USA > California > Tulare County > History of Tulare County, California with biographical sketches > Part 41
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Keysville was, however, the most prosperous camp in the county for several years, and not till the fall of 1864 did it yield to a rival. By this time placer mining had about given out, and quartz mining had superseded and was then the dominant interest.
EARLY MINING INTERESTS.
The history of the county up to this period is necessarily the history of the mines, that being the only interest up to that time.
In 1863 the Long Tom Mines were discovered and soon fell into the hands of San Francisco capitalists. They erected a mill, developed the mine, and extracted very nearly half a
million of money from it in about a year and a half. They then sold it, and it has not been successfully worked since. The mine is still said to be rich, but is not now productive. The famous Joe Walker Mine, near Havilah, was not found till in 1866.
This mine was successfully operated for several years, and yielded large returns, but at a depth of 400 feet a great body of water was struck and the mine immediately filled. Great expenditures were made in pumps and hoisting machinery, aggregating some hundre.l thousand dollars, and many etforts were made to drain and work the mine, but all to no avail.
One of the first leads that was found in the county was the Big Blue or Sumner Mine. It was worked with varying suc- cess by various parties for several years till it at last fell into the hands of its present owners, by whom it is said to have been very profitably worked. One of the finest mills in the State is erected there, running eighty stamps. All the most improved and superior machinery was employed.
As the mines failed to mike satisfactory returns, their hold- crs sold or abandoned them, and, with the remnant of their means, they came down to the valley, and sought to better themselves by the less alluring but more reliable occupation of tilling the soil and acquiring a permanent and advancing interest in the county.
FIRST FARMING OPERATIONS.
Up to the period we have mentioned but few attempts at agriculture had been made. In the mountain valleys, Walk- er's Basin, Linn's Valley, Bear and Cumming's Valleys, Tehach- epi, and on the little flats along the Upper Kern River and its affluents were some crude efforts mostly directed to the pro- duction of hay and grain, which were about the only articles for which a market could be found, while stock-raising consti- tuted their chief interest. But the great valley and the magnificent delta of the Kern River still remained an impenc- trable jungle and an impassable swamp, where the tuneful mosquito sang his evening hymn in peace, the wild hog sought the succulent tule root, and wilder cattle roamed the adjacent and almost boundless plains.
FIRST SETTLER ON KERN ISLAND.
In 1861 the first white man camped and settled on what has been designated as Kern Island. In 1862 two or three others followed, and in a short time they were joined by the late Thomas Baker, familiarly known as Colonel Baker. Here was a man of foresight and judgment. He saw with pro- phetic vision the great future that was dawning upon the county, and determined to make it his own. He was a man full of grand projects and schemes which he could very well conceive, but in maturing them he was apt to over- look details which, though they appeared to him insignificant and trifling, were not to be despised. At any rate he matured a plan for the reclamation of a very large body of land, for
200
THE ORGANIZATION OF KERN COUNTY.
which he received the major portion of the lands so redeemed. From that time on, attention gradually came to be directed to the valley.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
The only means of communication with the outside world at this date was by way of Havilah, whence two stage lines ran, one to Los Angeles and the other to Owen's River- another of those golden fields to which distance had lent enchantment. From Havilah the road ran across Greenhorn Mountain to Visalia. Colonel Baker, with his usual energy, built, at great expense, a toll-road from the foot of the mount- ain, a distance of twenty-seven miles, to Havilah, and a desultory communication was established.
Kern County Organized.
THE interest of the population had grown so that it was deemed advisable to erect a county government; the passage of an enabling act was procured, and the county was organ- ized in 1866, with Havilah for the county seat.
The county was organized by an Act approved April 2, 1866, entitled " An Act to create the county of Kern, to define its boundaries, and to provide for its organization," as follows:
SECTION 1. There shall be formed out of portions of Tulare and Los Angeles Counties a new county, to be called Kern.
SEC. 2. The boundaries of Kern County shall be as follows: Commencing at a point on the western boundary line of Tulare County, two miles due south of the sixth standard south of the Mount Diablo base line; thence due east to the western boundary of Inyo County; thence southerly and east- erly following the western boundary of Inyo County and northern boundary of Los Angeles County to the northeast corner of Los Angeles County; thence south along the eastern boundary of Los Angeles County to the line between townships eight and nine, north of the San Bernardino base line; thence due west to the Tulare County line; thence southerly along the said Tulare County line to the southwest corner of Tulare County ; thence northerly, following along the western boun- dary of Tulare County to the place of beginning.
FIRST MEETING OF SUPERVISORS.
