All posts by cs

Section 30 and a bit of history

Educational, Historical

What’s a Section?

As the country expanded West there was a need to describe acreage so that it could be subdivided and settled. Surveyors marked out land plots using a rectangular format of townships, ranges, and section lines.

A survey township is divided into 36 sections, with a section being 1 mile square and holding 640 acres. Sections are numbered boustrophedonically within survey townships as follows: ( table is north up)

654321
789101112
181716151413
192021222324
302928272625
313233343536
Numbering Convention for Sections and therefore the section number to the west of section 30 will be 25 in the neighboring Range (17 E)

Our Section – 30 – south half, shaped as it is…

It might be fully described as SE 1/4 and SE 1/2, SW 1/4, Sec. 30, T.15S., R.18E. M.D.B. & M or in plain English, the SE quarter and SE half of the SW quarter of section 30 township 15 South and range 18 East – Mount Diablo Base as principal meridian.

The existence of section lines made property descriptions more straightforward. The establishment of east-west and north-south lines (“township” and “range lines”) meant that deeds could be written without regard to temporary terrain features such as trees, piles of rocks, fences, or the like. However, in our case the public roadway adds a complexity so we must rely on the record of survey filed in Book 22 of Records of survey at Page 73, Fresno County Records.

We are in the south half of Section 30 (subtracting ~ 80+ acres orphaned by S McMullin Grade, a diagonal bisecting our section)

Fresno County Tax Assessment Office depiction of Section 30

You’ve heard this expression in story and song: “lower 40” or “back 40” — 40 acres was reference to a quarter-quarter section. There’s more in-depth reading on the PLSS design.

The Backstory Part

Historically these area lands in situ were of low value. The composition of the soil was alkali, predominately sandy loam, underlain with hardpan. There wasn’t a water supply so farming crops was unrealistic. Some areas in the vicinity were perceived to have petroleum reserves. Companies such as Getty Oil and Shell (circa 1923 – 1941) held oil leases. Few wells were able to extract oil in commercial quantities though, as this portion of the valley was at the northern extreme of the known Bakersfield oil resources.

Maintaining speculative hopes for oil, land conglomerates such as the Santa Ana Land Co. derived income primarily from cattle grazing leases. We leased acreage from Santa Ana. Our herd of steers fed on dry grass and hay supplement before trailing them to the [Noble] cattle feed yard for finishing. Years afterward this range where we ran cattle was acquired by Diego Lissi of Switzerland, and is renamed Terranova Ranch.

Sant Ana & Fresno Land Co ( see full size map close-up )

Land holder William H Noble, a wealthy individual from San Francisco, no doubt derived income from oil leases in his day but by the time we were on scene any wells were at their economic limit, if not fully abandoned. In 1962 we acquired land from Mr. Noble. Rik and Estee Strombotne purchased 230 acres within Section 30 with clear intent to develop their new parcel and to begin farming it.

After the land was graded level and ripped, an irrigation well was drilled and gravity pipelines laid. Agricultural gypsum was applied and alfalfa planted. The chemistry of water, alfalfa crop and gypsum was the established method for reclaiming soil in the area. 1 We can be considered founders; one of the first in the area’s transformation and reclamation.

1 Wes Sprague – President 1968 – ____ of the Santa Ana and Fresno Land Company beginning from year 1909 owner of 9 Sections

Our earliest neighbors made similar efforts:

  • Ken Peelman Jr. (leased) Sec. 19
  • Jack Cardwell (leased) Sec. 29, 31, 33
  • Klepper & Little (leased) Sec. 23 and south half of 27
  • Coelho Brothers – Sec. 21
  • Hartwig Brothers – north half Sec. 27
  • Rau Brothers – Sec. 26, 35
  • Britz Family – Sec. 32

Our neighbors today: (click on a colored block to view)

The Naming Convention

Our property is also known as The Kerman Ranch because of its proximity to the city of that name but is actually closest to the unincorporated community of Helm, CA. We refer to the land as The Section 30. Technically not a Ranch by definition but from start beginning, when we cowboyed, it was open-range [ranch] land. Our farming venture transformed the Section 30 piece and made it the success that it has become.

