398 L. MARTIN ^ALASKAN EARTHQUAKES OF 1899 



Alaska Peninsula, in 1788, when "there were no volcanic phenomena re- 

 ported, but on the 27th of July a flood submerged the islands of Sannak 

 and Ounga and a portion of the peninsula (evidently a tidal wave, owing 

 to earthquake) ." DalP^^ states that during this inundation many natives 

 lost their lives and that hogs on Sannak Island were drowned. 



Grewingk/^^ Perret/^' and DalP^^ have listed earthquakes, mostly in 

 connection with volcanic eruptions, in 1790, 1792, 1796, 1802, 1812, 

 1817, 1818, 1820, and 1826. In 1827 there was an earthquake on Copper 

 Island in June, but it is not stated whether in association with a volcanic 

 eruption or not. On April 2, 1836, and in August of the same year 

 earthquakes were felt on tfie islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, in 

 the Pribilof group, during which it was impossible to stand erect. 



In 1843 occurs the first precise scientific observation of a tectonic 

 earthquake in Alaska instrumentally recorded that has come to the 

 writer's attention. This is quoted by Perret, from whose account^^® the 

 following is translated: 



"On the 15th of December, at 1.20 a. in., there were two light shocks on 

 Sitka Island, during which the unifilar and bifilar magnetometers oscillated in 

 a vertical plane. 



"There was a second shock an hour and twenty-five minutes later. The 



position of the vertical-force needle changed 55 parts during the first two 

 shocks."^2o 



On December 16, 1843, at 1.30 p. m., there was a feeble earthquake at 

 ISTew Archangel (Sitka). At 4 p. m. there was a stronger shock, lasting 

 three seconds; the houses were rent; the workman saw the trees appar- 

 ently move back and forth during a calm. At the warm springs, 28 

 versts from the town, other persons observed these shocks, but 35 minutes 

 earlier.^2^ 



In 1847 a general earthquake was felt on the Alaskan coast, being very 

 severe at Sitka. ^^^ This is doubtless one of the shocks referred to by the 

 newspapers of 1899, which allude to the Yakutat Bay earthquakes as 

 "the most severe since the time of the Eussians." 



On October 22, 1849, there was a violent earthquake, lasting all night, 



"5 w. H. Ball : Alaska and its resources. Boston, 1870, pp. 310, 467. 



"«0p. cit, pp. 311-315. 



^■^ Alexis Perret : Documents sur Les Tremblements de Terre et Les Phenomenes Vol- 

 caniques des lies Aleutiennes, de la peninsule d'Al.ijaska et de la cote No. d'Amerlque. 

 Acad. Imp. de Dijon, deuxieme serie, tome xiii, 1865, pp. 158, 216-237. 



i"Op. cit.. pp. 466-470. 



ii» Alexis Perret, Mem. Acad. Imp. de Dijon, 2me. ser., tome xiii, 1865, p. 238. 



^^ Annuaire magn^tique et met^orologique du corps des ing^nieurs des mines de 

 Russie, ann^e 1843, p. 553. 



^-^ Comm. de M. Osten-Sacken. 



12a W. H. Dall : Op. cit., p. 342. 



