Miller and Lux Survey Office

surveyoffice: Miller and Lux Survey Office

This survey office was built around 1906 as part of the Miller & Lux headquarters at Buttonwillow. Miller and Lux was an agricultural partnership with its Kern County headquarters in Buttonwillow.

In the hot, dry climate of Kern County, access to the waters of the Kern River was vital to the success of any agricultural or development endeavor. Miller and Lux became entangled with the landowning partnership of Haggin, Tevis, and Carr in 1880. In September of 1880, the great water lawsuit between the two partnerships began. Each group owned large tracts of land that both hoped to develop for agriculture and "colonization." Miller and Lux, who owned land farther down the Kern River, sued Haggin, Tevis, and Carr for channeling most of the water upriver onto their own land. The legal battle lasted for eight years until the two partnerships settled, allocating the water among various landowners. Further settlement of the southern San Joaquin Valley was slowed because of the lawsuit. But the resulting opening up of the valley for agriculture contributed greatly to the growth of Kern County.

HISTORY:
The building was a gift from the Buena Vista Water Storage District and the Buttonwillow Chamber of Commerce in 1966.


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