35 years ago today

GardMan

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My folks were sitting out on their back deck in SW Portland that morning... and my Dad said he new something big had happened when the dogs in the neighborhood all started barking.

I went to summer camp with the Boy Scouts at Spirit Lake on the side of the mountain in the summers of 67, 68, 69, and 70... it's a weird feeling knowing that the lake I knew isn't there anymore, and the mountain has changed so much from what I remember.
 

Geotrio

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I remember that day well Joe. Have you visited the research lab at the site? Always wanted to check that out.
 

silverfox103

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We lived in Jantzen Beach area of Portland then, right on the Washington State border, right off of I-5. I guess it was because we were so close to it, we never heard a thing. My wife's sister who lives up by you Joe, in Blaine, said it sounded like a big explosion. We canoed on Spirit Lake a week before Mt. St. Helens blew. I don't think Spirit Lake is around anymore. I think it was on a Sunday, as I remember being home.

Did they ever find Harry Truman? He was the old timer who refused to move, I don't think he's been seen in 35 years.

If I can find pictures, I will post.

Tom
 
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geoguy

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An earth-science company I used to work for had a field crew working long-term in the general vicinity of that volcano when it erupted. The motor in the crew's work truck was eventually ruined, by all the gritty volcanic ash that got pulled through (or around) the air cleaner.

However, they shoveled some of the ash into plastic bags, shipped it back to New England, & our employer's marketing guys distributed little vials of the ash to clients worldwide. :excitement:
 

killdeer43

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I think it was on a Sunday, as I remember being home.

Did they ever find Harry Truman? He was the old timer who refused to move, I don't think he's been seen in 35 years.
It was on a Sunday morning and we first thought the explosion came from a fiberglass boat building plant that had burned the night before. I'm still amazed that we heard it from where we are. We not only heard it but we felt it!
After the second blast, we thought we should check the news....and you know the rest of the story. Glad we didn't have to deal with the ash.

Harry Truman and his 15-16 cats were more than likely vaporized. He was a tough old guy and refused to leave his home. RIP, Harry!

Joe
 

bobouz

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We lived in Eugene at the time & had to deal with some ash, but nothing like what hit Eastern Washington. Went to view the site as soon as roads were open, and it was beyond adequate description. Trees leveled & barren for miles, like so many match sticks - the landscape completely ashen colored. Truly had to see it to believe it.
 

killdeer43

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I was working for a research company at the time and a trip in early summer took me to Morton, WA, which is just north of the mountain. After our meeting, the client asked if I wanted to take a look at Mt. St. Helens and I said sure, not knowing what he had in mind but I was good to go.
We piled into his truck and he drove up old logging roads to the top of the ridge that looked straight into the still-steaming crater. WOW! It was hard to grasp what I was seeing. The scale of it all was incomprehensible. Total devastation.

I have some old photos that I'll try to dig out but the images are still vivid to this day.

Joe
 

adorshki

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We're good....prevailing westerlies (Westerlys?) you know. :tongue-new:
Joe

Westerlys....heheh...Good one!! :biggrin-new:
I do seem to recall that the ash fall was purported to have had long-term benefits for agriculture and the wine industry in particular, in the Yakima Valley.
(East of Joe, for the curious)
 

Londonbus

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I was a kid, but I remember that day crystal clear.

I was playing in my back yard in Richland, WA with a handful of Star Wars action figures. I remember VERY distinctly looking at Darth Vader's face up close (My Mom had just bought me Darth Vader the day before for my birthday). As I was studying the intricacies of his helmet, the boom went off. I have that moment locked in my brain forever. It sounded like a sonic boom, which wasn't entirely an uncommon thing to hear in the skies back then, so I figured that's all it was.

It wasn't until a little bit later (maybe 40 - 60 minutes or so) when my Dad was driving us to a "rock and gem show" at the local shopping mall in Kennewick. That's when the purple, rolling clouds started coming overhead. I was the first in the car to say "That's no storm... That's not normal... I bet that mountain blew". (The Northwest kinda knew some sort of eruption was coming, but NOBODY expected the whole mountain to explode!) When we got to the mall, everybody was huddled around radios that some of the rock/gem vendors had. It was surreal. My Dad started making a makeshift secondary additional air filter out of socks so we could get our car back home without sucking up the ash that was by that time raining out of the sky. Our cat was outside hiding under the bushes and didn't make it... We found her dead a couple of days later unfortunately.

The ash hung around the region for ages. I remember playing baseball and for YEARS if you hit the ball into this row of arborvitae trees in the outfield a white ash cloud would puff out of them and all of the parents would start yelling at the kids not to breath the stuff in.

Not many kids out there with childhood memories involving a freakin' volcano, haha!
 

CA-35

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There is something about this photo that is haunting. The marks in front of the pick up truck (an old Ford F150?) are from the helicopter that landed and discovered the two victims. They probably never knew what hit them.

150516_AP_Mount_St_Helens_Anniversary___5.jpg
 

CA-35

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Scott, that is one of the more remarkable, human interest photos to come out of this event. Easily worth a thousand words....or more.
Thanks for posting it,
Joe

Joe I stole it from the link you provided in the original post. There are some remarkable photos there. Of course we are still waiting for your gems that you will dig out before Christmas right?
 
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