I got to see up close and personal that knew he had a special sauce. Be that as it may, maureen and doug coming, winning the super bowl, did not get drafted out of washington, went to canada and said every passing record available, came back to the National Football league is a free agent, signed with houston and today is in the National Football league hall of fame. What they did is really kind of the foundation for the black quarterback and as you say, fastforward 20 years down the road, i think cam in the black quarterbacks today, and im looking for the quarterback im saying, how well do they read defense, throw the ball downfield, if they are running i want them to protect themselves but i am coaching and teaching them saying, look, if you have a choice i would rather you throw the ball 18 yards downfield rather than right. And i think cam has been mvp of the league this year, pretty good at knowing has limitations in terms of running and if you are too valuable to the team he cant get hurt, and he is probably a talent that ii cant say we have ever seen in the National Football league, black or white. Now, he put his talent and surrounded with the hiphop culture, some people, that is going to rip in the wrong way. I remember when a female sports reporter, that was foreign to us. Now look at espn and youve got women hosting shows, doing his and hers. You know, and all sports, basketball, football, baseball, you name it. So because something is new or something doesnt fit my mold does not make it bad. I think his energy has actually been good for the game. I probably would not do some of the things that he does, but as i said earlier, i know my lane. Cam knowslane. Cam knows his lane. His lane isnt my lane. My lane is in his. His lane isnt warren moons lane. The fact is, his coaches are comfortable with him. His teammates are comfortable with him. At the end of the day that is all that matters. This is been a great conversation that went by fast. Dig deep, tell the truth. Thank you. When i tune in on the weekends usually it is authors sharing their new releases. The best television for serious readers. They can have a longer conversation and delve into their subject. Book tv weekends bringing author after author after author. [inaudible conversations] it down to television. Thank you so much for coming. Silence your cell phone. Twitter and instagram. Commerce. Com. We would love for you to visit. Going to talk. In his book. [inaudible] what happens to the people who lived it and those who died. I am sarah, by the way. Sending authors, wonderful local connection. [inaudible conversations] i have never given a talk here before, but really i can hardly begin to tell you how delighted i am. Newlyweds in washington dc. And we introduce two of our friends to each other right over there who are now married not too terribly far away from where we live in seattle. A lot of great memories for me. The eruption of Mount Saint Helens in that era on sunday morning may 181980 was one of those events that was so dramatic that for people who have a connection who tends to remember where we were we are the news, i was working on this book. Well, i was coming back from church and heard on the car radio. Or people say, yeah, some indication where we were. Barbecuing in the backyard. I know where i was. I grew up in Washington State. In may of 1980 i was living here and we were about to get married. Anniversary of the eruption is a Good Opportunity for me to remember. And the unmarried and rhode island. Ii grandmother who still lives in a small town where i lived brought back a big jar of ash because she knew everyone will be interested in seeing it. I always figured that it was a good thing that ii was on the east coast because i was exactly the kind of kid, showed an interest in science and geology. One of those kids that said, when the volcano started shaking, wow, i need to go see that. I would have grabbed a friend and we would have jumped in the car and headed down five, turned off on the spirit lake highway and driven up to see this small puff of ash that would come out of the volcano when it 1st reawakened. And it i had done that and my friends and i and him that i would noti would not be here talking to you today. Fiftyseven people died from the eruption. The majority of them were asphyxiated by ash, but some people were blown off were swept away in the mud flow. A couple people were crushed by a tree, some were burned by hot gases. And only three of the 57 were in areas that have been designated as dangerous, and two of them have permission to be there. The only person who was breaking the law was the one victim we tend to remember best, 83 yearold who refused to leave his lodge 4 mie summit. So in the end those people were just too close to an extremely dangerous volcano. Where the danger zones to small . Was the eruption that much bigger than geologists had expected . What can we learn from the tragedies . Living in a world of geological hazard. And what i discovered is this amazing, rich, and interconnected story about politics and money in science and life. The story about the establishment of the national forest, the transcontinental railroad. It is really a story as big as the United States itself. It all came together. Athe town of the Mississippi River about a hundred and 50 mi. I think im going. On the one holiday in march. So this is where an every moved in 1856. He took a job at a lumber yard. He had previous jobs in february. So intelligence and ambitious and rose quickly through the ranks. I never counted the hours are knocked off until i finish my hat in hand. So that will pass them around on some done with them. His brotherinlaw had bought the lumber yard and began to expand it. Down the Mississippi River and put those. But put it back theyre. A preview. The real money lay in buying land and chopping down the trees on that land. Beautiful white pine in the chippewa river. And with the money that he made a bum more land. From rock island to st. Paul, minnesota. Moved up as