Tele-photo Cycle-Poco Camera

This camera belonged to photographer Benjamin F. Loomis. On June 14, 1914, he used it to take a series of six photographs (using glass plate negatives) documenting the volcanic eruption of Lassen Peak. These images became essential in the establishment of Lassen Volcanic National Park.

On Memorial Day, May 30, 1914, Lassen Peak, which had been presumed extinct, suddenly came to life in a series of eruptions. News of the eruptions excited interest in the volcano all around the nation, which revived efforts by Congressman Raker to establish a national park. The most famous photos were taken a week after the initial eruption by Benjamin F. Loomis, an amateur photographer who owned a sawmill and store in nearby Viola.Loomis had the idea of getting a series of images – all of the same eruption.
With his camera and tripod set up by the side of the road near Manzanita Lake, his two-day vigil was rewarded when Lassen erupted spectacularly on the morning of June 14, its 11th eruption in two weeks. His series of six photos showed a dense, black roiling cloud of ash rising about 2,500 feet into the air and rolling down the west side of the peak to enshroud the whole volcano dome. Although larger eruptions would follow later that summer and the next, Loomis’s series of photos became the most widely disseminated image of the mountain in eruption.