San Francisco's great disaster; a full account of the recent terrible destruction of life and property by earthquake, fire and volcano in California and at Vesuvius .. online

rect result of this slipping. How far outside of this region
the movement of the crust extended is not now known, but
there is a little doubt but that it extended at least as far
southward as the Muir inlet, one hundred and fifty miles
distant.



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34 S'A.N FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER.

MOUNTAIN GROWTH IN PROGRESS.

Here, then, is a case of actual mountain growth in
progress. Its effects were felt by people on the ground;
its nature is easily recognizable at the present time, owing
to the fact that the coast line was uplifted with the moun-
tains. It is, indeed, fortunate that there was not a San
Francisco here.

At the time of writing this (April 21st), reports from
the stricken region of California are too meager and upon
too little scientific foundation to permit any definite state-
ment as to the exact nature of the earthquake shock which
has devastated San Francisco and other Califomian cities.
Enough is known, however, to warrant the prediction that
when the facts are finally accumulated, it will be found
that the shocks have resulted from a movement along one
or more fault-lines extending parallel to the main axis of
the Coast Ranges, that is, northwest and southeast
Geological study has clearly shown that faults are numerous
in this part of the mountains. In fact, faults occur in the
rocks immediately around the City of San Francisco. It
is along some of these fault-lines that the earlier earth-
quake shocks have developed ; and a geological map show-
ing the location of destructive earthquakes in Western
United States, since the year 1800, shows an unusual
cluster of centers of earthquake disturbance in the region
between Santa Rosa and Monterey, the very region most
severly affected by the recent earthquake, San Francisco
lies very near the center of this area.

In the earthquake of April i8th, tiie reports clearly
show that the line of greatest destruction extends norfli-



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SAN PltANaSCX)'s GREAT DISASTfill. 37

west and southeast from at least as far south as Palo
Alto, and probably farther, northward to Santa Rosa, and
probably beyond. It is possible, that the slipping occurred
along a single long fault-line, but it is much more probable
that, when all the facts are known, it will be found that
there was movement along more than one fault-plane.

FUTURE EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS.

The Coast Ranges have been put in a state of strain
by the thrust which is causing them to rise. At several
periods in the past century the strain has found relief by
slipping, in consequence of which, in each case, an earth-
quake has passed through the crust. In the same way the
strain which has been generated found relief by slipping
on April i8th. There is every reason to believe that the
relief of strain is but temporary. It is possible that further
relief will be found necessary immediately, giving rise
to a succession of shocks such as those which affected the
Yakutat Bay region; but upon this point no definite pre-
diction can be made, though it seems hardly probable that
further notable slipping will occur again soon. Whether
further relief is required at present or not, it may confi-
dently be predicted that the strain will reach the breaking
point at some future time, perhaps in a few years, possibly
much longer, but come it must, and when it comes an
earthquake shock will be generated as certainly as was the
case on April i8th. Whether future shocks will ever equal
or excel in violence and destructiveness, that of the present
earthquake will depend upon the amount and rapidity of
the slipping and the location of the fault-line. The fact



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38 SAN IfRANCISCo's GRfiAT DISASTER.

that movement along fault-lines near San Francisco has
occurred not only in 1906, but at several periods in previ-
ous years, gives reason for the prediction that further move-
ment will develop along these same lines, for once the
rocks are broken and movements developed along them,
further strain naturally finds relief along those older breaks
in the earth's crust along which previous movements have
occurred. San Francisco is situated on or near a danger
line in the earth's crust and as long as the Coast Ranges
continue to grow a city located there is constantly menaced
by a natural operation of the geological processes of moun-
tain growth.

