The Entire Northeast, Including the Pelham Region, Was Shaken by a Large Earthquake in 1638

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"It came with a report like continued thunder, or the

rattling of numerous coaches upon a paved street.

The shock was so great that, in many places, the tops

of the chimneys were thrown down, and the pewter

fell from the shelves.  It shook the waters and ships in

the harbours, and all the adjacent islands."

-- Benjamin Trumbull's History of Connecticut, Vol. I, p. 72.  

Some said the duration of the massive earthquake, one of the largest to strike the northeast coast of America in historic times, was about four minutes.  It began between 3 and 4 p.m. on June 1, 1638 (old style Julian Calendar).  In more recent times seismologists using descriptions of the event and its aftermath have estimated that the magnitude of the quake was up to 7.0 and that its epicenter was within today's New Hampshire.  The massive quake shook the entire northeast all the way to southwest Connecticut and today's Pelham region.  There was a monumental aftershock barely thirty minutes after the initial seismic event, followed by several weeks of smaller aftershocks.  This was the first major earthquake to shake Pelham that was recorded in historic times.

The Pelham region, of course, was sparsely populated at the time.  By 1638, smallpox and other European-borne diseases already had decimated Wiechquaeskeck Natives in the region.  There were few Dutch outposts on the mainland north of Manhattan.  That year Willem Kieft was named Director by the Dutch West India Company to oversee New Netherland.  The two-year war between English settlers and Pequot Natives was coming to a bloody and brutal end.  English Puritans planted a new colony at New Haven that year, the same year Harvard College was founded.  

Connecticut historian Benjamin Trumbull described the massive earthquake that hammered the northeast that day as follows:

"On the 1st of June, between the hours of three and four in the afternoon, there was a great and memorable earthquake throughout New-England.  It came with a report like continued thunder, or the rattling of numerous coaches upon a paved street.  The shock was so great that, in many places, the tops of the chimneys were thrown down, and the pewter fell from the shelves.  It shook the waters and ships in the harbours, and all the adjacent islands.  The duration of the sound and tremor was about four minutes.  The earth, at turns, was unquiet for nearly twenty days.  The weather was clear, the wind westerly, and the course of the earthquake from west to east."

Source:  Trumbull, Benjamin, A Complete History of Connecticut Civil and Ecclesiastical From the Emigration of the First Planters, from England, in the Year 1630, to the Year 1764; and to the Close of the Indian Wars In Two Volumes, Vol. I, pp. 72-73 (New London, CT:  H. D. Utley, 1898).   

Though Pelhamites rarely consider the risk of earthquakes, there have been quite a few that have shaken the region in historic times.  Moreover, our region constantly shudders with small earthquakes.  According to the United States Geological Survey, our region has experienced nineteen small earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 or smaller in the last three years (since August 27, 2015).  See United States Geological Survey, Earthquakes: Earthquakes Hazards Program (visited Aug. 27, 2018).  There have been several articles on the topic published in the Historic Pelham Blog.  See., e.g.:

Thu., May 17, 2018:  Did the Westchester County Region Experience Yet More Earthquakes in Early 1885 or Not?

Tue., Sep. 19, 2017:  Another Account of the Earthquake that Shook Pelham in 1872. 

Mon., Feb. 20, 2017:  Brief Account of Damage in Pelham During the Earthquake of August 10, 1884. 

Mon., Aug. 25, 2014:  Earthquake! Is Pelham on Shaky Ground? 

Tue., Sep. 15, 2009:  An Earthquake in Pelham and Surrounding Areas on Sunday, August 10, 1884. 

Mon., Aug. 08, 2005:  The Day the Earth Shook in Pelham: July 11, 1872.

