Week 33 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is “Favorite Discovery.” This is one of my favorite discoveries from this year.
At 5:54 PM on March 10, 1933, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Long Beach, California, causing catastrophic damage. My great-grandmother Emilie’s two sisters, Minnie Wolf and Ida (Wolf) Barton were living in Los Angeles at the time. Thanks to the article “Local Woman Receives Letter From Earthquake Zone,” which appeared on page 5 of the March 28, 1933 edition of the Newburyport Daily News, we have a first-hand account of the earthquake told from Ida’s perspective. Emilie received the letter on March 27, 1933, a day before it was printed in the paper.
Monday, Mar 13
Dear Emilie –
I know I owe you a letter, but keep putting it off. You probably have read in the papers about the awful earthquake we have had all the way to Long Beach. The worst quake was from Compton to Long Beach. Compton is a very small place about seven or eight miles from here. Long Beach is about 20 miles from here and it was terrible there.
Dorothy (Ida’s daughter) and Baby (Ida’s granddaughter, Phyllis Campbell) were here at the time and were going to stay until Arthur (Dorothy’s husband) got out of work. Minnie was alone at Dorothy’s. The quake started at 5:55 and Dorothy and I made a run for the street. Before we got off the porch the chimneys were falling, and we had to dodge bricks, and Dot was hysterical because of her concern for the baby. I went back to turn out the gas, after the worst was over, and the lights went out and my supper was all over the kitchen floor. I slipped and fell in the grease and believe me I was in a big hurry to get out. I have been about half sick ever since. My back seems a little better today. We are all just about nervous wrecks. This is because we keep having slight shakes. Friday night they kept up all night so that there was very little sleep for anybody and last night when we thought they had stopped we had three heavy ones in less than half an hour but not many today, so I am in hopes that we all will get some sleep tonight. I stayed at Dorothy’s Friday night. Jess (Ida’s husband) was brave. He went to the house but walked the street and so forth. The house shook so he went to the neighbor’s. As most everyone stayed up or slept in the machine Saturday night. We stayed at Dorothy’s as her house is smaller and ours shakes a great deal when there is a tremor. Believe me, I am not going to sleep upstairs until the quake stops. Both our chimneys are about down and our heavy store mantle was ready to fall. The chimneys are about two inches from the edge of the roof and will have to be torn down.
Monday, Mar 20
I was writing this letter to you a week ago and we have had heavy quakes since. This was why I stopped writing the first account. I know I should have written before but really we have been so upset and we are all so nervous. We think they are over. Then, just as our confidence is restored, we have two or three more, but the last two days we have had two a day, but not so heavy so we are all beginning to feel a little better. It seems everytime I start to write I get a scare. We just had another. It was short, but just the same I wish they would quit. Minnie and Dorothy are so nervous. I haven’t any desire to go to see the ruins until the quakes are all over. We have friends in Long Beach and it threw them all off their feet. We have had more quakes since the 10th than all of the 26 years we have lived here and I hope we never have such a quake again.
Ida
The 1933 earthquake caused over $50 million in property damage. Thousands of public buildings were destroyed including schools, libraries, hospitals, and municipal buildings. As a result, the Field Act was passed, which gave the California State Division of Architecture the authority to approve the designs of public schools and led to stronger building codes. Falling debris from buildings – particularly brick buildings, caused over 120 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries. Over 500 people were injured in Long Beach alone. Most deaths and injuries occurred outside so Ida and Dorothy made what could have been a fatal mistake by fleeing their home. They were fortunate to survive.
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