San Francisco Eartquake, 1868

Transcribed and contributed by Mary Ball, June 2006.

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THE IOWA STATE REGISTER
Wednesday, April 20, 1892
Des Moines, Iowa
                            SHOOK THE PACIFIC SLOPE
______________
Severe Earthquake Shocks Felt in Various Parts of California.
______________
Considerable Damage Done to Brick Buildings, but No Persons Hurt.
______________
SIESMIC SHOCKS.
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN CALIFORNIA.
    SAN FRANCISCO, April 19.--The worst shock of earthquake since the memorable 
one of 1868, occurred shortly 
before 3 o'clock this morning.  It was perceptibly felt at San Francisco and 
Oakland, but there was no damage.  At
Winters, Calif., it was very severe, and caused general destruction of property. 
 A large brick hotel, bank building, 
Bartholet's two-story stove buildings, in fact every building in town, was 
damaged.  The loss is at least $50,000.
The contents of the stores and dwellings were piled on the floors in promiscuous 
heaps.  No one was hurt.  The 
shock was from east to west.  The quake was also severe in Vacaville, sixty-five 
miles northeast of San Francisco.
A number of chimneys toppled over, but the general damage is believed to be 
light, and no one was reported injured.
The inhabitants fled in alarm from the houses.  Telegraph communication with 
Vacaville and Winters was cut off for
some time.  The shock was also felt less severely at Nevada, Nicolaus, Auburn, 
Chico and Stockton.
    In half this city a number of large buildings were perceptibly shaken, but 
the old church recently occupied by the
Academy of Sciences, was the only one damaged, the front wall giving way and the 
balconies being torn out.
    Rev. O. O. Feltner, of San Jose, struck by falling debris and severely cut 
and bruised;  several other persons had
narrow escapes.  The towns Dixon and Winters suffered considerably.  The masonic 
hall at Dixon, a two-story
brick block, is ruined, and the falling walls shattered two adjoining houses.  
Fire which broke out in the debris at
Winters, caused some damage.  A lamp was overturned in the house of John 
Thiffle, between Vacaville and Winters,
and the occupants barely escaped with their lives.  At Winters the inhabitants 
were panic stricken owing to the 
severity of the shock;  forty guests in the Bliss Hotel had a remarkable escape, 
as the building collapsed.  Many
other brick buildings in Winters were cracked and wrenched from their 
foundations.  The banks of Putah Creek 
caved in and fissures opened in the bottom of the creeks.  Three miles west of 
town an acre of ground slid into
the creek and fissures were made in the county roads.  Considerable damage was 
done to isolated farm buildings,
but no serious personal injuries are reported.  The town of Monticello, near 
Winters, was reported totally demolished,
but advices late this afternoon report the damage nominal.  The losses at 
Vacaville are estimated at $100,000;  at
Dixon $50,000, and at Winters from $70,000 to $100,000.  Elmira, Fairfield, 
Santa Rosa, Woodland, Davisville and
Benicia report considerable minor damage, and from thirty to forty other towns 
were slightly shaken.  All accounts
agree in placing the intensity of the shock as greater than any in recent years. 
 The number of shocks felt differed
at various places.  The vibrations extended from north to south, and from east 
to west.
    MERCED, Cal., April 19.--Two shocks of earthquake were felt here this 
morning, but no damage was done.
    DIXON, Cal., April 19.--An earthquake this morning did considerable damage.  
It was accompanied by a fire. 
Masonic hall being so severly damaged it will have to be taken down.  Dugan's 
dry goods store and Rockford's
butcher shop were crushed by the falling walls of the Masonic building.  Several 
fires resulted, but the flames were
soon extinguished.