Of course, the earthquake that struck the northeast in 1638 was among the largest in recorded historic times.  The following is another fascinating account of the 1638 earthquake that gives a rather unsettling account of its power closer to the epicenter.  It was written by William Bradford who served as second governor of Plymouth Colony beginning in 1621 and remained in that role, off and on, for the remainder of his life until his death in 1657.  He wrote:

"This year [1638], aboute ye 1. or 2. of June, was a great & fearfull earthquake; it was in this place heard before it was felte.  It came with a rumbling noyse, or low murure, like unto remoate thunder; it came from ye norward, & pased southward.  As ye noyse aproched nerer, they earth begane to shake, and came at length with that violence as caused platters, dishes, & such things as stoode upon shelves, to clatter & fall downe; year, persons were afraid of ye houses them selves.  It so fell oute yt at ye same time diverse of ye cheefe of this towne were mett together at one house, conferring with some of their freinds that were upon their removall from ye place, (as if ye Lord would herby shew ye signes of his displeasure, in their shaking a peeces & removalls one from an other.)  How ever it was very terrible for ye time, and as ye men were set talking in ye house, some women & others were without ye dores, and ye earth shooke with yt violence as they could not stand without catching hould of ye posts & pails yt stood next them; but ye violence lasted not long.  And about halfe an hower, or less, came an other noyse & shaking, but nether so loud nor strong as ye former, but quickly passed over; and so it ceased.  It was not only on ye sea coast, but ye Indeans felt it within land; and some ships that were upon ye coast were shaken by it.  So powerfull is ye mighty hand of ye Lord, as to make both the earth & sea to shake, and the mountaines to tremble before him, when he pleases; and who can stay his hand?  It was observed that ye somers, for divers years togeather after this earthquake, were not so hotte & seasonable for ye ripning of corne & other fruits as formerly; but more could & moyst, & subjecte to erly & untimly frosts, by which, many times, much Indean corne came not to maturitie; but whether this was any cause, I leave it to naturallists to judge."

Source:  Deane, Charles, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, The Second Governor of the Colony, Now First Printed From the Original Manuscript, for The Massachusetts Historical Society, pp. 366-67 (Boston, MA:  Little, Brown, and Co., 1856) (footnote omitted).  

As Bradford's account of the earthquake indicates, settlers (and likely local Natives), took the quake as a sign from God.  Indeed, there are records that Anne Hutchinson, who moved to the Pelham region a few years after the earthquake, was in a prayer meeting with her followers in Rhode Island at the time of the earthquake and took the event as a meaningful sign from God.  Indeed, Christy K. Robinson has written:

"The Hutchinsonians (followers of Anne Hutchinson's religious faction) had been in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for about a month after having been exiled from Massachusetts Bay Colony.  On Tuesday, June 1, 1638. . . an earthquake struck New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. . . .There was a large aftershock about 30 minutes after the main shock, and many more tremors before the earth stilled about three weeks later -- just in time for a full eclipse of the moon, which showed itself a dried-blood color on June 25, 1638 [old style Julian Calendar].  The moon turning to blood is an apocalyptic sign.  Revelation 6:12 describes the end-times that the Puritans believed were upon them, 'and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.'  Another prophecy of the end was in Acts of the Apostles 2:20-21:  'And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' . . . We have a very good idea of what Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer were doing at the time of the earthquake, thanks to Gov. John Winthrop who tells us that they were having a prayer meeting, as they'd done for several years in Boston.  When the quake struck . . . the Hutchinsonians were convinced that just as on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after after Christ's resurrection, they were being blessed and honored by the descent of the Holy Spirit, giving them spiritual gifts in confirmation that they were firmly set in God's will."

Source:  Robinson, Christy K., The Great New England Quake of 1638, William and Mary Dyer Blog (Sep. 7, 2011) (visited Aug. 18, 2018).

Anne Marbury Hutchinson as Depicted in "Little Journeys to the Homes

of Great Reformers, Memorial Edition, by Elbert Hubbard, Published in

1916.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

For almost four hundred years during its recorded history, the Pelham region, it seems, repeatedly has suffered earthquakes.  Puritans, Hutchinsonians, and early settlers deemed such events signs from God.  If so, God has wrought such havoc many times since in Pelham and likely will continue in the future. . . . . 

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Did the Westchester County Region Experience Yet More Earthquakes in Early 1885 or Not?

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We don't have earthquakes in Pelham.  Or, do we?  

According to the United States Geological Survey, our region has experienced nineteen small earthquakes of magnitude 2.6 or smaller in the last three years (since May 10, 2015).  See United States Geological Survey, Earthquakes:  Earthquakes Hazards Program (visited May 5, 2018).

