The 1872 North Cascades Earthquake
Washington Reporting Localities

 Data Source             Date                            Code        Remarks




Washington Standard     January 11, 1873   A     McBride account
Walla Walla Union       December 27, 1873  B
Spokesman   Review      January 8, 1906    E
Wenatchee  World        June 15, 1922      E
Wenatchee  Daily World  August 8, 1925     D
Wenatchee  Daily World  June 7, 1932       D
Woods, Rufus                               -     presumed taken from
                                                 Wenatchee Daily World,
                                                 June 7, 1932
Wenatchee  Daily World  August 16, 1932    E
Wenatchee  Daily World  July 13, 1960      D
Wenatchee  Daily World  December 19, 1965  E
A Legacy of  the Early                     D
  Years  .
Additional Reports from Coombs et al, 1976 [RSL 8/12/1999]




A. Period Account:  Primary source for evaluation of intensity or
                    felt report.


B. Period Account:  Insufficient data to evaluate intensity.


C. Period Account:  Item appearing as dispatch, summary or brief des-
                    cription or duplicate data with more complete
                    data available in other sources.


D. Later descriptive account identified with period sources.


E. Later descriptive account not confirmed in period documentary sources.


*Designates duplicate data not included in compilation.

It appears that our earthquake experience, on the 14th ult., although it awakened con- siderable interest in the future state, was insignificant compared to that of our neigh- bors east of the mountains, who were forced to believe at the time that the end of all things sublunary had indeed come. The fol- lowing account is furnished the Portland Herald, by Mr. McBride, an "eye-witness" of the tumult:

The informant, Mr. McBride, and another man owned a ranch some three miles back from the mouth of the Wenatches river, which is about 170 miles from Wallula. On the night of the 14th of last December he and his partner had retired and were asleep, when they were suddenly awakened by noise as if the stove had been upset. They im- mediately sprang from their couch, and were about donning their clothes, when they were thrown to the floor in rather a sudden ,manner. Mr. McBride, who had experienced the shocks of earthquakes in Valparaiso, June 2, 1851, and in San Francisco in 1859, now realized the fact that there was an earthquake as- serting itself. He turned to his partner and hastily informed him of his opinions, advising that they should leave. They made for the store on the river, some six miles distant, the ground undulating in a disorderly manner as they rode along. Arrived at the store they found everything in confusion. Messrs. Freer Bros. and one of their partners, named Miller, had also been awakened by the shocks and started from their beds. Mr. Miller ran down stairs and found the door blocked. He then imagined that the store had been at- tacked by Indians, and shouted to his partners, who came to his aid with shotguns and pistols. In the morning an examination was made, when it was discovered that in the store sacks of flour which had been piled in four feet deep were thrown around in confusion. The two upper logs of the cabin and the roof were misplaced, and the kitchen separated from the main building. The effect outside, Mr. McBride says, was terrible. He declares that the shocks, which lasted until five o'clock Sunday morning, December 15th, were sixty- four in number, eight being very severe. He also says that the peaks of several of the hills on the Kittitas and Columbia range of mountains were hurled over and broken. Trees were crushed to pieces and the river became very muddy, raising three feet inside of ten minutes. Great masses of earth, as if from a tremendous land- slide, rushed down the mountain side, mixed with stone and wood, and the gulches lost their identity by being filled with debris. The third shock, which occurred about eleven O'clock P.M., was proceeded by an explosion-- apparently on the mountain--sounding like the discharge of several pieces of artillery simultaneously. The people thought that the entire Grand Tule country was sinking, and were making preparations to leave. To add to the general confusion, the Spokane Indians, old and young, male and female, gathered around the settlers, alarmed and exclaiming that the world was coming to an end. They asked for advice and counsel from the whites, interspersing their sentences with fragments of prayer. Mr. McBride says the shocks continued at intervals until the 16th ult. The entire country was still alarmed and unsettled when he left there, fifteen days ago, to come to Portland.



