Years of Harvest: The History of the Tule Lake Basin

by Stan Turner

The Years of Harvest is a comprehensive history of the Tule Lake Basin including its geography, early Native American inhabitants, exploration, and the Modoc War. It describes basin settlement by immigrants from the eastern U.S. and Europe, the Bureau of Reclamation's project that drained Tule Lake, and the introduction of homesteading in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The book also focuses on the internment of Japanese Americans at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, the largest World War Two internment camp in the United States.

At the end of the World War Two, the last of Tule Lake’s farmable land was opened for homesteading by lottery. Applications were limited to veterans with farming experience. The decades after the last homesteading allotments have seen years of crop abundance and years of struggle. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, drought has led to competition for water among farming, tribal and environmental interests. Without adequate rainfall, the struggle will continue and the fate of farmers in the Tule Lake Basin will remain uncertain.

Paperback

Published October 2, 2022