Historic Earthquakes

Near Portsmouth, Ohio
1901 May 17 06:00 UTC
Magnitude 4.2

The strongest effects of this earthquake were reported in Scioto County, near the Kentucky-Ohio-West Virginia border. At Portsmouth, tops of chimneys toppled, bricks tumbled from many chimneys, and windows in several houses wee shattered. East of Portsmouth, at Sciotoville, many chimneys were damaged and dishes were thrown from cupboards. At Gallipolis, Fallia County, plaster in one house was shaken loose. Reported felt mainly in the area along the border of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, including Greenup and Lewis Counties, Kentucky, and Cabell and Kanawha Counties, West Virginia, to the south; Adams and Brown Counties, Ohio, to the west; Muskingum and Washington Counties, Ohio, and Wood County, West Virginia, to the northeast; and Highland County, Ohio, to the northwest.

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