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Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
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Page: of 592
512 HUTCHINGS’ CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE.
subdued to a quiet, earnest longing for
companionship beyond the grave. More
than three score winters have bleached
my hair; their winds have shrivelled my
face, and their burdens have bent the form
which they used to say was stately and
beautiful. Age presses his icy fingers
upon my brow; each year Time, with its
iron graver, digs new furrows, and the
eye, once so bright and sparkling, is dim
and filmy with watching for the messenger who will unlock the chamber of rest.
PETER LASSEN.
Supplementary Biographical Particulars.
[From the Red Bluff Beacon.]
“ Hutchings’ Magazine, for February,
1859, contains a very good likeness of
Peter Lassen, and a short sketch of his
life. Peter being an old resident of this
county, and having many acquaintances
hereabouts, we deem it proper to state a
few of the more prominent features of
his truly eventful life.
“Tn 1842, Governor Micheltorena made
him a grant of land known as the Lassen
Grant, (now Gerkes’,) on Deer Creek,
in this county; where, in 1843, he removed with a band of cattle that he had
earned by blacksmithing for Capt. Sutter. In 1847, Uncle Peter crossed the
Plains to Missouri, with Commodore
Stockton, and again returned (in 1848,)
to this country, with several families,
among whom was William Myers, the
pioneer of Red Bluff, and now a farmer
in this neighborhood.
“In the spring of 1850, Peter Lassen,
having disposed of one half his ranch and
stock to Palmer, took several teams of
oxen, and went to Sacramento City to
purchase provisions; and while there,
conceived the idew of selling his cattle
and buying a steamboat, which proved to
him the most unfortunate speculation of
his life. Mr. Palmer sold his interest in
the concern to Gen. Wilson; and whilst
Peter, with his purchase, (the little
steamer Washington,) was cordelling up
the river with his Indians, other parties
were taking away and selling his cattle.
The steamboat project proved a failure—
his cattle were all gone—the parties to
whom he had sold half his ranch and
stock had paid him nothing, and he had
incurred a debt that nothing short of the
sale of the balance of his ranch would
pay. He accordingly sold to Henry
Gerke, of San Francisco, his remaining
interest in the place, together with his
claim against Wilson, which enabled him
to pay up his debts, and remove, with a
few head of cattle, to Indian Valley, in
Plumas county, and afterwards to Honey
Lake, where he still resides, making an
occasional visit to Red Bluff for provisions, and to his old ranch, where he is
allowed to help himself to whatever
pleases his fancy.
‘Peter is now engaged in the erection
of a mill at Honey Lake, where, if Providence spares his life for a few years, we
have no doubt he will again accumulate
a handsome property.
“ We have prolonged this sketch of the
life of a man whose character we admire,
for the reason that the account, as published in Hutchings’, omits several important events connected with his life.
among which are his return to the States
in 1847-8, his steamboat speculation, &c.”
[We take this opportunity of saying,
that we shall always welcome any additional information on any interesting
subject connected with California, as in
a new country like ours, the best informed have much to learn; and if all will
assist in communicating information on
subjects of general interest, they will
confer a public good, while they enjoy a
personal pleasure. . :
THE SONG MY MOTHER SUNG.
He sat within the festive hall,
Where flowed the sparkling wine—
“Tell us—what song shall we sing to thee,
Thou pilgrim from the Rhine?”
Up rose that warrior at the word,
And gazed on that festive ring—
“Sing me a song of old—the song
My Mother used to sing!”
He had roamed through many a burning
O’er manya frozen shore; _[clime,
And heard, on many a bloody field,
The battle thunders roar;
But, all unchanged, within his heart,
Still holy memories sprung—
“Sing me the song I sung of old—
The song my mother sung!” G.T.S§.