On January 9, 1873, the U.S. government set aside land for the present Tule River Indian Reservation, encompassing all of the tributary area of the south fork of the Tule River down to a north-south line four miles below the Soda Springs on the Tule River. For 18 years before that, the original reservation had been on what was called the Madden Farm, located 2 miles east of Porterville in an area now known as Alta Vista, where the Tule River Indians had built a headquarters building and homes and had learned to farm the land. In 1873 they were told to move to this remote, less desirable place, and although they protested, soldiers forced them to the new location. Over the years, as resourceful survivors, they built the reservation into the success it is today, with its own preschool, health clinic, justice building, fire, police, and maintenance departments, land and timber management, and a casino, as the Tule River tribe continues as a proud sovereign nation striving to improve the livelihood of its members and the surrounding communities.