While most such earthquakes are not even felt by the majority of Pelhamites, over the last two hundred years there have been quite a number of more significant earthquakes that have caused damage in Pelham and about which I have written before.  See, e.g.:

Tue., Sep. 19, 2017:  Another Account of the Earthquake that Shook Pelham in 1872.

Mon., Feb. 20, 2017:  Brief Account of Damage in Pelham During the Earthquake of August 10, 1884.

Mon., Aug. 25, 2014:  Earthquake! Is Pelham on Shaky Ground?

Tue., Sep. 15, 2009:  An Earthquake in Pelham and Surrounding Areas on Sunday, August 10, 1884.

Mon., Aug. 08, 2005: The Day the Earth Shook in Pelham: July 11, 1872. 

I have written before about earthquakes in the Westchester County region in 1850, 1868, 1872, and 1884.  Today's Historic Pelham Blog article, provides information about two days the earth shook in Pelham in what may -- or may NOT -- have been a series of earthquakes about which I never have written:  small ones that rattled our region on Sunday, January 4, 1885.  

How could there be any question?  Either there was or was not a series of earthquakes in our region those two days, right?  Well, not so fast. . . . . . 

Newspapers throughout New York were abuzz in early January, 1885, with earthquake reports.  People were feeling temblors.  As one New York City newspaper put it:  "Rumors of earthquakes are ripe in Westchester county."  Some reports indicated there was a single earthquake that seemed to be centered in the Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill region and struck at about 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 4.  Other reports suggest there were two earthquakes in the region that day, both centered near the same region.  The other reportedly occurred first, at about 6:06 a.m. on Sunday, January 4.  

According to one news report:  "about half-past five o'clock last evening [Sunday, January 4] a very slight, but quite unmistakable trembling of the earth was felt throughout Westchester county, along the line of the New York Central and the New York City and Northern railroads, an only then in the towns furthest north.  It was most perceptible, it is said, in Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill."

Though the above-quoted account described the earthquake as "very slight," the shaking was sufficiently violent to rattle houses and even to break "many window-panes" in Sing Sing according to a different account that also stated there was a "considerable . . . shake-up" there.

One newspaper found a single resident of Tarrytown who claimed he had experienced another earthquake earlier that day at 6:06 a.m.  The New York Herald provided the following eyewitness account:

"On Sunday Mayor Marshall H. Bright, of Tarrytown, felt a shock, he believes.  He says:  --  'It was Sunday morning at six minutes past six o'clock.  I was awake at the time, and, as I have observed earthquakes before, immediately recognized the nature of the shock, and seized my watch to time its duration.  It last four seconds.  It was a distinct, continuous vibration, like the jar produced in a horse-car when it is stopped by a sudden application of the brakes.  This shock was accompanied by a low, rumbling noise, not louder than would be caused by a heavy cart.  The house was shaken and the windows rattled.  Other inmates of the house, who were asleep at the time and were not awakened, laughed when I told them at the breakfast table about the earthquake.  When, however, I attended the First Reformed Church in the morning, and spoke of the occurrence to the sexton, John Cowe, he exclaimed that he now understood what before had puzzled him.  Not thinking of an earthquake, he had wondered what the shock was which he had observed while he was attending to the furnace in the church.  He said that the building was shaken.  On conversing with other persons whom I met at the church I found that some had observed the shock distinctly.  One lady was awakened by it.  Undoubtedly the occurrence would have attracted much more general attention if it had not taken place at an hour on Sunday morning when most of the persons were asleep.  Mr. Simons, of Sing Sing, told me that the shock was perceptible there.'"

A number of news reports suggested that Westchester residents were particularly skittish due to the larger earthquake that had occurred a few months earlier on August 10, 1884 that had done some serious damage in the region.  In any event, an alternative explanation for some of the shaking soon arose.

At about the time many people felt the "earthquake" late in the day on January 4, 1885, representatives of the West Shore Railway Company were working hard near Storm King Mountain, about sixteen miles away from Peekskill where residents felt the quake.  The railroad had recently experienced a landslide disaster and was working to reduce the risk of future landslides that might endanger its trains or damage its tracks.  Near Storm King Mountain, the company was trying to remove a massive rock ledge that overhung its tracks.  Rather than cart away removal debris, the company had the novel idea of attempting to blast the massive ledge off the side of the mountain and into the deep channel of the Hudson River.  

