Home Racing World

On May 18, 1980, an earthquake struck below the north face of Mount St. Helens in Washington state, triggering the largest landslide in recorded history and a major volcanic eruption that scattered ash across a dozen states. The sudden lateral blast—heard hundreds of miles away—removed 1,300 feet off the top of the volcano, sending shockwaves and pyroclastic flows across the surrounding landscape, flattening forests, melting snow and ice, and generating massive mudflows. A total of 57 people lost their lives in the disaster. This anniversary always hits home for me. I remember that date well. had 1st hand view seeing the mountain blow her top that day. we also had family finds that lost every thing to the mud flows that day. my grandparents and friends had a small place on the s fork of the Toutle River that we would go up on the weekends and camp as kids. there spot was up on a hill above the river and down below they had a small garden they used to work. the one thing that stood out after the floods went through was they had these old fashion hand pump that was built 6 feet up in the air that had feeders running off it that they would pump to get water down to the crops they were growing. well after the flows we had to dig 4 feet down to find the top off it. then there was the what we used to call volcanic sticks. they were small sticks maybe . 6 or 8 inch big but some were much larger, and hard as rocks,they were ground down to sharp points on either end from the grinding action from all that ash and crap that was running down the river.

I remember the maps on TV news, as the ash clouds spread further and further. Eventually, we could see it in the distance-- in Memphis!

We had ash on everything here in Colorado. Quite a moment in history.

May 18, was stationed at Fairchild AF Base, just west of Spokane Wa. We had Mt St Helens all over the place. The day started with an air show on base. That quickly ended and planes were flying out to beat the massive cloud of ash headed our way. By mid day ash was falling, well it didn’t fall like snow it sort of just floated. It was so thick that you could not see the neighbors house. And if you spent time on a military base the houses are pretty close. Ventured outside a few times and it was eerie silence. No birds, no kids playing, and the ash was everywhere. Several inches in our area. Many folks don’t realize what a disaster it was. Trucks and planes could not get in to deliver goods. The ash was very abrasive and just destroyed engines. The cleanup took forever. The ash was like an abrasive powder. It found its way into sealed aircraft components, all parts of aircraft, buildings, it was a mess. All personnel on base received an award and humanitarian service medal from the base commander. And this is no joke the certificate stated, as a member operation “Fairchild Ash Removal Team” is awarded........yes....operation F.A.R.T. Commander had a sense of humor.
Oh one other note, for some reason about 9 months later there was a huge increase in the Fairchild baby population. What couples will do when disaster strikes.

When I was in seminary years ago, the married student housing had two buildings that were next to a mainline train track. Those two buildings were known to have a birth rate that was 4 times the rest of the student housing. When some couple moved to one of those buildings, people smiled and said, "Oh, you're starting a family, eh?"

I remember the day well, I was living in Vancouver and we had ash for days after...not to mention feeling the after-effects of the earthquake....38 years ago though? Where did the time go!

Isn't it 39 years from 1980 to 2019 ?

yea saw that right after i posted but wanted to see if anybody noticed.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I also remember that day. I was living in my first home purchase, a single wide with a tipout on an acre 30' from the banks of the Pysht river. Being slightly hung-over after returning from the Rhodendron Festival in Port Townsend the night before, it was warm and a very mild, still morning.
Polishing my mildly chopped Yamaha XS650 and BOOM!!!. So glad after a few light dusting of ash that the eruption decided to finally shut off.
It was the most perfect example of directional timber falling I've ever seen. No breakage and all perfectly aligned. Ash was hell on saw chain though as salvage created many logging opportunities.
It was a good time for tree planters too as Weyerhauser and the USFS were paying $1/tree when average was 10 cents.