wisconsin, the center move north. Bought the house next door to james j hill who was another remarkable businessman and visionary just about to compete the run from st. Paul to seattle. If you ever go and have a chance to see, and amazing monument comeau wonderful place to visit. The two men quickly became friends. They often spent the evenings at each others houses. Some big monologue. He always like to talk. So 1899 he faced a major problem. Needed money to pay off a bond issue. Way more land the money. Also the Northern Pacific railway which ran from duluth minnesota tacoma and take a look at the Northern Pacific. The land grants of the Northern Pacific. Property of the federal government gave to the old rail line, particular parts of the United States. So the Northern Pacific received about 40 million acres. Greater than the size of florida. So i received part of the grants for the line is built from Portland Oregon to Tacoma Washington between 1870 and 1873. The rail line that roughly parallels today. The landgrant extended 40 miles on either side. About 35 miles east. When the mountain erupted the top of the volcano was still on by the railroad. 1900 and announced one of the largest private land purchases in us history. For 6 an acre they bought almost a million acres of timber land in southwestern Washington State and with that purchase along with the purchases that i had to fill in the area he bought almost all the land between what yesterday i five and Mount Saint Helens. And this is one of the greatest investments that anyone is made anywhere. About 250 for everyone they invested. That is how much the value of the timber was. So come march 20 of that year we usually just give one or two. Flock to the volcano to study, on the news. This was the 1st sign of the crater. Steam dash began to emerge. In march of 1980. All of the world to see the volcano. In 1917 the very few people saw this. It was a part of the country that was hard to get to. That was not the case with Mount Saint Helens. There were 70 aircraft70 aircraft that were circling the mountain and they had to bring in aircraft control. At 1st federal and state officials thought to limit access by roadblocks. They came under pressure from businesses on the other side of the road block. Gradually ms. Robotics got closer and closer to the mountain. The bigger problem is that the main roads just a tiny fraction. So blogging the area for decades. And in that process the company and thousands of miles of logging rights. They could turn off on one of these roads and climb up to a ridgeline and set up. Stay there for as long as you want. Some of the middle of april they realized they needed a better way of controlling access. They began drawing lines around the volcano. The 1st thing they did is draw a line around the ridgeline to the north of the volcano and figured that if anything came out of the volcano it would not be able to get over the ridgeline. They continue the line down to the south, the southern flank. They had a problem on the west side between the west and northwest side. At that point they were cutting the last right there by the volcano. Gigantic, gigantic trees. So one thing they did on the west side of the mountain is draw the line between warehouse and property. And that area they called the red zone. Law enforcement and scientists can go in that area. The problem is that this red zone only 3 miles away. So than the officials drew another line that generally follows roads and other redlines about 10 miles, and you can go in this area if you have permission. But again on the west side of the mountain they decided not to because they did not want to draw the zone into warehousing property. Too complicated. So on those sites to redline, red zone. So at the same time that the lines were redrawn, something very troubling was happening with the volcano. Eyeballs began to form on the northern and northwestern flank. Caused by cooling magma and this was having a dramatic effect. Growing by 5 feet per day. End local knowledge is really did not know exactly what was going to happen. They thought, this polls cant keep going forever. It will come cascading down at some point. The general consensus was that it would simply be an avalanche. The problem was, it happened to be right on the side of the volcano. So that was essentially the situation. Saturday may 17. The 1st clear weekend after a cloudy and rainy stretch. About two dozen people were getting ready to spend the night in the area north of Mount Saint Helens. Harry truman who had refused to leave his lodge was getting ready for bed on the edge of spirit lake. Bob and weatherly were in their cabin a couple of miles down the river. They have permission to stay. Theystay. They said they were doing a photographic study of the mountain from the desk. Although they thought there was a bit of a ruse and they were doing this just so they could use the cabin. The next closest person was geologist j johnson who was keeping watch from the ridgeline about 5 miles north. Of course that never even been to this location until the day before the eruption, filling in for a colleague who had to go away to talk with his graduate advisors. Actually quite worried. Nothing has been happening. About 7 miles away was a photographer taking photographs for National Geographic as part of a project they have been doing that budget was able to conclude. On the 2nd ridge there was a photographer with the colombian newspaper. The other one on the Northern Ridge was a retired navy ham Radio Operator with a group. Washington state at the time did not have enough money to monitor and warn communities downstream. A group of amateur decided they would keep an eye on the volcano. No one who is closest, but there were other people stationed around. So just past the 3rd ridge where jonathan christie, newlywed couple command they were camped on the north side. Working just a few miles away from that. Would have died if the volcano had erupted on a weekday other than a weekend. Christie about 25 