Most of your readers will remember having seen, a few months ago, a condensed item in the local column referring to the above sub- ject, to which it was the intention of the writer to refer again more at length; which deferred intent is renewed by late infor- mation, of more violent demonstrations in that neighborhood, within the past few weeks.
Before entering upon a detailed account of the phenomena, a brief geographical and topographical summary may be of interest. Reference to the map will show that Chelan, on the West side of the Columbia River, in latitude 47 degrees 45 minutes North and longitude at 120 degrees 15 minutes West, its altitude is 270 feet above the level of the Columbia River and about 300 feet above the ocean. It is drained by the Chelan River, which descends two miles--in a series of rapids and cascades to the Columbia. The course of the lake is North, 20 degrees West, of irregular shape, about 35 miles long and from one to six miles wide. The water is singularly clear and light, objects being distinctly seen--largely magnified-- on the bottom at a depth of 50 and 60 feet. Spurs of the Cascade Mountains, partially timbered, press sharply in on the West side of the Lake to the mouth. The East shore for a distance of 15 miles up, is a rolling bunch- grass plain, with here and there a few scat- tering pine and fir trees, and on the margin of the Lake cottonwood and willow. From this point the mountains on either side close in steep and rugged, narrowing the waters of the lake to one mile or less in width. Here in wild confusion, singularly mixed; may be found in the same cliff lava cinder, basalt, granite, quartz, limestone, slate, etc., each distinct, but lying mixed without regard to strata or caste. Thus, briefly, we view the visibly center of this natural turmoil. Standing on the bank near the foot of the lake, looking north-westerly, stretching far into the abrupt, rugged Cascade Mountains, lies the beautiful, picturesque clear and placid Lake Chelan. Twelve miles up, on the West shore, may be seen seared and seamed with slides, a sharp semiconical mountain 1,800 or 2,800 feet above the lake level. This was the immediate center of the earth- quake of 1872.
It will be remembered that this earthquake was felt all along the Pacific Coast with more or less severity from Sitka to Los -.Angeles. And from that time to the present frequent shocks have been felt in the neigh- borhood of the mountain, which gives forth loud rumbling sounds and emits from cracks and fissures sulfurous fumes impregnating the atmosphere and the waters of that lake; imparting to these a dead like, sickening taste.
To describe the particular operation of
these earthquakes, their effect upon the
atmosphere, the water of the lake, the
health of the Indians and torpid condition
of the fish will be the object of our next
paper.
Spirit of the West
December 4, 1874 P. 2
Walla Walla, Washington
Letter #3
THE EARTHQUAKE PHENOMENA OF LAKE CHELAN.
Ed. Spirit:
Of all natural phenomena, earthquakes are the most dreadful. Our last paper described the geographical location and topographical feature of the country immediately adjacent to the Lake. We have now to do with the particular operation of the earthquake's effect upon the atmosphere, the health of the Indians and the torpid condition of the fish in the lake.
When on the December night 1873, the people of Walla Walla were startled by the rumbling sound and wave like motion of the earth, the denizens of the lake and vicinity were more thoroughly aroused and frightened, not only by the much louder, sharper, and cannon-like report that burst upon and disturbed their slumbers, but also by the cracking earth, falling rocks and sliding mountains. Dismal moans continued through the night, with oft repeated vibrations accompanied with strange sulfurous odors, so strong that breathing became oppressive. Let us glance over the scene presented at daylight, following the first series convulsions. We stand about 300 yards from the foot of the Lake on the brink of a crevice some 6 or 7 feet wide, of unknown length, the land toward the lake having parted company with its fellow and dropped 4 or 5 feet below its former level. Looking up the lake on every hand we see unmistakable evidence of the dread King, from whom
"The boldest fly; and, on the open plain, Appal'd in agony, the moment wait, Whom with disrupture vast the wavering earth Shall 'whelm them in her sea-disgorging womb."
