BAKERSFIELD, a city of California, U.S.A., on the Kern river, loom. N.W. of Los Angeles, in the southern part of the San Joaquin valley; the county-seat of Kern county. It is on Federal highway 99; is served by the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific railways, and by auto-stage lines to Los Angeles and San Fran cisco. It is one of the principal commercial air-ports on the Pa cific coast mail line between Seattle and Los Angeles. The popu lation was 4,836 in 190o; 18,638 in 1920; and was 26,055 in 1930 by Federal census.
The city's prosperity rests on the agricultural development of Kern county and its oil-fields. Cotton is the leading crop (37,70o bales ginned in 1926), follcwed closely by early vegetables, al falfa, and fruits, including seedless grapes. Oil was struck in the Kern river field in 1899, and the county's production until Jan. I, 1926, was 1,002,823,014 barrels, one-thirteenth of the total pro duction of the world since 1857. Pipe lines carry the oil to the harbours of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Los Angeles takes all the natural gas sent out of the county. There are large oil refineries, and compressor plants making gasolene out of natural gas. About 45 or 5o oil companies have offices in the city. The Elk Hills Naval Reserve is 23m. W.
The assessed valuation of property in Bakersfield was $30, 000,000 in 1927. Bank clearings in 1926 approximated $70,000, 000. The city has a planning commission and a city-manager form of government. A wild-flower festival is held every March.
Pioneers coming by stage through Tejon pass settled here as early as 1858. A post office was established in 1868. The city was laid out in 186g by Col. Thomas Baker, after whom it was named, a civil engineer who came in 1862 to supervise a reclama tion project. In 1870 it had a population of about 600. It was chosen as the county-seat by a popular election in 1873, and in corporated soon after. The Southern Pacific reached it in In 1889 it was almost entirely destroyed by fire. Thirty-eight miles S. is Fort Tejon, an adobe house built in 1854, which guarded the pass until 1864.