Bakersfield.com

larger view larger view larger view

The drought predicted this year is caused by three years of below average snowfall in the Sierras and scant rainfall the last couple of years. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide drought emergency.
The most disastrous drought in California history occurred during the years of 1877-78. The Kern River dried up completely, but Bakersfield’s ground water supply furnished us with domestic water pumped by windmill or mule power. Most field crops relied on canal water from the river and were lost.
After only three years as county seat of Kern County, Bakersfield was just beginning to bloom. Three years after the Southern Pacific Railroad connected us with the rest of the United States, this drought must have been realized as a great setback for our community as well as the whole state.
With the new railroad connection, our bountiful produce could at last be shipped to national markets economically. Before the railroad, the cost of shipping to market by horse-drawn wagon was prohibitive.
During that era, Kern County’s major industry was livestock raising and the natural wild grasses were the lifeblood of this vast enterprise. Miller and Lux, Cox and Clark, Tracy and Canfield and the Crocker brothers all owned vast herds of cattle that relied on the natural grasses as feed and the river supplied their water.
There was hardly any rain in 1876 and none at all in 1877. No one had ever seen the Kern River completely dry until that year. Kern River Canyon was only a sun baked ditch filled with hot granite boulders. Buena Vista Lake and its sloughs were dry. The cattlemen banded together and dug deep wells about four miles apart in the Buena Vista Slough area and installed water pumps powered by mules to provide livestock water.
The only feed for the stock was dry tules and that diet was only slow starvation. Ranchers had not, at this early period, began raising alfalfa or other fodder for their livestock, relying so far on wild forage.
Cattle owners had their cowboys ride up and down Buena Vista Slough, (the slough ran from Buena Vista Lake north to Tulare Lake), pulling stranded cattle from the mud holes if they became bogged down in search of water.
Some of these mud bogs were so strong in alkalis that when the cattle were pulled out the hide would strip from their legs. Livestock of all kinds died by the thousands from starvation and lack of water.
Many smaller ranchers went bankrupt when their sheep or cattle died, but others drove their sheep to the Sierra Mountains in search of feed where most died anyway. Others drove their sheep east to Idaho where they sold them. It took many years to rebuild these livestock herds after millions perished throughout California.
With the river bone dry, the county council agreed that the long overdue Jewett Lane bridge would be built. In 1877 the first bridge spanning the Kern River was constructed at the north end of Jewett Lane connecting the future Oildale with Bakersfield.
This tragic drought led to future benefits for our county as ranchers learned they must not rely on natural grasses for their livestock, and the large scale raising of alfalfa and other stock feed began in Kern County.
The importance of water storage was also realized and the combined efforts of Miller and Lux and Kern Land Company transformed Buena Vista Lake into a 36-square mile reservoir, at that time the largest irrigation reservoir in the United States.
The drought predicted for this year won’t have the impact of that experienced back in 1877 because of years of planning to ensure us a reliable water supply.
However as Bakersfield’s population increases, drought conditions have to be recognized as a time everyone must help in conserving water. Only then will we have an ample supply for our everyday needs.

About the author: George Gilbert Lynch is retired and lives in Oildale.