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The Kern River and Kern County are named for this artist

An oil painting thought to depict artist Edward Meyer Kern
Smithsonian American Art Museum
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Transfer from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/edward-meyer-kern-25051
An oil painting thought to depict artist Edward Meyer Kern. Scan from color transparency

When it comes to place names in the Central Valley, most follow a familiar pattern, with origins in tribal names, the Spanish colonial period, or those of early white settlers. But there are a few exceptions. Today on KVPR's Central Valley Roots, the story of the valley county - and river - named for an artist.

When John C. Fremont launched his Third Expedition into Alta California in 1845, he took with him around 100 men, including Kit Carson, Joseph Walker and a young painter from Philadelphia, named Edward Kern. He was the expedition’s official artist, topographer and cartographer.

In December 1845 and January 1846, Fremont’s party camped at the confluence of two forks of a great river in the Southern Sierra Nevada. Fremont named the river after his staff artist, giving us today’s Kern River.

Of course, this wasn’t the river’s first name. Father Francisco Garces had named it Rio de San Felipe in 1776. In 1806, Father José María de Zalvidea renamed it La Porciuncula. The Tübatulabal people who called the Kern River Valley home for thousands of years had distinct names for each branch of the river. They called the North Fork of the Kern, Palegewanap, meaning place of the big river, and the South Fork, Kutchibichwanap Palap, meaning place of the small river.

When Kern County was created in 1866, it borrowed Fremont’s name from the river, further cementing Edward Kern’s place in history. Today, the site where Kern and Fremont camped is under Lake Isabella, and is a California State Landmark.

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).