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Memories

Recollections of May 18

Stunning views of Mount St. Helens drew a loyal following of cabin owners, Boy Scout campers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts to the shores of Spirit Lake. The 5.1 magnitude earthquake that came in tandem with the 1980 eruption triggered an avalanche that buried dozens of cabins and forever altered Spirit Lake.

Reliving the spirit of Spirit Lake

Local family has happy memories of mountain cabin

There are pictures of Sandy Ford sunbathing atop a snowdrift in her halter top and shorts. And the story of the woodpecker boring into the second floor of the family cabin. Not to mention the unforgettable sight of pre-eruption Mount St. Helens filling the front window. But what the Ford family misses the most are the people they made memories with around Spirit Lake.

Cultural wasteland

The things you are glad you have forgotten about 1980

Gasoline was expensive. Home mortgage interest rates were stratospheric. “The Dukes of Hazzard” was a top-rated TV show and Burt Reynolds was the number one box office draw. So what exactly do we miss about 1980?

Boiling with the ash cloud from St. Helens, the sky above Richland, Wash., 140 miles east of the mountain, turned into an eerie nightscape on the morning of May 18, 1980.

‘The world is coming to an end’

Residents throughout the region recall the time when St. Helens exploded

Recollections of May 18, 1980, shared by Columbian readers as part of our 25th anniversary coverage in 2005.

U.S. Geological Survey

The eruption of May 18, 1980 sent volcanic ash, steam, water and debris to a height of 60,000 feet. The mountain lost 1,300 feet of altitude and about 2/3 of a cubic mile of material stream downward from the center of the plume and the formation and movement of pyroclastic flows down the left flank of the volcano.

St. Helens spews death, destruction

The Columbian’s first story on the volcano’s massive May 18, 1980, eruption

Mount St. Helens, the once-serene, cone-shaped peak that dominated the skyline northeast of Clark County and stood guard over the beautiful Spirit Lake recreation area, erupted with a force likened to an atom bomb Sunday, killing at least six and leaving 29 missing. The mountain, about 45 miles from Vancouver’s back door, blew at 8:32 a.m. Sunday with an explosion that was heard 200 miles away in Canada but was unheard throughout the Vancouver-Portland area. The blast left the snow-capped mountain about 1,300 feet shorter than it was two days ago, spread death and destruction throughout the Toutle River valley north and west of the mountain and sent a gigantic ash cloud to the east.