Imagine a lake, the size of a small sea, one that once spread over hundreds of square miles of California’s heartland, just disappearing off the map. Not slowly. Not quietly. But drained and buried under farmland for decades. That is the story of Tulare Lake. And then, in 2023, after more than 130 years, it was back.
America's forgotten lake
Tulare Lake in California's San Joaquin Valley was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. Each winter, the basin filled with rain and snowmelt from the nearby Sierra Nevada. By 1920, the rivers feeding the lake were dammed and diverted for irrigation and the lakebed turned into farms.
The land became one of the country’s most productive agricultural areas, growing cotton, tomatoes, pistachios and almonds. For most Americans, the lake was simply lost. It wasn’t even on contemporary maps. The locals called it the "ghost lake."
