Earthquakes on Pacific Coast.— Holden. Plate I Map of California and Nevada. SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 1087 A CATALOGUE OF EARTHQUAKES ON THE PACIFIC COAST 1769 TO 1897 EDWARD S. HOLDEN, LL.D. Member of the National Acaeleiuv of Sciences £% CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1898 ZU £orb (^afftmore (preee TIII£ FRIEDENWALD COMPANY BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A. CONTENTS. PAGH iNTRODrCTION 1 Biblioij^raphy of Works relating to Earthquake Pheuomeua on the Pacilie Coast 3 The Rossi-Forel Scale 7 Table of the number of Earthquakes recorded in each year and each month in California, etc 11 Table of the number of Earthquakes recorded in each year and each month in San Francisco 13 Table of the number of Earthquakes recorded in each year and each month in San Jose, etc 15 Earthquake shocks felt at sea 17 Self-reg'isterinj); Seismometers of the Lick Observatory 17 Use of the Ewing Duplex Seismometer 21 ImiM'ovements in the Ewing Seismographs suggested by experience, by C. D. Perrine 33 Reported Volcanic Eruptions in Alaska, Puget Sound, etc., 1690 to lS'.tfi, by Frederick G. Plummer 34 Conclusion 38 Catalogue of Eakthqfakes on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1897 31 : LLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Plate I. Map of Califoknia and Nevada to face 1 Plate II. Map of Washington and Oregon to face 16 Plate III. Complete Three-Component Seismograph, for Motions in all Directions to face 18 Plate IV. Duplex Pendulum Seismograph, for Horizontal Motion to face 30 The Earthquake at Pompeii, a. d. 62 30 Plate V. Relief Map of the Pacific Coast from the Model CONSTRUCTED BY PrOF. GeORGE DaVIDSON (tllC cut is furnished by the courtesy of the Overland Monthly) to face 81 Figures and Maps to Illustrate the Earthquake of 1893, April 19 (Vacaville). Kindly furnislied by the United States Geological Survey Fig. 1. —Tracing of the Seismograph in San Francisco 172 Fig. 3. —Tracing of the Seismograph at the Chabot Observatory 173 Fig. 3. —Map of the Country about Vacaville (Solano County) 176 Fig. 4. —Map of Napa, Yolo, Solano, and Sacramento Counties 177 Fig. 5. —Map of California, showing the district art'ected by the Earthquake of 1893 179 INTRODUCTION. In the year 1887 the Regents of the University of California authorized the printing and distribution of an octavo pamphlet whose title was " List of Recorded Earthquakes in California, Lower California, Oregon and Washington Territory, compiled by . Edward S. Holden." This was the first systematic pub- lication of the sort, and it served a useful purpose. The examina- tion of past records naturally led to the consideration of the best manner of making future ones. The object of such records is to bring to light all the general facts as to distribution of earthquake shocks, as to topographic areas, as to time, as to average intensity, etc., and also to enable a study to be made of particular shocks—as to velocity of transit, area of the disturbed region, intensity, etc. In order to study any of these questions with profit it is necessary to have some kind of a measure of the intensity of each earthquake shock. The most satisfactory instruments that I have seen for this purpose are those invented by Professor Ewing, F. R. S. These are devised on sound mechanical principles, and are well constructed by the Cam- bridge Scientific Company. It was necessary at the Lick Observa- tory to keep a register of the times of occurrence of all earthquake shocks in order to see if the positions of the astronomical instru- ments were affected. Accordingly, a set of Professor Ewing's in- struments was ordered for the Observatory, and they were deliv- ered in 1887. The Lick Observatory began its active work in 1888. A part of this work consisted in the registration of earthquake shocks. Reports of shocks felt elsewhere on the Pacific Coast were diligently collected, and the publication of the pamphlet before mentioned brought me into relations with various gentlemen who were kind enough to communicate MS. notes or diaries relating to earthquake phenomena in earlier years. 1 — 2 EARTHQUAKES ON THE PACIFIC COAST The present volume reprints the pamphlet of 1887, with many corrections and additions; and it gives a complete account of the earthquake observations at Mount Hamilton during the years 1887 to 1897, together with an abstract of the great amount of informa- tion which has been collected regarding Pacific Coast earthquakes in the latter period. All previously printed information has been thoroughly revised before its admission to these pages. The chief sources drawn upon are First—Printed lists of earthquake shocks in the scientific jour- nals; such as the lists of Mallet, Perrey, Rockwood, Fuchs, Trask and others. Second—Accounts of earthquakes in printed books, magazines and newspapers. Third—Lists