Connecting Slough , the former slough between Kern Lake and Buena Vista Lake in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley , in Kern County, California .
107-754: It was part of the Tulare Lake Basin and Kern River system, before agricultural diversions by the Central Valley Project . It was a tributary of the San Joaquin River until the latter 19th century. 35°09′46″N 119°14′09″W / 35.16279°N 119.23573°W / 35.16279; -119.23573 ( Connecting Slough mouth ) 35°09′50″N 119°06′40″W / 35.16399°N 119.11111°W / 35.16399; -119.11111 ( Connecting Slough source ) This Kern County, California -related article
214-685: A drop in the area's water table, resulted in the town's demise. The Depression -era migrants to the San Joaquin Valley from the South and Midwest are one of the more well-known groups in the Central Valley, in large part due to the popularity of John Steinbeck 's novel The Grapes of Wrath and the Henry Fonda movie made from it. By 1910, agriculture in the southern Great Plains had become nearly unviable due to soil erosion and poor rainfall. Much of
321-638: A fresh water lake. Lake Corcoran was the last widespread lake to fill the valley about 700,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Holocene there were three major lakes remaining in the southern part of the Valley, Tulare Lake, Buena Vista Lake and Kern Lake . In the late 19th and in the 20th century, agricultural diversion of the Kern River eventually dried out these lakes. Today, only a fragment of Buena Vista Lake remains as two small lakes Lake Webb and Lake Evans in
428-523: A given crop: Stockton produces the majority of the domestic asparagus consumed in the United States, and Fresno County is the largest producer of raisins. Cattle and sheep ranching are also vitally important to the valley's economy. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Miller & Lux corporation built an agricultural monopoly centered around cattle. The corporation can be characterized as
535-625: A hard-driving sound that is still deeply associated with the city. The San Joaquin Valley produces 12.8% of California's agricultural production (as measured by dollar value). Often called a breadbasket region, the valley farms emphasize fruits, vegetables and nuts more than grain for bread. Major crops include grapes (wine grapes, table grapes and raisins ), cotton , almonds , pistachios , citrus , and vegetables. Walnuts, oranges, peaches, garlic, tangerines, tomatoes, kiwis, hay, alfalfa and numerous other crops have been harvested with great success. Certain places are identified quite strongly with
642-494: A loss of as much as $ 11 billion each year. San Joaquin Valley is a major agricultural center of California. The agricultural demand for water far outstrips the urban and industrial demand. Overuse of nitrogen fertilizers and irrigated agriculture is common, and according to Thomas Harter, the chair for Water Resources Management and Policy at UC Davis, “more than 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year may leach into groundwater beneath irrigated lands, usually as nitrates”. Between
749-607: A majority of Kern County in Southern California. Although the valley is predominantly rural, it has three densely populated urban centers: Stockton / Modesto , Fresno / Visalia , and Bakersfield . The San Joaquin Valley is the southern half of California's Central Valley . It extends from the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta in the north to the Tehachapi Mountains in the south, and from
856-409: A portion of the former Buena Vista Lakebed. The San Joaquin Valley has extremely hot, dry summers and pleasantly mild winters characterized by dense tule fog . Its rainy season normally runs from November through April. The valley has experienced a severe and intensifying megadrought since the early 2010s. This drought is not only affecting humans, with farmland taking much of the impact, but also
963-611: A precursor to corporate farming transforming the yeoman farmer into wage workers. The success of the business can be attributed to founder Henry Miller 's direct management style which is reflected in his detailed correspondences to his subordinates. During recent years, dairy farming has greatly expanded in importance. As areas such as Chino and Corona have become absorbed into the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, many dairy farmers have cashed out and moved their herds to Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties. Between 1990 and 2004, 28,092 hectares (70,231 acres) of agricultural land
1070-471: A shallow basin of fertile soil , within the Central Valley of California , the most productive agricultural region of the United States. Farms in the basin produce much of the country's cotton, tomatoes, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, alfalfa, wheat, barley and cow milk. Farmers have irrigated the area for a century, so soil salination is becoming a concern. The destruction of the terrestrial wetlands and
1177-459: A size of 20,000 acres (81 km ), which resulted in about $ 100 million worth of crop damage and losses. The groundwater in recent years has been overpumped by the large land owners that dominate the politics and economy of the Tulare Lake region. The overpumping has contributed to the sinking of the ground under Corcoran , as well as exacerbated the dangers of flooding and necessitated
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#17328547035071284-598: A source of drinking water for 90% of San Joaquin Valley's residents. Nitrates have found their way into the aquifers around the San Joaquin Valley, affecting over 250,000 people in communities that are poor and rural. In 2006, the State Water Resources Board took samples from domestic wells in Tulare County; they found that 40% of 181 domestic wells had nitrate levels above the 10 mg/L legal limit. Though locals have typically used filters for their water,
