The Last Big One:  Accounts from 1857

Los Angeles

Yesterday morning, about half-past eight o'clock, a very severe shock of an earthquake was felt here, the vibrations continuing for fully two minutes....  Several houses were slightly cracked ... but no material damage was sustained.  Doors were slammed to and fro, water was turned out of bowls and pitchers, and in the river the water rushed violently to one bank and then back again, the motion being repeated several times.  In some places the earth is represented as having undulated as a field of wheat moved by the wind.  It caused a general turn out, some rushing from their beds without stopping to dress.

Click on a location below to view more first-hand accounts of the 1857 earthquake.

For the original sources of these accounts, please click here.
Several maps show the above locations.