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Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens
A riveting history of the Mount St. Helens eruption that will "long stand as a classic of descriptive narrative" (Simon Winchester). For months in early 1980, scientists, journalists, and nearby residents listened anxiously to rumblings from Mount St. Helens in southwestern Washington State. Still, no one was prepared when a cataclysmic eruption blew the top off of the mountain, laying waste to hundreds of square miles of land and killing fifty-seven people. Steve Olson interweaves vivid personal stories with the history, science, and economic forces that influenced the fates and futures of those around the volcano. Eruption delivers a spellbinding narrative of an event that changed the course of volcanic science, and an epic tale of our fraught relationship with the natural world. 8 pages of illustrations; 8 maps
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2016
About the author
Steve Olson
4 books44 followersSteve Olson is author of the book Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens, which Amazon has named one of the 20 best nonfiction books published in 2016 and which has been shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. He is also the author of Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and other books, and he has written for the Atlantic Monthly, Science, the Smithsonian, and many other magazines. Since 1979, he has been a consultant writer for the National Academy of Sciences, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and other national scientific organizations. A native of Washington State, he now lives in Seattle.
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January 8, 2023
“Technically, the explosion that swept out of Mount St. Helens that morning is known as a pyroclastic density current. Most geologists refer to it simply as ‘the blast,’ though some prefer the term ‘surge,’ contending that it was not really an explosion. The blast cloud accelerated as it spread, drawing heat energy from the fragmented magma it contained. Inside the cloud were ash, pumice, lava blocks, snow, ice from the overlying glaciers, tree fragments, soil swept from the ground, and boulders as big as cars. It expanded at speeds of hundreds of miles per hour, but in a particular way…Mount St. Helens did not explode straight up. It exploded to the side, in the direction of the bulge. The avalanche created an amphitheater-shaped gouge in the mountain, and this gouge channeled the blast to the northwest, north, and northeast. It was as if the blast had emerged from the muzzle of a cannon…”
- Steve Olson, Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens
Growing up, my parents had one of those old-fashioned, glass-doored curio cabinets filled with weird knickknacks that I was not allowed to touch, but which drew me to them because of their protected status within that ancient bit of furniture that smelled like days gone by. Among the oddities was an old pharmacist’s vial filled with a strange gray powder and stoppered with a cork. A frayed bit of masking tape on the vial’s side said: “Mt. St. Helen’s May 1980.” The powder within the vial was ash collected when the mountain – a stratovolcano made of layers of ash, rock, lava, and mud – blew her top, sprinkling debris over eleven states and five Canadian provinces.
It turns out that my family had a great deal of interest in Mount St. Helens and the surrounding wilderness. My grandparents had once vacationed at Spirit Lake, and we had family and friends in the area. As a kid, we visited a couple of times, and there are pictures of me – looking awkward as hell – standing next to the flattened remains of a vehicle caught in the horizontal blast.
When I got a bit older, I climbed Mount St. Helens itself with some friends, a relatively easy excursion made easier by dint of the fact that the mountain is a thousand feet shorter now than it was in 1980. We made the new summit on a lucky-clear day, so that we were able to see several of the other volcanoes that bided their time in the distance. Even then, ash filled the air.
All this is to say that the Mount St. Helens eruption has been a low key presence in the background of my life for a long time. Up until now, however, I had never read a book on it. Mostly, I assumed I knew the story. After all – and leaving aside the granular details of plate tectonics – it is not a complex tale.
Or so I thought.
In Eruption, Steve Olson goes to great lengths – not always convincingly – to prove that there is more going on than the mere release of thermal energy equivalent to twenty-six megatons of TNT.
***
Starting in March 1980, Mount St. Helens – located in Skamania County, Washington – began to rumble and smoke, an early announcement of her intentions. Scientists flocked to her slopes, followed by journalists and sightseers hoping to see the big show. On May 18, Mount St. Helens provided it, unleashing one of the largest eruptions in history, knocking down trees, causing extensive damage, and killing fifty-seven people.
Those are the bare facts. Its all you really need to know to have a working knowledge of the still-present danger on the west coast, or to get through a random question on bar-or-church trivia night.
But Olson wants you to know more. He wants you to know much more. And your willingness to learn the most tangential minutiae of the Mount St. Helens blast should dictate your decision on whether you want to read this.
In other words, I’m talking about filler.
***
Nonfiction filler is a fascinating component of history books. For a lot of people, it can be extremely annoying, even a deal breaker. For others, such as myself, a degree or two of stuffing can be quite complimentary to the main dish, if done properly.
In Eruption, Olson stretched the definition of relevance, and my patience along with it.
To explain: Eruption is divided into seven parts. The first three parts – totaling about 140 pages out of a total of 245 – is all about the leadup to the eruption. Some of the sections within these parts are vital and necessary, describing the formation of Mount St. Helens, the cause of the eruption, the responses of the scientific community, and the media’s fixation on local resident Harry Truman, a cantankerous bastard who owned a lodge at the base of the volcano, and who talked himself into a corner that he could not escape, buried as it was “under hundreds of feet of steaming stone, earth, ice, and mud.”
The problem – in my opinion – comes from Olson’s decision to keep cutting away from this clearly-germane material to give extended flashbacks about the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company, which logged the beautiful forests that once carpeted the land around St. Helens. This includes a lengthy biography of the Weyerhaeuser family that reaches back one-hundred years, and which ultimately has no bearing on the events of May 1980.
This is part of a parallel track in which Olson tries to tie the conservation of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument into the eruption story. To that end, he extends a good amount of space to Gordon Pinchot, the creation of the Forest Service, and the Forest Service’s obeisance to the logging industry. After the explosions and the rescues – which take up two of seven parts – Olson decides to close the book with two more parts circling back to this topic. Thus, in simple mathematical terms, Eruption consists of two parts actual eruption, and five parts other elements.
Don’t get me wrong. With the exception of the Weyerhaeuser digression, some of this stuff was interesting. More than that, the conservation aspect is important. One of the big untold stories in American history is the transfer of public wealth – gold, silver, coal, oil, natural gas, and lumber – to private corporations, which has resulted in the exploitation of this wealth to companies and shareholders at the expense of everyone else. But that is a huge topic that belongs in its own volume. It just doesn’t fit comfortably here.
***
Despite its flaws, Eruption nails its central event. Olson does a wonderful job evoking the cataclysmic “pyroclastic density current” that managed to kill as far as thirteen miles away. Each of the victims get their own vignettes, describing where they were when the mountain let go, and why they were there in the first place. Along the way, he makes some salient points about the terrible state leadership that allowed the “danger zones” to be mapped according to the Weyerhaeuser Company’s liking. As a general life rule, you should not be anywhere in the vicinity of a smoking volcano. That said, some of the victims camping in the area had been lulled into a false sense of security by those compromise maps.
While I think this could have been trimmed and tightened, it worked for me in the end, because – as is required of all disaster yarns – it ably captured the human drama, etching people against the backdrop of an elemental force they could not really conceive or comprehend.
- Steve Olson, Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens
Growing up, my parents had one of those old-fashioned, glass-doored curio cabinets filled with weird knickknacks that I was not allowed to touch, but which drew me to them because of their protected status within that ancient bit of furniture that smelled like days gone by. Among the oddities was an old pharmacist’s vial filled with a strange gray powder and stoppered with a cork. A frayed bit of masking tape on the vial’s side said: “Mt. St. Helen’s May 1980.” The powder within the vial was ash collected when the mountain – a stratovolcano made of layers of ash, rock, lava, and mud – blew her top, sprinkling debris over eleven states and five Canadian provinces.
It turns out that my family had a great deal of interest in Mount St. Helens and the surrounding wilderness. My grandparents had once vacationed at Spirit Lake, and we had family and friends in the area. As a kid, we visited a couple of times, and there are pictures of me – looking awkward as hell – standing next to the flattened remains of a vehicle caught in the horizontal blast.
When I got a bit older, I climbed Mount St. Helens itself with some friends, a relatively easy excursion made easier by dint of the fact that the mountain is a thousand feet shorter now than it was in 1980. We made the new summit on a lucky-clear day, so that we were able to see several of the other volcanoes that bided their time in the distance. Even then, ash filled the air.
All this is to say that the Mount St. Helens eruption has been a low key presence in the background of my life for a long time. Up until now, however, I had never read a book on it. Mostly, I assumed I knew the story. After all – and leaving aside the granular details of plate tectonics – it is not a complex tale.
Or so I thought.
In Eruption, Steve Olson goes to great lengths – not always convincingly – to prove that there is more going on than the mere release of thermal energy equivalent to twenty-six megatons of TNT.
***
Starting in March 1980, Mount St. Helens – located in Skamania County, Washington – began to rumble and smoke, an early announcement of her intentions. Scientists flocked to her slopes, followed by journalists and sightseers hoping to see the big show. On May 18, Mount St. Helens provided it, unleashing one of the largest eruptions in history, knocking down trees, causing extensive damage, and killing fifty-seven people.
Those are the bare facts. Its all you really need to know to have a working knowledge of the still-present danger on the west coast, or to get through a random question on bar-or-church trivia night.
But Olson wants you to know more. He wants you to know much more. And your willingness to learn the most tangential minutiae of the Mount St. Helens blast should dictate your decision on whether you want to read this.
In other words, I’m talking about filler.
***
Nonfiction filler is a fascinating component of history books. For a lot of people, it can be extremely annoying, even a deal breaker. For others, such as myself, a degree or two of stuffing can be quite complimentary to the main dish, if done properly.
In Eruption, Olson stretched the definition of relevance, and my patience along with it.
To explain: Eruption is divided into seven parts. The first three parts – totaling about 140 pages out of a total of 245 – is all about the leadup to the eruption. Some of the sections within these parts are vital and necessary, describing the formation of Mount St. Helens, the cause of the eruption, the responses of the scientific community, and the media’s fixation on local resident Harry Truman, a cantankerous bastard who owned a lodge at the base of the volcano, and who talked himself into a corner that he could not escape, buried as it was “under hundreds of feet of steaming stone, earth, ice, and mud.”
The problem – in my opinion – comes from Olson’s decision to keep cutting away from this clearly-germane material to give extended flashbacks about the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company, which logged the beautiful forests that once carpeted the land around St. Helens. This includes a lengthy biography of the Weyerhaeuser family that reaches back one-hundred years, and which ultimately has no bearing on the events of May 1980.
This is part of a parallel track in which Olson tries to tie the conservation of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument into the eruption story. To that end, he extends a good amount of space to Gordon Pinchot, the creation of the Forest Service, and the Forest Service’s obeisance to the logging industry. After the explosions and the rescues – which take up two of seven parts – Olson decides to close the book with two more parts circling back to this topic. Thus, in simple mathematical terms, Eruption consists of two parts actual eruption, and five parts other elements.
Don’t get me wrong. With the exception of the Weyerhaeuser digression, some of this stuff was interesting. More than that, the conservation aspect is important. One of the big untold stories in American history is the transfer of public wealth – gold, silver, coal, oil, natural gas, and lumber – to private corporations, which has resulted in the exploitation of this wealth to companies and shareholders at the expense of everyone else. But that is a huge topic that belongs in its own volume. It just doesn’t fit comfortably here.
***
Despite its flaws, Eruption nails its central event. Olson does a wonderful job evoking the cataclysmic “pyroclastic density current” that managed to kill as far as thirteen miles away. Each of the victims get their own vignettes, describing where they were when the mountain let go, and why they were there in the first place. Along the way, he makes some salient points about the terrible state leadership that allowed the “danger zones” to be mapped according to the Weyerhaeuser Company’s liking. As a general life rule, you should not be anywhere in the vicinity of a smoking volcano. That said, some of the victims camping in the area had been lulled into a false sense of security by those compromise maps.
While I think this could have been trimmed and tightened, it worked for me in the end, because – as is required of all disaster yarns – it ably captured the human drama, etching people against the backdrop of an elemental force they could not really conceive or comprehend.
March 2, 2016
This book made me hate humanity. It's super depressing. Let me explain.
The bulk of the beginning of this book was an explanation of the logging company that owned a good percentage of the land around Mount St. Helens. We got the WHOLE history of it, including how when the Europeans came over to America, they proceeded to strip the forests of the old growth trees almost immediately. Over 2/3s of the trees that America HAD are GONE.
So that part made me sick to my stomach, because humans can't seem to look beyond their noses and don't seem to care about the future and think the Earth and it's bounty is to serve them and it's quite alright to destroy it for personal gain.
THEN, the part about the politicians, specifically the governor, who didn't expand the danger areas and tell people to keep away, because it would have affected the big logging business in the area, THEN blaming the people who died because they shouldn't have been there, ALSO made me want to cast up my accounts.
This happened in 1980, the eruption, so that may go a long way to explaining why the people actually TRUSTED the government when the government said it was safe. Civilians hadn't learned any better then that politicians are nine times out of ten only in it for themselves and big business. I think if this happened now and the politicians were like, "It'll be ok, not a huge danger area," Yet the scientists were like, "No, it's going to be dangerous and we need to evacuate," I think more people would have packed up and moved the heck out of there. I don't think the government would have been trusted. I know I sure wouldn't trust them.
So yeah, this book was severely depressing on the points of greedy people and companies, politicians that put themselves and the bottom line first and the senseless deaths of innocent people, really got to me.
However, that being said, this book is SUPER important to read. It is always important to learn from our past so we don't repeat it. This is a cautionary tale and also taking the blame off of the victims and putting it back onto the people who pretty much ensured deaths would occur. It's severely lucky that the eruption happened on a Sunday. If it was a weekday, hundreds of loggers would have been out there and would have lost their lives too. It would have been much, much worse. It was still horrible, but the loss of lives was less.
Super important book. Super depressing read. I highly recommend it. Just don't read it when in a low mood.
3.5 stars, rounded up because the victims were slandered by the politicians and this book helps to get the truth out there.
My thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
The bulk of the beginning of this book was an explanation of the logging company that owned a good percentage of the land around Mount St. Helens. We got the WHOLE history of it, including how when the Europeans came over to America, they proceeded to strip the forests of the old growth trees almost immediately. Over 2/3s of the trees that America HAD are GONE.
So that part made me sick to my stomach, because humans can't seem to look beyond their noses and don't seem to care about the future and think the Earth and it's bounty is to serve them and it's quite alright to destroy it for personal gain.
THEN, the part about the politicians, specifically the governor, who didn't expand the danger areas and tell people to keep away, because it would have affected the big logging business in the area, THEN blaming the people who died because they shouldn't have been there, ALSO made me want to cast up my accounts.
This happened in 1980, the eruption, so that may go a long way to explaining why the people actually TRUSTED the government when the government said it was safe. Civilians hadn't learned any better then that politicians are nine times out of ten only in it for themselves and big business. I think if this happened now and the politicians were like, "It'll be ok, not a huge danger area," Yet the scientists were like, "No, it's going to be dangerous and we need to evacuate," I think more people would have packed up and moved the heck out of there. I don't think the government would have been trusted. I know I sure wouldn't trust them.
So yeah, this book was severely depressing on the points of greedy people and companies, politicians that put themselves and the bottom line first and the senseless deaths of innocent people, really got to me.
However, that being said, this book is SUPER important to read. It is always important to learn from our past so we don't repeat it. This is a cautionary tale and also taking the blame off of the victims and putting it back onto the people who pretty much ensured deaths would occur. It's severely lucky that the eruption happened on a Sunday. If it was a weekday, hundreds of loggers would have been out there and would have lost their lives too. It would have been much, much worse. It was still horrible, but the loss of lives was less.
Super important book. Super depressing read. I highly recommend it. Just don't read it when in a low mood.
3.5 stars, rounded up because the victims were slandered by the politicians and this book helps to get the truth out there.
My thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
October 30, 2024
“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.”
― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
Catastrophe tourism by proxy
An intriguing, sobering, very well-written and narrated book, currently included for free in the Plus Catalogue at audible.com .
