Story Photos
 Photo by Roger Werth Harry Truman relaxes with his many cats in his lodge at Spirit Lake as Mount St. Helens continually jolted the lake and surrounding area in late March 1980. Harry became a national celebrity over his refusal to leave despite the growing danger the volcano would erupt. |
Give 'em hell, Harry
Friday, March 25, 2005 11:34 PM PST
By Donna duBeth, The Daily News
Printable version
E-mail this articleHarry Truman rules the base of Mount St. Helens, daring the volcano to spit in his eye.
The 84-year-old king of Spirit Lake isn't afraid of the earthquakes that have rattled the mountain since last Thursday or the rumors about a pending eruption. He thinks all the fuss is ridiculous.
"I'm gonna stay right here and say, 'You old bastard, I stuck it out 54 years and I can stick it out another 54,' " Truman said Tuesday afternoon, sipping his bottomless bourbon and coke.
Truman staked out his 40 acres on Spirit Lake in 1929 after he quit running whiskey to California from Canada during prohibition.
He built a house and started renting tents and providing guide service to summer sportsmen. Eventually, a full-blown lodge and lakeside cabins evolved.
He has survived two 100-mile-an-hour windstorms that destroyed the cabins and most of his trees. He's lived through a fire that took down his home and two earthquakes in the past decade that toppled the lodge's chimney and tore up his kitchen. And all the while he rebuilds, laughing at the forces that try to drive him out.
There is no phone service or electricity and the only company during the winter is the forest rangers who were evacuated Tuesday as a red-cheeked Harry tinkered with his truck and scorned the "fair-weather neighbors." Truman runs the place on propane generators and travels down the mountain for supplies once a month.
If he takes a liking to someone, he'll pour a drink and talk non-stop for hours. But heaven help the "pot-bellied Republican" who stops in to tell Truman how his business should be run. He won't get past the 16 house cats that lounge around the main lodge's front steps.
"If you don't like my apples, then don't shake my tree," says Truman.
He knows every trail, creek and cave within horse riding distance. The West Virginian who came West in 1907 has taken shoe clerks and Supreme court justices on pack trips into the hills.
He tells the story about the time he and the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas started into the hills for a seven-day ride.
"We had one mule for grub and one mule for liquor --- Bill was a scotch drinker. The first night we got so drunk I backed into the stove and took all the skin off my calves. Didn't realize it till the next morning," he said.
"Old Bill just wrapped up my legs and we kept going."
He brought out an old letter from Douglas reminding him to be careful because "I'll not always be there to take care of you."
The main lodge of the resort is as crammed with history as Truman himself. The player piano stamped with an 1883 date still works and Harry shows visitors the 250 player rolls that keep him entertained. He has three movie projector screens and home movies dating back to the early 1900s of people, like Douglas, who came to the lodge.
Pictures of the early years with his wife, Eddie, who died three yeas ago line the walls.
Mixed in with the memories are the newest electronic gadgets including a stereo system. His favorite song, which he calls "a dandy," is "You Can Park Your Shoes Under My Bed Anytime."
Harry Truman is Spirit Lake and a volcano will not drive him away. Harry has a secret escape. Back in the hills is an old mine shaft which he found years ago and dug out into a cave.
Nobody knows where it is and if the mountain should blow, Harry plans on moving into his tunnel with "some food and two kegs of whiskey."
"Yes sir, you'd have to be a real good friend to get in that cave with old Truman," he said dancing a small jig.
So as the 10,000-foot peak quakes, crusty old Harry just pours another drink and defiantly says, "This is home to Truman and I'm gonna stay here till hell freezes over."
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