''ing degree of financial importance through the capable management of Mr. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1335 Weferling, who assisted in the starting of the concern and has since acted as its superintendent. While Mr. Weferling is ably and efficiently conducting- the large interests of the company his wife, formerly Mrs. Luella (Duty) Wiggins and a native of Texas, is devoting her attention to the management of her millinery store in Tehachapi. Of German birth, a native of Braunsweich, Prussia, born August 21, 1867, Herman Augustus Weferling was next to the oldest in a family consisting of two sons and three daughters (all still living.) The parents, William and Louise (Bressel) Weferling, were born in Prussia and the father engaged in the sugar manufacturing business at Magdeburg on the Elbe. During 1868 he brought his family to America, proceeded as far west as Wisconsin and in Black Hawk county built one of the first sugar mills in the state. Coming to California in 1871 he worked for a time in a sugar factory, but soon went to Santa Cruz and near Soquel began to cultivate a farm. During 1880 he re- moved to Monterey county and bought a farm in Lockwood valley, where he remained until his death and where his widow still makes her home. Reared in California and educated in the public schools of the state, Herman Augustus Weferling holds in highest honor the institutions of this commonwealth and is loyal to every movement fur the permanent upbuilding of the state. At the age of twenty-one he left home to make his own livelihood. Coming direct to Kern county he located land in the W^eed Patch and took up a claim under the homestead laws. Unfortunately a season of prolonged drought destroyed all of his crops and discouraged him to such an extent that he gave up the claim after two years. During 1890 he came to Tehachapi and secured a clerkship with Isidore Asher. Later he worked in the quartz mills. Since 1909 he has devoted his time wholly to the Tehachapi Hay and Grain Com- pany. In politics he is a Republican. The development of Kern county inter- ests him deeply. A firm believer in the opportunities ofifered by this section of the state, he adds another to the list of the progressive, liberal and public- spirited men whose citizenship has been of inestimable value to the county. JEAN BURUBELTZ.— The death of Jean Burubeltz, on June 7, 1911, removed from East Bakersfield one of its oldest and best-known citizens, who had been identified with the interests of Kern county fcr thirty-five years, and who since 1901 had been the proprietor of the Hotel d'Europe of East Bakers- field. He was born in Lasse, Basses-Pyrenees, France, in January, 1852, and he grew up on the farm of his father, gaining the rudiments of his agricultural training under him. Coming to Kern county, Cal., at the age of twenty-one he engaged in the sheep business until 1890, when he sold out and went to Los Angeles, where he became interested in the hotel business. In 1901 he returned to Kern county and opened the hotel in East Bakersfield which he ever afterward conducted, and which his widow still continues with success. His death was a severe blow to many in his city, and he was mourned by a large circle of intimate friends. In politics he was a Republican. On August 5, 1890, occurred the wedding of Jean Burubeltz and Miss Jeanne Erreca, who was born in Urapel, Basses-Pyrenees, France. She is the daughter of Pierre and Catherine (Mariluch) Erreca, the former now farming in France, while the mother is deceased. Pierre Erreca was engaged for some time in the stock business in Buenos Ayres, South America, but returned to France, where he purchased a farm and is now residing. He was the father of nine children, all living, of whom Mrs. Burubeltz is the eldest. Mrs. Jeanne (Erreca) Burubeltz came to the United States in 1883 and was married to Mr. Burubeltz in Los Angeles, whence they came to East Bakersfield in 1901. She has five children, Michel, Carmen, Paul, Lawrence and Helen. CHARLES RICHARD BRITE.— The name of Brite's Valley shall serve as a monument to the memory of John Moore Brite, a pioneer of '59 in this 55 1336 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY part of the state and in whose honor Brite's valley was named and a sketch of whom appears in this work. Charles R. Brite was born at El Monte, Los Angeles county, October 20, 1868, during the temporary residence of the family there and six months later they returned to Kern county and as he grew up he was sent to school in the valley. Compelled to go to work at only twelve years of age, he drove an ox- team at his father's sawmill. For six years he was employed in the mill and then worked on his father's ranch, remaining with him until he reached his twenty-third year. In partnership with his three brothers he conducted the ranch for about four years, and then the estate was divided, and each started out for himself. At this time he had acquired three hundred acres of land, also owning a hundred and sixty of the home place, and he engaged in general farming and stockraising, at various times buying land, until he now owns five thousand acres in all. Four hundred acres are under cultivation, the re- mainder being utilized for the ranging cf his stock, as he has about five hun- dred head in all. In addition to this Mr. Brite owns forty acres of land planted to alfalfa on Union avenue near Bakersfield, under the Kern Island Canal, and he has found this a most profitable investment. Mr. Brite, like his brothers, has become prosperous in his undertakings. On January 25, 1901, Mr. Brite married Ella Buhn, who was born in Tehachapi, January 28, 1885, and died June 22, 1908, leaving two children, Richard G. and John E., bcth of whojn are attending public school. Subse- quently Mr. Brite married Delia Merwin, a native of Pennsylvania. He is much interested in educational work and at present is serving as trustee of the Brite's valley school district. Politically he is a Democrat. CALVIN HALL HOLMES.— Three generations of the Holmes family have lived and labored in California, and the present representatives feel a merited pride in the long and honorable identification of their name with this section of the country. When news was received in Arkansas concerning the discovery of gold at Sutter's camp three brothers, Calvin, Henderson and William Hclmes, at once began to make preparation for the long journey to the west. The summer of 1849 found them traveling overland towards Cali- fornia. It was the brother first-named who became the ancestor of C. H. Holmes, of Taft. Following the example of the majority of early settlers, he tried his luck at mining and even after he had taken up land in Sonoma county he helped to devek p the Yellow Jacket quicksilver mines on his ranch. Three different times he traveled back to Arkansas and to Kentucky for the purpose of buying horses and cattle to drive overland to California and on one of these trips to Kentucky he married Miss Elvira Hofifman, who accompanied him on the long journey across the plains to the new home. To an unusual degree he identified himself with the upbuilding of California, where he was widely known. On the site of the new mint in San Francisco he built one of the first slaughter-houses in that city. To aid in building the railroad from San Francisco to Calistoga, Napa county, he donated $10,000, and many other public improvements of early days felt the impetus of his generosity. Finan- cially and politically he was a man of influence. When finally his earth life came to an end friends and family mourned the passing of one whose existence had counted in the world's work and whose patriotic services placed him high in the citizenship of his adopted state. There were three children in the family of this pioneer and of these Edward, whose death occurred in 1902, was the youngest. By his marriage to Miss Emily John six children were born, viz: Edward, who is engaged in farming a part of the old homestead ; Calvin Hall ; Anna L. wife of Egbert Smith, a farmer of Napa county; Herman -and Ovid, who are ranching on a part of the old homestead ; and Kate, a student in the Berkeley high school who resides with her mother, now Mrs. Fred Emerson Brooks. Born at Kel- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1337 \ogg, Sonoma county, Cal., March 20, 1888, C. H. Holmes began to help on the ranch when he was only seven years of age. By the time he was fourteen he did a man's work on the farm and earned $20 per month as wages during the busy season. His father was a college graduate and desired that his children should also have good advantages, so he benight a residence in Berkeley and sent the children to the splendid educational institution in that city. During an attendance of three years and six months in the Berkeley high school C. H. Holmes became an athlete and still holds the records on one-quarter mile run, accomplished in 52 2-5 seconds, in the spring of 1907. For a time he was business manager of the high school paoer. On returning to the ranch he acted as assistant foreman. Later he spent six months as manager of the Jewett fruit ranch. Going back to Berkeley, he became official coach for the Berkeley high school track team and remained for a year. In April of 1910 he left Berkeley and proceeded to Maricopa where he secured a position as stock clerk with J. F. Lucey Co., continuing in their employ for two and one-half years. During the last year of his association with the firm he served as manager. May 15, 1912, he entered the service of the Axelson Machine Co., and since February of 1913 he has been their manager at Taft. The company is a Bakersfield concern, but now has its headquarters in Los Angeles, although retaining the store at Bakersfield, besides the branches at Coalinga and Taft. Giving his time and attention closely to the interests of the company, he has had little leisure for identification with outside activities, but he and his wife, who was formerly Miss Cleta Lamb Hickerson, of Bakers- field, have a large circle of friends in Kern county. Politically he favors the principles of the Democratic party. A. M. WEAVER. — A son of C. Weaver, who had conducted a cooper shop and lampblack factory in Pennsylvania, A. M. Weaver was born at Oil City, Pa., July 6, 1884, became an employe of the Oil Well Supply Company when he was only fifteen years of age, since which time he has been connected contin- uously with the same firm. A long, successful and honorable record with t'ne same concern stands to his credit and testifies as to his ability. As a clerk in the store of the Oil Well Supply Company at Oil City. ^^Ir. Weaver gained his first practical knowledge of business in general and the oil suppl}^ business in particular. Transferred from one Pennsylvania town to another in the interests of the same concern, he became proficient as a sales- man, and April 28, 1905, opened up the company's store at Bullion, that state, where he was the first manager. His selection for such a position attested to his high standing with officials of the corporation. . During 1909 he came to California and spent nine months in the Los Angeles salesroom, from which he was sent to Kern county in April, 1910, in order to open the company's store at Shale, two miles northwest of Fellows. Here he has since continued as manager of the Shale branch of the R. H. Herron Co., affiliated with the Oil Well Supply Company. While living in Pennsylvania he was connected with the Elks at Franklin. In Los Angeles he was united in marriage with Miss Eva Eakin, daughter of Alonzo Eakin, at one time a prominent oil operator in Pennsylvania fields. Mrs. Weaver met her death in a runaway accident ]\Iarch 5, 1913, leaving a small child. May, who since has made her home wnth the maternal grandmother, Mrs. Eakin, in Los Angeles. A woman of culture and charming social graces, Mrs. Weaver was much beloved in the circle of her intimate friends and her death was an irreparable bereavement to the imme- diate family. FRED B. VAUGHN. — The selection of the oil business as his life occu- pation was the natural outcome of the early environment of Mr. Vaughn, who as a boy became familiar with the sights and scenes in the great oil fields of Colorado lying near the city of Florence. Himself a native of that state, born at Rosita, Custer county, January 14, 1883, he is the son of Bridd and Clara 1338 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY (Blakesley) Vaughn, the latter deceased in 1903, and the former, a gold-miner by occupation, still a resident of Florence, Colo., and quite active notwithstand- ing his sixty-three years. In remote and isolated communities, far from the commercial centers, he has lived his life in patient toil, and much of the remark- able energy displayed by his son, Fred B., is an inheritance from this pioneer miner of the Rocky mountain region. Of the five children in the family, Fred B. was the fourth in order of birth and the second son. During boyhood he spent the winter months in school and the summer seasons at work in the oil fields of Colorado. When he had advanced so that he could fill the position of a tool-dresser Mr. Vaughn came to California in 1905 and for a year worked in the Los Angeles field, from which he came to the Kern river field to work as a pro- duction man on the Associated lease. After four years there he began as a tool-dresser for the same company on the west side, where later he drilled on the Bear Creek lease. After eight months as superintendent of the Stock- ton Midway Oil Company he came into the service of the M. & M. Oil Com- pany as a driller, from which he was promoted, June 23, 1913, being made superintendent of the company's holdings on section 15, 31-22. Ten active wells on the tract of eighty acres now average a monthly production of seven- teen th(;usand barrels, and it is the ambition of the superintendent to not only maintain, but also increase the output of the lease. His time is given closely to the work and his advancement has been made wholly on merit. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World. With his wife, who was formerly Miss Fannie Westfall, of Florence, Colo., he has established a comfortable home in the superintendent's residence on the M. & M. lease. CHRISTIAN W. CLINE.— Perseverance in the face of obstacles which to many another man would have been insurmountable has been the chief factor in the success of C. W. Cline. He was born in Franklin, Ohio, May 25, 1864, and was educated in schools in different parts of his native state. After leaving school he made his home with his parents and was employed on farms until he was twenty-four years old, then coming to California and settling in Orange county, where he worked two years. From there he went to Redlands, where he spent a year. In 1890 he came to Delano and found em- ployment in the store of M. Swartz & Son, where for three years he filled the position of head salesman. By this time he had a thorough knowledge of merchandising and sufficient capital to engage in trade on his own accoimt in a modest way. He opened a general store in Tehachapi, but his health soon became so greatly impaired that he was obliged to close out his interests there and seek a more favorable location. This for a time he thought he had found at Sumner (East Bakersfield). He established a store there and soon worked up a business which promised great success ; but again ill health interefered with his plans and he was obliged to find out-door employment. This he found on Senator Cox's ranch, where he engaged as a laborer and later was made superintendent of the ranch. Eventually he resigned that position to take charge of the W. H. Harrelson ranch in Tulare county, which he managed until 1908. Then, going to Bakersfield, he was assistant postmaster under Postmaster Edmonds for six months, at the end of this time resigning his position as he was unable to longer continue indoor work. He then came to Delano, leased land of the Kern County Land Company and began a career as a grain farmer which has been almost uniformly successful to the present time. The acreage which he operates under lease varies from year to year from three hundred to eight hundred acres. As a farmer Mr. Cline has won distinction among the leaders in his vicin- ity. The family residence is in Delano, where Mr. Cline owns a comfortable home. As a Republican he is active in politics, as a citizen is public spirited and fraternally belongs to Delano Lodge No. 309, F. & A. M., Tulare Chapter HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1339 No. 71, R. A. j\I.. Visalia Commandery No. 26, K. T., and Al Malaikah Tem- ple, N. M. S. in Los Angeles. December 26, 1905, Mr. Cline married Miss Edna McCutchen, a native of Augusta county, Va., and they have two chil- dren, Harry T. and Virginia M. STAR SODA WORKS was started on a small scale in Sumner (now East Bakersfield) in 1888 by G. Galli, who was born on a farm near Lucca, Italy, May 8, 1856. He came to San Francisco in 1871 and on October 1, 1879, he arrived in Bakersfield, following farming in this county until he started the Star Soda Works. The enterprise was the first of its kind in the village and for a time its success was problematical, but eventually the energy of the owner brought a merited measure of financial success and business standing. The incorporation of the Star Soda Works occurred in 1905 with Mr. Galli as president and he still fills the same office, having entire supervision of the plant en Grove street in East Bakersfield, where he is engaged in the manufacture of soda and soft drinks, also acts as agent for the products of the Mathie Brewing Company in Los Angeles. While the main business of his company is in Bakersfield he also makes shipments to different parts of Kern county and has built up an important trade through efficiency and energy. Besides owning the location of his plant he also owns three houses in East Bakersfield, including the residence which he built and now occupies. Since becoming a citizen of the United States he has affiliated with the Republican party. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Druids. A, B. GREEN. — Although the association of Mr. Green with business interests in California has been of but brief duration as counted by years, already he has risen to a position of distinct importance along the line of his chosen occupation and at Taft, where he has engaged in business since April of 1910, he is known as a man of tireless energy and shrewd business judgment. Prior to his removal to the west he resided in Kentucky, of which commonwealth he is a native, having been born at Bowling Green, June 4, 1878, and having received a common-school educa- tion in that town. His studies, with the exception of a subsequent commercial course, were cut short at a very early age and he turned his attention to the sheet-metal work and to drafting, along which lines he acquired efficiency. With the exception of a visit to California during 1906 he devoted his atten- tion steadily to occupative labors in Kentucky until 1908, when he relinquished associations with the Blue Grass state and became a citizen of California. In coming here he had the advantage of a previous experience of fourteen years at his trade and therefore possessed every qualification for a successful continuance in the same or kindred pursuits. For one year after his arrival in Bakersfield he held a salaried position with Max Gundlach, Jr. One year was sufficient to convince the employer of the value of the clerk, therefore a partnership was proposed and inaugurated, the firm con- sisting of Max Gundlach, Jr., George A. JNIorris and A. B. Green, associated under the title of the Gundlach Tank Company, with places of business at Bakersfield, Maricopa and Taft. March 1, 1913, George A Morris sold out his interest to the two other partners, who have since conducted the business. Mr. Green was sent to Taft in April, 1910, to open the branch house at this point and to erect the necessary buildings. He has established a home at Taft, having been married in 1911 to Miss Jessie Balderson, a native of Illinois and a daughter of a pioneer of that state. With the exception of an active associa- tion with the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and Improved Order of Red Men, he gives his time and attention wholly to business affairs and takes just pride in the large trade he is building up through the whole field extending from Maricopa to McKittrick. Sheet-metal work of every descrip- tion is conducted along modern lines. VALENTIN LAFONT.— A gentleman well and favorablv known in 1340 ■ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Kern county is Valentin Lafont, who was born in St. Laurent, Hautes-Alpes, France, August 27, 1876, the son of Xavier and Josephine (Borel) Lafont, who were progressive farmers of that community and whose family comprised four children. Valentin, the third in order of birth, from a youth attended the local schools during the winters, while in summers he made himself useful on the home farm learning the mode of agriculture as it is accomplished in the South cif France. At the age of seventeen he went to the adjoining department, Bouche du Rhone, where for three years he was employed on a farm at teaming until he enlisted in the Twenty-second Regiment of Infantry in the French army. At the expiration of three years of service he was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal. After spending a year in St. Laurent he came to Bakersfield, Cal., in 1901 and immediately entered the employ of the Kern County Land Company. Later placed in charge of the tallow-rendering department of their Bellevue packing house, he continued in that capacity until 1908, when he accepted a position in the Bakersfield ice plant but after eighteen months resigned to re-enter the employ of the Kern County Land Company as fence rider on the Poso ranch. Desiring to engage in farming for himself in 1911 he leased the present ranch, which he has since operated and devotes his time to raising grain, alfalfa hay and corn. The marriage of Mr. Lafont occurred in East Bakersfield, Alarch 21, 1903, when he was united with Miss Marie Pauline Achin (also a native of St. Laurent, France), who is his able helpmate and assists him in his eflforts towards success. A. RODONI.- — The Vineland cheese factory, which is being conducted in Kern county by A. Rodoni and Peter Cattani, was the first factory of its kind in this part of the country. It has a daily capacity of three hundred pc unds of cheese, the quality of which is excellent and bears wide reputa- tion the country round. The fact that both these men have had a long experi- ence in the dairy business, and were brought up to learn the secrets of the making of this product in Italy explains their success. A. Rodoni is a native of Switzerland, having been born in December, 1853, at Biasca, in Canton Ticino. There he was sent to school and reared to the life common in that country. He had early evinced a desire to see America, and when he had reached eighteen he started out, July 24, 1871, to make his way hither. From his home place he went to Liverpool, from there taking passage to New York, and he arrived in that port in early September, a few weeks later reaching San Francisco, Cal. He immediately went to San Mateo county, where he worked at dairying for a long period, later being engaged in farming, and for a short period in the saw mills. Before his marriage in 1894 he rented a dairy farm, and at this event he renewed his efforts in this direction, with the aid of his. efiicient wife building up a fine business in the manufacture of cheese, which he conducted for about fourteen years. In Merced county, he had bought a dairy ranch and started a creamery, and he is now the owner of one hundred and twenty-six acres in that county. In November, 1911, in partnership with Peter Cattani, Mr. Rodoni pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres, on section 20, 31-29, and later two hun- dred acres adjoining, making a total of three hundred and sixty acres for their dairy farm. They are milking a hundred cows, and their product is a full cream cheese which is classed among the best produced in the factories. A large barn was built by the partners which is well equipped, the aim being to procure the best results witli the best methods. In 1894 he married Flor- enda Mattei, who was born in the same canton of Switzerland as was her husband. She came to this country in company with her brother, Victor Mattei, who settled at Pescadero, San Mateo county. Four children were HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1341 born to Mr. and Mrs. Rodoni as follows : Roy, Henry, Theodora and Florence. Mrs. Rodoni is an intelligent, sturdy woman, whose aid has been no small element in her husband's success. LESS CLOTFELTER.— Since coming to Bakersfield in 1901 and to McKittrick in 1904 Mr. Clotfelter has watched the development of the oil industry in this section of the country with the deepest interest and the keenest intelligence. While not participating actively in the strenuous tasks of oil development, like the majority of men living in the locality, he has invested in organizations devoted lo such work and offering considerable promise of future returns. At this writing he owns shares in different oil companies now operating in the vicinity of McKittrick and the North Midway field. All of his life has been passed within the" boundaries of Cali- fornia and from the age of nineteen he has lived in Kern county. Born at Visalia in 1882, he is a son of Daniel L. and Sophia (Grove) Clotfelter, who still reside in Visalia, the father having been identified for years with mer- cantile interests and the stock industry in that locality. The parental family numbered eleven children. All of these attained mature years and are still living. Less Clotfelter being the fifth in order of birth. After he had graduated from the Visalia high school in 1898, he secured employment in a fruit-packing house and also engaged in buying fruit for the packers. Different fruit companies in the San Joaquin valley secured his services in these capacities for brief periods, but at the age of nineteen he gave up that work and came to Kern county, where he since has engaged in the liquor business. Fraternally he is a member of the Eagles and the Moose. His marriage took place in San Francisco and united him with Miss Abigail Hock, a native of that city. By this marriage he has two daughters, Ruth and Hazel. Interested in educational matters, he has aided the development of the McKittrick school and has served as a member of the board, in which for one term he officiated as clerk. Through his valuable oil holdings in the McKittrick and North Midway fields he has enjoyed the prosperity resulting from investments in this highly favored district. JOSEPH P. STIER is a member of an ancient German family whose successive generations have been represented by specialists in the brewing of beer and whose name in certain localities became a synonym for skill in the business. The first to immigrate to the United States was Leo Stier, whose education and training in the old country proved of the utmost assist- ance to him in Chicago, where he followed the brewing industry and reared his family. Among his children was a son, Joseph P., born in Chicago in 1880, educated in the public schools of that city, trained to the trade of brewer by the father and apprenticed to the bottling business with the Godfrey Brewing Company, of Chicago. On the conclusion of his time he remained with the same company as a paid employe. After working at the bottling business for some time, he took a course in the Siebel Brewing Academy, Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1910, upon the comple- tion of the regular course of study and practical work. Coming to California and settling in Bakersfield in April, 1912, J\Ir. Stier has since filled the position of brewmaster with the Bakersfield Brewing Company. Understanding the work thoroughly, he superintends the manu- facturing with intelligence and is not only an able brewer, but also a resource- ful business man. Fraternally he holds membership with the Hermann Sons. EMILIO C. CASTRO.— A native son of Kern county, Emilio C. Castro was born August 5, 1873. His elementary training was obtained in the local public schools, and at the age of fourteen years he began to work, procuring a position with the Kern County Land Company, where he remained for nine years. Then he became employed by the Miller & Lux Company, working for them for a period of seven years. It is proof of Mr. Castro's 1342 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ability that his employers held him as long as he would remain with them and reluctantly gave him up. However, he was ambitious to be doing for himself, and accordingly, in 1907, he bought twenty acres of land two and one-half miles south of Bakersfield and started farming, putting his land in alfalfa. He has also interested himself in stock-raising and runs cattle in the Breckenridge mountains, where recently he has expanded his interests, giving much of his time to this enterprise. He is a Democrat in political principles and takes a deep interest in the progress of his country. Mr. Castro was married May 28, 1907, in Bakersfield, to Mrs. Mary Pink CClark) May, who was born in Lake county. Ore., June 15, 1874. She came with her parents, William and Martha (Robinson) Clark, to Kern county in 1887, and they settled in Cummings valley, Tehachapi, where they lived for some years; her father died there and the mother in Iowa. She then returned east to Iowa, but came back to Kern county in 1907 and was mar- ried to Mr. Castro. By her former marriage she had two children. Pink and Clark Allen. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Castro there is one daughter, Frances Leonora. CHARLES A. MAY, — The May Transfer and Storage Company, Incor- porated, farms one of the stable business concerns of Bakersfield, where under the enterprising management of the brothers, Charles A. and George S. May, the business has been developed from a very unimportant afifair to a concern of large transactions. To meet the demands of the business the proprietors have erected a substanti-al and commodious transfer building and their stor- age capacity is equal to every demand that can be made upon it. Other activities have engaged their attention at different periods. Like their father, they have tried their luck in the mines and have gained little from them excepting experience. Like him, also, they have had identification with stock-ranching, but of recent years they have found it profitable to concentrate their energies upon the transfer and storage business, which now receives all of their time and intelligent supervision. The secretary and treasurer of the company, Charles A. May, was born in Placer county, Cal., May 27 , 1873, and at the age of one year was brought by his parents to Bakersfield, where he has lived much of the time since infancy. His father, George May, a California pioneer in 1850, became a mining partner of George A. Hearst during the early days and while thus associated he sank the Yellow Jacket shaft, the first in the now famous Comstock mine. For a time he had mining interests in connection with Senator Jones of Nevada. During the era of gold mining in Kern county he prospected here and did work in connection with the Big Blue gold mine at Kernville. Although a man of great energy and an excellent judge of mines, they brought him no success financially and eventually he abandoned the occupation for that of agriculture, taking up a home- stead sixteen miles south of Bakersfield at the old Tracy Crossing. There he built and for some years maintained a ferry. Next he operated a cattle ranch in the mountains at Walker's Basin and until his death, which occurred in 1898, he devoted his attention wholly to stock-raising and farming. From an early age Charles A. May earned his own livelihood, for his father was unable to aid him in securing a start in the world. Any occu- pation that ofifered honorable work and fair wages became an object of interest to him. For some years he engaged in teaming to the oil fields and mines and during 1896 he tried his luck at mining near Randsburg in the eastern part of Kern county, but the goddess of fortune did not smile upon his efforts. As early in 1896 he and his brother, George S., embarked in the transfer business at Bakersfield, where they built a warehouse on the corner of Union avenue and Humboldt street. After his first marriage, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1343 which occurred in 1900 and united him with Miss Alice Yost, of Montana, he removed to that state and for four years lived at Red Lodge, Carbon county. During the four years of his residence in Montana he filled numer- ous important contracts, including the sinking of a three-compartment shaft one thousand feet deep for the Anaconda Mining Company. Upon return- ing to Bakersfield he became a teaming contractor for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, but more recently has devoted his entire attention to the transfer and storage business. In 1907 his first wife died leaving two children, Halcyon and Marshall. During December of 1911 he- was united in marriage with Mrs. Florence Bradley, of Salt Lake City, and they established their home at No. 127 Humboldt street, Bakersfield. In politics he votes the Republican ticket. Fraternally he holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of America. Having passed so much of his life in Bakersfield, he feels an especially deep interest in this city and in the surrounding country, and patriotism and loyalty have characterized his citizenship. CLINTON BUFFUM CRAWFORD.— The founder of the Crawford family in California was Daniel Peers, who was born at Spring Hill, Nova Scotia, November 10, 1847, and came to the United States as soon as he became old enough to earn a livelihood. After his arrival in Boston during 1865 he found employment in factories in and near that city. In 1868 he came to California, spending the first year in San Francisco, where he held a position as cashier in a bank. While making his headquarters in that city he met and married Miss Anna Carter Taylor, who was born in Indianapolis, Ind., September 15, 1850, and at the age of four years was brought to the west by her parents. The family traveled via Panama and the four-year-old girl was carried across the isthmus on the backs of natives. Her education was received in the schools of San Francisco and she made her home in that city until her marriage. During 1872 she accom- panied her husband to San Luis Obispo, where their son, Clinton B., was born May 30, 1873. Some years later the family removed to the southern part of the state and bought land at Olive, then in Los Angeles county, but now a part of Orange county. The father still owns business interests, also an orange grove, at Olive, where he is a well-known and honored citizen. After he had graduated from the schools of Olive, June 30, 1890, Clinton B. Crawford remained at the old homestead and worked for his father until 1895, when he came to Kern county. Near Rosel station, on what then was the Toolwass district, he took up a homestead claim of one hun- dred and sixty acres, where he experimented with dry farming for a few years. The chief drawback was the lack of irrigation facilities. He was obliged to haul water from a distance of eight miles for domestic use. The hard work and lack of success incident to dry farming led him to move to a new location, but he still retains his farm in that district. Since 1899 he has lived on a farm in the old Goose Lake channel of Kern river, where at first he bought eighty acres and later purchased an adjacent tract of one hundred and twenty acres, thus giving him a farm of two hundred acres, five miles northeast of Button Willow. The land was in the primeval condition of nature at the time of his settlement here. The most difficult exertion was required in order to transform it into a productive condi- tion. The task has been attended with many discouragements, his heaviest losses being caused by the floods of 1906 and 1908. In 1903 he determined to specialize in the dairy industry and in order to secure the desired stock with which to start his herd he drove to Orange county and bought six head of thoroughbred Jerseys, which he hauled back by wagon, a distance of two hundred miles, being nine days en route. This was the first pure- bred Jersey stock brought into his locality, and he now has ninety head of 1344 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY pure Jerseys. The success of the dairy business proves that the industry can be made profitable in this part of the county, while the modern improve- ments on the farm indicate that he is a man of thrift, intelligence and pro- gressive agricultural spirit. The place is one of the best cared for in the entire district. The Republican party has received the vote of Mr. Crawford in national as well as local elections and he has served as a delegate to local conventions.- He favors educational movements and served most acceptably as trustee of the Wild wood, school district. His marriage took place in Bakersfield October 26, 1895, and united him with Miss Alpha Helen Sisson, by whom he is the father of four children, Naomi H., Daniel M., Roy M. and Bruce M. Mrs Crawford was born in Muscatine, Iowa, February 1, 1875, and at the age of ten years accompanied her parents to California, settling at Santa Ana, where she attended the public schools. She is the daughter of Martin H. Sisson, who for many years was a farmer in Kern county and now lives retired in Bakers- field. During the Civil war he served in a Wisconsin regiment. With her husband Mrs. Crawford has labored tirelessly to secure the development of their farms and to promote the welfare of their children, and in the com- munity she shares with him the regard of a large circle of acquaintances. LYNN WILLIAM BAKER.— His father, J. K. Baker, was born in Indianapolis, Ind., where he was reared and educated. His first experience in the stock business was at Keokuk, Iowa, where he had located, and he became a breeder of standard and thoroughbred horses, which proved a successful venture from the start. In 1902 he located in San Jose, Cal., where he now is living retired,- enjoying the fruits of his earlier labors. His wife was Rebecca Campbell, born in Ohio, and they became the parents of three sons, Lynn W. being the second oldest. L. W. Baker was born June 23, 1885, in Keokuk, where he attended the common school until he reached the age of thirteen. In 1899 he went to Shoshone, Idaho, where he entered the employ of the Stockgrowers Mercantile Company, which position he filled for eleven months. For thir- teen months following he followed mining in Inkum, Bannock county, Idaho, working in the old Wildhorse mine there, and he then removed to Quincy, 111., where he was enabled to take a course at the high school and also at the Gem City Business College, from which latter he was graduated in 1903. Returning to Keokuk he was an employe of a clothing firm for some time, in 1905 coming to San Francisco to enter the employ of the wholesale grocery firm of Garretson & Company. He remained with the latter company until 1910 when they sold out, and in February of that year he came to Kern county where he has since made his home in Bakersfield. Buying out the cigar busi- ness of which he is now proprietor he built up a flourishing trade. In 1912 with W. C. Taylor he built the Dreamland Rink, on Nineteenth and R streets, 62x 116, the largest pleasure hall in the county and a venture that has been a decided success. Methodical and painstaking he has proved himself an apt business man. As one of the organizers of Bakersfield Lodge No. 473, L. O. O. M., Mr. Baker was most prominent, putting forth every effort to procure their charter and establish the lodge on a firm basis. At the first election he was elected as secretary and was installed at the first meeting February 4, 1911, when there were a hundred and seventy-five members in the lodge. It grew to large proportions and numbered over eleven hundred in its membership when he resigned the position in September, 1912, in order to devote his time to his varidus interests, as, the duties of his secretaryship demanded more of his time and attention than he could spare from his business. Mr. Baker is also a member of the Eagles. He takes no active part in politics other than to vote independently for the local men whom he deems best fitted for oflfice. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1345 JOSEPH CUDA. — In point of years of actual residence, it is doubtful if the celebrated Weed Patch of Kern county can boast an older settler than Joseph Cuda, who for a long period of useful activity has been a leading horticulturist of the locality and owns a finely improved ranch of eighty acres. The property and an adjacent tract of equal size were taken up by him as a homestead. Born near the city of Prague, Bohemia, June 28, 1864, Joseph Cuda was brought to America in infancy by his parents, John and Catherine (Pracil) Cuda. The parents settled in Nebraska between Omaha and Lincoln and there two sons and a daughter were born. Having no means, the children were obliged to become self-supporting as soon as old enough and therefore had no educational advantages. The information Josejih Cuda now possesses has been acquired by observation, experience and reading. Upon arriving in this state he settled on a farm in Kings county near Hanford, but a year later, in 1888, he came with his family to Kern county, where he took up a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch. At the end of seven years he proved up on the land, one-half of which he sold, retaining eighty acres for his own homestead. There are two children, Frank and Helen. The son is engaged as a driller of oil wells. To have seen the Cuda farm in 1888 and not again until 1912, a stranger might have considered that a miracle had been wrought. But the only miracle is that of hard work, which has transformed the sage brush into a fine fruit farm. Besides the valuable vineyard of four acres there is a tract of eight acres in figs now twenty years old, while during 1910 Mr. Cuda planted ten acres in the same fruit. Twenty acres have been planted to peaches of the finest varieties. Of this peach orchard five acres were put out in 1907 and fif- teen acres in 1908, the whole being now in thrifty bearing condition. The bal- ance of the farm is in corn and alfalfa. JOSEPH F. MAREK.— The president of Horn & Co., of Bakersfield, J. F. Marek, is an lowan by birth, but his earliest memories are associated with the frontier of Nebraska, where his father, John Marek, settled in 1876 and acquired a tract of raw land with the intention of converting it into a pro- ductive farm. The tract was situated in Platte county near Columbus, at the edge of the then confines of agricultural development and until his death he continued at that place. It was impossible to give to the large family of ten children any special educational advantages and each was obliged to become self-supporting at as early an age as practicable. The youngest of the ten, Joseph F., was born February 10, 1873, during the residence of the famih^ in Chickasaw county, Iowa, and in boyhood attended country schools in Nebraska, but his present broad fund of information has been obtained principally by habits of close observation and reading and by his long identi- fication with the printer's trade. When only fifteen he began as printer's devil to serve an apprenticeship in the pressroom of the Humphrey (Neb.) Dem- ocrat and continued in the same place until he had mastered the trade. During 1891 he left Nebraska and came to California, where he followed his trade in a commercial printing office at Los Angeles. For twelve years he con- tinued in that city and during a brief part of that time he engaged in the printing business for himself. Coming to Baker seld in 1903, he was for three years a type-setter on the Daily Californian. After many years of active identification with the printing business Mr. Marek, believing that he would be profited financially by a change, in 1906 bought a cigar stand at No. 1308 Nineteenth street, where he remained until 1909. Next he purchased the stand at No. 1511 Nineteenth street, where he established Marek's Smoke House. Meanwhile he had embarked in the wholesale business, which had developed beyond his quarters and the limits of his capital. During August of 1912, associated with Messrs. B. H. Pendleton and T. J. Brooke, of Horn & Co., of San Francisco, he organized and incor- 1346 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY porated Horn & Co., of Bakersfield, to which new concern he sold the wholesale business, retaining, however, one-half interest in the company, of which he now is president and manager. The warehouse and office are located at No. 1513 Twenty-first street, from which point shipments are made. The distinction of being the first exclusive wholesale tobacco business to be established in Kern county belongs to the house of Horn & Co., of Bakers- field, and the credit for the rapid growth of the concern belongs to the man- ager, Mr. Marek. Since coming to this city he has established a home of his own, being united in marriage with Miss Edith Myers, a native of Kern county. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles and Woodmen of the World, while in politics he stanchly upholds Democratic principles and serves as a member of the Democratic county central committee. GEORGE W. HATFIELD.— Since 1911 Mr. Hatfield has had charge of the staticm at Fellows and has had included, under his own field of super- vision, the station at Shale and Suplico, the end of the line. His eldest son, George E., has entered the railroad service as clerk in the freight department at Fellows. The eldest in a family of eight children, seven of whom are still living, George William Hatfield was born at Ripley, Brown county, Ohio, February 24, 1862, and is a son of Dr. George E. and Minerva W. (Mefiford) Hatfield, natives of that same Ohio county. Throughout active life Dr. Hatfield suc- cessfully followed the medical profession. Prior to his graduation from the Louisville Medical College and while he earned a livelihood by teaching school, he gave up educational work in order to serve in the Union army, becoming a member of the Sixty-third Ohio Infantry. With his regiment he went to the front and gave active service until the expiration of the term of enlistment, after which he resumed the work of a teacher. When he had completed his medical education and received the degree of M.D., he gave his whole attention to practice and from 1868 until the present day, at seventy-four years of age, he carried on professional work in Kansas City, Mo. There his wife passed away April 9, 1899, her remains being buried at Parkville, Mo. From the age of five years George William Hatfield lived in Kansas City, where he received a public-school education. For some years afterward he was a student in Park College at Parkville, Mo., and in that same town he gained his first knowledge of telegraphy. For four years he was employed as agent and operator in Missouri, from which state he went to New Mexico. Beginning as brakeman on the run from Albuquerque to Winslow he worked his way to the position of conductor through merit and fidelity to duty. After he had been connected with the railroad work in New Mexico from 1885 until the fall of 1890, he removed to the state of Washington and, making Seattle his headquarters, engaged as brakeman and then as conductor for the North- ern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads successively. Later he was appointed agent at Lowell, the same state. During 1903 he came to California and re- entered the service of the Santa Fe, becoming cashier at Pasadena, which responsible position he filled for four years and ten months. Next he was as- signed to various places on the Valley division as agent and in 1911 came to Fellows to enter upon the duties which he has since discharged with the greatest capability. While still living in Missouri he was married at Union Star, that state, to Miss Ida Mary Harman, a native of Marion, Grant county, Ind., and a woman of education and ability, a devoted member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, now afTectionately ministering to the welfare of the family. Six of the seven children are now living, namely : Helen M., George E., Milton, David, Richard and Byron. In the suburbs of Fresno Mr. Hatfield bought a tract of five acres and built a residence which he still owns. In politics he has always voted with the Democratic party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1347 GEORGE OSCAR CALDWELL.— The eld Caldwell homestead at Gas- breaiix, Kin^^s county, Nova Scotia, has been in possession of successive gen- erations of the same family for more than two hundred years, having been purchased and improved by the remote ancestors who crossed the ocean to America from England and founded the name upon the bleak shores of the northern Atlantic. At that place occurred the birth of George Oscar Caldwell January 18, 1847, there also were born his father, Hibbert, and grandfather, William, and there too had occurred the birth of his great-grandfather, who lived to be one hundred and eight years of age. The family had representa- tives in the Revolutionary war, but Mr. Caldwell is descended only in a col- lateral line from those soldiers of a day long past. Hibbert Caldwell married Miss Helen Church, who was born in Lunenburg county, Nova Scotia, and died on the peninsula that had been her lifelong home. At the same place occurred the death of the father when he had attained the age of seventy-four years. The Church lineage is not only interesting, but also indicates the valor of the family and the antiquity of the race. It was one of that name who crossed the ocean from Kingston, England, and settled in Rhode Island, there founding a village that in loyal afifection for his old home he called Kingston. Each of his nine sons was taught to love their land and to exhibit toward colonial institutions a patriotic reverence. When the Revolutionary war began seven of the nine offered their services to the struggling band of patriots, were accepted and throughout the struggle fought with ardor, hero- ism and devotion. The branch of the family that settled in Nova Scotia has exhibited the same loyal fidelity to their Canadian country and their talents have been called into service on various occasions for the good of their province. The father of Mrs. Caldwell, Hon. Lot Church, served for twenty years as a member of the house of assembly at Halifax and during that long period aided materially in promoting and passing measures for the advancement of Nova Scotia. One of his grandsons, Hon. Charles E. Church, a man of dis- tinguished attainments and fine mental endowment, was a member of the senate at Ottawa for many years. The eldest ( f the six surviving members of a family that originally num- bered seven, George Oscar Caldwell passed his early years upon a farm and aided, as best he could, in the struggle to maintain the younger children of the iamily. September 4, 1864, he was apprenticed to the trade of blacksmith, which he has since followed and in which he has acquired exceptional efficiency. The apprenticeship of four years was served at Lower Horton, Kings county. At its expiration in 1868 he came to the United States and for five years fol- lowed the trade in Boston. Returning to Nova Scotia in 1873, he established a shop at Great Village, Colchester county, and conducted a business at that place until 1879, when he sold out and came to the Pacific coast. From San Francisco he proceeded to Santa Rosa and established a shop on Mendocino street, where he continued for six years. From 1886 until 1892 he engaged in business at Cloverdale, Sonoma county, after which he spent seven years as a blacksmith in Neenach, Los Angeles county, and there built up a trade extending throughout the entire Antelope valley. A desire to see something of the great northwest caused him to drive through California and Oregon as far as Salem, in the latter state, where he followed his trade for two months and spent his leisure hours in investigating the country. However, Oregon did not impress him favorably and he was glad to return to California, where in 1899 he chose Kern county as the center of his future activities. Excitement over oil discoveries was then at its height and he spent two years on the west side field as an employe of Jewett & Blodgett, after which he worked for the Edison Power Company. Since the spring of 1903 he has been engaged in the shops of the Kern County Land Company, being in point of years of associa- tion with the business the oldest blacksmith in their employ. 1348 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Since coming to this county Mr. Caldwell has erected the residence which he now owns and occupies at No. 2315 Palm street, Bakersfield. The com- fortable home is presided over by his wife, whom he married at Newton, Mass., and who was Miss Susan Findlay, a native of Colchester county, Nova Scotia, and a daughter of William and Isabella (Thompson) Findlay, representatives of old families of that province. Eight children w^ere born of the marriage, but three daughters. Helen, Isabella and Margaret, died in infancy, and a son, Sylvester, died in Bakersfield at the age of thirty-five years. Of the four survivors Oscar lives in Los Angeles county and William in Colton, Mrs. Julia Woods makes Bakersfield her home and Mrs. Bessie White is a resident of Wasco, Kern county. In national politics Mr. Caldwell supports the Repub- lican party. Wfiile living in Santa Rosa he became v€ry prominent in the activities of Santa Rosa Lodge No. 54, I. O. O. F. Before leaving Nova Scotia he was made a Mason in Corinthian Lodge No. 63, F. & A. M., at Great Village, and after he came to California he identified himself with Curtis Lodge No. 140, F. & A. M., at Cloverdale. He is a stanch believer in the growth and prosoerity of Bakersfield and is an ally of all measures for civic advancement and local upbuilding. WILLIAM C. PERRY.— From the organization of the Mammoth Oil Company Mr. Perry has been a stockholder and since June 1, 1913, he has engaged as superintendent of the lease. There are four producing wells of 23 gravity oil on the lease. Besides the connection with this growing con- cern he has been a stockholder in the August Oil Company from the time of its organization and for two years or more he engaged as superintendent of the company's lease at Maricopa. Although still a young man, he has had an extended experience in the oil industry and has acquired a thorough acquaint- ance with many of the western fields. A resident of California since 1899, William C. Perry was born in Chanute, Kan., October 2, 1876, and was fifth in order of birth among ten children, all of whom are still living. The parents, John and Lucinda (Bradley) Perry, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and for years engaged in farming in Kansas, now make their home in Venice, Cal. Reared on a farm in the Sunflower state and engaged in agricultural pursuits on the completion of a public-school education, Mr. Perry decided in 1899 to seek another occupa- tion and a new location. Accordingly he became a worker in the Olinda oil fields in California, where he rose from roustabout to tool-dresser. During a later experience in the Los Angeles oil field he gained his first exoerience as a driller. From that place he came to the Kern river field. Still later he spent two and one-half years as a driller in a Wyoming oil field at Spring Valley, Uinta county, after which he returned to California and resumed work in Kern county. Since then he has worked steadily in the west side districts. For two years he held an important position as head driller on the Dabney lease, in the McKittrick field, while for a considerable period he has been employed in Maricopa and Fellows districts. Meanwhile he established domestic ties through his marriage in Los Angeles to Miss Edith Bush, who was born near Selma, Fresno county, this state, and died at Los Angeles June 19, 1912, leav- ing to her relatives and friends the memory of a gracious womanhood and cultured mentality. Aside from voting the Republican ticket Mr. Perry takes no part in political contests, yet he is progressive and may be relied upon to promote by time, influence and co-operation all measures for the general welfare and especially all projects for the development of the oil industry in Kern county. EMIL T. LUTZ.— Born at Monroe, Monroe county, Mich., E. T. Lutz went to Philadelphia while a mere lad and there grew to young manhood. When about eighteen years old he went on the road as a commercial traveler for the firm of Palidini & Cappale, importers and wholesale manufacturers of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1349 silk. While still very young he became a member of a Philadelphia company of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Going to Chicago he secured employment in a restaurant. For some years he acted as steward of the Stock Exchange restaurant on the corner of Washington and LaSalle streets and later he held the position of steward in the American oyster house for several years. Arriving in Bakersfield April 29, 1500, led hither by the recent oil dis- coveries in Kern county, Air. Lutz embarked in the liquor business and for some years was a part owner of the Turf on Nineteenth street, but now in company with J. B. McKinley he is conducting the Commercial at No. 1129 Nineteenth street. Fond of sports and particularly interested in baseball, during 1909 he consented to take the management of the Bakersfield base- ball nine and his leadership brought victory to the organization. A lover of fine horses, he has trained some of the finest horses exhibited on the turf in Southern California and his reputation as a judge of equine flesh is unex- celled. During the streetcar strike in San Francisco he was assigned to duty at that place, serving as first lieutenant of a company in the Second regiment National Guards of California. He has purchased and now occupies a resi- dence at No. 2228 Nineteenth street, this being presided over by Mrs. Lutz, formerly Miss Susie Hill, a daughter of W. W. Hill, the first county treasurer of Fresno county. Reared and educated in that county, Mrs. Lutz is a mem- ber of one of its old families. LYMAN C. ROSS. — A native son of the state Mr. Ross was born in Santa Clara ccunty March 15, 1865, his father having been James Ross, a •California pioneer of 1852. Educated in the local schools, he has been self- supporting from an early age and about 1895 came to Bakersfield, where he has since made his home. For a time he engaged in business as a member of the firm of Anderson & Ross, but about 1905 he bought the interest of his partner and since then has conducted the business under the title of L. C. Ross. United in marriage with Anna D. McBain, he has enjoyed the advantage of the co- operation and companionship of a woman of culture, education and gentle character and who shares with him the faculty of winning and retaining warrn friends. There are five children in the family, Edna, Harold, Stuart, Donald and Margaret. Concerning the business established and built up by L. C. Ross we quote the following from "Bakersfield and Kern County, 1912, A Half Century of Progress:" "Never were the people of the United States more in earnest regarding the strict enforcement of the laws prohibiting adulteration and the misbranding of foods, drugs and liquors than they are today. Out of the smoke and the fog of controversy has come a better understanding of the conditions under which the upright manufacturers are laboring, and the spirit of unscrupulous greed animating their competitors, who seek to foist upon the public impure and adulterated products. A concern in Bakersfield handling the products of manufacturers known to live up to the very spirit and letter of the pure food law is L. C. Ross, wholesale liquor dealer. Ad- herence to strict business methods has enabled him to grow from a compara- tively small beginning to a position of prominence in Bakersfield's commer- cial life. At his up-to-date establishment, No. 1521 Nineteenth street, he has every facility for the proper handling and storage of his immense stock, and his specialties are fine old straight Kentucky bourbons, Pennsylvania ryes, California invalids' ports and sherries, imported sherry from Puerto Sta Maria, Spain ; imported port, old and tawny from O'Porto ; the leading brands of eastern beer, also the famous Rainier, the best beer made west of St. Louis, and various mineral waters. Mr. Ross caters particularly to the family trade of Bakersfield and vicinity, and personally guarantees the purity of everything carried in his stock." In addition to the wholesale business on Nineteenth street Mr. Ross 1350 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY is a member of the firm of Hoagland & Ross, proprietors of the bottling works on the corner of Fifteenth street and Chester avenue. Since about 1909 the firm has acted as distributors of Rainier beer. The proprietors give much time to the development of the business, as they also do to outside movements for the general upbuilding of Bakersfield and they are known as optimistic be- lievers in the continued prosperity of their city. P. MULL. — One of the progressive farmers of Kern county, and an original homesteader, is P. Mull, who is well informed on all matters pertain- ing to his chosen work. He was born in Keosauqua, Van Buren county, Iowa, July 12, 1852, son of Nathan and Eliza Mull, who removed from Iowa when he was a boy of two years. They came directly to California and settled in So- noma county, where they were pioneers in the farming industry. P. Mull grew to manhood in Sonoma county, experiencing the hardships and vicissitudes of the early life in this part of the country, and his first work for himself was in the vineyards for a number of years. In 1881 he went to Hanford and engaged in raising alfalfa and following stockraising to some extent. As the years came and went he added to his property and became independently well-to-do, reaping good results from his toil and being most fortunate in his crops. While there he was married to Mrs. Mary E. Bartlett, of Kings county, and they became the parents of four children, Leland E., Nathan H., and Alice and Eva. In 1887 Mr. Mull came to Kern county, where he bought from Judge Brundage his present tract of land. The latter has a desert filing of this prop- erty, and Mr. Mull bought a relinquishment from him, it being located at section twelve, township thirty, range twenty-eight. About three-quarters of this Mr. Mull sold off to other parties who filed homesteads. He has proved up on about a hundred and sixty acres of this, eighty of which he has sold, and the remainder is the property he now holds and operates. He has fifty acres planted to alfalfa, has some fruit and is continually improving his property to make it one of the most modern in the vicinity. Mr. Mull has taken a deep interest in the development of his community, and has helped to organize the Fairfax public school, which was so much needed there. He is a stanch Republican, thoroughly familiar with all its principles, and is conversant on all subjects of the day. He has a fine family to which he is much devoted, and his life is lived on an even, conscientious plane, being a most fitting example for his children to follow. JEAN PIERRE MARTINTO.— Near Osses, Basses-Pyrenees, toward the southern border of France, stood the old family home where he was born January 22, 1871. That neighborhood remained the abiding place of his father, Michael, a stone-mason and contractor, his business activi- ties continuing until his demise in 1907. The mother, who remains at the old home, bore the maiden name of Mary Peyrot and was born in Canton St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, Basses-Pyrenees, not far distant from the native place of the senior Martinto. Their family numbered five sons and three daughters and of these six attained mature years, namely J. F., now living in Fresno, Cal. ; Mrs. Lafifargue, who died at Tehachapi, Kern county ; Jean Pierre ; Mrs. Molle, living at San Pedro, this state ; Dominick, of Fresno ; and Mrs. Chalias, who resides at the old home in France. In order of birth Jean Pierre was fourth among the eight and he was educated in the schools near his early home. At the age of sixteen he left France and crossed the ocean to the United States, proceeding direct to Los Angeles where he' found employ- ment on a ranch near by. Upon coming to Kern county in 1888 Mr. Martinto was employed to herd sheep for his older brother, J. F., and later he did similar work for other parties in Kern and Fresno counties, continuing in the sheep industry until he determined to embark in the hotel business at Tehachapi. Purchasing six HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1351 uiliniproved lots on Main street in 1895, he built a substantial structure which he named the Basses-Pyrenees hotel. On the same lots he put up a large livery barn. Another improvement on the same property was that of a hand- ball court constructed of stone and cement, as substantial and complete as good workmen and good material could make it and said to be the best in the county. P>om the first the hotel proved popular. Not only was it the largest hotel in Tehachapi, but it acquired a patronage surpassed by none. When finally in 1908 he retired from the business and leased the building, the new tenants changed the name to Martinto's hotel and as such it still is known. After leaving the hotel business he purchased a ranch of forty- five acres near Bakersfield. The property was wholly unimproved. The fertility of the soil convinced him as to the wisdom of buying the land and results justified his investment. The ranch is under the Kern county ditch and is devoted to alfalfa and vegetable gardens. The neat house which he erected on the land was occupied by his family for two years, but he then leased the place and built the residence at No. 1223 California avenue. Bakers- field, where he has since resided. Since becoming a citizen of our country and attaining his majority he has supported Republican principles. At Tehachapi in 1896 he was united in marriage with Miss Veronica Borda, who was born and reared at Cambo Basses-Pyrenees, France, and came from that country in 1894, settling in Bakersfield. Four children were born of their union and three are now living, Elizabeth, Jean Baptiste and Lyda. ALBERT L. WANGENHEIM.— To assure success in the conduct of an up-to-date store it is necessary that the of^cials in charge of the various departments are thoroughly acquainted with all the details, quick to see the necessity for improvement, and able to cope with other like enterprises in the best selection of their goods. The firm of Hochheimer & Co., the largest department store in Bakersfield, has such a man in its employ in the person of Albert L. Wangenheim, whose varied experience has made him the practical manager he is today. Mr. Wangenheim was born October 31, 1874, in San Francisco, the son of Henry Wangenheim, who makes his home in San Francisco. The latter was one of the founders of the business of Hochheimer & Co. at Willows, and also at Bakersfield. He was also interested in the starting of stores in Germantown and Orland, and is at present a large stockholder in the com- pany. Albert L. grew to manhood in his native city, where he attended the public schools and was graduated from the Cogswell College, which covers a high school course, normal training and business course. From school he went to work in the shops of Porter Schlessinger & Co., manufacturers of boots and shoes, then worked in the wholesale store of that firm, and later became traveling salesman for them, his territory being the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. In order to thoroughly learn the retail business, he then took positions in the following stores of Hochheimer & Co., located respectively, at Willows, Germantown and Orland, Cal., serving as clerk at each place, after which he became sales manager in the large wholesale furnishing business of Greenebaum, Weill & Michaels, located at San Francisco. In 1908, at the death of his brother, Melville H., Mr. Wangenheim was called to Bakersfield, to take his position of manager of the men's furnish- ings, boots and shoes and clothing department of Hochheimer & Co. Mr. Wangenheim fills his position with that ability which has marked him a progressive, capable business man from the start of his career. Mr. Wangenheim was married in 1903, in Oakland. He has a com- modious residence, which he built in 1909 and wherein is dispensed a warm hospitality. Mr. Wangenheim affiliates with the Native Sons, the Woodmen of the World, the Eagles and the Loyal Order of the Moose. 56 1352 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY H. H. SPEARS. — The distinction of being the first to locate on the town site of Fellows belong-s to H. H. Spears, who arrived here March 23, 1910, having moved up from Bakersfield with his entire stock of horses and necessary equipment, including a cook-house. Since then he has witnessed the rapid growth of the place and its transformation from an uninhabited waste to a progressive little town whose residents work unitedly and harmon- iously for the general welfare and civic advancement. He has been connected personally with almost every measure for the benefit of the place and the people. As proprietor of the Fellows livery stable he engages about ten head of livery stock and fifty head of work stock and these he hires out by the month or uses in the filling of contracts for jobs where the heaviest of machinery is to be hauled to the fields. Through personal oversight given to his farm of three hundred and twenty acres near Button Willow (one hundred acres of which are in alfalfa) he secures large crops of hay and grain and thus is in a position to sell feed, besides having an abundance of grain and hay for his own teams. Primarily for the purpose of attending to his own work he has established a blacksmith shop, where two blacksmiths are steadily employed. The life of Mr. Spears has been filled with adventure. He was born at the family home a short distance from Detroit, Mich., August 10, 1862, and is a son of Henry Spears, who was a butcher by trade and conducted a meat market in- Detroit. Of a roving disposition, with little fondness for school, but with a love for travel and a desire to see the world, the lad became self-supporting in early years and drifted from one place to another as work could be found. Always he loved horses and showed an aptitude in their care. His skill in breaking colts was remarkable even when he was verv young. After a short period of employment in Chicago he drifted out to Idaho and became a cowboy on the plains. Similar work took him to Eastern Oregon and from the V\^hite Horse ranch in that country he came down into California, bringing a drove of cattle to San Francisco. Next he worked in Fresno county, after which he spent four years in Inyo county as a teaming contractor, and engaged in freighting from the railroad at Mojave up to Bishop and Independence for four years. Meanwhile he had never lost his interest in horses, but had maintained a drove and had also done much work in breaking colts for others. The fall of 1889 found him in Bakersfield with his horses and wagons. With that town as headquarters he teamed in different parts of the surrounding country, also bought and sold horses and broke colts. After coming to Bakersfield he married Miss Alice Dickinson, by whom he has one child now living, Elizabeth G. The family has been identified with the Episcopal Church of Bakersfield and fra- ternallv he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World in that city, while "since coming to Fellows he has assisted in the organization of the Chamber of Commerce. Throughout this part of the oil district he is well known. His work has brought him into personal relations with many oil men and in every instance he has won their confidence as a business man of honoral)le methods and distinct efficiency. CHRISTIAN NELSON. — One of the most recent accessions to the indus- trial life of East Bakersfield is the East Bakersfield Garage and Machine Company, organized in January of 1913 by Christian Nelson, who has since engaged in the automobile repair business, also a general repair and machine trade, and in addition is acting as agent for the Warren and Hupmobile cars. The fact that he is a first-class machinist contributes to his success and enables him to carry out the most difficult tasks with ease and promptness. The Nelson family comes from Norway. For generations its members lived on the rockbound coast of that bleak country, earning a livelihood by the most arduous exertion. Seeking something better than his own land HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1353 afforded, Lewis A. Nelson, who was born and reared at Bergen on the Atlantic ocean in 1848, left Norway in 1865 for the United States and followed the trade of machinist in Chicago, 111., where he married March 16, 1870, Sorine Skarning, a native of Christiana, Norway. From Chicago he moved to Kansas and secured employment as a machinist in the Santa Fe shops in Topeka. After having followed the trade at various points in the central west he came to California in 1904 and now makes his home in Bakerstield. His wife passed away April 1, 1913. Her seven living children are: Edward, of Fairbury, Nebr., Walter A., of El Paso, Texas, Jennie, Mrs. Sornborger, Christian, Lewis, of Lincoln, Nebr., Andrew, of San Francisco, and Martha. The last named was a pioneer teacher in Lost Hills, opening the first school there. Christian Nelson was born at Topeka, Kans., October 30, 1881, and received his education in public schools in Kansas and Nebraska. At the age of seventeen he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the Santa Fe shops at Albuquerque, N. M., where he completed his trade. Thereafter he worked as a journeyman in New Mexico and Arizona and while living in Arizona he joined Douglas Lodge No. 955, B. P. O. E. From Arizona he came to California in 1904 and settled at Bakersfield, where for some time he was employed as a machinist with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Work at his trade kept him in the Kern river oil field for a time and later he gained further valuable experience as a machinist in the west side field. On leaving the oil fields and coming to East Bakersfield he became interested in the establishment of the business to which he now devotes time, attention and his splendid skill as a machinist. BERT E. GOULD.— The first manufacturing establishment started in Fellows and the fifth business house to be erected in the town, the Fellows Tank and Job shop, dates its history from the year 1910, when Mr. Gould took advantage of the opportunities offered by the new town in the heart of the oil fields and built the present plant. Prior to his removal to the west Mr. Gould had been a resident of Water- loo, Iowa, where he was born June 12, 1875, and where his parents, George E. and Ella M. (Wolfe) Gould, natives respectively of Wisconsin and Pennsyl- vania, still make their home, the father being engaged in the building business in that city. The second among four children and the only member of the family to locate in California, Bert E. Gould received educational advantages in the Waterloo public schools and found employment during the summer months on farms near town. At the age of twenty years he became an employe of the Tallarday Steel and Pipe Company in Waterloo. That he was a steady worker and faithful employee is evidenced by the eleven years of continuous service with the same firm. During the latter part of the pericd he acted as foreman of the pipe department. Resigning in 1906 and coming to Cali- fornia, he engaged at Alhambra with Tallarday's Steel-pipe and Tank Com- pany. Later he traveled for the company, erecting tanks for parties who had ordered them. Leaving the employ of the Alhambra firm for an important position in the Los Angeles plant of the ^^'estern Pipe and Steel Ctinpany, he continued there until 1910, the year of his removal to Fellows. In this city he has since been engaged in building vip a trade along the line of his specialties and also has acted as the local representative for the J. McDonald Gas Company of Taft. The Chamber of Commerce and other organizations for the material and commercial upbuilding of Fellows have in Mr. Gould an able and intelligent member. He is stanchly Republican in his opinions and at national elections votes the straight ticket. Besides his interests at Fellows he owns some valuable oil land in the Cuyama valley. One daughter, Murel, was born of his first marriage, which united him with Miss Luella M. Marquis, a life- 1354 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY long resident of Waterloo, Iowa. Her demise occurred in young womanhood and afterward he was united with Miss Mabel Shields, a native of Wisconsin, their union being blessed by a son, Howard M. W, PERRY WILKES. — An identification with the west covering a period of more than fifty-five years has given to Mr. Wilkes a comprehensive knowl- edge of the resources and possibilities of this promising region. At the time of his arrival, during the fall of 1856, mining was still the principal occu- pation of the country. The possibilities of the land for agriculture and horti- culture were dimly grasped by only a few far-seeing optimists ; by far the larger number of the people still considered that mining for gold offered the only opportunity for material prosperity. One of the shrewd, keen-sighted pioneers whose vision of the future evinced a wise judgment was Albert G. Wilkes, who brought a large herd of cattle to California at the time of his migration hither in 1856 from Missouri. He had come to California in 1849 from the same state, arriving in Eldorado county (Georgetown) October 1 of that year. For a while he carried on placer mining, but later established a bakery and store in Georgetown which he operated three years. He then returned to Missouri for his family, and brought them with him when he came west in 1856. With the expedition of immigrants traveling with ox-teams and wagons came the boy of thirteen years, W. Perry Wilkes, who was born March 21, 1843. at the home farm thirty miles south of Jefferson City, Mo. He did not allow the fact of his extreme youth to deter him from doing a man's work during the long journey. To his charge was given the driving of the one hundred head of dairy cows and he maintained considerable pride in his success with the herd, for he lost only one cow during the long and difficult journey across the plains. Among the drove there were sixteen head of Durham cows, these being the first thoroughbred Durhams ever brought into California and from them as foundation stock a large business was established in that now popular breed. A dairy ranch was established on the Tassejara, in Contra Costa county, and the successful prosecution of dairy interests through a considerable period of years brought wealth to the family, enabling the father eventually to retire with ample means to Stockton, where his death occurred in 1880. He was a brother of Col. P. S. Wilkes and also of Rev. L. B. Wilkes, for years a leading minister in the Christian Church. After having completed the studies of the common schools of Contra Costa county and also spent one term as a student in Union academy, in 1863 W. Perry Wilkes went to Arizona to aid in develoning the Vulture mine, but the following year he returned to California and settled in Kern county, of which he now is among the oldest living pioneers. During the winter of 1864-65 he taught the first public school ever held in the county at Linn's Valley. After his marriage in 1866 he engaged in the livery busi- ness at Havilah, then the county seat and a town of considerable promise. The discovery of gold had caused a boom at Havilah and within eighteen months it had grown from nothing to a population of fifteen hundred, but that represented the height of its prosperity, for many of the mines failed to pay, the miners sought other locations and then the county seat was removed to Bakersfield. Removing from Havilah to Glennville in 1869, during that year Mr. Wilkes was appointed the first postmaster of the village and at the same time he built the first hotel there. For years he acted as postmaster and as landlord of the hotel, also carried on a general mercantile store, and besides he pur- chased and improved a tract of eight hundred acres, where he engaged in raising cattle, sheep and hogs. For years the buying and selling of cattle formed his principal business and in it he was prospered greatly. Mean- while his father had died in 1880 and upon the settlement of the estate he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1355 had received $11,000, which aided him in the development of his ranch and the carrying on of a stock business. The inheritance was greatly increased through wise management, so that he in turn was able to assist his children financially and yet retain a sufficient amount to provide all c( mforts for his old age. While his investments were almost wholly in California, there were occasional exceptions, chief among these being the purchase of Lookout Springs ranch, thirty miles east of Hackberry, Mohave county, Ariz., and that property he developed frotn a raw tract into an improved stock ranch. The location on the Santa Fe Railroad and the presence of water on the ranch rendered it a desirable place for the stock industry. In the midst of varied business activities Mr. Wilkes found the time to keep posted concerning public affairs and national issues. Politically he has always voted the Democratic ticket. He served as county auditor (1880-82) and deputy county assessor (1880-90). For a number of years he has owned and occupied a finely-improved tract of twenty acres on Union avenue, which he purchased from Ben L. Brundage and which combines the advant- ages of a country home with those offered by close proximity to the city of Bakersfield. During 1885 he was bereaved by the death of his wife, who' was Ann, daughter of Col. John C. Reid, a former sherifT of Tulare county. Of his four children now living the eldest, Albert R., who married Miss Lizzie Preston of Kern county, is an extensive rancher, a successful oil operator and a merchant at Linn's valley. The younger son, Carl, who married Miss Ida Shackleford of Bakersfield, is now^ proprietor of the Pioneer gun store in this city. The third child, Irene, married Robert B. McGee, who is employed as a foreman with Kern River Oil Company, and the youngest daughter, Austie, is the wife of George W. Leonard, a teaming contractor living in Bakersfield. JOHN TYRER.— In coming to California from England Mr. Tyrer feels that he made no mistake, for he has met with success. There had been con- siderable uncertainty on his part as to the merits of California compared with those of New Zealand and he had read much concerning both regions. Finally he cast his decision in favor of California, came to the west and made his permanent home in the region whose subsequent growth he has witnessed. Born in Manchester, England, April 7, 1846, John Tyrer is a son of Thomas Tyrer, who lived and died near Manchester, and that locality also remained the lifelong home of the mother. There were four children in the parental family and of these Mary is now deceased, Hannah is living at Windsor, Canada, and Thomas is employed as a plumber near Liverpool, England, so that John is the sole representative of the name in the United States. After he had completed his education in a school conducted under the auspices of the Church of England he became an apprentice to the trades of painter and plumber, at which he served from fifteen until twenty-one years of age. Upon starting out for himself as a journeyman he went to Yorkshire, England, and secured a position with the firm of George Walsh & Sons, of Halifax. By dint of hard work and intelligence he rose to be manager of the firm, with which he continued for eight years. Meanwhile at the age of twenty-seven years he married ]\Iiss Isabella Bradley, of Halifax, England. After having conducted a plumbing business at Liverpool for a time Mr. Tyrer determined to seek a home in another part of the world. California was his choice for a location and with his wife and two children he took passage on the National line. During the fall of 1887 he arrived in Los Angeles and immediately afterward he secured a position under W. C. Furry, who con- ducted a hardware and plumbing establishment. For three years he continued with Mr. Furry, but in the fall of 1889, resigning the position, he started out independently. After fourteen years of independent work in plumbing. 1356 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY during 1904 he retired from the business and now gives his attention to the management of his ranch of twenty acres south of Bakersfield, in addition to which he owns other property in town, including a lot on the corner of O street and Truxtun avenue. After he had been in this country a few years he decided to remain permanently and accordingly took out naturalization papers, since which time he has maintained a warm interest in all move- ments for the national welfare. In politics he aims to vote for principles and to give his support to men of high character and recognized public spirit. For years his wife has been one of the most earnest and helpful members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bakersfield and his contributions to the church maintenance have been generous. One of his daughters, Miss Lucy, resides with her parents on the ranch, while the other, Mary, is the wife of Charles E. Hallett, postmaster of Graton, Sonoma county, Cal., and pro- prietor of a general mercantile business in that village, which is the home of himself and wife and their daughter, Lucile. CHARLES M. HART.— The father of the immediate subject of this sketch, Moses Hart, was born in Chickasaw, Indian Territory, December 1, 1833, and in 1850 started across the plains with ox teams, arriving in San Jose. Cal., in 1852. From there he soon moved to Mariposa county, where he mined until in 1856. Later he lived for a time in Los Angeles county whence he came in 1857 to Kern county. Locating in Oak creek two years later he became the owner of a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres and of a quarter section of railroad land. It is a matter of record that he was one of the petitioners, in 1865, for the organization of Kern county. In 1863 he was in the Indian fight in Kelsey Canon, Kern county, where he was waylaid by the Indians; his brother Martin and his step-brother Oliver were both killed July 3, 1863. The father organized a posse and followed the Indians to Owens River, where they attacked the Indians eighteen days later. Nineteen of the Indians were killed in the battle, the remainder escaping. Mr. Hart married July 15, 1859, Miss Julia Ann Findley, who bore him twelve children. She passed away January 21, 1907, and his death occurred December 21, 1903. It was at Old Town, Tehachaoi, that Charles M. Hart was born March 19, 1870. He attended public school at Tehachapi and in Bear Valley until he was seventeen years old, when he bravely took up the battle of life on his own account. He entered the employ of the Santa Fe and learned the machin- ist trade at Needles. From 1891 to 1894 he had a market and butcher busmess at Jerome, Ariz. In the year last mentioned he sold out and returned to Kern county and for a time lived at Bakersfield. In 1896 he established himself in the meat business at Tehachapi but soon sold his market and homesteaded land in the Weed Patch and for some time he farmed seventeen hundred acres of land, the greater part of which he leased. Eventually he disposed of his ranch, moved to Mojave county, Ariz., and established a meat market at Chloride which he conducted successfully three years. During the ensuing two years he was in the same business at Needles, San Bernardino county, Cal. Then, disposing of his interests at Needles, he went to Nevada, where he was employed as master mechanic for the Green Water Death Valley Mining Company. After eleven months' experience there he came back to Kern county and became the owner and lessee of mining land in the Caliente Valley which he operated a short time. In November, 1907, he took charge of the department distributing all the meat along the Los Angeles aqueduct for the butcher trade of the Bressler Meat Company of Los Angeles and for a year and a half filled the position of general manager. Then, removing to Lost Hills, Kern county, he opened a meat market there, of which he has since been proprietor. He owns the hotel and general merchandise store at Hart station, on the stage line two miles east of Lost Hills and also gives considerable attention to teaming and contracting, and the buying and selling HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1357 of stock, hay and grain. He has interests in the oil fields, has invested in land in Lost Hills, but still maintains his home at Wasco. As a Democrat Mr. Hart has been active in local politics and as a delegate he has taken part in the deliberations of a number of Democratic county conventions and is serving as deputy sheriff. I*>aternally he affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. On April 3, 1900, he married Katherine Watchman, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who had come west with her parents, who located at Cripple Creek, Colo., where her father was chief clerk of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Com- pany at Walsenburg, Colo., for fourteen years. From there Mr. Watchman removed to Cripple Creek, where he remained until 1896, at which time he located at White Hill, Mohave county, where for several years he success- fully operated a mine. Thence he removed to Chloride, Ariz., where he bought mining property which he operated until in 1907, when he sold it and removed to Tonopah, Nev. After living there a year and a half he came to Kern county and leased a mine near Tehachapi. In 1908 he lived for eight months at Rands- burg, where he operated the Butte mine with satisfactory results. He then leased the King Solomon mine which he has since handled with success. Mrs. Hart has borne her husband four children, Laura J., Daniel C, Thomas M. and Frank M. THOMAS H. FOGARTY.— Through a lifelong identification with Cali- fornia, of which his parents were pioneers, Mr. Fogarty gained a compre- hensive knowledge of the resources and possibilities of the commonwealth and became an enthusiastic advocate of its interests. Born in San Fran- cisco, educated in the schools and in St. Ignatius College, within the brief span of his useful existence (1861-1907) he witnessed the remarkable develop- ment of that city and saw it become the metropolis of the Pacific coast. For many years his parents, James F. and Nora (English) Fogarty, were numbered among the industrious working element of that growing city, where the former died and where the latter, advanced in years, still makes her home. An early location at Lompoc, Santa Barbara county, and an association of several years with the hotel business in that village, gave Mr. Fogarty the experience and information that proved valuable to him when in March. 1900, he came to Bakersfield and bought the Arlington hotel in partnership with M. A. Lindberg, the two continuing together until 1906, when the present proprietor, j\Ir. Lindberg, acquired the ownership of the building. Turning his attention to other matters, Mr. Fogarty bought a farm one mile south of Kern and there until his death he engaged in raising standard thor- oughbred and full-bl( oded Percheron draft horses. The Arlington stock farm acquired a wide reputation for the fine quality of its stock and the keen business ability of its manager and owner. Joining with others, he had an interest in the building of the Hudnut driving track for race horses, in which he was a prime factor, creating interest in the raising of fine horses and also in starting a county fair and races. His starting of the county fair in the fall of 1900 was the beginning of a series of fairs which have proved an important factor in the county. Among ]\Ir. Fogarty's finest animals was Richmond Chief, which had a reputation as one of the most perfect specimens of its class in the west. The marriage of Mr. Fogarty took place at San Luis Obispo, Cal., and united him with Mrs. Nettie (Overholtz) Hoover, who was born in Santa Rosa and holds membership with the Native Daughters. The Overholtz family was represented in the east through several generations and her father, William, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, but came across the plains in young manhood and settled at Santa Rosa, Cal., where he followed the trade of a cabinet-maker. While still in the prime of manhood death ended his activities and later his widow, Elizabeth (Mankins) Overholtz, a native of Missouri, removed to San Benito county, where she now makes her home. Of their family only two children are now living, Mrs. Fogarty being the 1358 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY younger of these. Her education was received in the schools of San Benito and Santa Barbara counties and she was well qualified by natural endowments as well as school training- to fill all the responsibilities of life. Two children blessed her marriage, James English and Norrine Elizabeth. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Fogarty she sold the ranch and the stock and removed to Bakersfield, where she has invested in city property. She built a comfortable residence at No. 2322 Eighteenth street, which she herself designed, and she also improved two residences on K street which she has since sold. On Beale avenue and Jackson street. East Bakersfield, there is a large residence built by her, which she leases. She has been very fortunate in investments and owns other valuable real estate in Bakersfield and throughout Kern county, as well as in Monterey, Oakland and Richmond. She is truly optimistic for California and believes the next decade will show wonderful results as to increase in values to the investor. ALBERT WEEDALL. — England has furnished to the western country an especiallv high class of citizens whose thorough understanding of the work to which they are attracted and whose painstaking effort in their every under- taking have caused them to be recognized as a distinct value to their various communities. Among those who have made California their adopted common- wealth are James and Albert Weedall, father and son, who were both natives of Northwich, Cheshire, England. The elder followed the trade of florist and horticulturist in Cheshire, England, until 1892, when he brought his family to the United States and settled in Bakersfield, Cal. In Rosedale he engaged in general farming and remained at this work until 1909 when he retired from active work and now makes his home in Bakersfield. His wife was Susanna Penny and was also born in Northwich, England. Albert Weedall was born December 19, 1870, and was reared in his native land, attending the public school. Upon completing his studies he entered into the employ of his uncle, who was a stock-dealer and butcher, but in 1892 left there to accompany his parents to Bakersfield, Cal. He there procured employment with H. A. Blodgett as a landscape gardener, working at garden- ing and nursery work for six years, at the end of which time he started out for himself, and he is now the proprietor of the oldest and finest nursery and florist business in Bakersfield. This is located at No. 603 Chester avenue, where Mr. Weedall has built three greenhouses, growing plants of all kinds, trees and shrubs. Mr. Weedall was married (first) in Los Angeles, to Ida Florence Capper, born in Northwich, England, whose death occurred in Bakersfield. Two of their children are now living, Newton and Florence. Mr. Weedall's second marriage was in Bakersfield, to Nellie Straker Shields, who was born in New- castle-upcn-Tyne, England, and they have one child, Albert William. Mr. Weedall and family are members of St. John Episcopal Church in Bakersfield. In political questions he unites with the Democratic party, and fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Woodmen of the AA'orld, Order of Eagles, and the Order of Moose. MARTIN NEELY PETTUS.— During the early part of the nineteenth century James E. Pettus, of Virginian birth, accompanied his widowed mother to Arkansas and settled in Sevier, where later he conducted a general store in the small hamlet of Paraclifta. At the outbreak of the Mexican war he of- fered his services to his country, was accepted and sent to the front, where he took part in the battles of Vera Cruz and Buena Vista. LTpon the ending of the war he received an honorable discharge and returned to his Arkansas home, whence during 1850 he came via Panama to California. A brief ex- perience at the mines was followed by identification with the hotel business, first in Vallejo and later at Petaluma. Next he went to Calpella, a small town eight miles north of Ukiah, Mendocino county, where he had charge of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1359 Indian agency and also engaged in general merchandising. During the period of his residence in that small village his son, Martin Neely Pettus, was born November 22, 1861. Removing to Kern county in 1869 the father located a homestead and developed and improved a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on the old Buena Vista slough. Being able to secure water from the slough for irrigation he raised alfalfa with profit and made a success of the stock business. When eventually he retired from agricultural pursuits he lived his last days with a daughter, Mrs. Leonora Cross, in Bakersfield on the present site of the Producers' Bank and here, in July of 1899, he passed away, at the age of seventy years. A few years after his arrival in the west James E. Pettus married Cornelia Veader, who was born in Minden, La., and died in Kern county, Cal., at the age of forty years. Her father. Col. Charles H. Veader, a native of Schenec- tady, N. Y., came south during the war of 1812 and after the engagement at New Orleans, in which he bore an active part, he received an honorable dis- charge from the army. Remaining in Louisiana, he engaged in mercantile pursuits and also practiced law. During the memorable year of 1849 he and his family crossed the plains in a wagon drawn by oxen. For a time he prac- ticed law in Vallejo, where his daughter became the wife of Mr. Pettus. Later he became an attorney at Petaluma. Next he followed his profession at Ukiah. Coming to Kern county in 1868, he practiced law at Havilah and did much of the early surveying in this part of the state. When the county-seat was brought to Bakersfield he established his home and ofifice in this city, but finally entered land near Stockdale and there passed his last days. There were five children in the Pettus family. The following survive: Mrs. Leonora Cross, a widow residing in Bakersfield ; Martin Neely, of this review; Carrie, wife of William H. Davis, of Rosamond, Kern county; and Howard, who is living in the state of Washington. From the age of seven years Martin N. Pettus has been familiar with conditions in Kern county, where he attended school and learned general farming. At the age of sixteen he became an employe of Carr & Haggin. A desire to see the old home of his father in Arkansas induced him to visit Sevier county, that state, and for thirteen years he raised cotton in that county. Meanwhile he met and married Miss Lucettie Davies, who was born near Washington, Ark. Their union was blessed with three daughters, the eldest of whom. Ruby, is now the wife of F. M. Clark, of Stockton, Cal. The younger daughters, Alice and Thelma, reside with their parents. During December of 1890 Mr. Pettus brought his family to California and became a rider for the Kern County Land Company. After five years in the same position he turned his attention to farming and three years later came to East Bakersfield, where he owns a residence at No. 502 Pacific street. During 1898 he became janitor of the old H school, next was with the Emerson school, later was transferred to the Washington school in East Bakersfield and since 1910 has acted as janitor of the Kern county high school. He maintains a warm interest in national issues and votes the Democratic ticket. The Fraternal Brotherhood has his name enrolled upon its list of members, while in religious faith he is in sympathy with the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and has served for some years as a member of the oflficial board in the local congregation. GEORGE H. PIPPITT.— With the exception of the first eight years of his life, which were spent in New Jersey, Mr. Pippitt has always been identified with the west. Born at Birmingham, Burlington county, N. J., June 6, 1869, George H. Pippitt is a son of Joseph M. and Hannah A. (Akins) Pippitt, na- tives of New Jersey, the latter now a resident of Sacramento, Cal. The father, after coming to the west about 1875, secured employment as a mill- wright with a large lumber company in the redwood district of San Mateo county. In the region made famous by reason of its great forests he worked 1360 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY for some time and meanwhile had his family join him in 1877 but in 1881 he took his wife and children to a ranch in Sutter county, where he engaged in general farming. October of 1885 found them residents of Oakland and in that city he died during February of the following year. There were two sons and two daughters in his family and the youngest of these, George H., received his education in the public schools of California. After having taken a com- mercial course in the Pacific Business College of San Francisco he became a bookkeeper in Oakland with a large wholesale house. Railroading has engrossed the time and attention of Mr. Pippitt since the year 1890, "when he became a tallyman in the lumber department of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Sacramento. Afterward he was transferred to the car-repair department and by promotion rose to be foreman. From 1893 until 1898 he had charge of the station at Winnemucca, Nev., but in the latter year he was transferred to Bakersfield, Cal., to fill temporarily the position of general car foreman. At the expiration of three months he was assigned to Sacramento, but in July of 1899 he was returned to Bakersfield as chief inter- change inspector and assistant foreman. December of the same year found him in Mojave as general foreman of the car and locomotive department and wrecking foreman, from which position in May, 1900, he was promoted to be joint general foreman of the same department for the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads. For more than a decade he continued in the same post. Meanwhile the work became very heavy and the duties exceedingly exacting. Finally it became necessary to divide the work. In April of 1911 the depart- ment was changed so that his responsibilities were lessened and since then he has been round-house and wrecking foreman for both companies. Being a man of thrift and a believer in the future of the state Mr. Pippitt has invested in real estate from time to time and now owns a ranch of ten acres near Downey, also residence property in Sherman. While making his headquarters in Nevada he married Miss Jeannette E. Webb, a native of Sacramento, a lady of excellent education and an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father, Edwin Webb, who had served in the Black Hawk war, crossed the plains with wagon and ox-team during the early '50's. For a time he lived on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres situated in the vicinity of W^estlake park, Los Angeles. WHien one hundred and four years of age he died in Sacramento. There are three children in the family of Mr. Pippitt, namely: Otis N., who is in the naval training school in San Francisco; Irene E., and Gordon D. In Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., of which he is past master, Mr. Pippitt was made a Mason, and he is also past patron of Tehachapi Chapter No. 188, O. E. S. Mrs. Pippitt is past matron of the local chapter and a leader in the work of the order. GAUDENZ WEICHELT.— Born July 26, 1873, at Cillis, Canton Grau- bunden, upon the farm occupied by his parents, Gottleib and Katherina (Wald) AVeichelt, G. Weichelt passed the years of early life in an industrious but uneventful manner and at the age of fifteen was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. The parental family comprised seven children and all are still living, namely: Christian, the only one of the seven to remain in Switzerland; Gott- leib, a farmer in the Panama district; Gaudenz, of Bakersfield; John, who is engaged in farming in the Old River district ; Katherina, Mrs. Christian Mattly, of Bakersfield ; Mary, Mrs. John Koch, who lives on a farm in the Panama district; and Carl, of Bakersfield. The first member of the family to come to America was Gaudenz and the reports he sent back encouraged the others to follow- him, the father and mother also coming to California to spend their last days in Kern county. After having worked as a day laborer in l\ilermo. Italy, from the age of fifteen until he was seventeen, Gaudenz Weichelt then returned to his native place at Graubunden. Switzerland, and in a short time started for the new HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1361 world. April 1, 1891. he arrived in Bakersfield. The following day he secured employment as a day laborer on a dairy farm situated on Union avenue, remaining there about a year. Later he was employed on two other dairy farms, the last one that of Chris Mattley. Meanwhile he had saved his wages with frugal care. His next venture was the renting of land two and one-half miles southwest of Bakersfield, where he started a dairy farm and engaged also in stock-raising. With his savings he bought twenty acres three miles southwest of Bakersfield. Moving to the new farm, he embarked in the dairy business. Later he added to the tract and now owns sixty-six acres in one body, under the Stine canal, well adapted for an alfalfa and dairy farm. From that farm he drove a retail milk wagon through the city and built up patronage that proved profitable although requiring constant attention. Dur- ing January, 1908, he closed out the dairy business, leased the land and moved into Bakersfield tq engage in business on the corner of Nineteenth and K streets. Of recent years he has been financially interested in the Sun- shine Oil Company and also in the Seabreeze Oil Company. In 1896 he married Miss Martha Ruefenacht, a native of J aide, Russia, and a daughter of Gottleib and Freda (Metzger) Ruefenacht, born in Bern, Switzerland, and near Heilbronn, Wurtemberg, Germany, respectively. Dur- ing the year 1893 Mrs. Ruefenacht brought the family to California and settled in Bakersfield. Mrs. Weichelt died August 30. 1904, leaving four children, Walter, Freda, Elsie and Martha, and with them Mr. Weichelt makes his home on the corner of Nineteenth and Myrtle streets. Politically Mr. Weichelt has been stanch in his allegiance to Republican principles, while in fraternal relations he is identified with the Eagles and the Hermann Sons, and he and his family are members of St. Johns Lutheran Church. Deeply interested in the free-schocl system, he served for some years as school trustee in the Stine district and during the term of his official service the site for a school was selected and a new building erected. Of industrious and persevering tem- perament, he has found in California an opportunity for material advancement which his native land could not offer. JOSEPH VACCARO.— Born July 25, 1868, in San Francisco, Cal., Joseph Vaccaro is the son of early settlers in Kern county, who upon coming to this country first settled in San Francisco, thence moving to this county. In 1885 he also came here and procured work with the Miller & Lux Land Company, working for them in all parts of the country, and learning the many par- ticulars concerning the tilling of the soil and the conduct of a productive farm. He familiarized himself with these details and his ability was soon recognized. In 1901 he was called to become superintendent of the Alameda ranch, owned by R. E. Houghton of San Francisco. During the summers he has from twenty to twenty-five men working under him on the ranch, in the winters having from six to ten, and so systematically is the arrangement that the work moves quickly and smoothly to the ultimate gain of the owner and the complete satisfaction of all concerned. Mr. Vaccaro is unmarried and devotes all of his time and attention to his duties. Fraternally he is a member of Bakersfield Aerie No. 93, Order of Eagles. He takes no active part in public afifairs, but his interest is ever for the promotion of better conditions in his community. JESSE DECATURE BRITE.— x\mong the native sons who have risen to prominence and have been appointed to fill responsible positions is Jesse D. Brite, who was born in Brites Valley, Kern county, February 27, 1885, the son of James M., and grandson of John Moore Brite, the pioneer settler of the Tehachapi region and from whom Brites valley receives its name. His father is an old and honored settler and stock-raiser of the valley. Jesse was brought up on the farm and learned the stock business, receiving his education in the local schools and Brownsberger's Business College in Los Angeles, 1362 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY where he completed the course in typewriting and stenography. He then entered Heald's Business College at Stockton and after completing the course entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Tehachapi as a clerk, which position he held about four years. On being appointed postmaster at Tehachapi by President Wilson July 10, 1913, ]\Ir. Brite resigned his clerkship and assumed the duties of his ofifice August 30, 1913. With his usual tact he is filling the position to the satisfac- tion of the citizens. In Plackberry, Mohave county, Arizona, occurred the marriage of Jesse Brite and INIiss Eva Cofer, who was born there and is the daughter of A. F. Cofer, a large cattle man of Hackberry. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brite have been born two children, Chester C. and Viola. Fraternally he holds membership with the Arroyo Grande Lodge, M. W^ A. He has always been much interested in and an active local worker of the Democratic party. MRS. ADELINE PESANTE.