Wenatchee, W. T.
(see Colville)
Spokesman Review
Jan. 8, 1906, p 5

Walla Walla Union
Dec. 27, 1873 p 3

THE INDIAN PROPHET

Is still holding forth on the Wenatchee, and his efforts are having a salutary effect upon the natives. He has converted nearly all the tribe of Moses. They have resolved, almost to a man, not to -taste or handle whisky in any way. The name of the prophet is Patewie. He exhorts his hearers to quit gambling, stealing, lying, and drinking whisky. The earthquake and his teachings have caused many of the several tribes to mend their ways and lead more exemplary lives. They have a great deal- of the earthquake, and some of them have forsaken their old homes and come over to Kittitas to winter. The earth is still trembling and there is

AN OCCASIONAL SHAKE

There were six distinct shocks along about the last of October. They were so severe that it caused the tin-ware in a store fifteen miles distant to rattle quite furiously. There was an outburst of the pent up gases on the east side of the Columbia that scattered the sand and dust far and wide, and from the fissures there is now flowing three living springs of fresh cold water, all adjacent to each other. The earthquake occurred about a year ago, and the place where a large mountain is about one mile in length by from three to six hundred yards in width. Some of Wapato John's ranch has been destroyed. He lives in close proximity to the continuous rumbling. He sticks to his ranch, however, not withstanding many of his neighbors have fled to other parts where it is presumed there is greater safety. Some of the Indians look upon the dis- turbance in the bowels of the earth as a judgment sent upon them to punish them for their misdeeds.
Occasional



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee World June 15, 1922 Wenatchee Washington pg5

Jack Splawn's Story of the Shake

In the late fall of 1872 we cowboys, having finished marking and branding the calves on the range, came into Yakima City to disband and celebrate the season's work at the Sage- brush I saloon, the first in the county. About ten 0 clock at night when things were coming along fairly swift there came a sound like some one hitting the side of the house with a flat board; then the building began to shake. The boys ran to the outside to see who was trying to turn the house over; when we reached the outside we saw the flagpole at Schanno's store waving to and fro, people were running out of their homes in their night clothes, the dogs set up the howl, while the chickens crowed. A friend of mine who preferred to visit his best girl than to celebrate with the bunch, when the quake stuck the house, thought it was the gang trying to upset the small building. Out he came with a gun in hand and full of fight. I was the first one he met and he wanted to know If I was mixed up in trying to turn the house over that he was temporarily occupying? If so, friendship would cease and war begin. We informed him that he was on the wrong trail, as he was not of so much importance that we cared where he went or what he did; but 'this was a bigger circus than cowboys could start, and was run by a higher authority. It was an earthquake. When the fact dawned on him his eyes bulged out, resembling two drops of indigo in a pan of buttermilk. Turning he ran for the house he had just come out of saying, "I must save Hattie." A woman in her nightdress, barefooted, and bareheaded, passed me on the run yelling "Where is John?" John, her husband, was in a poker game at the saloon.

Near Schanno's store stood an old Indian with his blanket wrapped around him, silently gazing at the stars, apparently unmindful of the things happening around him. When I asked him if anything like this had ever occurred here before, he turned his eyes on me, saying" "This land, before the coming of the whites, was only inhabited by the Indians who worshipped the Great Spirit in ceremony and song, and who obeyed the teach- ings of our forefathers and were happy until the paleface came among us with their forked tongue, religion and fire water. Since that time this country has been going to the bad. Look at these white men and women running out of their homes screaming. They have been wicked and are afraid to die. Indians are always ready when the Great Spirit calls. The paleface are a strange people. This is a warning they had better heed."

Soon I saw him light his pipe, mount his horse and ride off in the darkness for his lodge down on the reservation.

There was no damage done in the Yakima Valley. In the Tieton Basin south of Soda Springs, there were many slides and uprooted trees. Further north and above the Wenatchee, the quake was much harder, especially just above the mouth of the Entiat River. Part of a large mountain broke off and slid into the Columbia River, almost damming it up for a short time. This slide caused what is now known as Entiat Rapids. Wapato John, an Indian who had a small farm and a trading post a few miles above where the mountain slid into the river, had it destroyed by back water. He thought it was a bad Ta-man-na-was, and moved up to Lake Chelan where he and his followers settled and are now residing.

