Editing Kings County, California (section)

==History==
The area was inhabited for thousands of years by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] including the Tachi [[Yokuts]]<!--''Yokut'' is an erroneous singular, and should only be used when referring to the federal Tachi Yokut Tribe of Lemoore, CA, that is, the government, and not the group of people (nation.)--> tribe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tachi-yokut-nsn.gov/|title=Tachi Yokut Tribe – The Indians of the San Joaquin Valley were known as Yokuts|website=Tachi-yokut-nsn.gov|access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> They continue to live in the area on the [[Santa Rosa Rancheria]]. It was colonized by Spain, Mexico and the United States.

An 1805 expedition probably led by Spanish Army Lieutenant [[Gabriel Moraga]] recorded discovering the river, which they named ''El Rio de los Santos Reyes'' (River of the Holy Kings) after the [[Three Wise Men]] of the [[Bible]].<ref name=Hoover>Hoover, p. 132</ref>  At the time of the United States conquest of California in 1848, the new government changed the name to [[Kings River (California)|Kings River]] after which the county was named.<ref name=Hoover/>

In 1880, a dispute over land titles between settlers and the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] resulted in a bloody gun battle on a farm {{convert|5.6|mi|km|abbr=on}} northwest of Hanford; seven men died. This event became known as the [[Mussel Slough Tragedy]].

Kings County was formed in 1893 from the western part of [[Tulare County, California|Tulare County]].<ref name=Hoover/>  In 1909, by an act of the state legislature, {{convert|208|sqmi|km2|sigfig=2}} of Fresno County territory was added to the northwest portion of Kings County.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Robert L.|title=History of Kings County |publisher=A. H. Cawston|page=53|year=1940}}</ref>

Settlers reclaimed [[Tulare Lake]] and its [[wetlands]] for agricultural development. In surface area, it was formerly the largest body of freshwater west of the [[Great Lakes]], and supported a large population of migratory birds as well as local birds and wildlife. [[Monoculture]] has sharply reduced habitat for many species.

In 1928, oil was discovered in the [[Kettleman Hills]] located in the southwestern part of Kings County. The [[Kettleman North Dome Oil Field]] became one of the most productive oil fields in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Robert L.|title=History of Kings County |publisher=A. H. Cawston|page=123|year=1940}}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression]], over 18,000 cotton pickers in the southern San Joaquin Valley, mostly migrant [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]] workers, went on strike in the [[California agricultural strikes of 1933]]. During the strike, 3,500 striking farm workers lived in a four-acre camp on the land of a small farmer on the outskirts of Corcoran. Ultimately, the federal government intervened to force both sides to negotiate a settlement.<ref>{{cite book | last=Weber | first=Devra | title=Dark Sweat. White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton and the New Deal | pages=79–111 | publisher=[[University of California Press]] | location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, California | year=1994 | isbn=0-520-20710-6}}</ref>

[[Lemoore Army Airfield]] was established for training and defense during [[World War II]]. In 1961, the [[U.S. Navy]] opened [[NAS Lemoore]] {{convert|9|mi|km|0}} west of [[Lemoore, California|Lemoore]], not far from the earlier site.

The completion of the [[California Aqueduct]] in the early 1970s brought needed water for agriculture and domestic use to the west side of the county.