144 pROCEEDrNGS OF THE [ July, 1887. 



their neighbors, were little hurt when located upon unmade land, with possibly 

 an exception in the end buildings, but the same class of edifices upon made 

 land were oftentimes fissured from coping to foundation ; notably was this so 

 in the section of the City between East Bay and the docks, and in Market Street 

 from Meeting to East Bay, the former was originally a marsh, the latter a 

 creek ; the effect upon the porticos of the United States Custom House was 

 doubtless due to the fact that this most solidly built national building, was 

 placed upon made land, thoroughly piled though the foundation was. 



An attempt was made to discover if there existed any con- 

 tinuous ' lines of least fracture ' in the houses examined. But though the be- 

 ginning of many of the efforts appeared promising, yet upon the whole so 

 doubtful was the result that no statement could be made that they existed. 

 Just here, however, it should be observed, that in that portion of the Charles- 

 ton peninsular lying between Shepherd Street and the Bail Road Junction, 

 some four and one-half miles North, the RaU Road tracks offered little or no 

 sigTis of a great disturbance. After leaving the Junction, howevdt', signs were 

 plentiful, even North of Summerville. 



It is to be remembered that the out-going Summerville train of that evening 

 was ditched at the foot of the Ten Mile Hill on the South Carolina Rail Road, 

 while the incoming passenger train on the North Eastern Rail Road, which 

 was struck by the Earthquake between the Junction and Shepherd Street, was 

 so slightly jarred that many passengers by it arrived two minutes later in the 

 City with no knowledge of the disaster. 



This portion of the peninsular is partly within the incorporated limits of 

 Charleston but most of it is without ; it is occupied by small frame buildings 

 all upon unmade land, by highly cultivated farm plots, and by large Phosphate 

 Mills, Oil MlQs and other manufacturing establishments. No remarkable dam- 

 age existed in that area, not even to the Rail Road tracks by which it is tra- 

 versed. 



Certain it is that the country between the Junction and Summerville, and 

 from the Ashley to the Cooper River, showed greater signs of vibratory blows 

 than that portion between the Junction and Shepherd Street. The evidence of 

 the effect is plainly exhibited upon the Rail Road tracks ; the 60 lb steel rails 

 were bent, not only in sharp and simple curves, but also into those of a reverse 

 and compound nature ; fish-bar bolt heads were cleanly cut off and portions of 

 the track, ties included, were forced laterally hither and thither. Settlements 

 in the track were frequent. 



In the trestles, besides transverse displacements, the benches were often 

 overturned. In the forests and fields earth fissures from three to six inches 

 wide were constantly and commonly observed. These could easily be traced 

 for hundreds of feet, and had ejected mud, sand and water. 



Again, acres of land, in any one locality, would be dotted with sand craters, 

 or holes, from two inches to three feet in diameter. These likewise exuded 

 sands, mud and water, and in cases at the Ten Mile Hill, where measurements 

 were taken, the sand thrown out was fifteen inches deep. It may be important 

 to state that the general course of the fissures was N. E and S. W. Those ob- 



