Pueblo de las Juntas (also La Juntas and Fresno) is a former settlement in

Fresno County, California Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in ...

situated at the confluence of the

San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching ...

and Fresno Slough, north of Mendota. Pueblo de las Juntas was one of the first places settled by Spaniards in

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

in 1810. The name ''las Juntas'' ( es, the junctions), a reference to the location at the confluence of two streams. The name fresno ( es, ash tree) commemorates two large

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergr ...

s growing on the riverbank at the site. It was connected to the coast settlements via a route west along Panoche Creek to Panoche Pass in the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley ...

, to

Tres Pinos Tres Pinos ( Spanish for "Three Pines") is a census-designated place in San Benito County, California. The community lies along State Route 25, approximately 4 miles south of Hollister and 5 miles north of Paicines. Tres Pinos sits at an elev ...

and northwest to

Mission San Juan Bautista Mission San Juan Bautista is a Spanish mission in San Juan Bautista, San Benito County, California. Founded on June 24, 1797 by Fermín Lasuén of the Franciscan order, the mission was the fifteenth of the Spanish missions established in present ...

and west to

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

. It was also on the eastern route of El Camino Viejo.

References

External links

RESIDENTS OF PUEBLO DE LAS JUNTAS
Former populated places in California Former settlements in Fresno County, California San Joaquin Valley {{FresnoCountyCA-geo-stub