Tulare Lake

Tulare Lake, named Laguna de Tache by the Spanish, is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States (excluding the Great Lakes which share area with Canada), based upon surface area. The lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses.