Poso is situated in a fine agricultural region,
on the main line of the Southern Pacific railroad, and is the junction of
the Fresno division of that road, a little west of north from Bakersfield,
and about half way from the county seat to the north line of the county.
In September, 1888, the Poso irrigation district
was organized under the provisions of the Wright irrigation bill, and all
the proceedings of the board of directors have been scrutinized and declared
legal by competent authority. Bonds to the value of $500,000 were
unanimously voted and issued of the denomination of $500 each, at six per
cent, payable semi-annually. But after the engineer submitted his report, it
was found that the total cost of all the irrigation works would not exceed
the sum of $270,000. The board, after a full and careful examination,
concluded that said sum was ample to construct and complete the necessary
canals and works sufficient for the full and complete irrigation if all the
land in the district. The assessed valuation of the lands in the district,
about 40,000 acres, is $500,000, and the actual value $1,200,000. The
population is about 200 and supports three schools, which are well attended.
The character of the soil in this district, is a rich deep sandy loam of a
dark color, and entirely free from alkali. It is easily worked, and is well
adapted for every variety of farming, especially fruits; and owing to the
freedom of this locality from frost, the culture of the orange and lemon
will no doubt in the near future be one of the most important industries.
The fertility of these lands is established by the heavy growth of wild feed
every year on the uncultivated portion, and also from the fact that figs,
apricots, peaches, vines, etc., recently set, have made a wonderful growth,
with but slight irrigation and a sparse rainfall. The earliest wheat was
shipped from this district last season. The water supply for the irrigation
of these lands have been thoroughly and carefully investigated by the
directors and their engineer, and will be obtained from Poso creek and its
watershed, which covers an area of nearly 468 square miles, and is found to
be sufficient to irrigate 100,000 acres through a system of reservoirs which
are situated high enough to cover all the lands in the district. The
district has the free and undisputed right to the water of the Poso creek.
The climate is exceedingly healthy and entirely free from malaria, owing no
doubt to the situation of these lands, which rise with a gradual incline
toward the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.
The lands are situated on the east of the
Southern Pacific railroad, between the flourishing town of Delano and the
city of Bakersfield, the county seat of Kern County. The railroad has a
depot at "Poso," contiguous to the district, which is also the terminus of a
branch line from Fresno via Porterville, - thus assuring this locality a
well-established shipping point. B. C. Dorsey is the president, and J. E.
Anderson secretary of the company. Spottiswood is the post office.
What is known as THE WOODY PRECINCT is in the
foothills country, thirty-two miles from Bakersfield and twenty-five miles
from Delano. Elevation about 2,000 feet. It is a fine grazing country.
Winters are mild, with a greater precipitation than in the valley. Summer
temperature reaches 110 in the shade; in winter mercury rarely falls below
freezing, and never below twenty-six degrees. This is known as the thermal
belt. Fine oranges have been grown here by Mr. Maltby. Bananas have grown
but never fruited. This will be developed and become a famous fruit-growing
region.
DELANO, the second town in size in Kern
County, is located in the midst of a very fertile country, on the main line
of the Southern Pacific railroad, west of north from Bakersfield, and near
the north boundary of Kern County. For many years there was little growth to
the town. It was named in honor of the Secretary of the Interior under
President Grant, Columbus Delano. The "no-fence law" drove out men of small
means who were engaged in the stock business, and they bought tracts of land
in this region and leased more from the railroad company and continued in
the stock business, principally sheep; and perhaps there were 225,000 sheep
sheared annually within a radius of twelve miles of Delano. Hence the town
was not an important place, except as a shipping point for wool and stock,
for many years. Cattle were raised principally in early times and up to
about 1885. They would graze on the plains until exceedingly dry, when they
would take up the march for water in the foothills far away; and it is said
to have been an interesting sight to see a caravan of thousands of cattle
wending their way to water, single file, forming a column several miles in
length. Their thirst was so great on reaching water, that many drank until
they died, and during an extraordinarily dry season thousands died in this
way. Sheep were herded near watering places. There is no longer a scarcity
of water in this region. A wonderful flow of water is obtained from artesian
boring, and an irrigation system is in formation which will make the Delano
country one of the most desirable in the great valley. There have been
formed what is known as the Kern and Tulare Irrigation District, embracing
lands in the two counties. This company was organized under what is known as
the Wright law, in April, 1891. The lands are bonded for an amount
sufficient to complete the work necessary to properly irrigate every acre of
land included in the district. The water is to be appropriated from Kern
river, thus assurring an inexhaustible supply. The river is tapped on
section five, range twenty-nine, about twenty-five miles from Delano. The
main canal and branches will be fifty-six miles in length, 100 feet in width
at head of main canal, first distributing seventy-five feet, second fifty
feet, etc. The active factors in perfecting this system of irrigation are J.