The company began blasting with dynamite late in the day.  The job was thought to be a small one at first "and that no trouble would be experienced in blowing it out into the deep channel of the river."  Initial efforts failed, however, and they found the job to be a "big undertaking."  According to one report, "They kept up blasting until midnight, and the neighborhood shook as if numerous powder mills had exploded.  Many persons who were not aware of what was going on did not know what to make of it.  Ten miles away the windows in the houses and the houses themselves were shaken.  Over one hundred and fifty tons of rock were blown out of the base of the rugged mountain."

Newspapers later reported that there never had been an earthquake at all.  Instead, according to such accounts, residents perceived the shock of the blasting as though an earthquake occurred.  Yet, no one could explain the claim that a separate temblor had been experienced at 6:06 a.m. the same day.  Nor was there any explanation as to why, if blasting continued from late in the day until midnight only a single "earthquake" was felt as far away as 26 miles or more.  

Was there or was there not yet another earthquake that day? . . . . . . 

*          *          *          *          *

"REPORTED EARTHQUAKES.
-----
SHOCKS SAID TO HAVE BEEN FELT SUNDAY AND YESTERDAY IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Rumors of earthquakes are ripe in Westchester county.  The Westchester News Association is authority for the latest.  The statement is that about half-past five o'clock last evening a very slight, but quite unmistakable trembling of the earth was felt throughout Westchester county, along the line of the New York Central and the New York City and Northern railroads, an only then in the towns furthest north.  It was most perceptible, it is said, in Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill.  From Tarrytown south not the slightest shock was apparent.  A clock in the Sing Sing Hotel Hotel, it is stated, stopped.

At Yorktown it was felt, but, as at all other points it was so slight that it attracted but little attention.  At White Plains, Mount Vernon, Port Chester and towns along the line of the Harlem division of the New York Central, as well as along the New York, New Haven and Hartford line, it was not felt at all.  No shock was felt in the city.  The sensation and noise are described as similar to those produced by distant thunder.

ANOTHER SHOCK REPORTED.

On Sunday Mayor Marshall H. Bright, of Tarrytown, felt a shock, he believes.  He says:  --  'It was Sunday morning at six minutes past six o'clock.  I was awake at the time, and, as I have observed earthquakes before, immediately recognized the nature of the shock, and seized my watch to time its duration.  It last four seconds.  It was a distinct, continuous vibration, like the jar produced in a horse-car when it is stopped by a sudden application of the brakes.  This shock was accompanied by a low, rumbling noise, not louder than would be caused by a heavy cart.  The house was shaken and the windows rattled.  Other inmates of the house, who were asleep at the time and were not awakened, laughed when I told them at the breakfast table about the earthquake.  When, however, I attended the First Reformed Church in the morning, and spoke of the occurrence to the sexton, John Cowe, he exclaimed that he now understood what before had puzzled him.  Not thinking of an earthquake, he had wondered what the shock was which he had observed while he was attending to the furnace in the church.  He said that the building was shaken.  On conversing with other persons whom I met at the church I found that some had observed the shock distinctly.  One lady was awakened by it.  Undoubtedly the occurrence would have attracted much more general attention if it had not taken place at an hour on Sunday morning when most of the persons were asleep.  Mr. Simons, of Sing Sing, told me that the shock was perceptible there.'

NOT FELT AT POUGHKEEPSIE.

A special despatch to the HERALD from Poughkeepsie says:  --  'We have had no shocks of earthquake here, and we have no reports of any along the Hudson.'"

Source:  REPORTED EARTHQUAKES -- SHOCKS SAID TO HAVE BEEN FELT SUNDAY AND YESTERDAY IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. Herald, Jan. 6, 1885, p. 10, col. 2.

"WAS THIS THE EARTHQUAKE?
-----

CORNWALL, N. Y., Jan. 5, 1885.  --  The West Shore Railway Company have since their disaster at Highland taken unusual precaution against land slides.  At the foot of of Storm King Mountain there has long been a big rock overhanging the tracks, and it has been carefully watched until yesterday, when the company determined to remove it.  They sent all their trains around over the Erie Railway to Newburgh and commenced early to blast it away.  It was a first thought to be a small job and that no trouble would be experienced in blowing it out into the deep channel of the river at that point, but as they progressed they found it a big undertaking.  They kept up blasting until midnight, and the neighborhood shook as if numerous powder mills had exploded.  Many persons who were not aware of what was going on did not know what to make of it.  Ten miles away the windows in the houses and the houses themselves were shaken.  Over one hundred and fifty tons of rock were blown out of the base of the rugged mountain.  To-day trains were running regularly over the road."

