Fresno County History

Whether or not the "Captain of the Presidio" above referred to, was Captain Anza, we are not sure; but from the best sources of information we are of the opinion that he was, and that to him belongs the honor of discovering and naming the San Joaquin river. It is at any rate that the San Joaquin was discovered and named between the 17th of September and the 9th of October, 1776, or a little more than two months after the declaration of the independence of the United States.

GEOGRAPHICAL

We will first consider the San Joaquin valley as extending from the Consumnes river 260 miles south to the Tehachapi mountains, and with an average width as previously stated, this constitutes about three-fifths of the area of the whole basin. This southern half of the great plain is subdivided into the San Joaquin and Tulare valleys, although the latter is practically a continuation of the former. It is proper here to define our understanding as to what constitutes a valley, and thus establish as well as define our position as to the great interior basin being one valley. It will certainly be conceded that a valley is a comparatively level body of land surrounded, or bounded, by higher lands, hills or mountain ranges. Assuming that this is admitted, we will state further that there is no perceptible elevation marking the line between the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys; neither is there an elevation to mark the divide so as to establish the Tulare valley claim. The subdivisions admitted are marked and defined by the Sacramento river in the north-central portion of the valley; and the same will apply to the San Joaquin river where the Southern Pacific Railroad crosses that stream near the Fresno and Tulare county line; and the Kern valley claim may likewise be defined by the Kern River, which crosses the plains near Bakersfield en route to Kern Lake.

Having briefly defined our position we will resume our valley rambles, and proceed by saying that this great valley is situated between two parallel mountain chains extending in a north-westerly and south easterly direction, through a great part of the State - the Sierra Nevada, on the east, attaining their highest point in Tulare County, in the lofty peak of Mount Whitney, rising to an altitude of 15,056 feet above sea level, from which the summit line slopes gradually both to the north and south, and the Coast Range, on the west side, having an average height of less than 2,000 feet.

The valley consists of two plains of unequal width extending from the foothills of the mountains, and meeting in a trough, not midway, but considerably west of the center line of the great depression. This trough, extending from one end of the valley to the other, has a general inclination in a northwesterly direction toward the outlet for all drainage waters of this great basin, Suisun bay. Its slope is not uniform, but flattens out at intervals where lakes and marshes exist, as the streams flowing in on either side have banked up the silt and detritus washed from the mountains at special points for ages past. In this manner Kern river, sweeping down enormous volumes of decomposed granite, has spread out a broad barrier across the valley, including a basin above it for the reception of the waters forming Kern and Buena Vista lakes, at the southern extremity of the trough; and King's river, carrying its load of sand and silt to the lowest part of the valley, has raised a dam across the depression, and completed the shallow basin where now exists Tulare lake, one of the largest sheets of fresh water in California. The general conformation of the valley favors the opinion that this trough once held the bed of a continuous stream from Kern river, extending the entire length of the valley and receiving the tributaries flowing in on either side. As it now is, the depression serves as the drainage way for all the valley, however impeded may be its course.

From Kern and Buena Vista lakes, which occupy the same level in the lowest depression of the southern end, and are at an elevation of about 293 feet above low tide, it slopes at the rate of about two feet per mile for forty-two miles to Tulare lake, whose elevation is 198 to 210 feet, according to the stage of its waters. Thence to the mouth of Fresno slough at the great bend of the San Joaquin, fifty-five miles from the lake, the slope is eighty-six hundredths of a foot per mile. The total fall from this point to the mouth of the San Joaquin river, a distance of 120 miles, is 165 feet.

GEOLOGY OF THE VALLEY

The geology of this great valley is a wonderful study. The student will here find ample field for investigation, and volumes could be written thereon and yet not begin to exhaust the subject.

As yet writers are left in a measure to their various ideas and speculations as to the time when this great valley was made, and as to the exact causes which culminated in preparing this fertile region for man's habitation. The general topography and geological features of this valley leave no doubt upon the mind of the average man that it has been in some remote period an inland sea, whose waters have for ages received the wash and wear of the surrounding mountains until at the lowest depression deposits of diluvium thousands of feet deep have been made, which have been builded upon by vegetable matter and soils formed by the recedence of the waters. The foothills bear traces of having been worn by some mighty stream, and are covered by the decomposed granite, gravel, lava and humus of ages. From their base the land gently descends and does not lose the volcanic appearance of the soil until it reaches the general level of the plains. The richness of the soil of this great valley is undoubtedly due to the glacial period. The soil is seemingly made from the granite rocks and lava, ground into a paste by the glaciers in the mountains and passed down into the great inland sea by other glaciers, and great bodies of water seeking a common level.

John Muir says of the Sierras: They are everywhere marked and adorned with characteristic sculptures of the ancient glaciers that swept over this entire region like one vast ice-wind, and the polished surfaces produced by the ponderous flood are still so perfectly preserved that in many places the sunlight reflected from them is about as trying to the eyes as sheets of snow. While nature's great glacial mills have ground slowly, they have here ground exceedingly fine, and have been kept grinding long enough to prepare soil for any alpine crop. Most of the soil has been borne to the low lands, where man can plant and till it, leaving the high regions generally bare and uninviting.

Less than 3,000 feet below the summit of Mount Ritter, we find tributaries of the San Joaquin and Owen's rivers bursting forth from the eternal ice and snow of the glaciers that line its flanks; while a little to the north are found the highest affluents of the Tuolumne and Merced. Here we find the fountains of four of California's principal rivers within a radius of a few miles.