— Among the pioneer residents of Old River who have contributed to the material upbuilding of the community and raised a large family to be men and women of credit to the county we find Mrs. Pesante, who was born in the town of Andeer, Canton Graubunden, Switzer- land, the daughter of Christian and Katherina (Engle) Lehner. The father was a contractor and farmer. The daughter, Adeline, was reared in the beau- tiful Alps region, receiving her education in the public schools of that vicinity, and there she was married April 4, 1880, to Peter Pesante, who was born in the same village July 18, 1858, the son of a farmer. Naturally he learned that pur- suit, which he followed in that country until 1883, when he came to California to select and establish a home for his family in the region of which they had heard such good reports. The family joined him in 1885. They resided in Salinas until 1886, when they moved into Kern county and he entered the employ of the Kern County Land Company on the Lakeside ranch, remaining there until his death in 1889. Mrs. Pesante, left with four children, continued to reside at Lakeside and was employed there until her second marriage to a brother of her former husband, John Pesante, born in 1863. Soon afterwards the}' purchased the twenty acres near Old River, where he farmed until his death in 1907. Since then she continues to reside on her ranch, which is well improved and is run under the supervision of her son. By her first marriage she had four children, as follows : Christian, who is a farmer in this county; Peter, an employe on the Southern Pacific Railroad; Lena, Mrs. Small, who resides in San Francisco ; and Dina, in the employ of the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation in Bakersfield. Of the second marriage there were six children, namely: Adeline, Mrs. Christian Ruedy, of Panama; Mary, Mrs. Zillig, residing in Arizona; John, Everett, Florence and Irving, who are still at home. Mrs. Pesante takes much pleasure in having been able to care for and train her children to habits of industry and self- reliance. Having been reared in the Protestant faith, she is a member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Bakersfield. PETER TUCULET was born in Spelet near Bayonne, Basses Pyrenees, France, May 12, 1875. His father, also named Peter Tuculet, has been a farmer and stockman all these years and still resides on his little farm in the lofty Pyrenees with his wife, Frances. To them were born ten children, nine of whom are living, Peter being the fifth in the order of birth. From a lad he made himself useful on the farm and learned the stock business as it was done in the Pyrenees of France. Two of his brothers having located in Kern county, Cal., he also determined to see the land of which he had heard such glowing reports and setting out at the age of seventeen he arrived in Kern county in 1892. Immediately he found employment with a sheepman herding the flocks in Kern, Inyo and Mono counties for eight years, when he purchased a band. A year later he sold his flock to engage in mining in the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1363 Amelia district, being employed in the Gold Pick and also the Amelia mine until 1907. From that time until 1909 he was foreman of stone quarries at Victorville, and then returned to Bakersfield, since which time he has been foreman of the Noriega ranch, a position he is filling with his customary zeal. Mr. Tuculet was married in East Bakersfield in 1900 to Miss Joanna Mier, a native of Spain, and to them have been born six children, as follows : Peter, Manuel, Joseph, Marie, Dominic and Frank. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tuculet are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in East Bakersfield. G. J, ALDRICH.— A resident of California since 1909, Mr. Aldrich claims Ohio as his native commonwealth and was born at Weston, Wood county, November 21, 1888, being a son of the late D. L. Aldrich, for years a druggist at Cygnet, Ohio, but deceased in 1909. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Flora A. Hoover, was born in Weston, Ohio, and now makes her home at Lima, that state. The family comprises three sons, the eldest of whom, Harry F., is employed as a drug clerk at Toledo, O., while the youngest, Rob- ert Lloyd, is engaged as a tool-dresser with the Syndicate Oil Company in the Midway field. The second son, George J., attended school as a boy, helped his father in the drug store during vacations, and at the age of seventeen left school and store in order to engage in the oil industry in the Lima fields for the Standard Oil Company. From the pipe-line gang he was raised to be a ganger, which position he filled about eighteen months. Meanwhile he was married at Adrian, Mich., to Miss Mina Clark, of Cygnet, Ohio, and soon after his marriage he moved to California, where he has since engaged in the oil business. For ten months he worked on the pipe line of the Standard at Orcutt in the Santa Maria field. When the Producers Transportation Com- pany built their line through to the coast he was employed in the capacity of engineer for three months, after which he became an engineer for the iVsso- ciated Oil Company. A short visit at the old Ohio home was followed by his return to the west and the resumption of work with the Standard, in whose employ he came to the Signa station as a fireman and during September of 1912 received a merited promotion to be engineer. In his work he has had the cheerful and wise counsel of his wife, who is a woman of gentle Christian character, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a house- keeper whose attractive home radiates good cheer, as does also her kindly hospitality and amiable disposition. L. D COULTER. — Born in McKean county. Pa., September 25, 1884, he was reared in the oil fields of his native commonwealth and received a com- mon-school education, supplemented by attendance at the academy in West S.unbury, Butler county. The beginnings of the oil work became familiar to him while he was yet a boy. From the first he gave indication of special aptitude for the occupation. At the age of twenty he was doing work of considerable responsibility in the Butler county fields. Much of his work in the east was done in West Virginia, where he was employed at St. Marys for some time as a tool-dresser and where he gained a reputation for skill and efficiency. After four and one-half years in West Virginia he sought a larger field for his activities and since 1909 has been connected with the industry in California, where for some eighteen months he worked at Coalinga before identifying himself with the Midway field. Merit alone caused the rise of Mr. Coulter from roustabout through the varying grades of work to the posi- tion of foreman with a concern of great prestige and large interests. Since coming to the Midway field he has engaged as production foreman on the Shale, Oakburn and Brunswick divisions of the General Petroleum Oil Com- pany. While in West Virginia he was identified with the Knights of Pythias at Glover Gap and since coming to the west he has been associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Taft and the Eagles at Coalinga. In 1912, a year after his marriage, he was deeply bereaved by the death of his 1364 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY wife, who was Miss Sarah Robards, member of an old Kentucky family and a lady of such culture and gentleness as to win and retain the friendship of her larg^e circle of acquaintances. F. J. BURNS. — The oil industry in Kern county has an able representative in the person of F. J. Burns, superintendent tjf the Dominion Oil Company and identified with other organizations engaged in the business of development in this district. While the upbuilding of the Dominion's lease of forty acres on .section 15. 31-22, with its four wells averaging a monthly production of twelve thousand barrels, has been his principal task, it by no means represents the limit of his energies, for in addition he started the King George Oil Company in 191 1 and also drilled down two thousand feet on the Bobby Burns lease at McKittrick and has had other interests more or less successful. A resident of McKittrick, he served as justice of the peace from November, 1912, until April. 1913, when he resigned in order to devote his entire time to the oil business. Near Woodbridge, Suffolk county, England, F. J. Burns was born Feb- ruary 26, 1875, the son of John Franklin and Elizabeth Burns, the latter of whom died one week after the birth of her son, F. J., while the former died the following year. There was only one other child, a brother ten years older than F. J.; he became a surgeon in the British army and was sent to Egypt, where he was shot and killed while attending to wounded soldiers on the battle- field. The father was a country gentleman and owned Marleybone Court, an estate comprising about eighty acres. The family was both prominent and financially prosperous, and a nurse and governess were kept for the special care of the children, who after the death of their parents were the special chargQ of relatives holding the estate in trust for their use. In 1894 F. J. Burns sailed from Antwerp for Jersey City, landing in June of that year after an uneventful voyage. From the east he proceeded to Chicago and thence to Victoria, B. C., where he engaged to work as book- keeper in the office of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Later he be- came purser on the steamship Monmouthshire of the same line. For six months he filled that position, meanwhile visiting the ports of China and Japan, as well as many American ports on the Pacific coast. These voyages gave him a varied knowledge of much of the world, thus supplementing the information he had gained through his travels in England, Holland, Belgium and France, in company with his brother, Captain Burns, during the furloughs of the latter while acting as surgeon in the British army. Upon resigning as purser he came to the oil fields of California, bringing letters of introduction to leading oil operators in the Santa Maria field. For two years he engaged as superintendent of the Pinal and Brookshire Oil Companies and in 1909 came to McKittrick, where he has since organized the Bobby Burns Oil Company, the Scottish Oilfields Limited, the Carnegie Oilfields Limited and the Domin- ion Oil Company, the two last-named being in the North Midway field. After the Carnegie had been developed to a depth of thirty-nine hundred feet it was changed to a water well, then sold and is now being operated by a water company. The Scottish Oilfields developed a lease in the Elk Hills to a depth of forty-one hundred feet, but found no oil and therefore abandoned the holdings. The King George was organized and incorporated in 1911, but no attempt has as yet been made to drill and test the property. These various organizations have required much time and thought on the part of Mr. Burns, who entertains great hopes concerning the ultimate development and future value of the Dominion properties and believes this section of the county to be unsurpassed in its openings for oil operators. He is interested in public aifairs and votes the Democratic ticket. For some years he has been a member of the Democratic county central committee. In addition he is a member of the Bakersfield Club. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1365 PETER MATTLY.— Many of the most enterprising men who have made a success of the dairy business in Kern county have come hither from the region of the Alps in Switzerland, and among them we find Peter Mattly, who was born in Zilles, Canton Graubunden, April 19, 1879. He was the son of John C. and Christene (Grischott ) Mattly, who were both descended from old families in Graubunden and were prosperous farmers, residing at their old home until they passed from earth. Of their four children three are living, as follows: Christian, who resides in Mono county; Peter, of this review, and Hill G., who is associated with Peter in the dairy business. Peter Alattly was reared in his native place and received his education in the public schools. From a youth he learned farming and was early set to work, thus learning habits of industry, carefulness and economy. Having become interested in reports from the United States he concluded to cast his lot in the land of the Stars and Stripes, and with that end in view came to Montana in 1901, remaining one year. Then he came to Mono county, Cal., where with his two brothers he bought out their uncle, Leo Mattly, who was in the stock business. They continued raising cattle there until 1912 when he and his brother Hill sold their interest, and coming to Kern county formed a partnership with Chris Caycri and purchased the old Chris Mattly place of five hundred and sixty acres, where they are engaged in raising alfalfa and have a large dairy. To this business Mr. Mattly devotes all of his time. He was also interested in starting the Meadowland Creamery. In 1938 he made a visit to his old home in Zilles where he was married to Dora Cayori, the daughter of George and Menga Catrina Cayori. After their marriage he returned to California with his bride. Politically they espouse the Republican principles and in religious belief they are Lutherans. MILLARD D. BENSON.— Embarking in the trade of a blacksmith M. D. Benson with a partner purchased from W. F. Hubbard the blacksmith shop at McKittrick, where he now conducts a growing and profitable business, using a gas engine for power and having in his shop every modern equipment for efficient work in his line. The Benson family is of old eastern lineage. Dallas Benson, a native of Coudersport, Potter county. Pa., and a railroad contractor for some years during young manhood, established himself in Michigan for the purpose of pursuing his chosen business. While at St. Clair, that state, he married Miss Naydell Millward and established a home in that town. After the birth of a son, Millard D., which occurred at St. Clair, October 5, 1873, the family re- turned to Pennsylvania, the father establishing a home in his native town. After some years as a railroad contractor in that part of the country he took up agricultural pursuits and also engaged to some extent in lumbering. Until his death in 1892 he remained a resident of Pennsylvania. The widow after- ward became the wife of H. L. Holcomb, now a well-known resident of Bakers- field. Upon the completion of the regular course of study in the Coudersport high school Mr. Benson took up lumbering in Pennsylvania. There also he learned every phase of the oil business. As a driller he proved to be excep- tionally capable. The discovery of gold in Alaska attracted him to that coun- try. During the spring of 1898 he went by steamer to Skagway and from there, crossing the White pass, to Dawson. After six months in the mining regions of the Klondike he was taken ill with typhoid fever. As soon as he was able to travel he followed the trail westward to St. Michaels, where he boarded a steamer for Seattle and then entered a hospital for recuperation from the fever. As soon as able to travel he came to Tulare county, where he soon regained his health. In the fall of 1899, at the opening of the Kern river field, he engaged as a driller for the Peerless Oil Company. Two months later, in December of 1899 he came to McKittrick, where he secured employment as a 1366 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY driller for the Grant Oil Company. Later tasks in drilling gave him a thorough acquaintance with the Midway, Sunset, Fellows and North Midway fields. Together with Mr. Iribarne in 1910 he bought the old Headquarters hotel and livery barn, but in 1911 he sold out to his partner. Later he bought a blacksmith shop, the largest in McKittrick, in which business he has Mr. Holcomb as a partner. After coming to Kern county he was married at Bakersfield to Miss Jennie Allen, a native of Kalamazoo, Mich. In fraternal lelatiuns he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Red Men. ROBERT J. MULL. — It has been necessary for Mr. Mull to earn his own support from boyhood. Although still a young man (born in 1885) already he has established and developed an important business. After some time devoted to work around oil wells, in 1909 he embarked in the livery business at McKittrick, where he built a barn and corral, purchased driving horses and buggies, and opened a stable that he still conducts with fair profit. In addition he makes a specialty of auto livery and also owns and operates a blacksmith and horse-shoeing shop, so that in the varied lines of activity he keeps busily and profitably employed. When only one year old Robert J. Mull was left an orphan. During 1887 he was brought from his birthplace, Newport, Ark., to California, where he was taken into the home of an uncle at Merced. Later he lived successively at Santa Barbara and Bakersfield and attended the schools of those cities. A course in Heald's Business College completed his education. Upon leaving school he secured work in the Coalinga oil field, where he was employed as a tool-dresser. Coming to the McKittrick field in 1906, he continued here as a tool-dresser until 1909, when he embarked in the business that since has engaged his time and attention. Since coming to McKittrick he has become a member of the Yoko Tribe No. 252, I. O. R. M. Politically he supports Democratic principles. His family consists of wife and daughter, Evelyn. Mrs. Mull, prior to their marriage in Tulare, was Miss Hattie Stevenson. and is a woman of culture and education, a native of Licking, Mo. FRED L. SMITH. — The tide of emigration that bore great multitudes of sturdy pioneers away from the shores of the Atlantic into the unknown regions of the interior found the Smith family transplanted from the east to the then undeveloped regions of Michigan, where William H. was born at Ply- mouth and where in youth he learned the trade of stonemason under his father. However, the young man was more fond of adventure and started cut to see something of the world. While in Louisiana he was induced to join the regular army and received an assignment to the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry, which was dispatched to Fort Missoula, Mont. Through the request of his mother he was honorably discharged, on account of being under age. He secured employment in Montana and after a brief period became manager of the grocery department of the Missoula Mercantile Company, continuing in the same position for fifteen years. Meanwhile he was elected county clerk and recorder of Missoula county and he won the election two terms, but during the last year of the second term he resigned in order to accept a position as chief of police of Missoula. Ten months later he gave up that post and embarked in the real-estate business, but soon afterward was appointed city clerk, which office he now holds. Mr. Smith married in Montana Miss Alice V. Amiraux, a native of Maine, who had accompanied her family across the plains in a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen. Upon reaching Montana her father, Henry A. Amiraux, located near Missoula and embarked in stock-raising and ranching. Later he was chosen to serve in the territorial legislature of Montana. There were three children in the family of William H. and Alice V. Smith and two of these survive. Youngest of the three, Fred L., was born at Missoula, Mont., November 3, 1882, and received his elementary education in his native town. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1367 After he had graduated from the Missoula high school in 1899 he entered All Hallow's College in Salt Lake City and continued in that institution for three years, receiving in 1902 a diploma from the commercial department. Upon his return to the old home town he entered the employ of the Missoula Mercantile Company as a bookkeeper. When his father was elected county clerk and recorder he was appointed chief deputy in the office and upon the resignation of the incumbent toward the close of the second term he was appointed to fill the vacancy. When a new incumbent had been elected he con- tinued as chief deputy for one year, after which for a similar period he man- aged a hotel in Missoula. Next he engaged in the cigar business in Wallace, Idaho. December 1, 1911, he came to Bakersfield, where he soon formed a partnership with E. J. Thompson in the running of the Oil Center stage between Bakersfield and Oil Center, a distance of seven miles. The marriage of Mr. Smith took place at Spokane, Wash., December 31, 1904, and united him with Miss Julia Butler, who was born in Rush City, Minn... and was the youngest in a family that includes two daughters and two sons now living. Her parents, A. W. and Marie (Kelley) Butler, were natives respectively of Maine and Lake Eorest, 111., and the former, after many years as a builder in Minnesota, removed to Spokane, Wash., and took up the same line of business. The eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Billie, died at the age of three years. The others are Frederick, Jule and William H., to whom 1;he parents hope to give the best educational advantages this city afifords. In politics Mr. Smith votes with the Democratic party. While living in Idaho he became identified with the Knights of Columbus at Wallace, also with the Improved Order of Red Men, while at Missoula he was a member of the* Eagles and Elks, and in addition he has maintained an active association with the Yeomen. N. M. GATES.— To engage in drilling for the La Belle Oil Company in March of 1910 Mr. Gates came to the Midway field. When he had completed the drilling of the first well he was chosen superintendent of the lease. Scarcely had well No. 1 been started when the concern sold out to the Cali- fornia Counties Oil Company, which has retained him in the position of super- intendent. The first two wells have been continuous producers and well No. 3, Avhich yields enough gas to run the entire lease, also came in as a gusher. At this writing well No. 4 is in process of drilling. Born at Pittsfield, Pike county. 111., September 11, 1859, he was ten years of age when his father, Joseph Gates, removed to Missouri and settled on a farm in Lafayette county. During 1876 he removed to Texas and settled on a farm in Callahan county, where the father died. Returning to the old home in Missouri in 1880, he began to earn his livelihood as a farmer, but the following years he temporarily abandoned such work and the year of 1882 found him mining near Georgetown, Colo. Three different times he made the round trip between Missouri and Colorado, farming in the former state and mining in the latter. During 1886 he went to Idaho and found employment in mining, but at the expiration of fifteen months he left to make a tour of the Pacific coast country. Returning thence to a Missouri farm, in 1888 he again left home to try his luck with the pioneers of Oklahoma. However, when the famous run was made in April of 1889 he felt the chances to be so small that he withdrew from the race, afterward renting a farm at Lenapah, I. T., for four years. On coming to California in 1893 Mr. Gates engaged in farming in Tulare county for a year, but in 1894 he returned to the Indian Territory and resumed farm pursuits in that country. At Wagoner, I. T., occurred his mar- riage to Mrs. Jennie (Merchant) Young, a daughter of John Merchant, mem- ber of the firm of Merchant Bros., large cattle buyers in Texas. By her first marriage there were two sons, both later adopted by Mr. Gates, and there are 57 1368 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY also two sons of her second marriage, the four being- as follows : Howard, now employed as a driller at Brea, this state ; John, who is engaged with the California Counties Oil Company ; Joseph and Lee. The family are of the Presbyterian faith. During 1897 Mr. Gates removed from the Indian Terri- tory to Colorado and soon afterward he secured employment as a helper at Florence in the oil fields, where later he was promoted to be a driller. Coming to the California oil fields in 1905, he engaged as a driller with the Radium Oil Company at Santa Maria. In 1906 he became superintendent of the prop- erty. When he resigned that position early in 1910 he came to the Midway and has since been connected with the lease now operated by the California Counties Oil Company. Fraternally he holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World. WILLIAM E. ARMSTRONG.— Upon attaining his majority in 1897 he entered a claim to one hundred and sixty acres in Kern county, which he proved up on and then sold. Another early venture in Kern county took him into partnership with a brother, C. W. Armstrong, the two undertaking general agricultural pursuits in the Weed Patch, where two favorable years brought them excellent returns, but the third year, being dry, lost them all the profits of the preceding seasons. At another time he bought and subdivided a block in East Bakersfield, afterward selling a number of the lots for building purposes, the balance remaining in his possession. Of Virginian ancestry and lowan birth, Mr. Armstrong is a son of Thomas E. and Margaret (Walker) Armstrong, natives respectively of West Virginia and Illinois, the former a pioneer first of Illinois and then of Ringgold county, Iowa, where he died. The family consisted of six children,, all of whoni are living except C. W., late of Kern county. The third in order of birth, William E., was born in Ringgold county, Iowa, May 29, 1876, and received public-school education and farm training. At the age of about twenty he came to Bakersfield, arriving in March of 1896, after which he tried his luck as a farmer in the Weed Patch and next turned his attention to teaming between Bakersfield and the Kern river oil field. Becoming interested in the oil industry, he learned tool-dressing and general work aiound the wells. During 1907 he went to San Joaquin county and purchased property which is to be put in alfalfa. Returning to Kern county in 1910 after having rented the farm he resumed work in the Kern river oil field. In May, 1913, he became a member of the firm of Armstrong & Reynolds, proprietors of a general mer- cantile store at Reward, but August 20, 1913, he bought out his partner's interest, being now the sole owner. Recently he opened another store in Mc- Kittrick, which is conducted under the firm name of Armstrong & Co. Ever since casting his first ballot Mr. Armstrong has been a Republican. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World in Bakers- field. His first marriage united him with Miss- Anna Shackelford, who was born in Iowa and died at Bakersfield, Cal., leaving two daughters, Pearl and Ethel. Some years after the death of his first wife he married Aliss Sadie Jenkins, of Bakersfield, a native of Nodaway county. Mo., and a woman whcse capabilities are shown in her co-operation with Mr. Armstrong in movements for their own personal advancement as well as the general welfare. Some years ago she located a desert claim of three hundred and twenty acres at Rio Bravo, where an abundance of water was found at a depth of eighty feet. In order that the water might be utilized as needed, Mrs. Armstrong put in a pumping plant of one hundred and fifty inches capacity. JOSEPH PETER DOOLEY.— The junior member of the firm of James & Douley, dealers in clothing and men's furnishing goods, is a pioneer merchant of Taft. He arrived in Taft September 1, 1909, and that same month became a member of the firm of James & Dcoley, establishing the first clothing store in Taft on Siding No. 2. This was burned out October 22, 1909. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1369 ANDREW NIXON. — One of the self-made, self-reliant men of Rands- burg, Kern county, is Andrew Nixon, who since the age of thirteen years has been earning his r)wn way and providing for himself, without the aid and comfort of a parent's guidance in the struggle. He is now the successful owner of several placer mines and one quartz mine in the county. Mr. Nixon came to Randsburg in 1895, after having numerous experiences elsewhere in the country between there and Nova Scotia, where his birth oc- curred January 22, 1865, in Anapolis county. He was sent to the public schools until he was thirteen, when, left an orphan, he found it incumbent upon him to look after his own interests and find a way to procure his livelihood. In 1884 he came west to Butte City, Mont., where he started in the mining business, taking up his residence in that city, where he remained up to the time he came west to California. In 1902 he bought out a liquor business in Randsburg, which he is conducting at >he present time. He was one-third owner of the Stanford Gold Coin Mill, afWward called the Stanford Mining and Milling Company. He was the locator of the Blackhawk mine which he afterwards sold to a mining company. Mr. Nixon is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. CHARLES EMERSON. — In the southwest corner of Kern county, run- ning up to within one mile of Ventura county and about three miles from the San Luis Obispo county line, lies the Paleto ranch of five thousand acres operated by Emerson Bros. The identification of the family with the ranch dates back to the year 1886, when Edward Simpson Emerson removed to Kern county and pre-empted and' homesteaded land twelve miles south of the present site of Maricopa. For years before coming to this locality he had lived in California and had engaged in ranching. By birth a Missourian, he had engaged in the government service in 1848 and as a teamster had hauled freight to the various government posts. During 1852 he sailed from Mexico to San Francisco, thence proceeded to Sonoma county and took up land. There he married Miss Julia Dunbar and in that county their five eldest chil- dren were born. Removing to San Luis Obispo county in 1868, he continued to engage in ranching and stock-raising. When he brought his family to Kern county in 1886 he and his seven sons engaged in ranching in the Paleto country. When his demise occurred in 1904 and that of his wife in 1908, both had attained to the age of seventy-one years. The family of Edward Simpson Emerson comprised nine children, all still living, as follows : Perry, on a ranch near Bakersfield ; Zaza, who is on the Paleto ranch ; Henry, who makes his home on a ranch eight miles south of Bakersfield ; Charles, who was born in Sonoma county July 6, 1865, and is still unmarried; Elbert T., a resident of Fillmore, Ventura county; Mollie L.. who married Clarence S. Green, of Maricopa (represented elsewhere in this volume) ; Edward E., on the Paleto ranch ; Robert, who makes his home at Fillmore, Ventura county; and Josephine, Mrs. M. T. Bush, who resides on the Paleto ranch. Since attaining his majority Charles Emerson has lived in Kern county and has engaged in ranching. With his brothers as partners he usually maintains a herd of about three hundred head of cattle, but at the present time they have reduced the bunch to one hundred head, these being mostly Durham and Hereford cattle of the finest beef grades. On account of a spring of water on the land taken up by Charles Emerson Messrs. Carr and Haggin entered suit against him and attempted to eject him from the holdings. He was enjoined from using the waters of the spring. Litigation followed. Defying the injunction of the superior court of Kern county, he spent thirty days in jail for contempt of court and in that Avay became well known in this section of the state. Through the purchase by him of three hundred and twenty acres and by his father of a similar amount from the Kern County Land Company, the successors of the original contestants, 1370 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the matter was eventually settled and peace was restored. Since then he has continued his ranching enterprises and with his brothers operates five thou- sand acres forming what is known as the Paleto ranch, sit-uated twelve miles south of Maricopa. JOHN CROSS. — A pioneer in Kern county, John Cross was born in Santa Clara county, June 16, 1864, and was brought by his parents to a home within the present borders of Kern in 1866. He attended public schools in a school- house which stood near Weldon, on the South Fork of the Kern river, until he was seventeen years old, then devoted himself to farm work until he was twenty. His first venture for himself was in homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of government land on the North Fork about three miles above Kernville, which he began to improve and on which he prospered as a stock- raise*- and general farmer until 1897. Then he sold his land and became a mer- chant at Bodfish, where he built and started the first store and sold goods until 1906, when he took up his residence at Mojave. There he is the owner of a liquor store, at the same time owning a business place at Isabella, which he leases. For many years he gave his attention to farming and cattle raising on the South Fork of the Kern river, but has lately sold out his stock-raising interest. In nearly all his business ventures Mr. Cross has been successful. Be- sides the interests already mentioned he is the owner also of property in Los Angeles. Fraternally he affiliates with the Loyal Order of Moose. He mar- ried Aliss Clio B. Tilley, June 14, 1897. Mrs. Cross is a native daughter of Kern county, born in Kernville, and is the mother of five children, Louis, Raymond, Marion, John, J., and Clio Helen. L. A. McCALL. — What is known in the oil world to be the largest gusher in the United States, and indeed in the entire world, is situated on section 36, 31-23, in Kern county and owned, by the Standard Oil Company. This lease is the most important owned by the company and contains more gushers than any other lease in the Midway field, or in fact in any other lease in the world, and it was here that the celebrated oil gusher known as McNee No. 10 was brought in in the latter part of July, 1913; and the McNee No. 6 during the first part of September. No. 10 came in as a powerful gusher, breaking loose and destroying connections, and flowed uncontrolled for two weeks, it being estimated that twenty thousand barrels of oil were taken from it per day. The skill with which this well was controlled and the difficult and expert work of management are due entirely to the ability of L. A. McCall, the present foreman, who with the aid of thirty-five expe- rienced oil men worked night and day for five days, removing the broken casing and making a new connection with such success that the well was brought under perfect control and is making twelve thousand barrels per day, a record, so far as is known (1914), greater than any other gusher in the world. This section contains besides the No. 10 the following wells, which are all large gushers: Nos. 1, 4, 6, 12, 15 and 17. All the wells in the sec- tion with the exception of No. 1 and No. 4, which were already drilled before his appointment, have been brought in and drilled under the direction of Mr. ]\IcCall, who has been in the employ of the Standard Oil Company for four years, a year and a half as foreman of section 36. The son of a veteran oil man of Pennsylvania, Samuel McCall, he was born at Beaver City, Clarion county, Pa., April 2, 1878, and his father is now working with him on section 36. It was in McKane county, Pa., that L. A. IMcCall started as a tool dresser to learn the oil industry under his father. He was then sixteen, and three years later he went to West Vir- ginia to work in the oil fields, remaining three years. Next for a like period he worked in Ohio oil fields and then moved to Indiana, where he was employed by a contract driller, and did drilling for the first time. His next location was in Tilberry, Ontario, Canada, where he drilled for a year and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1371 then came to California in 1906 and engaged with the California Limited Oil Company, at Coalinga, for one year, six months of which he worked as a driller, and then returned east and drilled in Lawrenceville, Lawrence county, 111., for a year. The west again attracted him, and in 1909 he came to Taft and found employment as driller for the Standard Oil Company. He is a cable as well as a rotary tool driller and his understanding of the work, his accuracy and good judgment earned him the promotion to lease foreman, in March, 1912. Since then he has continued to give his employers the utmost satisfaction in his work. Mr. McCall has the advantage of unusually fine physical and mental strength, Avhich have materially aided him in his upward striving. With his wife, who before her marriage in Lawrenceville, III., was Miss Sophronia Stanley, he resides on section 36, in the Standard house. C. A. BOSTAPH, — Dating his identification with the Kerto lease from March 17, 1911. he has since been connected with the concern as driller and as foreman, in which latter capacity he now has charge of nine strings of tools, one of these being rotary and eight cable. Not only dees he have a wide per- sonal acquaintance among oil operators in Kern county, but in addition he is actively connected with the Petroleum Club at Taft and is a trustee in the Kerto Club, which was founded in September of 1912 and is now under the care of H. H. Madern, president; F. B. Tough, vice-president; and J. D. Calder, secretary, together with the board of trustees including three gentle- men besides himself. A native of Clarion, Clarion county. Pa., C. A. Bostaph is a son of An- drew J. and Mary A. (Black) Bostaph, who still reside on the old Pennsylvania homestead. Besides being engaged in farming, the father has oil interests and the old farm contains six oil wells of considerable value. The family has been connected with the oil industry for years. He and his wife are the parents of five sons and three daughters. Three of the sons are working for the Standard Oil Company in the pipe-line department between West Vir- ginia and Philadelphia. The fourth son is also engaged in the oil industry in West Virginia, while C. A., the second in order of birth, is following the same business in California. Two of the daughters are wives of oil men working respectively in Pennsylvania and A¥est Virginia. The third daughter, who is unmarried, lives in Oklahoma and is a trained nurse. Born April 25, 1876, C. A. Bostaph was sixteen years of age when he began to work as a tool-dresser, going from the Clarion fields to those of Findlay, Ohio, and four years later removing from Ohio to West Virginia, where he drilled and had charge of tools. From 1896 until December, 1901, he continued in West Virginia, whence he came to California. Arriving at Whittier early in 1902, he continued in that field until June of the same year and then removed to Ventura county, to enter the employ of the Union Oil Company. Until 1908 he continued with the Union Oil Company. Meanwhile he engaged in drilling in the Fullerton and Lompoc fields and later put down some wells at Taft. Returning to Ventura county, he remained there for two months. Next he drilled on the Ethel D. lease, from which point he went to 25 Hill and engaged in drilling for ten months. A short period of labor in Ventura county was followed by his arrival at Kerto and his association with the Kern Trading and Oil Company. Lifelong familiarity with the oil industry has made him acquainted with every phase of the work. When only a small boy he was put to work at pumping every day as soon as he reached home from school, and he found the oil business far more engrossing than any text- books, so that his education as an oil operator progressed even more rapidly than his high-school training. In the oil field of his present connection he is known as an expert driller and a man of wide general knowledge. E. L. BURNHAM. — With the exception of the first eighteen years of his life spent in Iowa, where he was born in October of 1865, Mr. Burnham has 1372 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY been identified permanently with the interests of California and at the time that Taft began to attract wide attention as the center of a great oil industry- he came to this village. Upon coming to the west he made his first stop at Fresno and near that town in 1883 he secured employment on a ranch at day wages, while later he also found employment in the freighting business. From Fresno he removed to Madera county and engaged in general ranching during the next seven years. From there he removed to Stanislaus county and settled upon a farm. The ensuing three years were given to successful agri- cultural effort in that community. His marriage in 1888 united him with Miss Sadie Musick, a native of California. The residence of the family was estab- lished at Madera and the two children, Clarence and Lillie, have received the educational advantages offered by the schools of that city. The development of the oil industry in Kern county made Taft a new town of great importance. Business opportunities led Mr. Burnham to this place during March of 1910. Immediately after his arrival he embarked in the meat and produce business as the representative of a firm whose other members, besides himself, are H. L. Musick of Pasadena and Charles Musick of Fresno, the company thus formed being engaged in the maintenance of an important trade built up at this point. Their trade extends both into whole- sale and retail lines. While Mr. Burnham has given his time with assiduous devotion to the development of the business interests under control of his company, he has neglected none of the duties devolving upon progressive citizens solicitous for the advancement of the community. Regarding a public office as a public trust, he consented to serve as a member of the board of trustees of Taft, to which office he was elected in the fall of 1910 scarcely six months after his removal to the town. At the expiration of the term he was again chosen, April 8, 1912, for the same office and is now filling the position with the energy and intelligence characteristic of him in every relation of life. His fraternal affiliations are with the Loyal Order of Moose at Taft and the Woodmen of the W^orld at Madera. BERNARD G. GREEN.— Mr. Green is the son of John W. and Sarah E. Green, who now make their home in Taft, where the former is employed as a roadmaster under Supervisor Bush. One of a family of nine children, Bernard G. Green was born December 19, 1880, in Santa Barbara county and was twelve years of age when in 1892 he came with his parents to Kern county, settling in Bakersfield. In the schools of this county he completed his education and on neighborhood farms he learned the rudiments of agriculture, which he has since followed as a renter of various tracts. After he had engaged for two years as a teamster in the west side oil fields he formed a business association with John J. Brinkman, whereby he agrees to level, check and break the land lying sixteen miles southeast of Bakersfield and put in an irrigation plant, receiving f;)ur crops free in return for his work. A well five hundred and twenty feet deep furnishes a steady flow of water, utilized by means of a centrifugal pump operated by a gasoline engine of forty horse-power. It is the intention to devote the one hundred and sixty acres to alfalfa and other staple crops of Kern county. The abundance of water supply and fertility of the soil argue in favor of gratifying results when the work of cultivation is well under way. With his family consisting of his wife and daughter, Margaret R., Mr. Green has established a home on the ranch and has entered upon his many responsibilities with energy and intelligence. Mrs. Green, who prior to their marriage in October of 1907 was Miss Margery L. Jenkins, is a daughter of J. E. Jenkins and a sister of Mrs. J. J. Brinkman, of Bakersfield. MARIUS MARTIN ESPITALLIER.— The first twenty years in the life of Marius Martin Espitallier were passed happily and uneventfully in the humble home of his father, Dominic, a farmer and shoemaker at Ancil, near HISTORY OF KRRN COUNTY 1373 Gap, in the department of Hautes-Alpes, France. The most diligent applica- tion to the shoemaker's trade and the most unwearied cultivation of his few acres scarcely sufificed to gain for the father the means necessary for the support of the family, hence the son, whose birth had occurred March 16, 1854, was early put to work to earn his own way in the world. Not only did he itssist on the farm, but in addition he learned the trade of a baker and while not busy at some useful task he was allowed to attend school in order that he might acquire some knowledge. It was on the 15th of December, 1874, that Mr. Espitallier landed in San Francisco, a stranger in a strange land. Having a good knowledge of the bakery business he was enabled to secure employment in a shop in San Francisco, where he remained for a number of years. Coming to Kern county in 1880 he embarked in the sheep business, with headquarters at East Bakers- field, and for six years he experienced the reverses and successes incident to that industry. During December of 1886 he bought the French bakery in East Bakersfield on Humboldt street between Baker and King and there he conducted a thriving trade for twenty-four years. His patronage extended through every part of Bakersfield and East Bakersfield and into the sur- rounding country. When finally he sold the business in 1910, with his w'xie he enjoyed a delightful vacation, returning to his old home in the south of "France and also traveling through Switzerland, Italy and Belgium. After his return he engaged in the livery business at No. 615 Humboldt street, and has since been proprietor of the Espitallier stables. His marriage, in Los Angeles, August 14, 1887, united him with Miss Appoloni Eyraud, a native of Hautes- Alpes, and they have a comfortable home on Humboldt street, East Bakers- field. Fraternally he holds membership with the Druids. In politics he votes with the Democratic party. JOHN L. SWETT. — Mr. Swett has shown his deep interest in the wel- fare of Bakersfield by contributing of his means and time toward the further- ing of her development. He is the son of Dr. William K. Swett, who was born March 7, 1852, at Newport, N. H., and here he was reared and educated. In 1873 he was married to Elizabeth A. Davis, and together they came to Kern county in 1875, settling at Havilah, where Dr. Swett practiced medicine. Although his career in this region was very brief he accomplished much good and his memory was much revered after his untimely death, at the early age of twenty-four years. Two children were born to Dr. Swett and his wife, John L., who is mentioned below, and William K., who married Edith Fugitt, of Bakersfield, and has one child, Gertrude. The latter now lives in South Fork valley. John L. Swett was born in San Francisco, August 17, 1874, and was but two years of age at the time his father passed away. Upon the removal of his parents to Kern county he was brought hither and here he has since made his home. He is at present the proprietor of the Monte Carlo saloon, which is located on Nineteenth street, Bakersfield. He married Miss Charlotte Reber, of Selma, Cal., and they are the parents of two children, Dorothy N. and Langdon. Their home is at No. 2210 Nineteenth street. Mr. Swett never loses an opportunity to co-operate with his fellow-citizens toward bene- fiting his city and county. Although not holding public office he interests himself with all civic movements, and is ready to give every aid in his power toward the public welfare. The mother of John L. Swett, who was, before her marriage to William K. Swett, Elizabeth A. Davis, was born at Wenham, IMass., where her first years were passed. At the age of nine she came with her parents via the isthmus of Panama to San Francisco, landing there in 1863. Her father settled at Visalia, and there she was reared and married in 1873 to Dr. William K. Swett, coming to Kern county with him in 1875, where his death occurred a 1374 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY short time later. She later became the wife of N. P. Peterson, and resides at Isabella, Kern county, where Mr. Peterson is engaged in mining and stock- raising, owning a ranch there. By this marriage there were three children : Neal H. ; Walter C. ; and Addie E., now the wife of Dick Fugitt, and residing at Isabella. A proper regard for the pioneer history of the medical profession of Kern county imperatively demands a further mention of Dr. William K. Swett, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born to his profession, being the son of Dr. John Langdon Swett, of Newport, N. H. Dr. William K. Swett received his earlier education at the New London academy and at the Kimball Union academy at Meriden, N. H. He came to California in 1870, settling in San Francisco at first. He then commenced the study of medicine, reading under the preceptorship of Dr. J. P. Whitney at the latter's office in San Francisco, and later completed the medical course at the Poland Medical College. His professional career at Havilah was marked by signal success. A. V, BENNETT. — Among the men who are making a success of the dairy business in Kern county is A. V. Bennett, a native of Illinois, born at Adair. McDonough county, February 6, 1880, the son of Jefferson and Sarah (Randolph) Bennett, natives of Indiana and Pennsylvania respectively. On his mother's side the Randolphs are traced back into England, records of the family showing the family extant in the ninth century. Mr. Randolph is a man of public spirit and is much interested and helpful in the development of the town of his adoption. Mr. Bennett was brought up on his father's farm, attending the public schools in the district. Having accumulated some money he invested it about 1904 in some land at Alspaugh, Cal., which he still owns. He did not come to this state until 1906 and in 1907 he located in Wasco, where he has built up a growing business. As soon as he obtained water for irrigating his seven and one-half acres in town he sowed alfalfa and began the dairy business, serving bottled milk to the customers at Wasco and he also ships a supply of milk to Lost Hills. This necessarily takes a great deal of attention and his time is wholly occupied. In Adair, 111., occurred the marriage of Mr. Bennett, with INliss Carrie Hoyle, a native of Fulton county. 111., and they have two children. Gene and Gordon. WILLIAM H. ENGLE.— A native of Kern county, Mr. Engle was born near Woody and within three miles of his present ranch, November 10, 1868. His father, David Engle, was born in Dayton, Ohio, and when a youth crossed the plains to California in 1849. He followed mining in different camps but later turned his attention to the cattle business and became one of the early settlers of Kern county. Locating land near the Five Dog ranch, he became a successful cattleman. He married in Kern county Miss Elvira Hig- gins, a native of Oregon, and both died in this county. Of their ten children, eight of whom are living, William is the second oldest, and from a boy he was brought up in the cattle business, receiving his education in the local schools. While working for his father Mr. Engle acquired a small herd of his own, running them on the open range with his father's cattle. He homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres three miles from Granite but later sold it and pur- chased nine hundred and thirteen acres in one body at the head of Rabbit Gulch about four miles above Granite station, where he now engages in the cattle business. The marriage of Mr. Engle occurred near Woody, uniting him with Miss Lulu Brown, who was born in Illinois but reared in Kern county, and to them were born six children as follows : Lee, Ella, Gladys, William, David and Harry. Mr. Engle began riding after cattle when eight years of age and so he is well and favorablv known throughout the county as one of the oldest HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1375 among- the stock-growers. For many years he served as a school trustee, is a deputy sheriff and has served one term as constable. With his wife he is a member of the Christian church at Woody. Politically he is a Democrat. EDWARD WEIT.— Among the upbuilders of Wasco we find Edward Weit, who was born in Koenigsberg, Prussia. November 3, 1877. His child- hood, however, was spent in Braunsweig, Germany, where he was educated in the local schools, after which he was employed in the office of the salt works and became an experienced bookkeeper. Accepting a position with the North German Lloyd line of steamers it was his privilege to visit different parts of the old world touching all countries but Australia. In 1897 he came to New York City, where for a time he was employed in hotels. Later he traveled throughout the United States, visiting nearly every city of import- ance, and he also made the trip to Alaska. In 1905 Mr. W^eit came to Los Angeles, where he was married to Miss Hedvig, also a native of Germany. For a time he was proprietor of a hotel and restaurant, and later had a grocery store in Ocean Park. In 1910 they came to Bakersfield and in November of the same year located in Wasco and took charge of the Wasco hotel. Later he also had a restaurant. Mr. Weit also started the first meat market in W^asco. Having purchased twelve and one-half acres in the town site he sunk a deep well, installed a pumping plant and laid the first pipes for furnishing citizens with water for domestic use. He has erected a tower house and reservoir, also a plunge, 20x40 feet, covered by a large building which is also equipped with tub and shower baths. Wasco plunge has become a very popular place. After completing the waterworks and plunge he sold his other interests in order to devote all of his time to the building up of his new enterprise. He believes in modern and up-to-date ideas and methods, and was the first citizeh in Wasco to use an electric fan. He installed the first private motor and also was the first to use electricity for cooking. Fraternally Mr. Weit is a member of the Woodmen of the World and with his wife is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. FRANCIS M. SNOW. — It was near Springfield, Greene county, Mo., that Francis 'SI. Snow, who now lives near Bakersfield, was born September 24, 1860. He was the son of William S. and Virginia Edmonson, who were born in Tennessee and became farmers in Greene county. Mo. In 1868 they removed to Brownwood, Tex., where the mother died. In his old age the father removed to Roseburg, Ore., where he pasesd away. Of the seven children born to this couple two are living, and Francis M. is the third in order of birth. He was eight years old when he removed to Texas with his parents, and thereafter until he was seventeen he attended the public school near his home. During the four years following he worked for his father on the latter's farm. His first business venture for himself was as a buyer and seller of cattle in association with the Dublin Oil Mill Company of Texas, continuing thus employed until 1883, when he moved to California, and in Lake county engaged in farming and stock-raising. Locating at Santa Rosa in 1898. he was fore- man of a lumber yard there until 1907, when he came to Kern county, leasing one hundred acres two miles and a half north of Bakersfield where he raised grain. In 1912 Mr. Snow bought the eighty acres six miles northwest of Bakers- field which fs now his homestead, a tract of raw land which he has improved and put under cultivation and developed into one of the good farms in this vicinity. It is in alfalfa and is irrigated from the Beardsley canal. As a farmer Mr. Snow has brought to bear upon the problems presented to him an intimate knowledge of soils, crops and climate, which constitute a compre- hensive view of all conditions of production, and he has transacted his busi- ness with his fellow citizens on a high plane of honor that marks him as a man to be trusted. As a citizen he has proven himself public-spirited to a 1376 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY remarkable degree, giving' his support to every worthy movement for the ad- vancement of the community. He affiliates fraternallywith the Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Brotherhood. August 2, 1898, he was married in Lake county to Miss Flora Hendricks, who was born in that county March 3, 1875, and they have two sons, Ellis and Roger. THOMAS SAMUEL KINGSTON. — At one time owning considerable stock in oil companies, which he has sold, Mr. Kingston has invested in a ranch of forty acres in the old River district, also twenty acres at Panama, Kern county. The only son and the second child in a family of three children, Thomas Samuel Kingston was born at Massena, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in 1876, and from the age of ten years has lived in the northwest and the Pacific coast country. His parents, George A. and Emma (Benson) Kingston, were natives of St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where the former engaged in the practice of law at Massena. Eventually removing to Nevada, he practiced his profession in Elko county and at one time held the office of district attorney. After the death of his wife, which occurred in Nevada, he removed to Arizona and there spent his last days. As a cowboy on Dakota cattle ranches Thomas Samuel Kingston earned a livelihood at an age when many are in school. In early life he gained a knowledge of every phase of the oil industry. For a time he worked with a water well contract driller for the Government in the Chey- enne river agency. As a tool-dresser and driller he had employment in various artesian well belts of the Dakotas. On the outbreak of the Spanish- American war he enlisted as a private in Company A, First South Dakota" Infantry, which was ordered to San Francisco and from there to the Philip- pines. He served eighteen months oh the islands. When the native rebellion began he was appointed chief engineer on the gunboat Florida and continued to serve as chief engineer on that and other boats for more than one year. After he had been mustered out by special order No. 215 he remained as a civilian employe. Upon returning to the LInited States after his resignation he was attracted to Bakersfield by reason of recent oil discoveries in the Kern river field. Later he secured employment as a driller in the Sunset field and drilled the discovery well at the town of Maricopa, later spending three years as a driller on the Peerless lease in the Kern river field. Recognized as an oil operator of unusual capability, he was chosen superintendent of the Con- solidated Copper Oil Company on section 2 at Maricopa and later as super- intendent did the first development work on the Pioneer Midway at Fellows, after which he engaged as superintendent of the St. Lawrence Oil Company at Fellows and as superintendent of the Springfield Oil Company at North McKittrick, and he has "been foreman with the Honolulu since 191Q. He has given his attention very closely to the oil business and has taken no part whatever in politics, in which indeed he is decidedly independent in opinion. By his marriage in Bakersfield to Miss Clara Medill, who was born at Colorado Springs, Colo., and died at Fellows, Cal., he has two sons, Benson and Burns. During a temporary sojourn in New York state he was made a Mason in Massena Lodge No. 513. A. F. & A. M., and took the chapter degree in St. Lawrence Chapter No. 24, R. A. M., at Pottsdam, N. Y., while more re- cently he has been identified with Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., and Al Malaikah Temi)le, N. M. S., in Los Angeles. THOMAS WATSON ATKINSON.— For the past sixteen years there has been associated with the mining interests of Kern county a man whose ex- perience in the work in this and other fields covers a long period. Born in Fremont county, Iowa,- September 23, 1872, Mr. Atkinson was taken to Norton county. Kans., when he was a year old, and there he grew to manhood, attending the common schools and later the Normal, which he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1377 finished when sixteen years of age. He then went to Colorado and from there to various places until 1889, when he came to California and became interested in mining. In 1896 he landed in Ventura county, where he was employed for a time and later he came to Kern county, and with his father went to work in the development of mines here. These were the Sunshine, the Alerced and the Hatchet, and at present he is the sole owner of the Sunshine mine and stamp mill. His other interests are in the Hazleton Crude Oil Company in the Sunset field, where he also has other oil interests. Mr. Atkinson finds time outside of his business to take part in social affairs, and he is a member of the blue lodge of Masons, also affiliating with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His wife, who was Ola Pyles, was born in Texas, and they make their home in Randsburg. They have four chil- dren. Parrel, Gertrude, Thomas and Elizabeth. Though occupied with the rearing of their children, they find time to devote themselves to their large circle of friends who ever find a hearty welcome in their hospitable home. BENJAMIN MORRIS ATKINSON.— Educated in the public schools of Vanwert county, Ohio, R. M. Atkinson's birth occurred September 18, 1840. When fourteen years old he left school and a year later went to work for him- self, clearing land and farming. In 1858 he moved to Kansas, where he took up a claim, the following year going to Iowa and remaining for eighteen months. The spirit of travel by this time had caught him and he started for California, but he did not go further than Salt Lake City, deciding instead to go to Montana. He remained there frcm 1863 to the fall of 1867, when he returned to Iowa. In the spring of 1871 he moved to Nebraska, later returning to Kansas, where he took up a homestead in Norton county. Disposing of this he in 1878 moved to Colorado, stayed there until the fall of the next year, and then started to California by way of New Mexico with teams. Sick- ness, however, compelled them to remain during the winter in New Mexico, and then he came on to California, settling first in Ventura county, where he engaged in farming. On April 3, 1896, Mr. Atkinson came with a partner and two burros to Randsburg, Kern county, with the intention of going into the mining business. They prospered for a few months in what is now the Stringer district. In this district they first located Poor Man's mine, which is now operating, and on June 30, 1896, located Sunshine mine which they developed and which is now in a good state of production. This mine has a stamp mill on it, and Mr. Atkinson also has a cyanide plant there. He at present holds four claims, having recently bought the Bully Boy and Rose mines, all now in operation. Air. Atkinson's future seems well assured as he has been most successful in the choice of business undertakings, which have already proved most profitable. On December 18, 1868, the marriage of Benjamin M. Atkinson and Ma- linda E. Ferrel took place, she being a native of Lloyd county, Ind., born there in 1849. They became the parents of nine children, as follows : Elmira Caroline, Thomas W., Mary E., Jessie C. (died in New Mexico), Lindie J., Ina M., William M., Edward C. and Sylva Lenora. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson have been tender, loving parents and have reared their children to become rep- resentative citizens and a credit to the name. They are well-known and highly respected by all who have acquaintance with the family. FRANCISCO APALATEA was born in 1850 in Tucson, Ariz., the birth- place also of his father Guadelupe, who brought his family to California in 1864, so that from a lad of fourteen Francisco has been a resident of this state. The year 1871 found him in Visalia and in 1873 he came to Kern county, where he has chiefly been engaged in mining, mostly on Piute mountain. He has opened many mines, some of which he has sold. He discovered and developed the Bryan mine, which he afterwards sold for five thousand dol- 1378 HTSTOKY OF KERN COUNTY lars. Since 1902 he has resided with his family on a one hundred and sixty-acre ranch, three miles north of Kernville, but he still follows mining and has several good "claims. Mr. Apalatea has been three times married, his first two wives being deceased. His present wife was before her marriage Rosa Rice, and was a native of South Fork. Of their union have been born five children, and by his former unions there are eleven children living. Mr. Apalatea has had much experience in mining and is well posted concerning the mineralogy of the county. Politically he is a Republican. PETER BLAETTLER.— The Blaettler brothers, Melchoir and Peter, of the Town ranch in the Weed Patch of Kern county, have been closely iden- tified with the dairy interests in this section. The younger, Peter Blaettler, was born in Untervvalden, Switzerland, on September 6, 1872, and his life and career have been so closely interwoven with these of his brother Melchoir, who was also born in Unterwalden, in 1870, that their histories read almost alike, they having shared both hardship and success in all undertakings. In the year 1881 the brothers came to America and made their way to the state of Missouri, settling at St. Louis, where for several years they were engaged in a planing mill. After seven years in Missouri they decided to make their way west and accordingly in 1888 they came to Salinas, Monterey county, Cal.; where they engaged in dairying. For nine and a half years they ran the large dairy ranch known as the Cowell ranch of eighteen hundred and fifty acres. Their success here led to the offer of the management of the Mallerin ranch of a thousand acres, which extensive duties kept them closely occupied for a time until in July, 1911, when they came to the Town ranch, over which they today are supervisors and managers. In 1911 this ranch was subdivided and' sold off, the J. H. Menke Dairy Company becoming the pur- chasers of six hundred and forty acres, that being the particular section on which the buildings stand. The ranch has on it the buildings erected by INIr. Town, the former owner, and the general up-to-date appearance and the hygienic condition of its buildings evidence the unequalled management and the care taken by those who are handling the details. One hundred and fifty cows are daily milked here, the cream is separated by the modern method and sold to the Peacock Creamery at Bakersfield. The Blaettler brothers are Catholics. JEAN L. PHILIPP. — A native of the county which has been his life- time home, Jean L. Philipp was born in Bakersfield on July 27, 1891, the son of Jean Philipp of East Bakersfield, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. In the city of his birth the son was reared and educated, com- pleting his studies by a course in the high school. The young man's first insight into business affairs was received while filling the position of assistant bookkeeper in the office of Fairbanks. Morse & Co., in 1909, and it was by the knowledge and experience there gained during three months that he paved the way and made possible the larger opportunities that came to him in the years that have intervened. It was in August, 1909, that a store was opened in Taft by G. P. Louthain, district manager of the Fairbanks, Morse & Co., the equipment consisting of oil well supplies, gas engines and electrical attachments and supplies. A local manager was found in Jean L. Philipp, who had come to Taft on November 1, 1909, and has been a resident here ever since. Genial and enter- prising, Mr. Philipp is well fitted for the position of local manager of this well-known enterprise, and has built up a patronage which is a credit to himself and is proving a stimulus to the growing town of Taft. FRED CLEMENT.— Identified with the oil industry for considerably more than a decade Mr. Clement has meanwhile risen from the humble capacity of a day laborer to the position of production foreman, having HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1379 charge at the present time of the plant owned by the Colloma Oil Company, whose output averages about eleven thousand barrels per month. The son of a worthy pioneer couple in Illinois, himself a native of Spring- field, that state, born August 27, 1871, Fred Clement was third in order of birth among five children and was given such educational advantages as the means of his parents rendered possible. At the age of sixteen he became self- supporting and ever since then he has made his own way in the world unaided. Dififerent occupations engaged his attention prior to his first association with the oil industry. Until twenty years of age he worked in a box factory. Upon leaving the factory he went to Texas and secured employment on a railroad as brakeman. After two years he went north to Iowa and found work as a farm laborer, continuing as such until he was twenty-seven years of age. Next he secured employment with the Cudahy Packing Company in the smoke-house department and by gradual promotion rose to be a general manager with the company, having charge of the departments at McAllister, Okla., also at Colgate, Fort Smith and Arkansas City. Upon resigning the position with the packing house Mr. Clement came to California in 1900 and made a brief sojourn at Santa Ana. For six months he worked in the old Los Angeles oil fields and there gained his first insight into the oil industry. From that district he came to the Kern river field and engaged with the Independent Oil Company in a minor capacity. Going next to the west side he worked for three years in that field, meanwhile being successively with the Globe, Exploration, Associated and American Oil Companies, after which in September of 1912 he returned to the Kern river field and became foreman with the Colloma Oil Company. He owns forty acres in Tulare county and the family home in Bakersfield at 1715 Blanche street, which is presided over by Mrs. Clement, formerly Miss Lyda Jamieson. There is an only child, a son named Warren. While spending his week-ends at home in the society of his family and the enjoyment of intercourse with friends, Mr. Clement necessarily spends the larger part of his time on the field and may usually be found en section 31, township 28, range 28, where the Colloma Oil Company has its holdings and operates its valuable and productive wells. CHARLES BOWMAN. — Varied experiences have come to Mr. Bowman during his long association with the oil industry. Having worked in many of the oil regions of the country he is well posted concerning each, realizes their possibilities, understands their drawbacks and has faith in their future, especially in the future of the Kern river fields, where now he is stationed as superintendent of the Homer Oil Company, a position he fills with credit to himself and satisfaction to the employing company. The youngest of the four children of the late Henderson Bowman, a contractor in Ohio, Charles Bowman was born in Lima, Allen county, that state, August 31, 1880. The eldest of the family, Sylvia, is the wife of Kirby White, a grain dealer at Harrod, Allen county, Ohio. The second daughter, Ida, married W. M. Neely, an oil operator, and the older son. Homer, formerly an oil contractor, is now engaged in the furniture business. The youngest of the family, Charles, attended the public schools of Allen county between the ages of six and fourteen, after which, in July of 1894, he began to work for the Standard Oil Company as a pumper, running four wells. Later he spent eighteen months as a pumper with Pyle and Roberts and nine months with W. M. Neely, his brother-in-law. After a brief experience as tool-dresser he began to drill at the age of nineteen years and in the December after he had reached the age of twenty he became an independent operator in Allen county, where he drilled a large number of wells. Fortune smiled on him for a time, but later he met with reverses and sold his tools. Arriving in Los Angeles on the 7th of September, 1899, Mr. Bowman spent six weeks or more in the city. On Thanksgiving day of the same year he 1380 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY visited the Kern river fields for the first time. The outlook interested him. Conditions seemed promising, therefore he decided to remain for a time. As an emplcye of W. W. Stephenson he completed the first well that produced on the Black Jack lease. When that task had been brought to a favorable con- clusion he returned to the oil fields near Lima, Ohio, but in October of 1901 left that locality for Poplar Bluff, Mo., where he engaged with the Oil Well Supply Company for a brief period. When again he returned to the Ohio fields he continued there until 1904, when he tried his luck in the Indiana oil fields and later in Middle Tennessee. On his return to Lima, Ohio, he was united in marriage with Miss Lola E. Miller, of Elkhart, Ind., by whom he now has two sons, Robert L. and Wilbur D. For three years his main enter- prises were limited to the Lima field, although various interests took him elsewhere for brief intervals. For two years he was employed in the machine shops of the locomotive works at Lima, Ohio, and from July 12, 1907, until his return to California in 1910 he had charge of the property of the Missouri Min- ing Company at Chelsea, Okla., coming thence to the Kern river fields and re-entering the employ of Mr. Stephenson, February 26, 1912, he was made field foreman of the Black Jack Oil Company. February 17, 1913, he assumed his present position as superintendent of the Homer lease. The home of his family is on this lease, in a comfortable cottage owned by the company. Having been somewhat of a traveler and not identified with civic affairs in any place of residence, he has not mingled in politics, but is a member of the blue lodge of Masons at Bakersfield. He is not a member of any denomination, although interested in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which liis wife has been connected for some years. JAMES H. MANSFIELD. — Securing work with the Kern Trading and Oil Company during September of 1908, in a short time Mr. Mansfield had' become familiar with well-pulling, tool-dressing and other lines of labor. The next step made him a foreman and from production foreman he was promoted to be well foreman in 1909 and lease foreman in 1910, the last-named post being his present sphere of duty. Prior to coming to Kern county his expe- rience had been with railroad and street-car work, but he has proved exceptit.n- ally quick in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the oil industry and by capability and intelligence has made good with the company. Born in Macoupin county, 111., in 1879, and educated in the graded schools of Scottville, that county, Mr. Mansfield secured his first work in the round- house of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and later engaged as a brake- man on the same road. In 1902 he went with the Great Northern Railroad Company in Montana, where he remained for a considerable period. Upon resigning from the employ of that company he came to Southern California in 1904 and found work as motorman with the Los Angeles and Redondo Beach Street Car Company, later holding similar positions at Napa and Stockton successively and then returning to Los Angeles to resume work with the car company. In September of 1908 he began to work with the Kern Trading and Oil Company on section 3, township 29, range 28, and on this property he has since had his home, with his wife and child, Jariies Wayne. Airs. Mans- field was formerly Miss Edna Belle Watson, of Santa Barbara, and their marriage was solemnized in San Bernardino. Fraternally he is a Scottish Rite Mason thirty-second degree. JAMES LOGAN BAKER.— Of Texan birth and southern ancestry, James Logan Baker was born August 30, 1880, at Stephen ville, the county- seat of Erath county, in the north central part of the Lone Star state. His parents, A. J. and Theresa Baker, for some years lived upon a large ranch in Texas, where the father engaged in the raising of cattle, and after the removal of the family to California he has followed the same line of work in Calaveras county. Of the children comprising the family the eldest, Jennie, became the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1381 wife of E. Trimble, a sheep ranchman in Coke county, Tex., and died there in 1886, leaving an only child, Jessie. The eldest son, Alexander, who en- gaged in ranching in Texas, died in that state in 1887, leaving a wife, May (Chambers) Baker, and an only child, Alexander, Jr. The third child and sec- ond son, Andrew, is now engaged in gold-mining in Calaveras county, Cal. The youngest member of the family circle, James Logan, was twenty years of age when the family came to California and settled in Calaveras county, where he had an experience of two years in placer mining. On leaving the mines he secured employment as a clerk with Pattee Bros., proprietors of a- general store at Valley Springs in the home county. Upon leaving the store Mr. Baker returned to Texas, but an experience of eighteen months as proprietor of a cattle ranch and various hardships associated with the work convinced him that California was to be preferred as a place of residence. Accordingly in 1907 he returned to the Pacific coast coun- try and sought employment in the Kern river fields, where he has since been employed with the Federated, first as an oiler, later as roustabout, tool dresser and extra man, advancing so rapidly that December 17 he was chosen superin- tendent. By attending strictly to the duties of the position and using intelli- gence and wise judgment in all matters he is making a success of the work. In the field his reputation is that of an expert oil man, while the officials of the company have been satisfied with his constant devotion to their interests. While still living in Texas and at the age of only nineteen years Mr. Baker established home ties, being married to "Mary Fisher, daughter of Jack Fisher, of Mullin. Mills county, that state. They are the parents of three children, Earl, Archie and Pearly. FREDRICK EHLERS.— The manager of the Pioneer meat market at McKittrick has a wide acquaintance among the oil men in this portion of the field as well as a high standing among the business men of the town, with whose interests he has been identified intimately since his arrival in October of 1909. Having previously been connected with the Miller & Lux corpora- tion, he was sent to this place in their interests and has since superintended the market which the firm established at this place. Besides attending to every detail connected with the business he has contributed to the material growth of McKittrick and was elected a member of its first board of trustees on the incorporation of the city in 1911. During the spring of 1912 he was re-elected to this important position and since then has acted as chairman of the health committee, also has been associated with Other movements for the welfare of the town. A native son of this state, Mr. Ehlers was born in Merced county, June 16, 1880, and is a son of Fredrick and Annie Ehlers, being third in order of birth among five children, three daughters and two sons, all still living. The father, afiier having engaged for years as a foreman in the employ of Miller & Lux, finally bought a farm in Merced county and devoted the balance of his life to agricultural pursuits. His death occurred in 1895, since which time the widow has remained at the old homestead. Reared on that farm, Fredrick, Jr., was educated in country schools and later completed a com- mercial course in the Chestnutwood Business College. He learned the trade of a butcher, which he has since followed first at Santa Rita and then at McKittrick, in which latter place he also acts as agent for the Fresno Con- sumers' Ice Company. In San Francisco he was united in marriage with Miss Mabel Conrow, of Dos Palos, ISIerced county, and they are the parents of two children, Beatrice and Fredrick. Before leaving Merced county, Mr. Ehlers was an active worker in the Young Men's Institute, and he also has been connected prominently with the local work of the Improved Order of Red Men. JOHN NEILL. — Since the beginning of settlement throughout the West there has been a constant though never very large influx of settlers from the 1382 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Canadian provinces, and throughout the entire period Canadians have come to the front in the United States in all the fields of industry, commerce and finance. This has been especially true in CaHfornia in connection with agri- cultural interests. An example very much to the point is John Neill of Bodfish, Kern county, who was born on Prince Edward Island, May 8, 1856. He attended public school there until he was fourteen years old, worked on the home farm until he was eighteen and during the succeeding year labored in a lumber yard at New Brunswick. In the fall of 1874 he came to Califor- nia and was employed for a short time in Stanislaus county. In January, 1875, he settled in Kern county and found work in a sawmill in Green Horn mountains, where he remained twenty years, meanwhile acquiring property at Waggy Flat. Eventually he located in Hot Spring valley, where he owns and operates six hundred and forty acres, and he is at this time still the owner of the old Waggy ranch, a tract of one hundred and twenty acres. On his ranch in Hot Spring valley he is proprietor of the Hot Spring House, .appropriately named from a large hot spring 132°, which boils out of the ground with such strong pressure as to force it into any part of the house. Hot and cold baths, sulphur, magnesia, iron and borax baths may be had in this hotel. His homestead is well improved with a good residence and ample barns and other out-buildings and supplied with implements and appliances of every kind essential to diversified farming. Politically Mr. Neill is a staunch Republican and he has, as occasion has oft'ered, been active in political work. He affiliates with the Masons at Bakersfield. He married in April, 1881, Miss Annie Miller, a native of Nova Scotia, who came to California in 1873. They have two daughters, A^Iillie Ida, now Mrs. Fisher of Santa Barbara, and Dora Etta, now Mrs. Selicz, of Waggy Flat. CHARLES CROWELL TAYLOR.— Born in Smithfield, Somerset county. Me., October 18, 1862, C. C. Taylor is a son of David and Susan (Wakefield) Taylor, natives of Fryeburg and Smithfield, Me., respectively. His father was a farmer at Smithfield, later going to Aroostook county, where he died in 1887. The mother passed away in 1874. Of their four children Charles C, was the eldest. He attended public school near the family homestead until he was sixteen years of age. and then worked for his father for four years. He then engaged in teaching school for three years in Aroos- took county, and afterward clerked in a general store in Easton, and then in Houlton, Me., for some two years. The subsequent year he taught school and it was then that he concluded to come to California, and in March, 1887, he arrived in Kernville, Kern county. The first employment of Mr. Taylor in the Kernville neighborhood was on the Sumner ranch for Mr. Brown and two weeks later he was oft'ered a clerkship in the store of A. Brown, which was incorporated in 1901 as the A. Brown Company, and since then he has been a member of the firm and its secretary and general manager. These positions he has filled to the present time, having labored successfully for the advancement of the house, which carries a stock of general merchandise approximating $40,000, owns a sawmill in the Green Horn range, and has many thousand acres of land on the South Fork, with twenty-five hundred acres under cultivation. All of this is under irrigation, having four canals from the South Fork, and a large portion is producing alfalfa. They are extensively engaged in raising cattle, horses and hogs, which they ship to the Los Angeles markets. An adjunct to its store is the local -postoffice, Mr. Taylor having been postmaster since 1906. The company also has a branch store at Weldon, on the South Fork, where its farming lands are located. Here Mr. Brown built a flour mill of fifteen barrels capacity, which the company now owns and operates. Being large wheat growers, the company is engaged in manufacturing flour for local consumption and its sawmill furnishes lumber for the build- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1383 ing and improvements in the valley. These varied interests occupy all ot Mr. Taylor's attention. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having joined the order in Easton, Me., and now belongs to Kernville Lodge No. 251, in which he is past noble grand. He also affiliates with the Fra- ternal Brotherhood. As a citizen he is public-spirited, useful and popular and as a Republican he has a recognized political influence. In Bakersfield, on June 7, 1894, Mr. Taylor married Miss Edith Vir- ginia Benne:t, who was born in Virginia City, Nev., the daughter of Rev. Jesse L. Bennett, one of the pioneer Methodist preachers on the Pacific coast, who spent his last days in Kernville, where ]\Irs. Taylor was reared and educated. Afterward he engaged in educational work, teaching in the Bakersfield schools for seven years, and for two terms he served as a member of the county board of education and was prominently identified with the bringing of the Kern County High School to its present high standard. STEPHEN W. MILLARD.— Living retired from active labors on his ranch near Bakersfield is Stephen W. Millard, one of the energetic citizens of Kern county who has contributed much to the development and mainte- nance of his adopted commonwealth. He is the fourth eldest in a family of eight children born to Thomas and Elizabeth (Stallard) Millard, natives of Somerset, England. Thomas Millard crossed the Atlantic in 1843 and settled at Fort Erie, Ontario, where he bought and exported grain until 1846, when he located at Black Rock, Erie county, N. Y., where he died. His wife also passed away in that state and but four of their children now survive. Ste- phen W. was born in Shepton-Mallet. County Somerset, England, on No- vember 5, 1824. He was privately educated, his principal teacher having been a clergyman of the Church of England. He was nineteen years of age when he came across the Atlantic with his parents, having spent the last two years in England working in a banking house. Upon reaching America he remained with his father in the grain business, raising that product on three thousand acres of land, until the 3^ear 1850, when he started for Cali- fornia. He sailed from New York on the Daniel Sharp around Cape Horn and landed in San Francisco June 13, 1851, the trip having consumed a hun- dred and sixty-three days. He at once engaged to do some work for the Fathers of the old mission at San Jose and cut one hundred acres of barley with a cradle in twenty-two days, built eleven miles of wire fence at $200 a mile and superintended the planting of one hundred acres of potatoes. In 1852 he began farming on his own account in Santa Cruz and Alameda counties, and for a time raised more than half the grain grown in Santa Cruz county. Later he purchased a thousand acres of land near Pleasanton, which he devoted to grain raising. In the period 1884-86 he was superin- tendent of the Pleasant Valley mine in Eldorado county, eighty miles from Placerville, then returned to Alameda county' and continued raising grain until 1891, when he bought his present homestead. This consists of twenty acres, located two miles south of Bakersfield, and is devoted to the raising of strawberries. Mr. ^lillard's marriage occurred in Santa Cruz county, November 12, 1861, uniting him with Rebecca Lively, a native of Kentucky and daughter of Dr. Joseph and Henrietta Lively, the latter natives of Virginia, who brought their family to California across the plains in 1849. The doctor prac- ticed medicine in Santa Cruz county, and there both the parents passed awav. Mr. and Mrs. Millard are the parents of eight children, as follows: William S., of Humboldt county, Cal. ; George, who died at twenty-four years of age; Joseph H., of San Francisco; Benjamin, of San Diego; Emma. Mrs. Keep of Berkeley ; Grace, ]\Irs. McCaron of Los Angeles ; Edward F.. of Bakersfield; and James, of Irvington, Cal. Mr. Millard is now living retired on his ranch, enjoymg the reward of his long and useful existence. He has S8 1384 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY always evinced the greatest interest and faith in the commonwealth and has had the pleasure of seeing his ever-optimistic prophecy for the future of the Pacific coast region well fulfilled. WILHELM ADOLPH WIRTH.— The good influence of German blood in the upbuilding of our American institutions has long been recognized, for the German-American, wherever his lot may be cast, stands for prosperity and enlightenment. He is ready in war and in peace to defend the land he loves and by his industry and prudence is a potent factor in the advancement of all worthy interests as well as of the general prosperity of the community. Wilhelm Adolph Wirth, of German parentage, was born at Weldon, on the south fork of the Kern river, in Kern county, December 19, 1878, the son of Adam Christian Wirth, whose sketch also appears in this work. He at- tended public school until he was seventeen years old and worked for his father until he was twenty-one. Then he began on his own account, engag- ing in farming and acquiring real estate. In 1902 he opened a liquor store in Kernville, and has invested in property in Bakersfield. On May 5. 1905, Mr. Wirth married Aliss Millie Ross, a native of Kern- ville, Kern county, and they have a daughter Louise. Mr. Wirth is Re- publican in politics, and has been a member of the Republican County Central Committee. For five years he was deouty sheriff under Henry Borgawardt and J. W. Kelly, and he is now faithfully filling the office of deputy constable. For some years he was school trustee at Kernville. Fraternally he affiliates with the Fagles. GEORGE W. KING.— A resident of Isabella, Kern county, Cal., George W. King was born in Bedford county. Tenn., April 25, 1853. He attended the public school near his home until he was nineteen years old, and then until he was twenty-one assisted his father in the latter's business. Meanwhile he learned telegraphy and during the next two years he was employed as a telegraph operator at Normandv. He gave up that employment to become a general merchant and as such he prospered eight years. After that until 1879 he was in the stock and lumber business. In the vear last mentioned INIr. King came to California and located in Hanford, Kings county, where for seven years he worked as a carpenter. Later he was otherwise employed and in 1894 he settled in Kern county, where for three years he devoted himself to mining He was one of the fathers of the thriving town of Isabella and was for eight years its post- master, being the first incumbent of that office. Lie built the first house in Isabella, also the first store buildings and put in the first stock of general merchandise. He is now the proprietor of a prosperous general store, and also owns a hundred and sixty-acre tract near Fairmont, in Los Angeles county. He owns the New Century and Colwell mines, which he opened up bv tunnels and cross-cuts, thus opening a big ledge of twenty-three feet in the New Century, where he built a five-stamp quartz mill. The Century mine is big body lew-grade ore, while the Colwell is high-grade free milling ore. Mr. King has forty acres of land on South Fork under irrigation, and he has acquired ten town lots and a residence. On February 19, 1908. Mr. King married INIiss Elizabeth Parker, who was born in Illinois in 1867 and was brought to California by her parents when she was six years old. One child, Elizabeth J., has been born to their union. The first marriage of Mr. King, which took place in Tennessee, w^as to Margaret J. Cully, who passed away there, leaving a child, Eustice L., now superintendent of S. W. & B. Oil Company, at Coalinga. Mr. King has been a leader in many things of public importance and his fellow townsmen have come to depend on him as a man of public spirit who will not fail them in any emereencv. CHARLES HENRY FRY.— The energy with which Mr. Frv prosecuted the teaming business when in partnership with his father until the death HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1385 of the latter brought him the good wishes of those with whom he had busi- ness dealings and when he decided to remove to the country and take up agricultural operations on his ranch which he bought, located eleven miles south of Bakersfield, in the hope that his children might be benefited by his hard work and self-denial he had only words of praise and encouragement from all. It was necessary for himself and wife to give up many conveniences to which they had become accustomed in Bakersfield. The work on the farm was difficult and trying, but they are a persevering young couple and are cultivating the land with energy and perseverance. In the old river district of Kern county Mr. Fry was born February 8, 1881, being a son of Joseph Benson Fry. a pioneer of Bakersfield. who came to California from Illinois in 1877 and died May 26, 1911, aged fifty-six years. His wife, who also was of Illinois birth, bore the maiden name of Johanna Evelyn Banks. Two sons and three daughters survive, namely: Arthur D., a bookkeeper in Bakersfield; Mrs. W. W. Ramage and Mrs. F. A. Nighbert, both of Bakersfield ; Lola, who resides with her mother in this city ; and Charles Henry, who received his education in Kern county, engaged in the team contracting business with his father and also for two years main- tained a grocery store in Bakersfield, whence he removed to the farm. In politics he votes with the Republican party, while fraternally he is con- nected with the Foresters. In 1901 he married Miss Florence Hix, a native of Missouri. They are the parents of three children, Lloyd O., Charles B. and Eunice F. S. C. BIRCHARD. — A record of the business activities of Mr. Birchard is to a large extent a recital of the history of Taft, with which he has been identified from its beginning and to which he has given freely of time and energies and intelligent co-operation. He is now associated with offtcial affairs, in the capacity of city recorder. Born in Cass county, Iowa, March 2, 1882, and reared in Davenport, that state, Mr. Birchard received a high- school education and at the age of fourteen began to learn the butcher's trade with Robinson Bros., of Davenport. From that time to the present he has engaged in the meat business. When he decided to leave Davenport he resigned his position with Robinson Bros., proceeded at once to Cali- fornia and landed in Bakersfield during December of 1903. In this city he married Miss Carrie L. Sullivan, of Davenport, Iowa, in March of 1904, and for a time thereafter continued as an employe in the Opera market, after which he embarked in business at Hanford. At the time of the oil excitement of 1909 he drove across the country in a single buggy, landing at the Midway field in February and taking up work under Mr. Rogers. During June of 1909 he bought out his employer. On the 1st of November he begati to build the Pioneer market, which he opened about Thanks- giving and conducted until selling out to Musick & Burnham in May of 1910. From that time he served as treasurer of the Taft Public Utilities Company until the stock of the concern was sold to the Consumers in Feb- ruary of 1912. In the soring of 1911 he was appointed city recorder. Since coming to this city he has affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men. Any movement for the local upbuilding receives his stanch support. With cordial enthusiasm he gives of time and means and influence to promote such enterprises as make for the prosperity of the people and the advance- ment of the city. JAMES F. BROWN. — ^Various lines of business activity have engrossed the attention of Air. Brown since in early life he began the task of making his own way in the world and at this writing fills an important position as drilling foreman on the M. J. & M. & M. Consolidated Oil Company's lease. When he began with this concern, September 13, 1909, it was as a roustabout, but was soon made lease foreman, from which he worked up 1386 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY to be drilling foreman and became a stockholder. Since he arrived in the Sunset field and entered the service of the Monte Cristo he has not lost a day from work, but persistently carries forward the duties of his department. Although the Browns are of an old American family, identified with the coloniaf history of our country, Gustav, father of James F., is a native of Germany, born during the temporary sojourn of his parents in that country. When one year old he was brought to the United States, the family settling in Maryland. For eight years prior to the Civil war he was in the United States army service under Major Carlton of the United States Dragoons. Much of the time he was stationed on the frontier and thus saw much of the western and southern country, principally New Mex- ico, Arizona, Texas and California. While stationed at Fort Tejon he was wounded in an Indian skirmish. Becoming a permanent settler of Cali- fornia he served as a deputy under Sheriff Adams in Santa Clara county and later engaged in farming in Santa Cruz county, but eventually retired from active work and is now making his home at Hollister. In Los Angeles he married Miss Lydia Morse, a native of Nebraska, who also survives at the present time. They became the parents of eight children, namely : James F., of Kern county; Mrs. Annie Yeager, wife of a hotel proprietor at Avalon, Catalina island ; Charles E., deceased ; Matilda, who married George Wright, a farmer of San Benito ccamty; Alice, who married Albert Donovan, a railroad man living at San Jose; Cora, wife of Albert Bell, an insurance adjuster in New York City; Robert A., an engineer whose home is in the northern part of California; and Alinnie, a trained nurse in San Francisco. During the residence of the family at Santa Cruz, this state, James F. Brown was born in that city August 15, 1865. In boyhood he was a pupil in the local schools. At the age of eighteen he removed from Santa Cruz to Hollister and secured employment on a farm. At an early age he learned the processes incident to well-drilling and soon after attaining his majority he became the owner of a new well-drilling machine. For a number of years he devoted his entire time to the drilling of wells in Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The principal objection to such employment was the necessity for being away from home much of the time, so after his marriage in 1899 he settled upon a farm in San Benito county. Meantime while still living at Hollister he had learned the trade of engineer and also has become familiar with bridge construction, following both occu- pations at intervals of other work. From 1900 until 1908 he operated a dairy near Hollister and kept a herd of forty milch cows, but the work proved too heavy for his strength and he turned his attention to different lines of labor. Going to San Francisco he engaged as shipping clerk for Bemis Brothers Bag Company, but resigned his ])osition and came to Kern county on the 4th of July, 1909. At first he engaged as a carpenter on the ]Monte Cristo lease at Maricopa, but in little more than a year he began an association with the company that still has his time and attention. He makes his home on the company lease, his family consisting of a son, Richard F., born in 1900, and his wife, Mrs. Itha (Shore) Brown, daughter of Richard Shore, of Hollister. R. M. DODGE. — After years of successful identification with other in- terests during February of 1912 Mr. Dodge established his home on a ranch of sixty acres which he had purchased ten years before and which lies on Union avenue, section 18. nine miles south of Bakersfield. He expects to make a specialty of barred Plymouth Rock poultry and Mammoth Bronze turkeys and with this end in view he has secured a foundation stock that in breeding, pedigree and markings has no superior in this entire valley. In addition to this property he has also owned for a number of years two hun- dred and forty acres of redwood and tanbark timber in Mendocino county. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1387 About ten miles west of Hagerstown, in Washington county, Md., stood the country home of William and Sarah E. (Mason) Dodge, and there occurred the birth of R. M. Dodge November 18, 1852. The father, a native of Georgetown, D. C, was a son of Francis Dodge, for years a very influ- ential business man of that city, while the mother was a daughter of Rich- ard Mason, a prominent resident of Alexandria, Va. It was natural that Mr. Dodge should develop ambitious longings for an education and had it not been for the disastrous efifects of the Civil war he would have remained in college until graduation ; as it was, he had fair advantages at St. John's College in Annapolis and the Shenandoah Valley Academy at Winchester, Va. When twenty-five years of age he came as far west as Colorado, where he secured employment on a sheep ranch near Colorado Springs. After four years in the same location he removed to Trego county, Kan., where he was interested in the sheep business for three years. February 14, 1886, he arrived at Auburn, Placer county, Cal., and from there proceeded to Salinas, Monterey county, where for three years he acted as superintendent of a ranch. It is as a trainer of bird dogs that Mr. Dodge has acquired a wide repu- tation throughout the west. His work in that line began while he had charge of the Harper ranch near Suisun City, Solano county. After three years on that ranch he resigned to superintend a kennel of his own at Kenwood. For three years he conducted the Kenwood kennels and then went to Ala- meda county, where for one year he had charge of the kennels owned by Mrs. Hearst. Meanwhile he had formed the acquaintance of W. S. Tevis, whose attention he had attracted through his manifest success in the train- ing of dogs and when he left the Hearst estate it was for the purpose of taking charge of the Stockdale kennels on the Tevis ranch. Until 1912 he continued in the same position and when he finally resigned it was with the object of retiring from the business and engaging in general farming. Since that time he has occupied and superintended his own country prop- erty, where he and his family have established a comfortable home. Prior to their marriage in 1892 Mrs. Dodge was Miss Elizabeth S. Stockton, her father having been a leading pioneer physician, while her brother is super- intendent of schools of Kern county. There are three children in the Dodge family, namely: Marion E., a student in the Los Angeles Normal School; Mary M., at home; and R. M., Jr., a bright boy of seven years, now attend- ing the country schools. In politics Mr. Dodge maintains an independent position, voting for those whom he considers best qualified to represent the people. As early as 1887 he became a member of La Salle Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Salinas. JOHN FLETCHER MORRIS.— Living on Bakersfield rural free de- liverv route No. 2, Kern county, Mr. Morris has a past of which he may well be proud and a future brilliant with promise of personal honor and substantial achievement. Born in Montgomery county. Mo., April 15, 1857, he had limited educational advantages, his parents' death making it neces- sary for him at an early age to assume the management of the home farm. He devoted himself to general farming in his native state till 1883. then emigrated to New Mexico, where he found employment as a fireman on the Santa Fe railroad. From New Mexico he came to California, following that occupation on the Southern Pacific lines between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. In 1887 Mr. Morris pre-empted a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, a part of the property now known as Tejon ranch, which he improved and did dry farming for twenty-one years. The time he could spare from his land he devoted to teaming, hauling borax from the mines. He saved his money and from time to time purchased additional acreage, including one section of railroad land, owning eventually seventeen hundred acres 1388 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY which he sold to the proprietors of the Tejon ranch in order to locate on what is his present home ranch of eighty acres. When he came to the place in 1908, only about half of it was under cultivation. He has put in a one-acre orchard and made other improvements and is now raising grain and alfalfa while devoting considerable area to pasturage. As a citizen Mr. Morris is public-spirited and supports every measure which in his judgment promises to benefit any considerable number of his fel- low citizens. He is an Odd Fellow and member of Woodmen of the World. He served as deputy assessor during the administration of Assessor J. M. Jameson. R. C. HUGHES. — The best gushers in Kern county for the year 1913 were struck in the Maricopa flats in the Sunset field, with the sole exception of those on the celebrated McNee lease (section 36) in the Midway field operated by the Standard Oil Company. Of all the west side territory in the year named few claims attracted the attention bestowed upon the Mari- copa. Northern and Midway Northern Oil Companies, whose two leases each of eighty acres form a very valuable property and adjoin the famous Mari- copa Queen on the north. On these two holdings one rotary and two standard rigs are employed. As manager of a standard rig Mr. Hughes is proving a competent driller and exceptionally capable man for a position of responsibility. From his earliest memories Mr. Hughes has been familiar with the oil industry. His father, Samuel Hughes, a blacksmith at Franklin, Venango county, Pa., owned oil land five miles from that city and at his death in 1910 left an estate of considerable value. Born at the family homestead in Franklin September 28, 1871, R. C. Hughes was one of fourteen children that attained mature years, his mother having been Anna (Campbell) Hughes, who died three months after the demise of her husband. Of the large fam- ily he was the youngest and it was thought advisable to train him to his father's trade. Hence he spent the years from fifteen to eighteen as an ap- prentice in the blacksmith shop, but as soon as his time had expired he struck out fur the oil fields. For three years he worked for the Fisher Oil Com- pany in Venango county. When twenty-one he went to Freeport, Ohio, and secured employment as a tool-dresser. At the expiration of two years he left Ohio for Indiana and at Greenfield had his first experience in drill- ing, being employed by Al Cole, a local oil man. From that time to the present he has engaged steadily in the drilling department of the oil indus- try and was successively employed at Greenfield, Ind., Gibsonburg, Ohio, Bay City, Mich, (where a wild-cat proposition engaged his time), and Cluryon Cross, Ontario, Canada. Following a period of employment as a driller at Peru, Kan., in 1906 Mr. Hughes came to California and for a year engaged in drilling at McKit- trick. buring 1907 he went to Alaska to drill for the Alaska Coal Oil and Development Company at Ketella, where he struck oil. Returning to the United States in 1908 he became a driller for the American Oilfields, Con- solidated, at Fellows, where he and his family have since made their home, although since May of 1913 he has been employed as a driller with the Maricopa Midway and Northern Midway Oil Companies in the Sunset field. While living at Greenfield, Ind., he met and married Miss Susie Banks. They are the parents of three children. The son, Albert, is employed as a tool-dresser and assistant to his father. Wilda is the wife of William Wellman, of Fellows, and Ida is a student in the Fellows schools. HENRY J. BRANDT. — Several successive generations of the Brandt family were intimately identified with important enterprises in Denmark, one of the most influential of these representatives having been Christian J. Brandt, the owner of large tracts of land and also a ship-owner. The grain HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1389 raised on his own lands as well as that purchased from other farmers he shipped on his own vessel to Germany and thus built up a large trade between the two countries. Fine mental endowments admirably qualified him for commercial affairs of magnitude. Such enterprises he conducted with signal success. Had he lived in a different country at a more modern era of the world's history he would have been denominated a captain of industry and a progressive promoter of great interests. As it was, his name did not penetrate into any localities remote from his immediate environment and the harbors where his ships cast anchor. Among his children was a son, Christian Jensen Brandt, who in youth shipped as seaman to Africa, left the vessel at one of the ports in that country and for seven years remained there, engaged in various occupations for the earning of a livelihood. Upon his return he assisted his father in business and managed a farm that he owned, later acquiring land for himself. Both he and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna M. Peterson, are still living in their native Denmark. The family of Christian Jensen Brandt comprises seven children now liv- ing and of these the third, Henry J., was born at Aerceskjobing, Aero, off the coast of the main land of Denmark, November 22, 1879. From that rock-bound coast the young man came to the new world in 1896, prepared for earn- ing a livelihood through an expert knowledge of horse-shoeing and the blacksmith's trade, to which he had been apprenticed at the age of fourteen years. Crossing the continent to San Francisco he proceeded to Mendocino county and entered the employ of the Gualala Lumber Company. At the expiration of two years, feeling the need of a better knowledge of the Eng- lish language, he returned to San Francisco and began to study in the city schools. A year later he went to Dinuba, Tulare county, to work at his trade and next he purchased a blacksmith's shop at Malaga, Fresno county. During 1901 he came to Kern county, where for two years he engaged in the oil industry and also owned an interest in the Kern County iron works at Maricopa. The business headquarters of Mr. Brandt have been at Bakersfield since 1903, at which time he opened a horse-shoeing shop at No. 1414 Eighteenth street. At the expiration of eighteen months he bought an interest in the Panama livery stable and for a year managed that as well as his shop, but then sold the stable in order to devote his entire time to his trade. About 1906 he began to rent out his teams. Finding a steady demand for teams, he bought other horses and mules from time to time until finally, instead of having only one team, he now owns one hundred and eighty head of work animals. At his shop, No. 210 Chester avenue, he does the horse-shoeing for his own teams as well as for the public. It is said that he never violated a contract nor broke his word when once given, and such a record justly gives him a high place in the citizenship of Bakersfield. While he has for several years engaged in general contracting, he has lately enlarged his business and entered into it on a broader scale. He has completed a sub-contract under Mahoney Bros, for the pipe-line and station work between Connor Station and Lobeck for the General Petroleum Company, which line trans- ports oil from the Westside oil fields to San Pedro. This line covers three miles and has five stations from the valley to the summit. His experience in the past and his large equipment for the purpose render it possible for Mr. Brandt to execute the heaviest work with efficiency and dispatch, and he is continually branching out on new projects. The marriage of Mr. Brandt took place in this city in 1903 and united him with Aliss Pearl C. Maynard, who was born at York, III., and by whom he has three children, Louis James, Cordelia Grace and Bernice. Besides his business holdings and his stock in the Security Trust Company of Bakers- field (of which he was one of the organizers) he is the owner of two ranches. 