Souther Ditch Plow

ditchPlow2:

The Souther Ditch Plow came to the Kern County Museum in 1946. This ditch plow was named for William Henry Souther, superintendent of the Horatio P. Livermore land holdings in Kern County from 1874 to 1878. W. H. Souther had this enormous plow constructed near Hollister, California and transported on the Southern Pacific Railroad to Bakersfield. The plow was constructed to build the Kern Island Canal in 1874. The Kern Island Canal runs from the foot of Panorama Heights through Central Park in downtown Bakersfield past the Beale Library and on south to water the fertile fields of the Kern Lake bottom. The plow reportedly could cut a furrow five feet wide and three feet deep. Weighing 1, 800 pounds and requiring forty yoke of oxen to pull this massive piece of machinery, the Souther Ditch Plow proved an inefficient tool for excavating a canal. The plow was abandoned on H. P. Livermore’s Greenfield Ranch (located south of Bakersfield) in 1875.

HISTORY:
Horatio P. Livermore and Julius Chester constructed what was probably the first major canal in California used exclusively for irrigation. The Kern Island Canal transported water from the Kern River to Kern Lake (present location of Highway 99 and Panama Lane). The Kern Island Canal powered the Kern River Mills, a flour mill owned by Livermore and Chester, located at the corner of S Street and Truxtun Avenue in downtown Bakersfield. Eventually, the Kern County Land Company purchased the Kern River Mills and continued to produce flour from this locally owned mill until 1942.


Print This Page   Email This Page