292 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION. 
alluvium, and the grounds surrounding it are in part “made” land. The grounds are 
surrounded by marshy land, ponds, and sand-dunes, and there is evidently a considerable 
depth of an incoherent, water-saturated formation supporting the hotel; this probably 
explains why Del Monte suffered so much more than Monterey. The houses adjoining 
the grounds were not damaged, with the exception of the school-house, which had its 
chimney cracked at the base. 
On the road eastward to Salinas from Del Monte, no visible signs of the earthquake 
were encountered until the Salinas River was reached. The Salinas bridge was moved 
southerly several feet, according to report, and the framework was broken so as to 
render the bridge unsafe. The bridge farther down the stream, on a wagon road from 
Castroville railroad station to Monterey, was also damaged by the shock. This bridge 
crosses the river in a northeast to southwest direction, and is supported by four tiers of 
piles, boxed around with plank. The two end piers were not misplaced, but the two inter- 
mediate series were bent or broken at their bases and shoved over to the northeast, caus- 
ing a sinking in the center of the bridge of about 2 feet. The damage to the bridge was 
due to the violence of the shock, and not to a sinking of the ground, as the amount of drop 
in the center was equivalent to the slanting position of the two intermediate supports. 
Castroville to Soquel (G. A. Waring). — Castroville, being on solid ground, was not 
seriously affected. Three chimneys out of about 30 fell. Objects were thrown mostly 
westward. The quake was described as beginning like a subterranean blast. Two 
periods were not noticed; it was felt as one continual vibration, starting very gently. 
The wharf at Moss Landing buckled up and partly collapsed, while the warehouses were 
wracked or fell westward. (Plate 116p.) At the hotel and stores on the mainland, brick 
chimneys fell, but plastering was not seriously cracked. 
At Watsonville about 90 per cent of the chimneys were broken off at the roof-line, the 
greater portion being near to the river. Several were cracked and twisted but not thrown 
down. Parts of a few brick walls near the river fell, and considerable settling of the 
ground took place in Chinatown on the southern side of the river. (Plate 116a.) 
On the higher ground between Watsonville and Aptos, the shock was little felt. There 
was no movement along Aptos Creek, both wagon and railway bridges being unaffected. 
In one old house about half the plaster was thrown from every northern and southern 
wall on the first floor, but not from the others, nor from the upper rooms. A bureau 
was moved eastward 3 feet from the wall, but no other furniture was moved. 
Nearly all the chimneys at Capitola fell, and considerable plaster was shaken from the 
north walls of the first floor of the hotel. The vibration is said to have been almost en- 
tirely east and west, as shown by the sash locks having been broken only upon the east 
and west windows. An iron safe free to move northward was unmoved, but the plaster 
on the opposite side of the wall back of it (west) was broken. A case of pigeon-holes 
resting on top of the safe slid to the east edge, when it could as easily have moved north. 
Much earth fell from bluffs near the town, but there was no appreciable effect on the 
surf. At the country bridge across Soquel Creek, the ground at the east abutment shoved 
inward, cracking the concrete and buckling a water-pipe. 
In the low ground at Soquel, nearly all the chimneys fell, but most of those on high 
ground stood. Much plaster fell and goods were thrown from the shelves in the business 
section, which is close to the creek. The east abutment of the concrete wagon bridge 
over Soquel Creek cracked vertically, showing that the soil movement extended this 
far up the creek. Thru Delmar, Seabright, and Twin Lakes nearly all the chimneys 
were either down or twisted part way around and left standing, an unusual number being 
thus twisted. The shock is said to have come suddenly, diminished, and then, at a second 
jolt, chimneys fell. Trees moved sideways as well as swayed, and all animals were much 
frightened. One small stream has diminished in flow. 
