There is again a rough symmetry in the damage to the line, the central
point being about 14 miles from the Charleston terminus. A line drawn
through this point at right angles to the North-Eastern Railway (or
rather to that part of it between the 9-mile and 19-1/2-mile points)
should pass through the epicentre. It meets the corresponding line for
the South Carolina Railway in a point which is indicated in Figs. 27
and 28 by a small circle (W). Houses and other buildings are rare in
the surrounding district; but, as the intensity of the shock
diminished outwards in all directions, this point must mark
approximately the position of the epicentre. As it is close to the
Woodstock Station on the South Carolina Railway, it is called by Major
Dutton the Woodstock epicentre.
The Charleston and Savannah Railway (C) uses the same lines as the
North-Eastern for the first seven miles from Charleston, and then
turns off in a south-westerly direction. For 4-1/2 miles from the
junction the signs of disturbance were few and unimportant. The
railway then crosses the Ashley River, the banks of which slid towards
one another and jammed the drawbridge; but for four miles farther
there was no serious damage done to the lines. At about 16-1/2 miles
the effects of the shock became rapidly more apparent. For nearly
1-1/2 mile the entire railroad was deflected into an irregular curve,
the displacement being greatest at the bridge, where it crosses the
Stono River. Here, it was as much as 37 inches to the south. After
Rantowles Station (18 miles), there were many displacements, both
lateral and vertical. At 18-1/2 miles, a long southward deflection
began, the amount of which reached 25 inches at the 19-mile point, 50
inches half-a-mile farther on, and was still greater at 20-2/3 miles.
For two miles more, sinuous flexures were continuous, but, at the
22-2/3-mile point, they rapidly disappeared, the railroad passing on
to higher and firmer ground. Between 25 and 27 miles, there were
occasional slight flexures in the line or depressions of the railroad;
but, after the 27-1/4-mile point, they seldom occur, and, when they
do, are of little consequence.
Some of the effects described in the last paragraph may, as Major
Dutton suggests, be due to the varying nature of the surface-rocks. It
is important to notice, however, that disturbances of the lines were
exceedingly rare in the section that lies nearest to the Woodstock
epicentre, and that they increase in violence for some distance from
that region, the maximum intensity being reached a mile or two to the
west of Rantowles Station. This points clearly to the existence of a
second focus. Unfortunately, there are very few houses or other
objects in the neighbourhood, and the position of the corresponding
epicentre cannot be determined accurately. Major Dutton places it in
the position indicated by a small circle (R), and calls it the
Rantowles epicentre from its vicinity to the station of that name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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