Read Ebook: San Francisco in Ruins A Pictorial History of Eight Score Photo-Views of the Earthquake Effects Flames' Havoc Ruins Everywhere Relief Camps by Allison A M Editor Givens J D James David Illustrator

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Editor: A. M. Allison

Illustrator: J. D. Givens

SAN FRANCISCO IN RUINS

ENGRAVINGS AND PRINTING BY THE SMITH-BROOKS COMPANY DENVER, COLO.

THE FINISH OF THE FIRST EPOCH IN THE HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO

BY A. M. ALLISON

The historians of modern or ancient times have never recorded such a maelstrom of terrified, horror and panic-stricken human beings as awoke to the realization of the master seismic tremblor, in the City of San Francisco at 5:13 on the morning of April 18th, 1906. The initial quake, being followed by many of less severity, tumbled chimneys, large and small buildings of poor or faulty construction, broke water mains and ruptured electric light and power conductors, causing many conflagrations in a few moments. Then followed a catastrophe unparalleled in modern times, a disaster beside which, for property losses, the Chicago fire, the Johnstown flood, the Galveston tidal wave, the Mont Pelee eruption, Vesuvius' spoutings and the Baltimore fire, fade into infinitesimal disturbances on the records of Father Time.

In three days, which seemed only as so many hours, there faded out of existence noble business blocks, grand and imposing structures, beautiful and superb residences the homes of the Argonauts, the sea kings, mining barons and merchant princes, together with the marts and dwellings of those who toil and delve and go down to the sea in ships, completely desolating and razing by fire three-fourths of this once beautiful metropolis of the whole Pacific Coast on either the northern or southern continents.

Nor was the City of San Francisco alone in its extremity, for many smaller and populous towns within a radius of seventy-five miles were subjected to the peril of the mighty corkscrew quakings, Santa Rosa being entirely shaken down; Salinas, San Jose, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Alameda and Oakland all suffering great property losses and some human lives. The beautiful structures of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, at Palo Alto, all erected and endowed to a sum in excess of ,000,000 by the late Senator Leland Stanford and his philanthrophic wife, were almost completely wrecked, including the Memorial Cathedral, which contained the largest and finest collection of mosaic pictures on the Western Hemisphere.

At no point in the affected area were the earthquake shocks so severe and destructive as in the down town district, south of Market and east of Kearny streets, where were the large office buildings, newspaper offices, banks, wholesale stores and warehouses, the occupants of which conducted the business, commerce and financial engagements of not only the major portion of the Pacific Slope, but a large and constantly-growing Oriental trade as well. The opportune hour of the morning was all that saved the lives of the untold thousands who labored there, but had not as yet left their homes in the residence sections of the ill-fated city.

Hardly had the mighty tremblor ceased its gyrations when innumerable fires broke out among the chaotic ruins, having caught from engine furnaces, broken electric wire conduits and spontaneous combustion, fed by the most inflammable of materials and fanned by a stiff breeze from the bay, grew and spread into what shortly became the most stupendous and widespread, as well as awe-inspiring conflagration, which any people of the eighteenth or nineteenth century have ever as yet looked upon or flown from. Had the water mains not have been ruptured, the splendid San Francisco fire department might have been able to cope with these many outbursts of flame at their inception, but deprived of water in the mains, they nobly fought the appalling flames by pumping water from the bay at as many places as length of hose and their engines' ability would permit; but their efforts to stay the onrushing, wide-spreading flames proved as a match's flicker before a whirlwind.

It being quickly seen that the panic-stricken people would soon become a fleeing, dazed and terror-awed multitude, General Frederick Funston, commanding the Department of California, United States Army, with headquarters at the Presidio, immediately ordered out the cavalry, infantry and artillery forces under his command, who aided and directed the fleeing populace, gathered up and succored the wounded, established emergency hospitals, and policed the city. At the same time men-of-wars-men from the Mare Island Navy Yard, consisting of the battleship Ohio, the cruiser Chicago, and the torpedo boat destroyer Paul Jones, together with the ships of the United States Army Transport Service, and all available steam craft, attacked the flames along the water front and succeeded in saving much wharfage and the Ferry building, which is the principal gateway from the mainland.

Aided, ordered and guarded by the United States Army and Marine forces, assisted by the California National Guard, who were at once called out by the Governor, George C. Pardee, the excited and frenzied San Franciscans made their way to squares, parks and the open hills, over two hundred thousand fleeing to these places of refuge and another hundred thousand making their way by ferry-boats and other craft across the bay to the cities of Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda, caring for naught except to get away from the awful havoc and destruction of the place they once proudly called their City.

