TULE LAKE #4

Lava Bed National Monument

This medicine pole, also called a medicine flag, was placed at what is called the Captain Jack Stronghold. This pole was placed by the local Klamath Indians to commemorate what the Modoc Indians did to fend off the US Cavalry many years ago.

This is the northernmost edge of what is known as the Captain Jack Stronghold. Named after the fearless Modoc leader of the same name, this site remains important to Native Americans. Tule Lake was once much bigger. The southern shore touched where the sign in the foreground is and water covered the landscape north and east as far as the distant dark hills. Most of the recovered land is now either part of Lava Bed National Monument, The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge or privately farmed.

To give you some understanding of the difficulty that the cavalry had in attempting to oust Captain Jack, this natural trench line was one of many that crisscrossed this patch of hostile lava. This natural fort was good enough, that at first, just 51 Modocs repelled over 300 army & militia soldiers.

This is what is left of a small fort that was garrisoned by troops lead by Major General Edward Canby. Their job was to attempt to corral rebellious Modoc tribal members, including Captain Jack, and put them back on a nearby reservation. For his effort, the general was killed by Captain Jack. This came after an illustrious career established in part by Canby's actions during the Civil War.

Not in many public places can you find a cross without a lawyer attached. This monument is on the Lava Beds National Monument and the inscription is almost as notable as finding a cross on Federal land. It says, "Gen. Canby, USA, was murdered here by the Modocs April 11, 1873". A medicine pole and a cross give testimony to two people who served their respective nations without fear. War is like that, isn't it. Sometimes with great meaning, sometimes meaningless.

TULE LAKE #3

This is MY Place

No words are needed to describe who rules the roost.

Bald eagles are so feared by some specie of bird that even poor facsimiles are enough to keep the others at bay.

One such eagle-adverse bird is the goose. The eagle in the first shot flew out over a corner of the lake and every bird on the water took flight. 

Both eagle and flock are visible here.

There are three varieties of geese in this lift off: Canadian, Snow and Tule (or White Front). 

Note not just the geese but the light and dark bands of green. This is why farmers put fake bald eagles on sprouting fields. Here the fields are managed by the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Where they feed on the Refuge isn't as critical as it is away from the lake. Theses fields are intended to host the birds. Note the contrast of white against the cliffs. Those are Snow Geese.

A quick honk of the car horn gets most of these birds to look up. Again, parts of the field are nearly barren and others are still quite green - all from where the geese choose to feed.

This appeared to be a tern but didn't match up in my iBird app. Anybody know?

TULE LAKE #2

Fire!

It looks ominous. A threatening cloud of smoke rises from the flats. 

Closer, it looks like the threat is even more critical. However, this is a pretty common and everyday thing in the spring. Tractors pulling "flame cultivators" put fire to a field just prior to tilling and planting for weed control.

Not only do crops thrive in this kind of environment, so do bird populations. Above, a male Ring Neck Pheasant has his eye on the hen in upper left of the next image.

TULE LAKE #1

First It's About Farming

Like the Fall River Valley, many in the Tule Lake area make a living on what water provides. As the names suggests, one gets water from rivers and the other from a lake. Delivery of Tule Lake water comes via irrigation pipes (above).

From 1908 to 1930 one of the larger bodies of water in a chain of lakes was dredged and converted to farmland. That would be Tule Lake, which is considered a part of the Upper Klamath Basin. This drainage covers portions of California and Oregon.

All that reclaimed farmland has been generous with its bounty. Besides grain, the area produces potatoes, sugar beets and alfalfa. A sizable amount of horseradish is grown here too. On a summer day, the aroma coming from a field of this leafy rootstock is wonderfully aromatic and not at all suggestive of the taste.

I found the interior of this John Deere dealer in nearby Merrill, Oregon, to be full of farm machinery antiques. It's a little hard to see but who knew there were so many different and collectable versions of tractor seats.

Though 100 miles removed from the Fall & Pit River areas previously mentioned, there is still a common denominator - Mt. Shasta. Away from the lake itself, things are not so green - much more the arid landscape. 40 air miles away and 700' higher, the desert defines the landscape as much as the mountain does.

NO, NO, NO!

And We Mean NO!

It started innocuously with a standard sign seen commonly in many places. This place was a parking lot near a lake at McArthur-Burney Falls State Park. In just a few minutes looking around the same parking lot we witnessed all the signs shown below. There were duplicates that I didn't photograph as well.

In the slow turn around we did in the parking lot, we became numbed by all the prohibitions.

Coming up the grade from the lake, we saw this last sign. What irony. Welcome to California.

PIGS CAN FLY

Really!

Tucked away on a local county road to seemingly nowhere, we came across quite a mesmerizing playground of imaginative creatures.

The skeleton of a VW underpins this bit of whimsy. Even the local finches approve.

Lacking only snow, steel eyed sportsmen stood frozen but ready.

12' tall penguins, dragonflies the size of small helicopters, nightmarishly long wiener dogs, giant inchworms, oversized crickets, pastel dinosaurs and so much more.

What held my eye the longest? This old 1949 Ford Ready-Mixed Concrete truck, which was very close in year to the first mixers that our family owned. The story behind all this creative iron is a rock, sand and concrete manufacturer called Packway Materials and a man that spends his slow winters creating great folk art. If you thought some of the other places mentioned in the blog have been out of the way, go see where this place is on the adjoining map link on the sidebar.

WEEKEND AT THE FAIRGROUNDS

An All American Place

Even this far corner of McArthur, California recognized the grief from the Boston terror bombing. 

Life goes on though. First to stir are the horses.

Then cowboys begin to warm up their stock for some practice roping.

Later in the day little leaguers slug it out.

Only the distraction of an out of town photographer broke this man's concentration on the game.

Late afternoon sun softens the lines of this old steam-driven workhorse.

At the end of the day, man and beast take a break and enjoy some quiet time.