Mount St. Helens is approximately 50 miles northeast of present-day Portland, Oregon. Erupting from vents in it's sides between 1841 and 1857, Kane captured the only known record of the event. It would then lie dormant until the early 1980s.
We landed at the Cowlitz farm, which belongs to the Hudson's Bay Company. Large quantities of wheat are raised at this place. I had a fine view of Mount St. Helen's throwing up a long column of dark smoke into the clear blue sky.
- Paul Kane
Later, back in his studio in Toronto, he would add such items as water, boatloads of people and darkness for added dramatic effect
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