B. Robinson, G. A. Eisen, John Schiltz, James Edwards, O. B. Kimberlin, and
others.
Delano began to prosper when water began to
reach the land surrounding, so as to assure crops, and soon the appearance
of thrift and prosperity was evidenced by good buildings, and then came the
fire that swept away in an hour nearly the entire town. This did for Delano
what it has done for all other towns and cities, - started it on the road to
prosperity. A new and determined spirit seemed to possess the afflicted
citizens, and soon the town shown forth in a splendor not known before. Good
business blocks now grace the streets, and she has a $10,000 school
building, second to but one in the county. She has a wide-awake newspaper,
churches and fraternal societies, and enterprising progressive community,
and a bright future.
The Delano Courier was started
January 27, 1887, as a seven-column folio, independent in politics, by Ed.
A. and Charles L. McGee, who came from Hanford, where they had been
employed on the Hanford Sentinel. Edward A. came west in 1885, and
Charles in 1886. The latter was born August 31, 1866, at Mansfield, Ohio,
and began editorial work at twenty years of age. Edward was born November
27, 1862, in New York, and learned the printing trade in Iowa. Their father,
John G. McGee, was a native of Canada, and became a book publisher in New
York city, and later a farmer in Iowa. He has five sons altogether, and they
are all yet living, as also their father. In 1885 Mr. Ed McGee married Miss
May Mahankee, of Parkersburg, Iowa, a lady of German descent. Mr. McGee is a
member of the Board Of Supervisors of Kern County.
GLENNVILLE is a beautiful little village,
settled by Madison M. Glenn in 1857, in the foothills in the northern
portion of the county, northeast from Bakersfield, characterized by
picturesque scenery, excellent water, delightful climate, and an excellent,
hospitable people. The morals of the community are attested by their
churches and societies. The Glennville Christian church was organized in
February, 1880, by Rev. J. M. Gilstrap. The present membership is about
fifty. A new church was erected in 1891.
This is known as the Lynn's valley country.
William P. Lynn, a farmer known as the
father of the famous Lynn's valley, first settled in that region in the year
1854. He built the first mill in the county, on Poso creek, but the high
water of 1861 - '62 washed away the mill. Lynn was a bachelor, and never
engaged in mining. He cultivated and produced principally hay and potatoes.
After the floods, which swept away the mill, Lynn sold his interests in Kern
County and went to Colorado, where he engaged in mining, and is said to have
accumulated great wealth. W. P. Wilkes may be said to be the father of
Glennville in a business sense. He came to Lynn's valley and located where
Glennville now is, purchased thirty acres of land from J. M. Glenn, founder
of the town. In 1867 he became associated in business with Colonel John C.
Reed, and they opened the first store in Glennville that year. Mr. Perry
purchased his partner's interest in the fall of that year, and the following
year sold out and erected the present Lynn's Valley Hotel. A post office was
established there in 1867. There had been a post office known as Lynn's
Valley, which was discontinued after Glennville was established. Mr. Perry
was elected auditor of Kern County in 1879, but was compelled to resign the
position on account of poor health.
Kernville is a pleasant village due east from
Glennville and about half way from that place on a direct line to the
village of Weldon, which is well up in the mountains in the northeast
portion of the county. It was first known as Whisky Flats, in 1863, but the
name was changed the following year to the present appellation. The first
store there was opened in 1863, by Curtis & Davis. The first public school
was kept in a private dwelling, by Mrs. Carmel, a niece of Judge N. R.
Packard of Bakersfield. The first postmaster was Adam Hamilton, in 1864.
Lerdo, Wade, Pampa, Bealville, Keane, and
Rosamond are points on the line of the railroad, all of which have great
promise of future growth. Rosamond is near the south line of the county, and
nearly due south from Mojave. The last named place is the junction of the
Southern Pacific and the Atlantic and Pacific railroads. There is a large
amount of land in this region which will be reclaimed, as the possibility
has been demonstrated at the pleasant little village of Lancaster, south of
Mojave, as also at Rosamond. At both places artesian water has been
developed and is in use. The soil responds liberally to water.
