If you drive the long stretch of Interstate 5 known as the Westside Freeway, from the foot of the Grapevine through Buttonwillow and on to Los Banos, you’ll be cruising along the edge of the richest and most productive farm land in the world. If, halfway through that journey, you stop at a place called Kettleman City (a name more ambitious than accurate) and stand at the edge of the parking lot behind the In-and-Out Burger looking due east down a gentle slope, you’ll be staring at what was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River.
Great post! It's impossible to know all that we lost in California. Tule Elk are coming back slowly though, but they're here to stay again. There's a good size herd by San Luis Reservoir that I love to see them at.
Are you sure about your claim about Whitetail deer? As far as I've read, Whitetails have never been native to CA. Perhaps you meant Blacktail?
Wonderful piece about CA history. My father's side of the family came to CA for the gold rush and were granted the Paso Robles land grant (which they lost entirely by 1900). I've often wondered what they ate. Obviously not fabulous Santa Maria bbq. The climate thing is interesting. There's a story about a sundowner sweeping through Goleta (where I grew up and we now live) that was so hot birds fell dead out of the skies and cattle toppled over. Some say it's myth. In my opinion, if CA could get rid of the climate change activist billionaires the weather would be better.
Great post! It's impossible to know all that we lost in California. Tule Elk are coming back slowly though, but they're here to stay again. There's a good size herd by San Luis Reservoir that I love to see them at.
Are you sure about your claim about Whitetail deer? As far as I've read, Whitetails have never been native to CA. Perhaps you meant Blacktail?
Wonderful piece about CA history. My father's side of the family came to CA for the gold rush and were granted the Paso Robles land grant (which they lost entirely by 1900). I've often wondered what they ate. Obviously not fabulous Santa Maria bbq. The climate thing is interesting. There's a story about a sundowner sweeping through Goleta (where I grew up and we now live) that was so hot birds fell dead out of the skies and cattle toppled over. Some say it's myth. In my opinion, if CA could get rid of the climate change activist billionaires the weather would be better.