Fresno County

County in central California; area 15,483 sq km/5,978 sq mi; population (1990) 667,500. The San Joaquin River flows through the county, which occupies much of the San Joaquin Valley to the west and parts of the Sierra Nevada to the east. Its administrative headquarters is Fresno. The most productive US agricultural county, it produces most of the nation's raisins as well as figs and other crops suited to a hot, dry climate. Oil and natural gas fields are worked around Coalinga, to the southwest. Kings Canyon National Park and parts of Sierra and Sequoia national forests are to the east.