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