Life of Peter Lassen

 

            The following concerning the life of Lassen was taken from "The History of Plumas, Lassen, and Sierra Counties," "The Life of Rear Admiral John Drake Sloat" by Major Edwin A. Sherman, "The Hesperian Magazine" for August, 1859, "Hutchings' Magazine" for February, 1859, "Fifty Years of Masonry in California," the writings of General John C. Fremont, the newspapers and periodicals of that time and since, and from what has been told by the pioneers of Honey Lake valley.

            Peter Lassen was born in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, August 7, 1800. At the usual age he was set to learn the blacksmith trade and finished his apprenticeship when he was twenty-seven years old.

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            In his twenty-ninth year he came to Boston, Massachusetts ; and after a residence of several months in Eastern cities, during which time he supported himself by working at his trade, he moved to Katesville, Chariton county, Missouri. Here he lived for nine years, carrying on both the farming and the blacksmithing business. In 1838 he formed a military company and had them ready for duty.

            In the spring of 1839, one year after Captain John A. Sutter left Missouri for California overland by the way of Oregon, Lassen left Katesville in company with twelve others, two of whom were the wives of missionaries, to cross the plains to Oregon. The party fell in with a train belonging to the American Fur Company which increased their number to twenty-seven, and they all traveled along together. They left the two women at Fort Hall which was north of Salt Lake near the Snake river. In the following September or October they reached The Dalles and from there went down the river to Fort Vancouver, then a port of the Hudson Bay Company. From there they traveled up the Willamette river to Camponit, now Oregon City. Lassen now found his company reduced to seven men. They could not settle there to suit themselves and the next spring they decided to start for California. As their force was too small to cross the mountains into California they concluded to go by water. They were fortunate enough to find a vessel ready to sail — the Lospanna — which had arrived from England in May with missionaries, or, as another account says, with supplies for the missionaries in that district. This vessel intended to touch at California on her return and they embarked on her. They were twice in danger of being wrecked, but finally reached Fort Ross in safety. Here they obtained a pilot and set sail for Bodega, another Russian post. At this place the Mexican commander sent soldiers to prevent their landing, but these were ordered away by the Russian governor. They then wrote to the American consul at Monterey, telling him that they were American citizens and desired to land in the country, but had been refused passports and had been opposed by the government. They had no money and could proceed no further by ship, and they asked him for protection and advice. They said they had concluded to land under the protection of the Russians, and if they did not hear from him in fifteen days, they intended to start out and protect

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themselves with their guns. After staying at Bodega fifteen days they were enabled to reach Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, though another account says that before going to Yerba Buena they went to Sutter's Fort, now Sacramento, and stayed there a few days.

            Lassen went to San Jose and spent the winter there working at his trade. In the spring of 1841 he bought some land near Santa Cruz and built a saw mill which was the first one ever built and successfully operated in that county. Previous to this a sawmill had been commenced at Fort Ross, but was washed away before it was finished and never rebuilt. After cutting forty or fifty thousand feet of lumber he sold his ranch and mill to Captain Graham for one hundred mules, intending to return with them to the United States, but being unable to raise a company the idea was abandoned. In the fall of 1842 he drove the mules up to near Sutter's Fort and ranched them while he worked at his trade for Sutter and took his pay in stock. In the summer of 1843 while working for Sutter, he, John Bidwell, and James Burheim pursued a party of emigrants on their way to Oregon, and overtaking them at Red Bluff took from them some stolen animals. The upper end of the Sacramento valley was then unsettled and Lassen was greatly pleased with the country.

            After their return Bidwell made a map of it and named the streams, and from this Lassen selected a tract of land and applied to Governor Micheltorena for a grant of it. He obtained his grant, which was called Bosquejo and was on Deer creek in what is now Tehama county, and in December, 1843, started to go there with one white man for a companion. On account of high water he had to camp at the Buttes until February, 1844. Other accounts put each of the last two dates a year later. The testimony is about equally divided. Two months afterwards the white man with him became tired of the solitary life there and left him. Lassen lived there along for seven months surrounded by many hundreds of Indians in perfect safety and without seeing a white man. He had between two hundred and three hundred head of stock and during his entire residence there not one was ever disturbed by the Indians. All the labor of building his house and cultivating his land was done by the Indians. This was the first settlement north of Cordua, now Marysville. In 1844 Lassen applied for another grant of land in Tehama county,

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but failed to get it. Hittell's History says "Merritt, Lassen, and W. C. Moon quarried and manufactured a lot of grindstones on Stony creek in the summer of 1845. When they were finished, they carried them twenty miles on mules to the Sacramento river and loaded them into a canoe and drifted with them down the river, selling them whenever they could."

