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 25

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 25

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Wasco

Wasco colony as founded in February, 1907, as the result of indirect efforts of the Kern county board of trade. The executive committee of the

183

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

board, having failed of great success in the attempt to induce immigration, decided, during the previous year, to interest colonization agencies and let the latter do the hard work of getting in touch with the home-seeker. This endeavor resulted in the purchase of nine sections of land from the Kern County Land Company by the California Home Extension Association and the organization of the Fourth Home Extension Colony by M. V. Hartranft, manager. Capital to float the enterprise was supplied by the sale of bonds to prospective colonists, and these bonds were exchanged for land at a general meeting of the purchasers in February, 1907. At that meeting the land, which was laid out in 20-acre tracts and town lots, and duly appraised, was auctioned off to the bond holders. Choice tracts brought a small bonus above the appraisement, and this bonus was turned into a general improvement fund, the bonds being exchanged for the land at the appraised valuation.

The first settlers arrived on the colony March 1, 1907. While the land was under the Calloway canal it was sold without a water right, and a mutual water company was formed to sink wells and install pumping plants. In a year twenty-two wells were sunk and five pumping plants were in operation. As stated elsewhere, the need of economy prompted the purchase of second- hand engines, and the result was endless difficulty and a perennial shortage of water in time of need until years after, when the San Joaqum Light & Power Corporation extended its power lines to the colony, electric motors were installed.

With more reliable power the complete success of pump irrigation was demonstrated, and Wasco soon developed into one of the most attractive farming sections of the county. All kinds of deciduous fruits and grapes were planted by the early colonists, but a large part of the land has been devoted at all times to the growing of alfalfa and general farm crops. The comparative small water lift and the easily tilled land make this practicable.

The discovery of the Lost Hills oil field in the summer of 1910 and the excitement that developed the following winter gave a great boost to Wasco as a trading point. All the supplies for the new field were unloaded from the Santa Fe railroad at Wasco and hauled thence about twenty-one miles by dirt road to where the wonderfully shallow wells were being brought in. Teams of eight, ten, twelve and sixteen horses speedily wore out the roads with their loads of derrick timbers and rig irons, and made exceedingly rough sledding for the whirring strings of automobiles that carried their loads of eager fortune seekers to the Lost Hills.

Wasco became a very necessary half-way house, and the business of its merchants trebled. Moreover, one of the more venturesome land owners began sinking a deep well in the colony itself, and persistent rumors that good oil indications were encountered prevailed. Nothing more developed, but before hope from this source was abandoned Harry Rambo and associates began drilling for oil at Semitropic, and Dr. A. H. Liscomb and a number of his friends started a similar effort still nearer Wasco not far from the Lost Hills road. Both these wells were started in the fall of 1912, and shortly after the first of the following year a considerable amount of excitement was created by report that light oil had been struck in the Liscomb well. Real estate prices jumped in Wasco and all the adjacent country on the strength of the report, but the strike did not materialize, and six months later the oil is still undiscovered. 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 railroad 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 postoffice 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 history 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 Barrington, who was succeeded by J. S. Brooks. The latter previously had been station agent for the Southern Pacific. Brooks retired and left the mercantile field to C. E. Kitchen, who still occupies it with a general merchandise store and who also dispenses justice as a justice of the peace.

185

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

McFarland

McFarland colony and town were founded in the spring of 1908 by J. 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 early 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 history 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 Brite, 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 population 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 cañon 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. Mr. 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 the present 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

187

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

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 mule. 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 by Thomas Hopper, who opened the first store.

Mining and stock-raising have been Woody's chief industries, and al- though the latter finally 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 Weringdale 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 Fork 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 was founded by Curtis

189

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

& 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 wlio 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 cañon 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.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 25

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