It is not very often we see the ownership of a river change hands. The City of Bakersfield’s purchase of Kern River water rights and facilities in 1976 resulted in a major shift from private to public control of this tremendous local resource. This document provides some insights to the colorful history of the Kern River (Chapter One); the events leading up to the election and purchase of the Kern River (Chapter Two); and finally, describes the water rights, facilities and properties that were acquired with the Kern River Purchase (Chapter Three). Compiled by the staff of the City of Bakersfield Water Resources Department December 2003 The Kern River: Chapter A Legend in Compromise Changing the Course Chapter of Kern River Chapter The Purchase: What Bakersfield Bought 3 The Kern River is the most southern of the One such explorer was a young lieutenant great streams that flow westward from the crest in the United States Topographical Corps, a of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. mapmaking group at the service of the U.S. The head waters of the Kern are located near Cavalry, by the name of John C. Fremont. the base of Mount Whitney in On his third expedition to one of the highest, most rugged the west coast, Fremont had regions in the United States. with him sixty experienced, The river’s main fork is joined dedicated mountain men by its major tributary, the including Joseph Walker, South Fork, near Lake Isabella. Alexis Godey, Kit Carson and Below Isabella, and before a young Philadelphian by the reaching Bakersfield, the Kern name of Edward Kern. Kern River drops over 2,000 feet was only 23 years old but in elevation through the exhibited an uncanny sense treacherous Kern River of direction. Although not Canyon, and over the years schooled in the art of has taken hundreds of lives, topography, he quickly and is considered one of the learned and became a favorite most dangerous stretches of of Fremont and his men. river in the United States. In fact, Fremont was so Today, the waters of the Kern River North Fork taken with the young man that Kern River are utilized and the river which they had just distributed in harmony. Each day of the year crossed would be named in his honor...thus cooperative decisions are made on matters of the river would from that time until now be mutual concern such as flood control, drought, known as Kern River. water use and water exchange. But, this was not In 1855, a prospector named Richard always the case... Keys discovered gold on the Kern River and established a mining town that bore his name – The Legend Keysville. In only four short months, 6,000 South Fork Kern River miners from the mother In April of 1776, as a new nation was being lode country poured born on the East Coast, a Franciscan Priest, into the upper Kern Father Francisco Garces, was exploring the River Valley to untamed and un-chartered West in a quest to stake their claim establish missions to provide comfort and on this new found spiritual guidance to the native inhabitants, bonanza. comprised locally of the Yokut Indian Tribe. But, not everyone It was on this journey, after passing through who thirsted for quick what we know now as the City of Arvin, that fame and fortune were he came upon the Kern River. successful and soon turned to other endeavors His impressions of the crossing were so such as supplying food for the gold camps. vivid that he immediately named the river There were those who could envision a larger Rio De San Felipe. and more stable enterprise than the fickle The Rio De San Felipe, later known as Rio prospects of gold. Bravo, became a recognized landmark crossed They could see the potential of clearing by explorers and fur trappers who were blazing the fertile land to allow for the raising of new trails through the mountains and valleys agricultural crops to supply the demands of of the west. the fledgling state of California. A bigger bonanza was yet to come. 4 On September 10, 1863, Colonel Thomas Baker and his young family moved into the former Bohna home, Downtown Bakersfield Flood, 1893 which Baker had purchased for $200. Included in The first known settler in the area of what is the sale were 160 acres of prime now Bakersfield was Christian Bohna. The farmland on Kern Island. Colonel large Bohna family arrived in February 1860 Baker’s background as a lawyer, and set up a farm on what is commonly state assemblyman and a surveyor known, even to this day, as Kern Island. made him ideal as the founder of They occupied an abandoned hut built by a this fledgling community. fur trapper, Thomas Fitzgerald. The hut was In 1867, a flood diverted the Kern River Mills located near 21st and M Streets, not far from the Kern River north away from the present site of the telephone company. The Kern Island settlement, and Colonel Horatio P. Livermore and Julius Chester constructed what was one of the first major family adapted well and soon the hut became a Baker set about to clear and sell canals in California used exclusively for log cabin. Other settlers soon joined the Bohna property and would soon be asked irrigation. The Kern Island Canal transported family. to set up a town site which would water from the Kern River to Kern Lake. The Although this new land held promise, become known as Baker’s Field. Kern Island Canal powered the Kern River Mother Nature was to deal them a heavy blow. The name was suggested by Philo Mills, a flour mill owned by Livermore and In December of 1861 rains began falling until Jewett as a tribute to Baker’s Chester, located at the corner of S Street and the banks of the Kern River were spilling over generosity and his common practice Truxtun Avenue in downtown Bakersfield. onto the new settlement. Disgusted with the of allowing travelers to graze their Eventually, the Kern County Land Company ever present threat of floods and malaria, livestock on the lush grasses and purchased the Kern River Mills and continued Bohna left the valley and eventually settled in alfalfa in the field owned by Baker. to produce flour from this locally owned mill the Glennville-Woody area. Colonel Baker, being a until 1942. man of great enterprise, – Kern County Museum opened a land office and began selling the reclaimed swamp land to anyone willing to settle in this new city. Roads were being carved through the foothills, and the Butterfield Stage carried travelers from north to south near the growing town site. Gordon’s Ferry, on the Kern River, was established as a stage stop at the base of what is now known as the Panorama Bluffs, near Bakersfield College. 5 While the miners continued to harvest the precious metal from the upper Kern, progress was at a fever pitch in the valley below. New settlers were moving in each day such as Julius Chester, Horatio Livermore and Richard Hudnut. The fertility of the area and the hard work of its citizens were starting to pay off. Sheep men, such as Julius Chester Solomon Jewett and General Edward F. 1831 - 1890 Beale, and others would begin raising great flocks to supply the miners. Prompted by the Haggin-Tevis-Carr Cattle ranchers, such as Ferdinand Julius Chester organization, which now owned their own Tracy, Wellington Canfield and George was born in 1831, a canal and water system, other farmers began Connecticut Yankee Young, would also make a contribution to dig their own canals, purchasing their water who came to to this growing community known as from the Haggin-Tevis-Carr group and bringing California in 1854. Julius and his brother Bakersfield. irrigation water to every farm in the region. George arrived in Bakersfield about the time As the swampland was drained and Henry Miller and Charles Lux, wholesale Colonel Thomas Baker was laying out the cleared, canals were dug and levees meat producers and retailers, also owned and future city of Bakersfield. Julius was the built. Soon Colonel Baker had the claim were developing most of the swamp lands owner of a large mercantile and livery to over 89,000 acres of reclaimed swamp between Buena Vista and Tulare Lakes. They business and the town’s leading citizen. and marsh land. By 1869 the demand also owned thousands of acres of range land A man of many endeavors, Julius Chester ran for Kern County land was increasing. that extended as far as San Francisco. a saw mill, herded sheep and founded the In 1871, the permanent population newspaper “Southern Californian” in Because there was no recognized system was over 600 and the small city was Bakersfield. The first Wells Fargo agent, governing the use of the waters of the Kern boasting of a bustling business district, Julius operated a freight business and the River, each user took what he needed and a Overland Stage Coach in which he laid out a a school and other development water rights controversy began to erupt. new route to Visalia by bypassing the Sierra brought on by civilization. Even with foothills. In 1860, the California State the apparent success of these pioneers, Legislature approved of a Tulare-region land hardship and danger were always close sale of $1.00 per acre. Julius bought land and at hand. petitioned the state legislature for the right The Kern River continued to flood Souther Ditch Plow to irrigate the farmland.