Kern County CA Archives History - Books .....Early Agricultural Efforts 1934
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Book Title: Where Rolls The Kern

CHAPTER X. 
Early Agricultural Efforts.

   ALTHOUGH the first major scale agricultural attempts were made practically
coincident with the founding of Bakersfield, there were numerous earlier day
soil-tilling efforts that should not pass unnoticed.

   As has been previously noted, cattle and sheep raising actually preceeded
mining activities and these pursuits continued on through the 50's and 60's,
with the production of beef, hay and vegetables being given the most serious
attention; the mining districts affording a ready and profitable market for
these commodities. Hay found a ready sale at $40 to $50 a ton at the mines, and
as high as $60 per ton is reported to have been obtained for delivery of the
product at Fort Tejon.

   Despite the fact that mining continued to be the county's dominant interest
all through the 60's, many agricultural experiments were made that were to have
an important bearing on subsequent activities.

   The first cotton is said to have been grown in 1862 when Harvey S. Skiles
planted and matured a small patch. The first effort at growing this crop on a
commercial scale was made in 1865 when the Jewett Brothers imported seed from
Tennessee and Sonora, Mexico, and planted 130 acres near the present site of
Bakersfield. The cotton from this field is reported to have been hauled to
Oakland, where it was made into cloth, and sent back to the place of its origin
where it was sold in the first store in the little settlement. However,
transportation costs are said to have made the venture unprofitable.

   We fail to find a record of freight charges at that particular time, but as
late as January, 1872, the freight rate from Los Angeles to Bakersfield was four
cents per pound. In 1868-69 the express rate from Havilah to San Francisco was
$20 per one hundred pounds, by both Wells Fargo & Co., and the Pacific Union
Express Company. The latter company remained in business only about two years,
but it is not likely that its businese demise could be charged to too low
tariffs. In 1871 the stage fare from San Francisco to Bakersfield was $30; from
Los Angeles to Bakersfield, $15. The latter stage only operated weekly, and was
"very irregular," according to reports.

   The first alfalfa to be grown in California was produced here about 1867 or
1868, by Tom Barnes. Barnes had befriended a Chilean when he was ill, and on the
latter's return to his native country, he sent Barnes a quantity of alfalfa
seed. The latter planted it, and was rewarded with a good stand. This is
acknowledged to be the first alfalfa crop grown in California.

   Quite a little Mexican settlement of cattle men and agriculturalists was
started in 1865 with the arrival of Dolores Montano. Tomas Castro arrived in
1868, and others of their countrymen came at intervals. They successfully
engaged in hog raising to quite an appreciable extent, and carried on other
ranching operations. About 1870, Francisco Martinez was making a business of
catching wild horses in what we today know as the Lost Hills district, and along
the Coast Range. Incidentally, it is reported that there were wild cattle in the
territory that later became known as the Kern River Oil Fields, as late as 1880.

   In these early days of settlement, the notorious bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez,
was much in evidence in these parts, and gave the settlers no little concern.

   Although it was to be more than a decade before the region was to see any
major scale agricultural development, the action of the Legislature in 1857 in
passing the Swamp Land Act really set the wheels in motion that were eventually
to turn Kern County into one of the greatest agricultural empires in the entire
United States.

   This act granted a franchise for the reclamation of all the swamp land "lying
between the San Joaquin. River at a point known as Kings River Slough and Tulare
Lake, and also the swamp and overflowed lands bordering on Tulare, Buena Vista
and Kern Lakes, and between said lakes and up to the line dividing the said
swamp and overflowed lands belonging to the United States," to W. F. Montgomery,
A. J. Downes, F W. Sampson and their associates and assigns.

   W. F. Montgomery subsequently sold to Colonel Thomas Baker and Harvey S.
Brown each an undivided one-half share of all his right, title and interest in
the reclamation franchise, for the total sum of $10,000 cash. It is reported
that Baker and Brown later bought the shares of Montgomery's associates for an
even smaller proportionate sum. Thus we find Baker and Brown in full possession
of the great reclamation project, with Baker the active member of the firm.

   Those who claim to be possessed of practical knowledge of such things say
that Baker faced an impossible task had not nature taken a hand in the deal, and
worked in his favor. In the winter of 1861-62 there came a great flood—a
terrible flood—but it so happened that the flood waters followed the path of
least resistance by following an early day irrigation ditch and making of it a
deep and broad channel which, automatically, so to speak, drained and thus
reclaimed to an important degree Colonel Baker's lands. In 1864 came the worst
drought that had been known since American occupation; and this aided in the
gigantic task that the venturesome Colonel had assumed.

