>
> Really? Although I don't live there, this isn't the story I heard. I
> thought they had been evacuating everyone, and restricting access to the
> surrounding areas. (The story I heard was that some old guy up on the
> mountain just wouldn't evacuate, and said he'd rather be buried by lava than
> leave, which I guess he was.) I'd be surprised, though, if they knew
> to the day when it was going to erupt, but I don't know that I'd qualify
> that as not having the 'slightest idea.'
Greg:
It doen't take an iluminated scientist to know that when a mountain spews
steam and ash for several weeks something is about to happen.
Yes the evacuated a lot of people but 57 still died in the eruption. Some
of them were geologists that were less than 7 miles from the mountain.
Harry Truman (the old gent you mentioned) refused to go because at his age
-over 80, where was he going to go? In his mind if the mountain took his
home, it may as well take him.
And they, the geologists, recognized that the area placed 'off limits' was
way too small. This was another reason why people ot trapped and some
even died at the blast.
When I wrote that they didn't have the slightest idea, I was referring to
the time the mountain erupted. As stated the people were leaving, many
scientists went home thinking the show was over.
And this is my point. Geologists really can't be sure of many things yet
some make declarations and poke fun at people who don't agree with their
current point of view.
One last thing, I really will like to dig around St. Helens and find some
vegetal or animal that was alive 18 years ago beelow the layers of
hardened lava and send it to a lab to see what age it comes back. 18
years or thousands ?
Best Regards,
Dario Giraldo
Lacey, Washington