of shocks put at my disposition by various gentle- men, especially a list by Mr. Thos. Tennent, of San Francisco; a list by Prof. H. G. Hanks; and a very extensive collection kindly furnished by Mr. H. H. Bancroft from manuscript records. Fourth—Verbal accounts from various friends of the Obser- vatory. Fifth—The earthquake records of the University of California (Berkeley); the Chabot Observatory (Oakland); the University of the Pacific (San Jose); Mills Seminary (Oakland); the Weather Bureau (Carson, Nevada); and of the Lick Observatory (Mount Hamilton). All these stations are supplied with earthquake instruments. I have to thank Professor Eockwood, of Princeton University, for putting me in the way of gaining much of the printed informa- tion. I have also to express my great obligations to the Board of Directors of the Mechanics' Institute Library, to the Council of the California Academy of Sciences, and to the Librarians of the Mechanics' Institute, Mercantile and Academy of Science libra- ries in San Francisco, the University of California Library at Berkeley, and of the State Library at Sacramento, for exceptional facilities afforded me in the consultation of books. Mr. W. C. Winlock, late of the Smithsonian Institution, kindly consulted, in the Library of Congress, books which were not available in Cali- fornia. The various sources of information have been thoroughly examined, and the necessary data for a brief reference list, or index, have been extracted and set in order in the catalogue which follows. EAETHQTJAKES ON THE PACIFIC COAST 3 The list of books and periodicals consulted is given in the fol- lowing: BiBLIOGEAPHY OF WOEKS EeLATING TO EaETHQUAKE PHENOMENA ON THE Pacific Coast. Anderson (C. L.) : Dr. Anderson, of Santa Cruz, has consulted the diaries of Mr. Sawin, of Santa Cruz, and of Dr. C. A. Canfleld, who lived 15 or 30 miles northwest of San Benito, Monterey County, and has extracted many interesting records of earthquake shocks. (Referred to here as Ander- son's MS.) Annual Statistician, San Francisco [to 1888 inclusive]. 8vo. (A. S.) Annals of San Francisco, by F. Soule, etc. New York. 8vo. Bache (A. D.): Notice of Earthquake Waves, etc. U. S. C. S. Report, 1855, p. 342, and 1863, p. 338. Bancroft (H. H.): History of the Pacific States. 8vo. (H. H. B.) ——— : MS. notes kindly communicated. (B. MS.) California State Weather Service: Annual Meteorological Review, 1889, 1890. 8vo. : Monthly Bulletin, 1891-06. 8vo. Detaille (C): Statistique des tremblements de terre. L'' Astronomie, 1884-87. Friend (C. W.): Earthquakes in Nevada—in Reports of the Nevada State Weather Service for various years, and in private letters. (C. W. F.) Fuchs (C. W. C): Statistik der Erdbeben [1865-85]. Sitzungsber. d. Wiener Akad. 1885, Bd. 92, Heft 3. Halley (Wm.) : Centennial Book of Alameda County, pp. 357-369. Oakland, 1876. 8vo. Detailed account of the damage done by the shock of 1868, October 21, in Alameda County. Hanks (H. G.): Professor H. G. Hanks, late State Mineralogist, has been kind enough to piat all his manuscript and other material at my disposition. It is here referred to as (H. MS.). Hittell (T. H.): History of California. San Francisco. 8vo. (T. H. H.) Holden (E. S.): Note on Earthquake Intensity in San Francisco. Amer. Jour. y O ScL, vol. 35, June 1888, p. 437. Holden (E. S.): Earthquakes in California, 1888. Ibid., vol. 87, May 1889, p. 392. Holden (E. S.): Earthquakes in California and elsewhere. Overland Monthly, January, 1889. Holden (E. S.): Earthquake Observations [in California]. Publications Astro- nomical Society of the Pacific, vol. II (1890), p. 73. Holden (E. S.): Earthquakes in California in 1890 and 1891. Washington, 1892. 8vo. 31 pp. [United States. Department of the Interior. [U. S. Geological Survey.) Bulletin 95.] Holden (E. S.): Earthquake Shocks felt at Sea off Cape Mendocino. Publi- cations Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. VII (1895), p. 131. 4 EARTHQUAKES ON THE PACIFIC COAST Hopkins (R. C): In Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for 1871, p. 313. [He has examined the Spanish Archives from 1767 for- ward, and is of the opinion that the shocks of 1800, 1813, and of October 1868, were of about the same severity.] Keeler (J. E.): List of Earthquakes in California during the year 1880. Publi- cations Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. II (1890), p. 74. Keeler (J. E.): List of Earthquakes in California during the year 1890. Ibid., vol. Ill (1891), p. 347. Keeler (J. E.): Earthquakes in California in 1889. Washington, 1890. 8vo. 35 pp. [United States. Department of the Interior. [U. S. Geological Survey.) Bulletin 68.] Mallet (R.) : Catalogue of recorded Earthquakes from 1606 B. C. to A. D. 1850, by Robert Mallet, C. E., M. R. LA., in the Peport of the British Association, 1854, (R. M.) Mendenhall (T. C.) : On the Intensity of Earthquakes.