1390 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Three and one-half miles to the southwest of the city lies his well-improved farm of eighty-five acres, where he makes his home. This is well-adapted for vegetables and contains soil as rich as may be found in the entire state. The family are adherents of the Lutheran Church. Politically Mr. Brandt votes with the Republican party, while fraternally he was made a Mason in Bakers- field Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he also holds membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. MRS. ALICE A. GRAIN. — The possession of a high degree of business ability on the part of Mrs. Crain is indicated by the sagacious judgment which she exercises in the management of the Decatur hotel, a modern apartment house and hotel situated at No. 2027 Nineteenth street, Bakersfield. Besides being a member of and worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, she is also identified with the Rebekahs, and on several occasions she has represented in the grand lodge her own local organization, Kern Lodge No. 47, in which she is a past officer. Politically she supports Democratic principles. Born and reared near Rochester, Fulton county, Ind., Mrs. Crain is a daughter of John Hay and a sister of George Hay, whose sketch appears elsev/here in this volume. The advantages of a high-school education were given to her and these she supplemented by reading and observation. In young womanhood she became the wife of George W. Batz, a native of Fulton county, Ind., and a farmer of capability and fine character. When very young he made himself useful in the tilling of the soil and care of the stock. Coming to California in 1892, he secured land near Kernville on the South fork and engaged in the stock industry with his brother, John B., as a partner. Three 3'^ears later, disposing of his interests there, he removed to a farm near Bakersfield, where he made a specialty tf horticulture. His death occurred on that farm in 1901 when he was forty-one years of age, leaving to his bereaved wife the care of their two children, Orion A. and Grace Fay. About three years after the death of Mr. Batz she became Mrs. E. R. Crain. Fra- ternally Mr. Batz had been connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His son, Orion A., after graduating from the Kern county high school, for five years continued in the employ of the Associated Oil Com- pany, but more recently has engaged in the real-estate business in San Francisco. The daughter, Grace Fay, a graduate of the University of Cali- fornia, with the degree of B.S., is now the wife of G. B. Guyles, of Tacoma. PAUL R. JONES. — A responsible position efficiently filled by a young man is an index of ability and the fact that Paul R. Jones is discharging the duties of foreman in the Green and Whittier division of the Associated Oil Company furnishes proof concerning his standing in the Kern river fields, where, although one of the youngest men connected with the oil industry, he ranks also as one of the most energetic and intelligent. While his identi- fication with this district does not cover a long peritd of activity, it being on New Year's of 1910 when he arrived here in search of employment, the brief interval has been one of great industry and intelligent activity and his recognized capability has brought him a promotion as merited as it is gratify- ing. It was as a roustabout that he began to work in the drilling department of the Associated Oil Company. For a time he was employed on the Flecla lease and also in the Green and Whittier division. After he had worked as tool-dresser for a short time he w^as made well foreman in June of 1911 and since then has given the most rigid oversight to the department under his foreman ship. For 3'ears the home of Paul and Clara (Meade) Jones was in Cedar Rapids, Boone county, Neb., and at that place their fifth child, Paul R., was bcirn November 9, 1887. When nine years of age he accompanied the family to California and settled in Fresno county, where his father is still engaged in viticulture. The mother is deceased. There are six children in the family, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1391 those besides Paul R. being as follows: Ross, a resident of Riverdale, Cal., where he is engaged in the dairy business; J. A., foreman of the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company in the Kern river field ; Roy, of Fresno; Jesse, an employe in the Green and Whittier division of the Asso- ciated ; and Mary, living in Fresno county. After he had attended high school at Fresno for two years Paul R. Jones left school and entered the employ of the Wells Fargo Company, remaining with them for three years and then resigning in order to locate in the Kern river district. In 1909 he married Aliss Sybil Dupree, of Sacramento, and they and their little daughter, Maxine, make their home on the company property where a comfortable cottage is provided for them. L. PEYTON. — To mention the Tejon Oil Company is to give merited recognition to one of the leading organizations engaged in the oil business in the Kern river field, a concern whose prosperous history dates back to the start in 1908 and carries up to the present time with unabated profits. When the company was organized the stock was sold to residents of Bakers- field, who bought at $1 each the twenty thousand shares of stock forming the original capital of $20,000. The remarkable success of the concern may be attributed largely to the supervision of L. Peyton, superintendent, secre- tary and manager, in whom the utmost confidence is reposed by the other stock- holders, including the president, H. R. Peacock, and the vice-president, C. L. Taylor. The most intelligent consideration is given to every department of the work. While his education in the University of California and his special studies in political science have perhaps been of little direct benefit to him, the indirect advantage is apparent in his quick grasp of industrial conditions, his broad comprehension of business problems and his practical outlook upon life. Not a little of the patriotic interest exhibited by Mr. Peyton in every phase of western development is due to the fact that he has spent his entire life in this part of the world. Since he entered the oil industry during 1903 he has risen steadily by dint of industry, perseverance and ability, and these qualities enable him now to manage the properties of the Tejon Oil Com- pany in such a manner that the stockholders are receiving ten per cent divi- dends each month on their investment. While of course this is primarily the result of having superior producers among their wells, it is also due in no small measure to his own careful oversight in expenditures. The holdings of the company include eighty acres located on section 28, township 28, range 27, where there are eight producing wells and a ninth well now in process of drilling. The net production averages sixty barrels daily to a well. A full equipment of machinery and appliances has been secured for the lease, a boiler house and bunkhouse have been built, and there is also a superintend- ent's residence commodious in size and substantial in finish, the whole form- ing a property of recognized value and adding another to the list of profitable leases in the Kern river field. FRANCIS M. WATKINS.— An excellent type of the able and efficient American foreman of today is to be found in the person of Francis M. Wat- kins, foreman of the Central Point division of the Associated Oil Company, operating on section 4, township 29, range 28, in the Kern river oil fields. A farm in Chautauqua county, Kan., was the earliest home of Francis M. Watkins and January 13, 1881. the date of his birth. Although the only child in the immediate family, he has two half-brothers older than himself. From an early age it was necessary for him to help on the home farm and his attendance at school was therefore desultory through no fault of his own. During 1897 his father died on the Kansas farm and shortly afterward he came to California with his mother, Sarah Eugenia Watkins, settling in Bakersfield, where he endeavored to make up for lack of early advantages by 1392 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY attending the grammar school. After two years they moved to Chino and there he attended the high school to the end of the first year. During his six years spent at Chino he was connected with the beet-sugar industry. Next he went to Calaveras county and worked in a quartz mine at Angel's camp, also in the Utica, a famous mine owned by Charles Lane. The work was exceedingly trying by reason of the fact that it was underground, yet he continued in the quartz and gold mines for five years. The wages being better there than elsewhere he was tempted to endanger health in order that he might have some earnings to save. However, in 1904 he abandoned such labor and returned to Bakersfield, where for a year he was employed as a housemover. During October of 1905 he married Miss Edith Adallah Mc- Cain, whose acquaintance he had formed while living in Chino. They have an only child, Francis Stanley, born in 1907 in Kern county. Coming to the Kern river oil fields during May of 1905 Mr. Watkins began to work with a pick and shovel on the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company. His aptitude being soon proved by actual work, he was given a job as well puller. In addition he learned the work of a tool- dresser. Later he was promoted to be well foreman on the San Joaquin division, after which he was appointed general foreman of that division. April 1, 1908, he was tranfserred to the Central Point division under the title of foreman, but with the work of superintendent, as by the systematization of the Asso- ciated all positions formerly known by the title of superintendent are now called foremen. A very interesting fact in regard to the Central Point is that, while Mr. Watkins has sixteen men under his supervision, there are only three single men residing away from home, now employed o'n the lease, while ten families are making their homes here at the present time. The Central Point is composed of two leaseholds, for besides the one known by that name, with fifty acres and thirty-four producing wells, there is also the Red Bank, composed of thirty acres, with seventeen producing wells, and of the entire fifty-one wells all but four are operated by the jack pumping system. H. G. POWELL. — One of the most striking examples of that class of young men who have exhibited such capable and meritorious characteristics in the Kern River fields is H. G. Powell, the present foreman of the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company. A young man who by sheer force of will, hard work and high ability has come to hold this responsible position, he has already evidenced a marked adaptability for this kind of work, and the fact that he is employed by one of the largest and most pros- perous oil companies on the Pacific coast proves his capacity in this direction. Mr. Powell was born May 15, 1883, in Bluefield, Mercer county, W. Va., where he grew to manhood. He is a nephew of N. C. Carrington the exten- sive fruit-grower of Fresno, whose ranch is situated sixteen miles south and west of the city of Fresno. In 1903 Mr. Powell came west to seek a field for his efforts, and for six years he was engaged on fruit farms. In April, 1909, he came to the Kern River field where he became employed in the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company, in June, 1911, being given the respon- sible position of well foreman. With the exception of six months, when he engaged with the Adeline Oil Company, at Maricopa, Mr. Powell continued actively connected with this division, making rapid advancement, and the development of this new industry in this part of the country has taken all of his time and attention. Mr. Powell is unmarried. His future is bright before him and his exceptional character, fine sense of honor and brilliant mental and physical ability are the best assets the young man of today could wish for to form a basis of his life's career. CHARLES G. BECK.— The experience of Mr. Beck in the civil service has been one of slow but steady rise and in November of 1910 he was pro- moted to be superintendent of the Kern branch of the Bakersfield postoflfice. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1393 To him belongs the distinction of being the first carrier of rural delivery in Kern county. It was in 1905 that he was appointed to the rural postal ser- vice, at which time he mapped out and opened route No. 1, and it still retains practically the same lines as established by him at that time. A resident of Kern county from the age of eleven years, Charles G. Beck was born at Lebanon, Boone county, Ind., March 24, 1879, being a son of E. F. and Mary (Cook) Beck, natives respectively of Kentucky and Indiana. Prior to the Civil war the father had gone north to Indiana and there he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Indiana Infantry, with which he went to the front and in which he served as corporal until the expiration of the struggle. Although he took part in many engagements he was wounded only once, that being in the battle of Lookout Mountain, where he was injured in the knee. After he had been honorably discharged from the army he returned to Indiana, settled on a farm in Boone county and devoted his time to the tilling of the soil. After many years he disposed of his interesLs in that county, came to California, and in 1890 settled in Kern county, where he identified himself with the Rosedale colony. Taking up a raw tract of land west of Bakersfield, he devoted time and attention closely to the improvement of the place. Meanwhile in 1897 he w'as bereaved by the death of his wife, but he continued at the old homestead until the fall of 1911, when he sold the property, retired from farm work and removed to Oakland. The eldest of four children, Charles G. Beck accompanied the other members of the family from Indiana to California and arrived in Kern county during December of 1890, after which he attended the public schools and then the Kern county high school. His schooling completed, he gave his entire time to the work of the home farm, until 1905, when he entered the government service. Meanwhile at Visalia, September 2, 1900, he had married Miss Dora Tellyer, who was born in Oregon and by whom he has one son, Harold. During the two years of his association with the rural free delivery he prepared for the examination for civil service, passed the same with credit, received a postoffice appointment and in February of 1907 became a clerk in the Bakersfield office. For a time he served as general delivery clerk, but later he was promoted to be registry and money-order clerk, and from that position he was transferred to the superintendency of the Kern branch of the Bakersfield postoffice. Every department of his association has been benefited by his close attention, intelligent devotion to duty and painstaking care with even the smallest details. Since moving to Bakersfield he has bought residence property at No. 618 Monterey street and here he and his family have a comfortable home. JEAN B. RAYMOND. — A decided preference for stock-raising pursuits and particularly for the sheep industry doubtless results from the environ- ment of Mr. Raymond's early life, which was spent near the foothills of the snow-clad Alps mountains in the province of Hautes-Alpes, France. The village of Orcierre, where he was born October 4, 1867, was a small but thrifty community whose prosperity had its source in agriculture, and there his father, Jean, engaged in stock-raising until his death. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Judith Sarrzin, was likewise a native of Hautes-Alpes and a life-long resident of that part of France. There were five children in the family, but only two now survive. The eldest of the family and the only one to establish a home in the United States was Jean B., who at the time of attaining his majority in 1888 bade farew'ell to the associations of the French farm and came to California to earn a livelihood. The village of Sumner (now East Bakersfield) was his first location and from here he went to Delano to work under a sheep- raiser. After two years in that locality he went to Fresno, where for a year he was employed by a sheepman. With his frugal savings he bought a bunch of sheep and started out for himself. For seven years he made his 1394 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY headquarters in Fresno and meanwhile ranged his sheep in that county and in Tulare. Upon selling that flock in 1897 he came to Kern county, bought another flock of sheep, grazed them on the surrounding ranges and estab- lished his headquarters at East Bakersfield where subsequently he erected a residence at No. 518 Humboldt street. At this writing he owns a valuable flock of twenty-five hundred head of sheep, besides his residence and other property (mainly business) in East Bakersfield. Air. Raymond has given stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and fraternally he belongs to the Foresters. His marriage in East Bakersfield, April 24, 1905, united him with Miss Mary, daughter of Auguste and Mary (Bicais) Galvin, and they have two children, Bertha and Jean. Born and reared in Hautes-Alpes, Mrs. Raymond was third in order of birth among six children and passed the years of childhood upon a farm owned by her father, who in addition to being a capable farmer, also has served in the office of road supervisor in the French province, where he still makes his home. MRS. BELLE CARDER ECKERT.— Significant of twentieth century progress in the west is the prominence accorded women in agricultural, com- mercial and industrial activities and their successful achievements in enter- prises of large importance. Noi: the least successful or capable among the women of the great San Joaquin valley, where a goodly number of ladies are operating farms, is Mrs. Eckert, who since the death of her husband has continued to cultivate the valuable property purchased by him some time prior to his demise. The tract of sixty acres of highly improved land lies in the Buena Vista district, eleven miles southwest of Bakersfield. By means of irrigation from the Buena Vista canal alfalfa is raised in large quantities, thus furnishing an abundance of feed for the dairy herd maintained on the farm. A resident of Kern county since 1895, Mrs. Eckert previously had made her home in Texas, Arkansas and Arizona successively. Her father, William J. Carder, a native of Ohio, was the son of a blacksmith and learned that trade in early life, later also taking up the trade of a carpenter. During 1860 he removed to Missouri. While residing in that state he enlisted in a Missouri regiment and served in the Civil war until its close. Later he went to Kansas and settled in Clay county, where he married Miss Rosana Duncan, a native of Kentucky. After a brief sojourn in Kansas, also in Barry county, Mo., he settled in Dallas, Tex., and engaged in blacksmithing. During the residence of the family in Dallas a daughter, Belle, was born, she being the third among six children. Later the family went to Arkansas and there Mr. Carder died ; his widow now makes her home with Mrs. Eckert. The latter was educated in the public schools of Dallas, Tex., and Bluftton, Ark., and in 1890, in Cook county, Tex., became the bride of William Robert Town- send, a native of that state. Near Phoenix, Ariz., the young couple engaged in farming and there Mr. Townsend died in 1893. After closing out his af- fairs the widow left Arizona and settled in Los Angeles, whence in 1895 she came to Bakersfield. In this city she married John Eckert, a native of In- diana, who died on the home farm in 1910, leaving to Mrs. Eckert the estate which she had aided him in securing. By her first marriage she has two children, Edward and Anna Townsend, and the former is now aiding her m the management of the place. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mrs. Eckert is a generous contributor to the missionary enter- prises of that denomination. Her political sympathies are with the Repub- lican part3^ MARK WILSON. — A member of an old family of the west and himself a na.ive Californian, Mr. Wilson was born in Visalia November 17, 1886, and received a fair education in the schools of that city. On the completion of the grammar course he studied for two and one-half years in the high school of Visalia. but left school at the age of fifteen years in order to earn HISTORY OF KRRX COUNTY 1395 his own livelihood. By chance the first position he could secure was with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as an assistant in the warehouse and baggage-room. At the end of three months he was allowed to enter the telegraph office of the same road for the purpose of learning telegraphy. The work interested him deeply and he took hold of it with such ardor that by the time three monchs had passed he was qualified for a position. There was need of a telegraph operator and clerk in the little ofiice at Oil City, Kern county, a new station started for the convenience of the oil operators. Mr. Wilson was assigned to the place and at the age of only eigh:een became assistant agent. During February of 1908 he was trans- ferred to East Bakersfield as ticket clerk, from which he was promoted to be cashier of the freight house in the same city, but in March of 1909 he was ordered back to Oil City, where the work had increased in importance as the shipments had been enlarged in volume. When but twenty-one years of age he was appointed station agent, being not only one of the youngest men to occupy such a position in the state, but also one of the most intelligent and popular. When the depot was moved from Oil City to Waits, during the month of September, 1912, he came to take charge of affairs a!: the new post. On July 14, 1909, he was united in marriage, at Mill Valley, Cal., with Miss Emma Louise Jasper, of Bakersfield, and they are the parents of one son, J. Ward Wilson. Since coming to Kern county, Mr. Wilson has allied himself with Bakersfield Lodge, No. 266, B. P. O. E., and has maintained an interest in the general activities of the organization. Broad-minded, ac- commodating and energetic, he has the friendship of the oil shippers in the Kern river field, and enjoys the distinction of shipping more oil from his station as an initial point than any other agent in California, while in addition the records prove that since he became station agent he has shipped out more oil than any other agent in the entire United States. JOSEPH V. MORLEY.— Near Land's End, in the county of Cornwall, England, Joseph V. Morley, now a well-known citizen of Kern county, was born August 1, 1854. He was the son of Joseph and Mary (Bradford) Mor- ley, the former a land agent and farmer. His boyhood was passed in public schools and when he was sixteen years old he had spent one year at a college. After working for his father for a time he took up other employment and when he was twenty years old resumed his studies in surveying for two years. Later he was employed by his father until in 1884, when he came to the United States, to the home of a banker, Mr. Lanning, who was a friend of his father's, residing near Leavenworth, Kans. For a short time he was employed on farms near that city, but in January, 1885, he came to Kern county, Cal., where for a few months he was engaged as a laborer. In March of that year, however, he found employment with Carr & Haggin, which later became known as the Kern County Land Company, by which firm he was employed twenty-one years. He was soon advanced to a fore- manship which he held fifteen years. In 1906 he began farming and dairying on leased land and moved to various parts of the county in the prosecution of this business. Beginning with two cows, he now owns seventy-five head of stock. In 1910 he moved to his present ranch of fifty-four acres, then unimproved and situated three miles south of Bakersfield. This is all now under cultivation to alfalfa and grain and is known as Morley 's dairy, as he is a wholesale and retail milk dealer. On February 22, 1898, Mr. Morley married in Bakersfield Miss Eva G. Colton, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 7, 1869, daughter of F. H. Colton, who is represented elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Morley was brought to California by her parents in 1875, and received her education in the public schools and at the San Jose State Normal. For ten years she taught in the public schools of Kern county two years and a half of this time in Bakersfield. She has borne her husband sons named Joseph, Vivian, 1396 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY George and William. Mr. Morley affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., with P.akersfield Lodge No. 208, L O. O. F., and is a charter member of the Independent Order of Foresters. WILLIAM G. SILBER.— The proprietor of a barber shop on Baker street, Bakersfield, William G. Silber is one of that city's enterprising citi- zens. He is a member of an old and respected German family, his branch coming from Saxony, Germany. Gottlieb Silber, grandfather of William G., served in the Austro-Prussian war, and was in his time a popular business man in the city of Leipsic, Germany, where his son, Gustav Emil, was born in 1854. The latter also became a soldier in his native country, and served three years in the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment of Infantry in that army. He was married in Chemnitz, Saxony, in 1878 to Laura Helena Clausnitzer, who was born there. Her father, August Clausnitzer, came to Tulare county, Cal., in 1885, and there he died. In 1881 Gustav Emil Silber brought his wife to America, settling in Ve- rona, Pa., where they remained until 1889. at that time coming to Delano, Kern county, Cal. Here he followed farming and died in 1903, his wife then removing with her family to East Bakersfield, where she now resides. She is a Methodist, and is an active member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. Her children, who all make their residence in East Bakersfield, are as follows: Elsie, Mrs. R. G. Libby ; William G. ; Clara Johanna, Mrs. W. R. Lowe; Minnie, Mrs. F. S. Sparks ; Mattie, Mrs. George Towers ; and Eddie R., a machinist in the employ of the Standard Oil Company. W'illiam G. Silber was but a lad when brought by his parents to Delano, Cal., and he was here educated in the public schools. Upon reaching man- hood he followed railroading for a while as locomotive fireman, then was engaged in the furniture business in East Bakersfield for a time, but finding it expedient to sell out he disposed of this business and started a barber shop on Baker street, where he is doing a profitable business. Mr. Silber married in 1909, Leola M. Weller, who was born in Howell, ^Nlich., and they have two children, Naoma and Kenneth. He is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood, also the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers. OSCAR A. HOLTHE.— Since the initial period of development in the Kern river oil fields the location and the industry have exercised a particular attraction upon young men with clearness of intellectual vision and capacity for work. It is not therefore an occasion for surprise that Mr. Holthe, with his su- perior qualifications as a mechanic and his liking for industrial activities, should have sought this place in preference to devoting himself to agriculture near the comfortable home of his parents. As he had no previous exoerience in the industry he began at the bottom. Upon coming to the oil fields in 1909 it was his good fortune to find employment with the Associated Oil Com- pany and he since has remained with the same concern, having worked during the first years as a roustabout and well-puller and later was made well-forema^n. On the 22d of February, 1912, he was transferred to the Hecla lease and here he and his family have established a comfortable home. His jurisdiction as well-foreman extends through the entire Missouri division of the Associated Oil Company, including the lease upon which he resides, and both in his own company and among workers with other concerns in the field he has the popu- larity and the respect merited b}^ his business ability and genial temperament. Born in Minneapolis, Minn., May 18, 1883, Mr. Holthe was brought by his parents, Oscar and Ellen Holthe, to California at the age of nine months. The family settled in Tehama county and there the father, at the age of fifty- two years, stands among the prosperous and influential men of his community. Of the six living children in the family Oscar A., the eldest, was the only one to seek a livelihood in the oil fields and he turned to this line of work as ofifering an interesting avenue for progress in mechanics. Always interested in mechanical work, he selected such occupative employment in preference to HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 130/ agriculture, although he was reared on a farm and possesses a substantial knowledge of grain-farming and stock-raising. Prior to removing from Tehama county he there married, in August of 1905, Miss Mabel Ham, daughter of Matthew S. Ham, who then lived in Tehama, but is now a resident of San Joaquin county. They reside in a cottage on the Hccla lease with their three children, Helen Irene, Ira Ellsworth and Mildred Elaine. Mr. Ilolthe is a member of the Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield. In politics he is a Republican. E. S. RHEA. — An honorable experience in the railway service in the northwest preceded the identification of Mr. Rhea with the oil industry in the Kern river fields, where for some years he has been retained in charge of the pumping station of the Kern Trading and Oil Company, being the older (in point of service) of the two pumpers regularly employed at the plant. In seeking the west as the locality of future labors, he came from Indiana, where he had passed the greater part of his early years and where he was born in Allen county near the city of Fort Wayne, October 8, 1884. While much of his school life was passed in or near Fort Wayne, he also attended for a time the schools of Corydon, Ky., and in the spring of 1901 was grad- uated from the high school of Auburn, Ind. During the summer following graduation he left Indiana for Washington and after arriving in Seattle secured employment with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, being sent into the districts where construction work had been inaugurated. For three years he engaged as an assistant in the building of steel bridges for the company. The work was extremely hazardous and difHcult, but he proved careful, capable and courageous, and his services were so satisfactory to the company that, at the conclusion of the construction work he was made a locomotive fireman. His first run was from Tacoma to Portland. Later he was put on the line from Tacoma to Ellensburg and finally was transferred to the main system between Taccma and Seattle. Owing to the fact that railroading lacked the desirability of work in a fixed position, Mr. Rhea resigned his position, although he was in line for promotion and was popular with those in charge of the road. After leaving Washington he spent four months in the Risdon ircn works at San Francisco and in January of 1909 came from there to the Kern river fields, where in March following he was selected for the position he still fills. Before leaving Washington he married Miss ]\Iary Pinneo, of Tacoma, in July of 1907, and since coming to the holdings of the Kern Trading and Oil Company he and his wife have made their home in a cozy cottage in Bakersfield. DAVID SHEEDY.— Descended from an honored old Irish family, Mr. Sheedy was born in Gilboa township, Benton county, Ind., and grew to manhood upon a farm. As a boy he alternated his time between work in the fields during the summer days and attendance at school in the winter months, and while it was not possible for him to attend school throughout the full terms, yet he acquired a broad fund of information and could converse with ease and intelligence upon all subjects of importance. When he left the farm and started out to make his own way in the world he took up mercantile pur- suits. After a time he acquired the ownership of a general store at Lochiel, Benton county, and this he conducted until failing health forced him to give up a sedentary occupation and remove from the rigorous Indiana climate. He arrived in East Bakersfield (then known as Kern) in March, 1902, and on the 4th of October, of the same year, his death occurred. There remains to family and friends the memory of his upright character and purposeful ambitions and the tiplifting influence of his kindly deeds. At Lochiel, Ind., in December of 1891, occurred the marriage of David Sheedy and Miss Nellie Kaar. One child blessed the union, Helen, a mem- ber of the Bakersfield high school class of 1913. Mrs. Sheedy's father, John 1398 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Kaar, came to Kern county at an early date and I^ecame a leading business man of Kern, erecting a building on Baker street and starting the Citizen's Laun- dry. The business is still owned by the family and is managed by one of his sons, George S. (represented elsewhere in this volume). To this concern Mrs. Sheedy has devoted all of her time in the capacity of bookkeeper and from the first she was one of its stockholders. Keen business ability is one of her chief endowments and her services have been most helpful in the satisfactory prosecution of the business. Since coming to Bakersfield she has formed many friends among the best people and is particularly well known in East Bakersfield, where she makes her home and where she is a member of the Congregational Church. While her leisure hours are few she has found time to aid in church work, contribute to missionary enterprises and assist in charitable projects, and also has been able to interest herself in a number of fraternal organizations. For some years she has been connected with Bakers- field Chanter No. 125, Order of the Eastern Star, also the Pythian Sisters and Fraternal Brotherhood and is further identified with the Knights and Ladies of Security as a charter member and as vice-president of the order at Bakers- field. E. CARROLL EMMONS.— The fact that he holds a position of great responsibility and trust, although one of the youngest men in the employ of the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Company, indicates that Mr. Emmons has the confidence of the officials of the concern and that he has made a record for efficiency in his own special line of work. To act as purchasing agent for so large a corporation is no slight task ; that he discharges every duty with fidelity is evident to all familiar with his work as storekeeper on the lease situated on section 10, township 32, range 24, in the Midway field, where he superintends with dispatch and system the buying of all oil-well supplies as well as the maintenance of the commissary department. Practically all of his life has been passed in Kern county and the family has been well known here for many years. When only fourteen months old Mr. Emmons was brought to Kern county by his parents, who settled in Bakersfield. He was born at Sisson, Siskiyou county, August 7, 1891, and in boyhood he attended the Bakers- field grammar school, graduating from the regular course of study. At the age of eighteen he became interested in the oil industry, to which he since has given his time and attention. Upon first coming with the Honolulu Oil Company in December, 1910, he was under the then superintendent, J. A. Pollard, as a warehouse man and by successive promotions has risen to be storekeeper and purchasing agent for the great corporation. E. W. BAILEY. — Although the greater part of his busy and useful life has been passed within the limits of California, Mr. Bailey is an Ohioan by birth and was born at Wilmington, Clinton county, August 26, 1882. In early life he came west with his parents, J. W. and Catherine (Hiney) Bailey, who settled at Wliittier and sent him to the public schools at that town. When seventeen he secured employment in the Whittier oil field and within a year he had gained considerable experience in drilling, in which department of the oil business he has since gained more than a local reputation. After four years with the Murphy Oil Company he went to the Coalinga field and for a year engaged as a driller with the Union Oil Company. Next he took the contract to drill a well for George Roberts in the Coalinga field. Coming down to the Midway field during 1909 Mr. Bailey took charge of the development work for the May Oil Company, with which he engaged as su- perintendent for one year. In the meantime May's No. 1 was brought in as a twenty thousand barrel gusher. Not long before this the Santa Fe had brought in a gusher on section 6 and about six days afterward the famous Lakeview was the third gusher in the field. The presence of three gushers soon became HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1399 known and caused a great excitement throughout oil circles in the entire country. The year after coming to the Midway field and while still engaged with the May's lease, Mr. Bailey married Miss Amy Logan, of Santa Maria; they have since lived in the Midway field and now have one son, Earl Logan. From May's Mr. Bailey went to the Rock Oil Company as superintendent. Ten months later he accepted an advantageous oflfer from the Midway Five and in another ten months he became associated as superintendent with St. Helen's Petroleum Company, Limited, whose stockholders are English cap- italists, forming practically the same coterie of financiers who own also the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited. The holdings of the corporation comprise one hundred and eighty acres on section 16, township 32, range 24, and fcrty acres on section 32, township 21, range 24. While but a short time has elapsed since the concern began operations in its present location already two strings of tools are in operation and a third is being started, with the most favorable prospects for successful enterprises under the systematic management of Mr. Bailey as superintendent. The only fraternal organization with which he has connected himself is the Benevclent Protective Order of Elks, his membership being with Camp No. 439 at Fresno. J. A. BENNETT. — The superintendent of Section 25 Oil Company, who has the distinction of being the pioneer driller on 25 Hill and whose experi- ences as a driller have made him familiar with oil fields in different parts of the world, was born at Petrolia, Canada, December 16, 1874, and from earliest recollections has been familiar with the cil industry. The family to which he belongs boasts a lineage extending back to the early history of colonial America, and his father, John H. Bennett, a pioneer in the Canadian oil fields at Petrolia, now makes his home in Vancouver, British Columbia, and not- withstanding seventy-seven useful and active years he still retains his robust constituticn and mental faculties. He married Miss Mary Jane Barnum, whose father was a cousin of the noted P. T. Barnum and whose mother's mother, Malissa Clay, was an own cousin of the famous statesman, Henry Clay. In a family of nine children J. A. Bennett was third and he spent the first twenty years of life in his native town of Petrolia, where he learned the oil business in all of its departments. During 1894 he secured a position as driller for an Amsterdam syndicate that owned large concessions on the island of Sumatra in the ^Malayan Archipelago. For two and one-half years he engaged in drilling on Sumatra, where he had charge of one hundred and fifty thousand acres for the company. The eleven wells which he drilled averaged from five hundred to fifteen hundred feet. The oil was of fifty-two degrees gravity. Production varied from three hundred to five hundred bar- rels. The excessively hot and humid climate of Sumatra brought on fever and forced him to resign his position. Next he engaged in drilling for the Shell Transport and Trading Company on the island of Borneo, where he remained abcut three years and meanwhile made three discovery wells run- ning from eighteen hundred to two thousand feet in depth, with an asphalt base. The oil was of eighteen degrees gravity. After three years on Borneo he returned to America via the Pacific ocean to San Francisco. During December of 1899 he arrived at Bakersfield at the time of the boom incident to the discovery of oil in the Kern river field. About the middle of the sum- mer of 1900, while working on the Sunset coast No. 1 well, on 25 Hill, he struck oil at a depth of fifteen hundred and twenty-five feet, and this was the first oil well brought in on the now famous section 25. The oil was of fifteen degrees gravity and production averaged about one hundred barrels. While engaged in drilling for oil on section 22, 32-23, he struck water at a depth of one thou- sand feet. As the price of water was high and the quality of this well excellent for boiler purposes, the company paid ofif the driller, deciding that water was more valuable to them than oil. 59 1400 HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY The marriage of Mr. Bennett and Dr. Jean Worthington took place at Bakersfield in 1902 and afterward they went to British Burmah, where for three years he had charge of oil production and development for a large cor- poration. Their first child James Gordon Bennett, was bcrn in Upper Bur- mah. The younger children, Nota B. and Jean, were born after the return of the family to America. Mrs. Bennett is a graduate of the dental depart- ment, University of California, with the class of 1898, and has practiced the dental profession with success in her home city of Bakersfield. After a second trip around the world Mr. Bennett settled in Cobalt, Canada, with the hope that the change of climate would rid his system of the malaria con- tracted in the tropics. Coming to Bakersfield in 1906, he entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company on the San Joaquin division and upon the promotion of Superintendent Bruce he was chosen to fill the position of drilling superintendent and later, on the promotion of L. J. King to the Mc- Kittrick division, he was made superintendent of production. After four years with the Associated he engaged in drilling for the Standard and in 1911 began to drill for the Tejon Oil Company in the Kern river field, later drilling for the Sunset Security a well four thcusand feet deep. Since taking charge of the Section 25 Oil Company in February, 1913, he has maintained an average production of fifty thousand barrels per month and has superintended the crew of forty workmen employed by this large corporation. JAMES O. McCaffrey. — in the capacity of chief mechanical engineer Mr. 3*lcCatTrey has charge of the boiler-house and stationary engines on sec- tion 16 division of the North American Oil Consolidated, and his experience as a skilled machinist enables him to fill with success a most responsible and trust- worthy position. Belfast, Ireland, is his native heme and July 8, 1873, the date of his birth. He is a son of Patrick and Catherine (Bouges) McCaffrey, who were born, reared and married in Ireland, and during middle age came to America, settling in South Dakota, where now they own and live upon a large cattle ranch in Clark county. Their family comprises six living children, be- sides which they had two who died in early life. The eldest, James O., is the only member of the family in California. Mary married P. J. Murphy, who is now a storekeeper in Melbourne, Australia. Hugh and Thomas are part- ners in the cattle-raising business in Clark county, S. Dak. Francis is em- ployed as a steamship inspector by Harlem & Woolf, the great ship-building concern that produced the Titantic and other marvels of ocean speed. The youngest member of the family, Miss Annie McCaffrey, is living with her parents in South Dakota. Upon leaving the national schools in Belfast it was the plan of James O. McCaffrey to become an apprentice with Harlem & Woolf, but, wishing_ to see something of the world, he decided to come to America instead. During May of 1890 he arrived in Pittsburg, Pa., where lived an uncle, Patrick Cos- grove, the superintendent of the steel furnace of the Carnegie works at Brad- dock, Allegheny county. During his brief visit he was ccnvinced of the advis- ability of learning a trade, and for this purpose returned to Ireland and became an apprentice at the trade of machinist and engineer. That deter- mination was carried out and he spent three years in the great plant of Har- lem & Woolf, where he completed his time and acquired a reputation for skilled work. Again coming to America, he this time found ready work as an engineer under his uncle and for four years he continued in Pennsylvania. Ivleanwhile he had married Miss Bridget D. Lalley, a native of county Gal- way, Ireland, and the young couple in 1903 sailed for Honolulu. Upon his arrival there he was given charge of the engine room on the Ewea sugar plantation. During the three years passed on the Hawaiian Islands two children were born to them, but both died in infancy. Leaving the islands they came to San Francisco, where Mr. McCaffrey secured employment as HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1401 foreman in the steel department of the Merle Ornamental and Bronze Com- pany. Three years were spent in the city and in the meantime he and his wife endured all the horrors incident to the famous earthquake and fire. While there he was a popular worker in Division 7, Ancient Order of the Hibernians, also took a leading part in the Irish National Foresters. About 1909 he left San Francisco and came to Taft, where on the second day he secured a position as engineer on the section 16 division of the North American Oil Consolidated and ever since then he has devoted himself clcsely to the duties incident to his post of trust and responsibility. From early life both he and his wife have been earnest members of the Roman Catholic Church. They oc- cupy a company house and their modest but cosy home abounds with good cheer and comfort. KEITH B. LE GAR. — Rapid rise to prominence in the oil industry has characterized the occupative activities of Keith B. LeGar, who as foreman on the section 16 division of the Ncrth American Oil Consolidated feels a just pride in a responsible identification with one of the leading corporations oper- ating in the Midway field. But few years have passed since he began to be familiar with the oil industry, and such has been his mental alertness and the quickness of his intelligence that he has grasped all the details connected with the business in a comparatively brief period. On the 1st of January, 1913, he was promoted to his present position as production foreman, in which capacity he has the full confidence of his employers and of the twenty-four men under him. The average monthly production en the division is about forty thousand barrels Mr. LeGar was born at Buchanan, Mich., April 2, 1889, and is the elder of two brothers, the younger being Kenneth LeGar, who has charge of the tools on the Kerto division of the Kern Trading & Oil Company near Maricopa. The father, Edwin LeGar, who was a farmer in Berrien county, Mich., died about 1895, and later the mother, who bore the maiden name of Estella Baker, became the wife cf James Snodgrass. At this writing she still makes her home at Buchanan, Berrien county. The boyhood years of Keith LeGar were made unhappy by the inconsiderate treatment accorded him by his step-father and when he was sixteen he left the home farm in Berrien county, determined to make his own way in the world. Frier to their mar- riage, which was solemnized May 14, 1913, Mrs. LeGar was Miss Blanche Carter. For three and one-half years Mr. LeGar was employed in Arizi na and much of that time was spent in driving stage between Prescott and Hooper. From Arizona he came to California in 1909 and secured employment in San Luis Obispo county, where he gained his first exoerience in the oil industry. For a time he engaged as tool-dresser with the San Luis Bay Oil Company. Coming over to the Midway field in 1910, he worked on various leases until December of the same year, when he was given a roustabout's position on section 16 division of the North American. In a short time he vvas made gang- pusher, after which he was promoted to be foreman, and in each post of duty he has proved to be trustworthy, energetic and eminently capable. FRANK J. MORA. — When the Castilian ancestors of the Mora family first crossed the ocean from Spain to America during the latter part of the eighteenth centur}^ and settled in Mexico they were led by a gallant Spaniard, the head of the ancient house, Raphael de la Mora, whose last days were spent amid the somewhat crude conditions then existing in the new world. A grandscn of the Castilian forefather, Pedro, passed all of his active years in carrying on a stock ranch in the Rio del Ora mountains of Mexico. For convenience the family name was shortened to the present form. Frank J., son of Pedro, was born at the ranch home near Zamora, Michoacan, Mexico, in 1877. At the age of eleven years in 1888 he came to California to make his 1402 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY home with an older sister, Mrs. Nettie Smith in Tulare, and to have the ad vantages of the public schools of that place. For eight years he made his headquarters at the residence of Mrs. Smith, who afterward removed to Por- terville and is now living in the latter town. Besides attending the public schools he also for a time was sent to a private institution of learning. The skill which the lad displayed in the handling of horses led J. F. Batchelder to engage him for such work. It was not long before he was con- sidered to be an expert in the breaking of colts. The most fiery and dangerous animal speedily was brought under control through his wise management. His ability in the work seemed so unusual that he was induced to start a stable in which he boarded colts, keeping them under his personal oversight until they were thoroughly broken to the harness. For some years he made a specialty of training horses in his part of California and even after he had spent two years in travel through Mexico, his fondness for California was so deep that he returned to the state to establish a permanent home. Locating in Porterville he established a stable for the breaking of colts and continued in the business at that place until November of 1907, when he came to Bakers- field. Securing a position as manager of the Exchange stable on the corner of Eighteenth and I streets, he continued as an employe for two years. Mean- while he decided to purchase the stable, since which he has been the owner and proprietor. While living at Porterville he was united in marriage with Miss Savina Viscaino, a native of the state of Colima near the Pacific ocean in Mexico, but from early life a resident of California. Since coming to this city Mr. and Mrs. Mora have erected a house at No. 2416 N street, where they now have a comfortable and attractive home. SAN JOAQUIN LIGHT & POWER CORPORATION.— Suggestive of its name the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporaticm, which serves Bakers- field and adjacent country, has more than a local reputation and influence. In truth it may be said that its development has had more to do with upbuilding the Valley, whose name it bears, than any other single organization. The development of the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation has been unique in that it is serving an immense and sparsely settled territory over which many miles of expensive transmission and distributing lines have had to be built and prospective consumers educated to the use of electricity for agri- cultural purposes before any returns whatsoever could be obtained on the investment. That the cempany is succeeding in its purpose is readily aoparent to the eye of the traveler who will ride through any of the newly settled col- onies such as Wasco and McFarland on the north to the Weed Patch on the south of Bakersfield. Electricity has meant water development in Kern county and development of water is rapidly opening up the agricultural holdings. The history of the present company dates back to the building of the original San Joaquin No. 1 Power Plant seventeen years ago. This plant made history in the San Joaquin Valley as it was the first hydro-electric development for long distance transmission. The plant had a capacity of 1450 kilowatts, in the light of present day hydro-electric development a small one. and served the towns of Fresno and Hanford. In 1902 the present owners took over the property and since that time have built up what is now the great system of the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation. Today this com- pany furnishes light and power throughout ten counties, seven of which are in the San Joaquin Valley and three on the coast. In round numbers the company is serving 18,500 lighting customers, 2O00 power customers, 6000 gas customers and 7500 water customers. The Bakersfield Street Railway system, which is acknowledged by authorities to be the best constructed in the West, is operated by this company, and power is also supplied for oil well development and pumping in all the oil fields in Kern county as well as the famous Coalinga fields in Fresno county. In all these operations the facil- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1403 ities are the best, no expense having been spared in fitting the general equip- ment in order to obtain the best results and bring the utmost satisfaction to the territories served. The rfiicers of the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation are as fol- lows : William G. Kerckhoff of Los Angeles, president ; A. C. Balch of Los Angeles, vice-president ; A. G. Wishon of Fresno, general manager. In the Bakersfield district employment is furnished to 275 persons, while the company has on its general pay roll more than one thousand names. In August 1910, the San Joaquin Light & Power Company entered Kern county by purchasing the properties of the Power Transit and Light Com- pany, which consisted of the hydro-electric plant in the Kern river canyon, transmission lines to Bakersfield and distribution lines in Bakersfield and some territory immediately adjacent ; the Bakersfield and Kern Electric Rail- way System and Gas Works. The power plant at that time was inadequate to serve the interests of the city and the day before the company was to take charge one of the three generators burned out and the city of Bakersfield was without street lights until a temporary steam generator of 750 kilowatts could be installed for relief. This was the initial unit in the big steam plant which has since been built, the company at the same time ordering a 2000 capacity steam turbo generator set. This initial development was almost twice as great as the generating capacity of the old generating plant which had an output of only 1440 kilowatts. The business grew so rapidly that a short time later a 5000 kilowatt capacity was added to the steam plant. Dur- ing the year 1911 another addition of 7000 kilowatts capacity was made. This steam plant now is the largest in the interior of California and cost practically $1,COO,000. It is modern in every respect. When this company entered Kern county they found customers paying thirteen and one-half cents per kilowatt hour for service, but as soon as the first steam plant unit was installed they voluntarily reduced the price to twelve cents per kilowatt hour. A short time later, when the new transmis- sion line built from Crane Valley, a distance of two hundred and twenty- five miles, were completed, the rate was again voluntarily reduced to ten cents per kilowatt hour and in a short time thereafter when business throughout the system was increasing, the rate was reduced throughout all the agricultural valley in the territory served by the company from Merced to Bakersfield to eight cents per kilowatt hour. In August, 1910, when the new company began business, they found them- selves serving 4195 customers in Kern county and at the end of 1913 this num- ber had been increased to more than 9100. In 1910 they were supply- ing power for one hundred and nine motors in Kern county, while at the end of 1913 more than 1050 customers had been installed on the lines. In 1910 the gas consumers were supplied with manufactured gas which was being paid for at the rate of $1.47 per lOOO feet. This gas contained 600 heat imits. As soon as the company had been in operation it introduced natural gas into Bakersfield for which the average charge is seventy-eight cents per 1000 feet, and which contains more than 1000 heat units. Great improvements likewise were made in the street car system. In 1910 there were but three cars on the Nineteenth street single track line on a fourteen minute headway. This sys- tem has since been double tracked, four cars are serving the travel and they are running under a seven minute headway. The cross-city lines then were run under a thirty minute headway, but they since have been double tracked and the run headway has been cut in half. In re-building the system the company paved that part of the street taken up with their lines and to date have expended more than $127,000 on paving alone. The rails are 114 pound "Trilby" made for standard M.C.B. wheels. The paving between rails has eight inches of ballast with four inches of concrete on top while the sides of 1404 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the rails are protected with turned basalt brick. Six cars of the modern pay-as-you-enter type have been installed and no expense has been spared in making this the peer in service and equipment of any interior system in the West. The San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation since entering Kern county has built 154 miles of high voltage transmission line from the begin- ning of the citrus belt at the northern part of the county, extending south to the Kern River oil fields, thence to Bakersfield and west and north through the Sunset, Midway, McKittrick, Bellridge, and Lost Hills oil fields. Five hundred and ninety-six miles of distribution line have been built to furnish service to this territory, and sub-stations at Bakersfield, Famosa, Midway, and McKittrick, together with meters, service lines, and other equipment, amounting in all to an outlay cf $803,000, have been built to maintain this service. Not including the original purchase price of the old Power Transit and Light. Company, nor the large amount of money spent on services and construction work since entering the company, the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation has invested $2,200,000 in equioment and improvements alcne. In the very near future this investment will be largely increased as plans have been made for the complete rebuilding of the hydro-electric plant in the Kern River Caiion. The lines of the ccmpany now serve all of the oil fields and agricultural districts, and the progressive policy of the company providing power wherever there is prospect of development has been pursued and the result has been that a tremendous good has been done in building up the country. The history of Kern county has been that agricultural devel- opment has followed in the wake of these power lines. JAMES THOMAS GRAHAM.— As a partner of the firm of Kaar & Graham, proprietors of the Studebaker garage, James Thomas Graham ranks among the leading business men of Bakersfield, while his Masonic affiliations have brought him prominently into the best social circles of the city. Born in Crewe, England, August 6, 1874, his entire life has been characteristic of his race, for he has displayed marked traits which distinguish him as the son of a noble race, his inherent intelligence being brought to bear in his daily labors and his conscientious and never-failing honesty bringing him good results in the business world. His father was Charles Thomas Graham, who fol- lowed the trade of machinist in England and brought his family to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1882, fcllowing that trade in their new home. He now makes his home in Kentucky. The mother, Louisa (Blinkhorn) Graham, was a native of London and passed her last days in Cincinnati. She bore her husband three children. The excellent public schools of Cincinnati, and also of Covington, Ky., afforded to James Graham his elementary education, upon completion of which at the age of sixteen he was apprenticed as a machinist in the shops of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad in Ludlow, Ky. After serving a four years' term he went to Lima, Ohio, to enter the shops of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad and from there went to the Illinois Central Railroad shops in East St. Louis, 111., after which for a short time he worked for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad at La Junta, Colo. In all of these shops he worked as a machinist, always adding to his store of knowledge of the work and perfecting himself in that branch. In 1899 he came to Los Angeles, where he was employed in the Santa Fe shops for a year, and in 1900 he lo- cated in Bakersfield as a machinist in the Southern Pacific shops. In this capacity he labored four years, and subsequently for five years was identified with the Bakersfield Iron Works, at the end of this time resigning to become foreman of the Owners Garage ; he filled this position until the garage was burned down. His interest had by this time been directed closely to the building and caring for automobiles, and he formed a partnership with Messrs. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1405 Gardette & Munsey, starting the Kern Valley Garage in the building where now is located his own garage. In 1911 Charles H. Kaar joined the com- pany, and buying cut the others, they began to do business as the Sludebaker uarage, the firm now being known as Kaar & Graham. It is the largest garage in Bakersfield, occupying a building 132x115 in dimensions, and they have the agency for the Studebaker cars. Mr. Graham is superintendent of the garage and machine shop, and a large general auto supply department has been added, making the concern complete in every particular and capable of hand- ling any make of car. Mr. Graham was married in Bakersfield to Miss Zora Perkett, who was born in Jackson, Amador county, and they have a daughter, Martha. Made a Mason in Lima Ltdge No. 205, F. & A. M., Mr. Graham was raised to the Royal Arch degree in Lima Chapter, No. 49, R. A. M., and later was made a Knight Templar in Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., of which he is now Eminent Commander. He is also a member of Al Malaikah Temple, N. M. S., of Los Angeles. FRANK A. MILLIFF. — A well-informed and practical oil refiner is found in Frank A. Millifif, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 24, 1876. His father, John Millifif, was one of the early refiners of oil, having engaged in the business from 1865 until he retired in 1900. His death occurred in Findlay, Ohio, in 1904. Of his family of six sons all are in the oil and refining business. After graduating from the public schools of Cleveland, Mr. Milliff entered St. Ignatius College where he continued his studies for three years. In 1892 he entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company at Parkersburg, W. Va., and there began to learn the refining of oil, and afterwards in the same capacity at their Cleveland No. 2 Refinery. Next he went with the Canfield Oil Company at Findlay, Ohio, and while there became assistant superintend- ent. After four years with the company he resigned to come to California in 1904 for the Bulls Head Oil Company (now the American Oriental Oil Com- pany) to build their compounding plant at Martinez. This was the first plant to make a success of the ctmpounding of all kinds of grease and oil from the California product. The manufactured articles took the gold medal at the Lewis and Clark exposition in Portland. In 1S05 Mr. Millifif entered the employ of the Union Oil Company of California as superintendent of construc- tion and built their refinery at Oleum, and on the completion of the plant was made superintendent of the refinery. In 1906 he resigned and for a year was engaged in business for himself when he accepted the position of assistant superintendent of construction for the Associated Pipe Line Company. When the pipe line was completed to Port Costa he was placed in charge of that station. In June, 1912, he came to Lest Hills as superintendent of construc- tion of the refinery for the Universal Oil Company and since its completion has been superintendent of the refinery. In Martinez, Calif., occurred Mr. Millifif's marriage with Miss Rose A. Hurley, a native daughter of that place, and to them have been born three children, Francis, William and Raymond. His zeal and ardor for the Stars and Stripes was shown in April, 1898, when he volunteered his services for the Spanish-American war, enlisting in Battery A, First Ohio Light Artillery. He served with his battery until they were mustered out and was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, after nine months' service. He is a charter member of General Fitzhugh Lee Camp, Society of the Spanish-American War Veterans, of which he was the first commander. E. J. BARKER. — Among the business men who are contributing to the upbuilding of Lest Hills we find E. J. Barker, the proprietor of The Toggery, a business handling exclusive men's furnishings, and he is also a merchant tailor. He was born in Jacksonville, Ind., in March, 1882, and was raised on the farm and educated in the local public schools. When fourteen years of age 1405 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY he was apprenticed to tlie tailor's trade under his uncle. Later on, however, he discontinued the trade to follow the oil business and became a driller in Indiana, afterwards workings in the same capacity in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Kansas. In 1899 he made his first trip to California, where he spent nine months in the Los Angeles oil field. He then spent some time in Mexico and Central America, returning to California to follow the oil busi- ness in Los Angeles, Taft and Coalinga until October, 1911, when he located in Lost Hills and began the mercantile trade. He estabHshed The Toggery and is doing a successful and satisfactory business. On August 10, 1910, in Los Angeles, Mr. Barker was married to Miss Frances Seigel, a native of New York City, who came to California in 1907. Politically, Mr. Barker is a straight-out Democrat. MARLON PAYNE. — Whatever measure of success has come to Mr. Payne in the varied activities of existence, the credit for such achievements must be given to his own determined efforts unaided by any of the extraneous circumstances that oftentimes promote prosperity. Educational advantages he had none. Even the limited opportunities afforded by country schools of past generations were almost beyond his reach, yet he has succeeded, not- withstanding the discouraging environment of his youth. From the age of thirteen, when he lost his father, he was obliged to earn his own livelihood and thereafter drifted from one farm to another as he worked "for board and clothes." Of his mother he has no recollection whatever, for he was scarcely three years of age when he suffered an irreparable bereavement in her death. The original home cf the Payne family was in North Carolina, whence Barnabas Payne and his widowed mother removed to Indiana in 1830 and settled on a farm near North Manchester, Wabash county. After the youth had attained man's estate he married Miss Huldah Bond, a native of Ohio, but from early childhood a resident of Wayne county, Ind. The young couple settled on a farm in Wabash county and devoted themselves to the develop- ment of land. Six children were born of their union, and all were still young when the mother died in 1855. The father passed away in 1866 on the Wabash county farm. Their first-born son, Elias, a farmer by occupation, died in Wabash county at the age of thirty-one years, leaving a wife and two children. The eldest daughter, Luzena, is the widow of William Brindle and lives on a farm in Blackford county, Ind. The second son, Albert, died, unmarried, at the age of twenty-seven. Anna married Levi Walters and lives on a farm in Wabash county; Jesse is living retired in Los Angeles. The youngest member of the family circle, Mahlon Payne, was born in Wabash county, Ind., September 25, 1852, and endured all the privations inci- dent to being poor and an orphan. He remembers the excitement incident to the Civil war, which began when he was less than ten years of age. With equal clearness he also recalls the prevalence of malaria and other forms of disease common in a new country. As a lad of thirteen he began to work as a farm hand and thereafter he did a man's work for a boy's wages until he married and went to Kansas. At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Amanda Garretson, a native of McLean county. 111., and a daughter of Talbot and Mary Ann (Dysart) Garretson, both of whom were born "in Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Payne removed to Kansas and bought railroad land in An- derson county, where he and his young wife lived in a cabin that cost them $85. Believing the prospects in that locality to be unfavorable, he removed to Nebraska and bought one hundred and sixty acres of deeded land in Seward county. The improvement of the acreage brought him a fair degree of material prosperity. Stock-raising and grain-farming engaged his attention. In spite of having much sickness in the family, on the whole he prospered and each year found him with a small amount added to his growing capital. After some years on the farm he moved into the city of York, York county. HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1407 Neb., from which point he en^ijarred in shipping live stock to Omaha. From York he and his wife came to Cahfornia, arriving at Bakersfield July 22, 1907, and shortly afterward settling en a fruit and alfalfa farm of ten acres on Union avenue. During the spring of 1911 he sold the ranch and came to Bakersfield, where he bought seven lots and began building operations. Since then he has expended a large sum in the erection of bungalows. Besides his own home at No. 331 Eighteenth street, Mr. Payne has built the cottage bungalows at Nos. 325, 401 and 403 Eighteenth street, in the Kruse tract. It was he who erected the first house on this terrace. In 1912 there were only two houses in the tract, but in 1913 there are twenty, all of them modern, substantial and up-to-date. The task of building still engages the attention of Mr. Payne and when all of the lots are improved he will devote his attention to the care of the cottages and property. Honorable in every dealing, forceful in temperament, whole-souled in spirit and upright in act, he forms a valuable accession to that class of citizens so necessary to the permanent prosperity of Bakersfield. Politically he always has been inde- pendent. In religion he and his wife adhere to the doctrines of the Christian Church. Their family has numbered five children, but one of these, Ernest M.. died at the age of twenty-seven, leaving a wife and daughter, Mercedes. The surviving sons and daughter are as follows : Clarence C, an optician and watchmaker at Modesto, Cal. ; Elmer A., a farmer in Seward county. Neb. ; Orville D., a watch-maker, engraver and optician doing business at Woodland, Cal., and Irene D., now connected as bookkeeper with the Pioneer Mercantile Company of Bakersfield. Remembering with regret his own lack of early advantages, it has been the aim of Mr. Payne's life to give his children good educations and in this ambition he has been successful, with the result that the sons and daughter are more than ordinarily well-informed, promising and capable. CHARLES HARDISTY.— During one of the religious persecutions that threw their somber shadows over Scotland in the middle ages the Hardisty family was forced to seek a haven of refuge in Ireland and later the name was transplanted to the shores of England. Upon the organization of the expedition for the new wcrld under Capt. John Smith and other hardy adventurers, two brothers, James and Tommy Hardisty, joined the party of emigrants from England and sailed with them on the long voyage to Vir- ginia, landing April 26, 1607. With others of the new-comers they founded Jamestown on the 13th of May. Thenceforward successive generations lived and labored in the Old Dominion and meantime the family was represented in the Indian wars, in the great Revolutionary struggle and other early con- tests for supremacy in the new world. One branch of the family established itself in Pennsylvania and Samuel Hardisty was born in Fayette county, that state. During the Civil war he and his four brothers fought in the Union army from the opening of the great struggle until peace was declared four years later. Prominent characteristics of the family are longevity, powerful physique, robustness of constitution and acumen of intellect. When oil was first discovered in West Virginia one of the pioneers in the Volcano oil fields twenty miles from Parkersburg was Samuel Hardisty, already known as an expert driller and competent production man. After settling in West Virginia he married Miss Julia Leach, who was born and reared in Ritchie county, that state, and who traced her lineage to Scotch an- cestors identified with the colonial history of Maryland and represented in the Revolutionary war. Three daughters and a son, Charles, were born of the union. The eldest child, Ella, is the wife of Henry Lowther, connected with the production department of the Standard Oil Company at Tulsa, Okla. The third child, Carolina, is the wife of Edward Ross, and the youngest, Bertha, 1408 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY married Roy Trobb. Both these gentlemen are employed in the producing department of the South Penn Oil Company, near Parkersburg, W. Va. During the residence of the family in the Volcano oil field in West Vir- ginia the birth of Charles Hardisty took place March 7, 1864. From an early age he was obliged to be self-supporting. When only thirteen he began pumping for John A. Steele, the well-known oil man of Parkersburg. From the first he showed not only willingness, but also intelligence. Soon he was trained in the art of dressing tools, which line of work he followed for some time. At the age of twenty-two he became a driller, learning the trade by practical work in production. Prior to taking up the work of driller he had been employed under his father, then superintendent of a West Virginia oil company, and later he started out to make his own way in the world. For a time he worked in the Beaumont field in Texas and at Jennings, La., besides which he worked for an English syndicate on the Dos Bocos lease, containing the world's greatest gusher, with a record surpassing even the famous Lake- view gusher. It made a record of one hundred thousand barrels per day. Unfcrtunately, the oil caught on fire, flames arose seventeen hundred feet in height and the whole well was destroyed. When finally the fire died down, the well gushed hot water at a temperature of cne hundred and seventy-five degrees. The water increased in its flow and volume until it made twenty-five million barrels per day, with a crater covering thirty-five acres. The well still flows, but in a reduced amount. Any recital of the business connections of Mr. Hardisty must include his eight years of work in the production department of the South Penn Oil Company in West Virginia, where he made an excellent record for efficiency and trustworthiness. It must also include five years of successful work as a driller for water wells for the Texas Pacific Railroad between Fort Worth and El Paso. After six months in Mexico he came to California and joined in Kern county J. A. Pollard, who had been a superintendent for the Pierson Company in Mexico, but in 1910 was acting as superintendent of the Flonolulu Consolidated Oil Company on section 10, township 32, range 24, and is now employed as a government geolcgist in Oklahoma. Mr. Hardisty had worked under Mr. Pollard in Mexico and re-entered his service in California, where he since has acted as production foreman for the Honolulu, one of the most promising concerns in the oil fields of Kern county and already credited with several of the best gushers in the Midway field. Besides having charge of oil production in this township he manages the water system and superintends the pumping of the water from Buena Vista lake, also has charge of the gas production, the latter being sold to the Midway Gas Company and by them piped to Los Angeles. While employed in Texas in 1889 Mr. Hardisty married Miss Annie Robbins, who died in West Virginia in 1907. Mr. Hardisty is of the Baptist faith, and politically he is a Republican of the progressive type. While in Louisiana he was connected with the Elks at Jennings During his residence in West Virginia he was made a Mason at Pennsboro, Ritchie county, and later he was raised to the Scottish Rite in Oklahoma, joining the consistory at Guthrie, that state. CAPT. PAUL MORTENSON.— Off the coast of Denmark where the narrow and tumultuous channel of the Skager Rack meets the broader current of the Cattegat lies the small island of Lesso, where Captain Mortenson was born January 18, 1849, the son of a merchant doing business among the fisher- men and farmers who inhabited the island. Reared within sight of the sea, accustomed to the coming and going of ocean vessels, and to the tales of old mariners concerning storms and wrecks far and near, it was natural that he should have been drawn toward the occupation of a sailor. With the courage inherited from a long line if ancestors inured to seafaring experiences, he left home at the age of fourteen years and shipped to sea on a Danish vessel trad- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1409 ing in European ports. As he learned the rudiments essential to good sea- manship he also had the privilege of seeing much of Europe. After a few years he sailed from Hamburg on the barque John Brown for Nova Scotia, but encountered such serious storms that it was necessary for the ship to put back to Oueenstown in distress. Shortly afterward he sailed on an English barque called the Red Cross Knight, which rounded Cape Horn, thence sailed along the Pacific coast and in July of 1869 entered the harbor of the Golden Gate. The completion of the first trans-continental railroad was bringing to San Francisco an era of great prosperity and the young sailor decided to re- main. Being skilled in the arts of the seafaring occupation, he experienced no difficulty in securing work. For a time he was mate in the coasting trade with a vessel known as the Alary Tyler, of which later he was promoted to be captain. Afterward he served as captain on dififerent schooners. Eventually he assumed command of a large, full-rigged vessel, called the Snow and Bur- gess, of which he continued to be master for nine years, meantime sailing to Australia, Siberia and other foreign ports. At the time of the Boer war he was master of an iron ship, known as the Star of Russia, which made a number of voyages to Africa. From that country he sailed to Australia, loaded the vessel with coal for Honolulu and then returned to the Pacific coast of Amer- ica, anchoring in Puget Sound in 1901. It lacked but little of being forty years since he had first shipped from the Danish island, a mere boy, knowing little of the dangers he was to face during the long period of his life as sailor and master of ships. Although he had encoinitered many severe stcrms he had never lost a ship, but calm and collected in the midst of danger, he had always brought his men and the vessel through in safety to the destined ports. Now, however, he had begun to crave a more settled existence than a captain could enjoy, so he resigned from the command of the ship, came to Bakers- field and in 1902 erected the Mortenson hotel on the corner of I and Twenty- second streets, a commodious and substantial three-story building, in which ever since he has conducted an hotel enjoying a large patronage and growing popularity. For four and one-half years, beginning in 1906, he also served as a member of the police force of Bakersfield. As early as 1872 he became a member of the Improved Order of Red Men in San Francisco and during one of his sojourns in Australia he was made a Mason in the Melbourne lodge, where he still holds membership. In San Francisco he married Miss Bridget T. Fleming, a native of Ireland, who came to San Francisco in 1873 and by whom he became the father of six children, namely : Mrs. Mary Lind, of Bakersfield; Margaret, Paul and Thomas, also of this city; Nellie, deceased; and Henrietta, at home. OTTO KRAMER.— The Midway Hardware Company, of which Mr. Kramer is the resident manager, is one of the recent important accessions to the commercial development of Fellows and conducts a large business in a fire-proof building erected for that purpose in the early part of 1912. By means of a partnership formed with E. H. Holt, a non-resident, Mr. Kramer was enabled to erect a building especially adapted to the hardware business and has since estabhshed a growing patronage among the people of the lo- cality. A native of Kansas, born in Jefferson county August 12, 1882, and reared in the same section of country, Mr. Kramer spent all of his early years in the Sunflower state. From the age of twenty-three he has been connected with the hardware business, which he learned while clerking in the hardware and agricultural implement department of the general mercantile store owned by Root Brothers in Ozawkie, JefTerson county. Later he was connected with the same department in the Griffith general mercantile store at Ozawkie, where he remained a trusted employe until he was induced to come to California in 1910. 1410 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY June of that year found him a clerk in the hardware department of Heck Bros., dealers in general merchandise at Fellows, with whom he continued for two years and then resigned in order to engage in business with Mr. Holt under the firm title of the Midway Hardware Company. The large and increas- ing trade of the company results from the honorable methods employed in all transactions and the fact that the best goods only are kept and all stock is sold at a price as low as consistent with a reas( nable profit. The long experience of the proprietor in the hardware line qualifies him for a successful connection with the business. JOSE MIER. — xA.n ancient Castilian family is represented by Jose Mier, an enterprising young Spaniard who since 1892 has been identified with the sheep industry of California, but recently disposing of a large flock that had been built u]) and made valuable through his own tireless care and intelligent oversight. The Spanish province of the Asturias is his native place and he was born March 19, 1876, in the village of Colosia near Santander, a famous ocean port. At the age of sixteen he started across the ocean for America, his objective point being California, whither relatives had preceded him. Upon his arrival in Kern county he was able to secure empkyment under an uncle, who was one of the trusted foremen connected with the great corporation of Miller & Lux. Finally Mr. Mier felt justified in starting a flock of his own and with a large tract in Nevada as headquarters he kept his range in that state for five years, during this time having his share of ups and downs. His experience, however, was sufficiently profitable to cause him to re-enter the business after he had sold his original flock and returned to Bakersfield. With his second flock he maintained ranges in the plains and on the mountains, but eventually in 1912 he sold the entire bunch. Since then he has acted as assistant to his uncle, Faustino Noriega, proprietor of the Noriega hotel at No. 525 Sumner street, East Bakersfield, and with this uncle he has also purchased an alfalfa and grain ranch of one hundred and sixty acres situated in Kern county. In politics he votes with the Republican party. On the corner of Pacific and Kings streets he owns a comfortable residence, brightened by the presence of his four children, Clemence, Faustino, Martin and Alberto, and managed with housewifely skill by his wife, whom he married in East Bakersfield in 1907 and who was Miss Celena Etchevery, born at Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees, France, not far distant from the scenes familiar to his own boyhood. The family hold membership with St. Joseph's Catholic Church. JOSEPH G. JONES. — The first representative of the Jones family in Ameiica was Thomas Jones, a Welshman of such pronounced loyalty to the land of his adoption that he volunteered his services to aid the Union during the Civil war. Assigned to a Delaware regiment and sent to the front with his command, he stood the test of good soldiery in camp, on the long marches and during the fiercely contested battles. It was while bravely fighting on the field of battle that he received the wound that caused his death. Sharing with him in his patriotic devotion to country were his three sons, all of whom volunteered in the service and remained at the front until honorably dis- charged at the expiration of their terms of service. One of the three, George, was born at Wilmington, Del., and after the close of the war became manager for the Dixon Shoe Company at Baltimore, filling the position until his death in 1873 at the age of thirty-four years. The hardships and sufiferings of war times had hastened his untimely demise. During young manhood he had married Mary E. Kelty, who was born in Baltimore and still makes that city her home. Of their five children three are living, Joseph G. being the youngest and the only one to locate in Califcirnia. Born in Baltimore, September 27 , 1871, he received his education in the schools of that place. When seventeen Mr. Jones began an apprenticeship to the trade of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1411 plumber under James McCrea, with whom he continued for three years. The next two years were spent in the largest plumbing- establishment in Balti- more, a shop owned and conducted by VV. H. Rothrock. During the five years of service he had acquired a thorough knowledge of every detail con- nected with the plumbing business and was well qualified for independent work. Leaving Baltimore he traveled through New York, Maryland, Dela- ware, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Virginia and in each of these states did important work as a j(.urneyman. Jobs of large dimensions were entrusted to his care and faithfully performed. During 1902 he came to California and worked at his trade successively in Sacramento, Stockton, San Francisco and Oakland. With a thorough understanding of the trade in its every detail, he had become fitted for contract work many years before, but did not enter into the taking of contracts until after he went to Mill valley and San Rafael, where he filled contracts for the plumbing work in some very costly resi- dences. Arriving in Bakersfield during January of 1909 he followed the trade as a journeyman for six months and then embarked in business as a con- tractor, since which he has been retained on many jobs of importance. At his shop, No. 1514 Eighteenth street, he carries in stock a full equipment of plumbing and heating supplies, and it is his intention to enlarge his equip- ment from year to year, to keep pace with the constant growth of the town. At this writing he holds office as vice-president of the Bakersfield IMaster Plumbers' Association, in the work of which he is deeply and actively inter- ested. In national principles he suppcrts Republican men and measures. During the period of his residence in Baltimore Mr. Jones married Miss Rosalie Hickman of that city. Her father, Emerson Hickman, a native of Baltimore and a contracting plasterer, served during the Civil war as a police ofiicer in his native city and later was commissioned a sergeant in the Union army. On one occasion during the war he was wounded in the shoulder, but the injury did not prove to be serious. Until his death, which occurred at sixty-three years, he continued to make Baltimore his home. In young man- hood he had married Catherine Bryan, a native of York, Pa., and first cousin of William Jennings Bryan. The only child of their unitn was Rosalie, Mrs. Jcnes, to whom they gave the best educational advantages their means rendered possible. Of her marriage there were eleven children, one daughter, LilHan, dying at the age of ten months. The ten now living are Ethel, Iva, Muriel, Lavonia, Gwendolyn, Millwood, Lanier, Dorothy, Audrey and Parker Barrett, all still at home, and the eldest now acting as bookkeeper for her father. OLIVER QUALLS. — That large class of native sons achieving note- worthy success and pushing forward in meritorious business transactions has a capable representative in Oliver Quails, who since coming to the oil fields has filled various positions from roustabout to tool-dresser, but more recently turned his attention to business pursuits. After having been an employe of S. J. Dunlop for a number of years on oil leases he became the latter's partner in the hay, grain and storage business, opening yards on East Main street in Taft. By the purchase of the Dunlop interests he became the sole proprietor and owner July 1, 1913. Prior to his identification with the oil fields ]\Ir. Quails made his home in Fresno county, where he was born January 4, 1879, at the family home three miles north of Sanger. His father, William, for years engaged in general farming in Fresno county, but of recent years has made his home in Wash- ington and has engaged in the lumber business at Winlock, Lewis county. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Marinda I^ale, was born in Ohio and is now deceased. The eldest and youngest of the three sons, Albert and Oscar, are engaged in farming in Fresno county. The second, Oliver, who re- ceived a common-school education in Fresno county and worked at agricuJ- 1412 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY tural pursuits there, was interested in farming for himself from the age of twenty-three until twenty-nine. When he closed out his farming interests he brought with him from Fresno to Kern county sixliead of work horses and with these he engaged in freighting in the Midway field. At the expiration of three months he sold the horses. Then began a period of employment as teamster with the Mount Diablo Oil Company, in which Mr. Dunlop was a stockholder and director. For a number of years and indeed until the sale of the holdings of the company he continued with that concern, but later he was transferred by Mr. Dunlop to a lease of his own, where he worked up from roustabout to tool-dresser. January 1, 1913, he embarked in the hay, grain, feed and storage business at Taft and at the expiration of six months became the sole owner of the store, which he conducts in a manner satisfac- tory to customers and bringing to himself a fair profit. Since coming to this county he married at Hanford Miss Pearl Hunter, of Taft. In politics he is a Republican. Prominently connected with the Odd Fellows at Taft, he has been a promoter of the erection of their building here, a substantial structure, 50x118 feet in dimensions, two stories in height, a credit to the order and a source of pride to the people. JOSE M. LUGO. — The first association of the Lugo family with Cali- fornia dales back as far as the era of the establishment of the old Spanish missions so inseparably connected with the beginnings of modern civilization. When Los Angeles was an insignificant hamlet and San Francisco still un- known to the world of commerce Antonio M. Lugo owned cattle that roamed over the vast uninhabited ranges between the two towns, in the former of which he made his lifelong home, interested in its growth and well-known to its people. Possessing a sturdy physique and robust constitution, he lived to the age of one hundred and seven years, retaining his mental and physical faculties. Among his children was a son, Jose De Carmel Lugo, a native of Los Angeles, whose wife, Maria Antonia Poyorena, was likewise of Californian birth. After the death of that wife he married again, being married three times in all. For years he made his home on a large cattle ranch near Riverside and engaged in the stock business, owning cattle and ranges in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Four children were born of his union with Miss Poyorena: Carmel, v^ife of F. Talamantes, a member of the detective force of Los Angeles ; Rita, who married A. Lopez and fives in Los Angeles ; jose M., whose name introduces this article and whose birth occurred in 1860 in Los Angeles; and Agrippina, wife of Edward Haynes, a resident of San Diego. From his earliest recollections Jose M. Lugo has been familiar with the cattle business. In his younger years he handled thousands of head of stock and was considered unusually skilled in such work. For about twenty-five years he was employed in the cattle department of the Kern County Land Company, with whose officials he has enjoyed a reputation for fidelity, energy and trustworthiness. For some years he owned a ranch of forty acres south of Bakersfield, but in 1912 he sold the tract and embarked in the grocery business, since which time he has conducted a general store on the corner of H street and Brundage Lane in Bakersfield. In politics he is a Republican. During February of 1911 he was united in marriage with Mrs. Tillie Blanco, a widow, whose father, Michael Castro, was among the early settlers of this part of California. By her first husband she became the mother of three children now living: Carrie, a student in the Sisters' School in Los Angeles; Albert and Blanche, attending the Bakersfield public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Lugo are the parents of an only son, Jose J. The family are earnest and influential mem- bers of St. Francis Catholic Church of Bakersfield. FRED N. CRIPPEN. — Noteworthv prominence as a pioneer in the Kern river field and a record for fast and successful drilling on 25 Hill have HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1413 been achieved by the superintendent of the Tamalpais Oil Company, not- withstanding the fact that he s:ill is a young man with the possibility of larger results to his credit in the future. An extensive experience as a driller qualifies him for continued usefulness in that important department of the oil industry. It was while connected with the Nevada-Midway Oil Company, in whose employ he drilled five wells, that he established the best record ever made on the hill, which was that of drilling eleven hundred and ninety-three feet in eleven days. In addition he has drilled many wells for other concerns and since being appointed superintendent of the Tamal- pais Oil Company, September 1, 1911, he has re-drilled three wells which now average a monthly production of fifty-five hundred barrels and at the same time he has succeeded in eliminating a very disagreeable feature by shutting off the top and bottom inflow of water. Three men are furnished employment as his assistants in the care and development of the lease on section 23, township 32, range 23, and in the capacity of superintendent he has proved absolutely dependable as well as efficient and energetic. A native son of the west, Fred N. Crippen was born in Humboldt county, this state, March 2, 1879, being a brother of S. G. Crippen, carpenter foreman on the Kern Trading and Oil Company's lease near Maricopa. The parents, S. G. and Mary A. (Beckett Crippen, are now residents of Lake- port, Lake county, and an uncle. Dr. W. W. Beckett, ranks among the in- fluential physicians of Los Angeles. The parental family consisted of ten children, but only five of these are now living, and in order of birth Fred N. is the youngest son and fourth child. The family lived on a ranch in Hum- boldt county and he was taught to aid in the care of the stock and the culti- vation of the land. When not attending the public schools at Petrolia he was occupied on the ranch, but agriculture did not prove a congenial occu- pation, and at the age of fourteen he found work in the Pecrolia oil field, first as a roustabout, and later as a tool dresser. Upon coming to the Kern river field at the age of nineteen Mr. Crippen secured employment on the Provident lease under Ed Bush. The following year (1899) he went back to Humboldt county and secured work with the Mcintosh Oil Company, continuing there two years. The year 1901 found him at McKittrick, where he was employed as a tool-dresser. From there he came to the Midway field and secured work on what is now the Santa Fe lease. After eight months in the Norlih Midway he went back to Mc- Kittrick and engaged in drilling for H. F. Guthrie. Even in the hardest times he was able to make his $7 per day, for he had a reputation as an expert driller. For fourteen months he had charge of drilling for the San Luis Bay Oil Company at San Luis Obispo. From September, 1909, to March 15, 1910, he was with the Standard in charge of section 30, while from March 21, 1910, to April, 1911, he was connected with the General Petroleum, (then known as the Esperanza). With his wife, who was formerly Miss Rose Welker, of Oklahoma, he makes his home on the Tamalpais lease and has many friends in this part of the field. Since coming here he has become a member of the Knights of Pythias at Taft, while formerly he was an active niember of the Elks at San Luis Obispo. Besides being the owner of lots in Bakersfield and at Del Monte Heights he has made excellent investments in oil lands in four different oil fields in California, and there is every reason to believe that at no distant day he will reap from these financial returns as gratifying as they are merited. CHARLES DALY. — Only exceptional native ability and determination of will could have brought Mr. Daly, while still at the threshold of maturity, to unquestioned prominence among the plumbers and steam-fitters of Bakers- field, where he has a workshop, display room and office at No. 1724 K street. A modern stock of sanitary appliances is to be found at his place of business. Skilled mechanics are engaged to assist in the installation of plumbing and 1414 ■ HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY heating equipment and in gas-fitting". The personal supervision of the pro- prietor is exercised over all contracts, a practical plumber whose experience is far greater than might be expected of one so young in years. A son of M. J. Daly, of San Francisco, Charles Daly was born in that city December 15, 1887, and received a pul)Iic-school education. While yet in his teens he began to learn the plumbing ])usiness and for some time worked in his native city, but in 1906 came to Bakersfield, where he found employment with Gundlach and Ferguson, also did plumbing for the Bakers- field shops of the Santa Fe Railroad Company. During 1909 he embarked in business for himself as an independent plumbing contractor, and has since had many residence contracts, as well as public buildings, among the latter being the Kosel hotel of three stories, the Massena hotel of three stories, the two-story addition to the Echo building, the Morgan building of three stories and the old Redlick (now the Burges) building of two stories, besides which he has recently completed contracts on the Schofield building and the Bakersfield Manual Arts school. In the spring of 1913 he did the plumbing in the new Mercy Hospital and the watering of the parkway on Truxtun avenue from A to V streets. For some years he has been identi- fied with the Master Plumbers' Association and Builders' Exchange. July 20, 1912, he was uniied in marriage with Miss Beulah Egan, of Bakersfield, and they now make their home at No. 721 Chester avenue. GRANT STUTSMAN.— From the inception of the industry the drilling of oil wells in California has engaged the attention of Grant Stutsman, who now is C( nnected with the C. C. M. Oil Company in the same important capacity, his work at the present time being on one of the Santa Fe properties in the vicinity of Fellows. When he undertook the drilling of oil wells on contract at Summerland in 1897, he had a previous large experience in the drilling of water wells and therefore was qualified for a new enterprise. Prior to his arrival in that field the wells there had been dug and his was the first string of tools and the first rig brought into Summerland, where during a long period of successful activity he put down a large number of wells for different companies and sunk four that were extremely profitable producers. In that work he used a portable rig and a gasoline engine. With the subsequent changes in methods of drilling he has kept in close touch. When new measures have been proved to be valuable he adopts them, so that as a driller he is thoroughly modern and up-to-date. Born in Illinois in 1868, Grant Stutsman is a son of the late Henry and Hattie Stutsman, the latter of whom died in Kansas. The former, a soldier in an Illinois regiment during the Civil war, later lived for a time in Illinois and then near South Bend, Ind., where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. About 1880 he took the family to Kansas and settled on an unimproved farm near Neodesha, Wilson county. His last days were spent in California, where he died at Nordhofif, Ventura county. Three of his children are now living, the second of these being Grant, who was twelve at the time of the removal of the family to the Kansas farm. After seven years devoted to helping in the tilling of the soil, he left Kansas and came to California, where he spent one year at Pasadena. Next he took up farming near Watsonville and still later he found employment in the drilling of water wells, but since 1897 he has given his time wholly to the drilling of oil wells. After three years in the Summerland field the opening activities in the Kern river field attracted ATr. Stutsman to Kern county in 1900, after which he drilled for a contractor and also did independent drilling as a member of the firm of Stevens & Stutsman. When his interests in the business were sold he entered the employ of the Kern Trading & Oil Company at McKittrick and for three years continued in the capacity of drilling foreman for the great concern. From Kern county he returned to Santa Barbara county and after the opening of the Santa Maria field he spent two years in Cat Cafion with one . HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1415 of the larg^est companies working in that district, after which he was employed for eighteen months as a driller with the Dome Oil Company. Returning to Kern county in November, 1911, he i^ecame a driller at Fellows with the C. C. M. Oil Company, which concern has since had the benefit of his long and successful experience as a driller. In politics he has voted the Repub- lican ticket in all national elections. In Santa Paula he was married to Miss Elizabeth Hern, who was born at Watsonville, Cal., the daughter (A Rice and Juliana (Ogan) Hern. The former was a pioneer of 1850 in California, and the latter a Forty-niner, having come across the plains with her parents in childhood. WILLIAM E. VAN METER.— When Mr. Van Meter came to California in 1904 he had in view a permanent location providing that the country suited him and that a suitable position could be secured. Coming to East Bakers- field (then known as Kern) for the purpose of visiting an aunt, Mrs. A. E. Shelley, a California pioneer and a woman well-posted concerning the re- sources and opportunities of the state, he was induced to remain and since then has been variously employed, principally being engaged in the fire depart- ment in dififerent capacities. In the southeastern part of Nebraska at Table Rock, Pawnee county, occurred the birth of William E. Van Meter on Christmas day of 1879, his I^arents being Davis and Lottie A. (Jones) Van Meter, natives respectively of Iowa and INIichigan. The family were pioneers of the great plains of the middle west and sufifered the hardships and privations incident to the devel- opment of a productive farm out of raw land. Their home county in Nebraska was quite close to the Kansas border and after a time they crossed into the other state, where they traveled west to Jewell county and there b( ught an undeveloped tract of land near Formosa. The father still lives on the same farm, but under his wnse supervision it has been greatly imoroved and is now the source of a fair income in return for his care and cultivation. On this homestead in 1911 occurred the death of his wife. Of their three children the second was William E., who as a boy rode the range in Jewell county and became familiar with conditions then existing in the northern part of Kansas. For a time he clerked in Kansas stores, but finally gave up a position in order to come to the Pacific coast and he has since lived in Kern county. For four years he was employed in the boiler shop cf the Southern Pacific Railroad. About 1908 he received an appointment as driver of the hose wagon in the Kern fire department and continued in the same capacity after the consolida- tion of the two cities. Later he was made driver of the engine and afterward lieutenant of Engine Company No. 2, in which position he has since re- mained, having charge of the engine house and engine. Since coming to the county he has purchased two places in East Bakersfield and has thus exhib- ited the firm faith he cherishes concerning the future of his chosen home town and community. A. NEAL JACOBS.— The grandfather of our subject, Hon. Isaac W. Jacobs, was an early and honored pioneer of California, crossing the plains in 1854 and becoming one of the most prominent and active citizens of Yolo county. He was a lawyer of no mean ability and after coming to California was elected in 1892 on the Democratic ticket in Yolo county to represent his district in the state assembly. A scholar, an orator and an up-to-date business man, he was much esteemed in his community, and his death, which occurred February 10, 1905, was widely mourned. His wife was before her marriage Alniira E. Martin, and among their twelve children was John M., who became the father of A. Neal Jacobs. John M. Jacobs crossed the plains with his father in 1854 and settled in Yolo county, where he followed farming and stock-raising on the old home farm during his entire life. He married Laura Hanscom, born in Chico. 60 1416 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY daughter of Henry Hanscom, who was a pioneer of Chico and a member of an old New England family. Mr. Jacobs passed away in 1898 and his widow is now making her home in Alameda, Cal. The second oldest of the children born to this couple was A. Neal, whose birth occurred April 13, 1884. near Yolo. Reared on the home farm, he attended the public schools of Wcodland and later entered and completed a course at the Pierce's Business College, Woodland, after graduation entering the Southern Pacific Railroad offices at Sacramento as clerk. He was thus employed for about ten years and then l)ecame salesman in San Erancisco, until August, 1911, when he came to Bakersfield to enter the employ of the San Joaquin Light & Power Company as bookkeeper, later becoming timekeeper and paymaster. He is now dis- patcher for the company, and his efficiency in the execution of all his duties has brought him a degree of success unusual in the career of so young a man. In fraternal circles he is a member of the Lcyal Order of Moose. O. P. GOODE. — Having spent his entire life in California and his mature years in Kern county, Mr. Goode is familiar with the resources of the state, the opportunities offered by the county and especially with the growing importance of the oil industry, for although not an oil operator, his work has kept him in intimate touch with the developers of the oil fields and his knowledge of the business has grown accordingly. A native of Yolo county, he was born in Woodland July 18, 1870, and at the age of seven years accom- panied the family to Santa IBarbara county, where he received a common- school education extending through the grammar grade. Since leaving school he has earned his own livelihood, working first at any occupation offered, but later devoting much of his time to the trade of a blacksmith. Upon his arrival in Kern county in 1891 he secured land, bought cattle and embarked in the dairy business, but did not find the undertaking profitable. Accordingly he changed his line of work and sought the activities of the new and growing oil fields. After going to the Sunset district in 1907 he began to take teaming contracts and ever since he has made a specialty of this business, in which he is unusually skilled and efficient. As early as 19C8 Mr. Goode came to the present site of Eellows and estab- lished a home on the St. Lawrence lease, but when the town was started in 1910 he removed into its limits, at the same time building a blacksmith shop, which ever since he has operated. During December of 1908 he was united in marriage with Aliss Phoebe Harris, a native of Ventura county, and they have twin boys, Malcolm and Marvin, born in June, 1910. Upon the organiza- tion of this district, in July of 1910, Mr. Goode received the appointment of constable from the board of supervisors. In other ways he has been identified with the business administration and material development of the town. In addition to managing his blacksmith shop and his teaming business, he is engaged in the sale of hay and grain, wood and coal. The only fraternal organization to which he has allied himself is the Woodmen of the World. Erom the very first endeavor to found a town at Eellows Mr. Goode has had faith in the outcome of the project. Every movement calculated to further the general welfare of the community has received his cordial co-operation. All of his enterprises are conducted with intelligence and efficiency. In the hauling of freight he has proved most helpful to the smaller operators, many of whom, without his prompt delivery of the same, would have trouble in the transportation of goods from the depot to the fields. Anywhere on the west side his teams may be seen, busily engaged in the delivery of freight, while he himself is managing the entire outfit, as well as his store and shop, with the closest attention to all details and the most absolute integrity of principle. J. J. HERN. — With one of the expeditions that crossed the plains during the eventful summer of 1850 there came a rugged young frontiersman, Rice HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1417 Hern, who was born in Boone county, Mo., of an old Kentucky family. Nothing of especial importance marked the course of that tedious journey with wagons and oxen, nor did his subsequent experience in mining camps savor of romance and thrilling adventure. Returning to his Missouri home via Panama in 1852, he visited among friends and relatives, and during 1853 again crossed the plains, this time with the intention of becoming a permanent resident of California. From that time he identified himself with ranching in this state, where at dififerent times he operated farms in Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara and Stanislaus counties, and where he is now living retired in Ven- tura county. A few years after his second trip to the west he married Juliana Ogan, who was brought across the plains by her parents in 1849 and settled near San Jose, where her marriage was solemnized. Her death occurred in Santa Barbara county. The eldest of the ten children of this pioneer couple was J. J. Hern, born in San Joaquin county near Stocktcn, March 21, 1862, and reared on a farm, where he became familiar with stock-raising and all the details of tilling the soil. Leaving home at the age of twenty-one, he earned a livelihood by honest perseverance and unflagging industry. In 1886 he went to Montana and took up a claim at the head of the Big Hole river in Beaverhead county, Mont., where later with two partners he organized the California Land and Cattle Company. After two years he disposed of his cattle and invested in sheep, running a ranch near Dubuque in the eastern portion of Montana. During the period of his sojourn in Montana he married at Dillon, that state. Miss Etta Wratcn, a native of Waverly, 111. Five children comprise their family, namely: Leslie W., now employed in Oakland, Cal. ; Bertha; Carroll, who is connected with the C. C. M. Oil Company; Russell and Lenora. Returning from Montana to California and taking up ranch pursuits in Ventura county near Oxnard, Mr. Hern specialized in the raising of grain and beans. In 1900 he gave up farming in order to engage in the oil business. As a teamster with the Modelo Oil Company he had his first experiences in the business at Piru City, Ventura county. Every phase of the industry he learned step by step and he remained with the same company successively as tool-dresser and driller. Coming to the Kern river field in 1902 he was engaged as a driller with Daulton & Fuller for eighteen months. Next he worked for the Salt Lake Oil Company as a driller in the Los Angeles field, from which he went to the Fullerton field and drilled on some of the first wells sunk at Olinda. Returning to the Lcs Angeles field, he put down an oil well on the Fillmore place. The drilling of two wells kept him for some time near Lomooc in the employ of the Union Oil Company, which then sent him to the Santa Maria field to aid in the drilling of wells. For two years following he engaged as superintendent of the Laguna Oil Company at Orcutt, in the Santa Maria field, after which he held a similar position with the Palmer Oil Company in Cat Caiion, Santa Maria. In August of 1909 he came to the Midway district, where he engaged as drilling foreman with the C. C. M. Oil Company, which in October, 1912, promoted him to his present position as field superintendent. In politics he is a Democrat and fraternally he belongs to San Luis Obispo Ledge No. 322, B. P. O. E., Fremont Camp, Woodmen of the World, at Los Angeles. ROBERT E. BLACKER.