It happened on the morning of May , 18, 1980 . Suddenly , one of the majestic mountain peaks in the Cascade Range of the North- Western United States - Mount St . Helen blew its top. Scientists estimated that the mountain exploded with the force of the million tons of TNT . Within hours over 230 square miles of the beautiful forest was transformed into a gray lunarlike wasteland and sixty people were dead.
The Indians of the Northwest once called the peak Fire Mountain .
Now the whole world knows that Mount St . Helen is indeed a live volcano.
