Since the 1850s, a myriad of irrigation canals, or ditches to the farmers, have been vital to agrarian pursuits in the many thousands of acres of diverse agricultural richness of California’s Great Central Valley — whether cotton fields, olive orchards, fruit trees, grains & rice, or vineyards. A common sight in the landscape, these water transporters also provide some very pretty postcard scenes of the elaborate system. Years ago, I thought it important to include in my California wine postcard collection these views from the different counties in the vast valley. There would be no grape vineyards — wine, raisin, or table — without water. And, while “water rights” has been a topic of controversy and great debate since the first settlers came to the Central Valley, our wine country story will focus on the social beauty and agricultural wonders of irrigating the lands.
Lodi-Woodbridge Irrigating Ditch, Lodi, 1910
In this lovely “Road of a Thousand Wonders” hand-colored postcard, grape vines are pictured in the background and behind the ditch fence along the Woodbridge Irrigation Co. canal bringing Mokelumne River waters to the nearby vineyard lands. Lodi has long been the center of one of California’s most important winegrowing regions and today’s AVA covers more than 500 square miles in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties. In the 1990s the Lodi-Woodbridge district could boast over 600 growers and 50,000 acres in wine grapes, and several large wineries. In its early years, around the time of our postcard, Lodi was described as “the queen city of the San Joaquin Valley” that had planted over 2.5 million grapevines. “Livable, Lovable Lodi” has many boasts besides the Flame Tokay grape and Tokay Arch — winemaking pioneer Robert Mondavi called it home, and a very long list of well-known wine brands purchase Lodi grapes. It is also the celebrated birthplace of A & W Root Beer.
Intake For Irrigation System, Headgate And Dam, Fresno, c1908
A superb c1908 color card illustrates the Kings River irrigation system in Fresno County where today almost 100% of California’s raisin and table grape vineyards are located, and 70% of the wine grapes. The area was opened to grape growing in 1873 when pioneer settler Francis Eisen began planting his sizeable vineyard on the east side of Fresno. Irrigation was essential to success then, as it is today, as Fresno has a desert climate. By 1908, when a boom in the sweet wine industry brought several large-scale wine producers to the county, including Italian-Swiss Colony whose four sweet wine facilities produced close to six million gallons annually, while the California Wine Assn. operated the largest distillery on the Pacific Coast, with an incredible working capacity of 60,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. In 1997 the value of agricultural products in the county was higher than that of any other county in the U.S.— grapes numbered chief among those products. [ — Peninou/Unzelman, San Joaquin Viti District, online]
A California Irrigation Canal … Road Of A Thousand Wonders, c1909
Scenes along the canals are quite pretty, even without vineyards in sight! This park-like canal setting is the first irrigation card I bought. I thought for sure the purple clusters hanging from the pepper trees were grapes. But, more likely, on closer inspection, they are wisteria. And with a sweet written message: “Strolling down the shady lane with you…”
Glenn Co. Dairy. Registered Holstein Cattle Crossing The Canal, c.1910
Produced for C. R. Wickes of Willows, this quite rare hand-colored postcard view of dairy cows ambling over a low, wooden irrigation bridge has a red, eye-catching printed back message: “Scene on the Sacramento Valley Irrigation Project. If interested in California farms, write…” In 1878 the people of Willows celebrated the railroad coming to their Sacramento Valley town in the northern part of the great Central Valley. Chosen the county seat of agriculture-based Glenn County, Willows played an influential role in the development of the Sacramento Valley Irrigation Co. Project. The S.V.I. located its busy “Land Sales” offices in Willows, which also was the site of a major pumping station on the irrigation canal. While grains and rice have always been more popular in the area, vineyards dot the landscape. We find that Clarence Wickes was a very active leader in Willows during the formative years of S.V.I. — a prominent banker, real estate developer, store owner — while he enthusiastically distributed a series of booster postcards featuring a wide array of inviting town sites. Is that his bright red roadster in the scene?
