Staff reports 209 Living As a modern American, it is rather difficult to imagine the sorts of things that might concern the first settlers of the Turlock area back in the distant year of 1867. It may seem as though there would be countless problems with forming a town from nothing, but two issues dominated the thoughts of those struggling to farm their land: water, and the railroad. While the water supply was certainly a concern, Stanislaus County residents had managed to find ways to survive with the amounts that they had.