3801 Purdue Drive Bakersfield, California 93306
Having lived in the San Joaquin Valley of California most of my
82 years, I have seen so many changes. Most of all, I’ve
witnessed the water shortage in the Valley, which has been brought
on by all the dams in the mountains to stop rivers from draining
into the Valley floor.
In the early 1900s farmers used engines and centrifugal pumps to
irrigate farmland; they covered this machinery with a roof. We
called them pump houses.
Thus my idea to put a pump house on a trailer with a fifteen
horse Fairbanks-Morse Model Z engine on it, running a centrifugal
pump. Pictures #1 and #2 show this pump setup. Picture #3 shows my
pump house and a 1 HP Jaeger, two 3 HP Fairbanks-Morse and two
Stover engines running at the large Tulare Farm Show. Picture #4
shows the discharge pipe running full stream. Picture #5 shows the
engine as it is today, mounted permanently at the Vista Museum at
Vista, California. This display traveled many miles in California
at engine shows and was always a great pleasure to show.