1391-616: A strong history in Stockton. Filipino organizations in Stockton are reflected in various commercial buildings identified as Filipino. Filipinos fought for the U.S. against Japan in WWII, in exchange for favorable immigration status. Stockton has been an adjunct to the San Francisco Bay Area, which was a major military production and transit area during WWII. Filipino emigration to Stockton followed. Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park marks
1498-408: A three-year drought was prompting changes to the agriculture industry in the valley. Farmers began using complex irrigation systems and using treated waste water to feed crops, while many were switching from farming cotton to other commodities, chief among them, almonds. California has long been one of the nation's most important oil-producing states, and the San Joaquin Valley has long since eclipsed
1605-587: Is 72.7%. According to the United States Census Bureau 's American Community Survey , six San Joaquin Valley counties had the highest percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line in 2006 of any counties in California. The report also showed that the same six counties were among the 52 counties with the highest poverty rate in the United States . The median income for a household in
1712-683: Is a federally recognized tribe of Kitanemuk , Yokuts , and Chumash indigenous people of California . Their ancestral homeland is the southern San Joaquin Valley, San Emigdio Mountains , and Tehachapi Mountains . Today they live in Kern County, California , headquartered in Wasco and Bakersfield, California . The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California , Chukchansi or Foothills Yokuts , now located in Madera County in
1819-433: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in California is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tulare Lake 203 ft (62 m) Tulare Lake ( / t ʊ ˈ l ɛər i / ) or Tache Lake ( Yokuts : Pah-áh-su , Pah-áh-sē ) is a freshwater lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California , United States. Historically, Tulare Lake
1926-520: Is important to maternal and child health and is another comparative indicator of community health. According to the California Department of Health Services, 37% of births in Merced County occurred with no or late prenatal care and the San Joaquin Valley average was 19.5% of births with no or late prenatal care. By comparison, the California average was 13.6% of births and the national average
2033-658: Is not state-maintained. The part east of unbuilt State Route 65 near Minkler is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System; the road east of Dunlap is the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, a Forest Service Byway. Other important highways in the valley include State Route 46 (SR 46) and State Route 41 (SR 41), which respectively link the California Central Coast with Bakersfield and Fresno; State Route 33 (SR 33), which runs south to north along
2140-469: Is the southern half of California 's Central Valley . Famed as a major breadbasket , the San Joaquin Valley is an important source of food, producing a significant part of California's agricultural output. San Joaquin Valley draws from eight counties of Northern and one of Southern California , including all of San Joaquin and Kings counties, most of Stanislaus , Merced , and Fresno counties, and parts of Madera and Tulare counties, along with
2247-473: Is thus cognate with various Mesoamerican sites, such as Tula and Tultepec . A Tachi name of the lake is Pa'ashi which translates to "big water". Other variants include Chentache (or Chintache) and Chataqui. Before 600,000 years ago, Lake Corcoran covered the Central Valley of California. 600,000 years ago a new outlet formed in the present day San Francisco Bay , rapidly carving an outlet through Carquinez Strait , probably catastrophically, and drained
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#17328547035072354-399: Is twenty, fifteen and even less in width. It is all a labyrinth of lakes and tulares , and the river San Francisco, divided into several branches, winding in the middle of the plain, now enters and now flows out of the lakes, until very near to the place where it enters into the estuary of the river. Tulare ultimately derives from Classical Nahuatl tōlin , "rush" or "reeds". The name
2461-509: Is usually a dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes . The lake reappears during unusually high levels of rainfall or snow melt as it did in 1942, 1969, 1983, 1997, 1998, and 2023. The Spanish word tular (plural: tulares ) refers to a field of tule rush . Spanish captain Pedro Fages led the first excursions to the southern San Joaquin Valley in 1773 . This plain will exceed one hundred and twenty leagues in length and in parts
2568-628: The Coast Ranges and the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada . Above a threshold elevation of 207 to 210 feet (63 to 64 m), it overflowed northward into the then-extant Summit Lake (southwest of Riverdale) , thence via Fresno Slough to the San Joaquin River . This happened in 19 of 29 years from 1850 to 1878. No overflows occurred after 1878 due to increasing diversions of tributary waters for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses. By 1899,
2675-549: The Environmental Protection Agency , meaning residents are exposed to air quality that is confirmed to be hazardous to human health. The region of the San Joaquin Valley has some of the richest soil that allows for the production of many crops. Crops in this region include: grapes, oranges, cotton, vegetables and nuts. The plethora of crop land allows for the valley to benefit from the income of crop sales. About sixty percent of California's crops come from
2782-533: The Los Angeles Basin as the state's primary oil production region. Scattered oil wells on small oil fields are found throughout the region, and several enormous extraction facilities – most notably near Lost Hills and Taft , including the enormous Midway-Sunset Oil Field , the third-largest oil field in the United States – are veritable forests of pumps. Shell operated a major refinery in Bakersfield; it
