10 Facts about the 1872 Owens Valley Earthquake in California

 by Edwina Kiernan

At 2:30am on March 26, 1872, the sleeping town of Lone Pine, California had a rude awakening. The Owens Valley Earthquake was one of the largest Californian earthquakes in recorded history, in which 27 people were killed and 56 were injured. Here are ten facts I discovered as I researched it for my latest book...

1) The quake was felt as far away as Sacramento and Los Angeles.

2) The Diaz family, who had emigrated from Chile in the 1860s, operated a successful cattle ranch until the earthquake hit. A natural spring filled the quake basin, turning the ranch into a lake, named Diaz Lake to this day.

3) At the time of the earthquake, Mt. Whitney was known as Fisherman's Peak.

4) 27 inhabitants of Lone Pine were killed - more than 10% of its population.

5) The quake generated a fault scarp more than 2m tall, with the ground shifting 5m to the right. The scarp can be followed for more than 40 miles north and south of the epicenter. The ground fissures can be followed for more than 225 miles.

Lone Pine fault scarp

6) The earthquake's estimated magnitude was between 7.4 and 7.9.

7) The interest in seismology that this earthquake sparked led to the formation of the first permanent seismic observatories in the United States.

8) Numerous eyewitness accounts survive to this day, including one from the Scottish naturalist, John Muir. He described the shocks as being so violent and so closely following one another that trying to walk was like trying to balance on a ship tossed at sea. He also had an optimistic outlook during the event - part of his account says: "...Though I had never before enjoyed a storm of this sort, the strange, wild thrilling motion and rumbling could not be mistaken, and I ran out of my cabin, near the Sentinel Rock, both glad and frightened, shouting, "A noble earthquake!" feeling sure I was going to learn something." You can read his full account here.

9) A series of aftershocks continued for months afterwards, causing even more buildings to collapse due to their already weakened structures.

10) A number of the victims are buried in a mass grave. It was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1953, and a new memorial was established in 1988 on the 116th anniversary of the tragedy.

The original marker of the 1872 Lone Pine Earthquake victim's common grave

1988 memorial, detailing some of the victims' names and nationalities

Did You Know?

My new release, Heart of Integrity, features the Owens Valley / Lone Pine earthquake of 1872. Susan and Ifor have each traveled miles across the world to escape their pasts and build new lives. But when a devastating earthquake throws them into a state of upheaval, long-buried secrets soon shake loose with devastating consequences...

Not all fault lines are hidden in the earth...

Find out more here: EdwinaKiernan.com/integrity

About The Author:

Edwina Kiernan is an award-winning author of Christian Historical Romance. She lives in rainy Ireland with her husband and son, and uses her pen to point people to Jesus - the Living Word. She also drinks more types of tea than most people realize even exist. Find out more at EdwinaKiernan.com, and sign up for her weekly newsletter for lots of fun, fiction, freebies and faith.

Great New England Earthquake of 1727

By Elaine Marie Cooper

When growing up in Massachusetts, I had never experienced an earthquake. When my dad’s job sent us to California, these trembles of the earth were the norm and I expected them—although hated the experiences when they occurred. Without warning, the ground beneath you suddenly loses its steadfast stability. The unexpected nature of these events was unnerving, to say the least.

Imagine my surprise to discover there have been several recorded instances of earthquakes in and around New England where I’d grown up, earthquake-ignorant. One of the more significant ones occurred in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1727, although ripples of ground shaking were felt in several other northern colonies as well.

According to Sidney Perley in his classic 1891 edition of Historic Storms of New England, the weather in the northeastern colonies that year defied any sense of normalcy.

A drought occurred in 1727 that began with little rain in the spring, followed by almost no precipitation all summer. “The earth dried to a great depth, and many wells and springs, which had never failed before were now dry. There was much lightning and thunder, but very little rain.”

Perley wrote, “After the drought was broken, a violent northeast storm came on, doing much damage among the vessels along the coast, and the trees on shore. This occurred September 16.”

 

Sidney Perley Book

October weather continued to be at odds with the norm. The weather grew very cold on October 24, followed by a snowfall, then more cold weather. Then Sunday the 28thwas “fair and pleasant.” Everything seemed calm and the colonists went to bed at their usual hour. All seemed well, until twenty minutes before the hour of eleven, when “a terrible noise followed by a roar and a rush suddenly woke them.”

Before the sleepy inhabitants had their wits about them, Perley described an unimaginable sound: “a pounce as if gigantic cannons had rolled against each other from opposite directions.”
Door latches pushed upward and the portals opened wide. Homes trembled and hearthstones grated, while chimney tops loosened and fell, some destroyed altogether. Everything movable rattled and fell.

