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Bakersfield's “Hooverville” On The Kern River
Topics: Weedpatch, dustbowl, Great Depression, bakersfield, Kern County
Posted by citizenjournalist Tue May 20, 2008 11:22:06 PDT
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By GEORGE GILBERT LYNCH
Contributing writer
In these times of our booming economy it’s difficult for today’s generation to envision so many destitute families living on the outskirts of Bakersfield, but more than 5000 immigrant families in Kern County strived to exist during the 30s.
From 42nd Street north to the Levee Canal, existed a virtual city of cardboard shacks, tents and patchwork shantys known locally as “Hooverville” or “Kern River Jungles.” The area is now occupied by the Royal Palms Mobil Home Village.
This camp was the one depicted in the movie “Grapes Of Wrath” in which the Joad family camped and heard the rumor that the place was going to be burned out that night. It wasn’t burned out and increased in size as more and more Dustbowl and drought-stricken families migrated into the Valley from the mid-west.
In fact, for a few dollars, one of these makeshift dwellings would be sold to another family after the occupant moved to another job location, the ones under a shade tree went for a premium price.
“Squatters Camps,” as these were called, were scattered all over the San Joaquin Valley. The camp sites were called squatters because the land didn’t belong to the migrants who lived there, it was just a convenient place to pitch their tent until the owner told them to leave. These people were drawn here in search of a better life and had to live somewhere as they awaited a job or for the crops to mature for harvesting. Newspapers called Bakersfields largest camp “42nd Street Squatters Camp.”
This camp began as R. C. Bateman’s Tourist Camp and store on north Chester Avenue but after the camp property filled the squatters kept building north and east until the area was filled.
Headquarters was Bateman’s grocery store where most of the inhabitants bought necessities and shared current events and job leads. In December 1935 a total of more than 400 people lived in this camp in more than 105 dwellings of all descriptions.
In the state of California, more than 100,000 families were on federal relief programs in 1934. Forty percent of these were located in Kern County. Over one million migratory workers were seeking work in California and only 87,000 jobs were available.
The Hollywood newsreel cameras were making the rounds of our local squatters camps through the mid 30s as well as Dorthea Lange, a noted photographer taking pictures for the WPA arts program. These films are testimony to the hardships jobless families suffered through during those tragic years.
As the Federal Government became deeply involved in assisting jobless families, food distribution warehouses were opened in Bakersfield at which food could be obtained in parcels to last a family of four for two weeks.
This food provision, workers camps and the many other “make work” programs instituted by the government removed a heavy financial burden from our county’s dwindling treasury.
On July 18, 1937, Dr. Joe Smith of the Kern County Public Health Department, sent his director of sanitation, Clifford F. Baughman, to the 42nd Street camp to access the health conditions and report upon the sanitary facilities.
Baughman reported the following: No electricity, running water or sewer systems; 87 structures fashioned from cardboard, scrap tin and lumber, 12 trailer houses and five tents, water derived from 5 bucket accessed wells, 28 feet deep, four contained good water one bad, 29 outdoor toilets, 11 maintained by the County were good, the other 18 all bad.
After this report was made known the public demanded the camp be condemned and destroyed. Residents of this squatters camp were allowed time to find temporary residences in settlements with approved sanitary facilities such as the Arvin, Shafter and Visalia Federal Camps as spaces became available in 1935 and 36.
Another large camp was located at Brundage Lane and Cottonwood Road. It was called “Little Oklahoma”because the majority of the occupants were from Oklahoma. This wasn’t a squatters camp like most others, these settlers bought the 50 by 150 foot lots for $150.00 each on the monthly payment plan.
The property was very low priced because the whole area was situated between three very smelly industries. The Bakersfield Slaughter House and stockyards were on the west side, Bakersfield Tallow Rendering Works were on the north side and the county sewer farm was on the easterly portion.
Little Okie, as it was called, was made up of converted boxcar homes, trailer houses, adobe homes and hundreds of tent houses. These families were mostly immigrants from the Dustbowl who had found permanent jobs in Bakersfield.
On September 28, 1931, The Bakersfield Slaughter House, near “Little Oklahoma” caught fire during the night and before firemen could extinguish the flames, the entire structure collapsed and became a great barbecue pit. The next day was a banquet for hundreds of families when the owners, Cassady and Beggs, permitted everyone access to tons of rare, medium and crispy meat.
