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Stores Hard-Hit, 2 Schools Close
By Hal Knight
A rolling earthquake rocked Salt Lake Valley at 9:05 a.m. Wednesday, closing several schools and causing widespread structural damage.
No serious injuries were reported, but residents were jittery inasmuch as it was the second major quake in one week. Another quake centered in Cache Valley jolted the area only last Thursday.
Windows shattered, several homes had walls or ceilings collapse and cracks appeared in houses and buildings throughout the valley.
The quake was not as heavy as the one last week, but it was felt more strongly in the Salt Lake area because the tremor apparently started right in the valley.
Measuring stations in California said the intensity of the quake was about 5 on the Richter scale. Last week's tremor was measured at 6.1 by these same stations.
However, in the Salt Lake area the phone company was nearly swamped as reports of damage to homes and buildings poured in.
School work was totally disrupted as pupils were rushed outside as the quake struck.
Jackson Elementary was temporarily closed until 1 p.m. on 1st North between 6th and 7th West.
Jordan Junior High School was evacuated for 25 minutes. There were many cracks in the windows and walls, but the youngsters were allowed back in school with the auditorium declared off limits.
Walls were pulled from window frames, a ceiling sagged and a network of cracks spread across many walls and ceilings, he said.
At Cyprus High windows were shattered and cracks appeared on walls of a dozen classrooms. The hallway of the second floor was weakened and plaster was on the floors.
Damage elsewhere was widespread and varied.
Several homes around the valley were shifted on their foundations and grocery stores had merchandise dumped in the aisles.
Mrs. Vern Oliver, 2888 S. 9150 West, Magna, manager of Cornet Store, 9071 Main St., suffered a possible fractured leg when she slipped on hand lotion spilled on the floor.
Several bottles were broken on the floor during the quake. She was listed in "good" condition later Wednesday at St. Mark's Hospital.
The Bishop's Central Storehouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1600 Wallace Rd., reported severe damage to windows and plaster walls.
Bishop Charles M. Knighton said several quarter inch-wide cracks had spread along walls while about 90 feet of wallboard had pulled loose on the second floor. Another 70 feet was damaged on the ground floor.
Plaster was shaken loose and cracks appeared in the new State Office Building, the police station, the new airport terminal, and the city and county building.
At the Deseret News building, 16 windows were broken and a light fixture dropped from the ceiling and hairline cracks appeared in walls.
Some stores reported heavy damage to merchandise. Grand American Market at 34th South and State said the quake caused "a real mess."
At the Mori Market in Magna several thousand dollars worth of stock went cascading to the floor, completely filling four aisles.
First Security Bank in Magna reported that the vault was cracked by the tremor.
Communications, gas lines and electrical service were generally not interrupted by the quake, but electric clocks all over town stopped.
A state liquor store in Magna had a major cleanup job when 400 to 500 bottles fell from shelves, many shattering on the floor.
Some older homes in Salt Lake City suffered severe damage. A roof fell in at 17 N. 5th West and wall and ceiling collapsed at a residence at 430 E. 7th South.
Similar but less severe damage also was reported in several other locations.
Reports indicate that the quake started in the western part of the valley and rolled eastward, mainly through Salt Lake City.
Both Ogden and Provo felt the tremor, but no calls were received reporting serious damage. The quake was felt slightly in the Logan area, but no further damage was reported in that still-shaken region.
No reports were expected on the intensity of the quake from the University of Utah seismograph office until arrival of additional information from the U. seismograph office at Carbon College in Price.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
"Wednesday's upheaval was a brand-new earthquake, not an aftermath of last week's tremors," said Dr. Kenneth L. Cook, professor-head of the geophysics department, University of Utah.
His comments followed a check of the university's seismograph which showed Wednesday's quake struck at 9:04:50 a.m., lasted 11 minutes, peaked one minute after the tremors began and knocked the recording instrument off the chart for a little less than 60 seconds.
"Last week's earthquake lasted 15 to 20 minutes," said Dr. Cook. "It knocked the instrument off the chart for two to four minutes. It was a lot stronger than this one appears at first glance."
Dr. Cook explained that Salt Lake City may have been hit harder this time because the epicenter of the quake could have been closer than last week. At that time Logan took the brunt of the shock since the center was in Cache Valley.
"We won't be able to pinpoint the center until we check our instruments at Price and Dugway," reported the professor. "But it doesn't seem as bad."
To downtown Salt Lakers, it seemed a lot worse.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
Sway 'N' Bounce
Most Salt Lakers were up and about and felt the earthquake that shook the valley at 9:05 a.m. Wednesday.
