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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 #463 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs                                           
Catalog entries cite the BSSA and the Oregonian. The BSSA comment: "Oregon, March 22, 1914. - A slight earthquake was felt throughout the city of Portland, Oregon, the morning of March 22d. Windows and dishes rattled and houses swayed, but no damage was done.", is in good agreement with the fairly lengthy Oregonian account.
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
1914  22  30  45.53  122.62        Portland  OR  IV  RF       
TA-OR - 527 WWC - 1786 - - TA-OR - 527 -

Underlying Source Material
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
120  Rasmussen, Norman, 1967, Washington state earthquakes 1840 through 1965, BSSA V. 57, No. 3, pp. 463-476  1967   
Transcription: 120 1914 Mar. 22 14:30 Portland, Ore. IV 3
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
527  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: 1914 March 22. 6:30 a.m. III to IV? Portland. Jar, lasting five or ten seconds; felt by hundreds.-BSSA, 4, 45; 9, 68.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2083  Leslie M. Scott, Memoranda of the Files of the Oregonian 1850-1910, Oregon Historical Society  1910  Unpublished index to the Oregonian 
Transcription: at Portland, 4:23 p.m. Dec. 30, 1909; 4:45 p.m. Feb. 7, 1910; 4 p.m., Feb. 15, 1910; Mar. 22, 1914
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
383  Byerly, Perry, 1952, Pacific Coast Earthquakes, Condon Lecture, pp. 33-38  1952  U.W. Library, N979 B991p, Special Collections) 
Transcription: 1914, March 22 Portland. Jar, lasting five or ten seconds. Felt by hundreds.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
580  Smith, W. D., 1919, Earthquakes in Oregon, BSSA, V. 9, n. 3, pp. 58-71  1919   
Transcription: 1914. March 22; 6:30 a.m.; Portland. Inquiries were received at the Oregonian office on March 23rd relating to jars felt at 6:30 a.m. the day before (Sunday). Inquiries came from residents of Portland Heights. Weather forecaster Theo. F. Drake is reported to have said "This locality is not subject to earthquakes and we do not know positively that there has ever been one in this region." (Seven previous ones are recorded. W.D.S.) The jar lasted from five to ten seconds. Shock felt by hundreds. Rattled furniture. No report of a blast or noise given.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
620  Reid, unpub., Scrapbook and Cardfile, on microfilm at USGS in Menlo Park     
Transcription: Portland PST 6:30 am 22 March, 1914 GMT 14h 30m intensity- slight IV -SB III, pg 239; Bull SSA IV pg 437, IX pg 68 Windows rattled & houses swayed slightly (Nothing of action)
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1786  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: 191403221430000 45535-122620W IV R 4 01
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1346  Berg and Baker, 1963, Oregon Earthquakes, 1841 through 1958, BSSA, V. 53, No. 1, pp. 95-108  1963   
Transcription: 1914 Mar 22 14:30:-- Mar 22 6:30 am (PST) Portland IV 10;O/Mar 23, 1914, 16:4
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2171  Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America  1914  V. 4, p. 45 
Transcription: Oregon, March 22, 1914. - A slight earthquake was felt throughout the city of Portland, Oregon, the morning of March 22d. Windows and dishes rattled and houses swayed, but no damage was done.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1978  Oregonian  1914  March 23, 1914; pg 16, col 4 
Transcription: JAR FELT IN CITY; MANY SAY QUAKE
Weatherman Attributes Disturbance Noticed at 6:30 AM, to Blast.
INQUIRIES ARE NUMEROUS
Residents Tell of Being Awakened and of Pictures and Chandeliers Being Shaken in Dwellings far Apart.
Was there an earthquake in Portland early yesterday morning?
Since Portland contains no instrument competent to record such a disturbance, probably no one will ever know for certain the correct answer to the question.
Apparently, judging from the multiplicity of reports and inquiries exchanged over the telephone yesterday, hundreds of Portland people felt a slight jar about 6:30 Sunday morning. Some insist that they experienced the vibration of a genuine earthquake, while others of those awakened are equally as positive that the tremble was caused by a blast or some other innocent happening of local origin.
Mrs. Henry Pfaff, of 1024 East Market street, says that a jolt at 6:30 o'clock was plainly noticeable and shook the pictures in the house next door occupied by the family of H. Frederick. Others in widely separated parts of the city declared that the windows and chandeliers in their homes rattled noticeably.

Jar Felt 5 to 10 Seconds.
Mrs. George W. Hazen, living at East Twenty-Sixth and Tillamook streets, reported last night that she was awakened at 6:37 Sunday morning by a jar that shook the house and rattled the dishes and windows enough to frighten one. She says the disturbance lasted possibly five and ten seconds. According to Mrs. Hazen, the shake yesterday was the third and the worst experienced in Portland during the last 20 years.
"About 6:30 this morning my wife called to me from an adjoing room, asking if I didn't feel the shock of an earthquake," said Major James McI. Wood last night. The Wood residence is located at 701 Prospect Drive, Portland Heights.
"My wife's Bed shook noticeably and the crystals hanging from the chandelier rattled for at least three or four seconds. The moment my wife called to me I was awakened by the jar and felt certain that it was an earthquake. Since talking with men at the Country Club today, where a like occurrence was experience, I am all the more convinced of the quake."
The information department of the Home Telephone Company reports that over a dozen patrons called up during the morning asking for intelligence on the disturbance. All of these queries, it is said, came from residents of Portland Heights. The reports coming direct to The Oregonian were more numerous and were not from any one locality.
Perry R. Hill, assistant forecaster, was taking the morning observation at the station of the Weather Bureau at the Custom House at 6:30 o'clock, and says that the building was jarred. People began immediately to call upon the bureau for information.

Seismograph Lacking Here
Theodore F. Drake, local forecaster, who is in charge of the Weather Bureau during the absence of Edward A. Beals, believes the shock was caused by a blast.
"This locality is not subject to earthquakes, " said Mr. Drake, "and we do not know positively that there has ever been one in this region. People sometimes have believed they felt the shock of an earthquake, but those who have never been through an earthquake would not know when it came.
"There is no way of telling an earthquake unless it is recorded on a seismograph and there is no seismograph nearer to Portland than the University of Washinton in Seattle. It is surprising how small an occurrence will cause a jar. I have even felt the Custom House shake when a wagon passed over the cobblestones in front of the building.
"The cause must have been a blast somewhere, probably on the hills west of Portland. I am satisfied it was not an earthquake."
 


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