Mure May 18, 2005
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¡day marks anniversary of Mount
. Helens' 1980 eruption
mra Cameron
Clackamas Print
JnMay 18 in 1980, at 8:31 in
horning, Mount St. Helens
[still the mountain that had
I to be called “America’s
■Fuji.” A nearly perfect
I St. Helens had for years
I a popular place for hik-
lamping and other outdoor
lilies. Pristine forest blan-
I its lower slopes and the
finding hills; on clear days
fountain was reflected in
Hear blue waters of Spirit
■ minute later, Mount St.
Hns changed forever.
18:32 a.m., an earthquake
juring 5.1 on the Richter
¡rocked Mount St. Helens,
quake triggered a massive
lide, one of the largest in
rded history.
he whole north face of the
ano collapsed, suddenly
sing the gas-rich magma
had been forcing its way
nder the mountain to much
;rpressure. The magma and
Bunding rocks exploded,
ting a dense, fast-moving
d of superheated ash, rocks
gas called' a pyroclastic
koclastic flows can roar
n off a mountain at speeds
¡cess of 150 miles per houf;
second, superheated ava-
he overtook the collaps-
north face in a matter of
nds. . The heat of the erup-
mclted the glaciers on St.
ms, triggering a series of
anic mudflows, or lahars,
flowed down every river
;m connected to the moun-
and reached as far as the
pnbia.
The eruption of May 18 is
often referred to as the “cata
strophic eruption,” and it’s easy
to see why. Ash from the erup
tion fell in measurable quantity
in 11 U.S. states; the ash cloud
itself circled the globe within
a matter of days. Hundreds of
acres of forest were leveled by
the tremendous lateral blast.
Landslide debris filled Spirit
Lake, leaving it reshaped and
nearly 200 feet higher than
before.
The lahars caused
massive flooding and fouled
the shipping channel in the
Columbia.
57 people were
killed in the eruption, including
United States Geological Survey
employee David Johnston,
whose last words, radioed fran
tically back to the USGS base
in Vancouver, were simply:
“Vancouver! Vancouver! This
is it.”
That was 25 years ago today.
In the quarter-century since the
famous eruption, other forces
have wrought changes on the
mountain and the debris slope
that was once the north face.
These changes, while slower
than the ones made on May 18,
have been nearly as incredible,
and have given scientists the
world over a unique Chance
to observe how nature heals
itself.
The blast zone and debris
slope, described as looking like
“a war zone” or “the surface of
the Moon” after the eruption,
are gaining their old ecology
back faster than was antici
pated. Where once there was
only bare, grey ash, now flow
ers bloom in the spring and
elk browse on healthy shrub
bery. Johnston Ridge—named
in honor of the man who died
there-—is accessible to the pub
lic and houses the Johnston
Ridge Interpretive Center.
The Interpretive Center is
full of interactive and fascinat
ing exhibits and will teach one
more than one ever thought pos
sible to know about St. Helens.
On clear days, the observa
tion deck provides a truly spec
tacular view across the debris
slope and up into the crater—so
if you ever go, be sure to take
a camera! The whole area was
made into the Mount St. Helens
National Volcanic Monument in
1982 for the purpose of pre
serving the area for scientific
study, so you are asked to stay
on designated trails and to not
remove any material from the
monument.
As if in honor of its own
anniversary last fall, Mount St.
Helens reminded us that she is
the most active of the Cascade
volcanoes by giving off sev
eral minor eruptions of steam
and ash. A massive new dome
has also formed in the cra
ter, splitting the newly-formed
Horseshoe Glacier in half and
sending local volcanologists
into fits of glee. Activity con
tinues, with the dome growing
at a rate of around five feet per
day.
It is humbling to think of the
forces that changed Mount St.
Helens 25 years ago today; such
massive destruction and cre
ation is well beyond the reach
of humans without the help of
atomic weaponry. One is left
awestruck by the sheer power
of nature and the incredible,
unexpected beauty that power
has wrought.
25 years to the day that the
face of a mountain was changed
forever, we should count our
selves lucky that we live where
such things can be experi
enced.
A quarter of a century ago today, Mount St. Helens erupt
ed, flowing hot magma and scattering ash over 11 states.
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Writers’ Club Contest Winners
Fiction:
•1st Place: Liz Hart,
'The Smell of Cows”
¡•2nd Place: Elizabeth
Miles, “A Guy Thing”
•3rd Place: Seth Wilson,
“Bad Things Happen,
Some Never Exist’
Creative Nonfiction:
•1st Place: Ryan Jones,
“Live and Let Die”
•2nd Place: Cart
Graham, “The House”
•3rd Place: Roxanna
Matthews, “Our Last
Night in Camas”
Poetry:
• 1st Place: Liz Hart,
“Knowing or Not’
•2nd Place: Linda
Knowlton Appel,
“Body Armor”
•3rd Place: Liz Hart,
“If I Were a Mother”
I Plan ned Parenthood
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