And as we still look, we note a huge column of water leaps from the lake high in the air, near the foot of the same conical mountain which replies with shaking, teetering, bursting fall, of-a huge slide. And now deep, rumbling groans come wafted on the water and tell of internal throes. The crevice near our feet emits sulfur- ous smoke. Well may the poor Siwash with fear exclaim as he watches these convulsions of the home over which he has roamed from infancy, "Wake Klosa Sockalee Tyee biss sulux." (i.e.. "Not good. Great Spirit very angry." ) Radiating out- ward from this centre up and down the Columbia River, we find the mountains cracked, seamed and fissured for many miles. The old trails of the Indians in many places rendered impassable. In one place along Rock Island rapids the side of a mountain shook down, damned back the waters of the Columbia raising them some 15 feet and forming a lake to above the mouth of the Met-how River. In another place, may be seen the tops of three large pines sunk in mother earth with only about 13 feet of their tops marking the spot where they grew, and rippling up their sides comes a spring of water. And thus might I continue, did space permit. But I have now to note the effect upon the atmosphere and the health of the Indians. I have before mentioned the sulfurous fumes impregnating the air. Accompany- ing these was a peculiar metallic taste, which appeared to fasten itself upon the breathing apparatus leaving a choking sensation, and so effecting children as to cause the tonsils to swell and with smaller ones death earned in every instance. An old Indian said "not one child was left under two years of age, between the mouth of the Met-thow and Wenacha River. Thus to the dread of trembling earth was added this dire effect.
I have before mentioned the clearness of the lake water. Clear as crystal--no sign of stain-or blemish--would seem to be a drink so pure, as to invite the most pure; but how deceiving; the taste of it is sickening, dead like, the fish lay along the bottom listless without apparent life. Of the cause, who can tell? In it steam generated by subteraneous fire, carrying a transparent metal held in solution by the water, till the whole lake becomes contami- nated, or is it Carbonic acid gas forming no acratic water? Two years have lapsed since the commencement of these convulsions and from that time, not a month has passed but what this lake has thrown up its columns of water, the mountain groaned and quaked to greater or less extent. What may be the result remains for the future. Will an active volcano give vent to
"The field lake that works below, Bilumen sulfur salt, and iron scum Heave up its boiling tide."
Close up the now channel of the Columbia and
threw it again in its old channel of ages past
the grand coulee. Time alone will tell and
and now finally Mr. editor, in view of these
possible geological changes would it not be
well for our legislative solons to provide
a fund and appoint a Territorial Geologist
whose business it should be to gather data and
cabinets for the coming State University and
Normal Schools. Cabinets that might thus be
formed with but little comparative expense to
the Territory in a few years would be worth
tens of thousands--be instruction to the
rising generation--throw a flood of light upon
portions of our Territory, now an almost terra
incognita, and be an honor to the Territory.
Chelan area, W.T.
Chelan Leader
Sept. 14, 1894
Chelan, W. T.
page 2
A Volcanic Upheaval.
The Leader is informed that about 2 o'clock p.m. last Sunday, up the lake about 19 miles at E. F. Christie's place, J. A. Graham saw out near the center of the lake a peculiar, upheaval of the glassy surface to the height, apparently, of about 6 or 10 feet. He afterwards watched the waves roll in towards shore. The water came in like a tidal wave, all of six feet high, driving the little steamer Kitten, moored there, high upon the rocks, then receding, caused it to upset and sink. Succeeding waves continued for two hours before the lake finally quieted down All observers agree that there was no wind blowing at the time.
At Mountain Park, four miles this side, T. R. Gibson says the wave from the upheaval was only 20 minutes in reaching there. The steamer Dex- ter, which came down Tuesday and assisted in raising the Kitten, reports that the wave was very noticeable at Moore's Point and the head.