Lighter shocks forming many small fissures in the earth, were felt for several years in the surrounding mountains.



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
June 15, 1922 page 5
Wenatchee, Washington

WHEN A MOUNTAIN SLIDE ONCE DAMMED THE MIGHTY COLUMBIA

Earthquake Shock of December, 1872, Accompanied by Gigantic Rock slide Was Natural Phenomenon Here

Fifty years ago there occurred in this country an earthquake, the like of which has never been experienced before or since within the knowledge of any inhabitants who reside here or who were capable of submitting their story to posterity. This quake shook off the big mountain north of Entiat and sent great rocks crashing down from all of the peaks in the Cascades. One of the most interesting tales of the earthquake is told by Henry Livingstone, the Tonasket centenarian. He says:

Livingstone's Story

In December, 1872, occurred the big earthquake. It shook all of the central part of the State of Washington. All of the old timers in the country remember it. It was of special interest for several reasons. The mountain now known as Rib- bon Cliff located between Entiat and Winesap was shaken off and thrown precipitately into the Columbia River, damming the entire Columbia. I was located at Lake Wenatchee with a party of Indians. I was working on the J. Cooke survey under a man by the name of Ward who had charge of the survey on the east side of the Cascade mountains. A man by the name of Sheets had charge of the survey on the west side. Morrison, who represented J. Cooke, had written asking that I take the money used for paying for the work from the Dalles to the top of the Cascade mountains. It was while we were on this trip that the big shake occurred. It happened at about 11 o'clock at night as I looked at my watch at the time. The Indians were terrified. The Indians were the best fighters which I could hire from the Indian Chief down the river. But good fighters that they were they were nearly scared to death. They said "Mesatchee skockum moos-moos mesatchee menoloose Siwash," meaning "mad bulls down in the earth, these will kill all the Indians."

The big shake came with an awful smash. Great rocks rolled down the mountainside in all parts of the Cascades. Along the south fork of the Skagit was dammed up. In the Cascades west of the lake one whole peak was shaken off. Dis- turbance deep in the earth could be heard in its dull deep grinding which was terrifying to all who heard it.

At the time of the big shake, the Indians could not make out how it all happened. As they said, it made a rumbling and groaning like wild bulls and they thought that was what it was. I told them that they need have no fear as the great Sah-hah-lee-Tyee was not angry at them. I had about sixty Indians with me and I did not want them to get a blue streak so I told them that they would not be hurt. As near as I can remem- ber the rumbling and the shake lasted about three minutes. By the noise you would have thought the whole world was bursting open. By going up the north fork of the Skagit today, you can see where a mountain peak, between eight hundred and one thousand feet high, broke off. This peak which was shaken off is perhaps thirty-five or forty miles from the Great Northern so it cannot be seen from the railroad.



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
August 8, 1925
Wenatchee, Washington

Further north and above the Wenatchee, the quake was much harder, especially just above the mouth of the Entiat River. Part of a large mountain broke off and slid into the Columbia River, almost damming it up for a short time. This slide caused what is now known as Entiat Rapids. Wapato John, an Indian who had a small farm and a trading post a few miles above where the mountain slid into the river, had it destroyed by back water. He thought it was a bad Ta-man,- na-was, and moved up to Lake Chelan where he and his followers settled and are now residing.

Lighter shocks forming many small fissures in the earth, were felt for several years in the surrounding mountains.



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
June 7, 1932 pages 1, 11
Wenatchee, W.T.

The story as Told By the Wapatos

Sylvester and Peter Wapato, now of Wapato point, Lake Chelan, have related to me the story of the earthquake as follows: "We were living with our parents at the mouth of the canyon just a short distance from where the mountain broke off. We were in our log cabin when the shake occurred. It shook so hard that we were afraid to go back in our cabin and spent the rest of the night in the open.

