Peter Lassen
Lassen Peak was named for Peter Lassen, one of the first white settlers in the northern Sacramento Valley and the discoverer of a route through the mountains called the Lassen Trail. In the decade and a half that Peter Lassen lived in the area – from the establishment of his ranch near present day Red Bluff in 1844 until his death on the east side of the Cascades in 1859 – great changes occurred in California. The United States took California from Mexico, and the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill less than a year later sparked a gold rush such as the world had never seen. By the census of 1860, California had attained a population of some 362,196 non-Indians. Even the relatively remote counties surrounding Lassen Peak contained a total of more than 10,000 non-Indians.
Joining in the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, Lassen formed an ambition to establish an American settlement near his ranch, which he wanted to name Benton City in honor of Senator Benton of Missouri, a champion of westward expansion. With the Mexican-American War not yet concluded, he returned east in the fall of 1847 to recruit emigrants. In the summer and fall of 1848, Lassen led a wagon train westward, following the Oregon Trail, then the California Trail, and finally the Applegate Trail to the Pit River in the northeast corner of California, from which point he blazed a trail westward to the upper Sacramento Valley, a new route soon known as the Lassen Trail.
Lassen’s hopes of founding a settlement near his ranch were dashed as gold fever swept the region. However, Lassen promoted his scheme anyway and an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 gold seekers followed the Lassen Trail in 1849. After one big year it fell into disuse. In 1851, he took part in a war between the Indians of Indian Valley and the Indians of Pit River. Lassen developed a reputation among his white contemporaries for fairness in his relations with Indians, at least by the standards of that day.