— The superintendent of the stable department of the Kern County Land Company has been a resident of California from early life and beginning with his present employers in a very humble capacitv he has worked his way forward to responsibilities of importance, in everv task proving trustworthy, efficient and reliable. On one occasion only did he permit other matters to interfere with the regular discharge of his duties, that exception occurring during the Spanish-American war, when he offered his services to the country as a volunteer. During June of 1893 he was mustered 1418 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY into Company G, Sixth Regiment of California Volunteer Infantry, with which he remained on military duty until December of the same year, when he received an he norable discharge. Patriotic devotion to country is a characteristic of the Blacker family. During the Civil war J. N. IMacker, a native of Indiana, served as a member of theThird Cavalry Regiment from that state and two of his brothers also rendered efficient service in the same struggle. A farmer by occupation, he made his home in Indiana until his death in 1891. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Dunbar, died in Indiana and afterward he married Miss Jennie Bliss, by whom he had two children. Of the first union there were born four sons' and two daughters, the youngest of the six being Robert E., who was born near Colfax, Clinton county, Ind., August 8, 1876, and passed the years of boyhood on the home farm and in the country school. Upon starting out to make his own way in the world, he came to California, settled in Bakcrsfield, and secured employment with the Kern County Land Com- pany, whose interests he since has made his own. During 1898 he was pro- moted to be foreman and in May of 1902 he became superintendent of the stable, which is one of the largest in Bakcrsfield as well as one of the best equipped. The marriage of Mr. Blacker and Miss Gertrude Marshall Inboden, a native of Missouri, was solemnized in Bakcrsfield and has been blessed with two children, Robert E., Jr., and Mary A. The family residence at No. 2012 Cedar street was erected by Mr. Blacker. Although Mr. Blacker takes no active part in politics he keeps posted concerning all issues of national importance and gives allegiance to progressive projects for the benefit of community and commonwealth. For some years he has been identified with the Benevolent Order of Elks and in addition he is a leading worker in the Knights of Pythias lodge at Bakcrsfield, which he serves as past eminent commander, besides being connected with Uniform Rank No. 60 and holding office as its captain; he is president of the board of directors of Castle Asso- ciation No. 76. ALBERT WALDO ALBRECHT.— A native son of the state, A. W. Albrecht was born in San Francisco May 26, 1883, and attended school in that city and Fresno. When his school days were over he became interested in mining, search for the precious metal taking him successively into Mexico, back to California, then to Mexico and to Washington, in all of which local- ities he was engaged in development work. A change of emplcyment as well as a change of location occurred in 1909, when Mr. Albrecht became interested in the oil business in Coalinga, and during his residence there had charge of the Good Luck Oil Company, which he developed from one well to a plant embracing six producing wells. While there too he was at the head of a committee appointed to secure the right of way for the Coalinga and Monterey Railroad. Coming to Taft Janu- ary 1, 1912, he opened a real-estate and insurance office. That he is a man of enterprise and push is demonstrated in the fact that although a late comer to this community it was left for him to organize the board- of trade in the town, and ever since its organization he has been secretary of that body. Another enterprise that has benefited by his ability and has added to the business status of the town is the Superior Vulcanizing Works, of which he is part owner. Mr. Albrecht is a member of the Petroleum Club of Taft, a social organiza- tion of which he was one of the founders. His fraternal associations include membership in the Masons, he being a member of the lodge at Fresno, also Fresno Chapter No. 69, R. A. M., Commandery No. 29, and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. ]\I. S., at San Francisco. PHIL BLANKENSHIP. — One of the most enterprising men in Kern HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1419 county is Phil Blankenship of Wasco, telephone proprietor and rancher, who has won a notable success in life and whose influence in the community has always been for the general uplift. Mr. Blankenship is a native of California, born at Visalia June 11, 1858. a son of William Moore Blankenship, who was born in Richmond, Ya., about the beginning of the last century and died at Visalia in 1882. From the Old Dominion the elder lUankenshi]) removed to Iowa and there engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1849 he came to California and settled near Stockton and scon took up the business of bring- ing cattle from the east to the mining districts of the gold country. In the course of events he made three trips back to Iowa for cattle which he drove across the plains to California, on the first trip going around the Hurn and by river to Iowa, the round trip consuming from two to three years. The two other trips were made via Panama, and on the last trip he took his son Phil with him, returning in 1860. He owned a ranch in Iowa on which he raised cattle. In 1854 he bought land at Visalia, but did not locate there until in 1858. As a rancher and cattleman he won an enviable success. It was in Cali-fornia public schocls that Phil Blankenship attained his education which was finished when he was seventeen years old. Until he was twenty-three he lived with his parents, employed by his father. He devoted himself entirely to ranch work until in 1884, when he went to Arizona and engaged in stock-raising on the San Pedro river until 1887. He then returned to Calif( rnia and located in Kern county, where he found employment with the Kern County Land Company on the Belleview and Poso ranches. In 1895 he began a connection with the Cox ranch which continued for fifteen years. In 1898 he became superinterident of the ranch, embracing thirty-one thou- sand acres, and served in that caoacity until it was sold in 1908. He then engaged in the cattle business on his own account, and at this time he owns a fine ranch which is a part of the eld Cox ranch, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, situated five miles north of Wasco on Poso creek. With J. T. Maguire Mr. Blankenship built the telephone system on the West Side, taking in Maricopa, Taft, Fellows and McKittrick, thus connecting, by telephone, all the West Side towns and having their main office in Taft. The company is incorporated as the Kern Mutual Telephone Company, Mr. Maguire serv- ing as president, Mr. Blankenship as vice president, and Mrs. Blankenship as secretary. After the Wasco colony was started Mr. Blankenship began build- ing operations there and has since resided in this location looking after his va- ried interests, enjoying the ample income from his ranch and telephone invest- ments. Fraternally Mr. Blankenship affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and he wields a considerable political -influence always in the interest of good government. In 1905 Miss Anna Steele Murdock, a native of Baltimore, Md., became his wife. She died July 21, 1907. His present wife, whom he married in Fresno July 1, 1909, was Miss Jennie G. Borrell, also a native of Balti- more, Md. CHARLES V. MORRISON.— The foreman of the Southern Pacific round- house at East Bakersfield is a member of an eastern family that has been identi- fied with America since the colonial era and that furnished representatives to aid the patriots during the trying period of the Revolution. One of its lead- ing men during later years was Hon. Fletcher C. Morrison, a native of Ohio and for years engaged as United States Indian commissioner in Ohio. During the time of his service as commissioner he had charge of the removal of the Wyandotte Indians to their reservation in Iowa. Much other important work in the interests of the Indians was placed in his charge by the government. John S., sen of Fletcher C, proved his loyalty to the Union by endeavoring twice to secure the acceptance of his service as a volunteer in the army, but each time he was rejected. During 1869 he took his wife and children from his 1420 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY native Ohio to the newer country of Alinnesota, where he took up land near Eyota, Olmstead county. After eleven years in Minnesota he went to Mar- shalltown, Iowa, in 1880, and there remained until his death. Two months after his demise there passed into eternal rest his widow, Malinda (Burkhart) Morrison, a native of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and a daughter of William Burkhart, born in Philadelphia and deceased in Ohio. There were five children in the family of John S. Morrison. The second, Charles V., was born near Mutual, Champaign county, Ohio, August 13, 1862, and at the time of the removal to Minnesota was a boy of seven years. During 1880 he accompanied the family to Marshalltown, Iowa. Meanwhile he had l-ecome prominent locally through his prowess as a runner and his skill as a swimmer and in 1879 he swam entirely across the Mississippi river. At Mar- shalltown he served as a member of the volunteer fire department about five years, being first foreman and later chief of the department. Largely to his work was due the winning of the prizes in the Council BlufTs races in 1889. For seven years he wt rked in a machine shop at Marshalltown and mean- while he acquired a thorough knowledge of the trade of machinist, which later he followed for two years in the Iowa Central machine shops. Next he secured a position as division foreman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and continued in that place for seven years, first at Carroll and later at Boone, Iowa. When he resigned it was to come to the west. Upon his arrival at Bakersfield in January, 1887, he secured work as a machinist in the Southern Pacific shops. At the expiration of seven months he was promoted to be roundhouse foreman and since then has devoted his entire time to the filling of the position. The climate of Bakersfield has proved healthful and congenial, the possibilities of the place awaken his enthusiastic interest and he has shown his faith in the future of the city by buying lots and building three houses in East Bakersfield, which he rents. For a number of years he was a member of the volunteer fire department in Kern, from 1900 to 1904 he served as a trustee of the village and in both these positions he did valuable work for the town in the protecting of the property and the rights of the citizens. Politically he is a Democrat. After coming west he was made a Masc n in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he is also connected with the Fraternal Brotherhood. His marriage was solemnized in Marshalltown, Iowa, and united him with Miss Elsie Hastings, who was born and reared in that city. They are the parents of five children, Harry, Floyd, Fannie. Lillian and Birdie. The eldest son is a machinist and the younger members of the family are students in the local schools. DONALD H. FORSYTH.— With the exception of perhaps six years spent in Nevada during the period of the mining excitement at Gcldfield and vicinity, Mr. Forsyth has been a lifelong resident of California and much of the time he has made his home in Kern county, although he was born in San Luis Obisno in 1874. Not only was his father a pioneer of that part of the state, but in addition he was identified with the early upbuilding of Kern county and in both olaces of residence he won and retained the confidence of other pioneers. At the time of the removal of the family to Kern county the son was a mere lad, hence his education was obtained principally in the pub- lic schools here and after he left school he learned the laundry business. Much of his time has been given to this work, and at this writing, as for some years past, he is in the employ of the American laundry, a local industry of con- siderable prominence. In Los Angeles occurred the marriage of Donald H. Forsyth and Mrs. Mary (Cant) Beatty, a native of Illinois. Her father, Sylvester Cant, who died at her home some years ago, was born and reared in Chester, 111., and in young manhood he came with friends to California. The trip was made in a wagon drawn by oxen. The plains were crossed in safety and he then traveled HISTORY OF KKRX COUNTY 1421 through California, working at any occupation that was offered. A brief stay was followed. by a return to Illinois, where he married and established a home. Finally, however, he sold his interests there and brought his family to Cali- fornia, where he became a pioneer of Kern county and one of the very earliest settlers on Caliente creek in the Weed Patch. Shortly after the mines at Goldfield had begun to draw people to that section of Nevada, Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth removed to that camp and he engaged in jjrospecting and mining, also conducted a laundry business. Six years were spent in Nevada, whence they returned to California and settled at Bakersfield. Later they purchased two lots on the corner of I and Twenty-first streets, where they erected the St. Elmo hotel. The building burned to the ground in August of 1910 and they then erected a substantial structure of two stories, now known as the Florence hotel. Both Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth are Republicans. Fraternally Mr. Forsyth is a Mason of the Royal Arch degree and in religion he is in sympathy with the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife is an active member of that organization. Mrs. Forsyth has one child by her first marriage, Charles W. Beatty, a merchant of Mari- copa A. B. POLHEMUS. — Very early in the colonization of the new world the Polhemus family became identified with the agricultural upbuilding of the region lying along the Atlantic seaboard. Later generations turned from agri- culture to the industrial trades, but in whatever occupation followed the fam- ily was known for integrity of purpose and energy of will. It was Edward Polhemus, a native of Trenton, N. J., who established the family in regions further west. As early as 1832 he took up a tract of raw land in Washtenaw county, Mich., where he engaged in farming. During 1860 he took up land in Greene county, Mo., but with the outbreak cf the war he found the location undesirable, for he was thoroughly Union in his sympathies, while the neigh- borhood was intensely southern in sentiment. Lack of harmony led him to re- move to Illinois in 1862 and he settled on a farm in Champaign county, where for seventeen years he had mere or less success in agricultural enterprises. During 1879 he established a home in Pittsburg, Kan., where he died at the age of ninety-two years. In the family of this western pioneer there was a son, Thomas S., whose birth occurred at Port Byron, N. Y., and whose life occupation has been that of a painter. Beginning the trade in the John Deere plow works at Moline, 111., he continued the business in Danville, 111., for more than forty years until his final retirement from active labors. During young manhood he had mar- ried Augusta M. Hankey, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and now seventy- three years of age. At the age of eighty he is hale and robust and among the people of Bakersfield, where he makes his home, he is regarded as a man of excellent information and fine qualities of heart and mind. By his marriage to Miss Hankey there was an only child, A. B., whose birth occurred at Sadorus, Champaign county. 111., July 27, 1863, and whose education was obtained in the Danville public schools. From boyhood he was familiar with the trade of painter. From eighteen until twenty-one years of age he wcrked in Western Michigan. Upon returning to Illinois he engaged in business with his father at Danville. Ultimately their trade took them to other parts of Illinois and even into Wisconsin. Many of their contracts were for public buildings and represented a large outlay of money as well as considerable time for the work. Coming to California in 1910 and settling in Bakersfield, Mr. Polhemus has business headquarters on the corner of I and Eighteenth streets, while for a residence he has purchased and now occupies property at Nos. 214-216 Eureka street. All of his time is devoted to the filling of painting contracts in Bakersfield and Kern county and in this work he has the energetic assistance 1422 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of his three eldest sons, who have becnie his business associates. In addition to these sons, Harry L.. Thomas E. and Charles Richard, he has a younger son, Jake H., now a student in the Kern county high schot.l, also an only daughter, Helen Augusta, a clerk in the county tax collector's ofifice. Mrs. Polhemus is a native of Hagerstown, Ind., and prior to her marriage in Danville, 111., bore the name of Alice Leona Fleming. With her husband she holds active membership in the Court of Honor. PLlitically Mr. Polhemus has been stanchly Republican in his sympathies ever since attaining his majority and casting his first presidential ballot. E. J. SCHNEIDER. — The name cf Schneider indicates a Teutonic an- cestry. The first to seek a home in the new world was Rev. George Schneider, a man of college education, splendid mental attainments and high moral prin- ciples, an ordained minister in the IMethodist Episcopal Church and a noble exp( nent by theory and by example of the lofty doctrines of his denomination. A member of a family of high standing and considerable means, he was given the best advantages offered by the educational institutions of his part of Ger- many and at the age of twenty-seven became a citizen of Pennsylvania, where he remained until his death in 1910 at the age of eighty years. Meanwhile he had assisted in the growth and advancement of denominational enternrises and had given liberally of time and means for the unbuilding of Christianity in the Keystone state, preaching regularly in many needy fields, but refusing any compensation for such work. From the time when Colonel Drake drilled his first oil well near Titusville until the death of this pioneer preacher, he earned his livelihood in the oil industry and this naturally necessitated the rearing of his children at oil camps or in towns in the center of the oil fields. His son, E. J., was born in Oil City, Venango county. Pa., in 1862, and was carefully trained by a wise falher and a devoted mother, the latter having been Catherine (Peters) Schneider, a native of Pennsylvania. As scon as he had completed the studies of the grammar school he began to earn his own livelihood in the oil industry, in which he passed throusfh the various depart- ments from roustabout to positions of importance. When only sixteen he thoroughly understood drilling. After some years he became a contractor and later was promoted to be a superintendent in Pennsylvania fields. Upon coming to California in 1901 Mr. Schneider engaged in drilling for oil at Vacaville, but met with no success. As early as 1902 he came to Mc- Kittrick with the Silver Row Oil Company of INIontana. The year 1906 found him in the Salt Lake field of Southern California as an employe of the Amal- gamated Oil Compan}^ which soon promoted him to be a foreman. As pro- duction superintendent in the west side field he was transferred to the xAsso- ciated Oil Company during November, 1910, making his headquarters in the Midway. Since November of 1911 he has engaged as superintendent of the Lost Hills division, where he has been very active in increasing production and otherwise promoting the interests of the company. During the period of his employment in the Salt Lake field he erected a substantial residence in Hollywood, which he still owns. He was married at \\'arren. Pa., December 15, 1887, to Miss Myrtle White, a native of Warren county and a daughter of Alfred and Marcia (Davis) White, the former a lumber manufacturer of that eastern city. They are the parents of two daughters : Mrs. Leah H. Middle- ton, of McKittrick; and Mrs. Nina K. Hamm, of Hollywood. The family are earnest believers in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal denomination and have contributed to general church benevolences. Fraternally INIr. Schneider is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. JASPER MYERS. — A native of Indiana, Jasper Myers was born in Anderson, Madison county, December 25, 1838. He was appointed a cadet to West Point and entered the academy in 1858, continuing his studies until 1862 and was commissioned second lieutenant in the ordnance department of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1423 United States Navy, serving on the field and in different arsenals until the close of the war. He continued in the army until January, 1870, when he resigned, at which time he was holding a captain's commission. In the meantime he had studied law and on leaving the army began the practice of his profession in San Francisco, Cal. In the fall of 1872, on the advice of a physician, Mr. Myers abandoned the law and came to Bakersfield and a short time afterward he located on his present ranch and immediately engaged in husbandry, which he has contin- ued ever since. His ranch is located nine miles southwest of Bakersfield and is devoted to alfalfa and dairying. Mr. Myers was married in 1883 to Miss Mattie Gather, also a native of Anderson, Ind., who had spent several years in educational work. Thev are the parents of three children: Edith, Mrs. Marek, of Bakersfield; Robert, of Paraguay, South America; and Ralph, who is attending Leland Stanford, Jr., University. Mr. Myers is a member of Hurlburt Post, G. A. R., and politically he is a Progressive Republican. Being interested in the history of Kern county he is a member of the Pioneer Society. S. G. CRIPPEN.— Many of those connected with the oil industry in California are men whose bread knowledge of the business has been gained in the east, but this is not the case with Mr. Crippen, who is a native son of the west and by actual experience in California oil fields has acquired the most complete information regarding rig-building and other lines of carpenter- ing peculiar to this kind of work. As carpenter foreman for the Kern Trading and Oil Company, he has erected altogether ninety-seven buildings in the Sunset-Midway fields and has had charge of the erection of practically all of the buildings at Fellows, Oil City and McKittrick. Mr. Crippen was born in Humboldt county, Gal., August 3, 1874, and is a son of Stephen G. and Mary (Beckett) Crippen, the former a native of Penn- sylvania, the latter born in Missouri. The father, who came to California for the first time during the summer of 1852 and made the tedious trip overland, engaged for a time in mining, but later settled on a ranch and began to raise stock. Although he returned to the east intending to settle there, he found himself dissatisfied and so came back to California and resumed stock-raising. He and his wife are still living at Lakeport, Lake county. Of their ten children five passed away. Reared and educated in Humboldt county, S. G. Crippen started out to make his own way at the age of seventeen. For two years he worked at the barber's trade at Petrolia, Humboldt county. Next he hired out on a ranch and later found employment in the lumber woods. His first training as a carpenter was received under a rig-builder and contractor and he soon became quite skilled in the construction of oil derricks. Upon starting out in the occupation for himself he engaged in house building at Ferndale and later became an independent rig-builder. For four years he followed the trade in his native county, after which he went to San Francisco and secured employment in building the woodwork for bridges with the Thompson Bridge Company, No. 29 Mission street. B'or a time he worked at house building in the city. Coming to McKittrick, Kern county, in 1902, Mr. Crippen became a house builder in the employ of the Associated, but at the end of nine months he went to the Santa Maria field and engaged as a tool-dresser on the Casmalia for three months. Returning to Kern county and securing employment at Oil City with the Kern Trading and Oil Company, he entered upon an asso- ciation that has continued to the present time and that has been mutually sat- isfactory. Besides erecting the houses of the superintendents and many other buildings at Kerto he has had charge of a large amount of building at McKit- trick and Fellows. Having entire charge of the construction of rigs, he has built perhaps one hundred derricks in the Midway and Sunset fields and has 1424 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY worked from Pentland to McKittrick. Steadily since 1904 he has remained with the same company and for six years worked wholly in the Kern river field, although his first two rigs for the corporation were built at Coalinga. The marriage of Mr. Crippen took place at Elko, Nev., and united him with Miss Berta M. Doe, of Humboldt county. They are the parents of three children, Frederick, Evelyn and Gilbert. While living in Humboldt county Mr. Crippen became connected with the Knights of Pythias at Petrolia. Since coming to Kern county he has put in membership with the Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield and also has been initiated into Masonry in Taft Lodge No. 426, F. & A. M. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Kerto Club, the quarters for which are provided by the Kern Trading and Oil Com- pany. GEORGE E. TAYLOR. — It is interesting to write of a native son who has, through all circumstances, conducted himself with credit and honorably accomplished success in his business and the securing of the confidence of his customers, meanwhile establishing warm personal friendships, receiving from every one the utmost faith in his integrity and honesty of purpose. Such a man is George E. Taylor, who was born in Ukiah. Mendocino county, Cal., February 1, 1876. His father, William, was born in Missouri, while his grand- father, Alexander Taylor, was a native of Kentucky, of an old southern family. He removed to Missouri and in 1849 joined the tide of migraticn to the far west, bringing his family across the plains with ox-teams and locating first in Humboldt. Later they made their home in Mendocino county and afterward in Monterey, always following the occupation of stock business. He died in Monterey county. Like his father William Taylor was a stockman; at Ukiah for some years he followed that trade and then moved to Fresno county. When oil was discovered in the Coalinga district he began locating oil lands and followed the oil business for a time. While on a visit to Bakersfield he passed away in May, 1912. His wife, Annie (Thompson) Taylor, was born in Iowa, the daughter of Theodore Thompson, who was a native of Maryland. The latter brought his family across the plains in the early '50s, and became a pioneer farmer. Pie now makes his home in Bakersfield aged eighty-two years. Mrs. Taylor passed away in Huron, Fresno county, in 1887. Of the five children born to his parents George E. Taylor is the eldest. His childhood was passed mostly in Monterey county, where he assisted his uncles who were cattlemen. From a young boy he rode the range. His educa- tional training was obtained in the local schools and as he grew he imbibed a spirit of progressiveness and a courage to accomplish successful ends. On February 1, 1896, he came to Kern county, his first employment being with Wellington Canfield, receiving $20 per month. He worked steadily for some years and having saved some of his hard-earned money he purchased sixty acres of land in the Old River district, which he improved, raising alfalfa. In addition he engaged in the dairy business and continued with marked suc- cess until he sold the place to R. L. McCutchen, and in February, 1904, began a mercantile business in Bakersfield. Starting in a small storeroom on Chester avenue, he conducted the business under the firm name of G. E. Taylor & Co. This business he sold in 1907 and soon afterward started the present store known as Taylor's grocery, at No. 1423 Nineteenth street, of which he is now sole proprietor and he enjoys a large trade among the citizens of Bakers- field and the surrounding country. Before her marriage Mrs. Taylor was Miss Dollie Rowlee, a native of Marion, Iowa, who came to California when a child with her parents. Her father, Charles E. Rowlee, is represented elsewhere in this publication. Mrs. Taylor is a graduate of the San Diego State Normal class of 1902, and has achieved much success as an educator. She is at present acceptably serving HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1423 as principal of the Standard schools. By a former marriage Mr. Taylor is the father of two daughters, Alma and Frances. A woman of intellect and accomplishments, with refined and artistic tastes, Mrs. Taylor is much beloved by her many friends and with her husband is freely hospitable and respected for their generous impulses. J. C. KNOKE. — No other occupation aside from the oil industry has ever engaged the attention of Mr. Knoke and therefore his rise from a most humble capacity to an influential position has been steadfast. At this writing he fills a very important place as production foreman for the Kern Trading and Oil Company in the Midway-Sunset fields. The duties cf the position entail upon him the management of the company's wells (about eighty-five now producing) situated between Pentland and the North Midway. Throughout practically all of his life Mr. Knoke has lived in oil regions. Born at Wheeling, W. Va., November 1, 1877, he is a son of the late Clem Knoke, at cne time a shoemaker in Wheeling, but later the owner and occu- pant of a farm at Sistersville, in the same state. When oil was struck at Sis- tersville about 1890 Mr. Knoke was a lad of thirteen years and was a pupil in the local schools of the village. There were twelve children in the family and ten of these are still living, so that the small estate left by the parents at death could aid the sons and daughters but little. After he had graduated from the grammar school Mr. Knoke began to make his own way in the world and as early as 1894 he worked as a roustabout in the Sistersville field. Later he was employed in other fields of the same state. From 1902 to 1934 he engaged in the oil industry in Colorado, where he worked up from tool-dresser to driller. For nine months he engaged with the Burlington & Missouri Railway Company and drilled three discovery wells for that company near Shaddron, Neb., but found no cil. Various parts of New Mexico also were inspected with a view to finding favorable oil prospects and at Raton he drilled a dis- covery well for the Raton Oil Company, but the results were unsatisfactory. During the year 1904 he came to California for the first time. Securing work with the Union Oil Company as tocl-dresser, he was soon made head well- puller and before the first year of his connection with the company had ex- pired he was filling the position of superintendent of production. For six and one-half years he remained in the employ of the Union Oil Company at Santa Maria and then resigned to make a tour of inspection through Cuba. In the five months spent there he engaged in digging discovery wells for an English syndicate, but no oil was found. Returning to California for the pur- pose of securing more supplies and sending them to Cuba, he discharged these duties and then, instead of going back as he had anticipated, he accented a position as manager for the May's Consolidated Oil Company, owning leases on sections 28 and 30, township 31, range 23. After nine months with that cor- poration he entered upon the duties of his present position in May, 1912, and since has devoted his energies to this work, meanwhile making his home at Maricopa in one of the superintendents' houses on the Kern Trading and Oil Company's lease. One daughter, Helen B., has been born of his union with Miss Mamie McKay, daughter of E. S. McKay, of Lcmpoc, Cal., but a resident of Santa Barbara at the time of their marriage. While making his home at Santa Maria he affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and during a temporary sojourn at San Luis Obispo he became a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is one of the trustees of the Kerto Club, which meets in a building provided by the Kern Trading & Oil Company. C. L. DICKEY. — The lease foreman on the Kern Trading and Oil Com- pany's properties has been familiar with the oil industry from his earliest recollections, for he is a native of one of the eastern oil regions and has given all his mature life to the development of the in- 1426 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY dustry. Born at Sistersville, W. Va., September 6, 1887, he is a son of the late Thomas and Sarah (Phillips) Dickey, the former con- nected with productitin activities in the oil fields of his home town. There were nine children in the family and of these C. L. was sixth in order of birth. When only fifteen years of age he was obliged, on account of the death of his father, to stop school and take up the serious business of earning a livelihood. Not only was he self-supporting, but in addition he helped to care for his mother and other members of the family, so that he assumed the responsibilities of manhood while yet a youth. When he began in the oil fields it was as a roustabout. Continuing with the same eastern oil comi^any for some years, Mr. Dickey resigned his place in the spring of 1907 and then sought an occupative opening in the west. Upon his removal to California he engaged in work in the Santa Maria field, where he remained until September of 1910. Having had thorough training as tool-dresser and head well-puller in West Virginia, he was competent to fill important duties at Santa Maria. From that field he removed to Fellows and was employed as gang-foreman and tool-dresser. The next step in advance brought him to the Kern Trading and Oil Company's properties, where since June of 1912 he has served as lease foreman, his juris- diction extending to the properties in the Sunset field. A warm friendship with J. C. Knoke, production foreman for the company, which -dates back to their early residence in Sistersville, W. Va., was instrumental in identifying him with this company and his own reliability and energy enable him to fill the positi( n with satisfaction to all concerned. CHARLES E. GEDDES. — The youngest of seven sons and a member of a family of thirteen children, of whom there now survive five sons and five daughters, Charles E. Geddes was born at Sheffield, Warren county. Pa., and grew to manhood in McKean ccunty, same state, where he attended the Bradford schools. Always the family maintained an interest in the oil business and two elder brothers are now with the Associated in the Coalinga oil field in California, G. W. being a machinist and J. E. production foreman. The father has made the lumber business his principal occupation and is now living retired, being at present in Coalinga. The mother was a native of Pennsyl- vania and came of a Swiss family. After two years in the high school Charles E. Geddes began to work in the Bradford oil field at the age of sixteen. At first he engaged as a pumper and later as a tcol-dresser. Going to Illinois at the age of twenty-one he worked in the Robinson field for two and one-half years and from that section of the country he came to California in October of 1907. A visit of eight days in the Kern river field gave him his first practical knowledge of western conditio ns. Two months were then spent in the Coalinga field as an employe of the pipe-line department and then of the pro- duction department of the Associated, after which he was promoted to be gang-pusher and well-foreman. On being chosen superintendent of the Espe- ranza and the Sibyl he associated himself with the properties that later were overtaken by the General PetrLleum, whose officers retained him in the capacity of superintendent with largely increased responsibilities. This position, as foreman of all the properties of the company in . the North Midway field, includes the f( llowing divisions now owned and operated by the great concern : Oakburn, Dabney, Sahle, Globe, Logan, Brunswick, Section 19, Fellows, Continental and Sibyl. He personally visits each lease daily, going from one to another by automobile, and directing and supervising all of the work with an alertness and nervous energy that invariably produces re- sults. Since coming to Kern county Mr. Geddes has been connected wath the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Taft. He married Miss Leula Hunter, of Russell, Warren county. Pa., the daughter of one of the well-known and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1427 successful oil operators of the east. The company's residence on section 14, 31-22, is their home, which with its artistic furnishings and air of happy- domesticity attracts often to its hospitality the many friends of the charming hostess. ARTHUR EUGENE HOAGLAND.— The excitement caused by the dis- covery of gold in California imbued William Hoagland with a desire to visit the vast unknown west. At the time of joining a party of Argonauts he was still a mere lad, yet he was able to do a man's work and assumed responsibil- ities equal to those thrust upon men many years his senior. As a boy he had attended the schools of Springfield, 111., where his birth had occurred about 1835 and where his parents had made their home for years. The trip across the plains during the summer of 1849 he still recalls as one of the most inter- esting experiences of his eventful life and scarcely less interesting was the return vt yage by water. Settling upon a farm in Missouri, he gave himself in- dustriously to agricultural pursuits and for some time continued to live and labor in that state. Meantime he served in the Union army during the Civil war and remained at the front until the expiration of his period of service. About 1884 he became a pioneer of Kansas and took up a claim in Barber county, where he engaged in farming for some years. When he made his second trip to the Pacific coast in 1891 he found conditic ns in the west far dififerent from those of the earlier period. Oregon, to which state he removed from Kansas, was becoming known for riches of soil and growth of commerce. For a number of years he served as assessor of Klamath county and made his heme in Klamath Falls, but more recently he has removed to California, where he and his wife, Cassie (Fulton) Hoagland, now are living in Butte county. The family of William Hoagland comprised eleven children and eight of these are still living. One of the younger members of the family, Arthur Eugene, was born July 7, 1876, during the residence of the parents near Rolla, Phelps county. Mo., where he remained until eight years of age and then accompanied the other members cf the family to Kansas. Later he attended the public schools of Medicine Lodge, Barber county. At the age of fourteen he began to be self-supporting and from that time he has made his way unaided in the world. .The Santa Fe Railroad had a line through his home town and offered an opportunity for an honest livelihood through day labor. At first his wages were very small, but his worth found appreciative recognition and at seventeen he was promoted to be a foreman. Later he was transferred from Kansas to Illinois as a construction foreman, after which he was similarly employed in Arizona. During 1899 he was transferred to Bakersfield and from this city was sent north on construction work. The year 1900 was spent mainly in Hanford. During 1901 he returned to Bakersfield and this city has since been his home. For three years he continued in the railroad business. As general foreman of construction he had charge of construction work between Bakersfield and Fresno. Resigning in 1904 after a long and honorable identification with railroad interests, Mr. Hoagland turned his attention to other lines of business. For a time he owned a cigar store and for two and one-half years he acted as local manager for the Wieland brewery, since which time he has been a member of the firm of Hoagland & Ross, wholesale distributors of Rainier beer, manufactured by the Seattle Brewing and ^Malting Company. The firm has an agency at Mojave and a cold storage plant at Bakersfield and ships the bottled beer throughout all of Kern county. In politics he is a Dem- ocrat and fraternally he is identified with the Royal Arch Lodge and also has served as president of the Eagles. By his marriage to Miss Maude Rainer, a resident of Bakersfield, but a native of Kansas, he has two children, Bruce and Helen. 1428 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY JOHN HENRY HARVEY.— The power of determination and industry in overcoming" obstacles appears in the life of Mr. Harvey, who, although left an orphan in early life and obliged to forego educational advantages, has nevertheless risen to a position of influence in his chosen calling. His mother had passed away when he was so small that even the most indistinct memories were lacking of her aflfection and devotion. The father, Thomas, an Irishman by birth, was most intensely loyal to the country of his adop- tion and when the Civil war began he ofifered his services to the Union. Enrolled as a private in the Sixteenth Michigan Infantry, he was sent to the front with his regiment, took part in a number of large engagements and finally lost his life in the battle of Gettysburg, where he was buried in an unknown grave. The son, who was born on Christmas day of 1856 near Port Huron. St. Clair county, Mich., was thus left alone in the world. Though far too young to be self-supporting, he nevertheless determined to "paddle his own canoe" and notwithstanding the fact that he lacked warm clothing and nourishing food he kept on without disheartenment and even was able to attend school for several winters. At the age of sixteen he began an apprenticeship to the trade of a blacksmith. After completing his trade he worked as a blacksmith during the winter months in large cities in Michigan, while in the summer months he sailed on the lakes as wheelman or quartermaster. Life on the lakes interested him from its constant variety and its healthful nature, but when he established domestic ties the desire to be at home caused him to give up his position as a sailor. Meanwhile having worked as a blacksmi.h in the lumber woods and having risen to be foreman of the lumber camps, he had proved his skill and efficiency in the occupation to which he has devoted the greater part of his mature years. The marriage of John Henry Harvey and Miss Eusebia A. Richards, a native of Cairo, Mich., but a descendant of French ancestry, took place in her home town, where ]\Ir. Harvey engaged in running a blacksmith's shop. Later he was similarly employed in Cass City and then in Imlay City. Dur- ing 1892 he came to California and found employment at his trade in Bakers- field, where in 1895 he started a shop at No. 1712 Chester avenue. From a very small beginning he rose to the management of a large business, con- tinuing at the same location until 1908, when the Elks' Hall was erected on that site. Since then he has had his manufacturing establishment at No. 2300 Chester avenue, the large increase in his business necessitating an ex- pansion, as he has taken up the manufacture of automobile springs and forgings in connection with blacksmithing and carriage-making. Electric power is utilized and an electric motor furnishes the current for the four fires. Tracks and cranes have been installed and in every respect the shop has been well equipped, not only for the heavy iron work and repairing of vehicles, but also for the repairing of bodies, frames and wheels of auto- mobiles. For the manufacture of automobile and heavy truck springs he has installed a spring rolling machine run b}^ a seven and a half horsepower electric motor, also a gas oven for the quick heating and tempering of springs, and he has a gas furnace for tire-heating and setting. The home of Mr. Harvey, erected by himself, stands at the corner ot C and Palm streets. His family comprises his wife and three children, the eldest of whom, LeRoy Alonzo, is a pianist, devoting all his time to music. The second son, Lee Richards, is head of the grocerv firm of Harvev & Webber, in Bakersfield. The youngest child. Ina Aville, is a high-school student. In national politics Mr. Harvey is a Republican. While still living in Michigan he was made a Mason in the blue lodge at Romeo, and since coming west he has transferred his membership to Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., while in addition he is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has been an officer in the local lodge of the latter organization. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 142Q SARSHEL VAUGHN MATHEWS.— A native of Wilmington, Los An- geles county, Sarshel Vaughn Mathews has spent his entire life in Southern C'alifornia, where he has seen many wonderful improvements, and been among those who have benefited greatly by the development which has taken place in this part of the country. Earnest, energetic and persevering he has worked hard to reach the point of prosperity he now enjoys. Theodore Mathews, father of Sarshel V., was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1827 in Pittsburgh. He served as corporal in Company B of a New Jersey regiment during the Mexican war and in the early '50s came west in the employ of the government, spending some time in Utah. In the latter state his marriage occurred, shortly after his arrival, to Harriet Burton, born in England, and they later removed to Oregon, remaining there for a number of years, after which they came to California. Wilmington, Los Angeles county, was their place of settlement, Mr. Mathews holding the position of wagonmas;er under the government, which post he filled for a long time. He finally removed to Los Angeles, where his wife died in 1903, and he passed away in 1907. Sarshel V. Mathews was born in Wilmington, Los Angeles county, October 7, 1866, and was a small lad when his parents removed to Los Nietos, in Los Angeles county, seven years later moving into Los Angeles, where he attended the schools and made his home for many years. His first occu- pation was on a stock ranch, but in 1889 he went to work for the Union Lime Company in San Bernardino councy, remaining there about three years, at the end of which time he entered the Southern Pacific railroad shops in Los Angeles. In 1899 he came to Tehachapi in the capacity of superintend- ent for the Union Lime Company and filled that position for two years, re- turning then to the shops in Los Angeles until 1908. Tehachapi had proved aitractive to Mr. Mathews, and after his return he opened up a quarry for the city aqueduct and settled permanently. About the same time he pur- chased thirty acres of apple land and began improvements, planting apples and pears. The ranch is located one and a half miles from town and has been equipped with a pumping plant, with a capacity of thirty inches of water, and the property is well cared for. Mr. Mathews was married in 1901 to Mabel Diamond, a native of Utah, and to this union two children were born, only one of whom is living, Gert- rude, who is attending school at Tehachapi. Mrs. Mathews is the daughlrer of James and j\^ary Diamond, both deceased. As a Republican, Mr. Mathews has taken an active part in the politics of his native state, and he has served as road master at different periods. HOWARD W. CARLOCK.— East Bakersfield. formerlv known as Kern, is Mr. Carlock's native place, and he was born June 26, 1875, when the now flourishing town was a straggling hamlet called Sumner. Both his father, Francis Marion, and his grandfather were pioneers of California, having crossed the plains with ox-teams and wagons during the era of gold excitement and afterward engaged in mining in the Sierras. The early agricultural settlement of Kern county found Francis M. Carlock actively engaged in cattle ranching on Kern Island. For years he also engaged in freighting between Delano and Bakersfield, meanwhile haul- ing the first lumber into the latter town and also into Sumner. After he had moved from Sumner to Bakersfield he engaged in merchandising on the present site of the Redlick building, on Eighteenth street and Chester avenue, where in 1889 he suffered a heavy loss from a destructive fire. Later he pur- chased a new stock of goods and resumed business. After he had finally disposed of his mercantile enterprises he continued in the dray and transfer business until 1906, when he retired to private life. His wife, formerly Miss Marv Tucker, came across the plains with her parents from her native locality in Pike county, Mo., and endured all the hardships of the tedious 1430 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY journey made with ox-teams and wagons in company with a large expedition of emigrants. Out of a family of seven children there are only three now living and these reside in Bakersfield, namely: Hattie, H. W., and Mrs. Iva Hayes. The only son received his early education in the Sumner schools and con- tinued in school after the family had removed to Bakersfield, when he was about thirteen years of age. While still a mere lad he acquired a thorough knowledge of the dray business. Many years ago the elder Air. Carlock had built the Overland stables and, after losing heavily twice by hre, he had finally built new barns on Eighteen :h near Chester. About 1907 the Overland barn was leased by the son, who purchased a complete outfit of new vehicles and horses and has since carried on a large business. The building is large, having a frontage of more than one hundred fee:, with a depth of one hundred and fifty feet, besides which he leases a building across the street. The livery is the largest in Bakersfield, and more than one hundred and twenty-five head of horses are kept in the barn. Politically he is a Republican and fraternally he holds membership with the Wocdmen of the World. In Fresno he was united in marriage with Miss Nettie McLennan, who was born in Illinois, but has been a resident of California from early life. They have a son Harold, aged twenty-one months. H. ROY SHEFFLER.— Throughout practically his entire life Mr. ShefiBer has been familiar with the oil industry and since the age of sixteen years he has earned his livelihood from the occupation. An early training in :he business came to him under the personal oversight of his father, Alex- ander, a pioneer oil man in some of the Pennsylvania fields, although in addition he also engaged to some extent in general farming. The home of the family was situated in Clarion county. Pa., and there the birth of Roy Sheffier occurred January 10, 1880; there he attended the public schools until he had completed the grammar grade and there he took his place among the busy workers in the workaday world. When sixteen years of age he secured a job in an oil field four miles froni home. At that time his wages were only $4 per week, but later he received a gradual advance until he was getting $1.50 per day. From roustabout and errand boy he worked up to be a tool dresser, in which capacity he proved efficien!; and capable. After having worked on two wells in the home field he went to W^est Vir- ginia, where he remained for almost eicht years, meanwhile finding employ- ment successively in the fields at Sistersville, Mannington, Wolf Summit and Parkersburg. Upon returning from West Virginia to Pennsylvania and securing em- ployment at Bradford, Mr. Sheffier spent two years as a tool-dresser in gas and oil wells in that field. A similar position was then filled for six years at Little Washington, Pa., where he was in the employ of a noted oil oper- ator, who also owned the Monongahela Gas Company. A la'er venture led him to invest in a water-well rig, after which he engaged in drilling water wells and testing coal fields, but at the expiration of eighteen months he went back to oil drilling and tool-dressing. While in Westmoreland county, Pa., he formed the acquaintance of Clint McCall, for whom he worked about one year. Later he worked for Bob George and George Evans, who in turn were employed by Andrew Carnegie. In 1902, while still making Pennsyl- vania his home and business headquarters, he married Miss Annie Mat- thews, daughter of George Matthews, of Washington county, that state, where their marriage was solemnized. Accompanied by his wife he came to California in 1910, and established a home at Maricopa. Here he entered the employ of E. S. Good and acted as chief driller on the twenty-acre lease of the El Dora Oil Company, on section 32, township 12, range 23, where he drilled two excellent wells, one at a depth of twenty-three hundred and eight feet and the other twenty-four hundred feet deep. On August 1, 1913, HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1431 he gave up his position with the El Dora, and is now drilling for the Spreckels Oil Company. His experience as a driller in California and Pennsylvania has given him a technical knowledge of every detail connected with the work, and in addition he engaged as a driller for a short time in Illinois at Robinson. Since coming west he has saved his earnings and invested in property, being now the owner of a ranch of twenty acres north of Bakers- field and thus substantially identified with Kern county not only as an oil man, but also as a property owner. JAMES C. GRANT.— The foreman of the machine shop of the Cali- fornia Oil Well Supply Company at Taft is a member of an old Pennsylvania family and traces his lineage to Aberdeen, Scotland, from which city the forebears of Gen. U. S. Grant also immigrated to the United States. The old homestead in Butler county, Pa., remained in the possession of the family through several genera :ions. There his father, Alexander B. Grant, died at the age of sixty-five years; there his own birth occurred December 23, 1858, and there too his only son, Fred D., was born. Aside from the endearing associations of youth, the farm itself has had a unique history, for upon it were developed the first oil and gas wells in that locality, and the cract of one hundred and eight acres for years presented scenes of stirring industry. Other wells later were developed in the name neighborhood dur- ing the' '80s, and when Mr. Grant made a trip back to the old Pennsylvania home twenty years after the era of the first excitement, he was surprised to find these same pioneer wells s:ill producing gas and oil in paying quantities. The marriage of Alexander B. Grant united him with Elizabeth Ervin, who, physically and mentally alert at the age of eighty-two, is still a resi- dent of Harmony, Butler county, Pa. The family consisted of six children. One of these, a daughter, died at Oil City, Pa., at the age of eight years. The five survivors are as follows: James C, of California; Flora M., who married James Welsh, a hardware dealer of Harmony, Pa.; Samuel D., a machinist employed in Denver, Colo.; Etta E., wife of John Klofenstein, of Harmony, Pa. ; and John A., a machinist now employed at Miles City, Mont. Born December 23. "l858. fames C. Grant received a public-school education at Six Points, Butler county, and as early as 1882 aided on the buiklmg of derricks on :he home farm^ In addition to being one of the crew of four men who dug the first well, he personally carried one-fourth interest m the enterprise. Six wells were drilled on his father's farm and in addition he worked on nine other wells in the same neighborhood. From the oil fields of Butler county going to West Virginia, Mr. Grant settled at Parkersburg and engaged in the building of a machine shop for the Oil Well Supply Company, into whose service he had entered prior to re- moval from Pennsylvania. After the shop at Parkersburg had been com- pleted and the machinery installed. Mr. Grant remained for one year for the purpose of testing out the plant and putcing it in first-class running order. Next he built a machine shop at Weston, Lewis county, W. Va. After the plant had been put into working operation with the necessary machinery he was sent by the company to Woodsfield, ATonroe county, Ohio, where he' built, equipped' and started a machine shop. Upon the completion of the plant he was ordered to St. Mary's, Pleasants county, W. Va., where he erected, equipped and put into running order a large machine shop, makins" two complete plants established within one year. A shop that previously had been erected at Cairo, Ritchie county, W. Va., he inventoried, purchased and put into workins" operation, after which for a time he super- intended all of the five shops. He became a powerful factor in the success of the company. The shops' that he built were conducted with profit to the concern and established his own reputation for skill as a machinist and su- perintendent, r -n- 1 In the interests of the William Kavanaugh Company, of Pittsburgh, 61 1432 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY during 1904 Mr. Grant went to Kansas, leased a tract of ground at Chanute from the San:a Fe Railroad Company and erected a shop for oil-well ma- chinery. When the plant had been completed he remained to put it into successful operation. After a year he was sent to Oklahoma in the interests of the National Drill and Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of drill- ing and fishing tools. Arriving a: Tulsa, he rented land from the Frisco Railroad Company, erected a shop, equipped the plant and put it in running order. Through his instrumentality the Oil Well Supply Company was induced to buy the plant, and it has proved to be their best-paying shop. The next work of Mr. Grant was done in New Mexico, where he spent two years, meanwhile with a brother, John A., putting in three portable drilling machines and drilling a number of artesian wells in the Pecos valley. The company transferred Mr. Grant to their Los Angeles headquarters and he arrived in that city May 30, 1908, af:er which he was employed in the stock-room of the concern until transferred to Taft July 22, 1909, for the purpose of building the machine shop. A year was devoted to the building of the store-house. During his second year at Taft the company decided to pu: in a stock of fishing tools, with him in charge. Next it was decided to build the machine shop and the latter has been in operation now for two 3^ears (since 1911), electricity being used for motive power. On short notice the company is prepared to do every kind of work in the oil fields, including the building of derricks, the laying of pipe lines, the building of oil tanks, the drilling, shooting or cleaning of wells and :he handling of the product. The foreman exercises the most painstaking oversight in every department of the business. Prompt, dependable, accurate and honest, he has built up a large patronage for the company of which he is an old and trusted employe. Since coming to Taf: he has erected a neat residence and here he and his wife, formerly Rebecca Artman, of Westmoreland county, Pa , have established themselves comfortably. The only daughter, Miss Nellie, is engaged as cashier in the store of Heard & Painter. The only son, Fred D., makes his headquarters at Torrance, Cal., where he has charge of the fitting department of die Union Tool Company. The family are iden- tified with the Presbyterian Church and Mr. Grant has been one of the leaders of that work in Taft, where he has served the church as chairman of the board of trustees, and in addition has rendered the most efficient service as superintendent of the Sunday-school. FRANCOIS BERNARD.— The proprietor of the Tehachapi hotel, Frank Bernard, has l)een associated with that town and its afifairs since 1907. He was born in Taurrontes, county of Orcirrise,, Hautes-Alpes, France, Decem- ber 13, 1868, and there he attended school and spent his youthful days. With his studies came a desire to read and a yearning to see the country in which he found himself most interested, and in 1887 he came to the United States, traveling directly to Los Angeles, Cal., where he remained for a short time. Bakersfield, Kern county, was his nexi: place of residence, and after staying there for about two years he went to Invo county for a year. Then he removed to Montana, where as a ranch hand and sheep herder he became thoroughly experienced. The next year he went to Wyo- ming and followed ranching and sheep raising on his own account for nine years, finding it most profirable as an industry. A longing for the homeland took him back to France and there in 1905 occurred his marriage to Marie Pellisson. Returning to the United States in the year of his marriage, Mr. Bernard spent .about one year in Montana, afterward was in Delano for a short time, but since 1907 has been a resident of Tehachapi. Buying out the hotel he set to work to make many improvements and build up a ?ood business, and his ambitious efiforts have not been expended in vain. The Tehachapi hotel is nicely equipped in all details and gives general satisfaction to all its visitors HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1433 and guests. Mr. Bernard votes the Republican ticket, and he takes a deep interest in all that pertains to the city's benefit. The parents of Mr. Bernard, Francois and Rosalea (Garnea) Bernard, both passed away in France. His wife, Marie (Pellisson) Bernard was the daui^diter of Joseph and Angelina (Reymond) Pellisson, who are still living in France, two children have been born to Mr. Bernard and his wife, viz.: Francois, Jr., and Edward. MARY ELIZABETH M. STAPR— A splendid example of the capable, energetic business woman is Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Stapp, of Ba- kersheld, where she. is engaged in the real-estate business. Mrs. Stapp was born in Bracken county, Ky., the daughter of Isaac and Mary E. (Henry) Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was born in Ohio, and worked as merchanc tailor for some years, but on account of poor health was obliged to give this up, and later was a steward on the Ohio river. Deciding to take up farming he accordingly settled on a farm in Indiana, near Terre Haute, going from there to Illiopolis, 111., where he remained until 1884. He then brought his family to California, arriving in Bakersfield on October 9 of that vear. Here he spent the remainder of his life, becoming largely in- terested in real estate here and in East Bakersfield. His death occurred in 1901. The wife of Isaac ISIitchell, who was born in Kentucky, passed away at the birth of her daughter, Mary Elizabeth, in Bracken county. Mr. Mitchell was a Mason fraternally. Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Mitchell) Stapp was the only child of her parents' union. She was brought up in Kentucky and Illinois, attending the schools of the locali:y, and came with her father to California in 1884. She has interested herself in the real estate business, has built several residences m East Bakersfield, one a large rooming house, and she owns the corner of Kentuckv and King streets. She is the wife of W. C. Stapp, a native of Grass Valley, Cal., who is a steam-shovel engineer. Mrs. Stapp is a splendid type of womanhood, and though she fills a man's position in business she has retained all the finer elements which rep- resent refinement and culture. She is a lover of art and from young woman- hood took up painting, in which she now excells and she makes a specialty of painting velvet pillow tops and painting on glass, from which she reaps both pleasure and profit. GEORGE W. DERBY. — Although by no means belonging to the pioneer element of Kern county, Mr. Derby readily is accorded a position among :he most progressive citizens and energetic ranchers in this favored region. From the time of his arrival in Bakersfield, some time during February of 1899, he has kept in touch with every movement for the upbuilding of the city and county, has kept in mind the uncontested fact that the locality ofifers unsurpassed opportunities for business, for the oil industry and for agriculture, has maintained an exceptionally clear insight into business meth- ods and with characteristic nerve, energy and ability has risked much in order that he might gain much. It is worthy of note that at three separate times and from three dififerent parties he has bousht two hundred and eighty acres situated on section 24, township 31, range 28, which tract he now owns and operates, devoting his mental abilities and physical strength to the trans- formation of the tract into a productive, remunerative ranch. A native of Lapeer county, Mich., born July 29, 1867, George W. Derby grew to manhood in Kansas and in that state received a common-school edu- cation. Upon starting out in the world for himself he came to California in 1889 and secured "employment by the day or month in Tehama county. In a short time he removed 'to Santa Clara county, where he spent nine years as a workman in and around San Jose, acting as agent for an ice company in that city. From San Jose he came to Bakersfield for ten years after his arrival in California. At once he was impressed with the resources of the region. 1434 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY At the time of his arrival Bakersfield was a village of shacks, but the devel- opment of the oil industry caused the town to develop a boom and this gave him steady employment in contracting and building to provide quarters for incoming setilers. Meanwhile he often visited the oil fields and constantly studied conditions there. As a result he invested financially in the west side district. He still owns a one-half interest in one-half section of deeded lands now leased to the Standard Oil Company, and in addition he has m- vested in other properties loca;ed on other sections. He now has one hun- dred and sixty acres in an excellent stand of alfalfa hay, while during the crop year of 1912 he had sixty acres in corn, the whole bringing him fair returns. On coming to the Weed Patch he found his' greatest need to be facilities for irrigation. Accordingly he has drilled five wells one hundred and ninety feet deep, from which great s:reams of water are pumped by means of two Bessemer engines. One of these has twenty-five horse-power and the other furnishes forty horse-power. He was the pioneer rancher to demonstrate the feasibility of irrigating land in this part of Kern county from wells by means of. pumps. Mr. Derby and his wife, whom he married in 1895 and who was formerly Miss E. Alice Hunt, of San Jose, have made their home most of the time in Kern county. R. L. BEWLEY.— Shortly after coming to Taft in 1910, Mr. Bewley bought out the interest of VV. E. Pennell in the blacksmith shop of Pennell and Massa and later he purchased the interest of Lawrence Massa, thereby acquiring the complete ownership of the plan:. During 1912, his quarters being insufficient for the demands of his growing trade, he rebuilt on Center street, where now he has a galvanized building 50x118 feet in dimensions, equipped with every modern convenience for blacksmithing and general repair work. Skill as a mechanic has given him the confidence of users of automobiles, who. find him thoroughly trustworthy in the care and super- vision of cars. To aid him in repair work he keeps on hand all kinds of automobile forgings and springs. Besides furnishing siorage and. gasoline for cars owned by others he has the Kern county agency for the Vulcan car. The care and repair and sale of automobiles do not represent the limit of his enterprise, for in addition he maintains three forges in his blacksmith shop and with the help of skilled assistants he is prepared to do horse-shoeing expeditiously and skillfully. Of Pennsylvanian bir:h and parentage, R. L. Bewley was born in Craw- ford county, nine miles south of Corry, on January 30, 1880. The home town was Spartansburg and there he attended the public schools. During 1899 he apprenticed himself for three years under P. M. Nelson, owner of a blacksmith* and machine shop at Oil City, Pa. For the first three months he received no remuneration. During the next twelve monrhs he was paid S2.50 per week. Thereafter he received a slight increase in pay each month until at the end of his apprenticeship he was. being paid $2 per day. On the expiration of his time he went to Tidioute, Warren county, Pa., where he worked as a machinist. From that place he wcnL to other parts of the stite as a journeyman. One winter was spent at Meadville and he gained familiarity with heavy machine work in the shops of the Erie Railroad Com- pany there. From Pennsylvania he went to West Virginia to work for the Ferguson Construction Companv near Burnsville, and in a short time he rose to be a foreman, serving in that capacity in three different camps of that company. Encouraged by success as a foreman, he decided to embark in business for himself. "Returning to his home town of Spartansburg, Pa., he Operated a blacksmith and repair shop until he entered the employ of the State Hospital Association as engineer and mechanic in their shops. Upon resigning that position Mr. Bewley came to California during March of 1910, and from Los Angeles proceeded direct to Taft, where ever HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 143.^ since he has engaged in the blacksmith and repair business. In this town he has built a coctage for his family. In his home town of Spartansburg, Pa., in 1905, he married Miss Grace M. Caral, by whom he has two children, Celess A. and Robert LeRoy. F. S. COOK.— The business interests of Taft have a capable representa- tive in the well-known plumber, F. S. Cook, whose office and workshop are located in the Mariposa building and whose long experience in the plumbmg business, especially as connected with oil fields, qualifies him for a risnig patronage in sucl^a city as Taft. Work in oil districts has taken him nitc difi:erenc parts of the country. His childhood years were passed in Catta- raugus county, N. Y., where he was born March 12, 1886, and where he at- tended the public schools. Ever since he was fifteen he has been self-sup- porting. Before he had reached man's estate he was an expert steam-fitter and could repair gas engines with a skill and promptness unexcelled by older hands. Primarily introduced to the oil industry through work as a roust- about in :he fields of Monroe county, Ohio, he later had considerable expe- rience in well-known districts of West Virginia, Oklahoma, Indian Territory and Pennsylvania, where he became familiar with every phase of the work and with the varying possibilities ol production in dififerent fields. Mean- while he specialized in plumbing and gained a thorough knowledge of the trade, so that when he came to California and to Bakersfield in 1909 he experienced no difficulty in securing employment at a fair compensation. The Gundlach Tank Company, for which Mr. Cook worked as a journey- man in Bakersfield, sent him to Taft in 1911 to take charge of a branch busi- ness at this point. Discerning the excellent opening for a plumbing shop he established himself in business in February, 1913, and has since given a number of plumbing contracts of considerable importance. Exact in all work, industrious in disposition, careful in the filling of contracts and ex- perienced as to the best methods of sanitation, he is winning recognition as a plumber and has every reason to be gratified with the progress thus far made in occuoative advancement. ALEXANDER CARVER.— The cattle industry in Kern county had an able representative in the late Alexander Carver, who was born in Calaveras county in 1857, the son of Joel and L. J. Carver, the latter also represented in this work. Coming to Kern county with his parents in 1869, he here attended the pubhc schools and in 1876 graduated from Healds Business College in San Francisco. From a boy he learned the stock business, riding the range and after the death of his father he ran his mother's cattle at the same time starting a small herd of his own which gradually grew to such proportions he found it necessary to give it all of his time. He then purchased the nucleus of his ranch about fourteen miles east of Delano, afterwards adding to it until it contained over thirty-five hundred acres. This he improved with fences, wells and buildings and here he raised cattle, grain and hay, but more par- ticularly engaged in growing cattle of the Shorthorn variety until his death, lune 27, 1912. The marriage of Mr. Carver occurred in Visalia January 5, 1893, unitmg him wath Miss Eugenie E. Woody, who was born at Woody, Kern county, and in this county she was reared and educated. She is the eldest daughter of the late Dr. Sparrell Woody, a pioneer and one of Kern county's foremost men. (See biographies of S. A. and E. H. Woody.) To Mr. and Mrs. Carver were born six children : Inez L. and Ira J., both graduates of the Berkeley High School ; Lorene E., Marguerite M., Carl T. and Vernon L. Soon after Mr. Carver's death his widow sold the stock and leased the ranch, removing with her family to Berkeley, where she built a comfortable home' at No. 1617 Spruce street. A woman of high ideals and religious con- viction, she is a devoted member of the Christian Church. BENEDITTO ARDIZZI.— The late Beneditto Ardizzi, or as he was more 1436 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY familiarly known, "Ben" Ardizzi, was born in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, and was there educated in the public schools. His father was an extensive mer- chant in Lagarno, Switzerland, and Ben became familiar with the mercantile business in boyhood. Becoming interested in California he came here at fourteen years of age and from San Francisco went immediately to the mines in the Sierras. He was also in the Frazier river country when the excite- ment was at its height. On his return to California he settled in Bear valley, Mariposa county, and with a partner, Victor Amy, engaged in the hotel business and also followed mining. Afterwards they carried on the same business in Snelling until the Southern Pacific was built to Delano, Kern county, when they established a stcre and restaurant there. When the railroad was continued into Sumner, now East Bakersfield, they started a store which afterwards grew to such large proportions that today it is one of the most extensive mercantile establishments in the county. The firm was Amy & Ardizzi until the death of the former in 1881, when Luis Olcese became a partner and business has since been done under the name cf the Ardizzi- Olcese Co. In 1887 Mr. Ardizzi married ?klrs. A. Park, who in maidenhood was Son- tine DePauli, born in Bear valley the daughter of a California pioneer and a sister of James DePauli also born there. After Mr. DePauli com )leted his studies at the University of California in 1888 he came to Kern a unty and became associated with the Ardizzi-Olcese Co., of which from 1897 until his death. May 30, 1908, he was president and manager. He married Leonora Gazzola, by whom he had two children, Thelma and James. Fraternally he was an Elk and as a citizen was highly esteemed. For some years he served as a trustee of Kern city and part of the time was president of the b ard. By her first marriage Mrs. Ardizzi had two daughters, Etta, wife of Dr. J. M. Kane, of Oakland, and Millie, Mrs. A. Rudgear of San Francisco. Ben Ardizzi died at his home in Sumner July 31, 1895, while his wife passed away in Oakland March 20, 1900. Mr. Ardizzi was a member of Bakers- field Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he was buried with Masonic honors. Politically he was a Democrat. REV. EDWARD MORGAN.— St. Paul's Church at Bakersfield owes its organization, and in fact its early development, to Rev. D. O. Kelley, whose congregation erected a small frame church on Seventeenth street before 1898, later also building a chapel in Rosedale. It was in the latter year that the Rev. Edward Morgan, whose name heads this article, became rector of St. Paul's, and he immediately put forth efforts to acquire more land, subsequently build- ing the present church on the corner of I and Seventeenth streets on a prop- erty about double the size of the former site. This consisted of a substantial brick edifice which has proved a credit to the builders and a source of satis- facticn to the city. The old frame church was moved to Kern city and placed on land donated by the Pacific Improvement Company and named St. Bar- nabas Chapel. The Rev. Edward Morgan also procured a property in the Greenfield district, where he built All Saints' Chapel. While in Bakersfield Father Morgan purchased property on Chester avenue, and when the growth of the city justified he built the Morgan block, a two-story brick and concrete building, consisting of stores and offices, at a cost of $36,500. This is considered a valuable addition to the business build- ings in Bakersfield, and is a splendid structure throughout. The Rev. Edward Morgan belongs to a family many of whose members have won merited recognition in the world, bringing honor and glory to the name. Born in County Cork, Ireland, he was the son of Anthonv and Eliz- abeth (Tymonds) Morgan, the former an officer in the British army who dis- tinguished himself in the Crimean war at Alma, Inkerman and Sebastopol to such a degree that Queen Victoria conferred upon him three clasps and a HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1437 medal, and he also received a medal from the Sultan of Turkey. A brother of the Rev. Edward Morgan, by name Lieut. Col. A. Hickman Morgan, D.S.O., was well known in Her Majesty's Army. The Morgan family were originally from Herefcrdshire, but removed from there to Ireland during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Tymonds were an old family in County Dublin but of English descent. Primarily educated by private tutors, upon coming to San Francisco the Rev. Edward Morgan studied for holy orders under the Rt. Rev. William F. Nichols, Bishop of Calif-.rnia, later was a student at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, and then did special work at Columbia College. Seventeen years ago he was ordained deacon at St. Matthews Church, San Mateo, and one year later was ordained priest at the Cathedral Mission of the Good Samaritan, at Second and Folsom streets. There he worked under the Rev. William I. Kiop, grandson of the first Bishop of California, who had passed through San Joaquin valley before there were any settlers where now stands the city of Bakersfield, being escorted by soldiers for protection from the Indians. Soon afterward he was called to Bakersfield as rector of St. Paul's parish, and there he remained until 1905, imparting his broad influence for good throughout the community, lending his aid to suffering humanity and bringing peace and comfort wherever he went. As a reward for his efforts in 1905 he became Senior Curcr at St. Agnes Chapel, Trinity parish, New York City, but in February, 1907, he returned to San Francisco and took charge of St. Luke's parish, which under his guidance has since erected a beautiful new church and is now one of the most prosperous and well known churche:s in the city. THE PETROLEUM CLUB.— March 1, 1912, a number of oil men from the Midway field were discussing matters of general interest pertaining to their work. Certain matters they desired to discuss confidentially, but there was no convenient place for a meeting. Someone then suggested a club C( mposed of oil men. E. D. Gillette was asked to convene the oil men of the community and March 4, 1912, a meeting was held in the ofifice of the Western Water Company, attended by the following-named gentlemen: E. D. Gillette, W. A Fisher, J. W. Squires, William McDufifie, E. H. Edwards, C. S. Crary and A. W. Albrecht. A committee on constituticn and by-laws was appointed. It was decided to organize a club and the name Midway Club was temporarily adopted, the same being afterward changed to the present title. By resolution a membership fee of $25 was adopted, with a monthly fee of $5. The follow- ing oiBcers were elected: E. D. Gillette, president; William McDufifie, vice- president; C. S. Crary, treasurer; and A. W. Albrecht, secretary. The second meeting was held March 12 in Mr. Albrecht's cffice. At the third meeting, March 18, the question of location was discussed and it developed that it was impossible to secure a hall. Some then presented the plan of erecting a build- ing of their own. At the same meeting articles of incorporation were pre- sented and the certificate of incorporation bears date of March 27, 1912. The niembership soon grew to twenty-five members. The by-laws were adopted March 23, at the first meeting of the board of directors. A STCcial committee and later a house committee considered the question of building. On the 15th of April this committee recommended the purchase of lots 13, 14, 15 and 16, block 18, townsite of Moron (now Taft), from the Southern Pacific Company, together with the purchase of lot 12, same block, from Mr. Savage. The recommendation passed by vote. At a later meeting plans for a building were discussed and those by E. D. Ferrell, architect, were adopted. The north end of the building, consisting of the main living room, 30x40, with hardwood floors, was erected in 1912 at a cost of $13,003. The bungalow style makes an attractive exterior, while the interior appointments 1438 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY are those of a modern, first-class club and already $19,000 has been expended. At the present time the membership is about one hundred and twenty-five. Saturday, May 10, 1913, the Merchants' Association of San Francisco, one hundred and twenty-five stron.2:, visited Taft and were entertained at a banquet by the club. Opening night, September 7, 1912, an impromptu pro- gram of local speakers and a banquet made a delightful function for the members and their gentlemen guests. About once in two months there is a ladies' night. Every Tuesday afternoon the Woman's Improvement Club of Taft holds its social and business meetings at the Club, which more and more is becoming a social center for the city. The present officers are as follows: E. D. GilleUe, president; E. B. Latham, vice-president; T. O. May, treasurer; and A. VV. Albrecht, secretary. The latest venture of the Club is the publication of the Petroleum Re- porter (independent), the first number of which appeared July 8, 1913. In putting out such a publication the members did so with the hope that it might accurately reflect conditions as they really exist in the great industry that forms the very life of Taft. Public measures afifecting the oil fields and oil industries receive impartial comment. Below we append a list of the active members of the Petroleum Club : A. W. Albrecht, F. E. Beach, A. R. M. Blackball, F. R. Campbell, Walter Can- field, J. B. Carlock, J. B. Carter, W. O. Clay, J. P. Cooney, F. E. Davis, S. Duschak, Charles del Bondio, E. T. Edwards, W. A. Fischer, W. Follansbee, W. J. Fitzmartin, J. J. Gallman, E. D. Gillette, C. E. Good, L. P. Guiberson, C. H. Holmes, G. S. Hanning, H. M. Haseltine, J. P. Hickey, W. D. Head, Charles A. Hahn, George Kammerer, A. M. Keene, M. L. Kleinsmith, E. C. Kellermeyer. Dr. C. Lawton, E. B. Latham, F. W. Livingston, Jack Lilburn, H. H. Maddren, T. O. May, E. H. Marsh, F. Marsh, W. O. Maxwell, J. J. Aleachem, R. R. Morris, J. M. Murray, S. W. Mimms, H. F. Mcshier, William C. McDuffie, J. F. McMahan, F. O. Patterson, G. G. Patten, J. C. Perkins, T- L. Philiop, J. H. Rainey, E. S. Rose, J. F. Ross, F. O. Redd, L. W. Sharp, C. L. Shirk, Charles St. Louis, W. G. Talbot, J. W. Tipton, George H. Todd, Wil- liam Walker, Clarence H. Williams, E.'H. Williams, R. L. Agee, I. W. Alex- ander, W. J. Atwood, C. H. Allison, F. Bellis, George H. Bailey, R. A. Broom- field, E. M. Brown, T. F. Bastain, E. H. Conklin, George R. Caldwell, C. B. Colby, J. O. Clutter, W. Dumont, B. T. Dyer, J. P. Dooley, H. J. Everitt, E. H. Edwards, F. P. Findley, S. G. Gassaway, F. H. Hall, Stone Hastain, J. J. Hern, C. M. Imerson, J. M. Jameson, W. C. Johnson, Dave Kinsey, L. P. Keister. George R. Kerr, Everitt King, E. W. King, W. M. King, W. A. Kobbe, R. Laird, G. P. Louthaine, George H. Lowell, H. H. McClintock, P. M. Pike, A. E. Raine, William C. Rae, B. L. Stitzinger, Mel P. Smith, J. W. Squires, R. A. Sperry, Walter Snook, H. N. Taylor. H. W. Wadeson, A. Wark, J. J. Wilt, C. E. Word en. JOHN KOCH. — The earliest recollections of Mr. Koch are of a home nestled among the mountains in Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, where he was born January 25, 1863, at Zilles. That same canton was the birthplace and childhood he me of his parents, John and Mary (Hunger) Koch, and there too they were married and continued to make their home. Of the two children comprising the parental family John Koch was the younger, and early in life was made familiar with the duties of the dairy, for his father had extensive interests along this line. His services in the dairy, however, were not allowed to interfere with his education, but after school days were over he returned to the duties of the home farm and gave his services lo his father until he took upon himself the duties of life. As a dairyman in the employ of others he worked as a butter-maker and as a cheese-maker from that time until he came to the new world in 1890. Coming direct to Kern county, Cal., he saw a good outlook for the business to which he had been HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1439 trained. He was fortunate in securing ready employment, but no more so than was Chris Mattly, with whom he remained as butter and cheese maker for two years. He then engaged in business for himself. Associated with two others with like ambitions and with a good understanding of the business he rented a dairy in the vicinity of Bakersfield and for three years made a specialty of butter-making. After selling his interest in the enterprise in 1896 he returned to the old family home in Switzerland. While he enjoyed renew- ing the associations of family and friends, at the end of a year he was as anxious to return to California as he had been to leave it. Upon his return to Bakersfield he entered the employ of the Kern County Land Company as Initter-maker, on the Stockdale ranch, remaining there about two years, or until his marriage. In the Old River district, Kern county, John Koch was married in 1898 to Miss Mary VVeichelt, who was born in Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, the daughter of Gottlieb Weichelt, and a sister of Mrs. Chris Mattly. In 1899 Mr. Koch purchased sixty acres of the property which he now owns nine miles southwest of Bakersfield. Here in a modest way he engaged in the dairy business independently, extending his interests as conditions permitted, and ultimately he purchased twenty acres adjoining his first purchase until he now has eighty acres altogether, under the Farmers canal and devoted to alfaha and grain. During 1901, associated with Christian Ruedy and Peter Gilli, Mr. Koch erected a creamery which he and his associates ran for about eight years. Since then Mr. Koch has given his attention to the dairy business, and as a result of his unremitting efiforts has built up one of the largest individual dairy interests in the vicinity of Bakersfield if not in Kern county. Politically Mr. Koch is a Republican, and with his wife he is a communi- cant of the Lutheran Church. In this faith they are rearing their three chil- dren, John, Nina and Gottleib. R. N. SIMPSON.— -The San Francisco Midway Oil Company, of which ]\Ir. Simpson acts as superintendent, is one of the organizations operating in section 24, 31-23, and where two wells produce an average monthly output of two thousand barrels. The superintendent of this property is a native of Pennsylvania and was born in Mercer county, February 19, 1864, being one of four children whose father, a farmer and oil speculator, died when the son was only eight years of age. The mother married a second time and now, again widowed, she makes her home at Long Beach, Cal. Besides Robert N., there were two sons and one daughter in the family, namely: George W., who was accidentally killed in 1909 while drilling on the Mascot lease near Taft ; Frank B., a driller now working on the San Francisco Midway lease near Shale; and Ada, Mrs. John Nonnemoker, who died in Ohio, leaving a daughter, Agnes. Reared in Venango and McKean counties, Pa., and near Windsor, Ohio, Robert N. Simpson has earned his own livelihood since he was a lad of twelve. At first he worked on an Ohio farm for his board and clothes. Later he was paid a small wage. During a part of his youth he was allowed to attend school in the winter months. When eighteen years of age in 1882 he successfully passed the teachers' examination in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he taught in 1883 and 1884. Upon discontinuing work as a teacher he went to New York state with a roofing gang and later learned the details of the oil industry in the fields of Simpson, Pa., where he spent considerable time as a pumper. A well-known oil man of Pennsylvania, George McCloud, was his employer in the Pennsylvania oil fields. Returning to Ohio in 1892, he engaged as a tool-dresser at Woodville for four months. During eight years following he held a very important and responsible position with S. C. Heacock, an exten- sive farmer and prominent oil operator in Wood county, Ohio. Coming to California in 1501, Mr. Simpson spent five months at Long 1440 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Beach and meanwhile studied conditions in that part of the state. On his return to Ohio he resumed work in the oil fields, where he remained for two years. When he again came to California, he sought the Coalinga field and secured employment with the California Limited and the 28 Oil Companies, also held a position later with the Premier Oil Company. In 1910 he came to the Midway and worked as a driller under E. S. Brown. November 8, 1912, he was made superintendent of the lease owned by another oil company, and he now has charge of the San Francisco Midway lease of forty acres. During the period of his residence in Ohio he married in 1894 Miss Elvira Hill, of North Baltimore, that state, a lady of housewifely skill and gracious hospital- ity. They became the parents of five children, four of whom are living, namely: Hugh, a pumper on the San Francisco Midway lease; Gertrude A., Clyde R. and George F. The second son, Lyle, accidentally shot himself December 15. 1912. while duck hunting near Long Beach. LESREY G. HELM. — One of the leading business men of Wasco, Kern county, L. G. Helm is the junior member of the firm of L. G. Helm & Son, general merchants, whose establishment is one of the finest of its kind in the vicinity. L. G. Helm, Sr., was born in Saline county. Mo., January 30, 1854. and for many years carried on merchandising in the east. In 1882 he moved to Texas, disposing of his property in Missouri, but finally returned east and engaged in business. In 1892 he came to California, locating at Rosedale, Kern county, where he lived until he settled in W'asco. While he retains his interest in the" store with his son and is interested in the McKittrick and Lost Hills oil fields, he is practically retired from active business. It was on the 25th of April, 1886, that the younger Helm was born. He came to Kern county with his parents when he was about six years old, and until he was fourteen attended the public schools at Rosedale and Bakers- field. Then for eight years he was a salesman in Redlick's department store at Bakersfield. Late in 1908 he moved to McKittrick, where he opened a general merchandise store which he conducted with success about six months. In 1909 he took up his residence at Wasco, where in partnership with his father he established the mercantile establishment of L. G. Helm & Son, a concern which supplies Wasco, Lost Hills and vicinity with merchandise of all kinds. They are local agents for the Moline Plow Company's implements and the Fish and Studebaker wagons and their trade extends widely throughout the country surrounding W asco. The firm erected a large brick building 50x60 feet, in which their business is conducted. The son owns property in the Lost Hills oil district and in the McKittrick field. In 1910 he organized the Louise Oil Company, which is operating in the Lest Hills district. He is now a director in the Wasco Hall Association and he affiliates socially with the Woodmen of the W^orld and the Modern Woodmen of America. He married, November 14, 1906, Miss Etta A. Martin, who was born in Arizona, and they have one child, Fay H. Mr. Helm was one of the organizers and a director of the Bank of Wasco. GEORGE W. McCAUSLAND.— The revolution which during 1911 and 1912 rendered the presence of American business men in Mexico no longer safe proved the unfortunate affair which influenced George \^^ McCausland to return to the United States, thereby temporarily causing a cessation of his extensive mining operations in our neighboring country. Howevci, much as he regretted the deplorable national occurrences that forced him to discontinue business interests in Mexico, he has had no reason to regret the decision that has made him a resident of Kern county and a contributor to the material development of W^asco, where he has been engaged in mercantile pursuits and also in the securing of an adequate water system for the town. As a boy he attended the common schools in Michigan, where he had been born at Saginaw July 21, 1884. and later he attended the Chicago high schools. The HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1441 bent of his mind turned his studies toward mining- and he qualified for scien- tific work in the occupation throufjh attendance upon a college of mining in Michigan, where he had the best advantages the country afforded for special- izing in his chosen calling. Upon leaving college and subsequently engaging for one year with the United States Gypsum Company in Chicago, Mr. McCausland resigned a flattering position in order to join his brothers in mining ventures in Mexico. Upon leaving Chicago and the north he proceeded to Santa Barbara in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, where he acquired an interest in a valuable gold mine. With his brothers he managed and developed the property and his interest in the company is now very valuable, besides which he owns an in- terest in a copper mine in Chihuahua. He returned to the United States in 1911, at which time, after a visit of six months with his parents in Los Angeles, he came to Kern county and formed a mercantile partnership with G. R. Stillson. He now owns and conducts a general store at W'asco. He installed the water system which supplies the village with water, but this was later sold out. He has built a comfortable bungalow en the Main. During December of 1909 he married Miss Czegenyi B. Howes, who was born in Nashville, Tenn., in November of 1891 and received superior educational advantages in the south. JOHN W. CANADAY. — Not only does the Canaday family enjoy the distinction of being numbered among the pioneers tf California, but in addi- tion it is of colonial and Revolutionary lineage and different generations have aided in the material upbuilding of different parts of the country. The family history shows that William and Polly (Gier) Canaday, natives of Kentucky and farmers in Madison county, left their eld southern commonwealth for the then undeveloped and sparsely settled regions of Missouri, where in 1836 they became pioneer farmers of Linn county. With them in the removal was a son of four years, John Turner, whose birth had occurred in Madison county, Ky., March 7, 1836, but whose recollectit ns include only the most meager memories of his native place. Upon attaining his majority he started out to earn his own way in the world. For a few years he engaged in teaming and lumbering at St. Joseph, Mo., and in that period he heard much concerning the great west. During the spring of 1858 he joined an expedition comprising seventy-five large wagons and teams, which started from Independence, Mo., for the long journey across the plains. It was his task to drive nine yoke of cattle for their owner and he therefore was obliged to leave the main caravan at Salt Lake City, from which point he proceeded to Box Elder with the stock. Having delivered the drove to the proper parties, he then took charge of some horses and cattle and drove them through to Susan Bluffs on the Carson river for their owner, Mr. Blankinship. He then proceeded on foot to Placer- ville, where he landed in August after a journey of four months and eight days. An experience as teamster with the Diamond Mills Placer Company dur- ing the autumn and as miner in the winter proved unremunerative, so he tried his luck on a ranch near Yolo and afterward engaged in teaming and ranching near Stockton. Later he took up land near Modesto, Stanislaus county, whence about 1878 he came to Kern county and for two years was with the Kern County Land Comnany. During 1880 he homesteaded eighty acres on the Beardsley canal and there he engaged in ranching until 1893. His marriage took place in Stanislaus county in 1868 and united him with Miss Louise St. Mary, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Alexander St. Mary. When only two years of age she was brought from Illinois to California by way of Panama. In girlhood she attended school in San Joaquin county. Five chil- dren were born of her marriage : James M., Bakersfield ; George, wdio died at fourteen years ; John W., whose name introduces this article and whose birth occurred near Modesto, Stanislaus county, November 20, 1^75 ; Mrs. 1442 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Barbara Wible, of Bakersfield ; and Mrs. Minnie Sleichter, a resident of Fresno. Being only a small child when the family came to Kern county, John W. Canaday received all his schooling in Bakersfield and later he followed farm- ing in this county. An experience of four years as a driver with H. H. Fish was followed by a connection for five years with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as locomotive fireman. Next he was a conductor with the street- car ccmpau}' in Bakersfield, resigning this June 7, 1910, to become collector for the water department of the Kern County Land Company. At Caliente, Kern county, June 26, 1901, he was married to Miss Mary Dukes, a native of Kernville, Kern county. In an early day Charles Henry Dukes came from his native Kentucky to California with two brothers. For a long period he was engaged with the Southern Pacific Railroad Comoany and made his home at Caliente, where his death occurred at the age of sixty-four years. In the same town in 1898 occurred the demise of his wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Bowen and was born in Tulare county, this state, in 1860. Their family comprised six children, the eldest of whom is the wife of Mr. Canaday. The others named are as follows: Mrs. Virginia Rose, of Los Angeles; Charles A. and W. G., of Globe, Ariz. ; Sadie and Floyd, who are living in Bakersfield. Mrs. Canaday was educated in Caliente and Bakersfield and is a woman of intelligence and refinement, intensely devoted to the welfare and progress of California and deoly interested in the activities of Tejon Parlor No. 336, N. D. G. W., of which she is past president. In addition she is asso- ciated with the Pythian Sisters, while Mr. Canaday has been a leading member of the Knights of Pythias in the Kern Lodge, and he is further connected with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Woodmen of the World. Politically he is a Democrat. M. A. LINDBERG.— The proprietor of the Arlington hotel and cafe at Bakersfield is of Scandinavian birth and lineage and was born at Skaane, Sweden, August 19, 1867, being the son of a farmer who also followed the occupation of a brick-layer. At the age of fourteen years he was taken out of school in order to begin an apprenticeship to the brick-layer's trade and for six years he devoted himself to the work in his native land, whence in 1887 he came to the United States, first settling at Omaha, Neb. The following year he went on to the central part of Colorado and began to assist in filling contracts for ties and timber for the Denver & South Park Railroad. On the completion of that job he filled similar contracts for dififerent railrcads in Idaho, Washington, Montana and British Columbia, and during that period he was married, in Virginia City, Nev., to Miss Hulda Streckenbach, who was born and reared in that place. During 1892 he came to California as foreman of construction wc rk on the Coast line and three years later he came through Kern county for the first time. Relinquishing his railroad work, he entered into the restaurant business at Lompoc and after three years in that town he came to Bakersfield in INlarch, 1900, shortly afterward buying an in- terest in the lease of the Arlington hotel. For a time the inn was conducted under the name of the T. H. Fogarty Comoany, but later Mr. Lindberg acquired control of the entire lease and since then has managed the hotel in his own name. The building occupies a central location on the corner of Chester avenue and Nineteenth street. Besides acting as proprietor of the hotel Mr. Lindberg represents the Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee and is also president and a director of the S. P. Oil Mining Company, which operates producing wells in the Kern river field. During June of 1911 he bought the Democrat springs and the O. K. placer claim of twenty acres on the Kern river, where the presence of one of the finest white sulphur springs in the state makes the place valuable as a health resort. A hotel and cottages have been erected, a large plunge and mud baths have been instituted, attractive facilities for boating and fishing have HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1443 been provided and many other improvements have been made, including an electric li.s:ht and storage plant and g( od roads by stage or automobile from Bakersfield, the distance of forty miles being easily made in three hours. He has installed an automobile stage plying between the Arlington and Democrat springs. The resort is run both winter and summer and has already estab- lished a record for the great curative properties of the water, particularly for rheumatism. Ever since he began to vote Mr. Lindberg has supported Demo- cratic principles. The Bakersfield Board of Trade has his name enrolled among its members. Fraternally he has been identified prominently with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Royal Arch, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Eagles, in which last-named organization for seven or more years he has served with fidelity and accuracy in the office of treasurer. EDWARD F. NEWSOM.— The lineage cf the Newsom family indicates long identification with the history of Virginia and at Petersburg, that state, occurred the birth of David Frank Newsom, a pioneer of California. Long before the Civil war (in which a brother bore an active part) he had left the old home and had begun to earn his own livelihood as an employe of the Hudson Bay Company, in whose interests he conducted sutler stores at Bellingham bay, on Puget sound and along the Eraser river in British Colum- bia. Upon resigning the position he had held with them he came to Cali- fornia and became cne of the very first settlers of San Luis Obispo county, where he married Miss Annie Branch, daughter of an Englishman, Ezba Branch. Elected the first clerk of San Luis Obispo county, he filled the office for many years. The salary, however, was scarcely adequate for the needs of a large family and accordingly he followed other lines of work to increase the annual income. One of his early occupations was that of schoolteacher. In addition he served for years as county judge. Meanwhile, having been greatly troubled with catarrh, he had found a permanent remedy in the waters of a fine medical spring owned by his father-in-law and when the latter presented his daughter, Mrs. Newsom, with the springs and adjacent grounds they u'ere named the Newsom Arroyo Grande warm springs. A resort was established two and one-half miles from Arroyo Grande and many people troubled with rheumatism, neuralgia and catarrh found relief from the diseases through the waters of the springs. After the death of Mr. Newsom, in KOI, his widow became the manager of the springs and she conducted the resort until her death in April, 1912. The land, together with a large tract adjacent thereto, had been given to her father, Ezba Branch, a pioneer of San Luis Obispo ccunty, after his marriage to Dona Manuella Ortega, a native daughter of California and a member of a pioneer Spanish family well-knowm al( ng the coast. Through the prominence and high standing of this family the iMexican government was influenced to bestow upon Mr. Branch the Santa ]\Ianuella grant and thereafter he had charge of the vast tract, which he devoted to stock-raising purposes. Six sons and six daughters comorised the family cf David Frank Newsom and among these (all still living) Edward F. was next to the eldest. Born at Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo county, December 16, 1865, he attended the schools of the locality in boyhood and at the same time acquired a knowledge of the fundamentals of agriculture. A decided fondness for the care of horses decided his occupation in life and while he worked with the Kern County Land Company in Bakersfield from 1898 to 1904 and with the Standard Oil Company from 1904 to 19C6 he used teams in all of this work and thus con- tinued to study the care and management of horses. After he had completed a job of excavating for reservoirs for the Standard Oil Company he embarked in the livery business in Bakersfield, where he has a feed and sale stable on the corner of M and Eighteenth streets. A general livery business is conducted wath a full equipment of fine horses and neat vehicles. Horses are bought, sold 1444 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and exchanged, while many also are taken as boarders. He also runs the stage line to Glennville, a distance of fcrty-five miles, making three round trips a week. While he displays ability in every line of the business, it is in the breaking of horses that he has gained his widest reputation. He has built two bungalows on Grove and Sonora streets in one of which he makes his home, and he also owns real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Aside from maintaining a constant supervision of his stables, he has been active in the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and the Owls, while in politics he has stanchly supported Democratic principles. He is a widower with one son, Alfred, whose mother, Eveline (Cochrane) Newsom, a native of Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo county, and a daughter of a pioneer physician in that portion of the state, died after the family had established their home in Bakers- field. P. J. O'MEARA. — The real-estate and insurance interests of East Bakers- field find able rei)resentation in the firm of W'oody and O'AIeara, whose offices are located in the Hotel Metropole and who are now owners of one-half interest in that hotel. In addition to negotiating sales of farms and town properties, they sell oil lands, put through important leases, secure options, make first-mortgage loans, efifect exchanges of properties and indeed discharge any duty or carry out any transaction connected with their chosen occupation. Many of the most important real-estate and promotion deals in East Bakers- field have been made under their supervision, and by integrity, honesty and intelligence they have won the confidence of all. Along insurance lines they- represent such well-known companies as the German-American Insurance Company of New York, the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company of San Fran- cisco and the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool. A safety deposit de- partment has been added to their office equipment and there are fire and burglar pro^f boxes for rent to customers. Born at Vancouver, Wash., October 9, 1876, P. J. O'Meara was fifth in order of birth among ten children, eight of whom are still living. The parents, Patrick and Johanna (Long) O'Meara, died respectively in 1903 and 1904, the former at the age of seventy-eight years. He had come to California in early life from the mines of Australia and New Zealand and after his arrival in 1850 had engaged in the hotel business in San Francisco, but later became a pioneer of Washington and engaged in ranching near Vancouver. Returning to California in 1885, he took up land near Keene, Kern county, and engaged ni stock-raising and farming. From time to time he added to his possessions until he had acquired the title to about two thousand acres of land near Keene. To his labors was due the organization of a school district and the building of a schoolhouse. For years he gave faithful service as school trustee. For some years he was employed as bridge inspector of the district along the Southern Pacific Railroad. Coming to Kern county when less than nine years of age, P. J. O'Meara passed the uneventful years of boyhood on the home ranch near Keene and attended the school in that district. After leaving school he aided his father on the home ranch. At the age of nineteen he became a fireman of the South- ern Pacific Railroad and continued in that capacity for four years, after which he returned to the stock industry and engaged in raising cattle on a ranch near Breckenridge. For three years he continued raising cattle on the Kern river and then disposed of his stock, investing the proceeds in a stock of general merchandise at Caliente, Kern county. While carrying on the store he also served as justice of the peace. During 1908 an explosion of dynamite in the Southern Pacific warehouse started a fire that almost wiped out the village and he was one of the heaviest losers by the catastrophe. The following year he formed a partnership with A. J. Woody in the real-estate business at Kern, where also they with J. H. Stevenson own the Hotel Metropole. In HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1445 addition to other holdings Mr. O'Meara is interested in oil development in the west side fields, serves as a director in various companies and is part owner of a quartz mill in the Amelia district. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. FREDERICK ELI HARE, — Best known in Delano as manager of the Union Lumber Company's yard stationed there, Frederick Eli Hare is classed among the reliable, honest and trustworthy citizens of the county. He was the elder of two children born to his parents, Elias C. and Anna (Woods) Hare, the former of whom was born in Wooster, Ohio, and came to California when eighteen years old. Traveling by way of Panama he reached the California coast in the '50s and followed placer mining in the Sierra Nevadas for many years. Subsequently he successfully conducted a mercantile business in San Francisco, relinquishing this interest to become secretary of the Masonic Board of Relief in that city, and for many years he filled that responsible position with credit and ability. Mr. Hare is now making his home with his son at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, whom he married in Eldorado county, was a native of Illinois, and crossed the plains with her parents by means of ox-teams. The father was prominent in Masonic circles, has been grand lecturer of Grand Lodge of California, serving for four years, and attained the Knight Templar degree. Frederick E. Hare was born September 11, 1864, at Rose Springs, Eldorado county, on Tennessee Creek. This was located about eight miles from Ccloma, where gold was discovered by Marshall in 1848. Reared in the city of San Francisco, he there obtained a good public school education and graduated from Heald's Business College in 1882. Then he gained experience by filling the position of bookkeeper for several firms, after which for eight years he served as route agent for the San Francisco Chronicle. The succeeding four years he passed in the employ of T. J. Conroy's insurance agency. Coming to Bakersfield in 1903 he assumed the management of the Coffee Club but the duties proved too arduous for his constitution and he went to Nevada county to regain his health. After eighteen months spent on a ranch he returned to Bakersfield and entered the employ of the Union Lumber Company in the capacity of bookkeeper. In 1908, upon the establishment of the lumber yard at Delano, he was made manager of same and to^k full charge of the building up of the branch, in which he has met with signal success. Mr. Hare's marriage occurred in Nevada county, Cal., uniting him with Amy Isbister, a native of that county and daughter of John Isbister, who was a pioneer miner and farmer of this state. Three children have blessed this union, John, James and Frederick. Fraternally he is a member of San Fran- cisco Lodge, No. 212, F. & A. M., and politically a Republican. ROBERT GUNDERSON.— To leave a Norwegian home at the age of fifteen years and to devote the next decade exclusively to mining in loneh'' regions far removed from educaticnal centers, would seem to offer. few advan- tages to a young man for the acquisition of culture and a comprehensive fund of knowledge in history, literature and the arts, yet we find Mr. Gunder- son one of the best-posted men in his part of Kern county. Both he and his brother, Daniel, who is in partnership with him in the book and stationery business at Randsburg, are regarded as men of intelligence and much general information ; furthermore, they have a high standing in the community for their honesty, integrity and moral worth. Their stock of books has been selected with more than ordinary care and they also maintain a branch of the county library in their book-shop, further have a newspaoer agency and deal in cigars and tobacco. Since they bought the McCarthy store in April, 1905, they have conducted their book and stationery business at Randsburg, besides having other interests in this portion of the county. Near Mandal, Norway, Robert Gunderson was born February 5, 1871, 1446 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the son of a well-to-do farmer who gave him the advantage of a thorough education in the common branches of study. Upon coming to the United States in 1886 he found employment in Michigan iron mines at Ironwood, but a year later removed to Wisconsin and secured employment on the coal docks at West Superior. During 1888 he migrated to Montana, where he was employed in mines and the smelter at Anaccnda. In a short time he went to Utah and found work in mines at Park City. The year 1890 found him at Pioche, Nev., where mining pursuits occupied his time for two years. The trip from that locality to Vanderbilt, San Bernardino county, Cal., in 1892 was made by wagon. Happening to be in Los Angeles in 1893 when Mr. Reed brought a $1,000 nugget obtained in Reed Gulch in the Goler district, he decided to prospect in the new location. Immediately he came to Kern county and took up work in the vicinity of Goler, where he located the Last Chance, Norway and Rocket mines, and where he met with considerable success in the placer mines. Upcn the starting of Randsburg he decided to locate at this point and October of 1896 found him a newcomer in the district, where ever since he has been interested in quartz mining. He discovered and U cated what is known as the Minnesota group of four claims situated two and one- half miles southwest of Randsburg, where he is engaged in mining and ship- ping ore, while in addition since 1905 he has been a partner in the book business. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles. His brother and partner, Daniel, completed his education in the high school at Ottawa, Minn., and engaged in teaching in that state until 1903, when he jcined Robert in Kern county. For a time he taught in the Randsburg school, but later he has engaged in the book business, besides acting as a member of the Kern count}^ board of education for two terms. In the community the brothers have the highest reputation for progressive tendencies, personal energy and keen mentality and they have been important factors in the permanent upbuild- ing of Randsburg. FRED C. CLARK. — New York state has given to California many citi- zens who have contributed to its growth and development and participated in the benefits accruing therefrom. Born in De Peyster, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., February 23, 1853, Fred C. Clark was the son of John B. and Amelia G. (Robertson) Clark, natives of New Hampshire and Wales, respectively, who farmed in the state of New York until their deaths. At the public school near his boyhood home young Clark was a student until he was seventeen years old, living meanwhile with his parents and assisting with the work on the home farm. About that time his father sold his property and the family moved to a town nearby, where the young man learned the trade of carriage-making. Finding that a place in a carriage shop was net always open to him he became a carpenter and builder, and as such was constantly employed in various cities in New York, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, until he came to the Pacific coast, arriving at Los Angeles January 3, 1890. Here he was employed as a carpenter until February, 1891, when he came to Bakersfield and prospered as a rancher for twenty-one years. He purchased a ranch of twenty acres on Kern Island, later adding ten acres more, the land being unimproved when he took possession. But he began with alfalfa and grain and soon improved it and had it all under successful cultiva- tion. In 1904 he bought forty acres about a mile from his first purchase, and when he had put it under cultivation to some extent he bought an adjoining sixty acres, making a hundred and thirty acres in alfalfa and grain. In the same year he also carried on dairying for a short time. In 1911 he sold his first thirty acres and now owns one hundred acres, most of it under alfalfa and grain, the remainder devoted to pasturage, and he keeps a limited number of cattle and hogs. In 1911 he removed to Bakersfield, purchased a home on Dracena street, and is to a degree retired from active life. Mrs. Clark was HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1447 formerly Miss Annie M. Handley, who was born near Attica, Ind., February 16, 1863, and she has two children, Fred H. and Glenn B. Mrs. Clark was the daughter of William and Maria (Pyle) Handley, natives of Scotland and Ohio respectively, who were farmers in Indiana. From there they moved to Kan- sas and thence in 1894 came to Bakersfield, where the mother died in 1903. The father resides with Mrs. Clark. She is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church South. In politics Mr. Clark is a Republican. ADOLPHUS DOWD. — Varied experiences in different parts of the coun- try have come to Mr. Dowd since he earned his first money as a messenger boy in Sherman, Tex., and since he devoted his evenings after school to acquiring an expert knowledge of telegraphy, an art in which he gained re- markable proficiency at an early age. For years he had a reputacion as one of the swiftest and most accurate operators in the service and although no longer following the occupation his hand has not forgotten its skill at the key. In addition to expertness in telegraphy he had completed a commercial course and thus became competent in stenography and bookkeeping, so that while still young he was well qualified to earn a livelihood. The course of his business life took him to every part of the country and even to Panama, but he found it impossible to forge ahead financially; indeed, when he arrived at Taf: February 15, 1909, he had but $1.65 in his possession. Today he owns his own garage, owns also a neat cottage in Taft, and as a partner in the firm of Stebbins & Dowd owns an interest in the stock, equipment and supplies of the Ford automobile agency at this point. A member of an old Southern family, Mr. Dowd was born in Toledo, Ohio, August 25, 1880, and was the eldes: child of Gundulphus and Mary (Strickland) Dowd. The mother died at the age of thirty-three and later the father married again, by the second union becoming the parent of one child, Henry, now living on the home ranch in New Mexico. After suc- cessive removals through the south, from Georgia (where he was born), to Texas, Mississippi and o:her states, the elder Dowd eventually established a permanent home in New Mexico, where he since has engaged in ranching and cattle-raising. His second and third sons, Cephus and George T., are living in Texas, where the former is a cattleman and the latter an emplove of the Santa Fe Railroad Company. The fourth son, Edvv^ard S., works for his oldest brother in the garage at Taft, while the fifth son, Harry T., and the son by the second marriage, Henry, remain with their father on the New Mexico ranch. When nine years of age Adolphus Dowd accompanied the family from Mississippi to Texas, where at the age of eighteen he completed the literary course in the Sherman schools. Meanwhile he had gained a thorough knowl- edge of telegraphy by night study and his first paid position as operator was at Trinidad, Colo., where he worked for two vears with the Colorado South- ern Railroad Company. Later he had positions in many places and with different companies. Particularly he worked for the Postal and Western Union Companies, and the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company under Capt. H. J. Hughes, head of the Marconi svstem. In New York Citv he, was with both the Postal and the Western Union. In Texas he worked at Dallas and Galveston, later held a position at Denver. Colo., and as early as 1904 went to Panama under a three-year contract in the government service, but an attack of malaria and conseouent ill-health led to his honorable dis- charge from the service. During 1905 he arrived in San Francisco, where he engaged as telegraph operator for the San Francisco Examiner and the Associated Press. One of the most thrilling experiences occurred at the time of the earthquake, when he was on dutv in San Francisco. From that city he went to Kansas, where he was emploved successively at Topeka, Dodge City and Herington. The year 1907 found him with the Western Union in Los Angeles. Later he was employed for a year at New Orleans, 62 1448 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY La., and next went to Houston, Tex., to engage with the Houston Belt & Terminal line. When he resigned from that position he was sent to San Francisco by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and next came to Kern county early in 1909. After a few months as Southern Pacific agent at Taft (with'ofifice in the Santa Fe depot, which at that time consisted of a box car), Tune 12, 1909, he opened the independent ofifice for the Western Union Tele- graph Company, installed the equipmen: and started a set of books. From the Western Union service he drifted into the livery automobile busmess and now, as a member of the firm of Stebbins & Dowd, has the agency in Taft and the west side for the Ford automobiles, Haynes autos and Federal trucks, buying and selling automobiles and their accessories, also doing re- pair work of all kinds. The marriage of Mr. Dowd took place at Taft and united him with Miss Ruth Elder, of Indianapolis, Ind. They are identified with the Baptist de- nomination. Fraternally Mr. Dowd ranks as one of the leading Py:hians of California. During 1903 he first identified himself with the order in Texas and ever since that time he has maintained an interest in its progress. After coming to Taft he interested others in the movement and as a result organ- ized the Knights of Pythias lodge at this point, from which he was sent as delegate to the Grand Lodge of Pythias, held at San Diego, May 19-23, 1913. E. D. BURGE. — The name of Burge has been connected with the agri- cultural development of Calif, rnia and particularly with the farming inter- ests of the San Joaquin valley, ever since the era of mining activity began in the west, for it was during the year 1853 that J. C. Burge, a West Virginian by birth, made the tedious voyage via Panama to San Francisco and from that city proceeded to the vicinity of Lodi. After he had been in the west about a year he sent for his wife and two children. The former, who bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Hurlbut, was a native of Virginia and came from an old family of that state. A large expedition in charge of his brother, Simeon Burge, crossed the plains and she with the two children accompanied the party. Four children were born during the residence of the family near Lodi. 1 he father"died in El Paso, Tex., and the mother in Bakersfield in K08. Of the six children comprising the family the next to the youngest, E. D., was born November 3, 1867, and received common-school advantages in boyhc cd. His identification with Kern county dates from March 17, 1901, when he came to the Midway oil fields in the employ of the Midway Oil Company of Oregon as their foreman. On New Year's day of 1902 he took charge of the property as superintendent, in which capacity he continued until his resignation in August of 1909. After leaving that concern he located in Bakersfield and began to handle oil lands, and the returns from valuable properties in his possession have been most gratifying. Meanwhile he has been concerned in the unbuilding of Bakersfield. During 1910 he built the Southern garage on Chester avenue and Twenty-fifth street, a structure exhibiting the mission style of architecture. Having purchased property at Santa Ana, in 1911 Mr. Burge removed with his family to that place, where now he owns and superintends an orange grove cf twenty acres and a walnut grove of twenty-one acres, the whole forming a very highly improved and valuable property, and is known as one of the "show places in the county. Much of his time is now given to he rti- culture, yet he has not neglected his Kern county properties nor lessened his deep interest in the progress of this section < f the state. Since the organiza- tion of the National Bank of Bakersfield he has been a stockholder and director in the institution. With -Mr. Thomas he organized the Security Development Company, of which he since has officiated as president. The company owns the old Fcx and Tamaloais leases in the North Midway and on 25 Hill. At this writing six wells are in operation, while others are in process of drilling. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1449 The only fraternal organization with which Mr. Burge has identified himself is the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, his membership being with iiakers- field Lodge No. 266. His family comprises Mrs. Burge and their six chil- dren. The former, formerly Miss Millie Mason, was born in Colorado and became his wife in Missoula, Mont., since which she has lived in California. Their family consists of four daughters and two sons, namely: Edna, Alice, William, Melvin, Vivienne and Myrna. RICHARD E. WHITE.— A native of New Mexico, Richard E. White was born at Georgetown, August 24, 1884, and was about five years old when, in 1889, his parents removed to Bakersfield, Kern county, where he was des- tined to become a citizen of prominence. After completmg his course in the public schools of Bakersfield, Richard White' was appointed, in 1902, a mid- shipman at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., by Con- gressman Daniels, and afterward sanctioned by the late Senator Smith. Serv- ing there for three years he acquired a valuable technical education. In 1904 he resigned his position in the navy and returned to Bakerstield where he was for iwo years employed as a civil engineer in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Then for two years he was assistant city engineer, in 1909 he became a contractor of street work at Bakersfield and OjjeraLed in that capacity successfully until 1911, when he engaged in the hardware and implement trade at \vasco. By industry, conscientious dealing and untailing aleriness he has succeeded even beyond his expecta- tions and is building up a fine business which extends far beyond the limits of his home tovvn. t^ratornaily Mr. White affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. September 17, lb08, he married Miss Bessie L. Caldwell, who was born at i)aiiia Kosa, Cal., l^ebruary 19, 1885, and they have a daughter, Julia V. JOHN J. McCLIMANS.— While the oil industry in the United States is of comparatively modern inception and development, three generations of the McLiimans have been identified wuh its history and the second gener- ation has a most capable representative in the superintendent of the Oleg Crude Oil Company, who from his earliest childhood days was familiar with the business and has made it a means of livelihood throughout his entire life. Association with the industry is continued through his sons, Augustus and Lewis, the former now engaged with the Alaska Pioneers and the latter employed by the Oleg Crude. 1 he grandfather, W. M., a native of Penn- sylvania, became connected with the oil business from its inception in his native commonwealth and he remained steadily in the occupation until he was accidentally killed by a runaway horse. Since his death the widow, who bore the maiden name of Jennie Calvin, has continued to make her home in Pennsylvania. In l^ranklin, Venango county, Pa., where he was born July 9, 1870, and where he attended the grammar schools, John J. McClimans acquired his first knowledge of the oil industry. At the age of sixteen years he w^as employed as a roustabout around oil wells. By the time he was twenty-two he had gained a thorough knowledge of tool-dressing and four years later he began to aid in the drilling of wells. All of this time he worked mostlv in Venango county. Meanwhile he married in that county Miss Amelia S. Miller, who was born and reared in Franklin, and by whom he has two sons, themselves already interested in the oil industry. During 19O0 the family came to California and Mr. McClimans secured employment with the Pacific (now the Oleg) Crude Oil Company, whose holdings in the McKittrick field he aided in deveLping through his skill as a driller. Recognition of his ability came in his promotion in 1901 to be superintendent of the McKittrick lease, which he developed so that it now contains five producing wells. From ^"^^5^-- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY B^' •*- — * that field in 1909 he came to the Midway and opened work on section 32, 31-23, w^here he since has developed four producing wells. Since coming to this field he has purchased stock in the company, so that he now is financially interested, as well as the superintendent of the Midway lease. With a reali- zation of the importance of good schools, he gave his services to the Oleg district as a director for four years and in that time accomplished much for the welfare of the local schools. On the organization of Yokute Tribe No. 152, I. O. R. M., at.McKittrick, he became a charter member and remained an active worker in the same until his removal from McKittrick to the Mid- way field. CHARLES D. SMITH.— The citizenship of Mr. Smith in California dates from 1901, while his identification with the Associated Oil Company dates from October 20, 1903, when he secured employment on the Green- Whiltier division of the Kern river field. Having had no previous experience, he was obliged to begin at the bottom and gradually work his way forward to a position cf importance. The youngest in a family of four children, Charles D. Smith was born near Warrentown, Warren county, Mo., December 29, 1880, being a son of Amandus and Eliza (Consage) Smith, also natives of Warren county, but now residents of Texas county. Mo., where they own and operate a farm. During the Civil war the father offered his services to the Union and was assigned to Comoany B, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, in which he remained until the expiration of his term of service. The old homestead was the environ- ment of the early years cf Charles D. Smith and the country schools gave him a fair education. From the age of nineteen years he has been self-sup- porting, for at that time he left Missouri for Kansas and secured employ- ment on a cattle ranch. Two years later, in 1901, he came to California, and found emph yment in ranching in Tulare county, whence he came to the Kern river field and began with the Associated Oil Company October 20, 1903. Em- ployment as roustabout was followed by that with a well-pulling gang. Within three and one-half months he had been made foreman of the gang and for eighteen months he continued in that capacity, after which he was transferred to the McKittrick division. Two years later he became tool-dresser, which en- gaged his attention for six months, and then he was put to the task of drilling, and four months later he was made foreman. As such he was retained in the McKittrick field until 1910, when he was transferred to Fellows and appointed general foreman cf the Midway division, in charge of drilling and production. About eight years after .he had removed to California he returned to visit the old Missouri neighborhood familiar to his early days and to spend a few months with his parents in Texas county, that state. During that visit he married, at Licking, Texas county, January 6, 1909, Miss Maggie Denison, a native of Licking, educated in the schools of the town and an active worker among the young people of the Baptist Church at that point. Her parents, Z. T. and Sarah C. (Jonathan) Denison, were natives of Kentucky and Ten- nessee respectively, but have been residents of Missouri from early years. In politics Mr. Smith votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. FRED L. GRIBBLE. — Many years ago, when the opportunities afforded by the west first began to attract the attention of the world, John W. Cribble, a Missourian by birth and a young man of energy and sterling worth, left the home of his youth in order to embrace the possibilities of the mountain regions lying beyond the then confines of civilization. For a time he en- gaged in ranching not far from Denver, Colo., but somewhat later he removed to Fremont county and took up a homestead, on a part of which now stands the thriving city of Florence. Upon selling out in that place he removed to Dallas, Colo., and continued agricultural pursuits. To some extent he had HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1451 been interested in mining- tlirouohont the entire ])eriod of his residence in Colorado and after coming to California in 1891 he continued the same occu- patit n in Tuolumne county, but more recently he has retired from active labors and now makes Bakersfield his home. By his union with Donna Arthur, a native of Missouri, he became the father of three children, the second of whom, Fred L., was born at Florence, Fremont county, Colo., December 9, 1876. During early life he attended the common scho Is of Colorado and after coming to California in 1891 he attended the Santa Barbara schools for a few months. Returning to Colorado a year af:er leaving that state, Mr. Cribble secured employment on a cattle ranch in Mesa county and later began in the stock business for himself. At first his herd was very small and only the range offered by government land enabled him to make a start in the indus- try but he met with fair success notwithstanding his lack of capital. While occupying various ranges he always made his headquarters at Grand Junc- tion and from that place his shipments of stock were made to the various markets of the country. During 1896 he came for the second time to Cali- fornia. This time he engaged in mining near Tuttletown, Tuolumne county. From there he went to Nevada and engaged in mining with more or less success. His experience in the gold, silver and copper mines has taken him into all of the western states and has given him an accurate comprehension of the industry, together with a fair knowledge of milling the ore. When a young boy in Colorado he had learned the carpenter's trade and after he established a home in Bakersfield in 1905 he turned his attention to the occu- pation, in which he met with a success that justified him five years later in taking up work as a contractor and builder on his own account. His comfort- able home at No. 920 Truxtun avenue is presided over with capability by Mrs. Cribble and they have two children, Fred and Inez. Mrs. Cribble bore the maiden name of Grace Martin and was born in Tuolumne county near Tuttletown, where she was reared and married. In politics Mr. Gribble is a Democrat and by his party in July of 1910 he was elected a member of the board cf trustees of Bakersfield. At the expiration of his first term he was again chosen to serve as a trustee and is now chairman of the building com- mittee. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles and the Woodmen of the World. ALBION R. BERGSTEN.— In the quiet and purposeful devotion to duty which has always been a marked characteristic of Albion R. Bergsten he strongly resembles his father, the late Andrew Bergsten, who for years was an employe of the Rock Island Plow Company. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Louise Ericksen, is still living in Rock Island, 111. The chief ambition of the parents was to rear their children to lives of honor and to fit them for positions of usefulness. There were six children in the family and of the four now living Albion R., the youngest of the four and the only one to settle on the coast, was born at Rock Island, 111., March 1, 1883, and received his education in the public schools of his native city. At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice black- smith with the Rock Island Plow Company and remained with that con- cern not only until he had completed his time, but later as a journeyman, being with them for eleven years altogether, and finally resigning in order to remove to California. Prior to his removal from Illinois he had married Miss Bertha Karr, a native of Rock Island county, that state, and by this union there is a daughter, Jessie Lois. February 2, 1910, he and his wife arrived in Bakersfield. It was not his desire to resume work as a blacksmith, so he sought employment in the oil fields and for four months held a position with a surveying corps on Elk Hills. For six months after his return to Bakersfield he had charge of the H street plant of the Sumner w-ater works. 1452 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY after which he resigned in order to take charge of the management of the Brewer building, then just completed, and he has continued as superintendent ever since. Since coming to Kern county he has been identified with the Modern Woodmen of Arnerica and the Mystic Workers of the World, while both he and his wife are earnest workers in the Christian Church of Bakersfield. H. A. McMURTRY. — Force of character and determination of will are evidenced in the Drogress of Mr. McMurtry. Since coming from Pennsyl- vania to California he has engaged at engineering and at this writing fills a most responsible position as chief engineer of the Producers' Transporta- tion Company at Sunset Station, about three miles north of Maricona, on section 34. 32-24. Prior to 1910 he had always been connected with the Standard Oil Company and since then he has been with the Producers, the greater part of this time having charge of the engines at the Sunset Station. With the earliest development of oil in Pennsylvania the Mc^lurtry fam- ily was identified. The late J. A. McMurtry was one t f the pioneer oil men of ihe Keystone state and followed the development of the industry from Oil City, where oil was first discovered, southward and westward into newer fields as each in turn was discovered and developed. Thus it happened that H. A., son of T. A., was reared in dififerent oil camps in Pennsylvania. He was born in St. Joe, Butler county, Pa., July 15, 1882, and attended the public schools of Chicora, in the same county, where later he gained his first practical experience in the oil business. While working at various jmmp stations for the Standard Oil Company he learned telegraphy, after which the Standard appointed him as telegraph operator at Ewing Station, W^ash- ington county. Pa., where he remained for ten years, meanwhile having heavy responsibilities in connection with the management of an important main-line station. While there he married Mrs. Emma Childress, widow of T. E. Childress, and daughter of Jacob Smith, of West Monterey, Clarion county. Pa. By her first husband she had one child, Esther Childress. Of her second marriage there is a daughter, Frances. The family reside in the company's house on the premises and the daughters are students in the Mari- copa school. Since taking his present position Mr. MciMurtry has had supervision of three men and has been devoted to his engineering duties. The Standard and Producers are the only companies for which he has worked and with both of these organizations he has become known for reliability, skill, tact and intelligence. BURT THOMAS.— When Mr. Thomas first entered the em )loy of the Standard Oil Company he was assigned to the production department, but later was transferred to the teaming or transportation department and is now engaged as teamster connected with the pipe-line deoartment at the pumping station of the Central Midway division, on section 1, 32-23, having charge of teaming not only in the Central Midway but also the Sagna station. At these two pumping stations in the Midway field the oil is pumped through the eight-inch mains of the company and sent on to the next station, thence pumped to the nearest station on its way to Point Richmond at the bay. In Wabasha county, Minn., near Lake City, Burt Thomas was born Se':)tember 3, 1859, being the only son of Uriah and Eliza (Lee) Thomas, pioneers c f Minnesota, where the father is still making his home in ]\Iinne- apolis. The mother, a native of Vermont, is now deceased, while the only daughter, now the wife of George W. Davis, is a resident of Chicago. 111. During the period of the supremacy of steamboat navigation on the Missis- sippi river Uriah Thomas engaged as a mate on one of these vessels and his connection with the business continued until the decadence of navigation on that stream, after which he settled on a farm and developed a tract of Min- nesota land. Burt Thomas was reared in Wabasha county, but in young HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1453 manhood removed to Minneapolis and secured a position in the city fire department. For fifteen years he continued with that work, meanwhile suffering many narrow escapes. He came nearly being killed while fighting the great fire that destroyed the Washburn iNo. 1 mill in ]\Iinneapolis and that was caused by an explosion of flour dust. In another fire a falling wall injured him and he was reported killed. Enlisting in the Spanish-American war April 1, 1898, Mr. Thomas became a private in Company I, Thirteenth Minnesota Infantry, which was sent to Camp Ramsey to be drilled in military tactics. June 29, of the same year, the command sailed from San Francisco for the Philippines. On the morn- ing of the 5th of July the ship cast anchor in the harbor ( f Honolulu. While on the Philippines he took part in twenty-eight engagements, some of these being among the most important battles of the entire war. When the war came to an end he was returned to San Francisco and received an he nor- able discharge in October, 1899, at the Presidio. He determined to .remain in San Francisco and soon secured a position in the street railway service, where he continued for three years, resigning at the time of the- strike. Later he was employed as special officer at the Auditorium and in other places and also served as a member of the special city police force until his resignation in 1909, after which he spent six months as special police officer at the Alaska- Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle. Returning to California, he spent about nine months as game warden and custodian of the estate of A. W^ Foster near Tamalpais and since leaving that pv;,sition he has been an employe of the Standard Oil Company in the Midway field. By his first marriage he has a daughter, Alice Myrtle, now engaged as a stenographer with the Gould Elevator Company in Alinneapolis. His present wife, whom he married in 1896, was formerly Miss Alice Carroll, of Minneapolis. R. W. McGILL. — From earliest recollections up to the present time Mr. McGill has been acquainted with the oil industry. As a boy at Petrdia, Onta- rio, Canada, where he was born December 11, 1875, he became familiar with the stirring excitement incident to the drilling for oil, a work that assumed especially important proportions through the fact that oil was struck on land owned by the McGill family. Thereupon the father, being offered a gratify- ing figure fcr the land, sold out and later acquired a ranch of three hundred and twenty acres in Manitoba now rented to tenants and devoted to the rais- ing of wheat. Himself interested in the oil business from an early age, he has made a specialty of the building of oil tanks, but is familiar with every depart- ment of the great industry. The fifth among six children who attained mature years, R. W. McGill remained in Canada until twenty-four years of age. Meanwhile, when only sixteen, he was a diligent worker in the oil fields and when only twenty-two he was considered one of the most careful drillers in the district. Fcr two years he drilled at Button, Ontario, and there he married Miss Annie Sutton, by whom he has a son, George. Leaving Canada in December of 1900, he brought his family to Bakersfield, Cal. He was familiar with the Midway field before Taft had a place on the map and before Maricopa had even a single store. The importance < f the field was then unsuspected. Nor were his first labors in the field fruitful of results. In the interests of the contract driller, J. E. Austin, now of Bakersfield, he engaged in drilling on section 31, 32-23, a wild-cat proposition that brought no oil. Going then to the Kern river field, he worked for the Grace, Vulcan and other companies, also held positions with the Union Pacific (now the Phoenix) and other refineries, and helped to build the National and Great Western (now Producers') refineries. After five years as an employe of refineries in the Kern river field Mr. McGill purchased a one-half interest in the livery stable of William Ratliff, now deceased, but at the expiration of three months he sold his interest in 1454 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the livery business in order to resume identification with the oil industry. After a time he took charge of the Live Stock Oil Company and when it was overtaken by the Tannehill Oil Company he was retained by the new organi- zation as superintendent, which position he still fills, having charge of the lease on section 34, 12-24. On the lease there are twelve wells and the ten of these now active produce an average of four thousand barrels per month. A driller of long experience and exceptional ability, the superin- tendent is thoroughly qualified to cope with every difficulty that arises. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield. W. CANFIELD.— As drilling foreman on the Taft division of the Kern Trading & Oil Company, which position he has filled since May of 1911, Mr. Canfield takes just pride in the development of the oil industry and keeps posted concerning the production of the commodity in the state's most noted fuel oil fields. About the year 1890 N. O. Canfield brought his family to California and settled in Los Angeles, where he engaged in cement and brick contracting. The business depression following the subsidence of the boom afifected him serii, usiy. Many owed him for work already completed and, unable to col- lect these large sums, he could not continue in business. Undaunted by this serious trouble, he started anew and in due time regained a competency through fortunate investments in the Kern river and Los Angeles oil fields. Surrounded by all the comforts that brighten life's declining day, he is now living on his ranch in Tulare county. His wife, who is also still living, bore the maiden name of Ella Brcmigham. During the residence of the family in Minnesota W. Canfield was born October 31, 1878. Between the ages of five and twelve years he lived with his parents in Moody county, S. Dak. After the age of twelve he lived in Los Angeles, where he completed his education in the Commercial High (now the Polytechnic) school. After graduation he gave his time wholly to the oil business, in which he had worked previously during vacations. Under the firm name of Canfield Bros., he. and his brother, Frank, entered the Kern river field in 1899 and put down nineteen wells on the Knob Hill lease, also drilled in other parts of the same field. Meanwhile Mr. Canfield also had charge of the old Aztec Oil Company. Going to the Midway field in 1905, he spent a year as driller for the C.C.M. Oil Comoany, and in 1906 transferred his headquarters to Coalinga. where for eip-hteen months he took charge of a rotary well-drilling outfit for the Associated. Contract drilling of artesian water wells kept Canfield Bros, in Tulare county for a time. On the return of Mr. Canfield to the Kern river field he drilled a number of wells ff r the Sapphire Oil Company, but no oil was found. As superintendent of the Western ATineral Oil Company he spent a year on their lease west of Maricopa. In 1910 he entered the employ of the Kern Trading & Oil Company as a driller and the following year he was promoted to be drilling foreman on the Taft division. With his wife, who was form- erly Miss Helen Grodzek of Bakersfield, he lives in a cottage on the company's lease. Besides being a member of the Petroleum Club, he is interested in other enterprises for the upbuilding of the city and especially for the devel- opment of the great oil interests on which the life of the city itself defends. W. A. ENGELKE.— The Taft Garage Company, of which W. A. Engelke is manager, was acquired from Woods Brothers June 21, 1913, by the present owners, one of whom is the manager and proprietor. On the corner of Fifth and Main streets the company owns a galvanized iron building, 50x118 feet in dimensions, with office, waiting room, machine shop and auto- mobile storage room. The equipment is so complete that automobilists may be accommodated in every line of their necessities. Ample facilities have been provided for the storage of cars. Supplies are kept on hand and repair work HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1453 is executed promptly by a corps of able and trustworthy machinists and at- tendants, under the supervision of the proprietor, himself a skilled machinist and unusually capable workman. Like many of those prominent in business and oil circles in the Midway field Mr. Engelke is a young man. He was born in St. Louis county, Mo., March 23, 1886, and is the" only son among- five children, whose parents, Frederick and Margaret (Ennis) Engelke, still reside in St. Louis, the father having been engaged in business there for many years. Having received fair advantages in the public schools, W. A. Engelke at the age of sixteen began an apprenticeship of three years to the trade of machinist with Yerkes & Finan, of St. Louis. At the age of nineteen he became an employe in an auto- mobile factory owned and operated by the St. Louis. Power Company. In that place he continued until his removal to the west, with the exception of eighteen months as maintenance man for Buxtcn & Skinner. One of his duties was in connection with the printing presses, which he repaired and kept in perfect working order, ^ A brief experience with a manufacturing company in Los Angeles after his arrival in that city in 1910 was followed by the employment of Mr. Engelke with the Premier Automobile Company as machinist in their garage. From that place he came to Maricopa in January, 1912, and secured employ- ment two miles north of that town, as machinist at the Monarch camp of the Union Oil Company. While working on the celebrated Lakeview lease he formed the acquaintance of F. F. Hill, general superintendent of develop- ment, and George Kammerer, superintendent of development in the Midway and Maricopa districts. By singular goed fortune his real merits attracted the attention of these two widely known oil operators. Appreciating his skill as a machinist and his character as a man, they formed a partnership with him in the Taft garage, each gentleman buying one-third interest in the business, which has since been under the management of Mr. Engelke. FRED C. SHERWOOD.— During August of 1909 Mr. Sherwood and his wife established their home in the place they still occupy and about the same time he was assigned to work as a driller on section 6, township 31, range 23. Since then he has engaged as a driller or as driller foreman with the C.C.M. Oil Company, commonly known as the Santa Fe. Twenty-two miles from Erie, in Union township, Erie county. Pa., Fred C. Sherwood was born on a farm June 1, 1873, being the son of Bruce Sher- wcod, who for years has engaged in general farming and stock-raising. Primarily educated in public schools, he later attended the high school and Luce's Business College at Union City, Pa. Leaving home at the age of twenty-one, he went to West Virginia and found employment with an uncle in the oil fields of Jake's Run. For three months he was hired as a teamster, after which he was taught to dress tools. Several years later he turned from tool-dressing to drilling. At Fairmont, W. Va., November 29, 1898, he mar- ried Miss Celesta H. Barr, of Crossroads, Monongalia county, W. Va., and afterward he continued to work in the oil fields as a driller, remaining in West Virginia until 1907. For eighteen mcnths he and his wife lived at the old Pennsylvania homestead and from there in December, 1908, they came to California. His first place of work in the west was in Cat canon, Santa Maria oil field, where he engaged in drilling for the Brooks Oil Company. On leaving that field he came to the Midway August 1, 1909, and since then he has been with the Santa Fe, now being driller foreman in charge of four strings cf tools. With his wife he holds membership in the Methodist Epis- copal Church at Taft and their oldest child, Hazel Sherwood, is now engaged as church organist. Two other children bless the household, Harry and Oren. Fraternally Mr. Sherwood is connected with the blue lodge of Masonry and the Modern Woodmen of America. 1456 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY AXEL LONSTROM.— r>orn at Stockholm, Sweden, February 7, 1872, and where his father, for years engaged in business as a manufacturer of powder, is now living in quiet retirement, at the age of seventy-two years. Axel Lonstrom at sixteen years of age started out to see something ^ f the world. Having lived all of his life near the coast, he was familiar with the great ships that sailed the high seas and it was on one of these that he started out, and until nineteen years of age he was a sailor on English and American sail and steamshins. One of his first voyages tcok him to the principal ports of the Mediterranean sea. Later he sailed from Marseilles, France, to Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Later voyages took him to New York City, the West Indies, Trinidad Island and London, after which he sailed along the coast of Great Britain and thence to Barcekna, Soain. On again crossing the ocean he traversed the St. Lawrence river to Three Rivers, ninety miles above Quebec, from which place he returned to London on the vessel Bucephalus. An English sailing-ship brought him around the Horn to San Francisco and there he engaged to accompany the whaler Sea Breeze in a whaling expedi- tion to the Bering sea and Artie ocean, where he remained f. r nine months. At the close of the whaling cruise Mr. Lonstrom proceeded from San Francisco to Los Angeles and near there spent seven months on h ranch. From that he drifted into other work. The mcney so carefully hoarded was lost during an unprofitable period as owner of a Long Beach meat market. For a time he worked at ranching and breaking colts. With a number of companions he sailed from San Pedro f c r Alaska on a schooner they had bought for $6,003. For a time he engaged in mining at Kotzebue sound, and indeed, he prospected and mined throughout almost every nart of that great and unknown country. Many of his experiences were thrilling and some even dangerous, nor were there any rich discoveries to repay him for the hardships and ')rivations. After he had remained in the far north con- tinuously from 1898 to the fall of 1909 he came down to Seattle, but in the spring oi 1910 he returned to Nome. Again in the fall of 1910 he sailed down to Seattle, only to return to Alaska for the summer of 1911, but when in the fall of that year he again departed from Nome, it was with the intention of remaining in the United States, and since then he has been engaged in the oil industry in Kern county, working on various leases until the spring of 1912, when he was promoted to be yard foreman of the Central Midway division for the General Petroleum Company. Since coming to Taft he has identified himself with the Loyal Order of Moose. T. P. KELEHER. — A specialist in the important work of pipe line con- struction and connection is "Tim" Keleher, who holds a very responsible position as connection foreman of the pipe line department, Standard Oil Company, on section 1, township 32, range 23. Arriving at Taft Se Uember 1, 1910, he since has been identified with the development of the Midway field, and on the 1st of November following his arrival at this point he was tendered the position he since has filled. Mr. Keleher was born in Toledo, Ohio, August 20, 1872, and is third among the six living children of Daniel Keleher, for thirty-five years a care- taker in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company. While at- tending school in Toledo he gave his vacations to baseball and soon acquired skill in the game. After considerable amateur work he became a member of the Inter-State League. During the first tw^o seasons he played with amateur nines at Toledo and smaller towns throughout the state. During the third year, while playing second base with the South Bend Nine, he was injured in the arm in such a way as to incapacitate him for athletics. Forced to seek another occupation, he turned to the oil industry and secured a position with the East Ohio Gas Company. After two years in their service he went to the West Virginia oil fields, thence to Kentucky, working in gas and oil HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1457 fields for five years in those states. Next he spent two years in the Ohio oil fields mainly at Lima and Findlay. Two years were spent by Mr. Kelcher in construction work on the oil line extending from Jamestown, Ind., to Martinsville, 111., after which he engaged in construction work on the first large gas line out of Kansas City. From there he went to Oklahoma and for a year worked on pipe line con- struction at Tulsa. Returning to former headquarters he became an employe of the Ohio Oil Company and for almost six years had charge of their inter- ests at Martinsville. Upon resigning that position in 1910 he came to Cali- fornia and since has been connected with the Standard Oil Company at Taft. He is a member of the Catholic Church. While he had his headquarters in Illinois he was married, at Marshall, that state, to Miss Margaret Kelm, who was born and reared in Illinois, received an excellent education and from childhood has been an attendant at the services of the Methodist Episcopal Church. A daughter, Margaret Mary, blesses their union. CHARLES S. TAYLOR. — Among the men who have taken an active part in prospecting and developing the mining interests of Kern and San Bernardino counties is Charles S. Taylor, superintendent of the Atolia Mining Company at Atolia. Tennessee is the native state of Mr. Taylor, he being born at Elizabelhton, Carter county, June 21, 1871. His father, Jonathan Taylor, was a carpenter by trade and during the Civil war served in Com- pany B, Fourth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. In 1876 he came to California, his death occurring in Fresno county. Charles S. Taylcr lived in Tennessee until 1884 when he came to Lemoore, Cal., where he completed the public school course. He then ft llowed farm- ing until March, 1896, when he came to Randsburg and after eighteen months with the Butte Mining Company he was two years with the Y. A. ^I. & M. Co., after which he began prospecting and mining on his own account. Just after Churchill discovered the tungsten ore in 1905 he with tthers iocated several tunsfsten claims at what is now Atolia, and also bought an interest with Mr. Ray. Together they began to open the Papoose mine which is now the site of the main plant of the Atolia Mining Company. Mr. Taylor was foreman of operations until January, 190^. when the Atolia ^Mining Com- pany of San Francisco purchased the Churchill, Ray, Taylor and other inter- ests and continued operations and development. Mr. Taylor was engaged as foreman and was afterward made superintendent of the mines. The com- pany have sixty-two claims and the mine is considered the largest and richest individual tungsten mine in the world. In 1906 when the postoffice was Iccated at Atolia he was appointed post- master and has held the position ever since. As one of the organizers of the Atolia school district he was a member of the first board of trustees and has been its clerk for three terms. In Kingman, Ariz., occurred the marriage of Mr. Taylor with Mrs. Ger- trude (Nelson) Schoonmaker, a native of Ohio, and they have two children, Charles S., Jr., and Robert Lawrence. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., and he is also a member of Los Angeles Consistory and Al Malaikah Temple, N. M. S. With his wife he is a member of the Order of Eastern Star. ANDREW J. FOUST.— Whatever of success has crowned the efforts of Mr. Foust and whatever of gocd he has accomplished in the world may be attributed to the possession on his part of determination of Avill, honesty of purpose and integrity of character. With these attributes and the aid of his capable wife he has risen to a place of independence. The Foust family is of German extraction. As early as 1845, when Iowa presented a vast stretch of uncultivated acreage and Des Moines Avas merely a log fort, E. M. Foust, who was born in Indiana in 1832, accom- 1458 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY panied other members of the family to the state and settled on a claim about ten miles south of Des Moines in Warren county. Ever since then he has lived on the same land. Meanwhile he has seen the state developed into a great commonwealth and the improvement of his own property has kept pace with the growth of the state. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Bishop, was born in Indiana and died on the Iowa farm in Decem- ber, 1854, leaving an only child, Andrew J., whose birth had occurred on that same homestead January 2, 1854. As a boy this son worked early and late. When not needed on the farm he was sent to the neighboring school. At the age of fourteen he began to work for farmers in the community and continued as a hired hand until he established a home of his own. The marriage of Mr. Foust November 13, 1879, united him with Miss Elector L. Bishop, a native of Somerset, Iowa. The eldest of six children, Mrs. Foust was a daughter of Levi and Caroline (Ferrel) Bishop, natives respectively of Indiana and Missouri. At the age of nine years in 1845 Levi Bishop accompanied his father, Joshua Bishop, from Indiana to Iowa, and settled not far from the capital city of Des Moines, then an insignificant village of logs, fortified to afford protection from the Indians. Thri^ughout all of his active life Mr. Bishop engaged in general farming in Iowa. At the opening of the Civil war he entered Company H, Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, in which he continued at the front until the failure of his health and his h( norable discharge. After returning home he served as lieutenant of a company of Iowa Home Guard. Eventually he removed to F(jwler, Cal., where he remained until death and where his widow still makes her home. A condition of health so serious as to arouse fears for the life of Mrs. Foust led her husband to close out his farming interests in Iowa and remove to California in February, 1888. The change proved beneficial and Mrs. Foust was soon restored to health. Nor did the removal prove disastrous from a financial point of view. On the other hand, Mr. Foust has been prospered in the west. Immediately after his arrival in Kern county he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch, put up a house, sunk a well, established his home there and at the expiration of five years proved up on the claim. Later he bought eighty acres of school land four miles from the home- stead. In order to improve the new property he removed thither, after which time he made a special feature of the stock business until June, 1913, the date of his removal to California avenue. In politics he has been a stanch Republican. On the organization of the Vineland school district he was made a member of the first board of trustees and upcn removing to the farm of eighty acres he aided in organizing the Mountain View school district, of which he served as trustee for many years. In religion they are members of the Christian Church. Their eldest son, E. L., who died in 1903, had been engaged as a steel construction engineer and had designed many steel buildings in San Francisco. The other sons, E. B. and L. E., are respectively boss rig builder and superintendent of construction for the Associated Oil Company at Fellows. The third child and only daughter, Mrs. Virna Fill- more, is a resident of the Weed Patch, where her husband, H. H. Fillmore, is engaged in farm pursuits. GEORGE W. URIE.— George W. Urie was born in Chelsea, Mass., August 15, 1864, and was the son of John and Elizabeth (Orell) Urie, natives of Paisley, Scotland, and England, respectively. The father learned the dyer's trade in Paisley and on coming to the United States follow^ed the trade in the woolen mills in Massachusetts. George W^. was brought up and edu- cated in Alassachusetts. When eighteen years of age he removed with the family to Appleton, Wis., where he learned the dyer's trade under his father, but five years later was obliged to give it up on account of his health. He then began the study of telegraphy in Rockford, III., and held positions with HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1459 the Illinois Central Railroad in different parts of Illinois and Wisconsin until 1901 when he removed with his family to California. Here he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad as operator at Red Bluff until 1902 when he held the same position at Indio. Then he was assistant agent at Anaheim for one year, when he became agent and operator at Glamis. This was at the front during the time of the opening of the Palos Verdes valley and to accommodate the settler and miners he opened a restaurant and also a hay and feed business. After three years he was sent as agent to Mecca, where he remained four years. Next he was stationed at Cabazon until April, 1913, when he was transferred to McFarland as agent. With his son, Charles L., he is engaged in the coal and feed business in McTarland under the firm of G. W. Urie & Son. Mr. Urie's marriage occurred in Appleton, Wis., when he was united with Miss Lulu A. Sackett, a native of that place, and to them have been born four children, as follows : Hazel G., John L., Chester L. and Donald W., all under the parental roof with the exception of John L., who is at- Venice, Cal. Fraternally Mr. Urie is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. He is a devout Methodist and is an active member of the board of trustees of the McFarland Methodist Episcopal Church. MISS ELLA B. KINTON.— Among the residents of Rosamond we find Miss Kinton, who was a pioneer homesteader and merchant, having located here as early as 1890. She has since given all her energy to the develop- ment of this section of Kern county. Born at Mans Choice, Bedford county, Pa., she is the daughter of Theodore and Maggie E. (Stuckey) Kinton, both descendants cf old Pennsylvania families; the father is deceased, but the mother is still living at the old home in Bedford county. The great-grandfather of Theodore Kinton was Thomas Kinton, who served as an of^cer under General Washington in the French and Indian war. He located on a farm at the foot of Willis mountain in Bedford county, the same place that Theodore Kinton afterwards owned and where Miss Kinton was reared. A high peak of Willis mountain was named Kinton Knob in his honor. In July, 1890, Miss Kinton came to California and immediately (the same month) located at Rosamond. About a year later she located a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres five miles west of Rosamond on the Willow Springs road, the present site of the Hamilton mill. She made the necessary improvements, sunk two wells and resided on it for five years, when she proved up on it. She then sold twenty acres for the Hamilton mill site, retaining, one hundred and forty acres. In 1896 she moved back to Rosamond where she built and started a store and ever since has continued in the mercantile business. Being appointed postmaster of Rosamond under the Cleveland administration she served from 1895 to 1909. Having a retentive memory she is well posted as co the history and growth of this vicinity and therefore is able to relate incidents that are intensely interesting. Reared in the Presbyterian Church, she holds to that faith, while in her political convic- tions she adheres to the principles of the Republican party. J. W. HICKS.— Born in Randolph county, Mo., April 27, 1873, J. W. Hicks is a son of the late J. C. and Jeannette (Crawford) Hicks. The latter was born in Missouri and died in California. The former, who followed agri- cultural pursuits in Missouri, came across the plains to California during the summer of 1854 and tried his luck in the mines and on the. unimproved farm lands of the then undeveloped west. It was not until 1869 that he returned to Missouri and resumed general farming in Randolph county, where he remained for a long period. Accompanied by his family in 1889 he came to California and settled in Kern county, but later resided in Tulare county. His last days were passed in Bakersfield. Of his seven children all but two 1460 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY are still living, the eldest being J. \V., who was fifteen at the time of coming to Kern county for the first time. Here and in Tulare county he completed the trade of a carpenter. About 19C0 he was one of the original locators of Twenty-five Hill in the oil fields, but relinquished his interest before the value of the lease was known. Several years were spent by Mr. Hicks in carpentering through different localities of Northern California, Utah and Nevada, and during that period he formed the acquaintance of Miss Celia J. Henry, who was born in Utah and with whom he was united in marriage at Ogden, that state. On returning to KeriT, county he took up carpentering on the west side. After a year as a carpenter he was elected marshal of Maricopa and devoted much of his time to the duties of that position, resigning eventually in order to remove to Bakersfield, where since February of 1912 he and his wife, with their four children, Lynn, Marvin, Walter and Fred, have made their home. He is stanch in his sympathy with the socialist movement and well informed con- cerning its objects and principles. Upon his removal to Bakersfield he was elected president of the Carpenters' Local No. 743, and February 14, 1913, he was chosen business agent of the Kern County Building Trades Council, to which work he devotes his entire time. MICHEL ANSOLABEHERE.— A native of France, M. Ansolabehere was born March 24, 1875, in Basses-Pyrenees. He attended public schools near his boyhood home for a short time and worked for his father until he came to the United States. He arrived in Kern county January 8, 1893. at the end of a direct journey over seas and across the United States. Very soon after he came here he engaged in herding sheep, a business which has commanded his attention to the present time. He planned and worked and prospered and saved his money until in January, 1910, he was able to buy a ranch of sixty acres, six miles from Bakersfield, which is all under cultivation, producing good crops of alfalfa, oats and barley. During recent years he has gradually reduced the number of his sheep until he now has comparatively few. As a stockman and farmer he has succeeded, due largely to his industry and integrity. On September 3, 1908, Mr. Ansolabehere married Miss Frances Labouc- here, who was born in France February 18, 1887, and they have a daughter whom they have named Lucy. FRANK HARROL BALDWIN.-^The proprietor of the Star livery stable in Bakersfield is a member of an old family of the east and has the dis- tinction of being descended in the collateral line from D. H. Baldwin, the inventor and original manufacturer of the celebrated Baldwin piano. For several generations the family has had representatives in or near Cincinnati, where occurred the birth of Caleb S. Baldwin and also of his wife, Margaret, daughter of Daniel Allen Campbell, one of the first retail milk dealers to engage in business in Cincinnati. At the opening of the Civil war Caleb S. Baldwan, then a youth of eighteen, enlisted in the Union army and was a drummer in an Ohio regiment. With his command he went to the front and took part in many engagements. In one of the battles with the Con- federate troi ps he was seriously wounded, but in time fully regained his health. At the close of the war he returned to Cincinnati and engaged in the retail oil business, which engrossed his attention throughout his remaining years. While yet in the midst of his useful activities he was removed by death, leaving an only child, Frank Harrol. The wife and mother is still living and makes her home in Cincinnati, where her son was born August 27, 1878, and where he received a public school education. In 1896 he went to Phoenix, Ariz., and learned the undertaking and embalming business under A. J. Bradley, with whom he continued to work for two years. In the spring of 1898 he came to California and in the autumn of the same year he settled HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1461 in Bakersfield, where he secured employment in the Union stables. Upon leaving- that place he entered the employ of Jacob Neiderauer as undertaker and embalmer, but in a short time he resigned the position to embark in the livery business on his own account. For three years Mr. Baldwin operated a livery stable at Oil Center and the venture proved profitable in a gratifying degree. After disposing of that stable he returned to Bakersfield and started the Exchange stable on Eighteenth and I streets. Four years later he disposed of the business and thereupon started the Star stable on the corner cf Chester avenue and Twenty- third street. During 1909 he erected a brick building, 75x120 feet in dimen- sions and two stories in height, with elevator running between the two floors. The stable stands at No. 232 Chester avenue and is said to l)e the most modern fireproof building for livery purposes in the entire city. White sandstone brick is utilized in the constructii n of the building and the effect is attractive as well as substantial. In addition to owning the building and the livery business Mr. Baldwin has a small fruit ranch in Kern county and real estate in Bakersfield. Politically he votes with the Republican party. At Los Angeles, September 1, 1906, he married Miss Margaret Voshell, who was born at Easton, Md., and descends from French-Huguenot ancestry identified with America during the colonial period. In a family of eight chil- dren she was fifth in order cf birth. Her father, John W., a farmer of Mary- land, removed with his family to Kansas and settled in McPherson county, where he still makes his home. Some time before leaving the east he had married Miss Sarah Lewis, a native of Dover, Del., and a member of an old eastern family. Her death occurred in Kansas, in which state Mrs. Baldwin was reared, receiving excellent advantages in the Normal University at Salina. CHARLES HENRY SHURBAN.— The youngest child and only son among three children, Charles Henry Shurban was born at Fryeburg, Oxford ccunty. Me., March 25, 1863, and is a son of John and Mary (Downs) Shur- ban, natives respectively of Vermont and Maine. Early in life the father migrated from Vermont to Maine and there married Miss Downs, after which they began housekeeping upon a farm in Oxford county. During the Civil war he enlisted as a private in a Maine regiment of infantry and was sent to the front with his command. Twice he was wounded on the battle-field. Six months after he had received an hcnorable discharge at the close of the war he died from the effects of his wounds. The only son was then scarcely more than an infant and upon the mother was thrown the heavy responsi- bility of caring for the three children ; nobly she labored for their support and welfare, ncr did her labors cease until her death, which occurred in ]\laine. Meanwhile the son had been taken into the home of Theodcre Pingree, a brother of Hon. Hazen Pingree, ex-governor of Michigan. For three years he did such work in the Pingree home as his years rendered possible and meanwhile he was allowed to attend school regularly, so that his education was not wholly neglected. Coming to California in 1882 he secured employment on a ranch near Modesto, Stanislaus county; later he was emploved near Merced and in the vicinity of Stockton. During 1886 he came to Bakersfield and secured em- ployment with Carr & Haggin as fcreman of the ditch gang. In a short time he left to take a clerkship in a store on Chester avenue and Eighteenth street, Bakersfield, owned at that time by Mr. McKelvey. In the same room were the offices of the Wells-Fargo Express Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company. When the Wells-Fargo Express Company established their ollfice at Kern in 1895 he was chosen as agent and continued to fill the position until his resignation in 1908, upon taking up the work in the rural mail service. Meanwhile, associated with John Kaar. he had erected the First Bank of Kern building on the corner of Baker and Humboldt streets 1462 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and had aided in the organization of the First Bank of Kern, in which he served as a director until he disposed of his stock. At Limington, York county, Me., occurred the marriage of Charles Henry Shurban and Miss Sadie V. Foss, who was born at Limington and is a grad- uate of the academy in that city. Prior to their marriage she had engaged in educational work. The family of which she is a member ranks among the oldest and most prominent in New England and her father, John R. Foss, was a first cousin of Hon. Eugene Foss, governor of Massachusetts. Some time since Mr. Shurban purchased a block of ground and on one of the cor- ners (Fremont and Gage streets) he erected the residence, where he and his wife are comfortably domiciled. They are the parents of two children, Robert, a graduate of the Kern county high school class of 1913, and now a clerk in the post office at Bakersfield ; and Callie, who is a member of the class of 1914 in the same high school. The family attend the Congregat-'onal Church. After his arrival in Kern county in 1886 Mr. Shurban made a study of its conditions and possibilities and decided to remain, a resolve which he has no reason to regret, for he has become well known to business men, prominent in the K dge of Odd Fellows, highly regarded among personal friends and successful in his chosen line of work. FORREST A. CASSADY.— Although the earliest memories of Mr. Cas- sady are associated with California and Kern county, Iowa is his native com- monw^ealth and he was born in Madison county November 19, 1886, being one of the three sons of Joseph and Maggie (Cunningham) Cassady, known and honored by many of the citizens of Kern county. The family had no means on their arrival in Bakersfield and it required the most tireless industry on the part of the father to provide for wife and children. However, he had become inured to hardships and privations in early life and the struggle for existence did not discourage him. Although a native cf New York state, he had lived in Iowa from the age of three years and was familiar with pioneer experiences from early memories in the vicinity of Winterset. After his marriage to Miss Cunningham, a native of Iowa, he settled upon a farm in Madison county and continued there until 1887, when he brought the family to Bakersfield and secured work with Carr & Haggin. In a shrrt time he entered the maintenance of way department with the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company. Later he was promoted to be foreman of the construction department, in which responsible position he remained for twenty-two years. Meanwhile his wife determined to prove vip en a homestead. Entering a tree claim near Lerdo, she proved up on the tract and eventually acquired a title to three hundred and twenty acres of land, which was not sold until about 1907. In addition he had bought and developed eighty acres in the Rio Bravo district, but this too has been sold at a profit. The Cassady family includes three sons now living, of whom the eldest, Frank, is employed with the Kern Trading and Oil Company, and the young- est, Walter, remains with his parents in East Bakersfield. The second son, Forrest A., received his education in the grammar and high schools of Kern county, but left school when only fourteen years of age and took up the battle of self-support. For five years he held a clerkship in the freight depart- ment of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Upon resigning that posi- tion he opened the City market, but at the expiration of one year sold the business. During the ensuing year he was employed as foreman in the department of maintenance of way with the Southern Pacific Railroad, but resigned in 1908 and then started the People's market at No. 814 Baker street, East Bakersfield. On July 1, 1913, he purchased a half interest in the Metropole market. No. 810 Baker street, in partnership with A. W. Rench, and they are today conducting not only the largest market of the kind in East Bakersfield, but one of the largest wholesale and retail enterprises of HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1463 the kind in Kern county. In the management of the market they evince a desire to please their customers and to meet their diversified needs and pref- erences. The many responsibilities of the business are met with a keen in- telligence and a high sense of honor. Mr. Cassady's attention has been given closely to business and he is independent in his political views. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus. His family comprises wife and two daughters, Kathleen and Pauline, his wife having been, prior to the marriage in East Bakersfield, Miss May Callagy, for some years a resident of this city, but a native of Iowa City, Iowa, and reared and educated in Creston, that state. GEORGE P. THORNBURGH.— Since bringing his family to the west he has followed agricultural pursuits and at present makes a specialty of raising hay and of the dairy industry, which are very satisfactory. The one hundred and sixty acres kncwn as the Fujon ranch, which he is holding under lease, is well adaoted to this industry, for seventy acres are in hay and thirty-five acres in an excellent pasture. In addition he is devoting con- siderable attention to the raising of grapes and has a vineyard of thirty-three acres on the farm. Of southern parentage Mr. Thornburgh was born in Leavenworth county, Kan., May 25, 1859, and is a son of John and Rachel (Preston) Thornburgh, the frrmer a native of Tennessee, the latter a Kentuckian by birth. As early as 1854 the father became a pioneer of Kansas, where he heloed to lay out the city of Leavenworth and where for years he engaged in farm pursuits. There were eight children in the familv, but aside from George P.. only three are now living, namely: Benjamin, Eliza Jane and John W., all of whom remain in Kansas. The early recollections of George P. Thornburgh are associated with the stirring events in Kansas that marked the ch sing era of the Civil war. The poverty Of the family prevented him from securing a good education, but through observation and reading he has become a man of broad information. During 1886 he married Miss Flora Young, a native of Atchison c( unty, Kan., and they settled upon a farm in Leavenworth county, remaining in Kansas until 1907, when they came to California. Immediately after his arrival in Kern county Mr. Thornburgh rented land and took up ranching, which he still follows. During December of 1911 he came to the Fujon ranch which he is holding under a lease of three years and with the assistance of his family he is making good in his dairying enter- prises. In his family there are nine children, of whom five have left the shelter of the parental roof to take up life in homes of their own. The eldest, Grace May, is the wife of Ora Collins, a hardware merchant of De Ridder, La. Blanche married J. W. James and lives on a farm in Kern county. Otto is a mail clerk, with headquarters at Topeka, Kan. Lester married Miss Myrtle Fowler and is engaged in farming in Kern county. On March 4, 1912, Elma became the wife of W. E. Addington, foreman cf the Mitchell garage, Bakersfield. The four remaining children are still with their parents and are as follows : Roy, Edith, Everett and Floyd. In his anxiety to secure educa- tional advantages for his children Mr. Thornburgh has taken a warm interest in every movement to promote the welfare of local schools. Since coming to this county he has served as school trustee, having been re-elected to the office in the spring of 1912. Vineland district, of which he acts as trustee, has a commodious scho( Ihouse and boasts one of the best schools in all the region south of Bakersfield. Politically he has voted with the Democratic party ever since he attained his majority. However, there is no trace of partisanship in his opinions, but instead he manifests a warm devotion to the welfare of county, commonwealth and nation in all those higher interests that make for the ultimate weal of the people. J. N. CRAIG. — That Kern county presents exceptional advantages for agricultural development is the firm belief of J. N. Craig. When first he 63 1464 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY acquired unimproved acreage in the Weed Patch during the year 1909 he immediately began the task of placing under a high state of cultivation his tract oi three hundred and twenty acres, forming the west one-half of sec- tion 13, township 28, range 31. He is successfully engaged in raising alfalfa and stock. Since acquiring the property he has erected a commodious resi- dence of two stories, a substantial barn, a milkhouse and a ranchhouse con- taining a dining-room and kitchen. While the ranch is under the East Side canal, a branch of the Kern Island canal, his facilities for the securing of an adequate supply of water are further enhanced by three wells and two pump- ing plants for the watering of stock. One of these wells is four hundred and twenty feet deep and has a never-failing supply of artesian water. Born in Florence, Italy, July 8, 1874, Mr. Craig is the son of the late Eugene and Mary Craig, natives respectively of Pittsburg, Pa., and New- port, R. I., the former a sculptor and painter of prominence. Educated in private classical schools in Germany and France Mr. Craig later became a student in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where his father had been an honorary professor. As a student in the department of architecture he remained in the academy for two years. Upon coming to America and set- tling in Los Angeles in 1899, he became interested in the development of the west and made a study of conditions in various localities. For a time he operated a ranch in Lower California. In 1902 he was united in marriage with Miss Edith Murray, of Los Angeles, and they afterward spent three years in European travel, returning to Los Angeles and from there coming to Kern county. In his devotion to the progress of Kern county and the agricultural prosperity of the Weed Patch, he is surpassed by none of the older residents, and his identification with the locality already is bearing fruit in an improved agricultural outlook, a more intense interest in local develop- ment and a deepened faith in this region a's one of the garden spots of the west. RAY OWEN. — Upon the establishment of a postoffice at Shale in April of 1912 Mr. Owen received the appointment as postmaster and when in the same year the Wells-Fargo Express Company opened an office at this point he was selected to serve as agent. In addiaon to filling these positions he acts as manager for the Holmes Supply Company at Shale. Although it was only in April of 1910 that Mr. Owen came to the oil fields of Kern county, thus identifying himself with an industry in which he had no previous experience, already he has acquired a wide general knowledge of the business and a considerable acquaintance among the oil operators, wi:h all of whom he is popular. Mr. Owen is a native of Crawford county, Mich., born November 9, 1885. His education was that afforded by the public schools of the country. At an early age he became self-supporting. As clerk with mercantile and other houses in the east he gained his first practical knowledge of business affairs. For a time he was employed in Bishop's candy and cracker factory. During a period of four years and ten months he remained with the general mercantile firm of T. E. Douglass & Co., meanwhile receiving a merited increase in salary as his knowledge of the business made his services more valuable. During 1909 he left Michigan and came to California, making his home in Los Angeles and Covina until August of 1911, when he came to the oil fields. In April of 1912 he received the appointment as postmaster at Shale, also acts as agent for Wells-Fargo Express Company, and as manager for che Holmes Supply Company he has since been a leading busi- ness man of the new town where he is an influential factor in material development, maintaining the keenest interest in the development of the surrounding oil territory. Since coming to this county he has become a member of the Knights of Pythias at Taft. JAMES ERNEST ROBERTS.— A native of Dallas, Texas, born April HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1465 16, 1879, James Ernest Roberts was brought to the county by his parents in 1882. His father, James C. Roberts, is an old settler of Kern county and is represented elsewhere in this history. Ernest Roberts atcended the public school and when about sixteen entered the Kern county high school, and was graduated from the commercial department. At seventeen he began his connection with the Kern County Land Company, becoming zanjero on the Colloway canal. Then he became foreman of the Kern Island ranch, and later was cattle foreman at the Greenfield ranch, but he resigned the latter pcsition to accept the superintendency of the Sol Jewett ranch, which he held a year. He resigned then to engage in the mercantile business in Bakersfield, but in 1905 he sold his business to start farming on eighty acres of land, a mile and a half wesL of his present home place. This tract he rented for three years, at the end of that time buying his present place of forty acres, which he has developed into one of the best ranches of its size in the vicinity. It is under the Beardsley canal and is all under cuUivation, being devoted to alfalfa, producing from six to eight tons to the acre. Each year he rents land from the company on which he raises barley and corn, and he has been very successful ; he has raised as high an average as a ton and a half of corn to the acre on one hundred and sixty acres, which is a banner crop for the valley. In Bakersfield, August 31, 1902, Mr. Roberts married Mary McCaffrey, who was born in Kern county, December 7, 1879, the daughter of John McCaffrey, who is represented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have two sons, Ewell and Cecil. Mr. Roberts has fraternal affilia- tions with the Woodmen of the World. As a farmer and as a man of affairs he brings to the solution of his difficulties a knowledge of details which renders him successful beyond many of his competitors. JOHN HALLORAN. — The Kern County Land Company had no more conscientious or trustworthy employe than John Halloran, whose term of service under them covered abou: twenty-three years, during which time he proved himself a most valuable worker. He has spent the last thirty years of his life in Bakersfield, whither he came to seek his fortune. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, June 24, 1864, and until he was seventeen re- mained at home with his parents. Embarking for New York he first obtained work in Catskill, Greene county, N. Y., becoming an employe of Peter Shell, for whom he labored for five years. Being a great reader he found many articles on California and its prosperous conditions, and at last an article in a Los Angeles newspaper caused him to make his decision to come to California, and in 1884 came to Kern county, where he has since made his home. In 1903 he purchased sixty acres of land, which has been improved and is now in a high state of cultivation. In Kern county, in 1898, Mr. Halloran was married to Miss Delilia McCaffery, who was born in New York and came with her parents to Kern county in 1876, when she was but three years of age. Her parents settled here and made it their home, and here their deaths occurred. Mrs. Halloran had eisfht brothers and sisters, all but two of whom live in Kern county, among them, Peter, who is a foreman at McKittrick ranch ; James, who is farming in Kern county ; Thomas, who is employed by the Kern River Mills ; and a sister, who is the wife of Dan Woodson, a farmer of Kern county. Mrs. Halloran was reared in Bakersfield, where she attended the public schools, and she now presides over her home with quiet grace, taking the greatest interest in the education of her children and the systematic conduct of her household. Three children were born to ]\Tr. and Mrs. Halloran, Curtis, Lizzie and Francis, all of whom reflect credit upon their excellent training and the refining influence of their parents. They are all members of the Catholic Church, and in political sentiment the father unites with the Republican party. FRANK ORR. — A native son, Frank Orr was born in 1858, in Sacra- 1466 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY mento, where his parents, Chambers and Martha J. Orr made their home for a considerable period. The mother died in middle age ; the father, who had crossed the plains shortly after the discovery of gold in the west, tried his luck in the mines without encouraging success and then turned to carpen- tering. As a contractor and builder he assisted in the pioneer development of Sacramento and San Francisco and even came as far to the south as Bakers- field, where he had the contract for the building of the Masonic Temple. Up to the time of his death he continued in the building business. His son, Frank, who was next to the youngest among four children, passed his early years in Sacramento, where he attended the public schools. Early in life he began to earn a livelihcod for himself in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. At first he was given the humblest duties, finally became an engineer running out from Bakersfield, where he ran a switch engine in the yards. During that period of labor he bought a lot and built a cottage in Kern, now East Bakersfield. Resigning from the railroad service about 1899 after a long period of faithful identification with the Southern Pacific Company, Mr. Orr spent some time as a prospectc r and miner in Inyo county. Although he gained no wealth from his expeditions, he found the work exciting and interesting, and he still retains mining interests, but since 1909 he has given his attention principally to the proprietorship of the Lone Pine house at Mojave, which he owns and manages. His wife, who assists him in the suoervision of the hotel, was in maidenhood Miss Stella Holmes, a native cf Bradford, Pa., and the daughter of Frank and Harriett (Tellus) Holmes, natives of Bradford, Pa. Her father, a druggist, removed to Toledo, where Mrs. Orr was reared and educated. She has three brothers, one a general manager and two superintend- ents with the Central Union Telephone Company of Columbus, Ohio. While he has not been a partisan in political sentiments Mr. Orr stanchly believes in the platfcrm and principles of the Republican party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Loyal Order of Moose. JOHN CLICKARD.— Born near Peru, Miami county, Ind., February 11, 1855. John Clickard was the son of George and Mary A. (Wallig) Clickard, natives of Germany, who were farmers in Washington township, Miami county, Ind., where John was reared on the farm and also learned the car- penter's trade. Having advanced in the public schools until he obtained a teacher's certificate he taught school and in that way made the money to complete a course in pedagogy and law at the Northern Indiana Normal at Valparaiso. After receiving his diploma he was admitted to the practice of law in Peru, Ind. For a while he followed his profession, but a spell of sickness came on, and after his recovery he gave up the practice of law and continued teaching. W^hile residing in Peru he served two terms as alder- man. In 1897 he came to Tulare county, Cal., and for a time engaged at the carpenter trade at Sugar Loaf Mountain. In 1900 he came to Woody, locating his present homestead and while improving it he worked as foreman rig builder in the Kern River and McKittrick oil fields. He also spent considerable time constructing the buildings for Joseph Weringer at Weringdale and the Greenback mine. All this time he has engaged in the cattle business, leasing considerable land adjoining his homestead for that purpose. Mr. Clickard was married in Peru, Ind., being united with Miss Sarah Pierce, who was born in the same county, and they have four children as fol- lows: Nellie, Mrs. Smith, resides near Woody; Frank, Bessie and Ruth, who reside at home, the son being interested with Mr. Clickard in stock-raising. Fraternally the father was made a Mason in Peru, Ind., and is now a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. Politically he is independent, pre- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1467 ferring to cast his vote for the men of his choice rather than be bound by party ties. GABRIEL CHAVEZ.— A native son of the commonwealth is Gabriel Chavez, who was born at New Almaden, Santa Clara county, March 18, 1876. Being left an orphan he came with his uncle to Kernville, Kern county, in 1882"and from that time he began making his own way as best he could, working for his board and going to school until he reached an age when he could be employed at mining, and later on he worked on ranches. In 1901 he entered the employ of the Kern River Ccmpany as driver with the engineer corps. A vear later he was given charge of the stock and stables, serving thus until he was made foreman of the Beatty ranch at Kernville for the com- panv. which position he has held ever since. The ranch is now owned by the Pacific Light and Power Cornoration. In connection with the supervising of the ranch he also looks after the headwork of the canal and displays good judgment in the dispatch of the different tasks that arise in the discharge of his duties. , • i ^i In March, 1911, at Kernville, occurred the marriage of Gabriel Chavez with Miss Alice Tuttle, a native of New York state. Fraternally he is a member of Kernville Lodge No. 251, I. O. O. F., while in his political views he is an ardent Republican. MRS. LIZZIE McGUIRK KERSEY.— The present postmaster and mer- chant at Piute, Lizzie ^IcGuirk Kersey, is a native daughter, born on Bear River, Yuba county, Cal. She is the daughter of Andrew McGuirk, a pioneer of the state, who was born in Ccunty Kildare, Ireland, and came to California in the early '50s, being engaged in mining in the Sierra Nevadas. He was married in Grass Valley to Mary Casey, also a native of Ireland, and they removed in 1860 to Visalia. where he was engaged in packing to the mines at Keyesville and also to Coso, Inyo county. On the last train he sent to Coso the IVTexican packer was killed by the Indians and the goods stolen. In 1865 Mr. McGuirk located at Havilah, where he followed mining and teaming until 1870, then settling on a homestead in Walkers Basin, where he died in 1875. His wife survived him manv years and died in Randsburg in 1903. Of their union there were eight children, five of whom are living, Mrs. Kersey being the third eldest. She received her education in the public schools of Havilah and Walkers Basin and at St. Vincents Convent, Santa Barbara. Her first marriage was in 1876, uniting her with James Scobie, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, who was one of the early prcspectors and miners in Kern county, being located at what is now Piute as earlv as 1865. Later on he was one of the discoverers of the Panamint mines. He died in Walkers Basin in 1888, leaving one son, James Scobie. who is now assisting his mother. Her second marriaee was in Bake^sfield to William Shi-^sey, wh-m she after- wards divorced. The three children of this union, Edward. Annie E. and William V., are with her and have been reared with care and each of them given a commercial education and are graduates of the Bakersfield Business College. The mother is now Mrs. Kersev. Ever since 1876 she has engaged in farming and cattle-raising at Piute, where she owns six hundred acres in a bcdy, her brand being a' capital N and a cross. She is also engaged in mining and mercantile business and in her store at Piute she has the post office,' for she has been the postmaster for the past eighteen years. In con- nection with her store she owns a pack train, engaged in packing goods and material to the different mines in the district. For manv years she served as a member of the school board, most of the time as clerk of the board. Politically she is a Democrat and is a member of the County Central Com- mittee. EDWARD A. DAVID.— From his earliest recollections he has been familiar with farming. The clearest recollections of childhood are those asso- 1468 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ciated with the then frontier of Missouri, where he helped to till the soil and harvest the crops, doing a man's part in the field while he was yet a mere boy. The family was poor and the struggle for a livelihood keen. Switzerland was his native county in Indiana, being born near Allensville, September 25, 1857. He was the son of William Atwell and Prudence (Ray) David. In 1859, when the son" was two years old, the parents removed to Holt county, Mo., where the father died during the same year. The death of the mother occurred in Kirksville, Mo. While his mother sent him to the county schools as much as possible, he was so greatly needed at home that his educational advantages were meager and his present broad fund of information results from habits of careful reading rather than from attendance at school. When he was fourteen years of age his mother died and he went to work on farms in Missouri, con- tinuing this until he came to the Pacific coast. Upon arriving in California March 19, 1887, Mr. David was without means for the purchase of land, but it was possible for him to take up a gov- ernment claim and he therefore located one hundred acres in the Rio Bravo country. For eleven years he lived on the homestead, meanwhile filing his claim, proving up on the land and acquiring a clear title to the property. As he was entirely without capital for the working of the land he engaged with neighboring farmers and the wages thus earned helped him with the develop- ment of his own properly. Then, as now, it was no easy task to improve a farm when without funds and he was handicapped constantly by this lack, but finally he emerged from the most discouraging of his troubles and entered upon a greater agricultural independence. With his removal to and leasing of forty acres twelve miles west of Bakersfield in the Rosedale colony he found conditions more favorable and in 1899 he bought the nucleus cf the tract which now forms his homestead. This he added to at different times until he now owns one hundred acres in a body under the Colloway canal. This he checked and leveled and sowed to alfalfa and it is now well improved with suitable buildings. In Taberville, St. Clair county, Mo., September 23, 1877, occurred the marriage of Mr. David to Miss Catherine A. Baker, who was born in Clinton, Henry county. Mo., the daughter of Stephen P. and Catherine Baker, early settlers of Missouri. Of their union have been born eight children: Katie, Mrs. Spurlin of this vicinity; Daniel, who-assists on the farm; John, of Los Angeles ; Vernie, of Panama, this county ; Maude, Mrs. Krause, of Rose- dale ; Artie, at home; Eddie, who died in 1912, at the age of fourteen years; and Lloyd, also at home. Mr. David now ranks among the oldest residents of this part of the county. He has always been interested in the cause of education, and has served on the board of trustees in the Rio Bravo district, and assisted in building the first school house. W. O. THOMAS.— The general foreman of the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited, enjoys the distinctirn of being the oldest man in years and also in point of continuous service with the organization whose interests he now serves. Coming to this district to take the position of engineer, at the recommendation of his personal friend, W. S. Boggs, then the superintendent of the 33 and Imperial Oil Companies, he remained in the employ of the successor of these concerns and eventuallv was promoted to be foreman, in which p^ St he hns the responsibility for the proper working of the two hun- dred and thirtv-five wells on section 33. Born in ^Vales May 12, 1860, Mr. Thomas has made his own wav in the world ever since he was ten years of age. At that early a"-e he began to learn the cement business under his father, an expert in that line. When only fifteen venrs of age he had passed through the chemical denartment of the Portland cement manufacturing business owned bv W^hite Bros., and situated on the Thames in the outskirts of London. His ability for successful work in HISTORY OF KERX COUNTY 1469 the industry seemed an inborn talent. Even at that youthful age his work was recommended for its permanence and satisfactory condition. When seventeen years old he came with his father to New York. The White Bros. Portland Cement Company had engaged them as inspectors and instructors in the con- struction of the menagerie building in Central park, New York City. The young man had been working for some years with the company and they recognized his dependable character and efficiency in the cement business, while the father had a wide reputation in the same line. While working in Central park W. O. Thomas made the acquaintance and wen the approval of Clifford Richardson, chief inspector of asphalt and cement at Washington, D. C. When the contract in the park had been completed Mr. Richardson introduced him to some of the Santa Fe officials and gave such a recommendation for his work that the railroad company hired him to assist in their cement construction work. After a time he was made superintend- ent of cement construction and had charge of the building of bridges and abutments of concrete. During this period of work he put in the foundation for the Union passenger depot in Kansas City, Kan. Later he secured a position with the Western Cement Company at Salt Lake, Utah, where he ccntinued for five years of successful work. While gaining expertness in the concrete business he had not limited himself to that specialty but in addition he had become an expert steam engineer and it was in the latter capacity that he remained for two and one-half years with the Portland General Electric Company at Portland, Ore., next going to the Mountain Copper Comoany at Shasta ccunty, Cal., where he spent six years. The failure of his health induced him to give up a congenial business connection and thereupon he came to Bakersfield in 1902, securing employment immediately after his arrival through his friendship with W. S. Boggs, superintendent of the 33 and Imperial Oil Companies. After coming to this county he married Miss Nora Monahan and they have established a comfortable home in the oil district. When he came here as an engineer there were only twenty-one wells on section 33 and he has been identified with the rapid increase, also has had charge of the work of re-drilling many of these wells and putting in air compressors. FRANK H. NEWTON.— An appreciation of the possibilities ofifered by Kern county induced Mr. Newton, upon arriving in California from Texas to become a resident of this section of the state and here since 1900 he has made his home. As a lad and young man in Texas he became familiar with ranch- ing as conducted in the Lone Star state, but being entirely without means and obliged to work for wages in the employ of others he had no opportunity to forge ahead. Nor were his first years in California more encouraging than those of earlier life, but a few years ago he was able to embark in independent agriculture and since then he has made a specialty of the dairy industry. Ellis county, the portion of Texas where Mr. Newton was born April 27, 1878, lies in the north central part of the state, not far from the important communities of Fort Worth and Dallas. He entered the employ of a rancher when he left the public schools at the age of seventeen years. For some years he continued in the same locality, but there seemed little opening there for the future and he determined to try his luck in the far west. Accordingly he came to California and settled in Kern county in 1900. The first oosition held by him was at Oil City and later he worked for the Sterling Oil Company during a period of five years. In 1909 he leased twenty acres in the Rosedale district and embarked in the dairy business with a herd of twelve milch cows. Since then he has added to his drove and now owns thirty head of fine cows, which he keens on a leasehold of sixty-six acres. The milk is delivered in Oil City. Besides the dairy business he engages in raising alfalfa, for which the land is well adapted. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. He was married in Ellis county, Tex., to Elizabeth 1470 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Kizziar, a native of that county and the dauijhter of W . L. Kizziar, now of Bakersfield, and tliev have five children, Lorena, Let B., Frankie, Rav and AUie. WILLIAM EDWARD HEASLEY.— Mr. Heasley ranks as a pioneer in the oil industry for he has been identified with the oil business almost one-half century and has witnessed the transformation of the work from crude and primitive methods to the most up-to-date equipments. ATanv of the oil fields of tie eastern and central states he thoroughly understands in all their difficulties and possibilities. Actual experience has taught him that oil development forms one of the most promising industries in the entire countr}^ and he regards California as in the forefront from the standpoint of its great fields and many producing wells. Not only has Mr. Heaslev been an oil operator throughout his active life, but in addition his father, Elias, followed the same occupation, while the third generation in the same business is represented by his son. The father and mother, Elizabeth, were lifelong residents of Pennsylvania, and he was born in that state, at Irwin, Westmoreland county, December 12. 1854. When thirteen years of age he found employment in the oil fields. Learning to be a tool-dresser he followed such work at St. Petersburg, Clarion county. Later he engaged in drilling at Richburg, Allegany county, N. Y. Another oil field in which he worked for years was that of Montnelier, Ind., Avhere he took drilling contracts and operated two strings. Similar work kept him in the Robinson field in Illinois for some time, after which he engaged in the same work at Cuba, Mo. Upon returning to the east he engaged in drilling in the gas fields at Buffalo, N. Y., for two years. When he came to Cali- fornia he entered upon relations with the Kalisoel Midway Company at Fellows, where he engaged as a driller in 1911 and August 1, 1912, received merited promotion to be foreman of the lease. While living in Pennsyl- vania he was a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Foster Brook, McKean county, but since coming to this state he has had little leisure for fraternal interests. The marriage of Mr. Heasley and Miss Lizzie Gary, a native of Leon, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., was solemnized at Bradford, Pa., and has been blessed with five children. The eldest son, Morris W., is an employe of the Kalispel Midway Oil Company at Fellows. The second son, Harold remained in Indiana, where he is now a reporter on the Montpelier Herald. The daughters are Mrs. Ray Dawson, of Montpelier, Ind.; Mrs. Ina Hickev, of Dayton, Tex.; and Mrs. Anna Risk, of Montpelier, Ind. The family stands high for those qualities that give influence in a community and ]\Ir. Heasley himself is regarded as an oil man whose long experience has given him a most accurate comprehension of the industry. FRANKLIN LEE VAN EPPS.— The earliest recollections of Mr. Van Epps are associated with the oil fields of McKean county, Pa., where he was born at Bell's Camp May 15, 1881, being the only son of Lee Lloyd and Lizzie (Mixer) Van Epps, likewise natives of the Keystone state. The former, after having engaged in the oil business in Pennsylvania, went to New Mexico and started a trading post at Socorro, but in 1881 he was killed during an Apache uprising. Orphaned in infancy, Franklin Lee Van Epps w^as taken into the home of his maternal grandfather in McKean county. When twelve years of age he accompanied the Mixer family to the vicinity of Pittsburg, where he attended high school until graduation. For two years he lived in Chicago with his maternal grandfather and in 1898 he came to California, where he soon found work in the oil industry. As a tool-dresser he engaged with the contracting firm of Dunn & Erwin. In 1899 he learned drilling while working for the San Buena Ventura Oil Com- pany in Ventura county. Much of his later work was done in the same HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1471 county and eventually he was promoted to be superintendent in that field. Contracts that took him to other points gave to Mr. Van Epps a wide experience in the oil industry as conducted throughout the west. For a time he remained in Arizona, where he had contracted to drill a well near Winslow. Similar work took him into Death Valley and into the Devil's Den country, while he also had a number of contracts in Ventura county. During the last five years of his identification with the countv he engaged as superintendent for the Dixie National Oil Company near Fillmore. Feb- ruary 2, 1912, he came to the Midway, where at first he gave his attention wholly to the development of the Maricopa Union. During September of 1912 he was made superintendent of the Midway Five Oil Company, whose holdings he has put in shape for profitable work. Still more recently he was chosen superintendent of the West Virginia Oil Company at Maricopa, so that he now has charge of three important companies in the Midway field. While he votes the Democratic ticket he gives little attention to politics, the demands of his positions as superintendent of three companies being so engrossing as to preclude any outside interests.- His family comprises two children, Isabelle and Lloyd, and their mother, whom he married in Santa Barbara and who was Miss Isabelle Rich, a native of Massachusetts. WILLIAM FRANCIS CLEGG.— Since establishing a home in Kern county in 1911 Mr. Clegg has been identified with the Bakersfield Iron works, being first a machinist in the Bakersfield plant, and from there he Avas trans- ferred, June 14, 1913, to the foremanshio of the Fellows shop. The eldest among five children and the only one of the family to establish a home in the United States, William Francis Clegg was born at Liverpool, England, June 9, 1879, and is a son of Thomas and Ann (Mulligan) Clegg, the former of "whom is still living. At the age of three years he entered school and when he left St. John's at the age of eleven he had entirely completed the course of studv. As an office boy in an insurance office he earned his livelihood until he was fifteen, when he became an apprentice in the machine shop of the Liverpool Engineering & Condenser Company and for five years he workecl to master every detail of the machinist's trade. When scarcely twenty years of age he went to sea as marine engineer with the British merchant marine, having obtained a license as chief engineer. During the eight years of his service as marine engineer he visited almost every country in the world. Altogether he made about twenty-six voyages to the Mediterranean sea. Six tinies he rounded Cape of Good Hope, twice he sailed through the Suez canal and twice passed the Straits of Magellan below South America. In April, 1906, Mr. Clegg gave up marine engineering and established a home on the Pacific coast, following his trade at Portland, Ore., for three months and then securing employment in San Francisco with the Peters Gas Engine Company. After a time he became a machinist with W. A. Boole & Co., ship-builders (now Moore & Scott), of whose shops he was made foreman, holding the position until he resigned to engage as first assistant engineer on a steamship engaged in the ocean trade. In the course of eight months with this ship he visited Mexico and the Orient. Upon resigning the position he came to Bakersfield in 1911 and since then has been associated with the Bakersfield iron works. His family consists of his wife, formerly Miss Alice Edith Williams, of Liverpool, England, and their three children, Alice Edith, Dorothy Margaret and William George. L. R. COOK. — A native of Galesburg, Knox county, 111., born April 4, 1876, L. R. Cook was the son of James P. Cook, who lived and died in Gales- burg, having been the proprietor of a wall-paper store there for a number of years. His widow survived him and removed to Chicago, where she is now living. The son, L. R. Cook, remained in his native town until he was nine- teen, having obtained his educational training there in the public schools. His 1472 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY first business venture was operating a dairy there, and he next engaged in the livery business at Ethley, 111., a coal mining town, where he built up a brisk trade. Upon the closing down of the mines he went to Knuxville, 111., where he resumed the livery business, but soon sold out and went to Chicago, where he followed the race course for about four years. At this time he accepted an attractive offer from M. R. Hoxie, the millionaire cattleman and rancher, whose ranch was situated at Taylor, Williamson county, Tex., whither Mr. Cook went to serve as one of several foremen and to have full charge of the Hereford cattle department. On leaving that position and spending a short time in Oklahoma, he returned to Chicago and in 1902 came to Kern county, Cal. For four years he was cashier and steward at the Turf restaurant in Bakersfield and in September, 1906, he established Cook's Cafe, which is now catering to a wide patronage, and is considered one of the most up-to-date short-order houses in the city. The marriage of Mr. Cook to Mrs. Maggie Foster, of San Francisco, took place November 22), 1906, and she proved a helpmeet of no mean ability, aiding her husband in the conduct of his business and lending that delicate touch which cnly a woman can add for the completion of an excellent table. The place of business was moved from No. 2021 K street to No. 2105 Chester avenue (formerly the Russ cafe) May 23, 1913, and only one week later, on the 1st of June, Mr. Cook was bereaved by the death of his wife, who had been cashier at the cafe and the most trusted business associate of her husband, as well as a devoted wife and whole-sculed friend. Kindliness of heart and a cheerful disposition endeared her to every acquaintance and her passing was deeply mourned. The body was taken to San Francisco and interred in the Cypress Lawn cemetery. Fraternally Mr. Cook is still connected with the Eagle Aerie No. 226 at lola, Kans., frcm which he has never obtained his demit. In politics he is a Democrat and while never seeking or holding public office he has united with other public-spirited citizens to promote beneficial move- ments in Bakersfield. C. Le ROY WHITE. — Exceptional qualifications for the peculiar duties incident to auctioneering led Mr. White to enter this line of salesmanship and he since has risen to the very front rank among the auctioneers of the San Joaquin valley. In addition to such work he carries on a store in Bakersfield, where the name cf Roy White is synonymous with energy, fairness and an optimistic personality that sees the cheerful side of life. Through long and honcrable identification with the business growth of the community he has won the confidence of its residents, who regard him as a buyer of unerring sagacity along the line of his specialties. With customary carefulness he has eliminated from his store everything not thoroughly reliable, so that he is enabled to make sure that promises are kept and the details of every transac- tion are carried to the limit of fulfillment. Although still a young man, Mr. White has been associated with the business history of Bakersfield since 1889. Born at Marshalltown, Iowa, October 18, 1869, he is a son of Abraham White, who lived to be eighty-four years of age. Longevity is noticeable throughout preceding generations of the family, whose history is traced back to the very earliest attempts at coloniza- tion in Kentucky. They have been typical Americans, devoted to their country and genuinely helpful in pioneer development. During the year 1885 the family removed from Iowa to California and settled in Los Angeles county, where for three years Roy White worked in a furniture and carpet establish- ment. Meanwhile an older brother, Richard J. White, had come to Bakers- field, where he is now president of the Bakersfield Hardware Company. An- other brother, Ansil J., also a resident of Kern county, is employed as engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad. Their mother is still living, hale and mentally active, at the age of seventy-nine years. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1473 Arriving- in Bakersfield August 23, 1889, Roy White at once began to work for his brother, Richard J., and later acquired a business of his own, which he still conducts, in addition to answering many calls for his services as auctioneer at sales throughout various parts of the valley. While at no time a partisan in political connections, he stanchly favors Republican jirinciples and always votes that ticket in general elections. In fraternal relations he has been for years a popular worker and leading member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield. By his mar- riage to Miss Dora C. Coughran, a native of Maricopa county, this state, he is the father of three children, Irwin, Thelma and Harold. WALKER RANKIN. — It is interesting to chronicle the life history of the pioneer, the man who in his prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as his heritage and becoming inured to privations and hardships accomplished the transformation of the country to its present wonderful state of development. Among those early settlers now remaining who aided in this accLmplishment is Walker Rankin, who was born in Pittsburg, Pa., June 2, 1842, the son of William and Ursula (Keene) Rankin, born in Ireland and Pennsylvania respectively. On coming to the United States from his native Ireland the father became foreman in an iron works in Pennsylvania and after- wards a farmer in Westmoreland county, where he and his wife spent their last days. Of their family of eight children two came to California, namely: Walker and Aquilla. The latter crossed the plains in 1853 to Los Angeles and was afterwards a resident of Alameda county for many years, but spent the last year of his life with his brother Walker. The public schools of Westmoreland county afforded Walker Rankin his educational advantages until a youth of fourteen, when he determined to come to California. Making the journey by way of Panama he landed in San Fran- cisco early in January, 1856. He followed mining in the Sierra Nevadas for two years and from Butte county returned to San Francisco bay where he engaged with his brother in the dairy business on Alameda creek in Alameda county fcr five years. Dissolving the partnership and dividing the stock, he then brought his flock to Mill creek, Tulare county, and in 1867 he brought his stock to Walker's Basin and purchased a farm from Dan Walser. At once he began to improve the ranch and raise hay and cattle, thus laying the founda- tion of his present large holdings in lands and cattle. His brand is the quarter circle over the capital IJ. Later he bought the Wicks ranch and afterwards the Williams ranch of eight hundred acres, besides many sections of range land. The ranch is well watered from Walker's Basin branch and from the same source he obtains water for irrigating and raising about one hundred and fifty acres of alfalfa. He also owns a valuable ranch on South Fork, which he operated until lately when he gave its supervisicn to his sons, Mr. Rankin did not assume dcmestic ties until 1872, when he married Miss Lavenia Lightner, a sister of Abia Taylor Lightner, in whose sketch on another page appears the family history. Mr. and Mrs. Rankin have six children living, named as follows : Charles W., a stockman near Havilah ; Warren, a stockman at the head of the South Fork Valley; Edward, who is farming his mother's (the old Lightner) place in Walkers Basin ; Le Roy, a stockman near Weldon ; Jesse, who resides in San Francisco, but is interested in the stock business in Kern county ; and Walker, Jr., also a stockman on the South Fork. Mrs. Rankin is a member of the Baptist Church. Always interested in the cause of education, Mr. Rankin served some years and was a member of the first board of education of the Walkers Basin school district. Politically he is a Democrat. EDWIN P. LIEB.— Born in Bufifalo, N. Y., March 15, 1867, E. P. Lieb is of German extraction, his father, Adam Lieb, having been a native of Wurtem- berg, Germany, and migrating from that place to New York state. In the fall 1474 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of 1867 he brought his wife and little son by way of Panama to San Francisco and immediately went to Sierra City, where he followed mining-. Afterwards he located on a farm in Sutter county where he died. The first nine years of Edwin Lieb's life was spent in Sierra City and then he lived on the farm in Sutter county, where he attended the schools of the locality. After his father's death he went to Santa Barbara, where he followed farming and asphalt mining. In 18^7 he came to Kern county and engag^ed in mining near Bodfish, being successful in locating and opening several small mines and disposing of them. He then engaged in raising alfalfa near Bakersfield until 1909, when he entered the employ of A. Brown & Co., as foreman of their farms and mill on the South Fork. Since then he has devoted all of his time and best efforts towards advancing the company's farm holdings. Well and favorably known and an influential man in his community, he takes an active interest in the success of the Democratic party and is serving as a member of the county central committee. HARRY G. MASSA.— Born in Cadiz, Spain, November 28, 1863, since that time the career of H. G. Massa has been in the course of development in many parts of the world, his parents having removed from there when he was about three and a half years old. going to Kornstadt, Germany. Here he was reared and attended school until he became old enough to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, which he thoroughly mastered. With his brother Gus.tav H., Mr. Massa decided to come to the new world while he was still' a young lad, and embarking for America they reached New York February 2, 1879, anxious to obtain work and acquire a fortune as so many cf their friends had done before them. From this time his life work varied from one line of business to another, he proving himself an efficient, observing employee. Learning the barber trade in New York City he worked there until 1881. For two years following he worked in Elizabeth, N. J., and then returned to New York. In 1883 he enlisted in Company D, Second Infantry, his term expiring in 1888, and he procured his honorable discharge at Omaha, Neb., on January 30 of that year. In May, 1888, Mr. Massa settled at Sioux Falls, S. D., where he was em- ployed in the Cataract barber shop until 1900, then coming to Bakersfield, where he has made his permanent residence, having valuable property holdings here as well as his barber interests. He has been thrifty and economical, and has saved his earnings, so that he has been enabled to invest them most judiciously. In 1891 he married Ollie Johnscn, and she has been the means of aiding her husband in the wise management of his affairs. Mr. Massa's military training has served him well in many instances, not the least of which is in his capacity of drillmaster of the Bakersfield local team in Aerie 93 Order of Eagles, of which he is a member. Mr. Massa is a Democrat. From Jwne 3, 1912, to January 7, 1913, he was president of the Labor Council of Bakersfield. CHARLES BRANCH TIBBETTS.— Born at Alpha Flill, Nevada county, Cal., January 29, 1859. C. B. Tibbetts is a sen of Roswell G. Tibbetts, who came from the state of Maine as second mate on a sailing vessel around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 1850. His wife was named Helen Branch and resides in Oakland, while he died in Bakersfield. Charles Branch was the oldest of a family of seven children and received his education in the schools of Santa Cruz county. In 1879 he came to Kernville and for two years was employed by the Big Blue Mining Company, hauling quartz On contract. He hauled twenty-four tons a day with a four-horse team and averaged ?^10 per day above expenses. These savings he invested in cattle and bought land on the North Fork, establishing his ranch headquarters opposite the old HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1475 mill. His brand was the double TT. He continued in the cattle business until 1897, when he made the trip to Alaska, packing fifteen hundred pounds of notions over the Chilcoot trail, built a boat and conveyed them down the Yukon to Dawson, where he immediately sold them at a good profit and returned home via St. Michaels. On his return he had a contract packing goods into the mountains for the Kern River Company, then contracted to furnish the same company with meat, but the second year he sold his business and located in Bakersfield, investing in real estate there and at Sawtelle. In the latter place in 1904 he built the first brick store, which he still owns, besides owning residence property there. In Sawtelle he had the mail contract and ran the buss between Sawtelle and the Soldiers' Home, but sold when the car line was built. In Bakersfield he has built a store building and two dwellings on F street near the Santa Fe depot. Of late he is spending the greater part of the year in Kernville, where he is road overseer of the district. In Kernville June 7, 1893, occurred the marriage of Mr. Tibbetts and Emma L. Klosa, a native daughter cf Ventura. Her father, Louis Klosa, was an early settler of California and died on his farm near Kernville, while her mother, now Mrs. Anna Lurch, is one of the honored old settlers of Kern- ville. To Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Tibbetts were born three children, as follows: Roswell, a graduate of the Bakersfield Business College; Harry, who was accidentally drc wned in the Kern river in July, 1913, aged seventeen ; and Carla B. Mr. Tibbetts has always manifested an active interest in politics and is a stanch Republican. ELI BLANC— The third of a family of four children, whose parents, Casimir and Theresa Blanc, are deceased, Eli Blanc was born November 11, 1871, at La Batineuve, Hautes-Alpes, France, and spent the years of boyhood upon a farm near the foothills of the Alps mountains, where he grew familiar with the care of sheep. His schtoling, although somewhat irregular, was thorough and gave him an excellent education in the French language. When about eighteen years of age he came to California in 1889 and found employ- ment near East Bakersfield (then called Sumner) with a sheep-raiser in the Poso creek country, where he remained for two years as a herder. Mean- while he had started a small bunch of sheep as an individual flock. As the number increased he felt justified in giving to the flock his entire time and attentit n. For the most part he ranged the animals along Poso creek and in the hills and the location has proved so satisfactory that he still retains his flocks in that country, having at this time a large drove of merinos as fine of fleece as may be found. Meanwhile he has bought a home at No. 831 Hum- boldt street, East Bakersfield, also has acquired other property at this place, and he is further an active member of the Kern County Live Stock Association. The marriage of Mr. Blanc and Miss Louise Raymond took place at Ba- kersfield October 28, 1901, and has been blessed with six children, viz.: Louise, Henry, Elise, Olga, Eli Jr., and Armand. A resident of California since about the year 1898, Mrs. Blanc is of French birth and ancestry and was born at Pont du Fosse, Hautes-Alpes, being a daughter of Auguste and Rose Raymond, members of the farming community of Hautes-Alpes at the eastern edge of France. Both parents are now deceased. By a singular coincidence their four surviving children all live in East Bakersfield, from which pcint the two broth- ers of Mrs. Blanc, Jean and Peter Raymond, superintend their large sheep in- terests. The eldest member of the family. Rose, is the wife of Vincent Rambaud. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Blanc has aflfiliated with the Republican parly and has given stanch support to its principles. In religion he and his family are actively identified with St. Joseph's Catholic Church. WILLIAM H. McCLURE.— Too much credit cannot be given to the men who spend their lives at the front looking after the construction of new enterprises. Such positions are fraught with danger as well as privation, yet 1476 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY to their promoters the country owes its greatness. Such a man is William H. McClure, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1856, but removed to Marquette, Mich., when a mere child with his father, James McClure. There he grew to manhood and received his education in the public schools. After com- pleting his education he began working as a miner and later became foreman in the Washington mines. About 1877 he removed to Oshkosh, Wis., and there began work in the woods. Two months later he was placed in charge of the camp for Spaulding & Peck, filling the position of foreman for a period of two years. Next he accepted a pcsition as foreman on construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in Minnesota, a year being spent in taking out rock cuts and driving tunnels. On the completion of the road Mr. McClure became a contractor on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Minnesota, furnishing ties and timbers for eighteen months. About 1883 he came west and made an extended trip alcng the Pacific coast. On his return to St. Paul he entered the employ of Keefe & Duffy, contractors on the Great Northern, for two years filling the position of superintendent of construction from Pacific Juncticn west. He then filled a similar position with W. D. Bailey, railroad contractor, building from Duluth to Tower, Minn. This took three and one-half years, at the expiration of which time he came again to the Pacific ccast in 1899 and entered the employ of the Edison Electric Company (now the Southern California Edison Electric Company) as foreman on construction of the Kern River No. 1 plant. In 1906 he became superintendent in charge of all the works m System 3 and as such began the work. Since then he has surveyed and built ab^ut forty miles of road and has done the preliminary work towards bringing the North Fork through the mountains by tunnel, a distance of fourteen miles to the power plant, which will give a fall of nine hundred feet. The tunnel has already been started and the work is progressing satisfactorily. The work of the ci m- pany has been of great benefit to Kern county, as it has opened a road along the north fork of the Kern river heretofore accessible only by trail, but now used by automobilists, thus penetrating in a day's journey of ease the beauties and grandeur of the high Sierras in Kern county. Personally Mr. McClure is well and favorably known. Not only in Kern county, but throughout the entire state he has hcsts of friends and well- wishers. Fraternally he is a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. FRANK ANDERSON.— Twenty-five miles north of Des Moines in the then sparsely settled county of Polk in Iowa, at the farm home of Nelson Anderson a son, Frank, was born September 14, 1854. The father, a native of Syracuse, N. Y., had been one of the earliest settlers of Polk county, having located a raw tract of land on the barren prairie during 1838. Aside from the tilling of the soil he ran a blacksmith shoo and attended to repairing the machinery and vehicles of the husbandmen of the community in th. se primi- tive days. In such an environment the son was taught the trades of black- smith and carriage-maker and he remained with his father until twenty-three years of age. During 1885 he made his way to Colorado, where he followed mining. In 1886 he came to California and operated a combined harvester in Sonoma crunty. Coming to Kern county in 1887, he conducted a blacksmith shop at Lebec and also engaged in prospecting and mining. In 1904 he made the voyage to South Africa, where he welded steel in Kimberly until he became somewhat familiar with the different forms of diamond mining. While operating a placer diamond mine he made $22,000 in four months. On the return trip to California he spent some time in England. His next trip was to the Copper river in Alaska, from which country he returned to Kern county. In 1911 he settled at Wasco, where he built his present shop and embarked in general blacksmithing and repair work, in which he is very skilled. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1477 AUGUST KLINGENBERG.— This well-known contractor in East Ba- kersfiekl was born in Dansig, Germany, December 30, 1857, the son of Cor- nelius and Charlotte (Dravitz) Klingenberg, who with their family removed to Southern Russia. From that country in 1875 they came to the United States and settled in Marion county, Kans., later going to Kirk, Colo., and eventually to Minnesota, where the father died. The mother, at the age of ninety-three, is now making her home in East Bakersfield. After becoming a resident of Kansas, August Klingenberg tcok up farming pursuits in Marion county. That occupation engaged his attention until he located in Henderson, York county. Neb., in 1886, when he began as a contractor for stonework and plas- tering. During 1893 he removed to Mountain Lake, Minn., where he followed the same business for eleven years. Next he established himself in business at Lovcland, Ce lo. The year 1908 found him in Bakersfield, where he took up contracting and building, and he is now located on Humboldt street, East Ba- kersfield, where he manufactures cement blocks in addition to following his regular line of work. The marriage of Mr. Klingenberg took place in Marion county, Kans., and united him with Miss Anna Schoenhofif, also a native of Germany. They are the parents of eight children, as follows: Nettie, who married J. E. Wiens, of East Bakersfield, and has three children; Henry A., of Bakersfield. who is married and the father of three children ; Anna, Mrs. Henry Wall, of Chey- enne, Wyo., who has three children: Cornelius, of Montana; Peter, of East Bakersfield, who has two children; August C, of Denver, Cclo., who is mar- ried and has one child ; Mary and Louise, who reside at home. An enterpnsmg citizen, Mr. Klingenberg is willing to do all he can to advance the interests of the community. Religiously he is a member of the Mennonite Brethren Church. MISS ANNA CLAR. — The leading exclusive ladies' and gents' furnish- ing goods establishment in East Bakersfield is presided over by Miss Clar, who received her education in Philadelphia and the Linccln school, San Fran- cisco, also in the schools of Selma, Cal., under Prof. Walker, after which she engaged in the millinery business in Visalia and then opened a dressmaking parlo'r in Kern, now East Bakersfield. In 1910 she started the present store at No. 727 Baker street, where individually she has built up a large business. Miss Clar is the daughter of Ludwig S. and Anna (Heidrich) Clar, na- tives of Poland and Saxony, Germany, respectively. In 1884 they came to Philadelphia, Pa., and in March, 1889, to San Francisco, Cal. Following the tailor's trade there and later at Visalia, Hanford, Lemoore, and Selma until February, 1894, Mr. Clar then located in Kern (now East Bakersfield) where he engaged as a merchant tailor at No. 816 Baker street. The mother of Miss Clar is assisting the daughter in the mercantile business. Anna Clar is a member of Kern Lodge No. 58, Fraternal Brotherhood, and St. Joseph's Catholic Church. HARRY Le ROY COLEMAN. — Recognized as one of the competent men in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad company, Mr. Coleman has been stationed on the Bakersfield division for a number of years as locomotive engineer. During his employment he never has had an accident or even any serious delay. In the Brotherhood cf Locomotive Engineers he has been a local worker and a generous contributor to its helpful charities. Although he came to California from Colorado and had lived in Denver during the years of youth, Mr. Coleman is a native cf Kansas and was born at Washmgton, Washington county, April 4, 1881, being the eldest among four children form- ing the family of George F. and Albina (Smith) Coleman, natives respectively of'bhio and Indiana. The father, a miller by occupation, engaged in that work for some years in Kansas and from that state moved to Colorado in 1891, 1478 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY settling in Denver. At this writing he and his wife make their home in Los Angeles. When ten years of age Harry LeRoy Coleman accompanied his parents from Kansas to Colorado and later attended the Denver public schools. Upon leaving school he served an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the Burnham shops of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad. On the expi- ration of his time he was made a fireman out from Pueblo on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad and continued in the same place until 1903, when he resigned to remove to California. After six months as a fireman on the Southern Pacific railroad out from Los Angeles, followed by a tour of inspection through Mexico and the south- ern part of our own ccuntry, Mr. Coleman resumed work with the Los Angeles division, but in May of 19C4 he began as fireman out from Needles on the Santa Fe railroad. Fidelity to every duty caused him to be promoted to the position of engineer in December, 1906, and ever since then he has been with the same company in the same capacity, his runs having been out from Needles, Bakers- field and Altjave. While living in Los Angeles he formed the acquaintance of Miss Ethel E. Compton and they were married in 1904 in that city. For a time they lived at Mojave, but now they reside at No. 711 K street, Bakersfield. Mrs. Coleman is a woman of education and an earnest member of the Chris- tian Church. Although much of her life has been passed in this state she is a native of Oregon, born in Jackson county, where her father, William J., was a well-known resident, and her grandfather, John Compton, an honored and influential pioneer. DANIEL RICE MILLER.— Both through his father, David Miller, who more than sixty years ago conducted a cooper shop in Harrison county, Ind., and through his mother, who bore the maiden name of Mary Ellen Miller, the gentleman whose name introduces this narrative traces his genealogy to Germany, but both of these families (unrelated, although bearing the same name) have been represented in the new world since the colonial period. The mother was a daughter of Gen. James Miller, a patriot of national renown and intrepid valor, who in young manhood served as sheriff of Hardin county. Ky., a region known chiefly through having been the birthplace of Abraham Lin- coln. At the opening of the war cf 1812 this gallant young Kentuckian o.Tered his services to his country and, while acting as a lieutenant-colonel, was sent with troops to open communication with the base of supplies at Raisin river. In the course of the journey he was attacked by an ambuscade at Ma- guaga, but after a brave fight of two hours he and his men routed the enemy, forcing them to flee to their boats. In that brief battle the Indians lost one hun- dred and the English about fifty, while the American loss was very small. Even greater honor came to General Miller at Lundy's Lane in 1814. This engagement, known also as the battle of Bridgewater or Niagara, was one of the hardest ever fought considering the number of the participants. When the crisis of the battle was at its height and the English guns seemed impregnable. Colonel Miller at the head of his regiment, in the midst of the greatest peril to themselves, shot down every man at the guns, rushed forward in the face of sharp fire and captured the guns. This turned the tide of victory and gave to the brave leader of the American troops a renown that is deathless. The discovery of gold in California was the attraction that caused the Miller family to give up their home in Indiana and remove to the then un- known regions along the Pacific coast. Early in 1850 they joined an expedition that journeyed across the plains with ox-teams and wagons. At that time there were five children in the family, namely: Sarah, who later married William Gregory and is now living at Reno, Nev. ; David and Nicholas, both now deceased; Daniel Rice, who was born in Harrison county, Ind., August 3, 1843, and was less than seven at the time of leaving Indiana; and John W., HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1479 now a resident of Napa county, this state. Two children were born after the family settled in California, namely: Isaac L., the present county clerk of Kern county, Cal. ; and Gilla Ann, wife of George F. Mack, who for many years was school superintendent of Amador county and at the present time is cashier of the bank at lone, where he now resides. About the 1st of September, 1850, the family arrived in Eldorado county. Besides engaging in gold mining at Coal Springs, that county, David Miller carried on a hotel. The boy, who was only seven at the time the family settled in the mining district, found much to interest him in the life of the camp and did not then realize his deprivation in a lack of any educational advan- tages. When his father took up a government homestead in 1854 he began to assist him in the difficult task of transforming a raw tract into a productive ranch. From an early age he has earned his own way in the world and at the age of twenty-one he left home to go to Nevada, where he engaged as clerk in a hotel at "Washoe, City. After a year as hotel clerk he took a contract to cut saw-logs in the woods for the Virginia mines. Altogether he spent three years in Nevada and then returned to Coal Springs, where he engaged in merchandising. In the mean time his father died and he bought the old family home. Conditions had changed in the surrounding country. The era of gold excitement had passed and with it w^ent the period of high prices. In the early days meals were $1 each, pork fifty cents per pound, pies $1 each and bread $1 per loaf, other things being in proportion. On the other hand, many of the miners made money easily and were willing to spend without stint. He recalls how, when employed by leading miners, he took out of the placer mines as much as $1,000 per day, with the assistance of only one helper. The marriage of Mr. IMiller in 1873 united him with Miss Mary Ellen Gard- ner, who was born in Eldorado county, Cal., in 1856, the daughter of George and Betsey Gardner, pioneers of 1852 in California, where her father for years engaged in business as a nurseryman. After his marriage Mr. Miller engaged in general farming, improved a tract of raw land, then sold the place and in 1879 came to Kern county. On the present site of the Southern hotel. Bakers- field, he conducted the French hotel, then the leading hostelry in the county, and which under the supervision of himself and wife retained its firm hold upon the good-will of the traveling public. After a year at the French, he bought the Central hotel at Sumner (later known as Kern, now East Bakersfield). Where that inn then stood now stands the Metropole hotel. After four years as proprietor of the Central he leased it and later sold out. For about six years he lived at Tulare, then spent two years at Fresno and from there returned to Bakersfield, where he kept a lodging house until the building was destroyed by fire. His next step was to buy a tract of ten acres south of Ba- kersfield and here he has since made his home, with the help of his capable wife improving the little property and greath^ enhancing its attractions as well as its productiveness. As early as 1884 he located twenty-two hundred acres of oil land at Sunset, Kern county, but since then he has not been inter- ested in the oil industry Mr Miller is a Mason. His parents and family were Methodists. At the present time, although not a member of any denomination, he is in sympathy with the Episcopal Church, to which his wife belongs and with her he has contributed to its maintenance. While he has never aspired to office, he has been a stanch Democrat and has attended the greater number of the state conventions of the party, has kept posted concerning political issues and has enjoyed the acquaintance of man}- of the leading politicians of the state. JOHN FRANCIS MAID.— The death of John Francis Maio, which oc- curred May 10, 1912, in Bakersfield, from the effects of an injury received from being thrown to the ground while leading a mule to water, removed from 1480 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the vicinity a citizen whose broad charities and gentle influence for good were deeply felt throughout the long period of his residence here. A man of strong personality, in temperament optimistic, he displayed a spirit and influence that proved a factor for good in all emergencies, and he was looked upon by all who knew him as a man whose kind sympathies and helping hand were ever at their disposal at the time of need and adversity. His genial disposition and cordial, courteous mannerisms drew to him a host of friends who have felt deeply the great loss of his companionship and strong influence for good among them. Mr. Maio is a native son of the Golden state, having been born in San Francisco November 4, 1854. His father, Victor A. Maio, was born in France and during the gold excitement in 1849 came to the United States, making San Francisco his point of destination. He finally removed to Kern county, where the remainder of his life was spent. The son, John F., grew to young manhc od in his native city, receiving thorough training in the public schools there and then entering Christian Brothers College in Iowa, from which latter institution he was graduated. Pharmacy had early attracted Mr. Maio as a desirable line to follow, he being led to this decision by his experience in a drug store in San Francisco, and he accordingly entered the College of Pharmacy there and received his pharmaceutical degree upon graduation. In Virginia City, Nev., he established a drug store and in its successful conduct continued until the year 1880, when disposing of it he came to Bakersfield and started a similar store on Nineteenth street, on the present site of the Gundlach shoe store, and here he remained for many years, administering faithfully to the wants of his many patrons, and becoming a prominent factor in the business world of the city. Shrewd perception and observation convinced Mr. Maio of the advis- ability of investing in real-estate in his vicinity, the value having increased rapidly and the future appearing even brighter, so he dispc sed of his drug interests and entered the real-estate business. Investing also in farm lands, he finally bought a ranch of twelve hundred and sixty acres about twenty- five miles from Bakersfield and one mile above Granite, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising, his product being chiefly grain and stock. Later he had the mail contract between Bakersfield and Glennville and fcr many years ran a tri-weekly stage between these points. Since Mr. Maio's death it has been rented, his wife having found the duties of its conduct too arduous for her to undertake. The Fraternal Brotherhood claimed Mr. Maio as a member. In political sentiment a stanch Democrat, he had ever adhered to its principles and served as county core ner and public administrator with satisfaction to all. His public services were not alone confined to the duties of his offices, for he was active in all public movements where the services of public-soirited citizens were needed. In San Francisco he married Rachel A. Edmonds, whose birth took place in Eugene. Ore., she being the daughter of William and Adeline (Draper) Edmonds, and a sister of Reuben A. Edmonds, a sketch of wh m is found elsewhere in this history. Mrs. Maio was educated in the public schools of Sonoma county, and since the death of her husband makes her home in Bakersfield. She has two children: Charles F., of San Francisco; and Fannie L., Mrs. Hirshfield, of Bakersfield. In her many acts of kindness, her unrstentatious charities and her loving thoughtfulness Mrs. Maio is per- petuating the custom of her beloved husband, whose philanthropic character many have reason to mourn. RICHARD D. MONTGOMERY.— As superintendent of the South Mid- way Oil Company, in which he is a stockholder, and as superintendent of the Extension Oil' Company, R. D. Montgomery has an intimate association HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1481 with two of the important concerns in the Sunset field and has made good in the comparatively brief period of his identification with the work at this point. A native son of California, Mr. Montgomery was born in Los Angeles December 31, 1888, and is a member of a wealthy pioneer family of Southern California. The immediate family comprises himself and an older brother, Chester A., also a younger brother, Monroe D., these two being in partner- ship under the firm title of Montgomery Bros., jewelers, Los Angeles. After years of successful association with mercantile enterprises in that city the father, Gecrge A. Montgomery, retired from business pursuits and is now living retired on West Twenty-first street. At one time he owned large gold-mining interests in Arizona and in that venture he met with more than (ordinary success. The second son in the family, Richard D., was educated primarily in the public schools of Los Angeles and later matriculated in the University of California at Berkeley, where he took the complete c<. urse in mining engineering. Upon graduation with the class of 1911 he received the degree of B.S. from the university. Meanwhile he had familiarized him- self with the oil industry during the vacation months. When about sixteen years of age he had commenced to work as a helper in oil fields, being for a time staticned at Coalinga, later in the Los Angeles district and eventually in the Sunset field. With characteristic determination he has learned every detail of the business and is now skilled in the operation of both rotary and standard drills, as well as in the other work essential to the development of leases. Since leaving the university he has been identified with the Sunset field and has acquired stock in the South Midway Oil Company, of which he also acts as superintendent. The company's property ctnsists of forty acres with two wells that average a monthly production of six thousand barrels. The Extension, of which he is also superintendent, operates eighty acres, on which there is now only one well started. With intelligent supervision he looks after the afifairs of bcth companies and is managing the business in a way indicative of future prosperity both for himself and for the concerns which he represents. JAMES M. WHITE.— Not rapidly but by slow degrees Mr. White has worked his way from a very humble position in the oil industry to one of responsibility and influence. Fcr a number of years he held subordinate posi- tions. Progress was slow and the road to success seemed a tedious and almost insurmountable highway. In the midst of discouraging conditions he allowed nothing to come between him and duty. Every responsibility was cheerfully assumed and carefully discharged. In time he became a drilling foreman, from which he worked his way to the superintendency of the M. J. & M. & M. Consolidated Oil Company, with four hundred and forty acres lying on section 36, township 12, range 24. Since he entered upon the duties of his position, March 1, 1913, he has devoted his time earnestly and intelligently to the supervision of the company's holdings and has main- tained an oversight of the twenty-nine employes! At the present time the company has thirty-two wells on their large tract. Of these thirty are produc- ers and three are flowing wells. The average monthly production is about fifty-seven thousand and five hundred barrels. The White family is of eastern ancestry. M. L. and Lizzie (Chapman) White, who for years lived upon a farm, finally moved into the city of Washington, Pa., where the former, now sixty-one years of age. is still conducting a grocery business. The latter also is living and is now fifty-nine. Of their two children the daughter, Mattie, married Harry Piatt, a contractor and builder at W^ashington. The son, James M., was born at ^^^ashington, Pa., Seotember 21, 1878, and at the age of thirteen began to work out as a farm hand, receiving $3.50 per week and board. Ever since then he has 1482 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY been self-supporting. When about sixteen years old he entered the night school of the Washington Y. M. C. A., where he continued to study for two years, meanwhile earning his livelihood by day work at different occupa- tions. By attendance at the night school he was able to make up for lack of earlier advantages. His first experience in oil fields was secured when he was sixteen. It became possible for him to enter the employ of the Elwood Oil Company at the outskirts of Washington. Beginning as a roustabout with that company, he soon acquired a general knowledge of the work. Later he engaged as a roustabout with the William Paul & Son Oil Company and the S. K. Werick Oil Company. The outbreak of the war with Spain found Mr. White eager to enlist in the volunteer service. At the age of nineteen. May 9, 1898, he was enrolled as a private in Company D, Eighteenth Pennsylvania Infantry. He was mus- tered in at Camp Hastings, Pa., for two years or until the close of the war. While stationed at the camp he was drilled in military tactics and was honorably discharged October 8, 1898, by reason of the close of the war. Returning to his he me county he worked in a glass factory for a short time. In January of 1899 he went to the oil fields on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road at Sutersville, Pa., about eigh' miles east of Pittsburg. While working there in the interests of the Carnegie Gas Company he learned to be a rig- builder. As a rig-builder for the South Pennsylvania (Standard) Oil Com- pany he remained for a short time at Mannington, W. Va., but soon shifted from such work to drilling and tool-dressing, in which he acquired speed and proficiency. At the age of twenty-three he had married Miss Nettie Herschell, of Washington, Pa., and in December, 1904, when their eldest child was only nine months old, they came to California. Since their removal to the west two other children. Hazel and Clarence, have been born. The eldest child, Harry R., is now attending the Kern county schools. January 4, 1905, Mr. White entered the employ of the Union Oil Company as a tool-dresser at Rosemary in the Salt Lake field. In September of the same year he began to work as a tool-dresser for the Associated Oil Com- pany in the same field. Returning to Pennsylvania in May of 1906, he spent the summer in the east and during September came back to California, where he entered the employ of A. F. Gilmore. For three years and seven months he continued on the same lease, engaging first as cleaner and then as driller. When C. W. Stone, who had been Gilmore's superintendent, left to identify himself with the activities of the Sunset field at ]\Iaricopa, Mr. White came with him. When Mr, Stone was chosen superintendent for the Monte Cristo, Mr. White was made drilling foreman on the same lease. In that capacity he drilled seven new wells and re-drilled two wells. April 1, 1911, he was appointed drilling foreman for the Ethel D. Oil Company. June 1, of the same year, he was promoted to be superintendent. July 1, 1912, having resigned the position, he returned to Pennsylvania to visit his mother and sister, both of whom were ill. Returning to Maricopa in August, September 1, 1912, he was made superintendent of the Fulton Fuel & Road Oil Company, but resigned the position in February, in order that he might enter upon the duties of his present position March 1, following. Many responsibilities crowd in upon him as superintendent. The task ahead of him is no sinecure. In order to meet emergencies of the future he devotes much time to study of subjects bearing upon the oil industry. In fact, much of his leisure time of evenings is given to occupative study, but in addition he finds leisure to keep posted on religious movements and is an earnest believer in the doc- trines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Since coming to Maricopa his wife has been one of the leading workers in the Congregational Church and has done effective work as a teacher in the Sunday-school. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1483 ARTHUR MARION KEENE.— The first daily paper in Taft, West Side News, was started by Mr. Keene, February 1, 1912. It was a four- page, seven-column daily, printed in the press-rooms of the Bakersfield Californian. The publication appeared regularly until December 9, 1912, when it was taken over by the Midway Driller and printed in press-rooms at Taft. The Daily and Weekly Midway Driller are the only papers now pub- lished in Taft. The latter was established in 1909 and on the 19th of Janu- ary, 1910, absorbed by consolidation the old Midway Oil Courier, a weekly that had been in existence for almost one year. The Midway Driller Pub- lishing Company, a corporation of which L. W. Sharp is the president and principal stockholder, owns and operates the weekly and daily editions, and the latter still appears in the form of a four-page sheet, with seven columns to the page. As reporter for the Midway Driller Mr. Keene keeps in close touch with the life of the locality. In addition he has engaged to act as editor of the new paper published by the Petroleum Club, of which organization he is a charter member. Another recent journalistic venture was the starting, with Charles B. Hartwick, of the Fellows Courier, a weekly paper with four pages of seven columns each, having a present circulation of al:)OUt one thousand. Besides reporting for the local Taft paper and editing the other papers mentioned, he reports the west side oil news for the Bakersfield Cali- fornian, the Fresno Republican, the California Oil World and other well- known publications of the state, his services as reporter not being limited to Taft, but including also the oil development at Maricopa, McKittrick, Fellows and other points in this field. Peoria, 111., is the native city of Mr. Keene, and August 28, 1883, the date of his birth. He is the elder of two sons, the younger of whom, Tom H. Keene, is now editor of the Elkhart (Ind.) Truth. The parents, Thomas J. and Minnie B. (Richmond) Keene, removed to Indiana about 1884 and settled at Elkhart, where since 1886 Mr. Keene has held the position of city agent for the Standard Oil Company. At the age of seven years Arthur M. Keene became a newsboy and paper carrier. At first he delivered Elkhart papers only, but soon he began to deliver also some of the Chicago dailies and by the time he was seventeen he represented all of the Chicago papers and was delivering an average of four thousand papers daily to customers in their homes and to buyers on the streets. For two years he acted as representa- tive of all of the Hearst publications in Indiana and Ohio. During December of 1909 he came to the Pacific coast. At first he engaged as reporter on the Bakersfield Morning Echo. Later he was connected with the Union Labor Journal of Bakersfield, and the Bakersfield Californian. Upon resigning those positions he came to Taft, where he is recognized as a live wire in journalism and a progressive participant in local affairs. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. His family comprises two children, Walter and Elizabeth, and his wife, whom he married in Chicago in 1903 and who was Miss Corinne Adams, of that city. JEFFERSON M. GREER.— Acting upon the advice of a brother who had preceded him to the west, Mr. Greer came to California and arrived in Bakersfield on the 21st of November, 1900. Through much of the subse- quent period of oil development he has been identified with the industry and since he returned to the county in 1906 after a brief experience with agriculture in Oklahoma he has engaged continuously in the service of the Monte Cristo Oil Company in the Kern river and Sunset fields. So steadfast has been his devotion to the work that he has not been absent from the county excepting four days spent in the oil field at Coalinga. Every stage of growth and development in the local industry is familiar to him. Working 1484 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY in different capacities, he has gained a knowledge of details invaluable to him in his present service as foreman of the Maricopa division of the Monte Cristo. It is but natural that Mr. Greer should have been interested in the oil industry from early years, for he is a native of a well-known oil region in Ohio and has been familiar with the work from early childhood memories. Findlay, Hancock county, is the native place in Ohio and August 10, 1874, the date of his birth. His parents, Samuel Ford and Catherine (Corbin) Greer, are now living retired at Goodwell, Okla., and the former owns large property interests in Texas county. There are seven children in the family, all still living, as follows: William D., who is engaged in the automobile service at Maricopa; Jefferson M., of Kern county; Elmer, who owns and conducts a garage at Taft ; Virgie, wife of W. R. Treece, an oil man residing in Bakersfield; Birdie, wife of Edward Corbin, who is engaged in the grocery business at Findlay, Ohio; John, empLyed as production foreman for the Kern Trading and Oil Company at Coalinga ; and Nathan, a rancher and stockman operating a farm in Texas county, Okla. Until nineteen years of age Jefferson M. Greer lived upon the home farm in Ohio and even after he had embarked in the oil business he frequently returned to farm work, thus filling in the dull seasons when work was scarce at the oil camps. He learned the business in every detail. Every depart- ment of activity became familiar to him through actual experience. In the employ of cne of the Findlay contractors he learned to dress tools as well as other lines of work connected with the business. Between farm work and tool-dressing in oil fields he was busy throughout the entire year and thus learned the habits of industry, persistence and varied activities insep- arable from progress. Meanwhile his brother, Elmer, had become one of the pioneer drillers in the Kern river field and had written to him urging that he come to California, which counsel induced him to give uo his job in Ohio and seek empL yment in the west. Immediately after he arrived in Bakersfield he was engaged as a tool-dresser on the Monte Cristo in the Kern river field, under the then superintendent, Frank Feathers. For four years he continued on the same lease, meantime being promoted to be a driller. His father having removed to Oklahoma he was induced to take up farming activities in that state and in 1904 bought a quarter section in Texas county, where he engaged in farming. H( wever, he soon became dis- satisfied with agricultural pursuits and in 1906 returned to California, since which time he has rented the Oklahoma farm to tenants. Since his return to Kern county he has remained in the Monte Cristo service and since Sep- tember 22, 1912, has served as foreman of the Maricopa division, having charge of the lease of one hundred and sixty acres situated on section 1, township 11, range 24. The marriage of Mr. Greer united him with Miss Carrie Eatherton of Findlay. Ohio, and has been blessed with two children, Roy and Dessie. For a number of years Mrs. Greer served as organist of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Findlay and was influential in musical circles in that city, where her skill as a musician was recognized and ap':)reciated. In religion she is of the Methodist faith. Mr. Greer stanchly upholds Democratic principles. TROY MARTIN OWENS.— The superintendent of the Hale McLeod Oil Company began the develooment of their lease near Fellows during Sep- tember of 1909 and has been identified with the concern, first as driller and then as superintendent, from that time up to the present, when eleven producing wells attest to the energy of his services and the exceptional value of the property. When he was promoted to be superintendent in March, 1911, he entered upon a successful identification with the upbuilding of the company, in which he is a stockholder. It is generally conceded that the pres- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1485 ent fine condition of the lease is due largely to his ability, perseverance and excellent knowledge of the oil industry. Throughout his entire life, back to his earliest recollections, Mr. Owens has been familiar with the oil business, for he was born and reared near Sistersville, Tyler county, W. Va., in the heart of a well-known oil field. Born August 17, 1881, he was the eldest of twelve children (all still living), forming the family of Hamilton D. and Madeline (Musgrove) Owens, who for years have made their home on a farm in the vicinity of Sistersville. After he had completed the studies of the grammar school he was sent to the McKim high school in Tyler county. ■ At the age of seventeen he began to earn his live- lihood as a roustabout with the Carter Oil Company. A year later he left the oil field to take up school-teaching, but at the end of the year he returned to the employ of the Carter Oil Company, with which he engaged as a tool- dresser and later as a driller. For two years he was a member of the firm of Jones & Owens, contract drillers, working in West Virginia. February 21, 1909, he arrived at the present site of Taft, Cal., where he was employed by the Standard Oil Company as a driller, but resigned that position in order to identify himself with the Hale McLeod Oil Company. While living in West Virginia he was a prominent worker in the Meadville Lodge, I. O. O. F., and also became a member of the encampment at Sistersville. In Bakersfield occurred his union with Miss Catherine O'Brien, a native of Pennsylvania and a graduate of St. Joseph's Hospital at Philadelphia. Later she took a post-graduate course at the Pennsylvania Orthopedic Institute at Philadel- phia, completing the course September 1, 1901. One child, ■\Iary Virginia, blesses their union. To Mrs. Owens belongs the honor of having superin- tended the first hospital on the west side (the American Hospital at Taft), where she was the first trained nurse and where she became well known for her efficiency, skill and success in her chosen work. JONATHAN M. BUSH.— The genealogy of the Bush family is traced to the cavaliers of England and to the Virginian aristocracy of America, where the name was established at a period antedating the Revolutionary struggle. Following the westward trend of migration, the family crossed the mountains from Virginia to Kentucky and assisted in the early development of the Blue Grass state, where they maintained a warm friendship with Daniel Boone and other noted pioneers. John Madison Bush, son of Mercer Bush, was born in Kentucky, but during childhood, years before the Civil war, he accom- panied other members of the family to Missouri, establishing a hi me at Liberty, Clay county, then a town of considerable importance. At Independ- ence, Mo., was born and reared Sarah Ann Watson, daughter of Henry Watson, a Virginian, descended from Dutch and English progenitors, and himself a pioneer of 1849 in California, having landed in Placer county with his family after a tedious trip with oxen and wagons across the plains and mountains. April 12, 1850, on the day that he was twenty-one years of age, John M. Bush left Clay county, Mo., in company with an expedition bound for Placer county, Cal., under the captaincy of Hon. James G. Blaine, later senator from Maine. In the autumn of 1850 the party arrived at their destination and the youthful emigrant from Missouri met Miss Watson, whom he married at Hangtown, Placer county, in 1852. The young couple set- tled on a ranch and Mr. Bush, from his original employment as a drover, began gradually to acquire a flock of sheep for himself. It was not long before he became widely known as one of the largest sheepmen of San Benito county. A large circle of pioneer acquaintances testified to his intelligence and thor- ough knowledge of his chosen occupation. Accompanied by his son Jonathan M., and others, during 1869 John Madison Bush drove a bunch of fifteen thousand head of sheep from Mon- 1486 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY terey county to Los Angeles and en route passed through what is now Kern county. Aside from signs of activity at the Rancho San Emidio, then known as the Gody ranch, and the presence of Colonel Baker at Bakersfield, no permanent settlements had been effected in this part of the country. The drovers with their sheep passed through Fort Tejon and there saw the ruins of the old barracks. A tedious but uneventful trip was ended at Santa Ana. where the father established a home, having sold out his holdings in the San Joaquin valley on account of the prevalence of malaria, • fever and ague. During 1869 he planted the first walnut grove along the Santa Ana river and later he laid out the town site of Orange. Sturdy and robust up to the very last, he died at the old homestead on the Santa Ana river, February 8, 1913, aged almost eighty-four years. His wife, who survives him, is now seventy-eight years of age. Of their sixteen children ten are now living, namely : Paulina J., Elizabeth, Jonathan M., Phoebe, Jacob Taylor, Eliza, Sarah A., Charles T., Lillie and John M. . The first-named daughter is the wife of R. L. Ralls and lives at Button Willow, Kern county. The second daughter is the widow of W. H. Borden and lives at San Bernardino, this state. Phoebe, the widow of C. N. Burbank, makes her h( me in Orange county. Jacob Taylor, who is foreman of the Perkins rose ranch at McFar- land, moved from Orange county to Kern during the fall of 1911. Sarah A., Mrs. Edward Howard, is living at Long Beach. Charles T. is a successful oil operator at Maricopa. Lillie, widow of E. L. Martin, resides in the Union avenue settlement, Kern county, and John M., the youngest of the family, continues on the old home place near Santa Ana. Born in San Benito county April 8, 1861, Jonathan M. Bush had very meager advantages during boyhood. The large fund of information he now possesses is the result of observation and self-culture. At the age of eight years he accompanied his father to Orange county and helped him in securing a foothold in that new country. From there in 1889 he came to Kern county and settled southwest of the San Emidio ranch, where he embarked in the stock industry. This he followed successfully for nineteen years. When finally he sold his stock he came to Union avenue and bought eighty acres on section 17, eleven miles s( uth of Bakersfield. In 1900 he embarked in the meat business in the oil fields an-d later erected at Maricopa the West Side market, equipped with a cold-storage plant and with other modern conven- iences. Through his own energy he built up a large business and this he conducted for twelve years, after which he leased the plant to George Fiester. Ever since coming to Kern county Mr. Bush has been more or less inti- mately identified with public affairs. Not the least of his responsibilities was a service of sixteen years as justice of the peace. During 1908 he was elected a member of the board of supervisors, in which capacity he has remained up to the present time, having been elected as the Democratic nominee but retained by the insistent demand of a host of friends of all parties. For years he has been a member of the blue lodge of Masons and a firm champion of the philanthropic principles for which the order stands. While living in Orange county he met and married Miss Sarah A. Thomas, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Elizabeth (Miller) Thomas, and a granddaughter of one of the noed itinerant ministers of the Methodist Eoiscooal Church South. When California was still sparsely settled the Rev. Mr. Miller traveled from l)lace to place, establishing congregations, ministering to churches, ofBciating at weddings and funerals and occupying a high place in the afifection of the people of his broad parish. During his visits at Bakersfield he met Colonel Baker and was invited to visit at his home whenever in this neighborhood, so that eventually he became a close friend of the pioneer settler of this city. The family of Mr. and Afrs. Bush comprises four sons. The eldest, Marion. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1487 married Josephine Emerson and lives at Pattiway, a small postoffice south of Maricopa, where he is engaged in the stock business ; the second son, Howard, married Miss Sarah Martin and makes his home in Maricopa. The two youngest members of the family, Henry and Benjamin, still reside with their parents on the farm eleven miles south of Bakersfield. Attesting the popularity ( f Mr. Bush in Kern county are the election returns of 1912, when he received the largest vote of any of the supervisors elected. JAMES A. RANEY. — Much of the west has been made familiar to Mr. Raney through travel and observation since he left the old Missouri home- stead where had been lived the uneventful but busy years of boyhood. The home farm was located in Wright county in the vicinity of Hartville, where he was born November 18, 1875, and where he had made himself very useful in such work as his strength rendered possible. Although a capable assist- ant on the homestead and skilled in many departments of agriculture, the occupation did not appeal to him as a means of livelihood and at the age of twenty-one he started out to earn his own way through other callings. Throughout the greater part of the time since he left the old home he has been employed in various oil fields in California, including those at Coalinga in Fresno county, Kern river and Midway in Kern county, also in Santa Clara and Inyo counties. In the last-named county he had considerable experience in wild-catting and as usual in such instances the results were not gratifying from a financial standpoint. Upon his arrival in the Kern river oil fields in 1900 Mr. Raney was employed to move the rig for the first well on the Green and Whittier lease and his first steady job was as driver of a two-horse team. Since those days he has seen many changes in the district. Many of the early concerns have dropped out. Other men have become leaders in development work at this point. His own experiences have been as varied as the changes in the field itself, for he has worked in almost every capacity and with a number of different companies. Not only has he filled humble positions with conscien- tious industry, but in addition he has had a number of positions of great trust and responsibility. In every capacity he has proved an indefatigable worker. It has been his policy to devote his entire time to his work without mingling in politics except to cast a Democratic vote at general elections. While at Coalinga oil fields he became a member of the Eagles in Coalinga. During 1912 Mr. Raney filled the very responsible position of field fore- man or manager for the Rambler and Expansion leases of the Traders Oil Company. February 14, 1913, he was transferred to the Midway division of the Traffic Oil Company, where he has since been engaged as driller. It should be exolained that the Traders Oil Company and Traffic Oil Company are closely allied, and that the two companies are under practically one man- agement. FELIX GEIGER. — Life has not meant ease and luxury to Mr. Geiger, but a stern battle that beginning at the age of twelve has continued through years of difficult struggle and hardships, until eventually he has seen the recompense of his privations and the reward of his self-sacrifices. The parents of Mr. Geiger were natives of Switzerland and pioneers of Black Wolf township, Winnebago county, Wis. Both are now deceased Their family comprised six sons and three daughters, of whom Felix is the only one living in California. Born in Oshkosh, Wis., December 19, 1872, he spent his early childhood years upon a farm and at the age of twleve years started out to make his own way in the world, his first work being in a cheese factory. At sixteen he became a fireman in the plant of the Oshkosh Electric Light and Power Company at Oshkosh, Wis., where later he was made oiler of the machinery and eventually second engineer. Throughout all of this time 1488 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY he worked twelve hours each day in the plant and during this time took a course in electrical and steam engineering in a correspondence school. Next he secured a position as station baggage master for the Chicago & North- western Railroad Company at Oshkosh and in a short time was transferred to the machine shops of that road in Oshkosh, where he remained several years. During 1901 in Oshkosh he married Miss Elizabeth Pieper, a native of that city, and the wedding tour of the young couple brought them to Cali- fornia, where they have since made their home. An experience of eight months with the Frazer Borate Mining Company and of four months on the west side in the Kern county oil fields was followed by two years spent in drilling on the properties of the Los Angeles Traction Company located on Pine creek, Ventura county, after which Mr. Geiger settled permanently in Kern county and for four years served as foreman of the Monte Cristo Oil Company. During September of 1911 he became super- intendent of the West Shore Oil Company, whose properties lie on section 32, township 28, range 28, Kern river fields. This company has the same corps of officers as the Monte Cristo and employs seventeen men. Of their twenty- nine wells on the West Shore all but eight are producers and these eight are now being re-drilled. The monthly production averages nineteen th usand barrels. In the fall of 1912 Mr. Geiger was made assistant superintendent of the Monte Cristo. The Monte Cristo properties in the Kern river field now not only include the original Monte Cristo and the West Shore, but also the Oakland Water Company, all of which comes under Mr. Geiger's jurisdiction as general foreman. Mr. and Mrs. Geiger are at present residing in the original Monte Cristo. Fraternally Mr. Geiger holds membership in the Woodmen of the World. FRED S. HOLMES.— The proprietor of the Oil City livery stable on the county road in the Kern river oil fields belongs to a pioneer family of California and is a native son of the state. From early years he has been interested in stock and particularly in horses. On the old home ranch he gained a thor- ough knowledge of equine flesh, studied the best methods of handling horses, accustomed himself to treating their various diseases with skill and efficiency and learned how to subdue the wild, unbroken colts that had roamed, un- molested, over the vast ranges. Having thus a liking for animals and an understanding of the horse, it was but natural that he should turn from the oil industry to the management and ownership of a livery business. In his work he has formed the acquaintance of practically every man in the oil field and among all he is pooular, for he has given the best possible service to every customer and has regarded their comfort rather than his own conven- ience. The identification of the Holmes family with California dates from 1852, when Albert O. Holmes, a native of Mansfield, Ohio, and a young man of twenty years, came via Panama to San Francisco and proceeded thence to Placerville, Eldorado county. As a gold-miner he had little or no success, so in 1853 he turned to the grocery business and conducted a store at Coon Hol- low near Eldorado. For a time he met with success, but eventually the gold- camp was abandoned, the miners left and this brought financial reverses to him. He too was forced to seek a new business and another location. Before leaving Ohio he had learned the trade of stationary engineer and this proved helpful to him in an emergency, for in 1863 he found employment as an engineer at the hoist of the Golden Curry near Virginia City, Nev. Being a skilled mechanic and an expert machinist, he filled the position to the satis- faction of all concerned. Meanwhile he had married and had lost his wife, while the two sons of that union, Edward C. and Albert O., also are deceased. After going to Nevada Mr. Holmes formed the acquaintance of Miss HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1489 Susan Louisa Smith, of Boston, Mass., and they were married in 1866, one year after her arrival in Nevada. The family of which she was a member comprised three children, but she was the only one to attain maturity. Her parents, Edward and Louisa (Cooledge) Smith, were natives of Massachu- setts and lifelong residents of the Old Bay state, where the mother died when Mrs. Holmes was only four years of age. The father, a carpenter in early life and later a dry-goods merchant, descended from a colonial family of Massa- chusetts whose earliest representatives in the new world crossed the Atlantic long before the outbreak of the Revolutionary war. Educated in the schools of Boston, Mrs. Holmes came to San Francisco in 1865 when she was twenty 3'ears of age. In the same year she was induced by a lady friend to go to Nevada and visit relatives. There she met and married Mr. Holmes, with whom in 1871 she removed to Los Angeles and thence to a tract of unim- proved land near San Bernardino. Out of the land they devel ped a fine fruit farm. After sixteen years on the farm they removed to the San Gabriel forest reserve on Big Rock creek, Los Angeles county, where he established a large stock ranch and acquired a herd of nine hundred head of cattle and three hundred head of horses. In addition a specialty was made of growing ap iles in the San Gabriel mountains. After a long and successful career as farmer, rancher and horticulturist, Mr. Holmes died in 1901. Later Mrs. Holmes removed to Los Angeles, where now she makes her home at No. 419 South Grand avenue. Seven children, all still living, comprise the family, namely : Annie L., who married Jefiferson Caruthers, a farmer at El Monte; John A., a gold- miner, now engaged as superintendent of the Standard mine at Bodie. Mt.no county; Martha F., wife of A. Maritall, a driller of oil wells at Maricopa; Laura A., the widow of Frank Patterson and a resident of Los Angeles; Maude M., who is conducting the Davenport (Iowa) hotel ; William R., em- ployed as a driller cf oil wells and now located at Electra, Wichita county, Tex. ; and Fred S., who was born in San Bernardino county, Gal., December 16, 1885, and at the age of five years accompanied his parents to the ranch in Los Angeles county. There he spent the years of beyhood in learning to handle cattle and horses. The regular public-school advantages were given to him. After he had graduated frt m the Los Angeles high school in 1902 he came to the Kern river oil field and secured work as a roustabout on the Peerless. From that he wcrked his way to gang-pusher, tool-dresser and well-driller successively. Besides being with the Peerless he worked with the Potom.ic, Coloma and Emerald Oil Companies and in the San Joaquin division < f the Associated. For three years he engaged as a driller under James L. Bruce, formerly superintendent of the Kern division of the Associated. Sent out to the Lost Hills in 1910, he there drilled various wells, notable among which is the Associated No. 4, a well of three hundred barrels. After having drilled for a year in the Lost Hills as an employe of the Associated, he decided to invest his savings in a livery business and accordingly in 1912 availed himself of an opportunity to purchase his present stable on the county road, where he since has engaged in business. For some years he has been a member of the Woodmen of the World. A son, Gordon Arthur, the only survivor of two children, has been born of his union with Miss Ellinor Strong, daughter of Richard B. and Frances E. (Martin) Strong, of Belding, Ionia county, I\Iich., where she was born, reared and educated and where, prior to her marriage in 1908, she had made her home. ROLAND R, FISHELL. — In his important position as production fore- man on section 26 division of the North American Oil Consolidated Company, R. R. Fishell has brought to his place of trust not only energy, but also efficiency in method, dispatch in results and tact in the handling of workmen. 1490 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY When he was appointed production foreman April 1, 1913, he succeeded to the care of one hundred and sixty acres comprising section 26, township 32, range 23. An average output is secured of thirty-two thousand barrels per month from thirty-two producing oil wells. As evidence of the long identification of the family with the oil business, it may be stated that Mr. Fishell's father, Francis Marion Fishell, now an employe on the section 26 division, worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields in the very infancy of the industry, when methods of work were primitive, equipment scanty and wells drilled in the old-fashioned manner. In those days tools had to be taken to the blacksmith's shop in near-by towns when- ever they were to be sharpened or repaired. Although now only fifty-eight years of age, he has witnessed practically the entire development of the oil industry of the country and in his younger years he was considered one of the best drillers in Clarion county, Pa., also in the Bradford field in McKean county, where he took contracts for drilling. By his marriage to Samantha Robinson, who was born in Pennsylvania about 1859, he has a daughter and son, the former, Zelma, being now the wife of Jacob N. Ripple, superintendent of the Mascot Oil Company. Born in Clarion county. Pa., June 15, 1878, Roland R. Fishell passed the years of boyhood in the Bradford oil field in McKean county, that state, and from boyhood earned his own way in the world by means of work at the wells. His own efforts enabled him to pay his way through the commercial department of the large university at Val- paraiso, Ind., where he completed a business course at the age of seventeen years. Meanwhile the family had left Pennsylvania for Indiana in 1892 and he had worked in the oil fields of Blackford county. When twenty years of age he became a driller and about the same time he was united in marriage with Miss Minnie K. Wampler, of Montpelier, Ind., the two keeping house in Indiana until 1904 and then establishing a home in Illinois oil fields. From that year until 1909 Mr. Fishell was employed as a driller at Westfield, Clark county. Upon leaving Illinois he came to California and settled in the Midway field in 1909, working for five months on the Mascot. Since then he has been connected with section 26 division of the North American, engaging first as a driller under Superintendent Kurtz and later receiving a merited promotion to be production foreman. With his wife and three children, Frances B., Beatrice E. and Clair N., he has a comfortable home in the com- pany's residence on section 26. Across the road from the house is the Hill school, which has been utilized by the people on 25 Hill not only for educa- tional purpcses, but also for religious services, musicals and as a social center for the neighborhood. Realizing the value of the school as a community headquarters, he has taken a warm and unceasing interest in its supervision and has promoted every movement undertaken by those responsible for its beneficial work. Politically he votes with the Republican party. CHRISTIAN ADAM WIRTH. — From every life may be gleaned lessons of great value and the life of the late Christian Adam Wirth especially illus- trates what it is within the power of a man to accomplish, notwithstanding the handicap of poverty, lack of education and ignorance concerning the cus- toms of the country. For thirty-five years he enjoyed the co-operation and companionship of a devoted wife, whose presence was his greatest encour- agement in every enterprise and her counsel his chief guide in business trans- actions, and when finally in 1910 death separated them it formed the deepest sorrow of his long life. Born in Wittenberg, Germany, September 15. 1847, Christian A. Wirth sailed for America :at the age of twenty-three years and landed at Castle harden in May of 1871. From New York City he traveled west as far as HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1491 Zanesville, Ohio, and thence to Cincinnati, where he remained for four years, meanwhile holding a position as shipping clerk for the wholesale commission house of S. S. Cooper. Although unfamiliar with the English language and American methods of work, he learned easily and soon commanded fair wages. It was during this period of his life that he met Miss Elizabeth Klein, of Cin- cinnati, whom he married in 1875 and who accompanied him in that year to California. From San Francisco he came to Kernville, Kern county. Shortly after his arrival in this county he bought two hundred and forty acres of raw land and began to raise stock and general farm products. To the original purchase he soon added an adjoining tract of two hundred and forty acres. Later he bought a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres. Eventually he sold the property at a large advance over the original cost. Meanwhile he had invested in other parts of the county, both city and coun- try property, and until his death he lived retired in Bakersfield, where he owned the corners of Eighteenth and L, Eighteenth and M, Fourteenth and G, and much other unimproved property. The increase in land valuation made him wealthy and removed from him all necessity for further work, aside from such as was involved in the care of his tracts and the oversight of his interests. The family of Mr. Wir^h comprised one daughter and three sons, all of whom are well established in life. The daughter, Louise, married J. C. House, M.D., and resides at Port Townsend, Jefferson county, Wash. The eldest son,' Henry A., is one of the leading citizens of Onyx, this county, where he is postmaster and merchant, and in addition he owns large farming inter- ests in that locality. William A., who is represented elsewhere in this volume, is a business man at Kernville and Christ is a tool-dresser well known in the Sunset field. During his residence here Mr. Wirth witnessed many changes, not only in his own personal affairs, but also in the aspect of the country. Then there were few farmers and the land was almost wholly unimproved. The raising of stock helped him in getting a start and at times he had as many as fifty head of horses on his ranch. A skilled blacksmith, he had a shop on his ranch and did his own repair work on machinery, besides taking personal charge of the shoeing of his horses. Before he left the ranch he had seen much of the development of the country, whose tillable acres w-ere drawing an increasing number of desirable settlers and whose fertile soil made an excellent return to those bestowing care and cultivation thereon. The death of Mr. Wirth occurred October 25, 1912. L. T. BROWN. — The proprietor of an upholstering business and in the manufacture of awnings and tents, Mr. Brown's goods and services are much in demand. Born in Little Rock, Ark., on February 11, 1885, Mr. Brown was the eldest of his parents' three children. His father and mother, who were respec- tively R. A. Brown and Cordelia (Pollock) Brown, came to Bakersfield in May, 1891, and were very well known here. In the public schools of Bakers- field, Mr. Brown received his educational training, and here his youth and early manhood were spent. Upon leaving school he entered the emplov of Roy White, for whom he worked for seven years. He then worked for the Hayden Fur Company for a short time, later being in the employ of P. Niederaur in his present line of business. Subsequently he entered the / business of his predecessor in his present business, W. H. Reeve, of Bakers- / field, from whom he learned all the details of the business and its conduct ' and later bought out the establishment from him. This he is at present conducting on his own account with marked success, it being located at No. 2001 I street. Mr. Brown's marriage occurred March 6, 1907, to Miss Lola Coughran, of Merced county, Cal., daughter of J. L. Coughran. One child has been 1492 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY born to them, Wyvverne. Fraternally he affiliates with the Loyal Order of the Moose, and held office in Bakersfield Lodge No. 460, and he is also a member of the W'oodmen of the World. ADLORE SAVOIE. — As vice-president of a wholesale house oper- ated under the title cf the Fred Gunther Company, Mr. Savoie holds an official connection with a well-known Bakersfield enterprise and in addi- tion he maintains an important business relation with the concern through being the manager of the soda water deoartment. It is said that he is an expert in this line of work, understanding fully all the intricate processes for the making of the highest grades and in his own shop manufacturing nineteen different flavors. The soda water factory of the company stands in the northern part of Bakersfield. in the old Buffalo brewing building, on the Southern Pacific tracks, near the plant of the Union Ice Company. Every nn dern equipment has been introduced to make the shop perfect of its kind and without doubt, from the standpoint of sanitation, it is unex- celled by any similar establishment in the entire state, which result may be attributed to the capable oversight of the manager. The Savoie family is of French Canadian ancestry and possesses the thrift of the one race with the resolute soirit characteristic of the other nationality. Ezra and Minnie (Mercier) Savoie, natives of Canada, born in the vicinity of Quebec, crossed into the States and settled at St. Anne, Kankakee county, 111., where they became influential residents. Among their six children the next to the youngest and the only one to settle in California was Adlore. whose birth occurred at St. Anne, 111., June 15, 1873, and whose somewhat meager education was obtained in local schools. During 1887 he left home to make his own way in the world. Three years later he secured a clerkship in the grocery establishment of H. F. Westfall, on Archer avenue, Chicago, where he remained for six years. The wages, however, were small and h( ping to better himself by a change he went into a wholesale paper house in the same city. After a year he resigned that position and came to California in 1879, settling in Bakersfield. For six years he was an employe of the C. O. D. soda works, first with Mr. Mercier and later with Mr. Condit, and during this period he acquired a thorough knowledge of the soda business. Next he became a member of the firm of Gunther & Savoie, bottlers and manufacturers of soda water, the same being now merged into the Fred Gunther Company, incorporated at $15,000. with B. H. Sill as oresident, Fred Gunther as secretary, treas- urer and manager, and Mr. Savoie as vice-president, also as superintendent of the soda plant with its large output and its regular c( rps of workmen. When coming to Bakersfield Mr. Savoie was unmarried and in this city in 1899 he was united with Miss Maud Hawlev, of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Savoie and their son, Floyd, reside at No. 2111 Nineteenth street. Fratern- ally Mr. Savoie holds membership with the Elks. Eacrles and Indeiendent Order of Odd Fellows and served as delegate to the national grand lodge. E. S. WILLIAMS.— The multiplicity of the business interests repre- sented in Taft appears little less than remarkable when the brief life cf the place is taken into consideration. Not the least conspicuous of these business enterprises may be mentioned the Midway bottling works of South Taft. an organization fr rmed for the purpose of handling the Vallev brew of El Dorado Brewing Company at Stockton. The concern, c rganized under the laws of the state of California, has been incorporated by its president, F. Bontadelli, of Tranquility, Fresno county, and its secretary-treasurer, E. S. Rose, manaeer for the Jameson tract in South Taft. Under the super- vision of E. S. Williams as manager a wholesale and retail business has been developed that extends through these oil fields and that gives every evidence of steady increase in quantity and importance. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1493 A resident of California since December, 1909, Mr. Williams is well posted concerning the west and has the firmest faith in its future progress. The family of which he is a member has been identified with Missouri for several generations and he himself is a native of Cross Timbers in Hickory county, that state, where he was reared and educated. Upon leaving school he learned the business of an undertaker. At the same time he acquired a thorough knowledge of the furniture business. These two occupations he followed at Cross Timbers for a number of years and during that period of business identification with his native town he married Miss Anna Spickert, by whom he has a daughter, Eunice. Accompanied by his family he came to California during the latter part of 1909 and after more than a year in Los Angeles removed to Taft in April of 1911, since which time he has had charge of the Midway bottling works and has built up a modest but suc- cessful business. Ever since attaining his majority he has voted the Demo- cratic ticket in all elections. During the period of his residence in Los Angeles he became connected with the Golden State Camp of Woodmen, while prior to his removal to the west he was an active worker in a Mis- souri lodge of Odd Fellows and is still remembered as one of the popular members of that organization at Preston in Hickory county. JOY J. RICHART.— Since September of 1910 the development of the Cheney-Stimpson Oil Company has been carried on under Joy J. Richart as superintendent, to whose ability and careful oversight may be attributed the profitable continuance of the enterprise. The holdings of the company include twenty acres lying on section 23, township 32, range 23, where drilling was started February 7 , 1910, and where since there have been devel- oped six producing wells. Four of these wells, Nos. 1, 2, 8 and 10, had been drilled prior to the association of Mr. Richart with the work and since then he has superintended the drilling of Nos. 3 and 7. Every modern equip- ment has been provided. The first-class condition of the lease renders pos- sible the maximum of production and there is now an average monthly out- put of ten thousand barrels of oil of fourteen degrees gravity. The lease ranks as one of the most profitable small properties in the field. From his earliest recollections Mr. Richart has been more or less famil- iar with the oil industry, for he was born and reared in Crawford county, 111., for years a center of that business. His parents, Watts and Fannie (Connett) Richart, devoted their active years to agriculture in that county, where the father died about 1899, and where the mother still remains at the old homestead. Eight children comprised the family, namely: Easier, wife of C. C. Baker, a merchant at Alma, 111. ; Kate, who married F. M. Cullson, a farmer in Lawrence county. 111. ; Charles I., an operator with the Big 4 Railroad Company, now stationed at Flatrock, Crawford county. 111. ; Anna, wife of J. W. Fantz, a driller in the Flatrock oil field in Illinois; Myrtle, who is with her mother; Edith, who died at the age of thirteen years; Joy J., who was born November 28, 1887, and is the only member of the family to remove from Illinois ; and Grace, who resides with her mother at the old homestead. During early life Joy J. Richart attended school, worked on the home farm and had considerable experience as clerk in a store. When nineteen years of age he secured employment in the oil field near Robinson, Crawford county. With the Hazelwood Oil Company and the Ohio Oil Company he had a valuable experience of four years. Arriving at Bakers- field December 13, 1909, he sought employment in the oil fields. For three months he was employed as a gang-pusher on the San Joaquin division of the Associated, after which he came over to the Midway, sought employ- ment on 25 Hill and adjoining leases and in less than three days secured a position as production foreman with the Cheney-Stimpson Oil Company, whose holdings he since has developed with profit to the company. 1494 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY The marriage of Mr. Richart took place in Effingham county, 111., and united him with Miss Mabel, daughter of George and Caroline (Fite) Eagle- ton, of Crawford county. 111., the former deceased, the mother still living. Mrs. Richart was for three years before her marriage identified with the educational profession of Crawford county, 111., being recognized as one of the best teachers enrolled. In the Eagleton family there were ten children and six of these attained mature years, namely : Viola, who married John D. Price, a farmer of Crawford county, 111., and died leaving one child ; Sadie, wife of F. L. Price, agent for the Prudential Life Insurance Company and a resident of Robinson, Crawford county; James C, a rancher in Colorado; Ota Earl, who is engaged in the meat business and in ranching at Sugar City, Otero county, Colo.; Mabel, Mrs. Richart; and George H., who is em- ployed on the Cheney-Stimpson lease in the Midway field. Since coming to this location Mr. Richart has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Taft. With characteristic thrift he has invested his sav- ings in land and is now the owner of forty acres in Merced county, on the state highway, convenient to the Southern Pacific Railroad and to the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation. The tract is now under cultiva- tion to melons and sweet potatoes, and is irrigated by means of pumping plants operated by electric motors. The land is worth $250 per acre and its fine improvements and high state of cultivation afiford convincing evi- dence as to the capable oversight of the owner. REV. JOHN H. BOESE.— The genealogy of the Boese family is traced to Germany, whence the paternal grandfather migrated to Poland, the birth- place of Henry Boese, who became a farmer in Molotschnah Colonic, Rus- sia, and there Rev. John H. Boese was born September 25, 1844. The family continued in Russia until 1879 and then immigrated to America, settling on a farm in Marion county, Kan., where Henry Boese died. The eldest child in the family, John H., worked hard from a lad to assist in the maintenance of the others. Meanwhile he learned the German language in the local schools. In 1867 he married Miss Lizzie Warkentin, who died in 1875. Afterward he was united with Miss Lizzie Fast, daughter of Rev. Peter Fast, a preacher and educator who followed these professions until his death. Upon settling in Kansas John H. Boese purchased eighty acres of land and engaged in raising grain until 1889, when he removed to Granada, Colo. There he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he proved up on and then sold. His next location was Kirk, Colo., where he fifed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, but after an attempt he found the land too dry and abandoned the claim. After a year at La Junta he purchased a farm near Pueblo and engaged in farming there until 1910, when he came to California. Soon afterward he bought forty acres under the Beardsley canal, ten miles northwest of Bakersfield. The improvements are of a permanent character, including a concrete house, substantial out- buildings and an excellent pumping plant. The farm is devoted to alfalfa. By his first marriage Mr. Boese became the father of two children now living, namely : John, a farmer near his father's place ; and Mrs. Nettie Freisen, of Bakersfield. Of the second marriage there are eleven children living, namely : Mrs. Lizzie Newman, of Colorado ; Henry, of Pueblo ; Sadie, Mrs. Freisen, of Bakersfield ; Peter, of Pueblo ; Mrs. Mary Hannaman, of Bakersfield; Mrs. Katie Koepper, of Los Angeles; Abraham, a farmer at Lerdo ; Mrs. Anna Hiebert, also of Lerdo ; Isaac and Susie, of Bakersfield; and Jacob, who is aiding his parents on the farm. Having studied the Gos- pel for many years, Mr. Boese while in Colorado was ordained to the min- istry of the Mennonite Brethren Church and has since served in the min- istry. As the unsalaried preacher in the Rosedale Mennonite Brethren Church he gratuitously tenders his services to the congregation and, while depend- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1495 ing upon his farm for a livelihood, freely gives of his time to the upbuilding of the cause of religion in his community, J. B. JAMES. — A native of Missouri, Mr. James was born at California, Moniteau county, April 20, 1869, received a common-school education in Mis- souri, came from that state to California at the age of eighteen years and settled in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, where for four years he was employed on a stock and grain ranch near Lompoc. At the expiration of the first year he was promoted to be foreman of the vast tract, comprising about seventy-five thousand acres and covering an area about thirty-five miles in length. The supervision of the stock on the immense acreage made his task one of great difficulty, but he discharged every duty with intelligence and fidelity. However, he did not feel any desire to take up agriculture as a life-work. Instead, he had indulged a fondness for photography from youth and without special training dis- played commendable skill as an amateur. With the hope that his success might be developed by professional training, he gave up his position on the ranch and went to San Francisco to study the art. In that city he enjoyed exceptional advantages for learning the business in all of its branches. For two years he was in the studio of J. W. Baker, a prominent photographer of the western metropolis, and from there he went to Martinez, Contra Costa county, where he opened a studio and embarked in business for himself. Two years later he removed from there to Bakersfield and began in the business, which since has developed into the finely-equipped, modern and artistic studio situated at No. 1923 I street, a studio known throughout the valley for the high character of its photographic output and the artistic tastes of its proprietor. The majority of the photosfraphs taken especiallv for the engravings in this work were made at this studio. JOHN W. KELLY. — Shortly after the execution of Robert Emmet in 1803, when emigration from Ireland was at its flood tide, there left the old home in one of the beautiful valleys of the island an Irish lad sixteen years of age, who crossed the Atlantic as a stowaway and settled in Virginia. During the war of 1812 he served in the army of his adopted country and bore a valiant part in the battle of New Orleans under General Jackson. Receiving an honorable discharge at the close of the war, he returned to \"irginia and from there crossed the mountains into Kentucky, but later ac- companied Daniel Boone to the wilds of ^lissouri. "Uncle" Jack Kelly, as he was known far and wide, possessed the temperament of a pioneer and the ready skill of the typical frontiersman, hence he was well qualified for the difficult task of transforming a wilderness into an abode of peace and plenty. He had married Joanna Stephens and thus became allied with one of the most prominent Missouri pioneer families who with Daniel Boone founded the village of Boonville in Cooper county. Later some difficulty arose between Boone and Stephens and the former, giving up all association with the town named in his honor, crossed the Missouri river into Howard county, where he started a rival town called Boonesboro. LTncle Jack himself remained at Boonville and there died in 1874 when eighty-eight years of age. Among the children of the Irish emigrant there was a son, Ewing, who was born in Missouri and during 1849 crossed the plains to the mines of California, where he worked for three years, returning to -Missouri via Panama. After his return he took up general farming, established a home of his own and lived a quiet, uneventful existence. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Celia Cornelius and was born in Missouri, descended from Virginian ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides. Her death occurred in IMissouri. Of her three daughters and two sons all are still living except one son. During 1888 Ewing Kelly came for the second time to California and this time joined his son in Glenn county, Avhere he remained 65 1496 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY until his death. The son, John W., is the last male representative of the family in the United States of his generation. Born in Cooper county, Mo., October 29, 1861, he received his education in the school of experience. To an unusual degree he may be called a self-made man. With the exception of three months in a subscription school he was utterly without educational advantages, having to make his own living fr^m the time he was ten years old without any assistance, yet notwithstanding this handicap he has achieved success of an high order. When he came to California in 1884 he intended to settle in Kern county, but suffering from chills and fever for three days he made a hasty change to Glenn county. On the Kendrick ranch at Stony creek he found his first employment at bucking sacks of Sonora wheat aver- aging one hundred and forty-five pounds (the same weight as himself), receiv- ing therefor $2 per day. This remuneration seemed princely as compared with wages in Missouri, which were about $12 per month. Following this he was employed on various ranches until November 7, 1887, when he was married at Stony creek to Miss Ida May Perry. She was a native of that place, the daughter of Thomas G. Perry, who was born in North Carolina but reared in Missouri, where he remained until 1865. In that year he crossed the plains with ox-teams to Napa, Cal., where he married Melissa Bunch, a native of Missouri who had come overland in the same train. Mr. Perry was a farmer in Glenn county until 1909, since which time he has resided on his ranch near Bakersfield. After his marriage Mr. Kelly took up a homestead and bi ught school land on Stony creek. There he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1893. In that year he removed to Trinity county and engaged in nlacer mining until October, 1895, when he drove overland through the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys to Randsburg, Kern county, where he to k up mining and also engaged in merchandising. From 1896 to 1900 he served as constable of Randsburg. During the two ensuing years he was a member of the county board of supervisors. As the nominee of the Democratic party in 1902 he was elected sheriff and resigned as super- visor tfi take the oath of office in Januarv of 1903. At the expiraticn of his term he was re-elected, holding the office until January of 1911, when he retired, not having been a candidate for re-election, although he had been continually in office in Kern county for sixteen years. In Bakersfield. where he has made his h. me since 1903 and where he has en9'aged in the real-estate business since 1911, Mr. Kelly has a large circle of warm personal friends and business associates. His interests have been and still are varied and important, including as sub-division acreage the Verdina ranch two miles west of town, also stock in oil companies and the handling of oil lands. Interested in Maricopa from its beginning, he still oAvns forty acres r f the town-site, which leased to tenants and improved with buildings forms an important part of the growing oil town. The first to embark in mercantile pursuits in the new oil town, he started the present st( re of Coons, Price & Co., Incorporated, of which he is still president and which has built u'^ a large trade on the west side and keeps five delivery wagons in constant use. In add-'tion he is engaged in the raising of alfalfa. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly have one child, Elisie Irene Kelly. The Bakersfield Board of Trade numbers Mr. Kelly among its most nrogressive members and his nid is confidently relied upon in all movements for the local advance- ment. Made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., he has been Iryal to ihe high principles of the order and in addition has been prominently ideni^i'^'^d n-i^h i^^f loml work rf Bakersfield Lodee No. 266, B. P. O. E. JEAN POURROY. — Among the old timers in the French colony of East Bakersfield we find Jean Pourroy, a native of Hautes-Aloes., France, born Tune 24, 1847, and reared on the farm of his father, Pierre Pourroy, near Gap, where he obtained the advantages of the common schools of the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1497 locality. In 1872 he came to San Francisco, Cal., where he followed various occupations, but principally that of brick-making until 1878, when he came to Sumner (now East Bakersfield). Being familiar with the sheep business in France, Mr. Pourroy entered the employ of a sheep man as a herder and by industry and economy in a few years he had accumulated sufficient capital to purchase a Hock of sheep and engage in business for himself. During the winters he ranged his flocks on the plains near Delano and herded them in the mountains during the summers. He met with success and ten years later he purchased a farm of forty acres under the Kern Island canal, where he engaged in ranching for six years. Then he sold the place and now lives retired at his home on Humboldt street, East Bakersfield, enjoying the fruits of his labors. The lady who became his wife and assisted him in gaining their competency was in maidenhood Emily Villard, also a native of Hautes-Alpes, France, and is a sister cf Ambroise Villard, who is represented in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Pourroy were born three children, as follows: Emil, who is in the employ of the .Southern Pacific Railroad; Blanche and Louise. Politic- ally he esoouses the principles of the Republican party. TRUMAN WORTHY HAMILTON.— The young men have aided materially in forwarding enterprises for the development and improvement of Kern county during the last decade and among those who have helped to bring about its present wonderful growth we find Truman Worthy Hamil- ton. He was born in Lcs Angeles, Cal., March 17, 1883, the son of E. M. Hamilton, the proprietor of Willow Springs, who is represented elsewhere in this work. Truman W. was educated in the public schools of Los Ang- eles until fcurteen years of age. He then joined his father, who had dis- covered the Lido mine in Antelope valley, and continued to devote his time to its development until it was sold. His father having completed the Ham- ilton hotel at Rosamond, a large modern fireproof building, he became its proprietor January 15, 1912, and on March 14, 1912, he was appointed post- master at. Rosamond, the office being in the hotel, as is also the telephone office. In connection with the above he is also a dealer in hay and grain, gasoline and oils, and conducts an auto livery. The marriage of Mr. Hamilton was celebrated in Lcs Angeles, uniting him with Miss Erma Gertrude Marine, a native of San Joaquin county, and they have a daughter, Harriett Blanche. He is greatly interested in the cause of education, being the clerk of the board of trustees of the Rosamond school district, and previously he held a similar position in the Willow Springs district. JACOB N. RIPPLE.— Born in Huntingdon county. Pa., July 5, 1869, Jacob N. Ripple is a son of the late Henry Ripple, who for years operated the large tannery of R. G. Faust & Co., at Mount Union, Pa., and was still filling the position at the time of his death, in 1895, at the age of sixty-nine years. The mother, now seventy-two years of age (1913), still makes her home at Mount Union. The family consisted of eight children. The eldest son, Frank, who succeeded his father as superintendent of the tannery at Mount Union, died at the age of thirty-four years from the efifects of an acci- dental injury and is survived by wife and five children. The surviving mem- bers of the family are as follows : Hannah, wife of Alexander Chilcoat. a foundryman at Bradford, Pa. ; Wre'mick, a retail grocer, the father of a son and a daughter ; Jacob N. ; William H., superintendent of an oil company in the Bradford (Pa.) field ; Thomas, foreman of a brick yard at Mount Union. Pa. ; J( hn, master mechanic in the extract works at Mount Union ; and Laura, wife of James Kimberlan, who is engaged in the brick business at J\Iount Union. The humble circumstances of the family rendered imperative early self- 1498 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY support on the part of the children and thus developed traits of independence, industry and perseverance. When only fourteen years of age Mr. Ripple was earning his own livelihood by working in the tannery operated by his father. At the age of eighteen he became a brakeman on the middle division of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, his run being on a freight train between Altoona and Harrisburg. Railroading suited him as an occupation and in all probability he would have continued at such work throughout life had not the failure of his eyes obliged him to leave a business where unerring vision is absolutely necessary. For a time he worked in the tannery of his father and later held positions in tanneries at Arona and Mapleton. When twenty years of age he secured employment with the Forest Oil Company (subsidiary to the Standard), and from that time to the present he has been identified with the oil industry. Successively he worked in the Bradford field of McKean county. Pa., for eight months with McDonald & Oakdale at Wildwood, Alle- gheny county, Pa., then at Montpelier, Ind.; and since 1908 in California, where for eleven months he engaged as production foreman with the Mascot, then for three years and one month filled a similar position with the North American, eventually returning to the Mascot, of which he since has engaged as superintendent. While in Indiana he and a partner, A. T. McDonald, owned and operated five oil wells; Mr. Ripple contracted rheumatism, which forced him to go to the hospital in the efifort to get relief, but he finally was obliged to make a change of climate and came to California. Selling his interest in the lease to his partner, he brought his family and arrived at Los Angeles April 15, 1908. The only person whom he knew in this part of the country was Tim Spellacy, president of the Mascot lease, who gave him employment on that lease May 15th following, which began his extensive association with that well-known lease. The marriage of Mr. Ripple took place at Wildwood, Pa., and united him with Miss Zelma E. Fishell, by whom he is the father of one daughter, Vio- let Lucile. The family were leaders in the movement resulting in the organiza- tion of the congregation now worshipping in the Hill schoolhouse, and Mrs. Ripple, co-operating and working with Mrs. A. W. Perry, now deceased, organized a Sunday school, which numbers seventy-eight pupils. In this work she has been enthusiastic and capable, and in addition has been a leader in the Ladies' Aid Society. As a trustee Mr. Ripple has been connected with the business policy of the church, whose influence in the community he believes to be most important. While living in Indiana he was an active worker in the Modern Woodmen at Keystone. R. E. RANOUS. — Determination of will and force of character have enabled Mr. Ranous to surmount obstacles that would have discouraged a man of less resolution. From early life destiny led him in devious paths of bereavement and adversity. Never to him did Fortune beckon with smil- ing face and outstretched hand. The death of his mother when he was three years of age and that of his father when he was seven left him dependent upon the charity of friends, for the family had possessed very little of this world's goods. Four boys were left to struggle against an adverse fate. One of these, S. V., blind from childhood, was sent to the Institute for the Blind at Jacksonville, 111., and died at the age of twenty-three. An older brother, L. P., formerly a farmer of Dakota, went to Alberta during the opening of that Canadian province and is now engaged in grain-raising near Calgary. Another brother, D. J., a favorite in the family and a young man of rare qualities of heart, died in Los Angeles county after an honorable service in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. R. E. was born at Prophetstown, Whiteside county, 111., October 2, 1879, and after the death of his parents lived with friends in Chicago for a year. From there he was taken to the home of Frank Burke, a farmer, three miles from Waukegan, 111. During the seven years on that farm he was taught to aid HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1499 in the care of stock and tilling of the soil. Although not given many educa- tional advantages, he was quick to learn and acquired a thorough knowledge of the common branches. The necessity of self-support took Mr. Ranous out into the world at an early age. During 1896 he went to South Dakota, to the home of his older brother, and for some time he worked as a farm hand in Grant and Beadle counties. Huron, twenty-six miles distant, was the nearest town of any importance. At that time wheat-growing was the principal occupa- tion and the need of harvest hands in summer was so great that excellent wages were paid during the busy season. While in South Dakota he en- listed for service in the Spanish-American war. Assigned to Company K, First South Dakota Infantry, he went to the Philippines with his regiment and took part in all of its engagements and campaigns. The record of the First South Dakota is as historic and praiseworthy as that of the First Nebraska and its members may well point with pride to the gallantry of the command in action, to its skill in military tactics and its achievements on the battlefield. At the close of the war the men were ordered back to San Francisco and there, October 5, 1899, received an honorable discharge. Having seen something of California during his service in the army and being pleased with the country, Mr. Ranous returned to the west in 1901 and engaged in the oil industry. For a time he was a tool-dresser with Jewett & Blodgett near Maricopa in the Sunset field. Next he engaged as a tool-dresser on the Peerless No. 2 at Coalinga. A later experience in the Kern River field developed his talent as a production foreman. During 1904 he left the Fulton lease in order that he might enjoy a merited vacation. December 1, 1905, he returned to the Kern river field, where he was employed under William N. Forker. Afterward for a year he had charge of the Coal- inga lease of the S. W. and B. Oil Company. Upon returning to the Kern river field he remained with William N. Forker from May, 1908, to January 1, 1909, being eni'^loyed as a driller on the lense of St. Clair & Jastro. From that district he came to the present site of Taft, where he drilled wells No. 1 and 2, section 22, township 32, range 23, and wells No. 3 and 4, section 26, township 32, range 23, owned by the Wilbert Oil Company. Upon the appointment of William N. Forker as water commissioner by the board of supervisors of Kern county, Mr. Ranous succeeded him as superintendent of the Wilbert Oil Company and has filled the position with recognized efficiency. Since undertaking the supervision of the properties he has drilled wells 5, 6, 7 and 8, and now has eight producing wells on section 26, where the company has forty acres; also two producing wells on section 22. where another forty-acre tract is being developed. On the former lease there is an average monthly production of fifteen thousand barrels. The company was organized by H. L. Packard and is owned by Bakersfield capitalists, H. A. Jastro being president and a large stockholder. The marriage of Mr. Ranous and Miss Jessie L. Anson was solemnized in Santa Ana, Cal., Mrs. Ranous having removed to that point from Ohio. The only child of their union died in June, 1913. Numerous fraternities have had the benefit of the co-operation and allegiance of Mr. Ranous, among these being the Bakersfield Camp, No. 266, B. P. O. E., and Taft Lodge No. 426, F. & A. M., also Bakersfield Chapter, R. A. M. Prominent in the work of the Odd Fellows, he was honored. May 16, 1913, with the appointment as district deputy grand master, and before that he had filled numerous offices in the local lodge. As president of the Odd Fellows' Hall Associa- tion, he has been a leading factor in the erection of the hall at Taft costmg $28,000. The building is substantial, constructed with a concrete basement and two upper stories of brick, with a front of pressed brick surface and plate glass windows. The corner stone was laid June 21, 1913, with appropriate ceremonies. The Taft Hardware and Furniture Company has leased the 1500 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY first floor for its retail establishment, while the basement has been fitted up for a banquet hall and kitchen, and the second floor is finished in offices and lodge rooms. Every appointment is up-to-date and the building is a credit not only to the Odd Fellows, but to the town itself. J. W. HEARD. — The pioneer merchant at Oil Center enjoys the friend- ship of the people throughout the entire oil district, for by long association they have come to appreciate his sterling integrity of character, his kindly spirit and warm-hearted southern temperament. When first he established his present store and erected the building he now occupies, he put therein the first stock of merchandise in the new town, and from the very beginning he has enjoyed a large trade. He is also the senior member of the firm of Heard & Painter, owners and proprietors of the largest general store in Taft. In addition he has made other investments, so that he has been pros- pered in a gratifying degree. A member of one of the best families in the south and a direct descend- ant in the fifth generation from John Heard, governor of Georgia during Colonial days, J. W. Heard was born in Mississippi in 1864. The history of the family is associated with the south, but principally with the s:at:e of Georgia, to which colony members of the Heard family came from England in one of the expeditions of Walter Raleigh. In 1875 the father, who had ensaged ^n mercantile pursuits at Va-'den, Miss., tock the family back to Georgia, where he lived retired until his death. The son was sent to the public schools and Sharon Business College, after which he started out to make his own way in the world. Arriving in California in 1883, a stranger in a strange locality, he settled in the San Joaquin valley and here has since made his home and business headquarters. For a time he worked as a clerk in stores, being successively in Fresno, Reedly and Sanger, and finally coming to Oil Center at the opening of this oil district. Since then he has conducted mercantile pursuits in Oil Center and Taft and has made many friends throughout Kern county. Reared in the Democratic faith, he ad- heres to that party with stanchness and devotion. In 1898 he married Miss Emma C. Clark, of Redwood. San Mateo county, and thev are the parents of an only son, John Wilkerson Heard. ]\Trs. Heard is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Clark, the latter of whom died when the daughter was only two years of age. The father, an attorney by profession, now lives retired at San Diego. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Heard was Hon. Andrew Teague, a pioneer of 1847 in California, and an early settler of San Mateo county, where he not only practiced law, but also served as district attorney and at one time was honored with the office of judge of the superior court. HON. ELIAS JAMES EMMONS.