Towns of Mount Lassen (CA) (Images of America)

The imposing and dormant peak of Mount Lassen, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range, has been held in awe and wonder since well before the California Gold Rush. The Yahi Nation called the volcano Waganupa, meaning the center of the world, and the volcano’s peak, named after the Dutch immigrant and prospector Peter Lassen, is the centerpiece of the scenic Lassen Volcanic National Park. Within the guarded perimeters of this park―inducted into the park system under Woodrow Wilson in 1916, hardly a year after the devastation of its most recent eruptions―there was once a thriving lumber industry, narrow-gauge railroad system, and flume network that sustained a community of lumber camps and the lost town of Lyonsville, all threatened by volcanic destruction and the changing West.