   Governor Frederick F. Low conveyed to W. F. Montgomery, et al, 89,120 acres
in Kern and Tulare Counties on November 11, 1867. Baker, having succeeded to the
interests of Montgomery and his associates, came into this vast acreage, and the
future appeared bright; but Mother Nature is not always to be depended upon as
an ally. Just as she had played into Baker's hand in 1861-62, she turned against
him in the winter of 1867-68 when the district was visited by the worst flood in
its history. The flood came between Chritsmas [sic] and New Years, and left the
Baker lands— every acre of them—under a vast lake of water. Although Baker held
a patent on the lands, thev were no longer reclaimed, at least in the learned
opinion of the members of the Twelfth District Court, sitting in San Francisco,
who on September 17, 1878, declared the Montgomery patent null and void. The
decision was based on two purely technical grounds, and on the less technical
ground that the land had not been reclaimed, Colonel Baker had been dead six
years when this important and rather disturbing decision was rendered. Those who
had bought land from Colonel Baker, however, were protected by an act of the
Legislature which directed that deeds be given to all purchasers who had
expended not less than one dollar acre for reclamation, fences and other
improvements. It might be well to point out here that Colonel Baker was a
developer and not a land grabber. He had disposed of his share of the lands for
as low as ten cents an acre in some cases; and in no case did he get more than
$1.00 or $1.50 an acre from the smallest purchasers, so we are told by the most
reliable authorities.

   In relating the last few facts we have again gotten somewhat ahead of our
story, but it seems advisable to insert them here, so that the record of Colonel
Baker's land activities may be complete. We will now go back and mention the
earliest arrivals at Kern Island, as the present site of Bakersfield was then
known.

   The first settler was Christian Bohn, who came in 1858. Harvey Skiles, Lewis
Reeder, the Shirley's and the Gilbert's seem to have been among the first
arrivals. Next came Colonel Baker, Edward Tibbett and Allan Rose, with others
straggling in until 1866 when we find them making an effort to establish school
facilities.

   In this year, Colonel Baker, Mr. Winfrey and A. R. Jackson were appointed
school trustees; but there was no formal organization. A Mr. Brooks taught a
private school, and Mrs. Baker taught a few of the neighbor children at her
home. The first active school board was composed of Messrs. Tibbett, Troy and
Reeder. As has been previously mentioned, Frank Tibbett, referred to above, was
the grandfather of our present day internationally famous grand opera star,
Lawrence Tibbet.

   In 1867, Mrs. Rainey taught a three months term of school. In 1868, Miss L.
A. Jackson taught a six months term. The first school house was a brick building
40x60 feet, erected in 1869, and opened in June of that year, with A R. Jackson
as the lone member of the teaching staff. It is to be presumed that he also
acted as coach, attendance supervisor, etc. The next year the school boasted of
two teachers —A. R. Jackson and Miss Callie Gilbert— and had thirty-five pupils
enrolled.

   For six years after the arrival of Baker and the settlers of the same year
there was no post-office. Until the outbreak of the Civil War and the removal of
the garrison from Fort Tejon, and the discontinuance of the Butterfield Stage
Line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the few settlers then in the country
had been getting their mail at Fort Tejon. After that they had their mail
addressed to Viasalia, and whoever happened to be coming down that way brought
it all down in a bunch and voluntarily distributed it among the settlers.

   Those first settlers on Kern Island reposed on no bed of roses. In fact, they
led a most primitive life. Flour, the great basic food staple, was $10 a sack;
and when floods cut them off from Visalia, and snows blocked the Tejon Pass,
they ground their own corn meal, and got by the best way they could. Baker's
first home was built of adobe. Although the flood of 1867-68 entirely changed
the status of the supposedly reclaimed lands, it played them one good turn when
it covered the ground for miles around with logs of trees washed down from the
mountains. With his characteristic enterprise, Colonel Baker promptly installed
a sawmill and proceeded to turn the logs to good account.