When nature was preparing the great American continent for man's habitation - first by the ordeal of fire, as shown by volcanic action which heaved to the surface all minerals for man's convenience and use, - then came a time demanding a radical change to grind down the mighty mountains and prepare a soil upon which man could produce vegetation to sustain life. Then came the period of ice, when the mighty glaciers from New England to the shores of the great Pacific ocean were put to grinding and planing away the stupendous mountain ranges stretching away across the continent, when the high lands about the sources of the great Mississippi river were being planed down and the debris carried down to form the great valley along that stream to the Gulf of Mexico. Then too the ice was planing down the old lava slopes of the Sierras, and to their action is due the uncovering of the gold fields, as also the gold they ground out of the quartz, and the alluvium that made the inexhaustible soil of this greatest of valleys.

No prehistoric remains have been reported as found within this valley; but stone mortars, pestles, and arrowheads have been found, it is reported, in Pilocene gravel, at Murphy's Camp, Shaw's Flat, Columbia, Springfield, Tuolumne, Table Mountain, Sonora and Knight's Landing. Hills and mountains contain bones of the mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse, camel, whale and a quadruped resembling a tapir. Oyster shells fifteen inches long have been found at Coral Hollow, and Oyster Peak near Mount Diablo is named for its fossils. It is claimed that part of the skull of a man was found in sinking a shaft in one of the mining districts at a depth of 130 feet, under four successive strata of lava, which if true would indicate that man was on this coast prior to the great eruptions of this portion of the earth.

Professor Amos Bowman, of the State Geological Survey, thus defines certain eras in the geological history of California: -

First, the Pilocene, or ancient eroding period, during which these deep "dead" - river channels were cut into the "bed rock."

Second, these Pilocene channels filling up with gravel, or the choking, or damming period.

Third, the active volcanic period of the Sierras, where the gravels were capped with lava and volcanic ashes.

Fourth, the cold or glacial period, when the slopes were covered with living, moving glaciers.

Fifth, the modern erosive or more recent period, during which the present river channels were formed crossing the old channels at various angles.

There seems to be no controverting the theory, or we may well say fact, that the great San Joaquin valley was at one period submerged with the waters of the Pacific ocean, which left upon their subsidence a soil of adobe that has since received a coat or deposit of sedimentary alluvium. The soil of the valley largely formed though glacial influences belongs to the secondary formative period. The mountains are of volcanic substances. Trap or basalt is the leading rock, although porphyry, syenite, slate, and especially carbonate, or magnesian limestone are found.

In attempting to define the several geological formations, we will assume that the mountains and valley are without breaks in their formation, and as it would appear if all the groups of formations were present at one place in their natural order. But this seldom occurs. These formations are very much broken and disturbed, presenting a great variety of structures. Supposing we were to examine a section of the earth in its original condition before any disturbing cause disarranged the several strata, and beginning at the San Joaquin and extending to the top of the Sierras, the rocks, strata, etc., there would be, -

First, soil and alluvium. The conclusion will be readily reached by an observing person, from the soil and vegetation of which this is the debris, that this formation is exceedingly rich for agricultural purposes. this deposit covers almost the entire surface of this great valley, varying somewhat as to depth, and in fertilizing strength, or rather special adaptation to certain products. The higher valleys and hills are not deficient, as a rule, in depth of soil, and in some of the smaller basins it reaches a depth of from ten to twenty feet, sufficient to support groves of immense trees. It is impossible to give the exact depth of soil in any one locality.

We give fisures of a well bored some years since near the Chowchilla ranch, and within two miles of the river. Total depth, 297 feet. Two feet, surface soil and sandy loam. Through a space of ninety-eight feet was found fine sand streaked with thin layers of clay. the sand was similar to that of the plains, then one foot of solid hard-pan. Then, passing through ninety-five feet, the strata were found to be composed of various qualities of sand, from that of quicksand to coarse gravel. Then through 101 feet was found to be a compact mass of hard blue clay, such as is found by the grinding away and decomposition of granite and other rocks. After passing through this flowing water was obtained.

Secondly, the conglomerate formation, comprising a deposit of shale, clay, boulders, sand, and fragments of all the lower strata, worn and loosely cemented with calcareous matter, which was evidently deposited when most of these mountains were under water. There is found in this information evidence of floods and washings of the sea, fossils of wood, bones (mostly of marine animals), shells of mussels and other mollusks, turtles, such as are now found in creeks, with occasional impressions of sea weeds. This formation has no regular thickness. It is sometimes found in piles against the shale to a depth of from thirty to forty feet. In the foothills it extends over the Pacific coast, stratified by the action of water.

The third stratum, or bituminous shale, - "chalk rock" - varies from a white to a dark color, and from a very fine to a very coarse texture, as also from a soft and friable condition crumbling between the fingers, to a flinty hardness, that withstands the hardest steel. In this stratum are found tree-like concretions of hard sandstone 50 to 100 feet long, and also bones of marine monsters, such as whales, seals, etc., and occasional beds of liguite, an impure or immature coal, three or four feet thick. Some of this coal however, is of a fair quality. In the white and gray chalk beds are found microscopic remains of diatoms, sponges, and other organic structures. in fact, this formation seems to be composed of the remains of these microscopic beings. Therefore, this formation must have taken place under the water, when the present Coast Range was near the level of the sea, and when perhaps the Sierra was the eastern barrier to the Pacific ocean.

