1902 quake shook the life out of the Utah hamlet of Hebron

        This map shows with the "X," approximately where Hebron was located.

TREMBLER was the last straw to break Utah town's back …

You won't find the city of Hebron on most Utah maps these days. It's a ghost town, having met its demise almost 100 years ago when earthquakes — possibly including the famous San Francisco quake of 1906 — sent the residents packing by damaging most of its brick buildings.

Located seven miles west of Enterprise in Washington County, this biblically named town thrived in the late 1800s because of mining work in the area.

The Pine Valley earthquake on Nov. 17, 1902, damaged almost all houses in Hebron, many severely. There may not have been a chimney left standing in the town.

The quake destroyed so many homes that residents slept in the tithing granary or in Orson Welcome Huntsman's slab-type house at night.

"People are frightened, seven distinct shocks were felt at Pine Valley" was a Salt Lake Herald headline from Nov. 18, 1902. Aftershocks continued for weeks. Snow and cold increased the suffering in late November.

According to a 1902 diary excerpt from Huntsman, the quake got people seriously thinking about moving down canyon to Enterprise. The quake wasn't the only difficulty in Hebron. Water was sparse in dry years and yet other years there was flooding.

St. George and Santa Clara also had substantial damage from the quake. "St. George damaged by earthquake, Buildings shaken and cliffs torn asunder; some made seasick" was a Deseret News headline from Nov. 21, 1902.

Salt Lake County residents, mostly those in the southern end, also felt the Pine Valley quake. The shocks produced lots of fear and frenzy and even stopped clocks in Salt Lake City, though no damage was reported.

"Earthquake sways big buildings of Salt Lake" was a Herald headline from Nov. 18, 1902.

No one knows the exact magnitude of those early 20th Century quakes in Utah. There were no seismographs in the state then.

The Pine Valley quake is believed to have been 6.0-plus and its largest aftershock on Dec. 5, 1902, is estimated at 5.0.

Some 3 1/2 years after the Pine Valley quake, the great San Francisco earthquake came along and may have destroyed what was left of Hebron, according to one historical report. This apparently caused its remaining residents to move away.

Today a few remote home sites dot the road west of Enterprise. One small side road leads to the Hebron Cemetery, about all that's left of a once thriving pioneer town.

The San Francisco quake was recorded by seismographs all over the nation and was believed to be about 7.7 in magnitude. It apparently had a greater effect on Hebron than any other area in Utah, perhaps because of the damage that still existed there from the previous quake.

Sue Nava, seismic network manager at the University of Utah, said the Pine Valley quake was significant and caused considerable damage. However, she disputes claims that the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 would have caused any damage in Utah, even in southwest Utah and Hebron.

She said the San Francisco quake would have produced some shaking in Utah, but she's skeptical and unaware of any damage it caused here.

U.S. Geological Society records show that the March 12, 1934, "Kosmo" (Hansel Valley) earthquake has been Utah's largest since the pioneers settled here, being a 6.6 magnitude.

-Written by Lynn Arave and originally in the Deseret News, March 4, 2001.