168 REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION. 
Pliocene (Merced) age, dipping uniformly northerly toward the valley of the Eel 
River.’ 
Mr. A. W. Blackburn, of Ferndale, writing May 2, 1906, contributes the following 
statement regarding the effect of the shock in that town: 
There is general agreement here that the principal direction of the earthquake waves was 
from southwest to northeast. The main street of the city runs about southwest and the 
tremor swayed the houses and business buildings from southwest to northeast, breaking 
over two-thirds of the plate glass windows facing the street, while windows on the sides 
of the buildings did not suffer nearly somuch. One 3-story frame building was caused to 
lean at an angle of at least 5° from the vertical. Most of the chimneys fell, not one in ten 
standing, and those that did stand were rendered insecure for the most part. They generally 
fell either toward the southwest or northeast, where the roofs slanted in those directions. 
Those who claim to have been out-of-doors when the shock came.state that the earth rose 
and fell in great waves like those of the sea. 
The only two brick buildings in town, both of which were one story, with a gable in front 
raised above the flat roof, had these square gables thrown forward into the street. One 
was a new building just finished this winter, and its walls were completely ruined, being 
cracked and loosened. Several buildings were lifted from their foundations, but forthe 
most part the frame buildings were simply swayed out of plumb. Accompanying the quake 
was a rumbling, roaring sound. The tremor was short and jerky at its point of maximum 
intensity. 
Prof. A. 8. Eakle, who visited Humboldt County at a later date, corroborates the 
statements just quoted. He says: 
At Ferndale the greatest amount of destruction in the county took place. According 
to Mr. Joseph Shaw and others of the town, the shock came from the southwest and the 
general direction of the fall of chimneys bears out this statement. There are 2 brick stores 
in the place, both of which had their upper portions thrown off. Some chimneys were 
thrown eastward a distance of 15 feet. Several of the frame houses were knocked out of 
plumb, but only one was moved entirely off its foundations, tho a slipping of a few inches 
was tommon. ‘The main street runs northeast-southwest, and the stores on both sides had 
their plate glass windows demolished. (See plate 664.) There were no cracks nor sinking 
of the land in the town and the damage was wholly due to the rocking of the houses. As 
most of the stores had large glass windows in front, the upper stories were weakly sup- 
ported from lack of bracing, and this was primarily the cause of their bending out of plumb. 
Very few frame residences were seriously damaged. It was reported that a brick falling 
from the chimney of one house was thrown into the bedroom of the same house thru the 
upper half of one of the windows under the eaves. This illustrates the intensity of the rock- 
ing motion to which the structures were subjected. 
On the flood plain of the Eel River to the north of Ferndale, Professor Eakle reports 
that the ground was cracked for a distance of 0.25 mile on the west bank of the river. 
The cracks were in close vicinity to the river, and seemed to be on the line of an old chan- 
nel. A series of parallel cracks, some having a vertical displacement of 2 feet, the surface 
being uplifted and deprest, followed the trend of the river and were evidently local in 
the soft alluvium. At the time of the earthquake water and sand spouted up in several 
places thru openings which were in some cases 4 inches wide. Mr. Blackburn reports 
that this water remained on the surface of the fields for some time after the earthquake. 
In this same connection, Mr. J. A. Shaw reports that ‘‘a field on a high bar near the 
Kel River was literally shaken to pieces, and water filled with quicksand was ejected 
several feet high. The rents run from north and south in a curve to east and west. Some 
parts are actually cut into squares. The jump vertically will reach 2.5 feet. There 
were no such large rents thru the valley generally, as the upper soil rests on a clay foun- 
dation which seemed to stand it all right.” 



‘ For a geological section at this point see The Geomorphogeny of the Coast of Northern California, 
by Andrew C, Lawson, Bull. Dept. Geol., Univ. Cal., vol. 1, No. 8, p. 256. 
