Kern County CA Archives History - Books .....Early Days Of This Century 1934 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 20, 2006, 3:09 am Book Title: Where Rolls The Kern CHAPTER XIX. Early Days of This Century. THE dawning of the Twentieth Century saw Kern County established as a commercial oil producing district, with Bakersfield the focal point of the greatest oil boom the West had ever seen, rivaling, and closely resembling, the gold booms that have gripped first one district and then another at intrevals through many decades. Oil held the center of the stage, as it was to continue to do for many a day, but there were other events of sufficient import to warrant their inclusion in a historical work, some of them a direct result of the oil boom, and others just happenings in the general course of events. March 28, 1900, was a notable date for it was then that Truxton Beale issued deeds to the city for the Beale Library, as a memorial to his father, General Edward Fitzgerald Beale. April 11th of the same year, work started on the construction of the electric railroad that was to link Bakersfield and Kern City. . . . Soon after the first of the following year— 1901—the electric street cars started to operate. May 23, 1901, witnessed the dedication of the handsome new Masonic Temple at the corner of Chester Avenue and Twentieth Street. On July 5, 1901, the local press made much of the fact that Kern County's assessment totalled $20,850,000, as against $15,184,00 in 1900; the increase undoubtedly being in a large measure due to the intense oil activity. In August of 1901 the Edison Company announced plans for the building of a hydroelectric power plant in Kern River Canyon. The first steps toward the construction of an oil pipe-line were taken in October, 1901, when the Standard Oil Company commenced securing the rights-of-way for a pipe-line to Point Richmond. This was the pioneer pipe line of the County. The fact that a party of Bakersfield nimrods had left to hunt grizzly bear in the mountains above Tejon called for space in the local newspapers of October 16, 1901. In November of 1901 the Kern River Power Company was organized to build power plants on the Kern River. The first train to leave Bakersfield over the new Sunset Road to the Sunset Oil Field took its departure December 23,1901. Early in January, 1902, Miller & Lux offered the herd of elk that had been roaming the hills on the company's land for many years, to the Bakersfield Lodge of Elks. The offer was accepted and the animals were moved to the National Park in the Sierra. One of the chief topics of local discussion in the early days of 1902 was the proposal to build an electric road to the coast, and the rumor of the plans of the Denver & Rio Grande to build through Walker's Pass into Bakersfield. These were fond dreams that were never realized, but quite likely they would have been had not the automobile soon thereafter commenced to gain in popularity as a means of transportation. All previous records for oil shipments from the Kern River Field were broken in January, 1902, with the month's shipments totaling 3,000 cars. In this same month and year the Board of Trade was organized with Frank S. Rice as President and the following then prominent citizens composing the executive committee: L. M. Dinkelspiel, L. P. St. Clair, A. Weill, W. J. Doherty, Alfred Harrell, R C. Hussy, L. C. Ross and S. C. Smith. In May there was some talk on the part of the oil companies of building a railroad to what was later known as Maricopa, with private capital. The results of the school census announced in May, 1902, showed 2011 boys and 1911 girls of school age within the County. An item in the public prints May 22, 1902, stated that Ben Thomas was putting in a pump irrigation plant at Delano, at a cost of $1200. The first formal Labor Day celebration to be held in Bakersfield was held September 3, 1902. So great had the business of the local Superior Court become by December of 1902 that a petition was addressed to the State Legislature praying for the creation of a second department of that court for Kern County. The petition bore fruit and in the Spring of the following year Governor Pardee named Paul W. Bennett to the position thus created. Judge Bennett continued to occupy the bench until the time of his death in the Summer of 1913. A stream of blood marks the date of Sunday, April 19,1903, for on that day City Marshal T. J. Packard and Deputy Sheriff W. E. Tibbett were killed in a battle with the outlaw, James McKinney, and a companion, alleged to have been A. Hulse. McKinney himself met death at the hands of B. M. Tibbett, who was named marshal to succeed to the post held by the murdered Packard. Hulse committed suicide some years later, in jail, where he had languished while carrying on a determined battle to keep himself out of the State Penitentiary. Deputy Sheriff Tibbett, who was killed, was the father of Lawrence Tibbet, internationally famed and popular grand opera star. Just before the close of the year of 1903 the City Trustees officially decided on the intersection of Chester Avenue and Seventeenth Street as the site for the Beale Memorial Clock Tower. The County Supervisors started off the new year of 1905 by letting a contract to the Edison Electric Company to construct a road up Kern River at a cost of $21,000. The city election campaign of April, 1905, was a spirited one, the main issue apparently being an "open" or a "closed" town. R. McDonald defeated H. H. Fish for a seat on the City Board of Trustees by a vote of 630 to 387 On retiring from his official connection with city affairs Mayor Fish made the public declaration that McDonald's election constituted a victory for the proponents of a "wide open town." By June, 1905, Kern River oil shipments had fallen to a low mark, but lots of oil was being placed in storage, according to records of that time. In November of 1905 the County Supervisors decided to build a new high school building to supplement the old one in use, at an estimated cost of $50,000. April, 1906, witnessed a formal