For those who have hiked to the top of Lassen Peak, it can be a spectacular view. Personally, however, the first time I made the ascent it was disappointing. This was, and showing my age, was in the fall when they used to burn the rice fields in the Sacramento Valley, so when I made that initial ascent there was layer of brown smoke over the Sacramento Valley. Enough of that.
Who the first Anglo to climb Lassen Peak, we may never know. There is a dispute. However, we do know that in the summer of 1851, a prospecting party of ten men headed north from Onion Valley, Plumas County, in search of another fabled gold tale, the “lone cabin mine.” Once they reached Big Meadows (now Lake Almanor), they decided to forge ahead and climb Lassen Peak—-possibly the first to do so. One of those men, Grover K. Godfrey, a twenty-six year old New Yorker, observed from his vantage point at the top, “The sight is unrivaled in beauty and magnificence. It is like the vision of some dream land. I fancied I could see all the kingdoms of this world at one glance.”
The next group to climb the peak did so on official business. In the fall of 1863, as part of the geological reconnaissance survey of Northern California, Josiah D. Whitney of the California State Geological Survey sent four men to conduct field work—William H. Brewer, Clarence King, James T. Gardiner and Richard Cotter. It took the party two attempts to climb the mountain. On September 26, when King reached the summit, the wind was so fierce that he had to retreat. Beside the wind, another problem was encountered in the form of cloudy weather that obscured the view. This condition would not allow the men to make observations of lava flows and other remnants of volcanic activity. The windy weather brought snow, so they had to wait a few extra days to make the second attempt.
On September 29, at 1 a.m. with the aid of moonlight they began their second climb. King was again the first to reach the summit. The four men watched the sun rise from their perch. Brewer, like Godfrey, was in awe of the view. Years later he exclaimed, “Although I have often reached greater altitudes, that days stand out in my memory as one of the most impressive in my life.”
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