40 Years Ago

I will never forget the plume of ash I saw rising into the sky from the enormous explosion that morning from Tukwila, Washington which was 174 miles away.

My supervisor quickly hopped in to his car to help his parents,  who lived in eastern Washington,  with their orchards because of the ash that was falling. He brought everyone back plastic test tubes full of various ash specimens from different areas he collected along the way there.

I visited 8 years later and was surprised to see there were already small pines and other vegetation that had started the natural recovery process in certain areas.

I will never forget traveling through dense, lush forests, only to come upon an area of where all of the trees had been completely mowed down...they looked like giant matchsticks...all of sudden it was very hot in those areas because there was no shade whatsoever. 

A TV Special that aired on TV in 1980

Recollections