Earthquake of May 3, 1887

Sam Brannan · Post by **Sam Brannan** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:25 am

Hi

I'm new here. Great forum. To me forums are like placer mines. You have to dig through a lot of overburden to get to the nuggets. This one has more nuggets and less overburden than most...

I've uncovered some definitive information on the earthquake "that gave this range (the Superstitions) a severe shaking up in 1887" as Bicknell put it.

This excerpt comes from: Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised) by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993.

This earthquake occurred in a sparsely settled region of Northern Sonora, Mexico. It caused widespread damage to property, 51 deaths, and many injuries. From Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico to Nogales, Arizona; Benson and Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and at towns as far away as Albuquerque, New Mexico, water in tanks slopped over, railroad cars were set in motion on tracks, chimneys were thrown down, and buildings were cracked. Other U.S. cities that sustained moderate to heavy damage include; Bisbee, Fairbank, Fort Huachuca, Saint David, San Simon, Solomonville, Tombstone, Tres Alamos, and Wilcox, Arizona; and Deming, Sabinal, and Silver City, New Mexico. Near the epicenter, liquefaction effects induced significant ground failure that led to the collapse of buildings and other structures.

At Tepic, Sonora, a town about 190 kilometers south of Tombstone, Arizona, the walls and roofs of every house were shattered - many of the walls had fallen out, and the roofs had collapsed. The plaza and streets at Tepic were "ripped up" by fissures, some as wide as 15 centimeters, and irrigation ditches around the town were broken. At Moctezuma, about 32 kilometers south of Tepic, the houses were wrecked, and all inhabitants were living outside. At Oputo, about 56 kilometers northeast of Tepic, a church collapsed and killed 40 people who had run there for shelter from the earthquake. American prospectors in that area reported that a ground fissure about 0.8 meters wide was created by the earthquake.

The 76-kilometer-long fault scarp produced by this earthquake is clearly exposed on the east side of the San Bernardino Valley of Northern Sonora, southeast of Douglas, Arizona. The maximum displacement on the Pitaycachi fault is 4.5 to 5.1 meters, and evidence exists for previous ruptures on the fault. A significant region of liquefaction was reported as far as 100 kilometers from the fault, and landslides were observed at farther distances. In late 1972, the 1887 scarp was observed from the air along its total length. This study revealed many additional scarps, previously unmapped, paralleling the main fault trace. These scarps appear to represent active faulting over the previous several thousand years.

Seismic motion was felt from Tolica, Mexico (near Mexico City) on the south to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the north; and from Baja California, Mexico, and Yuma, Arizona, on the west to a point 100 kilometers east of El Paso, Texas, on the east. There also was a report that the earthquake was felt in California. Many aftershocks were observed.

So much for the "this temblor was nothing" theory. It's interesting that the report states "A significant region of liquefaction was reported as far as 100 kilometers from the fault, and landslides were observed at farther distances."

Sam Brannan

Joe Ribaudo · Post by **Joe Ribaudo** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:26 am

Sam,

Welcome to the site.

I notice your piece said nothing about the Phoenix area. Most of us have looked into the earthquake of 1887. It has been talked about on this site in the past.

When I look at all of the balancing rocks in the Superstitions, it's hard to imagine much shaking taking place in the past. That does not mean it did not happen, but many of those rocks are very precarious. They have been there a long...long time.

I know we have the eyewitness accounts of some of the pioneers of the area, but still wonder if those balanced rocks give anyone else pause?

Once again, welcome.

Respectfully,

Joe Ribaudo

TGH · Post by **TGH** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:58 am

I feel that Joe is 100% correct here. Way too many balanced rocks and spires standing for that area to have had and earthquake that did the damage it was purported to do.

P

Joe Ribaudo · Post by **Joe Ribaudo** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:52 pm

Buscar and I have each posted a picture of a "precarious" rock formation in the Supes. I have many more.

Respectfully,

Joe

Sam Brannan · Post by **Sam Brannan** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:18 pm

Joe,

Thanks for the welcome.

You're probably right. Those balancing rocks do make a strong case for only minor movement. Unless, of course, it was the earthquake that stood them on end.

(did I use that smilie right to show I'm just kidding?)

My Dad lives on the peninsula south of San Francisco less than 1/4 mi from the San Andreas fault. When the Hector Mine earthquake hit several years ago, he felt it even though he was 450 mi from the epicenter. There were many people that lived a lot closer to the epicenter that never felt it. Strange thing, earthquakes.