            On the south side of Deer creek Lassen laid out a town which he called "Benton City" and erected several buildings, part or all of them being built of adobe. He had a blacksmith shop, a gristmill, and a store. In the fall of 1849, so A. Delano says, he had a little flour and whiskey and a few groceries for sale there. For several years Benton City, or Lassen's Ranch, as it was usually called, was the most important point in northern California. In the spring of 1846 Fremont stayed there for three weeks with fifty of his men. In April, eight days after he had left there to go to Oregon, Lieutenant Gillespie of the United States Navy arrived with dispatches for him. Lassen, Samuel Neal, M. Sigler, and perhaps another man (Fremont says that Gillespie had five men with him when he started from Lassen's), after killing meat enough for the party, started with Gillespie to overtake Fremont. May 8th Neal and Sigler, who had been sent on ahead, rode into Fremont's camp on the west side of Klamath lake and told him that an officer was on his trail with dispatches from the government, and if he did not receive help at once, would be killed by the Indians. Fremont immediately started back with two messengers and a small party of his Indians and trappers and rode sixty miles that day. Just at sundown Gillespie reached their camp. That night the Indians attacked them and killed three of Fremont's Indians. If Gillespie had not found Fremont that night, the Indians, without doubt, would have killed him and his party, Fremont would have gone on to Oregon, and the history of the United States might have been changed. The Mexican War came on soon after this and Lassen took an active part in it.

            In 1847 he crossed the plains to Missouri with Commodore Stockton for the purpose of getting some emigrants to settle at his place, and also, if possible, to get the charter for a Masonic lodge to be established at Benton City. It has been told that he

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came back the next year over the Lassen Trail with the emigrants, and the history of his charter and lodge will be given a little later on.

            "The Red Bluff Beacon" says: "In the spring of 1850, Peter Lassen having disposed of one half of his ranch to Palmer, took several teams of oxen and went to Sacramento City to purchase some provisions and while there conceived the idea of selling his cattle and buying a steamboat, the most unfortunate speculation of his life. Mr. Palmer sold his interest in the concern to General Wilson, and while 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 sold half his ranch and stock had paid him nothing, and he had incurred a debt that nothing short of selling 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 all his debts and remove with a few cattle to Indian valley in Plumas county and afterwards to Honey Lake. Here 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."

            It is said that Lassen and Isadore Meyerwitz, a Russian or Polish Jew, were the first men who went into Indian valley with the idea of settling there. They were there for a short time during the summer of 1850 and selected a place to locate. In 1851 Lassen and a man named Burton built a log cabin up to the roof, covered it with brush, and opened a trading post which did quite a business with the emigrants that summer. They also raised a few vegetables, said to be the first ever raised in the valley. They went out of the valley for the winter, but the next spring Lassen came back with Isadore and George Edward St. Felix, or George Edward M. Felix, and took possession of their old place which was afterwards known as the Hickerson ranch about three miles north of Greenville. This year they raised a large quantity of vegetables which they sold at fifteen cents a pound for all kinds. What Lassen did after leaving Indian valley has already been told in these pages.

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Death of Lassen

            The following letter was published in "The Mountain Messenger" of Downieville, Sierra county, California:

"Honey Lake Valley, April 30, 1859.

            "This valley was thrown into great excitement by the arrival on Tuesday morning (it should be Thursday morning) of Mr. Wyatt, one of the Black Rock silver hunters, who narrowly escaped massacre by the Indians.

            "The circumstances are as follows : There has been a party of men stopping in this valley all winter, to be ready as soon as spring opened to prospect Black Rock Canyon for a supposed silver mine. This canyon and watering place is about one hundred and twenty-four miles distant from this valley, towards the Humboldt, on the wagon road. Messrs. Jameson (Probably this was Jenison.), Weatherlow, Lathrop, and Kitts started on Sunday, the 17th inst. ; Peter Lassen, Messrs. Wyatt and Clapper, following two days later, and were to rendezvous at Black Rock springs, at which place the prospecting was to commence. Lassen, Wyatt, and Clapper arrived at the appointed place on Sunday, the 24th inst., and not finding the advance party, concluded to await their coming.