2889-594: The Mexican-American War . United States settlers began entering the Tulare Basin in 1826. The first settler to enter the San Joaquin Valley was Jedediah Smith . In 1854, Grizzly Adams hunted on Pelican Island, "where there was said to be elk in abundance." Children from a village on the mouth of the Kings River guided him to the island on a canoe made of tules. In 1858 or 1859, settlers began ethnically cleansing Tulare Lake, by killing or forcibly relocating
2996-715: The Pacific Ocean . The somewhat larger southern portion is the Tulare Basin, an endorheic basin centered on Tulare Lake . Historically, Tulare Lake was fed by the Tule River , the Kings River, the Kaweah River , the White River and the Kern River , but much of this water has been diverted for agricultural uses and the watershed is mostly dry in its lower reaches. The San Joaquin Valley began to form about 66 million years ago during
3103-645: The Union Pacific Railroad does not currently allow the San Joaquins trains to run on the highly congested rail route over Tehachapi Pass , which is the only route between Bakersfield and Los Angeles . Passengers between these towns must travel on Amtrak Thruway buses. The San Joaquin Valley is also the location of the planned initial operating segment of the California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) project, which will run 171 miles from Bakersfield in
3210-497: The War in Vietnam . These immigrants, the majority of whom are Hmong , Laotian , Cambodian , and Vietnamese , have largely settled in the communities of Stockton, Modesto, Merced , and Fresno . Hmongs, Laotians, and Cambodians are the largest communities of Southeast Asians in the San Joaquin Valley, and the valley has some of the largest populations of these groups in the nation. Fresno has
3317-424: The ammonium nitrate that “accounts for more than half of the region’s PM2.5 on the area’s most polluted days.” Exacerbated by stagnant weather and the temperature drop of the cooler seasons, much of the air pollution becomes trapped beneath a layer of warmer air, resulting in a phenomenon known as temperature inversion and condensing the accumulation of pollutants within the valley. Population growth has caused
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3424-459: The lake ecosystem habitats resulted in substantial losses of terrestrial animals , plants , aquatic animals , water plants , and resident and migrating birds . Yoimut , who spent a significant part of her life on the lake, warned ethnographer Frank F. Latta that the lake would return. In 1938 and 1955, the lake flooded, which prompted the construction of the Terminus and Success Dams on
3531-461: The tule elk and pronghorn antelope were of economic importance to Native American peoples living in the area. Grizzly Adams hunted tule elk on Pelican Island in the 1850s. The re-emergence of the lake can lead to explosions of the mosquito population in the area, which raises the concern of mosquito borne illness for people living in the area. The Tulare Lake region has been continually inhabited for more than 10,000 years. The Witt Site , on
3638-467: The " Okies " of primarily English and Scots-Irish descent who migrated to California from the Midwest and South . Mennonite groups descended from Russian Germans settled in the areas of Reedley and Dinuba , as well as Lutheran and Catholic Volga Germans who settled in the broader Fresno area. The San Joaquin Valley has a large and exceptionally diverse Asian American population; primarily from
3745-448: The 1950s and 1980s, when nitrogen fertilizer use grew sixfold, nitrate concentrations in groundwater increased 2.5 times. Fertilizer runoffs contributes roughly 90% of all nitrate inputs to the alluvial groundwater system. Within agriculture, the two major factors are High-Intensity Crop Production and Large Dairy Herds. Because these communities are cut off from larger water distribution, they are dependent on wells, making groundwater
3852-503: The 1970s onward, landlords and large corporations have also hired undocumented immigrants . This has allowed them to increase their profits due to low overhead on wages. The San Joaquin Valley has—by California standards—an unusually large number of European, Middle Eastern, and Asian ethnicities in the heritage of its citizens. These communities are often quite large and, relative to Americans immigration patterns, quite eclectic: for example, there are more Azorean Portuguese in
3959-655: The 1990s and 2000s. The other, Castle Air Force Base , located near Atwater was closed during the Base Realignment and Closure of the 1990s. Although both are in Kern County, Edwards Air Force Base and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station are located in the High Desert area of that county. The California real estate boom that began in the late 1990s has significantly changed the San Joaquin Valley. Once distinctly and fiercely independent of Los Angeles and San Francisco,
4066-556: The Bay Area's orbit as well. Bakersfield, traditionally a boom-bust oil town once described by urban scholar Joel Kotkin as an "American Abu Dhabi ," has seen a massive influx of former Los Angeles business owners and commuters, to the extent that gated communities containing million-dollar homes are going up on the city's outskirts. Wal-Mart , IKEA , Target , Amazon , CVS Pharmacy , Restoration Hardware , and other various large shipping firms have built huge distribution centers both in
4173-636: The California coastal ranges ( Diablo and Temblor ) in the west to the Sierra Nevada in the east. The valley contains two large river systems, divided north and south. The northern portion of San Joaquin Valley is called the San Joaquin Basin: the watershed of the San Joaquin River and its tributaries including parts of the Kings River , all of which drain northwest into the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and eventually out to
4280-561: The Chunut to the east, and the Tachi to the north and west. European exploration into the Tulare Basin area began in 1805 with Fr. Juan Martin, who was the first European to see the lake. He arrived in Wowol territory following a three-day trip from the coast. In 1816, Luís Antonio Martinez destroyed the rancheria of Bubal, burning the village, scattering their grain, and smashing their grinding stones. He
