Summary

Tulare, The Phantom Lake explores the landscape of what was once the largest lake in America west of the Mississippi River, a lake that disappeared by the year 1900 due to water diversion and land reclamation for agriculture. The Tulare region in California's Central Valley is home to the most productive agricultural region the world has ever known. The same landscape also harbors less than five percent of the original natural landscape and the poorest Congressional region in the United States. In an age of climate change, we journey through this landscape guided by a series of individuals who never meet: an agricultural consultant; a Native American basket weaver; a journalist; a writer; a biologist; and an archaeologist.