The Kings River country was not an attractive site for early settlers, because for most of its lower course the river flows in an incised channel between low bluffs (an area known as the Centerville Bottoms), leaving the surrounding plains high and dry, suitable only for livestock grazing. Further downstream, approaching Tulare Lake, the land was too swampy for farming in addition to being seasonally flooded. For this reason, farmers initially favored the more well-watered Kaweah Delta, the present-day location of Visalia, to the south. Agriculture along the Kings River was limited to the Centerville Bottoms until ditches were extended from further upstream to supply the surrounding lands, the first being the short Byrd Ditch in 1858. The Great Flood of 1862 and another in 1868 destroyed most of the early settlements along the Kings River, and also wiped out the cattle ranching economy of the San Joaquin Valley, precipitating an economic shift to farming.