Steve Olson combined the right amount of history, reportage and human touch for a tense and interesting docu-drama without judgement or pointing the finger which was quite a feat because what went through my head while reading were lots of Terry Pratchett quotes about human stupidity-irresponsibility, political and corporate meanness-carelessness. Like: “Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.” and more along that line.
At the end of the book Olson raises the very valid point of humanity as a whole being self-complacent while merrily going on about their business to ignore dangers and destroy their own planet. So yes, in way we are all people who are standing on the volcano looking on and taking pictures while it is erupting. SIGH.
― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
Catastrophe tourism by proxy
An intriguing, sobering, very well-written and narrated book, currently included for free in the Plus Catalogue at audible.com .
Steve Olson combined the right amount of history, reportage and human touch for a tense and interesting docu-drama without judgement or pointing the finger which was quite a feat because what went through my head while reading were lots of Terry Pratchett quotes about human stupidity-irresponsibility, political and corporate meanness-carelessness. Like: “Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.” and more along that line.
At the end of the book Olson raises the very valid point of humanity as a whole being self-complacent while merrily going on about their business to ignore dangers and destroy their own planet. So yes, in way we are all people who are standing on the volcano looking on and taking pictures while it is erupting. SIGH.
January 10, 2016
Summary: This narrative weaves together the science, history, and economic interests surrounding the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, and its subsequent history.
I've been a sucker for a volcano story ever since a volcano was a part of the plotline in a comic strip I followed as a kid. Years later, I devoured Simon Winchester's Krakatoa. Mount St. Helens occurred in my lifetime, one more disaster at the end of Jimmy Carter's ill-fated presidency, one marked by darkened skies and spectacular sunsets, in our part of the country, but spectacular devastation and the loss of 57 lives in the area 15 to 20 miles out from the north face of the volcano.
Steve Olson's account of this disaster describes not only the eruption but the history of the mountain, the region, and particularly the logging interests of the Weyerhaeuser Company that played such a big story in this narrative.
The narrative begins on March 20, 1980, when the volcano stirs to life. Soon we are introduced to Dave Johnston, a volcanologist whose life was to end on the fateful day of the eruption. And we are introduced to Weyerhaeuser, with 300 loggers working within miles of the volcano, pulled back after the initial eruption, but soon sent back in to continue logging old growth trees on Weyerhaeuser land near the volcano. Olson takes a detour at this point, giving us the back history of the Weyerhauser family, including the owner's abduction as a child, and how they came to hold the lands around the mountain.
Part two turns to the warnings geologist were giving. Studies of the area around the mountain showed inches to feet thick areas of ash and pumice miles from the volcano including evidence of past lateral eruptions. Soon, geologists are noticing an ominous bulge on the north face that continues to grow. We are introduced to those living and working around the volcano, some like Harry Truman adamant about staying, others concerned with the dangers. And then there are the fateful red and blue zones, drawn around Weyerhaeuser lands that allow camper and others to get far closer than was truly safe, in collusion with the state's conservative governor. Part three introduces us to the history of conservation efforts led by the likes of Gifford Pinchot and the continuing efforts of those like Kathy Saul leading a hike in the shadow of the mountain a week before the eruption. This part concludes with a list and map of those in the vicinity of the volcano the night before the eruption, including Dave Johnston, monitoring the volcano.
Part four is the eruption. The chapter begins with this description of geologist, Keith Stoffel, flying over the volcano the moment it erupted on Sunday May 18:
"Look," he said, "the crater." Judson tipped the Cessna's right wing so they could get a better view. Some of the snow on the south facing side of the crater had started to move. Then, as they looked out the plane's windows, an incredible thing happened. A gigantic, east-west crack appeared across the top of the mountain, splitting the volcano in two. The ground on the northern half of the crack began to ripple and churn, like a pan of milk just beginning to boil. Suddenly, without a sound, the northern portion of the mountain began to slide downward...
Olson goes on to describe the eruption, and the last moments of many of those around the mountain, and the stories of those who survived, along with, in Part five, the rescue efforts and the aftermath of flooding and devastation of the forests to the north and west of the volcano.
Parts six and seven concern the years after the eruption, beginning with efforts to set aside significant lands for a national monument, contested by logging interests who simply wanted to salvage, and replant the area. Evenually 110,000 acres are protected as the Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument. What this has allowed is the study of how such an ecosystem recovers from the blast. This also spelled the end of logging in the area, but a growth of other tourism and recreation interests along with the diversified economic growth in the Pacific Northwest.
Olson tells us a tale in which public safety is held hostage to economic interest. It is perhaps providential that the eruption took place on a Sunday, when the numbers of those in the blast zone were at their lowest. On Monday, 300 loggers would have been in the area. Even on Saturday, lodge owners were given access to their property. We also see both the heroic in figures like Dave Johnston and the foolhardy in Harry Truman who refused to leave and was one of the first to die. Finally we are given a warning of the powerful forces we live alongside. Volcanoes actually give us the most tangible warnings, but fault lines, coastlines subject to surge and tsunami, hurricanes and tornadoes put many of us at some risk, as the author notes, risks of which we are often oblivious. Perhaps that's why some of us like volcano stories--they are risks most of us do not face.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
I've been a sucker for a volcano story ever since a volcano was a part of the plotline in a comic strip I followed as a kid. Years later, I devoured Simon Winchester's Krakatoa. Mount St. Helens occurred in my lifetime, one more disaster at the end of Jimmy Carter's ill-fated presidency, one marked by darkened skies and spectacular sunsets, in our part of the country, but spectacular devastation and the loss of 57 lives in the area 15 to 20 miles out from the north face of the volcano.
Steve Olson's account of this disaster describes not only the eruption but the history of the mountain, the region, and particularly the logging interests of the Weyerhaeuser Company that played such a big story in this narrative.
The narrative begins on March 20, 1980, when the volcano stirs to life. Soon we are introduced to Dave Johnston, a volcanologist whose life was to end on the fateful day of the eruption. And we are introduced to Weyerhaeuser, with 300 loggers working within miles of the volcano, pulled back after the initial eruption, but soon sent back in to continue logging old growth trees on Weyerhaeuser land near the volcano. Olson takes a detour at this point, giving us the back history of the Weyerhauser family, including the owner's abduction as a child, and how they came to hold the lands around the mountain.
Part two turns to the warnings geologist were giving. Studies of the area around the mountain showed inches to feet thick areas of ash and pumice miles from the volcano including evidence of past lateral eruptions. Soon, geologists are noticing an ominous bulge on the north face that continues to grow. We are introduced to those living and working around the volcano, some like Harry Truman adamant about staying, others concerned with the dangers. And then there are the fateful red and blue zones, drawn around Weyerhaeuser lands that allow camper and others to get far closer than was truly safe, in collusion with the state's conservative governor. Part three introduces us to the history of conservation efforts led by the likes of Gifford Pinchot and the continuing efforts of those like Kathy Saul leading a hike in the shadow of the mountain a week before the eruption. This part concludes with a list and map of those in the vicinity of the volcano the night before the eruption, including Dave Johnston, monitoring the volcano.
Part four is the eruption. The chapter begins with this description of geologist, Keith Stoffel, flying over the volcano the moment it erupted on Sunday May 18:
"Look," he said, "the crater." Judson tipped the Cessna's right wing so they could get a better view. Some of the snow on the south facing side of the crater had started to move. Then, as they looked out the plane's windows, an incredible thing happened. A gigantic, east-west crack appeared across the top of the mountain, splitting the volcano in two. The ground on the northern half of the crack began to ripple and churn, like a pan of milk just beginning to boil. Suddenly, without a sound, the northern portion of the mountain began to slide downward...
Olson goes on to describe the eruption, and the last moments of many of those around the mountain, and the stories of those who survived, along with, in Part five, the rescue efforts and the aftermath of flooding and devastation of the forests to the north and west of the volcano.
Parts six and seven concern the years after the eruption, beginning with efforts to set aside significant lands for a national monument, contested by logging interests who simply wanted to salvage, and replant the area. Evenually 110,000 acres are protected as the Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument. What this has allowed is the study of how such an ecosystem recovers from the blast. This also spelled the end of logging in the area, but a growth of other tourism and recreation interests along with the diversified economic growth in the Pacific Northwest.
