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The renowned pioneer, Peter Lassen, first passed this spot in 1848 while guiding a small party of American emigrants to his rancho in California. They were following the Applegate Trail, also known as the Southern Route to Oregon, which passed through the Black Rock Desert approximately three miles to the west. This important trail was opened into the Willamette Valley in 1846 by a party of explorers from Oregon led by Jess and Lindsay Applegate and Levi Scott. On his 1848 trip, Lassen left the trail at the southern end of Goose Lake in northeastern California and opened the Lassen Trail into California. It is estimated that half of the 1849 overland gold seekers to California followed this combined Applegate-Lassen route.
On April 26, 1859, Peter Lassen and Edward Clapper were slain at this site while on a prospecting trip. The men were camped by a large boulder when shots rang out from the rocky cliffs above. A third companion, Lemericus Wyatt, managed to escape and ride bareback without sleep or food to the settlements in Honey Lake Valley.
The remains of both Lassen and Clapper were buried here by a party from Honey Lake Valley shortly after the murders. Peter Lassen's remains were retrieved by a party of Free Masons in November of 1859 and reburied near Susanville beneath a monument commemorating his achievements. Although the public decried the fact that Clapper's remains were left at the site, no one ever returned to retrieve them. Over time the location of the site was lost. In May 1990, recreationists discovered Clapper's remains eroding out of the stream bed adjacent to the large boulder. Clapper was reburied adjacent to the Lassen Monument in 1992. Several theories about the murder have been proposed but the identity and motive of the assailant(s) remain a mystery.
Comments
In 1990, one hundred and thirty-one years after the killing of Peter Lassen and Edward Clapper in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, a rock hound found some human bones exposed at the mouth of a canyon on the western side of the Black Rock Range. This chance discovery, first treated as a possible recent homicide by the Nevada authorities, set in motion a series of forensic investigations by the FBI and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, which determined that the remains were almost certainly those of Edward Clapper.
With the concurrence of Clapper's descendants, OCTA and the Lassen County Historical Society, along with the cooperation of the Winnemucca District of the BLM and the Masonic Order, returned Clapper's remains to California to be interred adjacent to Peter Lassen's burial site in Honey Lake Valley, just south of Susanville. OCTA and the Nevada BLM then erected a marker at the site where the Clapper remains were discovered, so that the actual historical location of the double killing would not be lost again due to the passage of time.
Location
In the Black Rock Desert northwest of Winnemucca, Humboldt County, Nevada. NE1/4, Sec. 7, T38N, R26E.
Ownership
Public land, Bureau of Land Management.
Access
Open to the public. CAUTION: Use extreme caution before heading to this site which is extremely remote and very harsh. Only 4WD vehicles are appropriate for this trip. Before leaving Gerlach, inquire about road conditions. The Nevada BLM maintains a website devoted to the Black Rock Desert which is helpful for planning any trip to this region. Be sure to inquire in Gerlach about road conditions before setting out. The Black Rock Desert should not be underestimated and a trip to this site should never be undertaken without proper planning and equipment.
Directions
Just west of the small community of Gerlach, Nevada, at the "Y" intersection, take the right paved road to Soldier Meadows (the left fork is the continuation of Nevada 447 to Vya). The road to the site from this point is along the western edge of Black Rock Desert playa and the eastern base of the Granite Range. Drive about 13 miles, then turn right (north) onto a graded gravel road to Soldier Meadows and Summit Lake. Drive approximately 40 miles to Mud Meadows Reservoir Dam. Upon crossing the dam, immediately turn right (south) on a bladed road along the eastern flank of the Black Rock Range. Drive 8.3 miles, turn left (east) on unmarked Clapper Creek Road, and drive 1.4 miles to a "T" intersection. Turn right (south) and drive 0.7 miles to the murder site and marker at the mouth of a canyon.
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