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Abijah McCall was a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, a horse-drawn (and later, tractor-drawn) earth-moving machine upon which modern road- and canal-building equipment is based. Along with his partner Frank Dusy, McCall devised an improvement on the Buck Scraper, invented by James Porteous. On June 15, 1885, McCall and Dusy received U.S. Patent 320,055 for their version of the scraper. Porteous purchased the patents held by Dusy and McCall and also a patent held by William Deidrick as he perfected the scraper, which Porteous also manufactured at his factory in Fresno, California. The scraper was widely used in the Western United States and also put into use by U.S. engineers building the Panama Canal. Deidrick, Dusy, and McCall were all early residents of Selma, California, where McCall Avenue is named for McCall. McCall reputedly used a Fresno Scraper in building the road which runs through Selma and north to Clovis, California.
Frank Dusy was an early business leader of Selma, California and a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, the basis of most modern earth-moving machinery. On June 16, 1885, Dusy and his partner Abijah McCall were issued U.S. Patent 320,055, for their improvement on the Buck Scraper, invented by James Porteous of Fresno, California. Porteous, originally a wagon builder, purchased their patent and one held by William Deidrick as he perfected his machine. Dusy was also among the original investors in the Fresno Republican newspaper, which was eventually acquired by and combined with the Fresno Bee.
James Porteous (1848–1922) was the Scottish-American inventor of the Fresno scraper.
A patent is a form of intellectual property. A patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing an invention for a limited period of time, usually twenty years. The patent rights are granted in exchange for an enabling public disclosure of the invention. In most countries patent rights fall under civil law and the patent holder needs to sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce his or her rights. In some industries patents are an essential form of competitive advantage; in others they are irrelevant.
Fresno County, officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of January 1, 2018, the population was 1,007,229. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-largest city in California.
Selma is a city in Fresno County, California. The population was 23,219 at the 2010 census, up from 19,240 at the 2000 census. Selma is located 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 308 feet.
McFarland is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, United States. McFarland is located 25 miles (40 km) north-northwest of Bakersfield and 6.5 miles (10 km) south of Delano, at an elevation of 354 feet (108 m). The population of McFarland was 12,707 at the 2010 census and an estimated 15,093 in 2017.
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, or other such material during construction or conversion work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely compacted materials.
The Kings River is a 132.9-mile (213.9 km) river draining the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California in the United States. Its headwaters originate along the Sierra Crest in and around Kings Canyon National Park and form the eponymous Kings Canyon, one of the deepest river gorges in North America. The river is impounded in Pine Flat Lake before flowing into the San Joaquin Valley southeast of Fresno. With its upper and middle course in Fresno County, the Kings River diverges into multiple branches in Kings County, with some water flowing south to the old Tulare Lake bed and the rest flowing north to the San Joaquin River. However, most of the water is consumed for irrigation well upstream of either point.
The Fresno Scraper is a machine pulled by horses used for constructing canals and ditches in sandy soil. The design of the Fresno Scraper forms the basis of most modern earthmoving scrapers, having the ability to scrape and move a quantity of soil, and also to discharge it at a controlled depth, thus quadrupling the volume which could be handled manually.
The St. John's River is a distributary of the Kaweah River in the San Joaquin Valley of California in the United States. The river begins at a diversion dam at McKay's Point, about a mile west of Lemon Cove. The distributary flows west along the north side of the city of Visalia, where it joins Elbow Creek, continuing west to Cross Creek.
William Deidrick, of Selma, California was a co-inventor of the Fresno Scraper, the machine that became the basis of most modern earth-moving equipment. On April 17, 1883, Deidrick received U.S. Patent 275,893 for his horse-drawn scraper, which was a variation on the Buck Scraper, invented by James Porteous of Fresno, California. Porteous, originally a manufacturer of wagons, purchased Deidrick's patent, and also one held jointly by Frank Dusy and Abijah McCall as he perfected the machine, an important tool in the building of the Panama Canal, among many other uses.
The Fresno River is a river in Central California and a major tributary of the San Joaquin River. It runs approximately 68 miles (109 km) from the Sierra Nevada Range to the San Joaquin River. Although called the 'Fresno' River, it is one of the largest and longest river systems in Madera County.
Famoso is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located on Poso Creek 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south-southeast of McFarland, at an elevation of 427 feet (130 m).
Rolinda is a small unincorporated agricultural community in Fresno County, California, United States. It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 253 feet. It is located along State Route 180. Official U.S. Geological Survey coordinates for the community are 36°44′07″N119°57′43″W. The community is in area code 559. It does not have its own ZIP code and mail uses the Fresno ZIP code of 93706.
Mercey Hot Springs is an unincorporated community in the Little Panoche Valley of Fresno County, central California, about 60 miles (97 km) west-southwest of Fresno. It is a resort along South Fork Little Panoche Creek and the Little Panoche Road located at the western edge of Fresno County.
Herndon is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 299 feet.
William Helm was a sheep farmer and noteworthy among the early pioneer settlers of Fresno county.
Calloway Canal is an irrigation canal owned by the North Kern Water Storage District in Kern County, California. It originates from the Kern River, just east of Golden State Highway in Bakersfield. It terminates at reservoirs located south of Whisler Road and east of SR 99, near McFarland.
The J.C. Forkner Fig Gardens (1883–1981) was an early 20th-century real estate development in Fresno, California, United States, that combined home ownership with fig farming.
The Kingsburg Recorder is a weekly paper covering Kingsburg, CA and the surrounding communities of Fresno County, California. The paper is owned by Lee Central California Newspapers which, in 2015, combined the Kingburg Reporter with the Selma Enterprise, consolidating printing operations at the Santa Maria Times printing location.
The Selma Enterprise is an American weekly paid newspaper which serves the city of Selma and surrounding Fresno County, California. It is published weekly on Wednesdays and its estimated circulation is 5,000.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.