            "On Monday Mr. Clapper rode on to Mud lake, eight miles distant, to look for the other party; but not finding them, returned, and during the day found signs of two white men in the vicinity of their camping-ground, and believing them to be those of Captain Weatherlow and Mr. Jameson, one being a large and the other a small track. They also saw the tracks of shod horses, which the Indians have not. They then arrived at the conclusion that the advance party were over the mountain at another camping place, and concluded to go there the next morning and see them, having encamped at the mouth of the canyon, within one hundred yards of some projecting rocks. In the evening they saw an Indian, on horseback, making a circuit of their camp, then disappearing. After a while he made his appearance in another direction and dismounted. With much difficulty he was induced to come into camp. He could not speak English, but Lassen said he spoke Piutah. While he was in camp they heard the report of a gun, when the Indian immediately said 'Piutah,' and gave the whites to understand there were six of them.

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            "The Indian then left them, and they retired to rest, supposing themselves safe anywhere in the Piute country. Just at daylight they were fired upon from the rocks near by, killing Mr. Clapper in his bed. Lassen and Wyatt sprang upon their feet and commenced gathering up their things ; and not knowing that Clapper was killed, seeing he did not rise, supposed him asleep. Wyatt put his hand on his face to wake him, but found it covered with blood. Turning him over, he saw that he was shot through the head. Lassen said, 'I will watch for the Indians while you (Wyatt) gather up the things.' While doing so the Indians fired on them again, and Lassen fell, to rise no more. He spoke but once. ' They have killed me, ' then fell on his face and gasped but once. Thus fell the 'old pioneer' whose whole history and life almost is connected with the exciting and wild scenes of the west ; and when this and other generations shall have passed away the traveler will look on the snow-clad buttes, and hear of the fertile meadows that bear his name, and remember with reverence the venerable voyageur.

            When Wyatt saw Lassen fall he dropped everything but his rifle, caught his horse and fled with precipitancy. He arrived here on Thursday morning, without having taken food or rest. A party of twenty men started this morning to recover the horses and property, if possible, and ascertain the whereabouts of the other party, Great fears are entertained for their safety. Another party will follow immediately, with a wagon to bring in Lassen's and Clapper's remains. The advance party will proceed, if possible, to trail the Indians to their lurking place and chastise them. Z. N. Spalding."

            The following is an extract from what was published in the "San Francisco Chronicle" fifteen or twenty years ago:

            "The authority for the following narrative of the killing of Peter Lassen is Ephraim V. Spencer, who has lived in Lassen county for thirty-five years. The story was told to him over and over again by a man named Lemericus Wyatt, who was in Mr. Spencer's employ for two years, in fact until he died. Though Wyatt was an illiterate man, his story was well worthy of credence. He had the reputation of being both truthful and honest. The reasons for his knowledge of the incidents connected with the killing of Peter Lassen the story itself fully reveals.

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            ''Early in the spring of 1859 'Uncle Pete,' with Lemericus Wyatt and a man who went by the name of Clapper and whose Christian name Wyatt never knew, set out on a prospecting trip for silver. They went to what is known as Black rock, in the northwestern part of Nevada and about 140 miles northeast of Susanville. They had three horses, two pack mules and a full prospecting outfit, including rifles. At the Black Rock range they camped one evening beside a small stream ever since known as Clapper creek. The camp was in a nook of the canyon, over- looked by high bluffs on three sides. There was a little feed for the horses, and the place was a very pleasant, if in those times dangerous location for a camp.

            While the men were getting supper an Indian came to the camp carrying a good muzzle-loading rifle. He had neither powder, caps nor bullets, and by dumb show made his wants known. Wyatt and Clapper strenuously objected to furnishing the redskin with the ammunition, but Lassen, who, as usual, was friendly with the Indian, said that no harm could come of it ; that all the Indians knew 'Uncle Pete' and would never hurt him, especially this Indian, as he was a Pah Ute. Much to the regret of Lassen's companions, the pioneer gave the Indian a good supply of all he asked, and the visitor immediately made off.

