May 31, 1854 Earthquake: Southern, California, United States

1854, May 31. "Trask (1856, p. 89) reports "An earthquake at Santa Barbara ten minutes before five o'clock in the morning. There were three vibrations, the first of which was accompanied by a deep rumble; the second was preceded by a loud rushing sound like the approach of a strong wind. About four or five seconds elapsed between each shock. The sea was much distrubed and a heavy swell came in after the second shock was felt which passed some thirty feet beyond the old wreck near the embarcadero. The inhabitants left their beds in their night attire and sought the street, but little damage was done." Later Trask (1864, p. 187) described as "surf" swell and "surf" waves the effect of which he had seen on the following July. No activity was seen on the marigrams recorded at Monterey, North Beach, or San Diego, all rather far away for recording a minor local tsunami. The Los Angeles Daily California Chronicle had no mention of an earthquake or wave activity for the period of May 31 through June 5th but Perrey (1856a, p. 548) says for May 1854 "the 29th again at Santa Barbara, a light shock," makes it possible that this event is slightly misdated. (reference #237)

1854, May 31, 4:50 (local time). There were three shocks at Santa Barbara. The first was accompanied by a muffled rumble and the second was preceded by a rustling like approach of a strong wind. There was a pause of 4-5 seconds between the shocks. The people were very frightened and fled their homes. The sea was very agitated, but did not do any damage. In Joy's opinion (Joy, 1968), either these data are mistaken or these were seiches (Reference #415).

There were no California earthquakes in 1854 listed in any of the historical earthquake catalogs listed below. Therefore, this earthquake is questionable.

Coffman, J.L. and C.A. von Hake, 1973-1982, Earthquake History of the United States, Pub. 41-1, U.S. Department of Commerce, Boulder, CO, 1973, and 1982 Supplement.

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

USGS, 2006, US Earthquake Information by State, retrieved Oct 2, 2006, from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states.php