The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors after organi- zation of the county was held at Havilah, the then county seat, as a special meeting on Wednesday, August 1, 1866, for the purpose of organization and the transaction of business. Henry Hammel and J. J. Rhymes were present. Said meet- ing being held pursuant to the Act of the Legislature " creat- ing the county of Kern, to define its boundaries and to pro- vide for its organization." This meeting proceeded to lay out and organize three townships numbered one, two, and three.
FIRST TAX LEVY.
The first regular meeting of Board of Supervisors was held August 2, 1866, at Havilah with Messrs. Hammel and Rhymes.
The following taxes were levied on each $100 of property :-
For State purposes
$1.05
Capitol Fund. .05
insane asylum
.03
school .
08 $1.21
County Tax :-
For current expenses $ .60
school purposes .35
road
.25
county hospital .
.20 $1.40
Total tax levied.
$2.61
COUNTY GOVERNMENT STARTED.
The County Auditor was authorized to expend not exceeding $1,000 in purchasing necessary books, stationery, and office furniture, seals for the different courts, etc .; and the County Clerk was authorized to make these purchases.
Proposals were also advertised for building a county jail. A building belonging to Hammel and Denker, at Havilah, was leased for county purposes temporarily.
A committee of F. A. Stoutenburg, P. T. Colby, E. E. Cal- houn was appointed to report upon a suitable lot or piece of ground for erecting a Court House.
A regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held August 6, 1866. There were present, Messrs. H. Hammel, J. J. Rhymes, and S. A. Bishop.
The committee reported in favor of purchasing a lot from H. C. Harding for $800 for erection of county buildings. A contract for building a jail was awarded to Thomas B. Stuart for $1,600.
The salary of Clerk of the Board was fixed at $250. That of Auditor was $320.
At the February session, in 1867, the Board fixed the rate of taxation as follows :-
The State tax. $1.13
For current expenses
.60
road .20
-
hospital .20
school .35
Total tax. $2.48
The Treasurer was authorized to purchase a safe at an ex- pense of $400. The claim of J. R. Riley, of $53.00, for ser- vices performed as Superintendent of Schools, was rejected.
FIRST COURT HOUSE.
At the meeting of the Supervisors, August 5, 1867, was accepted the building erected on the public square in Havilah, for a Court House, which had been constructed by F. H. Bin- nix, for the sum of $2,200.
EFFORTS TO REMOVE COUNTY SEAT.
The valley part of the county was steadily growing by a stream of hardy and enterprising population, and so consider- able had become the interest here centered that soon an effort
201
THE ORGANIZATION OF KERN COUNTY.
was made to remove the county seat from the decayed mining camp at Havilah to the new and aspiring valley town of Ba- kersfield. The first effort failed at the time, but the struggle was kept up until accomplished. Those who favored Havilah argued that Bakersfield was entirely in the western edge of the populated portion of the county; that the location "is most un- fortunate on account of its being the mnost unhealthy spot in thew hole Tulare Valley;" that the people would be compelled, in discharge of their dutics as citizens, in attending the ses- sions of the courts, as jurors, witnesses, or litigants, and also in transacting such business as may require their attendance at that place, "to subject themselves to the danger of con- tracting diseases, as persons going there from our healthy, bracing atmosphere, are almost in every instance sure to do." "The discascs there are not merely the ordinary chills and fever, but usually it assumes a most virulent type, which pros- trates a person for months, and sometimes proves fatal in a short time, or leaves the unfortunate victim in a dilapidated condition, which requires months to recover from."
In November, 1872, a petition having been presented, pray- ing for a removal of the county seat, it was ordered that an election be held on the 15th of February, 1873. At this elec- tion, from some irregularities, the votes of three precincts were thrown out by the Supervisors, but were afterwards ordered to be counted, by the Court, as here given :-
BAKERS-
PRECINCTS.
HAVILAH.
FIELD.
Havilah .
97
South Fork.
33
1
Hudson's.
14
Walker Basin .
10
Kern Island.
5
265
Long Tom.
14
Tehachepi .
40
18
Bear Valley.
4
22
Alpine
12
Sageland.
22
1
Linn's Valley.
38
23
Kernville.
72
Clarville.
21
Total
332
370
This election gave a small majority to Bakersfield, but the result was hotly contested. Another year was consumed in costly and acrimonious litigation before the seat was finally located at Bakersfield.
The injunction suit was commenced in the month of May, 1875. The county expended, by warrants on the treasury, in the conduct of the suit, the sum of $2,237.80. During the three months' delay caused by injunction, the county paid rent for a court room $150, and for county offices about $250. The costs in the action amounted to about $400, making a total of $3,037.80.
