Editing Pine Mountain Club, California (section)

==History==

===Founding and development===

Pine Mountain Club was developed in 1971 by [[Tenneco]].<ref>"PMC Turns 50 With Enthusiasm," ''The Mountain Enterprise,'' August 6, 2021, page 5</ref> The first announcement was made from Houston, Texas, in April of that year when the company said it would develop "more than 1.1 million acres of land in Arizona and Southern California."<ref name=TennecoTells>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/61394101/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 Associated Press, "Tenneco Tells Plans for Major Land Developments," ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', April 14, 1971, image 14]</ref><ref name=HomesWill>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/528196570/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 Associated Press, "Homes Will Surround New Bakersfield Campus," ''Oakland Tribune,'' April 18, 1971, image 67]</ref> Tenneco was the Bakersfield-based western land-development arm of Tenneco, Inc., of Houston.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/384811681/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 "Of Real Estate and People," ''Los Angeles Times,'' April 18, 1971, image 182]</ref>

About half that acreage was to be in [[Kern County]], where the projects would include the residential development of 6,500 acres surrounding the then-new [[California State University, Bakersfield|California State College near Bakersfield]] and 3,200 acres in the [[Los Padres National Forest]], also mostly for residences (Pine Mountain Club).<ref name=TennecoTells/><ref name=HomesWill/>

The forest project was to set aside a thousand acres for vacation home sites and 2,200 acres "for permanent preservation in their natural state." The program was to be directed by John E. Sommerhalder, president of Tenneco West.<ref name=TennecoTells/><ref name=HomesWill/><ref name=Turpin2>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/384850373/ Dick Turpin, "Pine Mountain Resort," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 13, 1971, image 148]</ref> The land was part of a 3,200-acre tract of pine forest and meadowland, formerly a private [[Nature reserve|preserve]].<ref name=VacationResort>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/606673455/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 "Vacation Resort Area Being Built," ''Daily News-Post,'' Monrovia, California, June 17, 1971, image 11]</ref>

Tenneco West was a Bakersfield subsidiary that administered all the [[Western United States|western]] holdings of [[Tenneco]], "the parent, Houston-based, multi-industry company."<ref name=Turpin1>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/384848603/Dick Turpin, "Pine Mountain Club: Family Hideaway," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 13, 1971, image 125]</ref>

<blockquote>Adjacent to the clubhouse will be a nine-hole executive golf course[,] and other recreational facilities are a heated swimming pool, archery range, volleyball and basketball courts, a lake stocked with fish and a community barbecue area.<ref name=Turpin1/></blockquote>

Tenneco West President Sommerhalder said the club was believed to be among the largest all-electric family recreational resorts in California. Three kinds of "vacation or weekend homesites" were to be offered: (1) One- to three-bedroom dwellings, (2) modular homes, and (3) space for mobile homes.<ref name=Turpin1/>

<blockquote>Hiking trails, bridle trails (16 miles marked for from one-hour to all-day rides), an equestrian center with 10-stall barn, tack room, riding ring and corrals for boarding horses also will be available. . . . Later this year, a general store and laundromat will be added.<ref name=Turpin1/></blockquote>

The prices were estimated to begin from about $13,500 for a one-bedroom house and lot.<ref name=Turpin2/>

At the time of the announcement in 1971, "four deep wells" had already been sunk and an "extensive network of reservoirs and pipelines" laid, with a filtration plant near the commercial center.<ref name=Turpin2/>
 
Sommerhalder said the developer had the "assistance of [[Simon Eisner]], nationally known environmental planner."<ref name=Turpin1/>

Eight months after the opening, seventy-nine percent of the 1,309 purchasers indicated in a survey that construction of a vacation home was the prime reason for buying a lot and 43% of that group said they intended to start building during 1972.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/386321726/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 "Pine Mountain Club Reports on Building," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 6, 1972, image 147]</ref>

The development's sixth and final section, on a [[plateau]] some thousand feet higher than the clubhouse, went on sale in March 1973.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/382625110/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 "Added Lots Available at Pine Mountain Club," ''Los Angeles Times,'' March 27, 1973, image 136]</ref>

===Mil Potrero Highway===

Tenneco West improved a "winding, steep, one-lane dirt road" called ''Mil Potrero'' west from Pine Mountain Club to [[California State Highway 33]] into a "comfortable, convenient and safe way . . . to view what is generally regarded as [[Southern California]]'s most strikingly beautiful scene." The cost for the 6.5-mile segment was estimated at nearly a million dollars. John E. Sommerhalder, the company president, said the road opened up "a large segment of the [[Los Padres National Forest|[Los Padres National] forest]] that, until now, has been almost inaccessible."<ref name=ItsNow>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/560574700/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 "It's Now Mil Potrero Road," ''The Hanford Sentinel,'' February 26, 1972, image 90]</ref>

<blockquote>The job was unusually difficult, partly because of the mountainous terrain and partly because of protective and restorative measures taken to reduce to a minimum the disturbance to the natural surroundings. . . . The project had to conform to the specifications and requirements of both [[Kern County, California|Kern County]] and the [[U.S. Forest Service]]. In effect, it is already a public road, although Tenneco must maintain it for a year before the formal dedication as a public road can take place.<ref name=ItsNow/></blockquote>

To keep damages to the forest at a minimum, contractors Yeager Construction of Riverside and Desert Construction of Victorville were required to do all the work from the existing [[Right-of-way (property access)|right-of-way]] and forbidden to build a temporary construction road alongside. Fire-protection equipment had to be on hand at all times.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/560574713 "Road Improved," ''The Hanford Sentinel,'' February 26, 1972, image 92]</ref>

===Fruition===

By 1988, Pine Mountain Club had a small [[commercial district]] with about forty businesses, ranging from an [[Exxon]] gas station to a place called "Pheasants by Frank." According to the ''Newhall Signal,'' the district was "more or less shut down on Mondays and Tuesdays . . . because there are so many people with [[Holiday cottage|weekend homes]] that the stores choose to stay open Saturday and Sunday."<ref name=CarlsLeads>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/333314956/?terms=%22Tenneco%20West%22%20%22Pine%20Mountain%22&match=1 J.J. Jackson, "Carl's Leads the Way to 'The Hill,'" ''The  Signal,'' Santa Clarita, September 18, 1988, image 22]</ref>

On July 31, 2021, the community celebrated its fiftieth birthday with a barbecue picnic on blankets spread beneath the trees next to the golf course. Also noted was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Mil Potrero Mutual Water Company.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://mountainenterprise.com/story/pmc-turns-50-with-enthusiasm-2/|author=Patric Hedlund|title=PMC Turns 50 With Enthusiasm|work=The Mountain Enterprise|date=August 6, 2021}}</ref>