166 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION. 
was not great. There are numerous brick buildings, but no cracks were caused in any of 
them. The greater number of the chimneys were unaffected. In the Public Library 
no books were thrown from the shelves. The large statue of Minerva on the dome of 
the Court-house vibrated back and forth and finally rested at an angle of about 45°. 
Mr. A. H. Bell, of the Weather Bureau, made a note of the direction of the movement, 
which was southwest to northeast, and this direction was confirmed by other observers. 
(A. H. Bell, Observer U. S. Weather Bureau.)—It was the most severe earthquake of 
which there is any record at Eureka. It lasted 47 seconds and the vibrations were from 
southwest to northeast. There were no preliminary tremors, the shock being sudden 
and the vibrations, continuous, with maximum intensity toward the end. Buildings 
shook to an alarming degree and several were slightly twisted. One frame building moved 
about 12 inches to the west. Many chimneys toppled over and several hundred panes of 
glass were broken. There was no loss of life and loss to property did not exceed $8,000. 
Chimneys fell in all directions, but most of them toward the west. The statue of Minerva 
on the dome of the Court-house tipt toward the south until it leaned at an angle of 43°. 
A second shock occurred on April 18 at 5" 22™ a. M., and another was felt at 12> 25™ 
p.M. These shocks were slight and of short duration. Slight shocks of earthquake also 
occurred in early morning of April 19; at 3" a.m. on the 20th; 6" 07™ A. M. on the 23d; 
10" 30" a. M. on the 27th; and at 112 10™ p. m. on the 30th. There was quite a severe 
shock on April 23, at 1" 10™ a. m., lasting about 14 seconds. The vibrations were from 
southerly to northerly, being of sufficient violence to shake buildings and stop clocks in 
different parts of the city. 
(H. H. Buhne.)— People who were not frightened and who were looking out of their 
windows described.the scene as looking as if all the houses were on the ocean. Only one 
clock stopt in my house and that was the large regulator in the hall, facing southwest. 
The other clocks had their pendulums swung southwest, so did not stop. 
The shock lasted 47 seconds. It started from a southwest direction. The reason I 
am so sure of it is that I was passing by my mantel, and one of the statues hit 
me in the back when the quake started, and it could not have come from any other direc- 
tion to have done this. It kept swaying the house back and forth for a while, and then 
wound up with a twister. My chimneys stood it until the twister came, and that made 
them crack. On examination I found them turned from 0.5 to 3.5 inches. They were 
all twisted from southwest to north. At my hunting house the shock threw a glass globe 
and chimney from a large Rochester stand lamp into one of the beds, in a direction about 
4 feet from southwest. If it had come from any other direction it would have smashed 
the glass to pieces. 
The damage in Eureka, outside of the Water Works, will not go over $10,000. Plate- 
glass windows were smashed in every place except the Buhne brick block. All the plate 
glass in this building rests on from 0.325 inch to 0.5 inch rubber. The shock picked up 
one building that stood on made ground and lifted it bodily 12 inches on to the next lot. 
This building was thrown toward the southwest. The statue of Minerva, 13 feet high 
and 187 feet from the ground, on the dome of the court-house, was thrown forward to 
an angle of 45°. She was bowing directly south. Chimneys went down everywhere, 
some thru the roof; others were twisted halfway round. No lives were lost and only 
one person was hurt by a chimney crashing thru the roof. 
South of Eureka (H. H. Buhne). — A few days after the quake everything lookt all 
right along the road, excepting chimneys, until I reached Field’s Landing, at South Bay. 
Here the shock opened a fissure over 100 feet long’ in the middle of the road, which 6 
teams spent one day in filling. Pelican Island, as it is commonly called, opposite Field’s 
Landing, dropt 3 feet at the point where the United States pile beacon stands. It left 
the beacon landing at an angle of 45° from the southwest. 