"Another thing which happened was a crack which occurred down in the vicinity of what is now Chelan Landing. A great body of water shot high into the air like a geyser. Indians came to see it for months but as time went on the water decreased in height until eventually just the springs were left and continued to flow at this point."

Others Tell the Story

From others I got the story second hand that when the Indian women at the mouth of the Wenatchee went down to the Columbia to get water for the Miller & Freer trading post, they came back all excited saying that there was no water in the river. All those living round about went down on the river bed which was virtually dry. While there they saw in the distance coming for them a rush of water. They ran for their lives and escaped. The big natural dam which was two miles north of Entiat, had broken through.



Wenatchee-Chelan area, W.T.
Presumed taken from Wenatchee Daily World possibly June 7, 1932 on page 1 or 11

THREE GLAMOROUS DECADES IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST

The Unfolding Drama of the Most Interesting Region in the U. S.

by Rufus Woods

Article No. 26 WHEN THE MOUNTAIN FELL AND DAMMED COLUMBIA

This country with all its colorful history has nothing which appeals more strongly than the story of the earthquake of 1872. I had heard rumors of this earth- quake and of the mountainside which dammed the Columbia and in 1913 the Daily World had an article from a Chelan man who referred to it as a myth. However, during the years I had met a number who gave me first hand information regarding the shake and mountain slide.

Henry Livingstone, the Tonasket centenarian, told me that he had a party of 32 Indians along the shores of Lake Wenatchee when this occurred along in the night in November, 1872. A railroad survey .was being put through for Jay Cook of New York City and Mr. Livings- with 32 Indians, was packing in the supplies. When the shake occurred the big rocks rolled down the face of Dirty Face mountain and a piece of a mountain slid down in the Cascades near the summit.

The Indians were greatly frightened and said in Chinook, "Mesatchee Moss Moss Memaloos Siwash", as they pointed into the earth were an enormous rumblie was going on. Their interpretation meant, "The mad bulls down in the earth will kill the Indians".

Livingston, who had two or three suspicious Indians whom he was afraid would attempt to steal the money which they had along for the payroll of the surveying crew, took advantage of their superstitions to make himself more safe and declared to them that the "Sah-ha-les Tyee"(God) was mad with them unless they treated the white folks right. "I was almost frightened to death myself," said Livingston, "but I didn't dare to show - - - --

article incomplete



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
Aug. 16, 1932 - pages 1, 9.
Wenatchee, W. T.

Mose Splawn had come over to Wenatchee at the time we had our first interesting oil pos- sibilities of this region. For 68 years prior he had been a miner and prospector and when he read in the papers that oil seepage had been found in the Wells & Wade basement he got on his horse and came across the Wenatchee mountains.

"That old horse just about broke me in two," he related to me. "When the earthquake of 1872 occurred I was in the Moxee valley and I came on shortly afterwards up to Wenatchee and on north. The Indians on the Entiat were all excited.- The mountain north of Entiat had cracked off and dammed the Columbia river one night a short time before. But the Indians were particularly excited about what was going on up the mountain side east of the river.

"I climbed the hog-back and found the earth had been cracked open. Deep down in the earth a noise like the shot of a cannon was occurring every five minutes and out of the cracks a dark fluid was coming which hardened as it cooled and flowed down the canyon. I took some of this material and had it analyzed and it was oil. When I read about that oil excitement over here I thought I would come over and look it up."

Mr. Splawn told me where the cracks were located near the summit on the first' hog-back across the canyon from where the tram was formerly located. One can still see where the cracks occurred and some of this black hardened material still can be found down below. It is another of the evidences that some day oil will be developed in this section.

Splawn was killed as the result of being by a truck on the streets of Wenatchee a short time after his visit here. His trip here was in June, 1920.



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
July 13, 1960 - p. 4
Wenatchee, W. T.

There Were No Reporters When Ribbon Cliff Caved In

Of all the events of North Central Washington's modern past, probably the most exciting was the day the river ran dry.

