House of Citizen in Motazan Street, Quezaltenango. (Courtesy of Scientific American.)
From a photograph of a train wreck on the Southern Pacific near Byron, Cal., the night of December 20. See note on last page.
EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANIC DISTURBANCES FOR 1902.
From the New York Times, supplemented by other authentic accounts, we give a bare chronicle of the numerous volcanic disturbances and earthquakes—seismological phenomena, the scientists would call it—for 1902, or down to December 22. There is no year on record like it. The Scientific American remarks, in presenting a list less complete than this:
Earthquake Ruins of Arena Where Bull-Fights Were Held, Quezaltenango, Guatemala. (Courtesy of Scientific American.)
“The list shows an almost continuous series of earthquakes, eruptions, tidal waves, and lesser strange phenomena.” It will be seen that the eruptions which destroyed St. Pierre are only a small part of the whole.
January 16—Earthquake at Chilpancingo, Mexico, threw down the government buildings and many other houses.
January 17—Another severe shock threw down many of the buildings left standing. Many lives lost.
February 12—Destructive earthquake in Transcaucasia, destroying the city of Chemakha. Mountains were lifted up, and from large fissures torrents of pure naphtha poured forth. Four thousand persons perished.
April 10—News received of volcanic activity at Unalaska, Aleutian Islands.
April 18—Earthquake in Guatemala, Mexico, Amatitlan, San Juan, San Marcos, Escuintla and Santa Lucia, killing 1,000 persons, injuring 3,000 others, and rendering 50,000 homeless.
April 19, 20—Terrible earthquakes in Guatemala, causing great damage in Quezaltenango and Amatitlan, and killing several hundred of their inhabitants; also destroying $2,000,000 worth of property in southeastern Mexico.
April 30—A severe earthquake shock at Lautoka in the South Pacific.
May 3—Mount Redoubt, in Alaska, erupts.
May 7—First eruption of St. Vincent.
May 8—First eruption of Mont Pelée, destroying St. Pierre and its 30,000 people.
May 12—Mount Colima, near Guadalajara, Mexico, becomes active.
May 13—Severe earthquake felt at St. Thomas, Danish West Indies.
May 15—Mount Soconusco, State of Mexico, becomes active, causing many casualties and a few fatalities in Aquespala, Laverga, and Comitan.
May 18—Earthquakes in the southern part of Portugal.
May 18—Second eruption of St. Vincent.
May 20—Tidal wave destroys a portion of the village of La Carbet, Island of Martinique.
May 20—Basse Pointe, Martinique, inundated by mud.
May 21—Earthquake experienced at St. Augustine, Fla.
May 23—Earthquake and volcanic activity in mountains west of Lake Managua, Nicaragua.
May 24—Mount Pelée resumes and continues with great force for several days.
May 28—Earth tremor registered at Bayonne, N. J., and at Chattanooga, Tenn.
May 30—Another eruption of La Soufrière, accompanied by a severe earthquake.
May 31—Sulphurous exhalations from Mount Trabochetto, between Nice and Genoa, Italy.
June 1—An eruption of Kilauea, Hawaii, accompanied by a rain of ashes, a phenomenon not witnessed there before.
June 2—Announcement of eruption of Mount Blackburn, in southeastern Alaska.
June 3-6—Violent disturbances of Kilauea, Hawaii.
June 4—The Gusygran, a mud volcano near the village of Kobe, in Caucasia, erupts, killing several persons.
June 4—Landslide, Mount Grigna, near Lake Lecco, Switzerland, kills two noted scientists.
June 6—Another violent eruption of Mont Pelée.
June 8—News received of the eruption of Tacana, in Guatemala, accompanied by violent earthquakes which razed many buildings in several towns. One thousand persons killed.
June 9—Columns of steam rise from Mt. Ranier in Washington.
June 14—Discovery of slight elevation of localities in Pennsylvania.
June 14—Still another violent eruption of Mont Pelée.
June 14—Mount Fauno, Oregon, began smoking and sending out steam, and hot springs in the vicinity increased many degrees in heat.
June 15—Strong earthquake shocks in Sicily.
June 19—Mass of slime ejected from Pelée, practically destroying the town of Basse Pointe.
June 20—Disastrous earthquake shocks in Tyrol.
June 21—Volcano Pichincha, in the Province of Manabi, in Ecuador, becomes active.
June 22—Violent earthquake shock at Cassano al Jonio, in the Department of Calabria, in Italy.
June 24—News received at San Francisco of the eruption of the volcano of Kilauea, Hawaii.