Pass the Salt

Horticulture

Excessive sodium and chloride levels continue to dog the orchard farming operation. We rely on the fall/winter rain season to cleanse the soil through a natural leeching process. Flooding the orchard floor helps to flush harmful accumulations beyond tree root zone. When the rains are deficient due to drought then this process does not happen. The trees absorb the chemicals and tree health and productivity is strained.

Irrigation water can be used to augment to a degree, but in our situation the aquifer is laced with and carries sodium to the field not to mention that pumping is costly and about to become regulated. Interestingly, a water chemical analysis reveals that Well water quality varies. Our mid-field pump (#2) draws water with a sodium concentration of 5.1 mEq/L (milliequivalents per liter) vs. our newest Well (#3) measured at 7.1 These Wells are only 1/4 miles apart so the variance is confounding.

For operational purposes Well 2 is typically 
used to irrigate the wine grapes while Well 3 
is used to provide water for the almond trees. 
Therefore the orchard takes the hit.

The following graphs display tabulated laboratory leaf tissue results from over time. The “Spring” chart captures data from April and the “Summer” — several months hence when almond nuts are well along in development. During this span the trees have been thirsting down the irrigation water and as you observe the sodium concentration as a relative percentage has gone way up. Salts and chlorides are being stored in the plant and can’t be disposed of until leaf drop at the end of the growth season. High concentrations have been the norm but this year [2020] we are seeing an excessive manifestation.

For Almonds the green tinted band is the optimal, yellow is high, and red excessive!
The bars on this chart wouldn’t fit on the other chart. The Y axis scale had to be increased

Witness the data confirms as boots in the field confirm toxicity with attendant leaf burn. By the end of season many of our poor trees in the orchard will appear to be dead but miraculously, will renew themselves for the next year. The trees are resilient fortunately; if only we could reduce the stress…

Coming ‘Round Out West

places, social

As a young boy I can remember Dad bringing home random arrowheads and stone rock Indian artifacts from out on the range. While I never witnessed one of his lucky chance finds, I was with him once when he pointed to another piece of western history — ghostlike narrow tracks through dry hard packed alkali ground. From out of nowhere and scattered tumbleweed these parallel impressions were the dirt markings of the old Butterfield Stagecoach he explained. This seemed so incredulous to me that day and I retained the memory.

That was 60 years ago and even at the time the trail remnants would have been dated by a century. Local knowledge. I categorized his factoid as legend or folklore.

Present day and watching an old James Stewart/John Wayne cowboy western re-run (1962 and available on streaming media), I spied a stage. This movie prop rekindled my early intrigue, for barely legible on the side of the coach roof in faint paint was Butterfield.

for movie timeline purposes they tried [unsuccessfully] to obfuscate the name

This prompted a deep dive [web] search. There was in fact a stagecoach express so described: The Butterfield Overland Mail Company. Accordingly, it operated between St. Louis and San Francisco funded by a 4 year U.S. Postal Department contract. Recalling the glimpse of rutted arid San Joaquin Valley tracks gives one pause; it would have been a rough tough dusty ordeal and how far we’ve come…

Full circle. Dad was onto something! Excepting that reproduced historical map creations are not necessarily precision navigation and that evidential proof has been obliterated by agricultural progress the mapped area of trail discovery does happen to highlight the territory of my one time visit. I like to think that Dad was spot on.

California segment

Point of No Return

flying

Ernest K. Gann’s novel/screenplay The High and the Mighty (1954) sensationalized a peril of crew (and passengers!) after a mechanical mishap on a trans-Pacific flight. The theme of the movie introduced we laypeople audience to the dramatized concept Hollywood named: The Point of No Return — when to turn back or commit to journey onward.

Today’s arithmetic has the benefit of digital calculation. No longer are there margins of error induced by the width of pencil lead on paper chart. It behooves a pilot to maintain an awareness of where he is and specific to this discussion, a safe path to alternative landing [at a suitable airport] should the trip need to end prematurely. Our pre-flight planning analysis arms us with reliable forethought to avoid reliance upon gut instinct or seat of pants.