            "They picketed their animals for the night a short distance away and then made a common bed for themselves on the ground, Clapper lying in the middle. Just as day was breaking Wyatt was awakened by the report of a rifle. He sprang to his feet and called to his companions. He jerked the blankets off Clapper and caught him by the shoulder. In so doing he turned the man over. Blood spurted from Clapper's temple, showing that he had been shot clean through the head. Wyatt started to run, calling upon Lassen to do so too. 'Uncle Pete,' however, remained standing by the bed shading his eyes with his hand and holding his rifle easily with the other, trying to discover where the shot came from. While he was still peering into the rocks a second shot rang out and Lassen fell. Wyatt ran back to Lassen and partly raised him from the ground, but life was ebbing fast and nothing could be done. Wyatt looked about for a place of safety, knowing that he was a target for the same murderer. He made for the horses, but before he reached the place where they were picketed he saw that they had pulled their picket-ropes and

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stampeded. He hurried after them, running for his life toward the mouth of the canyon and the desert beyond. A sharp reminder of the need of haste, in the shape of a bullet, passed through the leg of the fugitive's trousers, but did not draw blood.

            Wyatt was then sixty years old, weighed about two hundred pounds, and was both clumsy and slow on his feet. When he reached the entrance to the canyon his courage fell. Stretching from the base of the mountain away over the white alkali plain was a cloud of dust which hid from sight his only hope of safety — the runaway horses.

            "As he peered hopelessly after the retreating cloud he saw something which made his heart leap into his mouth. Out of the dust the form of his own fine black pacing horse suddenly appeared. The animal had faced about, apparently struck by some sudden impulse. For a second or two it seemed to take its bearings, and then on a mad gallop retraced its steps until it reached the advancing Wyatt, and invited the old man as plainly as signs could indicate to mount.

            Wyatt rode the whole one hundred and forty miles to Susanville bareback at breakneck speed, without a mouthful to eat and with nothing but a picket rope to guide his faithful animal."

            It must have been a terrible trip. The condition of a man of his age and weight after riding a barebacked horse that distance may be imagined. To the physical suffering add hunger and thirst and the fear of pursuit by the Indians or of meeting an- other band of them, and an idea can be obtained of the horrors of that journey. The fact that Wyatt 's saddle horse allowed himself to be caught is one of the strangest things of the whole affair. Wyatt said the horse was always shy and hard to catch, and was the last one of the horses he had any idea of getting hold of. It seemed to him almost like a miracle.

            Weatherlow and his party got to Black Rock two days in advance of Lassen and the other two men and camped on the hill seven miles from Mud lake. Lassen and Clapper were killed only a mile from their camp. Weatherlow 's party prospected until their provisions were nearly gone and then started for home, thinking Lassen had taken another route and could not find them. On the second day they met the Honey Lakers who were coming out to see what had become of them, and were told of the murder of Lassen and Clapper. The relief party got back to Honey Lake 

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on May the eleventh. Ross Lewers and John H. Neale were the only members of the party whose names could be ascertained. The bodies of the murdered men were in an advanced state of decomposition and were buried where they were found. Everything went to show the truth of Wyatt 's statement. The Indians who committed the murder were not pursued as they had eleven days the start.

            Captain Weatherlow says: "The killing of Lassen and his companion caused great excitement in the settlement, and much feeling against the Indians. Several of the settlers attributed the murder to the Pah-utes, but from my own knowledge of the friendly relations between the chief Winnemucca and Peter Lassen and the high esteem in which Lassen was held by the Indians and from the fact that there was no apparent change in the conduct of the Pah-utes who continued to visit our houses and exchange civilities and friendship, I did not believe that the Pah-utes had committed the murder nor that they were at all cognizant of the fact. I attributed it entirely to the Pitt river tribe which the whites had fought and defeated and who frequented the Black Rock country in small hunting bands. There had been no difficulty of any kind between the Honey Lake people and the Pah-utes that would have provoked them to so wanton an act of revenge, especially upon Peter Lassen, who had ever been their firm friend. But the Pit river Indians against whom we had fought would certainly have exulted in surprising and cutting off any small party of whites, and to them alone did I attribute the murder of Lassen."

