Year: 1872

County, On the night and q portion
of the day of the great earthquake,
gives the following description of
what he experienced and heard:


THE FIRST SHOCK.


He says that on the day preced-
ing the earthquakes a very high
wind prevailed at Independence and
over the whole of the valley, but at
night it subdivided and the air be-
came perfectly calm. The first tre-
NOR awakened him, but before he
could spring from his bed it was de-
molished and fell to the floor, and
the center table tumbled over. Ar
ticles Of clothing hanging on hooks
in the room were displaced and fell
to the floor, and the house pitched
and rocked like a row-boat on
rough sea. The building was
strong frame one, and was conse-
quentiy not thrown down. He de-
scribes the noise which accomDa-
MED the shock as appalling. It
seemed rs if the mountains which
skirted the valley were breaking up
and rolling into plains below. The
sound was in the air and under their
feet, and its reverberations through
the tumbling mountains were as
terrible rs the noise itself He says
that the first shock was a compound
one, oscillatory and vertical. He
ran into the street, and in the clear
moonlight saw that every adobe
and brick house was in ruins. The
ground hcaved and vibrated, and
then as the sound died i'm its far off
echoes, those who had c capped from
their crumbling dwellings, aghast,
and almost spcechless with terror,
! hoped the catastrOphy was over
But almost instantly, away to the
| south, down the narrow valley to-
ward Lone Pine, was heard a sharp
and laundering explosion as Of
thousands cOlumbiads fired at once.
The people braced themselves for
! the shOck-nearer and nearer came
the appalling noise, and as the shock
advanced, thousands upon thousands
Of huge rocks tumbled from the
crags on either hand, and crashed
with deafening din into the ravines
and upon the edges of the valley
below. Then came the noises Un-
der their feet, and with it, the awful
sickening, aud terrifying uplift and
swing Of the earth. The people
ran to and fro, some screamed, some
prayed, others stood still and
watched the course Of things with
stoical Indifference. They soon
learned that but two persons had
been killed there, and yet none
knew what the end might be, for
the earth vibrated constantly. AT
short intervals would be heard
away of, in the direction Of Lone
Pine and the lake, that terrible
boom bang! rs if the very noun
tains themselves were splitting in
twain. "Look out, boys" they
would cry, hero she comes againP
and come she would. But in each
instance they had time to brace
themselves for the advancing shock.
/ Not only did the tens Of thousands
! of rocks and powders rolling down
the mountains add to the confusion
OF the scene, but in the Sierra on
one side of the valley, avalanche af-
ter avalanche of snow was sent
laundering, booming, almost scream
ing down from the regions of cter-
nal frost to the CULTS below.


VOLCANIC PHENOMENA.


People living near Independence
at points where they could see
plainly the sides of the mountains
on either hand, told him that at ev-
cry succeeding shock they could
plainly see in a hundred places at
| once, bursting from the riftcd rocks,
great sheets of flame apparently
thirty or fifty feet in length, ami
which would coil and lap about a
moment and then disappear. lie
says these tiames could not have
been caused by friction Of rocks and
! bOulders coming down the noun
tains, for in his own neighborhood
there were plenty of these, bur no
fire was visible. In one place he
saw an Immense ledge or drift of
whitcned or broken rocks forced
out of the mountains and fall like
an immense dump from some min
! ing tunnel down It's side.


When daylight came the entire
valley south Of independence and
! towards Lone Pine was filled with
smoke and dust, and in places. peo-
| pie said, the fumes Of sulphur were
almost suifOcating. The clouds Of
smoke extended from Fish Springs
south rs far as the eye could reach.


Numerous springs were dried up
instantly, and others broke out in
other places, while the flow Of water
from all was greatly increased. In
one little stream three or four inch.
es deep, the water was thrown up
ward to the height of two or three
feet over foot bridges. A man had
several RATS, mOOred in the river
near independence, laden with lum-
Der, and each one was thrown on
the banks high and dry. Mr. Dig
gins saw springs Of water forced out
of the mountains where before the
rocks had been dry as a powder
house. From the time Of the first
shock until daylight, the noises and
shocks were incessant.


LEAVING TUE COUNTRY.


At daybreak several parties and
himself took the stage from that
place for Aurora. Still the shocks
continued some were so heavy that
they were felt in the stage by tho
passengers. and the underground
noises were constantly heard. The
valley was literally torn in pieces
a'ong their road. In every dIree-
ton there wcrc fssures, which,