More than 100 dressed beeves, 110 hogs, 50 lambs and 40 dressed veal were roasted in the conflagration.
Local ranches such as DiGiorgio farms furnished housing for more than 2,300 of their workers.
Frick ranch and many others furnished ample housing for their workers also but the tidal wave of Dustbowl families overwhelmed this on-farm housing which forced the thousands of others to take up residence at tourist camps, on ditch banks, along highways or behind sign boards to avoid the wind and give some privacy from the public view. Thousands of others were not in public view, they lived with relatives who were permanent residents of the community. Many local farmers built dozens of additional houses for the workers but the influx of laborer’s was overwhelming.
A large percentage of the Dustbowl migrants had friends or relatives residing here and that was their reason for coming to the San Joaquin Valley in search of a better life for their families.
My father was the pathfinder for the balance of our relatives when he drove his model T Ford, alone, from Texas to Bakersfield in 1923. He was confident of finding a better life than the one he was living in East Texas.
Upon finding the abundant agricultural and oilfield job opportunities that then existed here, he returned to Texas, married my mother, drove back here and started their new life as tenant farmers on the Dow Ranch near Rosedale. His letters to kin and friends eventually brought most of them here to Kern County when the 1929 depression began.
As the Great Depression deepened in the early 30s, Kern County found it necessary to establish a transient camp at the old fairgrounds on north Chester Avenue. The influx of transients at that time were men from all over America who rode the rails into Bakersfield in their search for jobs.
Hundreds roamed the streets of the city begging for work, for food or a place to sleep that night. Bakersfield was the most benevolent city in the country back then and the camp it built at the fairgrounds included a big mess hall to feed the 600 residents and indoor sleeping areas and beds furnished to any who registered and would work a few hours each day in exchange for their temporary room and board.
The work arranged for the men was clearing brush and trees from the miles of Kern River bed for flood control. Individuals, clubs and companies donated the food, bedding, furnishings and things such as radios, phonographs and records.
A weekly movie and other entertainment such as local musical groups were furnished by citizens to make life a little better as the transients searched for a job. This camp was taken over by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in December, 1935, and phased out as migratory camps were being constructed away from highly populated areas.
The people of Bakersfield opened their hearts and pocket books to these destitute migrant families by donating food, clothing, jobs and shelter. Local businesses promoted food drives such as the movie theaters making the admission price any can of food and donating it for distribution to needy families.
Many clubs, such as the Elks, put on free Christmas banquets where donated presents by the thousands were given to the migrant families’ children, in many instances, the only Christmas presents these less fortunate kids received.
Kern County also purchased property near Weedpatch to build a transient camp and in 1934 began establishing a camp with sanitary facilities and prepared spaces for homeless families to pitch their tents and temporarily reside until they could find permanent jobs and homes.
In December, 1935, the Federal Government Relocation Administration bought this Weedpatch camp from Kern County as an experiment and began expanding it in size and function. Weedpatch and Marysville Federal Camps were the beginning of dozens of these settlements built in California by the WPA.
These camps served only as temporary homes until jobs, agricultural or industrial, became available to the tenants and they did help displaced families in those hard depression times.
For ten cents a day a family received a tent space, sanitary facilities, electricity, a garden plot and daily news of local jobs available. Later as more permanent housing was constructed in these camps, many lived in wooden, steel and adobe houses as well as tents.
As a young boy, I remember visiting our relatives living at the Weedpatch Camp. The people living there were so nice and friendly to us and we always had a grand time in their swimming hole near the Camp.
It was a massive, concrete irrigation stand pipe that resembled a giant jaccuzzi tub as the water rushed through. We kids also loved running and roller skating on the wooden outdoor dance pavilion because the drumming noise was music to a kids ear. Everyone raised so many vegetables in their garden plots, we always came home with boxes full of their excess.
After WWII began these government funded communities and the “make work” programs were gradually eliminated. War time jobs became plentiful and nothing remained of the Great Depression and the Dustbowl migration except our memories.

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Comment From: migrant

I was a kid in the North Shafter Farm Labor Camp about the time the tent tops were being replaced by more permanent wood structures. I didn't know I was poor at the time. All the adults I knew were just like my parents, hard working farm labor people, none were lawyers, businessmen or doctors. It was nice when the great center lawn of the camp was flood irrigated, it became a kid's water wonderland with about a foot of water to splash in.