Olson tells us a tale in which public safety is held hostage to economic interest. It is perhaps providential that the eruption took place on a Sunday, when the numbers of those in the blast zone were at their lowest. On Monday, 300 loggers would have been in the area. Even on Saturday, lodge owners were given access to their property. We also see both the heroic in figures like Dave Johnston and the foolhardy in Harry Truman who refused to leave and was one of the first to die. Finally we are given a warning of the powerful forces we live alongside. Volcanoes actually give us the most tangible warnings, but fault lines, coastlines subject to surge and tsunami, hurricanes and tornadoes put many of us at some risk, as the author notes, risks of which we are often oblivious. Perhaps that's why some of us like volcano stories--they are risks most of us do not face.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
April 12, 2022
I was a little me when Mount St. Helens erupted in May of 1980. I remember watching the 6:30 news, with pictures showing the entire top of the mountain blasting apart. It terrified me and captivated me in equal measure, and for a brief time I dreamed of becoming a volcanologist.
Eruption is a good book, but like a lot of non-fiction it switched back and forth with a deep-dive on the history of the region - most especially focusing on Weyerhaeuser's ownership of the land for logging use and the various idiotic politicians whose short-sighted decisions depleted the region and endangered people leading up to the eruption. I freely admit to skimming those chapters, lest I fall asleep. I was immensely more interested in the chapters focusing on the month or so runup to the eruption and the aftermath.
Fifty-seven people died in this disaster, mostly from asphyxiation from ash. Thousands more have died around the world in volcanic eruptions in the 40+ years since, which makes me think about how little our technology and advanced civilization can protect us from the power of the planet. Frightening and humbling stuff.
Eruption is a good book, but like a lot of non-fiction it switched back and forth with a deep-dive on the history of the region - most especially focusing on Weyerhaeuser's ownership of the land for logging use and the various idiotic politicians whose short-sighted decisions depleted the region and endangered people leading up to the eruption. I freely admit to skimming those chapters, lest I fall asleep. I was immensely more interested in the chapters focusing on the month or so runup to the eruption and the aftermath.
Fifty-seven people died in this disaster, mostly from asphyxiation from ash. Thousands more have died around the world in volcanic eruptions in the 40+ years since, which makes me think about how little our technology and advanced civilization can protect us from the power of the planet. Frightening and humbling stuff.
May 18, 2020
The author did a lot of research for this book - but that research wasn't specifically on Mount St. Helens itself.
The book spent an inordinate amount of time and ink on the Weyerhauser logging company, which has an interesting history that does intersect with the history of southwestern Washington... but that wasn't exactly the "Untold Story of Mount St. Helens" that I was expecting from the title. I did like the stories of each of the people "on the mountain" that day, and what they experienced.
Even though it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, there was a lot to take away... and next time I am in Washington, I want to make the trip to see the caldera.
The book spent an inordinate amount of time and ink on the Weyerhauser logging company, which has an interesting history that does intersect with the history of southwestern Washington... but that wasn't exactly the "Untold Story of Mount St. Helens" that I was expecting from the title. I did like the stories of each of the people "on the mountain" that day, and what they experienced.
Even though it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, there was a lot to take away... and next time I am in Washington, I want to make the trip to see the caldera.
October 14, 2016
Having lived through this even in Yakima, Wa, this was a very interesting read. There is a tremendous amount of history at the beginning of the book. It can be quite tedious initially and weighty to go through. But, it helps you to develop a much better understanding of the events leading up to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Anyone who ever lived through this (I was 6 1/2 years old at the time, but remember it very well), this is a must read. But, others will enjoy it too.
April 18, 2017
Loved this book! I remember when the eruption happened, but this book has filled in the details and given me a bigger picture of events--how it impacted the economy, history, environment, and people of Washington. While some readers may become impatient with Olson's details of the history of the area's logging economy, the information is necessary to explain the reasons why the various people killed and injured in the eruption were there at that time, and it helps to build suspense toward the chapters on the big blast. I also enjoyed learning about what has happened to Mount St. Helens since May 1980. The author provides plenty of maps, for which I was grateful, as well as photographs, though I would have liked a picture of George Weyerhaeuser, a major figure in the local economy. Enthusiastically recommended!
March 29, 2017
I've always found Mount St. Helens more than a bit fascinating, although I've only taken the time to read a few articles and watch a few television programs about it. Overall, the gist I got was: it was a relatively unexpected eruption (as in the geologists knew SOMETHING was up with the volcano, but the eruption itself caught them off guard), the people who died because of the eruption had been warned away but either insisted upon staying or snuck past the road block (except for Dave Johnson, who was a geologist observing the volcano), and...that's about it. And this book states that most of that is completely and utterly wrong.
The type and time of eruption, perhaps, were a bit of a surprise, but the geologists, volcanologists, and other scientists studying the volcano clearly thought that there was a high chance that it would erupt soon - they just couldn't pinpoint an exact date or time. But there were clear signs that an eruption was looming on the future: numerous earthquakes in the vicinity, the "bulge" growing on the northern side of the volcano, and the jets of steam being emitted from Mount St. Helens. The problem was, although they thought that there was a chance that the volcano might erupt from its side (which it did - from the "bulge" area), the scientists didn't think that was the MOST likely scenario. They obviously thought it was pretty unlikely to happen, actually, since their observation points (including Coldwater II, where Dave Johnson was killed) were only about four miles away from that bulge. But an eruption? The scientists knew that it was quite likely to happen - but because of politics, big business, and basically never having seen this happen in their lifetimes, a bunch of protections that could have been implemented (and should have been implemented) never happened.
Speaking of politics and big business, the governor of the state of Washington at the time was obviously more concerned about logging operations continuing near the base and along the flanks of Mt. St. Helens, rather than the safety of the citizens. Large tracts of logging land - which were open, for the most part, to campers, hikers, fishermen, etc during the weekends - were never marked in the danger zone at all (presumably to keep loggers working during the week). And many of those people who were killed in the blast were just out camping, or hiking, or fishing, and didn't know that they were in danger at all. Most of them were following the posted "red" and "blue" zones and were avoiding those areas. Sure, there were a few like the infamous Harry Truman, who refused to leave his lodge on Spirit Lake and was eventually buried beneath the eruption and resulting landslide - but most were either researching the volcano (Dave Johnson), working there (the photographer Reid Blackburn, some ham radio operators who had stationed themselves along the northern ridges to warn others if the volcano erupted, the foreman who went up with his wife to check the equipment that day), or just enjoying the scenery or nature in general (some who died didn't even have a view of Mt. St. Helens).
The author takes a meandering view of the disaster, and spends a great deal on the history of logging in the area, which I found to be a bit tedious. However, the author states in the prologue that his main "goal" of the book was to find out why people were in the region of Mt. St. Helens on that day, and so to put the loggers in the region of that volcano, he felt the need to explain how the logging operations developed in the first place.
The number of causalities, by the way, would have been MUCH higher had Mt. St. Helens erupted on a weekday, with hundreds of loggers in those woods, many of them stationed very closely to the volcano. It would have been higher, too, if it hadn't erupted on a Sunday morning - half a day earlier or later, and many others probably would have been up in the region hiking, exploring, fishing, or just watching the volcano.
It's an interesting book, especially since the author explores the creation of the national monument and the driving forces both behind and against the creation of that monument. Some of the areas near Mt. St. Helens are still closed to the public nearly forty years after the eruption, being used for research (both the destruction and how quickly nature can "bounce back" from such a disaster). I've always had Mt. St. Helens on my bucket list, but after reading this book, it has moved several slots higher.
The type and time of eruption, perhaps, were a bit of a surprise, but the geologists, volcanologists, and other scientists studying the volcano clearly thought that there was a high chance that it would erupt soon - they just couldn't pinpoint an exact date or time. But there were clear signs that an eruption was looming on the future: numerous earthquakes in the vicinity, the "bulge" growing on the northern side of the volcano, and the jets of steam being emitted from Mount St. Helens. The problem was, although they thought that there was a chance that the volcano might erupt from its side (which it did - from the "bulge" area), the scientists didn't think that was the MOST likely scenario. They obviously thought it was pretty unlikely to happen, actually, since their observation points (including Coldwater II, where Dave Johnson was killed) were only about four miles away from that bulge. But an eruption? The scientists knew that it was quite likely to happen - but because of politics, big business, and basically never having seen this happen in their lifetimes, a bunch of protections that could have been implemented (and should have been implemented) never happened.