In February, 1874, the Supervisors ordered the Town Hall of Bakersfield to be designated as the court rooms of the county.
FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS.
The officers first acting after organization of the county were: W. B. Ross, Sheriff and Tax Collector; H. D. Bcquette, Clerk, Auditor, and Recorder; R. B. Sugdy, Assessor; Joseph Lively, Coroner; E. E. Calhoun, District Attorney; D. A. Sin- clair, Treasurer. These were all appointed. The first election was evidently held on the 12th of July, 1866, but no record of that election can be found. The inspection of official acts at that date shows Thomas Baker as County Surveyor, and E. WV. Doss, School Superintendent.
FIRST DEEDS RECORDED.
The first deed recorded for Kern County was put on the book July 23, 1866, being for a lot in Havilah, from H. C. Harding to James R. Watson. This entry was made by Will- iam Tyler, the present faithful and competent Auditor and penman.
The first deed to any lands within the boundaries of Kern County was of date April 28, 1856 (then Tulare County), from William Packard to C. D. Luckey, it being the pre-emp- tion right to the so-called "Packard Ranch;" consideration, $200 coin. It was recorded May 2, 1856.
FIRST GRAND JURY.
This jury was drawn at Havilah, November 5, 1866, as fol- lows: W. W. Hudson, Foreman; Robert Palmer, W. T. Hen- derson, Thomas H. Binnix, J. P. Swearengen, B. T. Mitchell, W. H. Williams, M. H. Erskine, E. R. Burke, Solomon Jewett, Edward Tibbett, V. G. Thompson, Henry Pascoe, J. J. Mur- phy, J. S. Totty, Daniel Munckton, W. D. Ward, T. W. Barnes, Stephen Chandler, and Isaac Lightner.
FIRST TRIAL JURY.
This jury consisted of the following persons: H. L. Todd, Charles Anderson, V. G. Thompson, W. G. Sanderson, Daniel Williams, H. O'Neal, Charles Hickish. The action was tried September 8, 1866 :---
J. N. Medbury et als v8. Unlawful entry and forcible de- tainer.
M. S. Law.
Attorneys for plaintiff, J. M. Freeman and Thomas Laspeyre; attorneys for defendant, B. Brundage and E E. Calhoun.
THE FIRST ASSESSMENT ROLL.
We find, by reference to the first assessment roll of the county, that the assessed value of all the real estate in the county amounted to the sum of $109,060. The personal prop- erty, consisting mostly of stock and machinery, is put down at $651,702, giving a total of taxable property $760,762. That . was in 1866-seventeen years ago. In 1883 the property roll of the county showed about $7,000,000. That is what may be called a pretty fair ratio of increase in one decadc. When we come to consider also that this increase has accrued almost entirely during the latter half of the decade, it will appear most extraordinary.
202
CHARACTER OF LANDS OF KERN COUNTY.
NEW COURT HOUSE ERECTED.
Plans for a Court House were duly advertised, and in 1874 those of A. A. Bennett were adopted and the work of erection began. The corner-stone was laid amid injunctions and bad feeling, yet everything, however, went off very well, better than could have been expected in view of the fact that there were but a few hours in which to make the preparations. The Masons and Odd Fellows turned out in their respective regalias, and marched with the insignia of their orders to the ground. B. Brundage, Master of the Bakersfield Lo lge of Masons, was chosen to perform the ceremony. The stone was a rather small one and was suspended over the place of deposit ready for the application of the mortar. When the orders had filed into their respective places, the choir, composed of Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Willow, and Mrs. Condict, Mr. Olds, Dr. Ormsby and Mr. Johnson, opened the exercises with an appropriate song. The Master of the lodge then applied the mortar, and the stone was lowered into its place. He then read the formula prescribed for such occasions, and the choir sang, and the cere- mony was over. The following souvenirs were deposited under the stone in accordance with usage :-
Copy of the Holy Bible, History of the Organization of Kern County; Impressions of the Court and County Seals; Organization of the Town of Bakersfield; Organization of Kern Lodge, No. 202, I. O. O. F .; Organization of Bakersfield Lodge, No. 224, F. and A. M .; Copy of Great Register of Kern County ; C py of Kern County Weekly Courier; Copy of Southern Californian; Copy of S. F. Daily Bulletin ; Copy of S. F. Alta Californian; Copy of S. F. Morning Call; Copy of S. F. Examiner; Copy of S. F. Chronicle; Copy of Sacramento Weekly Record-Union ; Copy of Original Map of Town of Bakersfield; Copy of Constitution and By-Laws of Kern Lodge, I. O. O. F; Package Miscellaneous Coin.