4387-551: The Kaweah and Tule Rivers in Tulare County and Pine Flat Dam on the Kings River in Fresno County. Although usually dry, the lake reappears during floods following unusually high levels of rainfall or snow melt; for this reason, it has been called a "phantom lake," "the lake that will not die," or California’s zombie lake. Estimates have found that Tulare Lake could hold twice the water of the proposed Temperance Flat Dam at one-fifth
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4494-591: The Kings County average of 1.1 beds per a thousand and the San Joaquin Valley average of 1.8 beds per a thousand were again less than the state average of 2.1 bed per a thousand. Consequently, the age adjusted death rate is significantly higher than the rest of California. In response the University of California with the University of California, Merced is exploring opening a research medical school specializing in rural care, in hopes that some graduates will settle in
4601-450: The San Joaquin Valley and provide better healthcare. Currently, the Latino and Mexican descendants are large percentage of the demographics in the San Joaquin Valley. Since not long after the onset of the bracero program during World War II , all but a minor percentage of the farmworkers in the region have been of Mexican ancestry. Ethnic and economic friction between Mexican-Americans and
4708-528: The San Joaquin Valley at the time of the 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates by United States Census Bureau reported a population of 4,080,509. The racial composition of San Joaquin Valley was 1,428,978 (35.0%) Non-Hispanic White, 2,048,280 (50.2%) Hispanic or Latino, 310,557 (7.6%) Asian, 193,694 (4.7%) Black or African American, 40,911 (1.0%) American Indian and Alaska Native, and 13,000 (0.32%) Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander. The educational attainment of high school graduate or higher
4815-536: The San Joaquin Valley during World War II, most of them going to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego to work in war-related industries. Many of those who stayed ended up in Bakersfield and Oildale , as the southern San Joaquin Valley became an important area of oil production after major Southern California oil fields such as Signal Hill began to dry up. Country music legends Buck Owens and Merle Haggard came out of Bakersfield's honky-tonk scene and created
4922-850: The San Joaquin Valley has long suffered from some of the United States' worst air pollution . With a PM2.5 measure of 17 micrograms per cubic meter of air, the San Joaquin Valley’s air pollution readings exceed both California's Ambient Air Quality Standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 9 micrograms per cubic meter. Some of the San Joaquin Valley’s sources of air pollution stem from vehicle emissions, agricultural practices, and crop and wildfires. The use of diesel and gasoline fueled vehicles produces an excess of nitrogen oxides ( NOx ), eventually forming nitric acid that reacts with ammonia gas from cow manure and urine to create
5029-495: The San Joaquin Valley is located in Hanford and includes a Doppler weather radar . Weather forecasts and climatological information for the San Joaquin Valley are available from its official website. The San Joaquin Valley was originally inhabited by the Yokuts and Miwok peoples . The first European to enter the valley was Pedro Fages in 1772. The Tejon Indian Tribe of California
5136-638: The San Joaquin Valley than in the Azores. Many groups are found in majorities in specific cities, and hardly anywhere else in the region. For example, Assyrians are concentrated in Turlock , Dutch in Ripon , and Croats in Delano . Kingsburg is famous for its distinctly Swedish air, having been founded by immigrants from that country. Ethnic groups found in a broader area are Portuguese , Germans , Armenians , Basques , and
5243-475: The San Joaquin Valley to rank with Los Angeles and Houston in most measures of air pollution. Only the Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles has worse overall air quality, and the San Joaquin Valley led the nation in 2004 in the number of days with quantities of ozone considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency . The San Joaquin Valley has been deemed an "extreme non-attainment zone" by
5350-595: The San Joaquin Valley, only the Wilmington Oil Field in Los Angeles County has untapped reserves greater than 100,000,000 barrels (16,000,000 m ), while six fields in the San Joaquin Valley (Midway-Sunset, Kern River , South Belridge , Elk Hills , Cymric , and Lost Hills ) each have reserves exceeding 100,000,000 barrels (16,000,000 m ) of oil. The isolation and vastness of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as its poverty and need for jobs, have led
5457-447: The San Joaquin Valley. Aside from the collapse of median home values, persistent crime, unemployment and poverty were common factors between Bakersfield , Fresno , Merced , Modesto and Stockton – every major city of the San Joaquin Valley. Insufficient access to medicine in the United States, in particular prenatal and preventive care, is typified by both rural and inner city communities. Early and adequate access to prenatal care
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#17328547035075564-475: The San Joaquin Valley. The Santa Rosa Rancheria belongs to the federally recognized Tachi Yokuts tribe and is located 4.5 miles (7.24 km) southeast of Lemoore, California , in the San Joaquin Valley. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California have further strained both the San Joaquin Valley's and the Sacramento Valley's water security . The total population of the eight counties comprising
5671-585: The Sand Ridge area include Buena Vista Lake shrew ( Sorex ornatus relictus ), southwestern pond turtle ( Actinemys pallida ), fulvous whistling duck ( Dendrocygna bicolor ), least bittern ( Ixobrychus exilis ), California red-legged frog ( Rana aurora draytonii ), giant garter snake ( Thamnophis gigas ). and the extinct Thicktail chub fish. Other species native or present in the area are sandhill cranes and tricolored blackbird . Historically attested species (sometimes present in nearby placenames) like