Frightened citizens ran out their doors, fearing for their lives. People who had already been awake prior to the earthquake claimed a flash of light had preceded the event. Dogs were heard barking at the blazing illumination. These late-to-bed residents told of a murmuring sound that grew to a rumbling “as if innumerable heavy carriages were being rapidly driven over pavements … a hollow sound as if it came from under the earth.”

Then came the sudden and shocking occurrence that awoke the colonists far and wide. It lasted for about two minutes. “The earth reel’d and trembled to a great degree. The houses rock’d and crackl’d as if they were tumbling into ruins.” (Weekly News-Letter, November 3, 1727)

“Cattle ran bellowing about the fields, being thoroughly frightened at this sudden and fearful commotion in the still hours of the night,” wrote Perley.

An aftershock occurred at 11:00 pm. Although milder than the first tremble, it kept everyone in a state of fear. When another occurred before midnight, most residents got dressed and prepared to remain on alert for the duration of the terrifying night.

In several towns like Londonderry, New Hampshire and Rowley, Massachusetts, residents ran to the homes of their ministers for comfort. The reverend in Rowley, whose home could not hold all of the congregants, opened the meetinghouse where they all prayed through the night.

More aftershocks continued through the night. When morning dawned, the damage could be assessed. Although dishes were shattered and some chimneys required rebuilding, “Not a wooden house was broken nor a person or animal injured.”

The earthquake of 1727 did have a significant impact on the terrain and on the underground springs and wells, however. The ground beneath some marshland was raised up so much as to become unfit for its native grasses, but useable for farming. Well water was often changed for the better but one well took seven days to become sweet and pure after the trembling of the earth had caused the underground liquid to have an offensive stench.

In Newbury, Massachusetts, large fissures opened up in the ground and some feared the earth would swallow them up.

The real impact of the earthquake was in the minds and spirits of the citizenry of New England. Many believed it was divine judgement for their sins and clergy preached that it was “a loud call to the whole land to repent and fear and give glory to God.”

In a sermon to his congregation in Hampton, N.H., Reverend Nathaniel Gookin said, “All of us saw necessity of looking to God for his favor and protection; and I would hope that many did, not only look to God in that time of their distress, but did truly and heartily return to him.”

Rev. Cotton Mather

Reverend Cotton Mather wrote an “Awakening” speech, and delivered it to the inhabitants of Boston, “…who assembled the next morning in a very great congregation for the proper exercise of religion on such a Solemn Occasion.” (From an ad for a copy of the pamphlet, “sold by Samuel Kneeland at his shop in King St.”) Reverend Mather wrote, “Let the natural causes of earthquake be what the wise men of enquiry please, they and their causes are still under the government of Him that is God of nature.”

Town leaders in Medford, Massachusetts declared a day of fasting and prayer and churches throughout New England were filled, some beyond capacity.

“Many who had before cared nothing for a religious life became penitent and devout.” Some became truly reformed. “But in too many cases, when their fears were gone, the religious thoughts and habits of the people lost their hold on them.” (Perley)

More aftershocks continued in the northeast through December and, up until that time, was the severest known earthquake in New England.

Next time I visit my home state, I’ll be a tad more aware of rumbles and trembles and I’ll pray that the next Great Earthquake does not find me in a Boston subway. 

To view the New England Seismic Network from Weston Observatory at Boston College, click here.

Elaine Marie Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her latest release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She freely admits to being a history geek. Look for her upcoming series, entitled Dawn of America, set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. The first two books are entitled War's Respite and Love's Kindling. You can visit her site at www.elainemariecooper.com.

Historical California Earthquakes

San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

As a California resident for most of my life, I’ve felt my share of earthquakes, including a few recent tremors that shook our apartment. So I thought it would be interesting to explore several of the most significant earthquakes in California’s recorded history, though of course they were going on long before people started writing them down.

1. Fort Tejon Earthquake, 1857

Fort Tejon, California.

I learned about this earthquake when researching my most recent historical novel manuscript, set at Fort Tejon, a remote army outpost somewhat south of Bakersfield and occupied during the 1850s and 60s. Estimated at what we would now count between a 7.9 and 8.3 on the Richter scale, this quake was even stronger than the famous San Francisco earthquake, though since it hit a less closely inhabited region, it cost far fewer lives.

