After years of speculation Lassen Peak finally erupted on May 30, 1914. As forest service ranger Harvey Abbey wrote in his diary, “Only one look and I could plainly see there was something going on at the top of the old mountain. We all were a little frightened. We did not what might follow the outburst. Much to my surprise there was what looked like black smoke and steam, ascending to a height of two or three hundred feet from the top of the mountain.”
For the next several days the eruptions continued with increased violence and duration. On Sunday, June 14, three eruptions occurred, one which sent an ashen plume of smoke some 2500 feet above the summit.
Lassen kept performing, with 110 eruptions recorded by the end of the year. One thing that observers and scientists alike found perplexing was the lack of lava of other incendiary evidence. That would all change with the great eruption of May 22, 1915.