An active volcano is the imposing exhibit in the Lassen Volcanic
National Park. The fiery Lassen Peak rises in the midst of telling
volcanic records that have been made and changed through many thousand
years.
This Park is in northern California. It is about one hundred and fifty
miles south of the Crater Lake National Park. The territory embraces
the southern end of the Cascade Mountains, the northern end of the
Sierra, and through it is the cross-connection between the Sierra and
the Coast Range. The area is about one hundred and twenty-five square
miles. The major portion of the Park lies at an altitude of between
six thousand and eight thousand feet, the lowest part being about four
thousand feet, while the highest point, the summit of Lassen Peak, is
10,437 feet above the level of the sea. The Park is reached by
automobile roads. It is easily accessible from the Southern Pacific
Railroad in the upper Sacramento Valley, and from the Western Pacific
Railroad on the Feather River.
The scientific and scenic merits of this territory were of such
uncommon order that in 1907 they were reserved in the Mount Lassen and
Cinder Cone National Monuments. Both these reservations are now merged
into the Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Lassen Peak is one of the great volcanoes of the Pacific Coast. Most
of the material in it, and that of the surrounding territory, appears
to be of volcanic origin. It is in the margin of one of the largest
lava-fields in the world. The lava in this vast field extends
northward through western Oregon and Washington and far eastward,
including southern Idaho and the Yellowstone National Park. It has an
area of about two hundred and fifty thousand square miles, over parts
of which the lava is of great depth.
Lassen is the southernmost fire mountain of that numerous group of
volcanoes that have so greatly changed the surface of the Northwest.
Among its conspicuous volcanic companions are Crater Lake, formerly
Mount Mazama, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mount Baker, and Mount
Rainier. Until Lassen Peak burst forth in 1914 it had slumbered for
centuries, and was commonly considered extinct. It has probably been
intermittently active for ages. Many geologists think that this
activity has extended through not less than two million years. Just
how long it may show its red tongue and its black clouds of breath is
uncertain; and just how violent and how voluminous its eruptions may
become are matters of conjecture.
All about Lassen Peak are striking exhibits of vulcanism--fields of
lava, quantities of obsidian or natural glass, sulphur springs, hot
springs, volcanic sand and volcanic bombs, and recent volcanic
topography, including Snag Lake.
Two of the imposing cañons here are Los Molinos and Warner Cañon.
These and other changes in the sides of Lassen Peak illustrate the
old, ever-interesting, and eternal story of erosion. Both these cañons
are wild places which have cut and eroded deeply into the ancient
lavas of Mount Lassen. Frost and water have reshaped the work of fire.
The mountain's sides show that it withstood the latest visits of the
Ice King. What appear to be the distinct records of glacial erosion
mark many spaces of its slopes.
[Illustration: LASSEN PEAK IN ERUPTION
_Copyright, 1914, by B. F. Loomis_]
The eruption of May 19, 1915, produced many changes. A volume of
super-heated gases burst out beneath the deeply snow-covered northeast
slope. The snow was instantly changed into water and steam. The mighty
downrush and onrush of water wrecked the channel of Lost Creek for
several miles. Meadows were piled with boulders, rock fragments, and
finer débris. Trees were uprooted or broken off, carried downward, and
left in piles of fierce confusion.
The hot gases played havoc with the forests. A stretch from a quarter
of a mile to nearly a mile wide and about ten miles long was killed by
the heat of the sweeping hurricane. Thousands of trees were instantly
killed and their green changed to brown. Others were charred. Forest
fires were started in a number of places.
The spectacular ruins which this left behind--the trees, wreckage,
slides, the changes made by ashes--may now be viewed with ease and
safety. It is probable that for years to come this volcanic wreckage
will be seen by thousands of visitors annually.
Fiery Lassen Peak is snow-crowned. One may ride to its summit on
horseback. From the top one has magnificent views of the mountains to
the north, the distant Coast Range, and the mountains eastward by the
Great Basin. On the whole, the surrounding mountain distances are
hardly excelled for grandeur in the entire country.
Cinder Cone is about ten miles to the northeast of Lassen Peak. It has
an altitude of only 6907 feet. It appears to have been built up
chiefly during the last two hundred years and for the most part by two
eruptions. One of these occurred nearly two hundred years ago. It
originated Stump Lake and ejected and spread materials over
considerable territory. The more recent eruption appears to have taken
place less than a century ago. In the summer of 1890 I found in the
crater a lodge-pole pine that was about eighty years of age.
Cinder Cone is a strikingly symmetrical small crater formed of cinders
and other volcanic products. It stands in a lava-field that has an
area of about three square miles. Its base measures about two
thousand feet in diameter, its truncated cone seven hundred and fifty
feet, and it is about six hundred and fifty feet high. Its
well-preserved crater is two hundred and forty feet deep and is nicely
funnel-shaped.
The Indians of the region had a popular tradition of the intense
activity of this cone about three centuries ago. This tradition was
that for a long time the sky was black with ashes and smoke. Thousands
of acres of forest were buried or smothered. The world appeared to be
coming to an end. But finally the sun appeared, red as blood. The sky
cleared, and volcanic activity ceased.
A number of the hot springs are agitated almost enough to be called
geysers. Cold and mineral springs abound. There are a number of lively
streams and plunging waterfalls.
The lake-area is twenty-three hundred acres. The largest of the lakes
is Lake Bidwell. Cinder Cone stands between two lakes which appear to
have been formerly one. The eruption of this cone probably extended a
lava-flow across the lake, dividing it into two parts. An outpouring
of volcanic material apparently made a dam, which formed a reservoir,
now occupied by Stump Lake. This filled with water and drowned a
forest growth. Through the surface of this lake still thrust numerous
tree-trunks of the drowned forest. The outburst of Cinder Cone that
formed this lake and overwhelmed the forest probably took place nearly
two hundred years ago. Other lakes are Juniper, Tilman, and Manzanita
Lakes.
The greater portion of the Park is forested. Among the more common
species of trees are Jeffrey pine, red fir, mountain hemlock,
lodge-pole pine, white fir, and incense cedar. In places among the
forests are beautiful mountain meadows.
There are scores of varieties of wild flowers. Most of these grow
under favorable conditions; have warmth, moisture, and rich soil; and
they show bright, clean blossoms. The district has its full share of
bird and animal life. In a number of streams fish are plentiful.
The Lassen Volcanic National Park was created chiefly through the
efforts of Congressmen John E. Raker and William Kent.
The varied objects of interest in this Park, especially those
associated with topography and geology, make it not only a place with
curious features, but a region affording unusual opportunities for the
gathering of fundamental facts concerning our resources. Here also are
scenes to inspire the souls of such as can be moved by the beauty and
grandeur of Nature and by the awful manifestations of her power.
Says J. S. Diller, of the United States Geological Survey, "With its
comfortably active volcano, inviting cinder cones and lava fields,
vigorously boiling hot springs, mud lakes and 'mush pots' for the
vulcanologist to study, and the glaciated divides and cañons for the
physiographer, in a setting of lovely scenery and attractive camps,
for the tourists all easily accessible, the Lassen Peak region affords
one of the most alluring and instructive spots for a National Park."