Fresno
CA History
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California: Fresno Overview
Fresno is Spanish for "Ash Tree". Fresno County began In 1856, and included the area that now is Madera County as well as parts of San Benito, Tulare, Kings, Inyo and Mono counties. The original county seat was at a foothill community called Millerton. By the 1940's however, Millerton would be abondoned for the blossoming newer town of Fresno. Friant dam was built in 1944, creating what is now Millerton Lake over the top of the town of Millerton and another lost community called Cherokee. Fresno County population was slow to grow as of the state's attention was still centered on gold rush towns like Mariposa. The central valley agricultural evolution was burdened by crop failure as it was thought that nothing would grow in the "hardpan". It would be 15 years after the County was formed before the first successful crop would be harvested near what is now the town of Sanger. An Italian immigrant named Baldasare Forestiere purchased land near present day HWY99 and Shaw Avenue. He began digging a cellar to escape the 110-115 degree heat and planted his first "underground" tree in 1906. For the remainder of his life, he continued digging room after room. Baldasare died in 1946, leaving the legacy of Forestiere's Underground Gardens. Martin Theodore Kearney arrived in the central valley in 1869 and became Fresno County's pioneer land developer. Mr. Kearney believed that if properly irragated, crops would thrive here. M. Theo Kearney is known as the "Prince of Fresno" because of his work in developing a colony of farm systems that paved the way for large scale agriculture in Fresno County.
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