Finding History

The 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.

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.

The south of Tulare County was later organized as Kern County in 1866, with additions from Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. Its first county seat was 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.

#97: Oak Creek Pass
#98: Keysville
#99: Walker’s Pass
#100: Havilah
#129: Fort Tejon
#130: Willow Springs
#132: Kernville
#133: Sebastian Indian Reservation
#137: Gordon’s Ferry on the Kern River
#277: Garces Circle
#278: Place where Francisco Garces Cross the Kern River
#283: Top of Grapvine Pass, Where Don Pedro Fages Passed in 1772
#290: Discovery Well of Kern River Oilfield
#291: Fages-Zalvidea Crossing
#300: Rose Station
#371: Outermost Point in the South San Joaquin Valley Visited by Garces 1776
#374: Tulamniu Indian Site
#376: California Standard Oil Well 1
#382: Colonel Thomas Baker Memorial
#457: Indian Wells
#476: Desert Springs
#485: Lakeview Gusher 1
#492: Buttonwillow Tree
#495: Glennville Adobe

#498: McKittrick Brea Pit
#504: Buena Vista Refinery
#508: Tehachapi Loop
#539: Posey Station of Butterfield Overland Mail Lines
#540: Sinks of the Tejon, aka: Alamo, Station of Butterfield Overland Mail Lines
#581: Well, 2-6
#588: Kern River Slough Station
#589: Mountain House
#631: Garces Baptismal Site
#643: Old Town (Tehachapi)
#652: 20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus
#660: Point on the Jedediah Smith Trail
#671: Site of the Town Garlock
#672: Lavers Crossing
#690: Site of the Last Home of Alexis Godey
#732: Site of the Home of Elisha Stevens
#741: Bealville
#742: Campsite of Edward M. Kern
#757: Caliente
#766: Freeman Junction
#923: Site of the Flight of the Gossamer Condor
#938: Rand Mining District
#1022: Shafter Cotton Research Station
#1054: Tomo-Kahni