It was a Thursday morning 50 years ago when Richmond, Utah, resident G. Richard Bagley was jolted awake at 6:35 a.m.

    The ground was shaking, the noise was deafening, and pretty soon, his three children were running into their parents’ room wondering what in the world was happening.

    “It was a frightening experience for everyone,” he remembers now.

    A magnitude 5.7 earthquake caused the earth to shudder for about 35 seconds on Aug. 30, 1962, and its wake left Logan, Richmond, Franklin and other parts of Southeast Idaho and Northern Utah with millions of dollars in damages.

    No earthquake of that size has hit Utah since, although a 5.6 did occur in 1992 in Southern Utah. Minor aftershocks to the 1962 quake were reported through Sept. 9 of that year.

No one died in the ’62 tremor, and only one person was injured — during cleanup — but residents who remember that day say they will never forget the unique geological event.

    Bagley vividly remembers that day 50 years ago. His home, just off U.S Highway 91, did not suffer any serious damage, but he recalls spending that day and many afterward helping with the cleanup efforts in Richmond, located just south of Franklin County, Idaho.

    “Some people, of course, totally lost their homes,” he said. “It was a matter of community coming together.”

    The quake’s epicenter was between Richmond and the Idaho state line.

    Here’s what the Salt Lake Tribune reported in 1962 about the tremor’s wrath:  “Severe damage was concentrated near Logan, Richmond and Lewiston (Utah) where schools, homes, church structures and business buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. Minor damage was reported at other nearby southern Idaho and northern Utah communities, and the tremor was felt by residents as far away as southern Montana, central Wyoming, central Nevada and northwestern Colorado.”

    Bagley, who served as mayor of Richmond from 1970-78, said the earthquake forever altered the area.

    “It’s historic in the fact that it changed the face of Richmond,” he said. “Following that, and into the next decade in the ’70s, we experienced a lot of growth and replacement of older buildings. It just changed the way we looked.”

    Bagley said the community lost both its church houses, including the historic pioneer-era Tabernacle.

    Richmond City Councilwoman Terrie Wierenga said she asked in July what the city was doing to mark the 1962 quake’s anniversary. Soon after, she and others started collecting stories, photos, newspaper reports and other information about the quake. All of it has been compiled onto a CD that’s now available to the public.

    Wierenga said although she is not from Richmond originally, she’s been fascinated with the histories of various communities in which she’s lived.

    While Richmond sustained the brunt of the damage, it was not the only community affected by the quake. Schools in both the Logan and Cache County school districts closed by noon that day. Most people went in late or did not go to work at all.

    In Lewiston, Utah, a portion of the City Drug Store crashed into the roof of the nearby cafe. Also, the Amalgamated Sugar Co. in that town saw moderate damage — estimated at the time as being $25,000.

    Many buildings in Logan — especially older ones — had cracked walls and shattered glass.

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City sent inspectors to the valley to tour the Logan LDS Temple and ensure it was safe. Utah State University officials also went from building to building on campus looking for problems.

    Additionally, several water sources in the valley were affected. According to reports in 1962, residents in the Clarkston and Newton areas were told to boil their water after a water line ruptured that day. A farmer in Trenton reported cracks in the Bear River bottom lands, and in Smithfield, an electrical transformer at a substation shifted 2 inches. Up Logan Canyon, at Dewitt Springs, officials found that the culinary water source had increased its flow by 3 second feet.

    The power supply in Logan was also disrupted after the quake caused a switch on the Utah Power & Light Co. circuit to come loose.

    After power was restored, The Herald Journal started receiving calls. One woman famously reported: “I was standing by the stove when it began, and it practically shifted away from me. Then I noticed my cat was fear-stricken. He arched his back, and his fur stood out electrically, and he let out a cry. Just then, the quake rumbled the goldfish out from his bowl of water. And that cat, which for months has wanted to get at that fish, paid no attention to it as it lay practically at his feet.”

    In Richmond, Bagley said the farmers who were already awake when the quake hit reported that their animals knew it was coming.

    “Dogs howling, horses running around. They knew it before,” he said.

    He went on, “Those who were outside, they got to see the full effects. The wires bouncing up and down, the trees swaying. Wave motion on the earth — it looked like waves on water.”

     The Idaho State Journal contributed to this report.