offers unsurpassed advantages in water conditions, quality of soil, and 

 cheapness of lands; with ready markets for all products grown at prices 

 [that net splendid profits to the producer. Land prices in fact are exceed- 

 ingly reasonable, ranging from $25 to $100 an acre, the price varying 

 according to location and improvements. Plans are being completed for 

 [the placing of several large tracts on the market for colonization purposes 

 [which will be subdivided into farms of almost any desired acreage and sold 

 at low rates and on easy terms to home-seekers. 



There are almost 2,000,000 acres of good land tributary to Bakers- 

 field, and if not more than a third or half of it were brought under cultiva- 

 tion it would support a population of several hundred thousand, and the 

 [time is coming when this county will be thickly populated with an indus- 

 ftrious people from all parts of the world. The resources of Kern County 

 |are becoming better known to the agricultural and home-seeking people 

 [of the world every year, and many inquiries are being received for Informa- 

 ttion about land from prospective settlers. These people have heard of the 

 enormous volume of water which flows down the mountains into Kern River, 

 and they know this water Insures plenty of irrigation advantages, and that a 

 [Splendid irrigation system conveys this water over a great area of splendid 

 'agricultural lands. In this system there are about 300 miles of main and 

 1,500 miles of lateral canals, and, when properly distributed, water suf- 

 ficient to irrigate about 200,000 acres; more water can be developed at 

 ; comparatively small cost when needed. This makes Kern County an ideal 

 [country for alfalfa and dairying, where the alfalfa crop yields from four 

 (to six crops each year, and grows continually, without reseeding for ten 

 or fifteen years. Alfalfa here will maintain two cows to the acre. The 

 climate is pleasant and mild, and the stock can remain outdoors all the 

 time, suffering not from heat or cold, and through breeding at the right 

 season the cows will be made to produce plenty of milk at the best season 

 of the year, when good prices are commanded for butter. 



An industry which has made the wonderful county of Kern noted 

 'throughout the civilized world is oil production. In addition to the mag- 

 nificent agricultural and fruit-raising possibilities, the oil business has made 

 ^many men rich in this part of California. Oil has been produced in this 

 [county for about twenty years, but it was not until the Important discov- 

 lerles were made In 1899, when the Kern River field was discovered that 

 fthe industry became of great importance. To-day the monthly production 

 [of the Kern River, McKlttrick, and Sunset fields are approximately 5,000 

 [carloads of 250 barrels each. The oil of the Kern County fields Is used by 

 [the great transcontinental railroads for fuel and the large power-plant con- 

 sumers of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the manufacturing sections of 

 [the great West. Oil land ranges in value from $250 to $300 an acre, and 

 Jmany acres of this valuable land are leased for from ten to twenty years, 

 fthe lessee paying one eighth to one third of the gross output as rental for 

 fthe privilege of extracting oil. 



In Kern County are located a number of refineries for the treatment 

 [of oil, reducing it to distillate, asphaltum, and other by-products, including 

 [asphaltum for street-paving. 



It will not be long before the annual production of petroleum in this 

 [county will have reached the million-dollar mark; for, while the presence 

 rof oil and asphalt deposits in the county has long been known, it is only 

 jwithin recent years that mining for these products has been carried on 

 [extensively. The prosperity which the oil business brings is of a substantial 

 mature and permanent. The wells are owned mostly by Californians, and 

 [much of the oil property is owned by Kern County people. The fortunes 

 (that have already been made in the oil Industry are astonishing, and yet 

 [It is merely the beginning. On the other hand, the fact must be recorded 

 .that many people of small means are also making Investments in the oil 

 fields, and, where they get in right, will make good interest on their invest- 

 ments. The presence of cheap fuel means additional interest in manu- 

 facturing and adds to the prestige of Kern County and Bakersfield. 



