Natrona County WY Archives History - Books .....Natrona County Disasters 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 5, 2005, 7:06 pm Book Title: History Of Natrona County, Wyoming NATRONA COUNTY'S THREE EARTHQUAKES Earthquakes in Wyoming have been of comparatively rare occurrence, so far as any extensive destruction of life and property has been involved. The first convulsive force felt in the central part of the state that could be termed an earthquake occurred at 3:15 on the morning İf June 25, 1894. There were two distinct and violent shocks and nearly everybody in Casper was awakened by the vibrations and a general feeling of alarm prevailed. No great damage was done to any of the buildings and the convulsions were of short duration. On Casper mountain the disturbance was much more pronounced than in the valley. There the vibrations continued for fifteen seconds. Dishes were dashed to the floor from the cupboards and a number of people were thrown from their beds by the undulations. There was doubt, consternation and terror among the people, some of whom expressed the fear that the earth would open up and swallow them. Their fears were unfounded, of course, but when daylight came they made haste to come to Casper and remained here several days. The water in the Platte river, which the day before had been fairly clear, changed to a reddish hue and became thick with mud thrown up from the bottom and caved in from the banks. Those who were near the river in the vicinity of Alcova said they could hear the rushing sounds and violent splashes into the stream, and in the morning they saw where large portions of the earth had been torn away and lapsed into the river. Again on November 14, 1897, at 6:30 in the morning, this part of Wyoming was visited by another but more violent earthquake shock. Those who were awake at the time reported that for several minutes before the shock occurred they heard a rumbling noise from the southwest resembling that of a dozen trains of cars. Then came the rocking of the earth, which lasted for at least two seconds. George M. Rhoades, who was sitting on a chair lacing his shoes, was thrown to the floor. As soon as he could gain his equilibrium, he rushed out of doors, fearing that the roof of his house would fall in on him. Others hastened from their beds. The guests in the Grand Central hotel made a hasty exit, some of them not tarrying to dress. Men on the range who were sleeping on the ground said they could hear the rumbling sound several minutes before they felt the shock. The noise kept getting closer and closer until it became almost deafening and then occurred the sickening, shivering, rocking of the earth which caused consternation among the sheep and horses. The Grand Central hotel building was considerably damaged by the convulsion, the northeast corner of the building being rent with a crack from two to four inches wide, extending from the third to the first story. The ceiling in the lobby was cracked from the east to the west end and the structure was otherwise damaged to such extent that many bolts and braces were required to put it in a safe condition. This was the only building in Casper that was damaged to any great extent, as this and the Odd Fellows' building, were the only large brick buildings in the town at that time. And again, on October 25, 1922, at 6:20 in the evening a slight shock of about one-half second duration was felt by some people in Casper. Some of those who were sick and in bed felt the shock more distinctly than those who were up and around in their homes or in their business houses or upon the streets. The tremor was very slight, and no damage of any kind was reported. At Salt Creek, fifty miles north, and at Bucknum, twenty-two miles west of Casper, the vibrations were much more pronounced, and they were from two to three seconds' duration. Some people in the vicinity of Bucknum reported that the disturbance continued for at least ten seconds, but it is evident that they judged the duration more by the length of time it seemed to them than the actual continuation of the undulations. Glass in the windows at the Box C ranch house, a few miles to the north of Bucknum station, were cracked and the frame buildings swayed and creaked as though they were about to be caved in. In Salt Creek dishes which had been placed on the dining tables and those that were in the china closets were badly shaken, and pictures that were hanging on the walls in some of the residences swayed to and fro, and many other indications of the seismic disturbance were in evidence. Many people rushed from their houses, thinking that a gas explosion had occurred in the vicinity, and it was some time before it dawned upon them that the shock they had felt had been caused by an earthquake. NITRO-GLYCERINE EXPLOSION The explosion of 400 quarts of nitro-glycerine at about 8 o'clock in the evening on May 26, 1919, at the storage house of the Wyoming Torpedo company, about two miles east from Casper, shook the town as if there was an earthquake. Windows in many of the business houses were broken and the vibrations could be distinctly felt throughout the town. The storage house for the glycerine was a dug-out along the river bank and Mack McCoy and a companion had brought an auto truck load of the nitro-glycerine from the plant a couple of miles farther east, intending to put it in the storage house over night and take it to Thermopolis the next day to be used in the oil fields near that town. It is supposed that the explosion was caused from the concussion of opening the storage house door or that one of the cans was dropped on the ground while the men were unloading it from the truck. Immediately after the report was heard in Casper a huge cloud of smoke and dust was seen to rise in the sky and its appearance resembled an immense balloon in the air. Fully three thousand people rushed to the scene of the accident. Where the storage house stood was now an immense hole in the ground, hundreds of bits of human flesh and bones were scattered within a radius of a quarter of a mile, the auto truck was blown into thousands of pieces and scattered about in all directions; the trees along the river bank were sheared of their branches and the destruction was complete. McCoy and his companion were seen driving the auto truck toward the storage house about ten minutes before the explosion occurred, but the identity of the other man was never established. Additional Comments: History of NATRONA COUNTY WYOMING 1888-1922 True Portrayal of the Yesterdays of a New County and a Typical Frontier Town of the Middle West. Fortunes and Misfortunes, Tragedies and Comedies, Struggles and Triumphs of the Pioneers and Illustrations BY ALFRED JAMES MOKLER Publisher of the Natrona County Tribune from June 1, 1897, to October 15, 1914 R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO (1923) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/natrona/history/1923/historyo/natronac13gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wyfiles/ File size: 7.4 Kb