Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-10
TREMORS OF THE EARTH.
Some Great Quakes Which Have Bee
Felt i'm the United States.

Some Great Quakes Which Have Been
Felt in the United States.
There have been three great earth
quakes In the United States during the
present century, said Prof. Gilbert the
geologist, to a writer for The STAR Zone
that was very remarkable occurred In 1911
and 1912 near the head of the delta Of the
Mississippi 1t embraced a number of Sc
we're shocks at short intervals during sew
eral months. In fact, the disturbance last
ed for about two years. The ground was
moved In visible waves. by which the trees
Of the forests were rocked and in some
cases uprooted, their branches being SO en-
tangled that 1t was impossible to separate
them.
Great cracks in the earth yawned and
closed again at each shock, while from the
assures mud was thrown into the air so
violently as to lodge in the branches Of
trees. Some lakes were drained by the es-
cape of their water into the chasms which
were opened, while others were created by
the sinking Of the land. One great sunken
area thus produced was 30 miles long by
30 miles broad.
In California.
1.-The other two big quakes to which l re-
fer occurred so lately as to be remembered
by the present generation. One Of them
happened in the Inyo valley Of California.
1t was caused by a renewed movement on
what we biologists would call a great fault
plane at the eastern base Of the Sierra
Nevada mountains. In that part of the
world there is extensive 'faulting' in The
structure of the mountain ranges, each
range consisting of one or more huge blocks
of rock bounded by faults and lifted above
its neighbors. A fault is made by the sink
ing of one mass OF rock in such manner
as to change the relation of Its elevation to
that Of mass adjoining.
The creation of such faults Is often in
cidental to earthquakes A renewed move
ment along the great fault line of the Inyo
valley, In 1872. produced a tremendous seis-
mic disturbance. The shocks continued for
fourteen months. Great assures were form
ed along the base of the mountain range
for distance of forty miles. the land west
Of the fault rising and east OF 1t falling
several feet. A fence was parted for a dis
lance of fourteen feet in one spot. Owens
river was temporarily swallowed up, and
numerous other phenomena excited the as
constituent and alarm OF observers.
The CharlestOn Earthquake.
THE memory Of the Charleston earth
quake of 1886 is yet vivid. The focus OF
the disturbance was about fifteen miles
west OF the city. Numerous big cracks
opened in the earth Of the surrounding
country. Water and mud were thrown up.
and railway tracks were dislocated and
buckled. The first great shock lasted for
about a minute, others following with
gradually decreasing violence. At the end
of four weeks they ceased to be destructive.
but tremors were felt occasionally for sew
eral months. Twenty-seven people were
killed outright.
What the SeismOgrnph Shows.
'The invention Of the delicate recording
instrument called the 'seismograph' has
revealed the fact that earthquakes are far
more numerous and frequent than used to
be imagined. In some parts of the world
feeble shocks occur almost daily. Probably
there is no part of the earth where they
cannot be detected at short intervals. One
of the most remarkable quakes of this
century took place in Chile in 1873. On that
occasion several hundred miles of the coast
were lifted a number of feet. 1t has been
reckoned that enough rock was thus ee-
waited to make mountain the size of
Mount Etna.
1.-The Charleston earthquake was felt dis
tinctly at distance of 800 miles. COM
parison of time showed that the shock
Travelled at the rate of 1900 feet second
The assures in the earth's crust, which are
among the most terrifying OF seismic phe-
nomena, must be of great depth sometimes
though nobody has ever tried to fathom
them. They have been known to swallow
rivers for days without being filled up. Sc
we're shocks are commonly accompanied by
sounds like explosions near or distant.
Quakes under the sea produce waves on
the surface like those created by a pebble
thrown into a pool and sometimes such
waves rush up on the land, doing a great
deal of damage.
There has been much dispute as to the
causes of earthquakes. They are often as
ISOLATED with volcanic phenomena. When
the lava of a volcano contains much water
the latter Is converted into steam and pro-
duces explosions which jar the ground for
miles. The explosion of the great mine at
He'll Gate. in New York, occasioned trem-
blings of the earth which were observed
175 miles away"