Death
Lassen was murdered on April 26, 1859 in Clapper Canyon (then known as Black Rock Canyon) near the Black Rock Desert as he was traveling to Virginia City, Nevada to prospect for silver. He was traveling along with Edward Clapper and Americus Wyatt; Clapper was also killed in the same incident, while Wyatt escaped. The circumstances surrounding his death remain mysterious. According to Wyatt, Lassen and Clapper were shot by an unseen sniper while breaking camp.
At the time the culprits were widely considered to be Northern Paiute, who were then in a state of unrest, which would soon lead to the Paiute War. However, Wyatt himself, Pit River Indians, and disgruntled emigrants who followed the Lassen trail, have also been suspected. In particular, an investigation at the time disclosed that none of the supplies of Lassen, Clapper or Wyatt had been taken; in the perception of the investigator, leaving the supplies was not normal conduct for a Native American raiding party at that time, and, as a result, Wyatt himself has been suspected as the murderer of Lassen and Clapper.
Peter Lassen's grave is in Susanville, California, along the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
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