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 99

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 99

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ALEXANDER R. M. BLACKHALL .- Alexander Reith McLag- gan Blackhall was born in the shire of Inverness, Scotland, March 7, 1882, being a son of Alexander and Agnes (Reith) Blackhall, both natives of Aberdeen. The father, a man of exceptional powers as a financier, is one of the heads of a large banking institution and even now, at the age of sixty-one, he wields a large influence in the financial circles of his part of Scotland. Three sons and one daughter comprise the family. The second son, John, is connected with Lloyd's Bank at Coventry, England, and the third son, Douglas, holds an important position with the William Galloway Company at Waterloo, Iowa. The youngest member of the family, Miss Agnes Blackhall, now residing with her parents at Nairn, Scotland, has studied music in Germany and is a fellow of the Royal College of Music in London.

Graduated in the classical course from the Royal Academy at Inverness at the age of eighteen years, Mr. Blackhall immediately thereafter entered the Royal Bank of Scotland as a junior clerk. For two years he continued with that institution, in which his father was one of the leading officials. Leaving for London in 1902, he entered the English office of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and for three years held positions of in- creasing importance with that great concern. During 1905 he was sent over to the New York branch of the said bank, where for two years he engaged as an assistant accountant. From there he was transferred to San Francisco in the fall of 1907. After a successful identification with the western branch of the house he was transferred to Hong-Kong as an assistant official in the great original bank, where he remained for more than a year. When returning to Great Britain on a year's furlough he stopped at San Francisco to visit friends and in that city he met A. M. Kemp, the first vice-president of the South- ern California Gas Company, who urged him to come to Taft and accept the office of auditor with the Northern Exploration Company. After due consid- eration he accepted the offer, resigned from the Hong-Kong Bank and estab- lished himself in the Midway field, where he is now connected with the Petro- leum Club and identified with various organizations for the permanent up- building of the district. April 16, 1913, at Berkeley, Cal., he was united in marriage with Miss Grace L. Pack, daughter of John Wallace Pack, a resident of Berkeley and an employe in the San Francisco mint.

JAMES A. CLARK .- A native of Tennessee, James A. Clark was born in Celina, July 29, 1869, the son of Hayden and Lillie A. (Davis) Clark, the former born in Kentucky and the latter in Tennessee. For many years they were farmers near Celina, but are now residing at Sulphur Wells, Ky. Of their eight children, seven of whom are living, James was the second oldest and was educated in the public schools of Tennessee and Kentucky. At the age of fifteen he removed to Greensburg, Ky., where he attended the high

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

school, after which he took a course at the Glasgow Normal. During these years he followed teaching, thus paying his own way during his normal course, as well as at Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Louisville, where he was graduated.

For some years Mr. Clark was engaged at teaching and as a bookkeeper and then entered the employ of the Louisville & Nashville railroad, working up in the transportation department, and in due time became a conductor on the road, filling the position until 1900. He then resigned to try to secure a quarter section of land in Oklahoma. He remained at Cordell, Okla., but in the drawing for a location was unsuccessful, so he came to Kern county, Cal., arriving in 1904, and immediately entered the employ of the Kern County Land Co., and was soon made a foreman on the Poso ranch, a position which he filled for seven years and then served in the same capacity on their Lake- side ranch until 1912. At this time he became foreman of the Canfield ranch, where he is now devoting his time to the advancement of the company's interests.

Mr. Clark was made a Mason in Beachville Lodge No. 619, F. & A. M., at Sulphur Well, Ky., was demitted, and is now a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 224.

MEL P. SMITH .- The president of the California Market Company has risen to an influential position among the business men of Bakersfield notwithstanding the fact that in youth he was handicapped by lack of means and of educational advantages. From thirteen years of age a resident of California and for the same period associated with Bakersfield, he was born in Ottawa, Kan., in 1884, being a son of M. P. and Mary (Price) Smith, natives respectively of Quincy, Ill., and Kentucky, but after 1897 citizens of the great West. At this writing the father fills the position of boiler inspector for Kern County. There were only three children in the family and of these the only daughter married W. H. Breene and resides at Arkansas City. Kan. The second of the three children, Mel P., began to learn the meat business in 1898, when he entered the employ of J. J. Anderson, manager of the wholesale and retail meat market handling the output of the ranches of the Kern County Land Company. From the most humble position the youth rose to employment of greater responsibility and when the California Market Company was incorporated April 8, 1909, he was selected as president and manager, L. P. Keester being secretary and treasurer.