declaration of war against public dance halls and their attendant evils, when the Reverend A. M. Shaw, President of the Law and Order League of Kern County, issued a formal statement to the effect that the league was out to stamp such institutions from the local map. Several years were to elapse, however, before the followers of the reverend gentleman were to see their dreams come true. The Amalie Mining District was attracting considerable attention in 1906; so much, in fact, that an official and sizable delegation from the Bakersfield Board of Trade paid a visit to the district, and returned with reports of much excitement and no small amount of productive activity. By the Fall of 1906 the City Fathers were beginning to have visions of a real city, for in September they formally adopted plans for a new sewer system to serve a population of 20,000! The city schools opened in this month with an enrollment of 702 pupils, while the enrollment figures for the Kern City schools were 415. If the school enrollment can be taken as an index to population—and it usually can— it can be seen that even at this comparatively late date, Bakersfield had none too wide a lead over its rival and near-neighbor city. That great indoor sport of Stud Poker was officially banned in public places by an edict issued by Sheriff Kelley in November, 1906. The November elections of 1906 brought joy to the hearts of local Democrats for they carried the county by pluralities ranging from 400 to 1000. December 7, 1906, occured an accident that caused Statewide, in fact, even National, interest when Lindsay D. Hicks and five other miners were buried alive by the collapse of the Edison Power Company's shaft in the Kern River Canyon. Four days later—December 11th—news reached Bakersfield that Hicks was still alive. Rescue efforts were commenced at once, and after being entombed for 16 days Hicks was rescued December 22. The name of Hicks was on the tongue of nearly everyone in the West, and he was regarded as a good theatrical attraction. He made his stage debut at the Bakersfield Armory. December 27th, but he failed sadly as a footlight attraction. Shortly after that he staged "personal appearances" at a then prominent Los Angeles clothing store, the old "Hub," and attracted a number of buyers to the store, for which he was reported to have been liberally rewarded by the proprietor. Oil quotation figures for February 10, 1907, show that the Standard Oil Company was paying thirty cents a barrel for Midway oil. While February marked a discouragingly low price for oil, there were other lubricants that advanced in price, for in that month the thirst-quenching emporiums of Bakersfield joined in a formal announcement to the effect that henceforth the price of highballs, Tom & Jerry's, case goods and fancy drinks would be twelve and one-half cents per drink. They had a bond election in Bakersfield in March, 1907. The results show that the voters of the city wanted a sewer system. They also show that there some other things they didn't want. The $120,000 bond issue for the new sewer system carried by a vote of 499 to 9. A proposed $30,000 bond issue for improving the city park's was beaten by a vote of 321 to 219, a two-thirds vote being required to approve the proposed issue. A proposal to issue bonds in the sum of $50,000 to build a new city hall was favored by 16 voters, while 213 recorded themselves as opposed. Something both unique and successful in the matter of community development was attempted in the early part of 1907. Deciding that colonization was one of the needs of the hour the Kern County Board of Trade induced the California Home Extension Association of Los Angeles to purchase nine sections of land from the Kern County Land Company, for subdivision and colonization purposes. Under the management of M. V. Hartranft—who, by the way, is at present engaged in similiar enterprises in and around Los Angeles—the land was bought and the Fourth Home Extension Colony was formed. This marked the founding of the Wasco Colony and the town of Wasco. The enterprise was financed by the sale of bonds to prospective colonists. The land was then surveyed into twenty-acre plots, and appraised. An auction was then held, and the bonds were negotiable for the purchase of lands. Whatever sum was bid over the appraised value of a given lot was put into a community development fund. The first settlers arrived in March, 1907. A mutual water company was formed, and before the close of the year twenty-two water wells had been drilled. When the colony was first projected, the site of the town of Wasco was marked by a depot carrying the name Dewey, a store, a blacksmith shop and two saloons. Soon after the town of Wasco was platted, it sprang into prominence as the trading point for the new Lost Hills oil fields, twenty-one miles distant, being the most available railroad point for the field. The young city soon attracted all lines of business and finally in November, 1911, the Wasco News was established by J. L. Gill. Wasco eventually became an incorporated city, and continues to be a flourishing business point, despite the discouraging aspect of the general agricultural situation during the past few years. Former President Herbert Hoover has a large ranch property not far distant from Wasco, and this fact has been the means of gaining for the town considerable publicity, some of it of a national character. Property damage estimated at $250,000 was done in July, 1907, when the East levee of Buena Vista Lake broke and flooded the old swamp lands to the East border of Kern Lake. In an early chapter reference is made to the fancy prices obtained for Havilah town lots, when that young city was monarch of all it surveyed. It appears that the title to these lots was anything but good, for in July, 1907, we find Judge Paul W. Bennett, acting as trustee, under the old County Judge Act to secure titles from the Government to Havilah town lots, it having been established that Havilah was built on unsurveyed lands, and the residents had held their lots through all the intervening