5778-437: The United States and international service to Mexico. Additionally, there are three nonprimary airports in the region: Meadows Field Airport near Bakersfield , Stockton Metropolitan Airport and Merced Municipal Airport . The San Joaquins service handles passenger traffic between Bakersfield and Stockton with extensions to either Sacramento or Oakland . Amtrak rail service does not continue south of Bakersfield, as
5885-460: The area has seen increasing exurban development as the cost of living forces young families and small businesses further and further away from the coastal urban cores. Stockton, Modesto, Tracy (as well as the nearby city of Mountain House ), Manteca, and Los Banos are increasingly dominated by commuters to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and the small farming towns to the south are finding themselves in
5992-422: The case, but that during the pestilence of 1833 this tribe was probably killed by the same plague which almost entirely depopulated the entire San Joaquin Valley. Native ecosystems of the region ranged from saltbrush scrub and alkali sink to valley grassland and wetland. Today, alfalfa is grown on some parts of the southern basin and invasive saltcedar is recorded in natural habitats. Indigenous fauna of
6099-463: The communities of Alpaugh and Allensworth were under evacuation orders due to concerns that they might become flooded. Some floodwaters were diverted to alleviate flooding on farms. The Kern National Wildlife Refuge received its full water allocation in 2023. Located about 4 miles (6.4 km) south, the wetlands provide habitat for birds as part of the Pacific Flyway . As of February 1, 2024,
6206-414: The construction of multimillion-dollar levees . The numerous storms that struck California during the first few months of 2023 resulted in the reappearance of over 114,000 acres (46,000 ha) of the lake, forcing the evacuation of several communities and causing the flooding of hundreds of farm buildings and homes amidst the land farmed by agricultural operations on the former lakebed. Parts of
6313-422: The cost. The Tachi Yokuts and many other people and organizations are trying to restore the lake permanently for various reasons including environmental purposes, water storage and Native American land reclaiming. The lake reappeared in 1942, 1969, 1983, 1997, 1998, and 2023. In 1983, the lake took two years to dry out. In June 1998, an above-normal winter snowfall led to the lake reappearing, reaching
6420-409: The early Paleocene era. Broad fluctuations in the sea level caused various areas of the valley to be flooded with ocean water for the next 60 million years. About 5 million years ago, the marine outlets began to close due to uplift of the coastal ranges and the deposition of sediment in the valley. Starting 2 million years ago, a series of glacial episodes periodically caused much of the valley to become
6527-506: The filters need to be installed correctly and replaced frequently, which may not be economically feasible for the residents in Orosi. Table 2 on page 20 from Pacific Institute 's "The Human Costs of Nitrate-contaminated Drinking Water in the San Joaquin Valley" indicates the water systems that were contaminated with nitrates over the legal limit, the percentage of the population affected that are non-white and that are below or near poverty-level, and
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#17328547035076634-520: The first major infestation of the boll weevil .) When the onset of the Great Depression created a national banking crisis, family farmers—usually heavily in debt—often had their mortgages foreclosed by banks desperate to shore up their balance sheets. In response, many farmers loaded their families and portable possessions into their automobiles and drove west. Many of the Okies and Arkies left
6741-527: The great wheat-fields." That same year, Scientific American predicted the "utter absorption" of Tulare Lake. The Kaweah, Kern, Kings, and Tule Rivers were dammed upstream in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which turned their headwaters into a system of reservoirs . In the San Joaquin Valley, the state and counties built canals to deliver that water and divert the remaining flows for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses. Tulare Lake
6848-513: The island and subsequently forcing the indigenous people out: While we were at Chawlowin some white men put cattle on the island. The water was low and they drove them across from the east. There were hogs there already, but they were wild. As soon as the white people found out we were there we began to have trouble. The tules were getting dry and we were afraid the white people would burn us out. So we all left. My mother and stepfather took us to Téjon Ranch. We went in his brother's little wagon. In
6955-444: The island. In early history, it was the site of the Wowol village, Chawlowin. Today the city of Alpaugh, California , sits on the remnants of Atwell's Island. Atwell Island was the largest of the Tulare Lake archipelago and has the latest recorded habitation by indigenous peoples. A Bird Island is shown in an 1876 map at the tip of Atwell Island's 'teardrop' shape which shows a small, oblate island. A Wowol village on Atwell's Island
7062-465: The lake was dry except for residual wetlands and occasional floods. Tulare Lake was the largest of several lakes in its lower basin. Most of the Kern River's flow first went into Kern Lake and Buena Vista Lake via the Kern River and Kern River Slough southwest and south of the site of Bakersfield . If they overflowed, it was through the Kern River channel northwest through tule marshland and Goose Lake, into Tulare Lake. During times of high water,
7169-685: The lake, leaving the Buena Vista , Kern and Tulare Lakes as remnants. The lake was part of a 13,700-square-mile (35,400 km ) partially endorheic basin , at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley , where it received water from the Kern , Tule , and Kaweah Rivers , as well as from southern distributaries of the Kings . It was separated from the rest of the San Joaquin Valley by tectonic subsidence and alluvial fans extending out from Los Gatos Creek in