The fourth, or sandstone, formation, differs but little from the shale, except the quantity of sand contained therein, not very firmly cemented, and mixes more or less with the shale in alternate layers. The fossils in each are similar. Beneath the sandstone are found the upturned edges of the clay slates. These are interstratified with a limestone, copper ore and quicksilver. As the old red sandstone, and the ''true carboniferous" rocks so called, are not found in California, it was long supposed that no valuable commodity in large bodies in the Coast Range have set aside such theory. These coals contain far more solid combustible matter, and less incombustible material, than most tertiary coals. It is really more properly "lignite," and belonging to a later period than that of the real coal formation, lying in different strata. The rocks are of the upper secondary age, sandstone and shale, and were formed by alternating depositions in salt and fresh water.

The fifth, or limestone, formation, is more or less metamorphic, and the rock is crystalline. This lime rock is of very good quality, and when properly selected is an excellent building material and easily worked, and is found in large quantities. In places there are unexplored caves of considerable extent. No important fossils have been reported as found in this formation. It is not found in distinct horizontal strata but generally in masses, as having been thrown into heaps when in a semi-plastic state by the upheavel of underlying formations.

The sixth, or metamorphic, rock, was undoubtedly originally stratified, but now broken and thrown into endless confusion. There are alternations of slate, granite, limestone, quartz, gneiss, etc. It is the most prevalent rock of these mountains occupying a large portion of their area, and contains copper, gold, quicksilver, iron, and has recently been shown to contain petroleum of vast variety and excellent quality.

The real economic value of this formation in these mountains is as yet but partially known, and therefore appreciated. Undoubtedly a river ran nearly in the course of the present Stanislaus, in the Pilocene age, and was destroyed by a lava flow, which rose to the level of the banks, leaving no bed for the water, and continued to build up until it assumed a mountain appearance, with serpentine, steep sides, and a bare and level top. Sinking down through the middle of Table Mountain, the miners passed through 150 feet of basalt, 100 of volcanic sand, fifty of clay and sand, thirty of gravel (the lowest ten feet being rich in gold), and then struck the slate or bed rock.

The seventh or granite formation, makes up the bulk of the Sierra Nevada mountains. This granite has undoubtedly at some period been stratified, although nearly all evidence of such a fact has been lost. Where exposed it crumbles readily. The lowest rock is granite, but differing greatly in its composition in different localities. Overlying this are found shales and sandstones of the crustaceous period, - a very recent geological age; hence the conclusion that these granites are but the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of past ages.

During the deposition of the cretaceous rocks, this country and the great San Joaquin valley formed a part of the bottom of the Pacific ocean. Time swept on, however, and the hour which closed a period of the world's history came, and with it the upheavel of the mighty Sierras.

Then undoubtedly followed a long period of comparative rest, and perhaps the period when mine deposits of upheavels were made. Large rivers were formed, deep channels and gorges cut through the uplifted rocks, which were so heated by volcanic fires as to crumble when coming in-contact with water, and the heat also metamorphosed the disintegrated parts, sands, mud, etc., were filled with the metal rocks from below, through others circulated hot water, charged with the various valuable minerals, gold, silver, copper, etc. These were slowly deposited where now found in large quartz ledges, as also later in gravels where glacial mills had ground them down and washed them down the streams along the foothills and into the valleys.

The climate of this great valley has been spoken of in the general history of the State, but will be given special local attention in the history of the counties elsewhere in this work, as also will the various products. We wish now to call the reader's attention to the condition and aesthetic appearance of this great valley.

THE PRIMITIVE LANDSCAPE

There began to settle in this valley in 1848-'49 that intrepid band of pioneers who had scaled the Sierras or sailed "around the Horn." At length they gained the promised land. When they entered this great valley they found it an interminable grain-field, miles upon miles and acre after acre; wild oats grew in wondrous profusion, and in many places to a prodigious height, - one great, glorious green of wild, waving grain, high over the head of the way-farer on foot, and shoulder high to the equestrian. Wild flowers of every prismatic shade charmed the eye, while they vied with each other in the gorgeousness of their colors, and blended into dazzling splendor. One breath of wind and the wide emerald expanse rippled itself into space, while with a heavier breeze came a swell whose rolling waves beat against the mountain-sides, and being hurled back were lost in the far-away horizon, and shadow pursued shadow in a long, merry chase. The air was filled with the hum of bees, the chirp of birds, and an overpowering fragrance from the various flowering plants weighted the air. The hillsides, overrun as they were with a dense mass of chapparal, were hard to penetrate, while in some portions the deep, dark gloom of the forest trees lent relief to the eye. The almost boundless range was intersected throughout with divergent trails, whereby the traveler moved from point to point, progress being, as it were, in darkness on account of the height of the oats on either side, and rendered dangerous in the valleys by the bands of untamed cattle, sprung from the stock introduced by the mission fathers. These found food and shelter on the plains during the night; at dawn they repaired to the higher grounds to chew the cud and bask in the sunshine. At short intervals coyotes sprang almost from beneath the traveler's feet. The flight of numerous quail and other birds, the nimble run and leap of the jack rabbit, and the stampede of the elk and antelope, which abounded in thousands, added to the charm.

THE VALLEY IN MAY

The month of May has robed the great valley of the San Joaquin in a garb of beauty. The oak forests, which burst into leaf early in the spring, present to the eye when viewed from an eminence a vast billowy sea of green. The wide plain seems an unbroken expanse of waving green, just beginning to ripen for the harvest, field succeeding field, and mile succeeding mile as far as the vision can extend. Lawns are fresh and beautiful, and flower-gardens contain a wealth of bloom; climbing vines wind about arbor and lattice, making masses of leaf sprinkled with blossoms of every hue. Flowers from the north grow in the shade of the palm from the south. Numberless plants from nurseries nestle with the spine-covered but brilliantly flowered cactus from the desert. The most beautiful ornamental exotics from every clime and every corner of the world are naturalized here, and grow and thrive by the side of the flowering favorites native to the soil, which have been transplanted from forest and field.

