Baker's Field

This is a story about my hometown and how it got its start. Please enjoy the read and there will be another one right after I complete some other writings.

Baker's Field

The Making of a City!

“Help yourself, but don't waste anything!”

These were the words uttered by Col. Thomas Baker who allowed immigrants & settlers to camp and forage for food, not only for themselves but for their livestock. Col. Thomas Baker was born on the 5^th of November in the year 1810 from a family of 5 children. While living on the farm, he studied surveying and law, being keenly interested in the laws that decided who owned different lands. In the year 1810, he moved from Ohio to Illinois, then onto crossing the mighty Mississippi River to eastern Iowa, where he made friends with the Indians in the area which he treated them fairly and honestly. When the Indian War was about to break out they warned him to leave the area, so they helped him pack all his belongings and leave, but when he returned to the area he found his house burned and many of the other settlers had been killed. He was thankful he and the Indians were such good friends, or he would have met the same fate as the other settlers.

Iowa was allowed to become a state in the year 1846, when Col. Baker was elected to the first legislature. He not only was instrumental in helping to create the laws, he then went on to finally becoming the first lieutenant governor of the state of Iowa. While living there he married a young woman, one Mary Featherstone and they had four children. After the passing of his wife, in the year 1849 he decided to pack up his family and move out west, to what is now known as the state of California. After hearing about gold being found he wanted to try his luck out, he first went to Beneccia then south to Stockton, California. In 1852, the family traveled down south to a newly created county of Tulare, at the time the land of Kern County was joined with Tulare County. He became friends with a man named Vise, and together they formed the city of Visalia. This is also where Col. Baker met his 2^nd wife, Ellen Alverson. He then was also elected state Senator from Tulare and Fresno counties serving in the years 1861-62 in the state legislature.

One day while they lived in Visalia, Col. Baker decided to ride his horse south over the plains to what was called Kern Island. While sitting atop his horse, he began to think that this area would be a great place for a city someday! Dreaming that the railroad would eventually cross the great Tehachapi Mountains. So the following year of 1863, on September 9^th he packed up his family once again and moved to the north side of the area known at the time as Kern Island. After doing some searching, Col. Baker found Mr. Gordon's ferryboat and took his family across to the foot of China Grade.

This was where a German born settler, Christian Bohna had made his home since he was one of the first settlers to this area. Col. Baker bought a shack from Christian, along with 160 acres of land for the mere amount of $200.00. It was the only shelter around, and the sides where made of cottonwood logs that stood on end inside a trench. Then the earth was filled in around the logs to secure them in place, and the roof was made from tules. (a large bulrush that is abundant in marshy areas of California) ( picture below is of what the tules are, and the first house of Bakersfield was)

The family needed more room, so they bought reed matting to attach to the 3 room building taking and tacking it the the four foot high sides. Then the family proceeded to build a brush shed, giving them room for a kitchen and dining room. This house was located on the corner of what is now known as 19^th and N Streets, and they occupied it for the next 2 years. Their house was the first house to be in the city of Bakersfield, or what is now known to be called. The current spot is now occupied by various buildings and an empty lot.

Mrs. Baker must have been lonely, so she wanted to make friends with her neighbors. And since she was the only one with a sewing machine, she took it upon herself to have a weekly sewing and potluck luncheon. Together the women would sew quilts and clothes for their families. And at the time there were no stores like today, so the challenges were great for the Baker family. So she would make soap from grease and alkali, they would leech salt out of the ground, even the candles they used were homemade. And instead of using sugar for sweetening, they would harvest honey from the beehive they would find.

Imagine life without any coffee; Mrs. Baker was very inventive by taking sweet potatoes she had grown, sliced thin and baked. She would pour boiled water over the slices, add the sweet honey and this liquid they would drink instead of coffee. Imagine what that would have tasted like?

Also since they lived in a rural area, Mrs. Baker began to worry about the children in the area. How they were going to be taught, so she opened up her home for the community to have its first school. She would take paper and cut them up to teach them to read, write and do arithmetic. I think this was a very ingenious thing for her to do, I wonder if you could call it Baker Primary School?

As the tiny community began to grow, Col. Baker decided to purchase a land grant, thus affording him to drain some 400,000 acres of swampland, including land along the Kern River. But to drain the existing swampland he needed the help of the other settlers, along with some Mexicans and Indians from the Tejon reservations. Col. Baker now owned over 80,000 acres of good rich land. He then built a pole fence around 30 acres of land now know as Truxton Avenue. Then taking 10 acres to plant some alfalfa, because he knew that any travelers that came would need good feed for their animals. This was the first crop of alfalfa grown in Kern County, and not the last- as it is still grown to the day! People going west came to know they could rely on Baker's field as the place to stop and let their animals graze.

Col. Baker always said to any visitors “ Help yourself, but just don't waste anything!” So the tired and hungry were never turned away, and their horses were well cared for. Another settler to the area was Philo Jewett and he raised sheep, was the one who suggested that the city be named after Col. Baker, thus it became known as Bakersfield! After this Col. Baker began to give away small parcels of land to anyone who would come and start a business. He also set up the first gristmill, so the local corn and wheat farmers could grind the crops for free... that's the kind of man he was.

Then in the year 1866, he began to design the city. Being an official county surveyor of the state, he believed there should be a better road between the small city of Havilah and Bakersfield. The road, Baker Grade as it was called made traveling faster and easier. For the area Havilah was the old county seat, until it was later moved to the city of Bakersfield. Col. Baker thought one day that Bakersfield would become an important city to the state of California. If he could only see how correct his assessment was, and how vast the city has become since he first mapped out the town with streets measuring 82 ½ feet wide, and avenues that measured 115 foot wide. He noticed that in other cities the streets were to narrow to house the carriages riding down it. Col. Baker had even set aside enough land to house a civic center for the growing community.

By 1866, only 600 people had settled in the city of Bakersfield. And out of his 80,000 acres, he only kept 80 acres for himself, selling the other parcels for a mere $1.00 per acre, hoping this would attract more people to this new town. And although he didn't live to see his dream of the railroad coming here to Bakersfield it did. In the year 1872, on November 24 from typhoid and pneumonia at the age of 63, the great Col. Thomas Baker passed away.

Col. Baker spent some nine years in developing his legacy, going from a mere 600 people to now as of 2010 census- a 347,483! Bakersfield did become an important city just as Col. Thomas Baker imagined. Not only is it the 9^th largest city in California, it is also the 52^nd in all of the United States. Col. Baker's belief that a great city would grow along the Kern River had come true, he knew that it would take a lot of hard work to make it happen. Following his motto, “ Time will always justify a man who means to do right!” Something I feel we should always heed, and even though it has been 148 years ago, Bakersfield is still a thriving and bustling city to this day! Yet this isn't all of what has become of this city, that started from a dream of one man, the next story will be about some of the landmarks, and interesting people that made this home! Including my own Grandparents and family, and where they used to live that has since changed too.

Information:

KC SOS. kern.org/tlc_history

freepages.ancestory.com

Photos from google images.

Here is a video that one of his descendents made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TIBFPqUJwA

Author's Note

If you are interested in viewing the video, just copy and paste the link. I hope you enjoy this bit of history about how this land was developed.