Spirit Lake, Washington

History

Spirit Lake was documented by Euro-American settlers as early as the 1850s, though Indigenous peoples of the region — primarily the Cowlitz and Klickitat nations — had maintained oral traditions describing the lake for centuries prior. The Cowlitz referred to the lake by a name roughly translated as "lake of the dead," a reference, according to ethnographic records held by the Washington State Historical Society, to volcanic activity predating contact.

In 1901, the Young Men's Christian Association established a summer camp on the lake's northeastern shore, which operated under various names through the mid-twentieth century. A series of private lodges and recreational cabins were constructed along the southern approach between 1910 and 1940, among them the Mount St. Helens Lodge, operated from 1926 onward by innkeeper Harry R. Truman — not to be confused with the 33rd President of the United States — who would become nationally recognized in 1980 for refusing to evacuate the property prior to the volcanic eruption of May 18th of that year.

The community's civilian population was formally vacated on April 30, 1980, following a series of escalating seismic events cataloged in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bulletin 80-4, which recorded over 10,000 minor earthquakes in the preceding six weeks. The eruption on May 18, 1980 displaced approximately 3.7 billion cubic yards of earth, permanently altering the lake's basin, shoreline, and access routes. A subsequent survey by the U.S. Geological Survey, published in the *Cascade Volcanic Arc Field Report* (1983), confirmed the lake's surface elevation had risen 197 feet due to debris infill.

Geography

Spirit Lake is situated in the northern shadow of Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, approximately 52 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. The lake basin is of glacial origin, carved during the Pleistocene epoch, and is fed primarily by snowmelt and subsurface springs. Post-eruption, the lake's drainage was severed; an engineered drainage tunnel, completed in 1985 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, now regulates the lake's water level to prevent catastrophic overflow into the North Fork Toutle River valley.

The surrounding terrain includes old-growth and recovering second-growth conifer forest, pumice plains, and extensive log-mat debris fields that remain visible on the lake's surface. As of the 2021 aerial survey conducted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the floating log mat covers approximately 600 acres of the lake's northern surface — a remnant of the 1980 eruption's impact on the surrounding forest.

Demographics

The permanent civilian population of the Spirit Lake community was recorded as 46 residents in the 1970 U.S. Census. No permanent civilian population has been recorded at the site since 1980. The Gifford Pinchot National Forest administers the land under a non-residential use designation, and seasonal research permits issued by the U.S. Forest Service account for the only authorized human presence at the lake.

Government

Spirit Lake falls within the administrative boundaries of Skamania County, Washington, and is subject to the county's ordinances governing protected wildlife habitat, including [Skamania County Ordinance 69-01](/wiki/skamania-county-ordinance-69-01), which classifies the area as a restricted-entry zone for non-permitted visitors. Federal jurisdiction is held concurrently by the U.S. Forest Service under the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument designation, established by Congress on August 26, 1982.

The monument boundary was drawn to include 110,000 acres of the surrounding blast zone, with Spirit Lake at its geographic center. No municipal government has operated in the community since the evacuation of April 1980.

Notable Events and Residents

The most widely documented resident of Spirit Lake was Harry R. Truman, who operated the Mount St. Helens Lodge from 1926 until his death in the May 18, 1980 eruption. Truman, then 83 years old, declined repeated orders to evacuate, citing a lifelong connection to the property. His body was never recovered. His refusal was covered in 47 separate newspaper features between March and May of 1980, according to an index compiled by the Pacific Northwest Collection at the University of Washington Libraries.

The lake was also the site of the 1924 Ape Canyon Incident, in which a group of miners reported an overnight assault on their cabin by large bipedal creatures on the slopes above the lake's eastern approach. The incident is discussed at length in relation to regional Bigfoot documentation at [The Ape Canyon Incident and the Sasquatch Massacre](/wiki/sasquatch-massacre) and [Frederick Ape](/wiki/ape-canyon).

See Also

- [Mount St. Helens](/wiki/mount-st-helens)

- [Skamania County Ordinance 69-01](/wiki/skamania-county-ordinance-69-01)

- [The Ape Canyon Incident and the Sasquatch Massacre](/wiki/sasquatch-massacre)

- [Frederick Ape](/wiki/ape-canyon)

See also

• Mount St Helens
• Skamania County Ordinance 69 01
• Ape Canyon
• Sasquatch Massacre
• Bigfoot

References