 What initially alerted people to the fault line and the onset of problems?
Only Joseph Schwartzberg, head geographer of the Department of the Interior, wondered if the disturbance might not be a settling of the Kiowa Fault. They found themselves on the scene of what was fast becoming the most violent and widespread earthquake North America—probably the world—has ever seen in historic times. East, where sharp reports and muffled wheezes told of continued buckling and dropping, the earth trembled downward. As the Fault moved north and south, new areas quivered into unwelcome life. Telephone lines, railroad tracks, roads snapped and simply disappeared. Virtually all east-west land communication was suspended and the President declared a national emergency. Tremendous fissures opened up perpendicular to the Fault, and a general subsidence of the land was noticeable well into Kansas and Nebraska.
 They investigated what they thought was a forest fire, only to find it was sediment and dust.
 Geologists were already aware of its presence and had been watching it.  They investigated what they thought was a forest fire, only to find it was sediment and dust.  The land had become so dry it was a cause of concern.  Newspapers had established the connections of the 3 faults.