Judge I. A. Navarre, who came down from 10
miles up 25-mile creek on Tuesday, is said to
have been told by some prospectors up there that
the creek--one of the largest tributaries of
the lake--went dry for about three hours on Sun-
day afternoon, and then resumed its natural flow,
which, if true, would indicate a disturbance of
some nature--probably volcanic--in the mountains.
It was certainly a strange and unusual occurrence,
and only for the credibility of our informants,
we should be inclined to think it a great big
sell.
Chelan area, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
June 15, 1922
Wenatchee, Washington
Another Story of the Big Shake Which
Dammed the Columbia
Another story of the big earthquake-- the biggest shake perhaps that this country ever saw--was told some time ago to the Daily World by Peter Wapato, the well known Indian of Chelan- This was the earthquake which shook down the mountain north of Entiat, now called Ribbon Cliff. The mountain, when it landed, went into the Columbia River and entirely dammed that stream.
It happened in December 1872. Peter says he was then fifteen years old. That winter, according to Wapato, there were many shakes throughout the entire winter. These shakes, when they came, would be within intervals of half hour, an hour and sometimes longer.
Peter relates that he, with the Wapato family, were living at what is now Winesap. During the night there occurred a terrific quake and accompanying it a booming noise, a most awful one, for old Broken Mountain (or Ribbon Cliff) was headed for the river. And they were within a few hundred yards when the crash came.
The great quake was so great, says Peter, that the log house in which they were living was torn apart and they spent the balance of the night in the open, fearing to go inside for fear the logs would tumble and crush them.
The mountain broke off about midnight. The water in the river rose, the river being completely dammed. The water broke through the nature-made dam the next morning. But the dam remained there and it was several days before the water below got back to its normal flow.
The effect of the earthquake was felt at Chelan. At what is now Chelan Station a great hole opened in the earth and a veritable geyser was thrown into the air to a height. of twenty-or thirty-feet., For weeks the Indians from all parts of the country came
to see the strange phenomenon and Peter says they were "awful scared!" The geyser con- tinued all winter but got weaker and as time went on it subsided. Springs in this locality still remain to show the place where there occurred this remarkable water spout. The water now being used to irrigate the Beebe orchards comes from this same point and comes through some subterranean channel from Lake Chelan.
Chelan area, W. T.
Wenatchee World
June 15, 1922
Wenatchee Washington
pg 5
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 saloon, the first in the county. About ten o'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 teachings 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.
Chelan area, W. T.
Wenatchee Daily World
August 8, 1925
Wenatchee, Washington
"When the big earthquake occurred in 1872,
the whole side of the mountain fell into the
water and since that there has been no
"monster" underneath the Ribbon Cliff Mountain.
The Wapato family were living at the mouth
of Wells Coulee two miles above. The quake
was so great that all the dirt on their log
cabin was shaken down and the logs from one
side caved in. The members of the family
were afraid to go under the cabin any more,
so they spent that night out in the open,
although there was a light snow on the ground.
"The earthquake opened a seam in the earth
at Chelan about a quarter of a mile from
where the Campbell hotel now is. This seam
opened up right in the middle of an Indian
camp and soaked their provisions with foul
smelling water. This was a real catastrophe
in those days, as all the food they had
stored for winter was destroyed. Another
opening occurred down near what is now Chelan
Station. A great gusher threw water into
the air 20 or 30 feet. It was several feet
across."
Chelan area, W.T.
The Wenatchee Daily World
March 25, 1931
Wenatchee, Washington
Peter Wapato Tells of Night in '72 When
Quake Shook Down Mountain and Dammed Columbia
Peter Wapato of Lake Chelan, has given the Daily World some interesting data regarding the history of this section of the country. His son, Edwin, acted as interpreter. He says
"Formerly the Indians from Wenatchee, Entiat, and the Okanogan all spoke the same language. This also applied to the Colvilles and Spokane! The Flatheads however, spoke an entirely dif- ferent language. The Yakimas, Nez Perces, Walla Wallas, and Umatillas also spoke a language of their own.