miles away. Trying to have children. The river about 12 or 13 miles to the north. Drinking beer and things like that. On the side of the green river or two friends who had a ridgeline. Am i between them, mike and his wife they had a three monthold baby. Taking the girls on the very 1st camping trip. Ill tell you more in a minute. On sunday morning may 18 the sun rose at 536 and are completely crowded sky. Others just north they take measurements in the distance , expanding and contracting. And then something in the mountain gave way. There were a couple of geologists. There were two pages 70 flying over the mountains. This line east to west. The whole west side of the mountain to start cascading down. Adaware the avalanche was came this gigantic cloud, gray and white. They barely got away. Put into a steep dive and went off to the south to get away and then turned around and looked back and saw this immense column of ash that was rising up. That is how many people describe it. But it all happened in silence. It was like watching a silent movie. The sound of a volcano went straight up and was muffled by the ash. So the landslide swept down the north leg of the mountain. For it to reach the lake this cloud hot ash and rock over to the avalanche. It was traveling fast about 300 miles an hour. It absorb energy from the hot ash. He couldve gone for 500 miles. Pages blue than the smithereens. And a few seconds later the avalanche came and covered the cabins. About 200 feet of avalanche. Harry truman, just buried in the sand. Upon the ridgeline to the north they were watching. They both have time to communicate with people who are monitoring including johnsons famous last words. This is it. So they have come to the last cloud as it came toward them. It mustve looked like the end of the world to them. When this had it basically is them in their vehicles i just snapped off my Taylor Strauch and its off the ridgeline and then it covers them with debris dash entries. Not only are they never found, they havent even found their vehicles. You know, about half of the People Killed in the eruption, their bodies were never found. To the west of those ridges, they have time to take a couple of photographs and then he jumps in the driver seat. Before he can go anywhere the blast hit the car blew out the windows and quickly fills with hot ash. Dismissively. I still have a jar of the ash. And if you taste it, it has a taste like chalk, sort of metallic like something deep inside the earth. The mustve been the sensation a lot of people have. Im not going to tell you what happened. I miles away, completely devastated. As you can imagine, their story, just elements devastation from them last cloud was. The area of if you superimpose past wendover. So on the green river about 12 miles north. Even though they were fatalities to the west and east, camped in the shadow of a mountain, Black Mountain which absorb the worst. They were having breakfast that morning and noticed a cloud that was coming over the ridge. Ran out and started taking photographs. The clouds kept coming closer in my taking these photographs. The photographs never really capture some of the things that they say they saw. They describe the colors of the clouds. Filled with greens and yellows. Churning like an egg be here. The most beautiful thing he has ever seen. So they took shelter nearby, and the thunder from the ashkelon was so loud and continuous that they could not hear each other speak. It was just completely dark. Finally i asked. Mike and lou and bonnie begin to make their way down. Trees have fallen across the trail. Not here yesterday. Came around the corner fallen across the pathway and they realized they would have to get across to get back to the car. By this time it was getting late in the day. They knew they would never get to the car. They brought extra food and set themselves up and just got ready to make the best of it. They say they slept pretty well that night. So they started making their way across this gigantic forest of blown down trees. The helicopter saw what she was wearing. The last people that were rescued, but it could not land in the trees. There was no place for him to land. This lowered a paramedic. And the helicopter put on a single skid and lowered the family in. But the pilot was concerned about the helicopter getting overloaded. He says leave the backpack. She says theres a baby in it. The pilot says okay, keep the baby. He left one of his crewman behind. So at the beginning of my talk, of the 57 People Killed, all the three of them were outside of the red and blue zone. I think of them sat the victory of his the victims of history. A lumbar tycoon moved in next door to a Railroad Baron in st. Paul in the last decade of the 19th century and 80 years later so what do we learn from the eruption that is relevant to us today . There are three lessons that i draw. The 1st is that we have to take them seriously. Scientists are not all that good at predicting exactly when a volcano erupt. They have to use the same system. And they watch and issue a warning. These warnings can be expensive and inconvenient for the people and businesses and other people, those of us who live in the northwest. We have to engage and be prepared when the real event happens. And the 2nd lesson that i draw is that we have to gather information. This Technology Makes it much easier to monitor the changes and know what is going to be done. Became much better so that there would not be. And after the eruption of Mount Saint Helens the federal government established the cascades volcano observatory and scientists keep tabs not only on Mount Saint Helens but also on the volcanoes that have the potential to erupt. It is quite interesting to read, for people who dont. And the 3rd lesson niger is that we have to get ready. Im sure youve all read about the earthquakes and tsunamis and the fires and floods that are possible. And people elsewhere, plenty of hazards. Before i moved to seattle six years ago, blizzards and even a small tornado. So