Editing Lemoore, California (section)

==Geography==
The maps published by Thos. H. Thompson in 1892, shows three high water levels of the giant [[Tulare Lake]] in different years. The highest lake level, the one Thompson labeled "original lake line" skirts or touches the 1892 town of Lemoore's south-west corner at the current intersection of [[State Route 41]] and [[State Route 198]]. On Thompson's map, Lemoore is on the east bank, and about five miles away [[Naval Air Station Lemoore|Lemoore Naval Air Station]] would have been on the west bank of the pointy northern tip of Tulare Lake at its maximum size.  At the extreme northern point of Tulare Lake was its natural, occasional "flood year" spillway northbound into Bogg Slough, [[Fresno Slough]], and the [[San Joaquin River]]'s watershed, onward to the sea at [[San Francisco Bay]]. The present (2014) remaining marshy remnants of Bogg Slough, with its unfarmed [[oxbow lake|''oxbow'']] structures may be the last of their kind to avoid the plow in the Kings-San Joaquin river system.  This "summit," or spillway is located just a few miles north-west of Lemoore, off Grangeville Blvd at elevation {{Convert|210|feet}}.<ref>U.S. Geologic Survey: STRUCTURAL CONTROL OF INTERIOR DRAINAGE, SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA By George H. Davis and J. H. Green, Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, Calif.  "The low point of [[Tulare Lake]] Bed is 178 feet above sea level; the divide to the north is 210 feet above sea level" ... "During periods of high runoff, Tulare Lake would fill to an elevation of 210 feet and would discharge north to the San Joaquin River and thence to the Pacific Ocean. Playas or salt flats did not form because through-flowing water periodically flushed out accumulated salt." ... "Two principal explanations have been advanced to account for the interior drainage of the southern San Joaquin Valley. One advocated by Mendenhall and others (1916, p. 21), W. M. Davis (1933, p. 224), Hinds (1952, p. 150), and many others explains the interior drainage as due to damming of the valley by the growth of the alluvial fans of the Kings River from the east and Los Gatos Creek from the west. The other explanation suggests that Tulare Lake Bed is the site of a structural downwarp and that active tectonic subsidence is the cause of the topographic depression (G. H. Davis and others, 1939, p. 29)."</ref> The spillway was wide, shallow and confusing, choked with tall [[Schoenoplectus acutus|tule rushes]], and without observable landmarks. Only one commercial boat is known to have sailed from [[Tulare Lake]] to the San Francisco delta.  [[Tulare Lake]] had huge economic importance in the region, both for the very large population of Indians, and the white pioneers.  The lake supported a large commercial fishery feeding San Francisco, and a steam powered ferry servicing several towns and settlements.  The receding lake continually opened up new agricultural lands for settlement.  Because of its source streams being diverted, the last time the lake overflowed was 1878, and today it no longer exists.

Because the natural summit or border between the [[Kings River (California)|Kings River]] basin and the San Joaquin River's watershed, and the Kings River itself nearly intersect near Lemoore, a number of huge water works that control regional water flow are also located nearby.  For example, in flood years the Kings River is diverted west into the so-called "[[North Fork Kings River]]," to Crescent Weir and related major levees eastward to the north-flowing Fresno Slough and to the sea, preventing a resurgence ("flooding") of [[Tulare Lake]] to the south. This "switch point" is located just north of Lemoore right off of Highway 41 and Elgin Ave at the New Island Weirs.  In many cases the prehistoric Kings River bed has been obliterated and new channels have been constructed. However, as of 2014, in satellite images (such as Google maps, etc.) the remains of many of the old channels can still be detected.

Other towns built just above the [[Tulare Lake]] high-water shoreline include [[Kettleman City]] and [[Alpaugh]] (once also called Hog Island, Root Island, and Atwell's Island<ref>Historic Tulare County: A Sesquicentennial History, 1852-2002, By Chris Brewer, page 28</ref>). Satellite maps indicate that highways, railroads, and property lines are aligned with the historic lake shores. Also, many of the farms can be seen to be much larger within its various historic shore lines than in the surrounding areas.

===Climate===
According to the [[Köppen Climate Classification]] system, Lemoore has a [[semi-arid climate]], abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.<ref>[http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=20747&cityname=Lemoore%2C+California%2C+United+States+of+America&units= Climate Summary for Lemoore, California]</ref>