Preview
Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
33
be afraid that the Sentinel Rock immediately above me would be shaken down therefore while anxious to observe so rare a phenomenon I also took shelter back of a large yellow pine hoping that I should at least be safe from small flying [rocks] stones in case the entire rock should not fall but only a part. [Soon] The motion became [yet] more violent, sharp quick horizontal thrusts, [then a] & [twisting motion] twists, & [again] a few bumps from beneath, the sensation of this last form of action being like that of standing on a floor beneath which some one [someone] was striking upward blows with a battering-ram. This was kept up for [about 2½ or 3 minutes] perhaps a minute or 2 with tremendous energy & it seemed impossible that every rock in the valley could be left standing. It was no simple fit of chattering [dinnering] tremors discoverable only by a clatter of dishes & pans, or the creaking of wooden houses but quick shattering thrusts & twists & upward bumps [blows] that seemed driven with such energy as would suggest nature’s making a supreme effort to wreck [the whole mountain frame] all the mtn [mountain] buildings hereabouts & begin anew.
While I looked on with intense interest greatly enjoying though also fearing somewhat, there came a voice from up the valley terrible in loudness
34
of war but divinely attuned to the passionate energies of the earthquake shocks. Turning in the direction of the huge uproar I saw [that] the Eagle Rock [was] falling. [This rock] It was 1500 ft [feet] high & was capped by a large stone somewhat like an eagle with wings outspread ready to take for flight. It did take flight [last] that night the topmost stone like the eagle & a thousand more that were a moment before built into the solid wall (where they had remained steadfast & silent for centuries).
Rushing through air as if alive (& eager to move) with a passion of noise & power commensurate with the general earthquake storm. Then these rocks found a voice & what a voice! All the thunder storms I had ever heard condensed in one would seem less than this vast roar of a thousand huge boulders falling gasping grinding against each other. The friction produced a grand sheet of fire & fine impalpable dust which streamed backward from the swift onrush of boulders while the full moon looked down [shone] in serene [unconscious] majesty
Soon the sulphurous [sulfurous] smell of the flames mingled with the balsam of crushed trees [that were crushed like weeds] floated out over the meadows
Date Occurred
1871-1874
Resource Identifier
MuirReel31 Notebook11 Img020.jpg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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