7276-660: The lakebed. Skull Island is one of the more locally famous landmarks. Frank F. Latta identifies it with the Calaveres [ sic ] of the early Spanish settlers. Yoimut (Josie Alonzo) described a village, Witi'tsolo wın , probably on or near the site, to Anna Hadwick Gayton , which she visited between 1860 and 1870. Throughout the 19th century it was common for settlers in the Central Valley to raid Skull Island. Dr. William Ferguson Cartmill, who numerous streets are named after in Tulare County , took several skulls from
7383-503: The land in this area. However, the unhealthy air levels that arise from smog lead to the destruction of many crops. According to the California Air Resources Board the San Joaquin Valley loses about one billion dollars every year due to the pollution in the air destroying these crops. Furthermore, as crops and vegetation die off from the air and water quality, farmers sometimes turn to burning to dispose of them. Due to
7490-551: The largest U.S. city without an Interstate highway), while SR 99 runs through them. Both highways then merge at the southern end of valley en route to Los Angeles. When the Interstate Highway System was created in the 1950s, the decision was made to build I-5 as an entirely then-new freeway bypass instead of upgrading the then-existing U.S. 99 . Since then, state and federal representatives have pushed to convert SR 99 to an Interstate, although this cannot occur until all of
7597-467: The late Pleistocene . According to the Bureau of Land Management , Sand Ridge "has yielded artifacts spanning the entire cultural horizon in California." Historical research by William Preston suggests that European-introduced epidemics may have devastated Lake Indians as early as 1500. At the point of European contact, three Yokuts nations inhabited the Tulare Lake area. The Wowol, to the southern margin,
7704-419: The location of the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The small farming community was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth , Professor William Payne, William Peck, a minister, John W. Palmer, a miner, and Harry A. Mitchell, a real estate agent, dedicated to improving the economic and social status of African Americans. Uncontrollable circumstances, including
7811-505: The majority of the Yokuts population. Severe floods in 1861 and 1867 killed thousands of cattle and caused settlers to request further dams on the inflows to Tulare Lake. From 1875 to 1877, large numbers of hogs and cattle were carried to Skull Island from the mainland on the Mose Andross . Presumably the last autonomous Indigenous people lived at the Tulare Lake archipelago in the 1870s. Yoimut detailed white settlers introducing cattle to
7918-543: The mountains through Clovis and many smaller communities. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. State Route 180 is a state highway which runs through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley from Mendota through Fresno to Kings Canyon National Park. A short piece near the eastern end, through the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park,
8025-505: The mountains, and later, studying the general condition of the valley floor and foothills until the Mewalk throught [ sic ] them safe for reoccupation. These centarians were Pahmit, San Joaquin River Dumna; Sahn-e-hat, Tule River Yaudanche, and To-tu-yah, Yosemite Valley Mewalk. Totuyah and Pahmit actually knew of the Mewalk moving down into the vacant Yokuts territory. Skull Island
8132-574: The old days used to be full of malaria that will now be a thing of the past. Skull Island, surrounded by wheat fields, was eventually raided by grave robbers . Enough water remained that the Alameda Naval Air Station used Tulare Lake as an outlying seaplane base during World War II and the early years of the Cold War . Flying boats could land on Tulare Lake when landing conditions were unsafe on San Francisco Bay . The lake bed became
8239-544: The old village at the mouth of Deer Creek and White River because they would come back and get them. They were hid in the tules in tumlus ( toom-loos ) houses at the north side of the Island. Gull Island was a small islet at the mouth of the Tule River , extending westward from the south bank of the Tule River. It was a narrow bar which was low, muddy, and had no vegetation. It was named for the large number of gulls which nested at
8346-514: The poor air quality. The elderly population is also vulnerable to air pollution and could even suffer from heart attacks due to decreased lung functions. Reports state that the residents in this community suffer from high rates of asthma and experience many related symptoms. The American Lung Association attributes the noxious gas in the San Joaquin Valley to roughly 1,300 premature deaths every year, including public impacts such as lost days of school or work and emergency room visits, and
8453-651: The portions of SR 99 between I-5 and the U.S. 50 junction in Sacramento are upgraded to Interstate standards . State Route 58 (SR 58), which is a freeway in Bakersfield and along most of its route until its terminus in Barstow , is an extremely important and very heavily traveled route for truckers from the valley and the Bay Area who want to cross the Sierra Nevada and leave California (by way of Interstate 15 or Interstate 40 ) without having to climb Donner Pass or brave
8560-399: The potential to damage aqueducts, roads, bridges, and flood-control structures. In the long term, the subsidence caused by extracting groundwater could irreversibly reduce the underground aquifer's water storage capacity, although immediate and short term needs are given higher priority and sense of urgency than long term sustainability. The National Weather Service Forecast Office for