Speaking of politics and big business, the governor of the state of Washington at the time was obviously more concerned about logging operations continuing near the base and along the flanks of Mt. St. Helens, rather than the safety of the citizens. Large tracts of logging land - which were open, for the most part, to campers, hikers, fishermen, etc during the weekends - were never marked in the danger zone at all (presumably to keep loggers working during the week). And many of those people who were killed in the blast were just out camping, or hiking, or fishing, and didn't know that they were in danger at all. Most of them were following the posted "red" and "blue" zones and were avoiding those areas. Sure, there were a few like the infamous Harry Truman, who refused to leave his lodge on Spirit Lake and was eventually buried beneath the eruption and resulting landslide - but most were either researching the volcano (Dave Johnson), working there (the photographer Reid Blackburn, some ham radio operators who had stationed themselves along the northern ridges to warn others if the volcano erupted, the foreman who went up with his wife to check the equipment that day), or just enjoying the scenery or nature in general (some who died didn't even have a view of Mt. St. Helens).
The author takes a meandering view of the disaster, and spends a great deal on the history of logging in the area, which I found to be a bit tedious. However, the author states in the prologue that his main "goal" of the book was to find out why people were in the region of Mt. St. Helens on that day, and so to put the loggers in the region of that volcano, he felt the need to explain how the logging operations developed in the first place.
The number of causalities, by the way, would have been MUCH higher had Mt. St. Helens erupted on a weekday, with hundreds of loggers in those woods, many of them stationed very closely to the volcano. It would have been higher, too, if it hadn't erupted on a Sunday morning - half a day earlier or later, and many others probably would have been up in the region hiking, exploring, fishing, or just watching the volcano.
It's an interesting book, especially since the author explores the creation of the national monument and the driving forces both behind and against the creation of that monument. Some of the areas near Mt. St. Helens are still closed to the public nearly forty years after the eruption, being used for research (both the destruction and how quickly nature can "bounce back" from such a disaster). I've always had Mt. St. Helens on my bucket list, but after reading this book, it has moved several slots higher.
January 12, 2016
a well-written, often riveting account of mount st. helens before, during, and after its famed 1980 reawakening, steve olson's eruption delves into the weeks of uncertainty that preceded and followed the mountain's explosion, framing the monumental event in the context of the timber industry, pacific northwest politics, the history of the forest service, and ongoing conservation efforts. in addition to chronicling the blast, avalanche, flooding, and ashfall that devastated the region and took the lives of 57 people, eruption also considers the volcano's legacy and the scientific developments of the last 35 years.
like all great popular science books, eruption offers insight not only into its subject, but also a variety of ancillary ones that lend the story greater depth, color, and perspective. with an extensive bibliography, it's evident olson did considerable research in preparation for the book. for those interested in mount st. helens specifically, or volcanology in general, eruption offers a personal, political, and polyphonic account of a remarkable natural disaster that continues to shape the region decades later.
like all great popular science books, eruption offers insight not only into its subject, but also a variety of ancillary ones that lend the story greater depth, color, and perspective. with an extensive bibliography, it's evident olson did considerable research in preparation for the book. for those interested in mount st. helens specifically, or volcanology in general, eruption offers a personal, political, and polyphonic account of a remarkable natural disaster that continues to shape the region decades later.
the eruption of mount st. helens marked the dividing line between the old northwest and the new, between the decline of the countryside and the rise of the cities, between an economy based on resources and one based on ideas. the stories of the people who were around the mountain when it exploded reflect this turning point, as if caught in an unexpected snapshot.
July 7, 2016
Heartwrenching. After a not so successful read-through of Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, this was definitely a change for the better. Olson puts you right into the event, alongside many who lost their lives on the fateful day of May 18th, 1980. The most devastating fact in this tragedy is of course how preventable many of these deaths could have been. The government and the local law enforcement failed their citizens in properly securing the area, educating them on the real dangers of volcanic activity, and expanding no-entry zones. Only three out of almost sixty victims died in the so-called "red zone", two of whom were there legally on scientific permit.
May 29, 2016
Author Steve Olson set out to tell the story of most of the 57 people who died as a result of the May 18th eruption, and in doing so he incorporates a lot of history. Several had a connection to logging, and Weyerhauser owned land that abutted the prohibited zones, so a history of that company starts off the book. Science, economy, and the politics of 1980 also factor into this comprehensive story.
The eruption and aftermath are clearly detailed, along with speculations of the final moments of those who died. Interspersed are narratives of some who escaped, burned and bruised. Maps, charts and photographs provide a visual context of the area and event.
Ten years after the fact, my roommates and I drove to the mountain for the first time, parking at what would become the Windy Ridge viewpoint. From there we hiked towards and up the lower slope, to the point that we could look in and see the growing lava dome. Along this dry hike (we didn't bring water), we saw very little greenery. The book concludes with sections detailing the efforts at conservation and creating the National Volcanic Monument. I for one am glad that this occurred - a hike through a cleaned-up disaster area wouldn't be as interesting or educational.
I started reading this book on May 18th, and I will post my review at 8:55 am on Sunday. I recommend the book, and if any are close enough, a trip to the mountain as well.
The eruption and aftermath are clearly detailed, along with speculations of the final moments of those who died. Interspersed are narratives of some who escaped, burned and bruised. Maps, charts and photographs provide a visual context of the area and event.
Ten years after the fact, my roommates and I drove to the mountain for the first time, parking at what would become the Windy Ridge viewpoint. From there we hiked towards and up the lower slope, to the point that we could look in and see the growing lava dome. Along this dry hike (we didn't bring water), we saw very little greenery. The book concludes with sections detailing the efforts at conservation and creating the National Volcanic Monument. I for one am glad that this occurred - a hike through a cleaned-up disaster area wouldn't be as interesting or educational.
I started reading this book on May 18th, and I will post my review at 8:55 am on Sunday. I recommend the book, and if any are close enough, a trip to the mountain as well.
July 17, 2016
What I think is that Steve Olson wanted to write a book about lumbering in the New World with a focus on the Weyerhaeusers, but a publisher/editor told him it would be too dull. So, he threw in a recount of the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption, perhaps at the suggestion of the publisher/editor, and didn't even much try to connect his two stories. I've read too many similar books in recent years.
December 25, 2023
On the day of the famous eruption, I was four years old, and we were visiting my grandparents in southeastern British Columbia for the Canadian Victoria Day long weekend. I ran into the house from playing outside saying that there was some grey snow falling from the sky. None of my family believed me until the news reported that Mount St.Helens had exploded and the ash had travelled all the way to southern British Columbia.
Fast forward to summer of 1988 and my family visited Mount St. Helens National Monument. I remember vividly the grey wasteland with gigantic trees snapped off like matchsticks and the brooding volcano in the distance. The volcano utterly fascinated me and I wanted to know more of the how and why of the eruption. I am sure that trip along the entire Cascade volcano chain, in particular Mount St. Helens, inspired my love of geology and my current career as a geologist.
I know now the how and why the volcano exploded, but I wanted to know more of the human side of the story. Here, this book filled in that gap of knowledge. The author goes into the history, and in this case, logging history. Weyerhaeuser plays a significant role in logging around the Mount St. Helens region. The author also goes into some detail about difficulty to restrict people from entering the danger zone and how everyone, including the geologists, vastly underestimated the danger of the volcano. It was morbidly fascinating to have a map of where the people who died and what they were doing before Mount St.Helens erupted. I was surprised to learn that there were very few individuals that either knew they were putting their lives at risk by being so close to the volcano or broke the law by willingly staying inside the danger zone. One was Harry Truman, who lived on the shores of Spirit Lake and broke the law by not evacuating and the other was the USGS geologist Dave Johnston who was monitoring the volcano. Both died in the eruption. All of the other deaths? They were all outside the defined "red" danger zone and the majority were out camping. These people were typically 10 miles away and the volcano was not visible due to topography.
