Mount St. Helens experienced a cataclysmic eruption on May 18, 1980.
What once was referred to as the “Fujiyama of America” had transformed at 8:32 a.m. in Skamania County, Washington. A 5.1 magnitude earthquake preceded the explosion just seconds before; long before that, two months of intense, small steam-blast explosions expanded the mountain’s north slope by over 260 feet.
In an instant, rocks, ash and volcanic gas shot upward and outward, covering an area of 230 square miles. Four billion board feet of timber were destroyed, and 57 people — campers, researchers, and residents alike — died.
Spirit Lake had been transformed, the elevation of the mountain had dropped from 9,677 to about 8,363 feet and ash clouds had moved as far as Wyoming, The Oregonian reported the day after the catastrophe.
What most people may not remember is that despite the volcanic eruption’s overwhelmingly drastic outcome, this was expected by nearby residents. Mount St. Helens is in Skamania County, but neighboring counties were just as badly affected.
Residents of Toutle, a rural community in Cowlitz County about an 84-mile drive from the mountain, had to evacuate via military airlift after avalanches from the eruption sent “waters 20 feet high down the Toutle River Valley,” downing trees, smashing bridges and washing out roads, The Oregonian reported.
Toutle Lake High School’s football field was transformed into an impromptu landing zone where National Guard helicopters rescued locals from floodwaters and massive mudflows.
Some residents weren’t willing to cooperate.
On May 17, the day before the eruption, cabin owners with properties near the mountain were approached by authorities as they prevented locals from entering a newly designated “danger zone” near the volcano’s north flank.
People grew angry with Skamania and Cowlitz County officials, and one cabin owner in particular, Harry R. Truman, refused to leave his beloved lodge near Spirit Lake. The next day, Truman died in the blast.
Charles Richter, the developer of the Richter scale used to measure earthquake magnitudes, voiced concerns to The Oregonian in 1980 regarding an increase in seismic activity near Mount St. Helens.
For months before the eruption, many earthquakes with a magnitude of 3 or higher shook the mountain almost every day.
In fact, an interview with Richter was published 24 hours before Mount St. Helens erupted: “No one could fail to regard this occurrence with interest and apprehension as to what will be coming next,” Richter said.
What came next was the most destructive volcanic event in United States history. What has come afterwards, however, are moments of reflection and commemoration.
Mount St. Helens Institute, headquartered in Amboy, Washington, 33 miles northeast of Vancouver, holds annual community events memorializing the mountain; most notably the “Eruption Anniversary Views and Brews” on May 18, where United States Geological Survey Scientist Emerita Carolyn Driedger will detail her personal memories of the eruption and how the event has closely impacted the world.
The Institute will be partnering with Vancouver-based Heathen Brewing, in which they will be providing food and drinks for all attendees. All in-person tickets are sold out, however, virtual admission slots are still available. Attendees are limited to one $10 ticket per household.
More than four decades later, the 1980 eruption remains a defining moment in Pacific Northwest history; a stark reminder of nature’s power to reshape landscapes and lives in an instant.
