kern river

The gold fields of Kern County gave birth to a number of rough-and-tumble mining towns, some of which still exist today.

While the bulk of the California Gold Rush took place from Mariposa north, the Central California foothills to the south also had a great deal of mining activity.

A water district 200 miles north of Kern County is fighting back against a local agency’s threat to terminate an agreement that has supplied a 600-home development for the past 24 years.

For the first time in more than 100 years, the Kern River is headed back to the California Supreme Court where justices may overturn or uphold an order mandating flows be kept in the riverbed through Bakersfield.

Edward Kern was an artist, topographer and cartographer on an expedition to California led by John C. Fremont.

In May 1899, James and Jonathan Ellwood discovered oil on the north side of the Kern River, setting off an oil boom that transformed Bakersfield and Kern County.

The Kern County Water Agency filed a motion seeking to remove Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp from the long-running Kern River lawsuit saying it believes he is prejudiced against the agency.

The city may be named for Colonel Thomas Baker, but he wasn't the first to call the area home.

In a wide-ranging ruling that could have larger implications for public interest lawsuits throughout California, the 5th District Court of Appeal reversed a preliminary injunction that had required water in the Kern River through the heart of Bakersfield.

Justices with the 5th District Court of Appeal peppered attorneys with questions about the application of state water law and the fight over Kern River flows during arguments in Fresno on Thursday.