The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-12-23
The
Earthquake That
SwaHowed
Nelse Walker.

Through the heart of the Coast
Range, from San Luis Obispo to San
Bernardino County, there lies a Pc
euliar trench or ditch, a long mark
of broken ground, as if some giant
had scratched the earth with sharp
stick. 1t might pass for an old canal
or trail, except that it extends over
valley and mountain alike, north
west by southeast. In reality it is
the path of an earthquake-the earth
quake of January, 1857.
Although the mountains danced and
the hills bowed together, no one was
killed in that great shaking; yet there
was one man-so tradition says-who
stood in the path of the earthquake
and felt its power
This man was Nelse Walker, hunt
er for the stage-station at old Fort
TETON. Fort TETON lay in green
valley of the Coast Range, forty
miles south of the present city Of
Bakersfield, California, and there
each day the overland stage from the
Missouri River to San Diego and
thence along the coast to San Francis
co drew up for food and rest and fresh
horses. 1t was the duty of Walker to
keep the station supplied with fresh
meat, no very arduous task in those
days, for the mountains abounded in
game.
On this day, however, search as he
would, he could find neither deer nor
bear. Stiffness semed to smother the
earth, and under its spell all animate
nature became apprehensive. Rabbits
and birds shifted about uneasily, and
the wild cattle footed along their
trails on the steep hillsides in abso-
Lutte silence.
Five miles from the station Walker
halted under an oak and gazed out
over the little valley. A hush, such
as comes during an eclipse of the sun
or before some mighty storm, came
upon him. The hunter was afraid.
Yet of what?
There was sudden bump under the
soles of his feet, and he heard the oak
leaves begin to rustic above him.
Again there came humping at his
feet, accompanied by subterranean
rumbling-deep and ominous.
A third time, and the rumbling
deepened into roar. Above him the
broad oak tree lurched sharply to the
right, and then back to the left.
stones began to rattle down the hill
aides, and clouds of dust rose from
their fall at the foot Of neighboring
cliff. The ground heaved beneath
him once more, and with bound he
was in the open. For the first time
he realized that he was in an earth
quake.
Yet all this was but preliminary to
the shocks to come. AS he gazed
about him in a nameless terror, the
earth seemed to rise in waves and
sweep toward him like the breakers
of the sea.
B-r-r-upm! The earth heaved be-
meath his feet, and he fell to the
ground, dizzy and SICK A deathly
nausea seized him.
To his strained eyes the whole
valley seemed swaying in huge waves.
At each dip the great oaks bent over
and brushed the ground, while above
the roar and rumble of the earth
quake came the crash of falling trees
and the crunch of rolling boulders.
Strangest of all, down the steep hill
side above him, scuffiing and tumb-
ling, came flying numbers of wild cat
tie, shaken from their narrow trails,
and shot bawling down the mountain
side by the mighty subterranean
blows of the earthquake.
All the world seemed wrecked, ruin
ed, topsy-turvy, and Nelse Walker
sprawled on the ground and closed
his eyes. When the solid ground
sways beneath a man, he is helpless
beyond compare.
It has often been observed of earth
quakes that they come in waves and
IN series of waves. Delicate instru-
jnents have been contrived which reg
lister these oscillations and mark their
direction and intensity. Before each
reat SnOch Lnere are series OIL
jmaller shocks; before each great SER
bs there are often a number Of pre-
fminary shocks.
Sharp as had been the oscillations
which threw Walker to the ground
and tumbled the frightened cattle
down the mountainside, the earth
quake of 1857 had not yet attained its
maximum intensity. Its victims were
not to escape so soon. The grinding
and rocking passed into mere trem-
bling, and Walker rose to his feet
with great sense Of relief. But
hardly had he picked up his gun
when the earth began once more to
sway and bump. There was roar
in the air like thunder. and down the