VG EAKTHQUAKES ON THE PACIFIC COAST 



1868. October 3; 12:40 a. m. 



Very severe shock in Ukiah Valley, Cal. — B. Ms. — Alta, October 7, 

 1868. 



1868. October 6; 



Silver Mountain, Cal. — Appleton''s Annual Cyclop(Cdia, 1868. — Perrey. 



1868. October 21; IX. 



The great earthquake at San Francisco, Cal. The first shock was at 

 7h. 531/301. a. m. Its direction was northerly and southerlj- [more 

 correctly S. 30° W, to N. 30° E.— J. 11. J.]. Its duration was forty- 

 two seconds. The second shock came at 9.23 a. m., lasting- five 

 seconds. Lighter and briefer tremors occurred at intervals of 

 about half an hour, till 12.15 p. m. The first shock was most 

 severely felt on the eastern side of the city, on the made land 

 between Montgomery Street and the bay. On the solid land no 

 serious damage was done to any well constructed house. Win- 

 dow panes were broken, chimnejs twisted or thrown down, mantel 

 ornaments overturned, etc. Steeples swayed to and fro. On Rus- 

 sian and Telegraph Hills the shock was comparatively light. On 

 the flat between Howard Street and the Mission the shock was 

 most severe. The Custom House was badly damaged. It was 

 poorly constructed. Coffee & Risdon's building (corner of Market 

 and Battery streets) was of brick, three stories high, and unfin- 

 ished. The walls of a portion of this fell, killing a luan. The 

 machines in the Union Foundry (First and Mission streets) were 

 put out of order. Several buildings in this neighborhood were 

 more or less wrecked. The tall chimney of the San Francisco 

 Gas Works (Howard and Fremont streets) was thrown down. 

 The Mission W^oolen Mills were damaged badly. As in 1865, a 

 small crevasse was opened on Howard Street, beyond Sixth. The 

 Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution was daiuaged. The greatest 

 damage Avas done in a belt several hundred feet wide, running 

 northwest and southeast, commencing at the Custom House and 

 ending at the Folsom Street wharf. The tall chimney of the 

 United States Mint was damaged. The ferry steamer Contra Costa 

 was near Angel Island and felt the shock strongly. Shocks were 

 noted at 7.53; 8.10; 8.15; 8.30; 8.45; 9.20; 9.35; 10; 10.30; 11.05 a. m., 

 and at 12.15 and 2.58 p. m. [the 10.30 shock was vertical at Pine and 

 Mason streets. — J. R. J.]. Cliff House, S. F.; an unusual commo- 

 tion in the sea, and the waves came fifteen or twenty feet further 

 inland than usual. There were about thirty casualties in the 150,- 

 000 inhabitants. Five deaths occurred from falling w^alls, etc. 

 Not a single well-built house on the solid land suffered materially, 

 whether of brick, stone, or wood. Wooden houses suffered least. 

 — H. Ms. Also derived from S. F. daily papers of the few days 

 immediately following the shock. See Rowlandson, et seq. No 

 register of this shock on the tide-gauges at San Diego and Fort 

 Point. 



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