The Rumble (Magnitude 2.6)

According to earthquaketrack.com, Helena, Montana has experienced 3 earthquakes in the past 7 days, 10 quakes in the past month, and 42 in the last year.  Most quakes go unnoticed by the lot of us scurrying about this mountainous corner of the world.  Earthquakes registering magnitudes of 3 or less are generally felt only under exceptional conditions.

I felt the earthquake that struck on Thursday afternoon.  Not only did I feel it—I heard it.

After puttering around the house for most of the day, I pretty much ran out of energy on Thursday afternoon.  A bit after 2:00 in the afternoon, I threw a couple of pillows on my back deck and flopped down to sunbathe alongside 20 pounds of housecat.  I shut my eyes for a while but never managed to drift away to sleep.  Eventually, I rolled over onto my side so that I could gaze out onto the hills surrounding the Big Belt Mountains and watch a pair of turkey vultures spiral around below the clouds.

That’s when the quake hit.

The deck shook and the house rumbled as if struck by a large truck.  At the same time, what sounded like a rapid series of sonorous (but distant) explosions buffeted against me.  My 20 pounds of housecat bolted straightaway off the deck.  I popped up to my feet and ran inside the house to find that girl.

I found her on the way to find me.

“What was that?” that girl asked.

“I have no idea,” I answered.  “It felt and sounded like something really big hit the house.

Instinctively, we exited the front door and scanned in all directions.

Nothing out of the ordinary there.

“You know,” I said after a few minutes, “I think that might have been a quake.”

Yesterday, in the local newspaper, I found a small article noting that the area within 50 miles of Helena has experienced 18 small earthquakes in the last 7 days.  The largest of those was a magnitude 2.6 on Thursday afternoon with an epicenter 10 miles northeast of Helena.

Pretty much directly under my house.

--Mitchell Hegman