Historic Earthquakes

San Jacinto, California
1899 December 25 12:25 UTC
Magnitude 6.7

Property damage from this earthquake was most severe at Hemet and San Jacinto, west of Palm Springs. Six people were killed by falling adobe walls at Saboba, a few kilometers east of San Jacinto. The estimated property loss of about $50,000 appears to be low.

Only two chimneys remained standing in Hemet, where brick buildings partly collapsed and wood-frame buildings shifted off their foundations. A ground fissure about 46 meters long extended under a house near Hemet; the house was wrenched and twisted severely. The fissure may have been surface rupture in the San Jacinto fault zone. Many brick buildings were partly wrecked at San Jacinto. At Riverside, chimneys were overthrown, and brick buildings were cracked. This severe shock was felt north to Bakersfield (Kern County), south to Jacumba (San Diego County), and northeast to Needles (San Bernardino County). It also was reported felt at Seligman, Arizona. Many aftershocks occurred on December 25 and 26.

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.