8667-506: The regions of Punjab in India and Pakistan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia, especially Laos and Cambodia. Punjabi Sikh Americans have immigrated to the San Joaquin Valley since the early 1900s and 1910s, and remain a very large presence in the area. To this day, Punjabi is the third most spoken language in the San Joaquin Valley region, after English and Spanish, and the first Sikh Gurdwara
8774-528: The ridge of high ground separating the upper Chintache basin from the lower Tontache basin became an archipelago in the southern part of the lake. During times of low water, this ridge created two separate lakes. Today, these former islands make up the Sand Ridge in Kings County . The largest of these islands, Atwell's Island, was originally known as Hog-Root Island or Root Island. It was owned by Allen J. Atwell of Visalia, California , who introduced hogs onto
8881-487: The rural population of states such as Kansas , Texas , Oklahoma , and Arkansas left at this time, selling their land and moving to Chicago , Kansas City , Detroit , and fast-growing Los Angeles . Those who remained experienced continuing deterioration of conditions, which reached their nadir during the drought that began in the late 1920s and created the infamous Dust Bowl . (Small cotton farmers in states such as Mississippi and Alabama suffered similar problems from
8988-494: The second-largest Hmong population of any American metropolitan area after Minneapolis–Saint Paul , and Stockton is believed to have the largest percentage of Cambodian Americans of any major American metropolitan area. Merced , Modesto, Fresno, Visalia , and Stockton have some of the largest populations of Laotian Americans in the United States. The Filipino American population is concentrated in Delano and Lathrop . Filipinos have
9095-407: The shores of Tulare Lake, has yielded fluted and stemmed points from Paleoindian cultures, flaked stone crescents, Pinto points, drills, and limaces or "humpies." Fragmented mineralized bone have been identified as horse ( Equus ), bison ( Bison ), ground sloth ( Paramylodon ), and mammoth ( Mammuthus ) or mastodon ( Mammut ). The Sand Ridge area has similarly been occupied since at least
9202-401: The site and kept them in his house. Local legend holds of a great "Indian battle" that took place at Skull Island. It is far more likely that the mass grave on Skull Island was due to an epidemic, probably smallpox . For many years the tradition was that these unburied skeletons were the results of a great Indian battle. We can well believe upon good authority that [the battle] was really not
9309-426: The site. Pelican Island was formed from deposits of the Kings River as an extension of its east channel, about a mile long and ten to sixty feet wide in 1883. It was named, as with Gull Island, for the vast number of white pelicans that nested on there. Cormorants also were present. Skull Island extended between five and six miles and was just over half a mile wide, the highest part being about twenty feet above
9416-603: The south to Merced in the north. Freight service is provided by BNSF Railway , Union Pacific Railroad and San Joaquin Valley Railroad . The valley is served by the Western Area Power Administration . Western owns and operates its own equipment here and so performs its own weed management . Rotating and mixing herbicide modes of action are employed to preserve efficacy . Hemmed in by mountains and rarely having strong winds to disperse smog ,
9523-451: The southern end of the valley and northern part of the valley because of quick access to major interstates and low local wages. Further integration with the rest of the state is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Interstate 5 (I-5) and State Route 99 (SR 99) each run nearly the entire length of the San Joaquin Valley. I-5 runs in the western part of the valley, bypassing the major population centers (including Fresno, currently
9630-538: The state to build numerous prisons in the area. The most notable of these is Corcoran , whose inmates have included Charles Manson and Juan Corona . Other correctional facilities in the valley are at Avenal , Chowchilla , Tracy , Delano , Coalinga , and Wasco . The only significant military base in the region is Naval Air Station Lemoore , a vast air base located 25 kilometres (16 mi) WSW of Hanford . Unlike many of California's other military installations, NAS Lemoore's operational importance has increased in
9737-672: The surplus of crop burning to clear land. more air pollution is created, adding to the severity of the San Joaquin Valley's already poor air quality. The San Joaquin Valley suffers from extremely high ozone levels that tend to increase even more on hot days. Kids are more inclined to play outdoors during summer when the weather is warmer. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency this could lead to health issues such as asthma because these children are not fully developed yet. Roughly one in six children in this region suffer from asthma due to
9844-532: The traffic congestion of Los Angeles . Proposals have also been made to designate this highway as a western extension of I-40 once the entirety of the route between Mojave and Barstow has been upgraded to a freeway. This would provide an Interstate connection for Bakersfield, currently the second-largest U.S. city without an Interstate. The most recent additions to this system are State Routes 168 and 180. Route 168 begins in Fresno on Route 180 linking to Huntington Lake in
9951-414: The valley was $ 46,713. The poverty rate for individuals below the poverty level is 23.7%. In 2005 U.S. congressional researchers compared the economically distressed Valley to the traditionally impoverished Appalachia region, resulting in the appellation New Appalachia . In 2011 Forbes, after taking the fluctuation of median home values, five of the top twenty "most miserable cities" were located in
10058-556: The valley's predominantly white farming elite manifested itself most notably during the 1960s and 1970s, when the United Farm Workers , led by César Chávez , went on numerous strikes and called for boycotts of table grapes. The UFW generated enormous sympathy throughout the United States, even managing to terminate several agricultural mechanization projects at the United States Department of Agriculture . However, from
