Mount St. Helens Erupts in Washington

On this day in US history, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in Southwest Washington, erupted, killing over 50 people and destroying hundreds of miles of wilderness on May 18, 1980. The landslide that was a result of the eruption was one of the largest recorded in history, and ash fell all over the Northwest cities. After the eruption had subsided and numbers were totaled, 57 people, thousands of animals, and millions of fish were killed in the eruption, Congress elected for the area to be protected for further research.