TEHACHAPI (post office GREENWOOD) is on an
elevated plateau nearly at the summit of the mountain from which it takes
its name. There is a large trade here with the mineral and stock-growing
region in every direction. Considerable mining has been done in this region,
but farming is the principal industry at present. The Tehachapi valley
contains many thousand acres of fine agricultural land, 1,600 acres being
already devoted to grain.
Tehachapi has a good newspaper, the
Summit Sun, started by E. J. H. Nicholson, October 31, 1890, but now
owned and edited by Horatio S. Bilyeu. It is a seven-column folio,
independent in politics, and is a potent factor in advancing the interests
of the town and surrounding country.
The "Piute Club," social, comprising
gentlemen only, was organized at Tehachapi, February 3, 1890, with John
Iribarne as President; A. Young, Vice Pres.; Hugo Kuhl, Sec.; and C. S.
Spaulding, Sec. The present officers are: A. F. Schafer, M. D., Pres.; John
T. Bell, of Mojave, Vice Pres.; Charles A. Lee, Sec.; and S. Hineman, Sec.
The society occupies Nicholson's hall, where they own a piano and give
elegant entertainments.
The "Golden Guild" is a social organization
of young ladies which, like the proceeding, is maintained for the purpose of
giving entertainments and doing benevolent work. Its present officers are:
Miss Tudie Ward, Pres.; Miss Minnie Lee, Vice Pres.; Ada Nicholson, Sec.;
and Effie Davis, Treas. The present membership is fifteen, and they meet
every Saturday.
The prehistoric evidences of past races
found in this region are worthy of some description; but before entering
upon that field of antiquities let us assume that we are on a train wending
its way up the Tehachapi mountain headed for Los Angeles, and we are told
that ahead of us is the town of Tehachapi, situated in the western part of
the beautiful valley of that name, and known far and wide for the celebrated
"loop" in the railroad near that place, and for the terrible accident on the
railroad near there some years since, by which the passenger train escaped
from the conductor and engineer, and ran down the grade toward Sumner. Part
of the cars were overturned, wrecked and burned, and some twenty passengers
killed.
Again we resume our progress toward Los
Angeles. The road runs into the ground under the mountains, groping along in
the dark, then out, and winding around spurs and again into tunnels, all the
while ascending, and finally it makes a turn and over itself. This forms the
"loop", which is about a mile in circumference. After coming out of a tunnel
the road runs around a mountain spur, and after a few other eccentricities
goes on toward Los Angeles, conducting itself in a more straightforward
manner.
On this line of road from Caliente, a
delightful village at the base of the mountains to Summit City, there are
seventeen tunnels, with numerous heavy embankments and many superb bridges,
spanning the deep canons across which the iron horse leaps, puffing away his
fiery breath in drawing his load to the summit.
This is a great work, a wonderful display of
engineering skill, and the line is said to have been surveyed and located by
a young man under twenty years of age. Tehachapi "loop" is located midway
between Keene and Girard, 340 miles from San Francisco. Length of "loop"
3,795 feet; elevation, lower at tunnel No. 9, 3,034 feet; difference in
elevation 78 feet. It is said that one who is acquainted with the situation
can get off a train when approaching the "loop" ascending the mountain, and
walk directly across and be ready to board the same train as it appears at
the opposite side. This has been done by brakemen on freight trains.
From Antelope mountain the observer has a fine
view of Buena Vista and Kern lakes, with the connecting waters; Kern river
in the distance, with timber on either side; while beyond is the valley, and
still beyond the Coast Range is plainly discernible. Below lies the village
of the valley, and at the east end Tehachapi lake, a beautiful sheet of
water when viewed from this place. In the distance is Mount Whitney and
surrounding peaks.
Now let us carefully examine the traces left
in this region by an extinct civilization. In the vicinity of Tehachapi
there are numerous and varied remains and evidences of ancient Aztec
civilization. There are on the hillsides, running in different directions,
well-defined aqueducts and ditches. The soil is a firm cement which does not
wash away. Immediately in these ditches are growing stately oak trees, as
large, and evidently as old, as those of the surrounding forests, showing
that the ditches must have been constructed hundreds and perhaps thousands
of years ago. One of these ditches leads to a silver-bearing ledge, where
shafts had been sunk, and from the bottom of which drifts ran in different
directions, showing that the aborigines had mined here for the precious
minerals in the days of old. This old mine was re-discovered by the Narbeau
brothers, who worked them for a time from the same shafts sunk by the
ancient inhabitants of this continent. The lode did not prove as rich as was
hoped for, and was abandoned. In running a water ditch through this region,
Mr. P. D. Green had occasion to remove a venerable oak tree. In taking away
the roots, he observed that immediately under where the tree had stood the
soil was different from the hard cement surrounding; that it partook of the
nature of vegetable mould and debris, being very soft and easily penetrated.
