Buena Vista Lake was a fresh-water lake in

Kern County, California Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county ...

, in the Tulare Lake Basin in the southern

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Buena Vista Lake was the second largest of several similar lakes in the Tulare Lake basin, and was fed by the waters of the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfie ...

. The Kern River's flow went into Buena Vista Lake southwest through the site of

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

via its main

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

channels or south through the Kern River Slough distributary into Kern Lake and then into Buena Vista Lake via Connecting Slough. In times when Buena Vista Lake overflowed it first backed up into Kern Lake making one large lake. When this larger lake overflowed it flowed out through the

Buena Vista Slough Buena Vista Slough was the joint outlet of an overflowing Buena Vista Lake and a distributary of the Kern River into Tulare Lake. It is now diverted into a system of canals by the Outlet Canal of the Central Valley Project. History In times when B ...

and Kern River channel northwest of Buena Vista Lake through tule marshland and Goose Lake, into Tulare Lake. Today Lake Webb and Lake Evans occupy the lakebed on the northern shore of the former Buena Vista Lake.

Tulamniu Indian Site

On Buena Vista Lake south shores was the site of the Tulamniu Indians, who spoke

Buena Vista Yokuts Buena Vista was a Yokuts dialect of California. The dialect was "formerly spoken in at least two local varieties around Buena Vista Lake in Kern County, California," in the villages of Hometwoli, Loasau, Tuhohi, and Tulamni. Dialects Two do ...

. The site is a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

number 374. California Historical Landmark reads: :NO. 374 TULAMNIU INDIAN SITE - The old Yokuts village of Tulamniu was named Buena Vista by Spanish Commander Fages in 1772. Fr. Zalvidea again recorded the site in 1806. This village was occupied for several centuries, and in 1933-34 its site was excavated by the Smithsonian Institution.Cal California parks Historical Landmarks
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References

External links

David A. Fredrickson, BUENA VISTA LAKE (CA-KER-116) REVISITED, This article originally appeared in Symposium: A New Look at some Old Sites, Papers from the Symposium Organized by Francis A. Riddell, Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology, March 23-26, 1983, San Diego, California. Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory 6:75-81, 1986.
* Fishing In Lake Buena Vista, California LIVESTRONG.COM
THE PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE 2008 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE BEAD HILL SITE (KER-450), BUENA VISTA LAKE, CALIFORNIA; AMBER BARTON, MARIA DEL CARMEN GUZMAN, AND BREEANN ROMO, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BAKERSFIELD Margaret Aseman Cooper Zonlight, Land, water, and settlement in Kern County, California, 1850-1890, Arno Press Inc., 1979
{{authority control Former lakes of the United States Lakes of Kern County, California Tulare Basin watershed Endorheic lakes of California Geography of the San Joaquin Valley History of the San Joaquin Valley Kern River Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Yokuts El Camino Viejo Lakes of California Lakes of Southern California

Tulamniu Indian Site

See also

References

External links