The Lassen Trail

 

            The writer believes that the following description of the original Lassen Trail is the most correct one in existence.

            The "Hesperian Magazine" of August, 1859, Bancroft's History, and "Fifty Years of Masonry in California" say that Lassen went east across the plains with Commodore Stockton in 1847, and the following spring started from Missouri with a train of twelve wagons. These immigrants were to settle on his grant at the mouth of Deer Creek, in the southeastern part of what is now Tehama county, California. (For a full account of the life of Lassen, see the year 1859 in this book.)

            At that time the emigrant road ran up the Platte and Sweetwater rivers, through the South Pass, and on to Fort Hall, which was near the Snake river and almost due north of Salt Lake City. The road to California ran southwest from Fort Hall to the headwaters of the Humboldt river, and then followed down that stream to its sink. Lassen came this road until he reached the Big Bend of the Humboldt river, and there he turned into the Applegate road which went into southern Oregon.

            Bancroft says that in June, 1846, "Levi Scott, Jesse Applegate, Lindsey Applegate, John Scott, Moses Harris, Henry Bogus, John Owens, John Jones, Robert Smith, Samuel Goodhue, Bennett Osborne, William Sportsman, William Parker, Benj. Burch, and David Goff started from Polk county, Oregon, to find a route from there through the Cascade mountains, and out to the regular emigrant road to California. They succeeded in finding a road out to the Humboldt river, and went on to Fort Hall to meet the coming immigration. Bancroft says that there they got ninety or a hundred wagons to go with them instead of taking the northern route, and these they conducted into Oregon by the new road. F. and S. (hereafter the "History

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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

of Plumas, Lassen, and Sierra Counties" will be referred to in this way) say there were forty-two wagons and one hundred and fifty people. At the Big Bend of the Humboldt river, near what was afterwards called Lassen 's Meadows, they left the river and went west to Antelope springs, and then to Rabbit Hole springs. After going a little farther west, they went northwest across the desert to the Big Hot spring west of Black Rock mountain, which is at the southern extremity of the Black Rock range. They kept along the western side of this range up to Mud Meadows, and then turned west into High Rock canyon. They went up through this canyon, and on to a point about two and a half miles south of the Massacre Lakes; and turning to the southwest, went across to the 49 canyon, and down that into Surprise valley. Crossing the valley between the two upper lakes, they kept up the west side to the Fandango Pass, for many years called Lassen's Pass, and there went over into Goose Lake valley. They kept down the east side of Goose lake until they reached a narrow place in it, south of west of the Sugar Loaf. All the way down the lake they had kept close to the edge of it ; and here, near the northwest corner of Section II, Township 45 north, Range 13 east, they crossed the lake, going a little west of north. It is said that the old road can still be seen where it goes into the water on each side of the lake. The Oregon road then turned to the northwest and went around the north end of Clear and Tule lakes.

            Lassen followed the Applegate road until he reached the lower end of Goose lake, and here the Lassen Trail really begins. One old road turned off on the west side of the lake and ran almost south, crossing the Devil's Garden, and striking Pit river near the mouth of Rattlesnake creek. A. Delano, who went over the road in 1849, and in 1857 published a book entitled "Life on the Plains and Among the Diggings," says he never crossed the bed of the lake, but went right on down the river. "Without doubt, both roads were used. The writer has never been able to learn how far north of the Applegate road the water was at that time. Lassen kept down on the north side of the river and crossed it near the mouth of the canyon below what is now called Canby. He then went over into Stone Coal valley and down that to the river, and again followed down the river, being obliged to cross it frequently and sometimes to go along the sides of the

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THE YEARS 1848 TO 1856

hills above it. About ten miles above where Lookout now stands he crossed the river for the last time, going over to the east side of it, and then went down through Big valley, then called Round valley, keeping close to the river and passing through the present site of Bieber. As early as 1849 a road ran from the upper end of the valley north to the Applegate road. They left the valley at the Thompson place, where George Thompson and his family settled in the spring of 1872, and climbed the hill to the plateau above the river. They then went on almost south, keeping about a mile from the river until it turned west, over to Clark's valley and then on the same course to the west end of Little Dixie valley.

            From all that can be learned, it seems that the original trail went from Little Dixie about eight miles south of west to Beaver creek. There it turned and ran a little east of south to the west end of Poison lake, and then to Pine creek at the place where the road from Susanville to Dixie valley and that part of the country now crosses it. A little later on another road was made, which ran from the west end of Little Dixie to its southeast corner, just touched Big Dixie, and ran about three miles farther to the southeast. Then it turned southwest, passed along the west side of Shroder lake, and kept on that course until it met the other road at the southwest corner of Poison lake.

