1903

pub	pubpl	pubde	smem	pubda
Astoria Daily Budget	Astoria, OR	Sept. 12, 1903, Vol. XIV, No. 146, p. 4, c. 1. Reference provided by Bruce Berney, Director, Astoria Public Library, in a letter dated 12/6/1990	A distinct earthquake shock was felt in this city yesterday at 3:45 o'clock that caused a tremor for some seconds and is believed to have been really three shocks closely following one another. No damage resulted, but all the buildings of the city located on solid ground were shaken.	1903
Oregonian	Portland, OR	Sept. 12, 1903; pg 16, col 1	1903, Sept 11, Friday. Portland, Seattle, Chehalis, Olympia, Astoria. THE EARTH DO MOVE Genuine Quake Rocks Portland's Big Buildings. People Telephone Weather Bureau for Information, but Local Office Has No Seismograph to Record Such Disturbances. A real live earthquake struck Portland yesterday afternoon. No buildings were destroyed and no loss of life has been reported. But it was an earthquake all the same. Just at 19 minutes before 4 o'clock, a tremor shook the earth. People in the high office buildings and those lying or sitting still felt it distinctly. Those walking on the street did not notice the shock, or if they did attributed it to a passing streetcar. The Federal building is shaking most of the time, anyway, from one cause and another, so that none of the instruments in the Weather Bureau recorded any unusual disturbance of the earth's crust. The big building, which bears Uncle Sam's trademark, is so near the new stone pavement on Seventh street that every passing day--and there are many--shakes the entire structure. The ground upon which the building is situated is none of the firmest, so that when the earthquake came the men in the Weather Bureau thought it nothing more than a freight wagon. The Federal bureau does not include in its otherwise complete equipment the instrument known as a seismograph. This is a delicate affair, whose sole duty in life is to faithfully record every motion of the earth in the up and down line. The only seismograph in the entire bureau is in the head office in Washington, D.C. Therefore Forecast Official Beals had no official knowledge of the disturbance, but they kept right on working and missed the opportunity to break down for a vacation. A gentle little tremor in some parts of the city, but it was strong enough to move the pictures on the wall in others. In the Meier residence at Twelfth and Clay streets, the framed pictures were seen to swing upon the walls and the building, substantial as it is, rattled all over. Here the shock lasted fully half a minute. In different parts of East Portland the tremor was also felt by persons who recognized it at once as an earthquake. The shock here did not appear to be so violent as upon the West Side. The high buildings downtown got all of the earthquake that was due them. On the upper floors of THE OREGONIAN building, the chairs rattled as the tremor passed through the structure. The other high buildings felt the shock equally. Few of those who felt the earthquake could quite convince themselves that it was the genuine article. So most of them called up the Weather Bureau as being the general intelligence office for all matters pertaining to anything which no one else knew anything about. From every part of the West Side, from East Portland, Albina, Sellwood, and Portland Heights came the query: "Was that an earthquake that I felt?" And the men in the Weather Bureau, because they had no earthquake meter at hand, had to give them the information at second hand and tell them that it was an earthquake sure enough, and not a door slamming, or a car passing, or little Johnny falling down stairs. Seattle Shocks. Seattle, Sept, 10.--An earthquake was distinctly felt in Seattle this afternoon. It was most perceptible in the upper stories of some of the higher buildings. Five very distinct shocks were counted and followed each other at from one to two seconds. The time was 16 minutes before 4 o'clock. Three Shocks at Chehalis. Chehalis, Wash., Sept. 11.--(Special)--Slight earthquake shocks were felt here about 4 o'clock this afternoon. The frist was very short, the second longer and the third short. The vibrations were so strong that people all over the city noticed them. Felt in Olympia Olympia, Wash., Sept. 11.--(Special)-- A slight earthquake shock was felt here at 3:42 this afternoon. The shock was most plainly felt in the Capitol and school buildings. It lasted but a few seconds and was so slight that the direction of the seismic waves could not be determined. Windows Rattle in Tacoma. Tacoma, Sept. 11.-- Three distinct earthquake shocks were felt here this afternoon, the movement being from east to west. Windows rattled and doors swung to and fro, but no serious results have been reported. Distinct Tremor at Astoria. Astoria, OR., Sept. 11.--(Special)-- A distinct earhquake shock was felt here this afternoon at 3:45 which caused a tremor for a few seconds, but no damage resulted.	1903
Post-Intelligencer	Seattle, WA	Saturday, Sept. 12, 1903	An earthquake was distinctly felt in Seattle yesterday afternoon. It was most perceptible in the upper stories of some of the higher buildings. Several observers on the sixth floor of the Lumber Exchange were alarmed at the vibrations in that structure, and rushed to the windows to ascertain the cause of the oscilliations, fearing that something has happened to the base of the building. One man having offices on that floor who had been thru many shocks before, recognized the cause of the disturbance at once. He counted five very distinct vibrations and estimated that they followed each other at from one to two seconds apart. The time at which the shock first appeared was sixteen minutes before 4o,clock., the waving indulations lasting fully ten seconds.	1903
Leslie M. Scott, Memoranda of the Files of the Oregonian 1850-1910, Oregon Historical Society	Portland, OR	Unpublished index to the Oregonian	at Portland, Seattle, Chehalis, Olympia, Astoria, Sept. 11, 1903, 3:45 p.m.	1910
Woodward Clyde Consultants, unpublished		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.	190309111544 47500-122450W IV WG 4 01	1981

rocked to and fro, the windows rattled, chandeliers swung with a clatter, and dizziness struck them all as though they were reeling to the floor in a faint. A slight tremor came first and then the walls waved to and fro for several
seconds as if tottering to their fall.
