94 J. S. Dlller — Our Youngest Volcano. 



and from data he gathered there, with historical evidence from 

 natives and earl}^ settlers in the Sacramento valley, he concluded 

 that the eruption occurred in January, 1850. 



In 1885 Captain (now Major) Button and I visited the region 

 and, approaching it from the same side as Dr Harkness did, saw 

 no reason whatever to doubt his conclusions. A few years pre- 

 vious Major Button had studied the active volcanoes of the 

 Sandwich islands, and he was deeply impressed with the new- 

 ness in the appearance of the lava field and cinder cone north- 

 east of Lassen peak. 



Later in the same season I revisited the volcano alone for the 

 purpose of studying the phenomena more thoroughly, and found 

 good reason for believing that it is very much older than was at 

 first sui^posecl. 



Pine trees grow from terminal buds in joints at the rate of 

 one joint each year; so it was thought that if we could find a 

 living tree that Avas well scorched we could climb up and count 

 the number of joints above the scorching and could thus dis- 

 cover the number of years since the eruption. 



We started out around the lava field to find a suitable tree, 

 but to our great surprise on the further side of the lava field the 

 scorched sides of the trees were away from the lava, so that it 

 was evident that the scorching was not produced by the lava. 

 A little further examination convinced us that a forest fire had 

 swept through that region from the north and scorched all the 

 trees more or less on that side. 



We returned to the cinder cone and, finding large pine trees 

 growing close to the cone, it was doubted whether the trees could 

 have survived so close to the volcano. The question arose as to 

 the thickness of the layer of volcanic sand near the cone where 

 the trees were growing ; and Avith soup-plates for shovels (we had 

 no better in camp) we dug down to find the bottom, but the loose 

 sand caved in and we could not penetrate it. A quarter of a 

 mile away from the base of the cinder cone another attempt 

 Avas made, and at that distance the layer of volcanic sand Avas 

 found to be seven feet thick. Of course, it Avas evident at once 

 that no living trees in the neighborhood could have surAaved 

 such a shower of hot '' ashes." The large living trees must have 

 groAvn up entirely since the eruption. 



Near the cinder cone there are some dead trees which have been 

 partially burned. Examining these it Avas found that they had 



