One of our trucks after the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption

[jabborabbo]

Found this on

http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture...years_ago.html

[Sheepdip]

Originally Posted by jabborabbo

Found this on

http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture...years_ago.html

I see some Warn/Belleview Winch controls below the dash. I parted an old 59 CJ5 out awhile back and it had the old Warn/Belleview Winch on it with all the cables and it still worked. Sold it in about 2 hrs to a fellow building a 66 Bronco and he wanted a period correct winch for it.

[tutone]

If I remember it right, there was a man and woman killed in that truck. Watching the eruption from afar, just not far enough.

[68Gold/white]

I’m not sure on the gender of the 2 occupants of the pickup. The chopper that landed found them sitting in their seats, as if nothing happened. I believe they were so me type of either forestry service or geological service employees. They were NOT watching, but trying to escape.
The driver had his hands still on the steering wheel, passenger had their hands in their lap.
They must have been vaporized in a second....

[tutone]

Memory is the first thing to go, they say. I remember the news people interviewing Harry Truman at his resort a few days before the eruption. He wouldnt budge from the mountain. I guess hes still there under lots of stuff.

[Accelo]

I flew around Mt St Helen the day before the eruption. Early Saturday May 17th.
There was a 10 mile excursion zone but I had a passenger with reporter credentials and we could go right to the mountain The only requirement was to file a flight plan.

[Beckett88]

I was 5 years old when the mountain blew but I remember it clearly. My grandparents lived in Toutle wa when it blew and I remember clear as day my mom on the phone with grandma and hearing her say dad just ran in the house and said the mountain just blew. There property was on the red zone. Once we could get in I remember the mass devastation. It was crazy the pictures are unbelievable. Fast forward this Wednesday the 18th 18 years ago on the date of the mountain blowing my son was born 2 hours before it blew. Lol odd how things happen lol

[68bowtie]

Pretty crazy. Nature is far more powerful than we will ever be.

The other truck photo from that link…

[Accelo]

Did some hiking in Feb. One of the pictures I took.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

My grandfather (dads side) was part of the first wave of heavy equipment operators sent in after the blast, him and his trackhoe spent days up there clearing the rivers and streams, while looking for bodies. He was up there for quite awhile working around the clock to get those water ways flowing again.

Then for truck related, my other grandfather (moms side) had to leave his freshly painted 75 Chevy swb 4x4 in the driveway that night as he had part of his other project car scattered in its garage space. The ash carried all the way down to Aloha (10 miles west of Portland) and covered the truck with ash. It was still hot enough that it ate the fresh silver paint off that truck.

[Caddylackn]

I remember when that mountain blew. I was in Eastern Washington a few hundred miles away gardening with my Mom. A huge black wall of clouds came over the horizon. We heard from the neighbors that the mountain blew so we knew what it was.

That wall of black soon covered us. It turned dark outside and starting raining ash at like 1 pm. We went inside to avoid it. Next day there was 1" of gray fine ash covering everything. When you wiped it off your car it scratched the paint. It was basically fine particles of glass. It made a muddy mesh washing it off. School closed. If you went outside you wore a mask for a week. Everyone was afraid to drive in it.

It took a few months to wash away all trace of it, but still anywhere in Eastern or Central Washington you can dig a hole and find that fine gray ash layer about 6" to 8" down.

That ash played hell in brake systems. The fine glass particles got sucked into the master cylinder and the abrasive particles quickly wore out the master cylinder piston seals. The ash was also responsible for many motors quick end from scoring of cylinder walls from people who drove around in the ash afterward and it sucked it into the carb. It would plug an air cleaner pretty quick.

You could actually scratch your windshield slightly if you ran the wipers with the ash on your window if it wasn't completely washed off. That stuff was pretty nasty.

[jabborabbo]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Pretty crazy. Nature is far more powerful than we will ever be.

The other truck photo from that link…

Attachment 2192129

I think that’s the truck they found the bodies in….

[88Stanger]

I was watching TV getting ready to go to church. When it blew, it sounded like it may be a sonic boom BUT it was a lot different. We got to church and then the pastor said we all need to go home immediately and we ask kids are to stay inside as the ash was coming, and damn did it ever.... sad sad day but shows you the power of nature and what God has created (my personal beliefs). We were told to put a block of some sort in front to radiator and air intakes on vehicles when driving. It was crazy. Then everyday after for some time you could find little bottles with ash in them for sale.

[1968k20]

I was 14 years old when that happened, and I remember it like it was yesterday. My Dad, sister and I were clamming in Long Beach, Wa. We were driving home that afternoon (back home to Portland). We rounded a bend in the road, and there she was, erupting!