The story of Mount St. Helens will always have a soft spot in my heart, despite the tragedy. The volcano did have a huge influence on my life as I do not think I would have ever become a geologist after visiting the devastation 8 years after the eruption.
Fast forward to summer of 1988 and my family visited Mount St. Helens National Monument. I remember vividly the grey wasteland with gigantic trees snapped off like matchsticks and the brooding volcano in the distance. The volcano utterly fascinated me and I wanted to know more of the how and why of the eruption. I am sure that trip along the entire Cascade volcano chain, in particular Mount St. Helens, inspired my love of geology and my current career as a geologist.
I know now the how and why the volcano exploded, but I wanted to know more of the human side of the story. Here, this book filled in that gap of knowledge. The author goes into the history, and in this case, logging history. Weyerhaeuser plays a significant role in logging around the Mount St. Helens region. The author also goes into some detail about difficulty to restrict people from entering the danger zone and how everyone, including the geologists, vastly underestimated the danger of the volcano. It was morbidly fascinating to have a map of where the people who died and what they were doing before Mount St.Helens erupted. I was surprised to learn that there were very few individuals that either knew they were putting their lives at risk by being so close to the volcano or broke the law by willingly staying inside the danger zone. One was Harry Truman, who lived on the shores of Spirit Lake and broke the law by not evacuating and the other was the USGS geologist Dave Johnston who was monitoring the volcano. Both died in the eruption. All of the other deaths? They were all outside the defined "red" danger zone and the majority were out camping. These people were typically 10 miles away and the volcano was not visible due to topography.
The story of Mount St. Helens will always have a soft spot in my heart, despite the tragedy. The volcano did have a huge influence on my life as I do not think I would have ever become a geologist after visiting the devastation 8 years after the eruption.
May 21, 2016
Wished it had spent more on the people, geology and less on the logging industry. Took 2 hours of audiobook to get to good part.
August 7, 2024
The eruption at 08.32 hours on Sunday morning May the 18th 1980 is well documented and proved to be the change needed to improve Vulcanic science and observation. The eruption of an vulcano can be spectacular but it is the human interaction that makes the story worth telling otherwise images will do the trick.
It takes close to 140 pages of book before we get to the boom of the vulcano and its aftermath.
140 pages to set up the role of big cooperations and their influencial rules in government. Which in this case was responsibal for the human loss as is currently known. Had it not been a Sunday morning the human loss might have been more extensive.
The writer makes a good case about the policies surrounding natural sources that can make money versus nature and human interest.
Hé also gives people involved a face and therefor polls us close to the drama. And you can add Youtube yourself for the visuals.
And interesting and good Window on natural threads on our way of life, well written and does not overstay its welcome.
Well worth the read.
It takes close to 140 pages of book before we get to the boom of the vulcano and its aftermath.
140 pages to set up the role of big cooperations and their influencial rules in government. Which in this case was responsibal for the human loss as is currently known. Had it not been a Sunday morning the human loss might have been more extensive.
The writer makes a good case about the policies surrounding natural sources that can make money versus nature and human interest.
Hé also gives people involved a face and therefor polls us close to the drama. And you can add Youtube yourself for the visuals.
And interesting and good Window on natural threads on our way of life, well written and does not overstay its welcome.
Well worth the read.
August 1, 2016
Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens by Steve Olson, describes the events surrounding the powerful volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State on May 18, 1980 . Fifty-seven people died as the result of the eruption, either by extreme heat, by falling rocks, drowned in raging rivers, or buried in massive mud slides. Of those known dead, 27 bodies were never found. The eruption laid waste to hundreds of square miles of prime forest, and subsequent land slides and floods damaged or destroyed 200 homes. Eight bridges were demolished, along with more than 185 miles of highways and roads, and 15 miles of railways.
The author delves into the history of the forests and of the massive Weyerhaeuser forest products company. He describes the railroad genius Jim Hill, and the role the Northern Pacific played in developing the northwest. And we learn the important role conservationists such as Gifford Pinchot and John Muir played in the preservation of wilderness.
As the mountain neared eruption, politics came into play, but boundaries of authority were blurred and restrictions inadequate. Common sense seems to have eluded otherwise intelligent people; others kept their distance, but still were caught in the far-reaching devastation.
The blast occurred at 8:32 Sunday morning. If it had erupted that afternoon or on a workday, hundreds more people would have died.
Courageous rescue efforts saved many lives. By the end of the first day helicopter pilots had flown 138 people, 8 dogs, and 1 boa constrictor to safety. In many cases, the Huey helicopters were dangerously overloaded, yet no one was injured or killed in rescue efforts, amazing with the air thick with hot ash and visibility at times near zero. Some were able to walk out on their own. Even though people had been warned to stay away, many came to see a volcano erupt, never dreaming that it would be so catastrophic. Some who died were professionals just doing their jobs—a geologist, a newspaper photographer, and loggers.
Eruption discusses legislation subsequent to the blast, and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, created to ensure preservation of the land surrounding the mountain for future generations.
I found Olson’s book particularly fascinating. While conducting research for my book Tenderfoot, a romantic suspense novel with the subplot of the Mount St. Helens eruption, I became fascinated by the circumstances surrounding this unique event. Although my story is a work of fiction, I made every effort to keep the facts of the eruption intact. After reading this in-depth study, I felt even more confident that I had followed the events accurately.
The author delves into the history of the forests and of the massive Weyerhaeuser forest products company. He describes the railroad genius Jim Hill, and the role the Northern Pacific played in developing the northwest. And we learn the important role conservationists such as Gifford Pinchot and John Muir played in the preservation of wilderness.
As the mountain neared eruption, politics came into play, but boundaries of authority were blurred and restrictions inadequate. Common sense seems to have eluded otherwise intelligent people; others kept their distance, but still were caught in the far-reaching devastation.
The blast occurred at 8:32 Sunday morning. If it had erupted that afternoon or on a workday, hundreds more people would have died.
Courageous rescue efforts saved many lives. By the end of the first day helicopter pilots had flown 138 people, 8 dogs, and 1 boa constrictor to safety. In many cases, the Huey helicopters were dangerously overloaded, yet no one was injured or killed in rescue efforts, amazing with the air thick with hot ash and visibility at times near zero. Some were able to walk out on their own. Even though people had been warned to stay away, many came to see a volcano erupt, never dreaming that it would be so catastrophic. Some who died were professionals just doing their jobs—a geologist, a newspaper photographer, and loggers.
Eruption discusses legislation subsequent to the blast, and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, created to ensure preservation of the land surrounding the mountain for future generations.
I found Olson’s book particularly fascinating. While conducting research for my book Tenderfoot, a romantic suspense novel with the subplot of the Mount St. Helens eruption, I became fascinated by the circumstances surrounding this unique event. Although my story is a work of fiction, I made every effort to keep the facts of the eruption intact. After reading this in-depth study, I felt even more confident that I had followed the events accurately.
July 4, 2016
This is a familiar style of nonfiction book: take an event, then fan out and research all the people and prior events that surround it. The result of this procedure often feels a bit paint-by-numbers. Here, there's a gulf between stories of survival as static-electrified ash and debris rains down from the sky (exciting) and the founding in Minnesota in the 1890s of what would become an important lumber company (not exciting, even by my standards).
What I liked best about this book was its Pacific Northwest-yness. One of the author's main points is that the people killed by Mt. St. Helens weren't disobeying instructions for their safety, as the conventional wisdom has it; instead, the instructions were inadequate out of a mixture of cluelessness and deference to the logging industry. I liked the biographies of these pre-tech boom Pacific Northwesterners, who--then as now--have as much outdoorsy know-how as I have indoorsy know-how. (Which I can appreciate without having fit in.) The majesty of the landscape is also a lurking threat, and if you want the government to protect you from natural disasters, Washington probably isn't the state for you.
If this topic interests you at all, make sure to read The Really Big One. Also, it's been thirteen years, but man, Krakatoa was a worse book than this one.
