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 154

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 154

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY .

The only fraternal organization with which Mr. Burge has identified himself is the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, his membership being with Bakers- 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 completing 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 Bakersheld where he was for two 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 operated in that capacity successfully until 1911, when he engaged in the hardware and implement trade at Wasco. By industry, conscientious dealing and unfailing alertness he has succeeded even beyond his expecta- tions and is bunding up a fine business which extends far beyond the limits of his home townl.

Fraternally Mr. White affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. September 17, 1508, he married Miss Bessie L. Caldwell, who was born at Sama Kosa, Cal., February 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 McClimans have been identified with 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 faminar 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. The grandfather, W. M., a native of Penn- sylvama, 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 Galvin, has continued to make her home in Pennsylvania.

In Franklin, 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 was 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 mostly 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 1900 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 developing 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

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

that field in 1909 he came to the Midway and opened work on section 32, 31-23, where 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, 1. 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- Whittier 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 of 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 Company 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 of 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 employment 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 NcKittrick field until 1910, when he was transferred to Fellows and appointed general foreman of 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. Gribble, 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

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

been interested in mining throughout the entire period of his residence in Colorado and after coming to California in 1891 he continued the same occu- pation 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 carly life he attended the common scho ls of Colorado and after coming to California in 1891 he attended the Santa Barbara schools for a few months.

Returning to Colorado a year after leaving that state, Mr. Gribble 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. Gribble and they have two children, Fred and Inez. Mrs. Gribble 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 of 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, Ill. 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, Ill., 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 water works,

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

after which he resigned in order to take charge of the management of the Brower 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 America 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 progress 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 Maricopa, 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 McMurtry fam- ily was identified. The late J. A. McMurtry was one of the pioneer oil men of the 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 J. A., was rcared in different oil camps in Pennsylvania. He was born in St. Joe, Butler county, Pa., July 15, 1882, and attended the public sch ols of Chicora, in the same county, where later he gained his first practical experience in the oil business. While working at various pump stations for the Standard Oil Company he learned telegraphy, after which the Standard appointed him as telegraph operator at Ewing Station, Wash- 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 Monterev, 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. McMurtry 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 employ 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 department 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 September 3, 1859, being the only son of Uriah and Eliza (Lee) Thomas, pioneers of Minnesota, where the father is still making his home in Minne- 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, Ill. 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

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

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 No. 1 mill in Minneapolis 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 of 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. \V. Foster near Tamalpais and since leaving that position 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 Minneapolis. 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 Petrolia, 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 for 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. For two years he drilled at Dutton, 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 of 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

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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 affected him seriously. 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 Bromigham. 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 Company, and in 1906 transferred his headquarters to Coalinga, where for eighteen 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 for the Sapphire Oil Company, but no oil was found. As superintendent of the Western Mineral 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 depends.

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

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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 Buxton & Skinner. One of his duties was in connection with the printing presses, which he repaired and kept in perfect working order.

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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 154

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