It was a last-minute decision that changed the location of what was to become the San Joaquin Valley’s largest city. The story of Sycamore versus Fresno, today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The year was 1869 and construction on the Central Pacific\u2019s line through the middle of the valley from the Stockton area was underway. The railroad wanted to lay out a big town midway though the route, but the big question was where.<\/p>\n
One logical location was on the south bank of the San Joaquin River, at a popular ferry crossing known as Sycamore, near present-day Herndon.<\/a> They even purchased four sections of land there for a big new town, adjacent to the planned bridge over the river.<\/p>\n Then in late 1871, railroad executive Leland Stanford and survey crew came through the Valley in advance of construction.<\/a> When he saw Anthony Easterby\u2019s<\/a> wheatfields about 11 miles south of Sycamore, Stanford reportedly said, \u201cWonderful! Here we must build the new town!\u201d<\/a> The next year, the town of Fresno Station was born, and Fresno became the county seat in 1874.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Sycamore faced a challenging future. While Easterby\u2019s farm flourished thanks to a canal built by Moses Church, Sycamore had its own irrigation project. Starting in 1880 developer Edward B. Perrin<\/a> built a canal to carry water from the San Joaquin River along the bluff to the plains around Sycamore. But it was a failure. The soil on the bluff wouldn\u2019t hold water very well, the canal was abandoned<\/a> and the town never took off. <\/p>\n