dutch508 the epicenter of Nebraska's most violent earthquake

[franksolich]

And dutch508 probably never even knew it, if he was even born yet.

This morning, the Omaha World-Herald published a list of all known earthquakes to have affected Nebraska--it isn't a very long list, as the terrain is like the people here, laid back and mellow.

Anyway, according to the largest newspaper in the state, on March 28, 1964, there occurred an earthquake the magnitude of "7" in a county in the "panhandle" of the state, the western slope of the Sandhills, which spooked tens of thousands of cattle into running amok, bounced around the whole city of Merriman, crumbled streets and highways, and violently convulsed the Niobrara River.

It looks as if the epicenter was right where dutch508 spent his ladhood, right under his own feet.

That was the most violent known earthquake in Nebraska.

dutch508 probably doesn't remember it--if he was even born yet--but I bet if he telephoned his paternal ancestor or his maternal ancestress, they would remember it.

There were other earthquakes in the "general" area (northwestern and north-central Nebraska).

November 2002, 4.3 magnitude.
December 2003, 4.4 magnitude.
December 2005, 2.5 magnitude.

Now, I spent my own adolescence smack in the middle of the state of Nebraska--right there in the bull's-eye center of the state (I had spent my infancy and childhood about sixty miles south of there; two different Nebraskas), which had an earthquake the magnitude of 3.5 in December 2002.

But I wasn't around in the neighborhood in December 2002.

However, in February 2006, an earthquake the magnitude of 2.9 occurred 20 miles east of Ainsworth, Nebraska, within walking distance of the William Rivers Pitt--and I was around, but I don't remember getting all shook up, or that the cats inside and outside the house acted odd.  I wasn't even aware such a thing had happened until I read about it in the newspaper this morning.

{Remember; dutch508 grew up on the western slope of the Sandhills of Nebraska; franksolich grew up in the center of the Sandhills of Nebraska, and currently lives on the eastern slope.)

[dutch508]

March 28, 1964, hmmmm...

Dec 23, 1964.

Nine months?

Your honor, The defense rests.

[Chris_]

March 28, 1964, hmmmm...

Dec 23, 1964.

Nine months?

Your honor, The defense rests.

Kinky. 

[dutch508]

always.

[Chris_]

In California, those "earthquakes" would be page 9.

We would just call them "little shakers."

[dutch508]

In California, those "earthquakes" would be page 9.

We would just call them "little shakers."

It's not the size of the stick, it's how you shake it.

[Chris_]

In California, those "earthquakes" would be page 9.

We would just call them "little shakers."

It's not the size of the stick, it's how you shake it.

Tremors.....Seismic waves..... after shocks 

[Chris_]

In California, those "earthquakes" would be page 9.

We would just call them "little shakers."

It's not the size of the stick, it's how you shake it.

Tremors.....Seismic waves..... after shocks  :hyper:

Then he just rolls over and goes to sleep.

[Chris_]

In California, those "earthquakes" would be page 9.

We would just call them "little shakers."

It's not the size of the stick, it's how you shake it.

Tremors.....Seismic waves..... after shocks 

Then he just rolls over and goes to sleep.

life immitates nature. 

[franksolich]

Well, actually, dutch508, sir, I've been curious about this all day long.

While you were growing up, did anyone happen to mention it to you?

As you already know, "Nebraska history" is mandated to be taught in the 4th and 5th grades in school (after which one is expected to go onto a broader, wider world), and I remember it well.

When describing the natural phenomenae of Nebraska, which of course took about a third of a history book, there being so much of that stuff here, there was usually a paragraph buried somewhere about an earthquake in extreme southeastern Nebraska, down touching Missouri, that occurred in 1816 or 1826 (nobody was around in Nebraska to see it, though); apparently related to some larger earthquake in southeastern Missouri, hundreds of miles away, at the same time.

And so the student was left with the impression earthquakes aren't a common thing in Nebraska, much less any of any importance.

I was surprised by the list published in the newspaper; true, it was a short list when compared with other states, but it was a list a lot longer than I had thought it would be.

And you, sir, were right there, right at Ground Zero, when the Big One happened.

When you were growing up, did anyone by chance ever mention it?

[Wretched Excess]

I would bet that he hasn't felt the earth move in years.

[franksolich]

I would bet that he hasn't felt the earth move in years.

Well, here's my deal about this.

dutch508 has probably done, and probably in the future will do, things that earned, or will earn, him fame, and rightfully so.

Recently there were a spate of news stories about the last survivor of the sinking of Titanic in 1912; some woman who had been an infant two months old at the time.

And if memory serves correctly a couple or so years ago, there were a spate of news stories about the last survivor of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; some woman who had been six years old at the time.

Now, the magnitude of the Merriman (Nebraska) earthquake of 1964 was not quite as strong as that of San Francisco in 1906 or Tokyo in 1923 (I think it was 1923) or Alaska in 1964, but at "7," it was probably pretty close.

So about fifty years from now, near the "centennial" of the Merriman earthquake, dutch508 has a chance to be heralded as "the last survivor" of that Great Cataclysm.  Besides leading a parade from his wheelchair, his great-great-grandchildren pushing it, he could probably get on Good Morning America and the Morning Show, and be the cover story of People magazine.

As I said, undoubtedly dutch508 has done, and will do, many things of Great Merit, probably surpassing any distinction as the last survivor of a major earthquake, but this extra gravy wouldn't hurt.

