Hogwallows—Ground as Mysterious as the Name

Words & Photos provided by Terry Ommen

A small parcel of land in Tulare County has never been farmed or had its soil turned by plow or disc. It lies on the Valley floor between Exeter and Woodlake about 10 miles east of Visalia. It’s surrounded on all sides by citrus groves—in some of the richest agricultural land in California, and probably the world. But even though the plot is virgin land, the ground is not barren. Today it grows weeds, mostly invasive, with a few native plants rooted here and there.

So why has this 10-acre parcel never been farmed? The answer is simple. A one-time owner, Dr. Philip Buckman, wanted it that way. He cared enough to sacrifice financial gain and left it in its natural state, giving us all a glimpse of what much of Tulare County ground looked like before it was turned into irrigated agricultural land. Thanks to him and his family, today this ancient ground serves as an outdoor exhibit.

The numerous and random asymmetrical mounds on the site look strange and almost eerie as they rise up above the ground. Their peculiar appearance is made more unusual with the wellmaintained citrus groves standing all around them. These mounds are not unique to Tulare County—similar ones appear elsewhere in the world. They are sometimes called mima mounds or pimple mounds, but here in Tulare County, we call them hogwallows. That name has been attached to them since at least 1887, when the Visalia Weekly Delta reported on “a belt of uneven land, of varying width, which skirts the foothills of the Sierras in various parts of the county.” The article called these bumps “hog-wallows.”

No one has been able to explain exactly why or how they formed, but many theories abound including pressure from ground water pushing soil upward, and burrowing rodents and insects. Volcanic vent action has generally been ruled out, as has the theory that the mounds were Native American graves. William L. Preston, a Tulare County native and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo professor, wrote in his book Vanishing Landscapes, “Mima mounds appear to be a periglacial phenomenon formed under pluvial conditions in the late Pleistocene”—meaning they could date back millions of years. After visiting Buckman’s hogwallows, University of California soil scientist Dr. Rodney Arkley wrote, “It is clear that the pocket gopher is responsible for the mounds.”

In the December 1948 issue of the Tulare County Historical Society newsletter, Editor Harold Schutt gave another explanation. In Yokuts lore, ancient people carrying rocks and soil in baskets emptied the contents, creating the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range. Once the mountains rose to the correct height, the workers were told to stop. They immediately dumped their baskets wherever they stood, creating the mounds that we call hogwallows.

In the 1940s, Dr. Buckman began searching for land to build a new family home. He purchased the 10 acres of hogwallows and other neighboring land, and hired Hugh Comstock, a well-known home designer and master builder. Comstock was credited for creating an architectural style sometimes called “fairytale” or “storybook”—a style featured in the quaint central California coastal town, Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Comstock was also known for a special adobe technique he used in his projects. The Buckmans wanted an adobe home, and hired Comstock to help them build it. With the hogwallows land rich in clay soil, they had access to abundant building material. He drew up plans for the Buckman home, and in about 1947, the two-story Buckman adobe home was built. During construction, Delora, one of Dr. Buckman’s young daughters, remembers her father digging a well on the hogwallows parcel and using the water from it to mix with the native clay. The mixture formed a slick, gooey material and Delora recalls running and sliding in the adobe mud, using it much like a “slip ‘n’ slide.” The adobe house still stands today, just east of the hogwallows parcel.

During the doctor’s ownership of this interesting ground, he ignored those who encouraged him to level the land and cultivate it, choosing instead to keep it in its natural state. In 1948, the Tulare County Historical Society expressed an interest in acquiring some hogwallows land. In the society newsletter of that year, the group made its intentions clear, commenting that they were “looking toward securing a few acres of these mysterious mounds.” Apparently, Dr. Buckman heard of the society’s wish; in 1978, he and his daughter, Carol, decided to donate the 10 acres to the society, and began the legal process to make it happen.

On April 22, 1979, with the paperwork complete, a formal dedication ceremony of the Hogwallow Preserve took place on site. With the society as the new owner, a granite boulder with a brass historical marker was placed there by the society, and it remains there today. For the last 44 years, the Tulare County Historical Society has owned the preserve and serves as the curator of this outdoor museum.

If you haven’t been to the preserve, you really should visit. Admission is free, and visitors may walk around the grounds. This hidden gem is worth the trip. To visit, go east on Highway 198 from Visalia, turn north at Road 220, and turn west at Avenue 314. Travel about 1/8 of a mile to see the preserve, on the south side of the road.