Peter Lassen

Peter Lassen (October 31, 1800 – April 26, 1859) was a Danish-American rancher and prospector. He was an early pioneer in California for whom Lassen County, California and Lassen Volcanic National Park are named.

Peter Lassen was born on October 31, 1800 in Farum, Denmark and immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1830. Born to Johanne Sophie Westergaard and Lars Nielsen, Peter was baptized December 7, 1800. The patronymic surname Larsen, meaning son of Lars, was applied in his naming, and was common among Danish farmers at that time. Lassen used several different spellings while living in Denmark and Copenhagen, sometimes preferring to be called Peter Larsen Farum, after his birthplace.

When he was 17, Peter Lassen moved to Kalundborg to learn blacksmithing. Lassen apprenticed under his uncle, Christian Nielsen until 1823, when he moved to Copenhagen to work under a master blacksmith named Sigersted.

In 1840 he immigrated to California and became a rancher. Peter Lassen traveled from Keyetsville, Missouri to Westport, Missouri a "common place of rendezvous for overland parties". The expedition Lassen joined was made up of missionaries and adventurers, some on their way to California, others on their way to the Columbia River basin in Oregon.

Lassen met the ship Lausanne on the Willamette River in Oregon, sailing on July 3, 1840, boarding for passage to Bodega Bay, in Sonoma County. The travelers were invited to touch land in California at Fort Ross, and stayed on there until they could procure some horses to travel to Sutter's Fort.

Lassen arrived at Sutter's Fort in August 1840, with William Wiggins, who had traveled with him from Westport (now known as Kansas City, Missouri), over land and by sea for nearly 15 months, starting in May 1839. John Sutter happily welcomed the men and traveled with them from his colony, known at the time as New Helvetia (meaning New Switzerland), to Yerba Buena and Alviso in a small sailboat.

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