AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE LOOP, TEHACHAPI PASS.

newspapers, the Courder-Californian and
the Gazette. Kern Lake is 14 miles south
of west from Bakersfield, and is about seven
miles long by four wide. Six miles fur-
ther is Buena Vista Lake, some larger.
Around these lakes, and Tulare Lake, the
land is exceedingly rich.

Kern Valley, in which Bakersfield and
these lakes are situated, is one of the
richest in the State, being composed almost
wholly of sedimentary deposits. Vege-
tables grow to fabulous proportions, the
soil being of the same nature as that in the
“Mussel Slough Country” before named.
The irrigating canals are very extensive
in this country, some over 40 miles in
length, with a varied width of from 100
to 275 feet, eight feet deep, costing $100,000.
Besides the irrigating canals, there are
many farms that are irrigated by wells and
wind-mills. There is one ranche, nine
miles from Bakersfield, that contains 7,000
acres, on which are two flowing artesian
wells, of seven inches bore, one 260 and the
other 300 feet deep. From these wells the
water rises twelve feet above the surface,
and discharges over 80,000 gallons per day.

On this ranche there are over 150 miles
of canals and irrigating ditches, 32 miles

   
 

  
  

 
  

 
 
 
  
     
 

of hog-tight board fence; 4,000 acres are
under cultivation, 3,000 of which are in
alfalfa, from which four and six crops a
year arecut. Nearer Bakersfield, the same
party, Mr. H. P. Livermore, has another
large ranche, with 500 acres in alfalfa, and
3,000 in wheat and barley. On _ these
ranches are 8,000 sheep, 4,000 stock cattle,
300 cows, 350 horses, 100 oxen, 70 mules
and 1,500 hogs. The same party makes all
his own reapers, mowers, harvesters, plows,
harrows, cultivators and threshing ma-
chines—everything in use on the place,
except steam engines. He has one plow,
the “Great Western,” which is said to be
the largest in the world. It weighs some-
thing over a ton, and is hauled by 80 oxen,
cutting a rurrow five feet wide and three
feet deep, and moving eight miles a day.
Another plow called “Sampson,” is used
for ditching, and requires 40 mules to
work it.

Another party in the county has 40,000
sheep, 2,000 acres in alfalfay and raises
60,000 bushels of grain. Another poor fel-
low raised, in 1877, 84,000 lbs. of pumpkins
and sweet potatoes; some of the former
weighed 210 pounds, and of the latter,
some 1544 lbs. While attending to these
little vegetables, he would occasionally