What I liked best about this book was its Pacific Northwest-yness. One of the author's main points is that the people killed by Mt. St. Helens weren't disobeying instructions for their safety, as the conventional wisdom has it; instead, the instructions were inadequate out of a mixture of cluelessness and deference to the logging industry. I liked the biographies of these pre-tech boom Pacific Northwesterners, who--then as now--have as much outdoorsy know-how as I have indoorsy know-how. (Which I can appreciate without having fit in.) The majesty of the landscape is also a lurking threat, and if you want the government to protect you from natural disasters, Washington probably isn't the state for you.
If this topic interests you at all, make sure to read The Really Big One. Also, it's been thirteen years, but man, Krakatoa was a worse book than this one.
June 25, 2018
A very thorough and scintillating historical work about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Mr. Olson does a tremendous job providing a comprehensive look at all personal and scientific angles before, during, and after the eruption occurred. I also enjoyed his brief devotion to the history of the lumber industry especially in the Pacific Northwest, and Gifford Pinchot. A really great piece of local non-fiction.
March 26, 2018
3.5 stars
This study of the 1980 eruption of Mt St Helens is recent - it was just published in 2016. It starts out strong, developing the history of the land, logging, the railroad, forestry in the US, the Weyerhaeuser family & company, and Mt St Helens itself. As a fairly recent transplant to the area, this was all pretty new to me, & very interesting. To hear that the man who “owned” the mountain the day it erupted had been abducted as a child two blocks from where I live now was certainly intriguing. And one of the best things I’ve done since moving here is visiting Mt St Helens. It is awesome in the truest sense of the word. I think it’s one of those things everyone should see. So I was all in as the text went deeper into all of it.
But at some point, Olson left behind all the other threads & only focused on the eruption & the people in the blast zone that day. Make no mistake - that was compelling & well worth the read on its own. I was just a bit disappointed because I was enjoying the rest. He does pick them back up in the aftermath chapters. But the narrative thread is broken, & it just doesn’t tie up as interestingly because of it.
Still a great read - still recommend to anyone interested in the topic or in the Pacific Northwest.
This study of the 1980 eruption of Mt St Helens is recent - it was just published in 2016. It starts out strong, developing the history of the land, logging, the railroad, forestry in the US, the Weyerhaeuser family & company, and Mt St Helens itself. As a fairly recent transplant to the area, this was all pretty new to me, & very interesting. To hear that the man who “owned” the mountain the day it erupted had been abducted as a child two blocks from where I live now was certainly intriguing. And one of the best things I’ve done since moving here is visiting Mt St Helens. It is awesome in the truest sense of the word. I think it’s one of those things everyone should see. So I was all in as the text went deeper into all of it.
But at some point, Olson left behind all the other threads & only focused on the eruption & the people in the blast zone that day. Make no mistake - that was compelling & well worth the read on its own. I was just a bit disappointed because I was enjoying the rest. He does pick them back up in the aftermath chapters. But the narrative thread is broken, & it just doesn’t tie up as interestingly because of it.
Still a great read - still recommend to anyone interested in the topic or in the Pacific Northwest.
June 30, 2016
Caveat viator was the philosophy of our eccentric governor, Dixy Lee Ray, in 1980, and it's one that I find hard to quarrel with. I was about 20 miles from Mt. Rainier on a May Sunday 36 years ago when a State Patrol officer pulled me over and told me that Mount St. Helens had erupted (all the ash moved east; I lived only 140 miles north of the volcano but hadn't turned on a radio or television and didn't know that the wait was over). I turned around and went home.
Steve Olson makes it plain that caveat laborator also dominated, astonishingly. If it weren't for the serendipitous weekend timing of the event hundreds of timber company workers would have been in the middle of the blast; I find it easy and necessary to argue with that principle. Because our governor didn't want to touch that political third rail called "interfering with business as usual" there were no restrictions on access to private land or public timber sale land. Workday absentees from the area would have put their already precarious jobs at further risk.
Eruption is classified as a "nature" book, but explores the political, economic, scientific and cultural environment of the era in a compelling way. Survivors recount their experiences and we are awed afresh at the randomness of death. We learn of all the unexpected ways in which the area is renewing itself. For example, scientists believed that new life would creep into the area from the perimeter. Instead, it is popping up in scattered places throughout the affected zone.
My only disgruntlement with the book is the attention it pays to matter that is well-covered elsewhere. Part 1 of the 7 part work is devoted to a history of Jim Hill (of Great Northern Railroad fame) and the Weyerhaeuser family (founders of the company that owned and logged the land near the volcano). George Weyerhaeuser Senior's childhood kidnapping is described in detail. This feels a bit like boiler plate. Since it's at the beginning of the book, I read it with impatience, wondering where the narrative was headed. Part 2 launches the chronicle, and from there on it's an absorbing read.
Steve Olson makes it plain that caveat laborator also dominated, astonishingly. If it weren't for the serendipitous weekend timing of the event hundreds of timber company workers would have been in the middle of the blast; I find it easy and necessary to argue with that principle. Because our governor didn't want to touch that political third rail called "interfering with business as usual" there were no restrictions on access to private land or public timber sale land. Workday absentees from the area would have put their already precarious jobs at further risk.
Eruption is classified as a "nature" book, but explores the political, economic, scientific and cultural environment of the era in a compelling way. Survivors recount their experiences and we are awed afresh at the randomness of death. We learn of all the unexpected ways in which the area is renewing itself. For example, scientists believed that new life would creep into the area from the perimeter. Instead, it is popping up in scattered places throughout the affected zone.
My only disgruntlement with the book is the attention it pays to matter that is well-covered elsewhere. Part 1 of the 7 part work is devoted to a history of Jim Hill (of Great Northern Railroad fame) and the Weyerhaeuser family (founders of the company that owned and logged the land near the volcano). George Weyerhaeuser Senior's childhood kidnapping is described in detail. This feels a bit like boiler plate. Since it's at the beginning of the book, I read it with impatience, wondering where the narrative was headed. Part 2 launches the chronicle, and from there on it's an absorbing read.
August 21, 2016
I have this vision of Seattle author Steve Olson bringing his agent this manuscript entitled, "A History of the Timber Industry in the Pacific Northwest and the Conflicts Between Conservationists and the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Empire as Viewed Through the Prism of the 1980 Mt. St. Helen's Volcanic Eruption."
"Well, this might be of regional interest, Steve, but that title is much too long.. Let's just cut it down to 'Eruption.' "
"Well it's more about the broad political and economic conflicts in the 19th and 20th centuries."
"Yeah. Boring. Look add some personal interest stuff about how the various people foolish enough to be caught on the slopes of an active volcano died and include a lot of photos of the volcano exploding and folks caught in the ashes. Put in a photo of Teddy Roosevelt, too. People may think he played a role in it somehow."
"But what about how Jimmy Carter was too distracted by the Iran hostage crisis to pay attention to the eruption and what about the spotted owls?"
"Well, it's not that long a book and you need to balance that Weyerhaeuser family history and the biography of Gifford Pinchot, so you can leave that in but add more human interest stuff like how how the deceased spent their last hours."
"But they were never found."
"So, use your imagination. What would you have been doing camped under an active volcano with your fiancee?"
So perhaps that is how "Eruption" was born. I wasn't there so I used my imagination.
"Well, this might be of regional interest, Steve, but that title is much too long.. Let's just cut it down to 'Eruption.' "
"Well it's more about the broad political and economic conflicts in the 19th and 20th centuries."
"Yeah. Boring. Look add some personal interest stuff about how the various people foolish enough to be caught on the slopes of an active volcano died and include a lot of photos of the volcano exploding and folks caught in the ashes. Put in a photo of Teddy Roosevelt, too. People may think he played a role in it somehow."
"But what about how Jimmy Carter was too distracted by the Iran hostage crisis to pay attention to the eruption and what about the spotted owls?"
"Well, it's not that long a book and you need to balance that Weyerhaeuser family history and the biography of Gifford Pinchot, so you can leave that in but add more human interest stuff like how how the deceased spent their last hours."
"But they were never found."
"So, use your imagination. What would you have been doing camped under an active volcano with your fiancee?"
So perhaps that is how "Eruption" was born. I wasn't there so I used my imagination.
