266 



EARTHQUAKES. 



counts, not being required by their charters to 

 do so. Immigration to the Dominion does not 

 increase materially ; the returns to this time 

 show the number of arrivals in 1872 to be 48,- 

 958, and of these there were en route to the 

 United States, so far as ascertained, 31, 6 IT, 

 showing an increase over the figures of 1871 

 of not more than 9,000. The Minister of Agri- 

 culture accounts for this paucity by " the re- 

 vival of trade in Great Britain, and the dis- 

 turbed state of the Continent of Europe ; " to 

 which might be added the natural desire of the 

 immigrant to seek his fortune in a land in which 

 wealth seems most to abound, the Republic of 

 the United States. 



A change of administration took place in 

 Ontario about the close of last year, the Hon. 

 Edward Blake, as premier of what is known 

 as a reform cabinet, replacing the Hon. John 

 Sandfield Macdonald and his colleagues. Mr. 

 Blake has since resigned, being unable under 

 a recent law to hold seats both in the Do- 

 minion and the Provincial Parliaments, and 

 with the view, no doubt, of taking a part, oa 

 an early occasion, in the larger affairs of the 

 government at Ottawa. He has been succeed- 

 ed by the Hon. Oliver Mowatt, who resigned 

 his place as one of the Vice-Chancellors of 

 Ontario for that purpose, a new and somewhat 

 startling proceeding under the British system. 



On the 14th June last the fifth and last session 

 of the first Dominion Parliament was brought 

 to a close ; and, consequently, general elections 

 soon after followed. The many contests 

 throughout the several provinces partook of 

 the character of a vital struggle, and yet were 

 most orderly. The aggregate vote would 

 seem to be favorable to the present cabinet, 

 but it is certain that they are in a minority in 

 the premier Province of Ontario. This will 

 lead to embarrassment ; possibly, to final defeat. 

 In closing Parliament on the above date, the 

 then Governor-General, Lord Lisgar, bade the 

 country farewell. On the 22d of the same 

 month, after attending a banquet at Montreal 

 given in his honor, he sailed for England, 

 bearing with him the reputation of a just and 

 judicious ruler, and a man of blameless pri- 

 vate life. Three days later, his successor, the 

 Earl of Dufferin, also a peer of the realm, ar- 

 rived at Quebec. This nobleman is already 

 highly popular, and exhibits qualities that are 

 likely to render his administration honorable 

 and useful. 



The most prominent names in the year's Ca- 

 nadian obituary are : The Hon. John Sandfield 

 Macdonald, for four years Premier of Ontario ; 

 Hon. J. L. Hathaway, who had been Premier 

 of New Brunswick ; Hon. W. Garvie, of Nova 

 Scotia ; and Mr. T. C. Street, of Ontario. 



E 



EARTHQUAKES. Earthquake-visitations, 

 in the year 1872, were frequent, and in some 

 instances highly calamitous, involving a large 

 destruction of life and property. The first (in 

 time) of these phenomena was felt over a con- 

 siderable part of Eastern New England and the 

 St. Lawrence Valley, the limits being the At- 

 lantic coast at Portland and Belfast, Me., and 

 points about 200 miles northeast and 60 miles 

 southwest of Quebec. The disturbance was 

 most marked at Quebec : new walls were 

 cracked, and large fissures caused in the ice- 

 bridge above the river the shock occurring 

 there at 7.54 p. M., and lasting about 30 sec- 

 onds, accompanied by a low, rumbling sound. 

 There were two distinct shocks at Lancaster, 

 N. H., each of a few seconds' duration. The 

 vibrations were well defined in a direction 

 nearly east and west. At Quebec, and Bangor, 

 Me., slight tremors were felt, at 3 p. M., and 11 

 p. M. on the same day. 



The city of Sharnaka, Russia, was almost en- 

 tirely destroyed by an earthquake, January 

 16th, and a large extent of surrounding country 

 was much disturbed. It was intimated that 

 over 100 persons perished in Shamaka, and 

 scarcely a building was left standing. 



In February slight shocks occurred in the 

 vicinity of Wenona, Mich., and Cairo, 111.; and 

 on March 6th tremors were simultaneously felt 

 in many parts of Prussia and Saxony. 



California and Nevada suffered seriously 

 from an earthquake, March 26th. The region 

 most strongly affected was the eastern and 

 western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and the 

 Sacramento, San Joaquin. and Tulare Valleys, 

 the movement extending into Mexico. The 

 time of the first shock noted at Visalia, Inde- 

 pendence, and Jackson, was 2.10 A. M., and at 

 White Pine, Nev., 2.45. The disturbance 

 lasted about thirty hours, and fully 1,000 dis- 

 tinct shocks were felt. The direction of the 

 vibrations was generally northwest and south- 

 west. Owen's River Valley was the most af- 

 flicted. At the village of Lone. Pine, about 18 

 miles south of Independence, some fifty adobe 

 houses were shaken to pieces, and 27 persons 

 killed and 34 much injured ; frame houses did 

 not fall. At Independence, many buildings 

 were prostrated, and some lives lost. A loud 

 rumbling sound, described as being "like a 

 train of cars, or like distant artillery," preceded 

 and accompanied the shocks. Fissures, miles 

 in length, and 50 to 200 feet wide, were re- 

 ported opened along the eastern base of the 

 Sierra Nevada, near Big Pine Camp. At other 

 places, the ground was heaped up in great 

 ridges, large springs stopped running, and new 

 springs burst forth. Heavy snow-slides oc- 

 curred on the Sierras, and great rocks rolled 

 down the mountain-sides, blocking up the stage- 

 road. The schooner Beal, becalmed in the 