After The Day’s Work. Ranch Life In California. c1910
Cooling, endless flowing water over 100 years ago had more than one use! (And was definitely not a view present in Napa or Sonoma wine country.) California’s massive irrigation canal system is well documented online. Notable Fun Facts: The first irrigation canals in California’s Central Valley, built to serve local areas near the rivers, were constructed in the 1850s by private interests. The first documented American irrigation ditch was constructed in 1853 in Visalia, Tulare County. Northwest of Sacramento, Yolo County had Moore’s Ditch, built in 1856 to divert water from Cache Creek, and marked the beginning of commercial irrigation in California. Moses J. Church, known as the “Father of Fresno Irrigation,” was commissioned in 1870 to build the Fresno Canal to irrigate the expansive wheat fields of pioneer settler Capt. A. Y. Easterby. Commissioned by Pres. Ulysses Grant in 1873, the first investigation of California’s water resources, under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, surveyed the Central Valley’s irrigation needs and recommended systematic development of the Sierra Nevada watersheds. And in 1919, the Chief Hydrographer of the U.S. Geological Survey, Robert Marshall — considered the father of the Central Valley Project — sent his report, “Irrigation of Twelve Million Acres in the Valley of California” to the Governor.
California Irrigation Ditch, Near Fresno, 1908
Most of the early Fresno vineyards and wineries were large operations owned by men of wealth, such as brothers Francis and Gustav Eisen in 1873. Their land was strategically located near one of the ditches of the Fresno Canal & Irrigation Co. which brought water from the Kings River. The brothers regarded this as important, not only because the vines needed irrigation in summer, but also because flooding was believed at the time to be the only efficient way of fighting phylloxera. Moreover, all their machinery was run by water power from an eight-foot fall in the canal. By 1881 they had planted 230 acres; by 1890, they had four hundred acres, principally in test plots of a number of varieties of wine grapes. There was a distillery in addition to the winery and two large wine cellars, one built of adobe. An avenue of tall poplars and pink oleanders led the way to the winery and a “little park or wine garden, particularly cool and enticing.” The Eisens took pride in their wines and won several awards at the Dublin Exposition in 1892.
Wahtoke Head Gate, Near Reedley, Fresno Co, 1909
With a coveted Wahtoke postmark, this is a treasured, very rare irrigation postcard connected to one of my favorite wine country historical stories, the California Wine Association. In 1901, a few miles from Reedley at the base of Mt Campbell, the C.W.A., who already had a huge presence in the Central Valley, established a new vineyard and wine facility, Wahtoke, named after a local indigenous tribe. The vineyard acreage quickly grew to 3,000 acres, and a new 1.5 million-gallon-capacity winery was ready for the 1905 harvest. The immense facility, one of the largest belonging to the Association, was often kept running day and night, an average of 500 tons crushed daily. Amidst the sprawling vineyard, the giant plant became a complete community of its own with cooperage and blacksmith operations and housing for employees. Before Prohibition, the bustling Wahtoke wine community operated a Post Office from 1904–1916, and early on, to facilitate shipping, a branch line of the Santa Fe Railroad was laid from the winery complex to nearby Reedley, an historically important California grape and wine center. Reedley is where Christian Bros. established their major brandy and sweet wine production facility in 1945 when they purchased Mt. Tivy Winery from Seagram. Mount Tivy Winery had been a giant in the area since 1901 when San Francisco Wine House Lachman & Jacobi built the winery as Lac-Jac. [ – Peninou/Unzelman, C.W.A.]
Irrigation Dam On Fresno River, Madera, c.1910
As our playful sender writes, “What a beautiful Bathing Pool this would make … but it is surely an irrigation ditch.” Madera County, advertised in the 1950s as one of the world’s most productive wine regions, was also home to the world’s largest co-op winery, Mission Bell. With an eleven-million-gallon storage capacity, the facility was founded in 1920 by Krikor Arakelian. His massive holdings became part of the Petri Wine Co. in 1950. Another giant wine plant, located two miles from town, was one of the several Italian-Swiss Colony wineries in the Central Valley. Originally established in 1882 by a group of San Francisco businessmen, it was purchased by I-S-C in 1896 for sweet wine production. The Colony greatly increased the acreage, enlarged the winery capacity to three million gallons, and had Southern Pacific run a branch line to the plant. Arakelian brought the operation into his fold during the Dry years, expanded its production, and subsequently sold to Petri.
Irrigation Near Bakersfield, Kern Co., c1910
“This is one of our ditches. Looks natural all right. I have one right in front of my ranch.” Spanning the southern end of the Central Valley, Kern County and its county seat, Bakersfield on the valley floor, are heavily linked to agriculture. A recent statistic showed grapes being 31% of the crop production. But nearby Tehachapi proudly broadcasts it is “Kern County’s wine country.” Especially with their newly designated 58,000-acre Tehachapi Mountains AVA in 2020 (California’s 141st). The area’s wine industry began in 2006. In the valley below, there is wine history dating back almost one hundred years, but it is not large-scale.
