ISOSEISMALS: DISTRIBUTION OF APPARENT INTENSITY. 285 
(Ei. C. Jones.) —There was only one broken gas main in San Jose, caused by the high 
wall of the building falling over; the bricks penetrated thru the soft earth to the main 
and broke it. At the gas station, the brick retort house was very badly damaged. The 
north and south gable ends fell out. The brick work at all 4 corners loosened for about 
10 feet down to where the roof trusses are anchored in the walls. The superheater of 
one of the gas-making machines settled on the south side so that it was 2 inches out of 
plumb. The weight of this machine is about 78 tons. Some of the cast-iron connec- 
tions in the building were broken. 
The purifying house, also of brick, was totally destroyed; all the walls and the roof 
collapsed, carrying the machinery to the ground and destroying it. The relief gas- 
holder was full of gas at the time of the earthquake and was badly damaged. Two of 
the cast-iron columns were broken off in several places; portions of the railing fell thru 
the crown of the gas-holder, permitting the gas to escape. The distributing holder 
was three-fourths full of gas at the time of the earthquake. The movement threw about 
12 inches of the water out of the holder tank. The carriages on the lower section were 
all broken, these being of cast-iron. The upper carriages, made of wrought iron, were 
strained but not broken. Considering the violence of the disturbance at this point, it 
is surprising that the mains did not suffer more than they did; but the breaking off of 
pipes in the buildings and the crushing of meters under falling houses necessitated shut- 
ting off the gas thruout the city for 24 hours. 
(W. 5. Prosser, C. E.)—Over the San Jose area, as a whole, the wreckage seems to 
have been thrown i in all directions; but in certain places some slight system appears. 
It seems clear that no statement as to direction, amount, or even duration of motion 
applies to more than a limited area. The only clear cases of rotary motion seen by me 
were two cases near my home, 2 miles northwest of the centerof town. One tank-house 
turned exactly halfway round, as well as upside down, and one chimney turned about 
4 inches, both in the direction of the hands of a clock. Both rotary and vertical motions 
were felt by many, however. About 500 yards from me is a square brick fence-post 
7 feet high, of which 2 feet moved about 3 inches to the southeast (S. 44° E.); or rather, 
the bottom moved the reverse way. On Stevens Creek road, leading southwest from 
San Jose, 5 or 6 water-tanks on the roadside fell. One of these seemed thrown to the 
northeast, but others were twisted and scattered as tho by a mixture of all motions. In 
some places most of the buildings, perhaps, fell to the north or northwest. In China- 
town (north of San Jose) it was the north and south brick walls that fell. In San Jose 
most of the clocks on east and west walls did not stop, but many of those on north and 
south walls did; showing an east and west motion. The brick 7-foot wall around the 
yard of Notre Dame School in San Jose, on the northwest side, fell; but that on the south 
did not, altho it was cracked. - The streets in the central part of San Jose run N. 60° E 
The amount of motion differs greatly. In many cases brick work seems to show a 
sharp blow of 2 inches; sometimes more. The inside east and west wall of the City 
Hall has a crack of 4 inches. The front of La Mott House (east and west) moved in 
some places 2 inches, in others 4 inches. The master clock in the Western Union Office 
(on the ground floor of a large brick building, and on the east and west wall) did not 
stop, but the pendulum struck both sides of its case many times and with great violence, 
battering off the varnish. It is long (probably beats seconds) and had to move about 
4 inches more than usual in order to strike the case. 
About 5 miles south of San Jose there were said to be two tubs of water on the ground 
afew hundred yards apart. No. 1 had most of the water splasht out, but No. 2 ap- 
parently had lost none. No. 2 is nearer the hills, and bedrock is nearer the surface. 
The oil tank at the corner of Stockton and Polhemus Streets, 1 mile northwest of San 
Jose, splasht over. Many water-tanks did the same. 