The headquarters of the company are at No. 1618 Nineteenth street, where every modern convenience has been provided for the efficient conduct of the business. The California Market Company handles the product of the Kern County Land Company's ranches and averages from $40,000 to $50,000 per month, the products including beef, pork, mutton and poultry. Slaughter houses have been provided in a convenient location and to these are conveyed the products of the company's ranches, as well as considerable stock purchased from the farmers of the county.

September 15, 1912, the California Market Company began to make extensive improvements in their retail store at No. 1618 Nineteenth street. The entire inside of this market has been remodeled at a cost of $11,000; and it is now unsurpassed in convenience and elegance by any similar plant on the Pacific Coast. The Monroe system recently installed has proven a valuable addition to the equipment. Indeed, the entire plant contains every modern improvement, creating an effect that reflects business system, artistic ideas and orderly oversight.

While the work naturally demands much time and constant supervision, Mr. Smith still finds leisure to participate in local affairs of the Democratic party and to maintain active relations with the Elks and the Bakersfield Club. In his marriage he became united with a Bakersfield family of high standing. It was on Christmas day of 1910 that he was united with Miss Maude Day,

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of this city, a young lady of excellent education and wide acquaintance. They are the parents of a son, Melvin Paul, who represents the third generation to bear that name.

VIRGINIA BRAMHAM .- The owner and manager of the Virginia Pipe Line Contracting Company, although still a young man, has reached a high degree of success by sheer force of will and by the exercise of constructive ability. The concern which he founded and has since operated engages ex- tensively in the Midway, Sunset, Lost Hills and Coalinga fields. Any enu- meration of its contracts means practically a record of the development of pipe-line construction through this part of the state, and in addition he has made a specialty of teaming, trucking and heavy hauling throughout the west side fields. Recently he had the contract for the laying of the fire system of water mains in Taft, affording the city a line that will prove of untold value in case of a fire. Several lines for the General Petroleum have been laid in the Midway and one has been constructed to the Lost Hills, besides which he has had large contracts with the California Natural Gas Company. has laid all the pipes for the Western Water Company in the Midway and at Fellows, has laid all the water mains for the August Oil Company and the water lines for the California Amalgamated. The main line supplying Fellows with water and owned by Heck Bros., was constructed by his company, also the oil mains at Fellows for the Bankline Oil Company and the water mains at Taft for the Northern Exploration Company. Recently the company closed a con- tract with the General Petroleum for the construction of an eight-inch oil pipe line, a loop across the Tejon Pass. This will be the second line con- structed by the General Petroleum across the Pass, intersecting the Mojave line at Lebec and together with the line previously laid, forming a loop-line through the Tejon Pass.

Descended from honored English forbears and representing an influential family of the Old Dominion, Mr. Bramham was born at Charlottesville, Albe- marle county, Va., December 22, 1881, and grew to manhood on the old home- stead, aiding his father in the mercantile establishment of the latter, as well as on the farm where they lived. At the age of sixteen he went to the oil fields of West Virginia, where he began to work in the construction of pipe lines. When he left West Virginia at the age of nineteen he had a thorough knowledge of every detail connected with such work. The year 1900 found him at Spindletop, Tex., and for ten years he was connected with pipe-line construction in Texas and Louisiana. Meantime he worked successively for the Texas Oil Company, the Gulf Refining Company, the Gulf Pipe Line Com- pany and held an important position as superintendent of construction for the Evangeline Oil Company of Louisiana. Coming to California from Louisiana in September of 1909 he engaged with the Producers' Transportation Company, for whom he had previously worked in Louisiana. The filling of an important contract took him to McKittrick. Later he came to the Midway field and superintended the laying of an eight-inch oil line from the Midway to Santa Barbara. After six months with the Producers' Transportation Company he entered the service of the Honolulu Oil Company and in four months had completed a water system for their entire lease. Next he came to Taft, where December 1, 1910, he organized the Virginia Pipe Line Contracting Company and since has engaged in business, with headquarters in this city, where a sister presides over his comfortable home.

