Inc. Magazine rates Bakersfield, California as the number nine mid-sized city in the United States for doing business, which has the effect of shielding the city from the worst effects of the recession. Contributing factors to this ranking include the success of the manufacturing and oil production sectors. But how did these sectors become so successful, especially considering that inland California has traditionally been an agricultural hub specializing in the growing of nuts and citrus fruits? To discover the answer, join us as we take a journey through the history of these industries in Bakersfield.
The Yokuts Indians, followed in 1776 by Spanish missionaries, were the first people to settle in the area that would later become Bakersfield. However, since neither the Yokuts nor the Spanish were particularly interested in anything apart from agriculture, we must skip ahead many years to the era of metal benders and hard-working industrialists. The year is 1889, and Tom Means has convinced some of his friends to drill for oil in the Sierra foothills northeast of Bakersfield.
What these men found after 70 ft of exploratory drilling became the fifth largest oil field in the country and the third largest in the state. Covering an area of more than 10,000 acres, the Kern River Oil Field had in excess of 2 million barrels of oil to be harvested, more than enough to power the pneumatic conveying devices coming into vogue in the factories and support the city well into the 21st century. Though several companies would eventually set up operations in the Kern River Oil Field and bring the total wells to more than 9,000, it was Chevron that would emerge as the field's top dog.
How the oil industry rose to such prominence is largely thanks to the lowly workers who extracted the oil from the ground. The first of them arrived in 1898 with the railroad, which had been extended into the San Joaquin Valley, allowing migrants to reach the town. Soon the Great Depression arrived and there was more call for passenger seats than the debanders needed to unload pallets of cargo because the town was flooded with down-and-out workers looking for a job. The oil fields offered them that chance, just as the workers offered the oil field a chance to increase production. In that way, the workers and the industrialists kept each other afloat.
The oil flowing in from the fields helped not only to establish the industrialists as rich men and attract people migrating with their tools and web slings to Bakersfield, it also provided easy fuel to other businesses looking to open up factories. Workers needed food and many residents of Kern County were still involved in agriculture, so food production factories were a logical choice. Then came machine parts makers capitalizing on the equipment needed on oil rigs, petroleum storage and transport companies, chemical supply companies, farm machinery wholesalers, and retail sales outfits. Combined, these industries supported each other and catapulted Bakersfield into position as a successful city and a great place to do business.
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