I was in that region in 1904 collecting for Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, department anthropology, and heard much of Lassen Butte. An old Indian told me that when a child and living some sixteen miles northwest of Cinder Cone, there came an earthquake at Lassen one summer day. The sun arose, but gradually faded to the darkest night and ashes came down like a heavy snowfall. Its weight finally broke in the bark houses and the natives rushed out into the darkness. The boy was taken by a grandmother to a hollow pine log where they remained till nearly famished. When the sun reappeared he was carried many miles before drinkable water was found. I presumed at that time my informant was near seventy years old and about six on the above occasion, thus approximating the date 1850 for this eruption. In many localities along the Pit river water shed I heard similar reports amongst the aged Indians. The name of this volcano in Palainihan tongue is “Am blü’-kai” “Mountain ripped apart.”
The region about Lassen Peak for many miles is very rugged, the few valleys suitable for agriculture lying at an elevation of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. Naturally it is sparsely settled, and this year, on the date of the first eruption, the snow was still very deep, obscuring all roads and trails down to the six-thousand-foot level. On account of the unusually late season, the summer influx of cattlemen, lumbermen and campers had not yet begun; probably the nearest occupied house was at least eight miles distant from the mountain top.
Prompt investigation of the first eruption is due to the fortunate fact that the mountain is included in the Lassen Peak National Forest and that the United States Forest Service[1] had built a fire look-out station on the topmost crag of Lassen Peak itself. The summer headquarters of the forest supervisor, Mr. W. J. Rushing, are in Battle Creek Meadows, near Mineral postoffice, a little more than ten miles in an air line from the top of the mountain. The look-out house on Lassen and the other stations also are connected with the supervisor’s headquarters by the government telephone lines which extend to the town of Red Bluff, nearly fifty miles to the westward, giving direct communication with San Francisco. When the eruptions began the fire look-out station on Lassen had not yet been occupied for the summer season of 1914, but it was the property of the Forest Service and a station of importance. It will be seen then that the interests and resources of the Forestry Service as indicated above were such that reports of volcanic activity on Lassen were investigated at once and definite records kept of the reports brought in to headquarters.
The following extracts are from the report of Forest Supervisor W. J. Rushing to the District Forester at San Francisco, made June 9.
- ↑ The writer wishes to express his appreciation of the assistance and courtesies extended him in connection with his field work not only by District Forester DuBois, of San Francisco, and Supervisor Rushing, of Mineral, but also by various members of the staff in each place.