Before the second tremor was fairly over, all had started up and made a rush for the open air, possessed with the one thought: "The building is falling." The fear of those on the top stories of high buildings grew as they neared the ground and met others as frightened as themselves. Only when they had reached the street and saw others like themselves staring up at the walls and saw that those walls stood firm as though incapable of motion, did they become calm and talk the matter over among them selves, comparing notes and sensation.
The earthquake disturbed the quiet Sunday afternoon for many but it was a mild affair after all. It just gave the city a gentle rock to knocked a few bits of plaster off the walls, rattled the crockery and glass, and knocked a few articles from insecure places on shelves, but a five dollar bill would probably repair all the damage it has done. Such an earthquake might come along every morning to awaken the people and yet be considered as much a public convenience as sunlight.
The weather seemed to change in accord with the earth's tremblings. After a morning of heavy rain and gusty wind the sky had cleared and the sun was casting a gleam of light over the scene, when with remarkable suddenness the clouds gathered again, and as the panicstricken crowds rushed into the open air, a drenching downpour began. It seemed as though earth and sky shook together.
There is a radical disagreement among the various accounts as to the direction of the shocks, the time being definitely fixed as 3: 17 1/2 afternoon. Some say that the oscillation was from south to north.
M. J. Carkeek, who was in his office on the sixth floor of the Burke building, says that he felt two shooks from south to north, the first only slight, and the second so severe that it rattled the doors and windows, shook his desk, and caused a perceptible swaying of the walls.
Colonel S. W. Scott, who was on the fifth floor, makes the same statement as to the direction, and says that the chandelier swung to and fro two feet from the perpendicular. In the Seattle and Montana railroad office, on the same floor, the elevator cage swung to and fro and a letter-box was shaken off the window ledge. The elevator cage swung violently from the south to north in its grooves with a rattling sound. All the occupants of the building rushed to the elevator
or the stairs and only felt safe when they reached the open air.
By those who witnessed it from the street, the movement of the Bailey building was from south to north, the effect being clearly perceptible in the movement of the glass of the windows opening on Cherry Street. Yet Hancock Neagle, who was in his of office on the third floor, is positive that the motion came from a little south of east, the walls swaying so that he fled along with his fellow-tenants to the street.
In the Occidental building there was a veritable panic, the public reading rooms on the fifth floor being quickly emptied, and a terrified crowd fleeing from the building on all three sides. Here the motion was said to be from south to north.
The shock was as distinctly felt on the top floor of the Seattle National bank building, and here it is said to have been from southwest to northeast.
An amusing incident is related as having happened in the Seattle block. A gentleman who rooms on one of the upper floors heard four men in the adjoining room having a quiet game of draw poker. A little conversation was going on, and they were getting up a big pot, which was the cause of some excitement. At the point the shock came, the walls rocked and all rushed out without coats or hats, leaving the pot on the table, and fled headlong downstairs together with all the other terrified tenants. As they stood on the sidewalk one of the poker party remarked to his companions: "If any of you fellows want my share of that pot you can go after it."
In this building Fletcher Coulter says that the oscillation was from southwest to northeast.
In the Washington building, on Front street, there are two opinions as to the direction of the waves. A. B. Stewart, of the Stewart & Holmes Drug Company, stating that they were from the south to north, while at the Nevada saloon they were said to be from east to west. In the show window of Stewart & Holmes' was a colored glass globe standing on a bracket which swing on a pivot. It was pointing west and was seen to swing around on the pivot five times. In the Nevada there was a general disturbance of glasses and bottles but no breakages were noticed.
Boyd J. Tallman has an office at the top of the Safe Deposit building, and as it is seven stories high he had an exceptionally fine opportunity to experience the effect of the seismic wave. Fortunately he was in his office at the time or he might have missed one of the most interesting incidents of a life time. He was seated in an easy reading chair. When the first tremor struck the building he arose to his feet in astonishment and awaited what was to come next. Immediately afterward his heavy revolving bookcase swayed over, pictures dangled several inches from their places, keeping a plumb-line which marked the deviation of the walls from the perpendicular, plaster cracked and gas fixtures swung. He is more than ever impressed with the susceptibility of his location to seismic disturbances and of its value as an advantageous point for scientific observations.
