Community Chat

[tansy]

I moved here from California a year or two after the eruption.  It seemed like everyone I met wanted to talk about it.

I bought a large glass ball ornament made from the ashes — beautiful.

BTW, we do get sunshine 🌞 

[clsilva]

Yes, I remember it! I was 11 years old and my family had gone to cut wood up above Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho the day before. There was still some snow up on top of the mountain and our truck got stuck. We had to sleep in the truck that night (dad, mom, me, and 2-year old brother). The next morning we started hiking down the remote mountain road and the sky turned black and we had no idea what was happening until we made it down the hill to a small lake village.

We were able to get a ride with two loggers in the back of their Pinto back to Coeur d'Alene! The highway was empty and there was ash blowing across it with visibility that was barely a car length ahead.It was so eerie!

People stayed home from work, school was cancelled for the rest of the year, and we had about 6-7 inches of ash piled up on our grass. My dad kept some of it for a few years and then finally got rid of it.

It was quite an experience. I can't believe it's already been 39 years.

[DearPrudence]

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@sissel wrote:

I was living in Bothell, WA when that happened which is far away from that, we had ash over everything. Some people were collecting the ash & selling it on ebay. A friend made alot of money doing that. Some stores made souviners and seem like everyone was cashing in. We were all hosing down everything, heard the ash could destroy the paint on your cars (don't know if that was true) but everyone was out trying to clean it off but it kept coming for days. 

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Your friends were selling the ashes on eBay in 1980? 

[aubnwa01]

I lived in what was then Kent (now Covington) & it was a bit cloudy & overcast.   I was doing yardwork on a Sunday morning & didn't know the mountain had finally blown until my supervisor at Pacific NW Bell called me to come in to work, because they were slammed with people trying to make calls.  I was a long distance operator at that time.  In those pre-internet days, I never turned on the TV in the mornings, so didn't hear it on the news.

[Brisky]

Harry Truman died in 1972. So how could he have died again in 1980? I think Kachina posted this information.

[tansy]

This Harry Truman. @Brisky.  

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Harry Randall Truman (not to be confused Harry S. Truman) was an elderly man who lived in a lodge near the foot of Mount St. Helens. He became something of a celebrity when he refused to leave despite warnings from scientists. Truman died along with 56 other people when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980.

[Brisky]

Yes, Harry Truman died in 1972 in Kansas City Mo.
Maybe you are thinking of someone else?

[Brisky]

Thanks tansy.☺

[aubnwa01]

Harry Truman owned & ran the Spirit Lake Lodge at Mt. St Helens & perished in the pyroclastic flow of the eruption.  He was 83 years old & refused to leave when asked to evacuate prior to the eruption.

[wagirl]

I live north east of Seattle ----my toddler son and I just got back from a trip to New York when the thing blew----we had ash fall on us a few times from it. Have famly in eastern WA that really got ashfall like snow---I have a pair of earrings that are bright green made from Mt St Helens ash. Have been to the observatory at the mountain too----quite impressive and horrifying.