Such is this great valley in the last days of a California spring, - the period of transition between the showery April weather and the warm, rainless summer. May finds it a land of beauty, and leaves it a paradise.

We will attempt to convey to the reader the scene meeting the eye of the traveler on his entrance into this great valley. The writer will ask the reader to be seated with him on the north-bound train over the Southern Pacific railroad. We will discuss different topics until we pass through the great Mojave desert, and note the grand scenery through the Tehachapi mountains, the wonderful engineering skill displayed in rounding the many points, crossing canons, through tunnels, and the famous loop where the railroad doubles over, across and under itself in finding its way into the great valley below. The long grade descended, and before the traveler lies the great San Joaquin valley. An almost level plain extends away to the north 500 miles. Practically an unknown stretch of territory reaches all the way from Caliente to Redding, walled in by mountains on either side. The very immensity of the valley of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, for they are practically one, is a source of attraction, for truly it is without an equal in more respects than one.

If it be winter or spring when the tourist reaches this portion of the State, the earth will be dressed in the most gorgeous garments of green and gold, purple and red, white and blue, - all the colors of which nature is capable. Hundreds of thousands of acres will be a sea of waving rain, the passing breeze rippling over it as the wind does over the water. Other hundreds of thousands of acres will be covered with a natural growth of grass and flowers of unlimited variety, but in gorgeous masses of color, visible for miles. Here a whole slope will be a literal field of the "cloth of gold," there royal purple will be massed over acres and acres, and yonder purest white or azure blue salutes the vision in solid masses, unmixed with other shades. The soft, balmy breeze comes in at the car window, spicy and perfumed as no artificer can produce or imitate; the drowsy hum of bees is in the air, and a feeling of delicious languor and contentment steals over the senses.

Although the level plains extend as far as the eye can reach, yet so lovely is it in its spring-like dress that not for a moment does it become wearisome.

Suppose, however, that it be midsummer when this journey is undertaken. Except where orchards or vineyards, alfalfa or cornfields, with their dark green verdure, relieve the eye, the landscape is a dull monotone of brown, with slightly varying shades. In the great grain-fields huge machines move to and fro, apparently of their own volition, cutting gigantic swaths of golden grain, and leaving their pathway strewn with sacks bursting with choicest wheat. By the side of the track acres are covered with these sacks, literally corded up and awaiting shipment to tide-water. No fear of rain haunts the farmer here, and he calmly stacks up the threshed grain in the open field, with no shelter other than a handful of straw, and perhaps not even that. Later in the season the traveler will be delighted with the sight of thousands of tons of apricots, peaches, raisins, etc., spread out in the sun to dry, and he will doubtless learn with surprise that, cured with no other aid than the heat of the sun and the desiccating power of the atmosphere, that fruit will rival the choicest products of the most expensive and elaborate evaporators in use elsewhere.

Great irrigating canals, large as rivers, will attract notice all through the valley, their waters spreading out in every direction and making valuable lands that otherwise would be little else than a desert. Artesian wells, too, that rival the most noted ones in this or the old world, may be seen in this valley. Single wells that flow one, two, almost three millions of gallons daily are here, while those of smaller proportions are to be met on every hand. A single one of these wells will furnish water enough for a thousand acres, and sometimes even more, and their value reaches a sum that would appear fabulous.

Every few miles a halt is made at a town well built and prosperous and surrounded by comfortable homes and farms. Then the great colony region of Fresno County is traversed, and now the traveler will be told of thousands of men who enjoy incomes from little plats of from ten to thirty acres far larger than the farmer of the East can realize from ten times the area with thrice the amount of labor. Here small farms are numbered by the thousand, and the uniform prosperity of their owners is apparent from the comfortable, even elegant homes, and the general air of happiness that exists.

From the time the San Joaquin valley is entered at the south until it is left at the north the observant traveler will find an abundance to interest and amuse, and not to have visited this great valley will have been to miss one of the most important portions of the State.

A MOST PROMISING COUNTRY

The San Joaquin valley is the most wonderful agricultural region in the United States, capable of producing almost everything, and its area is large enough to maintain millions of people. The great interior basin of California, comprising the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys - two divisions of one uninterrupted plain, has an area of about 17,200 square miles. The extreme length of this great valley is nearly 500 miles, and the width averages about fifty miles. The writer in speaking of this great valley is constantly reminded by citizens of each subdivision of the valley, that he resides in the Sacramento valley; and another wishes it to be distinctly understood that he is proud of his domicile in the famous Tulare valley, whilst a third is proud of his home in the only Kern valley on earth! Thus it will be seen how the writer, not even a resident of the State, and attempting to treat of this great valley from an unprejudiced standpoint, will at the same time run in opposition to, and in conflict with, opinions of good men, who from a commendable local pride and home attachment wish their immediate section to be known as a distinct and independent valley. This claim we will admit, theoretically, and will so recognize and treat on each, in the local chapters in this work. At the same time we must treat of this great valley practically as a whole, and it certainly can not detract in the least from the other grand subdivisions to be mentioned as constituting a portion and an important portion of "The Great San Joaquin Valley."

We have asserted, and adduced evidence to prove, that California is the most wonderful State in the Union, and making rapid strides toward the position of the empire State; and furthermore, that California is an empire herself. This in no wise detracts from the glory of other States, neither does it from the United States; and though California, bearing this proud distinction, would not be other than one of the shining stars of the great American Union, she gladly shares her glory with her sister components of the greatest nation on earth, and so do the subdivisions of the great San Joaquin valley feel proud to occupy a position as a portion of the world-renowned valley.