            "The Grizzly Bear" of May, 1912, says that about a month later P. H. Lovell sent the following letter to the Placerville "Semi-Weekly Observer" :

"Genoa, May 20, 1859.

            "Editor of Observer: Our Indian agent, Major F. Dodge, has just returned from Honey and Pyramid Lakes, whither he has been to inquire into the late Indian depredations to the north of Honey lake. The major is not satisfied that the Indians alone are implicated in the matter, from the fact that two sacks of flour, some dried beef, blankets, and part of a keg of whiskey, were found in the camp of the murdered party — a thing unprecedented in Indian depredations. Peter Lassen and Edward Clapper were killed on the spot. Lemarkus Wyatt, one of the survivors of the

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party, with whom the major had an interview, had returned to Honey Lake. The four others reported killed have also returned to the lake safe, together with the party of twenty who, it was reported, went out to bury the dead. The major held a council with the venerable Piute chief Winnemucca, with about three thousand of his nation, at Pyramid Lake."

            "The Grizzly Bear" also says: "Later, Winnemucca went to Genoa and reported to Major Dodge that he could learn nothing further from the Indians regarding the affair. This leaves one to infer that it was Dodge's opinion that Lassen and Clapper were killed by the other men."

            Weatherlow says: "Major Dodge, the Indian agent of the Pah-ute tribe, had never visited the valley to my knowledge, but shortly after the killing of Lassen's party he came to Honey Lake, remained but one day, and returned to Carson City without having had an interview with the chief Winnemucca or made any earnest inquiry into the causes or the perpetrators of the murder. Shortly after the departure of Major Dodge there appeared a statement in one of the newspapers (I think the "Sacramento Union") with authority from Major Dodge to the effect that he (Dodge) did not believe that the Indians had killed Lassen at all, but that he was murdered by white men. This was a charge of the most unwarrantable nature against the four white men who were the only ones within hundreds of miles of the place where the massacre took place, and I as their leader and commander called Major Dodge to an account personally for the charge. He retracted his charge and promised to do so publicly through the press. Whether he did so or not I can not say, as I have not heard of Major Dodge visiting our valley since. The suspicion which rested upon the minds of some of the settlers that the Pah-utes had murdered Lassen apparently died away, and the same friendly relations existed as before. ' '

            The report that Lassen had been killed, and by white men, spread rapidly over the country. At first a good many believed it, but in a short time very few put any faith in the story. The writer, however, has met one or two men who believe it to this day and they think they have good reasons for doing so. He has heard these reasons given, but to him they do not warrant any such belief. Bancroft's History says that in the Sacramento valley there was much hard feeling toward him (Lassen) on the

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part of those who suffered while going over the Lassen Trail. Excepting this, there is nothing to show that he had any enemies among the whites. "The Red Bluff Beacon" told that he was allowed to go to his old ranch and help himself to whatever pleased his fancy and Fred Hines told the same thing. During a residence of almost fifty years in this county the writer has never heard an old settler say anything against Lassen, or say that he had trouble with any one. That Weatherlow or his party had anything to do with the murder is not even to be thought of. There seems to be absolutely no reason for the belief that Lassen was killed by white men.

            It has often been said that the Indians would not kill Lassen. It is true that he was good friends with many of them. Hines says that in 1856 he and Vary were camped at Deep Hole springs. Some time in the night Lassen came in, turned his horses loose and went to bed. The next morning they could not be found in the neighborhood of the camp. Lassen did not worry much about it and along in the afternoon some Indians brought them in. Hines knew that on several other occasions the Indians brought Lassen 's horses to him when they had wandered away. But Lassen had enemies among the Indians as well as friends. In 1851 the Pit Rivers killed a party of Indian valley Indians and carried off some of their squaws. Lassen raised a party of thirteen whites and all the able-bodied Indians in the valley and went in pursuit. Early in the morning of the third day Lassen saw Indians stealing along among the trees and in a short time he killed three of them. He and his party completely defeated the Pit Rivers and they never gave the Indians of Indian valley any more trouble. The foregoing is told in "Hutchings' California Magazine" for June, 1857. Doubtless the Pit Rivers remembered this and would have been only too glad to kill him. Besides that, there were many renegade Indians in the Black Rock country who would have killed him and his party, or any other white men, for a ragged shirt, or for the fun of it.