July 1—Earthquake shocks in Salonica, European Turkey, causing heavy loss of life and great damage to property. On the same day, also, earthquake shocks were felt simultaneously in twenty towns in Asia Minor, causing the collapse of many houses.
July 7—Large boulders and gases ejected from Tulsa, a small volcano in the Indian Territory.
July 7—Guevesne and Zelisova, in European Turkey, partially destroyed by an earthquake.
July 8—Volcanoes of Miravallis and Ricond de Vieja, in Costa Rica, reported to be in active eruption.
July 9—Severe earthquake shock at Bunder Abbas, Persia, doing much damage.
July 9—Three severe earthquake shocks at St. Vincent, West Indies.
July 10, 11, 12—Loud detonations from Soufrière volcano.
July 11—Fresh eruption from Mont Pelée.
July 12—Violent earthquake shock in Caracas, damaging towns of Guarenas, Guatire, Valencia, and La Guayra.
July 17—Other severe earthquakes at Kingston, St. Vincent, West Indies.
July 27—Destructive earthquake shocks in California, doing much damage to property in Los Alamos, San Maria, and Santa Barbara. Simultaneously a series of severe shocks was felt in Nebraska, the Dakotas, and western Iowa, and did damage to property.
August 13-15, Japan—Eruption in small island of Torishima; the inhabitants, 150 in number, disappeared, together with houses.
August 17—An earthquake on Alaskan coast filled Taylor Bay with huge icebergs shaken down from Brady Glacier.
August 17—Earthquake in the Transcaucasus started an avalanche down a mountain valley, destroying twenty villages and nearly 700 lives.
August 22-September 3—Continuous earthquakes at Kashgar, Astyn, and Aksuksiche, Turkestan, demolishing several towns and destroying 520 lives.
August 25, Italy—Mount Alto in eruption.
August 27, Philippines—Earthquake in the Island of Mindanao; sixty natives killed.
August 30, Venezuela—Earthquake shock at Carupano at 9 A.M.; disturbance accompanied by noise which was heard along the whole shore of the Caribbean Sea.
August 30, Martinique—Mont Pelée in violent eruption; said to have killed 2,000 people.
September 1, Martinique—Mont Pelée again active, the eruption surpassing in force that of May 8.
September 1—New volcano breaks out in Peru, continuing active for several weeks.
September 6, Italy—Vesuvius spouts flames.
September 8, France—Earthquake shocks at Pau.
September 8, India—Severe earthquake in Bengal.
September 9, St. Vincent—Contour of island changed by eruption of La Soufrière.
September 9, Sicily—Stromboli in full eruption.
September 16, Mexico—Water spouted from a lake frightens Indians and whites.
September 17, Philippines—Macon, Taal, and Balusan volcanoes unusually active.
September 20—Very severe earthquakes in different parts of Australia, damaging many buildings.
September 22, St. Vincent—Violent eruption of La Soufrière; cable repair ship “Newington” working five miles from shore forced to steam away at full speed, effecting a narrow escape.
September 23, Jamaica—Sharp and violent earthquake shock felt throughout the island.
September 23, Ecuador—Severe earthquake shock felt at Quito followed by violent storm.
September 23—Seventy earthquakes were counted in one day at Salina Cruz, Mexico, followed by a tidal wave which destroyed much property.
October 15, 16, 17—La Soufrière, St. Vincent, again in violent eruption, and crops buried in burning sand.
November 1—Severe shocks in the island of Savaii, Samoa, shaking down stone structures, while fire issued from a number of mountain peaks.
November 6—Severe earthquake shock at Guarda, Portugal, accompanied by loss of life and destruction of property.10
November 15-December 15—Ten earthquakes in the vicinity of Los Alamos, Calif.
November 17—Southern Utah shaken by an earthquake, and shocks continued daily for nearly a month.
November 26—An unusually severe outburst of the volcano on the Island of St. Vincent, causing the inhabitants of Georgetown and Chateau Belaire to evacuate these towns.
December 12—Six earthquakes in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, Calif.
December 16—The old mud volcanoes of Mendocino County, Calif., renewed activity, and began belching mud and lava. A section a mile square is now covered with these craters, where a few years ago only a half dozen existed.
December 18—Two violent earthquake shocks occurred at San Jose, Costa Rica, followed by others of less severity.
December 22—An earthquake at Andijan, Russian Turkestan, destroying 16,000 homes and killing 4,000 persons.
December 27—Earthquake at Hain Chiang, China; 600 lives reported lost.
