The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-07-23
ONE IS REPORTED .HURT; HOUSES
 ARE DEMOLISHED
20Families Marooned While on Picnic at Lake Hard-
 ing, Near Fairbanks
HEAVIEST DAMAGE ON RICHARDSON HIGHWAY
Bridges Out, Huge Slides Block Road - Great
 Cracks in Earth

What the Weather Bureau de- scribed as the greatest earthquake ever recorded in the central part of the Territory, has caused heavy damage throughout Interior Alas ka and one person is reported to have been injured.
 The quake, which lasted over a nine-hour period yesterday, brought a series of shocks which were se- were from Fairbanks to Anchorage. One liquor store in Fairbanks was so badly damaged it failed to oper- late today. Stocks were unshelved in stores all over that city. Telephone lines were broken, but in most cases quickly repaired. although the line was reported out along the Richard son Highway.
 Families Marooned
 Cracks four to 12 inches wide were seen in the earth and slides cut off 25 vacationing families at Hard- ing Lake. All were believed to be safe however. Black Rapids had not been reached. but it was believed the glacier which has been moving rap idly there is unaffected l. One report said that houses had been demolished and one injured in giant earthslide which swept 2000 feet of the Richardson High way. Actual damage in Fairbanks proper was estimated at $5.000.
 The quakes began at 7:09 a. m. yesterday and continued intermit- tently every few minutes through out the day. Persons arriving in ! cars in Fairbanks from points southwesterly along the highway reported the quakes crack e d the earth and sent gushes of mud up four and six feet in certain stretch- es.
 Hits Many Towns
 Fort Yukon, Jack Wade, Manley Hot Springs and Panama all felt the quake and the long distance tele- phone line to half the cities were  out of service
 The quake was apparently sever est to the Southwest of Fairbanks. The University of Alaska seismo- graph shows the first severe quake was felt at nine and half minutes after seven o'clock yesterday morn ing. The second shock came at 7:55 and the third heavy one at 8:0l. The third was SO severe that 1t put the north and south motion of the seismograph out of commits sion but the east and west move- ment was very strong.
 "The center of the earthquake probably was southwest of Fair banks" said Dr. Erwin Bramhall. physcist at the University who was with the second Byrd Polar expe- dition, and added that with reports from Sitka he hoped to determine the exact center.
 Road Damage | Superintendent Frank Nash of the Alaska Road Commission in a mes- sage to Chief Engineer Ike P. Tay- Tor this morning reported that there was damage to bridges and the road bed on the Fairbanks end of the Richardson Highway which would necessitate closing for several days. Some bridges also were damaged be- tween Mile Is and Salcha Station, he said. He also reported large cracks in the earth at several places. The Superintendent reported heavy tslides in the canyon between Mile B and 34 but that he had not ascer- tained the exact extent of the dam age. He took plane today for a survey of the route.
 Another report from Fairbanks said the road near Mile B was buried for some 2.000 feet and that traffic scheduled to go that way was temporarily diverted to the AL aska Railroad Starting distance of about IS miles out. this report said, the road was laced in numer- ous places with cracks two to six inches wide
 Confirmation of the slides on
 the highway also was made by Game Warden Sam White of Fair
 banks in a message to the Game
 Commission here White had just
 arrived in Fairbanks from Valdez.
 Weather Office Reports 1 The Juneau office of the Weather