RBC | Robert Haag, in his book about the early years of Rangely, Colorado, references an earthquake in 1882. In Haag’s account, Charles Porter Hill and Joseph Studer had arrived at the White River and had camped for the night just upstream of Douglas Creek. Today it is known as Rangely.
The two men were scouting out land in White River Valley where the Utes had been forced out. Hill kept a diary and described the day on November 7th, 1882. At about 6 PM, they experienced a very strong earthquake. Hill described the Willow trees nearby bending to the ground and liquid was spilled from a cup.
This unnerving event is recorded in the newspapers of the day. The Rawlins newspaper reported, “A White River correspondent writes us that the earthquake shock was very severely felt in that place on Tuesday evening, Nov. 7th, [1882]”.
From various newspapers in three states, I gathered that the same quake was experienced in Denver; Georgetown, and all points north to Cheyenne; southern Wyoming; Ogden and Salt Lake City Utah. Laramie reported that clocks stopped, plaster cracked, crockery rattled and big windows broken. One unconfirmed source described it as “VII” on the Mercalli intensity scale (about 5-6 in today’s Richter scale). I will admit, even without modern equipment to measure, it was impressive.
It is an interesting tidbit of history. Easy to tuck away and discard, but I would like to use this singular event to demonstrate how some newsmen of the time could make a story bigger than life.
Most of the newspapers published no-nonsense accounts. Some Colorado papers took the opportunity to declare that the earthquake mirrored the disastrous shift in political power earlier on the same election day, Nov. 7. The Mountain Mail ran the headline “VOLCANO IN COLORADO. One J.W. Yard tells a Delta News reporter that the earthquake of seventh instant [meaning in the current month, November] blew open an immense volcanic crater in the Book Plateau mountains, at the head of Vaccination creek, or north fork of Douglas creek. Yard and two companions camped in the vicinity on the night in question and during the progress of the ceremony were thoroughly frightened. Sulphur fumes, seasickness, rocks rolling down the mountain sides, etc. Yard says, “the crater is still in existence and challenges the skeptic to visit the locality in question and see for himself.”
Other papers ran stories of how local citizens had made comical attempts to seek safety.
Earlier in the month, there were other spectacular exhibition of nature, a comet visible near the sun and Northern Light shows. The Rocky Mountain News on November 25th ran the following story. “Professor Howe of the Denver University advances the rather startling proposition that the recent electrical and auroral displays were caused by the comet. This does not account for the frequent auroral displays seen in the Arctic regions, when no comets have put in appearance, neither does it explain why auroral displays are often the most brilliant and frequent in various parts of the world when there are no comets visible in any part of the heavens. He claims that the increase of the sun-spots are also due to the electrical disturbances carried by the comet. He neglects to say that these sun-spots caused the recent cold weather, or that the earthquake a few weeks ago was caused by a whisk of the comet’s tail. These are serious omissions on Prof. Howe’s part. He should be more full and explicit in his statements.”
The Uinta Chieftain [Evanston, WY] newspaper seems to agree, but saves about 50 words. “The extraordinary northern lights, the extremely cold weather, the great comet, and the recent earthquake, cause poor mortals in this part of the world to wonder.”
I have to wonder, did the Rocky Mountain News reporter get paid by the word rather than salary?
Sources: Page 43, The Reality of Rangely by Robert A. Haag 2005; Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org; Wyomingnewspapers.org; University of Utah news archives; The comet referred to was probably “The Great Comet of 1882”, now designated as C/1882 R1. Which is considered one the brightest comets in recorded history. It passed very close to our sun. My thanks to Terry Mobley for putting me on the trail and George Coryell, geologist, for his help.