they tend to react to discussions of natural disasters with fear. It can lead to paralysis or fatalism. The better prepared we are today the better off we are going to be. The 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens was the most dramatic thing that ever happened. So i decided to write this book. Always going to be part of our history and still has a lot to teach us about living in one of the most beautiful parts of the United States. Some happy to answer any of your questions. [applause] wanted to ask. [inaudible question] right. This is a question command the book i dont describe exactly what happened. A little overwhelming. So what i wanted to do was choose the area north of the volcano. Essentially all those people by describing their experiences i hope to get a little bit of the experiences of people elsewhere. As you describe some of what happened other people. Trying to get the survivors. Directly impacting. The downstream. The month was were amazing. They lost the navigation on the Columbia River and actually is still a problem today. A huge amount of debris came down these rivers during the fishing for a few years. The big shift, stuck there for a couple months before the channel to be dredged. Even after the eruption, the main river that comes off the mountain. They are still dealing with this issue today. Yes. A number of other books written. Were you John Development by the loss . The courage to go ahead and write another book. One of the things i had to decide. I had written plenty of other books. Part of my job was to read all those books and copy everyone that i possibly could so that i could tell the story as comprehensively as i could. I did come across information that had not been available before. Sued by the families of several of the victims in that case went to trial. What i discovered is that all the records, thousands of pages of records were still on trial. Those records really enabled me to fill in a lot of the gaps. The other thing i tried to do is tell the whole story. The last thing that needs to be written. I tried to go all the way to the beginning. Talk more. Yes. Government agencies that put this together for interagency commission, part of the reason for the trial was the belief that there had been a deal that was made. That was the nature. No collusion is ever surfaced. But in a way they did not have to talk directly. Such a powerful economic function. They would not have drawn the in such a way. And that was ultimately the root cause of the tragedy. Thats why. Now, there was a proposal to expand the danger zone, sitting on the governors desk in the volcano erupted. She had been away on saturday. And if she had signed that, most of the people would have not been in those areas. But it just never happened. One of the strange coincidences. No one seems to worry about it today. Extremely accurate. Lots of people do worry about rainier. People have realized that the communities were built on the top of my floods. And especially after the eruption of Mount Saint Helens, even more that was the case. But steps have been taken to try to protect people that are in those hazardous areas. You will see signs of like saddam he signs. Sometimes they are occurring without accompanying were carried activity. Ten or 15 minutes, pretty much the same situation. So people are aware of it, but it is a significant hazard and there are complications. It is not going to be an easy thing. It is far enough from where the volcano was that you would have some warning. One of these houses the people have to take seriously. They have to have drills. There are all kinds of complications. Just very difficult to get away. We have to worry about. Interrupted 7,000 years ago. The stories of the native americans. I think the last russian record hundreds of thousands of years. But there have been major volcanic eruptions in the past and will continue to be more in the future. They have been active in just the past several hundred years. The current situation, logging, run by the four service. An interesting phenomenon. The lessons learned. The land and management. The one thing i did not talk about, the formation, the national monument. The group that was working to try to set aside the area for Recreational Purposes because this was a working forest. Trying to have this area declared a wilderness area. What happened with the eruption is this whole area that they have been trying to protect was devastated. They have to change your strategy because the area they wanted for recreation is now this gigantic blast off. Scientists were very interested in an experiment to see how it comes back. They work with scientific groups that are interested in setting aside the area. That did lead to the creation. So that area has been protected. It is not as large. They certainly were advocating for a larger monument. You can still see that area that has been set aside. There are still major threats to the area. They are still allowed to do so. They can make money, open a giant mine right there. They are fighting these battles. Use it as a tree from essentially. Yes. Again, it has been very interesting. How a man comes back from this kind of devastation. It has been interesting to see how this is worked. For instance, plants and animals would enter in from the edge is growing in and do so in a very deterministic way. The process is much more random than you would think. The time of year and what animals happen to be around in one of the very 1st to colonize the area. That becomes an island where the plants and animals can colonize as well. One interesting feature of it is the area around Mount Saint Helens now is an old biodiversity area. Just let the natural processes occur, all kinds of plants and animals have entered into the area. It sort of is this odd combination. An incredibly devastated area and yet does not have huge force surrounded and wont for another couple hundred years. But the trees are back. It is a wonderful place to visit. Recommend that everybody go take a look