The violence of an earthquake shock depends primarily
upon the amount of movement into which the rocks are
thrown. This movement consists of a series of vibrations,
or waves, which pass with great rapidity through the crust,
extending long distances before they finally die out. The
intensity of the original jar in earthquakes, due to move-
ments along fault-planes, depends upon two factors; first,
the anK>imt of movement along the fault-plane; secondly,
the rate of this movement. If the slipping occurs slowly
the shocks are moderate; if rapid, and at the same time
with a movement through a considerable distance, a vio-
lent shodc results. The succession of shocks through a
series of hours or days, or in some case, even months,
is due to successive sHppings, the greatest and most rapid
producing strong shocks and minor slips mere tremors.

PLACK OF QRKATK8T VIOLENCE.

The place of greatest violence in an earthquake is



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SAN FltANaSCO^S GltEAt DISASTER. 39

r

normally the source, or focus, of the earthquake. The
point at the surface directly above the focus is known
as the epicentrum. If the faulting reaches the surface,
as it did in the Yakutat earthquake, in the Japanese earth-
quake of 1 89 1, and in many others, the breaking and As-
suring of the surface layers naturally adds greatly to the
destructiveness of the shock. Had San Francisco been
situated in the most violently affected district of Yakutat
Bay, for example, it is scarcely conceivable that any of
its buildings could have withstood both the shaking of the
ground and the Assuring and faulting of the surface. A
city block, for example, under which the earth suddenly
rises three feet on one side of a fault-plane would inevi-
tably be completely demolished.

Whether any surface faulting and uplifting of shore-
lines occurred in the San Francisco earthquake, as was the
case in Yakutat Bay, has not been stated by the newspaper
dispatches so far received. Both of these phenomena are
to be expected although they are not absolutely necessary
results of the movement, since it may all have occurred be-
neath the surface without affecting the soil. Certain re-
ports of sunken tracks and telegraph lines may possibly
owe their explanation to the surface manifestation of the
subterranean movements.

Normally, the violence and destructiveness of an earth-
quake shock rapidly diminish away from the epicentrum.
It is for this reason that Sacramento, lying well to one side
of the main line of earth movement, was so slightly af-
fected, although points much farther distant from San Fran-
cisco in a northwest-southeast line, and therefore, along
the plane of faulting, were seriously damaged.



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40 SAN FRANCISCO^S GREAT DISASTKIL

The waves or vibrations of earth movement continue
far beyond the zone of destruction, as a wind wave gener-
ated on the ocean travels far beyond its place of develop-
ment. In fact, in a vigorous earthquake, like that of San
Francisco, the vibrations in the rock may pass completely
through the earth; but at great distances from the center
of disturbance they are so diminished in intensity that it
requires the most delicate instruments to record them.
Thus the seismographs at Washington, Baltimore, Albany,
Vienna and Florence received a record of the San Fran-
cisco earthquake long before the news of the shock had
reached these places by telegraph. A seismograph in any
part of the earth would have obtained a record of this
shock. It has been inferred by some that this indicates
a great subterranean disturbance; but, in fact, it means
merely the passage through the earth of waves which were
generated at the center of earthquake disturbance. The f ^
passage of these waves is of the same character as the pas-
sage of vibrations through a steel rail or a board, to one
end of which a blow has been struck.

While the violence and destructiveness of an earth-
quake shock normally diminish in all directions from the
epicentrum, there are exceptional conditions which intro-
duce variations both in the violence and destructiveness
of the shocks. Of these only one need be considered in
connection with the San Francisco earthquake. This . is
the influence of the nature of the rock through which the
shock is passing. In the case of solid rock, the waves
merely cause a vibration; and if a structure upon such a
foundation is capable of withstanding the vibration it is
not destroyed; but in loose earth there is added to the



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SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER. 4I

vibration a shaking, loosening and settling of the unconsoli-
dated materials. This not uncommonly gives rise to the
undermining of the foundations of buildings and to their
consequent collapse. In this connection it is noteworthy
that the part of San Francisco most seriously devastated
by the shaking of the ground was the lower portion nearer
the water, where much land has been made by filling in
the bay. It is to this fact probably that a large proportion
of the original destruction of the city before the fire is due.
Those structures which stood upon higher ground where
hard rock comes up to or nearly to the surface escape^
with very little destruction. ^

While this difference of position seems of itself to
account for the difference in the destructive effect of the
shock, it should be pointed out that another cause for
greater destructiveness in the lower part of the city jnay
also have been in operation. The indications at present are
that the faulting whidi produced the shock occurred along a
line passing either along the water edge or else out beyond
it in the Bay of San Francisco. This would bring that
part of the city which was most damaged by the shock
nearer the epicentrum. Exactly how much relative effect
is to be assigned to these two causes can be stated only
after careful geological studies have been made.

