Cascadia Catalog 1793-1930

	Cascadia Historic Earthquake Catalog, 1793-1929 Covering Washington, Oregon and Southern British Columbia Provided by: The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network About the Cascadia Historic Earthquake Catalog One-line catalog format 1793-1849 .... 1850s .... 1860s .... 1870s .... 1880s .... 1890s .... 1900s .... 1910s .... 1920s .... 1930s (not complete) .... Other Cascadia Catalogs

Individual Event Report

Event #140 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs
See following event comment. Because of an ambiguous statement by C.G. Rockwood, "October 12 - Quite severe shocks were felt in Oregon, occurring in Portland at 1:53 P. M., two shocks being noticed; at Marshfield, Clackamas County, at 1:45 P. M.; and at Cascades at 1:52 P. M. (Another shock was felt at Cascades at 9 A. M.). The vibrations were in each case from north to south and were sufficiently violent to overthrow chimneys.", many early catalogs cited this event as having a high intensity, although the Oregonian newspaper account clearly indicates that the Cascades event was not severe. Thenhaus (Thenhaus, Paul C., 1978, A Study of the October 12, 1877 Oregon Earthquake, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-234, 14 pp.) used the Oregonian account to assign an intensity of III to this event.
TIME							LOCATION			MAGNITUDE		MAX. INTENSITY					FELT AREA
YR	MO	DAY	HR	MIN	AM/PM	Time Type	LAT(N)	LON(W)	DEP (km)	MAG	Mag Type	Felt Plc.	Felt St.	Inten- sity	Int. Type	Felt Area	Felt Area Int.	Felt Area Units
1877	10	12	9		A	L	45.70	121.90				Cascades	OR	III	MM
N-Ore - 1532							WWC - 1651		-	-		MISC - 2333				-

Underlying Source Material

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
1204	The American Journal of Science and Arts	1878	Vol. XV, Nos. 85-90, January to June, 1878, pp. 21,25
Transcription: Rockwood, C. G. "Notices of Recent American Eartkquakes", THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS, VOL. XV., Nos. 85-90, January to June, 1878, pp. 21,25. August 16, 1876 - At 1:15 P. M. the bark Forest Queen experienced a heavy shock of fifteen seconds duration in lat. 41 degrees 55' N., long. 126 degrees 25' W., off the southern part of Oregon (U. S. Signal Service). October 12 - Quite severe shocks were felt in oregon, occurring in Portland at 1:53 P. M., two shocks being noticed; at Marshfield, Clackamas County, at 1:45 P. M.; and at Cascades at 1:52 P. M. (Another shock was felt at Cascades at 9 A. M.). The vibrations were in each case from north to south and were sufficiently violent to overthrow chimneys. October 26 - Between 5 and 6 P. M. the schooner Leo felt a severe earthquake shock, continuing about ten seconds, in lat. 43 Degrees 13' N., long. 128 degrees W., the vessel being 300 or 400 miles from the coast of Oregon.

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
591	Reid, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park
Transcription: Cascades 9 am; 13 October 1877 -Am. Jr. Sc. III-XV pg 25

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
1532	The Oregonian	1877	Oct 13, 1877
Transcription: 1877, October 12, Friday. Portland, Western Northwest. THE UNSTABLE EARTH An Earthquake Passes Over the Northwest and "Calls In" on Portland--Incidents of the Shock. Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions, and the teeming earth Is with a kind of colic pinched and vexed By the imprisoning of unruly wind Within her womb, which for enlargement striving Shakes the old beldame earth and topples down Steeples and moss grown towers.-- Shakespeare We are accustomed to contrast the instability of things in general with the stability of our planet, and "as solid as the earth" is acknowledged everywhere as the standard of immobility. But like many of man's fondest fancies, the delusion quickly vanishes when we feel the earth beneath us tremble. From shipwreck, we can "man the boats," can fly from flood or the dangers of conflagration; but amid the convulsions of an earthquake, danger is equally great on every side, and flight is simply folly. We seem brought face to face with the mighty power of God, and upon the very verge of the undiscovered world. Yesterday afternoon at seven minutes before two o'clock, a distinct earth shock, followed in a few seconds by another and severer one, passed over the city from north to south. It was not, as is usually the case, preceded by premonitory rumblings, but came with terrifying suddenness. The scene on the principal streets, as the people became conscious of the cause of the agitation, was one of wildest confusion and, for a moment, of terror. From houses and stores, people with white, scared faces, rushed into the streets, cigars dropped from the mouths of smokers, horses snorted and dogs whined with fear, the air, as well as the earth, seemed filled with a mysterious and awful power--the streets seemed turned into a mad carnival of fear. This was for one moment; the next, everybody was trying to convince everybody else that he "wasn't a bit scared." While the shock was very severe, or, at least, seemed so to Oregonians, it was not accompanied by loss of life or destruction of property to any great extent. A panic was created at each of the public schools, and children made for the open air without considering the manner of their going. At the North building they rushed pell-mell down stairs, and in the tur- moil several small children were severely bruised. At the Central and High schools a similar occurrence took place, and in Harrison street school the terror of the children was awful. Several windows were broken, and it seemed as though the house would certainly fall. The shock was much harder in the southern part of the city, and many residences were well shaken up. Several windows in the house of J. L. Atkinson were broken, and two chimneys were knocked off Dr. Glenn's house on Second and Columbia streets. In the county jail, several feet below the surface, it was very severe, and a stove was knocked from its "moorings" and thrown over. The shock seems to have had particular spite against the Oregon Furniture Company's building on First and Yamhill streets, and cracked a large and valuable plate glass window in front of the salesroom. This is the only real loss yet reported. There were many in- cidents that would be of interest, but space forbids further mention. A private telegram gives information that the shock was felt on the Sound, and the officers of the Astonia boat report that it was very distinct at points down the Columbia. The following dispatch explains itself: Cascades, Oct 12. Two distinct shocks of earthquake were felt today. One at 9 am and one at 1:52, From north to south,-- the last very heavy. Dalles and above report nothing felt there. A gentleman who came from Salem last evening says that nothing was felt there or further up the valley. Three shocks were felt at Hubbard. They made the household crockery rattle. Marshfield, Clackamas Co., Oct. 12. Earthshake felt at this place to day at 1:45 pre- cisely, Stone's time. Vibrations were from north to south and very distinct, so much so as to rattle windows and all loose or moveable articles about the house. It was felt by all persons who were indoors, and lasted about four seconds--the second and most severe shake experienced by the writer during a residence of thirty years in the state. T. J. Matlock

