A Wowol Yokuts village called Chaw-Lo-Win stood here on an island in Old Tulare Lake, once the largest fresh water lake in California. In 1859 Allen Atwell and Isaac Goldstein claimed the island and ferried hogs to it on rafts to fatten on tule roots, then took them to the north shore and drove them to the mines and villages for sale. The island was known as Hog Island, Root Island, and Atwell's Island. In 1875 Atwell built the first ship on Tulare Lake, the Mose Andross, a 50 foot long by 15 foot wide flat bottomed schooner that was changed to a side wheel steamer in 1876. It was used to ferry hogs and cattle and for fishing until the lake subsided and left it stranded on dry land. The dry lake bed was then used for cattle grazing for many years. In 1906 J.O. Brubaker organized investors into a company that purchased 8,861 acres of lake bed land to subdivide into small farms, placed the town on high ground, and named it Alpaugh after John Alpaugh, one of the company's members. The town included 96 business lots, 708 residential lots, and sites for a church and school. At first, artesian wells produced both water and natural gas, but after a few years they failed, and drilled wells did not provide enough water. In 1915 an irrigation district was formed and canals were built to bring enough water for crops. The first school and post office opened in 1906, the first church, Lutheran, in 1909, and the first high school in 1913.