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| OCTA CA-NV Chapter Trails History | Updated on December 8, 2005 |
| Yahoo Overland_Trails Discussion List |
| Lassen Thread Message # 31 |
| date | December 4, 2005 |
| author | Stafford Hazelett |
| subject | Don Buck on Lassen part 2 and more |
|
More for the discussion on the list. Don Buck's next installment is followed by a comment by Wendell Huffman and then a reply by Don. No editing on this batch. Stafford >From: "Don Buck">Subject: Re: Peter Lassen continued >Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 10:44:31 -0800 > >To you all, > >How good was Peter Lassen's trail? (Don Buck, December 2, 2005: also in >attachment) > >For a number of years, Tom Hunt and I have been mulling over the commonly >accepted view that Peter Lassen didn't know where he was taking his small >wagon train and for the most part was lost until Burnett's wagon train >(and two packing parties) from Oregon caught up with him about 40 miles >from the floor of the Sacramento Valley. Moreover, his decision to take a >wagon train over terrain that supposedly he had never traversed was >decidedly irresponsible. The implication in all of this criticism of >Lassen was that the trail he blazed in 1848 was a poor one that led to >untold misery and suffering for subsequent users, especially in 1849. If >all of these assertions are not bad enough, there is the persistent one >surfacing in 1849 that Lassen misled emigrants to take his "new" route and >at the end of the journey gouged them at his ranch. > >Recently, Tom Hunt put his thoughts on Lassen and his trail in writing >that hopefully will be published. Most of what follows incorporates Tom's >thinking. > >There is a lot of documentary evidence that points to a negative verdict >on Peter Lassen, some already cited in the current dialog. In his >recollections written nearly three decades after the fact, Peter Burnett >averred that Lassen's party was "lost in the mountains and half starved." >Moreover, "They were, indeed, objects of pity. I never saw people so worn >down and so emaciated as these poor immigrants." Already referenced by >Will Bagley was John Bidwell's assessment of his Danish neighbor. "He had >great confidence in his own power as a woodsman, but, strangely enough, he >always got lost." Then there is Lt. R. S. Williamson's report, referenced >by Art Porter, that revealed a disparaging comment apparently on the last >segment of Lassen's trail, the part that Burnett's party had assisted >Lassen in opening: "The impression produced by Mr. Lassen, as to the >character of the road, was decidedly incorrect." > >That the Lassen Trail got a bad press is underscored by the diminished >traffic it received after 1849. I have found 56 diaries and journals >(those keeping daily records of travel) on the Lassen Trail in 1849 and >only one for 1850. That certainly testifies to the opinion emigrants held >for this trail, once they had taken it. During the summer of 1854, Lt. >Edward G. Beckwith, leading a party exploring for a railroad route to the >Sacramento Valley, came upon the Lassen Trail at the south end of Big >Valley (Round Valley) and noted in his report, "Its trail is well worn, >but at present seldom used." > >All of this looks damaging for Peter Lassen and his trail. Nonetheless, >having tracked this trail for two decades and mapped most of it, I keep >thinking that if the intent was to lead emigrants to Lassen's Bosquejo >Rancho, and his hoped for future Benton City, it was a pretty good route. >Tom Hunt came to this conclusion before I did. Also, keep in mind, that >shortly after he arrived in the Sacramento Valley at Lassen's ranch, >Burnett wrote a rather positive evaluation (the one Will Bagley quoted in >full for us) that he sent on Nov. 8 and was published in the Star and >Californian on Dec. 2, 1848. An excerpt follows: > >"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 be made. All the labor we bestowed upon the >road could have been performed by about four men in the space of three or >four days. The worst part of the road from Oregon to California is the >pass through the Umpqua mountains, called the Kanyan, on Applegate's >route. We found the whole route very well supplied with grass and water. >. The route for wagons is now open, and the approaching year will witness >the passage of many wagons from Oregon to California. This route must >prove of great benefit to parties of emigrants from Oregon and from the >United States." > >The route Burnett took remained the only wagon road between Oregon and >California until the Lockhart Wagon Road was opened in 1855. The Lassen >Trail is a relatively easy wagon road (from Goose Lake to Lassen's ranch >at present Vina), especially when compared to the other existing wagon >roads to California, the Truckee and Carson routes, both of which had to >surmount the Sierra Nevada. Not until you get on the last ridge leading >to the Sacramento Valley and Lassen's ranch, is there any steep descent >and ascent (Steep Hollow in the present Ishi Wilderness Area). The one >other exception would be the 1849 Eastern Branch where there was a steep, >rocky, but short, descent to Horse Creek at Little Valley. However, >evidence points to Peter Lassen and Burnett using the Western Branch that >went through Muck Valley and had no steep pitches. This route, >presumably, was the original one pioneered by Lassen in 1848. > >But above all, Tom and I have been intrigued by one feature. When Burnett >caught up with him at Deer Creek Meadows, Lassen was positioned perfectly >to follow the ridge to the valley floor, very close to his ranch (the >ridge or divide between Mill Creek and Deer Creek). He must have had some >idea of where he was to have gotten that far and to the exact location >needed to take the last leg to his ranch. There was not a better >way. Isn't this a testament to Lassen's skill at blazing this new trail >(assuming it had to begin at the south end of Goose Lake and end up at his >ranch)? By 1852, of course, the Nobles Trail would be a huge improvement >over the Lassen Trail, as a means of reaching the Sacramento Valley. > >Burnett believed Lassen was "lost" when Burnett's party, following his >wagon tracks westward, ended up at "its abrupt termination" and had to >back-track, "thus wasting