INTRODUCTION 31 



of them were verified by us.* The first shock occurred September 3, and 

 there were shocks at intervals until September 10, when, at % 9.20 a m, 

 they began to be alarming. There were 52 shocks, culminating in one of 

 great violence at 3 p m. The land swayed, the waters of the bay rose 

 and fell 8 to 10 feet every few minutes, and violent eddies were set up 

 in the harbor, washing into the sea an Indian burial ground at Port Mul- 

 grave, opposite Yakutat. Most of the natives and whites were panic- 

 stricken, abandoning their houses and retreating to tents on the neigh- 

 boring morainic hills. There was another violent earthquake September 

 15, and other shocks until September 20. 



A party of prospectors was encamped on the shore of Russell fiord 

 near the Hubbard glacier, and their experiences, as related to us by one 

 of the party, Mr Flenner, were full of excitement and danger. The 

 ground rocked so that they could not remain on their feet ; the front of 

 Hubbard glacier was broken into fragments; great water waves washed 

 them and their equipment back on the moraine; a lake, marginal to 

 Hubbard glacier, burst its barrier; and huge avalanches descended the 

 mountain sides. The prospectors finally escaped with such equipment 

 as they could save, though on their way to Yakutat they were again 

 placed in danger by the earthquake of September 15. That the ex- 

 periences related by Mr Flenner are in the main correct there can be no 

 doubt, and that his party escaped destruction is remarkable, in view of 

 the clear evidence of the cataclysm still recorded along the shores of the 

 bay. So far as could be learned, there was no loss of human life ; but at 

 that time of year the natives are not liable to be in the bay, and their 

 village is from 15 to 30 miles or more from the centers of disturbance. 



It is a well known fact that an earthquake shock in September, 1899, 

 did such damage to the Muir glacier on Glacier bay, 140 miles southeast 

 of Yakutat, as to render access to it impossible by the tourist steamers 

 for several seasons. It will be most interesting to learn whether the 

 phenomena so clearly recorded around the shores of Yakutat bay are 

 duplicated in the Glacier Bay region. 



Although we knew in general terms that there had been an earthquake 

 in the Yakutat Bay region in 1899, we were totally unprepared for the 

 clear and striking proof of it that we found, or for the evidence of the 

 remarkable changes of level which accompanied it. It is the purpose of 

 this paper to state with some fullness the evidence of the changes which 

 were associated with this earthquake and to venture some interpretations 

 based on this evidence. Altogether it is the most remarkable instance of 



* The only reason for referring to this is that it is the only first-hand published ac- 

 count of the earthquake which we r.ave seen. 