Although no one knew anything about it six hours before, there was a large attendance of people to witness the cere- monies. Many carriages with ladies, were present, and much interest was manifested. Members of the respective lodges, from all parts of the county-among them some who had strenuously opposed Bakersfield in the county-seat election- exhibited a frank and friendly spirit by appearing in the pro- cession and assisting at the ceremonies.
COUNTY BOUNDARY SETTLEMENTS.
The Legislature passed a law in March, 1868, for adjusting the debt between the counties from which Kern was formed, and W. L. Kenneday, E. E. Calhoun, and A. D. Green were allowed $750 for services in settling the debt due by Kern County to Tulare and Los Angeles.
In August, 1869, Geo. W. Orth, Deputy County Surveyor, was allowed $1,938 for services in running the boundary line in conjunction with the Surveyor of Los Angeles County. The line between Los Angeles and Kern Counties, as now existent,
was agreed upon and run by Geo. W. Orth, for Kern County, and Win. P. Reynolds, for Los Angeles County.
The county was divided by Supervisors in August, 1880, into the following townships: Bakersfield, Sumner, Linn's Valley, Poso, New River, Panama, Tejon, Tehachepi, Caliente, Mojave, South Fork, and Havilah. They also organized twenty- seven voting precincts.
Geographical Features.
WALKER'S PASS.
It was not until 1850 that Capt. Jo. Walker discovered the pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains which leads into Tulare Valley, although others attribute the discovery to Jedediah S. Smith, as far back as 1825, while trapping in the service of the fur company of which General Ashley was the chief in command in the mountains. It is clear at all events that, whomsoever discovered the pass, it was never utilized to the purposes of emigration and travel until it was made gener- ally known by Capt. Joseph Walker in 1850, when he pushed through it after his explorations in the country of the Moqui Indians, supposed to be a remnant of the ancient Aztecs, in which he saw the ruins of old and massive habitations, pyra- mids, castles, pottery, etc., which gave evidence of a very re- mote and advanced civilization. These ruins he found between the Gila and San Juan Rivers.
They are believed to mark the site of the great city of Grand Quivera, or Pecos, the most populous and grandest of that race, now long extinct. Walker found his way through the pass from the Mohave Desert into Tulare Valley. It was ten miles from plain to plain, and on his way he traveled along the head- waters of Kern River. General Beale afterwards traveled the same region, going eastward by the southern route.
In 1844, Captain Walker resolved to make his home in Cali- fornia, here in the Territory where so many of his old and be- loved comrades had fixed their abode. That year he left for the States with a band of horses and mules, with a party of eight men to accompany him. Col. John C. Fremont was then in advance of him, on his return to the East after his second expedition to this coast.
JOSEPH R. WALKER, thediscoverer of " Walker's Pass" through the Sierra Nevada chain, leading from the great basin into Tulare Valley, was born in Knox County, near Knoxville, Ten- nessee, in the closing year of the last century. He is thus sketched by Washington Irving in Bonneville's Expedition :- "J. R. Walker was a native of Tennessee, about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit, though wild in manners. He had been for many years in Missouri on the frontier; had been among the earliest adventurers to Santa Fé, where he had gone to track beaver, and was taken by the Spaniards. Being liberated, he engaged with the Spaniards
G
L C
ELLIOTT LITH. 421 MONT.ST.
IfLightner.
-
٤٠١١٠
-
203
CHARACTER OF LANDS OF KERN COUNTY.
and Sioux Indians in a war against the Pawnees; then re- turned to Missouri, and had acted by turns as Sheriff, trader, trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain Bonne- ville."
Captain Walker ceased from his accustomed toils and fatigues about ten years before his death, and made his home, in peaceful contentment, with his nephew, James T. Walker, in Ygnacio Valley, Contra Costa County, from which he oc- casionally pail visits to his elder brother, Joel, in Santa Rosa, and to prized friends in other parts of the State. But he was happiest in the quiet of that fond home, and there he died, October 28, 1876. His mortal remains repose in Alhambra Cemetery in Contra Cost . He lived to the green old age of seventy-six years.
KERN ISLAND.
This piece of land was so called because in former times it was surrounded by water of the Kern River, the South Fork, Kern Lake, and Old River. It is of irregular shape, being narrow at the northern extremity where Bakersfield is sit- uated, and widest at the south, where the artesian belt com- mences. It contains about 85,000 acres, very little of which is waste land.