It goes without saying that the destructiveness of an
earthquake shock depends to a very large degree upon the
nature as well as the position of the buildings. Hitherto
violent earthquake shocks have occurred either in sparsely
settled districts or else in the neighborhood of settlements
where special earthquake architecture has be^n developed.
The effect of a shock upon buildings of modem construc-



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42 SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER,

tion has not hitherto been observed. Without question
the loftiness of the structures and the overhanging cor-
nices added greatly to the destruction in the San Fran-
cisco earthquake. It is an interesting result of this shock
that steel buildings have proved resistant to shaking. A
study of the relation of modern architecture to resistance
to earthquakes should be made in this instance; for it has
a lesson of high importance to humanity, and the result
of this lesson should be applied to the rebuilding of San
Francisco,

TIDAL WAVES.

One terror which accompanies many violent earthquake
shocks has, fortunately, not affected this stricken city. When
movements of the crust occur under the ocean or along the
coast line, uplifting bodies of land and displacing quan-
tities of ocean water, a water-wave is commonly generated,
as in the case of the earthquake of Yakutat Bay. A slight
tidal wave is reported in connection with the San Fran-
cisco shock, but no greater than might have been generated
by disturbances in the bay itself. The absence of such
a wave in this instance is of the utmost importance; for
with so much of a large city located but a few feet above
sea-level, the destruction which an onrushing tidal wave
would produce, could not be other than frightful. The
wave which rushed up Yakutat Bay, devastating the forest
to an elevation of forty feet, or that following the erup-
tion of Krakatoa in 1883, which rose one hundred feet
and killed over tHirty-six thousand people, would, if it had
reached the California coast, have left little of San Fran-
cisco below the level of the rush of water.



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SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER. 43

San Francisco will be rebuilt, far more magnificently
than before, for the people have courage and energy; and
geographical conditions demand that a great city shall
stand on the Bay of San Francisco. It is to be hoped and
expected that the new San Francisco will be built with
a full realization of the danger of the situation which this
terrible lesson has taught. With attention to architecture
of all the new buildings, the destructiveness of even such
a shock as that of April i8, can be greatly lessened, should
one ever again visit the city; but far more important is
protection from the fire which naturally follows the throw-
ing down of a part of a city. With intelligent study of the
problem and proper application of the results the new San
Francisco should be safe from a return of such widespread
devastation as that from which she is now suffering so ter-
ribly.



Diagram to illustrate faulting in mountains. The black layers
were once continuous and the rocks have been broken and mov«d
along the fault planes, The dotted lines show the surface extension of
the faults.



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THE SAN FRANCISCO DISASTER.

Early on the morning of April i8, 1906, there was
flashed to the world the news that an earthquake shock,
of tremendous force, had left havoc in San Francisco and
a score of cities within a radius of fifty miles. Swift on
the news of this disaster was sent broadcast the word that
great fires, springing up in a score of isolated sections of
the city, threatened to make annihilation of the havoc that
had been wrought. Adding terror to terror was the start-
ling declaration that the earthquake shock had completely
incapacitated the water system of the icity and that the
great and efficient fire department was powerless to give
battle to the flames. "The city is doomed," was the ap-
palling word that sent a shudder around the world.