Source:  WAS THIS THE EARTHQUAKE?, N.Y. Herald, Jan. 6, 1885, p. 10, col. 2. 

"--  The towns of Sing Sing and Tarrytown were visited by an earthquake last week.  It was also slightly felt in White Plains.  In Sing Sing a considerable of a shake-up was experienced and many window-panes were broken."

Source:  [Untitled], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jan. 16, 1885, Vol. XL, No. 41, p. 3, col. 4.  

"Not an Earthquake.

Early risers in Peekskill felt a shock on Sunday morning last about six o'clock, that was thought to be an earthquake.  It was a low, rumbling sound similar to the earthquake shock felt in this section last summer.  The sensation was felt at Sing Sing and Tarrytown and the New York papers reported it as an earthquake shock.  It has since developed that it was not an earthquake shock but was caused by some heavy blasting done on the West Shore railroad, near Storm King Mountain, where it was desirable to remove some rocks.  The charges put in to remove the rocks were heavy dynamite ones and the explosion was consequently a terrific one."

Source:  Not an Earthquake, The Highland Democrat [Peekskill, NY], Jan. 10, 1885, Vol. XL, No. 25, p. 3, col. 3.  

"EARTHQUAKES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST.
-----
Shocks Felt in the District of Columbia and in New Hampshire.
-----
Washington, January 3.

A considerable number of persons are reporting today that they felt an earthquake shock about half past 9 o'clock last night.  Most of these reports came from that section of Washington south Pennsylvania avenue, and from the suburb of Brightwood.  Farmers coming to market from adjoining counties in Maryland and Virginia report having felt a tremor and rumbling of the earth lasting about fifteen seconds at the time stated.  At Warrenton, Va., the disturbance was very distinct and the direction of the vibrations were observed to be from east to west.

LACONIA, N. H., January 3.
A shock of earthquake lasting half a minute was felt in Laconia Friday night.  It passed from north to south and was accompanied by a rumbling sound."

Source:   EARTHQUAKES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST -- Shocks Felt in the District of Columbia and in New Hampshire, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jan. 4, 1885, p. 5, col. 3.

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Pelham Manor Firemen Helped Their San Francisco Brethren After the Great Earthquake in 1906

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Most were asleep when disaster struck that day.  At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of XI (Extreme) virtually destroyed the City of San Francisco.  More than 80% of the city was destroyed and about 3,000 people were killed.  It was, of course, one of the deadliest earthquakes in United States History.  

Though the earthquake caused terrible damage, the fires that followed were even more destructive.  According to one source:

"It has been estimated that up to 90% of the total destruction was the result of the subsequent fires.  Within three days, over 30 fires, caused by ruptured gas mains, destroyed approximately 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks.  One of the largest of these fires was accidentally started in a house on Hayes Street by a woman making breakfast for her family.  This came to be known as the 'Ham and Eggs Fire.'  Some were started when firefighters, untrained in the use of dynamite, attempted to demolish buildings to create firebreaks.  The dynamited buildings themselves often caught fire.  The city's fire chief, Dennis T. Sullivan, who would have been responsible, had died from injuries sustained in the initial quake.  In all, the fires burned for four days and nights."

Source:  "1906 San Francisco Earthquake" in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Oct. 29, 2017).

Though many San Francisco firemen suffered personal losses, including the death of their beloved Fire Chief who was killed in the initial quake, they battled fires for four days to limit the damage as best possible under brutal circumstances using rudimentary fire fighting equipment.  Their valor did not go unnoticed.

Three thousand miles away, their brethren in the Pelham Manor Fire Department felt their pain.  From such a distance in such a day of limited travel means and speeds, there was little Pelham Manor firefighters could do except offer their prayers, their condolences, and money to help their fellow firefighters in San Francisco. Thus, on Friday, May 11, 1906, Pelham Manor firefighters hosted a grand fundraiser in the old Manor Club clubhouse (predecessor to today's Manor Club building).

