FRESNO  , a

city and the county-seat of Fresno county, California, U.S.A., situated in .the San Joaquin valley (altitude about 300 ft.) near the geographical centre of the state . Pop . (188o) 1112; (1890) 10,818; (1900) 12,470, of whom 3299 were foreign-born and 1279 were Asiatics; (1910 census) 24,892 . The city is served by the Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railways . The county is mainly a vast expanse of naturally arid plains and mountains . The valley is the scene of an extensive irrigation system, water being brought (first in 1872—1876) from King's river, 20 M. distant; in 1905 500 sq. m. were irrigated . Fresno is in a rich farming country, producing grains and fruit, and is the only place in America where Smyrna figs have been grown with success; it is the centre of the finest raisin country of the state, and has extensive vine-yards and wine-making establishments . The city's principal manufacture is preserved (dried) fruits, particularly raisins; the value of the fruits thus preserved in 1905 was $6,942,440, being 70.5% of the total value of the factory product in that year (89,849,001) . In 1900—1905 the factory product increased 257.9 /o, a ratio of increase greater than that of any other city in the state . In the mountains, lumbering and mining are important industries; lumber is carried from Shaver in the mountains to Clovis on the plains by a V-shaped flume 42 M. long, the waste water from which is ditched for irrigation . The petroleum field of the county is one of the richest in California . Fresno is the business and shipping centre of its county and of the surrounding region .

The county was organized in 1856 . In 1872 the railway went through, and Fresno was laid out and incorporated . It became the county-seat in 1894 and was chartered as a city in 1885 .