It was in December, 1872, and if the Daily World had been publishing at the time, the story it carried might have read like this:

"The Columbia River was almost dry at Wenatchee this morning.

"The phenomenon was caused when a severe earth- quake toppled thousands of tons of rock from a cliff into the river above Entiat, almost com- pletely damming the river there.

"The earthquake was general over the North- west, and in the Cascade Mountains at least one other stream, the Skagit, was dammed completely when a mountain caved off into it.

"First word that the Columbia was dammed came when Sam Miller went to the river this morning to get water.

"It was a paralyzing experience,' said Miller, who bought the Ingram-McBride trading post at the mouth of the Wenatchee this year. 'I went to the Columbia for water, as had been my custom, and found it almost dry. I would have given every gray hair on my head to have been out of the country.' (quoted from Hull's History of North Central Washington.)

"The only other white residents of Wenatchee-- Phillip Miller and the Freer Brothers--reported they were awakened by the 'quake some time be- fore midnight. The whole framework of their log houses shook, and some earthen jugs of fruit wine were smashed, they said.

"Engineers estimated the river would remain completely blocked less than 12 hours, although they said it would be several days before the Columbia's flow will return to normal. They said a series of rapids will probably remain in the river above Entiat when the boulders from the falling cliff are rolled downs-stream.

"Indians are already referring to the cliff as 'Coxit' meaning 'broken.' The Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce has recommended that to gain full publicity value of the event, it should be called 'Ribbon Cliff' after the mineral veins exposed by the break-off."

There would, of course, have been numerous "sidebars" and "eye-witness accounts."

If a reporter had been on the spot one person he might have interviewed was Peter Wapato. Peter was just 15 at the time, son of Wapato John. The Indian family lived at what is now Winesap, but after the terrifying experience of the 'quake the Wapatos moved to Lake Chelan, settling near Manson.

In the June 15, 1922 issue of the Wenatchee World, Peter described the event.

"There had been many shakes that winter, " Peter related. "When they came they'd be in intervals of half an hour, or an hour, or sometimes longer.

"During that night there was a terrific quake, accompanied by a most awful booming noise. Old Broken Mountain was heading for the river, and the rocks were coming down within a few hundred yards of us.

"The quake was so great that the loghouse we were living in was torn apart and we spent the rest of the night in the open. The mountain broke off about midnight. It completely dammed the river. The water finally broke through the next morning.

"At what is now Chelan Station a great hole opened in the earth and a geyser was blown into the air 20 or 30 feet high. For weeks Indians came from all over the country to watch this geyser. It continued all winter, but got weaker and weaker until by summer it was just a spring now used to irrigate Beebe orchard."

A "sidegar" is offered in the same issue by Henry Livingstone, who was at Lake Wenatchee with a party of Indians.

"The quake happened about 11 o'clock," said Livingstone. "I know because I looked at my watch. The Indians were terrified. They said 'Meatchee skookum moos-moos mesatchee menoloose Siwash,' meaning 'mad bulls down in the earth, these will kill all the Indians.' The big quake came with an awful smash. Great rocks rolled down the mountainside in all parts of the Cascades. Along the south fork of the Skagit parts of the mountain rolled into the river. The south fork was dammed up. In the Cascades west of the lake one whole peak was shaken off. Go up the north fork of the Skagit today and you can see it--between 800 and 1,000 feet of mountain peak gone."

Not all Indian reaction was terror. Jack Splawn's story of the 'quake contains this passage:

"Near Schanno's store in Yakima stood an old Indian with his blanket wrapped around him, silently gazing at the stars, apparently unmind- ful of the roaring and the shaking of the earth- quake. When I asked him if anything like this had ever happened before, he turned his eyes on me, saying:

"'This land, before the coming of the whites, was only inhabited by the Indians who worshipped the Great Spirit in ceremony and song, and who obeyed the teachings of our fathers and were happy until the paleface came among us with forked tongue, religion, and fire water. Since- then this country has been going to the bad. Look at these white men and women running out of their homes screaming. They have been wicked and are afraid to die. Indians are always ready when the Great Spirit calls. The pale- face are a strange people. This is a warning they had better heed.'

