Kerckhoff moved to
Los Angeles County, California, from
Indiana in 1878–1879 and worked for the Jackson Lumber Company. In 1887, along with James Cuzner of the Kerckhoff-Cuzner Lumber Company, he built the
Pasadena. It was the first ocean-going vessel to use oil for fuel. In the 1890s, he founded the San Gabriel Power Company, a hydroelectric power company in
Los Angeles. By the turn of the century, together with A.C. Balch, he owned half the stock of
Henry E. Huntington's Pacific Light & Power Company used to provide electricity to
Pacific Electric, and he served as its president. In 1902, they purchased the
San Joaquin Electric Company. They also founded Southern California Gas Corporation in 1910, and built a 120-mile pipeline from the
San Joaquin Valley to Los Angeles. In 1906, with
Burton E. Green (1868–1965),
Charles A. Canfield (1848–1913),
Max Whittier (1867–1928),
Frank H. Buck (1887–1942),
Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927),
William F. Herrin (1854–1927), W.S. Porter and Frank H. Balch, known as the Amalgamated Oil Company, he purchased
Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas from the heirs of
Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker. After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a new residential town later known as
Beverly Hills, California. As president of the South Coast Land Company, he also helped found the city of
Del Mar, California. and the small town of
Biola, California. ==Personal life==