W. J. Clark's gas fixtures are loose and swung violently; pictures on the north wall fell forward, jerking out the supporting nails. he was writing and the pen slid across the sheet. Mr. Clark Nettleton, who was in the same building, said it was his first experience of an earthquake such as he had read about, and he will return to a study of the fall of Lisbon, the overthrow of a Pompeii and the experience of Charleston with a considerably heightened interest.
E. F. Blaine, who was in the Boston block talking to C. A. Riddle, remarked that he would run down and see what was the matter. He did not wait for his hat or coat.
Dr. A. B. Kibbe was in the Frye building in conversation with Dr. MCCullough, and he confesses that he was taken by surprise and experienced the peculiar fear, followed by a sensation of nausea which usually accompanies and follows those phenomena.
Mr. Emil Meyer, of the Grand hotel, who has lived in latitudes within whose lines t(r)emblors are more frequent, said that notwithstanding his familiarity with the signs he experienced the momentary terror and qualm to which most people are subject.
One of he worst scenes of terror was the Pacific lodging house at South Second and Washington Street. Dr. E. Buchanan said that he and three others were sitting in Dr. Brengle's office on the second floor when they felt a slight tremor, as if some one were pounding on the floor. Then came a perceptible shake of the whole building from south to north. Then the walls swayed to and fro three distinct times. The party, which was discussing some point in surgery, broke up abruptly and all the lodgers in the building fled in haste. One woman tried to jump out of a window, but was prevented by a cooler headed neighbor. A sick man leaped out of bed and hobbled down stairs in his nightshirt
At the Standard theater the afternoon performance was abruptly broken off. Part of the audience fled in one direction and the performers, in their stage costume, wigs and paint, in the other. The audience did not stop to demand their money back, but were glad to get out alive.
The Mug saloon, in the Winehill building, at be corner of South Third and Main streets, was crowded with about fifty drinkers, when the first tremor stopped conversation and provoked wonderment. A second and more violent shock caused all to leave their mugs half empty and flee pell-mell like rats escaping from a flooded cellar. The occupants of the two upper floors also fled with screams of terror, amid which the startled cries of an old blind man could be heard as he groped his way blundering alone and called for help. The shocks caused two cracks to open in the Front wall, one beginning near the roof and stretching in a zig-zag down the wall for a distance of ten feet. The other also began at the roof, but was narrower and only about four feet long.
The Northern Pacific depot was rocked to and fro on its pile foundation, and badly shaken.
The shock was felt very distinctly on the first hill rising from the business district. The Rainier hotel received a slight shaking. Colonel A. N. Hamilton, who lives on Columbia, between Eight and Ninth streets, felt but one shock, and that had the same effect as a team running into the house. Every thing in Providence shook or rattled or swung to and fro, but so slightly that few noticed it. John Simison, at his residence on Eighth street near Columbia, felt eight or ten distinct tremors. They appeared to him to come from the south. The windows rattled, chairs and tables moved and a vase on a mantel toppled and almost fell. Dr. G. A. Rawson, at eleventh and University streets, felt the movement plainly, all the chandeliers shaking. At Otto Ranke's house, on Pike, between Fourth and Fifth streets, the billiard balls rolled to and fro on the table without apparent provocation. L. H. Griffith, who was in Dubb's drugstore at Fifth and Pike streets, felt the motion distinctly from south to north.
James Moran says that he is sure he felt an earlier shock as he lay awake in bed at 1,012 Pike Street about 9 o'clock in the morning.
Further out in the suburbs everybody felt it. D. W. Cross, the undertaker on First street, in North Seattle, says that there were two distinct shocks from east to west, the first being slight with six waves and the second more severe with five waves. At Welch & Erickson's grocery store, in the Walla Walla addition, a number of candles were rolled off a shelf by the vibrations.
At Ballard three shocks were felt from east to west, lasting half a minute in all. The congregation in the Episcopal church was startled by them.
C. P. Stone, at Fremont, says that he noticed the shock very plainly. The women in his house all ran out screaming, the dishes rattled and the chandeliers swung. He only noticed one shock, and that was from east to west.
About the only persons in town who did not notice the shock were street car motormen, gripmen and conductors and the passengers who happened to be riding at the time. A Post Intelligencer reporter was riding up Front street on the electric road and had just reached the top of the hill at Lenora street when the shock came. By the time the car had reached the foot of the hill the sidewalks on both sides of the street was lined with men and women who had rushed down out of the buildings on either side. Their faces were pale and showed fright, and each one at first thought that something had happened to his own particular building. When the car reached the end of its run in Queen Ann town the men on the car first learned that there had been an earthquake from the people living around, who were still afraid to go into their houses.