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BOISE (UP)--An earthquake lasting several seconds rocked more than a 100 mile section of southwestern Idaho at 1:33 p.m. today, causing some residents to flee their homes, but causing little damage other than breaking dishes.
Residents in Boise, Nampa, Garden Valley and Idaho City reported feeling the tremor. They said it rattled windows and dishes. Several reported the shock was strong enough to send dishes crashing to the floor.
Newspaper offices, police and fire departments and the weather bureau here were swamped with calls. Many persons thought the movement was caused by a heavy explosion.
Firemen at Number two station here fled from their building after it was noticeably shaken.
[Daily Bulletin; July 12, 1944]
SALT LAKE CITY (UP)--The seismograph at the University of Utah registered a "sharp"earthquake that started at 1:31 a.m., MWT, and lasted 45 minutes, yesterday--probably the one that shook buildings and rattled dishes in southern Idaho--Custodian Andrew N. Anderson reported today.
"The main force of the quake was in a north south direction," Anderson said after examining the instrument's records. "The location of the exact epicenter is hard to determine but it was about 350 to 450 miles away."
Anderson believed that if the main center of the disturbance "had been under large buildings, such as in Boise, it would have toppled a lot of chimneys."
[Daily Bulletin; July 13, 1944]
Two mild earthquake shocks rocked Boise and numerous other Southwestern Idaho communities Wednesday at about 1:34 p.m., apparently causing no damage but sending hundreds of startled Idahoans to their telephones to inquire the cause of the rocking movements which stopped clocks, caused dishes to crash to the floor and furniture to move.
The temblors were believed to be the most severe since 1912.
Many Boiseans who flooded The Statesman switchboard with calls made excited inquires ranging all the way from "Have we had an air raid?" to the remark of the wag who asked, "Has Roosevelt changed his mind?"
Consternation resulting from rumors that the jolting and swaying were the result of some other cause than earth temblors, perhaps an explosion, were dispelled as reports of the shocks came in from numerous other towns and an Associated Press dispatch said that the California Institute of Technology seismograph recorded earth shocks at 1:33 and 1:34 p.m. (M.W.T.).
Institute spokesmen said the temblors were centered about 700 miles from Pasadena and were strong enough to cause damage. None, however, was reported by Idaho news sources.
Whether there were actually two shocks felt locally remained a controversial point. Some residents insisted that they felt one light and then another relatively severe shock, while others insisted that only one temblor was noticed. The shock apparently lasted about four seconds.
The United States weather bureau reported that the shock was felt at the municipal airport, 10 miles from the city limits, and Statesman correspondents in Weiser, Payette, Caldwell and Nampa said that the quake was felt in business and residence districts in those four towns.
Residents of Garden Valley, some 40 miles northwest of Boise, also reported feeling the earth tremors.
Two Emmett residents, who were installing a water barrel for a cooling system when the temblor came, reportedly almost came to blows as the jiggling container sent ice water pouring down the shirt front of first one, then the other workman.
One Boise woman said the sight of an unoccupied rocking chair suddenly starting to move proved the most frightening experience of her life.
C. C. Hargrove, real estate man with offices in the Noble building, said the swivel chair in which he was sitting suddenly careened wildly half way across the room.
Although reports indicated that the shock was lighter in McCall, the quake was also a source of comment there.
Mrs. G. E. Tucker, 1912 State street, said the temblor, largely an up-and-down movement, caused her kitchen floor literally to "dance."
One excited Boisean telephoned The Statesman to inquire, "Can you give me some information about the trembling?"
Howard E. Hilbun, senior inspector in charge of the wages and hours division of the U. S. department of labor offices in Boise, said a fan on his desk wobbled about in a four-inch arc during the shock.
One Boisean, Miss Vivienne Becker, was in the dentist's chair on the sixth floor of the Eastman building at the time of the first earth movement. She beat a hasty retreat.
At Idaho City, County Clerk Katherine Brogan reported the county building was shaken noticeably.
Residents at Juntura and Ontario, Ore., said they felt the shocks distinctly, but at the Pendleton, Ore., Army air field no tremors were felt.
Press dispatches from Helena, Mont., said a minor earthquake was felt there at the same time it was noticed in Boise, but it wasn't considered news. It brought to 2715 the number felt at Helena since October, 1935, when much of the city was leveled by a series of quakes.
The temblor was the most severe felt here in 30 years. An earthquake occurred three decades ago late at night and, several persons recalled, was of about the same intensity. It jarred beds and rocked sleeping Boiseans awake.
[Idaho Daily Statesman; July 12, 1944]
By Associated Press
Two distinct earth tremors shook Idaho, Oregon and Montana Wednesday, toppling dishes from sinks and shelves and shaking buildings, but apparently causing no serious damage.
Reports of the tremors were received from as far east as Fairfield, Idaho, as far west as Juntura, Ore., and as far north as Helena, Mont.
Idaho's state capitol building was shaken, but Melvin Stevens, state superintendent of public buildings, said he could find no damage.
State employes in offices on the top floor of the building said chairs rocked and other furniture was shifted by the shocks.
The first shock was felt in Boise at 1:34 p.m., MWT, and lasted about 4 seconds. It was followed 45 seconds later by another tremor of the same intensity.
At Pasadena, Cal., the California Institute of Technology recorded shocks between 12:33 and 12:34:50, Pacific war time. Officials said the shocks were about 700 miles distant, direction undetermined, and were strong enough to cause damage.
Telephone lines were jammed in Boise, Nampa and other cities with residents calling newspapers, police and other emergency stations with reports of explosions or possible bombings.
At Idaho City, 45 miles northeast of Boise, Boise Co. Clerk Katherine Brogan reported the county building was shaken noticeably, and at Fairfield, approximately 100 miles east of Boise, Probate Judge Margaret Giesler said some buildings swayed, light fixtures moved and dishes rattled. No damage was reported at either city.
Residents in Juntura and Ontario, Ore., said they felt the shocks distinctly, but at the Pendleton, Ore., army airfield no tremors were felt.
Helena, Mont., reported feeling the tremor at 1:30 p.m., MWT, at 1:50 p.m.
BOISE (UP)--One man who called the Idaho Daily Statesman office to inquire about the earthquake--Ray Clark of the Idaho department of law enforcement--asked:
"Has Roosevelt changed his mind?"
Officials of the geology department, University of Utah, said Wednesday they cannot disclose the intensity or location of the earthquake until Thursday morning, when the seismograph tape will be developed.
[Salt Lake Tribune; July 13, 1944]
Officials of the geology department, University of Utah, said Thursday the department's seismograph recorded "a sharp series of quakes over a period of 45 minutes beginning at 12:31 p.m. Wednesday."
The seismograph tape reading disclosed the quakes centered approximately 350 to 450 miles north of Salt Lake City, indicating they were the ones reported Wednesday in various parts of Idaho, Oregon and Montana.
[Salt Lake Tribune; July 14, 1944]
Return to Central Idaho Earthquake Summary.
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