Hello – Winnie Griggs here. Earlier today (Thursday) I heard news that caught my attention – an earthquake had been recorded about eighty miles south of where I live here in NW Louisiana. Even more surprising, it registered as a 4.9, making it the largest earthquake ever recorded inland in the state (There was a 5.2 registered offshore about 20 years ago). Luckily there weren’t any reports of serious injuries or property damage.
While we’re used to hurricanes, tornadoes and the occasional ice storm, earthquakes aren’t one of the natural disasters normally associated with my home state. That got me wondering what earthquakes must have been like for folks living in the Old West, long before modern seismology explained what was happening beneath the ground. Naturally this event sent me down one of my research rabbit holes.
Without modern scientific explanations, earthquakes could be deeply unsettling events. Many people initially assumed the shaking was caused by thunder, a mine explosion, or even distant artillery fire. It sometimes took time for residents to realize that towns across an entire region had felt the same tremor.
When we think of earthquakes in the USA, most folks usually think of California – events like the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the Owens Valley earthquake of 1872, or the Hayward earthquake of 1868.
In 1872, in California’s Owens Valley a particularly powerful and destructive earthquake struck. Often called the Lone Pine earthquake, it’s estimated to have been somewhere between magnitude 7.5 and 7.8. Much of the town of Lone Pine was destroyed as buildings collapsed, chimneys toppled, and the ground itself cracked open in places. Newspaper accounts from the time give us a vivid sense of what people experienced. One report described the moment this way:
“The shock came with a deep rumbling sound, and the earth rocked so violently that people could scarcely keep their feet. Buildings swayed, chimneys fell, and citizens rushed into the streets in alarm.”
Another observer later wrote that the ground seemed to move “like waves upon the sea.”
Of course, the earthquake most people think of when California is mentioned is the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. That disaster struck early in the morning on April 18 and devastated the city. The shaking itself caused widespread damage, but the greatest destruction came from the fires that followed. With water mains broken and fire crews struggling to respond, flames swept through neighborhood after neighborhood. By the time the disaster ended, much of San Francisco had been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of residents were left homeless.
But earthquakes aren’t limited to the west coast. Tremors have been recorded in places like Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma—and yes, even Louisiana. The Rocky Mountain states, including Montana and Wyoming, have experienced their share as well.
While California experienced many of the best-known earthquakes, other parts of the American West were not immune. A powerful quake struck along the Arizona–Mexico border in 1887, sending tremors across much of the Southwest. The Rocky Mountain region – including parts of Montana and Wyoming – has also experienced periodic seismic activity caused by geological forces deep beneath the mountains.
Even the Mississippi River Valley has a remarkable earthquake history. A series of massive earthquakes struck near New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811 and 1812. These shocks were so powerful they were felt across much of the young United States, and church bells reportedly rang in Boston more than a thousand miles away. According to the US Geological Survey, the New Madrid earthquake was 10 times large than that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
During the strongest shocks, witnesses reported that the Mississippi River itself appeared to run backward for a short time as powerful waves surged upstream before the river returned to its normal flow. I blogged about that several years ago – you can find it HERE.
A Few Earthquake Tidbits;
- Large earthquakes could leave dramatic marks on the land. After the 1872 Owens Valley quake, observers reported ground fissures several feet wide and stretches of earth that had shifted dramatically.
- After major earthquakes, springs sometimes appeared in new places and wells occasionally went dry—changes that could be alarming in communities where water was vital.
- Animals were often said to behave strangely before earthquakes. Horses and livestock sometimes became restless shortly before the shaking began.
- Early settlers sometimes mistook earthquakes for mine explosions, thunder, or distant cannon fire.
- Aftershocks could continue for weeks or even months, which made some residents reluctant to sleep indoors for a time.
- Much of what we know about earthquakes in the Old West comes from newspaper accounts, letters, and diaries, since modern seismology was still in its infancy.
Hearing about the earthquake near my home today made me grateful it did such minor damage. Still, it’s fascinating to realize that people living in the Old West occasionally faced the same unsettling experience of feeling the ground move beneath their feet.
What about you? Did any of this information surprise you? Do you have any personal experience with an earthquake you can share with us? Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a signed copy of any of my available books.