Central Pacific Railroad

Banker William Ralston balked at the idea of a town named in his honor.

When rancher William Helm established his home on the Fresno plain in 1865, he had no neighbors for as far as 12 miles in any direction.

Fresno owes its existence in no small part to three laws signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1861-1862.

Anthony Easterby's farm proved the potential of irrigated agriculture and led the Central Pacific Railroad to found the new town of Fresno nearby.

The Fresno plain was a harsh, nearly featureless landscape in the 1860s. But one site stood out: a large green bush near what is today downtown Fresno.

This man-made reservoir on the edge of the UC Merced campus has a history that takes back to the 1880s.

Located near present-day Laton, Kingston was one of the earliest communities in the region.

A last-minute visit by Leland Stanford led to a change that gave us Fresno, and doomed the planned town of Sycamore.

The Tulare County town of Goshen played an important part in California railroad history.

The Central Pacific and Southern Pacific connected the San Joaquin Valley with the world in the 1870s, founding many local cities and bypassing others.