The morning of May 18, 1980 started as a quiet one with bright blue skies over the Cascade Mountains in Washington. That however quickly changed at 8:32am when Mount St. Helens came to life erupting in what would become the deadliest volcanic event in the history of the United States.
The eruption wasn’t entirely a surprise – volcanologists and geologists had been closely monitoring the mountain in the weeks leading up to the eruption. A magnitude 4.2 earthquake on March 20th provided a clue of what was to come. Over the next two months, the side of the mountain began to bulge until May 18th when a magnitude 5.1 temblor triggered a landslide that led to the eruption.
In an instant, the side of Mount St. Helens exploded with a ferocity that had not been seen in United States history before. The result was astounding – and devastating.
The eruption sent ash 80,000 feet into the atmosphere depositing ash across 11 states. In neighboring Yakima, 5 inches of ash fell and areas as far east as Spokane were blanketed in darkness from the cloud. The ash took less than two hours to reach Yellowstone National Park and a day to reach Denver, Colorado.
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230 square miles around the mountain was obliterated – all vegetation and manmade structures were destroyed within the area. 250 homes were leveled and 47 bridges and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. What was Washington’s fifth largest mountain was reduced from 9,677 ft tall to a height of 8,365 ft.
The human toll was equally devastating as 57 people died as a result of the eruption.
Arguably the first to lose their life was volcanologist Dave Johnston who was stationed near Coldwater Ridge. Johnston radioed, “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” and was never heard from again.
Perhaps more famous was Harry Randall Truman who lived on the mountain and was the owner of the Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake. Leading up to the eruption, the 83-year-old Truman refused to evacuate believing the claims of an impending eruption were exaggerated. He would pay for his decision not to leave with his life.
The mountain would continue to remain very active for the next five months producing five more explosive eruptions. Since that time, the volcano has built a new lava dome and periodically releases steam and ash as the unrest beneath continues to this day.
The area continues its recovery, allowed to do so on its own. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan established Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument setting the area aside for research and recreation.
