The New York herald., 1922-02-01
EARTH SHOCKS TELL
OF MIGHTY UPHEAVAL
Scientists Seek Result of
Disturbance in Pacific
Off Oregon
NEEDLES UPSET HERE
Three Tremors Early Yes
terday Seyerest Ever Re-
corded in City.
ALARM IN MANY TOWNS
Lighthouse Men Off California
Feared Lenses Would
Crumblc.
ALARM IN MANY TOWNS

most record breaking magnitude oc-
Cured yesterday morning at about the
breakfast hour, New York time.
Rough calculations made late in the
day, after results of observations in
several parts of the country were
available, placed the disturbance prob
ably in the Pacific Ocean approx
mately 900 miles off Oregon.
Not from any part of the globe, by
telegraph or wireless, was word re-
ceived Of any earth disturbance of i'm
portance. yet practically every seis-
mograph not only recorded the dis
turbance, but gave abundant evidence
the shock was of extreme severity.
In several instances needles of re-
cording instruments were thrown off
the drums Of machines, and at the
American Museum Of Natural History
the record Of the quake was so re-
markable the sheet was removed from
the drum that photographs might be
made. In every instance earthquake
students referred to the disturbance
in superlatives.
In the northern part of California
there were tremors Of sufficient inten-
slty to occasion alarm. and all along
the Pacific coast the disturbance was
noted. Last night dispatches from
Cape Mendoclno, thirty miles south of
Eureka. Cal, were to the effect that
at tne lighthouse on the cape the shock
had been felt with greater severity than
elsewhere. the light keepers being in
Jcar the vibrations would break the
lenses. This was partly explained by
me fact that the chief geological fault
~ California has it's end in the imme-
,iato neighborhood of the cape.
Severity Recorded Here.
In this city first word of the quake
camo through the American Museum OF
Natural History, early in the day. Dr.
q a. Reeds. In charge of the seismo-
Eraph, which was installed there In 1912.
3fter studying the record stated the
'hock was the most severe ever recorded
on that machine. He estimated the dis
turbance to be about 2,4O0 miles away
PROBABLY toward the south or south
west, and suggested 1t might be in the
neighborhood of Guatemala.
The hrst waves were recorded at
%" tnis morning.. he said. THE sec
ond came six minutes later. and the
main shock began at s :33 and continued
hail an hour. At / 1 80 o'clock the needle
OF the seismograph was still oscillating." :"
me machine at Fordham University
, recorded the shock exactly as had that
NJ the Museum. and DR.. Joseph Lynch
estimated the distance and the direc-
ton in exactly the same way as DR..
Reeds. Early reports from Washington
were substantially to the same ef-
rect, and 1t was not until word was re-
ccfved from Cornell University at
Ithaca, and the University of California.
in Berkeley. that doubt was raised as to
the general location OF the quake. The
Berkcley dispatch was to the effect
that vibration Of / y mllimeters in
the earth at that point was indicated
on the seismograph. and that the center
or the disturbance was estimated to be
northward and to the west on the floor
OF the ocean, about 600 miles distant
At Harvard the violence of the dis
turbance threw the seismograph tempo
rarly out Of commission. The vibration
there began at s "a and at 8 40 be-
came so violent, according to Prof ]. B.
Woodward, that the needles we're thrown
off the drum. Prof. Woodward roughly
computed the distance at ATS miles.
but at that time did not hazard a guess
as to direction.
Later an Informal statement was
made to the effect that by crude
triangulation the probable position of
latitude As degrees north. longitude 1870
degrees west. The statement read in
part:
shock sMOnstrOus'.
Reports received from Ottawa and
Berkeley. taken in conjunction with
rough estimate made at Harvard, would
Seem to indicate the earthquake of this
morning probably occurred on the floor
of the Pacific few hundred miles off
the mouth OF the Columbia River and
off the coasts of Washington and Ore
gon."
The Ottawa report referred to was to
tho effect that the observatory geologists
there estimated the distance as 2,420
,niles from Ottawa, and this. OF course.
was not in keeping with the reports from
Eastern United States points placing the
quake at 2.400 miles south.
SO intense was the shock that at the
Weather Bureau in Washington Off
cials described II as 'monstrous.' while
o.. the Georgetown University the Rev.
Francis Tondorf. one OF the foremost
earthquake authorities In the country,
ncc0 the WOr0 enOlnlDus III
10 the disturbance Machines at both
places showed the quake began at :25
and ten minutes later had reached the
point OF greatest intensity, the needles
being thrown off the recording scales.
Tho oscillation continued until 10
o'clock.
unof1cial reports IN Washington were
10 the effect that the disturbance was
to the southwark and the report from
Rcgis College Denver was to the Same
effect In Denver II was stated that
though the disturbance was apparently
1900 miles away the shock was greater
than that registered at the time OF the
San Francisco quake
In Eureka, Cal. tho vibration of the
earth was distinctly felt at 5 80 A. NJ.
which would coincide with $50 New
York time. The first shock lasted a
minute and three subsequent shocks
we're felt. In some towns In Oregon
the same slight shocks we're felt. but no
damage was reported. Last night be-
cause OF deductions made by geaologists
efforts were made 10 learn by wireless
from Pacific coast stations whether
ships at sea had noticed the disturbance.
The ships spoken by radio. however.
failed to report any unusual occurrence.