Drove back from Portland yesterday, detouring far east of Interstate 5, across the Cascades down to Klamath Falls, Oregon, then one way or another found myself at Tulelake and Lava Beds National Monument in far northern California. Stronghold is a railroad stop, a grain elevator, just outside Newell, California, in the Tule Lake basin. I’m guessing that the name comes from a bit of local history: the last redoubt of the Modoc leader Kintpuash (known to his new white neighbors as Captain Jack; he led the rebellion known as the Modoc War in 1872-73) was in the lava beds a few miles from here. More local history: Newell was also the site of one of the big World War II internment camps for Japanese Americans; eventually, the camp was designated as a segregation center for internees’ whose loyalty was questioned, and it was operated with a heavy military presence. The area feels fantastically remote. A couple archive pictures from the areas agricultural past here and here.
[In the picture above (looking southeast) : If you click for a larger version, Mount Shasta is just visible in the lower right hand corner. Image below looks north.]
Technorati Tags: california, travel