FREDERICK SMITH .- Among the business men of ability in Kern county we find Frederick Smith, who has charge of the store of Miller & Lux at Buttonwillow. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, July 17, 1861, being the son of Dr. Joseph Harker Smith, a graduate of the University of Glasgow with the degree of M.D., and a practicing physician in Blackburn until his death at the age of forty-nine years. His widow,

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

who was in maidenhood Jane Sutcliffe, also of Lancashire, died in 1910. Frederick, the only child of the union, was educated in the public school of Blackburn and at Mintholme College, from which he was graduated in 1881. He then studied medicine for a while, but not liking it he entered commercial pursuits and was a clerk in mercantile establishments until he came to Massachusetts in 1886.

Coming to California the next year, Mr. Smith purchased a small ranch at Los Gatos, which he sold a year later, and then engaged in superintend- ing ranches in the Cupertino district in Santa Clara county. Becoming well versed in the fruit business he built the first fruit dryer at Wawawai, Wash., and after starting it he returned to his former work in Santa Clara county. Five years later he went to Mendocino county, where he was with the Cot- toneve Lumber Co. until he accepted the management of a dry goods store in San Rafael. After five years he resigned and started a private messenger service in San Francisco, which was continued until 1910, when he entered the employ of Miller & Lux as storekeeper at Buttonwillow, Kern county, which position he is filling acceptably.

Fraternally Mr. Smith is a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Eagles, of which latter order he has been secretary. He is a com- municant of the Episcopal church and politically adheres to the principles of the Republican party.

FRANK A. FETHER .- In Fulton county, Ohio, Mr. Fether was born near Pettisville, January 1, 1868, son of Alexander and Sarah (Guyman) Fether, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and now residents of Bakersfield. Cal. The father, who for years engaged in the milling busi- ness in Fulton county, Ohio, drifted from that occupation into the oil in- dustry and took contracts for production in that state as well as in Indiana. After removing to California and settling at Bakersfield in March, 1900, he engaged in drilling oil wells by contract. Now at the age of seventy-three years, he is living in retirement from business cares. Of his six children four are now living. The second son, Louis C., was killed on New Year's day of 1908 by a dynamite explosion on a lease in the Kern river field. A daughter, Effie, died in Toledo, Ohio. Mrs. Celia Klofenstein is a resident of Los Angeles and George is engaged in drilling water wells for the Santa Fe in Arizona. The youngest member of the family circle, Harry, born in 1884, began to work in the Kern river field in 1901 and is now foreman of production with the United Oil Company.

Upon leaving high school at the age of sixteen years Frank A. Fether began to assist his father in his drilling contracts, by which work he soon became competent in the care of the tools and as an assistant in drilling. At different times he worked in many of the oil fields of Ohio and Indiana. With the money earned in the oil business he paid his expenses while attending the Wauseon Normal in Fulton county, Ohio. Fortified by a varied experi- ence in eastern fields, he came to California in 1900 to take up work in the same business. After an experience as driller in the Kern river field with different companies, in 1902 he was made superintendent of the Monte Cristo Oil Company, which responsible position he filled for more than four years. A brief time spent in the Whittier field as superintendent of the Central Oil Company was followed by his entrance into the Utah oil fields in 1907 as superintendent of a lease in the Virgin river district. Returning to California January 1, 1908. he entered upon the duties of superintendent of Section 25 Oil Company in the Midway. Under his supervision four wells were drilled and brought into paying production. Upon resigning that position he be- came superintendent of drilling for the Standard Oil Company. Later he was promoted to be assistant general superintendent. From the Standard he went to the Palmer Oil Company in the Santa Maria field, where he con- tinued for two and one-half years, until 1913, when he became superintendent

F. C. FEller

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

of the United Oil Company in the Midway field. By his marriage to Miss McGuire, of Antwerp, Ohio, he has two sons, Donald and Kenneth. While living in Ohio he was made a Mason in Bryan Lodge No. 215, A. F. & A. M., at Bryan, Williams county, and since coming to the West he has identified himself with the Elks in Bakersfield Lodge No. 266.

DAVID E. MARTIN .- The superintendent of the Oakland Midway Oil Company, owners of a lease of thirty acres on section 13, 31-22, was born near Lettsville, Louisa county, Iowa, June 1, 1856, and is a son of the late David and Mary (Walters) Martin, natives of Pennsylvania. Allured by the rich soil of Iowa, the father left Pennsylvania in the hope of bettering his condition in the newer state, but poverty retarded his efforts and hampered his success. His rented farm was scarcely equal to the task of supporting the family and returning a revenue to the owner. There were five small children (David E. the eldest) to be cared for and four of these are now living. When a call was made for volunteers during the stress of the Civil war, the father left his home and family and offered his services to the Union. Accepted as a private in the ranks, he was sent into camp to be drilled in military tactics, but he died suddenly before the company had been ordered to the front. The mother survived him for many years and eventually died about 1908 at Batavia, Iowa, at the age of seventy-five years.

When the father died the task of caring for the children proved too great for the widowed mother and she therefore put the eldest child, David E., in the care of Jim Thompson, of Louisa county, it being the agreement that at the age of twenty-one he should be paid $100 besides a horse, saddle and bridle. For some years all went well. The boy worked on the farm in the summers and attended the country school in the winter months. However, at the age of nineteen he began to grow dissatisfied. The fact that his chum, Anson Kelly, had been made an engineer on the Rock Island Railroad turned' his thoughts toward railroading and he determined to be a fireman. At first Mr. Thompson protested against losing his services, but finally he agreed to let him go and gave him $100. Then his mother raised objections, stating that if he must leave the farm, she wished him to return to relatives in Penn- sylvania. His consent to this measure was secured, a ticket was purchased for Scrub Grass, Venango county, Pa., where he duly arrived December 8, 1875. Immediately he found that all of his cousins and uncles were engaged in the oil industry and a resolve was formed in his own mind to engage in the same work. An excellent training was had in the employ of Isaac Dean, a large oil operator who gained a national reputation through being the Greenback nominee for vice-president in the days of Horace Greeley. After some ex- perience as a day laborer with this gentleman, the latter presented him with an entire outfit of standard tools and entered into a contract with him to drill seven wells at $1.25 per foot. The work was to be done at Bullion, Venango county. The job was completed in one year and netted the young contractor $2,000. At Crawford's Corners in Venango county, Pa., during the fall of 1878 he drilled a well for John P. Crawford and struck a strong flow of natural gas. Next he drilled a well for William P. Crawford and struck oil. Prior to that time wood and coal had been used for steam purposes. After starting the oil well Mr. Martin suggested to William P. Crawford that he provide suf- ficient two-inch pipe so that his boilers could be connected with the gas well on the land of John P. Crawford. The gentleman shook his head in discour- agement of such a proposition, stating that gas would not run through a two- inch pipe for such a distance (one mile). The insistence of the young driller, however, won the day and the two-inch pipe was procured, the main laid. the gas fed into the boilers and the experiment proved a success. Thereupon the authorities at Hugginsville were encouraged to lav an inch pipe from the same gas well to their city during the winter of 1878-79. The pipe was run up

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

about twelve feet high in the center of the public square, where the gas burned day and night. The History of Pennsylvania verifies the statement that this was the first experiment in using natural gas for lighting in the state. Soon afterward mains were laid and natural gas became available for cooking and other domestic purposes.

Thus it will be seen that David E. Martin played a very important part in the utilization of natural gas. Encouraged by his first success, he engaged in contract drilling at Bradford from 1879 to 1882. Meanwhile in Venango county in 1879 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Matilda Huffman, a daughter of D. Huffman, a farmer and coal miner living near Mechanicsville. They are the parents of three children, namely : S. H., superintendent of the Sterling division of the Associated Oil Company; Mary Elizabeth, wife of N. B. Harris, who is connected with the detective service in Los Angeles ; and Golden Loretta, wife of Russell Vaughn, a driller on the Oakland.

