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Cascadia Historic Earthquake Catalog, 1793-1929
Covering Washington, Oregon and Southern British Columbia
Provided by: The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network
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Individual Event Report
Event #246 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs                                           
This is a sequence of foreshock, mainshock, and aftershock. The mainshock, on Feb. 2 at 2:55 AM was felt as far as Portland but was apparently strongest at Yakima and Fort Simcoe. Previous catalogs have not correctly described this sequence . Most state that this event was felt at The Dalles, where its intenstiy was reported as IV and the Oregonian reports: "Three distinct shocks of earthquake were felt here at 2:55 this morning. The vibration were north and south, and lasted about 4 seconds. A number of citizens were awakened by the shocks, and rushed into the streets in their nightclothes. In some residences the plaster was cracked and crockery rattled upon the shelves. No serious damage is reported.". The Woodward-Clyde and WPPSS catalogs have a separate entry for an event felt at Yakima, supposedly on March 5. We believe that these entries refer to the earthquake of Feb. 29. We have found a handwritten record from the weather observer at Fort Simco, in Yakima County, Washington, that reports: "Nothing special to notice except the earthquake on the morning of the 29th. It lasted about 30 seconds each shock. The middle shock was much the hardest . Windows and glassware were badly shaken and the plastering on some of the buildings was shaken off. It made a number of people sick to their stomachs.", and "3 shocks of earthquake at 2.00 - 2.55 and 3:15 AM of the 29th inst. The middle shock was the hardest . Glassware was shaken and one pane of glass broken". A similar description appears in the Spokesman Review of March 6, accounting for the erroneous date in some catalogs.
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
1892  2  29  2  55  A    46.60  120.50        The Dalles  OR  IV  MM       
WBR - 2134 WWC - 1705 - - RAS - 75 -

Underlying Source Material
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1943  Dalles Times-Weekly mountaineer  1892  Saturday, March 5, 1892, vol. XXXII, no. 30, p. 1, c.. 9. 
Transcription: Slightly Shocked
From Monday's Daily -
The Dalles is keeping up with the procession. Of late a number of towns in this state and California have enjoyed the sensation of a genuine earthquake and not to be behind time the residents of the city this morning experienced the same novelty. It took place about 3 o'clock, the vibrations being plainly felt and seemed to travel from north to south. The "quake" was of short duration, but lasted long enough to impress itself upon the minds of several who suddenly awoke and had to guess whether they had just escaped an encounter with a large sized nightmare or had been struck with a "jag". No harm was done to any one, so far as learned, but one citizen who happened to get up to obtain a glass of water for someone else was so startled by the sudden tremor that he drank the liquid to steady his nerves.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2102  Spokesman Review  1892  March 6, 1892, p.1, col. 1 
Transcription: EARTHQUAKE AT YAKIMA Particularly Severe at Fort Simcoe on the Indian Reservation North Yakima, March 5. -- [Special.] -- The earthquake shocks so generally felt on the coast were also distinct at this place, the vibrations being from east to west. The shocks were three in number, the first one light and the two succeeding ones quite heavy. Reports from surrounding points also indicate the disturbance as general throughout the country. At Fort Simcoe, on the Yakima Indian reservation, they were particularly severe, rocking the houses, shaking down plaster from the walls, and even, it is said, shaking several of the juvenile hiwashes (?) from their beds in the dormitory of the Indian school. Story telling is now in order by many old-timers, who relate that a like experience was theirs in 1874, which although more severe in the region north of here, where almost the entire face of the country was changed, was nevertheless sufficiently noticeable in Yakima county, where, on one balmy night in July, 64 separate and distinct shocks were alarmingly perceptible.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2051  Leslie M. Scott, Memoranda of the Files of the Oregonian 1850-1910, Oregon Historical Society  1910  Unpublished index to the Oregonian 
Transcription: at Portland, The Dalles, slight, Feb. 19, 1892 [ I searched for, but could not find this article RSL 12/20/1994]
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1705  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: 189203 5 46600-120500W VI WG 6 01
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1703  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: 189202291045000 45595-121173W IV R 4 01
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
75  Rasmussen, Norman, 1967, Washington state earthquakes 1840 through 1965, BSSA V. 57, No. 3, pp. 463-476  1967   
Transcription: 76 1892 Feb. 29 10:45 The Dalles, Ore. IV 3
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1308  Berg and Baker, 1963, Oregon Earthquakes, 1841 through 1958, BSSA, V. 53, No. 1, pp. 95-108  1963   
Transcription: 1892 Feb 29 10:45:-- Feb 29 2:45 am (PST) The Dalles IV O/Mar 1, 1892, 5:1
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2028  Leslie M. Scott, Memoranda of the Files of the Oregonian 1850-1910, Oregon Historical Society  1910  Unpublished index to the Oregonian 
Transcription: severest at Portland, Oct. 12, 1877; west wall of Post Office cracked; Feb. 29, 1892; several tremors; Apr. 17, 1892; clocks stopped and dishes rattled; Feb. 25, 1895; a rather severe quake
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2105  Spokane Review  1892  March 1, 1892, p. 8, c. 3 
Transcription: The Dalles Shaken Up.
The Dalles, Or. Feb. 29. -- Three distinct shocks of earthquake were felt here this morning. The vibrations were north and south and lasted about four seconds. No serious damage is reported.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2363  Washington Public Power Supply System, Preliminary
Safety Analysis Report, Ammendment 23,
WPPSS Nuclear Project No. 1, 1300 MW Nuclear Power Plant, Vol. 2A. 		 1977  Table 2R E-9 
Transcription: 23 1892 Mar 5 North Yakima, Wash. vi
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1981  Oregonian  1892  March 1, 1892; pg 5, col 1 
Transcription: Another Earthquake Shock
Another earthquake shock was felt by a number of people in this city about 2:45 o'clock yesterday morning. Most of those who felt it say that there were three or four distinct vibrations, but as to the direction of these vibrations there is a wide range of opinion. The shock was not so perceptible in this city as at the Dalles and other points nearer the mountains, where the center of activities is believed to have been located. Judge S.H. Green who was at Knapp's Landing on the columbia, says that the shock at that point quite heavy. Nearly every house was awakened, and some were considerably frightened.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1569  The Oregonian  1892  March 1, 1892. p3 c3 
Transcription: 1892, February 29. Portland, The Dalles. Felt at the Dalles

The Dalles, Or., Feb 29--Three distinct shocks of earthquake were felt here at 2:55 this morning. The vibration were north and south, and lasted about 4 seconds. A number of citizens were awakened by the shocks, and rushed into the streets in their nightclothes. In some residences the plaster was cracked and crockery rattled upon the shelves. No serious damage is reported.
 
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
2134  U. S. Weather Bureau Climatological Records, for the State of Washington  1819-1892  National Archives Microfilm Copy T907, Roll No. 532, 1819-1892 -Fort Simcoe, Yakima County-handwritten weather forms 
Transcription:
Signal Service, Voluntary Observer's Meteorlogical Record, Monthly Summary-Remarks, Fort Simcoe, Yakima County, Washington, (Washington State Reel No. 265), February 1892. "Nothing special to notice except the earthquake on the morning of the 29th. It lasted about 30 seconds each shock. The middle shock was much the hardest . Windows and glassware were badly shaken and the plastering on some of the buildings was shaken off. It made a number of people sick to their stomachs. Please send us more blanks at once. "

Miscellaneous phenomena: 3 shocks of earthquake at 2.00 - 2.55 and 3:15 AM of the 29th inst. The middle shock was the hardest . Glassware was shaken and one pane of glass broken.
 


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