            From Pine creek Lassen went a few miles southeast, turned south, passed Feather lake, crossed Susan river just west of Norvall Flat, passed west of Duck lake, and crossed Clear creek about a hundred yards above where the road crossed it in 1910, or before Westwood was built. He then went on to the Big spring in the north arm of Big Meadows, and kept on south until he got north of where the original Prattville stood. Then turning to the southwest, he crossed the river about a mile above that place, and kept on that course about seven miles farther, until he struck the north fork of Butt creek. He followed up Butt creek northwest to its head in Soldier Meadows, through these meadows (this is the Deer creek pass) to Lost creek, and down that to Deer creek. Delano says the trail followed down this stream eight miles to the last crossing, and two miles below that left the creek. After going about fourteen miles, they reached the top of the ridge between Deer creek and Mill creek ; and they followed down the summit of this ridge for twenty miles. He also says "Eight miles from the foot-hills was the

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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

house of Col. Davis, where the Lawson Trail first struck Deer creek. About a mile below this was Lawson's on the opposite side of the creek. At Lawson 's were two or three small adobe buildings, one of which was by courtesy called a store, having a little flour, whiskey, and groceries for sale. Flour was $50 a hundred, beef 35 cents, pork 75 cents, sugar 50 cents, and cheese $1.50 per pound." (Lassen's buildings were on the south side of Deer creek and perhaps a mile and a half from the mouth of it. In early days Lassen's name was pronounced "Lawson" and sometimes spelled that way. The early settlers pronounced the name of the county " Lawson. " Men who were well acquainted with Lassen say that he pronounced his name "Lassen," the Danes of today say it is "Lassen," so it seems that the pronunciation of this county's name, like its weather, must be guessed at. — F.)

            The Lassen Trail was a "holy terror," so to speak. See on the map the distance from the Black Rock mountain to Clear creek by the road through Honey Lake valley, and see where Lassen took his train to get there. It took Delano two days over a month to go from the Humboldt river to Lassen's ranch. After the experience of the 1849 immigrants it was called the "Death Route" and "Lassen's Horn Route," probably because it was about as much of a cutoff as going around Cape Horn would have been. A great immigration went over this road in 1849 ; some of them going this way because they were afraid of the forty miles of sandy desert between the Humboldt sink and Ragtown on the Carson river. From Lassen's Meadows to Rabbit Hole springs is something like thirty miles, and Antelope springs are about half way between them. At this time none of these springs had been opened up, and afforded very little water, and there was no feed worth speaking of at either place. It was nearly thirty miles across the desert to the Big Hot spring west of the Black Rock mountain, and five miles beyond that they found the first good grass since leaving the Humboldt river. They had jumped from the frying pan into the fire, and their troubles had only begun. At the hot springs in this vicinity a great many wagons were abandoned, and traces of them can still be seen here, and in the High Rock canyon, too. In fact, wagons, etc., were left all along the road. Their teams gave out or died, or were stolen by the Indians; and they had to leave their

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THE YEARS 1848 TO 1856

wagons, and go on the best they could. Some cut their wagons in two, and made carts out of parts of them; and on these they hauled their families and what little else they could.

            Going from the Hot springs up to Mud Meadows they had a long stretch of sandy desert, and Delano says they let their wagons down into the High Rock canyon with ropes. From Surprise valley up through Fandango, or Lassen's, pass, the mountain looks a person in the face, and one would hardly want to go over the old road with a pack train. Probably it was rough traveling from Hot Spring valley to Big valley, although not so bad as in many other places. They say it makes a person's hair stand up to see where they came down into Horse creek at Little Dixie valley, and the marks on the trees show that they let their wagons down with ropes there, too. Because it was a very dry time, they went across Big Meadows without any trouble; the swamps being almost, or entirely, dry that year. Delano says they cut hay in Big Meadows and carried it along to feed their teams on the fifty miles of mountain desert to be traveled over after leaving there, and that twenty miles of the road between the last crossing of Deer creek and the Sacramento valley was on the top of a ridge. Sometimes the top of this ridge was fifty rods wide, and in other places it was just wide enough for the road; and sometimes it was hundreds of feet almost straight down from the top of the ridge. To make matters worse, this ridge was crossed occasionally by ravines which made hard, rocky, sideling hills to go down and up. William Fish, who knows that country well, says there are two places called "The Narrows," where at each place, for perhaps two hundred feet, it was hard work to drive along with a wagon without tipping over. He says there was water at different places near the summit ; but probably the immigrants did not find it, and went a long ways down into the canyon after it. After leaving the ridge the ground sloped gradually into the valley. Live oaks grew along here, and the immigrants cut a good many of them down for their stock to browse on.

            It looks as though Lassen didn't know where he was going. They used to say that when he got to Goose lake, he saw Mt. Shasta one day and Lassen's Butte the next. He didn't know the difference, and traveled one day toward one of them and the next day toward the other. It is also told that out in the Pine

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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY; CALIFORNIA

creek country he got lost, and the men in his train threatened to hang him. He told them that if they would let him go to the top of the mountain near by, he could find the way. They let him go, and from the mountain he was able to get on the right course again. The writer will not vouch for the truthfulness of either story, but he has heard both of them told a good many times. F. and S. say that Lassen led his train along safely until it reached Mt. Meadows, or Big Meadows; and there their pro- visions and animals both gave out, and they had to stop. This was about the first of November. The news of the discovery of gold did not reach Oregon until the last of August. Immediately twenty wagons set out for California, and there being no other road, they followed the Applegate road out to Goose lake, and there took the trail Lassen's train had made a few weeks before. When they overtook Lassen, they helped him finish his journey.