"Soon I saw him light his pipe, mount his horse, and ride off in the darkness for his lodge down on the reservation."



Wenatchee, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
Dec. 19, 1965 - p. 3
Wenatchee, W.T.

YARNS OF YESTERYEAR

1872 Quake Broke Off Part Of A 'Mountain'

(Editor's Note: Here's another article in the Yarns of "Yesteryear" series. It tells about when the mountain fell and damned the river. The article, written by the late Daily World Publisher Rufus Woods, appeared June 7, 1932, in his series, entitled 'Three Glamorous Decades in the Great Northwest.")

This country with all its colorful history has nothing which appeals more strongly than the story of the earthquake of 1872. I had heard rumors of this earthquake and of the mountainslide which damned the Columbia and ii 1913 the Daily World had an article from a Chelan man who referred to it as a myth. Howl during the years I have met a number who gave me first hand information regarding the shake and mountainslide.

Henry Livingstone, the Tonasket centenarian: told me that he had a party of 32 Indians along; the shores of Lake Wenatchee when this occurring along in the night in November, 1872. A rail. road survey was being put through for Jay Coo of New York City and Mr. Livingstone with 32 Indians was packing in supplies. When the shift occurred the big rocks rolled down the face of Dirty Face Mountain and a piece of the mountain slid down in the Cascades near he summits.

Mose Splawn, the Yakima pioneer who discovered gold in the Boise Basin in 1861, came over the Wenatchee Mountains on horseback when he 85 years of age (1920). Evidence of oil had been found in the basement of one of the Well and Wade buildings and the old prospector head- ed hitherward and this is the story he told me of the earthquake.

"I was in Moxee when that occurred but soon afterwards I came over the mountains and head north. When I got to Entiat I found the Indians were all excited. The mountain north of Entiat had slid down and damned the Columbia for a short time but there was something strange and wonder ful which had occurred up the hog-back east of the Columbia.

"I climbed the mountain with the Indians and there near the summit were two cracks in the earth. Deep down in the earth every five minutes was an explosion like the shot of a cannon and out of the cracks in the earth a dark fluid was oozing which hardened as it ran down the mountain side and cooled.

"I took some of that dark material and had it analyzed and the analysis showed that it was oil."

So much for the story by Mose Splawn. He described to me where the crack in the earth was located and said it would be found on the ridge across the canyon from where the old tram was located. I have been to this place several times and the marks are still there and down below in the canyon can still be found evi- dence of this oil which seeped out although 60 years have passed.

Sylvester and Peter Wapato, Wapato Point, Lake Chelan, have related to me the story of the earthquake as follows:

"We were living with our parents at the mouth of the canyon just a short distance from where the mountain broke off. We were in our log cabin when the shake occurred. It shook so hard that we were afraid to go back in our cabin and spent the rest of the night in the open.

"Another thing which happened was a crack which occurred down in the vicinity of what is now Chelan Landing. A great body of water shot high into the air like a geyser. Indians came to see it for months but as time went on the water decreased in height until eventually just the springs were left and continued to flow at this point."

From others I got the story second hand that when the Indian women at the mouth of the Wenatchee went down to the Columbia to get water for the Miller and Freer trading post, they came back all excited saying that there was no water in the river. All those living round about. went down on the river which was virtually dry. While there they saw in the distance coming for them a rush of water. They ran for their lives and escaped. The big natural dam which was two miles north of Entiat, had broken through.



Wenatchee, W. T.
A Legacy of the Early Years
Oct. 7 14, 1973
P. A-9
In 1871

1st firm sold

The first commercial enterprise in the Wenatchee area was the trading post set up here in the mid-1860's by two men named McBride and Ingraham.

The founders apparently got into trouble with federal authorities over selling liquor to the Indians and readily sold to Sam C. Miller and his partners, David and Frank Freer when the trio, newly arrived in the area, made an offer.