In untiring efforts to stay the flames the army, navy, marine corps and police used artillery fire, gun-cotton, dynamite and rhyolite in back-firing, sacrificing whole blocks of splendid residences and other structures to retard the unquenchable ever-advancing line of fire, which at times extended unbroken for over three miles in length. At last, at the dawn of Saturday, April 21st, after three days and nights of valiant effort, the wind subsided and the flames died down to rise no more; but not until after they had swept the once proud and majestic city from the Ferry building to Van Ness avenue, ruining all the residences on the west side of that broad, stately boulevard, to Twentieth and Guerrero streets in the Mission, and from the waters of San Francisco bay to the Golden Gate itself. Not in all this vast section, measuring over sixteen square miles, did one single habitation escape the shock of the giant tremblor or the all-devouring flames, with but a few exceptions, viz.: the United States Mint, the United States Custom House, the United States Postoffice, which was damaged one-half a million dollars' worth by made-land sinking away from it, the new unfinished newspaper building of the Chronicle, and the new building of the California Casket Company just erected, but not wood-finished. Every other building, of whatsoever class, kind or construction, was tumbled, crumbled, shaken down, or absolutely gutted by the fierce flames in which granite dissolved to powder and steel beams melted and buckled like a watch's freed mainspring; where cobble-stones scaled and chipped off and marble slabs disintegrated and became as bone-dust to the touch.

No computer or statistician lives who could accurately arrive at the monetary loss, variously estimated at from three hundred and fifty to four hundred millions of dollars. Nor will the loss of human life ever be known, said to be from fifteen hundred to two thousand; many more are known to have perished in the lodging houses and cheaper hotels located in the district south of Market street, as well as in the poorer districts, of which no returns will or can ever be made; many identities were lost both in and out of unidentified graves.

On the cessation of the first quake and the breaking out of the flames all means of surface transportation was rendered useless, except the automobile, which did good and swift work in rescuing the wounded and carrying the living to places of safety, as well as transporting dynamite and other high explosives to the busy fire-fighters, also rendering invaluable aid in getting food and water to the refugee camps in the parks, when the relief trains, so generously and beneficiently forwarded by all the cities of the land, began to arrive laden with provisions and clothing for the hungry and the destitute. The sister city, Los Angeles, which by her nearness was enabled to supply physicians, nurses and medical supplies, as well as foodstuffs, getting the first relief train to the stricken city on the night of the first day.

Congress appropriated money, private citizens throughout the broad land gave of their wealth. Army and navy stores and the cargoes of many merchantmen in the harbor were all made available, and thus famine and disease were prevented and lives which would have flickered and then passed out were saved, encouraged and strengthened for the monumental task of raising a grander, greater, safer and more beautiful New San Francisco phoenix-like from the ashes of the City of the Forty-Niners.

These are the words; the pictures tell the tale much better; pictures the like of which, it is earnestly hoped, will never be presented by any camera again while the earth rolls around.

SAN FRANCISCO'S HONOR ROLL

BRILLIANT AND SELF-SACRIFICING WORK OF THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED WHO STOOD BY THEIR BELOVED CITY IN THE HOUR OF HER DARKEST PERIL

MAYOR SCHMITZ AND HIS CO-WORKERS, GENERAL FUNSTON AND THE BOYS IN BLUE, THE SALVATION OF A STRICKEN CITY

After the Earth jumped back on its track at 5:13:47 on the morning of Wednesday, April 18th, 1906, the citizens of San Francisco came down on their feet in fighting mood, and the success of that fight has aroused the wonder and admiration of the entire world. Being true sons of their fathers they showed the thoroughbred strain in time of stress and peril just as did those fathers before them. There was no denying the fact that many thought it the end of time, listened for the trumpet of Gabriel to echo through the crash of worlds, and looked toward the heavens to see the angel with the flaming sword, but they stood to meet it like men, backed as they were against the wall. When walls ceased falling and they had rubbed the dust from their eyes, they found that they still lived; it was then that they shut their jaws and began to fight. They have been fighting ever since and will continue to fight until San Francisco shall have been restored even beyond the dreams of those fathers.

The first effective work began with Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz and the members of the Police Commission, who had quickly assembled at the Hall of Justice. It was a time when no man could stop to think twice; immediate action must be taken; action that must be absolutely correct on the first thought. The first official action was to send out police to close each and every saloon.

Everywhere the streets were filled with the debris of fallen walls and cobwebbed with a tangle of dangling wires, among which half a million of people stood numb and dazed or groped their way blindly, not knowing where to go nor what to do. In a dozen widely scattered localities smoke devils were dancing from roof to roof and people gave way mechanically for the clanging apparatus rushing wildly to the fires.

In collapsed buildings there were many dead, but "let the dead care for the dead;" there were those yet living pinned under fallen walls and beams. There were hundreds and hundreds of injured to be succored. There were hundreds of millions of dollars in shattered banks, the savings of the people, to be guarded against the time when some men go mad and seize on the possessions of a neighbor as one crazed brute snaps at another. That was the situation, in brief, that confronted the Mayor, the Police Commission and the six hundred policemen of San Francisco, a handful to cope with disaster by earthquake, fire, and the elements of chaos that a city of half a million breeds.