"My father, John Wapato, was born at Entiat, His mother was a Puget Sound Indian. The Indians of Puget Sound also spoke a different language from those in this section of the country.
Moses Was Real Chief
"Chief Moses who was the principal chief in all the country here was a Chelan Indian. He spent most of the time around through the Big Bend country and in the Moses Lake and Moses Coulee district. In the summer time with his band he would go into the mountains.
"Long Jim, now living near Brewster, was also a Chelan Indian and he was related to Chief Moses. Long Jim's mother was a sister of Chief Moses. The chief in charge of the Indians in Wenatchee was Carmow.
"Chief Moses' brother Quiltenenock, liked to fight, but Chief Carmow did not want to fight, so Chief Carmow let soldiers come across and at this time Moses' brother said he would shoot Carmow.
Raised Potatoes
"My father, John Wapato, brought in a plow which he used to plow Wapato Flat. He raised potatoes. He sold potatoes to the prospectors and he sold them to Yakima. That's how he came to be called John Wapato. 'Wapato' means potato.
When he was asked about the winter he said: "We never had dry weather like we have now. Every year we would have snow two or three feet deep. It was not necessary to use any water on the land at Chelan.
"When I was 15 years old there was a great shake of the ground and rocks rolled down from the mountainside. That same year there was no snow. That was in 1872. The big shake came all at once but it continued to shake for four or five years.
"The Wapato family was located near what is now known as Ribbon Cliff. We were in a log house with a dirt room, near the cliff, but it shook so much that all the roof shook down. The shake filled up the Columbia river and all one night the Columbia river was dammed. The next morning the river went through.
"While we had no snow that winter on Lake Chelan, the next winter we had a snow this high (as he reached with a stick 8 1/2 feet high). We had another big snow about two years after Chelan was settled as a town. Oil and Water Released
"At the time of the earthquake the earth cracked Open at Chelan station where the springs are now located. The water shot into the air as high as The Daily World build- ing and it continued for week, then got lower and lower until it was nothing but springs.
"Then when the earthquake occurred the
mountain east of the river cracked open. Black
water came out of the split in the mountain-
side." (Mose Splawn 'tells about this same
incident and he says that he had this fluid
examined and his report was that it was oil.)
Chelan area, 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 in-to 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.
Chelan area, W.T.
Verne F. Ray (1933) The Sanpoil and Nespelem, Salishan Peoples of Northeastern Washington, Vol. V, University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, University of Washington Press, p. 1808
Two severe famines are recalled by every Sanpoil. Both were caused individually
by unusual natural phenomena. The earlier catastrophe was a heavy fall of volcanic
dust which occurred in the latter part of the eighteenth or the early part
of the nineteenth century (1). The second was a severe earthquake which came
in November, 1873 (2). In both cases all the usual economic pursuits were forsaken
in the face of the strange and unaccountable happenings and the time was given
over to praying. When winter came insufficient food had been stored and suffering resulted. Burke
described the happenings as follows:
When my grandmother was a small girl a heavy rain of white ashes fell. The people called it snow. After thay got wheat flour they said it was just like that. The ashes fell several inches deep all along the Columbia and far on both sides. Everybody was so badly scared that the whole summer was spent in praying. The people even danced -- something they never did except in winter. They didn't gather any food but what they had to have to live on. That winter many people starved to death. Besides that an epidemic of smallpox (?) killed a lot of people. And the next spring some warriors from the south came and killed some more.
When starving was worst people even ate the flesh of their dead neighbors. Other people picked up prairie chicken droppings and made soup with them.
A big earthquake came when my mother was a girl. It was worst around Lake Chelan but it was very bad all over our country. It first came about midnight. Cracks opend up in some of the underground houses and they filled with water. The people crowded together in the houses that were left whole and prayed. Some of the people knew Catholic prayers and they said them over and over. Some people went crazy. They ran around in the hills tearing off their clothes and finally dying. Most of the winter food had been gotten in but not all and in the spring people went hungry. But it wasn't as bad as the ash storm.
