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 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most popu ...
situated at the confluence of the
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River ( ; ) 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 Suisun Bay, San Francis ...
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 ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...
in 1810. The name ''las Juntas'' (), a reference to the location at the confluence of two streams. The name fresno () commemorates two large
ash tree
''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some 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
Panoche Creek is a creek in San Benito County, California, San Benito and Fresno County, California, Fresno Counties, California, in the United States.
Historical names include Arroyo de Panoche Grande (Big Sugarloaf Creek)Mildred B. Hoover, et ...
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 a ...
, to
Tres Pinos and northwest to
Mission San Juan Bautista and west to
Monterey
Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census.
The city was fou ...
. 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