TULARE COUNTY TREASURES

 
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A TIMELINE OF TULARE COUNTY TREASURES

Follow the history of conservation in Tulare County by traveling the timeline below. 

 (Note:  The entries in italics outline significant historic events that provide context for the story of conservation in Tulare County.)
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1800s
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1802        Congress authorizes the creation of an Army Corps of Engineers.

1849        The U.S. Department of the Interior is established alongside the existing executive departments of State, Treasury, and War.

1853        Tulare County is created July 10, 1852.


1853
        Visalia is established as the county seat of Tulare County; Visalia is incorporated in 1874.

1861        Pioneer stockman Hale Tharp turns a fire-hollowed fallen sequoia (Tharp's Log) into a single-log cabin on Log Meadow in the Giant Forest.

1862        The Homestead Act -- Applicants gain freehold title to typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi.

1864        President Lincoln signs a bill protecting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa    Grove of giant sequoias as a public reserve, the Yosemite Grant, to remain inviolate forever --the first federal withdrawal of public lands for conservation purposes.

1869        The city of Farmersville is established in Tulare County; Farmersville is incorporated in 1960.

1872        The city of Tulare is established in Tulare County; Tulare is incorporated in 1888.

1872        The General Mining Act -- authorizes citizens to prospect freely for minerals on public lands and allows miners to stake claims to both the minerals and surrounding lands for development.

1872        Yellowstone National Park, our country's first, is created in the Montana and Wyoming territories.

1878        The Timber and Stone Act -- allows western U.S. lands "unfit for farming" to be sold for $2.50 per acre in 160 acre blocks.  Meant to facilitate land ownership for loggers and miners, it ended up benefiting speculators who accumulated huge land holdings for minimal expense.

1879        The community of Three Rivers is established in Tulare County.

1887        The Wright Act (the District Irrigation Law Of California) -- allows for the creation of special irrigation districts funded by a tax based on the value of the land (March 7, 1887).

1888        The city of Exeter is established in Tulare County.  Exeter is incorporated in 1911.

1889        The city of Lindsay is established in Tulare County.  Lindsay is incorporated in 1910.

1890        Sequoia National Park is created through the efforts of a campaign led by Tulare County residents and local newspaper editor George Stewart (September 25, 1890).

1890        General Grant National Park is created as our fourth National Park (October 1, 1890); it becomes part of Kings Canyon National Park in 1940.

1891        The Forest Reserve Act (The Land Revision Act) -- gives the President the right to set aside lands from the public domain as "forest reserves," thus  withdrawing them from sale to private interests; strongly supported by Tulare by county residents (February 2, 1891).

1893        Tulare County residents heartily support the creation of the Sierra Forest Reserve, the ancestor of the Sequoia National Forest and Sierra National Forest.  The Reserve is initiated by  petitions sent to the U.S. Congress from Tulare County officials wanting to stop the damage in the Sierra Nevada by timber and livestock commercial interests; on February 14, President Benjamin  Harrison, with authorization from Section 24 of the Forest Reserve  Act of  1891, establishes the Reserve.  It was the largest reserve, with over four million acres, and the second reserve established.

1897        The Organic Act provides the basis for establishing forest reserves, giving the U.S.              Department of Interior the authority to make rules and regulations for the reserves, and  stating the criteria for reserve designations, which include timber production and water and  forest protection.



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Tharp's Log in Giant Forest
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Sequoia National Park
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General Grant National Park, now part of Kings Canyon National Park
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Sequoia National Forest

Photos on this page by John Greening and Laurie Schwaller
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