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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 #356 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs                                           
Landslide or Rockfall This is an account of earthquakes and avalanches on Mount Rainier. No account was found in a search of the Tacoma Daily News. Townley and Allen say: "Hundreds of acres of rocks and ice, including a number of glaciers, were broken loose and hurled two miles down the mountain side into the valleys below.... witnessed by State Senator Ruth of Olympia and George E. Huggins ...They were startled ... by the earthquake shock, followed by reports similar to the firing of heavy artillery. These gradually increased to a great roar. .... they observed that the southeastern peak had broken off and was tumbling down the slope. Slides continued all day. In the afternoon there was a broad black streak of bare rock where before ice and snow had been piled hundreds of feet high. There is probably some exaggeration in this account. An earthquake was felt at several points throughout Eastern Washington Tuesday night.-Reid's Scrapbook, 2, 29."
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
1903  12  15          46.80  121.80        Mount Rainier  WA           
TAWA - 1117 WWC - 1748 - - TAWA - 1117 -

Underlying Source Material
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
741  Reid, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park     
Transcription: Mt. Rainier Night 15 Dec, 1903 IX? -Newspaper; SB II pg 29 Earthquake caused a large landslide from Northern side of Mt. Rainier. Felt also at several points in Eastern Washington.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
903  Reid 2, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park     
Transcription: Mt. Rainier night December 15, 1903 IX ? Felt at several points in eastern Washington.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2445  Washington Public Power Supply System, "WPPSS Nuclear Project No. 2, Final Safety Analysis Report, Volume 1, Amendment 18"
September 1981 
1981  Table 2.5-6 
Transcription: 1903 Dec 15 Mt. Rainier, Wash. TA
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1748  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: 19031215 46800-121800W R 01
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1117  Townley, S. D. and M. W. Allen, 1939, Descriptive Catalog of Earthquakes of the Pacific Coast of the United States 1769-1928, Chap. III Earthquakes in Washington, 1883-1928, BSSA, V. 29, No. 1, pp. 259-268  1939   
Transcription: [1903 December 15. Tacoma. An earthquake last Tuesday broke off the southeastern peak of Mount Rainier, lying sixty miles southeast of Tacoma. Hundreds of acres of rocks and ice, including a number of glaciers, were broken loose and hurled two miles down the mountain side into the valleys below. The breaking of Mount Rainier's peak was witnessed by State Senator Ruth of Olympia and George E. Huggins, a wealthy stockman owning ranges around the southern base of the mountain. They were startled Tuesday morning by the earthquake shock, followed by reports similar to the firing of heavy artillery. These gradually increased to a great roar. Looking toward the mountain, they observed that the southeastern peak had broken off and was tumbling down the slope. Slides continued all day. In the afternoon there was a broad black streak of bare rock where before ice and snow had been piled hundreds of feet high. There is probably some exaggeration in this account. An earthquake was felt at several points throughout Eastern Washington Tuesday night.-Reid's Scrapbook, 2, 29.]
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
100  Rasmussen, Norman, 1967, Washington state earthquakes 1840 through 1965, BSSA V. 57, No. 3, pp. 463-476  1967   
Transcription: 100 1903 Dec. 15 - Mt. Rainier 4 felt
 


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