314 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION. 
over, and continued to do so for 5 minutes after the shock. Water was thrown from a 
swimming tank where the level was 5 feet below the top of the tank; water at one place 
in the river was thrown over a concrete wall 8 or 9 feet high. 
Modesto (i. Hughes). — In common with other points in the great interior valley 
region, Modesto received a very decided shaking up by the earthquake, but suffered 
practically no damage. The local effects were the stopping of clocks, the swaying of trees, 
hanging baskets, drop-lights, and chandeliers; and in a few cases the fall of objects from 
insecure positions-in stores and dwellings. Water tanks and troughs, milk pans, etc., 
spilt part of their contents, and in one or two instances cracks opened in buildings. 
No one, so far as known, actually timed the duration of the shock in seconds. 
The observations of many persons in and near the town indicate that the vibrations 
were in two principal directions: viz., northwest-southeast and approximately west-east. 
The heavier shock seems to have been in the first direction, but observers are not in entire 
agreement on this point. Clocks of larger size were quite generally stopt, no matter in 
what direction they faced. Several persons report having heard a roaring or rumbling 
sound, beginning a few seconds before and continuing until the end of the disturbance; 
and a number of people were affected by symptoms somewhat like seasickness for several 
hours after it. 
The following detailed notes were obtained from citizens of Modesto and vicinity: 
(Mr. Schaffer.) —Trees swayed northwest-southeast. ‘‘The Swan,” a new building 
with green walls, cracked at the junction of the ceiling with the northeast end wall; also 
at the junction of the ceiling with the fire-wall running thru the center of the building from 
northwest to southeast. The cracks in both cases were on the second (the top) floor. 
The building faces northwest. 
(Player’s Drug Store.) — Boxes on shelves on the northwest side of the store fell toward 
the southeast. 
(Mr. Swanson.) —Saw water spilt southeast-northwest from the railway tank at the 
depot. 
(Al Fogarty.) —Meat market. Mr. Fogarty ran from the building, and on returning 
after the shock he found drop-lights and a butchers’ scale, suspended by a single wire 
from the ceiling, swinging in a direction parallel with the street, northwest-southeast. 
(Green Brothers.) — Heard a roaring sound just before the shock. Felt the bed swing 
northwest-southeast. Plaster sifted down from cracks in the ceiling. 
(Ei. E. Woods.)—Mirror hanging from southeast wall fell, on account of breaking of 
the cord, on its face toward the northwest. 
(Mr. Chapman.) — Ranch 5 miles southwest of Modesto. Water trough oriented north- 
south spilt water from both ends. 
(George T. McCabe.) —The bed was standing north-south. The first motion was east- 
west, the second and maximum motion was northwest-southeast. Trees swayed north- 
west-southeast. The window sash dropt. 
(Mr. Rider.)—Water in the street gutters moved west-east in the first part of the 
shock; in the second part, northwest-southeast. 
(Mr. Schaffer.) —Twenty-one miles southeast of Modesto. The sliding doors on a barn 
fronting east moved north and south repeatedly during the shock. A water trough a 
few feet away spilt water east and west. 
(Johnson and Ross Store.) —A pile of paint cans stood northwest-southeast. Several 
cans fell to the northeast. 
(G. W. Elsey.)—A tall, open-framed “ Mission” clock facing southeast was found after 
the shock with its pendulum lodged on the top of a cross-bar of the frame. The position 
of the pendulum indicated a considerable increase in the amplitude of its vibration north- 
east-southwest in order to allow it to swing high enough to lodge. There were several 