Perhaps some writers, as well as readers, will demur to the claim that the San Joaquin, speaking of it as a whole, is the greatest valley in the world. The claim will be made that the great Mississippi valley, the Amazon valley, etc., are of greater area. This will be readily conceded; but the writer will not concede that greatness consists alone in area as applied to a country, and defies the world to show another valley of like area with the San Joaquin that is its equal in the general averages of good quality, - soil, climate, health, adjacent mountain scenery and variety of productions, and a capacity to sustain so large a population. The writer has spent months in this great valley, has made its resources, and future possibilities a study, and has arrived at conclusions not only from observation and study, but from consulting travelers who have been over the civilized world; and when such have been asked the question, "Have you seen a valley equaling the San Joaquin in every respect!" the answer has been in every instance, "No; nothing that will compare with it."

THE CHIEF SOURCES OF WEALTH

To the early Californian the chief sources of wealth were cattle and gold mines. Mining was the chief industry, and stock-raising received great attention. Over the richest soil of this great valley, roamed large herds of cattle, horses and sheep; but in the course of time, as population increased, the country, watered by the San Joaquin and King's rivers, was found to be most fertile and productive. The dwellers of these valleys engaged in tilling the soil, and the dwellers of the hilly parts of the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada, which are better adapted to grazing, became the owners of herds of cattle and sheep.

At the present day the sources of wealth are, in addition to the foregoing, everything in the line of agriculture and horticulture. Details are given in the respective county histories further on.

FLOODS AND DROUTHS

The traveler, when inquiring as to the great floods in California, and also extreme drouths, both of which have had their disastrous effects upon this great valley, will receive answers pro and con, as he would in all other countries, and each enthusiast has his theory which he will insist upon as a fact. In order that the stranger may know the exact state of affairs for all time since the American occupation, and to refresh the memory of the old settlers, we present an exhibit of flood and drouth periods carefully prepared, which will give the reader all of the facts, and, as will be seen, not seeking to hide any; and this great valley has had its share of the two extremes.

Of the many peculiar climatic characteristics of California none are so puzzling as those which relate to the rainfall and its effects. They set all previously formed ideas at defiance , and the longer one seeks for some law that governs their idiosyncrasies - for law there must be - the more hopelessly does one become lost in a mass of contradictions. Take the question of floods, for instance. "Their cause," some glib-tongued forestry crank will quickly exclaim, "is easily explained. Remove the forests from the mountains and floods in the valleys must inevitably result. It is a law of nature which cannot be transgressed. Really, my dear sir, you insult me by asking a question whose answer is so self-evident. Propound something more difficult, if you please."

But hold on. Doubtless this explanation of it is according to the text-book theory and is a plausible explanation, too. Unfortunately, however, it conflicts diametrically with the facts. The worst floods California has ever experienced occurred years before any considerable area of the forests had been destroyed. Since tens of thousands of acres about the headwaters of the streams have been denuded of their dense growth of trees the floods have decreased in frequency and violence; and it has been many years since, with a single exception, anything approaching the flood seasons of the first fifteen years' history of the State has been seen.

Look in another direction for information upon the subject. Ask some member of an anti-debris association, for instance, for his opinion on the flood question, and he will tell you it is hydraulic mining that has filled up the beds of the streams and caused them to overflow their banks. Yet, singularly enough, the records prove beyond cavil that the worst floods the State has experienced occurred years before hydraulic mining was generally practiced, and that during the palmiest days of that industry there were few disastrous overflows. The theory and the facts are as badly at variance here as they are when forest denudation is saddled with the blame.

It is worth while taking a glance at the history of the floods that have visited this State. The Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries, draining the vast interior valley, are of course the streams that are most subject to overflow. Prior to the American occupation there are records of floods that occurred in 1805, in 1825-'26, and in 1846-'47. Doubtless there were many other seasons of high water as well, but there being little or nothing to injure no records were kept of such occurrences.

The winter of 1849-'50, however, was one of excessive rainfall, the storms commencing on November 2d, and continuing almost without cessation for six weeks. As a result the valley was flooded and the city of Sacramento was covered with water to a depth of four feet. In January another great storm flooded the city, and in March and April another overflow was threatened, but was prevented by the energetic construction of dams.

This experience led to the construction of levees, upon which a large amount of money was expended, but they were ineffectual, and in 1852, 1853, and 1854 there were floods which did a tremendous amount of damage. After the last mentioned date the levees were greatly strengthened, and the city escaped further damage until the winter of 1861-'62, when they gave away before the pressure of a flood and loss aggregating over $3,000,000 resulted. Although threatened several times since, there has never been a flood down to the present time which was so disastrous as this.

In the Yuba river floods occurred in 1849-'50, in 1852-'53, in 1861-'62, in 1866 and in 1875. In the San Joaquin river there were similar seasons of flood. Since the great flood of 1861-'62, however, there have been no such periods of high water, and no such losses have been suffered from this cause.

It is true many streams overflowed their banks during the excessive rains of the winter of 1889-'90, but the damage was mostly confined to the overflow of farm lands, and consisted largely in the inability to put in grain crops for the season. So far as absolute destruction of property was concerned, similar to that caused by the floods in the first fifteen years of the State's history, there is no comparison.

