March 26, 2017 Comments (1) Views: 2973 Looking Back, Nostalgia

The Hazardous Earthquake and Fire of 1906 that Wiped Away San Francisco

The tectonic setting of San Francisco has proven not so much in favor of the city. The notorious San Andreas Fault formed between the Pacific Plate and the North America Plate for ages has jeopardized the security and safety of the area. When the fault ruptured in 1906, it propagated both northward and southward for a total of 476 kilometers, and the events were hazardous for the city of San Francisco.

Houses on Howard Street (now South Van Ness Avenue) near 17th Street, damaged by 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

On the morning of 18th April, a severe earthquake struck the coast of Northern California, with an estimated magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI. This was an extreme category of an earthquake and is remembered as one of the most perilous events that have occurred to San Francisco.

Post and Grant Avenue Look after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

Moreover, severe shaking was reported from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley south of the San Francisco Bay Area. To date, the death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in the history of California and also ranks high on the lists of American urban disasters.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was followed by a huge fire. This photo was taken the morning of the first day of the fire, looking down Sacramento Street. Photographer: Arnold Genthe

 

View from the Ferry Building tower, southwest down on Market Street

“The city was virtually cut off from communication with the rest of the continent, owing to the collapse of all the telegraph wires except one, all the lighting arrangements were thrown out of gear, and save for the fires which broke out in numberless streets the whole place was in darkness,” reads a news report from The Guardian archive.

According to History, “the greatest devastation resulted from the fires that quickly followed the quake”. Reportedly, the tremors diminished the city’s water channels, which had left firefighters unable to diminish the furious blaze that burned for a couple of days and wiped out large portions of the city.

San Francisco Mission District burning in the aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

The numbers tell that around 250,000 residents of San Francisco were made homeless and the estimated damage was around $500 million in 1906 dollars. The equivalent of the sum would be $10,600,000,000 in 2015.

“Surrender was complete.”
– Jack London

The Palace Hotel

A famous landmark building that was lost in the fire was the Palace Hotel which was subsequently rebuilt. The venue was visited by many famous visitors including royalty and celebrated performers. It was constructed in 1875 and was mostly financed by William Ralston who was a co-founder of the Bank of California and is acknowledged as the “man who built San Francisco”.

The Palace Hotel burns after the earthquake in San Francisco, April 18, 1906

The night before the earthquake, the famous Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso performed Carmen in Palace Hotel as he was staying in the city to give a series of performances during the month of April. He had survived the earthquake and made an effort to get out of the city, allegedly first by boat and then by train, and had vowed to never return to San Francisco. Caruso who frequently toured America remained true to his word and never set a foot again in this city until his death in 1921. In the events of the hazardous earthquake, the Metropolitan Opera Company from New York which was performing along with Caruso lost all of its traveling sets and costumes.

The “New” Palace Hotel, the Monadnock Building (right), and Lotta’s Fountain (foreground) on Market Street, photo credit

Aftermath of the earthquake

If it wasn’t for the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco would have probably grown as the largest megacity on the West Coast of America, however that title today belongs to Los Angeles. Despite the utter destruction, the city recovered very quickly and locals were able rebuilding its urban realms with “a more logical and elegant structure”.

The burning of San Francisco. Reproduced from the only photograph that shows the entire scope and extent of this awful conflagration the worst in the history of the world. Fire line over three miles long.

Many new towns emerged after the earthquake in the surrounding San Francisco Bay area which allowed the number of residents to boom in the following decades.

As per the earthquakes, there are hundreds of them every year, however, most are so small (less than 3.0 magnitude) that can be hardly felt and oftentimes they are not even discussed.

Tags: America, California, earthquake, san francisco