Sam Brannan

Joe Ribaudo · Post by **Joe Ribaudo** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:04 pm

Sam,

I have been through a few shakers myself. I have seen how they can tear up one house and leave the one next door unscathed.

In this case, we have been told that this quake did things to the Superstitions that would have shaken them extensively. I mean that the results of the quake would have produced their own tremors, which would have been of a different nature than the earthquake itself.

Having said that, anything is possible.

Respectfully,

Joe Ribaudo

Gregory E. Davis · Post by **Gregory E. Davis** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:18 pm

Gentlemen: An excellent publication pertaining to this subject was printed in l980. I highly recommend it to those who are interested in the 1887 Sonora Earthquake. "The 1887 Earthquake in San Bernardino Valley, Sonora: Historic accounts and intensity patterns in Arizona, by Susan M. DuBois and Ann W. Smith, Special Paper No. 3, State of Arizona, Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology, Tucson, Arizona, Division of The University of Arizona, December, l980, 112 pages." Cordially, Gregory E. Davis

djui5 · Post by **djui5** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:49 pm

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/sta ... istory.php

If they felt it as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico so much that water tanks were spilled over, then I'd imagine they felt it pretty heftily in the supers also.

About the standing spires, like Joe said, earthquaker are funny that way. It's highly possible the region was shook and a lot of those rocks survived the carnage. Wouldn't suprise me the least.

murphy · Post by **murphy** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:39 am

Randy,
Your site from the US Geological Survey also talks about a series of earthquakes that shook Arizona in January of 1935. I wonder if this is the time when Miner's Needle lost its top. If an earthquake strong enough to take the top of the mountain off happened in 1935 it would certainly show that the balancing rocks prevelant throught the Superstitions are sturdier than one would think. Landslides and such could have taken place and covered up mines and caves and clues and left some of the balancing formations still standing.

djui5 · Post by **djui5** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:12 am

murphy wrote:Randy,
Your site from the US Geological Survey also talks about a series of earthquakes that shook Arizona in January of 1935. I wonder if this is the time when Miner's Needle lost its top. If an earthquake strong enough to take the top of the mountain off happened in 1935 it would certainly show that the balancing rocks prevelant throught the Superstitions are sturdier than one would think. Landslides and such could have taken place and covered up mines and caves and clues and left some of the balancing formations still standing.

Yes!!!

Nice work murphy

I'd be willing to be that was the cause of the top being "broke" off.

I do believe also that those balancing rocks are stronger than people think they are. It's sometimes hard to tell how much flat area there is under the rock, and if the area it is sitting on is straight below it's center of gravity, then it would be even that much harder to knock it over.

Also, some of those balancing rocks might have been created by the earthquake, either from rolling down hills or from sand that was surrounding them being washed/shook out from around them, leaving the rock sitting where it is.

Who knows what happens when a big earthquake hits, with it's many after shocks. What makes it even harder to determine is the fact that not many pictures existed of the terrain that long ago, and if they are pictures, they are "low resolution/grainy" and not very detailed.

TGH · Post by **TGH** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:11 pm

Guys,

Just so you know. Bob Ward was a nut. There was no earthquake that destroyed the top of Miners Needle. In fact there are sketches of Miners Needle from the 1800s that show the exact same formation that it is today.

You have to be careful who your sources are. There were alot of nutballs out there in LDM land.

Still are.

P

djui5 · Post by **djui5** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 3:14 pm

oh....

well crap.

So what is that picture of then? It sure looks a lot like miners needle, even has the little nub off to the side.

TGH · Post by **TGH** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 5:44 pm

I am not sure what peak that is. Lots of peaks out there have nubs off to the side. What I do know is that Miners Needle looks nothing like that, nor does the terrain surrounding it.

Bob must have got his pics and peaks mixed up.

P

murphy · Post by **murphy** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:24 pm

Peter,
That was my original, thought that the mountain photographed doesn't match up with current views, even with the top off. Joe has mentioned a specific angle and elevation he thinks that shot could have been taken from. Again, I ask the old timers if anyone has any pictures showing a side that might match?
I don't know if I would call Bob Ward a nut, certainly much of his book is out in left field, and his conclusions are a bit fuzzy, but he did spend time in the mountains when there were things there that are not now.

Gregory E. Davis · Post by **Gregory E. Davis** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:33 am

Gentlemen: Another good published account of the 1887 earthquake can be found in: Arizona and the West, Vol. l9, No. 2, Summer l977. "An Afternoon of Terror, The Sonoran Earhquake of May 3, l887". P. 107-120. Cordially, Gregory E. Davis

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