Mount Saint Helen's last eruption was on May 18, 1980.
The total eruption lasted for about 25 seconds.
Since the eruption in 1980 there have been hundreds of ash producing eruptions that have sent billowing plumes of steam and as as high as 15,000 feet high.
The trees that were knocked down and fell in the river created a dam in the narrower parts of the river.
The surrounding forest waas chared and almost completely wiped out.
A total of 57 people died in the eruption
The eruption was very sudden. Earlier in the day at about 7 am a scientist sent in a report saying that nothing had changed from the last month. There were no warning signals for the eruption that occured about an hour and a half later.
It is actually is a picture of many large trees, some of them over 100 feet tall, flattened by the force of the eruption
Amanda Millerbernd
Stephanie Lantto
Rachel Lantto