Black Butte erupted four times since it began as a large crater at the base of Mt. Shasta, approximately 10,700 years ago. Each time, it forced lava the "consistency of cookie dough" above the crater.

Mount Shasta was a great fixation for John Muir. He wrote extensively about the Shasta region, with perhaps the best distillation of his feelings about the majestic cone and its surrounding lands ...

Shasta Valley's strange hills reveal a secret — the debris of a massive ancient mountain collapse in Northern California. ... referring to one of the satellite cones of Mount Shasta.

Mt. Shasta erupts episodically with 10 or more eruptions occurring in short 500-2,000 year periods, separated by long intervals of 3,000- 5,000 years with few or no eruptions.