Tule Lake ( ) is an

intermittent lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern

Siskiyou County Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion ...

and northwestern

Modoc County Modoc County () is a county in the far northeast corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 8,700 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,686 from the 2010 census. This makes it California's third-least populous county. The county seat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, along the border with

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Geography

Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The elevation of the lake is . It is one of twenty

ancient lake An ancient lake is a lake that has consistently carried water for more than one million years. Many have existed for more than 2.6 million years, the full Quaternary period. Ancient lakes continue to persist due to plate tectonics in an active ri ...

s in the world that have existed continuously for more than 1 million years. However, this has recently come under significant threat due to multiple years of drought conditions. Tule Lake is located , southwest of the town of

Tulelake Tulelake ( ) is a city in northeastern Siskiyou County, California, United States. The town is named after nearby Tule Lake. Its population is 902 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,010 from the 2010 census. Tulelake peace officers are author ...

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

Wildlife and water

The lake is part of the

Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in northern California near the Oregon border. It covers in the Tule Lake basin. It is part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and is ...

and the

Klamath Project The Klamath Project is a water-management project developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation to supply farmers with irrigation water and farmland in the Klamath Basin. The project also supplies water to the Tule Lake National Wildlif ...

. Deliveries of water from the Klamath Project have been necessary to provide sufficient water for wildlife. On July 24, 2020, a delivery of water from the Klamath Project saved 50,000 ducklings from death.

History

Canby's Cross is located about south of the lake; it is the site where General

Edward Canby Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (November 9, 1817 – April 11, 1873) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1861–1862, Canby commanded the Department of New Mexico, defeating the Confederate Gene ...

was killed by the Modoc chief

Kintpuash Kintpuash, also known as Kientpaush, Kientpoos, and Captain Jack (c. 1837 – October 3, 1873), was a chief of the Modoc tribe of California and Oregon. Kintpuash's name in the Modoc language meant 'Strikes the water brashly.' He led a ...

, also known to American settlers as Captain Jack. The

Tule Lake War Relocation Center The Tule Lake National Monument in Modoc County, California, Modoc and Siskiyou County, California, Siskiyou counties in California, consists primarily of the site of the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, one of ten concentration camps constructe ...

, a

Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

camp, is located east of the lake, in

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the United States

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

under

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...

, forced the evacuation of Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans, including citizens born in the United States, to numerous camps built in the interior of California and inland states. They were forced to sell their businesses and homes, and suffered enormous economic and psychological losses by being treated as potential enemies. Following World War II, the federal government awarded 86 farm sites on land reclaimed by the drainage of Tule Lake to returning white veterans using a

land lottery A land lottery is a method of allocating land ownership or the right to occupy land by lot. Some examples are: * Moses' allocation of Promised Land territory to the Israelite tribes by lot, as mandated in Numbers 26:55 and 33:54 and effected by h ...

. A lottery was used because the number of applicants was greater than the number of homesteads available.Klamath Project, "The Klamath Project at 100: Conserving our Resources, Preserving our Heritage

accessed 3 July 2015

References

Ancient lakes Lakes of Modoc County, California Lakes of Siskiyou County, California Klamath Mountains Klamath River Modoc Plateau Lakes of Northern California Lakes of California {{SiskiyouCountyCA-geo-stub

Geography

Wildlife and water

History

See also

References