1909_Portland

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Oregonian	Portland, OR	December 31, 1909; pg 9, col 3	Earth Trembles Twice "Gravitational Attraction is McNulty's Theory" Some Say Buildings Swayed, Others Believe They Bounced and Dishes Rattled Two slight earth tremors were felt in Portland at 4:23 PM yesterday. The intensity of the shocks was not great enough to do damage. Residents in various sections of the city reported that they were somewhat alarmed by the consecutive tremors. The compass of the disturbances was confined to Portland and its suburbs in the Willamette Valley. Reports from Ashland, Marshfield, Salem, Astonia, and Baker City, Or., and Hoquiam, Wash., were that no disturbances were felt at those points. John McNulty, nautical expert in charge of the local branch of the U. S. Hydrographic Service, assigned the quakes to "gravitational attraction". The highest tides of the season will be registered today. This fact, combined with the proximity of the earth to the sun and the distance of the moon, add probabitlity to the theory. The shocks were felt with greater force by the occupants of the upper lofts of downtown office buildings. A few seconds intervened between the tremors. The second was more forceful and continued several seconds. Many who were observant of the phenomena asserted that the buildings swayed to and fro. Others averted that the buildings "bounced" upward and downward. Occupants of dwellings on Portland Heights apparently felt the vibration keenly. Dishes clattered on shelves and the staid countenances of family relatives that adorned the walls of the homes responded to the antics of Mother Earth.	1909
Leslie M. Scott, Memoranda of the Files of the Oregonian 1850-1910, Oregon Historical Society	Portland, OR	Unpublished index to the Oregonian	at Portland, 4:23 p.m. Dec. 30, 1909; 4:45 p.m. Feb. 7, 1910; 4 p.m., Feb. 15, 1910; Mar. 22, 1914	1910
Berg and Baker, 1963, Oregon Earthquakes, 1841 through 1958, BSSA, V. 53, No. 1, pp. 95-108			1909 Dec 31 00:23:-- Dec 30 4:23 pm (PST) Portland IV O/Dec 31, 1909	1963
Rasmussen, Norman, 1967, Washington state earthquakes 1840 through 1965, BSSA V. 57, No. 3, pp. 463-476			110 1909 Dec. 31 00:23 Portland, Ore. IV 3	1967
Woodward Clyde Consultants, unpublished		Woodward-Clyde Consultants (1981), Historical Catalog (1841-1980) for the Pacific Northwest Region, unpublished catalog prepared for the Washington Public Power Supply System.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.	190912310023000 45535-122620W IV R 4 01	1981

iced the earthquake saying that it sounded like the collapse of some big brick block. One man who, with his entire family was aroused from sleep, said that his house rocked as if it were about to tumble. It nearly overturned a lamp standing on a table besides his bed, and twisted the nails in the woodwork. The shock was less severely felt in The Oregonian building then almost anywhere else, which probably accounts for the barograph not recording the vibrations. The record is made by a fine needle on smoked glass. So sensitive is it that the slightest vibration will affect the needle and indicate the disturbance on the surface of the glass. The only instruments of this kind on the coast are at the observatory at Mount Hamilton, and at the weather bureau office in Carson City. Of course, the earthquake caused all the old-timers yesterday to limber up their up their tongues and turn loose their experiences of the "airly days" in the Northwest, and such stories found ready listeners. The most severe shock of the past of which there is any record occurred here October 12, 1877. There were several shocks following each other in rapid succession, the first of which was felt seven minutes before 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The vibrations, which were from north to south, were very pronounced. Considerable damage was done by the breaking of dishes, lamps and glassware, and buildings were shaken up and walls and ceiling cracked. A portion of the west wall of the postoffice building was cracked by the shock, which is there even now. There was great alarm among the people, hundreds of whom rushed, pell-mell, out of their stores and dwelling into the streets. No one was hurt through the shock, which was felt as far north as the Sound. February 21, 1892, there were several slight tremors of the earth about 8:15 in the evening, lasting 8 1/2 seconds. The vibrations, as usual, were from north to south. April 17, of the same year, there were three distinct shocks, at 2:56 o'clock in the afternoon, clocks being stopped and dishes, doors and windows rattled by the vibrations. On February 25, 1895, there was quite a severe earthquake. It came in three severe shocks, lasting about nine seconds, the vibrations being from north to south.