Following down, and ancient shaft was easily traced, and on removing the
debris, was clearly defined, the walls remaining perpendicular, intact, and
solid. At the bottom of this shaft the skeleton of a man was found,
immediately underneath and covered up by a pile of charcoal and ashes
remaining from some ancient fire. The tree growing over this shaft was
evidently hundreds of years old, showing that the excavation had been made
centuries before the advent of the Spanish race on this continent.
CUMMING'S VALLEY was first settled by Josiah
Hart, from Texas, a hunter by occupation, who located the present George
Cumming's place in 1858, but sold his squatter's right to John Findley in
1859. He was a Kentuckian by birth, born November 18, 1794, in Hardin
County, and died in Cumming's valley, May 28, 1872. Isaac and Moses Hart
both residents of Bear Valley, are sons of this pioneer. In this valley
there are now 16,000 acres devoted to grain.
The first settlers in Bear valley were Thomas
H. Goodwin, who made a permanent settlement in 1864, and B. Tungate, who may
have preceded him a short time. Judge P. D. Green, associated with John
Geldon, George Milliken and one Holton, built cabins, put in a crop of
barley in Bear Valley as early as 1859, in part on two sections, 11 and 12,
township 32, range 31. These crops were raised for the hay, not the grain;
stockmen had first possession of this beautiful valley, it being an open
range, and they were simply transient people. The settlements mentioned were
made by permanent tillers of the land.
Isaac Hart settled in the valley in 1869. He
had been there as early as 1855, as an attache of the Government
surveying party. It was his duty to build the mounds (corners), marking the
section corners, etc. He still lives in the valley. (See sketch).
An area of thirty to forty by about ninety
miles of this desert region lies in Kern County. By far the larger portion
is in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. A significant fact is the
recent (about ten years past) occupation of portions of this desert by
cattle herders. As they were fenced out of those open ranges they were
obliged to seek other fields. Stokey Bros., Charles Hilt, Mr. Moody, W. W.
Landers, John Durnell, Richard Shakleford, Joseph Kiser, Bright Bros., and
others have for eight to ten years been living here eight to ten miles
apart. About twenty wind engines are now located on this section of the
desert, and the number is fast increasing. The soil is too alkaline for
farming in some places, and in others there is no hard-pan or sub-soil
underneath to retain water; however, much might be flooded.
On what the cattle men call sand, alfalfa
grows; also tea brush (not sage). "Sand grass" supplies a soft tender blade,
growing about two feet high, with stalks which harden at maturity, and these
yield a fattening seed. It shoots up suddenly as the weather gets warm.
Cattle like it even when it is hard. Sage bush grows in abundance, and also
hardens until fall rains come, when it softens and cattle devour it. The tea
brush is perennial. In the hottest sands it thrives in large bunches, about
three feet high and same in diameter. It is barren in appearance, not in the
least tempting, but cattle feed upon it and fatten. "Water weed," or "water
plant", springs up after the spring rains, branches out and blooms, maturing
in a space about six weeks. It has a yellow bloom, which comes out on the
stalk from ground up. Both bloom and stalk are nutritious.
"Salt grass" grows wherever water can be
retained near the surface. It has no fattening qualities; it only aids in
carrying cattle over the winter season. Probably 20,000 head of cattle range
on the Mojave desert. Sheep are ranged out for a short distance upon the
desert, but have to return to the foothills for water.
The use of the desert by stockmen is attracting
attention, having become already a source of great profit.
Those curious trees scattered orchard-like
over the Mojave desert are not cactus, as many think, but a species of
yucca, - the Yucca brevifolia, - cousin to the "Spanish Bayonnet"
and "Adam and Eve's Needle and Thread," sometimes seen in cultivation.
POST OFFICES IN THE COUNTY, MARCH 1891.
Annette, Bakersfield,
Caliente, Clarkson, Delano*,
Elmer, Freeman, Glenburu,
Glennville, Greenwich,
Havilah, Keene,
Kernville, Miramont, Mojave, Onyx*,
Rosamond, Rosedale,
Spottiswood, Sumner*,
Weldon, Woody.
*
Money order offices.*