As soon as the earth--and nervous tension--subsided, reports of quake incidents began pouring in.
Jim Reece, copy writer for Axelsen, Finlayson and Brown Advertising Inc., on the 13th floor of the Continental Bank Building, said it definitely "felt stronger than the other quake."
The 16th floor of the Walker Bank Bldg. "experienced a slight swaying sensation," according to Alex Walker Jr., district vice president of Columbia Geneva Steel.
"I hit for the first exit," declared Mrs. Mildred Breitling, secretary in the administration office of Salt Lake General Hospital.
At LDS Hospital operations were suspended momentarily until the earth settled down, but there were no injuries and no damage to the building although it got a good shaking.
Operators at the swaying switchboard were swamped with calls both in and out immediately after the quake.
No damage was reported to phone lines in the Salt Lake area, but so many calls jammed the circuits it was next to impossible to dial several exchanges until several hours after the quake subsided.
"Things really rocked" at the eight-story control tower at the Salt Lake Municipal Airport, but no damage was reported.
On the lighter side, at Dee's Hamburgers, 437 S. Main St., everyone tried to pay his breakfast bill at the same time and rush from the cafe.
Mrs. Joseph M. James, 809 N. Redwood Rd., said, "It felt like the house was coming off the foundation. My husband was outside and he said he felt the ground rumbling before the house started to shake." Later inspection showed the whole foundation on the north side of the house had pulled away, both in back and in front.
Donna Slater of Lehi, who was visiting in Kearns, said she was standing outside her car in a field by the Jordan River when the quake struck and turned the car around.
However, Judith Moss, 1981 Siggard Dr., said she "just barely felt it," and thought it might be an overloaded automatic washer.
Mrs. Maurice A. Newman, 1325 S. 1700 West, said the Riverton area was shaken much worse from this quake than the one last week.
She said she was standing out on the sidewalk and it felt like the whole earth shook and the tile roof "sounded like teeth chattering."
The tremor broke some bottles and knocked canned goods from shelves at the Granger Market, 19th West and 3500 South, but no other damage was reported.
"It gave us a definite rock," one faculty member reported. Another said, "It moved me from my desk."
A Pleasant Grove woman said the dishes in her cupboard shook and a woman from American Fork said it shook the chairs.
Most residents of Provo who reported the quake said they felt the rocking.
A timely discussion on "school dropouts" is scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Bryant Junior High School, but fortunately it has nothing to do with the quake as little damage was reported at schools.
The earthquake made like a yegg in Magna and cracked the bank vault at First Security Bank.
However, no damage was discovered in the Capitol, but the State Office Building had a crack in the plaster on the third floor near the Driver License Office and several other hairline cracks. J. G. King, assistant director of the State Building Board, said there was no structural damage.
Employees in the Federal Building said they felt like they were sitting on a bowl of jelly. A few cracks were found over the doors of City Commission chambers in the City and County Bldg., and a few employees left the building during the quake.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
An appeal not to spread rumors, stories and reports without knowing the facts following an earthquake, or any other type of possible disaster, was made Wednesday by police officials.
Several unfounded reports following Wednesday morning's earthquake had a school in Salt Lake City "severely damaged."
Such was not the case, but early reports by several radio and television stations frightened a lot of parents who flocked to the scene, expecting to find the worst.
Police officers, dispatched to the school to check out the reports, found the scene crowded with worried and frightened parents who had to be assured that there was no serious damage.
Chief L. C. Crowther urged people to stay at home in case of a disaster, and to let police officers handle any problems that might arise.
If there is trouble, those involved will be notified. By rushing to the scene the work of officers is only hampered and delayed, he added.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
The ground in Utah has shuddered many times with earthquake tremors since the pioneers arrived in 1850, but none of the temblors caused catastrophic results.
Utah's first earthquake was recorded in 1850. Following is a summary of other ones recorded in the state since then:
1897 and 1898--Repeated light shocks reported.
1897, Feb. 8--Corinne, Box Elder County, reported heavy disturbances.
1906, April 18--San Francisco quake felt in Utah.
1934, March 12 to April 17--Repeated quakes in Utah, with those striking Salt Lake City described as the most intense ever to hit the city. Schools closed for two days to avoid danger of building cave-ins on March 12. Thirty shocks were felt in northern Utah March 15, and more than 100 struck the Locomotive Springs area. A moderate quake hit Salt Lake City April 2, and a major one struck the city April 14. Light shocks followed on April 15 and April 17.
