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Two brothers-in-law from Kentucky had a great love for horses and -- fortunately for them -- the
gold mining business. Each made a fortune grubstaking miners in the Black Hills of South Dakota
through their company, Homestake Mining Company.

They eventually settled in San Francisco where one, Lloyd Tevis, became the first President of
Wells Fargo Bank. With his brother-in-law, James Ben Ali Haggin, they began to acquire land in
160-acre parcels around Bakersfield. They worked within the provisions of the Desert Land Act
signed into law by President Grant during his last days in office. They were required to provide
irrigation to transform "desert" land into no less than global leadership in agriculture.

Their efforts evolved into a major legal battle over water rights (irrigation vs. riparian rights) to the
Kern River in 1881. Tevis and Haggin opposed Henry Miller and Charles Lux. After a lower-court
trial and an appeal to the state supreme court -- including some degree of "vote buying" in the
state legislature, the parties ultimately decided to share the water.

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