Note: With a single engine aircraft a diversion could be an open field or stretch of road that gliding distance will allow. So, you as pilot are always reliant upon senses of judgment. Good Luck, we're all counting on you.

A high flying jet however will have options. Over water operations is more problematic but the objective is to; always have a successful outcome. A line for decision may be more comprehensible as a measured distance but is more a function of timing. The fact is; it is not called Point of No Return… rather; Equal Time Point (ETP). This is the precise moment where it takes the same amount of time to u-turn so to speak or press forward. Not displayed but accounted for are winds and temperature conditions at cruising altitude. Consider that it may be a shorter measured distance one direction mileage wise but if facing stiff opposing winds aloft it may take longer to fly them. A longer distance mileage wise might be flown more rapidly then that of the shorter with tailwinds. So, there is a computed point in time where a logical decision is reached.

There can be multiple on a long over-water route. On a recent 10+ hour hop we plotted 4 ETPs. Actually 12. Within each of the 4 groupings are 3 types. DEPRESS (depressurization), 1ENGINE (loss of engine), and MEDICAL (onboard medical emergency). Observe the dispatch release beginning with ETP 1 through 4 below:

tabulated data snippet

The second box, highlighted group, ETP2, contains two airports deemed suitable. In this case: PACD (Cold Bay Airport) in the Aleutians and PMDY (Henderson Field) on Midway Atoll. As you surmise these are in the middle of ‘nowhere’, beyond mainland US and short of our intended final destination. These alternates will change as we progress and thus there are subsequent ETP groupings.

Loss of cabin pressurization is a critical one. At these high altitudes one can’t function physiologically for very long without supplemental O². An immediate decent to an altitude deemed survivable is necessary. 15,000 feet is the generally accepted. Unfortunately doing so will double the rate of aircraft fuel consumption. Jets fly the icy upper levels for reasons of speed and economy. When forced to fly in the dense lower atmosphere efficiency is lost and whereas we planned for optimum fuel now we will end up short. Thus, the need for an escape plan. There is not enough fuel to continue on oblivious so as we are decending we are also questioning our route. Have we reached our ETP?

I plotted ETP(s) on a digital chart for easy reference in-flight. See the screen-grab below:

Jeppessen Chart (screenshot)

Observe DEP2, a plotted waypoint along this westbound (the blue line) route. It is located using Latitude and Longitude. A (black) arrow line vector shows the approximate direction to turn. PACD is a right turn to roughly North and, if past the DEP2 waypoint, PMDY will be found to the South West. These alternate airports are already pre-loaded into the box (nav system) so a route change can be actuated quickly with a button press or two and crew confirmation.

A curious eye will see ? 37N160 in chart center and also 0730z atop a magenta flag marker. The latter is known as a “10 minute check” — a timed event. The label is 07:30 UTC along with an actual lat/lon position report and is created enroute to compare with the plotted route. It serves as a reality check for navigational compliance accuracy. It is noted 10 minutes after passing the previous fix which depicted in shorthand is at North 37 degrees 160 West.

Armed with computerized clarity we are less vulnerable and don’t face the dilemma that our performers faced on the silver screen. Great aviation movie classic BTW and — spoiler alert — our High and the Mighty live happily ever after.

Way back when

Educational

The Google Earth app gives an excellent [and free] view vantage that previously was only accessible to those willing to pay the expense of a chartered aircraft or helicopter equipped with cameras. The satellite photos only go back about 20 years anyhow so I was tickled to stumble upon early imagery courtesy of our local library. They have been painstakingly indexed and digitized so as to be searchable and retrievable online.

June 28, 1961 for the United States. Commodity Stabilization Service

The complete photomosaic was flown by Aeroflex Corporation, Robinson Aerial Surveys Division . There aren’t many clues in this picture due to lack of identifying infrastructure back in the day, but the dark diagonal line in the center is what was then called the Coalinga-Fresno highway better known today as McMullin Grade. Madera Avenue drops straight down from Kerman to the North (center of picture) and meets an end at our diagonal. That point is a good reference as our property is directly across the highway.