— When the gold excitement in Nic- aragua was at its height a young man from Missouri, bearing the name of William David Emmons, sought the supposed opportunities of that southern district, where he became a prosperous merchant in Greytown. Through his marriage to Elizabeth J. Miller, a native of Texas, two children were born, namely: Elias James, born at Greytown, Nicaragua, March 1, 1859; and .Henry William, who settled in Bakersfield and engaged in the oil business in this locality. The withdrawal of the Vanderbilt transit line from Nicaragua brought stagnation to every line of business there and proved the financial ruin of Mr. Emmons, who, forced to seek a home elsewhere, brought his wife and children to California and here died in 1862 at Vacaville, Solano county, when thirty-two years of age. In 1864 the widow married again and removed to Antioch, Contra Costa county, where her two sons attended the grammar school and then began to earn their own way in the world. As a clerk in a law office of San Francisco Elias James Emmons gained his first insight into the profession which he later entered. During 1882 he was admitted to practice at the bar of California and opened an office at HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1501 Chico, Butte county, where he practiced until January of 1893, the date of his removal to Bakersfield. For a time he had as a partner F. M. Graham, later had an ofifice alone and in 1902 became a partner of Rowen Irwin, but now is the senior member of the firm of Emmons & Hudson, his partner being Judge R. J. Hudson. From 1893 to 1897 he served as assistant district attorney of Kern county and in the latter year he was elected to represent this county in the assembly. Governor Budd appointed him a member of the national com- mission for uniformity of legislation and he served as such from 1897 to 1901. From 1902 to 1906 he was state senator from the thirty-second district, com- prising Kings, Tulare and Kern counties. Many interests have received his atten.ion aioiig the line of his proiession and for some years lie has acted as attorney for the Bakersfield Merchants' Association in railroad transportation matters. Politically he has been a Democrat ever since he attained his ma- jority. While living in Chico he married Miss Margaret J. Wooden, a native of Vallejo, this state, and they are the parents of two children, Elias Carroll and Edith June. PIERRE MAYOU was born January 15, 1860, in Oloron, Basses- l-'yrenees, France, and was reared on his parents' farm and educated in the public school. He came to California when a lad of fourteen years, land- ing in San Francisco in June, 1874, having only ^25 in his possession, but he had a stout heart and willing hands, so went immediately to work in Redwood city and continued there for two years. He then made his way to Los Angeles, where he was employed on farms and with a sheep man until he had saved sufficient money to buy a small flock of sheep. Bringing them to Kern county in 1882, he ranged them on mountain and plain, his head- quarters being in Kern (now East Bakersfield). He met with success and in 1887 he sold out and purchased land in Cummings valley, upon which he began grain-raising and farming, and ultimately acquired a place of seven hundred acres. He continued there for fourteen years, when a series of dry years proved disastrous and he lost his farm. He then came to McKittrick about 1902 and engaged in teaming and heavy freighting and in connec- tion w^ith farming has followed it ever since. He is leasing the Santa Fe place in the little Santa Monica valley, six miles west of McKittrick, where he is raising grain hay. He has lately taken as a partner Peter Brockman and they run two eight-mule teams for freighting in the oil fields and on the desert. Air. Mayou's marriage occurred in Tehachapi, uniting him with Theo- dora Ocane, a native daughter of San Francisco, who died in Tehachaoi, as did their two children. Mary and Peter. Mr. Mayou has always believed in and voted for the principles of the Republican party. PETER J. McFARLANE. — Among the young men who have come from the east to California and have become fascinated with the opportunities ofifered to such an extent as to enter heartily into its local business afifairs, we find Peter J. McFarlane, who was born in Peterboro county, Ontario, July 24, 1861, the son of D. P. and Catherine (Ferguson) McF'arlane. who were of Scotch descent and were pioneers in Peterboro county. Of their eleven children, ten of whom are living, Peter J. was the oldest. The father died in 1912 and the mother two years before him. Being the eldest of a large family Mr. McFarlane very early had responsibilities thrust upon him and he was early in life obliged to aid in the farm work, his education being obtained in the local schools. He remained home helping his parents until 1884, wdien he came to California and the same year settled in Kern county. After being employed at ranching for a short time he took un a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, one and a half miles from Tehachapi. This he improved and lived upon until he proved up on it. afterwards disposing 1502 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of it. He became interested in the Oak Creek Luml)er Company, and en- gaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber on Oak creek. During the gold excitement in Nome, Alaska, Mr. McFarlane made a trip to that northern camp, but returned to Tehachapi in about eight months. In 1905 he was appointed under the Roosevelt administration as postmas- ter of Tehachapi and during his first term the office was made a third-class office and he was duly reappointed to the office by President Roosevelt Febrary 22, 1909. He has ranch interests in Walker's Basin. Mr. McFarlane's marriage occurred in Tehachapi in 1888, uniting him with Miss Annie Gates, a native of Missouri, and to them have been born two children, only one living, a daughter named Catherine. Mr. McFarlane was made a Mason in Keene Lodge, at Keene, Ontario, and after his location in the Tehachapi region became affiliated with Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., and served four terms as master and at present is its secretary. He is also treasurer and past patron of Tehachapi Chapter No. 188, O. E. S. He has always been interested in the welfare of his adopted city, always being ready to use his means and time toward its upbuilding. He is well and favorably known in the county and has many warm friends who admire him for his integrity and sterling worth. NATHANIEL R. WILKINSON.— A native of Virginia, Mr. Wilkin- son was born in Norfolk, July 10, 1838, and died at Bakersfield, Cal., in December, 1902. He attended school and attained manhood at Norfolk. While still young he went to sea and was a sailor until he was twenty-one years old, as such visiting nearly every port in the civilized world. Then he became a landsman and was profitably employed in different ways until the outbreak of the Civil war. He entered the Confederate army, yielding allegiance to Lee and generals of lesser note, and participated in many hard- fought engagements. At Gettysburg he received a wound on :he left side of his head which eventually caused his death by paralysis. After the war he prospered in the domain of peace, and in 1873 came to Bakersfield. Becom- ing a school teacher he taught two terms with such success that he was very popular among his fellow citizens, who repeatedly elected him a jus- tice of the peace, in which capacity he served with great ability and fidelity for many years. He was long well and favorably known as a notary public, conveyancer and expert accountant and was called upon from time to time to handle pronerty and settle estates until his business became large and profitable. Wholly reliable and of the highest integrity, he was trusted in every way by everyone who knew him. Politically he was active as a Dem- ocrat, as a citizen he was public-spiritedly useful, and .while he was ready at all times to aid any church to the extent of his ability he was an out- spoken admirer of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. The lady who became the wife of Mr. Wilkinson was Miss Mary An- drews and their marriage was celebrated in Bakersfield. She was born at Mokelumne Hill, Cal., a daughter of John and Rebecca Parker (Williams) Andrews. Her father was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, and was gradu- ated from the Lhiiversity of Edinburgh with the degree of C.E. He came to California in 1848, around Cape Horn, and prospered in the state as a civil engineer until his death, which occurred at Camp Seco. Rebecca Parker Williams was a second cousin of the Rev. Theodore Parker, the great Uni- tarian preacher, and a school mate in Boston of Charlotte Cushman, who became one of the greatest actresses of her time. Ancestors of hers named Williams were active participants in the work of the "Boston Tea Party" and served the cause of the colonies as soldiers in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Wilkinson died at Bakersfield January 1, 1891. She had long been a devout member of the Episcopal Church. Irma Jeannette Wilkinson, only HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1503 daughter of Nathaniel R. and Mary (Andrews) Wilkinson, was graduated from the Kern county high school and the Los Angeles normal school and is a successful teacher in the public schools of Bakersfield. MYRON W. MORRIS.— Born in Fairfield, Mich., December 5, 1839, Mr. Morris grew up on the home farm there, attending the school of the locality. He attended the college at Hudson, Mich., and taught school for some years there, in 1876 coming west and locating in San Francisco, where he began to work at the carpenter trade. In 1877 he came to Bakersfield to follow the trade of carpenter and later became engaged in contracting and building, which he followed the remainder of his life. He at one, time became owner of a ranch, but as farming was not to his liking he later sold the property. He was one of the first builders in Bakersfield, and lived to see it grow to one of the prosperous, thriving cities of the state. His own residence which he himself built is located on Chester Lane near the cor- ner of C street, and is a handsome, substantial place. Mr. Morris passed away March 3, 1911, greatly mourned by all who knew him. In April, 1870, at Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich., Mr. Morris was married to Bell Austin, who was born near Avon, Livingston county, N. Y., the daughter of William B. and Lucy (Whaley) Austin, both of whom were natives of Livingston county, N. Y. Mr. Austin was a farmer in New York and there his death occurred. Mrs. Morris' grandfather, James Aus- tin, was born in England, and upon coming to the United States settled in Livingston county, N. Y., where he ever afterward made his home. Her mother's death occurred there also, and after her death Mr. Austin married (second) Elvira Sage, born in Wheatland, N. Y., who died in Arkansas. Two children were born to this union, one of whom survives, Mrs. Eva Craig, now of Bakersfield. Mrs. Bell A. Morris is the mother of one child, Charles A., who studied pharmacy and was graduated from the San Francisco Pharmaceutical Col- lege, later taking up the study of medicine. He graduated from the College if Physicians and Surgeons at San Francisco with the M.D. degree and was later connected with the hospitals and practiced his profession there. Sub- sequently he did graduate work in the east and finally went to Europe to continue his studies, upon his return being assistant surgeon at the Belle- vue Hospital in New York City. He was duly graduated from the Belle- vue Hospital Medical College and then located in Bakersfield, where he is engaged in practicing medicine and surgery with gratifying success. The excellent work of this young doctor and his ability and unusual fitness for the profession he has chosen evidence the fact that it is his natural life work. Before his death Myron Morris was a stanch Republican, and in fra- ternal connection was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mrs. Morris is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She is a woman who is much beloved, and her kindly influence for good is felt by all who know her. THOMAS M. SPACH.— A position of responsibility with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Bakersfield has been filled by Mr. Spach with such fidelity and intelligence as to win the commendation of superior offi- cials and to prove beyond question the adaptability of the man to the task. The gratifying advancement he has made in railroading is the more note- worthy by reason of the fact that in youth he followed another occupa- tion and thus lacked the advantage of having an early start in learning the rudiments of railroading. The department of the industry to which he has given his entire time and attention is yard work and there he speedily rose 1504 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY from the humblest task to the heavy responsibilities of yardmaster, in which capacity he has given the most efficient service for a number of years. Born at Columbus Grove, Putnam county, Ohio, September 23, 1869, Thomas M. Spach is a son of the late Leonard L. and Catherine (Swaley) Spach, natives of Ohio and lifelong residents of that state. Shortly after the opening of the Civil war Leonard L. Spach volunteered in the Union service and as he was then under the stipulated age for regular enlistment he was made a drummer boy in Company G, Eighty-first Ohio Infantry, with which he went to the front and took part in many battles of importance. For a period of four years he remained in the army, not relinquishing his duties until- the war came to an end in 1865 and he then returned to Ohio to take up civic pursuits. Throughout life he followed the trade of a plasterer. The interests of his chtsen occupation led him to remove from his birthplace, in Tuscarawas county, to the western part of the state, where for a consid- erable period he lived in Putnam county. The hardships and exnosures in- cident to army life injured his health and shortened his life, which came to an end before he had reached old age. The only member of the parental family now living in California is Thomas M., who after completing high school studies in Ohio came to Cali- fornia in 1887 at the age of eighteen years. For two years he served an apprenticeship to the trade of a coppersmith in San Diego. During 1889 he removed to Fresno and found employment at his trade, remaining for two years and then going to San Francisco to continue in work as a copper- smith. After a time it became desirable for him to relinquish his occupation and find other avenues of emplo)''ment ; hence he returned to Chicago and began in the railroad business, his first position being that of a switchman in the Erie yards. In the employ of that railroad company he held different positions in Illinois and Indiana and worked his way forward to be yard- master at Huntington, Ind., but resigned the position in 1900 in order to return to California. Coming to East Bakersfield, he secured work as a switchman with the Southern Pacific Railn ad Company. A week later he was made switch foreman. After three months he was promoted to be night yardmaster and since 1907 he has served as general yardmaster of the Bak- ersfield yards of the Southern Pacific road. Giving his attention closely to the many details connected with his position, he has found little leisure for participation in public affairs and takes no part in politics aside from voting the Republican ticket at national elections. While making his home in In- diana he became a member of the Maccabees at Huntington and took a leading part in lodge work as long as he remained in that city. Upon com- ing to Bakersfield he was accompanied by his wife, whom he had married in Kenton, Ohio, and who was Miss Fannie Runkle, a native of Rawson, Han- cock county, that state. She was the daughter of Lewis and Angeline (Swo- yer) Runkle, natives of Ohio, the former of whom passed away in Rawson. Her mother is now living in Findlay, aged seventy-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Spach are the parents of one son, Harold. HENRY F. BANKS.— Born April 23, 1858, in Illinois, Mr. Banks was brought up in Kansas, as his parents, Willis and Eveline (Thomas) Banks, moved to Crawford county, that state, when he was but a year old. He re- mained at school there until he was fifteen and then worked on farms up to the time he came west. When he arrived at San Francisco, in 1878, he was twenty, and having had a good training in matters concerning the conduct of a farm he procured employment in Sonoma county at general ranching and working there for about a year and a half, then coming to Kern county, where he followed farming for two years. He then went to Auberry valley, Fresno county, having become familiar enough with the enterprise to want a place of his own, and he and his brother J. A. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1505 bought a hundred and sixty acres of land in that valley. Later on he took up a homes :ead of a hundred and sixty acres, and engaged in stockraising, general farming and the cultivation of grain. He also contracted to^ do teaming and hauling for a short time. In 1900 he decided to return to Kern county and accordingly rented eighty acres of land and took up general farming there, in 1905 buying the place of twenty acres he now cultivaces. For this land, which is located three and a half miles southwest of Bakers- field, he paid $100 per acre, and it is now valued at $500 an acre. This increase in the value of his property is due to the improvements which he has made, and the careful, conscientious handling of the details of con- ducing the ranch. Mr. Banks married in Fresno, December 22, 1884, Lizzie Bonner, who was born in Warren county. 111., April 14, 1861. They had two children, Ivory P., a farmer near Maricopa; and Ethel B., who was Mrs. R. L. Green, and passed away in February, 1911, leaving a child, Bernardine, now with her grandparents. With his wife Mr. Banks is a member of the Christian Church in Bakersfield. In fraternal relations he unites with the Woodmen of the World, and politically he is a Democrat. MRS. MELVINA JOHNSON.— About thirteen miles south of the town of Bakersfield, on section nineteen, is situated the home farm of Mrs. Mel- vina Johnson, who with the aid of her two sons, John A. and Ray Johnson, is conducting the place on such prudent, thorough and painstaking lines as to procure the best of products. To a woman of less courage the hardships and extreme deprivations to be endured in building up a successful course of work would have been most appalling, but Mrs. Johnson has that force of character and strong will power which enabled her to be an aid to her sons in improving their farm and in the cultivation of their crops. The wife of John A. Johnson, she became the mother of ten children, all of whom reflect credit upon the excellent training which she has given them, and though her duties have been heavy she has found time to devote herself to theni^ regardless of her own comfort and giving them the love and care which only a mother can give. She is the daughter of R. T. Baker, pioneer of California in 1857. Her mother, Mary A. (Bailey) Baker, had come to California in 1849 with her father, Peter Bailey. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker: Melvina, Mrs. Johnson; Frank C, engaged in the oil business in Kern county; and Louisa, deceased. Mrs. Johnson's ten children are: Laurel, who married Joe H. Brown, a farmer of Panama. Kern county; Frank and Monte, both employed in the West Side Oil Fields as well drillers ; John A., mentioned below^ ; Lou, the wife of W. Bullock, a contractor and builder, residing in McFarland, Kern county; Rav, assisting his mother, as mentioned below; Ruth, wife of H. Harmon, in West Side Oil Fields ; Katie, Gladys, and William. Of these John A. was born March 12, 1891, in Los Angeles county, where his parents resided for some time. He was about ten years of age when his parents removed to Kern county, and he has proved faithful in his duty to his mother, aiding her in the conduct of the farm and being most solicitous of her comfort. With his brother Ray, who was also born in Los Angeles countv, he is tenderlv caring for her and her interests, and they are men who hold the esteem of all who know them for their sterling worth and ex- cellent character. In politics they are both Republicans. Their farm con- sists of a hundred and- sixty acres, forty of which they own, having rented the remainini? hundred and twenty which is located on Kern Island Road. G. F, ADAMS. — The twentieth century forms an era of specialization and in no avenue of progress has this fact been more apparent than in the mechanical arts. There has been an opening for every man possessing ability in the handling of machinery and in general mechanical work, hence it has not been difficult for a young man with the marked ability exhibited 1506 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY by Mr. Adams to secure and hold positions of responsibility and trust in his chosen sphere of industrial activfty. At this writing, as for some years preceding', he is connected with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company at Mari- copa and worthily fills an important place as foreman of the machine shops, in this position taking in all work pertaining to the various depart- ments of the oil company's large business, besides also doing custom work for other oil concerns in the iield. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, February 12, 1876, G. F. Adams is a son of Peter Adams, a lifelong resident of Mahoning county, Ohio, and a grandson of Hilgarde Adams, who about the year 1832 left his native land of Germany to identify his fortunes with those of the new world. It was he who established the family in Ohio and he followed agricuhural pursuits, as did also his son, Peter. The latter was the father of ten children, all of whom attained mature years and nine still survive. The only one taken from the family, Edward Adams, died in 1912 after a prosperous period of identification with the wheat-raising industry in Saskatchewan, Canada. Those still living are scattered throughout different parts of the United States. Two of the brothers are carpenters in Los Angeles. At the age of sixteen years G. F. Adams became an apprentice to the trade of machinist in Youngstown, where he worked for four and one-half years in the American Tube and Iron Works. At the expiration of that time he became a machinist with the Smith Brewing Company and con- tinued in the employ of that organization for two and one-half years. Upon leaving Ohio he went to South Dakota and settled at Edgemont, Fall River county. As a machinist in the shops of the Burlington Railroad Company he remained for a number of years and from there during 1902 he came to California. In this state his first position was in the Bakersfield Iron Works, where he remained for four years. Removing to Coalinga in 1906, he en- gaged with the Bunting Iron Works and continued in various capacities with that concern for two years, his special work, however, being on the pumps. From Coalinga he came to Maricopa in 1908 and secured a position with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company, in whose employ he remains at the present time. FRED ABELS. — One of the capable operators in the West Side oil field is the superintendent of the La Blanc Oil Company, who although young in years has been earning his own way in the world for a goodly number of years and has gained popularity and a record for efficiency in the oil business. Combined in his character arc the sturdy attributes of Teutonic ancestors and the energy so essentiall)'' American. These qualities have aided him in his efforts to make good in the Kern county fields, where since March 25, 1911, he has been retained as superintendent with the Le Blanc Oil Company, an organization operating on section 6. 11-23, where two wells have been sunk that produce an average of one hundred and ten barrels per day. The parents of Mr. Abels were Martin and Emma (Leursen) Abels, natives of Germany, but residents of Illinois from early life until about 1886, when they removed to the Ozark region of Missouri. At the opening of the Civil war the father enlisted as a private in the Thirteenth Illinois Infaniry, accompanied his regiment to the front and remained for four years, receiving an honorable discharge at the expiration of the war. Later he was ap- pointed successivelv to several important government positions. On ac- count of the failure of his health he removed to Missouri and settled in Texas county, where he was greatly benefited by the pure air of the Ozarks. While still living in Illinois he had married ]\Iiss Leursen and all of their nine children were born in that state, namely : John, now a farmer in Texas county. Mo.; Henry, who holds a very responsible position as secretary ot the Franklin Life Insurance Company at Springfield, 111. ; Martin, a printer HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1507 employed in Oklahoma City; Gus, who is engaged in general farming near New Sharon, Iowa; Amelia, who died at the age of four years; Herman, an employe of the Franklin Life Insurance Company; Emma, who married Walter Jadwin, who is engaged in educational work at Houston, Mo., and also owns farm lands in the same locality; Fred, who was born in Spring- field, 111., June 12, 1882, and at the age of four years accompanied the family to Missouri; and James, who is connected with the Franklin Life Insurance Company as an employe. At the age of seventeen years, having previously completed the studies of the common schools in the Ozark region, Fred Abels began to earn his own livelihood. After working for twelve months in Arkansas he spent a number of years in Colorado and then made a brief sojourn in Oklahoma, whence he came to California, arriving in Bakersfield January 23, 1905! His first experience in the oil business was acquired in the Kern river field and for a time he worked on the Peerless under the superintendent, Angus Crites. The next year found him at Coalinga, but in three months he re- turned to Kern county and resumed work on the Peerless. Coming to Mari- copa April 3, 1907, he secured work as a roustabout, much of his time being devoted to the driving of a team. From that humble position he worked his way up until he engaged successively as tool-dresser and driller, and then, March 25, 1911, came to his present place as superintendent of the Le Blanc Oil Company. At Bakersfield, February 13, 1909, he married Miss Marie Mcintosh, daughter of Daniel and Romana Mcintosh, of Ramona, San Diego county, Cal. Mrs. Abels is a woman of gracious personality, repre- senting on her mother's side an old and honored Spanish family of Cali- fornia. Their union has been blessed by a daughter, Barbara Romana. J. M. WHYTE. — Large executive ability and unusual powers of organi- zation have marked the identification of Mr. Whyte with the Panama Oil Company, in which he is a large stockholder and of whose lease in the Sunset field he acts as superintendent. The company's lease of sixty acres lies on section 30, 12-23, and contains two wells, one of which, drilled by Mr. Whyte from the surface down, has produced continuously excepting for one month, when extensive repairs had to be made by reason of the collapsing of the casing. The head offices of the company are in the H. W. Hellman building, Los Angeles, and its officers reside in that city, namely: J. B. Hedrick, president; C. F. Spelman, vice-president; J. S. Wallace, sec- retary; and A. M. Allison, treasurer. Throughout early life Mr. Whyte w^as familiar with gold mining and his knowledge of that industry is. thorough and covers many fields. Born in Kansas City, Mo., March 22, 1880, he was twenty-four years old when his father died. Prior to that he and his three sisters accompanied their parents to Colorado, settling at Silver Cliff, where the elder Whyte engaged, in gold-mining and where he himself became familiar with such work. In the intervals of attendance at school he found employment in the mines and gained a comprehensive knowledge of the work. During 1903 he went to the Goldfield and Tonopah regions in Nevada, where he bought a number of gold mines and for a time prospered in the w^ork. The mines were sold to excellent advantage and the money re-invested in other claims. Unfor- tunately he met with heavy losses during the panic of 1907 and while he was able to meet his obligations it left him without money, forcing him to begin anew. It was then that he came to Kern county and began to work as a roustabout in the North Midway field. In a short time he became an employe of the United Oil Company and by swift degrees worked up until he had charge of the production. Meanwhile he attracted the attention of C. F. Whittier, of the United Oil Company, who interested himself in the young man's advancement, having found him to be alert, wise, energetic and capable. During 1910 he became a stockholder in the 1508 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Panama Oil Company and since then he has acted as superintendent of the company's lease, havini^' charge both of the drilling" and the production of the wells. It is anticipated that the Panama will become one of the best producers in the field providing the strong underflowing current of water can be shut otf effectually by means of cementing. Eight capable men are employed under the supervision of Mr. Whyte, who gives his entire time to the work and with his wife, whom he married in August of 1911 and who was Miss Josephine Omphalius, of Buffalo, N. Y., he makes his home on the lease in the Sunset field. While still living in Colorado he became connected with the Elks at Creede, but since coming to California his time has been given so closely to the oil industry that he has not been able to participate actively in fraternal aftairs. J. J. TEAGUE. — No slight responsibility devolves upon Mr. Teague in his position as foreman of the refinery of the Sunset Monarch Oil Company at Maricopa, the organization with which he has been associated for some years ranking among the largest and most important in the entire field. Skilled workmen are retained, none of whom, however, are more capable or conscientious than Mr. Teague, who with the aid of the twenty men work- ing under him manages the refinery with energy, discretion and excellent judgment. The cooper shops of the company are also under his immediate suT^ervision. When running on heavy oils the refinery turns out fifty-five tons of asphalt of the Monarch brand. The output is less when running on lieht gravity oil. Aside from asphalt there are two other leading products, known as Monarch red engine distillate and Monarch pale oil distillate, both of which are shipped out in tank cars.' Every equipment has been provided for the making of gasoline also, although the enterprise has not yet been made a feature of the business. Eight hundred barrels of crude oil are used each da}^ ample facilities for the same being provided by a storage tank with a capacity of twenty thousand barrels. Born at Winston-Salem, Forsyth county, N. C, August 3, 1885, J. J. Teague was third among the nine children comprising the family of Charles M. and Sarah (Idol) Teague, natives of North Carolina, where the father has followed farming as a life occupation. The son was sent to the public schools when his help was not needed on the home farm. At the age of eighteen years he came to California and secured employment with the Cucamonga winerv in San Bernardino county. For three years he con- tinued as ail employe of the California Wine Association. Next he came to Kern county during 1906 and began to work with the Sunset Road Oil Company at Hazelton (Pioneer postoflfice), where he remained for two and one-half years. A visit to his old home in North Carolina was followed by a return to California and a resumption of work in the oil fields. After two months with the Standard Oil Company at Taft, Kern county, he came to Maricopa and secured employment as stillman with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company. Later he was made yard foreman and in 1909 he was pro- moted to be superintendent of the refinery. While with the Sunset Road Oil Company he had learned the distilling of oil and this knowledge proved of the greatest benefit to him in later activities. Shortly after New Year's of 1912 he returned to North Carolina and there. February 4, he was united in marriage with Miss Magdaline Glascoe, a daughter of D. P. Glascoe, prominently known among the farmers of Davidson county, that srate. The voung couple came to California shortly after their marriage and have since established themselves in a comfortable cottage on the Monarch lease, fhev have a daufditer. Millicent. ALMANDO BANDFTTINI. — When Mr. Bandettini started in business at Asphalto, now McKittrick, his was the first building and business; the only water obtainable was hauled in from Santa Mona spring, seven miles HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1509 away, and cost Mr. Bandettini $8 per barrel. Such were the conditions in those early days when Almando was mine host at the Old Headquarters and made many a heart glad with his cheer and optimism and the comforts of life. He was the first set:ler. and business man in McKittrick and became well and favorably known among all the oil men. Lucca, Italy, is the birthplace of Mr. Bandettini and September 21, 1867, the date of his birth. He is the son of Pasquale and Angelina (Ouilice) Bandettini, who were farmers there. They now live in a beautiful house in the suburbs ot Lucca, a place purchased for them by Almando on his visit there in 1911. at a cost of $6,000, and where he provides them with the comforts of life. They are now eighty-nine and eighty-four years old, re- spectively. Of the seven children born to them the subject of this review is the third oldest and was brough' up on the farm in Italy and was educated in the public schools there. Having heard and read much concerning Cali- fornia he became possessed of a keen desire to come to the Golden West. Having saved enough money to get to Chicago, in the spring of 1885 he started for that city, where a sister was living. Securing employment, he laid aside his wages and thus made his way to Kansas Ci'y and thence ta Nevada, working mostly on railroads. In September, 1885, he arrived in Santa Barbara, where for four months he was employed on Santa Cruz Island, then at different points on the coast, ranching. In 18'^2 he came to Kern county and entered the emplov of Miller & Lux at the Old Headquar- ters, afterwards at Firebaugh. In 1898 he established the Old Headquarters Hotel at AsDhalto, now McKittrick, and when the oil business began to develop he built shacks and put up tents, cared for the people and furnished them accommodations. He is well acquainted with the oil men of Kern county. In 1902, when the Southern Pacific started selling lots at their new station about a quarter of a mile below his first hotel he purchased eight lots and built the new Headquarters Hotel and liverv and feed stable and corral and continued doing a very successful business there until 1910, when he sold out. During these years he has been considerably interested in oil develop- ment. Amon? other companies he and H. S. Williams sunk a well on section 18, in the McKittrick field, and at ten hundred and thirty feet struck oil. sub- sequently putting down four more wells and producing oil until thev sold it. Mr. Bandettini still owns about two hundred acres of land in the McKittrick field and sees a big future for the oil business in California. The marriage of Mr. Bandettini and Marguerite Arrighi was celebrated in San Francisco April 20, 1903. Mrs. Bandettini was born in Lucca. Italy, and came with her parents when four years old to San Francisco, where she received her education in Presentation convent school. Thev are the parents of two children, Hazel and Edith. In 1900 I^Tr. Bandettini made his first trip to the old home in Italy and in 1911 with his wife and children he made the second trip, spending about seven months, and durinsf this time purchased and improved the comfortable home for his parents, where they are spending their declining years in comfort, quiet and peace. Politically he is a staunch and ardent Peoublican. EDGAR E. SHERWOOD. — One of the best known breeders of fine horses in Kern county is Edgar E. Sherwood, of McFarland. Mr. Sherwood was born in Shelburn, Sullivan county, Ind., May 3. 1869, and was educated in Indiana public schools and at the University of Indiana at Vincennes. Living with his parents, he worked on ranches near his boyhood home until 1897, when he came to California and entered the emoloyment of A. B. Chap- man in Los Angeles c( unty. For six months he had charge of the dairy, then began his connection with the orange industry. He was eventually advanced to the position of superintendent of the Chapman place, in which capacity he 1510 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY served twelve years, having complete charge of the ranch as well as packing and shipping of oranges. During this time he had purchased five acres of land in Pasadena. During these years he filled the offices of deputy sheriff and deputy constable. Some time later he sold his property in Pasadena and in 1907 bought four hundred acres at McFarland, Kern county, two years later locating on it. This land was the old Benson place, two hundred and forty acres of which were then under cultivation, and his purchase included water rights. Since purchasing the land he has sunk deep wells and put in a pump- ing plant with a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five inches. The cultiva- tion of alfalfa occupied his attention. for a time, then he became interested in the breeding of Holstein cattle, Poland China hogs and German Coach horses. While in Southern California he had begun raising standard horses and im- ported a stallion, "Lubins Kanitz," already a prize winner in Germany, which has since won important awards in America, notably in Kansas, at Des Moines, Iowa, and at the international fair held at Chicago. He breeds par- ticularly draft horses and is a member of the McFarland Horse Breeders Company who own "Helot," an imported Percheron stallion, Mr. Sherwood serving as secretary and manager of the company. Some horses he has raised have brought as much as $4,000 each, among them the noted "Be^ssie Barnes," and he is at this time the owner of some of the finest stock in Kern county, among them "Cresindo B," a full brother to "Capa de Ora" whose record is 1.59. Mr. Sherwood was one of the organizers of the McFarland Co-operative Creamery Company, in which he is a stockholder and director, and he has from time to time been identified with other important interests. As a citizen he is influential in public affairs and he is ably filling the offices of trustee of schools and deputy constable at McFarland. Mr. Sherwood was married near Lawrenceville, Lawrence county, 111., March 31, 1889, to Miss Florence E. Newell, a native of that county, where she was graduated from the Lawrenceville high school. They have three children : Adley, who is farming the old place at McFarland ; Harvey and Carrie, still at home. Fraternally the father affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and was made a Mason in Delano Lodge, No. 309, F. & A. M. With his wife he is a member of the Eastern Star, and she is a member of the Women of Woodcraft. Mr. Sherwood was one of the organizers and is a direc- tor in the First National Bank of McFarland. PETER DORAN.— Born in County Down, Ireland, in 1857. until he was fifteen years old Peter Doran attended the public schools near the home of his childhood. Well grounded in the principles underlying good citizenship and instructed in useful labor, he was fairly well fitted to undertake the responsibilities of life in a new land, and when he came to the United States in 1882 he located in the vicinity of Delano. Cal. At that time the country was new and undeveloped and there was not a house within ten miles of the present town. After following general farming for four years, in 1889 he bought sheep and started in business for himself as a sheep-raiser. Later he sold his stock and engaged in the sale of lumber, feed and fuel at Delano, which was by that time a thriving village, and his was the first lumber yard in the place. Since selling the business to the proprietor of the Union Lumber yard he has been variously engaged : At one time draying and teaming com- manded his energies; he was interested in an ice plant; he owned a saloon and soda fountain ; and is now the proprietor of the Pioneer feed and fuel yard, which is located on the site formerly occupied by his lumber yard. At one time he owned the land upon which the bank of Delano is now located, and he is regarded as one of the largest property owners in his home town. As a citizen he has been public-spiritedly helpful to every promising local interest, energetically doing everything possible for the upbuilding of the town. In HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1511 1891 and in 1892 he filled the office of constable. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knig-hts of Columbus. PHILIP M. DAVIS. — When scarcely old enough to understand the work done in the machine shop of his father, he enjoyed no greater pleasure than that of watching the men at work. To him the repairing of broken machinery, the putting together of different parts, seemed a far more interesting process than that of attempting to memorize dry facts in the text-books of the schools. His father, Philip Davis, carried on a machine shop in Foxburg, Pa., and taught the lad to develop his natural ability, so that at the expiration of an ap- prenticeship he had a thorough comprehension of the trade of mechanic. Throughout early life he made his home in Pennsylvania, where he was born at Parker's Landing, Armstrong county, June 24, 1874, and where he received a grammar-school education. The quiet round of attendance at school and work in the shop filled the days of youth. Upon leaving the east Mr. Davis first went to Arizona and spent two years at Winslow as a mechanic in the Santa Fe shops. From that place he re- moved to Tucson, in the same state, where he remained for seven years as a mechanic in the Southern Pacific machine shops. During 1907 he came to California for the purpose of entering the Southern Pacific railroad shops at Bakersfield and there he continued for several years. Meanwhile he had studied the field and had become convinced that Taft ofifered an excellent opening for a machine shop. Accordingly he formed a partnership with an acquaintance under the firm name of Davis & Elliott and in 1911 built a machine shop in South Taft. During May of 1912 he bought out the interest of his partner, since which time he has been the sole owner and with the assistance of three skilled mechanics carries on his business in a shop well equipped with modern machinery. In the oil fields he is known as a skilled mechanic, accurate in workmanship, prompt in the filling of orders and de- pendable for efficiency in every contract. Before leaving Pennsylvania he was made a Mason in a blue lodge in Pittsburg and later he was raised to the chapter and Knights Templar degrees in Arizona, where also he became identi- fied with the Shriners of Phoenix. When he came to California he was accom- panied by Mrs. Davis, formerly Miss Angle Hutchinson, of Kane, Pa., and they have established a comfortable home in Taft, where they have a large circle of warm personal friends. JOSEPH W. OVERALL. — Prior to the beginning of the Civil war his sympathies had been aroused in behalf of the slaves, this feeling on his part being an inherited opinion from his mother, Louisana (Duvall) Overall, a descendant of French ancestry and of Revolutionary stock. On the other hand the father, George Washington Overall, was a slaveholder and in sym- pathy with the stand taken by the southern states, although he adhered to the policy favored by Henry Clay that Kentucky should establish gradual emancipation, that California should be admitted without stipulations con- cerning slaverv and that territorial governments should not be restricted by any obligations in that regard. The Overall family came from England during the colonial era and settled in Virginia, where they migrated across the moun- tains into Kentucky and became contemporaries of Daniel Boone in the original upbuilding of the Blue Grass state. " There were six children in the family of George Washington and Louis- ana (Duvall) Overall, namely: James B., who served in the Union army under Colonel Pennybaker as a member of the Twenty-seventh Kentucky Infantry ; Joseph W. ; Gabriel P., now living in Phoenix, Ariz. ; Annie, who died at the age of sixteen years ; Alelinda E., who married Frank C. Parepoint, of Hardin county, Ky. ; and Susan C, Mrs. Columbus Clark, who settled near Canton, Mo. After the mother of these children had passed away, the father was again married and by the second union he became the parent of three chil- 66 1512 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY dren. Born near Bardstown, Nelson county. Ky., March 20, 1844, Joseph W. Overall passed the years of boyhood in his native locality and had very meager educational opportunities. In February of 1863, when a little less than nineteen years of age, he enlisted at Louisville, Ky., in Company I of the Eleventh Kentucky Cavalry for three years or during the war. His command was known at Wc Iford's cavalry and he served successively under Colonels Reiley, Graham, Holman and Major Boyle. Following the siege of Knox- ville, in which he served under Gen. A. E. Burnside, he was placed under George H. Stoneman in the celebrated Stoneman's cavalry under General Sherman and took part in the famous march through Georgia to Atlanta as a member of the First Brigade, First Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, com- manded by General Scofield. While the army was stationed near Kingston, Ga., in 1864 Mr. Overall was commissioned sergeant-major and served as such during the return from Atlanta to Louisville. From the latter city a start was made for West Virginia, where an assault was begun upon the Kings salt works, but the Union men, repulsed with severe loss, retreated to Louisville via Lexingtcn. Later under Stoneman another attack was made on the salt works and this raid proved successful, for the plant was captured and destroyed by the Union forces. Following the later return to Louisville the young soldier was confined to a hospital through illness and after he had recovered and rejoined the regiment he aided in a raid through North Caro- lina and Tennessee during April and May of 1865. His last service consisted in the auditing of officers' accounts and in October, 1865, he received an hon- orable discharge at Louisville. The war ended, Sergeant-Major Overall took up any work that ofifered an honest livelihood and for seme time he was employed at the trade of a carpenter. From Kentucky he went to Kansas during the spring of 1868 and settled in Leavenworth, where he worked as a carpenter. Afterward he took up a government soldiers' homestead in Harvey county, Kans., and this he proved up on during 1873, after which he continued to cultivate the land and make it his home until the fall of 1889. Selling out at that time he went to Seattle, Wash., and from there in February, 1890, came to California, arriving in Bakersfield on the 30th of May. Since establishing a home in this section he has made many friends. He has never married and at this writing is keeping "bachelor's hall" on his farm of ten acres on Union avenue near Bakersfield, where he raises alfalfa and poultry. Since casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln he has never failed to support the candidates of the Republican party and is stanch in his allegiance to party principles. Fraternally a master Ma- son, he belongs to the Veteran Masonic Association. For years he has been identified with ^he Grand Army of the Republic and is now a member of Hurl- burt Pest at Bakersfield. MARCUS B. THOMAS became a resident of California in 1890, when he located at Traver, Tulare county. Unfortunately, on account of the condition of the soil, the agricultural and dairy industries did not thrive and he removed to Sanger, where for two years he was employed in a warehouse. Then for fourteen years he was in the Sanger box factory, his wcrk being principally around the engine, thus acquiring the knowledge of stationary engineering. He then located in San Francisco, where he followed the trade in which he had become proficient, and while thus engaged he also became interested in and was proprietor of a hotel e n Folsom street. At the time of the earth- quake and fire he was burned out, which caused the loss of all he had. He then entered the employ of the Santa Fe railroad as engineer of the pumoing plant at San Pablo, afterwards holding the same position at Richmond, Angiola and Ellensworth. In 1906 he came to Wasco for the company and since then has had charge of this pumping plant. Mr. Thomas was born in Fostoria, Ohio, November 5, 1850, and when two HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1513 years of age removed with his parents to Hudson, La Port county, Ind., where he was reared on the farm and received his education in the local schools. After he reached his majority he engaged in farming his father's place until 1890, when he came to California, which has since been the field of his endeavors. He was married in Indiana to Miss Ella Barnes, whose death occurred in Sanger. Of their union were born two children : Nellie, Mrs. Dyer, of Soledad and Berna O., foreman of Madera's box factory in Fresno. Fra- ternally Mr. Thomas affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, while in national politics he is a Republican. LEROY ALFRED DENNEN.— Born in Pottawatomie county, Kans., January 14, 1883, a son of C. L. and Mary (Davis) Dennen, when he was quite young Leroy Alfred Dennen of Bakersfield was brought to Kern ci unty by his parents. He was educated in the public schools of Bakersfield, graduating from the Kern county high school in 1904, and worked for his father until he was twenty-three years old. On March 4. 1905, he married Arta May Web- ster, who was born August 19, 1888, in Henry county, Alo., and who has borne him a son, Kenneth. He is the owner of seventy acres of alfalfa and grain land and is giving successful attention to general farming. In Oxford county. Me., C. L. Dennen was born March 7, 1857. In that same year his parents settled in Brown county, Kans., and when he was four- teen years old, in 1871, they moved to Pottawatomie county, that state. In 1876 he married Miss Mary Davis, of the same county, a daughter of pioneers who came from Icwa. George B. Davis, her father, died about thirty years ago and her mother, who was Miss Catherine Taylor, lives at Santa Ana, Cal. After his marriage Mr. Dennen rented a farm three years and then became the owner of one which he operated until 1886, when he came to Cali- fornia with his wife and five children, with a capital of only $400, arriving in Bakersfield in December. He homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land and with B. F. Stoner as a partner engaged in the livery business at Bakersfield for seme time. In due time he proved up on his land and he owns one-half of it at this time. He rented land and afterwards bought acreage from the Kern County Land Company. His first purchase was twenty acres at $1200 on which he was able to make a payment of only $10. He now owns two hundred and sixty acres in one tract and eighty in another and a fine residence at No. 1227 G street, Bakersfield, where he is now living retired from active life, his ranch being in the hands of his son-in-law, F. W. Silver. The following are the eight children of C. L. and Mary (Davis) Dennen: Josephine is the wife of James Hosking, living in Union avenue, Bakersfield ; Charles Richard, a bookkeeper for A. F. Stoner, Bakersfield, married Libbie Hansen, from Placer county ; George Berry married Etta Webster of Bakers- field ; Leroy Alfred is mentioned above; A'^illie L. is the wife of F. W. Silver; Lewis W. was graduated from the Kern County High School in 1910 and is bookkeeper for the Union Oil Company — he married Lucile Sanders ; Alary Myrtle is a graduate of the Kern County High School class of 1912 ; Vernon V. is at home. L. W. Dennen, father of C. L. Dennen, enlisted in the First Regi- ment, Kansas Infantry, and served three years and a half in the Union army. Clara B. Andrews, who became his wife, was born in Oxford county. Ale., a daughter of Capt. John Andrews. PHARES HARRY SHANNON.— The history of the Shannon family in America goes back to early Canadian colonization. Phares H. ShanuLU, Sr., a Canadian by birth and parentage, became a pioneer of ATichipan and worked as a pattern-maker in Detroit up to the time of the Civil war. Throughout the entire period of that struggle he served as a member of a Michigan regiment of engineers and after receiving an honorable discharge he moved frcm Detroit CO Grand Rapids, where he followed his trade. Later he and his wife, who was Frances Godfrey, a native of Flint, Alich., established a home at Ovid, 1514 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Clinton county, Mich., and there a son, Phares Harry, was born September 26, 1879. The opening- up of vast timber tracts further north in Michigan attracted the attention of the father, who decided to take up a homestead. With that purpose in view he went to Kalkaska county and secured a timber claim, which he cleared of trees and stumps and placed under cultivation. There his death occurred in 1910, when he was seventy-five years of age and there his widow is still making her home. The farm is now owned by their two youngest sons, William and Lewis. The eldest son, Charles, is living at Lynchburg, Va., and the second son, Fred, died at the age of twenty years. The rigoreus climate and the hardships of pioneering in Michigan did not appeal to Phares H. Shannon and after spending two years at Rexton, in the northern peninsula (from 1902), where he was in the employ of a large con- tracting firm, he came to California. Arriving in Visalia, in May of 1904, in the fall of the same year he came to Bakersfield, where since July of 1907 he has been an employe of the Kern County Land Company on Kern island. The following year he was promoted to be foreman of the ranch, a position he has since filled. Politically he votes the Democratic ticket, and fraternally he holds membership with Kern Lodge No. 202, L O. O. F., and is also a member of the encampment and the local lodge of Rebekahs. W. S. SEYMOUR, contractor and builder, with main office at Taft, is well known throughout Kern county. Althf ugh engaged in business here for only a brief period, Mr. Seymour has established a reputation for trust- worthy work ; to his credit also there is a long record for successful work in many parts of the country, where he had practical experience in the erection of large schoolhouses, substantial government buildings, court-houses and other structures. An early thorough experience in carpentering came to Mr. Seymour un- der the wise training of his father, whose skill is in evidence in a large num- ber of houses and bridges at Great Barrington, Mass. That city was the native place and early home of W. S. Seymour, whose birth occurred May 25, 1861, and whose education was gained largely in the great school of experience and hard work. As soon as old enough to use tools he was taught the prin- ciples of carpentering. After he had worked in many buildings in his native commonwealth, in 1887 he left home to follow his trade in other states. From that time until he came to Bakersfield in January, 1909, he visited many states, worked in almost every part of the country, and became a thorough master of his trade through holding important positions in the construction of large public buildings. For three years after his arrival in Bakersfield he engaged as construction foreman with C. B. Brown. During 1910-11 he had charge of the construction of the substantial Conley grammar-school building at Taft, a structure erected at a cost of $50,000 and containing every equipment known to the educational world of the present day. .The school building at Fellows was also erected under his personal supervision. The Brundage school has been erected by him and in addition he had the contract for the erection of a grammar-school building in Taft, a brick structure, completed at a cost of $25,000 and opened for the fall term of school in 1913. Among the other build- ings to the credit of Mr. Seymour may be mentioned the Murphy apart- ments on Nineteenth street, Bakersfield. Others might be listed, but these are sufilicient to indicate the importance of his contracts and his ability as a builder. Outside of building circles, as within, he has a host of warm personal friends, for he is genial in temperament, energetic in action and kindly in disposition. Fraternally he belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose. JOHN WILTON. — The steadfast, reliable temperament that forms one of the principal characteristics of John Wilton has been evidenced in his long identification with the Kern County Land Company, of which he has been a trusted employe for many years and in whose interests he has labored with HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1515 the same conscientious devotion and unwearied fidelity he would have given to his own affairs. His Anglo-Saxon ancestry is apparent in his dignity of manner breadth of character and the care with which he discharges all duties connected with the position of time-keeper of the Kern Island Irrigation Canal Company. Since coming to Kern county he has bought property and built a residence at No. 2024 Twentieth street, where with his family he has a comfortable home convenient in appointments and modern in equipment. The Wiltcn family comes from the south of England. John C. and Ann (Hoskin) Wilton were natives respectively of the shires of Cornwall and Devon and for many years have made their home upon a farm at Buck- fastleigh, where the former, although seventy years of age, is still active in the management of his interests. There were six children in the family and the eldest^ John, the only one of the six to come to America, was born near Plvmouth' Devonshire, England, January 17, 1864. After he had completed his schooling he worked as a farmer and became a foreman in agriculture, con- tinuing as such until he came to America. Meanwhile he had married in Cornwall his wife being Miss Mary Hoskings, a native ot St. Uny. Lelant. Cornwall. One of her brothers, James Hoskings, had come to California and was living in Kern countv. and this fact induced the young couple to try their fortune in the new world'. March 15, 1890, they sailed from Liverpool on the Atruria which cast anchor in New York at the end of a pleasant voyage. Crossing the continent they proceeded to Bakersfield and settled perma- nently in Kern county, where for seven years Mr. Wilton worked on the farm owned bv his brother-in-law on Union avenue. At the expiration of the seven years he^became a zanjero on the system of the Kern Comity Land Company, continuing as such for twelve years, when he was promoted, in March of 1908, to be time-keeper of the Kern island canal. The details of irrigation are familiar to him and he thoroughly understands all of the work connectecj with his department. While giving his time and attention closely to the duties ot the position, he does not neglect his duty as a citizen, but aims to keeo p. sted concerning all movements for the welfare of city and county In politics he votes with the Democratic party. His membership was formerly in the Church of England and after coming to the United States he and his wite identified themselves with the Episcopal Church. Their family consisted of three children, two now living, John Henry and Frederick George^ The only daughter, Blanche H., died when five months old. Mr. Wilton holds niember- .ship with Bakersfield Ledge No. 202, I. O. O. F., and the Independent Order of Foresters. GERARD C. La MARSNA.— The name of La Marsna indicates French extraction and we find that the family for generations lived in France and became established in Canada during the period of immigration from their country to the new provinces of America. James Jeffrey La Marsna, who was of Canadian birth, grew to manhood in Michigan and at the opening of the Civil war offered his services to the Union, w^as accepted and sent to the front, where he served as aide-de-camp to his general. During a fierce fight in the Cumberland mountains he was wounded by a shot from the enemy and lost his left leg, which greatly incapacitated him in his subsequent efforts to earn a livelihocd. Finallv the government appointed him as a deposition agent in the pension department. About 1888 he came to California and settled on a ranch in Tulare countv, where he engaged in the raising of gram and stock with more or less success. His death occurred on the ranch in 1907. Surviving him is his widow, who was Maria Clough, a native of Massachusetts and now a resident of Tulare. The parental familv comprised eleven children, but only four ot these attained maturity and these four still survive. The youngest son in the family, Gerard Chastleline La Marsna. was born at Onaga, Pottawatomie county, 1516 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Kan., October 14, 1880, and was two years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Washington, D. C. In 1885 another removal was made, the family going to Ircnton, Lawrence county, Ohio, whence they came to Cali- fornia three years later. On the 31st of January, 1888, they arrived at Tulare and shortly afterward settled on a ranch near Woodville in the same county. The eight-year old boy saw much to interest him in the west and soon became familiar with conditions as they then existed in Tulare county, where he received a public-school education. He can scarcely recall when he first began to help his father. From an early age he was taught to be self-reliant and helpful. Much of his work was the driving of a mule-team, but he aided in other ways on the home ranch and on other farms. At the age <. f about nineteen years Mr. La Marsna began at the bottom in the employ of the Mount Whitney Power Company, his first work being in the construction department. For almost ten years he continued with the same company and at the time of his resignation he was serving as district superin- tendent of the Exeter division. During July of 1900 he came to Bakersfield as an electrician, to enter the employ of the Power Transit and Light Company, now absorbed by the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation, and with these two concerns he has continued up to the present time, having since February 10, 1910, filled the p^isition of city foreman of construction and has given his time closely to his duties. He holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. At Porterville, this state, January 8, 1905, he was united in marriage with Miss Nellie A. Gibson, by whom he has two children, Fred Gibson and Anna Pauline. Mrs. La Marsna was born in Lamar, Barton county. Mo., and is a daughter of Benjamin Workman and Sarah (Billings) Gibson, for many years farmers of Missouri, but eventually residents of California where Mr. Gibson died at Porterville and where his widow continues to make her home. A. B. ECHOLS. — Following the trend of migration toward the west, A. P. Echols, a native of Georgia, established himself in Texas and earned a livelihood as a carpenter, but before he had been able to lay aside any consid- erable sum for the support of his family he was taken from their midst by death, leaving the little children without means for their education and up- bringing. Of the three children the second, A. B., was born in Corsicana, Tex., March 7, 1887, and was only five years of age at the passing of his father in 1892. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Caroline Pettigrew and who was a native of Missouri, took the family to Oklahoma in 1904 and is now making her home with one of her daughters at Tulsa. Between the years of seventeen and twenty-one A. B. Echols served an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade with the American Well and Pros- pecting Company in Oklahoma. At the beginning he was paid $1 per day. The wages were gradually increased until finally he received $3.7S per day. After leaving the employ of the Oklahoma concern he came to California in 1908 and settled at Coalinga, where he engaged with the Bunting iron works. There, as in his former position, he soon proved the value of his work. Leaving Coalinga for Taft in 1912, he has since been connected with the General Petroleum Company and now fills the responsible position of foreman of the machine shoo. His comfortable home in Taft is presided over by Mrs. Echols, who prior to their marriage at Fort Smith, Ark., was Miss Hilda Barry. During the period of his residence at Coalinga he was made a Mason in the blue lodge at that point and in addition he identified himself with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Fresno. GEORGE DAVIS. — Many of California's most skilled drillers and most successful superintendents come from Pennsylvania and that is likewise the native commonwealth of the young and energetic foreman of the Reward Oil Company, operatinqf a lease on section 26, 31-22. Bradford is his old home town and July 26, 1882, the date of his birth. As a boy he became familiar with HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1517 the enormous development of the Bradford oil fields. He witnessed the excite- ment incident to the striking of new wells and felt a personal pride in the con- stant increase in production which was the record made by that district in the period of its nascent growth. Sharing- the general interest concerning the business, he also shared its toil, privations and hardships, and learned every phase of its occupative duties. When he came from Pennsylvania to Cali- fornia in 1904 he sought the Kern river field, then one of the greatest fields in the entire country. For five years he worked on various leases and in various capacities. With the early development of the Midway he came to Moron, now known as Taft. For six months he worked as a driller on the Mascot lease and then went into the service of the Operators Oil Company at McKittrick. To take up the work of driller Mr. Davis came to the North Midway in 1910 and the following year he was made foreman of the Reward, formerly the Result Oil Company, which now has connection with the Reward at Mc- Kittrick. Drilling was first started on the lease in April, 1910, so that he has been connected with the work from the very cutset, and it is a source of pride to him that there has been a constant and profitable development and that there are now two productive wells, flowing one hundred and seventy barrels every twenty-four hours and producing oil of 19.4 gravity. As foreman Mr. Davis is expeditious, energetic and justly popular. Fraternally he is iden- tified with the Aerie of Eagles at Bakersfield. His marriage in Los Angeles united him with Miss Emma Lufkon, of Los Angeles, and they now have a comfortable home on section 26, on the company's lease. RICHARD A. JOHNSON.— In the Sunset and Midway fields there are few operators more pooular or mere experienced than the pioneer driller, "Dick" Johnson, superintendent of the Security Development Company, oper- ating thirty-five acres on section 15, 31-22. Strangers are always impressed by the stature of Mr. Johnson, who measures six feet and three inches in height, and whose massive frame and stalwart physique are supplemented by mental attributes equally unusual. Other members of his family exhibit the same splendid physique and almost gigantic stature. i\n older brother, Albert H., who is engaeed in the cattle business and makes his home a: Iron Point, Nev.. whose remarkable height of seven feet makes him a man of commanding presence. The youngest brother, Charles L., who is now connected as driller with the San Francisco Midway Oil Company in the Midway field, weighs three hundred pounds and is six feet and six inches in height. The parental family comprised six children. The eldest of these. Samuel A. Johnscn, is a well-known and wealthy oil operator residing in Bakersfield. The second, Albert H.. has been alluded to above. The third, Mary, is the wife of C. P. Dorn, of Hollister. The fourth, Richard A., was born in Santa Cruz county, Cal., November 4, 1871. grew to manhood in Monterey county, and was the first of the family to embark in the oil business. The fifth, Ella, married Dr. E. K. Peters, of Fresno, and the youngest, Charles L., is in the Midway field, as previously mentioned. The father, Alden S. Johnson, a pioneer of 1849, crossed the plains with wagon and ox-teams, and settled eventually at Grass Vallev, where he married Mrs. E. H. Whi'ing, whose maiden name was Miss Clara Swain. She was a daughter of Dr. H. P. Swain, a prominent pioneer dentist at that place. Her death occurred about twenty-five years ago, while that of Mr. Johnson occurred in 1906. Throughout the greater part of their married life they had lived on a ranch. In addition to the members of the family named there is a half-brother, E. H. ^^'hiting, now engaged in farming at Turlock, Stanislaus county. , Since 1893. when he entered the oil business at Coalinga, Mr. Johnson has continued steadily in the same occunation and has risen from roustabout to superintendent. While with the Petroleum Center Oil Company he learned to be a tool-dresser. After remaining with the company for six months he 1518 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY entered the employ of Hendrickson & Snyder, oil-well drilling contractors, with whom he continued for two years, meanwhile learning to be a driller. From Coalinga he drifted to P.akersfield and the Kern river field. About 1899 he came to the Sunset field to work as a driller. At that time there were only three strings of tools running in all this great oil district. A later experience as a driller took him to the oil fields at Evanston, Wyo., where he was em- ployed for one year. On his return to California he worked successively in the Sunset and Coalinga fields. With a desire to see something of Mexico Mr. Johnson entered into a con- tract to drill in the state of Tabasco for the English firm of S. Pierson & Son, and during the year in that connection he prospered financially but lost his health on account of climatic and unsanitary conditions, so returned to Cali- fornia, where he soon regained his customary strength. In the North Midway field he became an employe of the Fox Oil Company, which owned one hundred and sixty acres of oil land. Subsequently forty acres of the quarter section were sold to the M. & M. Oil Company, and eighty-five acres were leased to two other concerns in equal parts, so that the original owners had but thirty-five acres left and this is now being operated under the title of the Security Development Company, with Mr. Johnson as superintendent. There are four wells on the lease and the aver- age production runs from five thousand to six thousand barrels per month. Fraternally Mr. Johnson holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with Bakersfield Aerie of Eagles No. 93. With his wife, whom he married in 1910 and who was Miss Lynda Ward, of Missouri, he makes his home on the company's property on section 15. Of recent years he has acquired some interests in oil lands in the Lost Hills, while in addition he owns city real estate at Oakland. VERNE L. ADAMS.— The Globe division of the General Petroleum is operated under the efficient supervision of Mr. Adams, who while one of the youngest is also regarded as one of the most dependable superintendents in the Midway field. Eighty acres, located on section 15, township 31, range 22, comprise the holdings of the said Globe Division whose twenty-four producing wells average seventy-five thousand barrels per month. That the Globe division is bringing such excellent returns may be attrib- uted largely to the resourcefulness and energy of the superintendent, Verne L. Adams, who is a member of an old and honored family of the United States. While some of the colonial families have become extinct vr have not kept up the intellectual standard set by their ancestors, such is not the case with the Adams family, which not only maintains the intellectuality of forebears, but singularly preserves and presents the rotund, ruddv, high-browed, full-eved, vigorous and virile organisms which characterized John and John Quincy Adams in the earlier chapters of American history. Unmistakably an Adams, with all the physical and mental attributes of that family, Mr. Adams gives little indication of Swiss ancestry, although his mother, who bore the maiden name of Sophia Lughinbuhl, was born in Switzerland and comes of an old family of that mountain republic. His father, Ira Adams, made his home in Ohio for Sf me time and Verne L. was born at West Salem, that state, October 9, 1886. Not long afterward the family removed to Oregon and settled in Portland, where the father died about 1892, leaving Verne, a child of six years, besides two older children, Blanche and Jay. The mother thereupon took the children back to Lima, Ohio, where she went through the most arduous struggle in an effort to rear and educate them. The daughter mar- ried at seventeen and died a year later. The older son came to California and is now engaged in the furniture business in Sacramento, while the mother, also coming to the west, is now living with her son, Verne L., in the Midway field. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1519 Few have encountered greater hardships in their struggle to earn a live- lihood than has Verne L. Adams, who became self-supporting at an age when the majority of boys have ample leisure for play and recreation. At the age of twelve he became a newsboy. It was his custom to arise at four every morning and to carry papers throughout the town, stopping only when it was time to go to school. This work he kept up until he was fifteen, at which time he found employment in a grocery. His own efforts aided in the j^upport of his mother and enabled him to pay his expenses for six months in the Lima (Ohio) Business College. At the age of seventeen he began to work in the Lima oil field. For several months he was employed as a pumper for Sam Ridenour, the well-known contractor at Lima, and from that work he was promoted to be a tool-dresser. During 1905 he came to California with his mother and settled at Sacramento, where he engaged in the Southern Pacific Railroad shops and in that position became an experienced machinist. January of 1909 found him in the Midway field, where he secured employment as a pumper on the Sibyl, later was made gang-pusher, next became production foreman and is now superintendent, his steady rise indicating efficiency, trustworthiness and sagacious judgment. At different times he has purchased real estate in Sacramento and Fresno, for with natural thrift and foresight he believes in investing in California lands. Since coming to Taft he has iden- tified himself with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While his mother is a Christian Scientist, he is in sympathy with all denominations and with generous and broad-minded liberality he contributes to movements for the uplifting of humanity. CHARLES WHITAKER. — Not a few men who have won success in California have benefited by valuable experience in the United States Army, where discipline and observation go hand in hand in the moulding of character and in the broadening of the view. Charles Whitaker, a former cavalryman, whose residence is on Baker street, East Bakersfield, is a native of' Wise county, Va., and was born May 20, 1863. When he was six or seven years old he was taken by his parents to Pike county, Ky., where he was reared to a knowledge of farm work and educated in public schools and in a special sub- scription school. He remained there until after he was eighteen. In 1882 he crossed over to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was enlisted for service in the United States Army. He was assigned to the Second United States cavalry, as a mem- ber of Company M, and came out to Montana that same year. His service con- tinued during five years, during which time he was stationed successively at Fort Custer, Fort Assiniboine, Fort Klamath and Fort Bidwell. He looks back upon the experience of those years with much interest and a pardonable pride. He won special distinction in being made a trumpeter and was hon- orably discharged in 1887. After a visit to Kentucky and Virginia, he went to Denver, Colo., where for about a year he was employed at farming and at railroading. In November, 1888, he went to Washington and homesteaded land on the Toutle river, which he began to improve and on which he lived about three years and a half. After that he kept a hotel for a while at Castle Rock, Wash., and from there he moved to the Klamath river country, Oregon, and not long afterward he became a citizen of Portland. In 1893 he came to California and located at Bakersfield. He had not prospered so well but that he needed capital if he were to engage in business. In 1893-94 he worked for wages and in 1894 he formed a partnership with Henry Wood in the livery business at Kern. Within a year he bought his partner's interest and he has since managed the enterprise with satisfactory success. His barn covers a ground space of 90x130 feet, has a fine corral, and his stock and rigs are as good as are sent out from any stable in the vicinity. His business is the oldest of its class at East Bakersfield. Near Buttonwillow is a fine tract of 1520 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY three hundred and twenty acres in which Mr. Whitaker is interested and on which a modern pumping plant is being installed for ranch service and irriga- tion of alfalfa land. His attractive residence on Baker street, East Bakersfield, was designed by him and erected under his supervision, and he also owns the Yorke, an apartment house on Baker street, thus giving him a frontage of two hundred and fifty-four feet. Politically Mr. Whitaker is a Democrat. Socially he affiliates with the Fraternal Brotherhood and with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He filled for one term the office of trustee for the town of Kern and was a member of the board when Kern was consolidated with Bakersfield. The lady who became the wife of Mr. Whitaker was Miss Druzella Gier, a native of Bonham county, S. Dak. They have five children, Charles Elizabeth, Ellen, Mildred Mav and Beatrice Thelma. . RAYMOND I. WALTERS.— An identification with the industrial activ- ities of Bakersfield begun in 1908 and cc ntinued up to the present time, has given to Mr. W^alters an intimate acquaintance with the business men of the city as well as broad information concerning resources and commercial pos- sibilities. As a plumber he is considered unusually skilled and capable and since establishing himself in the business he has been awarded many contracts of importance. In a building erected under his personal supervision and situated at No. 1900 Nineteenth street he started a plumbing shop, but afterward he sold the property and remc^ved to his present location at No. 1039 H street, where with J- T. Smith as a partner and under the firm name of Walters & Smith, he does a general business in plumbing lines. Not only has he had contracts for putting in of water pipes and other departments of a plumber's work, but in addition he has taken contracts for heating and is con- sidered an expert authority both in heating and in plumbing. The Walters family descends from old eastern ancestry. E. W. Walters, a native rf Ohio, removed to Illinois in company with his parents and settled in Hancock county, where he engaged in farming. During the Civil war he served for more than three years as a volunteer in the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Illinois Infantry and in one of the engagements he received a severe wound. Some years after the close of the w^ar he married Miss Mary E. Scott, a native of WHieeling, W. Va., and from early life a resident of Illinois. Five children, all still living, were born of their union, the yr ungest being Raymond I., whose birth occurred July 30, 1884, on the home farm near the small village of Burnside in Hancock county. In 1886 the family removed to Creston, Iowa, and two years later they came to California, where the father entered a homestead in the San Emidio district. The develop- ment of the raw land into a productive farm occupied his closest attention for a considerable period, but eventually he sold the tract, removed to Bakers- field, purchased property in this city and is now living retired. After he had finished the grammar grade and had entered the Kern county high school, Raymond I. Walters beean to devote his entire vacation time to the plumber's trade. As early as 1898 he first became a workman in the trade and it was not lone: before he was competent for independent w^ork. Upon graduating from the high school in 1903 he g^ave his entire time to the business, working in the emnloy of others. In 1904 he went to Santa Cruz and found employment at the trade. Later he worked as a journeyman in the Bay cities, but returned to Bakersfield in 1908, since which time he has engaged in business for himself. As a member of the Builders' Exchange and the Master Plumbers' Association, of which latter he acts as treasurer, he is identified with two of the leading trade organizations in the city, w^hile in addition he has fraternal relations with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., in which he was made a Mason. The residence which he erected at No. 1920 Seventh street. Bakersfield, and which is a neat and attractive dwelling, is HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1521 presided over with kindly hospitality by his wife, whom he married in San Jose and who was formerly Miss Grace M. Smith, their union having been blessed by a sen, James W. To Mrs. Walters belongs the distinction of being a native daughter of the state, for she claims Watsonville as her native city, and her parents were pioneers of that part of the state. ARTHUR R. WARREN.— The foreman of the Sumner warehouse of the Kern County Land Company at East Bakersficld is a member of an English family whose first representative in America, David Warren, came from the vicinity of Dover and settled in Wisconsin during young manhood. The state remained largely in the primeval condition of nature at the time of his arrival and the most strenuous exertion was necessary to clear and cultivate the land. Searching for a suitable location he traveled northwest from Madison and chose Juneau county as the place of his future activities. For many years and indeed until his death he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits in that section of the state and there he married Luella Wiseman, who like himself had been born in the vicinity of Dover, England, and she tco spent her last days in Wisconsin. Nine children were born of their union. Five of these are still living and the third in order of birth, Arthur R., was born at the old homestead near Mauston, Juneau county. Wis., May 4, 1868, also was edu- cated in the schools of Juneau county, where he continued to live until he started out to make his own way in the world. Meanwhile his older brothers had gone to Minnesota and had settled near Granite Falls, Yellow Medicine county, where he joined them in 1885, securing work on farms in that section. After a time he returned to Wisccnsin and began to work as a carpenter in the bridge and building department of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. The varying locations and demands of his occupative duties took him to the northern and northwestern states from Iowa to the Pacific coast. A first trip to the extreme west of our country took Mr. Warren to Seattle in 1898 and convinced him of the greatness of this vast western empire. During 1900 he made his first trio to San Francisco. Business took him back to Nevada, where he was employed for two years, and then, in July of 1902, he came to Bakersfield, where ever since he has been connected with the Kern County Land Company. Two months were spent in the Bakersfield ware- house as a day laborer. In September of 1902 he was promoted to be foreman of that department, continuing as such until May of 1906 and then being transferred to his present position as foreman of the Sumner warehouse a't East Bakersfield. The interests of the company have been promoted by his faithful and intelligent service and he stands high in the estimation of the officials, who have found him to be energetic, tactful, efBcient and reliable. Meanwhile he has become deeply interested in the prcgress of Bakersfield and is loyal in every way to the local welfare. His political afifiliations are with the Republican party. JOSEPH P. COONEY.— The development of the oil fields not only de- mands the presence of ooerators and skilled workmen, but in addition invites the establishment of agencies for supplies absolutely essential to such work. Representative of the latter line of enterprise is the Taft branch of Woods & Huddart of San Francisco, Pacific coast agents for the South Chester casing and tubing and line pipe manufactured by the South Chester Tube Company, of Chester, Pa. As manager of the local branch, maintaining an office with the Western Pipe and Steel Company of this city, Mr. Cooney has developed a growing business among the oil superintendents of the various leases in the Sunset, Midway, Fellows and McKittrick fields. From early recollections Mr. Cooney has been familiar with the oil industry. His father, W. P. Cooney, now living retired at Sistersville, V. Va.. for years was well known in eastern oil fields, took a leading part as operator 1522 HISTORY OF KERN COUNPY and contractor during the period of the Bradford boom, and for a number of years engaged as a lease foreman in the Woodsfield district of Monroe county. Ohio. By his marriage to Isabel Flannigan (who is still living, but now an invalid) he had a family of five children: Joseph P., of Taft ; Ralph P., of Santa Maria, now the district manager for the California National Supply Company; Helena and Marcella, both living with their parents at Sistersville, where the latter is employed as a teacher in :he schools ; and Cletus, a graduate of St. Vincent's College at Beatty, Westmoreland county. Pa. The oldest son, Joseph P., was born at Eldred, McKean county. Pa., January 9, 1885, and was ten years of age when the family left the Pennsylvania farm and removed to oil fields in Ohio, where the next five years were passed. At the age of fifteen he accompanied the family to West Virginia and settled at Alvy, Tyler county. At the age of twenty-three years, having saved up the sum neces- sary for such a step, he matriculated in Mountain State Business College at Parkcrsburg. W. Va., where he completed the commercial and telegraphic courses. Immediately after graduation from college Mr. Cooney came to Cali- fornia, arriving in the Santa Maria field March 9, 1908. The first work he secured was as a roustabout under Superintendent J. C. Knoke, of the Union Oil Company. A merited promotion transferred him to the supply department of the same company, under Stone Hastain. For a time he was employed as a clerk in the store-room of the Union Oil Company, after which he was trans- ferred to the pipe-line department under Superintendent H. G. Burrows, of the Union Oil Company, at Santa" Maria. As an assistant to Mr. Burrows he aided in the building of the line from Cat Canon to Orcutt. Upon resigning the position with the large corporation at Santa Maria he came over to Taft in 1911, to act as bookkeeper for Stone Hastain, the then manager of the Taft branch of Woods & Huddart. Upon the resignation of the manager, November 1, 1912, for the purpose of removing to Los Angeles and engagmg in business for himself, Mr. Cooney was promoted from bookkeeper to manager, since which time he has efficiently engaged as local representative and agent for the South Chester tubing and casing. Since becoming a resident of this city he has identified himself with the Petroleum Club. While making Santa Maria his headquarters he became a member of San Luis Obispo Camo No. 322. B. P. O. E., and the Knights of Columbus No. 1375, at Arroyo Grande. CHARLES TOMAIER. — Not lacking occupative training in his native land of Bohemia, Charles Tomaier learned to be a practical and experienced butcher under his father, who taught him every detail of that business. Nor had he lacked an education in his native tongue, for he had been graduated from a gymnasium in 1886 and had been reared in habits of frugality and self- reliant industry. His father, Joseph, died in 1911 in Bohemia, where the mother, Barbara, still makes her home. All of the five children are still living, Charles being next to the youngest among the five, and he was born May 6. 1864, at the old family homestead in Klenec, Bohemia, where he passed the uneventful years of childhood and youth. Often as he assisted his father in the meat market he heard people tell stories abovit the new world and its opportunities and early in life he determined to cross the ocean as soon as he could start out for himself in the world. It was during 1886 that the hoped- for opportunity came to him and he was enabled to take passage on an ocean steamer which brought him to New York. Thence he went west as far as Chicago and secured work in a large packing house. The years spent in Chicago were filled with the most arduous labor and constant hardships associated with the struggle to earn a livelihood, but it was not until 1900 that he gave up work with the large beef companies. At that time he came to California and settled in Mojave, where he has since HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1523 remained, meanwhile erecting two cottages and the Mojave lodging house. During the first year in this place he engaged in mining. Next he was em- ployed in the freight and round-house of the Southern Pacific Company. Upon resigning that position he secured the agency for the IMaier Brewing Company of Los Angeles, which he still holds, besides which, since November 1, 1912, he has been agent for the \Vieland Brewing Company. In addition he has established and now conducts the Mojave soda works, where he is engaged in the manufacture of soda and mineral waters for sale in the town and surrounding country. Since coming to Mojave he has been a local worker for the Democratic party and has identified himself fraternally with the Bakersfield Lodge of Moose. While living in Chicago he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Stradel, a native of Bohemia. Four children comprise their family, namely : Louis, Mary, Charles and Blanche. WILLIAM W. FRAZIER.— Born October 7, 1844, near Abbeville, S. C, one of the ni( st historic places in the south, Mr. Frazier comes of old Maryland families, of Scottish ancestry. A thorough training in the public schools was supplemented by one year's study in the Columbia Military Academy, and then for two years he was at the Citadel Military Academy at Charleston, remaining there until the arrival of Sherman's army caused the academy to be discontinued. Then he was called out to assist in the war, and after seeing active service in Major White's battalion of cadets, he was paroled in Barnes- ville, Ga., at the close of the war. In 1866 he went to Louisville, Ky., and here he began his long career as a teacher, remaining one year in the Louisville reform schools as instructor, and in 1867 removed to Omaha, Neb., where he was employed in a lumber yard until 1868. He was later employed with the Union Pacific Railroad for a year on bridge construction from Cheyenne west, and he remained with them until after the golden spike was driven. In 1869 he came to California and opened his first school in Stockton, where he taught for about a year, then resuming services on the railroad on the Shasta route in 1873. Next he worked in San Francisco as instructor in the City Industrial School until 1875, on March 18th of that year coming to Kern county to teach school at South Fork for a term. In 1876 he opened the Buena Vista District school and the following year had charge of the San Emidio school. In 1878 he taught in Tehachapi. Two years later he instructed pupils in the school of Woody district and in 1882 in White River. The terms 1883-84 he taught in Cummings valley. After his marriage he discontinued teaching to engage in farming, his interests becoming so great that he was obliged to relinquish his school work and give his entire attention to his ranch. In partnership with Mr. Myers in the year 1878 Mr. Frazier had embarked in the enterprise of general farming and stock-raising, Mr. Myers having charge of the ranch until Mr. Frazier relinquished teaching. The land had been improved somewhat during this time and when they dissolved partnership they divided the land, Mr. Frazier's property covering about two hundred and forty acres. He has added to this until he now owns four hundred and eighty acres, situated nine miles southwest of Bakersfield and known as the "Golden Rod" ranch because of the profuse growth of those flowers on the place. The ranch is utilized for general farming and stock-raising. All of his land is under the Buena Vista canal and is suitable for alfalfa growing, which he raises to a great extent. His cattle are the short horn Durham variety, his horses are English shire, and he is raising Poland China hogs extensively. On June 28, 1883, Mr. Frazier was married in Sacramento to Frances J. Gardner, a native of White River, Me., born March 6, 1838. She was inter- ested in educational work in Massachusetts and came to California in 1872. He has given service to his community in the holding of the office of clerk of Buena Vista School District for the'pa.st thirteen years, his experience in 1524 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY teaching having made him a valued member of the board. He is one of the original directors of the Security Trust Company of Bakersfield, and also director of the Peoples Mutual Building & Loan Association. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Bakersville Lodge No. 202. Mr. Frazier's life has covered many walks of life, in all of which he has borne a most useful part, in war, in educational life, in the agricultural and financial field of this vicinity and as a capable and prosperous ranchman, and not the least as an honorable and upright citizen, whose interest is ever for the benefit of his adopted state. CYRILLE GIRAUD.— Since the year 1884 Cyrille Giraud has been identified more or less with the business activities in Kern county. He was born in 1865 in France, where his parents both passed away. At the age of sixteen he arrived in America, coming west to El Paso, Tex., whence after a short time he traveled to Los Angeles and then to Bakersfield, in 1884, and he remained in the latter place until 1892, during which time he engaged in mining and also farmed to some extent. Later for six years he was in San Luis Obispo, then securing a position with the Southern Pacific Rail- road at Tehachapi. For four years he was occuoied in the shops of that company and at the end of that time purchased the hotel and saloon Avhich he is now conducting. On April 5, 1902, j\Ir. Giraud was married to Jennie Movnier, a native of San Francisco, Cal., and to them were born children as follows: Cyrille I., Eugene, l^^artha and Harry, ^^r. Giraud is a Republican in politics, and in fraternal circles is an active member of the Woodmen of the World of Bakersfield. MRS. MARGARET M. BROOM.— Widowed more than fifteen years ago, Mrs. Margaret M. Broom found it incumbent upon her to look after her own interests, and so well has she done this that she now finds herself com- fortably fixed and well able to manage her afTairs. She is the only living child of her parents, James '^^. and Susanna (Chance) Pochelle, both of whom were born in Tennessee. The father followed farming in Kentucky for a while, and then removed to Montgc mery county, Tenn., going from there into St. Clair. 111., near Mascoutah. where he farmed for a short period. He then removed to Johnson county, Kans., where in 18S1 his death occurred. At the age of ten years IN'^rs. Broom removed with her father to Illinois, settling in St. Clair county, where she attended public school. She married in Illinois Commodore Perrv Broom, a native of Illinois, who was engaged in farmine-. They also removed to Johnson county, Kans., and Mrs. Broom still owns a tract of eightv acres near Olathe. Kans. T^Tr. Broom had been to California in 1851 and had remained until 1854, when he returned to Illinois. However, he had a great desire to return to the west, and accordingly, in 1892, thev arrived in California, and settled in Bakersfield, where ^ ''r. Broom's death occurred in 1895. A'^rs. Broom then bought a one-acre tract at the corner of Second and Chester avenues, where she built a residence and be- came engaged in horticulture and the poultry business. This has proved to be a sensible undertaking, as she has since been able to build two residences close at hand which she rents. Six children survived the death of l\Tr. Broom. Susie F., Mrs. Howe, is a resident of East Bakersfield ; Frances, l^'^'rs. Neidig, is also a resident of East Bakersfield; Edward E., and Charles E. are resi- dents of Bakersfield; Alice E. resides in San Francisco; and Jesse C. in Seattle. _ Mrs. Broom is an active member of the l^Tethodist Episconal church, of \yhich she is a liberal supporter. Her political interests are with the Repub- lican party. She is one of those refined women whose influence for good is felt by all with whom she associates, and she has been a most devoted and worthy mother. JOHN NICOLL. — One of the honored pioneers of Kern county is John HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY ' 1525 Nicoll, of Weldon, who was the fourth man to settle on the South Fork of the Kern river. Of English and Scotch parentage he was born near Perth, on the river Thames, in Upper Canada, July 9, 1827, and attended public school there until he was thirteen years old, when he was brought by his parents to a new home in the United States. The family settled in Hancock county, 111., and there he began 'life for himself and prospered. In 1851 he started with ox-teams across the plains to California, wintered in Salt Lake City, and then came on, arriving in California in March, 1852. He located first in Calaveras county and mined until 1857, in February of that year settling within the present boundaries of Kern county. His capital in cash at that time consisted of only $1.75, but a strong heart and splendid physical strength were the elements which' contributed toward his success. He fol- lowed mining until he took up a government claim of one hundred and sixty acres, a part of his presenl: ranch, where he has lived since 1863. During the first three years of his residence here Mr. Nicoll subsisted on provisions packed across the JNi^oiave desert except for such game as he was enabled to kill in the vicinity of his home. He put his land under cultiva- tion, after he had cleared it of sage brush, improving it, and purchased other land until he now owns four hundred and eighty acres, all under irrigation, one hundred acres of which is in alfalfa, :he rest being given over to grazing. He gives much attention to stock-raising, being the owner of two hundred head of cattle. His homestead is well improved with good buildings and with every appliance for successful operation. He was a member of the board of trustees of the W^eldon district for six terms, and was clerk of the board for several years. The same spirit of leadership which made him a pioneer has kept him at the forefront in all movements for the general good. GEORGE W. LOVEJOY.— Born near Rochester, N. Y., March 18, 1840, George W. Lovejoy is a son of Josiah B. and Mercy (Stickney) Lovejoy, the former born near Andover. Mass., and the latter born at Cape Cod, of Puri- tan lineage. There were six children who attained mature years and George W. was next to the youngest of these. When three years of age he was orphaned by the death of his father, who had been a clothing merchant in Boston and later had lived in New York state. The mother went back to Massachusetts after the death of her husband and her son was sen: to Phil- lips Academy at Andover as soon as he had completed common-school stud- ies. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to the trade of a machinist in Ballard Vale, Essex county, and later he completed his time in Boston. In 1861 he enlisred in the First Massachusetts Infantry, and after -the second battle of Bull Run he was detached from the regiment and sent to Portsmouth Grove, R. I., where he was placed in charee of the steam works. He re- ceived his honorable discharge after a service of three years. Later he was employed by the Corliss Engine Company of Providence, then worked in the Hope marine engine works at the same place and afterward held a position as engineer on a steamboat until 1868. when he came via Panama to San Francisco. The first year in the west was spent in a sawmill in INTariposa county, after which he was engaged in erecting locomotives for the Southern Pacific Companv at Sacramento. A year later he entered the employ of the Risdon iron works of San Francisco and in the interests of that concern maae a number of trips to Mexico, while later he traveled in Washington and Oregon erecting pumps for the Worthington Pump Company. Upon coming to the Tehachapi region in 1884, Mr. Lovejoy erected the first mill that milled ore at the Yellow Aster mine in Randsburg. Much of his time has been given to the development of his homestead. After he had acquired the title to the land he planted apple and oear trees and began to specialize in fruit, and was successful and inaugurated the industrv in the countv. The ranch originally embraced a quarter section, but eighty acres have been sold, and the remaining tract of eighty is rented to a tenant, Mr. 1526 • HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Lovejoy himself makiiii^ his home in Tehachapi, where he owns a house and other property. In politics he is a Republican. On the organization of Garfield Post of the Grand Army in San Francisco he became a charter mem- ber. Since coming to his present location he has been identified with Te- hachapi Lodge No" 313, F. & A. M., and in addition he has affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. He was married in- San Francisco to Miss Isabella Robertson, a native of Hamilton, Canada. They are the parents of five children: William R., a Southern Pacific conductor, residing in Los An- geles; Arthur, of San Francisco; George W., Jr., employed on the Santa Fe Railroad with headquarters at Winslow, Ariz. ; Mrs. Adeline Fletcher, of Los Angeles; and Mrs. iMuriel Wright, who died in Arizona, her husband having been employed at Clifton, that state. LAWRENCE HENDERSON.— Far to the north of Great Britain, on Shetland islands, was the childhood home of Lawrence Henderson and there his parents, Thomas and Ann (Murray) Henderson, lived upon a farm. There were eleven children of this union and the father had four children by a previous marriage. The youngest of the children, Lawrence, whose birth occurred in 1871, became an active helper on the home farm at an age when most boys are in school or at play and he continued to do his share until he too left the old home to do battle for himself in the great world beyond their island home. The parents continued at the old homestead, where the father died at seventy-five and the mother when eighty-four years of age. A visit back to the old island home on the part of one of the older sons, C. M. Henderson, of California, inspired in the mind of Lawrence Henderson a desire to come to the far west. Although then only fifteen years of age he had been doing a man's work and was able to support himself, so his parents gave their consent to his departure. The interesting trip came to an end in Men- docino county, where the youth readily found employment in the lumber woods and logging camps. After a time he went to Oakland and engaged as a gripman on the cable-car system of San Francisco, later working for the Piedmont Consolidated Cable Company as a driver for eighteen months altogether. Upon his return to Mendocino county he resumed work as a lumberman. From that locality he went to Oathill, Napa county, where for three years he worked in the employ of the Napa Consolidated Quicksilver Mining Company. In ICOO Mr. Henderson closed out his interests in NaT)a county and during the month of June arrived in the Kern river fields, where he still resides, although his residence in this district has not been continuous. For a time he was employed as a tool-dresser for the Century Oil Company and later he worked as a driller for the same organization, but no oil was found. Thereupon he secured work with the Illinois Crude Oil Company as a driller under his former superintendent in the Century, who had bought an interest in the newer concern. At first all went well, but at the expiration of two years prices dropped and the Illinois suspended operations. Mean- while Mr. Henderson had married Miss Daisy Ellen Ingle, of Middletown, Lake county, and to that locality he removed, buying a tract of land and during the seven years of his residence in that county he developed and im- proved a farm of four hundred acres. With his wife he was a member of the Baptist Church in Middletown, while in the same town he held membership with Friendship Lodge No. 150, I. O. O. F. Upon leaving Lake county Mr. Henderson spent a year in Coalinga, Fresno county, and while there was retained to come to the Kern river oil fields, where he had worked with efficiency some years before. The property of which he acts as superintendent consists of the Wrenn lease and that part of the Traffic Oil Company's holdings composed of the old Alcedes and the Kane, Robinson and Wrenn holdings on the southeast quarter of the south- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1527 east quarter of section 30, township 28, range 28. The property of which Mr. Henderson now has charge comprises thirty acres, upon which there are fifteen producing wells, with a net monthly production of about eight thou- sand barrels. Steady employment is furnished to seven men. With his wife and three sons, Andrew Wallace, Spurgeon Raymond and Lawrence Bar- clay, Mr. Henderson resides in a comfortable home on the Wrenn property. EARL HILLMAN.— Born in Madison county, N. Y., February 20, 1873, Earl Hillman at an early age moved with his parents to Hebron, 111., where he received his educational training in the public schools. He had always taken a deep interest in the west, and it was his intention that if ever the opportunity presented itself he would make it his home. Accordingly, in 1902, upon finding it possible to come to the coast he made his way to Randsburg, Kern county, and this has since been his place of residence. Upon first coming to this county he worked in the Yellow Aster mine for a short period, after which for a year or so he worked at various places until in 1904 he bought out the business of A. Gibney and has continued business in the towm ever since. Besides this he is interested in mining. He also has investments in property in Los Angeles and Richmond, which have proved very profitable. Mr. Hillman is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He is inde- pendent in his political views, voting for the man best suited to the offtce, and in his interest in all civic afifairs he has aided materially in many of the town improvements. J. A. DURNAL. — From a very early period in the history of the Amer- ican occupancy of the Tehachapi region the Durnal family has been identified with local affairs. The first representative of the name to settle in this dis- trict was the late John A. Durnal, a native of Little Rock, Ark., but a resi- dent of California from the age of nineteen years. Immediately after his ar- rival in the state he secured employment at El Monte as a corn-husker at seventy-five cents a day. From that place he came to Kern county in 1871 and worked for wages at Old Tehachapi, but soon took up farmmg for him- self and in a short time became engaged in the sheep industry. The drought of 1877 ruined him financially. Forced to begin anew, he bought a small herd of cattle and turned his attention to that industry, having his ranch and headquarters in Bear valley, where with Harvey Spencer under the firm name of Durnal & Spencer he conducted operations on a large scale with alternate successes and discouragements. When finally he sold the cattle he continued in business in Tehachapi and later engaged in business at Bakersfield, where he died March 27, 1909. After coming to Kern county John A. Durnal met and married Miss Lucinda Wiggins, who was born in Red River county, Tex., and during infancy was brought to California by her parents. Since the demise of her husband she has made her home with her older daughter in Los Angeles. Her father, Judge William Wiggins, brought his family across the plains by the southern route about 1855, making the tedious trip with ox-teams and wagon. At first he settled in El Monte, but soon he went to Kern county, where he served as the first justice of the peace in the Tehachapi district. To him belonged the distinction of having been the second white man to locate in the Tehachapi mountain region, Mr. Brite having been the first. After years of intimate identification with this locality he removed to Bakers- field and there spent his last days. The family of the late John A. Durnal consists of seven living children, namely: Renza, a foreman painter in Los Angeles; Cora, wife of C. A. WilHams, of Los Angeles ; John A., Jr., familiarly known as Jack ; James E.. of Tehachapi; Myrtle, who married M. S. Delanty and lives at Phoenix; Perry, of the Palos Verde valley; and Kenneth, living in Tehachapi. The 67 1528 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY first eleven years in the life of J. A. Durnal were passed at Old Tehachapi, where his birth had occurred July 12, 1883, and where he received his pri- mary education. As the school advantages of the district were very meager in those days he was taken with the other children to Los Angeles in 1894 and there completed the studies of the grammar schools, after which he was sent to the University of Southern California. Upon leaving school he embarked in the tea and coffee business as proprietor of the Oriental Tea and Coft'ee store on W'cst Jefferson street, Los Angeles. Not finding the occupation congenial or profitable he left for Arizona and engaged in mining near Bisbee. The ill health of his father necessitated his return to Tehachapi and later the two opened and conducted a billiard parlor at Monolith. After the death of the father the business was sold and since then Mr. Durnal has made his home in Tehacha )i. For Scme years he has been a member of the Democratic League of Kern county. His marriage took place in San Bernardino and united him with Miss Jean A. Gates, a native of Tehachapi and a daughter of L. F. Gates, who died during the term of his service as a supervisor of Kern county. SIMON DUSCHAK.