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This area now known as greater Visalia was once the domain of the Yokut Indians. The abundance of wildlife, seeds, acorns and roots made it a Morgage Calculator relatively easy existence for these original inhabitants of the valley. The first men of European descent to enter the valley most likely came as part of expeditions of the Spanish Military and the Coastal Missions. Historical records indicate that Pedro Fages reached the central Real Estate Home Values San Joaquin Valley in about 1772 and was the first to make a written record of this area. The Spanish were reluctant to settle in this area because of climate and the perceived danger from the local native American population. An influx of European trappers, traders, explorers, miners and settlers affected Mortgage Refinance the lifestyle of the native Yokuts since the Europeans brought a non hunter-gatherer culture as well as diseases the Yokuts had no resistance to. This decimated the population of the Yokuts and their way of life was virtually destroyed. The first building was a log stockade called Fort Visalia. It was built in 1852 in fear of attack by native Americans. Early Visalia history indicates that a school and a Methodist Church were established the same year and the following year a grist mill and a general store were built. In 1853 Visalia became the county seat of Tulare County, then an extensive County encompassing parts or all of Madera, Fresno, Kings and Kern Counties. When the railroads came through the California Central Valley creating such cities as Tulare, Fresno, and Modesto, Visalia was passed by. While cities like Fresno and Modesto experienced bursts of growth in the first half of the 20th century, Visalia remained small. Throughout the 1980s until the mid 1990s Visalia experienced a massive increase in population, growing from around 25,000 in the 1970s to over 100,000 today.