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
2333	Thenhaus, Paul C., 1978, A Study of the October 12, 1877 Oregon Earthquake, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-234, 14 pp.	1978
Transcription: Abstract: Historic accounts indicate two earthquakes occurred in northern Oregon on October 12, 1877. The first event, of Modified Mercalli Intensity III, took place at Cascades, Oregon (now Cascade Locks) at approximately 9:00 a.m. The second earthquake, of Modifed Mercalli Intensity VII, occurred in Portland Oregon, at approximately 1:53 p.m. (RSL 6/95 - Comments: This paper uses the Oregonian newspaper account to assign intensities at various locales, and then provides an isoseismal map based solely on the Oregonian account.) RSL 7/98 - Comments: Noson, Qamar, and Thorsen, in "Washington State Earthquake Hazards", Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources Information Circular 85, 1988. Cite Thenhaus as the source of a felt area of 48,000 km2, and compute a magnitude of 5.4 using Toppazada's (1975) formula: Mag(felt)= -1.88 +1.53 log A; where A is the total felt area.

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
1651	Woodward Clyde Consultants, unpublished	1981	Woodward-Clyde Consultants (1981), Historical Catalog (1841-1980) for the Pacific Northwest Region, unpublished catalog prepared for the Washington Public Power Supply System. Copy provided to UW in 1993.
Transcription: 1877101209 45700-121900W1VII BB 7 01

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
1296	Berg and Baker, 1963, Oregon Earthquakes, 1841 through 1958, BSSA, V. 53, No. 1, pp. 95-108	1963
Transcription: 1877 - - Oct 12 9 am (Local) Cascades VIII 10

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
1236	Holden, E.S., 1898, A Catalog of Earthquakes on the Pacific Coast 1769-1897, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 1087	1898
Transcription: 1877. October 12; 1:53 P.M.; VIII Portland, Oregon; 1:45 P.M., Marshfield, Oregon; 1:52 P.M., Cascades, Oregon; 9 A.M., Cascades, Oregon.___C.G.R. (Chimneys overthrown.)__P.

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
2029	Leslie M. Scott, Memoranda of the Files of the Oregonian 1850-1910, Oregon Historical Society	1910	Unpublished index to the Oregonian
Transcription: at Needy, Clackamas County, O-Oct. 17, 1877, p.3, 100w.

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
347	Byerly, Perry, 1952, Pacific Coast Earthquakes, Condon Lecture, pp. 33-38	1952	U.W. Library, N979 B991p, Special Collections)
Transcription: 1877, October 12 Cascades. Chimneys overthrown. (9 a.m.)

Source ID	Publication	Pub Date	Pub Details
489	Townley, S.D. and M.W. Allen, 1939, Descriptive Catalog of earthquakes of the Pacific Coast of the United States 1769 to 1928, Chapter II, Earthquakes in Oregon--1846-1928, BSSA, V. 29, No. 1, pp. 253-258.	1939
Transcription: 1877 October 12. 9 a.m. Cascades. [From the wording of the account it would seem that chimneys were overthrown in both this shock and the following.-Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., 15, 25. Reid gives this shock as occurring on October 13 at 9 a.m.]