Minerals and Lumber. Oil in Fresno. Manufacturing Interests. Fresno's fattened for the markets of San Francisco and elsewhere. Hogs are a source of great profit, both to the large stockgrower, the small farmer and the dairyman. The mountains in the eastern part of Fresno county are vast storehouses of wealth. Almost every known mineral is to be found, and while some few mines are worked this great region of mineral wealth is practically not exploited at all. In the mountain region are the great forests from which vast quantities of lumber are made annually. This includes yellow and sugar pine, cedar, fir and redwood. Some of the trees from which this is cut are the largest in the world, being the Sequoia Gigantea, measuring over one hundred feet in circumference. Fresno county is a large producer of petroleum. The wells are located in the southwestern part of the county, in the vicinity of Coalinga. The district comprises some wells that are among the best in the State. This supply of oil for fuel so near to Fresno is a very great advantage. It means close at hand cheap fuel for all purposes. Among the manufacturing and commercial enterprises of Fresno county the packing houses, annually handling thousands of tons of fruits and raisins are easily first in importance. Recent inventions for extracting seeds from raisins have enormously increased the consumption and the industry gives employment to thousands of men, women and children. The wineries are being largely augmented and are among the finest and most extensive in the country. There are also flouring mills, ice factories, creameries, cream of tartar works, agricultural implement and box factories, canneries, a brewery, planing mills, sash and door factories, soap factory, macaroni factory, brick and tile works, oil refineries, etc. The public school system of Fresno is unexcelled. Schools. The buildings are modern and well equipped. The Fresno City High School is one of the most imposing structures of its kind in California. There are seven High Schools in the county, two of which stand upon the accredited list of the State University and pupils are graduated and prepared for collegiate course. The City of Fresno. Fresno's Progress. The city of Fresno ranks third in shipping importance in California. It is the metropolis and business center of the San Joaquin Valley and the natural gravitating point for the production and commercial energy of a great and enormously productive country. It is a railroad center, eight lines radiating from it. Fresno city and most of the principal towns of the county are on the two transcontinental railroads, the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe, which furnish the best facilities for transportation and for shipping. In addition to the advantages named, the city has an opera house, good churches, five banks, a county courthouse costing over $200,000, a new $30,000 library, the gift of Andrew Carnegie, and Congress during the last session appropriated $150,000 for a federal building. There is marked activity in building. A large number of new business blocks and fine residences have been built and are constantly in course of erection. A great deal of substantial street improvement is being done and pavements and cement sidewalks extend in every direction. One of the greatest marks of progress during the past year has been the building of a system of electric cars. It serves not only the city of Fresno but extends into the more populous suburban localities and is being extended to the mountain regions. The city has a good sewerage system, well paved streets, good fire department, gas, electricity, good water, and an efficient postal service. The City's In fact, Fresno is a first-class modern city. It promises much for the future. Fresno's trade is on the increase constantly. It occupies the center of a locality which produces enormous quantities of readily saleable commodities. All of the conditions for manufacturing are close at hand-cheap fuel, cheap power, and unlimited possibilities for the production of raw material of almost every kind. The great need of the city and county is population people who are willing to work, who will take advantage of the natural conditions waiting to be utilized for the benefit of mankind. Advantages. Basque Up in eastern Kern is a curious settlement of Picturesque Basque sheep-herders, roaming the steep slopes and Colony. canyons, guarding their flocks and living in a primitive wildness suggestive of the rugged conditions that prevail in their native Pyrenees. And this adaptability of the old world resident to the new world is one of the alluring attractions as well as one of the novelties of all California. The observing traveler finds stowed away in some inviting nook, anywhere from Mendocino to San Bernardino, natives of far-away lands, who have come here simply because of the charms that Nature offers, comfort and happy living. In few other States is there to be noted the wide diversity in this respect. In Kansas, Nebraska and the Middle West one finds communities made up almost entirely of Germans, Swedes, or transplanted Kentuckians or Ohioans. All these and more does California harbor; to all these and more does the State extend the open arms of welcome. Industry and law-abiding are the only price to pay for making a home in this region of all regions where sun is king. Tulare. In Tulare county, on the foothill branch of the South- Oranges of ern Pacific, is the orange-growing section heretofore referred to and of which Porterville is the central shipping point. Here are more than 6,000 acres planted in the best varieties of oranges and the shipments to eastern markets are increasing rapidly. The county seat is Visalia, a picturesque city in the foothills and the center of a fertile and attractive region. In Tulare county is located the Sequoia National Park, a reserve of monster trees of the sequoia gigantea. Just beyond the county's eastern boundary, Mt. Whitney (14,898 feet), the highest mountain in the United States, excluding Alaska, rears its snow-capped summit. Oil. In Kern county, the southern-most county of the Kern County valley, are the wells of crude petroleum that recently have drawn to this section investors and speculators from everywhere. The product is being shipped throughout the United States and is proving a bonanza for all concerned. |