 As the Tulare Lake receded in the late 1920s, this stretch between the two cities later became State Route 41.Oil was discovered in the Kettleman Hills in 1928, at the Kettleman North Dome Oil Field, which became one of the most productive oil fields in the United States in the early 1930s.Reportedly, thousands of spectators came to see the gusher that spouted almost pure gasoline for weeks.