March 13, 1950 for the United States Department of Agriculture. Production and Marketing

This next example, was flown by Aero Exploration Co., Tulsa, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the corner tip of our future property (referenced above) was not part of this survey. I have labeled the marks this time so you can get your bearings. Note the red circle that I drew. This is the Southeast corner where we eventually drilled our very first deep water well. irrigation transformed the place as, you can see, this land was forsaken arid desert.

May 19, 1942 for Fresno County highways

This detail clip from a very early survey again depicts the Well location and is interesting because you can observe outbound radiating lines like spokes. These would be cattle trails that culminate in this low spot where the herd would return to drinking water. Drinkable is open to interpretation. The broad brush white areas in the picture are not sky clouds but rather concentrations of alkali rendering the soil poor. Cattle grazed this fenced land as winter rains would produce grass — along with scrub and tumbleweed. Slim pickens. Dinuba Ave is dirt road even to this day but back then you might recognize that it is none too straight in line. The land, while appearing flat in this overhead was in fact uneven and this road was merely following the elevation contour.

Massive leveling machines smoothed things when we acquired and developed the property in 1961/1962. Gypsum was spread to counter the alkalinity and the soil deep ripped to break hardpan clay beneath the surface.

We are so used to what it looks like today in all its splendor. But it was a process and these remarkable records are quite a contrast.

The Sticks

places, social

A 1971 USDA historical aerial photo from UNC Chapel Hill libraries showing the neighborhood now known as Charleston Woods. Before the houses were built, Charleston Woods was actual woods! The point location was determined by taking angles from the Bond Lake Dam (under construction), the White Oak Creek and a transmission line which transits. It is a general estimate.

annotated snippet copy of the original neighborhood

There are also aerial photographs of the county from 1959 and 1938 that also show pine and hardwoods here. The farmland fields that are present in these images are limited to low flat areas of Crabtree Creek; what is now Bond Park Baseball Diamonds 5 & 6 and the Prestonwood Soccer Complex northward. The survey depicts rail tracks and 2 public roads that precede these dates — Highhouse Rd. and Old Apex Rd. None of the streets that we enjoy today had been built yet. The actual full resolution photo file taken on February 24, 1971 can be retrieved easily from here.

The same perspective (via satellite and incolor) today!

After measuring the [29″] diameter of a particularly large Loblolly Pine in the backyard it can be assumed that the area has not been recently cultivated. A 36″ tree is considered mature and that size equates to about 150 years age. There have been people in the area since before the Civil War so it is of course possible that the area had been logged, farmed, or burned. The 1938 shows faint trace remnants of bare dirt that may have been encroaching trails. These are no longer noticeable in subsequent surveys.

Developers had there way made progress and this area has forever lost its out in the sticks nature. It would have been easier to clear cut but to their credit many of the trees were spared.

Update: (according to this source) Before the first Europeans set foot on the [North Carolina] Piedmont Plateau, the land was 99.5% covered by Old Growth forest (oaks, maples, pines, hickories, poplar and tulip poplar, persimmon, elm, hemlock, beech, magnolia, cedar, ash, willow). Some scholars write that the Old Growth was harvested entirely by 1750. All agree that these magnificent trees had been taken down by the start of the Revolutionary War in 1776. When the Old Growth was gone, they started in on the secondary growth. This greatly over-simplified history explains the proliferation of fast-growing pine trees common today.

Beneteau San Juans

adventure, boats

It was a Beneteau Oceanis 381 with a layout similar to last years except below deck was a flip flop opposite. Only one quarter berth which was a full. Larger V berth forward. Diesel forced air heater which we used a couple of times. Chilly until noon. Sunny afternoons. Never rained. The AYC yachts are individually owned and you could tell that our boat was looked after.

Big galley with two refrigerators. Propane BBQ. Galley stove oven had a broiler.

Smaller Lav space (as if that was even possible). The holding tank was a mere 15 !! gallons and with strict eco regs in US waters that meant we really had to watch it. I had the pleasure of pumping it out twice. Well, pump-outs are encouraged by being free anyway.

We anchored out once. Picked up a ball at two other stops. BTW, you taught Spencer well on the fore-deck He was invaluable. Leah was a complete noobe on day one but by mid week she had it down and by voyage end had the sailing bug. Stayed on a linear mooring one night and one night on a dock. Also, we had to put our own boat in its slip back in Anacortes. No such thing as a marina skipper.

Cleared Canadian / US customs which was good experience. Navigation fairly easy with the GPS tracking and land ho. Fewer visual cues on the long sail to and from Victoria in which case it was GPS track and DR

I kept a watchful eye on tides and currents. We traversed a few tidal current rips but those were a non event. We had to be careful for floating logs. We saw several. Man that would have made a big noise to collide. Remind me not to sail there at night. Big container ships in the lanes too. The most current was 2.5 knots which didn’t last long and luckily was going our way.

The most wind that we saw was 16 knots at which full sail was slightly over powered close hauled. The main sail could be furled into the mast. Very trick. 1 to 2 foot wind waves at times. For the most part the wind was 6 to 10 knots. The ride was always good. Our charter had Radar with AIS if we’d have been caught out by fog but we were only concerned once and it turned out not to be a factor.

Like Father like son, Spencer almost did an endo off of the transom but fell into the dinghy instead. Whew!

53 degrees. I was concerned about going overboard while underway and nobody noticing right away. That would have been bad scene.

Ranch Visit

Horticulture

I visited the property on this October day for a general inspection. Everything was in order; no problems to report. A description of current events follows.

Orchard V-Float

The orchard is in good shape with the trees looking a bit haggard, as they do post harvest. We usually experience leaf drop compared to younger trees which retain longer. On the trees that were still holding leaves there was little salt burn as evidenced during previous drought years. The orchard floor had been Floated recently giving a great showcase appearance.

smooth and level
V-Float implement

Tree Removal

The former PG&E cable-pull site has been maxed out and burning under the high tension wires is probably no longer is an option. The South road has been a staging area for trees to be cut up for a couple of years now. The wood is ground and the chips are being uniformly spread on the driveable portion of the South road. I noted that the North orchard road is being used for some overflow of branches; possibly only because it is localized to the removal area and more efficient.

An old tree that gave out.
These are replants in the East Block that are well established and will be producing in a couple of years.

Post Harvest Irrigation

Micro-sprinkler on a spike

Some micro-sprinklers have been tapped into the drip line. These increase the flow of water to the replants; giving them a fighting chance to make it. It is a tough beginning. They are competing with their mature neighbors and there is not as much sunlight exposure sometimes but plenty of drying heat. Notice that there are some weeds growing along the berm. Tractor implements can do little there.

Well #3 flow meter

The drip system had been running a 24 hour set at the time of my inspection visit. Well #3 was supplying water at 2,150 GPM according to its flow meter. The Vineyard received water the previous week. The trees and vines require water so that they will have stored the necessary energy reserves for the start of the next growing season.

The irrigator despite the language barrier showed me how to adjust the drip booster VFD. In a follow up post we will do a deep dive on this topic.

Vineyard – Till and Pack

The vineyard is looking very fine, post harvest with very clean removal of the grape clusters noted this year. Only randomly scattered grapes (now raisins) remain still attached. They were quite sweet although having seeds in them, a bit crunchy. There was one metal end of row post that was a harvest casualty. Looks like the grape picker may have clipped it… I’m sure it can be reset.

Before
After

Weed control was in progress with a tractor pulled disc doing battle against Bermuda grass between the vine rows.

Dairy neighbor’s new orchard

Interesting to observe in our Till and Pack operation how close that the trailing roller comes to the neighbors new trees. Granted, the rig that we are using is a large tractor pulling a long train but our driver appears to be using every inch of available real estate to make his 180 degree turn. We were wise to insist that the neighbor farmer make the adjustments when he planted.

Lastly, a look at a backlit vine and see that the trunk is showing growth maturity. It wasn’t that long ago that we were planting root stock it seems.

A permanent cordon – spur trained / cane pruned..

WWII logs

flying
[two brothers as young men]

Dusty old records survive! This archive having been revisited after 3/4 century, can be digitized and is to be preserved. The pages include Naval deployment orders, training records, and memory scraps.

Aviator’s Flight
Log Book

Logged is a (non-military) November 4th joy flight with Esther L. (Mom) as passenger — type NE 1 number 49340 1.0 duration Burbank California 1945.