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    1906 San Francisco Earthquake
    1906 San Francisco Earthquake
    1906 San Francisco Earthquake
    Ebook163 pages42 minutes

    1906 San Francisco Earthquake

    By Richard Hansen and Gladys Hansen

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    About this ebook

    One of the greatest disasters of the twentieth century, in words and photos.
     
    The Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 was an unparalleled catastrophe in the history of San Francisco. More than 4.5 square miles of the city burned and crumbled into a windswept desert of desolation. This book is filled with remarkable images, from before the earthquake through the blaze and into the rebuilding.
     
    With stories from survivors, and extensive photographs of sites from the waterfront in the east to Golden Gate Park in the west, the marina in the north to the Mission District in the south, readers can gain a vivid sense of this major historical event and how it affected one of America’s greatest cities.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMay 27, 2013
    ISBN9781439642108
    1906 San Francisco Earthquake
    Author

    Richard Hansen

    For more than fifty years, Richard Hansen has been researching and documenting San Francisco and California history. In collaboration with his mother, onetime city archivist Gladys Hansen, they became world-renowned experts on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, fire and epidemic--especially on those who died during the disasters. Today, he remains active in many San Francisco historical organizations and is the founder and driving force behind the virtual museum (www.sfmuseum.org).

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      Book preview

      1906 San Francisco Earthquake - Richard Hansen

      INTRODUCTION

      The early morning of April 18, 1906, was not any different from the previous morning, or the morning before that. Fishermen were coming in with the previous evening’s catch, and bakers were beginning their labors, as they had for the days and weeks before. That morning, it took all of 85 seconds to destroy the gentle stillness associated with the wee hours of a normal San Francisco morning.

      At 5:12 a.m., a 25-second foreshock shook the city awake. The foreshock, which would equal about a 4.0 on today’s Richter scale, was only a gentle rumbling compared to what followed. Approximately 30 seconds later, the ground shook with a violence no one thought possible. San Francisco was hit by an earthquake of unbelievable intensity, registering about an 8.3 on the Richter scale. The quake lasted about 60 seconds and threw the thriving metropolis of the early 1900s into a chaotic mix of tumbling buildings and horrible fires, ending the life its citizens had come to know. The quake was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles and as far inland as Nevada.

      The quake caused structural damage to most of the buildings and roads in the city. Many of the brick buildings simply collapsed into mounds, trapping whoever was unlucky enough to be inside. However, it was not the earthquake that caused the most damage. The quake ignited numerous fires throughout the city, which continued to burn for days until there was simply no fuel left.

      It is estimated that more than 30 fires broke out, quickly overwhelming the understaffed fire department. The fires burned for 490 city blocks—approximately 25,000 buildings. Ironically, many of the fires were set by the fire department themselves. Using dynamite, they attempted to create firebreaks by leveling certain building or structures that were in the path of the oncoming blaze. Having not received proper training in the use of dynamite, this decision turned disastrous rather quickly, with many of the dynamited buildings catching fire and adding to the destruction. They raged for three days and nights.

      In an instant, the great city of San Francisco was reduced to rubble, with flames scorching anything and anyone in their path. The total estimated damage from the quake and the subsequent fires came to almost $500 million. However, the emotional toll was incalculable. What started as a quiet morning turned into a nightmare, lasting long after the earth settled and the last flames were extinguished.

      The following is a May 14 report from the fire alarm operator, James C. Kelly, to Chief W.R. Hewitt of the Department of Electricity in regards to the fire alarm system on April 18:

      Dear Sir:

      In reply to your request under date of the 11th Inst. for full detail as to matters happening under my observation the morning of the Earthquake, I beg to say:

      Shortly before sunrise, as I was standing at an east window of the Fire Alarm office [at 15 Brenham Place] looking toward the Hall of Justice, the earthquake began. I went at once to the clock to note the time and duration of the shock. The shock began at 5:13 plus 10 Secs. A. M., and I watched its duration at the clock for 19 seconds, when it became so severe, and there seemed such danger of the walls and ceilings of the building falling, that I ran to underneath the frame of one of the front windows as a place of greater safety;–the relay Oper. having meanwhile taken refuge in the doorway between the operating room and the battery room. The vibrations still continued for some seconds as I remained at the window, and I saw meanwhile the southeast wall of the tower of the Hall of Justice fall; also part of the walls of a brick building near the corner of Washington Street and Brenham Place. Finally the shock ceased.

      While yet the vibrations continued I had noted, by the running of the Registers on fire box signal circuits, that the lines on those circuits were open. Within a very few seconds after the shock ended I saw the smoke of an apparently large fire begin to rise from what I judged to be the vicinity of Market and Beale St.; (box 267). I at once went to key to strike out said box, (meanwhile calling to Relay Opr. to set up 267 on Repeater). No alarm came in for this fire, and be it noted that no alarms whatsoever came into the office after the commencement of the earthquake.

      San Franciscans were skeptical about earthquake threats.

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