some ten or fifteen miles of travel." As I >suggested previously in our correspondence, very likely, Lassen was >attempting to find that "middle route" or shortcut to the Sacramento >Valley, the one Myers and Hudspeth also believed existed and would >unsuccessfully search for the next year, much as Lassen had done. It >seems to me, the fact that such tested trailmen as McGee, Hudspeth and >Myers had to stick to Lassen's trail all the way to the Sacramento Valley >attests to its merit. Tom Hunt has reckoned, correctly I believe, that >Lassen's dead end jaunt occurred when he reached Harvey Valley. West of >Harvey Valley is where William Nobles finally found the way through to the >Sacramento Valley. It appears that Lassen may have came close to making >that discovery in 1848. > >Tom has often told me that he thinks Lassen knew quite a bit about the >terrain and topography between his ranch and Goose Lake. We know he >guided Lt. Gillespie north in 1846 to find Frémont and then returned to >his ranch. But even more, being an inveterate wanderer, he must have >explored the foothills to the east of his ranch (they are situated only a >few miles away) and knew of the important ridge between Mill Creek and >Deer Creek, and the meadows beyond. Recently, Richard Silva speculated >that Lassen would have had ample opportunity to converse with the Oregon >trappers that came by Sutter's Fort while he was there. Surely a hot >topic would have been the best routes between Oregon and the Sacramento Valley. > >One last dimension to Lassen's trail is the accusation that he mislead the >1849 migration into taking his "cutoff." We seem to have agreed that >there is no validity to the commonly held view that Lassen, as John Unruh >asserted, "dispatched agents to divert forty-niners onto the cutoff." But >there is that announcement that Dick Stillson's research turned up which >appeared in the New York Herald on Feb. 12, 1849, lauding the virtues of >Lassen's trail and implicating him in some kind of deception. This >announcement of a committee report from a "meeting of emigrants" was a >reprint of the one Tom Hunt found in the Nov. 18, 1848, issue of the Star >and Californian, and reprinted in the Dec. 28, 1848, Oregon Spectator. >Because of the similarity of phrasing in the announcement of Nov. 18 to >the letter Burnett penned on Nov. 8, and was printed in the Star and >Californian on Dec. 2, Hunt believes the hand of Burnett was behind >it. Note the similarities in the comparative underlined statements below: > >[Burnett's letter of Nov. 8.] ". all the labor performed by our party >could have been performed by four men in three or four days, . We found >the ascent and descent to and from the mountains, very gradual and easy; >and upon the whole, your committee considers the pass discovered by Capt. >Lawson, one of the finest in the world." > >[Committee report of Nov. 18.] "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 be made. All >the labor we bestowed upon the road could have been performed by about >four men in the space of three or four days. > >John Unruh claimed that "the wily Dane orchestrated [this] meeting wherein >the emigrants supposedly endorsed him as a guide and warmly praised his >cutoffs." I do not know of any documentary evidence-and Unruh didn't cite >any-that supports the claim that Peter Lassen was behind this endorsement >and praise of his trail. But what about the other Peter? Was Burnett's >letter, and the committee report he was most likely involved in writing, >misleading or deceptive? This calls into question the veracity of a man >who would become California's first elected governor. In his unpublished >manuscript, Hunt found "it impossible to believe that a man of Peter >Burnett's public stature, background in law and civic life, firsthand >understanding of travel by wagon, and with the experience of having just >traveled this trail still so fresh in his mind-is going to allow himself >to be 'used' by Peter Lassen and give false witness as to the virtues of >the trail to his old friends back in Oregon-old friends who might very >well undertake to travel the trail on his recommendation." > >I've read a number of similar newspaper announcements extolling other >trails, all pushing the limits of ones credulity. It was par for the >times. Take for example, Jesse Applegates notice sent from Ft. Hall Aug. >10 that was published in the Jefferson Inquirer (Jefferson Co., Illinois), >Oct. 20, 1846. An excerpt touting his southern route to the Willamette >Valley (Applegate Trail) follows: > >"The advantage gained to the emigrant by this route is of the greatest >importance-the distances is considerably shortened, the grass and water >plenty, the sterile regions and dangerous crossings of the Snake and >Columbia rivers avoided as well as the Cascade Mountains-he may reach his >place of destination with his wagon and property in time to build a cabin >and sow wheat before the rainy season." > >In the case of the Southern Road to Oregon, Applegate had not taken wagons >over this route before his letter was written. In terms of suffering and >hardships the first emigrants endured taking Applegate's trail certainly >compared to what befell Lassen's woebegone party. You can chalk up this >media exuberance to the entrepreneurial spirit of many of those early >trail blazers who believed in what they had located. > >Was Peter Lassen a charlatan? I doubt it. One thing is sure. He was a >poor businessman and had a wander lust that finally got him killed, quite >mysteriously. I've always liked J. Goldsborough Bruff's assessment of the >diminutive Dane with whom he sojourned during the last half of 1850: "He >is an honest old man, but ignorant, and exceedingly stubborn." > >Don Buck >From: "Wendell Huffman" >Subject: Re: Peter Lassen continued >Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 10:15:03 -0800 > >Wendell, >It never occurred to me that Lassen might have gotten information about >the terrain and topography in northern California from the Indians with >whom he came in contact. Wherever he settled, Lassen had good relations >with the local Indian groups. We'll never known but there is a good >likelihood that this could have occurred. Thanks for widening my Lassen >horizon. >Don |
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