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 146

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1682

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 146

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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

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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 offer 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 forty 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 Benevolent 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 constitution 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 about 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 off the driller, deciding that water was more valuable to them than oil.

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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 born 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 thousand 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. McCaffrey 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 home 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 sce 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 convinced 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- Jem & 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. Meanwhile 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

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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 closely 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 North 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 on 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 of 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. Prier 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 Arizona 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 experience 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 was 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 century 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 grandson 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

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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 Corporation, 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 company is succeeding in its purpose is readily apparent 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, 2000 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-

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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 officers 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 $1,000,000. 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 1000 feet. This gas contained 600 heat units. 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

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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 $800,000, 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 equipment and improvements alone. 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 Canon. The lines of the company 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, following 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.

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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 146

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1682

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1682