Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-09
THE EARTH YAWNED
The Colorado River Region
Badly Shaken.
Ground Which Rolled Like
Waves of the Sea.
A Tidal Wave Eighty-Five Feet in
Height.
Houses Observation-Disclosures Spout and
the Earth Opened-The River Said
to Have Changed Its
Course.

Colonel d. X. Allen, of Yuma, writes
as follows to the San Diegan, OF the
earthquake recently felt at Yuma:
The earthquake which was so forcibly
felt at Yuma ON the 30th of July shook
the country to the south of that place to
its very foundations. At the ranch of
Mr.. Hill, eight miles south of Yuma,
and at the boundary line twenty-five
miles from here, the shocks were very
violent, and, although both are in the
valley, having deep soil OF loan, the
shaking was very severe. Az the Lerdo
colony, sixty-fve miles south of Yuma,
the ground was forced up, cracked and
rolled as if initiating the waves of the
sea. The walls of the houses were bad
ly cracked, stables were thrown down,
and the waves came with such force
that no one could walk or stand: At c..
r. Townsend's place, seven miles down
the river, his house and stables were
thrown down and doors and windows
broken into fragments. The house was
built of large cottonwoods, the ridgepole
being cottonwood eighteen inches in
diameter. This was broken and the
roof fell in. His place is forty five miles
from the mouth of the Colorado, and yet
the tidal wave was eighty-five feet high,
as shown by the banks of the river 1t
must have been at least LOO feet high at
the mouth. Many of the Indian houses
we re thrown down.
The ground opened in places from four
inches to four feet. Most of the cracks
were parallel to the course of the river.
The roar of the earthquake was heard
some seconds before the shock came,
and that OF the tidal wave So IL rolled up
from the gulf was terrible. People left
their houses and ran to the high mesa.
The shock continued all day. AT 5 80
p. m. another hard shock was felt. The
Indians ran for their lives and did not
return until the next day.
The volcanoes were very active, and
have been since, and although twenty
aailes away in an air line, the reports of
their almost constant explosions can be
heard at times with great roar, con-
tinued for several seconds, and
with force that seemed to shake the
ground for miles around. The Indians
say that they never felt such shock or
ihSssT0 tifc NOlCduOcS sO uOlSv.
The river ran into and filled up some
of the crevasses in the banks, in others
the water still continues to flow. The
report that the river was flowing iDto
break or crevasse forty feet wide and
1000 feet long, and that it had leftits old
bed and that it was dry, is not generally
believed, although several reliable Coco
pah Indians from below the Lerdo colony
say that the earthquake changed the
course OF the river. The Cocopahs build
very good houses of large posts SET ON
end, and the roof of dirt is we'll secured
A large number of these were thrown
down by the force OF the shocks. With
out doubt the schocks were the heasiest
ever heard Of in that section of country.
The geysers and all the springs are un-
usually active, and the action is inter
raibtent. 1t is yet to be seen whattiaSu-
ence these earthquakes may have. had
on the volcanoes, the Colorado rive1 and
the Salton sea-
Yuma, A. T., August 4, 1891.