Opinion: Don’t call it a comeback: California’s Tulare Lake never really went away
LA TimesFloodwaters from a break in levees in the San Joaquin Valley floods a farming operation near Corcoran on March 21. Tulare Lake, a local body of water that was largely drained more than 100 years ago, has been filling up after powerful winter storms. As the Algerian French philosopher Jacques Derrida wrote: “A ghost never dies; it remains always to come and to come-back.” In 1936, the last speaker of the Chunut language, Yoimut, warned historian Frank F. Latta that the lake would return — and that she wanted to see that time herself. For its propensity to return, writer Gerald Haslam called it “the lake that will not die.” This year, we see yet another Tulare return: The ghost lake begins to fill the ancient basin. In the Tachi creation story recorded by Katharine Berry Judson, Tulare Lake was the site of creation, from a celestial oak stump standing alone above its quiet waters.
History of this topic
California’s Tulare Lake resurfaces after 130 years, floods 94,000 acres of farmland: How long will it last?
Live Mint
What’s in the mysterious waters of Tulare Lake? Contaminants, egrets and many unknowns
LA Times
Tulare Lake floodwaters now receding, Newsom’s office says. ‘We’ve turned a corner’
LA Times
‘This water needs to be protected’: California tribe calls for preservation of Tulare Lake
LA Times
Flooding causes California’s ‘ghost lake’ to grow almost as big as Lake Tahoe
The Independent
San Joaquin Valley farmers dig in for the next battle: an epic Sierra snowmelt
LA Times
See the rebirth of California’s ‘phantom’ Tulare Lake in striking before-and-after images
LA Times
The 'phantom' Tulare Lake returns with a vengeance
LA Times
Worry and suspicion reign as once-dry Tulare Lake drowns California farmland
LA Times
Letters to the Editor: California drained Tulare Lake for farming. Let’s use the drought to restore it
LA TimesDiscover Related
