My maternal grandma was 12 yrs old when Lassen blew in 1914. She was one of a family of 11 that lived in the logging/milling company town of Westwood. I remember her saying, Papa was very concerned, and when he left for work, he told Mama and the boys, if it started looking bad, go hop the lumber train going to Susanville, he would find them. You could not see, she said, the ground from the sky, it was like thick ice fog. The company of course said, work, and what the company said went. It all turned out OK, but she remembers it was weeks before they saw a blue sky. 11 people in a tiny company house, laundry drying by the parlor stove, it was a little too cozy, but everybody gave Papa enough room.It bothered everybody a lot that nobody actually knew what was going on. It was the end of the rails and roads were impassable, even if you had an auto, men were cautious about crossing a mud flow horseback. I guess they were tough because they had to be.