July 6, 2016
Fifty-seven people were killed, along with thousands of animals. Although the eruption was predicted, no one expected the volcano’s north side to collapse and allow the initial pyroclastic flow to shoot out sideways.
Unfortunately, volcanologist David Johnston was directly in the path of the lateral blast. He was uneasy enough about his position at the Coldwater II monitoring station to send away visitors who had wanted to spend the night of May 17th on the ridge where he and his equipment were located. Although lateral blasts were not well understood at the time, "...when Johnston saw the north flank of the mountain give way, he flipped on the radio. 'Vancouver, Vancouver! This is it!'...He must have known that he wouldn't live."
Most of the 57 known victims died of asphyxiation or burns from the pyroclastic flow. The collapsed north face also created one of the largest landslides in recorded history. This author has meticulously mapped the locations of victims (the ones who were found), and tells many of their stories, including why they were near the stratovolcano when it erupted, and how they died.
This was the most in-depth study of this eruption that I have read. Very emotional and heart-felt, it brought this disaster into more personal focus.
Unfortunately, volcanologist David Johnston was directly in the path of the lateral blast. He was uneasy enough about his position at the Coldwater II monitoring station to send away visitors who had wanted to spend the night of May 17th on the ridge where he and his equipment were located. Although lateral blasts were not well understood at the time, "...when Johnston saw the north flank of the mountain give way, he flipped on the radio. 'Vancouver, Vancouver! This is it!'...He must have known that he wouldn't live."
Most of the 57 known victims died of asphyxiation or burns from the pyroclastic flow. The collapsed north face also created one of the largest landslides in recorded history. This author has meticulously mapped the locations of victims (the ones who were found), and tells many of their stories, including why they were near the stratovolcano when it erupted, and how they died.
This was the most in-depth study of this eruption that I have read. Very emotional and heart-felt, it brought this disaster into more personal focus.
May 1, 2017
I thought this book was very well written and riveting. I didn't expect it to be so focused on the lumber industry but it was an interesting component to the story that I hadn't really considered--and of course, living in Seattle I enjoyed the local history. The section of the book on the eruption itself was a nail-biter -- I was reading it on a plane and kept exclaiming, "oh no!" which I'm sure my seatmates loved. I liked how this book focused on the people who perished, and their personal reasons for being on the mountain, which made it more compelling than just a geology lesson. I'm climbing Mt. St. Helens this summer and now I'm even more excited (and scared).
I do regret reading this my ancient Kindle, as the pictures were hard to see. Hoping someone in my book club has a print copy I can peruse.
I do regret reading this my ancient Kindle, as the pictures were hard to see. Hoping someone in my book club has a print copy I can peruse.
April 9, 2016
This reminded me of Into Thin Air and Dead Wake: educational, exhaustive, and unforgettably unnerving. I admit I knew very little about the Mount St. Helens eruption before starting the book and was shocked by the violence and chaos of it. It feels almost like a historical footnote now—we’ve had plenty more recent natural disasters to focus on, I guess. But it’s startling to read this now: to contemplate the massive implications of a volcano erupting on the US mainland, and wonder at the science that says it could easily happen again within our lifetimes. There’s also a fascinating forward on the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest and how it's evolved over the past century. This backstory added important context that made the eruption even more sobering, frightening.
July 8, 2017
Wow, what a fascinating read! Olson covers the events leading up to the eruption on May 18, 1980, as well the people who lived and died on that fateful day. The roles of the scientists, state and local government officials, the Wayerhaeuser Company and the US Forest Service in the disaster are also explored in detail (maybe a bit too much detail in the case of Weyerhaeuser).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest, as well as to anyone who likes well-written non-fiction. Just be sure to read the section about the actual eruption at any other time other than right before bedtime; I had a very hard time getting to sleep after reading those chapters.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest, as well as to anyone who likes well-written non-fiction. Just be sure to read the section about the actual eruption at any other time other than right before bedtime; I had a very hard time getting to sleep after reading those chapters.
August 14, 2017
Wow. This book is amazing. It starts a bit slow, we get the whole history of the Weyerhaeuser family & corporation, but this is important to set up why & how decisions were made before, during & after the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. The way in which the author, Steve Olson, sets up the lives and deaths of the individuals on the mountain is so poignant & respectful and yet -- more thrilling than any thriller you might read. I highly recommend this book & can't wait to check out his other ones. Plus, this book has kindled a desire to go out to see Mt. Saint Helens, something I haven't done since taking my mother there in the 90's. An important book.
June 22, 2021
The chapters on Mt St Helens and the eruption were very good. Unfortunately, the book takes several detours when establishing the history of the land surrounding Mt St Helens. The detours were too detailed and not truly pertinent, and so I ended up skipping several chapters. The chapters I skipped would probably be more interesting to someone looking for a background on logging in the Pacific Northwest.
June 19, 2017
Very interesting. I learned a lot about logging and the history of the United States Forest Service.
October 18, 2021
A comprehensive social history of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, this is a book for people who are interested in understanding how a volcano that had been giving clear indications of dramatic eruption for months still managed to claim 57 lives on the morning that it finally exploded. The geological drama of the eruption and the ecological aftermath are touched upon, but this is not a book that caters primarily to the natural history enthusiast. Instead, it tells the story of the colonization of the area around the mountain, and the role of railroads, forestry, and local politics in bringing those 57 individuals into the path of the eruption. The parts of the book that deal with the geology and the eruption itself - especially those who were in the blast path but managed to escape - are thrilling and dramatic, but the deeper message comes from the parts of the tale that deal with economics, politics, and policy.
Reading this book during a pandemic was a particularly interesting experience. The fault lines that run through American society when it comes to understanding, predicting, preparing for, and responding to disasters were as clearly on display in the three-month run up to the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens as they have been in the 18-month-long (to date) ordeal of Covid-19. Belligerent governors, scientists being ignored, profit-driven corporations flouting safety standards, and a large swath of the public intent on taking risks in the name of freedom, all play integral roles in this story. Towards the end of the story, the author queries what Mt. St. Helens tells us about our ability to prepare for low-probability but high-consequence scenarios; he mentions other known seismic threats, including future eruptions of Cascades volcanoes, as well as a looming, near-certain future earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone, which has the potential to generate tsunamis that will take out much of the Pacific Northwest coast. He mentions neither pandemics nor climate change, but the questions raised about how we deal with the future are as relevant to these situations as to the problems he does mention.
One major shortcoming of this work is a near-obliviousness to Indigenous histories of the area; a few mentions of "Native America" names for the mountain are all that we get of Indigenous perspectives and knowledge. Given how critical Indigenous stories were to understanding the severity of previous Cascadia Plate earthquakes, some mention of this contribution to understanding the geology of the region would have made this a better book.
On the whole, though, for those seeking to understand the most powerful natural disaster in US History, this is worth the read.
Reading this book during a pandemic was a particularly interesting experience. The fault lines that run through American society when it comes to understanding, predicting, preparing for, and responding to disasters were as clearly on display in the three-month run up to the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens as they have been in the 18-month-long (to date) ordeal of Covid-19. Belligerent governors, scientists being ignored, profit-driven corporations flouting safety standards, and a large swath of the public intent on taking risks in the name of freedom, all play integral roles in this story. Towards the end of the story, the author queries what Mt. St. Helens tells us about our ability to prepare for low-probability but high-consequence scenarios; he mentions other known seismic threats, including future eruptions of Cascades volcanoes, as well as a looming, near-certain future earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone, which has the potential to generate tsunamis that will take out much of the Pacific Northwest coast. He mentions neither pandemics nor climate change, but the questions raised about how we deal with the future are as relevant to these situations as to the problems he does mention.
One major shortcoming of this work is a near-obliviousness to Indigenous histories of the area; a few mentions of "Native America" names for the mountain are all that we get of Indigenous perspectives and knowledge. Given how critical Indigenous stories were to understanding the severity of previous Cascadia Plate earthquakes, some mention of this contribution to understanding the geology of the region would have made this a better book.
On the whole, though, for those seeking to understand the most powerful natural disaster in US History, this is worth the read.
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