New Delhi: Tulare Lake in California has once again appeared, reclaiming its place in the San Joaquin Valley. It has swallowed approximately 94,000 acres of farmland. Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River. The lake had vanished in the late 19th century.
Tulare Lake is often known as ‘Ghost Lake’. But why is it called that, and why did it disappear?
Name and meaning of Tulare
The Spanish word tular refers to a field of tule rush. Spanish captain Pedro Fages led the first southern San Joaquin Valley excursions in 1773. This plain stretches over 120 in length and varies in width from 20-15 leagues or even less in some areas. It is a maze of lakes and wetlands. The San Francisco River runs through the middle of this plain. It splits into several branches, flowing in and out of the lakes until it reaches the estuary.
The term “Tulare” comes from the Classical Nahuatl word “tōlin”, which means “rush” or “reeds”. It is related to various locations in Mesoamerica, like Tula and Tultepec.
In the Tachi language, one name for the lake is “Pa’ashi”, meaning “big water”. Other names include Chentache (or Chintache) and Chataqui.
The History of Tulare Lake: From Vast Wetland to “Ghost Lake”
Tulare Lake is also known as the ghost lake. It started to dry up in the 1850s.
Tulare Lake, located in California’s San Joaquin Valley and known as Pa’ashi by the indigenous Tachi Yokut tribe, was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. This changed when privatising land led to draining the lake for farming. The lake has made several attempts to return, earning it the nickname “ghost lake”.
While some viewed it as flooding, others saw it as the lake coming back. In 2023, NASA describes the San Joaquin Valley as a bowl shape with Tulare Lake at its centre. In wet years, the lake could cover over 690 square miles and stretch up to 100 miles long and 30 miles wide.
When the lake was full, steamships could move supplies from Bakersfield to Fresno and then to San Francisco, travelling 300 miles on waterways. Fresno was once a lakeside town.
Over the years, rivers were dammed and diverted for agriculture, drying up the lakebed for farming. The last time water flowed from the lake into the San Joaquin River was in 1878, marking a key moment in the lake’s decline.
The lake first disappeared fully in 1890. Between then and 2023, it returned four times: twice in the 1930s, once in the 1960s, and once in 1983.
The return of Tulare Lake in 2023 raised hopes but quickly disappeared again. Now, searching for Tulare Lake feels like looking for a ghost.
Flora and Fauna
Flora
The native plants in the region vary from saltbrush and alkali sink areas to valley grasslands and wetlands. Today, some parts of the southern basin grow alfalfa, and invasive saltcedar can be found in natural habitats.
Fauna
The Sand Ridge area is home to several native animals, including the Buena Vista Lake shrew, southwestern pond turtle, fulvous whistling duck, least bittern, California red-legged frog, and giant garter snake. The Thicktail chubfish is now extinct in this area.
Other animals present include sandhill cranes and tricoloured blackbirds. Historically, species like tule elk and pronghorn antelope were important to Native American peoples living here. In the 1850s, Grizzly Adams hunted tule elk on Pelican Island.
When the lake reappears, mosquito populations may explode, which raises concerns about mosquito-borne illnesses for residents in the area.
Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, has reappeared in California’s San Joaquin Valley, inundating thousands of acres of farmland. Its reappearance highlights the lake’s cyclical history, as it disappeared in the late 19th century due to land privatisation and agricultural development. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
