Goose Lake is a large

alkaline lake A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate (and related salt compl ...

in the

Goose Lake Valley The Goose Lake Valley is located in south-central Oregon and northeastern California in the United States. It is a high valley at the northwestern corner of North America's Great Basin. Much of the valley floor is covered by Goose Lake, a la ...

on the

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

–

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

border in the United States. Like many other lakes in the Great Basin, it is a

pluvial lake A pluvial lake is a body of water that accumulated in a basin because of a greater moisture availability resulting from changes in temperature and/or precipitation. These intervals of greater moisture availability are not always contemporaneous ...

that formed from precipitation and melting glaciers during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

epoch.Green, p. 75 The north portion of the lake is in

Lake County, Oregon Lake County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,160. Its county seat is Lakeview. The county is named after the many lakes found within its boundaries, including Lake Abert, Sum ...

, and the south portion is in

Modoc County, California 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 sea ...

. The mountains at the north end of the lake are part of the

Fremont National Forest The Fremont-Winema National Forest of south central Oregon is a mountainous region with a rich geological, ecological, archaeological, and historical history. Founded in 1908, the Fremont National Forest was originally protected as the Goose Lake F ...

, and the south end of the lake is adjacent to

Modoc National Forest Modoc National Forest is a U.S. national forest in Northeastern California. Geography The Modoc National Forest protects parts of Modoc (82.9% of acreage), Lassen (9.4%), and Siskiyou (7.7%) counties. Most of the forest was covered by immense ...

lands. Most of the valley property around the lake is privately owned agricultural land, though Goose Lake State Recreation Area is on the Oregon side of the lake. Goose Lake is the center of a semi-closed

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. Its watershed is normally

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

, but sometimes flows into the

Pit River The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range. The longest tributary of the Sacr ...

, part of the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

watershed, during periods of high water following heavy rainfall or snowmelt. During the 1970s and 1980s, the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

defined Goose Lake as part of the Sacramento's watershed, but has redefined Goose Lake's watershed as a closed basin. ArcExplorer

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a ...

data viewer.

Background

Goose Lake is part of a geological trough which runs from Oregon southward past

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North Am ...

, the

Walker Lane The Walker Lane is a geologic trough roughly aligned with the California/Nevada border southward to where Death Valley intersects the Garlock Fault, a major left lateral, or sinistral, strike-slip fault. The north-northwest end of the Walker L ...

. Goose Lake State Recreation Area includes a campground with various amenities. The park attracts wildlife watchers, campers, and boaters. The campground is open mid-April to mid-October. It is habitat to many flora and fauna including

western grebe The western grebe (''Aechmophorus occidentalis'') is a species in the grebe family of water birds. Folk names include "dabchick", "swan grebe" and "swan-necked grebe". Western grebe fossils from the Late Pleistocene of southwest North America we ...

long-billed curlew The long-billed curlew (''Numenius americanus'') is a large North American shorebird of the family Scolopacidae. This species was also called "sicklebird" and the "candlestick bird". The species breeds in central and western North America, migra ...

, and a large herd of

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

which spend much of the time in the 48-site campground. Recreational activities on or around the lake include kayaking, canoeing, and hunting, but not fishing. When the lake is full, it has a maximum depth of . The lake is located near the historic Fandango Pass route that 19th century settlers used to enter California. In the mid-19th century, particularly during the California Gold Rush, the ''Applegate-Lassen Cut-Off'' of the

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

left the main route of that Trail near present-day Rye Patch Reservoir, and crossed the

Black Rock Desert __NOTOC__ The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe eco-region) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt ...

, on the way to Goose Lake and the California gold fields. The ''Lassen Cut-Off'' continued down the

into California's Central Valley, while the

Applegate Cut-Off The Applegate Trail was an emigrant trail through the present-day U.S. states of Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon used in the mid-19th century by emigrants on the American frontier. It was originally intended as a less dangerous alternative ...

went into southern Oregon along the Lost River. The lake completely dried up in the years 1851, 1852, 1926, 1929–1934, 1992, 2009, and 2013-2015. Goose Lake overflowed into the Pit River watershed in 1868. Formerly, Goose Lake was the regular source of the Pit River, but water diversion has caused the lake level to drop below its outlet. The Pit River's source is now south of Goose Lake, and the lake's salinity is increasing, threatening fish populations. During rare high water levels, Goose Lake still spills into the Pit River.

References

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goose Lake (Oregon-California) Glacial lakes of the United States Lakes of Modoc County, California Lakes of Oregon Lakes of the Great Basin Lakes of Lake County, Oregon Modoc Plateau Pit River Lakes of Northern California Lakes of California

Background

See also

References

Works cited