The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-06
The Latest Shake.

ptth W sibhNN
recent earthquake which has
aroused attention the world over. The
latest news from the coast brings an
estimate OF losses. in the way of de-
struction OF property, in quite as large
a total as was at first reported. Fortu-
nately the quake was not attended with
loss Of life. But California mad one of
the l~ivellest scares the present Pacific
coast generation has known.
The region of San Francisco has an
earthquake record that can hardly add
to the comfort of the timid folk in its
population. In early days, before civ
ilization took root in that region. there
were traditions of severe shakings. The
prevalence of these seismic disturb
ances, however, did not become gener-
ally known until after the discovery of
gold had brought a large population
to the state. Then they began to be
watched and recorded. The result is
that since 1850 more than 250 quakes
and trembles are known to have oc-
Cured in San Francisco and three times
as many in the state at large.
Inc san HIdntiStO pIccS a
ly recorded a mass of valuable material
and printed a great deal in the way of
graphic description of the recent dis
turbance. In a more general way, the
earthquake furnished a newspaper topic
which many eastern newspapers nave
discussed i'm an instructive manner. A
writer for the Philadelphia Press re-
-. 49,. "A A.. s..Al.hl, ,ha. 40 oaig
mic shocks were ever so severe on the
Pacific coast Of North America as they
are known to be In Japan and the Phil
ippine islands 1t must la been CEN
turtles ago when that neighborhood was
probably uninhabited. 1t may be in
ferred from this that the eastern rim
OF the Pacific ocean is of older geologi-
cal formation than the western i'm"
1t is certain that within the historical
period there has been no such destruc-
ton wrought by earthquakes on this
continent and its adjacent islands as
has been witnessed elsewhere. Such loss
of life as happened at the Krakatoa
eruption and earthquake and on the
island OF Ischia in 1883, in Southern
Spain about two years later, in the
Greclan Archipelago In 1892 and fire.
quently in Japan. the Philippine islands
and New Zealand find no parallel here.
These have destroyed from 5000 TO 100,
600 lives each, while the Charleston
earthquake OF 1856. the most destructive
known In this country in this genera
ton, blotted out less h a 100 lives.
Ther have been some systematic ef.
forts to study these phenomena, and
learn their cause. and II possible to pre-
dict them. Among other methods tn,
s~eismograph has been invented and EN-
ployed TO record the direction n Sc
verify OF the shocks. A cursory stud,
OF the whole neighborhood has alsC
been made and the causes of the eartl
movements sought. Comparing the re
suits with those obtained by other seis
mologists II has been inferred that th'
entire rim OF the Pacific ocean consti
tutes an earthquake area.
The writer whom We have quote,
adds that the frequency of earthquake
on the borders OF the Pacific appears t
favor this conclusion. Seismic disturb
ances are constantly happening alon,
the western edge of North n Soutl
America. in the string OF Aleutian isl
ands stretching almost to the coast o
Asia inc down through the Islands o
Japan and the Philippines to New Zea
land. on which last mentioned island
one OF the most destructive earthquake
OF the past twenty years occurred. Tn
bottom of the Pacific ocean is know
also 10 be affected by earthquakes ar
these movements are cited as explana
tons OF some of the tidsl waves whici
work such destruction on the coast o
Japan and adjacent islands.