Kemp's Reviews > Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens

A walk down memory lane if you live in the Pacific Northwest. Steve Olson takes us back to 1980 and the eruption of Mount St. Helens. If you’re a Washingtonian you’ll remember bits of this history and the events that transpired.

Olson takes the reader much deeper, though, as he explores the lives of those that died in the eruption and mud flow. He also takes the reader on several tangents including the history of the Weyerhaeuser company and how the two Northwest railroads, Great Northern and Northern Pacific, grew and benefited from the Federal government's railroad land grants.

While not everyone will enjoy these tangents, I did since Weyerhaeuser was the biggest Northwest company before the likes of Starbucks, Microsoft, and Amazon. And reading about railroads always brings back memories of my dad and his love of trains. I liked these diversions from the main story of the eruption.

The description of the private plane that flew towards the mountain on the day of the eruption was well done. As the plane dove and flew away from the eruption the passengers had an up-close view with a kaleidoscope of colors. Great section of writing! Though the passengers might not have thought they were lucky during that flight – they sure were with the view they had!

Dying from asphyxiation due to volcanic ash sounds absolutely gruesome. Those first deaths by the eruption, Harry Truman and David Johnston, were instantaneous but those further away died in part by suffocation from ash inhalation. Yuck! I think that would be worse than drowning in water.

A good read especially if you were in Washington when the eruption occurred.