Treasure Tales S-Z

In 1958, Clemmie Gill donated 35 acres near Springville to the Tulare County Office of Education, and its SCICON outdoor school of science and conservation was born. Fifth and sixth graders are still learning on SCICON’s now 1,000 acre campus and in its museum, planetarium, observatory, and other facilities, open to the public annually for its BBQ & Wildflower Festival and two Open House events.

Hear in the backcountry rangers’ own voices why their job is “a very coveted park position and the one in Sequoia [and Kings Canyon national parks] has got to be one of the best in the nation”; the job is strenuous, challenging, sometimes dangerous, and endlessly rewarding (they get paid in sunsets).

Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks’ trail crews are responsible for creating and maintaining over a thousand miles of trails, working long and arduous days in every kind of weather, often in remote backcountry, at elevations ranging from 2,000 to 14,495 feet. Find out who they are, what they do, and what it takes to get on a trail crew. This job “guarantees an unforgettable experience.”

This giant sequoia was brought from Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park in 1936, when it was three years old, and planted beside the Visalia Town Center Post Office. A historic treasure, it is also an important reminder of the Central Valley’s vital connection to the Sierra Nevada, source of much of our water supply, as explained in the interpretive features and walkway installed at its base in 2018.

Sequoia National Forest’s 1.1 million acres include Giant Sequoia National Monument, 850 miles of trails, 200 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers, and six Wilderness areas, for endless backpacking, biking, bird watching, boating, botanizing, camping, climbing, fishing, hiking, horseback riding and packing, hunting, kayaking, OHVing, photography, picnicking, whitewater rafting, wildflower and wildlife viewing, and winter and water play opportunities.

Sequoia National Park, created in 1890, protects over 400,000 acres, from foothill oak woodlands to Mt. Whitney, highest peak in the contiguous U.S., enticing backpackers, birdwatchers, botanists, campers, cavers, climbers, equestrians, fisher folk, hikers, photographers, picnickers, skiers, and lovers of giant sequoias, geology, wildlife, wildflowers, and history to linger ever longer amidst its treasures.

The Shorty Lovelace Historic District in the high Sierra Nevada of Kings Canyon National Park gives a view into the lifeway, ingenuity, and endurance that Shorty embodied for 40 years as Tulare County’s last true fur-trapping mountain man. Accessible only by foot or stock trail, the sites and remains of his hand-built bare-bones backcountry winter shelters fascinate today’s visitors who learn Shorty’s story.

The thousands of hikers summiting 14,505′ Mt. Whitney each year are often amazed, and many times protected, by the 1909 stone and steel Smithsonian Institution Shelter built there with great hardship to enable scientists to survive extreme weather at the top while conducting their astrophysical studies under the stunningly clear starry skies that those hiking the high trail at night can still experience.

Located on the rodeo grounds just west of town, the scenic Springville Historical Museum is a wonderful repository of the artifacts and historic records of the upper Tule River region — its early life; its logging, mining, livestock, transportation, and hydropower industries; its important sanitarium; and the beautifully restored, fully furnished pioneer Murphy House crowning its charming outdoor premises.

In 2009, Paul and Ruth Buxman traded the development rights on their 40 acre Sweet Home Ranch for a farmland conservation easement, one of Tulare County’s first, securing their prime agricultural land as “Farmland Forever.” Visit these California Clean Growers during their annual two-day harvest festival to savor the produce of local small family farms, wonderful art, crafts, music, and hayride farm tours.

Take a drive into history on scenic Old Stage Road winding through the foothills to the site of Tailholt (now White River), a booming Tulare County Gold Rush town once supporting well over a thousand people (and two cemeteries). Now a peaceful rural hamlet, White River still holds traces of its mining past visible from the road: rock walls and tailings, tunnels, a few old buildings, and those graveyards.

Tharp’s Log, the historic single-log cabin of pioneer rancher Hale Tharp, who “discovered” the Giant Forest in 1858, captivates Sequoia National Park visitors who walk the lovely loop trail from Crescent Meadow to Log Meadow where Tharp turned a fire-hollowed fallen giant sequoia into a convenient, weather-proof dwelling. John Muir stayed in it in 1875, and called it a “noble den.”

Inside Visalia’s historic Mooney Grove Park, the Tulare County Museum complex presents a fascinating collection of artifacts from county and California history, an outstanding Native American basketry collection, a trove of memorable agricultural equipment, dozens of restored historic structures, special exhibits, diverse educational programs, a Farm Labor & Agriculture Museum, and an annual Jamboree.

The Tulare Historical Museum, “a jewel among the small museums of California,” features an impressively displayed history of the City of Tulare and its heroes; an archives center; the Heritage Art Gallery, which doubles as a community event/reception space; numerous special events and cultural activities; a self-guided audio tour; media displays; and a well-stocked book and gift shop.

Built in the Great Depression in 1937 by the PWA, the beautifully-designed Tulare Union High School Auditorium Building is an excellent example of Art Moderne/Streamline Moderne architecture, enhanced with striking interior details that can be enjoyed by attending a public event or visiting by appointment. Take a walk into Tulare’s history, proudly preserved by the community it serves.

Visionary volunteers have been working for years to transform the Tule River corridor through Porterville into a beautiful public park with a 2.2 mile paved trail that leads bikers, birders, botanists, dog-walkers, joggers, gardeners, photographers, picnickers, strollers, and native plant, wildlife, and river lovers through a now-thriving environment including river views and 23 inspiring community gardens.

In this beautiful sequoia grove, once the site of Hyde’s Mill and popular summer camps, the University of California has been conducting innovative forestry research since 1915. There are no public facilities here, but you can walk an old dirt road and unmarked trails in peace and solitude among the ancient giants of the huge Redwood Mountain grove. (And the Forest Service’s Eshom Creek campground is just a mile down the road.)

Tucked into the forest just before Grant Grove Village in Kings Canyon National Park is the historic village of Wilsonia inholding, where, since 1919, Valley residents have built modest cabins in which to live the simple life in the mountains. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the majority of the cabins reflect the goals of the owners and the Park Service: to preserve Wilsonia’s rustic, rural character. Fifth generation family members continue Wilsonia’s stewardship and traditions.

Visitors from all over the world come to the amazing 13-acre Woodlake Botanical Garden, an oasis of beauty, education, and conservation in Tulare County. The paved 1.2 mile trail leads through thousands of plantings of fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, cacti, row crops, and ornamental trees and shrubs — a feast for all the senses, maintained by dedicated volunteers promoting pride in their community. Includes video.

TODO: Excerpt

“Undoubtedly the finest nineteenth century residential structure in Porterville,” the Zalud House, with its elegant Second Empire styling, beautiful garden, art works and keepsakes from around the world, closets full of vintage clothes, family furnishings, superb collection of historic photos, and some say, ghosts, immerses visitors in the scandalous and tragic lives of a prominent family of 100 years ago