These two old time fellas, James Ben Ali Haggin and Henry Miller set the “law of the river” for the Kern after a 10-year lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court and was eventually settled between the two in 1888.
That lawsuit also established California water law regarding riparian vs. appropriative rights. And all of that from who owns which rights on the Kern to California law is still in place today.
So these are the grand poohbas of water.
A wealthy San Francisco business man who made his fortune in the aftermath of the Gold Rush, James B.A. Haggin, was also a major land speculator. He owned vast territories all over California and was one half of the original owners of the Kern Land Company, which held huge swaths of Kern County Land.Henry Miller was a German immigrant who went from being a butcher to owning large tracts of land in California. His rights to the Kern River are still intact today and owned by the Buena Vista Water Storage District.