Pelham Manor was, of course, an affluent New York City suburb.  The Pelham Manor Fire Department was known at that time as the "Millionaire Volunteer Fire Department" because it was composed of wealthy lawyers, brokers, businessmen, captains of industry, and other professionals.   

The lovely old Manor Club clubhouse was decorated with flowers including Dogwood blossoms.  Wives and friends of members of the Department assisted with the decorations and the refreshments for the grand ballroom dance.  Eight members of the Department oversaw the fundraising event.  They were:  Robert Beach (a civil engineer), Foreman;  Witherbee Black, First Assistant and a real estate speculator who was one of the wealthiest men in Westchester County; George Breckenridge, a successful attorney and Second Assistant; John Peck, treasurer for the event; Henry Dey, clerk and long-time associate editor of The New York Evangelist; mega-millionaire Martin Condon who was President of the American Tobacco Company; and W. P. Brown and Edmund Seymour. 

According to a local news account of the grand event:  "It has probably been some time since there has gathered such a body of prominent men as the fire fighters in a ball of the kind that was held last night.  The men wore full dress suits and the ladies appeared in handsome gowns.  The sight was one of unusual beauty."

The event raised several hundred dollars (roughly $8,700 in today's dollars) for the benefit of San Francisco firefighters who had suffered in the Great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  Pelham was continuing what even in 1906 was already a long tradition of charitable giving.  

 Old Manor Club "Manor House" Where the Fundraising Ball Was Held

on Friday, May 11, 1906.  Image Published in 1892.  Source:  Manor

Club "Memory Book."   NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"PELHAM MANOR.
-----
FIREMEN'S DANCE
-----
For the Benefit of the San Francisco Sufferers Last Night.
-----

The 'Millionaire Volunteer Fire Department,' of Pelham Manor, so-called, held a ball in the Manor club house last night, for the benefit of the San Francisco firemen.  This department is composed entirely of New York business men, lawyers, brokers, and other professional men, who live in and own handsome residences in the Manor.

The club house was handsomely decorated with dogwood blossoms and other flowers.  Several hundred dollars were realized from the benefit.  The patronesses were the wives and friends of the members of the department.  The gathering was a large one.

The officers having in charge the ball were as follows:  Robert Beach, foreman; Witherbee Black, first assistant; George Breckenridge, second assistant; John Peck, treasurer; Henry Dey, clerk; together with W. P. Brown, Martin Condon and Edmund Seymour.

Mr. Beach is a well known civil engineer with offices at 32 Broadway.  Mr. Witherbee Black, the first assistant, is a member of one of the wealthiest families in Westchester county; George Breckenridge, the second assistant foreman, is a New York lawyer, and is representing the Pelham Manor property owners in their fight against the proposed route of the New York, Boston and Westchester railroad.  Martin Condon is president of the American Tobacco company, and Edmund Seymour is a brother of Ed. Seymour, the Republican leader of the west side of New York.

It has probably been some time since there has gathered such a body of prominent men as the fire fighters in a ball of the kind that was held last night.  The men wore full dress suits and the ladies appeared in handsome gowns.  The sight was one of unusual beauty."

Source:   PELHAM MANOR-- FIREMEN'S DANCE -- For the Benefit of the San Francisco Sufferers Last Night, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], May 12, 1906, p. 5, col. 3.

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Another Account of the Earthquake that Shook Pelham in 1872

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Few in Pelham know, but only 13 miles from our Town -- far beneath 125th Street in Manhattan -- lies the so-called "125th Street Fault Line."  While it is nothing like major fault lines such as the "San Andreas Fault" on the west coast of the United States, the 125th Street Fault Line is still a concern to experts who recognize that population growth (as well as urban and suburban development) in the region since the late 19th century have increased the risks of substantial damage from a major earthquake.

Pelham has experienced many earthquakes in historic times, a few of which have caused damage.  In fact, Pelham has experienced at least 35 earthquakes just since 1931, the majority of which have been so small that while they registered on seismographs, they were not felt by most.  On July 11, 1872 however, everyone in Pelham and the surrounding region felt the large earthquake that rolled beneath their feet.

