PNSN Logo
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 #400 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs                                           
This event is represented in most catalogs, but no magnitude has been assigned to it. The handwritten weather records from Port Townsend say "1907 July 28 2:20 AM Earthquake quite heavy." Milne cites the British Colonist, and says that many persons in Victoria and Port Townsend were wakened. Townley and Allen found similar information in the San Francisco Chronicle. One of the accounts from Reid's scrapbook is garbled, and appears to be a mixture of this event and that of Jan. 11, 1909. Newspaper accounts should probably be researched.
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
1907  28  20  48.45  123.35        Port Townsend  WA  MM       
TAWA - 1123 WWC - 1766 - - RAS - 107 -

Underlying Source Material
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
908  Reid 2, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park     
Transcription: Port Townsend 2:20a July 28, 1907 IV Felt at Victoria, BC with an intensity of V. Duration 4 seconds.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1766  Woodward Clyde Consultants, unpublished  1981  Woodward-Clyde Consultants (1981), Historical Catalog (1841-1980) for the Pacific Northwest Region, unpublished catalog prepared for the Washington Public Power Supply System.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: 190707281020000 48450-123350W V R 5 01
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2336  Hand-written weather records    submitted by Ms. Betty J. Pfouts, Research Librarian, Jefferson County Historical Society, Port Townsend, WA 
Transcription: 1904 Mar. 16 8:19 PM Earthquake
1907 July 28 2:20 AM Earthquake quite heavy
1909 Jun. 11 3:48 PM Earthquake very heavy
1925 Feb. 10 2:30 AM Earthquake
1929 April 22 6:18 PM Sl. earthquake
1932 July 17 10: PM Sl. earthquake
1936 July 24 9:25 PM Sl. earthquake
1939 Nov. 12 11:45 PM "Quite a tremor"
1915 Earthquake written in different writing on July misc. phenomena page and no date or time.

[RSL 8/1995 - the date of Jun. 11 1909 appears to be an error. This entry must refer to the earthquake of *Jan* 11, 1909.]
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
747  Reid, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park     
Transcription: Victoria, BC & Port Townsend PST 2:20 am (?) 28 July, 1907 V at Victoria IV at Port Townsend direction N-S duration 4 seconds -SB II pg 74 Probably central not far from Victoria near NW corner of Wash. 49 degrees 50' N; 122 degrees 40' W PST 3:49 pm 11 Jan, 1909 GMT 23h 49m VII-VIII duration 10-12 seconds -SB II pg 92-94, 98, 99; III pg 21; Corresp. Strong enough to cause cracks in house walls in Blaine and to throw down plates in Bellingham 20 mi to SE and side walks said to be twisted and piers slightly damaged at Anacortes 30 mi South of Blaine. Origin probably as indicated. (Can't read word) at Victoria at 3:48.8 pm without prel (?) town (??) throughout NW Wash. & neighboring BC. Felt as far as Olympia, and Aberdeen ((?) 300 m SSW of ori- gin). Reported felt in Portland but this is probably not true. Probably sensible over an area of 25,000 sq mi. Ca ble reported broken but this was due to (?). Shock strongest toward (?) Vertical motion in Blaine. (Report from Postal (?) Cable Co.)
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1429  Milne, W.G., 1956, Seismic Activity in Canada, west of the 113th meridian 1841-1951: Canada Dominion Obs. Pub., V. 18, No. 7, pp. 119-146  1957   
Transcription: 1907 JULY 28. 2:20 a.m. In Victoria many people were awakened. The Port Townsend area seems to have been disturbed an equal amount. Col.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2594  Port Angeles Public Library cardfile  1971  Alphabetic cardfile of references to newspaper articles prior to 1971 
Transcription: Earthquake tremor, Sunday July 28, 1907 2:18 a.m. First since 1890

Earthquake Olympic Leader Jan. 15, 1909

Two earth tremors at 8:06 O'clock Friday evening shook Port Angeles and the Peninsula PAEN 5-5-34
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
290  Bradford, Donald C., 1935, Seismic History of the Puget Sound Basin, BSSA, V. 25, No. 2, pp. 138-153  1935   
Transcription: 1907 July 28, 2:20 a.m. not far from Victoria, B.C.; felt also at Port Townsend.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
107  Rasmussen, Norman, 1967, Washington state earthquakes 1840 through 1965, BSSA V. 57, No. 3, pp. 463-476  1967   
Transcription: 107 1907 July 28 10:20 See Remarks V 4 Port Townsend-Victoria, B.C.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1123  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: 1907 July 28. 2:20 a.m. Port Townsend, Jefferson Co. Duration four seconds. At Victoria, B. C., many were awakened.-S. F. Chronicle, July 29, 1907.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
657  Reid, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park     
Transcription: Port Townsend, WA & Victoria PST 2h 20m am 28 July, 1907 V at Victoria, IV at Port Townsend direction N-S, duration 4 seconds -S.B. II, pg 74
 


UW Logo ESS Logo