lers regarded as a desert, fit only to grow wheat in a very
wet season. In other parts of the State the Mission Fathers had dug
ditches and built aqueducts, so that the settlers who came after them
found a well devised water system, which they merely followed. But in
Fresno no one had ever tried to grow crops by irrigation. When Fremont
came through there from the mountains he found many wild cattle
feeding on the rank grass that grew as high as the head of a man on
horseback. The herds of the native Californians were almost equally
wild. The country was one vast plain which in summer glowed under a
sun that was tropical in its intensity. As late as 1860 one could
travel for a day without seeing a house or any sign of habitation. The
country was owned by great cattle growers, who seldom rode over their
immense ranches, except at the time of the annual "round-up" of stock.
About thirty years ago a number of large wheat growers secured big
tracts of land around Fresno. At their head was Isaac Friedlander,
known as the wheat king of the Pacific Coast. Friedlander would have
transformed this country had not financial ruin overcome him. His
place was taken by others, like Chapman, Easterby, Eisen and
Hughes--men who believed in fruit growing and who had the courage to
carry on their operations in the face of repeated failures.

The great development of Fresno has been due entirely to the colony
system, which has also built up most of the flourishing cities of
Southern California. In 1874 the first Fresno colony was started by
W.S. Chapman. He cut up six sections of land into 20-acre tracts, and
brought water from King's River. The colonists represented all classes
of people, and though they made many disastrous experiments, with poor
varieties of grapes and fruit, still there is no instance of failure
recorded, and all who have held on to their land are now in
comfortable circumstances. Some of the settlers in this colony were
San Francisco school teachers. They obtained their 20-acre tracts for
$400, and many of them retired on their little vineyards at the end of
five or six years. One lady, named Miss Austen, had the foresight to
plant all her property in the best raisin grapes, and for many years
drew a larger annual revenue from the property than the whole place
cost her. The central colony now has an old established look. The
broad avenues are lined with enormous trees; many of the houses are
exceedingly beautiful coun