Boatnerd Discussion Forum

I know earthquakes are a little off-topic for the Boatnerds, but there was a lake freighter (the Henry Steinbrenner) mentioned in the news story!
Just as there would be today, there was a “media frenzy” (the 1906 version of fake news) in the wake of the April 18, 1906, San Francisco earthquake. The April 22, 1906 Duluth News-Tribune article is describing events which occurred on Thursday April 19, 1906 – one day after the San Francisco earthquake and one day before the Hancock, Michigan quake in question - the Hancock quake occurred on Friday April 20, 1906.
Curiously, besides feeling his vessel “suddenly quiver”, Captain Gunderson of the Henry Steinbrenner reported seeing his “compass racing in a circle” and … “a sulphurous odor in the air” – this seems to be a bit of journalistic embellishment – magnetic compasses don’t spin during earthquakes and sulphur fumes are associated with volcanic eruptions, not simple earthquakes.
The question is, did earthquakes cause the Keweenaw mine collapses or did rock bursts deep in the mines (they were called “air blasts” locally) cause the earthquakes? No one back then knew for sure and no one today knows for sure. Fact is, there were numerous earthquakes and there were numerous mine collapses in the Keweenaw mining districts throughout 1905 and 1906.
Both my great grandfather and grandfather were working in those Keweenaw copper mines at the time, so your post was interesting to me. Thanks, JohnH for posting an enjoyable story!

Back in April 1906 just 2 days after the famous San Francisco quake, there was also one near Hancock, MI that toppled some chimneys and caused one death of a worker in the nearby Quincy copper mine. There was some talk whether it was just a collapse in the mine, or if there was a nearby quake on the Keweenaw fault line on the west side of the peninsula. At the time it was decided that it was caused by the collapse, but I ran across this story of a vessel just off Eagle Harbor that had a scary event at the same time, which to me suggests that there really was a quake that occured along that fault line, and caused the mine collapse. Here is that story from the Duluth News-Tribune, April 22, 1906. You may have to click on it to make it big enough to read.