Tulelake 2003 page 1


The City of Tulelake has its own website. Dave and I decided to spend a short weekend in the Lava Beds area (again). This time, we decided to stay in Tulelake, a small city located north of the Lava Beds and just south of the Oregon border. All photos were taken with an Olympus C-3000 camera. Click on any photo to see it in a larger size. UPDATE: John C. Baley, graduate of Tulelake High School in 1968, has provided additional information about some of the buildings in Tulelake. His comments are greatly appreciated.
We rented a house in Tulelake for the weekend from Fe's Bed & Breakfast. The home was nicely furnished and had three bedrooms. Outside, two huge apple trees offered lots of shade.
		The first morning, we decided to head up through Klamath Falls and on around the west shore of Klamath Lake. While on Sixth Street in Klamath Falls, we came across this interesting sign. I've since been told that this sign is often the target of "creative vandalists" who modify the original messages.
The drive around the western shore of Upper Klamath Lake offers some nice photo opportunities.
		We came back down the eastern shore of the lake, which also offers some great views.
We then ventured out to The Peninsula, a dramatic rock outcropping east of Tulelake. This view is taken from the saddle of it looking towards Petroglyph Point.
		Almost any place in the Tulelake Basin offers great views of Mt. Shasta, with no smog to get in the way.
The Peninsula offers great views all around. This is looking north across the basin to Horse Mountain in the background.
		Tulelake is a small town of about 1,000 people that was built on the reclaimed Tule Lake bed. This is an aerial view of the city taken in 1998; in the lower left, the crowds of the annual Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair can be seen.
Tulelake fronts Highway 139. Not too much can be seen of the town from here.
		Once you turn off the highway onto Main Street, you'll cross over railroad tracks which used to get a lot of use, but not now. John Baley states that the building is the former site of Floyd A. Boyd Company, an International Harvester dealer. Floyd A. Boyd is still around, but appears to have moved to Merrill. John also says there used to be a Chevron across the street.
Signs welcome you to town. Tulelake is close to the Lava Beds and several wildife refuges, and also offers a free RV dump site.
		Upon entering town, on the left you will see the Tulelake Hotel. This hotel, still in business, appears to date from the 1930s.
On the right, one of Tulelake's two markets. This is the larger one, Jock's, and it is well-stocked. When we stayed in the Lava Beds, we'd usually shop here. John reports that the vacant lot next to Jock's used to be the Newell Grain Growers (which have moved east down the tracks a mile or two), and that he used to stop in for a soda while the grain truck he was driving was being unloaded.
		Off the main drag is The Mallard Tulegoose Pillow Company, offering locally made pillows and comforters.
The best shakes around are found at the Jolly Kone restaurant, which also serves great burgers and fries.
		Just off the main street is this compact two-story building. John says this used to be the phone company building, and that he used to stop in to pay the bill.
Tulelake has a wide, clean boulevard for its Main Street. This is a view looking east.
		Most of Tulelake's commercial buildings were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s, shortly after the town's founding. This view shows the old Marcha theater (on the left). The blue building on the right used to be a hotel and also the old Cal-Ore Power Company. John says that the power company used to be in the central part of the building, and that the corner used to be a grocery.
There's an old gas station, now used for auto repair. John says that the station was actually a Shell, and that directly behind it used to stand the "Sportsman", a famous hotel which was the gathering place with a restaurant, bar, and meeting rooms for the Rotary and Kiwanis. many hunters used to stay there, and take their ducks, pheasants and geese to the Mallard (shown above) for processing. The "Sportsman" burned down in the 1980s.
		Across from the theater, Tulelake's city hall is located next to the Tulelake Grower's Association and the "Homestead" bar.

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