1908 photo postcard image taken in Visalia.   The view is from the top of the old county courthouse, looking southeast.  George Besaw is the photographer.
At the left lower corner is the Odd Fellows Hall, built in 1873;  this building was at the NE corner of Church St. and Center Ave.   The two story building near the right corner (with the number "176" written just in front of it) is the Delta Office (newspaper) building.    Almost all of the old buildings in this view are now gone.
 

(Added 12/9/15)  Another  George Besaw photograph taken from the top of the county courthouse, this time looking South.    The old courthouse had several statues on its roof.  You can see the back of one of these at the bottom of this image.
Several close-up views of buildings:

This is a close-up of the corner of Main and Church Streets.    The "Visalia House" was an old hotel, torn down in 1917.   It was the last place famed stage-coach robber  Black Bart  was seen (in the late 1880s). The Wunder Saloon is also visable here.    According to Joseph Vicenti,   the business with the horse statue is  Uhl Harness Shop.   It eventually became Uhl Rubber, one of the few local businesses to make the transition from horses to automobiles.

The cupola tower in the left foreground was at the NW corner of Main & Church, where the 5-story Bank of America building is now.   I think the narrow two-story building (middle of image) was the old firehouse.

Close-up showing the  J. Harrell Building and Vucovich Bros & Co  on Main Street.  
 

Portrait of a girl, from the studio of  E.A.S. Wyllie  - Tulare, CA.   Circa 1889.

Photo postcard from Lindsay, CA.  It appears to be the interior of a bar  with a billiard room in the back.    The calendar in this image indicates that it was taken in April 1915.   It is postmarked from Lindsay,  June 22, 1915.  Written on this card:  "Lindsay Cal,  June 23rd.  This is where I work.  How is old Vermont?  Your Old friend, Doun".

An old snapshot of two kids posing with a burro in Porterville,  circa 1905.  One of the businesses in the background is  Andrew S. Mapes' saddle shop.          The two photographs, below, are of the same girl on the burro.



 Photograph of a mule team in front of the Lindsay Feed & Fuel Co. (Lindsay, CA).  Circa 1909.

 Photo postcard from Lindsay, CA;  dated 2/11/1908.

I'm pretty certain this is an image of  Lorne Clifford Sparham with his little brother  Roy Elvis Sparham.    They are the children of William James Sparham and Fannie Almas.     The Sparham family were from Ontario Canada;  Lorne was born in Ontario,  Roy was born in Lindsay.    They apparently moved back to Canada sometime between the 1910 and 1920 U.S. Census.

 Photo of two young brothers.     Photograph by E. M. Davidson of Visalia, circa 1893.  

 Photograph by E. M. Davidson of Visalia, circa 1893.

I bought this photo with the one just above,  so it's possible she might be the mother of those two young boys.    Unfortunately there are no names on either photograph.

 Photograph by  E.A.S. Wyllie (Edward Arthur Sanders Wyllie) of Tulare, circa 1890.    Redwoods were being logged at multiple locations in-and-around Tulare County during this time,   especially the areas near Grant Grove and Balch Park.     In 1890,  oxen were still an integral part of many of these logging operations,  but  eventually much of their work was taken over by steam-engines (e.g.  Dragging cut logs to the sawmills).       (Updated 6/15/16):  I've recently seen another old print of this image which has a "C. C. Curtis" photographer's stamp on the back.   Occasionally, photographers have allowed other studios to print their photos.   I would guess that this is actually a Curtis image that Wyllie paid for the rights to use.  Curtis is known for his many logging photographs.

 

Photo by E.A.S. Wyllie of Tulare, circa 1890.     An image of fruit being dried on trays.    There was a  considerable risk of fresh fruit spoiling during shipment to other markets (The railroads would not guarantee  timely deliveries).   So fruit was commonly dried back then, to preserve it.    In Tulare County;  peaches, apricots,  apples, pears and plums were often dried.     This might be the Paige and Morton Ranch which was just west of Tulare.

 From a photo postcard of Orosi, CA, circa 1911.    There's a bank, drug store and realty office in this image.     A close-up reveals window and street ads for things like Welch's Grape Juice and Bishops Rough House Chocolates.

Photo postcard image of the Bank of Tulare, circa 1907.
This bank was located at the corner of Tulare Avenue and K Street.

 Three postcards from the Brisco Iron Works in Lindsay, CA.   Circa 1912.    According to the trade literature this company existed from 1911 to about 1914.    They specialized in pumping (irrigation) machinery.

 

Brisco Iron Work's foundry.   Photo by Lindley Eddy.

A view of Brisco's machine shop.   Photo by Lindley Eddie.

Specialized pumping equipment being shipped from Brisco Iron Works.    This postcard is post-marked 6/29/1912.

///////////////////////////////////// 

Below are from a group of small photographs taken in 1917 at Swall's Ranch, Tulare CA.  

According to The Tulare Advance Register's 4/5/1920 issue:      William Swall (1848-1920) started this ranch with an 80 acre homestead  along the Tule River in 1873.   Eventualy it grew to 1700 acres, and was known as the Deep Creek Ranch.  The Advance Register stated that it was "one of the finest fruit ranches in the valley".

 

Foster Bell

This appears to be the worker's dining room.

Foster Bell again.   Apparently many of the workers slept outside during the summer.   

That maybe some sort of mosquito netting strung across the head of the bed.

Lynn Sanborn

This is how many young men still spend their Saturday nights.

 Photo postcard of Main St., Visalia.  Taken in 1921 or 1922.      The building at the left foreground is the Palace Hotel  (on the NE corner of Main and Court St.).      The 5-story building down the street is the Johnson Hotel (Built in 1917,  at the NE corner of Main and Church St.).    
Noticeably missing in this image is the 5-story Bank of America building which was built in 1923.
Togni-Branch Stationary store is here on the first floor of the Palace Hotel structure.   Togni's first opened in 1921 and remained in business until 2007;  I think the building that they eventually moved to is also in this image.

 Dillonwood sawmill,  1904.    Photograph by  A.R. Moore.    The Dillonwood grove is located about 33 miles east of Visalia (6 miles north of Balch Park).   Logging started on the lower fringes of  this area around 1865 and continued on-and-off  until about 1990.   In 2001 the grove became part of the Sequoia National Park.   Over the years,  many old-growth redwoods were cut down here.

Note the small stand of large sequoias at top-center.   The road to the left of these redwoods, that curves down towards the center of the photo,  is actually a logging skid path.   A  'steam donkey' engine was used to drag cut trees along the logging skid to the sawmill.   There's a water flume running from the sawmill that was used to transport cut lumber down the steep mountainside.   The flume is in the lower half of this image, running to the photo's lower left-hand corner.

Photo postcard showing the Giant Forest post office, in Sequoia National Park.   Circa 1920.