I have written a number of times about the 1872 earthquake in Pelham and others.  See, e.g.:  

Mon., Feb. 20, 2017:  Brief Account of Damage in Pelham During the Earthquake of August 10, 1884.

Mon., Aug. 25, 2014:  Earthquake! Is Pelham on Shaky Ground?

Tue., Sep. 15, 2009:  An Earthquake in Pelham and Surrounding Areas on Sunday, August 10, 1884. 

Mon., Aug. 08, 2005:  The Day the Earth Shook in Pelham: July 11, 1872. 

Today's posting to the historic Pelham Blog provides an additional brief but interesting newspaper description of the 1872 earthquake and how it affected Pelham and the surrounding region.

Accounts differ as to the time, but it appears that at about 5:30 a.m. on July 11, 1872, an earthquake shook the region.  According to multiple accounts, the shock was most severe in the area including Eastchester, Mount Vernon, Pelhamville, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Rye and Portchester.  The shock also was felt across Long Island Sound in Glen Cove, Roslyn, Sand's Point, and other Places, though it was not as violent as in lower Westchester County.

In the Pelhamville region, the earthquake began with noise that resembled a heavily-laden cart driven over hard ground.  The rumbling noise grew into shaking of the ground that lasted, depending on where people experiencing it were located, between about fourteen and eighteen seconds.  Residents perceived the earthquake as beginning from the south and rolling away toward the north.  

The quake shook people from their beds.  One account says that it cast down piles of coal in the cellars, shook crockery in the homes, and vibrated the houses.  The newspaper article quoted below states that in the Pelhamville area "beds, sideboards, and other heavy articles of furniture swayed to and fro in an alarming manner."

Though the earthquake frightened the region's residents, there was no major damage, nor any injuries.  Multiple news accounts, however, indicate that the temblor was all local residents could talk about for quite some time. . . . 

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Below is a news account of the earthquake that struck the Pelhamville region on July 11, 1872.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"'NO GREAT SHAKES.'
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Shocks of Earthquake Felt on Long Island and in Westchester County.
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MORE FRIGHTENED THAN HURT.
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Waking Up Roslyn and Astonishing Glen Cove -- Westchester in a Tremble.
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Following close upon the footsteps of the fatal thunderstorm and the thunderstorms which have swept over Manhattan Island within the last week, the report of a shock of earthquake in our vicinity caused no small sensation from the good people of Gotham last evening who in no way wanted an earthquake to fill up the measure of our atmospheric evils.

A year and a half ago a light shock of motus terra was felt in New York city itself and almost within twelve months after that a shock of earthquake was felt across the river in Williamsburg so distinct that many people who . . . . [illegible text omitted] 

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The Shock on Long Island.

A HERALD reporter was immediately despatched to the Long Island town from which the shock was first reported to learn if possible its source and any facts of public interest in connection with it.  He first visited Whitestone but nobody in the village seemed to have heard of the earthquake and those to whom the HERALD reporter spoke on the subject with true Long Island instinct believed that he knew all about it and forthwith set about interviewing him.  Returning to Flushing he resumed his inquiries, but there too the people were in most blissful ignorance that subterranean guns were being fired off within a few miles of them in honor, no doubt, of the Baltimore nominations.  One incredulous individual with whom the reporter conversed pooh poohed the idea of an earthquake on Long Island and with the greatest self complacency remarked it was 

THE GUNS AT THE CITY HALL?

But as the guns at the City Hall were not fired at the City Hall at half past four o'clock in the morning (notwithstanding the energy of General George Broome) the reporter went further and fared little better in the thing.  He made inquiries in every direction about the village, but only one individual had heard of the earthquake seven miles off, and that was the lady who runs the telegraphic bureau of the Western Union Telegraph Company on the main street of Flushing.  That interesting personage had left the bureau to run itself for a couple of hours but when she returned from her afternoon walk she blandly informed the reporter that she had heard Glen Cove and Roslyn

TALKING OVER THE WIRES

about the earthquake at eight o'clock in the morning but she was perfectly sure that there was no earthquake in Flushing, as she was awake all night.  The reporter asked her if she would be good enough to talk over the wires to Glen Cove and Roslyn and ask them if they knew anything about the earthquake, when she replied with a frightfully knowing all 

'Roslyn is new to the business and you may not be able to raise her but Glen Cove is smart enough if she wants to do it.  I don't think, really, that you can get anything from Roslyn, but I'll try Glen Cove.'  

