Mt. Fitzherbert

COLDWATER RIDGE, Wash. — Just 14 years ago, a gleaming new visitor center here attracted dignitaries by the bus load.

Heralded as a worthy gateway for Mount St. Helens, the $11.5 million Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center featured state-of-the-art displays just eight miles from the volcano's crater.

Two members of Congress joined the chief of the U.S. Forest Service and hundreds of guests who crowded into the atrium, down the hall and out the front door. Cars jammed all 350 parking spaces, and they lined a half-mile of the newly reconstructed Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.