1959, Aug. 18--Southwestern Montana quake in Yellowstone area felt in Utah.
1962, Aug. 30--Temblor recorded in Cache Valley area at 6:36 with damage in Richmond, Logan and Lewiston areas. Epicenter near Logan.
In addition, many relatively minor quakes have been recorded since Utahns became more "earthquake conscious" after the 1934 shocks.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
Damage to downtown buildings during Wednesday morning's earthquake which shook the Salt Lake Valley was reported relatively slight, even though the shock was a "terrifying" experience.
Along Main Street where Salt Lake City's tallest structures are located, damage was confined to minor plaster cracks.
A building engineer at Deseret Building at 1st South and Main reported "a couple of plaster cracks on the fourth floor." He also said water from the water tanks splashed up the walls about eight inches. Plaster cracks were also reported in the Newhouse Building, 10 Exchange Place.
One custodian at Continental Bank Building said he was on the 11th floor at the time of the quake. "It was a pretty terrifying experience," he said.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
Wednesday morning's earthquake gave Salt Lakers a more severe shaking than last Thursday's tremor even though the latest quake wasn't as strong.
The reason it seemed stronger was because this time it apparently was centered just west of Salt Lake City, while the one last week was centered in Logan, said Dr. Kenneth L. Cook of the University of Utah's Geophysics Dept.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
It is a cuckoo world, says Mrs. Sarah E. Dellier, 2831 S. 9100 West.
Wednesday's jolt of the Salt Lake Valley stopped a lot of clocks--at precisely 9:05 a.m.
But out in Magna, Mrs. Dellier has an old family heirloom cuckoo clock which hasn't run for six years.
"The jewelers and watchmakers don't like to fool with it, because it is so old, so we haven't had it fixed. But we still keep it on the wall."
The earthquake Wednesday morning was hardly over when the clock began ticking and out popped Mr. Cuckoo himself, after six years' hibernation.
The old time piece was still ticking away late Wednesday afternoon.
[Deseret News; September 5, 1962]
Inspections Show Damage Widespread, But Minor
A cleanup and review of damage was under way Thursday in the wake of an earthquake which rocked the Salt Lake Valley Wednesday morning.
No serious injuries were reported, although one woman was hospitalized when she slipped on a broken bottle during the tremor.
After the excitement, inspection showed damage to be widespread, but mostly of a minor nature--generally broken glass and cracks in walls and ceilings.
Two high schools, both on the west side of the valley, which had been closed because of quake damage Wednesday, were back in normal operation.
The tremor, which rumbled across the valley at 9:05 a.m., was centered about a mile west of Magna and was felt strongly throughout Salt Lake City.
The quake was felt from Spanish Fork to Logan. The latter city barely noticed the tremor.
As the quake shuddered its way across Salt Lake Valley, schools in the Salt Lake, Granite, and Jordan districts were evacuated.
Jackson Elementary School, 750 W. 1st North, one of the oldest in the city, had classes delayed for several hours until a thorough check of the structure could be made. School resumed at 1 p.m.
At Granger and Cyprus high schools, both closer to the epicenter of the quake, damage was more extensive and classes were dismissed for the day.
An inspection at Granger High showed some acoustical tile was torn loose for about 100 feet in one area, but no further damage was found.
At Cyprus High, a parapet around the top of the school was damaged and had to be removed and plaster cracks were found in several places.
Both schools resumed normal operations Thursday and Dr. O. C. England, deputy superintendent, said total damage to schools in the Granite District probably would not be much over $1,000.
In the Salt Lake District about 14 schools reported damage, none of it of a serious nature, and all schools were in session Thursday.
Several homes and businesses had a major clean up problem after the earthquake sent plaster and merchandise crashing down.
Mrs. George Miller, 17 N. 5th West, was seated on a bed with a son when the ceiling fell in, covering the other end of the bed with debris.
Mrs. Oral Martineau, 271 W. 5th North, had a similar experience. She was in the bedroom with two small children when portions of the ceiling and an inner wall collapsed near the bed.
Mrs. Carl Wesemann, 430 E. 7th South, was struck by falling plaster as blocks from an inner wall fell through the ceiling. An outside wall was cracked from foundation to roof.
Retail stores cleaned up the mess and were back in business shortly after the quake. Merchandise toppled from shelves at several food markets but was quickly replaced.
Mrs. Vern A. Oliver, 56, 2888 S. 9150 West, Magna, manager of the Coronet Store, 9071 Main St., Magna, suffered a broken leg when she slipped on a broken bottle of hand lotion during the quake.
