LibGuides: Summer Reading 2025: Remembering Mount St. Helens: Eyewitness Accounts

Interview an Eyewitness!

Cleaning up the ash in Pullman, Washington after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens - Britannica ImageQuest photo If you know a family member or friend who was affected by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, interview them and write down their story! Then share it with WSA Librarian, Susan Trower, during the summer. (Be sure to take a photo of your interviewee!) We'll We’ll put these stories and photos on display before the first day of school. Here are some ideas for interview questions:

Where were you on the day of the eruption, May 18, 1980? Can you describe what happened?
How did you first learn about the eruption, and what was your initial reaction?
Did you see or hear any of the eruption's effects, like ash clouds or the sound of the blast? What was it like?
Were you directly impacted by the eruption—such as needing to evacuate or dealing with ash fallout? If so, how did that affect your daily life?
How long did it take for the region to recover, and what changes did you notice in the environment or community?
What emotions did you experience during and after the eruption? How did you cope with them?
Were there any lasting effects on your home, family, or community from the eruption?
Do you recall any memorable stories or moments from your experience that stand out?
How did the eruption influence your perspective on nature or natural disasters?
Is there anything you’d want future generations to know or learn from your experience during the Mount St. Helens eruption?

Summer Reading 2025 – Interview Tips
Use these tips for planning your interview of your family member or friend who had personal experience with the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Includes ideas for preparing for the interview, a list of open-ended questions to ask, and suggestions for conducting the interview and following up afterward with your interviewee.

CBS Sunday Morning: Looking back at the Mount St. Helens eruption

On May 18, 1980, a volcano in Washington state erupted, killing 57 and triggering a debris avalanche that destroyed hundreds of square miles of forest. Correspondent Luke Burbank talks with Steve Olson, author of "Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens," about the largest volcanic event in U.S. history.

Washington National Guard Response to Mount St. Helens Eruption

In May, 1980, members of the Washington National Guard made the difference between life and death, or injury and safety for hundreds of their fellow Washingtonians. This video shows what it was like for their aviators as they flew to the rescue in the midst of one of the 20th century's greatest cataclysms.

Books in the WSA Library

A Hero on Mount St. Helens: The LIfe and Legacy of David A. Johnston by Melanie Holmes; Jeff Renner (Foreword by)
Call Number: 551.21 Hol
ISBN: 9780252084317
Publication Date: 2019-05-18
Serendipity placed David Johnston on Mount St. Helens when the volcano rumbled to life in March 1980. Throughout that ominous spring, Johnston was part of a team that conducted scientific research that underpinned warnings about the mountain. Those warnings saved thousands of lives when the most devastating eruption in U.S. history blew apart Mount St. Helens, but killed Johnston on the ridge that now bears his name. Melanie Holmes tells the story of Johnston's journey from a nature-loving Boy Scout to a committed geologist. Blending science with personal detail, Holmes follows Johnston through encounters with Aleutian volcanoes, his work helping the Portuguese government assess the geothermal power of the Azores, and his dream job as a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Interviews and personal writings reveal what a friend called "the most unjaded person I ever met," an imperfect but kind, intelligent young scientist passionately in love with his life and work and determined to make a difference.
Echoes of Fury: The 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens and the Lives It Changed Forever by Frank Parchman
Call Number: 979.7 Par
ISBN: 9780974501437
Publication Date: 2005-05-01
Chronicles the events surrounding the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens from the perspectives of eight individuals, including a geologist, a logger, a pair of young lovers, a rookie newspaper reporter, and an angry woman.
In the Path of Destruction: Eyewitness Chronicles of Mount St. Helens by Richard Waitt
Call Number: 551.21 Wai
ISBN: 9780874223231
Publication Date: 2015-01-14
Author Richard Waitt was part of a U.S. Geological Survey team conducting volcano research in the Cascades, and was one of the first to arrive following the mountain’s early rumblings. His journey collecting eyewitness accounts began with a conversation in a bar the third week after Mount St. Helens erupted. The couple he met barely outraced a searing ash cloud, and Waitt realized their experiences could inform geologic studies. He eventually completed hundreds of interviews—sometimes two and three decades later—often making multiple visits.,A meticulous scientist with intimate knowledge of Mount St. Helens, Waitt also tapped legal depositions, personal diaries, geologists’ field notes, and more to present a detailed and accurate chronicle of events. In the Path of Destruction depicts the eruption through unforgettable, riveting narratives—the heart of a masterful chronology that also delivers engrossing science, history, and journalism.

Eyewitness Accounts

(7:30) USGS scientists recount their experiences before, during, and after the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The loss of their colleague David A. Johnston and 56 others in the eruption cast a pall over one of the most dramatic geologic moments in American history.

(2:07) Some of the most breathtaking photos of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens were taken by a graduate student camped nearby. Even more impressive, he took them while trying to outrun the enormous landslide. From the show Make It Out Alive

Harry Truman and Mount St. Helens | KATU In The Archives

(8:45) Archival news broadcast footage from KATU, a television station in Portland, Oregon. In 1980, prior to the eruption of Mount St. Helens, Harry Truman refused to leave his lodge at Spirit Lake. When the mountain erupted, Spirit Lake, Harry Truman, and Mt. St. Helens Lodge were overrun by a pyroclastic flow.