Fresno County
California
Fresno County. Organized in 1856. Bounded
northwest by Merced and Mariposa, northeast and east by Mono and
Inyo, southeast and south by Tulare, and southwest by Monterey.
Area, 8,750 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for
1874, $7,557,426.
County seat, Fresno. Principal towns, Borden, King's River,
Kingston, New Idria, and Panoche. Resources agricultural, stock
raising and mineral. The great area of the county, extending as
it does from the summit of the Sierra Nevada down its western
slope, across the valley of the San Joaquin, and to the summit
of the Coast Range, possesses native wealth of incalculable
value. In the eastern portion are the loftiest peaks of the
Sierra, about them grow the largest trees of the earth and the
forests generally are of a magnificence unparalleled.
Mines of gold are worked to some extent, but the interest is not
prosecuted with great energy. The valley of the San Joaquin,
comprised within the county, is of great fertility, and in its
western portion are the rich quicksilver mines of New Idria and
Panoche, and other discoveries in the vicinity add to this
important source of wealth. Coal and iron also abound in the
Coast or Monte Diablo range, and copper is found in the
foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada. While the mineral and lumbering
resources of the county are of the grandest description and
practically inexhaustible, the present dependence is mainly upon
the agricultural.
The broad and fertile San Joaquin Valley invited the farmers to
its occupancy, and the construction of the San Joaquin Valley
railroad through the county, gave facilities for transportation,
and as a consequence the farming interest, so easily developed,
takes the first rank. Wheat is the principal product, but other
small grains, corn, cotton, tobacco, etc., are grown, and as the
profit of their cultivation are satisfactory, we may expect in
future the product to be large. The soil of the valley is
generally a sandy loam, and as rains are a precarious
dependence, irrigation will be resorted to. For this purpose
numerous large canals are projected, and several are In course
of construction, which, though only partially completed have
proven of great value. One of the most extensive of these
projects is that of the San Joaquin and King's River Canal and
Irrigation Co., which proposes the construction of canals
leading from the San Joaquin and King's Rivers, and their
tributaries, and from Tulare Lake and the streams flowing into
it for the purposes of navigation, irrigation, etc., with the
design of extending the main canal along the western side of the
San Joaquin Valley to Suisun Bay, at or near Antioch. A large
amount of work upon this grand system has been done, and
irrigation of large tracts effected with most encouraging
result. This canal, taken from the San Joaquin near the junction
of Fresno slough, has a width of 54 feet on top, by 32 on the
bottom, and is 4 feet deep. A similar branch will be brought
from Tulare Lake. Other companies, and also private parties have
irrigating canals of considerable magnitude, for which the
streams entering the valley offer favorable opportunities.
The chief rivers are the San Joaquin, King's River, Fresno and
the Cowchilla. The San Joaquin is navigable during a greater
portion of the year to the junction of Fresno slough, and thus
affords transportation facilities in competition with the
railroad.
Officers: Gillum Baley, County Judge; Angus M.
Clark, Clerk, Recorder and Auditor; Claudius G. Sayle, District
Attorney; J. Scott Ashman, Sheriff Thomas W. Simpson, Assessor;
Martin B. Lewis, Surveyor; (vacant) Coroner; (vacant) Public
Administrator; Thomas O. Ellis, Superintendent Public Schools.
California Gazetteer |
AHGP California
Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled
by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875
|