years by right of occupation only. Incidentally, there were a number of similar instances in California, Markleeville, county seat of Alpine County, being another notable example; and a similiar situation existed in a portion of El Monte, one of the pioneer towns of Los Angeles County. The desire of Havilah residents to obtain better title to their lots would indicate that even as late as 1907 they had evidently not given up all hope of the old camp staging "a comeback." When the Bakersfield city schools opened in September, 1907, they had an enrollment of 800 pupils. A city census, taken in October, 1907, credited Bakersfield with a population of 7,338; and Kern City had a little less than half that number—3,422, according to the census figures. In November, 1907, a contract for the construction of a hall of records was awarded to Weymouth Corwell of Los Angeles, at a contract figure of $44,340. Saloon licenses took a jump from $100 to $300 per annum by official mandate of the Board of Supervisors in December, 1907. After the usual agitation an election was held February 25, 1908, to vote on the proposed consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern City. Bakersfield favored the proposal by a majority of 342; but Kern City voted in opposition to it. A subsequent election was held December 21, 1909, when the vote in Kern City stood 265 to 154 against the plan, while Bakersfield registered 518 for, and only 186 against; as a result of which Kern City became a part of Bakersfield, and became known as East Bakersfield. The first election of the consolidated city was held July 18, 1910, and resulted in the selection of the following officers: Trustees, M. V. Matlock, J. R. Williams, F. L. Grible, H. S. Dumble, P. L. Jewett; Board of Education, L. G. Pauly, George Hay, H. A. Blod-gett; G. L. Snider, Celsus Brower; City Clerk, H. F. Murdock; City Attorney, Matthew S. Platz; Marshal, James McKamy; Treasurer, A. Weaber; Recorder, W. H. Thomas; Assessor, Ben L Brundage. Civic moral reform was one of the chief topics of local discussion in the early part of 1908, and the agitation finally resulted in the passage on March 16th of what was designated as the St. Clair ordinance, a municipal measure named after its sponsor, Trustee L. P. St. Clair, which officially closed public dance halls and the side and rear entrances of saloons. Another proposed railroad that never materialized was rumored in the early part of 1908. This one, so rumor had it, was to be built from Los Angeles to San Francisco, via Tejon Canyon and the West Side Oil Fields. In the Spring of 1908 the town of McFarland and the McFarland Colony were laid out and placed on the market by J. B. McFarland and W. F. Laird, on land purchased by McFarland the year previous. At what became McFarland there was a railroad siding designated on the railroad maps as Hunt. Ralph Kern opened the first grocery store early in 1908, and became postmaster in the fall of the same year. The following year O. Woodard opened a general store, and gradually the town secured other business enterprises, including a hotel, lumber yard, and eventually a bank and a newspaper. The land was irrigated by a vast number of privately owned and operated pumping plants, and soon gained prominence as a dairy section, a distinction that it still maintains In June, 1908, the city of Bakersfield bought the West half of Section 3, 30-28, from the Southern Pacific, for a sewer farm, the price being $2.50 an acre. Bakersfield spent $2200 on a public celebration of the Nation's Birthday, July 4, 1908. When the Kern County High School began the Fall semester in 1908, it boasted of two new departments—manual training and domestic science. School census figures released in June, 1909, showed 5039 school children in the county. June 7, 1909, the County Supervisors decided to call an election to vote $400,000 in bonds for a new court house. June 15 of the same year the town of Caliente was wiped out by fire with an estimated monetary loss of $46,800. On August 1st, 1909, the County's hay and grain crop was estimated at $1,271,000. A terrible accident occurred on the Santa Fe Railroad in August, 1909, when a freight train with forty-seven loaded cars ran away down the Tehachapi grade and collided with a switch engine in the yards at Mojave. Five men were killed, and the property damage was estimated at $200,000. When the city elementary schools opened in September, 1909, they had an enrollment of 965 pupils, and twenty-four teachers were employed. The High School had an enrollment of 205 pupils. On September 14,1909, Kern County voters approved the $400,000 bond issue for the new court house. In 1913 the Kern County Land Company subdivided 7,000 acres of land into farming tracts and platted the town of Shafter, a town that soon developed into a trading point of considerable importance, a position that it still maintains. About 1915, the town of Arvin was laid out and it soon grew and still continues to be the supply point for a rich and diversified agricultural and horticultural commuity. [sic] A little Kern County town that has almost been overlooked, due possibly to its proximity to the Los Angeles County line, is Rosamond. It is really among the older towns of the county. The first store was opened there about 1888 by a man by the name of Hyde and Miss Sarah Hayes. C. P. Sutton was the first postmaster. Ike Boyles kept the first hotel, and Miss Kate Titus taught the first school, which was sustained for two years by private subscription. It was 1908 before it had a sufficient number of children to qualify for the formation of a school district. The town was named in honor of a daughter of a Southern Pacific Railroad official. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Where Rolls the Kern A History of Kern County, California By Herbert G. Comfort MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA: The ENTERPRISE Press 1934 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/kern/history/1934/whererol/earlyday285nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 18.7 Kb