Thus was heralded what proved to be the greatest ca-
tastrophe ever visited upon a people in the history of the
world. San Francisco, all of it that contributed to the
prosperity and greatness of the city, was "doomed." Its
people were to be called upon to pass through a trial by
fire, not less awful m its extent, not less terrible in its
details than that cataclysm which in the first century de-
stroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. The actual number of
the dead was not gfreater than in the case of the twin towns
submerged in the outbreak of Vesuvius, but the sum of
hiunan terror, human suffering, of tragedy, was to surpass
the record of this catastrophe of old. Fire and flood, and
the destructive migfit of earthquake have stalked through
many a community in the Old World and the New. Flames
have spread destruction ; earthquakes have razed temples and
homes, but the destroyer which laid San Francisco low
amounted to these in one,

47



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48 SAN Francisco's great disaster.

NO TERROR LIKE THE EARTHQUAKE.

No terror equals that of the earthquake. There is
no warning. Of a sudden, the earth seems to have drifted
from its foundations in the universe ; the human mind reels
under the terror of planetary instability, the power of re-
sistance is gone ; the bravest and strongest become one with
the weak and craven. Life, itself, for the moment loses its
value, and the paralyzed faculties and instincts fail to gov-
ern mind and muscle, themselves lost to the power of ot>edi-
ence. In the crash of things men stand transfixed, mute,
powerless, experiencing sensations that haunt dreams in
dread shapes as long as life endures. This is the human
scar in the train of the earthquake. Beside this, property
losses pale into insignificance. In San Francisco, all we. 2
blended. This ordeal, alone, was enough to have left
its story on the pages of history. But this was only
the beginning. None will ever know just wliat share
of the total havoc must be laid to the earthquake.
It was no doubt, great. But to the stricken city there was
not given time to right its shattered faculties. One terror
crowded on the heels of another. Hardly have the shat-
tered and torn remnants of thousands of great structures,
churches, banks, hospitals and homes, settled in the dis-
order the destruction has wrought before the flames are
crackling over what already is the bier of the valor and
faith and hope of half a century.

Then followed four days of a struggle, never before
equalled in the history of the world. It was not witJi the
hope of saving their city that the people of San Francisco
labored. It was with the scant hope of saving some little
of it, some fragment to be the nucleus of a new city, which
in the darkest hour of their trial every resident of the city



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SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER.



49



knew, had the great faith to know, would rise again in even
greater splendor, for a future even more brilliant than its
past had been. To bear the shock of nature in anarchy,
with no human power to aid ; to fight sweeping flames with-
out the aid of fire's greatest foe ; to work on and on without
food or water; to hope when there seemed no basis for
hope, to have faith where there could only be despair; this
was the heroic part San Francisco was called upon to play.
And it will go down to history that in a trial, more exceed-
ing great than any people has been called upon to bear,
San Francisco acquitted herself nobly. Something of the
spirit of that Father of God from whom the city at the
Golden Gate takes its name, must have brooded in the
pillar of smoke by day, the pillar of fire by night, which
veiled the long tragedy. And in the closing hours of the
battle came still other terrors to try this people. Famine
threatened- But San Francisco had faith in the gfreat broth-
erhood of the cities of the States, dotting the broad reach
of a continent that this terror would not long endure.
Their faith was justified and the outpouring of aid from
every section of America, will remain side by side with the
heroism of San Francisco, a monument to the fraternity
which unites the American people. And the terror of fa-
mine had hardly passed before the grim spectre of pestilence
rose in the smoke and steam from the city's wreck ; rose from
the unburied, from the heaped havoc of the twin destroyers.
Against this foe was raged a battle by warriors of science,
as determined, as skilled as any ever waged. Thus, one
after another, the city was besieged by the most terrible
enemies against which humanity and civilization are called
upon to war. There were four days, every one of which
burned itself into the minds and hearts of every one who
shared the awful ordeal. When finally the fire had burned



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50 SAN Francisco's great disaster.

itself CHit, three-quarters of what had been San Francisco
lay in ruins; one thousand persons had lost their lives;
five thousand had suffered wounds ; three hundred thousand
were homeless; property valued at $300,000,000 had been
destroyed. These are the tangible results. Every man,
everywhere, who has had his day of ordeal will know that
the results which may be put in figures are always the least
of the results. But they furnish basis of comparison with
other great tragedies of history and serve to demonstrate
how without precedent was this disaster.

