USA > California > Kern County > History of Kern County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 141
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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 Forest, Ill., 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 the parents hope to give the best educational advantages this city affords. 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, which 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, Ill., 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
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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 Iowan 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 whom 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 around 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 Miss Sadie Jenkins, of Bakersfield, a native of Nodaway county, Mo., and a woman whose 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 fcet. 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 & Dooley, 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.
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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 own 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 the present time. He was one-third owner of the Stanford Gold Coin Mill, afterward 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, al! 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 way 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,
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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, situated 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- raiser 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 Miss 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. McCall, 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. McCall 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
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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, Ill., 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, which have materially aided him in his upward striving. With his wife, who before her marriage in Lawrenceville, Ill., 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 does 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 West 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
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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 World 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 four 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
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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 sufficed 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 carn his own way in the world. Not only did he assist 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 wife 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.
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