Peter Lassen

In the 1840's, Peter Lassen promoted the Applegate-Lassen Trail that led from the current day Rye Patch Reservoir to Rabbit Hole Spring and then to the Black Rock Springs and then on to his ranch in northern California. The route led pioneers many miles out of their way. There was very little water at Rabbit Hole and no water from Rabbit Hole to Black Rock Springs. Lassen and Edward Clapper were murdered in 1859 in the Black Rock Range.

The Oregon-California Trails Association places the murder site at T38N R26E S7 NE1/4, (41°12'38.11"N 119° 3'2.28"W) Note that the grave site is not in Clapper Canyon, it is adjacent to the canyon.

External References

• Peter Lassen (Wikipedia)
• Peter Lassen (Lassen County, California Genweb Project)
• Asa Merrill Fairfield, "Fairfield's Pioneer History of Lassen County, California: Containing ...," p 171 (1916) "Death of Lassen". (Full text from Archive.org.)
• Lassen Monument (Honey Lake) (Lahontan Images)
• Lassen-Clapper Attack (Oregon-California Trails Association) - Description of how to get to the murder site
  • Peter Lassen and His Trail (California-Nevada Chapter Oregon-California Trails Association)
• DeGroot's 1863 map (David Rumsey) - Shows the location of Lassen's Grave on a map from 1863
• San Francisco Chronicle, "Peter Lassen's Death: An Authentic Story of His Murder," December 3, 1893, p. 1. Reprinted in Feather River Bulletin, December 14, 1893
• Frona Eunice Wait Colburn, "The kingship of Mt. Lassen, at present the only active volcano on the mainland of the United States, in the past California's greatest benefactor", 1922. Page 44 has a reproduction of a "Portrait in Oils, Masonic Temple, San Francisco, Property of Grand Lodge" that is probably by Charles Adrian Rutherford.
• Carl Nolte, "Deadly Tourist Trap - Lassen's phony shortcut lured travelers into desert," San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 1998.
• Franklin D. Scott, "Peter Lassen: Danish Pioneer of California," p113-136, Southern California Quarterly Vol. 63, No. 2, Summer 1981.
  • Images are from the Huntington Library. Two images are by Joseph Goldsborough Bruff
• Georgia Willis Read, "Gold Rush: The Journals, Drawings and Other Papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff , 1849-1851"
• Farriss & Smith "Illustrated History of PLUMAS, LASSEN & SIERRA Counties with CALIFORNIA from 1513 to 1850," 1882, San Francisco.
  • Images: Portrait of Peter Lassen (p 56), similar image.
• The Pictorial News Letter Of California For The Steamer John L. Stephens, April 5, 1858 No.2. -- San Francisco: Hutchings & Rosenfield -- Charles F. Robbins, Printer -- Wood engraving; 14 x 12 cm. -- Portrait of Peter Lassen the Old Pioneer and Mountaineer, in Honor of Whom Lassen's Butte and Big Meadows, were named--From a Photograph by R. H. Vance.
• Roger R. Olmsted, "Scenes of wonder & curiosity from Hutchings' California magazine, 1856-1861," image on p 386.
• Image: Eastman Collection, "Peter Lassen," Group 90, P-0230, UC Davis.
• Image: Eastman Collection, "Peter Lassen," Group 89, P-0104, UC Davis. Possibly drawn by Bruff.
• "Portrait of Peter Lassen," USC Library.
• "Legendary Truths: Peter Lassen & His Gold Rush Trail in Fact & Fable," Ken Johnston , 2012
• "Lassen: His life and Legacy," Swartzlow, R.J., 90 pages, 1964, Loomis Museum Association.
• "Death of Peter Lassen," Hutchings' California Magazine, June 1859, pages 566-567, number 32.