(1) There is considerable disagreement among the natives as to the date of this event. Reckoning is in terms of the approximate ages of various ancestors at the time of the occurrence. Teit's informant placed the date at 1770 (Teit, Salishan Tribes, page 291), but all of my informants agreed that it was after the turn of the century.
(2) The date is quite certain. There is official record of but one major earthquake in this region.
The exact time was November 22, 1873. The quake was classed by Holden as "extremely severe" and was
rated VIII on the Rossi-Forel scale (Holden, A Catalogue of Earthquakes, pages 96-97).
Chelan area, W.T.
Wenatchee Daily World
Aug. 6, 1959 - P. 12
Wenatchee, W.T.
AWAY BACK IN 1872
The Biggest Earthquake
Dammed Columbia River
North Central Washington has been "shook up" by earthquakes a number of times over the years with little damage but lots of back-fence re- action, a check of Daily World files shows.
The earliest quake on record occurred in [sic]1972 (many years before the Daily World came into being). It felt a lasting impression--the great scar on Ribboncliff on the west side of the Columbia, north of Entiat.
Vast quantities of rock were torn from the lofty and perpendicular cliff, with such an up- ward and outward thrust as to be hurled across the Columbia River, completely damming the stream for many hours. To see the big stream at Wenatchee nearly dry startled the few people then living in the area.
On April 13, 1949, Seattle was hit by a devasta- ting quake. It killed eight people and caused $10,000,000 in property damage, much of it down- town. The same tremor rocked houses, rattled dishes and shook trees and telephone poles in Wenatchee area. The county courthouse suffered minor cracks.
Weatherman-of-the-day Bill Rogers was quoted as saying the quake was of 40 seconds duration, lean exceptionally long period for such a mild tremor."
Pearne Smith, Chelan, said it was one of the worst shakes he ever felt. City of Cashmere employees reported similarly. Sixty calls came into the Daily World in a 10-minute period. Omak and Okanogan also were hit, with people gathering in the streets to "watch signs quiver."
At the time University of Washington professors said the Puget Sound Basin was sinking and the Cascade Mountains rising, making the Pacific Northwest as vulnerable to earthquakes as any region in the country. They said all the trouble centered in three fault plains, which were pro- duced by rising and falling movements.
In 1951 a slight earth tremor was felt in the Waterville-Entiat-Winesap areas.. No damage was reported. The shake lasted only about three seconds.
A highway engineer was quoted as saying that prior to the big quake in the spring of 1949, the last generally felt tremor in the area was about 1936.
In the spring of 1955,, nearly 200 earthquakes, some so severe they visibly shook farm water towers, cracked walls and shifted household pictures, frightened families 10 miles east of Othello over a period of 2 1/2 months. They oc- curred as frequently as 13 in one hour.
The quakes were caused, said geologists, by the shifting of subterranean rock resulting from the weight of the new irrigation water being applied in the Columbia Basin. The quakes were often accompanied by rumbling noise over a 10-to-12-mile square wheat growing area.
On April 14, 1958, a lot of North Central Washington people felt a sharp earthquake at 2:37 p.m. The jolt struck a 75-mile-long area from south of Wenatchee to north of Pateros. It tumbled goods from shelves in an Entiat drug store, caused rock slides near Knapps Tunnel (in the vicinity of Chelan) and near Orondo, and rattled dishes in Wenatchee and other towns.
One person said it was a shake followed by tremors for about 20 seconds. Many people didn't feel it at all.
The last reported tremors, prior to Wednesday night's shakings, was reported in the Coulee City-Park Lake-Dry Falls area last month. Shifts in the underlying structures caused several minor earth tremors, which released ground water to increase the flow into Deep and Park Lakes.