"Mount St. Helens"
Maker: Paul Kane (1810 Mallow, Ireland–1871 Toronto, Canada)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Geography: North of the Lewis River, Washington, USA
Date: 1849-1856
Dimensions:46.2 x 74.4 cm
Object number: 912.1.78
Credit Line: Gift of Sir Edmund Osler
Description"March 26th.—When we arrived at the mouth of the Kattlepoutal River, twenty six miles from Fort Vancouver, I stopped to make a sketch of the volcano, Mount St. Helen’s, distant, I suppose, about thirty or forty miles. This mountain has never been visited by either Whites or Indians. . . . It is of very great height, and being eternally covered with snow, is seen at a great distance. There was not a cloud visible in the sky at the time I commenced my sketch, and not a breath of air was perceptible: suddenly a stream of white smoke shot up from the crater of the mountain, and hovered a short time over its summit; it then settled down like a cap. This shape it retained for about an hour and a half, and then gradually disappeared. About three years before this the mountain was in a violent state of irruption for three or four days, and threw up burning stones and lava to an immense height, which ran in burning torrents down its snow-clad sides." (Paul Kane, "Wanderings of an Artist," 1859:199–200)
