Donald Selby

Book Cover: Donald Selby

Donald Selby, 48, an unemployed millwright from Everett, Washington, drove to the Spud Mountain area with friend Brad Backstrom on the weekend of the eruption, hoping to take photographs of the volcano that they could sell. The morning of May 18, Backstrom decided to head down the South Fork of the Toutle River in his Celica for supplies. When the mountain erupted, Selby was near his pickup on Spud Mountain, 7 miles northwest of Mount St. Helens. He died of traumatic injuries suffered in the blast.