Connecticut western news., 1872-04-26
The Earthduake in California.

The Earthquake in California.
 MT. A. 0. Diggins, of San Francisco, was at Independence, Tnyo County, al the time of the earthquake. He says that on the day preceding the earthquake very high winds prevailed at Indepen- dence and over the whole of the valley, but at night it subsided and the air be- came perfectly calm. The first tremor awakened him, but before he could spring from his bed it was demolished and fell to the floor, the center-table tumbled over, and the house pitched and rocked like 8 row-boat in 8 rough sea. The building was 8 strong frame one, and was consequently not thrown down. He describes the noise which accompan- jed the shock as appalling. It seemed as if the mighty mountains skirting the valley were breaking up and rolling into plains below-the sound was in the air and under their feet, and its reverbera- tions through the tumbliDg mountains were terrific as the noise itself. He says the first shock was compound one, os- cillatory and vertical. He ran into the street, and in the clear moonlight saw that every adobe and brick house in the town was in ruins. The ground heaved and vibrated, and then as the awful sound died in it's far-off echoes those who had escaped from their crumbling dwellings, aghast and almost speeches. with terror, hoped the catastrophe was over. But almost instantly, away to the south, down the narrow valley towards Lone Pine, was heard sharp and thun- dering explosion as of a thousand colum biads fired at once. The people braced themselves for the shock, nearer and nearer came the appalling noise, and as the shock advanced thousands of huge rocks tumbled down from the craigs on either hand and crushed with deafen- ing din into the ravines and upon the edges of the valley below. Then came the noise under their feet, and with it the awful, sickening, and terrifying up lift and swing of the earth. The people ran to and fro some screamed, some prayed, others stood still and watched the course of things with stoical indif- ference. They soon learned that but one or two persons had been killed there, and yet none knew what the end might be, for the earth vibrated constantly. At short intervals would be heard away off in the direction of Lone Pine and the lake that terrible boom bang as ii the very mountains themselves were splitting in twain. Not only did tens ot thousands of rocks and boulders rolling down the mountains add to the confusion of the scene, but in the Sierra, on one side of the valley, avalanche after avalanche of snow was sent -thun. dering, booming, almost screaming, down from the regions of eternal frost and ice to the gulfs below. People liv ing near Independence, at points where they could see plainly the sides of the mountains on either hand, told him that at every succeeding shock they could plainly see in hundred places at once bursting from the rifted rocks great sheets of flame apparently thirty or fifty feet in length. and which would coil ant lap about moment and then disappear He says these flames could not have beer caused by friction of rocks and boulders coming down the mountains, for in his own neighborhood there were plenty ot these, but no fire visible. In one place he saw an immense ledge or drift ot whitened and broken rocks forced out of the mountains and fall like an i'm mense dump from some mining tunnel down it's side. When daylight came the entire valley south of Independence anc towards Lone Pine was filled with smoke and dust, and in places, people said, the fumes of sulphur were almost suffocating The clouds of smoke extended iron Fish Springs south, as far as the eye could reach. Numerous springs were dried up instantly, and others broke ou in other places, while the flow of water from all was greatly increased. In ont little stream three or four inches deer the water was thrown upward to the height of two or three feet over foot bridges. A man had. several rafts moor ed in the river near Independence lader with lumber, and each was thrown higl and dry. MT. Diggins saw springs O. water forced out of the mountains where before the rocks had been as dry as powder-house. From the time of the first shock till daylight the noises anc shocks were loud and incessant. Al one place 0 large section of the valley had subsided about ten feet, leaving al abrupt perpendicular bank at the sides In many places the ground was throwr into ridges and mounds five or six fec high, and in every direction were sign. of the destructive agencies that had beer at work-all, however, decreasing il number and extent as they traveled north. Cattle and horses were throw1 prostrate during the heavier shocks, anc their believing and neighing was pitifu to hear.
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