   The list of polling places for 1867 is ineresting [sic]. Here it is: Havilah,
court house; Claraville, Bodfish's old store; (they must have measured time in
Homeopathic doses in those days); South Fork, John Nicoll's blacksmith shop;
Kernville, old Cove store; Keysville, Marsh & Kennedy's old store; Alpine,
Eugene Caillard's store; Summit Mill, Knox House, Summit; Linn's Valley, Myer's
store; Long Tom, Yoakum's store; Kern Island, Chester's store; Reservation,
Tejon Reservation buildings; Tehachapi, school house; Walker's Basin, Dr. Adams'
store; Agua Caliente, Wolfskill house; Cross's Mill, Cross mill; Delonega,
Williams & Martin camp.

   In 1870, a sheep was worth more than an acre of land—at least officially. In
that year we find sheep assessed at $2 a head, and the great San Emidio grant
assessed at $1.50 an acre. Assessment values were protested then, just as they
are today, and we subsequently find reductions which brought the assessed value
of a sheep to $1.50, and the San Emidio grant to $1.25 an acre.

   There were no road building problems in the valley in those days. A settler
just broke a trail to wherever he wanted to go, his neighbors proceeded to join
him in the use of it, and ere long a passable and serviceable highway was in
existence. In the mountains, the problem was more difficult, and so toll roads
were built, and toll ferries plied across the streams. In 1868, J. M. Griffith
built a toll road from Moore's Station, at the foot of Tehachapi Mountain, to
Agua Caliente Creek. He charged $2.50 for a wagon with twelve horses, and $2.25
for a wagon with ten horses, and graduated his scale of tolls on down to
twenty-five cents for a horse and rider, and five cents a head for loose cattle.
J. E. Stine, who operated a ferry at Telegraph Crossing, near Bakers-field, the
same year, charged $2 for a wagon and two horses, and fifty cents for a horse
and rider.

   Many toll roads were built about this time, and when they were bought up by
the county a decade or so later, there were many loud hints of graft,
corruption, etc., not altogether unlike the criticism of public officials we
hear today.

   The year 1870 practically marked the beginning of a new era—the beginning of
the change from mining to agriculture as the dominant interest, for a time at
least; but many of those who were to play a large and important part during this
new era actually arrived before this year, and some of them have been given but
scant, if any, mention yet.

   Prior to this time, General Edward F. Beale had bought the Tejon Ranch and
had established flocks of sheep aggregating as high as 100,000 and 125,000 head.
However, General Beale later disposed of all his sheep interests.

   In 1868, J. C. Crocker established headquarters at the Temblor Ranch, and
began buying land and accumulating herds that formed the nuculeous [sic] of the
great Miller & Lux holdings in the district.

   About the same time, or possibly a little before, the Chester Brothers—Julius
and George—were in Bakersfield planning big enterprises with the strong
financial backing of H. P. Livermore, wealthy San Francisco druggist. The
operations of the firm were carried on under the name of Livermore & Chester,
with Julius being the most active member of the firm, and with Livermore
remaining in San Francisco and providing funds.

   In 1872, Walter James came to make a report on a big body of land, lying
South and West of Bakersfield, which Isaac F. Gates of New York had acquired
from the railroad company. It was then locally known as the Gates tract, and was
later to be purchased by J. B. Hagin, and was to form the nucleous [sic] of the
Kern County Land Company holdings.

   The first whole-hearted attempt to put Kern County on the agricultural map in
capital letters was made in August, 1871, when the California Cotton Growers
Association was organized with Julius Chester as president, and James Dale as
secretary. Something of the aims and objects of the association can be gained by
reading quotations from the first prospectus, issued under the authorship of
Dale: "Our vast plantation will be divided into cotton parks of fifty and one
hundred acres each, surrounded by hedges of mulberry," etc. A later prospectus
says that the California Cotton Growers and Manufacturers Association was
composed of Californians and Englishmen; that after examining all the San
Joaquin Valley, the Association had selected the Kern River Valley as the scene
of its operations.

   It had purchased of Livermore & Chester 10,000 acres at $5 per acre, and
planned to plant 1,000 acres of cotton the following Spring. The sale from
Livermore & Chester also included, according to the statement, the townsite of
Bakersfield, sixteen houses, a large brick store and warehouse, the motive power
and privilege of the Kern Island Irrigation Company's canal, the flour mill, the
merchandise and transportation business of Livermore & Chester, and an improved
farm of 1,000 acres, with tools, teams, etc. The Association was composed of J.
H. Redington, A. P. Brayton, C. J. Pillsbury, L. A. Bonestall, Horatio Stebbins,
J. D. Johnson, H. C. Livermore and C. Maddux.

