03/06/2026
San Joaquin to Shaver Lake
History is hiding in plain sight, in the names we give to places–but often we're unfamiliar with where those came from.
This , with generous assistance from the Heritage Center, we're shining a spotlight on the origin stories of many of our local communities. To keep things organized (and because it's as good a way as any), we'll be going in alphabetical order. Today, we feature what's behind the names of a few of our local communities that start with the letter S.
• San Joaquin - San Joaquin was named for the San Joaquin River, which has had many names over the years. The present name of the river dates to 1805–1808, when Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga was surveying land east from Mission San José in order to find possible sites for another mission. Moraga named the river for Saint Joachim. The first post office opened in San Joaquin in 1913 and the town was incorporated in 1920. San Joaquin is located about 11 miles southwest of Kerman.
• Sanger – Like many of the local communities previously featured in this series, Sanger's name has ties to the railroad. In 1886, the Southern Pacific Company referred to the area as Sanger Junction, after Joseph Sanger Jr., secretary-treasurer of the Railroad Yardmasters Association, who visited California in 1887.
7th Street in Sanger, circa 1910: http://digital.sjvls.org/document/1660
• Selma - According to one fanciful legend, Selma was named for Selma Gruenberg Lewis (ca. 1867–1944) by Governor Leland Stanford, after he was shown her picture by her father. As Lewis first told the story in 1925, Stanford, also a Director of the Central Pacific Railroad, was so taken that he ordered that the next town on the line be named for her. Lewis often repeated the story with further romantic embellishments, and it came to be accepted as fact despite a lack of documentary evidence. Further investigation indicates instead that the town was in fact named for another Selma, Selma Michelsen (1853–1910), wife of a railroad employee who had submitted her name for inclusion on a list of candidate names prepared by his supervisor.
Drying fruit in Selma, CA circa 1915: http://digital.sjvls.org/document/1731
• Shaver Lake - Once referred to as Pine Ridge, Shaver Lake, California, was founded in the late 1800s. Lewis P. Swift and Charles B. Shaver explored the Shaver Lake area in early 1891 and joined forces to build and operate the Shaver sawmill in the late 1890s to supply lumber to Fresno and the surrounding areas. They later built a flume that traveled from Shaver to Clovis, allowing them to move the timber down the steep grades of Pine Ridge with minimal effort and expense.
Logging flume, Shaver Lake, circa 1914: http://digital.sjvls.org/document/1734
We hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about these places. Join us again next Thursday as we wrap up our journey with Tollhouse and Tranquillity!
