Kern County, California

Kern County lies at the southern end of the San Joaquin valley, and has Tulare to the north and Los Angeles and Ventura to the south. Its area is about 8,100 square miles, and its population, put at 5,601 by the census of 1880, now numbers 13,000. Bakersfield, the county seat, is in the Kern valley, and has many fine public buildings. About one-third of the county is rich agricultural land, capable of raising any crop with irrigation that is furnished by ditches or artesian wells. The Kern River furnishes water for a series of canals that cost not less than $5,000,000. Alfalfa is largely raised for feed, and the raising of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs forms the main industry. All agricultural products grow with tropical luxuriance, and fruit-raising is beginning to attract attention. Other industries are lumbering and quartz mining. The assessed valuation for 1889 was $10,278,996.

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Source: California State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1890, Volume II, R. L. Polk & Company, 1890.

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Created December 2, 2015 by Judy White