Mount St. Helens Erupts, May 18, 1980
For the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, we pull some images of that time from our archives.
Section:Gallery
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The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens sent a plume of ash that blotted out the sun in parts of Washington and North Idaho. The ash fell like snow, drifted as deep as 2 feet, and crushed crops, halted transportation and caused schools and businesses to close.
Christopher Anderson The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Keith Domina took a break from cleaning up ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in this May 19, 1980 photo in Ritzville, Wash., one of the hardest hit towns in the aftermath of the eruption.
Jim Shelton Sr
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Downtown Spokane, Wash. was covered in ash from the Mt. St. Helens eruption.
The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive Sr
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Chuck Nole is framed in a helicopter windshield displaying the plume of Mount St. Helens during a search and rescue mission.
Christopher Anderson The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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A crew dressed to clean up ash from Mount St. Helens on May 24, 1980.
Photo Archive Sr
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Jamie White and Keitz Witcher wore masks in Spokane two days after the Mt. St. Helens eruption, May 20, 1980. The kids enjoyed the game of bandit or "bad guys" with everyone running around with masked faces.
Jim Shelton Sr
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The mud and debris spewed from Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980 clogged every river and stream, knocked out bridges and closed every road in the downstream flood.
Christopher Anderson The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Amelia Kramer, Ritzville, Washington, works to get the ash off her sidewalk as a city employee uses larger piece of equipment to get the street in order. Ritzville was the hardest hit town in Eastern Washington, receiving several inches of the ash. The community spent months on cleanup.
Jim Shelton Sr
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The ash was so heavy in Spokane, Wash., people were wearing masks on May 20, 1980.
Photo Archive Sr
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People take refuge in a high school gym in Ritzville, Wash.
J. Bart Rayniak The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Members of the Washington National Guard work on clearing ash from an elderly woman's house and yard in Ritzville, Wash., in 1980. Older homeowners struggled to clear heavy loads of ash from their homes and property.
Phil Schofield Sr
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People wore masks to protect themselves from the ash from Mt. St. Helens.
The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive Sr
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Don Pease waits to take off in his experimental Boeing F-86 as the ash cloud from Mount Saint Helens approaches Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane around 2:30 p.m., May 18, 1980.
J. Bart Rayniak The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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A river of mud and debris from the eruption of Mount St. Helens chokes the Toutle River Basin under a mass of mud and debris that runs 125 to 600 feet deep. The 1980 blast destroyed almost everything within sight of the mountain. Note the rows of downed trees on the hillside at right that were laid down by the blast of the eruption and stripped of all limbs and foliage.
Christopher Anderson The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Approaching Mount St. Helens from the southwest on May 18, 1980, gives you a sense of the scope and size of the eruption that devastated the area.
Christopher Anderson The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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The crew of a National Guard rescue helicopter is reflected in the upper right of the photo on May 19, 1980, as they search for survivors of the Mount St. Helens eruption. Mud and debris have swept down the Toutle River and wiped out bridges and sections of highway.
Christopher Anderson The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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A man waits for the bus in downtown Spokane, Wash. on Sunday, May 18, 1980 at 3 p.m. The buses have stopped running due to the ashfall.
J. Bart Rayniak The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Chris Pederson cleaned off the sidewalk at Indiana and Wall in Spokane in the days following the eruption of Mount St. Helens in May of 1980.
The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive Sr
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