Harry Truman's Mt. St. Helens Lodge Photograph Collection, 1940-1950

Mt. St. Helens is a volcanic peak in the Cascade Range located in southwestern Washington State. This collection documents various tourist activities in the late 1940s and early 1950s at Mt. St. Helens Lodge, a resort owned by Harry Truman on Spirit Lake near the volcano. Born in West Virginia in 1896, Truman came to Washington and started logging, hunting, and farming. He served in World War I and was a bootlegger during Prohibition. Truman brought his family to Spirit Lake in 1926 and started a log-cabin grocery, gas station, and small boat rental. The main lodge was built in 1939 and was very popular, especially on summer weekends. Tourist activities included boating, fishing, camping, swimming, and hiking. Truman eventually owned 54 acres of land as well as the resort, and had 100 boats for rent on the lake. In 1980, Mt. St. Helens began acting up after being dormant since 1857. In the evacuations that took place before the eruption, Truman refused to leave his lodge and became popular with the press. The mountain erupted on May 18, 1980, one of the most violent eruptions ever recorded in North America. Truman was killed in the blast.