The Yokuts Indians were the first people to settle in the San Joaquin Valley, roughly 8,000 years ago. The Spanish missionary Father Francisco Garce was the first European to visit the area, in 1776. Gold was discovered in the Kern River in 1851, and oil was discovered in the valley in 1865. The Bakersfield area was first known as Kern Island to the handful of pioneers who built log cabins there in 1860. At the founding ceremony in 1869, the town was named Bakersfield, in honor of Colonel Thomas Baker, who had moved to the area in 1863. By 1880, the town had a population of 801, and by 1890, it had a population of 2,626.
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