54 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



times. The base camp was established 

 only 2 miles from the rim of the crater 

 and from this camp, at an elevation of 

 over 8,000 feet many excellent pictures 

 were possible. Many erup- 

 tions were witnessed in all 

 their grandeur and the rumb- 

 lings and tremors of the earth 

 often made one wish he were 

 elsewhere. 



The ascents of the peak 

 made by the writer in the lat- 

 ter part of August and the 

 beginning of September were 

 made for securing triangula- 

 tion points for a general map 

 of the region. Plane table 

 work at the brink of an ex- 

 plosive volcano is not the 

 pleasantest job imaginable, 

 hence such visits were usually 

 made as brief as possible and 

 not any oftener than was ab- 

 solutely necessary. These as- 

 cents showed that the crater 

 had increased considerably in 

 size since June. The crater 

 was at the beginning of Sep- 

 tember about 800 feet long 

 and 350 feet wide and the 

 country for at least a mile 

 around was covered by a 

 thick blanket of light volcanic 

 ash. Practically all the snow 

 that was left on the mountain 

 was covered by this ash and 

 the water it soaked up from 

 the snow made it look black. 

 Hence Mt. Lassen this summer 

 not only acted like a volcano 

 but decidedly took on the 

 ghastly appearance of one. 

 The Forest Fire Lookout Sta- 

 tion was at that time still 

 standing but the roof and sides 

 had ntmierous large and small 

 holes in them. One noticed, 

 while walking over the rocks 

 and volcanic ash on top, numerous 

 large depressions in the ash and rock 

 where large boulders had fallen. These 

 holes occurred as much as a mile from 

 the crater and they serve as evidences 

 of the severity of the explosions. 



Up to the present time there has been 

 no destruction of life of any form. No 



timber or other natural resource has 

 been destroyed as far as the writer 

 knows. The heavy clouds of ash laden 

 steam that are thrown out of the crater 



Photo by R. H. Boerker. 



Third Stage of the Eruption. 



thick black ash laden steams cover the entire mountain, 

 sometimes this is carried for fifteen or twenty miles. the 

 entire top of the mountain is covered with this fine vol- 

 canic ash to a depth of eight or ten feet. 



at the time of an eruption are often 

 carried by the wind for many miles. 

 The most violent of these eruptions 

 have sent these clouds with the help of 

 the wind for 20 miles or more. The 

 height to which these great colimms of 

 vapor are thrown has been quite ac- 

 curately determined by Forest Ranger 