WHEN THE FIRST SHOCK CAME.

It was 5.13 o'clock on the morning of April 18, that
the first violent shock of the earthquake occurred. The
territory immediately affected covers a fifth of the State
of California. In addition to the destruction of San Fran-
cisco, which is to be described in detail, the foUowng com-
munities were affected:

Palo Alto — Leland Stanford, Jr., University practically
destroyed; every building seriously injured, few
standing; loss, many millions of dollars; several lives
lost.
Agnews — Insane asylum wrecked by quake and subse-
quently burned; many inmates killed, others roaming
around country.
Saunas — Spreckels' sugar factory destroyed; loss $1,500,-
000; High School building, Elks hall, Masonic tem-
ple, armory, city hall, K. of P. building, Odd Fellows'
building, many business houses completely destroyed.
San Jose — Many buildings wrecked ; twenty persons killed.
Napa — Many buildings shattered ; no loss of life reported ;
property loss, $300,000.



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SAN Francisco's great disaster.



51



Stockton — Santa Fe bridge over San Joaquin river settled

several inches.
Vale JO — Some damage to property; loss, $10,000; no lives

lost.
Redwood City — Courthouse and other buildings collapsed.
Sacramento — Buildings rocked like cradles ; postoffice and

few brick buildings damaged.
SuisuN — Mile and half of railroad track sunk three to six

feet; loaded passenger train nearly engulfed.
Santa Rosa — Courthouse reported demolished and number

of persons killed; city in flames; loss, $1,000,000.
Watson ville — Moreland Academy destroyed by fire; sev-
eral buildings collapsed.
Monterey — Chimney fell through roof of Del Monte hotel,

killing a bride and groom and a hotel employe.
Hollister — Grangers' union warehouse destroyed ; woman

killed, her husband went insane.

In connection with the destruction and loss of life at
every one of these centers there is a story of horror. And
any of them, alone, would add a chapter to the literature of
the destruction that has followed in the wake of earthquakes.
In tiie apalling cataclysm of San Francisco, however, these
are submerged. They are incidents in the total of tragedy.

THOUSANDS IN PERIL OF DEATH.

The shock had found most of San Francisco asleep.
Hundreds of thousands, after a moment of confused and
paralyzing terror at the heavings of the earth, had plunged
into the streets. Five minutes after the first convulsion
there came a second, not so severe but violent enough to
hurl into the streets, now thronged with people, roofs, walls,
whole buildings, that had only been left tottering by the



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52 SAN FRANCISCO S GREAT DISASTER.

first shock. This was the moment when human life stood
in greatest peril. How many were crushed under the
avalanches of walls in every section of the city will never
be known. Many found a pyre where they had met their
doom. There may have been hundreds of them, there may
have been thousands. Nor will it ever be known how many
were injured. The helpless lay where they had been stricken,
impaled, or buried. Hundreds of these were rescued before
the flames reached them. The hospitals received several
thousands, but to keep records in the overwhelming rudi
of work was out of the question. Definite details would
have been obtainable were this all of the disaster, but the
chaos of the four days, when the tempest of destruction was
at its height, removed any possibility of this. Enough that
upward of i,ooo persons lost their lives and hundreds on
hundreds more suffered injury. In the swift succession of
appalling events there was hardly time to remember wounds,
and hundreds, even seriously hurt, went for hours and even
days unmindful of them.

So many have been the forms of destruction that it
will always be an open question just what part in the general
havoc was played by the earthquake. Hundreds of struc-
tures, even thousands, were damaged in some degree. For
the great majority repairs of small cost would no doubt
have restored them. Many buildings of cheaper construc-
tion were reduced to heaps of debris. In the finer sections
of the city the damage was extensive. Qiimneys, sections