The Mayor and the Police Commission had barely entered into conference when this message came to them from Brigadier General Frederick Funston: "Do you need help?" Did they? "Yes, send all the troops you can," was the reply dispatched with all the haste of a city's need. Then the conference went on. It was brief. The situation demanded the co-operation of the entire city.

These names with addresses from the City Directory, were at once placed in the hands of a detail of policemen, a few names to each member of the squad, with instructions to have the Committee at the Hall of Justice by 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

This work had barely been commenced when the rhythmic tramp, tramp, tramp, of many feet was heard on the street, as column alter column of the blue-shirted lads swung by, each carrying a short Krag rifle with a belt of ball cartridges. Their officers reported to the Chief of Police, who assigned each a district to patrol and detailed a policeman to guide each command to its post. No one not on Market Street or in the downtown district at that time can appreciate the feeling of relief that came over all as those silent, quiet, business-like boys swung by with the steadiness and precision of a machine, passing under tottering walls and entering the danger zone with dynamite and gun-cotton to raze buildings from the path of the fire.

The deeds of heroism and the courage displayed by regulars, militiamen, police, firemen, and civilian volunteers on the 18th and 19th will never be told; they can not be. They were occurring constantly, a dozen in a block, throughout the city, and there was no time for names or details. Firemen, regulars, police, and civilian volunteers worked in the heat and smoke and noxious gases until they were overcome and fell in their tracks. They were dragged back and others stepped into the breach, to be dragged back in turn when they fell. Firemen fought with the determination of despair and cried like children when the failure of water deprived them of their weapon.

Before the hour set for the meeting of the Citizens' Committee the entire city was threatened with destruction. The sky was obscured with a pal of smoke through which swung the sun like a blood-red ball; great sheets of flame writhed and swirled through the smoke, and underneath all 300,000 men, women and children fled for their lives, tottering under their most valuable possessions, while 100,000 more were preparing for flight. That was the situation when the above named citizens met at the Hall of Justice at the call of the Mayor at three o'clock on the afternoon of the 18th.

They assembled first in the office of the Chief of Police, but another shock threatened to bring the tower down on their heads and drove them to the office of the central station, in the basement, and it was not long before they were driven from there to Portsmouth Square. There in the open air surrounded by thousands of frightened Chinese and residents of the district, was the seat of municipal government during the late afternoon and early evening. Then a dynamited building cast its debris of bricks, mortar and broken glass over the square, and government and advisory committee hastily adjourned to the Fairmount Hotel on Knob Hill. Headquarters had been established there but a short time when it was driven back by the advancing wall of fire and an adjournment was taken until Thursday morning at 9 o'clock, to meet at the north end police station, 1712 Washington street.

When the Mayor, Police Commission and Citizens' Committee of One Hundred met Thursday morning, the following sub-committees were appointed and immediately commenced work:

Martial law having been declared, one of the first orders of the Citizens' Committee was embodied in the first proclamation of the Mayor: "Troops and police are authorized to kill on sight any person or persons caught looting." After that there were occasional reports in the burned districts; they may have been exploding automobile tires--no one stopped to inquire. Anyway, there was no further looting.

The sub-committees had barely time to organize when the fire swept over the hills and they were again driven out. The Mayor issued an order that all records saved and the municipal government be removed to the Police Station at Haight and Stanyan Streets, far out by Golden Gate Park, for a last stand. At the same time he ordered an adjournment of all committees to Franklin Hall, at the corner of Bush and Fillmore Streets, thus establishing headquarters as near the fire line as practicable. If burned out there his orders were for all to rally at the Park Police Station.

That was at noon on Thursday; within thirty hours the Committee had been organized by men who left their property to destruction and within the same length of time the committee had been burned out four times and located the fifth headquarters. The city had been policed by regulars, militiamen and volunteers, and the most disastrous fire in history was under control.

The care of the injured, the feeding of the hungry and the housing of the homeless were the first consideration of the Committees, and for the first day or two all else was subordinated to these works of mercy.

It will require a large book to tell the details of the work of these committees, each being aided by hundreds of volunteers. Each member of a committee being vested with police powers, and automobiles, carriages and wagons of all kinds were impressed wherever found; their loads were dumped on the sidewalks and filled with the injured or medical and food supplies, the vehicles hurried on to destinations named by the committeemen.

The rapidity with which the Committee effected an organization and relieved the suffering and hunger of nearly 300,000 people is noteworthy. Changing headquarters five times and organizing and planning as the members fled along the streets was no easy task, but it was accomplished and for nearly a week these committees arranged and cared for the homeless multitude.

The rapidity with which organization was effected and order enforced, is what amazes the knowing world today. It was done by citizens of San Francisco, backing up their executive with their lives and their fortunes, and back of them stood their friends in the breadth and length of these whole United States. As did the fathers of fifty years ago, so did the sons of today.

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