boyle] MT. LASSEN 225 



Mt. Lassen is situated at the intersection of Plumas, Lassen, 

 and Tehama Counties, about seventy miles southeast of Mt. 

 Shasta, where her summit rises 10,460 feet above sea level. Until 

 19 14 she was simply a mountain peak of the Sierras, admired from 

 the distance for her beauty, and her sides scaled many times by 

 tourists where from her summit on a clear day may be viewed a 

 panorama of unsurpassed grandeur. Twenty shimmering lakes 

 nestle in the surrounding mountains, while away off to the south- 

 west stretches the Sacramento Valley, Marysville Buttes, and 

 purple Coast Range, and to the northwest Mt. Shasta smiles 

 approval from her superior height. 



Mt. Lassen may be reached through Big Meadows, the summer 

 tourists' Mecca, Warner Valley, and Drakeshood. At the last 

 named valley the traveler mounts his horse and goes by trail 

 through a green meadow dotted with myriad wild flowers and 

 bordered by tall pines, fir, and hemlock. After an easy ascent 

 of about nine miles the horses are tethered and the remainder of 

 the distance, about 1,000 feet, is scaled by a steep and difficult 

 path, over boulders, loose rocks, and snow to the summit. The 

 trees which have gradually grown smaller as we ascend, have now 

 given place to some sprawling white-bark pine, not more than ten 

 feet in height. These finally disappear and from this point on 

 not a living plant is seen. 



In 19 14, on the afternoon of May 20, occurred the first eruption, 

 which was followed throughout the summer by frequent eruptions, 

 all from a fissure near the top. This fissure was about 1,000 feet 

 long, by 700 feet wide, and probably 300 feet deep. Looking 

 into this fissure between periods of eruption, the courageous 

 investigator saw what seemed to be a boiling, steaming, mush pot 

 which would occasionally send up a miniature eruption of steam 

 and lava, and then subside to a quiet bubbling. When in violent 

 eruption and viewed from Big Meadows, there would appear a 

 slight puff of vapor resembling a smoke from a small fire, gradu- 

 ally growing larger and higher when suddenly as if with a great 

 heave there would leap into the air a pillar of vapor, smoke and 

 ash to a height of 1,000 or 1,200 feet. This on a calm day floats 

 off into the heavens at this height, sometimes assuming grotesque 

 or wonderful forms, and after a few hours disappears. On a 

 windy day the smoke and cinders are carried to the northward 

 close to the mountain side where the cinders are deposited for 

 miles around, but in no place to a greater depth than i}4 feet. 



