Friant, CA

Friant is a Fresno County census-designated place on the San Joaquin River, where the 2020 census counted 446 residents. The community sits near Friant Dam and Millerton Lake, with the river giving Friant its physical line and the dam connecting it to the Central Valley's irrigation and recreation systems. Clovis Unified School District serves local students.

The settlement has worn several names. Charles Converse established a ferry here in 1852, followed by Jones Ferry, Hamptonville, and Pollasky as merchants, a post office, and the Southern Pacific Railroad changed the map. The place became Friant in the 1920s for lumber executive Thomas Friant. Millerton, Fresno County's first county seat, now lies under the lake after Friant Dam was completed in 1942. Millerton Lake State Recreation Area surrounds the reservoir, and the restored Millerton Courthouse recalls the county seat that the water covered. Friant's story runs from ferry crossing to rail stop to a river community beside one of California's major water projects.