HAVILAH, Calif. (KERO) — Transportation, local government, and gold; Roy Fluhart, the president of the Havilah Historical Society, says these factors are what initially drew in crowds to the town– starting with the gold rush.
“There’s a whole bunch of people in LA and San Francisco, that were looking for work and so they had this gold strike, and apparently the newspapers in those areas really played it up because they went all these ‘bums’ out of town because people looking for work and they want all these guys to go somewhere else, and they did. They came down here in a hundred, thousands maybe,” said Fluhart. “In the process, they discovered gold down these creeks down here, down here in Clear Creek, which comes out at Hobo Hot Springs.”
Havilah was also known for being the original county seat when Kern County was first established.
The small town was consumed by the Borel Fire, leaving the Historic Havilah bare.
This included the Havilah Museum, which was built as a replica of the original courthouse that served as the county seat in the 1800s.
“We didn’t save anything. We didn’t have time,” said Fluhart.
While the museum and many of its collections were destroyed by the Borel Fire last year, Fluhart says volunteers have not given up, though they have faced some setbacks.
The Havilah Historical Society is accepting donations to rebuild their museum. These can be mailed to:
Havilah Historical Society
P.O. Box 53,
Bodfish, CA 93205
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