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Welcome to Kern County
CAGenWeb
Bakersfield 1890
Brief History:
The area was claimed by the Spanish in 1769, and in 1772, Commander
Don Pedro Fages became the first European, to enter it from the south, by way of the Grapevine Canyon.
Kern County was the site of the Battle of San Emigdio, in March 1824, between the Chumash
Indians of the Santa Barbara Mission who rebelled against the Mexican government's taking over
mission property and ejecting the natives.
This battle with Mexican forces from Monterey, under the command of Cárlos Carrillo, took
place at the canyon where San Emigdio Creek flows down San Emigdio Mountain and the Blue Ridge south of Bakersfield
near today's Highway 166.
It was a low-casualty encounter, with only four Indians killed, and no Mexicans; the
surviving Indians were pacified and brought back to Santa Barbara in June 1824 after a pursuit and negotiation
in which many were allowed to keep their arms for the return march over the mountains.
In the beginning, the area that became Kern County was dominated by mining in the mountains
and in the desert. County government was created in 1866 with the county seat in the mining town of Havilah, in the
mountains between Bakersfield and Tehachapi.
The flatlands were considered inhospitable and impassable at the time due to swamps, lakes,
tule reeds and diseases such as malaria. This changed when settlers started draining lands for farming and constructing
canals; most dug by hand by hired Chinese laborers.
Within 10 years the valley surpassed the mining areas as the economic center of the county,
and the county seat was moved as a result from Havilah to Bakersfield in 1874.
The discovery well, of the Kern River Oil Field, was dug by hand in 1899. Soon the towns
of Oil City, Oil Center and Oildale came into existence.
Kern County derives its name from the Kern River, which was named for Edward Kern,
cartographer for General John C. Frémont's 1845 expedition, which crossed Walker Pass. The Kern River was originally
named Rio Bravo de San Felipe by Father Francisco Garces when he explored the area in 1776. Kern County was nearly
named Buena Vista County for the large, and now drained, Buena Vista Lake between Bakersfield and Taft.
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