September 23-29, 2020 HISTORY
Peter Lassen:
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n the fall of 1848, the Lassen Cutoff was turning into a nightmare for its namesake, Peter Lassen; the wagon train he was leading foundered in rough country west of the Applegate Trail near Goose Lake. Situated in a high-desert basin, Goose Lake is an alkaline stretch of water with its southern reach bordering California’s present-day Modoc County in the extreme northeastern part of the state. The Applegate Trail passed near Goose Lake before heading west to Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley. At Goose Lake, Lassen turned south, traveling along the east side of the volcano that today bears his name — Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park — en route to his ranch near the Sacramento River. The rugged topography, bedeviled by steep canyons and dense forest, frequently brought the party to a halt and forced Lassen to repeatedly backtrack with a great loss of time, energy and equipment. It was probably about this time, as he stood disoriented in the wilderness and with increasing acrimony among the emigrants, that Lassen realized he should have explored the route beforehand. A pack train came on the group sometime in late September and found them “lost in the mountains and half starved,” but the men had few supplies to share and were in a hurry to reach California before winter closed in. By early October, the party was exhausted, emaciated and threatening to hang Lassen from the nearest tree. They abandoned their 10 wagons, converting five to small carts that were more maneuverable in the thick timber. Goods or possessions that could not be loaded onto the remaining oxen that hadn’t been eaten were abandoned. By the time they reached the Pit River, the party was too weak to go farther. Death was stalking them. Before anyone perished, however, a wagon train captained by Peter Burnett and guided by Thomas McKay overtook the desperate emigrants. The well-supplied Burnett-McKay company had departed Oregon with 150 able-bodied men and 46 ox-drawn wagons, heading for the recently discovered California gold fields. They traveled the Applegate Trail to Tule Lake before turning southeast. Cutting trees and moving rocks, they blazed 40 miles of rough road to reach the Pit River and the drainage of the Sacramento River. Along the way they observed Lassen’s erratic path and realized that whoever was guiding the party was completely lost. After reaching the Pit River and sharing food with Lassen’s starving followers, Burnett wrote, “About ten or fifteen of our men cut out the road in one day as far as the timber extended — about 15 miles — and did it as fast as the wagons could follow.” On Oct. 29, 1848, Lassen’s demoralized outfit finally reached his ranch in the Sacramento Valley. The shortcut turned out to be 255 miles longer than if the company had remained on the California Trail and crossed Donner Pass, but somehow Lassen convinced the emigrants to endorse him as an invaluable guide. Historians have suggested that Lassen’s route more correctly should be called the Burnett-McKay Trail
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Peter Lassen’s gravesite.
since that company actually blazed it first. Burnett optimistically wrote: “We found the pass through the mountains one of the finest natural passes in the world. The ascent and descent are very gradual and with a little labor an excellent road could
By early October, the party was exhausted, emaciated and threatening to hang Peter Lassen from the nearest tree.
be made. The route for wagons is now open, and the approaching year [1849] will witness the passage of many wagons. This route must prove of great benefit to parties of emigrants from Oregon and from the United States.” He certainly had a politician’s gift of hyperbole. In 1849, Burnett became the first elected civilian governor of California and also served on the state’s Supreme Court. Despite his failure as a wagon train
pilot, now that Burnett’s men had cut a rough road, Lassen doubleddown on the legitimacy of his excessively long cut-off and promptly promoted its viability in several reputable eastern newspapers. When the 1849 migration exploded the next spring with an estimated 25,000 gold-seeking 49ers taking overland trails to California that summer, Lassen was ready. He dispatched a few agents along the Humboldt River to entice gullible travelers and divert wagons to his trailhead. He also set up crude advertisements along the way to re-enforce the messaging, including a billboard installed at Lassen Meadows, the juncture where wagons must leave the California Trail to follow the Applegate-Lassen route. The billboard promised that the gold diggings were only 110 miles ahead, which was far from the truth. Those who got an early start that year ignored Lassen’s persuasions, but when influential wagon-company captains took the bait, they left notes behind alerting travelers that they were heading for Lassen’s Ranch. Their decisions inspired thousands behind them to take a chance on the supposed nine-day shortcut to the Sacramento Valley. It was like lemmings heading for the cliff. Unlike the generally well-equipped, family-dominated wagon trains in the mid-1840s, in 1849 it was a rush to riches by thousands poorly outfitted for the trail. Most did not intend to stay and settle California permanently, so they brought just enough food and gear to get to the gold mines. Speed was of the essence and any shortcut seemed worth the risk. Other than a higher danger for Indian attack, Lassen’s trail wasn’t physically worse than the difficult Truckee or Carson routes,
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but the extra 200 miles consumed time, supplies and added strain to draft animals and wagons. Between 7,000 to 9,000 took the Lassen-Applegate turnoff that summer and the heavy traffic contaminated water sources and denuded grassy meadows. By late summer, watering holes were undrinkable, choked with dead horses, mules and oxen that had stampeded in thirst. Abandoned wagons, possessions and gravesites littered the trail. As they stumbled along, 49ers cursed Lassen in the bitter belief they’d been duped; survivors called it “The 1849 Trail of Death” or the “Death Route.”
Read Parts I & II at TheTahoeWeekly.com Winter came early that year while there were still thousands struggling on the Carson, Truckee and Lassen trails. Memories of the tragic 1846 Donner Party incident inspired massive relief operations to hurry the 49ers along before snow closed mountain passes. California’s military governor authorized $100,000 in emergency funding and private citizens donated thousands more. The humanitarian effort undoubtedly avoided the loss of hundreds, if not thousands of lives. The Carson and Truckee routes were cleared by early November, but rescue efforts on Lassen’s Trail continued until December. Lassen’s reputation was tarnished, and he lost his ranch and most of his money in the Gold Rush. Ten years later, Lassen was murdered near Black Rock Desert. His murder was blamed on Indians, but it was rumored that white men killed him, still bitter about his shortcut. Tahoe historian Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author and professional speaker. His award-winning books are available at local stores or at thestormking.com. You may reach him at mark@thestormking.com.
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