At ZCMI in downtown Salt Lake City, a crystal display was being set up when the tremor rumbled. A great deal of broken glass resulted.
At the Deseret News building, which bounced hard during the earth movement and had 16 windows broken and a light fixture fall, more damage was found Thursday.
Investigation of some telephone trouble turned up the fact than an entire wall had pulled away from interior supports a fraction of an inch.
Public buildings such as the post office, police station, city and county building, and the airport terminal all reported cracks in the walls, although no serious structural damage resulted.
A high pressure gas leak on a valve at 3000 West and 300 North in West Point, Davis County, kept repair crews busy for more than five hours.
Max Swenson, district manager for Mountain Fuel Supply Co., said he didn't know for sure what caused the leak "but because the break was coincidental with the quake, we are assuming it was responsible."
Traffic was detoured around the area for a while to forestall the danger of a spark from a car and some 68 homes in West Point were without gas service for a time.
[Deseret News; September 6, 1962]
Understandably, people are a little jittery after two earthquakes have rumbled across the Salt Lake area in a single week.
But those who think that the house keeps trembling since the last one are probably victims of their own imaginations.
Officials at the University of Utah seismograph station on campus reported Thursday that their instruments have recorded no aftershocks.
There was one small movement at 8 p.m. Wednesday night, but it was so tiny it could only be picked up by instruments and wouldn't be felt. It was not certain where it came from.
No other shocks of any kind were picked up by the seismograph station through the night.
[Deseret News; September 6, 1962]
When an earthquake rumbles and plaster starts to fall, the first impulse people have is to run for the outdoors.
This is exactly the wrong thing to do.
Most injuries in an earthquake are caused by falling debris, glass or electrical wires just outside a building.
State Civil Defense authorities warn that if you are indoors, stay indoors. Don't run through or outside doorways or outer walls.
If inside, take cover under a desk, table or bench or in a doorway, hall or against an inside wall. Stay away from windows or skylights.
If outdoors already, get away from buildings. Go to a clear area away from walls or utility poles.
Turn off all utilities and if you smell gas after a quake, don't use matches or candles. Just open doors and windows and notify authorities.
After a quake turn on the radio or television, but don't use the telephone, except to report emergencies.
(This was a problem in Salt Lake City's Wednesday quake when all phone lines were immediately swamped after the tremor.)
Finally, the Civil Defense warns not to go sightseeing after a quake. You may just interfere with rescue or repair operations.
[Deseret News; September 6, 1962]
WASHINGTON--Sen. Frank E. Moss (D-Utah) said Thursday that the Small Business Administration was investigating the effects of Wednesday's earthquake in Salt Lake City.
FBA Administrator John E. Horne was awaiting reports from Salt Lake City and nearby affected areas.
The FBA could provide low-interest loans to repair quake damage, as it did in last week's Cache Valley quake.
[Deseret News; September 6, 1962]
Intensity of the earthquake which shook Salt Lake Valley Wednesday was measured at 5.1 on the Richter scale by University of Utah instruments.
These same measuring devices recorded the earth shock at Cache Valley last week at 5.7.
Just what is the Richter scale and what do these measurements indicate?
Moving upward on the scale shows multiplication of the strength of an earthquake.
For example, each point on the scale indicates that the strength of the quake must be multiplied by 10.
Using this measurement, the Cache Valley quake was about six times as severe as the one which rattled Salt Lake Wednesday.
The Hebgen quake three years ago at West Yellowstone was approximately 100 times heavier than the tremor which jarred the city.
The measurements indicate the shock of the quake at its center.
[Deseret News; September 6, 1962]
Most of Salt Lake Valley was settled back to normal Friday after an earthquake had rocked the area Wednesday morning.
Widespread minor damage caused by the tremor was cleaned up and some slight structural damage to buildings was being inspected and repaired.
Two extremely light aftershocks were recorded by seismograph instruments at the University of Utah, but both were too mild to be felt.
One small tremor was picked up by the sensitive instruments at 8:05 p.m. Wednesday and another was recorded at 4:28 p.m. Thursday.
Both of these tremors were so small they were not rated on the scale.
Despite some minor damage caused by the quake all schools were open Friday, and being used to normal capacity.
[Deseret News; September 7, 1962]
Click here for Other Newspaper Articles for the 1962 Magna, UT Earthquake.
Click here for Salt Lake Tribune Newspaper Articles for the 1962 Magna, UT Earthquake.
Return to Magna Earthquake Summary.
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