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Mount Tehama: Brokeoff Mountain & Mount Diller
There are at least three theories about what happened to Mount Tehama.
One of these versions, or perhaps a combination of the three, is probably essentially correct.
At any rate, what is left of Mount Tehama is mostly in Lassen Volcanic National Park, close beside Lassen Peak. Though less well-known than its volcanic plug neighbor, Mount Tehama is a significant mountain in its own right. Its two most prominent projections are Brokeoff Mountain and Mount Diller, shown here from two different directions and distances. In both photos, Brokeoff Mountain is to the left, Mount Diller to the right.
Brokeoff Mountain in the fall.
Sulphur Works, an active volcanic area reminiscent of Yellowstone, is directly under the presumed crater of Mount Tehama.
Now, would you like to learn more about the volcanic area at the southern end of the Cascades? Yes? Read on.
"Just look how big that mountain used to be!" you exclaim. True, it was big. And the scene over there certainly looks as though a huge mountain stretched clear from present-day Lassen Peak to Brokeoff Mountain. But no. It wasn't so.
Too bad. This (below) is more what Mount Tehama really looked like. Still a big mountain, but not nearly as big as you had thought. In volcanology, as in almost everything else, looks can be deceiving.
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