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before

Mt St Helens sits in the Southwestern part of Washington State, right along I-5. It was a beautiful serene, little known getaway, known as the Mt Fuji of the West. It was a perfect cone shaped mountain, and was very well behaved and beautiful. Until March of 1980. She came awake that month, and had people transfixed with the cracks in her beautiful top. Then came a little Crater, opening up on the very top, and steam and some ash.

All was still fine, she was after all a volcano, and was doing what volcanoes do, venting the pressure off.

May 18, 1980, Jim and I were sleeping in on a quiet sunny Sunday morning. I woke up to the first sounds of someone walking on the roof. Someone with very heavy feet. Tim was up watching TV, and I thought he was up there goofing off. Pow, Pow, Pow pow pow BOOM!!!!!!! And the house shook. Jim and I were both out of bed in a shot ready to strangle the little shit. Suddenly Tim and Donna both ran into our room. MOM!!! The Mountain blew!! We had no need to ask which mountain, as all of western Washington was aware of the THE MOUNTAIN!!!

We got up to see if we could see anything, but we could not, as we were too far North. We were up towards the Canadian Border, just South East of Victoria, BC.
We headed for the TV and sat transfixed as the first images were transmitted to the station, and then to us. All of Washington and Oregon came to a screeching halt as the images of I-5 and the flooding along the Toutle River and the Cowtiltz Rivers, took houses and swept them along. Crashing into bridges, and becoming matchsticks, as they crashed into the bridges over the Interstate. North/South traffic was stopped, as I-5 became dangerous. The devastation was horrible, and as the News copters were able to send in the latest pictures, We saw that 1/3 of the mountain had literally blown away in the largest landslide ever recorded. The mountain blew its northern side right off, and along with it the top of the beautiful cone. The landslide covered pristine Spirit Lake 5 miles away, with mud and pyroclastic flows up to a depth of 100 feet. Harry Truman, the curmudgeon who owned and operated Spirit Lake Lodge, was buried along with his beloved Resort.

57 people died in the eruption, And for weeks, the stories and the pictures that came out of this devastation were Awesome. It was hard to believe that something that huge could have happened in the space of a few days. All of Eastern Washington went black as night from the ashfall, and the wheat fields were all buried under 6-8 feet of ash. The traffic in Eastern Washington came to a halt, as the ash ate up vehicle engines, and destroyed the farmer's equipment. People walked around all ashen, and covered in the falling debris. Masks were worn, and people were warned to stay indoors. We all thought that massive devastation would kill thousands of people.

It didn't, and as you all know now, the Mountain is slowly recovering, rebuilding, and renewing itself and the vegetation and biology that surrounds it. The ashfall became a serendipitous benefit for the farmers, and the crops in the following years were bumper crops. The New Spirit Lake, reformed 100 feet higher than the old one, covering Harry and his Resort for ever. He was never recovered, and there were those that said he was probably still alive in a cave with his many cats and his whiskey. He would be dead now though even if it was true, (NOT) as he was 76 years old at the time.

The mountain is still acting up, and will probably continue to do so for many years. The signs are now being monitored and a lot has been learned about volcanology, and the formation of the Cascade Range. Last night on the news, it was stated that the USGS has listed the top volcanic threats through out the world, ones who were most likely to erupt suddenly and violently...Among the top 5 were Mt St Helens, and Seattles icon, Mt. Rainier!!! WHoo-WHo!! What a mess that would be. Be careful where you move to....



after