The reporter was about to leave the bureau, intending find what Glen Cove could do when the fair operator called after that she was calling Roslyn from New York but he cannot raise her.'  Allowing for the snitty condition of the atmosphere and the normal dulness [sic] of Roslyn except when an earthquake turns up the reporter thought it better to cross over himself and since the fair operator couldn't be raised, raise something himself.

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At Roslyn

all the morning nothing was talked of in the village but the earthquake.  The shock was distinctly felt throughout the entire town, and, the reporter was informed by one gentleman, for fully sixteen seconds.  This same authority stated that the shock came in the direction of the south side.  No injury was done in the village though the houses which are all built of the lightest kind of timber were shaken to their foundations.  Several bureaus were knocked over, and in one instance, at the hotel a tray of glasses which stood on the bar from the night before, were knocked over and broken the villagers were very much more perplexed than hurt and it is safe to say that, if nothing else, the whole forenoon was lost.

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At Glen Cove.

At the village of Glen Cove in almost a direct northerly direction from Roslyn, the shock was felt much more distinctly than at the latter place.  Several persons stated to the reporter that the first intimation they received of the shock was a heavy thud and a dull roar like that of distant artillery.  The shock here lasted for it is said, fully fifteen seconds.  As it increased the noise became greater, until it sounded like a clap of thunder, and then died away across the Sound in a northerly direction.  The shock awakened everybody who was asleep in the town, and people rushed from their beds, half dressed, into the main street.  The houses

WERE ALL SHAKEN,

as in Roslyn and in some cases small articles of furniture were thrown from their position in the rooms to the ground.  The coal in the cellars and the piles of firewood in some of the yards were completely leveled.  The greatest excitement prevailed throughout that entire village during the day and nothing else was talked of but the earthquake, work being completely neglected.  No accident of any consequence occurred as far as the reporter could learn, though the people were very much perplexed.

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At Desoris

and Sands' Point on the north coast of the island the shock was also distinctly felt by some, though there are some people in both villages who slept so soundly that they could not believe that the earth had been moved under them during the night.  

As far as the reporter could learn the shock was felt first on the south side of the island and extended in almost a direct northerly direction through Roslyn along through the level country of Glen Cove and across the Sound to Westchester County.  

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In Westchester County.

Shortly after half past eleven o'clock [sic] yesterday morning, an earthquake shock was felt in many portions of Westchester county, particularly in that section lying contiguous to Long Island Sound in the Villages of Portchester, Rye, New Rochelle, Pelhamville and Mount Vernon many of the still slumbering inhabitants were startled by visible vibrations of their respective dwellings while beds, sideboards, and other heavy articles of furniture swayed to and fro in an alarming manner.  No actual damage has been reported, however, nor could it be ascertained whether any window glass was broken by the unusual visitation.

In the vicinity of Rye, situated on the line of the New York and New Haven Railroad, the shock was distinctly felt at the residences of Messrs. Abbot and Lather, as was also the case at the house of Mr. J. M. Ives, which was somewhat more severely shaken than the others.  At Portchester, the residence of a gentleman named Ashley was visibly rocked, while further on in the same direction at Greenwich, Conn. the presence of the earthquake was felt by several persons.  In the latter place the shock was almost instantaneous.  Persons residing at Dobbs Ferry on the Hudson, report that the shock was experienced at that place about the same hour mentioned above and that the evidence of a subterranean commotion lasted about fifteen or eighteen seconds.  Considerable excitement exists in the various places visited by the shock, and the wondering inhabitants are anxiously looking for what may come next.

It is stated on good authority that the shock was felt at Greenwich, Conn. and at Dobbs Ferry -- at the latter place shortly after half past four o'clock yesterday morning.  This would make the line of the shock almost directly north and south."

Source:  NO GREAT SHAKES -- Shocks of Earthquake Felt on Long Island and in Westchester County -- MORE FRIGHTENED THAN HURT -- Waking Up Roslyn and Astonishing Glen Cove -- Westchester in a Tremble, N.Y. Herald, Jul. 12, 1872, p. 6, col. 6 (Note:  paid subscription required to access via this link).

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