This earthquake hit at approximately 8:30 am on January 9, 1857, after a smaller quake rocked Fort Tejon a couple of hours earlier. The entire area from the fort to farms to the nearby Native American reservation was severely shaken, with fissures opening up in the earth up to forty miles long and twenty to thirty feet wide! The earthquake was felt and reported in newspapers as far flung as San Diego and Sacramento.

Many buildings were severely damaged, including most structures at Fort Tejon. Streams were altered, and an eyewitness described seeing the Colorado River go momentarily dry, as the quake forced the water up in a giant wave.

As Quartermaster’s Deputy Alonzo Wakeman, wrote to the editor of the Los Angeles Star:

“The earth has opened in many places for a distance of twenty miles. Many instances occurred of narrow escapes from injuries by the falling buildings…it is a miracle that no lives were lost [that he knew of], for which mercy we are indebted to the protecting influence of an All Wise Providence.”

~ From A View from the Ridge Route: The Fort Tejon Era, by Bonnie Ketterl Kane

2. Owens Valley/Lone Pine Earthquake, 1872

This earthquake was interesting to me as well, since the Paiute characters in my story came from the Owens Valley before being force-marched south to Fort Tejon. This earthquake, estimated at a 7.4, occurred on March 26, 1872, east of the famous Sierra Nevada mountains. Thirty people died in this quake, twenty-seven in a collapsed row of houses in the town of Lone Pine. This earthquake held the unusual combination of both dip-slip and strike-slip faults, which meant the ground shifted both horizontally—up to twenty-three feet!—and vertically at the same time.

John Muir in his beloved mountains, by Francis M. Fritz
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

While based in northern California, this quake stopped clocks as far south as San Diego. It was most famously documented by explorer and naturalist John Muir, who helped found Yosemite National Park. 

Muir wrote, “The Eagle Rock, a short distance up the valley, had given way, and I saw it falling in thousands of the great boulders I had been studying so long, pouring to the valley floor in a free curve luminous from friction, making a terribly sublime and beautiful spectacle—an arc of fire fifteen hundred feet span, as true in form and as steady as a rainbow, in the midst of the stupendous roaring rock-storm."

3. San Francisco Earthquake, 1906

Burning of San Francisco, Mission District: Chadwick, H. D.
National Archives and Records Administration,
 Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The famous “Great Quake” hit the bustling city of San Francisco in 1906. While measurements vary between 7.9 and 8.3—approximately the same magnitude as the Fort Tejon earthquake—this quake was far more deadly, killing as many as 3,000 people. The San Francisco earthquake affected a much broader area, being felt from southern California all the way up to Oregon and inland to Nevada, but the destruction hit San Francisco the hardest, especially because of the devastating fire the earthquake sparked. And with the city’s water mains destroyed by the quake, the firefighters were helpless to stop the blaze until a merciful rainstorm finally brought relief—but not until over 25,000 buildings were destroyed and 250,000 people rendered homeless.

Most gripping are the eyewitness accounts, such as this snippet from P. Barrett:

“Of a sudden we had found ourselves staggering and reeling. It was as if the earth was slipping gently from under our feet. Then came the sickening swaying of the earth that threw us flat upon our faces….it seemed as though my head were split with the roar that crashed into my ears. Big buildings were crumbling as one might crush a biscuit in one’s hand. Ahead of me a great cornice crushed a man as if he were a maggot – a laborer in overalls on his way to the Union Iron Works with a dinner pail on his arm.”

It took the next four years for San Francisco to rebuild, though the city rose stronger, better planned, and more beautiful after the “Great Quake.”

I personally remember the 1994 Northridge Earthquake from when I was a young girl, one of the most destructive quakes in California’s recent history, though my family wasn’t seriously affected. But one way or another, earthquakes have helped shape California’s character and history, and probably always will.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? Does the thought of these deep-earth tremors fascinate or frighten you? Which of these historical earthquakes do you find most interesting? Please comment and share!

Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published in several magazines, won the 2013 ACFW Genesis Award - Historical for her manuscript Beneath a Turquoise Sky, and is currently a 2018 Genesis Finalist. An English teacher and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as blogging at www.kierstigiron.com. She lives in California with her wonderful husband, Anthony, and their two kitties.

Charleston on Shaky Ground plus GIVEAWAY!

One of my favorite places to visit is Charleston, SC. I love to walk down the old brick streets and admire the the Antebellum homes. One thing always stands out as I walk down the streets and that's the earthquake bolts they used to secure damaged buildings. 

Picture of an earthquake bolt I took on one of Charleston's buildings.

