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Amar Kaur, mother or Yuba City resident and prominent peach farmer Didar Bains. Bains has been called the “Peach King of California.” His family has 40,000 acres of farmland in 13 counties. (Photos courtesy of the Bains family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

Didar Bains as a child with his brother, Jaswant, in Punjab, India. Bains moved to the Yuba City area in 1958 at age 18. (Photos courtesy of the Bains family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

The first house where Didar Bains lived in a labor camp as a farm worker in Wheatland. (Photos courtesy of the Bains family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

The 1964 wedding of Didar Bains and Santi Poonian in Marysville. (Photo courtesy of the Bains family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

Jasbir Kang with dog Lucy Black, circa 1970, in Punjab, India. Kang is now a doctor living in Yuba City and cofounded the Punjabi American Heritage Society. (Photos courtesy of the Kang family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

Jasbir Kang performing community service (foreground with shovel) at the National Social Service Summer Camp in Punjab in 1973. (Photos courtesy of the Kang family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

Jasbir Kang waiting with his mother and sister at the Chandigarh Airport before leaving for the U.S. in 1986. (Photos courtesy of the Kang family and the UC Davis Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive)

Land of Opportunity

Punjabi immigrants found prosperity, and a new home, in the quiet town of Yuba City

Back Photo gallery Jul 11, 2017 By Sena Christian

Punjabis first emigrated from India to California at the turn of the 20th century, and soon carved out a prominent role in the economy, culture and identity of Yuba City. They overcame discriminatory laws that prevented immigration, citizenship and land ownership — and have flourished. Most Punjabis in the Yuba City area practice Sikhism, a religion with values that resemble those in the U.S. Constitution. An estimated 15,000 Sikhs now live in the Yuba-Sutter area.

To read more, see the July feature “American Dreams.”