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In 1877, a young man Leopold Gundlefinger (seated, center) and others helped form a volunteer fire "hook and ladder" company". Mr. Gundlefinger was Fresno's first foreman fighting fires with a wagon loaded with ladders, ropes, axes, and buckets.

Fresno Water Works, located on Fresno and O Streets, which has engine rooms, tanks and tower. The water is supplied by eight 8-inch wells, of a depth ranging from 400 to 500 feet. The pumping apparatus is known as the Holly-Gaskill system, with a…

Undated, aerial view of Friant, California located below Friant Dam at Millerton Lake. The town had its start as a ferry crossing on the San Joaquin River. In November 1856, the second license ever issued in Fresno County for operation of a ferry was…

Street scene in Friant, California, probably around 1940. The Log Cabin, probably a restaurant, is seen in the middle.

Street scene in Friant, California on November 10, 1939. The Friant Garage is seen to the left. The Friant Dam groundbreaking had been held just five days previous on November 5, 1939. Construction of the dam caused an influx of job seekers looking…

Friant Dam under construction on the San Joaquin River. The Friant Dam ground breaking was on November 5, 1939 with Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, as guest speaker. Griffith Company and Bent Company of Los Angeles were awarded the Friant…

The sign in the background identifies the buildings in the distance as "Camp Friant". This camp town opened in January 1938 on a fifty-acre parcel near the town of Friant. The camp consisted of 50 houses, an office building, and two 48-man…

The first concrete was poured at Friant Dam on July 29, 1940. Four small, diesel-electric cars ran on two tracks each transporting 4-cubic-yard buckets. The cars were lifted from the track by two 30-ton gantry cranes and lowered on to the forms.…

Seven men standing at the top of the Friant Kern Canal west of Porterville, California. This was the first Central San Joaquin Valley Water project.