1856: When Salt Lake City was reported to have been sunk by an earthquake

                     Elementary students wading in the Great Salt Lake.


THE Deseret News of May 21, 1856 reported that some eastern U.S. newspapers had reported than a quake had destroyed Great Salt Lake City (Salt Lake's original name).
These erroneous reports apparently stated that Salt Lake had been sunk by a big earthquake and the few survivors were floating around in the Great Salt Lake on boxes or boards. And, a famine followed for all the survivors.
The quake myth was highlighted in a report from Iron County, assuming that the quake was not real. The report ended with "Hoping that you are safely beyond the reach of the 'Earthquake."