page_title: Harry R. Truman
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Harry R. Truman / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Associate Justice William O Douglas
context_page_description: Harry R. Truman was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector who lived near Mount St. Helens, an active volcano. He was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the foot of the mountain, and he came to fame as a folk hero in the months preceding the volcano's 1980 eruption after he refused to leave his home despite evacuation orders. Truman is presumed to have been killed by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under 150 ft of volcanic debris.
  After Truman's presumed death, his family and friends reflected on his love for the mountain. In 1981, Art Carney portrayed Truman in the docudrama film St. Helens. He was commemorated in a book by his niece and a number of musical pieces, including songs by Headgear, Billy Jonas and Shawn Wright & The Brothers Band.
context_section_description: He attended high school in the city of Mossyrock, Washington, then enlisted in the Army as a private in August 1917. He was assigned to the 100th Aero Squadron, 7th Squad and trained as an aeromechanic and served in France during World War I. During his service, he sustained injuries due to his audacious and independent nature. While en route to Europe, his troopship, Tuscania, was sunk by a German U-boat in a torpedo attack off the coast of Ireland. He was honorably discharged in June 1919, and he began prospecting, but failed to achieve his goal of becoming rich. He later became a bootlegger, smuggling alcohol from San Francisco to Washington during Prohibition. At some point, he returned to Chehalis, Washington, where he ran an automotive service and gasoline station called Harry's Sudden Service. He also married the daughter of a sawmill owner; they had one daughter.
  Truman grew tired of civilization after a few years and leased 50 acres (20 ha) from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company overlooking Spirit Lake in the wilderness near Mount St. Helens, a stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington. He settled at the foot of the mountain and opened a gas station and a grocery store; he eventually opened the Mount St. Helens Lodge, close to the outlet of Spirit Lake, which he operated for 52 years.
  During the 1930s, Truman divorced his wife; he remarried in 1935. The second marriage was short, as he reportedly attempted to win arguments by throwing his wife into Spirit Lake, despite her inability to swim. He began dating a local girl, though he eventually married her sister Edna, whom he called Eddie. They remained married, operating the Mount St. Helens Lodge together until Edna's death from a heart attack in 1978.
  In the Mount St. Helens area, Truman became notorious for his antics, once getting a forest ranger drunk so that he could burn a pile of brush. He poached, stole gravel from the US Forest Service, and fished on American Indian land with a fake game warden badge. Despite their knowledge of these criminal activities, local rangers failed to catch him in the act. The Washington state government later changed the state sales tax, but Truman kept charging the same rate. A tax agency employee rented a boat from him but refused to pay his tax rate, so Truman pushed him into Spirit Lake.
  Truman was a fan of the cocktail drink Schenley whiskey and Coca-Cola. He owned a pink 1957 Cadillac, and he swore frequently. He loved discussing politics and reportedly hated Republicans, hippies, young children, and the elderly. He once refused to allow Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to stay at his lodge, dismissing him as an "old coot". He changed his mind when he learned Douglas's identity, chased him for 1 mile (1.6 km), and convinced him to stay. When his wife Edna died in 1978, Truman closed his lodge and afterward only rented out a handful of boats and cabins during the summer.
caption: Truman once refused service to Associate Justice William O. Douglas (pictured) at his lodge. Upon learning his identity, he chased Douglas down and convinced him to stay.
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