Historic Earthquakes

Calaveras fault, California
1911 July 01 22:00 UTC
Magnitude 6.5

This earthquake destroyed chimneys and cracked brick walls at Gilroy, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, San Jose, Santa Clara, and other nearby towns. One three-story brick building at Mount Hamilton (Lick Observatory) was damaged so severely it had to be rebuilt, and chimneys on several houses were damaged. Near Coyote, three 7.5-m-high water tanks were knocked down. Slight damage to some buildings was reported at San Francisco. The shock was observed north to Woodland (Yolo County) and south to San Ardo (Monterey County). Isolated reports of this shock were received from as far east as Reno and Carson City, Nev. Several light aftershocks were felt through December 1911.

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.