   Redington was a San Francisco business associate of Livermore, and it was he
who was largely responsible for the formation of the new association, when the
first cne, headed by Chester, had failed of success. Although the new
association advertised extensively, and attempted things on an elaborate scale,
its efforts were not crowned with any conspicuous success. Finally, Redington,
who seems to have become the controlling financial factor in the enterprise,
stepped in and took possession of things personally, naming Celsus Brower as
trustee of the somewhat badly tangled financial affairs of the ambitious but
premature association. The properties were finally sold to Haggin & Carr.

   The year 1870 also saw the arrival of Henry A. Jastro who was to become a
most prominent figure in the affairs of the County during the remainder of his
lifetime; and witnessed the formation of the Buena Vista Canal Company by Tom
Barnes, Harris Gillum, John Oleton, P. J. Waldon, Peter O'Hare, John Gordon,
James Cole and others. This was later to be acquired by the Hagan interests.

   In the foregoing chapter the name of Captain Elisha Stephens is omitted from
the list of early day arrivals at Kern Island. The Captain arrived in 1861, and
his name was omitted from the list for the reason that he is entitled to more
than passing mention. He claimed to have blazed the trail to California two
years before Fremont, and claimed that it was he, and not Fremont, who was
entitled to the title of Pathfinder.

   The following paper, presenting Captain Stephens' claims, was prepared by
Judge Tom Baker, son of Colonel Thomas Baker, July 14, 1923, and serves to throw
an interesting sidelight on early California history:

   Captain Elisha Stephens was born in North Carolina in 1801. He became a
blacksmith in his early manhood, but did not follow his trade very long.

   Being born and raised among pioneers he early became imbued with a spirit of
adventure and soon joined the wild and restless hunters and trappers of the
great west. Up to 1844 he followed the hazardous life of a trapper. He traveled
all over the middle and Western continent and his hair-breadth escapes from
fierce animals and wild Indians would fill a volume.

   I knew him and loved him from the time I was five years of age up to the time
of his death in 1884. He took a great liking to me and when about fifteen years
of age he began to tell me his life's history. I was about a year in getting his
history written. It was very interesting and valuable as an addition to
California's early events.

   Many men tried to get him to tell them his history, but he absolutely refused
to tell them anything about his life, as he felt that a great injustice had been
done him concerning early history of California. He was the true and real
pathfinder to California—Fremont to the contrary notwithstanding.

   General John C. Fremont got the credit of this honor. Doubtless some will
deny these statements. It will not alter the case in the least. There are many
descendants of the earliest pioneers who crossed the plains with Captain
Stephens in 1844. John and Martin Murphy and their numerous descendants who
settled in San Jose, will still be posted about this memorable journey. Of
course, John and Martin have long since crossed over the Border. But their
progeny are very numerous and the older members of the family can verify these
statements. There are the Stuytevants of San Francisco, and many others whose
names I have forgotten who can also substantiate this event.

   The unfortunate fire on July 7th, 1889, which completely destroyed the city
of Bakersfield burned this valuable history. As the Captain had passed away in
1884, the facts could not be duplicated. Since then so many years have passed
that I have to depend upon my memory to supply an incomplete history of this
interesting man.

   In the Spring, early in April, Captain Stephens started from Council Bluffs
with eighty wagons for Oregon and California. At Fort Hall fifty-four wagons
took the trail for Oregon and twenty-six branched off on the trackless and then
unknown route to California. Stephens was chosen Captain on account of his
general knowledge of this country and also his wide experience among the
Indians, as well as his known reputation for being a fearless and resourceful man.

   The journey was made with ox teams with the exception of several men on
horseback who acted as scouts for the party. The journey was naturally slow on
account of the way being practically unknown. They encountered but little
difficulty until they reached the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It was often
necessary to remain for several days in one camp while Captain Stephens and the
scouts went on ahead to map out the way to get through the mountains. Stephens
always had scouts two or three days ahead of the outfit, and a scout came into
camp each night to direct the next day's journey. So, by moving slowly and
carefully they managed to be very successful in their plans.

   Being the first emigrant train to pass through, and the whites beino: new to
the Indians, they encountered very little trouble with them. Their main
annoyance was their natural cupidity. This bothered them but little and the
Indians were of great help at times in directing the outfit over the best
routes. This was done through the sign language.