The Miller-Freer trading post was at the north end of what is now Miller St. The partners are said to have built there in 1873.

Miller was born at Ashland, Ohio, on Dec. 28, 1828. He came west in 1953, mined in California and Oregon and in 1862 arrived at Walla Walla. It was there he and the Freers formed a freighting firm which operated pack trains between Wallula on the Columbia and Idaho gold fields and later into Montana. Wagons and roads eventually sup- planted the pack mule on these routes and the partners came north to found a trading post on the Columbia.

Miller lived here the rest of his life, his retirement years being spent in the home of a daughter of one of his partners. He died in 1906.

He had the distinction of being one of the few white people in the vicinity when the earthquake of 1872 shook down a mass of rock at Ribbon Cliff and dammed the Columbia. Miller said the river was virtually dry at Wenatchee for several hours after the quake.

The Wenatchee Story

A log trading post

Sam Miller and the Freer brothers, David aid Frank, came to the Wenatchee Valley in 1871, bought from Inghram and McBride the trading post near the mouth of the Wenatchee River, and sub- sequently put some land under cultivation.

It was Philip Miller who, soon after his arrival in 1872, created Wenatchee's first substantial farming enterprise. Having purchased the claim of an earlier settler, together with a water right on Squilchuck Creek, he completed the ditch which bears his name and from which he later acquired title to 320 inches of water.

Like Galler, he planted an orchard and vine- yard from which he made substantial quantities of wine and brandy, but his principal crop during the early years seems to have been hay; by 1890 he had 200 acres in alfalfa.



_________________________________________________________________________

ACCOUNTS EVALUATED
White Bluffs, Washington

 Data Source             Date                            Code        Remarks




Oregonian         December 30, 1872  A     Same appears in
                                           Walla Walla Union,
                                           January 11, 1873
Additional Reports from Coombs et al, 1976 [RSL 8/12/1999]






A.  Period Account: Primary source for evaluation of intensity or
                    felt report.


B.  Period Account: Insufficient data to evaluate intensity.


C.  Period Account: Item appearing as dispatch, summary or brief des-
                    cription or duplicate data with more complete
                    data available in other sources.


D.  Later descriptive account identified with period sources.


E.  Later descriptive account not confirmed in period documentary sources.


*Designates duplicate data not included in compilation.

 Data Source             Date                            Code        Remarks




Walla Walla Union  March 15, 1873  A     Same appears in The
                                         New Northwest, April
                                         5, 1873.






A.  Period Account: Primary source for evaluation of intensity or
                    felt report.


B.  Period Account: Insufficient data to evaluate intensity.


C.  Period Account: Item appearing as dispatch, summary or brief des-
                    cription or duplicate data with more complete
                    data available in other sources.


D.  Later descriptive account identified with period sources.


E.  Later descriptive account not confirmed in period documentary sources.


*Designates duplicate data not included in compilation.

It is also reported that the earthquake made a bridge across the Columbia river, at or near Fort Shepherd. This is in British Columbia, about thirteen miles north of the boundary line. We have not talked with any one who has seen it, but hear it from so many sources that there may be something in it; and it is not altogether improbable that such a thing might occur, as the banks are known to be perpendicular in many places, and a slight disturbance of the earth might cause them to topple together.



_________________________________________________________________________

ACCOUNTS EVALUATED
Yakima, Washington

 Data Source             Date                            Code        Remarks




The Oregonian             December 30, 1872  A
*The Dalles  Mountaineer  January 4, 1873    c
*Willamette Farmer        January 4, 1873    c
The Weekly  Intelligen-   January 13, 1873   A
 cer
Additional Reports from Coombs et al, 1976 [RSL 8/12/1999]




A.  Period Account: Primary source for evaluation of intensity or
                    felt report.


B.  Period Account: Insufficient data to evaluate intensity.


C.  Period Account: Item appearing as dispatch, summary or brief des-
                         cription or duplicate data with more complete
                         data available in other sources.


