This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: 1867 Residents of Fremont county. Classification: Bible Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/1631 Message Board Post: N.B.: For instances when an earthquake must be taken in account by Fremont county residents, type "earthquake" in at the SEARCH space at the begining of these postings.--W.F. THE SIDNEY ARGUS - HERALD. June 15, 1933. "EARTHQUAKES IN IOWA".--Seventeen earthquakes have been recorded in Iowa since the coming of the white settlers. The first shock was felt at Burlington on January 4, 1843. Buildings were perceptibly affected by the tremors and the citizens were considerably alarmed but no injury was done. Fifteen years later the Sioux City Eagle recorded a shock accompanied by heavy rumblings which was of sufficient force to shake pictures and crockery from their places. Quakes of varying degrees of intensity were felt in Iowa in 1867, 1870, 1872, and 1877. Several towns in eastern Iowa distinctly felt the tremors of the great Charleston earthquake of August 31, 1886, but no damage was done. Two shocks were experienced during the '90's--that at Keokuk on October 31, 1895, being described as the hardest shock in the entire region since the New Madrid earthquake of 1811. This earthquake was probably noticed throughout Iowa, since it was reported by many towns from Lansing to Sidney (sic; in 1811?) Eight earthquakes were recorded in Iowa between 1902 and 1917. Ninety years have now elapsed since the first earthquake was chronicled in Iowa.During this time, seventeen shocks have been recorded and a number of milder distrubances may have occurred but remain unknown. An average of one quake every six years might cause some alarm, but close analysis of the facts should remove all apprehension. During this period not a single life has been lost in Iowa and the damage to property has been neglible. The heavy glacial drift, which covers the state like a huge mantle, has served as a shock absorber for any quakes that have yet occurred.