The Recent Earthquakes

Abstract

THE earthquake record of the past week is a long and disastrous one. An earthquake of wide area and extraordinary intensity took place soon after 10 o'clock on the night of August 31, throughout nearly the entire portion of the United States east of the Mississippi, shocks being felt from the Gulf of Mexico northwards and from the Mississippi eastward to the Atlantic. The shocks were especially severe at Montgomery (Alabama), Cleveland (Ohio), Meadville (Pennsylvania), Raleigh (North Carolina), and Indianapolis (Indiana). In New York, Washington, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chattanooga, and other places severe undulations were felt. The shock was light at Chicago, and west of the Mississippi at Omaha, Ogden, or San Francisco no disturbance was felt. The bounds of the disturbed area are thus roughly defined to be the Mississippi, the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Georgia and South Carolina appear to have been the most severely visited of all the States. At Augusta, in the former State, there were ten distinct shocks between 9.15 and 10.45 P.m.; and the streets were filled with the terrified population. At Savannah five shocks were felt. Sharp shocks were also felt in New Jersey, and vibrations as far north as Philadelphia. Prof. Newcomb, of the Nautical Almanac, Washington, reports that the first shock occurred at 9.53.20, and the second at 9.54.30, lasting until 9.59. The Signal Service Bureau at Washington reports that four distinct shocks were felt there. The first began at 9.54, and lasted 40 seconds, the second at 10.0.4, the third at 10.10, and another at 10.30. Charleston, in South Carolina, suffered most severely, —the streets were blocked with fallen buildings, telegraph poles, and tangled wires. The population spent the night in the streets. As usual after violent earthquakes, fires broke out. The principal business quarter and two-thirds of the dwelling-houses have been destroyed, and the town was isolated from the outside world, the bridges and railroads being all destroyed. Sullivan's Island, a watering-place near Charleston, wai submerged by a tidal wave. At Columbia, in the same State, ten distinct shocks of earthquake were felt, the last at 10.20 on the morning of the 1st inst. Fresh shocks were felt in the afternoon of the 1st at Augusta, Charleston, and Columbus, and during the same day throughout North and South Carolina and Georgia, and many fissures opened, emitting fresh water, white sand, and blue mud from a great depth. At 11.55 on the night of the 1st another violent shock in Charleston brought down several houses. Since that date, shocks of more or less violence have continued up to the present in the States above-mentioned.