D.  Later descriptive account identified with period sources.


E.  Later descriptive account not confirmed in period documentary sources.


*Designates duplicate data not included in compilation.

"The earthquake was general over the North- west, and in the Cascade Mountains at least one other stream, the Skagit, was dammed completely when a mountain caved off into it.

"First word that the Columbia was dammed came when Sam Miller went to the river this morning to get water.

"It was a paralyzing experience,' said Miller, who bought the Ingram-McBride trading post at the mouth of the Wenatchee this year. 'I went to the Columbia for water, as had been my custom, and found it almost dry. I would have given every gray hair on my head to have been out of the country.' (quoted from Hull's History of North Central Washington.)

"The only other white residents of Wenatchee-- Phillip Miller and the Freer Brothers--reported they were awakened by the 'quake some time be- fore midnight. The whole framework of their log houses shook, and some earthen jugs of fruit wine were smashed, they said.

... If a reporter had been on the spot one person he might have interviewed was Peter Wapato. Peter was just 15 at the time, son of Wapato John. The Indian family lived at what is now Winesap, but after the terrifying experience of the 'quake the Wapatos moved to Lake Chelan, settling near Manson.

In the June 15, 1922 issue of the Wenatchee World, Peter described the event.

"There had been many shakes that winter, " Peter related. "When they came they'd be in intervals of half an hour, or an hour, or sometimes longer.

"During that night there was a terrific quake, accompanied by a most awful booming noise. Old Broken Mountain was heading for the river, and the rocks were coming down within a few hundred yards of us.

"The quake was so great that the loghouse we were living in was torn apart and we spent the rest of the night in the open. The mountain broke off about midnight. It completely dammed the river. The water finally broke through the next morning.

"At what is now Chelan Station a great hole opened in the earth and a geyser was blown into the air 20 or 30 feet high. For weeks Indians came from all over the country to watch this geyser. It continued all winter, but got weaker and weaker until by summer it was just a spring now used to irrigate Beebe orchard."

Wenatchee, W. T. A Legacy of the Early Years
Oct. 7 14, 1973
P. A-9

In 1871

1st firm sold

The first commercial enterprise in the Wenatchee area was the trading post set up here in the mid-1860's by two men named McBride and Ingraham.

The founders apparently got into trouble with federal authorities over selling liquor to the Indians and readily sold to Sam C. Miller and his partners, David and Frank Freer when the trio, newly arrived in the area, made an offer.

The Miller-Freer trading post was at the north end of what is now Miller St. The partners are said to have built there in 1873.

Miller was born at Ashland, Ohio, on Dec. 28, 1828. He came west in 1953, mined in California and Oregon and in 1862 arrived at Walla Walla. It was there he and the Freers formed a freighting firm which operated pack trains between Wallula on the Columbia and Idaho gold fields and later into Montana. Wagons and roads eventually sup- planted the pack mule on these routes and the partners came north to found a trading post on the Columbia.

Miller lived here the rest of his life, his retirement years being spent in the home of a daughter of one of his partners. He died in 1906.

He had the distinction of being one of the few white people in the vicinity when the earthquake of 1872 shook down a mass of rock at Ribbon Cliff and dammed the Columbia. Miller said the river was virtually dry at Wenatchee for several hours after the quake.

The Wenatchee Story

A log trading post

Sam Miller and the Freer brothers, David aid Frank, came to the Wenatchee Valley in 1871, bought from Inghram and McBride the trading post near the mouth of the Wenatchee River, and sub- sequently put some land under cultivation.

It was Philip Miller who, soon after his arrival in 1872, created Wenatchee's first substantial farming enterprise. Having purchased the claim of an earlier settler, together with a water right on Squilchuck Creek, he completed the ditch which bears his name and from which he later acquired title to 320 inches of water.

Like Galler, he planted an orchard and vine- yard from which he made substantial quantities of wine and brandy, but his principal crop during the early years seems to have been hay; by 1890 he had 200 acres in alfalfa.