The US 'ghost' lake that returned 130 years after disappearing

Metro

17-05-2025

Hiyah Zaidi Published May 15, 2025 1:38pm Link is copied Comments Around a year ago, Tulare Lake reappeared in California's San Joaquin Valley. It was once one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the US. But 130 years ago it disappeared. Its return has sparked intrigue as it submerged almost 100,000 acres of land. So, what's going on? (Picture: Getty) The San Joaquin valley is a dry area, despite supplying around 8% of US agricultural output. And according to the National Weather Service, Fresno - which sits at the heart of the valley - receives just over 10 inches of rain a year on average, and sometimes as little as three. But until the late 19th century, the San Joaquin Valley held a lake more than 100 miles long and over 30 miles wide (Picture: Getty) According to Dr Vivian Underhill, formerly a postdoctoral research fellow at Northeastern University with the Social Science and Environmental Health Research Institute, Tulare Lake 'was the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River', adding: 'It's really difficult to imagine that now.' It once had so much water that a steamship could carry 'agricultural supplies from the Bakersfield area up to Fresno and then up to San Francisco', a distance of nearly 300 miles. Dr Underhill explained that there were lakes and connecting waterways that could make such a route possible (Picture: REUTERS) The lake was regularly topped up by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada mountains instead of rainfall and was known as 'Pa'ashi' by the indigenous Tachi Yokut tribe. Dr Underhill explains that since there is no natural outlet in the valley, the water collects to form the lake. So, in the 1800s 'Fresno was a lakeside town', she says (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo) So, where did the water go? Blame colonisers. Dr Underhill explains that by the late 1850s and early 1860s, the lake began disappearing, accelerated by 'the state of California's desire to take public land and put it into private ownership'. She said: 'When we say "public land," that is historically indigenous land that the state of California blanket-proclaimed as "public". They really wanted to get [land] into private hands so that indigenous land claims—that were ongoing at that time—would be rendered moot by the time they went through the courts' (Picture: Getty) This is known as reclamation, which Dr Underhill says was 'either draining inundated land or irrigating desert land to create arable farmland. Reclamation really was a process across the entire US west'. So, if people could drain the land they would gain ownership of it. She continued: 'So there was a big incentive for white settlers to start doing that work.' She said 'it was a deeply settler colonial project' that 'proceeded in fits and starts.' And by 1890, the lake had fully disappeared (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo) Then cue a change. In 2023, California was inundated with snow in the winter and then rain in the spring. Dr Underhill said: 'If you have a rain and snow event, the snow melts really fast.' And all that rain and snow still runs into the area where Tulare Lake sat. But it's important to note this isn't the first time the lake has appeared since the 1800s. She said: 'It happened in the '80s, it happened once in the '60s, a couple of times in the '30s'. But a year since its return, Dr Underhill notes that all types of birds, such as pelicans, hawks and waterbirds are returning. Even burrowing owls are nesting around the shore (Picture: Getty) For the Tachi Yokuts, the lake returning has been a 'deeply powerful spiritual experience'. Dr Underhill explains: 'They've been holding ceremonies on the side of the lake. They've been able to practice their traditional hunting and fishing practices again.' However, for the farmworkers and growers, they are impacted by the flooding of water. Dr Underhill added: 'Most of the news coverage about this time talked about it as catastrophic flooding. And I don't want to disregard the personal and property losses that people experienced, but what was not talked about so much is that it wasn't only an experience of loss, it was also an experience of resurgence' (Picture: REUTERS) Under climate change floods of this magnitude or higher will happen with increasing frequency. At a certain point, I think it would behoove the state of California to realize that Tulare Lake wants to remain. And in fact, there's a lot of economic benefit that could be gained from letting it remain.' She explains: 'This was not actually a flood. This is a lake returning' (Picture: Getty Images)