P. E. Larss, who later became known as P. E. Larson, came to the United States from Sweden in 1881 at the age of 18: His earliest photography work was with the Oswald Brothers in Minneapolis. He opened a private studio in 1888 in Cloquet, Minnesota under the name of P. E. Larss. He then formed a partnership called Larss and Boyer Bros. , Photographers in Duluth, Minnesota. In 1892 he was in partnership with W. C. Pierce in the Elite Studio in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

When the rush began for the Klondike and Dawson City in 1898, Larss met E. A. Hegg in Skagway, having previously been acquainted with him in New Whatcom, Washington. Larss worked for Hegg as a photographer on the Chilkoot Pass, at Lake Bennett and traveled as a member of the Hegg party in 1898 down the Yukon River to Dawson City.

Hegg and Larss entered into a partnership in 1898 and had a photography studio and business in Dawson City: until 1899: In that year they separated and Larss and Duclos became partners in a new studio. Larss was very active as both photographer and a gold miner in the Klondike. He left the Yukon in 1904, married Hilda Johnson in Denver, Colorado and established himself as a photographer in Goldfield, Nevada in 1905, under the name of P E. Larson. In 1908 he was proprietor of a hotel and general store in Allegheny, Oregon. From 1920 until his death in 1941, he was in business as P. E. Larson Grocery in San Pedro, California.

His papers include notebooks and other material providing a brief firsthand record of events in his two simultaneous careers, as a professional photographer and as a gold miner on his several claims.