— The Moron boiler shop, owned and operated by Messrs. Duschak and Hurst, has risen to rank among the prosperous and profitable enterprises of the oil fields and is favorably known by every lease superintendent on the west side. Simon Duschak was born in Chicago, III., January 27, 1879, and is a son of Paul and Henrietta (Fisher) Duschak, pioneers of Chicago and still residents of that city, where through all of his active life the father engaged in black- smithing. The family consisted of seven children, namely: Lena, Frances, Lizzie, Simon, John, Katie and May. When only eleven years of age Simon began to work in the Illinois Central shops at Burnside, and from the age of seventeen until he was twenty-two served as an apprentice to the boiler- maker's trade. Upon C( ming to California in 1901 Mr. Duschak secured employment successively at Stockton, Point Richmond, San Bernardino and Los Angeles. In the last-named city he was first with the Baker iron works and then with the Southern Pacific. The railroad company sent him up to Sacramento, but there he resigned and went to Salt Lake City, engaging in the boiler shops of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Ccmpany. The same company engaged his services in their Denver shops. Returning to Sacramento, he re- engaged with the Southern Pacific, which company also emoloyed him as a boiler-maVer in San Luis Obispo. Next he was with the Union Oil Com- pany as boiler-maker at Orcutt, from which point he came to Taft (then Mon n) as early as 1909, prior to the great fire. At once he formed a part- nership with Mr. Hurst and secured a ground lease for ten years from the Jameson tract in South Taft, where they built a boiler shop and a double cot- tage large enough to accommodate two families. Since embarking in busi- ness they have built up a large trade extending from Pentland to McKittrick and obliging them to keep steadily employed a fcrce of seven skilled workmen. Two automobiles also are kept in constant use as well as a horse and buggy. While living in Los Angeles Mr. Duschak married Miss Frances Valpey, of that city. He is a member of the Petroleum Club. Before leaving Chicago he became'a member of the Knights of Pythias and after coming to the west he identified himself with the Eagles in Sacramento. WILLIS EDWARD HURST.— Since the proprietors of the Moron boiler shop. ATessrs. Duschak and Hurst, came to Taft in January of 1909 and embarked in business, they have built up a plant remarkable for efficiency of service and perfection of product. Will-is Edward Hurst was born in Lancaster county. Neb., Jul}^ 20, 1877, a son of I. N. Hurst, who for thirty-five years was employed as a locomotive HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1529 engineer. When less than fifteen W. E. Hurst began an apprenticeship of five years in the boiler shops of the Burlington & :\Iissouri Railroad at Wymore, Gage county, Neb. After the completion of his time he engaged as a boiler-maker with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company at Pueblo, Colo., and later with the Union Pacific Coal Company at Rock Springs, Sweetwater county, Wyo. Meanwhile, when only eighteen years of age, he had married at Wymore, Neb., Miss Edith Smith, daughter of Abram B. Smith, of Blue Springs, Gage county. Neb. They have one son, Edwin Forrest Hurst, now a student in local schools. Coming to California in 1901 and securing employment with the Santa Fe Railroad Company in San Bernardino, Mr. Hurst there formed the acquaint- ance of Mr. Duschak, and a friendship was begun that brought into business relations two men of unquestioned skill in their trade and of the highest reputation for industry and integrity. For a time Mr. Hurst worked with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Sacramento, for five years was with the same road at San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Bakersfield, and from the last city he went to Orcutt as an employe of the Union Oil Company. Following the outbreak of the oil excitement at Moron (now Taft) he came to the new town and firmed a partnership with Mr. Duschak. Since coming to this place he has identified himself with the Petroleum Club. In Santa Maria he joined the blue lodge of Masons and while in San Luis Obispo he became an active member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. JAMES T. LAPSLEY. — The manager of the Harvey house at Mojave, Kern county, is James T. Lapsley, a native of Harrodsburg, Mercer ciamty, Ky., born December 15. 1879, a son of Dr. John B. Lapsley. Dr. and Mrs. Lapsley, who are also of Kentucky birth, are highly respected, making their home in that state. The son was educated primarily in the public schools near his father's home and he helped his parents on the farm. He was duly graduated with the degree of A.B. from Centre College, at Danville Ky., with the class of 1899, and was a teacher in McAfee Academy for about two years. In September, 1901. he came to California, locating for a time at Ventura. On December 22, 1901, he began a connection with the Fred Harvey Com- pany, proprietors of eating houses along the Santa Fe and other railway lines. From Ventura he went to Barstow, where he remained about four months. In the spring cf 1902 he made his advent into Mojave, where he filled a responsible position as cashier until he was transferred to Los Angeles, still in the employ of the Harvey Company. Later he served the company at dififerent important stations in Arizona, New Mexico and California and in 1907 was returned to Mojave as manager of the Depot Hotel, a position which he now occupies. In Louisville, Ky., November 4, 1912, :\lr. Lapsley married IMiss Mildred R. Bailey, also a native of Mercer county, that state. She graduated from Beaumont (Ky.) College with the degree of A.B., and also graduated from the State Normal schcol at Richmond, Ky. R. R. HUNT. — One of the well-informed insurance men of Kern county is R. R. Hunt, who until the fall of 1912 was associated with E. P. Hoisington in the real-estate business at Bakersfield. Since September 12, 1912, he has been a resident of Taft. and since January 1. 1913, he has devoted his attention to the insurance business, being a special agent in Taft. where he has built up a good business. The business career of Mr. Hunt in Kern county has covered a period of twelve vears, he having come hither in 1900. He was born March 17. 1881, in Plattsburg. Clinton county, Mo., where his childhood was spent and his edu- cational training obtained. Upon arriving in Kern county he obtained work 1530 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY as tool-dresser in the oil fields of the Kern River Oil Company, remaining for eight or ten years, during which time he was promoted in his work as his abilities became appreciated. For one year he was employed at Taft, in the Midway field, and for fourteen months he had charge of the development work for the Associated Oil Company. Subsequently he was engaged in the real- estate business at Bakersfield, remaining there until he came back to Taft in the fall of 1912. ]\Ir. Hunt is independent in politics, voting for the man best suited for the ofifice, and his interest is ever in the welfare of his adopted county and state. In 1910 he married Miss Bessie Aston, and they have one child, Thomas A. ELIOTT MITCHELL ASHE.— Born in Orange county, N. C, April 17, 1858, Eliot L M. Ashe attended a private school there until he was ten years old, and then was brought to Stanislaus county, Cal., by his parents. Later the family moved to Merced county, where they lived until Mr. Ashe was seventeen years old, when they took up their residence in Kern county. He worked for his father until he was twenty-two years old, and at that time bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres which is now under a good state of cultivation and is devoted to general crops. For twelve years he was associated with his brother in the dairy business and since then he has been successful as a stock-raiser and general farmer. On December 19, 1883, Mr. Ashe married Christina J. Rutledge, a native of Tuolumne county, born March 4, 1859, and she has borne him seven chil- dren who are here mentioned in the order of their nativity: Eliza M., Mrs. Fred Coutts, of San Diego ; Richard E., a farmer in Panama ; Mary R., teach- ing in this county; Henry E., deceased; James S., attending the Kern county high school ; Anna L., and George Tilghman, both at home. It was in the Old River district of Kern county that Mr. Ashe began his independent career as a farmer, and he has been a witness of the development of the entire county. As a farmer he has succeeded by hard work and careful attention to business, and as a citizen he has invariably come to the aid of all movements for the advancement of the community. CHARLES H. WYNN.— In 1896 Charles H. Wynn came to Randsburg and here he has made his home almost continuously since, engaged in the practice of law, and with his sons, Harmon and Wilbur, he is also interested in mining. A native of New York state, Charles H. Wynn was born in Genesee county, April 23, 1848. Left an orphan when a child, he was taken to Danville, 111., to make his home with relatives, and there he attended school. On April 1, 1862, when he was less than fourteen years old, he enlisted in the Union army, becoming a private in Company I, Thirty-fifth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, and in the battle of Stone River he was severely wounded. At the same time he was also taken prisoner, but was afterward recaptured and returned to his regiment, thereafter taking part in several other battles and at the expiration of his term he received his honorable discharge. Upon returning home from the war, Mr. Wynn settled at Dixon, 111., where he attended school, and then entered the State University at Ann Arbor, Mich., where he took his law course. In 1870 he began the practice of law, following this up to the time he came to Randsburg, Cal., in August. 1896. Upon arriving he first established a stage line between Mojave and Rands- burg, which was first-class in every detail. As above stated he is interested in mining with his sons, owning the Baltic stamp mill and cyanide plant. It is worthy of note that the first tungsten discovered in California was taken from the Baltic mine, and this w^as the first shipment of tungsten ore from the state. JOE D. KERSEY.— When he came to Moron in 1908 the present town of Taft was non-existent, so that he has been a witness of the development of the place from the very beginning. In partnership with Pat O'Brien and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1531 B. H. Sill of Bakersfield he now owns several thousand acres of oil land in the Midway, and in Lost Hills and Elk Hills. Being located in the heart of the region where the great gassers and gushers have been discovered, this land bids fair to become most valuable and to bring fortunes to its owners. While he has been living in Kern county since 1892, Mr. Kersey spent his early life in the city of Chicago, where he was born in 1875 and where he received a fair education. His father, Edward P. Kersey, was born in Ireland and when a young man sought the opportunities afiforded by Chicago. Start- ing in as a carpenter, he soon began to take building contracts. For many years he maintained an office on the corner of LaSalle and Monroe streets, where now stands the Woman's Temple. After the great fire of October 9, 1871, his activities were doubled and he engaged a corps of skilled carpenters to assist him in filling contracts. There still stand in Chicago buildings of lumber, stone, steel and concrete, that attest to his craftsmanship and indus- try. In many respects his personal history is a record of the early material growth of Chicago and to the last he remained a devoted citizen of his adopted town, although his death occurred at Sacramento during a visit he had made to California in the hope of regaining health. In Chicago in 1910 occurred the death of his wife, who bore the maiden name of A^Cary Donnelly. A native of Ireland, she came to the United States in girlhood. There are five other children in the family and the most of these are now married and engaged in business in the city where they were reared. The one son, how- ever, was not content to remain there and in 1890 he made his way to Pueblo, Colo., where he engaged in the fish and oyster business. The year 1892 found him in the gold mines of the Mojave desert and since then he has been a resident of Kern county. Through saving his money and making judicious investments in Los Angeles and Kern county real estate, and through the purchase of oil lands, he has become well-to-do, but in his growing fortunes he is the same genial, public-spirited and open-hearted man as in the days of poverty and toil. CLARENCE C. CUMMINGS.— Cummings valley, which is situated in Kern county, derived its name from George Cummings, and his sons are now worthily upholding that name and the honored positfon held by their father in this community. George Cummings was an Austrian by birth, and came from his native country in 1849, arcund the Horn, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of California, who after many hard experiences finally became the owner of extensive properties. He engaged in mining for some time, subsequently engaging in stock-raising and general farming, and became the owner of a ranch of five thousand acres. His wife, Sacramento Lopez, was born in Los Angeles county in 1860, and now makes her home on South Bonnie Brae street in that city. Clarence C. Cummings was born in Los Angeles, August 18, 1882, and there received his schooling. His parents had removed to that city to give their children the best educational facilities possible. With his brothers he took charge of the father's ranch which they are now operating, besides which they have purchased other land and now have six sections, mostly grazing land, about five hundred acres, however, being under cultivation, and their success in the business of stock-raising has been most gratifying. Mr. Cummings is a young man of ability. He is unmarried, and devotes most of his time and attention to his business interests. Capable, energetic and persevering, he has mastered the details of this line of work to such an extent that he is looked upon as an authority, and with his brothers holds a prominent place among the stock-raisers of the community. EDWARD G. CUMMINGS. — L'pon first coming to the L^ited States, 1532 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY George Cummings made his way westward and settled in San Francisco, Cal. For about six years he engaged in mining, after which he took up farming, going to San Joaquin county, where for fifteen years he was a general farmer and stock-raiser. In 1870 he moved to Los Angeles and entered the butcher business, following this up to the time he came to the valley that now bears his name. By this time Mr. Cummings had learned that with proper water facilities the soil in this part of the country would yield good results, and accordingly he investigated the territory. Finding a mountain stream he decided to locate in the valley and took up a government homestead claim. He had about three hundred and twenty head of cattle and his stock-raising enterprise was on a profitable basis. Fie relinquished his business to his sons and lived retired until his death in 1903. The family had returned to Los Angeles in 18/8, George Cummings, however, holding his ranch in Kern county, where Edward Cummings, his son, was born. The latter received his education in the public and high schools of Los Angeles, attending until he had reached the age of eighteen years. He then went to work for his father, taking charge of the place and relieving him of many arduous duties. At present the family operate the old home and together own five sections of land, upon which they follow stock-raising on a large scale, and altogether have about five hundred head of cattle, three hun- dred head of hogs and a number of well bred horses on the property. They have five hundred acres under cultivation, sixty acres in alfalfa, and there are about eight acres of apple, pear, peach and apricot trees. The owners have made extensive improvements on the ranch in the way of deveLping water facilities and in other ways have added to the general value of the place. Interested with him in this ranch are his sister and five brothers. E. W. RANDOLPH is superintendent of the Boston Pacific Oil Com- pany, which owns valuable property in the Midway and Sunset fields, having one hundred and sixty acres on section 32, 31-24 in the Midway field and forty acres on section 34, 12-24 in the Sunset with four prcducing wells, averaging twenty-five hundred barrels monthly. On the first-named lease there is now one flowing well with an output of one thousand barrels per day ; in addition another well is now being drilled. Born in Allen county, Kan., December 3, 1880, and reared on a farm, he left the homestead in southeastern Kansas at the age of twenty years and afterward worked in many oil fields of his native commonwealth besides those of Oklahoma. His first experiences in drilling were gained at Wayside, Mont- gomery county, Kan., and in Oklahoma he was employed at Tulsa, Cleveland and other fields. Coming from Oklahoma to California in 1908 and stopping at Maricopa, Mr. Randolph secured a position as driller on the Muscatine in the Sunset field. Later, while drilling for the Standard, he brought in No. 1 on section 26, the first gas well in the Midway field. After a year with the Standard he became connected with other concerns and finally was employed as a driller with the Boston Pacific Oil Company. After the first month he was promoted to be superintendent and now, with his wife, formerly Miss Mabel Uptegrove, a native of Kansas, he makes his home on the company's lease in the Midway field. He is a master Mason. GEORGE JORGENSEN. — From the age of sixteen years Mr. Jorgensen has made California his home, coming thither from the province of Schleswig- I4olstein. The Jorgensen family represented some of the very best Danish element of the northern part of the province, where Jacob and Annie (Schmidt) Jorgensen lived upon a farm at Kettingholz. Some time since the father passed away, but the mother still survives, at the age of seventy-three, and vv^hen her son, George, visited her in 1911 at her home in Arteberg, Germany, he found her well preserved and keenly interested in all the activities of life. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1533 There were six children in the family who attained years of maturity, namely : Peter, Christ, Jacob, George, Cecelia and Andrew. George was born on the home farm at Kettingholz April 6, 1881. The eldest, Peter, owns and ope'-ates a soda fountain at Oakdale, Cal. Christ is engaged in farming in Stanislaus county, this state. Jacob owns large tracts in Merced county. Cecelia remains in Germany, making her home at Hamburg, and Andrew is working on the Lake ranch as an employe of the Kern County Land Company. After having fitted himself for life's responsibilities by acquiring a thorough knowledge of the German and Danish languages, George Jorgensen came to the L^nited States at the age of sixteen years, starting from Bremen December 12, 1897, and landing in New York January 1, 1898. Coming directly across the continent to San Francisco he proceeded from that city to Merced county, where he found ranch work in the employ of ^Miller & Lux. During the several years of his continuance in the same position he studied the English language, which he now reads and writes and speaks as well. Upon leaving ]\Ierced county he worked on farms in Stanislaus county. Dur- ing 1910 he left California for the purpcse of visiting friends in the old home land. May 26, 1911, he left Germany where he had formed the acquaintance of Miss ^Tary Hoeg, who had promised to share his fortunes in the new world. The young couple were married in Fresno in September of 1911 and began housekeeping on a ranch of sixty acres in the Weed Patch, where he has built a neat house and large barn and divided his land by cross fences. The ranch is owned by his brother, Jacob, who has leased the property to him with the privilege of buying and meanwhile he is making improvements of permanent value to the ranch. In his specialty of alfalfa-raising, he has made an encouraging start. In 1913 Mr. Jorgensen helped to organize the Farmers Co-operative Creamery in Kern county. In the fall of 1912 he built a good barn 62x64 in dimensions, with a capacity of a hundred tons of hay. and there is room for forty-two cows and four horses. In the last two years Mr. Jorgen- sen has made improvements am( unting to $4,500. With the energy charac- teristic of him he is collecting a herd of fine Jersey milch cows. JAMES RUSSELL CRAWFORD.— The identification of Mr. Crawford with Bakersfield covers a period comparatively brief, yet of sufficient duration to give him an adequate comprehension of the possibilities of the city from a commercial standpoint, and since he opened a garage at No. 1812 M street he has built up a large repair business, also has kept in stock a complete line of automobile supplies and has held the agency for the Maxwell car. In con- nection with the repair shop he has established and maintained a blacksmith and machine shop, which gives him the necessary equipment for repair work of all kinds, besides enabling him to do satisfactory work in caring for and repairing automobiles. Near the line of the Old Dominion, at Wardensville, Hardy county, W. Va., James Russell Crawford was born October 9th, 1882. The family of which he was a member originally comprised twelve children and eight of the number are still living. The parents, Capt. Levi and ]\Iary Ann (Bowers) Crawford", were natives of West Virginia and the latter died in Iowa during the year 1912. The former, who was a lifelong farmer, gained his title through efficient service as the head of a company that remained at the front in the Union army throughout the entire period of the Civil war. W^hen peace had been declared he received an honorable discharge and returned to West Vir- ginia to resume farm pursuits. Some time afterward he married Miss Bowers and established a home of his own, continuing in West Virginia until 1889, when he removed to Iowa and bought a farm near Montezuma. Now at the age of eighty-three years (1913) he is living retired in Iowa. When the family settled in the central west James Russell Crawford was a boy of seven years, 1534 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY hence his education was obtained largely in Iowa and his youth was passed on an Iowa farm. Agriculture, however, did not interest him as did work with machinery. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the trade of blacksmith at Brooklyn, Iowa, where he remained until the completion of his time and later he worked at different places, first in Iowa, then in Washington. The year 1909 found him in California, where for a year he engaged as black- smith with the Monte Cristo Oil Company in the Kern river field. Since then he has been interested in business for himself at Rakersfield, where he has a comfortable home, presided over by Mrs. Crawford, whom he married in San Diego, and who was Miss Minnie Hartman, a native of Iowa. In national politics he votes with the Republican party. With his wife he has been identi- fied with the United Presbyterian Church. WILLIAM LEWIS HENDERSON.— As one of the proprietors of the Bakersfield sheet metal works Mr. Henderson is identified with an important local industry and is given a business standing which reflects the highest credit upon his own energy and resolution of purpose. The attainment of success in life, while one of his earliest ambitions, did not seem possible of fruition, for he was orphaned by the death of his father when he himself was but a child and afterward poverty prevented him from securing a finished education, yet with firmness and industry he has persevered until now the fu- ture looks most promising and hopeful. Chicago is his native city and he was born February 7, 1875, but from the age of seven years he has lived in Cali- fornia. His parents, Charles H. and Mary (Burkhart) Henderson, were natives respectively of New York state and Pottsville, Pa., and the former was an electrician by occupation. When the father died in 1882 the mother brought her four small children, of whom William L. was the eldest, to Cali- fornia, establishing a home in San Francisco, where the then small lad worked of mornings and evenings in order to aid in securing the scanty livelihood of the family. After he had completed the grammar grade he left school and found employment in a factory where were manufactured articles of brass, steel and German silver. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the trade of sheet-metal worker in the Union iron works of San Francisco, where he worked successively in the engine, hull and ventilation departments. Coming to Bakersfield for the first time during 1897 Mr. Henderson found work as a journeyman with C. H. Quincy and when the latter sold out to the Western Burner and Fuel Company he continued for one year in charge of their sheet-metal department. The business was then sold to the Bakersfield Plumbing Company and he returned to San Francisco, where he continued to work at his trade. For a time he made a specialty of cornice work. After the fire of April, 1906, he embarked in business for himself, continuing until the fall of 1908, when he returned to Bakersfield. For a time he followed his trade with R. H. Ferguson, later being promoted to the management of the sheet-metal department, which in March of 1912 he purchased with James I. Waldon as a partner. The Bakersfield sheet-metal works (for by this name the business is now known) is located at No. 1807 L street and contains a complete equipment for the manufacture of everything in the sheet-metal line. The proprietors are men of energy and deserve the growing trade which is theirs. In addition to maintaining a close supervision of the business Mr. Henderson takes a warm interest in movements for the upbuilding of the city, in national politics supports Democratic policies and fraternally is a mem- ber of the Woodmen of the World. His first wife, who was Miss Lida H. Moon, a native of Bakersfield, died shortly after their marriage; later, at Oxnard, this state, he was united with Miss Julia M. Hancock, a native of Canada, and by this union there are four children, Selena, Bessie, George and HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1535 Birdie. They are comfortably located on Arlington street where Mr. Hen- derson has built a residence on a tract of ten lots which he owns.' A. L. MOSS. — Several successive generations of the Moss family have been identified with the agricultural development of the new world and par- ticularly with the South. The family records show that the great-grand- mother, who was a native of Germany, became a resident of America prior to the Revolutionary war and there is authority for the accuracy of the state- ment that she lived to be one hundred and twelve years of age. From the Atlantic seaboard the family began to drift toward the west. Both William Moss and his son, A. L., were born in the state of Tennessee near Jackson and the former married Julia Ann Stephens, who was born in North Carolina, but passed the years of girlhood in Tennessee. One year after the birth of their son, A. L., which occurred March 30, 1857, the parents moved across the Mis- sissippi river and settled in Missouri, a center of strife during the Civil war. Although the boy was only four years of age when the war opened he remem- bers some of the stirring incidents and recalls an unimportant but sanguinary contest that took place at Hartville, Mo., between the opposing generals. Warner and Marmaduke. The long civil strife impoverished the family and defeated his aspirations for obtaining a good education, but observation taught him much and enlarged his fund of useful information and from an early age he has been self-supporting. Throughout life he has made a specialty of farm- ing and gardening. While still living in Missouri he lost his first wife, who passed away July 10. 1899, leaving two sons, William and John, both now resi- dents of Georgia. Coming to California about the year 1900 Mr. Moss immediately settled in Kern county. During the first year he engaged in a fruit and grocery business. Later he followed other occupations for brief intervals, but here, as in Mis- souri, he has given his attention principally to market gardening and general farming. His second marriage took place in this county and united him with Mrs. Addie Thurlow, the wedding being solemnized in the year 1905, since which time they have resided at the home farm situated two and one-half miles southeast of Bakersfield and comprising forty acres of very valuable land. Fruit of the choicest varieties is raised in large quantities, including peaches, plums, apples, pears, blackberries and strawberries. He makes a specialty of raising "Irish" potatoes for the early markets, as well as sweet potatoes, while in the summer and autumn melons and cantaloupes are raised and sold by the wholesale. Industrious in disposition, energetic in temperament, fond of the work in which he specializes, he has shown ability in the management of the farm and is securing excellent returns from its cultivation. In this task he has the sensible, practical co-operation of his wife, whose long residence in the west has familiarized her with local conditions and given her an expe- rience most helpful to present activities. Born near Perry, N. Y., she was a daughter of the late James Rood, of York state, and during young womanhood became the wife of Charles Thurlow, a carpenter, whom she accompanied to California in 1888 and who passed away in March, 1899, leaving two daughters, Madge and Gladys. The older daughter is now the wife of Guy Rodgers, who is employed as a stationary engineer at San Francisco. Gladys married W. L. Formway, who is employed by the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation. The family attend the Baptist Church in Bakersfield. . He holds strictly to Democratic principles and never fails to support the candidates of that partv in national elections. Mr. Moss bought thirty-five acres in the vicinity of Edison in April, 1913, with the intention of engaging in the market-gardening business on a larger scale, making a specialty of early table vegetables. VINCENT MON. — The early home of Vincent Mon was in Basses Pyrenees, France, where he was born December 12, 1858, and where he spent 1536 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY the first seventeen years of his life. The family to which he belongs has been identified with Southern France from a remote period and his parents, Louis Henry and Jane (Larratone) Mon, were lifelong residents of Basses Pyrenees, where the father died at the age of eighty-two and the mother a year later when past eighty. There were six children in the family and all are still liv- ing, the eldest, a half-brother, Gart, remaining in France, while an own brother, Jean, is living in Buencs Ayres, South America. Marie is a nun in a convent in France. Theresa, wife of Jean Crapuchets, remains on the old homestead in Basses Pyrenees. Mrs. Genevieve Mesplou, a widow still living in France, has two daughters, namely: Anna, wife of Ira Gerardet, a clerk in a store in East Bakersfield; and Jane, who resides with Mrs. Gerardet when she is in Bakersfield, but whose permanent home is San Francisco. While attending the common schools in his native land Vincent Mon heard much concerning America and as soon as he completed the studies of the grammar schools he crossed the ocean, Los Angeles being his objective point. Shortly after he arrived in that city he chanced to meet Henry Zim- merman, who bought and fed sheep for the San Francisco markets. Securing employment with him as a drover he continued in the same nlace for three years and then engaged in a similar capacity with other sheepmen, making Bakersfield his headquarters. Carefully hoarding his wages, he was able to embark in business for himself in 1891 and began with four thousand head of sheep. It was necessary to carry a heavy debt on the flock and when the financial panic of 1894 came it found him unprepared for such an emergency, the result being a total loss. Forced to start anew, he began to dip sheep at Poso Bridge Station in 1895 and ever since he has given his attention largely to such work, but in addition he owns a herd of seventy-five cattle and a flock of one hundred of Angora goats. He operates his farm of forty acres at Poso, Kern county, and since 1912 has made his home on five acres of land, which he bought in that year, on Terrance Way, in the suburbs of Bakers- field. The marriage of Mr. Mon took place in 1887 and united him with Miss Catharine Cazaux, who came from the same province in France as himself and who is a woman of thrift, energy and untiring industry, a devoted wife and wise mother. Ten children were born of their uni( n and nine are still living, namely: Julia, Henry, Eugene, Marie, Irene, Vincent, Jr., Emaline, George and Catharine. All are yet at home and the youngest of the number are puDils in the common schools. Charles Vincent, second child born in the family, died in infancy. The family hold membership with the Catholic Church and are devoted to its doctrines. Since he became a citizen of our country he has been a Republican. DANIEL B. WOODSON.— To the class of self-educated, self-reliant citizens who form so vital a part of the population of Kern county belongs Daniel B. Woodson, owner of a well-improved ranch lying four and one-half miles south of Kern. Flis life has not been filled with the sunshine of ease nor made glad by an inheritance of wealth ; on the other hand, the stern necessity of self-support deprived him of educational advantages and prevented him from enjoying the recreations that render pleasant the memories of youth. From Missouri, where he was born in Boone county November 9, 1879, Daniel B. Woodson came to California and settled at Bakersfield at the age of eleven years. The poverty of the family prevented him from securing a thorough education and from the age of fifteen he has been self-supporting. For three years he drove a team for the Kern County Land Company. Nine months were passed as a helper in the Southern Pacific shops at Bakersfield and for eighteen months he was employed in the Bakersfield iron works. When he left the last-named plant he secured a position with the Standard Oil HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1537 Company in Bakersfield. After he had been with the company about seven years he resigned from his position as foreman and stationary engineer, in which capacity he had been employed along the Point Richmond line, mean- while living at various places along the route of his work. With his savings of years Mr. Woodson purchased fifty acres lying four and one-half miles south of Kern and here he has since remained. Besides operating the he me place he rents an adjacent tract of fifteen acres and also manages fifteen acres belonging to his wife, so that altogether he farms eighty acres in one body. His whole attention is concentrated upon the care of the farm. Aside from voting the Democratic ticket at all elections he takes no part whatever in politics. Since he came to the farm, January 1, 1911, he has made a number of needed improvements and has endeavored successfully to increase the productiveness of the soil, thereby also increasing the returns from its cultivation. In all of his work he has enjoyed the helpful co-ooeration of Mrs. Wocdson, whom he married in 1900 and who was Mrs. Mamie Keough, the widow of Daniel Keough and a daughter of Peter McCafifery, one of the pioneers of Kern county. They have one child, Florence. MQRDECAI FILLMORE PEARSON. — Born near Doylestown, Bucks county, Pa., on Christmas Day, 1855, M. F. Pearson is the son of Mordecai and Ruth A. (Linburg) Pearson, both natives of Bucks county, of old Penn- sylvania families and of English ancestry, descending from members of the Society of Friends that migrated from England during the early settlement of Philadelphia by William Penn. Mordecai Pearson was a farmer near Doyles- town and there both parents passed away, their family consisting of eleven children. Nine of these grew to maturity, of whom Mordecai Fillmore is the fourth. He attended public school near the home of his youth until he Avas eighteen and during the next three years worked for his father. Having attained his majority, he made his independent entry into the business world as a clerk in a store at Doylestown, but later turned his attention to farming the home place. In 1884 he came to California and was employed for two years in Los Angeles. From that city he went to Cortland, Sacramento county, where he successfully operated a dairy until 1890, at which time he purchased forty acres of land in the Rosedale district, Kern county, and began general farming and horticulture, setting out a vineyard and orchard. Later on he sold his property and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch, where he sunk a well, built a house, and made other improvements, and proved ud on it. This he still owns. He lived on this place until 1907, when he came to the original part of his present property. He bought twenty acres each year for five years until he had one hundred acres which he gradually improved, devoting it to general farming and dairying. It is all under irrigation from the Stine canal. Meanwhile Mr. Pearson took an interest in gold mining, with special reference to operations in the northern part of the state, and he is one of the promoters of the business of the Gold Mountain Hydraulic and Dredging Company, operating on Willow creek, a tributary of the Feather river in Plumas county. He has during recent years been interested in the development of an apiary on his ranch. The lady who became the wife of Mr. Pearson was Miss Ella A. Ott, who was also born near Doylestown, Bucks county, Pa., July 7, 1865, their marriage taking place in Doylestown, in 1882. She conies of an old Penn- sylvania family of German descent. Two daughters were born to them : Anna M., who makes her home with her parents; and Ruth E., who is Mrs. Cornish of Lcs Angeles. Politically Mr. Pearson is a Republican. PAUL R. FECHTNER. — Upon his arrival in this city during the spring of 1910 he opened a machine and repair shop on the corner of Chester avenue 1538 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and Twentieth street, but in August of the following year he removed to the new Berges building, Nos. 1817-1821 I street, where now he has ample quarters for every department of his business. A gunmaker by trade he has made a specialty of guns and ammunition. Besides carrying a full line of sporting goods and doing repair work he acts as agent for the Appeal, Iver Johnson, Crown, Savage, Miami and Racycle bicycles. He has fitted up the large basement for a modern machine shop with electric power. At Pyritz, Pomerania, in the north of Germany, Paul R. Fechtner was born February 22, 1867, being a son of Martin and Ernestine (Schroeder) Fechtner, the latter deceased in 1900, the former January 20, 1913. Prior to the father's retirement he engaged in the shoe business. There were twelve chil- dren in the family and all but two attained mature years, while eight sur- vive at this writing. The sixth in order of birth was Paul R., who attended the public schools from six until fourteen and then began an apprenticeship of three years to the trade of locksmith and gun-maker. At the expiration of his time he worked for wages. Later he served for two and one-half years in the First Rhenish Heavy Artillery, Eighth Army Corps, of th ^ German artillery, in which he was chosen gunmaster. Upon the expiration of his period of service he received an honorable discharge and returned to his trade, which he followed for a year in Germany and a year in Copenhagen, Den- mark. The year 1893 found him working at his trade in Chicago during the World's Fair. From that city he made three different trips through the United States, traveling from coast to coast and from the gulf to the British posses- sions. The expenses of these trips were paid through working at his trade. Finally he settled in Seattle, Wash., and opened a machine shop, where he made a specialty of electro-plating. After two years he sold the business and for a year worked as a machinist in the navy yard at Bremerton, Wash., going back from there to Seattle and erecting two residences, one of which he still owns. The next change of location brought him to Bakersfield, where he is now conducting an important business. While living in Chicago he married Miss Wilhelmina Ulrich, a native of Springfield, 111., and by the union there are three children, Leona, Wilhelmina and Erna. The family are identified with St. John's German Lutheran Church. In politics he votes with the Republican party. Besides being a member of the Eagles at Bakersfield, he was made a Mason in Alpha Kern Ledge, F. & A. M., in this city, and has been a prominent worker in its philanthropic efforts. MICHAEL ARGY. — The chief engineer of the court house, who has filled the position since December 30, 1912, is of American birth and Irish descent. Born in Warren, N. H., in 1855, he was only one year old when his parents, Alexander and Kate Argy, removed to Chelsea, Mass. After he had completed the studies of the public schools he became an apprentice to the trade of machinist and when only nineteen was chosen stationary engineer for the Chelsea Gas and Light Company. After he had engaged with that concern for six years he was for eight seasons chief engineer for the Point Pines Company at Revere Beach, Mass., during the winters being with various manufacturing companies, and one winter serving as chief engineer of the Magnolia Hotel, in Magnolia, Fla. Coming to California in 1890 he secured employment with the Visalia electric light plant and gas works, where he remained for six months. A sojourn of six weeks in San Francisco was fol- lowed by his arrival in Bakersfield in 1891 and since then he has been a resi- dent of this city. At first he was employed as engineer with the Bakersfield Gas and Electric Light Company and its successor, at the same time having charge of the engines in the fire department, but about the middle of 1898 he resigned in order to become engineer of Steamer No. 1, Bakersfield fire department, and for fourteen and one-half years filled that position. After having charge of the engines for nineteen years he finally resigned for the HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1539 purpose of accepting the position of chief engineer at the new court house. For some years he has been connected with the National Association of Sta- tionary Engineers No. 1, at San Francisco. While living in Massachusetts he married Miss Margaret McKearn, of Boston, and they now reside at No. 2029 Q street. When a young man, at Revere Beach, he became an experienced oarsman and won many races; he was one of a team of four that won the four-oared race at Plympton, Mass., m 1872, and for ten years he followed that sport, winning many prizes and establishing an enviable record for his skill. Mr. Argy is greatly interested in the breeding of standard horses and he has owned and still owns several valuable horses. He owned Logonette, with record of 2.11>4, and Flora D, with record of 2.283^, Birdie Monroe, 2.28, and also McGregor, Logonette, Jr.^ King Edward, King Solomon, Oueenie and Flora. D., Jr., constituting a fine string of valuable standard horses, are all the property of Mr. Argy. He sup- ports the Democratic party and is a member of Bakersfield Aerie No. 93, Order of Eagles. JULES GIRARD. — Among the many men who came from the south of France to seek their fortune in the land of the Golden West and whose am- bition to succeed has been crowned with success we find Jules Girard, who came to Kern county. Gal., in 1890, locating in Delano when the country was all open plains and range. He was born at Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France, the son of Francois and Delphine (Julian) Girard, both natives of that place where they were successful farmers and are now deceased. Of their union there were born eight boys and one girl, only three of whom are now living, Philip, Joseph and Jules, all of Delano. Jules was born February 26, 1872, and grew up on the home farm, attending the public schools of his native place. When eighteen years of age, in 1890, he came to California, making his way imme- diately to Delano, where he was employed in the sheep business by his broth- ers who had preceded him. In 1892 he bought a flock of sheep and engaged in sheep-raising on his own account, ranging them on the plains and in the mountains. His herd increased and he met with merited success, his flock at times numbering as many as six thousand head. During this time he located a he mestead fourteen miles east of Delano, which he still owns. Mr. Girard was married in San Francisco to Miss Theresa Motte, also a native of Gap, and they have been blessed with five children, as follows : Leon, Louise, Jules, Hilda and Victoria. Believing in protection he is a stanch Republican. Since his marriage he has erected a comfortable home in Delano where he resides with his family. GEORGE E. BURKETT.— Mr. Burkett was born in Marion, Grant county, Ind., August 13, 1862, son of Daniel and Henrietta (Owens) Burkett, born respectively in Pennsylvania and Indiana. The parents were farmers in Grant county for some years, and in 1870 removed to Holton, Jackson county, Kans., where they homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres. Until 1897 they resided there and then located at Dodge City, where the father and his sons became large land owners and successful stockmen. He is now in his eighty- eighth year, hale and hearty, and able to fully enjoy the fruits of his earlier labors. On his paternal side George E. is of German extraction, while on the maternal side his descent is Scotch and Welsh. Eight children were born to Daniel Burkett and his wife, all of them now living and proving a credit to their early training. George E. Burkett was the sixth in order of birth in his parents' family. His early life and youth were passed in Kansas on the home farm, and he attended the local public schools. When he was fourteen he went to Kan- sas City, Mo., where he spent two years at the Armour packing plant learning the butchering business. At the end of this time he entered Campbell Uni- 1540 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY versity at Helton and in 1883 completed his course and was graduated. With his brother, R. C. Burkett (now of Santa Ana, Cal.), he then made a trip through Iowa, the Dakotas, Indiana and other states, finally returning to Kan- sas, where from 1884 to 1886 he engaged in the stock business. On July 4 of the last named year he came to California and made his way to San Diego, where he became superintendent of the San Diego Bituminous Paving Com- pany and two years later went to Fresno to take the position of fruit buyer for the Johnson-Locke Mercantile Company of San Francisco. Two years later he went to Lcs Angeles in the employ of the Cudahy Packing Company and for five years served as foreman in the killing room, at the end of this time accepting the superintendency of the Maier Packing Company's house, which he carried on for six years. The year 1905 brought Mr. Burkett to Bakersfield where he entered the Kern County Land Company's service as superintendent of their packing department at Bellevue Ranch, and here he has remained. In San Diego was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Burkett and Miss Olive Harlan, the ceremony taking place in November, 1888. Mrs. Burkett was a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from Drake University, in which institution she taught elocution for two years. Seven children were born to this couple: Nina, who is the wife of J. M. Wallace, of Los Angeles; Lloyd, who died at the age of twelve years ; Clarence, who died at seven years ; Flor- ence, who is attending the Kern County high school ; and Everett, Frances and Marshall, at home. Mr. Burkett is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and pclitically unites with the Democratic party. With his wife he is a mem- ber of the Christian Church of Bakersfield. Mr. Burkett is now serving as a member of the board of school trustees of Buena Vista district. With his wife, who is a refined woman of quiet tastes, he shares in the friendship of many of Bakersfield's people and they are much respected and esteemed. DICK SHACKELFORD.— Few of those who crossed the plains during the memorable year of 1849 remain to recount to rising generations their ex- periences in a journey so entirely different from anything possible to the twentieth century. Although at the time he made the eventful trip Dick Shackelford was a boy of only seven he recalls vividly the dangers of the desert, the fear of savage Indians and of wild beasts and the perils, seen and unseen, connected with that large expedition traveling with wagons and ox- teams. The southern route was followed from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona and into California at Fort Yuma, from which the family pro- ceeded to San Gabriel Mission to spend the winter of 1849-50. The father, Montgomery Bell Shackelford, a Kentuckian by birth, had been a scout on the frontier and a member of the Texas rangers. Natural courage and frontier experiences qualified him for the safe encompassing of his plans and for a later identification with ranching in the west. Taking up a homestead in Pleasant valley on the Merced river in 1850, he began a brief connection with that locality. Shortly he removed to the vicinity of Snelling on the Merced river and there began to raise stock. However, the location did not prove satisfactory and he soon removed to Santa Cruz county and engaged in farming near Soquel, whence in 1855 he went to El Monte. There he died during the same year. Many years afterward at Tehachapi occurred the death of hisAvife, Mahala (Thompson) Shackelford, a native of Tennessee. The family of the California pioneer consisted of seven children, but only four lived to maturity and but two of these survive at the present writing. The next to the eldest cf the number, Dick, was born in Grayson county, Tex.. September 22, 1842, and was sent to subscription and public schools for a short time in boyhood, but the death of his father forced him to become self- supporting before his education had been completed. One of his first tasks was that of teaming between San Bernardino and Los Angeles. During 1862 he HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1541 went to the Fraser river and had charge of a pack train to the mines, but the work did not prove profitable. In the spring of 1863 he went via Portland, Ore., to Merced, Cal., near which place he engaged in farming. As early as 1856 he had passed through Tehachapi, but it was not until April of 1864 that he became a resident of the valley and a pioneer of the cattle industry at that point. For a long time he was one of the leading stockmen of the locality. Every pioneer was familiar with his brand, a 7 and an L with a capital S inter- woven, but he later disposed of this and established the head of a cow for his brand. Both brands were original with him. During 1884 he took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Brites valley. Later he bought adjacent land, so that he had the title to three hundred and twenty acres. There he made the headquarters of his cattle and ranch interests. He retired frcm the ranch and came to Bakersfield, where since 1901 he has made his home. The marriage of Mr. Shackelford took place in Tejon canyon December 5, 1869, and united him with Miss Mary Frances Smith, who was born near Belknap, Young county, Tex., and is a lady of estimable character and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Twelve children were born of the unicn, viz.: Charles, a cattleman of Terome, Ariz., who died January 2, 1912; jy^arcus, a Santa Fe engineer with headquarters at Prescott, Ariz.; Jesse, an orange grower near Lindsay. Cal.; Geors^e. who d-ed at Tehachani ; Rowzee. an engineer on the Santa Fe and a resident of Bakers- field ; Ivy, ]^/''rs. Freeman, of Hanford ; Eva, who died at Bakersfield; Mrs. Ida Wilkes, of Bakersfield ; Grover. who is a brakeman. employed bv the Santa Fe Railroad Com-^any at Bakersfield ; Ray, who d'ed at Te- hachapi ; Aubrey, now employed as a fireman on the Santa Fe and living at Bakersfield ; and Ruth, who remains with her parents at the familv residence. During young manhood Mr. Shackelford was made a Mason at El Monte and past master- of Tehachani Lodge. F. & A. M. With his w'fe he belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star and is past patron of Tehachapi chapter. In politics he aUvavs has suDDorted Democratic principles. JOHN McCaffrey. — One of three brothers who were pioneers in the state of California. John McCaffrey was born in County Fermanagh in March, 1848. He was reared and educated near his birthplace and came to the L^nited States in 1869. Locating in New York, he was employed on the rid horsecar street railways, on Third. Sixth and Seventh avenues until 187S, when he migrated to California. His brothers, James and Peter, also came early to the state, and the latter died near Bakersfield. James served in the United States army in Indian wars in Arizona and New Mexico and later located in Kern county. He was a farmer and stockman on ]\TcCaffrey sloup-h. but in time he sold his property there and passed away in Kings countv. When the subject of this notice came to the state and to the county he was for some years in the employ of the Kern Countv Land Company. He then bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres which he imoroved and irrigated from the Kern Island canal. He has lived at Kern, now East Bakersfield. since 1902 and has made quite a success of the building and rentine of houses. In national politics Mr. McCaffrey has alwavs been Republican. As a citi- zen he is public-spiritedly helpful to all worthy local interests. He is a member of the Catholic church. He married, in New York City, Miss Delia Owens, of Irish birth, who has borne him five children: Margaret E.. now Mrs. Black; Peter D., who died in June, 1911; John A.; ]\Iinnie E., Mrs. Roberts, and William H.. all residents of Bakersfield. WILLIAM W. GUNN.— Born at Saint Kitts. West Indies, on Decem- ber 26, 1848, W. W. Gunn was the third eldest of a family of seven children born to James Edward and Mathilda (Pencheon) Gunn, the father being a native of Scotland. He was the manager of a plantation on Saint Kitts. where he and his wife both passed away; Mrs. Gunn was a native of that island and 1542 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY of English parentage. William W. Gunn attended the public schools near his birthplace until he was fourteen years old, then coming alone to Canada, where he lived two years. Then crossing the line into the United States he went south into Pithole City, Pa., where he made his home until in 1868. He then came to California via Panama and located in Fresno county, where he worked as a laborer until in 1874. Moving to Kern county and settling in the Jerry Slough he took up a homestead of eighty acres, being among the first to locate in that vicinity, and here he engaged in farming and teaming. In 1879 he moved to Bakersfield, where he devoted himself entirely to teaming and later he was thus employed in Fresno and San Diego counties. In 1890 he bought sixty acres of land of the Kern County Land Company, which had been devoted to the production of hops and cotton, but which he changed to grain and alfalfa land. He has since bought twenty acres more and has a fine homestead of eighty acres eight miles south of Bakersfield under the Farmers canal. Mr. Gunn once held the office of school trustee. In 1898 he was elected justice of the peace for the Panama district and was re-elected to that office in 1902 and 1906, serving twelve years continuously. JOSEPH ALBERT COCHRAN.— A native of Santa Clara county, Cal, born January 15, 1859, who first saw Kern county in 1865 and has lived within its borders since 1885, J. A. Cochran attended public schools in his native county until he was fifteen years old and afterwards worked on his father's ranches until he was twenty-two. He spent twelve years in hunting game for the market and was employed from time to time at farming and otherwise. Com- ing to Kern county in 1885 he gave his attention to farming and each season followed threshing on the coast. In 1887 he took up a homestead of one hun- dred and sixty acres back of San Emidio, to which he added a timber claim and on which he lived and farmed twelve years. From there he came to his pres- ent home ranch of eighty acres, most of which is under cultivation to alfalfa. He has given his attention to hog-raising and has one hundred stands of bees. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Women of Woodcraft in Bakersfield. He was first married to Martha C. Powell, who was born in Texas and died in Kern county, leaving four children, Arthur, Hugh (now deceased), Esther and Kathleen. His second marriage was to Anna M. Replogle, a native of Iowa, and they have two children living, Albert and Leslie. As a citizen he has the best interests of the community at heart and there is no movement which in his opinion promises to benefit any considerable number of his fellow citizens to which he does not respond promptly. THOMAS S. FULTZ.— Born in Claiborne county, Tenn., September 7, 1874, he lived there until he was six years old when his parents, John and Martha (Taylor) Fultz, removed to Kentucky. Here he was a student in the schools until 1885, when they again moved, this time to Illinois, where he was sent to school until he reached the age of sixteen. In 1890 he came west and arrived in California. First settling in Santa Ana, Orange county, he worked as a clerk for a time and in April, 1893, came to Kern county. His ambition was to work on his own account, but he worked for other people for about a year before he started for himself. Leasing land on Stine road, a tract of ninety- five acres in all, he engaged in general farming for six years and also followed dairying on a small scale. In the fall of 1903 he came to the farm where he now resides. Purchasing forty acres four miles southwest of Bakersfield, of which ten acres were under cultivation, he labored diligently on this land, and it is now all under cultivation to grain and alfalfa. He has also an orchard of various fruits on the place, and aside from farming he is engaged as a stock- raiser, owning a number of fine-bred horses and cattle. Mr. Fultz was married January 17, 1900, to Ivy Amburn, who was born September 23, 1879, in the state of Kansas, and they have one child, Leta HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1543 Shirley. He has fraternal connections with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is a man whose interests are for the public welfare. FRANK H. CORSETT.— Born November 4, 1855, in Cattaraugus county, N. Y., he was there reared to manhood, his parents giving him the benefit of an excellent school training, as at the age of seventeen he completed his public school course and was sent to Ten Brooks Academy, in Franklinville, N. Y., studying there for two years. At the ejtpiration of this period he re- turned to his father's place and worked for the latter until he reached his majority when he started out for himself. Upon coming to California, in 1877, he settled in Gilroy, Santa Clara county, where he secured employment, but the spirit of travel was strong within him, and he left there to travel from one state to another, working at whatever presented itself to him. Finally, however, he returned to California, and in 1884 came to Kern county and secured a position with the Kern County Land Company, for whom he worked for two years. Experience and observation had by this time taught Mr. Corsett that the most profitable business life was that of being one's own employer, and he accordingly decided to gain something tangible by his own efforts. He rented a place of a hundred and sixty acres, which .was unimproved, and started in the raising of stock and also some general farming. He was obliged to rent this place for eight years, when he found himself able to buy his pres- ent place of eighty acres at Old River, and thus reaped the fruits of his labor, for which he had been striving. He has cleared this tract and has it under cultivation of crops which are most profitable, principally alfalfa and grain. He engaged in dairying for a short time, but gave it up to devote his time to his other affairs. In 1893 he was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the death of T. J. Bottoms who was supervisor and in 1904 was elected supervisor of the Fourth district on the Republican ticket, his term extending over four years, and he gave entire satisfaction in the execution of the duties of that office. In fraternal connection he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. The marriage of Frank H. Corsett and Josephine St. Mary occurred in October, 1891. Her birth occurred in 1856 in Stanislaus county, Cal., where her early life was spent. She passed away in 1899, leaving three children. Con F., Howard and Beryl, the latter attending the Kern County high school. Always interested in the cause of education, Mr. Corsett has served for fifteen years as clerk of the board of trustees of the Old River district. S. G. TRYON.— In Crawford county, Pa., near the city of Titusville, Mr. Tryon was born August 26, 1873, being the son of a farmer of that county. An ordinary public-school education was given to him at the age of twenty years and he secured employment as a roustabout in the Pennsylvania oil fields in Butler county, where he remained for two years, meanwhile learning many of the details connected with the industry. For a time he engaged with a drilling gang. When twenty-two years old he went to the Ohio oil fields in Wood county and became a practical driller in the employ of a company at Prairie Depot. The years of his work in Ohio gave him a thorough knowledge of the business, so that he was qualified for future responsibilities. Coming to California in 1899, he proceeded to the Kern river field and secured employ- ment on the Monte Cristo lease, where he drilled a large number of wells. Five years of steady work in that connection gave him a reputation for skill and also proved financially profitable for himself. After two years at Coalinga he was called back to the Monte Cristo holdings in the Kern river field. The identification of Mr. Tryon with the Sunset field began in October of 1908, when he was appointed superintendent of the Monte Cristo proper- ties. He came to his present lease in 1910, since which time he has satisfac- 68 1544 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY torily served as superintendent of the Maricopa 36 and the M. and T. Oil Com- panies. In the latter organization he is a stockholder and serves as a director, while in addition he owns stock in the Maricopa 36. On coming to these fields he was accompanied by his wife, whom he had married at Titusville, Pa., and- who was formerly Miss Ethel L. Benn. Their union has been blessed with two daughters, Beatrice and Kathryn. JAMES A. SPENCER. — Prior to coming to California and taking up his duties as telegraph operator for the Kern Trading and Oil Company at Kerto station, in April, 1912, Mr. Spencer filled responsible positions in telegraphy in various parts of the United States and Canada. He is a native of New York state and was born in Syracuse March 29, 1884, being a son of the late N. H. and Frances (Fowler) Spencer. The father, who died in 1906, had engaged for years in buying stock for the Chicago markets and particularly for the Cudahy Comoany. The demands of the business toe k him through all of the Pacific northwest, although his operations were largely in Montana. As a judge of stock he had few superiors. In his estimates of their values he seldom erred. His wife, who was born in Missouri and now makes her home in San J> se, Cal., is a daughter of Welcome Fowler, a pioneer of California during the gold-mining era and once the proprietor of the old Palmyra hotel at Orange City. Having a firm faith in the future of the state, he speculated in lands in various localities and thus acquired large tracts. There were three sons and one daughter in the family of N. H. Spencer, namely : Clinton Edgar, who built the Bakersfield street-car system and is now chief engineer for the Stockton Street Railway Company ; Lulu, wife of William Cole, a broker in New York City; James A.; and LeRoy, an auto- mobile painter emnloyed in Buffalo. The second son lived in Syracuse until he was thirteen and then went to New York City, where he was graduated from the Brcnx high school with the class of 1901. From the high school he came to the University of California at Berkeley and there took a course in electrical engineering, but at the end of the second year he left the university and entered the wholesale house of the Brown Hardware Company. After six months in that place he went back to New York City and embarked in the stock brokerage business, at the same time specializing in telegraphy. For some years he engaged as operator on the Stock Exchange in different cities, this being a line of work calling for unusual expertness in telegraphy. For brief periods he was stationed at Atlanta, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., Tampa, Fla., Miami, Fla., New Orleans, La., and Dallas, Tex. and thence was sent to Havana, Cuba, where he was employed by Moss & Co., a firm later absorbed by B. F. Sheffield, of New York. While engaged in the brokerage business at Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland, he was connected with the firm of Lcgan and Bryan, and also he was with Fred Dorr of San Fran- cisco for a time. Meanwhile he had been connected with the Associated Press and the Canadian Press and in the latter service he had made brief sojourns in Winnipeg, Canada, Toronto, Calgary, Regina, London, Montreal and Quebec. PETER CATTANI.— Upon coming to America Mr. Cattani did not find the many obstructions toward making his fortune as hard as would some who had not experienced his early toilsome life. Born in Piedmont, Italy, on December 8, 1869, he spent the first nineteen years of his life there, his father being a sawyer and lumber hewer in that locality. At the tender age of six and a half years he worked on a farm, at seven years being a goat herder in the Alps, and later he herded cows and worked in the woods. He would work for an entire year for the small sum of $4 and his board, but as he grew older his wages increased. Small wonder then that the lad looked forward with fond anticipaticn to the time when he could come to the new country and procure more promising results from his hard labors. Sailing from Havre to New York he made San Francisco his point of destination, arriving there HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1545 in November, 1889, and from there he went to Pescadero, San Mateo county, where he procured work on a large dairy farm. For seven years he worked for wages, but at the time of his marriage in 1896 he rented a dairy and em- barked in the business for himself and for the next eleven years ran a dairy ranch and cheese factory. He then removed to Merced county, where he bought fifty acres of alfalfa land at Walter, which has been steadily increasing in value until it is now worth more than $300 an acre. On his dairy farm he has over a hundred cows. In 1911 he united his interests with Mr. Rodoni, and built and established the now justly celebrated Vineland creamery. Mr. Cattani has devo.ed his entire time and attention to this extensive business, which is still operated under the name of the Vineland Cheese Factory, (although Mr. Cattani has recently bought out Mr. Rodoni.) In November, 1911, Messrs. Cattani and Rodoni purchased a hundred and sixty acres of land, adding to it an adjoining two hundred acres, and here the cows which supply the dairy are grazed and cared for. The barn is modern and equipped with all conveniences, and under the able management of the proprietor the cheese business has developed until it now is one of the most flourishing firms of its kind in the county. Since relinquishing his interest in the creamery Mr. Rodoni has made his home on a small ranch north of Bakersfield. Mr. Cattani married in 1896 Miss Henrietta Guerra, who was born at Half Moon Bay, San Mateo county, and they are the parents of five children, James, Katherine, William, Arnold and Madeline. Mrs. Cattani has proved a helpmeet to her husband and a devoted and loving mother. They are popular and well known in their community, and Mr. Cattani holds a high place in the esteem of his fellow citizens. FRANCIS GUY COLTON.— The late F. H. Colton, an honored pioneer of Kern county and the father of Francis Guy Colton, was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, received an education both in the classics and the law, and for a time had charge of the public schools of St. Paul Minn. After he had been admitted to the bar he practiced law for a time in Kentucky and won consid- erable prominence in his profession, but with the growing interest attached to the colonization of Kansas he was induced to take up land in that state. While living near Minneapolis, Ottawa county, there was born, March 1, 1871, a son, Francis Guy, to his union with Lydia Ann Tucker. About four years later, in July of 1875, he came to California, the change being made with the hope of physically aiding him as he was suffering with asthma. The day after his arrival in Bakersfield he secured employment with the Livermore Company and he continued with the organization through its subsequent ownership by Messrs. Carr and Haggin, also when finally it was absorbed by the Kern County Land Company, and at the time of his death, which occurred in Bakersfield June 9, 1892, he was filling the position of superintendent of canals for that concern. Meanwhile many responsibilities had been turned over to him. Faithfully and intelligently he had superintended construction work in Kern county that had involved the expenditure of millions of dollars. Nor was his activity limited to his association with the land company, but in addition he had maintained a constant interest in educational matters. His own early identification with the profession of teaching gave him a critical insight into the needs of the educational system of our country. Through a service for years as a school trustee and a member of the county board he endeavored to promote the wel- fare of the schools of the county and to introduce improvements in the matter and manner of instruction. The passing of a man so advanced in thought and so patriotic in citizenship was a distinct loss to the city. Mr. Colton was twice married, his first marriage, which occurred in 1866 in Kansas, uniting him with ]\Iiss Lydia Ann Tucker, by whom he had seven 1546 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY children. Six of these grew to maturity: Evelyn G. is now Mrs. Joseph Morley; her husband is a farmer and dairyman on the Kern Island road, Kern county. Francis Guy is second in order of birth. Charles Maxwell is in the educational department of the government at Manila, P. I. ; he married Mrs. Lena Skillern of San Francisco. Ward Tucker grew up and married in Bakersfield Miss Hattie Ripley of Caliente, and by her had one child, John H. ; he was killed by being smothered in the San Fernando tunnel. Lydia Ann is now the wife of Alfred Clark, an accountant in the First National Bank, situated at the corner of C and Sunset street, Bakersfield. Albert Sanborn, twin of Lydia Ann, is a graduate of the University of California, and is principal of a high school in Siskiyou county. The mother of these died in 1878 at the birth of the twins, at Bakersfield, Mr. Colton was married (second) to Mrs. Miriam L. Shottenkirk, widow of Daniel Shottenkirk and the daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth (Newton) Isbister, both natives of Scotland. Ten children were born to the mar- riage of Mr. and Mrs. Isbister, Mrs. Colton being the youngest child, born at Alleghany City, Pa. She bore her first husband five children, two of whom survive, Florence and Jessie. Florence is the wife of Walter Abbey, of Wasco, while Jessie is the wife of Dr. D. V. Bower, a dentist in Chicago. From the age of four years Francis Guy Colton has lived in Bakers- field. Attending the public schools until he had completed the regular course of study, he then took up the task of earning a livelihood and after a time became the proprietor of a feed and fuel business, which seemed about to bring him permanent prosperity when the catastrophe of a de- structive conflagration forced him to begin again absolutely without means. However, since beginning in the transfer business he has again established himself upon a stable foundation and there is every prospect for increasing success in the future. August 26, 1896, he married Miss Elizabeth Isbister, a native of Nevada county, Cal., and by this union there are three children, Francis John, Phoebe Louise and Richard Guy. The family hold mem- bership with the First Congregational Church of Bakersfield, in which Mr. Colton officiates as a deacon and member of the board of trustees. Fratern- ally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. THOMAS EDWIN OWENS.— The memorable era of gold discovery in California had not only its tales of triumph and success but also its hun- dreds of unwritten tragedies and one of the latter occurred in the Owens family, for the father, David Owens, a Welshman by birth, a blacksmith by trade and during young manhood a farmer near Hillsboro, Jefiferson county. Mo., was one of the courageous men who bade farewell to wife and friends and started across the plains during 1849. With ox-teams and wagons the expedition wended its way along the tedious route. Finally the placer mines were reached and the young Argonaut at once began to mine for gold. His letters to his wife were full of hope and cheer. Finally he wrote that he had struck two rich claims and now his only desire was to return to those he loved, bringing with him his little store of wealth. Never again was he heard from and no word ever came as to his fate, but unquestion- ably he was murdered for his gold, a tragedy by no means uncommon in that lawless period of history. Back in the Missouri home there remained the widow who was form- erly Mrs. Louisa (Williams) Chandler, and the only child of the marriage. Thomas Edwin Owens, whose birth occurred at Hillsboro, Mo., June 17, 1849. The latter attended subscription schools in boyhood and when not in schools he worked on farms for fifty cents per day. During the winter months he helped farmers to feed their stock. From his earliest recollec- HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1547 tions he was interested in California. Often he would read his father's last let- ter and always it would arouse his desire to go west, so after he had worked for a few years in the Sandy lead mines and also had saved a little money through buying and selling horses, in 1873 he had saved an amount sufft- cient to pay his expenses to the coast. One of his earliest labors in the state was to attempt to find some trace of his father's fate, but the search was unavailing and finally was relinquished as hopeless. After he had traveled via the Southern Pacific road to Bakersfield and by stage to Caliente, Kern county, he found employment in the latter place as a freight handler. Later he engaged in mining and teaming at Havilah, where he married Miss Laura Reid, a native of Visalia, this state. For some years he and his wife have owned and occupied a substantial residence on the corner of L and Twenty- fourth streets, Bakersfield. Of their six children four sons are now living, namely: Charles, an electrician; Frederick, deputy sheriff of Kern county; Dean, a machinist, and Arthur, a printer. Mrs. Owens is a daughter of Col. John C. Reid, a native of Virginia, who crossed the plains to California and became a pioneer merchant and stockman, who was known as one of the cattle kings of what is now Tulare, Kern, Kings and Inyo counties, the other men sharing with him in this title being Messrs. Dunlap and Stanford. He was county treasurer and tax collector of Tulare county before Kern county was organized. He served in the Mexican war as colonel and died in Bak- ersfield at the age of eighty. His wife, who was Mary Glenn, a native of Tennessee, died in Tulare county. Upon coming to the vicinity of Bakersfield in 1876 Mr. Owens pur- chased a ranch adjoining Stockdale and later bought property in the city which he still owns. For thirty-three years he has engaged in the liquor business. One of the early fires burned him out and he had to build again. Ever since coming to the west he has been interested in farming and in mining, now owns interests in the Amelia district and was among the first to strike oil in the Devil's Den country, where he aided in the organization of the Pluto Oil Company, the pioneer developer of oil in that region. The Democratic party has received his stanch support ever since he cast his first presidential ballot, and at one time he was nominated for sheriff on the Demo- cratic ticket, but was defeated by only forty-three votes. Fraternally he has held membershin and was a charter member of the Eagles. The devel- opment of Bakersfield finds in him a champion. His interests are one with those of the community. When his services are needed in the aid of any project they have been ofifered promptly and it was in such manner that he consented to serve as deputy sheriff under "Bill" Bowers, a position that he filled efficiently for six years at a time when it was felt that he could thus aid the enforcement of the law in his county. SAMUEL SWEITZER.— The proprietor of the Sweitzer hotel in East Bakersfield ]:)elongs to a family that has been represented in America since a perird antedating the war of the Revolution. Both the paternal and the maternal ancestors came to this country from Switzerland and the paternal grandfather, a Pennsylvanian by birth, lived to be ninety-nine years of age, finally passing away in the midst of the scenes in Clarion county that had been familiar to his earliest recollections. Agriculture was the occupation followed by a majority of the male members of the family, although sev- eral engaged in the oil business in the Keystone state, and as a boy Samuel Sweitzer, whose birth occurred in Clarion county. Pa., gained a thorough insight into the oil industry while living and laboring at Oil City, Venango county. The immediate family circle to which he belonged included six brothers and two sisters, but all of these have passed to the beyond with the exception of himself and the two sisters, Mary Emma and Luella Matilda, 1548 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY all residents of Bakersfield, the former sister being married to Joseph Everett and the latter, unmarried, is a trained nurse. The first marriage of Samuel Sweitzer took place in Pennsylvania and united him with Miss Frances Wood, while his second marriage was solemn- ized at Ventura, Cal., and united him with Miss Emma Pierson, a native of Sweden. Of his first marriage there are four sons, Jesse Edwards, Adelbert Wood, Harry and Ralph. The first and third sons are living in Los Angeles and the second makes his home in Seattle, Wash. Coming to California during 1893, Mr. Sweitzer first settled in Los Angeles and engaged in busi- ness as a plumber. From the first he has been optimistic concerning the west and has entertained a profound faith in its future growth and pros- perity. During 1899 he removed to Bakersfield, where he since has bought one-half interest in the Majestic at No. 1927 Chester avenue. In addition he owns the Sweitzer hotel, the largest lodging hotel in East Bakersfield, and his possessions are further enlarged by the ownership of a ranch of forty acres situated on the Rosedale road, where he resides. One of the chief pleasures Mr. Sweitzer has found in life has been in hunting expediti. ns and in travel. Fond of sport of all kinds, he is popular among sportsmen and has a host of warm friends among the men who, in days past, have been his comrades in his hunting tri^s. His travels have taken him as far as the countries of northern Europe and there hangs on the walls of the Majestic the mounted head of a large moose. The heads of other animals, commejnorating other hunting expeditions, are also to be found in the same place and are preserved by him with zealous care. In politics he has been stanchly Democratic from ycung manhood. Fraternally he has been actively associated with the Owls and Eagles. Frequently he has been chosen a delegate to their conventions and is past president of the Eagles in Bakersfield. JOSEPH ESPITALLIER.— AlthouE^h he left France at a very early age and since then has been identified with Kern county, Mr. Esp'tallier has not forgotten the sunny climate or the picturesque scenery of that far-distant land. There lived and died his narents, Francois and Antoinette (Ducere) Esoitallier. humble tillers of the soil at Ancil near Gap, department of Hautes- Alpes, and there too he was born March 19. 1877, being the third among seven children, all but two of whom are still living. The family were poor, the struggle for a livelihood was keen, and hence he had meager chances to acquire an education, for he has been self-sup-^orting from early years. Coming to America during 1900 and proceeding direct to California, he found employment with a sheep-raiser in Kern county. Although the language was strange 'o his ears and the customs o^" the peonle different from those of his native land, he was adaptable and eager to learn, therefore soon proved himself a capable assistant in the sheep business. Dnrino- 1*^04 he bought a small flock cf sheep and embarked in the business for himself, afterward rangina: the drove in Kern and Invo counties along the mountains and in the valleys. The venture proved fairlv successful and he began to prosper financiallv. but a desire to have an established home and to escane the hard- ships incident to following the range led him to dispose rf his flock in 1910, when he bought and named Hotel des Aloes at No. 7'^3 Humboldt street. East Bakersfield. Mr. Espitall'er is still engaged in the sheen business. The marriage of Mr. Espitallier took place in East Bakersfield October 9, 1909, and united him with Miss Leah Grimeaud, a native of Hautes-Alpes. France, and a lady of skill in the domestic arts, hospitality in the home and efficiency as an assistant in the hotel, which under their able management has been enlarged and remodeled to meet the demands of the increasinjj busi- ness. In fraternal relations Air. Espitallier is connected with the Druids and Loyal Order of Moose. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1549 JEAN EYRAUD. — The second eldest of his parents' children, Mr. Eyraud was born May 12, 1863, at LaMotte, in the province of Dauphine, France, son of Jean and Appolone (Meyer) Eyraud, the former of whom was a shoemaker and farmer there all his life. He spent his early years at home with his parents, attending the public schools and aiding his father on his farm. But he had heard reports from acquaintances who had gone to America that California was a good field and he concluded to come hither. In 1880 he secured a passport, which was signed by his parents and the mayor, and set out. On November 15, 1880, Mr. Eyraud landed at New York, whence he came on an immigrant train to California, arriving at San Francisco No- vember 30. He then made the trip to Bakersfield, consuming four days in the trip. Mr. Eyraud's energy and willingness to work was made evident in the fact that on the day of his arrival here he procured employment with Tohn Jamison, roadmaster of county roads between Sumner and Bakersfield, to chop the sage brush, and he aided in building the first road in the county, for which he received a salary of $5.00 per day. He was obliged to sleep cutdoors on the ground and pay $2.00 a day for his meals. A short time later he entered the employ of a sheepman for a year, and then obtaining on credit a lot of sheep valued at $4,030, he engaged in the sheep business on his own account. In 1883 occurred an enisode in Mr. Eyraud's life which he has never for- gotten. Colonel Morrow had come to the town of Lone Pine from Chicago to inspect Mt. Whitney and other high peaks, and he engaged Mr. Eyraud as guide on his expedition, paying him $500 for ten days' service, and it was on Mt. Whitney that Mr. Eyraud drank his first champagne in the United States. Returning to his sheep business he continued to make that his occu- pation until 1887, when he went to Los Angeles and was married, en April 19, 1887, to Miss Constance Marin, who was also born in Dauphine, France. Mr. Eyraud traveled over Southern CaHfornia looking for a good place to locate, but noticing so many nickels and pennies in use he became disgusted and returned to Sumner where he bought the lot where he has his saloon and restaurant. This olace was nothing more than a shack, but hp immedi- ately started to remodel and rebuild it. It is located opposite the depot, on Sumner street. His residence is at No. 503 Humboldt street. Mr. and Mrs. Eyraud are the parents of two children, Henry and John. Mr. Eyraud is a charter member of the Druids, which he joined in 1883, also a charter member of the Order of Eagles, and the Foresters of America. He is Democratic in political sentiment. JEAN PHILIPP. — Coming to America and to Kern county during 1883. Mr. Philipp, who was born August 18, 1866, at Gao, Hautes-Alpes, France, a son. and youngest of four children, of Fermin Philipp, a farmer, entered the em- ploy of a sheepman and for three years worked as a herder in the surrounding ranges. In 1886 he brught a small band of ewes and these he ranged near Delano. The flock increased in numbers and he was prospered in the work, but sold the band in 1889, since which time he has engaged in the hotel business in East Bakersfield. At the time of settling here the town was called Sumner and later the name was changed to Kern, but finally the present title was adopted upon annexation with Bakersfield. During 1889 he erected the Universal hotel on Humboldt street near Baker. In 1898 the building was destroyed by fire, after which he built the present structure. Among traveling men he is very popular as "mine host." Courtesy and afifability win for him the good will of those who make his hotel their headquarters. His popularity further extends to the members of the Eagles and Druids, .in both of which organizations he is a member. Politically he votes with the Reoublican party. His first marriage took place in Bakersfield in 1890 and united him with Miss Mary Eyraud, who was born in Hautes-Alpes, France, 1550 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY and died in Kern county, leaving three children, namely : Jean, Jr., Marcellu and Auguste. Some time after her demise he was united with Miss Mary Louise Bellocq, who was born in Basses Pyrenees, France, and by whom he has^ one daughter, Jeannette. Liberal in spirit, enterprising in temperament and generous in disposition, he forms a valuable addition to the French-Amer- ican element so closely identified with the development of Kern county. PERFECTO CORONADO CASTRO.— Born three miles south of Bak- ersfield, Kern county, on April 18, 1870, he was the son of Thomas and Con- cepcion (Coronado) Castro, pioneers of that county. He was educated in the public school at Bakersfield until he was sixteen years old, and he was scarcely seventeen when he took up the battle of life as an employe of Mil- ler & Lux. In time he was entrusted with the management of the firm's sheep-shearing department. Later he worked for a year for the Kern County Land Company. For several years, in the sheep-shearing season, he went north to various places and worked at his trade, employing himself between times to the best possible advantage and acquiring a little capital with which he eventually bought a saloon in Bakersfield. This he conducted until 1911, when he moved to Lost Hills, where he opened an establishment of the same kind which, however, he soon disposed of. He then started the stage line between Wasco and Lost Hills, continuing until that was sold, and he is now a member of the firm of Jewett & Castro, of Wasco. Mr. Castro was also for many years interested in the cattle business on Mount Breckenridge. As a citizen he is public-spiritedly interested in every movement which in his opmion promises to benefit any considerable number of his fellow citizens. He married Annie Rameriz, a native of Los Angeles. Fraternally Mr. Castro is a member of the Owls and Moose. PETER KOSEL. — The proprietor of the Occidental Hotel and of the Hotel Kosel, was born in Vienna, Austria, served in the Austrian army and in 1894 came to Bakersfield, where he has become a successful man of afifairs. Mr. Kosel's business training in his native land was in merchandising and there he was given a thorough education. Coming to Bakersfield for some years he ran the old German Hotel. In 1898 he became the proprietor of the Occidental Hotel, at No. 1201 Nineteenth street. This popular hostelry, which Mr. Kosel personally conducts on the European plan, is provided with all conveniences for the comfort of its guests. It contains thirty-two rooms, is comfortably furnished, electric lighted, clean and orderly. In 1910 he built the Kosel Hotel at Nineteenth and N streets, which is one of the most modern buildings in the San Joaquin valley devoted to hotel purnoses. He is the owner of much real estate in Bakersfield, including seven fine residences for rental, all of which are close in and easily accessible from the business district. The Kosel Block, which includes the hotel of the same name, is a three- story and basement building, 66x90 feet. While Mr. Kosel gives his personal attention to the management of the Occidental Hotel, he leases the Hotel Kosel. Fraternally he holds membership in the Royal Arch, Eagles and Herman Sons. He is liberal, charitable and enterprising and has alwavs dem- onstrated public spirit as a citizen. GEORGE W. SEDWELL.— Descended from an old Anglo-Saxon and Welsh family, Mr. Sedwell was born in the city of London, England, January 12, 1851, and is a son of the late Joseph and Emily (Shepherd) Sedwell. The public schools of London afiforded him fair advantages and his vacations were given over to work under his father, a skilled builder. Having gained an excellent knowledge of carpentering, he determined to make his own way in. the world. The western hemisphere was his objective location, but he lacked the funds for the long voyage. Nothing daunted by the condition of his nocketbook, he secured employment on a ship and at the age of seventeen landed in New York City, ready to earn his livelihood at his chsoen trade. HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1551 Drifting west as far as Mount Vernon, Ohio, he worked at carpentering there for four years. Later he worked his way toward the west. During 1876 he landed in San Francisco, where immediately he found employment as a builder. The identification of Mr. Sedwell with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company dates from the spring of 1879, when he was assigned to the bridge and building department, with headquarters at Tulare. From the first his skill was unquestioned and his efficiency recognized. After eighteen months at Tulare he became a traveling carpenter. The resignation of Walter Yelland as tunnel foreman on the hill in 1882 was followed by the appointment of Mr Sedwell to the position, which he has since filled with unvarying devotion, besides being foreman of bridges and building on the San Joaquin division. Sedwell spur at tunnel 12 was named for him. Formerly he owned thousands of acres of range land which he had bought while visiting different localities, but the larger part of this he has sold. After coming to Kern county he was married at Tehachapi to Miss Christine Agnes Elliott, who was born in Nevada and died in Los Angeles. Later he was united with Mrs. Mary Quinn, a native of Nevada, and to this union a son was born, Joseph Vincent, who with ■the mother now lives in Los Angeles. Prior to 1906 the family residence was at San Fernando but since then Mr. Sedwell has spent his time principally on the road and when at leisure has remained with his family in Los Angeles. In politics he is a Republican and fraternally is a Mason, belonging to Te- hachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M. LUTHER A. BATES. — The westward tide of migration which has char- acterized the agricultural development of the new world finds illustration in the history of the Bates family. Established on the shores of the Atlantic ocean in the early period of national colonization, by successive removals the family became transplanted to the western coast and now has a goodly number of representatives in California, not the least prominent of its members being Luther A. Bates, well known of late years as a contractor and builder in Kern and Santa Clara counties. Before railroads had been built to facilitate travel and render easy frontier development C. B. Bates, a native of New York, became a pioneer of Michigan and from there he drove through Wis- consin to Minnesota with a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen. At the time the great northwest was undeveloped and savages still lingered within ilis borders, so that he encountered many perils and hardships in his agri- cultural labors. At one time he enlisted and marched against the Sioux Indians when their depredations had become intolerable. For years he cultivated land near Mankato. Prior to the building of the railroad he was obliged to spend three days in hauling his grain to the market. When finally he was able to sell the property at a financial advantage he brought the family to California in 1884 and settled in Santa Clara county, where his last years were pleasantly passed in horticultural pursuits. During young manhood he had married Calista Ackerman, who was born in New York and died in California. In girlhood she had accompanied her father, Capt. Mark Acker- man, a New Yorker by birth, to Minnesota, where he had for years engaged in the lake service as captain of a vessel and upon finally retiring had settled near Mankato on a farm. There were five sons and two daughters in the family of C. B. Bates and all of these are living with the exception of one son. The youngest of the family, Luther A., was born near Mankato, Minn., July 14, 1877, and was about seven years of age when removal was made to Santa Clara county, Cal., where he received his education in the grammar and high schools. At the age of eighteen he began to serve an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter under his brothers, C. A. and A. C, practical and skilled workmen in San Jose. Upon the conclusion of his time he entered the carpentering department of the 1552 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY Southern Pacific Railroad and for two years worked between San Luis Obispo and San Francisco. Next he returned to San Jose to become foreman for the contractor, C. O. Field, with whom he continued for five years, and then resigned in order to engage in the building business for himself. From 1906 until 1909 he erected a large number of buildings in San Jose. Removing to Bakersfield in March of 1909, he erected a residence and maintained an office at No. 2303 Chester avenue. Much of his work was in East Bakersfield and includes the Brown block as well as the residences of Jack Stevenson, L. E. Nelson, A. Stramler, Messrs. Kemp, Monon and Strobles, and the Hayes and Murray buildings, besides which he has had the contract for the residences of Mrs. Ida M. Dixon, James Trail and others in Bakersfield. When the Builders' Exchange was established he became a charter member and was elected upon the first board of directors. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World, the Loyal Order of Moose, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Aid. Though not himself identified wnth any denomination, he is in sympathy with practical religious work and contributes to the Metht dist Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member. While living in San Jose he married Miss Annie Sutherland, by whom he has two children, James and Frances, and who is herself a native daughter of the state, member of an honored pioneer family. As early as 1852 her father, James Sutherland, crossed the plains to California and settled in the San Joaquin valley, where he was an influential pioneer. Her birth occurred during the residence of the family in Santa Clara county and her education was secured in the public schools of that section of the state. CHARLES E. DAGGETT.— Mr. Daggett is the great-great-grandson of a soldier who fought in the Revolutionary war, and is of English descent, other members of the Daggett family having also served in that war. His grandfather came from Vermont and settled in Carroll county, Ind., at an early day, and here his father, Edward J. Daggett, who was born in Antwerp, Ohio, followed farming. Several brothers of Ed Daggett crossed the plains in 1849, but he himself continued on the home place, his death occurring when Charles E. was but seven years of age. The mother, Sarah Barnes, born in 1835, in Carroll county, Ind., passed away in 1909. She was the mother of three children, of whom Charles E. was the youngest. Mr. Daggett was born July 30, 1866, in Lockoort, Carroll county, Ind., and was brought up on the farm in Indiana, attending the public schools in his locality, and the high school in Idaville. At the completion of his course he began his railroad career which covered many years of labor, his first position being at the transportation department at Vandalia, and from there went to Middleburg, Ky., on the railroad construction work there. He then took up contracting and later worked on the construction of the railroad in Indian Territory, going from there to Chicago to be in the transportation de- partment during the Worlds Fair. He remained in Chicago until 1894, when he began work on the construction of the Wisconsin and Michigan roads as foreman of construction, leaving that work to take up work in the mines at Cripple Creek, Colo. From there he went to Grand Forks, N. D., to work as foreman on the Great Northern road construction, soon becoming road- master, which position he held until 1901, when he took the position of road- master of the vSeaboard Air Line at Raleigh, N. C. He then became foreman on the building of the railroad between Atlanta, Ga., and Birmingham, Ala., and then superintended the building of the Southern & Western roads through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, but was finally prevailed upon to return to the Seaboard road as roadmaster at Raleigh, N. C. After holding this ofiice for some time he resigned in May, 1909, and came west spending several months in Seattle, Wash., and in January, 1910, located in HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1553 Bakersfield, where in February of that year he opened up a real-estate business in East Bakersfield, handling both city and country property. Mr. Daggett was married in Minneapolis to Clara E. Mageau, who was born there. They are the parents of one child, Lloyd. Mr. Daggett joined the Masonic order in Raleigh, N. C, and became a member of Hiram Lodge No. 40, A. F. & A. M., still retaining his membership, and also belongs to Raleigh Chap.er No. 10, R. A. M. He is also affiliated with the Benevolent Order of Elks in the Crookston (Minn.) Lodge No. 342. H. J. DOVER.— A native sen, H. J. Dover was born in San Luis Obispo county, April 30, 1875, and at the age t f thirteen he was brought by his parents to Kern county, where they settled in Bakersfield, the father following the stock business. They now make their home in Santa Cruz. Bakersfield was the home of H. J. Dover until he reached the age of twenty, when he went to Randsburg and prospected for gold, found some rich ore and staked a claim on Panamint range. He next went to Nevada and was in the Funeral range prospecting for copper and gold, and he next worked for about a year in a copoer mine in San Bernardino county, meeting with varying success. Altogether he spent five years in the mining business and then in 1905 came to the Midway Oil Fields where he was one of the original locators of the famous secticn 25; later he sold out this interest. At present, with several others, he is interested in several sections at Elk Hills which they have leased out to the Associated Oil Company, and A^r. Dover is largely interested in other oil lands in the district. With Mr. Wilson he has invested largely in the Elk Horn Valley Oil Lands, which is unimproved territory but has gi'ven good indications of being productive. In 1911 he built a residence in ^Taft, but recently removed to Wasco where he and his estimable wife, Lena E. (Austin) Dover, make their home. Mrs. Dover was before her marriage a resi- dent of Texas. They have one child living, Elsie. In fraternal affiliation Mr. Dover is a member of the Order of Eagles. , GEORGE J. RICHARD.— A native of Allendale, Canada, Mr. Richard was born January 15, 1864, being a son of Hugh Richard, who was reared in New York state and from the age of twenty-five until his death engaged in the saw-mill business in Ontario. When ten years of age George J. Richard began to earn his own livelihood. At first he remained on a farm working for his board and clothes. At the age of seventeen he became an employe on a government surveying corps in Manitoba, whence he went to Michigan and worked in the lumber woods in 1881. In a short time he had learned the lumber business in its every department. Returning to Ontario in 1883, he resumed work on a farm. During December, 1884, he went to Pennsylvania and at Bradford started to work in the oil fields in January, 1885. It was at Brad- ford that he became skilled in rig-building. After three and one-half years there, a portion of the time with small contractors and the balance with the Standard Oil Company, August 17, 1888, he began to work as head rig-builder at Taylorstown, Pa., where he continued until May, 1890, when he was sent by said company to Oakdale to build rigs in the McDonald field, Allegheny county. Pa., meanwhile becoming skilled in every phase of the work. When finally resigning an excellent position in Pennsylvania which he had held for some years, Mr. Richard came to California, landing at Whittier September 25, 1900. The day after he arrived at Whittier he began to work as rig-builder- with the Murphy Oil Company, continuing with the concern until October 1, 1905. As head rig-builder for the Mexican Petroleum Com- pany he had charge of much important work at Ebano, Mexico, but on account of the failure of his health due to the hot climate he returned to Los Angeles in May, 1906. After a brief period with his former employers, the Murphy Oil Company, he came to the ]\Iidway field August 20, 1907, and has since had charge of the building department for the Santa Fe. In removing to Kern 1554 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY county he brought his family, consisting of wife and two sons. Mrs. Richard bore the maiden name of Mary E. Cherrie and was born near Oil City, Pa.; but their union was solemnized in Buffalo, N. Y. Their older son, Joseph Burton Richard, is now employed in Salt Lake City, while the younger son, Hugh Clifton, is engaged with Mays Consolidated Oil Company in Kern county. In politics Mr. Richard votes with the Republican party. MAX GUNDLACH, JR.— Born in San Francisco, January 6, 1867, Max Gundiach, jr., was a son of Max Gundlach, a native of Germany. The latter came to California more than sixty years ago and for many years was pro- prietor of the Gundlach Shoe Company, a prominent mercantile enterprise of Bakersfield. His death occurred February 8, 1913. The son was educated in public schools in San Francisco and in Alameda. From the time he was seventeen until he was twenty he worked for Charles F. Fisher, of Alameda. Later he worked at his trade with dififerent employers until he established himself in the plumbing business on Santa Clara avenue, Alameda, where he prospered five years. In 1900 he began business in Bak-^.rsfield on Twentieth street, and from there he eventually removed to his present site at No. 2014 Chester avenue, a modern shop, fully equipped. Specimens of his handicraft are to be found in the Hopkins & Willis buildings, the St. Regis Hotel, the Barlow residence, the Hill residence and many other fine homes in Bakersfield and vicinity. An important department of his enterprise is the manufacture of galvanized iron, water and oil tanks of any capacity up to two thousand barrels. These are manufactured under the name of the Gundlach Tank Com- pany of which he is proprietor. Besides his extensive local business he main- tains branches at Maricopa and Taft, with shops in bo:h towns and a store and manufacturing plant in Taft. His residence is at No. 2103 C street. When he was only eighteen years old Mr. Gundlach joined Thompson Hose Company, of the Alameda Fire Department, and was later made its foreman. He became a member of the Bakersfield Fire Department in 1901 and served two years and a half. In 1907 he was appointed chief of the depart- ment, which position he filled four years, and numerous important improve- ments looking to the efficiency of the department were made under his adminis- tration. He is a past-exalted ruler of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E ; past-Dresident of Alameda Parlor No. 47, N. S. G. W., and affiliates with Aerie No. 93, F. O. E., and with Lodge No. 7(i, K. P. of Bakersfield. He married at Alameda j\Iiss Gussie Wulzen, a native of that city, and they have one daugh- ter, Hazel. J. A. JONES.— Born in Boone county, Neb., February 9. 1881. J. A. Jones is a son of Paul and Clara (Meade) Jones. The latter died when her son, J. A., was twelve years old, leaving beside him four sons and two daughters. By a subsequent marriage the father had another daughter. The home of the family for years was upon a stock ranch in the central part of Nebraska. The surrounding country was soarsely settled and largely undeveloped. The broad prairies afiforded excellent range for stock, hence the father made a specialty of the cattle industry, although to some extent he also raised general farm crops. Eventually he disposed of his lands in Nebraska and came to California in 1898, settling in Fresno county, where he began to make a study of viticul- ture. Since then he has become known in his community as a very successful vineyardist and his tract of forty acres in vines and orchard affords him a neat income in return for his care and cultivation. After having assisted his father on the Nebraska ranch and the Fresno county vineyard, J. A. Jones started out to earn his own livelihood, having no preparation for work except a robust constitution, a pair of willing hands and an intelligent ability in carrying out orders. There being no available opening in business, he started out as a farm hand. For one year he worked on a stock ranch in Tulare county owned by E. K. Zumwalt. During the next HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY 1555 year he clerked in a grocery and hardware store in Fresno. As a roustabout in the employ of M. H. Whitter he came to the Kern river fields to hold down a claim, but returned to the store in Fresno for another year. In 1902 he again came to Kern county, where he has since remained, with the exception of eighteen months at Coalinga, Fresno county. Entering the employ of the Associated Oil Company in 1902 as a roustabout, he has since passed through every department of the work up to that of principal foreman in the field. On September 5, 1907, Mr. Jones was united in marriage with Marie, daughter of William F. Funderburk, of Merced county. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World in Bakersfield. WALTER C. TAYLOR.— The outbreak of the Civil war found thousands of the sons of the north ready to enlist in the service of the Union and among these was a young man from Indiana, J. G. Taylor, who being accepted as a private in the Federal ranks went to the front with his regiment and bore arms until the expiration of his term of enlistment. Thereafter he earned a livelihood for his wife, Mary, and their family through his labor as a farmer, supplemented by his ability as a schoolteacher. During the '80s he took the family to Texas and engaged in farming. Later he established a home in Texarkana, on the line of Texas and Arkansas. Eventually he and his wife removed to Shreveport, La., where they still make their home. Of their nine children six are now living, the next to the youngest being Walter C, who was born in Indiana February 1, 1877, and received his education in public schools in Texas and Arkansas. At the age of sixteen he became self-support- ing. As a clerk in a Texarkana store he gained his first experience in business. Later he spent a year in El Paso. Coming to California and to Bakersfield in 1899, he secured a position in a grocery, but in a short time resigned in order to become a teamster with the White Star (later the Bakersfield) laundry. With the exception of three years, during which he engaged as a driver for the San Luis Obispo laundry, he remained with the laundry in Bakersfield until 1912, and in April of that year started the cafeteria which he operates with success in the Moronet hotel building. The management of the cafeteria does not represent the limit of the busi- ness activities of Mr. Taylor, for he is interested in the Dreamland rink which he established in September, 1912, with L. W. Baker as a partner. The structure which they erected on the corner of Nineteenth and R streets is 59x101 feet in dimensions and has a maple floor ideally adapted to the purpose for which it has been utilized. The business is managed with tact, skill and precision. The highest moral environment gives satisfaction to the most critical patrons, who finding that profanity and rowdyism are not allowed feel an increased confidence in the ability and high principles of the proprietors, and certainly a large degree of credit belongs to Mr. Taylor for his persistence in maintaining the high standard of the place. A few years after coming to Bakersfield he established a home of his own, his marriage uniting him with Miss Minnie Snyder, who was born in Arizona and by whom he has a daughter, Helen. R. R. MORRIS. — Born at Alexandria, Aladison county, Ind., December 3, 1888, R. R. Morris is the only child of Frank R. and May Virginia (Zim- merman) Morris, the latter still a resident of Alexandria, where the father, who was serving as city treasurer, died in 1900. Educated in the local grammar and high schools, Mr. Morris was employed in Alexandria for two years after the completion of the high-school course, but in 1909 left Indiana for Cali- fornia. October of that year found him in the Midway field, where he secured employment in the store of the J. F. Lucey Company, and for a time also worked in the pipe yard, but since January 1, 1913, he has served as district manager of the corporation for the West Side oil fields, being also manager of their main store and warehouse in Taft, also superintendent of the branches 1556 HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY at Maricopa, Shale and McKittrick. His family consists of a daughter, Mau- rine, and his wife, formerly Miss Mazie Perry, of Indiana. Both are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Taft and Mr. Morris holds the office of church treasurer. In politics he favors Republican principles. Since coming to Taft he has identified himself with the Petroleum Club. The success of the J. F. Lucey Company is a source of pride and gratifica- tion to Mr. Morris. Besides the stores and warehouses under the direct management of Mr. Morris as district manager, the company owns stores at Bakersfield and Coalinga and the main office, manufactory and warehouses are located in Los Angeles. Representatives have been stationed in South America, stores have been opened in Roumania and the Russian oil fields, at Tampico, Mexico, Pittsburg, Pa., and New York City and London. A recent acquisition was the purchase of a factory at Chattanooga, Tenn., known as the Southern well works, whose enormous business included stores in all the principal oil fields of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. ^^0^ 1^ • _r-5S^\ '' 0° *'aeM^\ ^ .-r * ;> V . vLVCj'^ o T. 5 * s> "^ . L ' « ^ V: vO-T-, !° _, '-^^^ --m^s J" '%„ ''!^^^>' „o * *- \^ .. -^ ^q, '•.^■■■, 0^ '^<> ♦..■• ,1''" °A *•■» A- => -■ V