Evening star., 1954-12-22
Afiershocks Feared
In Quake InfIiciinu
s. Million Damage
o. she A.so<;csed prs..

EUREKA. Calf, Dec. 22.-The
10000 persons Of this Redwood
logging country in Northern
California waited today In fear
Of expected aftershocks from
yesterdays earthquake which
killed one man, injured SO and
caused an estimated 81 million
property damage.
A geology professor, II. D. Mac
Ginitie of Humboldt State Col
lege, predicted the aftershocks.
but said they should be less vio-
let than yesterdays rolling
tremor which twisted founda-
tions and cracked walls across q
35-mile coastal area centering on
Eureka.
One slight aftershock came at
s:58 o'clock last night, but did
no damage.
The big quake-the worst here
in IS years-lit at 1857 am.
yesterday and lasted two min
utes. During this time, from
Blue Lake. Is miles to the north.
to Ferndale, 90 miles to the
south. chimneys toppled or
cracked. the earth cracked open
in small assures and movable
objects in houses were jumbled
by the heaving of the earth. In
juries, however, were minor.
Man Hurled to Death.
The quake also:
Pitched Carl Wilkerson, %. to
his death in a lumber mill pond.
He struck his head on log
and drowned.
Hurled q woman across the
hospital delivery room on an
operating table while her new
born son went the other way In
his basSinette.
Shook a car of grease rack.
Toppled a statue of st, An
thony and the Christ Child in q
Roman Catholic church.
Flung Mrs. Fred Hess down,
the steps of her home at Scotia,
breaking both her ankles.
Frightened two small boys
near Blue Lake by opening a
fissure in the creek where they
were fishing and tumbling
boulders down the hill around
them.
Split many cracks across high
ways and stretches of earth IN
this lumber, dairy and fishing
country.
Sprang q major leak in the
city's water supply and left its
pipeline closed with only a weeks
supply Of water in local tanks.
Shook stores so violently in a
six-hlock area In downtown
Eureka that bottle and canned
goods we're spilled about in
costly confusion. Buildings were
so weakened that the area was
closed.
Toppled a storage tank at
Ferndale. narrowly missing an
Office full of workers.
Churned the waters of the
twisting Eel River before the
Mortified eyes of fishermen.
Left tall chimneys standing
at rakish and dangerous angles
The Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
reported last night it had re-
stored electric service to all
areas and gas service to all but
two small areas after all electric
service had been cut of ano gas
mains damaged in several places.
Short Circuits Start Fires.
Twelve small fires were started
by short circuits. They were
quickly extinguished. Nearly ev-
cry building in town was dam
aged, but due to wooden con-
struction was much smaller than
it would otherwise have been.
The stone and brick &ty Hall
and the Humboldt Cotlfls5 Court
house were so cracked that they
were evacuated and closed.
The quake was the second
heaviest of a series of temblors
which have shaken California
and Nevada recently. The Uni
versity of California estimated
its Richter scale magnitude at
SIS. compared with last Thurs
days quake in Nevada which had
q Richter reading of IA. and the
San Francisco earthquake of
1906 which was estimated at
S.25. The Richter scale measures
the actual violence of the shock.
not the damage done to human
habitations,