Tulare Lake, once a majestic body of freshwater in California's San Joaquin Valley, has a rich history of rise and fall. Stretching over 100 miles long and 30 miles wide in the late 19th Century, it was a vital water source fed by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada mountains.
However, the lake began disappearing in the late 1800s due to colonialist actions aimed at reclaiming land for agriculture. By 1890, Tulare Lake had vanished, replaced by irrigation canals that crisscrossed the arid landscape of the San Joaquin Valley.
