Mount Saint Helens 

Mount Saint Helens, which is about 100 miles from Seattle erupted at 8:31 am Sunday morning, May 18th. The explosion blew the top 2300 feet of the mountain off and sent an immense cloud of poisonous super hot gas, mud, and molten rocks over 150 miles away in a few minutes. 17 people died who were near the mountain and over a quarter  million trees were instantly mowed down as if struck by a meteor, and uncounted numbers of plants, animals, and fish were killed, too. Nothing could outrun the explosion. The explosion of an atomic bomb could not have been more devastating. 

Many more people would have died but fortunately people who study volcanoes had predicted there would be an eruption soon so most people stayed away from the mountain and the surrounding area because of the warning. The area near the mountain had been a lovely area with beautiful evergreens and clear blue lakes and streams. Immediately after the eruption the area was turned into a barren wasteland devoid of lakes or life of any kind. Lava or hard brown mud covered everything. For many months after the initial explosion, the volcano continued to erupt spewing forth towering columns of ash so high in the sky that airplanes stayed far away from it and ash rained down like rain over much of the entire state of Washington. The city of Seattle was dark and overcast with a choking smog of ash at noon. The ash hurt many people with breathing problems and caused billions of dollars of damage throughout the state.

Today, Mount Saint Helens is quieter. It no longer spews forth ash. Plants and animals are returning to the area. New streams and lakes are forming nearby. While it will take time, the loveliness that existed before the mountain's eruption will return, in a few hundred hears, if no new major eruptions occur. The shape of the mountain and the old lakes and landscape will never be the same, though. In the few seconds it took Mount Saint Helens to explode, that was changed forever.

Indians have a tale about the mountain that says two Indian boys fought over a lovely girl, but the gods did not like this. They turned all of them into volcanoes and the girl turned into Mount Saint Helens. The Indians called Mount Saint Helens Smoky Hill, for good reason.