In the lower part of the State there have been occasional losses from high water. One of the notable instances is afforded in the Santiago canon, in Los Angeles County. When the Southern Pacific Railroad was built through that region in 1876, some of the old Spanish settlers pointed out certain marks high up on the walls of the canon which they declared had been made by floods many years previous. The railroad builders could hardly credit the statement, and paid no heed to the warning, but located the line in the bed of the canon, down which ordinarily only a slender stream trickles. Twice, however, within the last five years have there been floods here which have literally obliterated miles of railroad bed, ties, rails and bridges. But these floods have certainly not been cause either by the destruction of the forests (there being none to destroy), or the work of hydraulic miners (there being no such enterprises in that region).

The same experience has befallen one or two streams in San Diego and San Bernardino counties. Twice have many miles of the railroad through the Temecula canon been destroyed by floods, while some damage has been occasioned by high water in the Santa Ana and other streams. Yet, as a matter of fact, the recollections of the oldest white settlers, and of the Indians as well, together with the indelible traces left in many places, show that far worse floods occurred prior to the general settlement of the State than have happened since. For forty years the forests of San Bernardino mountains have been attacked in a constantly increasing proportion each year. Yet the streams that rise in those mountains show no diminution in their flow, are not, in fact, subject to as great floods as they were many years ago, and indeed furnish a greater area with supplies for irrigation than they die twenty years ago, or was deemed possible at that time.

Just as there was much more loss from floods in the early years of the State's settlement, so there was greater damage from droughts in that period, while there has been a steady decrease in the frequency dry seasons. The first dry season after the American occupation was that of 1851. There being little agriculture at that time not much loss was caused except to the cattle men, who were dependent entirely upon the natural grasses, and in the absence of these were compelled either to allow their stock to die or else kill them for their hides and tallow. In 1856 occurred a drought which, while less severe than the one in 1851, caused a greater loss among agriculturists, there being a much larger area then under cultivation.

Following the flood season of 1861-'62, there came, however, a drought, in 1864, the most disastrous the State has ever seen. The grain crop was almost a total failure, while, owing to the absence of feed, cattle and sheep starved by the hundred thousand. In some sections scarcely any were left alive out of bands which had numbered many thousands under a single ownership, and many a man who had been considered wealthy saw his entire fortune melt away without the power to save even the smallest fraction.

Seven years of plenty followed, and then in 1870-'71 came another drought, which, however, was not so productive of ruin as the preceding one. The grain crop was scant and much stock was lost, but there was no such general destruction and entire loss.

For six years thereafter there was a season of general prosperity, and it was at this time that the southern portion of the State received its first great "boom". Immigrants came by the thousands from the East, and vacant lands were settled in every direction. But in 1876-'77 a drought came which was second in its disastrous results only to that of 1864. Cattle and sheep perished in droves. In sections that were wooded the oaks and other trees were felled by thousands to allow the starving animals to browse on the foliage and tender twigs. Bands of sheep numbering thousands each were abandoned by their owners to die of starvation! Men made a business of going among the abandoned animals and slaughtering them for the sake of their pelts. In some districts the very air was polluted by the thousands of dead animals scattered everywhere, while the sky was blackened with hordes of feathered scavengers hastening to their carrion feast. Bands of sheep were sold for a bit a head, which in ordinary seasons were worth two or three dollars, and tens of thousands of the starving animals were killed and their bodies cooked wholesale for the sake of the little fat which they contained. Millions of dollars were lost by the stock men, and the industry received a set-back from which in more than one locality it never recovered.

This was the last bad drought, however, to which California was subjected. There have been seasons of scant rainfall since then, but no such general destruction of crops and animals. Every year, it is true, there is the same amount of talk about the possibility of dry seasons, short crops and all that. But this is merely the perpetuation of an old custom. As a matter of fact California farmers have little to fear on this score, and even the occurrence of a season of scant rainfall has little appreciable effect upon business circles.

The increase of irrigation has of course much to do with this state of affairs. The fruit crop is largely independent of the rainfall, while grain-growers have learned by experience methods which assure them a fair return with less rain than was thought possible twenty or thirty years ago. It is certain that this state of affairs will continue, too. Each year sees the farmers more generally emancipated from their thraldom to the uncertain elements. With the indisputable facts that floods and droughts are of less frequent occurrence now than in the earlier history of the State, all branches of farming are put upon a basis of greater certainty that he will also reap an ample reward. It is not too much to boast that in no other part of the world has the agriculturist so great an assurance of reasonable success as in California.

Opening out, as we did, on the physical features of the San Joaquin valley, it seemed that we could not appropriately interrupt the thread of the recital by the introduction of other matter. Under the head of social history we have space for only one or two topics, as follows:

INDIANS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY

This formidable race is almost a people of the past. Few are now to be seen in the valley, and ere long none will be left to tell the story how their ancestry (who were numbered by perhaps hundreds of thousands) were at one time monarchs of this wonderful country.

Kit Carson said that in 1829 the valleys of California were full of Indians. He speaks of many flourishing tribes then existing. When he again visited the State in 1839, they had measurably disappeared, and people then residing where he saw them on his first trip declared they new nothing of them. No estimate of their numbers had been made until 1833, and it was then known that they had greatly decreased. It is no difficult matter, however, to account for their rapid disappearance when we take into account how the several tribes were constantly at war with each other; and in the fall of 1833 the cholera or some other fearful scourge broke out among them and raged with such fearful fatality that they were unable either to bury or burn their dead , and the air was filled with the stench of their decaying bodies. The Indians used a sweat-house for all the ills of their race, and much depended on the kill or cure, according to the disease of the subject.

