1925 Santa Barbara earthquake

[Jim Eshelman]

June 29, 1925, 6:44 AM, 34N18 119W48

A serious quake usually described as a magnitude 7 trembler, but probably between 6.5 and 6.8. It caused 13 deaths and totally destroyed the historic center of Santa Barbara, causing $8 million in damages (equal to about $144 million in 2024). The epicenter was slightly south of Santa Barbara. Damage spread north into the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria valleys.

Telephone and telegraph access were completely severed. Many transportation routes were heavily damaged. The Sheffield Dam build eight years later collapsed after the soil beneath it liquified, emptying 30 million gallons of water, causing a "wall of water" to sweep through town between Voluntario and Aliso Streets "destroying trees cars, three houses, and flooding the lower part of town." There were (almost uniquely for large quakes until that time) no fires and massive fire damage, apparently because the city's gas supply was immediately shut off. Three strong aftershocks occurred later that morning, though with no additional damage reported.

The quake struck exactly as Mars rose.

Year: Capsolar (Dormant.)

Year: Cansolar {+3}
(The Jupiter PVP squares are wider than we have seen working strongly in lunars. Their orbs may be too wide, though they are in the range I historically counted in ingresses. Generally, the Sun-Moon-Saturn T-square closely angular is remarkable. Notice we wouldn't have even seen this ingress but for the Dormancy rules.)
Sun Asc 0°24'
Moon Dsc 1°35'
Pluto EP 0°43'
Saturn N 1°47'
-- Moon-Sun op 0°44'
-- Moon-Saturn sq 1°27'
-- Sun-Saturn sq 2°11'
-- Sun-Jupiter sq 1°31' p
-- Moon-Jupiter sq 2°16' p

Bridge {+3}
t Pluto sq Cansolar MC (12/2-7/16)
t Saturn sq CanQ Moon (6/7-7/5)
CanQ Moon op s/p Mercury (3/28-7/3)
t Mars co Capsolar MC (6/18-6/29)
Event window: Jun 18-29

Quarter: Arisolar {+2}
(The score is a +2 only because a +3 requires more than one factor. A single aspect on angles is always interpreted, for scoring purposes, as one factor.)
Neptune MC 0°33'
Saturn Asc 1°43'
-- Saturn-Neptune sq 2°16' M

Month: Caplunar {+2}
(Saturn nails the +2 score, or a very high +1. The rest is allowable because there was a small tsunami reported with this quake.)
Saturn Dsc 0°42'
Moon and Jupiter more widely angular
-- Moon-Jupiter co 2°32'
-- Jupiter op middleground Mars 1°51'

Week: Canlunar {+1}
Uranus EP-a 0°06'
Sun barely foreground
-- Sun co middleground Mercury 3°50'
Moon-Jupiter op 3°57'

Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits {+2 / +1 = +2}
t Mars co s MC 0°38'
---------------------------
p MC sq s Mars 0°23'
p Asc sq t Venus 0°32'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits {+2 / +2 = +2}
t Pluto sq s MC 1°25'
t Venus co s Moon 0°42'
t Venus co s Asc 1°02'
-- t Venus sq s Saturn 0°45'
-----------------------------------
t Saturn sq p Moon 0°38'
-- p Moon-Mercury op 0°51'
-- t Saturn sq p Mercury 0°13'
p MC sq t Uranus 0°27'
p MC sq t Moon 0°43', co s Pluto 1°44'