The near supersonic blast when Mount Saint Helens exploded in May of 1980 produced an area about 8 miles in radius known as the direct blast zone or the tree removal zone. Within this zone almost everything was obliterated with the exception of this tree that was wedged in a crack, shredded, but not removed.
Although San Juan County is now known for the mining of uranium and vanadium, early miners had dreams of big lodes of gold and silver in the Abajo Mountains. This tunnel house is at the Dream Mine, at Johnson Creek in San Juan County, Utah.