Editing Kerman, California (section)

==History==
Around 1891, the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific Railroad]] constructed a new line between Tracy and Fresno. A watering tank and pump on that line was the beginning of Kerman, which was christened Collis in honor of the President of the railroad, [[Collis Potter Huntington]]. The first inhabitant, the caretaker of the pump and tank, kept the tank full of water for the thirsty engines with their long and lumbering trains. After some months, he resigned his job, not because of the work, he said, but because it was too lonesome and he was tired of being a hermit. He said he never saw anyone but the train crews and they were always in too big a hurry to carry on a conversation.

On August 3, 1892, the train bandits [[Christopher Evans (outlaw)|Chris Evans]], [[John Sontag]], and [[George Contant]] robbed a Southern Pacific train at Collis. Contant went to [[Folsom State Prison]] for the crime. Evans and John Sontag became fugitives for ten months before they were captured in 1893 in what is called the [[Battle of Stone Corral]]. John Sontag died of his wounds in custody, and Chris Evans was also sent to Folsom upon his conviction of the crime.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duke |first1=Thomas Samuel |chapter=SONTAG AND EVANS, NOTORIOUS TRAIN ROBBERS, MURDERERS AND JAIL BREAKERS. (From Police Records and George Sontag's Statement to the Author.) |pages=276–286  |title=Celebrated Criminal Cases of America |date=1910 |publisher=James H. Barry Company |location=San Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkQ37-_VMpQC |oclc=3811019 |language=en |quote=By Thomas Samuel Duke, Captain of Police, San Francisco; Published with Approval of the Honorable Board of Police Commissioners of San Francisco, 1910. (Public Domain Free Download) |accessdate=November 29, 2012}}  <!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=M1ocAAAAMAAJ https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/ccca/ https://archive.org/details/celebratedcrimi00dukegoog  --></ref>

As a speculative venture, the old and very rich Bank of California purchased a huge tract of land in every County of California. The arid, barren land around Kerman seemed to be a good venture, so that happened to be the allotment for Fresno County.

After the death of its promoter, the bank became insolvent and its property was liquidated. The property here attracted the attention of two [[Los Angeles]] capitalists, [[William G. Kerckhoff]] and Jacob Mansar, who saw a chance to purchase a plentiful water supply from the newly constructed Enterprise Canal, which had its source in the [[Kings River (California)|Kings River]]. The men combined the first three letters of each of their names and christened the area "Kerman."  They pitched the property to [[North Germanic peoples|Scandinavians]] and [[Germans]] settled in the Midwest.<ref name=CGN />

The Collis post office was opened in 1894, closed in 1899, re-established in 1904, and renamed Kerman in 1906.<ref name=CGN /> Kerman incorporated in 1946.<ref name=CGN /> The [[independent telephone company|independent]] Kerman Telephone company retired its four-position manual [[telephone switchboard]], described by a state telephone association as the last of its kind in California, in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-08-mn-130-story.html|title=Pulling the Plug : Phone Company to Replace Last Manual Switchboard|first=CHARLES|last=HILLINGER|date=April 8, 1991|access-date=April 12, 2018|via=LA Times}}</ref>