A review by qu33nofbookz
Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens by Steve Olson

5.0

While the subject of this book is Mount St. Helens about a little over half of it is the history of timber and the Weyerhaeuser Company founded in the late 1800's by Friedrich (Frederick) Weyerhäuser. It shows the progression from a tiny mill to a company that owned over a million acres of forest including that surrounding Mount St. Helens. It goes over the way the land changed from the original purchase by a railroad tycoon to Weyerhaeuser up to the eruption. While the history of lumber in the US was interesting the best parts are the chapters pertaining to St. Helens. It goes into detail about the beginning of it all with the first earthquake in April that got everyone's attention. An interesting thing I learned was how the government failed to protect the people living, working and just in the vicinity of St. Helens then after the eruption blamed the victims for their own deaths. (Now some of it I believe is partly their choice since they rushed to see the exploding volcano for kicks) But the fact that the governor at the time ignored scientists warnings, told people that the volcano was safe to be on and did nothing to help police when they wanted to stop and ticket people for going into a restricted zone (something the governor believe was garbage). I think this should be a must-read for the history of the state and also it's a tool for teaching.