The Horseless Carriage

Written by George Gilbert Lynch

At the turn of the century, automobiles were a rich man’s novelty. The hand-cranked engines made motoring impractical except to mechanics who could constantly repair their one-of-a-kind machines.

Starting one of these cars required a lot. One had to prime a cold motor with a squirt-can of gasoline, set the spark timing lever, adjust the carburetor mixture and throttle opening, then hand crank the heavy engine till it either caught on fire, began running, or backfired and broke your arm. This crude engine-starting process made the gasoline automobile impractical until 1912.

The first horseless carriage to run on a Bakersfield street was a Locomobile, featured in a Barnum and Bailey Circus parade in 1899. The 1901 Oldsmobile was the first mass-produced automobile in the world and an Olds curved-dash model was bought by Joe Ferris of Caliente in 1902, making it the first car purchased in Kern County.

William Tevis, of the Kern County Land Company, was the owner of a 1904 White Steamer. The sales hook of this car was that the boiler was fired with kerosene. Gas stations were non-existent at that period, so when you ran out of fuel or water with a White Steamer, you utilized the nearest farm house. It had kerosene for the fire and well water for the boiler, so you were soon on your way again. White manufactured both gasoline- and steam-powered automobiles. These early autos were priced much too high for the average person, only companies or the wealthy could afford them.

By 1905, 15 automobiles were cruising Bakersfield’s dusty or muddy city streets. Oldsmobiles, Ramblers, Pope Hartfords, Cadillacs...it seemed a new manufacturer sprang up every week trying to get on the car bandwagon. Most of these new auto companies were previously steam engine, bicycle, or carriage builders. They simply bought their automobile components from other companies, assembled them into a car, and presto! A new horseless carriage company was born. Ajax, Crestmont, Wolverine, Yale, Niagara, Mohawk, Altham, and Regas are only a sampling of the hundreds of “didn’t make its.” Only a few of these early companies survived the first 25 years.

In May, 1907, local businessman Richard Hudnut built a half-mile dirt race track on Chester Avenue at the old fairgrounds site. The first automobile race held in Kern County took place on this track during the 4th of July celebration. The day’s events included: trotting horses, running horses,

motorcycles, and auto races. The automobiles entered were owned and driven by Kern County residents and included such elephants as: Pope-Hartford, Haynes-Apperson, Locomobile, and many more. Only a few finished but the crowd was huge and from that day forward, Kern County was car-crazy.

Ford’s 1908 Model T totally changed American life within a few years by providing the country cheap, sturdy transportation in great quantity. The secret Henry Ford discovered by accident at a Palm Beach, Florida auto race in 1905 made it possible to manufacture such an automobile. After a French racing car crashed, Henry picked up a small, slender piece of bright metal near the accident and noted it was tremendously strong and light. He had it analyzed and found it was a vanadium steel alloy, not yet common in America. In that moment, the Model T was born in his mind because he now possessed the knowledge to produce the steel alloys needed to make it strong enough to take the beating he knew it would have to withstand on our pot-holed dirt roads.

Automobile engineering and production were years ahead of the roads they were forced to drive on. Horse and buggy roads were the motorcar’s worst enemy. In wet weather, the muddy ruts, pot holes, and swollen streams stopped even the best cars. California law set the speed limit in cities at 10 miles per hour, but our townspeople exclaimed none of those automobiles obeyed it and how could they prove how fast a car was traveling anyway? This naturally led to Bakersfield hiring a motorcycle police officer in 1910. His motorcycle had a speedometer so the speeding dispute was resolved.

Around the time automobiles became available, Kern County was at the beginning of a tremendous oil boom and instant riches quickly brought scores of big expensive cars and trucks into the Bakersfield area. Dealerships, gas stations, and repair garages began to appear in town and Bakersfield’s love affair with the automobile started with a bang. Local newspapers devoted full pages to automobile news and ads describing all the latest new entries into the auto manufacturing business. New companies by the dozens were springing up coast to coast, all trying to cash in on the national automobile craze.

Tremendous oil gushers were spewing dollars by the barrel in the valley’s oil patch, prompting Kern County’s wealthy businesses to purchase scores of new cars and trucks as fleets for servicing and transportation for their oil companies and mining interests. So many Model T Fords were owned in a populated oilfield area west of Taft, the town was named “Ford City.”

Large companies, such as Kern Land Company, and numerous oil and mining corporations found the trucks and automobiles indispensable to their businesses. The cars and trucks were also cheaper to buy in larger quantities, so companies had the railroad ship them into Kern by the carload. Soon the most preferred models of trucks such as Packards and Bulldog Macks were scarce and required up to six months for delivery.

Kern County formed road commissions and floated bonds to pay for new road construction, paving and bridge building. All sorts of new automobile laws had to be introduced in these early years for safety, such as head lights; red, illuminated tail lights; brakes on at least two wheels; and a bell, horn, or whistle to warn pedestrians or livestock of the auto’s approach. “Winning races on Sunday sold cars on Monday,” was just as true in 1910 as it is today and the larger manufacturers invested thousands into those early day road and track events to prove their cars were the most durable and the fastest.

The first big road race held in Bakersfield was a grand affair. It was planned for the 4th of July, 1911, but a suitable road racing course had to be built first. In the months preceding the big event, local merchants, ranchers, and oil lease owners poured their time and money into constructing a great 10-mile track.

The starting line was on the south end of Jewett Lane, then proceeded north across the Kern River Bridge, through the village of Waits (later Oildale), then east on what is now China Grade Loop Road, through the Oil City settlement to Gordons Ferry Bridge, south to China Grade, then west up the grade. Upon topping China Grade, a dirt road went south to North Baker Street, then west on Bernard Street back to the Jewett Lane starting line and the grandstand built especially for this race.

The area this course covered made the entire race visible from the Bluffs. This was planned so thousands of spectators could park there and enjoy the event. Entries in this big race were divided into two classes, lightweight and heavy. The lightweight class was won by a 1911 Buick driven by Louis Nikreat and the grand winner of the “Tevis Cup Trophy” was Harry Herrick, driving a factory-sponsored National automobile.

By 1913, the automobile had progressed in durability and dependability to a point where “endurance races,” now called “rallies,” became the craze among car owners because the family could go along on the motoring adventure. The Bakersfield Morning Echo promoted an American Automobile Association sanctioned endurance race, the first-ever held in the San Joaquin Valley. Eleven autos were entered. The prize for winning was valued at $250.

The race committee selected the Greenhorn Route, which back in 1913, was a series of torturous, twisty, steep, dirt mountain roads. The race began at 6 a.m. at the Beale Clock Tower, ran north across Kern River Bridge, through Waits (Oildale), Poso, Woody, Glenville, Cedar Creek, Greenhorn Summit, Kernville, Isabella, Havilah, Caliente, then over White Wolf Grade to Bakersfield. The Kern River had to be twice forded at Kernville due to lack of bridges over north and south forks.

Driver points were subtracted for repairs made to the car, adding radiator water, engine oil, or having to stop and restart the engines. Fifteen miles per hour could be averaged over the course. The cars began arriving back at Bakersfield around 2 p.m. The winningest car of that period, a Buick 25, won the race with a perfect score, non-stop. Second went to a Reo; third, another Buick; and fourth was an Apperson Jackrabbit. All cars except the winning Buick had to add radiator water due to boiling at those high altitudes.

As the automobile gradually became affordable to most families and rutty road conditions caught up with automotive engineering, dependable, durable cars became commonplace and taken for granted. Those very early years when any excursion outside of town was an adventure became only a memory.

Article appeared in our 27-1 Issue - April 2010