10165-558: The valley's western rim and provides a connection to Ventura and Santa Barbara over the Santa Ynez Mountains ; and State Route 152 (SR 152), an important commuter route linking Silicon Valley with its fast-growing exurbs such as Los Banos . The busiest airport in San Joaquin Valley is the Fresno Yosemite International Airport , which offers scheduled passenger flights to several major airline hubs in
10272-593: The wake of the United States Civil War , late 19th-century settlers drained the surrounding marshes for agriculture. In 1884 , Scottish travel writer Constance Gordon-Cumming warned that "[e]ven the great Tulare lake itself is in danger of being gradually absorbed by the numerous canals and ditches with which the whole country is now being intersected...[t]he poor lakes have simply been left to starve—the rivers, whose surplus waters hitherto fed them, having now been bridled and led away in ditches and canals to feed
10379-599: The water only covered 4,532 acres of farmland. In 1967, a documentary film about the J.G. Boswell Company’s achievements and variety of California's agricultural industry titled The Big Land directed by David H. Vowell was released. TV personality Huell Howser visited Tulare Lake in an episode of his show, California's Gold , in 1999. San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( / ˌ s æ n hw ɑː ˈ k iː n / SAN whah- KEEN ; Spanish : Valle de San Joaquín )
10486-614: The wildlife as well. In August 2015, the Director of the California Department of Water Resources stated, "Because of increased pumping, groundwater levels are reaching record lows—up to 100 feet lower than previous records." Research from NASA shows that parts of the San Joaquin Valley sank as much as 8 inches (0.20 m) in a four-month period, and land near Corcoran sank 13 inches (0.33 m) in 8 months. The sinking has destroyed thousands of groundwater well casings and has
10593-463: Was 10% of births Likewise, the counties of the San Joaquin Valley have relatively high ratios of population to physicians, suggesting relatively low access, with the highest in Kings County at 1,027 patients per a physician, the San Joaquin Valley average at approximately 671 patients per a physician and the California average of 400 patients per a physician. Another measure of access is licensed acute care hospital beds per thousand population, where
10700-399: Was founded in Stockton in 1915. Following abolition of immigration restrictions from Asia in the 1960s and 1970s, large numbers of Pakistanis and Indians from Punjab, Gujarat, and Southern India have settled in these valley communities including Modesto , Livingston , Fresno , Stockton , and Lodi . In addition, the late 1970s and '80s saw an influx of immigrants from Indochina following
10807-582: Was heavily criticized for his cruelty by Father Juan Cabot, who was present on the expedition. According to Frank F. Latta , there was an epidemic around 1833 that wiped out nearly the entire western San Joaquin Valley: At least three centenarians among my Yokuts informants were children here at that time. They were able to verify the existence of such an occurrence and to give me some account of it: burial of dead bodies until there were not enough survivors to make burials; abandonment of village sites, fleeing to
10914-525: Was lost to urban development in the San Joaquin Valley. Although there have been some token efforts at confronting the problems of (sub) urban sprawl , the politically conservative climate of the Valley generally prefers traditional suburban sprawl type of growth such as low density housing and strip malls anchored by so-called big box stores and opposes measures such as "Smart Growth", "Transit Oriented Development", "High Density Housing", and increased public transit such as light and commuter rail. By August 2014,
11021-465: Was named Chawlowin. It was occupied after 1852 by refugee Yokuts natives. Yoimut described semi-traditional life at Chawlowin: My mother found almost all of her relations there at Chawlowin. Her brother had his family there and two or three of her uncles were there, too. They had all come back to that camp from Tule River Reservation, where the soldiers had taken them from Téjon Ranch. They wanted to stay at their old home. These people did not go back to
11128-399: Was nearly dry by the early 20th century. Swedish naturalist Gustav Eisen , who crossed the lake by steamboat in 1878 and undertook an excavation of Sand Ridge probably that same year, celebrated the desiccation. He wrote, In my opinion the drying up of Tulare Lake is a good thing. The land will be good for crops and there will be less sickness in the vicinity. The sloughs and marsh land in
11235-547: Was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River . For thousands of years, from the Paleolithic onward, Tulare Lake was a uniquely rich area, which supported perhaps the largest population of Native Americans north of present-day Mexico. In the second half of the 19th century, Tulare Lake was dried up by diverting its tributary rivers for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses. In modern times, it
11342-447: Was probably a result of this epidemic, as Latta's informants specifically note that bodies were too high in quantity for the living to bury them. Two Mexican land grants were claimed in 1843, one between Kings River and Cross Creek, and another, Manuel Castro's Rancho Laguna de Tache on the north bank of the Kings River. John C. Frémont led a United States military expedition across California, including Tulare Lake, immediately before
11449-533: Was sold in 2005 to Flying J , a Salt Lake -based firm that operates truck stops and refineries. Flying J's bankruptcy in 2009 resulted in the refinery being shut down. The oil and gas fields in Kern County are receiving increased attention since the July 2009 announcement by Occidental Petroleum of significant discovery of oil and gas reserves Even prior to this discovery the region retains more oil reserves than any other part of California. Of California fields outside of
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