As drilling contractor for H. B. Porter, of Titusville, Pa., in 1882 Mr. Martin drilled the first well in the Clarendon field. After three years in that field he went to Titusville, where he engaged in the oil business and also pur- chased a home. In the interests of the Union Oil Company and at the request of Milton Stewart, of Titusville, he came to California, settling at Santa Paula in 1892, after which he drilled in that field for three years. Later he engaged in contract drilling in the Los Angeles field, but the work was entirely different from similar work in the Pennsylvania fields, consequently he did not meet with success. Selling his interest in the drilling outfit, he went to Whittier in 1897 and engaged as superintendent for Central Oil Company, which corporation was greatly prospered by reason of his executive super- vision. After five and one-half years on the same lease, in July, 1902, he came to the Kern river field and took charge of the Sterling Oil Company. During 1903 he spent four months at Point Angelus, on the west coast of Mexico, where he built two rigs and started the task of developing a large property for the Mexican republic under the presidency of General Diaz. However, it was soon discovered that the rigs were too far from the seepage and there- fore the project had to be abandoned. After a short visit in Mexico City, where he received the pay for his services, he returned to the Kern river field and resumed work with the Sterling.

At the expiration of four and one-half years with the Sterling lease Mr. Martin went to Utah in October, 1907, and remained there until March, 1908, meanwhile engaging in wildcat drilling under the supervision of H. H. Blood. Upon his return to California he took charge of the American Petroleum on the Niles lease at Sherman Junction, where he remained for three months. Next at Maricopa he had charge of the Fulton for one year. From there he went to Byron and Salt creek to open up the Wyoming field for William G. Henshaw, of Oakland. The venture proved successful. A fine flowing well was secured. After one year in Wyoming he returned to California and entered the service of the January Oil Company on 25 Hill, where he remained for two years. March 11. 1912, he became superintendent of the Oakland Mid- way Oil Company. Since beginning his duties in this capacity he has built all the houses on the lease and has transformed the district from sage brush to a finely improved holding, with three wells making an average of six thousand barrels each month. A fourth well will soon be brought in, thus increasing the production. After coming here he bought forty acres near Edison.

W. N. THOMPSON .- A Texan, Mr. Thompson was born at Cleburne, August 24, 1885, and is next to the oldest among the four surviving children of H. F. Thompson, a farmer in the Lone Star state. The discovery of oil at the Spindletop caused him to go to Beaumont when he was only fifteen and ever since then he has supported himself through his labors in oil fields. Nat- urally he began as a roustabout. The hardships of the life did not dishearten

Geo. L. Sider .

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him. From the first he determined to acquire a thorough knowledge of every department of the industry. When only seventeen he was an experienced tool- dresser, gang-pusher and driller, his first experience as a driller having been gained in the Sour Lake field in Texas. When nineteen years of age he was steadily employed by the Texas Oil Company as a driller in the Saratoga field, in which district oil was struck at a depth of about sixteen hundred feet. During his service with that concern he brought in some profitable wells, a number of them being gushers. For four months he engaged in drilling at Evangeline, parish of Arcadia, La., and later he spent eight months drilling in West Texas on a wild-cat well. During the period of work in that part of the country he was married in New Mexico, August 12, 1910, to Miss Norena Hughes, a native of Texas. From that state he and his wife came to California and settled at Coalinga in February, 1911, after which for fourteen months he engaged in drilling for the Kern Trading & Oil Company, from them in March, 1912, coming to the Standard Oil Company at Taft. With his wife and son, Horace W., he has a comfortable home in the residence formerly oc- cupied by Cyrus Bell during the period of his service as division superintendent for the Standard. The now justly celebrated well of the Standard Oil Com- pany, known as the McNee No. 10 on Section 36, was drilled by means of rotary tools and brought in during July, 1912, under the foremanship of Mr. Thompson. Without doubt it is the largest gusher in California today. It approaches the celebrated Lakeview. itself.

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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 99

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