Solomon Jewett
Solomon Jewett (March 13, 1835 – December 26, 1905) was an American rancher and pioneer in Kern County, California.[1] He was prominent as a sheep farmer and banker together with his brother, Philo D. Jewett.[1][2]
Early life and career[edit]
He was born in Weybridge, Vermont on March 13, 1835.[2] His father Solomon Wright Jewett had been a sheep famer and dealer in Weybridge, who travelled to Europe to import sheep to the United States.[3]
In his early career, Solomon Jewett worked as a schoolteacher in Racine, Wisconsin, and as a ferryboat operator on the Missouri River in Nebraska in 1858, and undertook an aborted journey to Pike's Peak in 1859.[2]
Ranching[edit]
At the age of eight, he drove a flock of sheep from Vermont, where he was born, to Albany, New York.[1] He arrived in San Joaquin Valley, California, in 1860, and from there moved to Kern County.[1] Jewett trailed herds of Merino sheep into California,[4] first raising sheep on the Tejon ranch.[1] He then formed a partnershp with his brother Philo D. Jewett, at the 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) Rio Bravo ranch north of Kern.[1] In 1874, they sold their land and flocks to the Wool Growers' Association,[1] and moved to land north of Bakersfield, which became known as Jewett's Lane.[2][5]
Solomon then bought land north of Bakersfield and large flocks of sheep, which he finally sold in 1899, after which he switched to cattle.[1]
Farming[edit]
In 1865, Jewett planted cotton and built a cotton gin in Kern County, shipping the output to Alameda to be manufactured into fabric.[6] In 1865 they were growing 130 acres (53 ha) of cotton there, sending it to Oakland for ginning.[7]
He had in the meantime diversified into alfalfa farming, at three plots: one 640 acres (260 ha) at the Beardsley Canal, one 640 acres (260 ha) one at the McCaffery Canal, and one 320 acres (130 ha) one at the Emory ditch.[2]
Other enterprises[edit]
In addition, he opened the first general store in Bakersfield, established its first bank, and founded the Buena Vista Oil Company, which later became the Jewett Oil Company.[1] He was founding co-president of the Kern Valley Bank, which opened in 1874 on the corner of 18th Street and Chester Avenue in Bakersfield.[2]
His partnership Jewett & Blodgett secured rights of way for railroads to be laid to the oil field in McKittrick to Maricopa.[2]
In 1872 he was chairman of the county board of supervisors in Bakersfield, when the county seat moved there.[2]
Death and legacy[edit]
He died in Bakersfield, California on 1905-12-06.[2]
The Kern County Wool Growers' Association sold Rio Bravo on to Louis C. Olcese and John Barker,[5] and after operating as a sheep ranch into the 20th century[7] it was later the home of Merle Haggard.[5][dubious ]
See also[edit]
- Fidelia Jewett — Solomon's half-sister by his father's second wife[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Morgan 1914, pp. 1292–1294.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Morgan 1914, p. 1293.
- ^ Swift 1859, pp. 102–103.
- ^ "CALIFORNIA: Gold to Help Finance the War". Journal of the West. 14 (1): 25–41. January 1975 – via EBSCOHost.
- ^ a b c Brewer 2001, p. 18.
- ^ Brewer 2001, p. 19.
- ^ a b Littlefield 2020, p. 55.
Sources[edit]
- Morgan, Wallace Melvin (1914). History of Kern County, California. Dalcassian Publishing Company. LCCN 16006472. (History of Kern County, California at the Internet Archive)
- Swift, Samuel (1859). "History of the Town of Middlebury". History of Addison County, Vermont. Syracuse: D. Mason & Company.
- Littlefield, Douglas R. (2020). Ruling the Waters: California's Kern River, the Environment, and the Making of Western Water Law. The Environment in Modern North America. Vol. 4. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-6696-4.
- Brewer, Chris; Kern County Museum (2001). Historic Kern County: An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County. HPN Books. ISBN 978-1-893619-14-2.
Further reading[edit]
- Pack, Robert W. (1920). "Petroleum". The Sunset-Midway oil field California: Part 1, Geology and oil resources. Vol. 116. U.S. Geological Survey. pp. 63 et seq. doi:10.3133/pp116.
- Maher, John Charles; Carter, R.D.; Lantz, Robert Joseph; Biddle, K.T. (1974). "History of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1". Petroleum Geology of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1, Elk Hills, Kern County, California. U.S. Geological Survey. pp. 17 et seq. doi:10.3133/pp912.
- Waldner, Erin (2006-02-10). "Nestled in the hills, quietly making power". The Bakersfield Californian.
External links[edit]
- Nickel, George Wilmarth Jr (1998). "Following the Cattle King: A Lifetime of Agriculture, Water Management, and Water Conservation in California's Central Valley". University of California.