Tulare County, California

Tulare County has an area of 6,406 square miles, and is the sixth in size in California; its topography is exceedingly diversified; from the low plains of the San Joaquin valley it gradually rises until its altitude culminates in Mount Whitney, 14,887 feet above the sea level. Tulare Lake, the largest body of fresh water in the state, is also embraced within its boundaries. Tulare lies south of Fresno and north of Kern, extending from the coast range on the borders of Monterey and Fresno to the peaks of the Inyo sierra. It contains over a million acres of valley land, watered by an extensive system of irrigating ditches from Kings and Kaweah rivers, and is the banner wheat-producing county of the state. Although the climate and soil are perfectly adapted to the growth of raisin grapes, and in fact all of the semi-tropic fruits, they are not yet cultivated on an extensive scale. The tendency, however, each year is to plant less wheat and more vines and fruit trees. The foot-hill section is devoted to agriculture and stock-raising, and in the mountains several prosperous sawmills are located. The population in 1880 was 11,281; now it is not less than 30,000. Visalia is the county seat; Tulare, division headquarters of the Southern Pacific, is the largest town; Traver, Goshen, Hanford, Grangeville, Lemoore, Portersville and Farmersville are growing places. In 1889 the assessed valuation was 824,443,013.

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Source: California State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1890, Volume II, R. L. Polk & Company, 1890.