Morris Sun Tribune
September 26, 2000

Twice now, in 1993 and in 1975, the Morris area has been -- if not rocked -- gently shaken by two moderate sized earthquakes. They're two unusual events for an area one would probably never consider to be all that earthquake prone.

That's why Pam Gades, a graduate student pursuing her Masters of Liberal Arts through UMM, wants those stories of where people were and what they were doing when "The Little One" hit.

"I'm working to gather people's stories, and information about the quakes, on a web site that can be used by teachers and by the general public," Gades says.

"It truly is an interdisciplinary, liberal arts project," explains Peter Whelan, a professor of geology at UMM and Gades' advisor for the project. "It's history, geology, and sociology. It's a lot of things all put together."

Gades says she'll be using reports from UMM students sent out by Whelan to interview people after the quakes, but she's also looking for people's stories.

"I think it will be an interesting site for people from this area because it's about what people experienced and thought they were experiencing during this event," Gades says.

Gades says the stories go beyond just talking about the earthquake though. For instance, one man was driving his tractor while his wife was in the garden when the quake hit. "These are stories that tell about the quake, but also about life in rural Minnesota."

They also tell something about the science of earthquakes. "For example," Whelan explains, "one of the stories talks about how some people at one farm thought the earthquake was a crop dusting plane coming out of the north and heading right for their barn." Whelan says that's interesting because it shows that people are able to identify where an earthquake is originating from the sound.

"Another person talked about how they thought it was a semi coming right towards the house," Whelan continues. "I've personally never heard an earthquake, but these people did."

According to Whelan, neither of the earthquakes that hit Morris, either in 1975 or 1993, was all that terribly big.

"I've heard them say the 1975 earthquake was about a 4.5 and the 1993 was about a 3.7." Whelan says there's uncertainty because the Richter scale reading for the two earthquakes is being extrapolated from another scale that measures the size of the quake based on how it affects humans. "I just say they were both under a five on the Richter scale."

Whelan says there appears to be a fault line that runs from the Great Lakes southwest into Colorado, possibly as far south as New Mexico. That fault runs right through Morris.

Faults are considered to be places where plates -- large chunks of the earth's surface -- come together. As the plates rub against each other, they cause earthquakes.

The second possibility is that the plates are "springing back" after centuries of bearing the weight of glaciers during previous ice ages.

"Actually, when I first came to Morris," says Whelan, who was originally from California, "I thought I was coming to the stable Midwest. Stable both geologically and socially."

Whelan says he was surprised to find this area had earthquakes too. "I looked at the data after the 1975 earthquake and predicted there would be another earthquake in Morris in 1995, give or take three years. It's the only prediction I've ever made that's come true!"

Gades says her site, in addition to telling the stories of the Morris earthquake "survivors," will also have links to sites that explain -- better than newspaper reporters -- how and why earthquakes occur.

"It will also have links to articles from the Morris paper about the earthquakes," Gades says.

Gades hopes to have the project all complete by May. She's soliciting stories from people now.

Once she's done with the Web site, Gades plans to go to local schools to explain her web site and help teachers learn about its value as an educational tool.