Agriculture

James Ben Ali Haggin made a fortune in the Gold Rush, before acquiring a huge swath of Kern County.

Moore was born into slavery in Alabama in 1812 and became one of the earliest successful farmers in Fresno County, arriving here in 1853.

Kern County isn't the only one to claim the title, which has been in use for close 90 years.

Four teachers founded Fresno's Hedgerow Vineyard, and in 1878 were among the first to pack and ship raisins from Fresno.

Francis Eisen's first raisin crop came by accident, after a heat wave left his Muscat grapes dried on the vine in 1877.

Second-born sons of the British aristocracy, who often ran afoul of Victorian-era social standards, known as "remittance men," were among those recruited to settle Kern County's Rosedale Colony.

In the span of 50 years, Fresno went from a ramshackle frontier town to hosting a hi-rise designed to rival any other banking building on the West Coast.

The Trump administration will start sending more water to California farmers in the state's crop-rich Central Valley. The move comes out of an executive order Trump signed in January. California officials and environmentalists are pushing back on the plan.

M. Theo Kearney died a bachelor with no heirs, and left his estate to the University of California.

Kearney helped jumpstart Fresno's development with the agricultural colony system. He was a raisin industry pioneer and left his considerable estate, including mansion and private park to the University of California.