Bought this book to memorialize the event in my library. St. Helens first blew in May of 1980 during my freshman year going to school in NY. For about the first 24 hours hearing the news stories, I thought worst for my family living only 55 miles SE of St Helens just outside of Portland, OR. It was a surreal experience flying into Seattle at the end of May then taking a bus down to Portland. Thru the tinted bus windows, I did not realize there was an ash dust covering outside. We stopped for a rest area break near the Toutle River in WA. Stepped outside of the bus to realize that most everything was actually covered with a gray ash. The impact of the volcano caught me totally by surprise and actually how close we were to the event at about 35 miles away. I remember seeing the jammed up log debris still in the river under the Interstate. ( )

Two newspaper staffs combined efforts to produce this early