Kern County, California

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.Kern County is a county located in the southern Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Established in 1866, it extends east beyond the southern slope of the eastern Sierra Nevada range into the Mojave Desert, and includes parts of the Indian Wells Valley, and the Antelope Valley, and has an area nearly the size of New Jersey. From the Sierras the county extends across the floor of the San Joaquin Valley to the eastern edge of the Temblor Range, part of the Coastal Ranges. To the south the county extends over the ridge of the Tehachapi Mountains. According to the 2000 census, its population was 661,645, but recent California Department of Finance estimates place the county population at 779,869. The county seat is Bakersfield (since 1874) with the original county seat being the former mining town of Havilah in the mountains between Bakersfield and Tehachapi. The county has a large agricultural base and is a significant producer of oil, natural gas, hydro-electric power, wind-turbine power, and geothermal power.