Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 156
f
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Monday, May 18, 1981
Towns relive disaster,
look to future regrowth
LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) - With papier
mache volcanoes, parades and prayers for
the dead, residents of southwest Washing
ton commemorated the first anniversary of
Mt. St. Helens’ destructive eruption.
Several hundred people flocked Saturday
to Toutle, Silver Lake and other small towns
that were blasted into the limelight when the
mountain blew its top last May 18.
Volcano Daze in Toutle included a
20-minute parade along a state highway
featuring three papier-mache volcanoes, as
well as marching bands and clowns.
"I found it in the ash,” one of the floats
heralded.
Dedication of a new radio emergency
action center in Toutle kicked off the day’s
activity, and about 75 people attended a
memorial service for the 60 people believed
killed by the eruption.
“I really like the theme that we have out
here in Toutle — the regrowth of God’s
country. We’re looking to the future," said
Rev. Wendell Small, pastor of Toutle Com
munity Church
Events examine eruption effects
The Mt. St. Helens symposium con
tinues today with discussion groups,
speakers, films and exhibits, including
a keynote address by Rep. Jim Weaver,
D-Ore.
The symposium, titled “The Sleeping
Mountain Awakes," sponsored by the
University Outdoor Program, is to
commemorate the May 18, 1980, erup
tion and to inform the public on the
scientific, political and social effects of
the volcano.
Speaking today at 7:30 p.m. in the
EMU Ballroom, Weaver will discuss
timber policy and will participate in a
panel discussion on Mt. St. Helens land
management options.
All symposium events today and
Tuesday are free and open to the
public. The schedule:
noon-1 p.m. — A book-signing party
with Stephen Harris, author of "Fire
and Ice,” University Bookstore. A Mt.
St. Helens celebration with live music
and performers will take place in the
EMU Courtyard until 2 p.m.
1-3 p.m. — Mt. St. Helens Film
Festival, EMU Dad's Room.
2- 2:45 p.m. — Discussion on the
effects of Mt. St. Helens eruptions on
the ecology of nearby plant communi
ties, EMU 108, the effects of the erup
tions on Washington lakes, EMU 111,
and plate tectonics and the Cascade
volcanoes, EMU 112.
3- 3:45 p.m. — U S. Forest Service Mt.
St. Helens land management plan will
be presented in EMU 112. The effects
of the eruption on the timber industry
and private land owners will be dis
cussed in EMU 113. The plant and lake
discussions will be repeated in EMU
108 and 111.
4-4:45 p.m. — Mt. St. Helens National
Monument proposal will be presented
in EMU 108. Sessions on the Forest
Service plan and the timber industry
will be repeated in EMU 112 and 113.
7:30 p.m. — Congressman Jim
Weaver will speak about the issues
confronting timber policy today, EMU
Ballroom.
8:45 p.m. — Panel discussion on Mt.
St. Helens land management options,
EMU Ballroom.
aacKpacKers recount Mr. St Helen s awe
By HARRY ESTEVE
Of the Emerald
Two backpackers who were within 13
miles of the May 18, 1980 eruption of
Mt. St. Helens brought the awe and
terror of the event to the University
Sunday night.
Accompanied by a series of dramatic
slides taken during and following the
explosion, Mike and Lu Moore
recounted their two-day ordeal on the
Green River north of the volcano, an
area that barely escaped total devasta
tion.
The Moores’ presentation in the EMU
opened the three-day "The Sleeping
Mountain Awakes" symposium, which
commemorates the anniversary of the
historic eruption
"These slides are unique because
they show the lateral blast from inside
the gun barrel, so to speak," Mike
Moore told the almost 150 people in the
audience. His slides of the gigantic ash
plume looming over the treetops next to
their campsite, and the ones taken
during their subsequent escape, drew
gasps from the crowd.
The Moores said the morning of the
eruption began like any morning in the
wilderness, except that Mike Moore
was experimenting with some new
camera equipment instead of helping
cook breakfast. He admitted that he
wouldn’t have been able to get the
photographs on any other day.
He was the first to feel the ground
shake. Moments later, his wife looked
up and saw the ash plume unfurling
above the treetops.
“Her first reaction was ‘Oh shucks,
we missed it.’ ”
However, after watching through his
viewfinder the “large billowing cloud,
billowing towards us much faster than
billowing up,” Mike Moore said they
both became "a little apprehensive.”
The Moores’ apprehension was
probably less for themselves than for
their two children Thinking it was go
ing to be a short and easy weekend trip,
they had brought along 3-year-old
BonnieLu and Terra, their three
month-old infant.
”1 kept taking pictures until I ran out
of nerve,” Mike Moore said. The family
then retreated to an abandoned and
dilapidated hunting lodge as the plume
passed directly over them and a heavy
ash fallout began
"It wasn’t a mother’s choice to save
her kids in,” Lu Moore said of the
shack, "but it beat a nylon tent.”
The Moores were eventually spotted
by an Army rescue helicopter as they
were attempting to work their way out
of the debris-strewn and ash-covered
wilderness. The rescue came only after
they had spent an entire day and night
struggling over trees blown over by the
blast and lying awake for hours
wondering whether they would make it
out.
Before their slide presentation, the
Moores voiced their support of a
proposal to make the Mt St. Helens area
a national monument.
“People have a right to go up and see
what actually happened up there,”
Mike Moore said
“Decisions that should be made in
the political arena are being made by a
bulldozer," he said of plans by timber
companies to log and commercially
reforest the area.
When asked of the potential dangers
of opening up an area around an active
volcano to thousands of tourists, he
said “I don’t feel the government has
any justification protecting people from
their own actions."