Kurt,
To this day there are no "farms" in CA, they are ranches. The description of farming of old included what you consider ranching. Both farms and ranches needed irrigation water. Ranching required the growing of hay which required irrigation. Many ranches grew tree crops in addition to the food required by their stock. Willows is still a big cowboy town according to my girlfriend.

GGGGrandfather Alexander Hite was born in VA, moved to OH and then moved to Sacramento County in 1853 with his family. They had a stock farm there as well as Alexander running the stage route over the pass. His son Absalom George moved to Glenn County after he was married in 1866 and had a large farm/ranch there. He died in 1906 in Willows.

Sounds like your grandfather would have been very interested in the the area from what you say. Hope this is of interest to you.