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Tranquillity Recreation
Facilities
Irrigation
District Office .. Tranquillity
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When you first drive down the main
thoroughfare through Tranquillity, you are
welcomed by tall, long needled pine trees that
line the canal and provide cool shade for
travelers on the road. The pines are intermingled
with colorful oleander bushes. The stately trees
are quite old, but the history of the community is
even older.
Back in the early 1800's pioneer Jefferson
James was an early figure in the town's founding.
He went on to serve on the Board of Supervisors of
San Francisco. However, his son in law stayed in
the area and started the "Tranquillity
Colony," named after his Eastern home back in
Kentucky.
Early settlers in Tranquillity worked the dry
wheat fields that stretched all the way to the
Sierra Foothills. To transport the grain, they
loaded it on paddleboats at nearby Fresno Landing.
Later Southern Pacific borrowed the name for their
railway station 40 miles to the East.
Local lore has it that Jesse and Frank James
used to work on the Traction Ranch near
Tranquillity when things got to hot for them back
East. The outlaws are gone now but there are still
major dairy and beef ranches in the area. |
