General Account Days When Tulare Lake Spread Over 500 Sections Recalled By Member of Pioneer Family By ARCHIE F. LANey In The Terra Bella News A generation or ago school children in looking over their maps saw a large block had been sliced off western Tulare to form a new county. The wonder was then, just how one county could keep all land and give to the other nearly all water. It happened just about that way. The new county was pretty well filled with the huge lake. No one knew then that beneath the five hundred or so square miles of water lay a body of land that someday would develop into grain growing country second to none in the world. Out east of the lake a few miles, and probably the same distance west and north of the town of Tipton, we find waters from the Kaweah joining forces with that of the Tule river, making one stream from this point on to the lake. For many miles this was a swampy country covered in places with gigantic oaks and willow trees. Occasionally back waters from the lake up in these swamps formed something of a bayou. Herds of Elk At one time herds of elk made their homes in these sections, hence we have the name Elk Bayou. All to the south was an open country or great plains and it was along this borderland so to speak that the writer together with other little boys of the day used to meet and plan their hunting and fishing excursions. Soon the east frontage of the lake had been pretty well looked over by this set of boys. A sprinkling of homesteaders comprised the population on the plains near the lake, and as can be imagined it was a lonesome looking country,—frontier enough to satisfy most anyone's liking for that sort of thing. Fringe of Trees In our earliest recollections, the water of the lake stood at not far from the now Kings county line. An interesting fact is also that for miles above that yet the ground was covered thick with mussel shells, and wire grass, a sort of swamp grass grew everywhere. So we presume the lake to have been much larger at some earlier time. A dense growth of tall trees always fringed the lake and was in places a half mile or more in width. A person venturing too far into these thickets of tules had to be a good navigator to find his way out. Hunters cut lanes through to open water to their duck blinds and boats. The shore line shifted and changed continually according to weather and season. A strong wind would bring the water out a surprising long ways. Some times the tules were in water a foot or so deep and at other times were high and dry. In the fall of the year occasionally fires swept through the dry tules and the burning of a few thousand acres on a dark night was a sight to behold. Wild Hogs Parties came to the lake to hunt wild hogs, tame ones gone wild perhaps, but considered a perfectly legitimate business. The hogs were vicious animals and no one hunter took chances alone. We can't say just how good the meat was, but a piece of fat wild shoat to flavor the beans always sounded good. Geese Flocks In fall and winter geese in unbelievable numbers made their home in the lake. They flew out in the early foggy mornings with much honking and close to the ground to their feeding places along the foothills or on the plains. On their return during the day, when the fog had cleared, they were in perfect formation and a mile high. The noise these big birds made when they came down out of the sky and settled was pleasure to meet other folks on the road that they might stop awhile and talk over the happenings of the week or so before. No nervous breakdowns those days, at least none that could be attributed to hurry or worry. Fog From Lake In winter thick banks of fog rolling inland off the lake was a nightly occurrence. To be lost on the plains after night in the dense fog was no funny thing, as many a sheep herder might vouch for. With no fences and few roads, all foot travelers were careful to come in before nightfall. Horses seemed to keep their sense of direction better than man. Drivers, although not at all certain about going anywhere else in the fog, could always depend on old Dobbie to take them the short way home and never miss. Summer breezes from off the lake were always cool, but on occasional still days with the always high degree of humidity, it was at times intensely hot. Mosquitos There was one source of annoyance to those good folks, one thing to spoil the serenity of the long summer evenings—mosquitos, boy, oh boy! Breezes brought clouds of them inland from out of the tules along the edges of the lake. They were a hungry lot and the minute they landed the fight was on. Bonfires and smoke pots threw out smoke screens that served as a partial check on these pesky little peace disturbers, but always it was the same uneven fight, and one by one members of the family would give it up and be forced to get under cover. Sleeping quarters all outside were protected with netting or cloth supported with sticks to form a sort of tent. These tents were supposed to keep most of the mosquitos out, or at least so they couldn't get in. Far into the night the slapping would continue with occasional exclamations, until finally all was quiet and then it didn't matter. If and when the good old lake fills to the level of the eighties and nineties whatever else it might bring, let us hope that will be minus the mosquitos.