            "The Hesperian Magazine" for August, 1859, says: "The news of his death was received with sorrow throughout the state and many of the Masonic lodges published tributes of respect to his memory."

            At a meeting of the F. and A. M. of Honey Lake valley held

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at Susanville May 22nd, 1859, the following were among the resolutions adopted:

            "Resolved, That in the death of Peter Lassen the community has suffered the loss of an enterprising citizen, a warm-hearted friend, a true and faithful brother, and one of the most ardent members of the Masonic Fraternity in the State of California.

            "Resolved, That we sincerely sympathize with the brethren of Western Star Lodge, No. 2, at Shasta, California, of which he was a member. ' '

            In November, 1859, Johnson Tutt and perhaps Antone Storff and Joe Kitts went to Black Rock and brought Lassen 's body to the valley. On the 27th he was buried with Masonic honors under the great tree where he camped the first night he stayed in the valley. It is said he often wished that this might be his final resting place. In 1862 a monument was erected over his grave and during that year an account of it will be given.

            Clapper's body was left where it was buried that spring at Black Rock and much dissatisfaction was expressed throughout the valley because it was not brought in, too.

            John S. Ward, John H. Neale, and Albert A. Smith were the administrators of Lassen's estate. It has been told how his ranches were disposed of.

            A few articles once owned by Lassen are still in existence. Fred F. Kingsbury of Sacramento has a pipe which Lassen brought from Denmark and which was an heirloom. William C. Kingsbury, Fred's Father, who was Lassen's partner, was using it when the latter went on his last prospecting trip. L. M. Folsom of Susanville has a clock that is said to have been owned by Lassen. Orman Folsom bought this clock from some one a good many years ago and afterwards gave it to his son M. O. Folsom, who, in the course of time, gave it to his son, L. M. Folsom.

Lassen's Masonic Charter

Taken from "Fifty Years of Masonry in California"

            "Other Masons had arrived from time to time and in 1847 Lassen went back to Missouri with the avowed object of bringing back to California with him a train of emigrants and the charter of a Masonic lodge, if possible.

            "In Missouri he met Brothers Saschel Woods, L. E. Stewart

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and others, and an application being made to the grand lodge of Missouri for a charter to them it was duly signed, and issued May 10, 1848, as Western Star Lodge, No. 98, duly granted by the grand master and other officers with the seal of the grand lodge of Missouri attached, and granted to Brother Saschel Woods as Worshipful Master, L. E. Stewart as Senior Warden, and Peter Lassen as Junior Warden, to be located at Benton City, Upper California. "

            "Having attained his objects, Brother Lassen returned with an emigrant train of twelve wagons by the way of Fort Hall, and at the head of Pit river was overtaken by a party of Oregonians on their way to the gold fields, and with their aid reached Lassen's ranch in safety. Lassen's company had not heard of the discovery of gold in California until meeting this party from Oregon, and he was also ignorant of the fact that a Masonic lodge had been instituted at Oregon City, Oregon, on September 11, 1848, also by a charter from the grand lodge of Missouri, or that Brother Joseph Hull, the master, and several other Brethren of that lodge were in the Oregon party; and neither party knew until long afterward that any of the others were Masons, or that Peter Lassen had in his possession a charter for a lodge which he had brought through with him in his train.

            "Brother Woods accordingly opened said lodge in Benton City on October 30, 1849, and proceeded to work.

            When it came to the numbering of the charters by the grand lodge of California at the first Annual Communication in May, 1850, Western Star Lodge, No. 98, was deprived of its seniority. Its charter was in California before the charter of California Lodge left Washington to come by the Isthmus of Panama. The committee on credentials of the convention which formed the grand lodge of California had been misinformed as to the date of the opening of California Lodge and awarded that lodge No. 1.

            "The gold mining industry changed the condition of the population at Benton City, and it (Western Star Lodge, No. 2) was moved to Shasta City in 1851, and in November of that year sent in its first returns from that place. In 1853 the hall and records and all the property of this lodge were burned, but they fortunately succeeded in saving the original charter brought from Missouri by Peter Lassen."

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