Where were you when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18th 1980?

Where were you when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18th 1980?

There were warning signs about the impending eruption, but the biggest memory KONA's Dennis Shannon had of that day was Harry Truman at Mount St. Helens Lodge and his decision to stay on the mountain.

"They said the office down in Vancouver radioed and said you come out of there and bring everyone with you, and I said, 'Hell, I'm not going,' and they said, 'Bring Harry with you,' and I said 'You tell them, by god, I'm not leaving, you get out of here," said Truman.

Todd Collings had just started working for the forest service and knew of the impending destruction.

"You were in green forest driving up here and you rounded the bend and, 'Wow!' you entered this slate gray landscape," said Collings.

Keith Ronholman was on the mountain when the eruption occurred , and barely got out safely.

"It wasn't till the rocks started falling out of the cloud, that I became scared again and raced away," said Ronholman.

Though he wasn't there then, President Jimmy Carter had the notion that Mount St. Helens would become a tourist attraction years later.

"If you'll excuse the expression, it will be a tourist attraction that will equal the Grand Canyon or something, it is an unbelievable sight," says President Carter.

It has turned into just that, with the construction of restaurants, lodging and collectibles. The Forest service says that have 200,00-300,000 visitors year and will soon have a third visitor center at Castlerock.