            The following quotations tell the history of those who went over the Lassen Trail after 1848. F. and S. say: "The experience of Lassen's party in 1848 was repeated the next year, when a large emigration came over that route, and became snowed in and out of provisions on the headwaters of Feather river. "When word of their precarious situation reached the valley, the people of San Francisco, Stockton, and Sacramento, who remembered the sad fate of the Donner party, made a great effort in their behalf. Their condition was reported to Gen. Percifer F. Smith, who, with the consent of Gen. Bennett Riley, the military governor, placed one hundred thousand dollars in the hands of Major Rucker, U. S. Quartermaster, to purchase animals and supplies for their relief. The military authorities were the more moved to this act of humanity because Gen. Wilson, U. S. Indian Agent, was among the sufferers. John H. Peoples, who was afterwards drowned in one of the Trinidad expeditions, was selected to lead the relief party. About the first of October Mr. Peoples started with twenty-four pack-animals, three wagons, and fifty-six beef-cattle, having twenty-five men in his party. He found the emigrants in the snow on Pit river, out of food, and suffering with the scurvy. On the first of December he brought in fifty families to Lassen's ranch, including Gen. Wilson's, the last thirty miles being traversed through a blinding

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THE YEARS 1848 TO 1856

snow-storm. The majority of the emigrants settled in the head of Sacramento valley, or went to the Trinity mines in the early spring."

            A. Delano has this to say : " Those who left Missouri late in the season (1849) and could not arrive until November experienced incredible hardships. The previous trains had eaten up all the grass and thousands of cattle perished. Worn out with fatigue and weak for want of nourishment they arrived late in the season in the mountainous region of the Sierras. The snow and rain commenced much earlier than usual and fell to an unprecedented depth, and it seemed utterly impossible for them to get through. Many suffered from scurvy and fevers from using salt and impure provisions. Reports of these sufferings reached the settlements, and the government and individuals contributed largely, and sent out a detachment to afford all the relief they could, and bring the suffering emigrants in. The last of the emigrants on the Lassen route had reached the Feather river when the government train reached them with mules. Some had been without food for two or three days, and with others a heavy body of snow lay on the ground. Three men made a desperate effort to get through. For some days they had been on an allowance of but one meal a day, but baking up all the bread they had left, which was only a supply for two days, they started for Lawson's, a distance of seventy miles. The snow was between two and three feet deep yet they waded through it for a few miles, and came to a wagon containing two women and two or three children who had eaten nothing for three days. They gave all they had in the way of food to them and went on. They succeeded in reaching Lawson's. Many knocked their animals in the head and lived on the meat until the government train arrived. Strong men fell down exhausted, and women waded through the deep snow carrying their helpless children. The only food they had was their animals, and men became so famished that they cut meat from horses and mules which had perished from hunger and thirst by the road-side. When the government train arrived the women and children were placed on the mules, exposed to a furious snow-storm in which many of the animals perished; but the emigrants finally succeeded in getting through, when the government furnished them with boats to carry them to Sacramento as the roads along the valley had become impassable."

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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

            Bayard Taylor in "Eldorado or Adventures in the Path of Empire," says : '" Public meetings were held in San Francisco by the citizens to contribute means of relief.[1] Major Rucker took the expedition over the Lassen road himself. He found a large body of emigrants scattered along Pit river, many without provisions and others without animals, the Indians having stolen them. There were so many who needed his assistance that he had to come back to the ranches on Deer creek for more supplies, and leaving Mr. Peoples to hurry them up. They were very apathetic about trying to move rapidly. At the first part of the journey they threw away supplies that they needed ; and now they hung onto useless goods and refused to lighten the loads of their teams. While they were crossing the mountains to Deer creek a violent storm came on, and Mr. Peoples made them leave their wagons and hurry forward with the remaining animals. They finally got into Sacramento valley with the loss of many wagons and animals. Major Rucker went at once to Deer creek and saw that they were favorably established for the winter. They built log houses; and the government gave them flour from its stores and bought cattle from the neighboring ranches, and this furnished them with food for the winter. "

            Delano also says: "But a small portion of the emigration of 1850 came by the Lawson, or northern, route. The character of this route was now generally understood, and but few attempted it, fortunately. Those who did, almost without exception, suffered severely. The Indians on Pit river were very hostile. In one night they stole twenty-seven mules from one train, which so completely broke it up that the emigrants were compelled to leave their wagons and pack what they could on the few mules they had left, leaving their wagons and goods to be plundered by the Indians."

            After 1850 little or no emigration went over the Lassen Trail. A great deal of the road, though, has been used ever since ; but of course it has been worked and improved. In many places, through deep canyons and mountain passes, the remaining traces show the difficulties encountered by those who first used it. Relics of the emigrant days, such as chains and irons where abandoned wagons were burned, and goods buried because they could be carried no farther, are even now occasionally found.

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