[Leica] Mount St. Helens, 40 years ago

[Peter Klein]

May 18, 1980.  The day Mt. St. Helens blew up.  It's one of those events 
that a person always remembers.  I was in Spokane, over 200 air miles 
across Washington state from the mountain. But it got pitch-black in 
mid-afternoon. We were buried in 3/4 of an inch of volcanic ash, which 
is finely-powdered silica the consistency of flour.  There was quite a 
mess for days and weeks to come.  I didn't have a good camera then, as 
I'd sold my Leica M2 to help pay for my bassoon.  But I do have one 
photo of myself taken with a rudimentary film point-and-shoot the next 
morning.
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563@N04/49910974171/in/dateposted-public/>

Today I commemorated the anniversary by photographing the jar of ash I 
saved that morning.
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563@N04/49910974146/in/dateposted-public/>

I was doing a lot of freelance writing then. The eruption gave me the 
opportunity to write a first-person account of what happens when a 
volcano dumps on your city.  If you'd like to read it, use the two links 
below, and view large. Reading it today, I was struck by how similar 
people's behavior was then and now.  Click on the photos to view large, 
and the text is quite readable.
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563@N04/49910453643/in/dateposted-public/>
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563@N04/49911270277/in/dateposted-public/>

--Peter