On this Kern Islan.l nearly all the first attempts at settle- ment were made, some of them by Mexicans as far back as 1856. As far back as th · time Bakersville was laid out, it was little better than a desert.
SAGE-BRUSH LANDS.
The prevailing opinion with regard to the sage-brush land was that they were worthless for agricultural purposes, and they were usually resigned to the undisputed dominion of the rattlesnake, the tarantula, horned toad, and other pets of a similar nature. But the fact is, no better land in this, the garden of the State, than some of the sage-brush land. A good growth of sage-brush is evidence of a good deposit of soil. In some places there is too much alkali, and the impression is quite common that sage-brush land must be alkali land and unfit for cultivation. This is an error. Sage brush is about the only thing that will grow on alkali land, but it does not follow that all land upon which sage brush grows is unfit for the production of anything else.
There is more or less alkali in every inch of soil in the valley, but only in rare spots is there sufficient to offer any obstruc- tion to successful cultivation. It is the presence of this alka- line constituent in the soil, in the proper proportion, that makes it so fertile. The salt of the earth is a hackneyed phrase, but it expresses the strength and vigor. The alkali is literally the salt of the earth. The fine crystalline particles in the soil have a great affinity for water, and it will be observed by anyone who will take the trouble to notice, in support of this assertion, that watery percolation or absorption prevails to a much greater extent in lands that have a large proportion of alkali than those that possess less. The existence of sage
brush is evidence of rich soil, for it will not flourish in sandy soil.
The different characters of Kern County soil can be very easily determined by any one of a little experience and observa- tion, by the native product upon them, and the same soils un- der different conditions will yield a different native product. On the higher lands, or lands not yet brought under irrigation, the sandy soils are clear and open, and in the spring-time they bear a profusion of wild flowers, and the lines between that and the sedimentary soil can be as distinctly and accurately traced as if it were fenced off, by the growth of sage brush it bears. The sage-brush land is mellow rich soil; the brush is easily burned off, and the land is easier to plow than any other.
LARGE RANCHES.
The following is a list of the original Spanish land grants, and present owners :-
NAME. NO. OF ACRES. OWNER.
Rancho San Emidio 17,709 Haggin & Carr
Rancho Castaac 22,178 Gen. E. F. Beale =
Rancho Los Alamos Yagua Caliente 26,626 El Tejon 97,612
La Liebre 30,685
In addition to this list, Messrs. Haggin & Carr have large amounts of irrigated land in the main valley, from whom we could obtain no information, nor would they render any assist- ance in preparing this history. They virtually claim to own the whole of Kern River. They filed appropriations for more cubic feet than ever passed through the great cañon except in times of flood. They purchased the only canals not in their hands, and they now have absolute control of all the water.
Kern County at one time was congratulated on having so few Mexican grants, but it is a question whether the present absorption of small tracts of the fertile valley by one firm is any better system.
No other county in the State, possessing tracts of land simi- larly situated, and of equal value, has escaped these Mexican mortgages, many of them, no doubt, fraudulent; and Kern owes her deliverance to the fact that these very lands were not considered worth claiming.
SMALL EMPIRES.
There are but five Mexican grants in the county, and not one of them extends into the valley, but are located, and the boundaries long since established and confirmed, in the mount- ains east and south.
The largest is the great Tejon Ranch, stretching along the foot-hills and into the Sierra Nevada on the east wall of the valley, a distance of some forty-five miles. It contains 97,616 acres. The Castaac grant, comprising 22,178 acres; Los Ala- mos, with 26,626, and Los Liebre, with 48,840 acres, join it to the south and east-the four grants comprising a small empire of 195,260 acres. Other small tracts adjoining have been pur- chased from time to time, until the whole property exceeds
204
RIVERS AND LAKES OF KERN COUNTY.
200,000 acres. It is all in Kern County, with the exception of the Liebre grant, which is divided by the Kern and Los Angeles boundary line, leaving 30,685 acres in Kern and 18,- 155 in Los Angeles County.
As stated, there are but five Mexican grants in the county. Strictly speaking, there are but two, for four already named really constitute but one estate. One other, called the San Emi- dio, is in the mountains of the same name, which constitute the southern boundary of the county; contains 17,709 acres, and is now the property of Messrs. Haggin & Carr. It is devoted to stock-raising, to which alone it is admirably adapted; and the proprietors are among the most extensive and successful cattle raisers in the State. They have, by purchase, extended the lines of the original grant considerably, and have also acquired some lands in the valley, which are seeded to alfalfa, upon which'latter they may fatten their cattle and prepare them for market.
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