Lakebed to Legacy
Tulelake Honors Veteran Homesteaders with Living Park…
In the small hamlet of Tulelake, nestled in a remote part of Northern California, a memorial park in the center of town pays tribute to the veterans that helped found the city. “Tule Lake used to be a giant lake bed that was developed by the Klamath Bureau of Reclamation for irrigation. And, when they drained the lake in the early 1900s, that’s when farm ground became available. They started having land lotteries for potential homesteaders, as they were known back then, and to qualify, you had to be a war veteran with an agricultural background. They drew a certain number of land parcels between 80 and 160 acres, depending on how the land was mapped out,” explains Jenny Coelho, chief resilience officer for the city of Tulelake.
The winning homesteaders weren’t all men. At the homestead drawing on March 13, 1947, a woman named Eleanor J. Bolesta, an ex-WAVE for the U.S. Navy, ended up as number 51 out of 86. “She was a gorgeous lady, with a lot of gumption from what I’ve heard,” says Coelho.
Now, Bolesta is among one of those veterans prominently honored on a large mural that commands one side of the park. A historic photo of her is featured among other elements of civic pride. “We did a lot of community engagement to understand what people would like to see painted there. Eleanor was chosen because it’s such a great picture of her, and she was famous in town. But we also tried to gather suggestions from groups like the high school and grammar school kids. They did drawings of what they’d like to see, and so things like the sundial came from them. We also tried to represent other parts of the community, like the farming, hunting, some of our important local annual activities like the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair, the Art of Survival Bike ride, and the Modocs, who were here first.”
The mural is just one of the many artistic elements of the park. “There are plaques and memorials. There is also a lot of metalwork, including a sundial, benches and the emblems on the archway that were created by an artist named Jesse Small. Finding him was a great story. We knew we wanted metalwork but couldn’t figure out who we wanted, so I called the museum curator at Bend’s High Desert Museum and asked for any recommendations. He said he knew just the person, and he turned out to be right. Jesse had studied at Kansas City, and he also did work in New York, but he was willing to do the work at a minimal cost for us, which was amazing. He also did stuff for the Whiteman Air Force Base near Kansas City, where my son-in-law happened to be stationed at the time.”
The park was essentially created in two main phases, and the result of a longtime community effort to revitalize downtown. “The first portion was in around 2005 or 2006. The community, mostly made up of veterans and homesteaders, got it together with just donations, and they ordered all the plaques in memory of the World War and Korean War veterans. It was one lot, something like a 50-foot strip. In the meantime, we started the Tulelake Revitalization Committee and ended up going out for a State California Parks grant where we received $425,000 in funding to do an expansion. We then got another grant for $177,000. So that’s what got it expanded to where it is today,” notes Coehlo.
She also observes that the park has helped renew interest in downtown, with even more exciting changes to come. “We’re going to be putting in a Tulelake Cultural Visitor Center across the street from the park. Right now, we’re in the design development, and by next year we’ll have construction docs, so we’re actively looking for construction funding. With that project, we have a number of partners, including the Modoc Nation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife for the surrounding Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges, the Modoc National Forest, the National Park Service for the Lava Beds, the Klamath Water Users Association, and the agricultural and Hispanic community.”
Due to its remote nature, visiting Tulelake does take some effort to get, but that also preserves its charm and scenic beauty. “We’re really what you’d call small-town friendly, with a couple of quaint restaurants and cafés. We have a Christmas Tree Lighting, a Halloween Spectacular, and, of course, the high school football games. There’s also no traffic to speak of, which is nice. You can get away from it all.”
And for the adventure lovers and historians, there is no shortage of experiences. “There is the Lava Bed National Monument. We also have the new Fish and Wildlife Visitor Center where you can take kayaks out onto the Wildlife Refuge. We have the Japanese Internment Camp Museum, right off Highway 139. There are also Clear Lake and Medicine Lake. And if you like birdwatching, we’re pretty well known for that, and we have a lot of birds this year, which is lovely.” •
www.cityoftulelake.com