My upcoming release, Shattered Memories is centered around the 1886 Charleston earthquake.  Charleston, SC is not known for its seismic activity, but on August 31st at 9:50 pm a quake hit the city that shook it to its core. An earthquake that registered 7.0 in magnitude rocked Charleston and the surrounding areas.

                                           By John Karl Hillers - US Geological Survey Photographic Library, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54560988 

Buildings crumbled and fell into the streets, leaving some streets impassible. The devastation was immeasurable. Very few buildings escaped damage or complete destruction. The buildings that were were salvageable were repaired using long rods for reinforcement. The rods were run through the walls then secured with a washer (known as a gib plate) and a iron nut. The earthquake bolts weren't something many of the affluent home owners wanted adorning the their homes. To disguise the bolt ends, cast iron decorations from stars to lion heads were made to cover the ends and adorn the buildings.

By Unknown - University of South Carolina, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119940166

Right before the quake struck witness told of a roaring sound like that of a train that barreled toward them. The ground shook and people ran from their homes and into the streets and parks. Some over-zealous men preached in the parks and streets warning that God's wrath was upon them and demanded repentance as wave after wave of quakes rolled through. 


Gas lines and water lines were broke from the twisting of the earth. Fires broke out and spread quickly through the damaged buildings and the broken waterlines made fighting the fires a lost cause. Wires were cut and railroad tracks were twisted and torn apart separating Charleston from the outside world. 

                               By Unknown - University of South Carolina, Public Domain,                                 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119940168

As people gathered in the city squares, many of them sang songs to bring calm to the crowds. When the initial quake was over the homes weren't safe to sleep in so they slept in the parks. As the days went by and the aftershocks continued word got out to the rest of the world. Tents were sent in for the homeless Charlestonians. 

Over 300 aftershocks would hit Charleston over the next 3 years. The toll that the earthquake took didn't stop with the buildings. Over 60 people died and the health of many people were affected by the quakes. Today we know some of those aliments as PTSD. People suffered from nausea, headaches, one woman lost her hair, some went crazy. There were even reports where three woman were frightened to death.

Charleston is a resilient city. They proved that with the rebuidling of the city after the Civil War. They rebuilt their city after the earthquake in just a few short years. Many had to rebuild their lives as well. But Charleston would never be the same, it would always carry the scares of August 31st, 1886. Those scars are cold earthquake bolts. You can see them in the picture I took below.

A few other tidbits of information:
It is thought that earthquake was a 7.6 in magnitude.
An estimated 14,000 chimneys fell from the quake.
Almost every building was severally damaged.
Structural damage was reported as far away as Alabama, central Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southern Virginia, and western West Virginia.
It was said that 2 out of every 3 people in the country felt the quake! (Keep in mind the east was where the largest population was...but still...)
The total damage was in excess of 5.5 million dollars (112 million in today's market)

Have you ever been in an earthquake?
What information above did you find the most surprising?
Why would you like to read Shattered Memories?

GIVEAWAY:
To celebrate my new release, I'm giving away your choice of a signed copy of Shattered Memories or my debut Sword of Forgiveness. Be sure to answer one of the questions above and leave your email address to be entered. For extra entries share this post on FB and/or Twitter and let me know you shared. Giveaway ends February 10th.

Olivia Macqueen wakes in a makeshift hospital, recovering from a head injury. With amnesia stealing a year of her memories, she has trouble discerning between lies and truth. When her memories start returning in bits and pieces, she must keep up the charade of amnesia until she can find out the truth behind the embezzlement of her family’s business while evading the danger lurking around her. Doctor Drew Warwick frantically searches through the rubble left by the Charleston earthquake for the lady who owns his heart. He finds her injured and lifeless. When she regains consciousness, the doctor’s hopes are dashed as he realizes she doesn’t remember him. But things only get worse after he discovers she believes she’s still engaged to the abusive scoundrel, Lloyd Pratt. Now Drew is on a race with the wedding clock to either help her remember or win her heart again before she marries the wrong man. 

Debbie Lynne Costello has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina. She has worked in many capacities in her church and is currently the Children’s director. Debbie Lynne has shown and raised Shetland sheepdogs for eighteen years and still enjoys litters now and then. In their spare time, She and her husband enjoy camping and riding their Arabian and Tennessee Walking horses. Visit Debbie Lynne at
  
www.debbielynnecostello.com, www.theswordandspirit.blogspot.com, https://www.facebook.com/debbielynnecostello , https://plus.google.com/+DebbieLynneCostello/posts, and https://twitter.com/DebiLynCostello