MOUNT ST. HELENS lets loose a burst of steam and ash into the atmosphere Tuesday afternoon. The volcano had been in dormancy after a few spectacular
eruptions in May and June.
MORE ERUPTIONS EXPECTED
Latest volcano blast a reminder
From AP and UPI
VANCOUVER, Wash. - After erup-
ting for the first time in six weeks with
an 11-mile-high blast, Mount St. Helens
revealed a new glowing red crater
yesterday - evidence to scientists that
the volcano is bound to act up yet again.
"The lesson of last night is everyone
has to be prudent and understand that a
lull is a lull for a time," said U.S.
Geological Survey geologist Tim Hait.
NO INJURIFS were reported
Tuesday night and only a light dusting
of ash spread northeastward as the
volcano's lava dome, which had begun
forming after its third eruption June 12,
was blown 11 miles into the air in three
spectacular, pulsating eruptions.
The mountain was very quiet yester-
day, with no seismic activity reported
and only a very slight steam plume
wafting from the crater.
"You can say the volcano will erupt
again. That is a certainty," he said.
"But day to day, hour to hour, you can't
say. What is says is Mother Nature is a
lot more complicated than we can
Free Press truckers
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figure out. .. What it proves is that
we're not all smart."
HAIT SAID less ash and gases
spewed from the mountain Tuesday
than in the mountain's earlier blasts of
May 18, May 25 and June 12. He said the
latest series of blowouts followed a dif-
ferent pattern than the earlier erup-
tions in that no harmonic tremors, in-
dicating movement of molten material
within the mountain, were detected
before the bursts.
"There's still no way that we can tell
what's going to happen, simply no
way," Hait said.
The appearance of the huge~
mushroom-shaped cloud Tuesday
caused a massive rush-hour traffic jam
in Portland, Ore., 50 miles to the south,
as office workers stopped to stare at the
spectacular sight. In Seattle, residents
flocked to the city's hills to watch and
the Space Needle was packed with
spectators.
THE NATIONAL Weather Service
reported the bulk of the ash cloud was
over southern Saskatchewan early
yesterday. A light ash fallout was
reported at Lethbridge, Saskatchewan.
Some ash was reported in eastern
Washington and in parts of Idaho, Mon-
tana, British Columbia and Alberta.
A geologist who flew over the volcano
yesterday in a U.S. Forest Service
plane described the new crater as a
"large, glowing pit," according to
Charlotte Martin, U.S. Forest Service
spokeswoman.
A PYROCLASTIC flow of
superheated gases and ash overflowed
from the north side of the crater and
sped six miles north to the shores of
Spirit Lake, Hait said. The flow went
about the same distance, but was much
smaller in volume than that which took
the same course during the June 12
eruption.
Eastern Washington was dusted with
ash by the eruption Tuesday, and the
Washington State Patrol issued a
travelers' advisory. The hardest-hit
community was Colville, with an eighth
of an inch.
A 30-mph speed limit was imposed for
Colville and Stevens County.
But residents were more concerned
with the sweltering heat - they
couldn't turn on their air conditioners
for fear of having them ruined by ash.
The ash drifted across northern Idaho
and Montana and yesterday stretched
from the Continental Divide east to
southern Saskatchewan.
DETROIT (UPI) - Detroit Free
Press circulation workers and truck
drivers overwhelmingly ratified a new
three-year contract yesterday, ending a
12-day strike that crippled the morning
newspaper.
Free Press officials said the
newspaper, forced to publish a unique
joint-masthead edition with the rival
Detroit News through much of the
strike, would resume full publication
with Friday's edition.
ALL BUT a handful of the 400 to 500
members of Teamsters Local 372 at-
tending a midday ratification meeting
stood when asked if they supported the
new pact, recommended for approval
unanimously by union leaders.
Reporters, editors and other em-
ployees represented by The Newspaper
Guild, which had been honoring the
lines, then began returning to the desks
they had vacated after the 550 Team-
sters walked out July 12.
"I am enormously glad to see this
newsroom looking like it's a newsroom
again," Free Press Executive Editor
David Lawrence said.
Lawrence said the Free Press plan-
ned one more "integrated" edition with
The News but "we are already begin-
ning work on Friday's paper and
papers beyond."
The walkout came just two days
before the start of the Republican
National Convention and disrupted
Free Press coverage of the GOP
gathering that had been planned for
more than a year.
The new pact was basically the same
economically as one already ratified by
Teamsters at The News but whose
rejection sparked the Free Press
strike.
Union members went along with the
urging of their leadership but still were
split about the contract.
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