Mount St. Helens
Essay By:Lance Kidd
Mount St. Helens is an enormous volcano that destroyed many lives. The longest eruption was September 2004 to January 2008 without stopping! In 1980-1986 lava oozed out of the volcano forming domes bigger than The Empire State Building. The volcanos most destructive eruption was May 18, 1980 a survey concluded that gas and rock traveled at about 300 mph and 80,000 feet.
Because of this large eruption more than 200 homes were destroyed and 57 known people died,the Natives called it "Louwala Clough" but soon after they left because the lava/magma burned almost all of the hunting ground. On October 20,1792 Captain George Vancuver named the volcano....when Mount St. Helens was declared a national monument about 1.5 million people visited.
But after the eruption was over people saw that it had burned timber valued at several million. Spiders and beetles were among the first animals to return,biologists help wild salmon and steelhead return by giving a tank-truck ride to the creeks and rivers. Today Mount St. Helens remains a natural laboratory for earths study and processes.