   Sometimes the Captain's patience was strained to a severe extent by the
ignorance of the Indians. At times he would consume a whole day patiently
mapping out on the ground by means of mounds of dirt, small rocks, sticks, etc.,
while getting them to understand what he wanted. Often the Indians' knowledge of
distance was greatly limited. But generally Stephens got along very nicely with
them. In the latter part of September, 1844, they camped on the very identical
spot at Donner Lake where the Donner party met with disaster in the Fall of
1846. They arrived in the evening and were alarmed by the approach of a severe
storm. It snowed all that night, and, fearing a general storm, Stephens packed
some grub and the women and children on the oxen, abandoned the wagons and all
unnecessary articles and struck out thru the pass for Sutter's Fort. The men
walked and they managed to worry through the snow and other obstacles until
finally, after several days of toil and hardship, they arrived safely at the Fort.

   Not a soul was lost on this remarkable journey, and they arrived with one
more than they started with; a girl was born on the way. She was daughter of one
of the Murphys. This girl grew to womanhood, married in due time, and may be
alive at this time.

   Captain Stephens had a journalist with him by the name of Doctor Townsend who
kept a daily account of all the events of the journey. After arriving in
California, Doctor Townsend wrote the whole history out in a journal and had a
very interesting story which he was preparing to print in book form. In 1846 his
journal was stolen from him and every vestiee of his work disappeared.

   Stephens had named the rivers, valleys and mountains; also the lakes
discovered while en route. These names and descriptions were written in Doctor
Townsend's journal. It was a strange thing that many of the rivers and lakes
described in Fremont's trip, were given verbatim with Doctor Townsend's history.
The only difference was in the names of the rivers and lakes. Fremont's history
called one river Truckee and Stephens named it Mary's. Many other names have
passed from my memory.

   When General Fremont came to California in 1845 he came over the same
identical way, and most of the time the deeply rutted tire tracks of Captain
Stephens' outfit were easily followed. The old Captain claimed that Fremont had
no trouble in finding the pathway to California because it was well marked. The
old Captain was embittered over the unmerited credit given to General Fermont
[sic] as being the Pathfinder.

   Stephens was of a quiet, retiring disposition; almost a hermit. But to his
friends he was a most genial man. He was living about a mile North of
Bakersfield when our family moved to Bakersfield in September, 1863. An early
incident showed the man's character. A few days after we had got settled in our
log house, Captain Stephens came to the house with a crate of six hens and a
rooster. He said: "Mrs. Baker I knew you would like to have a start in chickens,
so I am going to present you with this outfit."

   This was characteristic of this good man. He was of medium height, with
wire-like frame—quick and active with an untiring constitution. His features
were of the eagle type; reserved, but aggressive in his rights. He was not
overbearing like some men of the eagle type. He was mild and peaceful until you
stepped on his toes. One little incident concerning the early history of Kern
County will not be amiss at this time.

   Late in the fall of 1844, Captain Stephens started from Sutter's Fort to make
a trip to San Diego. He rode one horse and led a pack horse. He swam Kern River
where the concrete bridge now stands. He passed through where Bakersfield now
stands. It was then a great forest of cotton-woods. willows, alders and
sycamore. While passing through where the remains of old Fort Tejon now stand,
he was compelled to turn out of the pass and go upon the ridge to his left,
several hundred yards on account of the great number of grizzly bears eating
acorns under the big oak trees. There were so many that they looked like bands
of cattle— huge and shaggy, as large as two-year-old steers.

   Of his earlier life there is no one to speak for him. He is forgotten in the
run of events, and I doubt if at this late day he will be given a proper place
in the early history of our great State. He was a good friend, and a true hero.
There is a creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains named for him; but improperly
spelled "Stevens" Creek.

   He owned a ranch on this creek in 1848. Outside of this, his name is about
forgotten. It is to be regretted that the early annals of California speak not
for him. Undoubtedly there are many of the Murphys who can substantiate this
poor sketch. The history I had written contained a multitude of adventures and
escapes of this remarkable man, and would have been very interesting to read.
But fate marked him for obscurity. I hope and trust this article will be the
means of giving him a place amongst our pioneers. He came to Bakersfield in 1861.
                                         TOM BAKER.
    BAKERSFIELD, July 14, 1923.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Where Rolls the Kern

A History of Kern County, California
By Herbert G. Comfort

MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA:
The ENTERPRISE Press
1934

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