Murphy and Cloud (1952) report that "a sharp shock accompanied by a muffled boom awakened residents (of Alexandria) and startled night workers. Two 136-foot wells on the Land o' Lakes Creamery were damaged."

The most extensive newspaper item appeared in the Park Region Echo for 15 February 1950. It reports "At 4:05 a.m. Wednesday, buildings in an area from Alexandria to Wadena shook under the impact of a mysterious force. Simultaneously, a muffled boom woke light sleepers of the community and startled the night workers on duty at that time." Numerous felt reports described sensations like a heavy truck passing by, "only more violent," a loud low-frequency noise, and the rocking of buildings.

Placement of the epicenter is complicated due to conflicting reports with respect to Wadena, which lies 65 km (40 miles) north-northeast of Alexandria. The principal felt reports come from Alexandria. The evidence for Wadena appears to derive from the Wadena telephone operator who, when queried by the Alexandria operator "about 5 o'clock," said that "a tremor had occurred there about 15 minutes before." This would conflict with the reported time of 4:05. Further, a search of the weekly Wadena Pioneer Journal for 16 and 23 February found no mention of an earthquake. Murphy and Cloud do not mention Wadena. The newspaper report cited above does mention that an individual living 5 km north of Alexandria was awakened from sleep, and the Park Region Echo for 21 February 1950 mentions that felt reports were received "from Alexandria north to Wadena".

On the basis of this evidence, I [Harold M. Mooney] have placed the epicenter slightly north of Alexandria toward Wadena, say 10 km, but much closer to Alexandria. This differs slightly from Docekal's (1970) epicenter 30 km north and 10 km east of Alexandria, based upon evidence which is not clear from his text.