The valley Indians subsisted principally on grass-seeds, acorns and fish, the squaws doing all the heavy labor; and sometimes they killed a deer or antelope, but meat of land animals was rarely on their bill of fare. The women were supposed to provide all the food for the family. They made water-tight baskets from willow twigs, in which they collected and prepared their food, carried water, etc.; they reduced the acorns to a fine meal in mortars made of stone, after which they soaked it in water to rid it of the bitter taste, and then they made it into a kind of soup in a willow basket. Soups were also made from grass-seed. The men caught salmon in the spring season, which were dried in sufficient quantities by the women to last during the year.

The men would at times sally out and secure a deer or antelope. When hunting the deer they went under the skin and horns of that animal as a disguise, and thus slipped upon their prey. While they generally used their acorn meal in a soup form, they also baked a kind of bread from it. Grass-hoppers formed one of their favorite dishes, as also many other insects and reptiles not poisonous. The grasshoppers for immediate use were either mashed into a paste and mixed with other edibles, or were saturated with salt water, placed in a hole in the ground, which had been previously heated, then covered with hot stones. When thoroughly cooked they were eaten like shrimps. When intended for winter use they were thoroughly dried in the sun, after cooking. They caught fish both by spearing and netting. Their spears were made from a tough wood, from four to five feet in length, pointed with either flint or bone.

Their weapons for hunting and warfare were the spear, as before described, and the bow and arrow. These Indians were peaceably inclined toward the whites, and resorted to deeds of violence only under great provocation.

The government of the respective tribes was vested in a chief, which was generally hereditary in his family, in the male line only. Much dignity was attached to the chief, and his family were treated with greater consideration than those of others. The widows and daughters of chiefs were treated with distinction and not required to work.

These Indians cremated their dead, and such ceremony at the funeral pyre of a chief was an affair in which the entire tribe participated, and their ceremonies and lamentations continued for several days.

There seems to be but little known as to their marriage ceremonies. It appears that the maiden's wishes were consulted. She was not forced to marry against her will. The husband could abandon the wife at will, but the wife could not leave the husband. He could have as many wives as he could keep, but the woman but one husband. Adultery was not common among them, yet a husband would prostitute his dearest wife to a white man for a small consideration. The wives were prolific, bringing forth children regularly each year, never losing a day from their labor thereby! It is given as a fact that at the birth of a child the husband takes to bed and feigns sick and suffering while the women attend him as though he was the real sufferer!

Among other traditions the Indians had the following: "Their ancestors once inhabited the Coast Range mountains and valleys. The 'Great Spirit' became angry with them and sent earthquakes, fire and water and destroyed great numbers. Those who escaped remained ever afterward away from that region."

There are yet a very small number of the Mono tribe living on the Sierra range, in Fresno County.

In the year 1850 James D. Savage kept a trading post on the Fresno river, then in Mariposa County, near what has since been known as Leach's old store; and on Christmas night of that year, Savage being away from home, the store in charge of two clerks and a man named Brown, the Indians revolted, killed the two clerks and demolished the store. Brown was carried across the Fresno River, barefooted and in his night-clothes, by an Indian, when he was permitted to go, and he did not hesitate to improve the opportunity and went as fast as possible to Mariposa.

Cassady & Lane kept a trading post a few miles below Millerton, and were engaged in mining at a point above, since known as Cassady Bar. Here they had some thirty men engaged. This was early in January, 1851. The mining camp was enclosed by a stone fort, the trading post by ditches, and the parties felt secure and had no fear of Indian depredations; but soon the Indians engaged in a general welfare, which was opened by killing two men on Fine Gold Gulch, driving off their stock, and killing two other men below Millerton.

About January 15, 1851, Dr. Lewis Leach, a prominent pioneer, now residing in the city of Fresno, arrived at Cassady's trading post from Four Creeks, in company with several men, one of whom, Frank W. Boden, had received four arrow wounds in his right arm at Four Creeks. Arriving at the trading post, Dr. Leach found it necessary to amputate Boden's arm, which he did and remained with and cared for him, and in some eight or ten days he was convalescent.

About the 20th of January Cassady and Savage came down from the mining camp to see how matters were going at the trading post. The clerks had been vigilant guarding at night, which Cassady hooted at and said, "No danger;" so they concluded that if he could stand it, they would. Therefore they all went to bed, and no guard was posted. Savage slept in a covered wagon, within the ditch enclosure. In the morning there was an arrow sticking in the canvas of the main tent, also several in the mules, and Indian footprints around, yet Cassady persisted there was no danger! On the following day Leach and Savage left Cassady's camp and went to Mariposa, where three volunteer companies were organized under command of Major James D. Savage. Captain Kuykendall commanded Company A, of seventy men; Captain John Bowling, Company B, of seventy-two men; and Captain William Dill, Company C, of fifty-five men. M. B. Lewis was Adjutant, and A. Brunston, Surgeon, who was soon after succeeded by Dr. Leech.

Soon intelligence was received from Cassady's camp that he had been killed by the Indians. A detachment of thirty men from Company A, with Dr. Leach accompanying, was immediately sent to ascertain the facts. They found the body of Cassady on the bank of the San Joaquin river, a short distance below his trading post, his legs cut off, his tongue cut out, and pinned with an arrow over the region of his heart. He was decently interred by the detachment, near where the body was found. From Cassady's place Company A was ordered to the headwaters of the San Joaquin, where they fought a battle with the Indians, killing thirteen and wounding many. Captain Bowling with his company was sent to the Yo Semite country, and Captain Dill with his company to the headwaters of the Chowchilla. Several battles were fought and the Indians soundly whipped on each occasion, which caused them to sue for peace, and they signed a treaty on the 29th day of April, 1851.