[Airwolf]

I was born in 1959 and have leved just outside of Omaha for alot of my years but I never heard of the quake in 1964. I would have thought at least one of the three TV stations would have said something and by the way one of the family memebers too.

[franksolich]

I was born in 1959 and have leved just outside of Omaha for alot of my years but I never heard of the quake in 1964. I would have thought at least one of the three TV stations would have said something and by the way one of the family memebers too.

It strikes me that this was about the same time as the famous earthquake in Alaska, which of course got much media attention, at least in the weekly newsmagazines.

That might have overshadowed news coverage of anything in Nebraska.  And remember, we're talking western Nebraska here, far from Omaha.  They didn't cover things on television that were too far away, and we're talking circa, maybe, 450 miles.

Also, remember that this particular county, like the one I live in on the other side of the Sandhills, is a large county geographically, but a small county in population; one of those places with more miles of road per vehicle, than vehicles per mile of road.

I have never lived in the panhandle itself other than as a tiny infant (in Bridgeport, the central part of the panhandle), but of course I've been there many times, sometimes for several weeks.  The panhandle has some of the most awesome scenery one could ever hope to see, and besides that, is impeccably clean.

The greatest fear is that, after all the primitives who emigrated to Vermont the past forty years, get done turning that once-distinctive state into a hellhole or shithole or both,  is that they're going to look for another clean, unsullied, pristine place to pollute, and might discover Nebraska.

Ever since statehood in 1867, the panhandle has always had a grievance against the rest of Nebraska, sometimes even threatening to join Wyoming, and from my perception--as a non-panhandler, remember--those grievances are eminently justified.  Even though we're all Nebraska, Omaha and Lincoln tend to dismiss the panhandle as just a wide-open space with lots of nature but few people living there.

The panhandlers, in their own way, "get back" at the arrogant Omaha and Lincoln, mostly by concentrating their  interests, their commerce, their investments, on Denver (Colorado) rather than in Nebraska cities eastward.

A lot of money drains from the panhandle down into Denver, and it's much to the loss of Nebraska, especially to the big cities of Nebraska who so arrogantly think the panhandle "doesn't matter."

I've been hoping Ptarmigan would show up on this thread, to explain whether or not the Great Merriman Earthquake of 1964 was related to the Great Alaska Earthquake of the same year, and I think, the same time.

Ptarmigan knows this sort of stuff.

[franksolich]

Okay, since Ptarmigan never showed up to explain the details, I had to google it myself.

I don't care to google, as I end up wandering all over the place; the other night, for example, when I was working on a Freudian analysis of the sparkling husband primitive, I got engrossed in a biography of Edward Heath, prime minister of England 1970-1974, which had nothing to do with what I was looking for (and never found).

Anyway.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1964_03_28_a.php

Near Merriman, Nebraska
1964 March 28 10:08:46 UTC
Magnitude 5.1
Intensity VII

Largest Earthquake in Nebraska

Many cracks formed in the roadway south of Merriman, and steep slopes slumped into the Niobrara River. Merchandise in stores was broken, dishes were broken, and stucco under windows cracked. At Alliance, about 135 kilometers southwest of Merriman, part of a chimney cap fell on a house; at Rushville, about 35 kilometers southwest of Merriman, plaster fell and a wall cracked. Also felt in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

I have no idea what "UTC" means; probably the currently politically-correct term for Greenwich Mean Time.

The link on the page linked above shows a map of the area.

[djones520]

UTC = GMT = Zulu

[Lord Undies]

The New Madrid Missouri Earthquake of 1811 was the strongest earthquake this continent has seen.  It is estimated to have been well over 8.0 and possibly very close to 9.0.  It caused the Liberty Bell to ring in Philadelphia.  It made the Mississippi River flow backwards.  It was felt in mid-state New York.  No one knows how far west in was felt.   It was an extremely violent event which considerably change the landscape of the region.

The New Madrid Earthquake of 1812 was a 7.7 (estimate). 

It is apparent by historical account, the region is not a stranger to earthquakes. 

[Lord Undies]

http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/richards/

I found this website about New Madrid.

[franksolich]

You know, there was one other earthquake in Missouri, probably after 1867, after Nebraska became a state.

What it did was shift a piece of Nebraska over into Missouri.

It's on the larger maps of Nebraska, a near-perfect circle of land, perhaps 100' in diameter, a mere speck of a thing--and it's not right across the river; there's the river separating Nebraska and Missouri, and then some land, and then this little circle.

Barely enough room to turn a tractor around, but it belongs to Nebraska (for the record, Missouri does not contest that it belongs to us).

One wonders if the particular owner of the land pays state and county (Nebraska county) taxes, or if because it's not a big deal, the owner pays taxes to Missouri.

The other oddity is Carter Lake in northern Omaha; on the west bank of the Missouri River, it was originally on the east bank (Iowa) until some great big huge enormous flood on the Missouri River in the early 1950s.

Now Carter Lake is a finger jabbing into Nebraska, contingent with Nebraska and separated from Iowa.

I think state boundaries should be adjusted whenever some natural catastrophe happens that shifts land; it keeps things neater.

[franksolich]

http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/richards/

I found this website about New Madrid.

Okay, I went to the web-site.

I wonder if that earthquake in Nebraska about the same time, the earthquake that's mentioned in history books that ignore the much greater Merriman earthquake, was a ripple of this.