Attracted to Water

The original shoreline of Tule Lake lies just beyond the rise, where Modoc Indians and settlers lived along the water’s edge for generations. Peter Schonchin, the last surviving Modoc War warrior, recalled playing there as a child in the thick tules and grass, looking for chub fish and shooting at them with arrows. In ancient times through westward expansion, Modoc camps dotted the shoreline, and in 1850 the first white settlers came to the Tule Lake area. During the Modoc War, the U.S. Army established Gillems Camp there in 1873, and during the era of the Civilian Conservation Corps, soldiers and enrollees lived there briefly; some died there. Both the Modoc and settlers cherished Tule Lake’s resources, and that ultimately created conflict. In 1908, draining the lake created fertile farmland for homesteading families. In the decades after the Modoc War, National Park Service rangers lived and worked where Modoc children once played, and from 1933 to today the National Park Service has provided services to visitors exploring the lava beds. Although the lake today is only a fraction of its original size, it continues to draw residents and visitors to this high-desert oasis.

California · United States