A boundary or reservation was then assigned them, and stock, provisions, clothing, etc., furnished them by the Government, and thus ended the short Indian war. In the summer of 1851, after the treaty was concluded, Savage put up a store on the Fresno river. The following winter he built Fort Bishop, further down the river. His principal trade was with the Indians. He purchased gold dust from them. They yet seemed restless, and Savage used caution in his dealings with them. About this time the Fresno reservation was

established. Colonel Thomas Henley was appointed Indian agent. Soon thereafter King's River reservation was established, also under Colonel Henley. The Indians in the meantime kept quiet until the 16th day of August, 1852.

The Meewoc nation extended from the Sierra snow line in Tuolumne County, to the San Joaquin river; the Walla tribe were confined within the present bounds of Stanislaus County; the Wallalshumnes occupied the country lower down the valley between the two rivers; the Coconoons and Potancies, between the Tuolumne and Merced, and the Yachichumnes between the San Joaquin and Mount Diablo. These Indians rarely exceeded five feet eight inches in height, though they were strong and well built. Their complexion was dark, frequently approaching black, hair very coarse, thick, straight and black.

The Indian dress was very primitive; in summer the men wore nothing scarcely. On some occasions they wore a slight covering about their loins; in winter they wore a kind of robe made from hides of animals, also a species of robe made by uniting feathers of birds with strips of seal-skin, etc., thus securing effectual protection against the inclement weather. The Indian women wore in summer an apron which they manufactured from the tules and other grasses. This garment was open at the sides, and extended to the knees, back and front. In the winter season they used a half tanned dear skin in addition to the tule garment. The young belles frequently wore their hair long, flowing to the waist, and cut short , or, modernly speaking, "banged" in front. They were very fond of all kinds of ornaments - both men and women - which were worn in profusion in their hair, and bone ornaments, etc., in their ears, and beads and other trinkets about their necks. The head-dress for gala days and dances was formed of gay feathers skillfully arranged, and topped off with long feathers from some large bird. The upper part of their body was painted in several colors, red predominating, however; this they obtained from the cinnabar fields in the Coast Range. Tattooing seems to have been a custom among the women, but rarely practiced by the men.

These people lived, in summer, under sheds formed of brush, and in winter in excavations some four feet deep made in the earth. This was governed in size by the number in a family. Around this excavation was firmly set numerous willow poles, which were drawn together at top, leaving a space for the smoke to pass out. They then wove through those poles crosswise smaller branches, after which they covered the whole with brush, bark, mosses, etc., and then daubed it over with mud, leaving only an opening to pass in and out. In the center of this rude, San Joaquin cottage, they built their fire and did their cooking, and around it they slept on mats made from the grasses.

This would seem to the native sons and daughters of to-day rather a crude parlor, kitchen, dining-room and sleeping apartment combined; it will be seen that it was built and arranged for comfort and convenience, more than for its internal or external ornamentation. The occupants were lords in their day and in their way. They lived in villages and had a large centrally located structure for use on public occasions, as pow-wows, dances, etc. It was constructed on the same general plan as their residences.

In 1851 Major James D. Savage gave the number of Indians in California as follows:

Klamath, Trinidad, Sacramento and tributaries.............................................30,000

San Joaquin and tributaries down to Tuolumne............................................ 6,500

Tuolumne River Indians............................................................................. 2,100

Merced River Indians................................................................................ 2,100

San Joaquin headquarters Indians............................................................. 2,700

King's River Indians.................................................................................. 200

Kern River Indians..................................................................................... 1,700

Tulare River Indians................................................................................... 1,000

Umas River Indians................................................................................... 5,000

East Side Sierra Nevada Indians................................................................ 31,000

On the coast, not civilized.......................................................................... 6,000

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Total................................................................................88,300

MURDER OF MAJOR SAVAGE

Some time previous to the above date, one Major Harvey, the first County Judge of Tulare County, and Wm. J. Campbell, incited a lot of men who rushed into one of the rancherias on King's river and killed a number of old squaws. Harvey and Campbell were jealous of Savage's prosperity with and influence over the Indians. Savage complained of the dastardley crime to the Indian agent and stated that Harvey was no gentleman. This reaching Harvey, he declared that if Savage ever came to king's river he would never return alive. Savage went to and arrived at King's river early in the forenoon of August 16, 1852, where he found Harvey and Judge Marvin, and a quarrel at once ensued between Harvey and Savage. Savage slapped Harvey in the face with his open hand, and in so doing his pistol fell to the floor and Marvin picked it up. Harvey then said to Marvin, "You have my pistol." He replied, "Not so; this is Major Savage's pistol;" whereupon Harvey, finding that savage was without a weapon of defense, began firing upon him, four balls piercing Savage's body, and he died almost instantly, while Judge Marvin stood and looked on, either too cowardly or indifferent to attempt to prevent the murder. Harvey, being County Judge at the time, appointed one Joel H. Brooks Justice of the Peace (it is said) for the sole purpose of investigating the case, and he did not so much as hold Harvey to the grandjury, but acquitted him at once. Harvey, however, soon left the county through fear of the Indians, who were warm friends of Savage. He had married the daughters of five different chiefs, and, although uneducated, being unable to either read or write, he amassed within a few years a fortune estimated at $100,000.

That he was deservedly popular at the time, is attested by the kind act as well as proof of true and lasting friendship of one of Fresno County's prominent citizens, now residing in the city of Fresno, and a man who stands at the head and front of all public enterprises, as well as in that of his professional line. This gentleman is Dr. Lewis Leach, one of the few pioneers of the valley now living, who was for a time partner in business with Major Savage and who has erected a monument over Savage's remains at an expense of $800. He removed Savage's remains to a point on Fresno river since known as Leach's old store, where he erected a shaft then feet in height of Connecticut granite.