"...the paved streets were rolling like waves..." April 18, 1906

[Jerry D]

I think Mayor Schmitz had a good idea there in 1906 to stop looting before it happens!

[frisco-kid]

Great, informative post, Steve.

The Ferry Building at the foot of Market St. survived the quake and fire. It was instumental in the evacution of The City to the East Bay. Many of the East Bay cities, including Oakland, went from sleepy little towns to over-crowded cities virtually overnight. It was also the entry point for much of the materials brought into The City to rebuild it. It is still standing as one of S.F.'s famous landmarks.

Another building to survive was St. Mary's Cathedral in Chinatown. Virtually everything else around it was destroyed. It, also, is still alive and well.

Van Ness Ave. is the widest street in The City [8 lanes of traffic. All of the buildings for a block on each side of the street was dynamited to try to create a fire break to save the Western Addition. The fire still jumped it, burning some, but not all of the district.

Another structure to survive was Lotta's Fountain. A grotesque to some, beautiful to others, water fountain given to The City as a gift by Lotta Crabtree, one of the most famous actresses of her times. It stands at the foot of Kearney St. and Market. For many, many years it has been the gathering place of survivors, and ceremonial spot commemorating The Earthquake, as it was this morning at 05:12. Believe it or not, there are still a handful of them, however, the ones left were infants or toddlers.

One of the factors in the initial lack of organization by the city government was the loss of Dennis Sullivan, the City Fire Chief. Ironically, he was one of the immediate casualties of the quake. When it hit, he jumped out of bed, stuck his head out the window to see what was happening, and was hit in the head by a falling piece of his building. He died three days later. His absence would be detrimental to the organization and co-ordination of the fire department.

As the mayor's proclamation stated, the army garrisoned at the Presidio was organized as neighborhood guards against looters, notably in the affluent ones. General Funston would declare martial law in The City. As the soldiers patrolled The City, they were often the only looters to be found. Many a saloon was relieved of it's stock of liquor by the soldiers.

As Steve posted, the death toll has been estimated at around 3,000. However, that has only been in the last several years. For many years, especially immediately after the disaster, the official number was given out as in the low hundreds. The city government and business community wanted to keep it low keyed, not wanting to scare off investors and loaning institutions from investing into the rebuilding of The City.

Like has been stated, alot of The City was/is built on landfill. This practice continued after the quake. Most of the debris from the clean-up was dumped into the bay where the Marina District now sits, built out over it. This is one of the more affluent neighborhoods in The City today. When the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit the area in 1989, the Marina District suffered the most damage in The City because of this.

As a native San Franciscan, I have experienced many earthquakes of varying degrees. It's just part of living here. The experts say it's not a matter of if, but when, another devastating quake will hit the area. But predicting earthquakes is almost as hard as predicting the return of Jesus to earth. But, for all the potential danger that we live with everyday here, I'll still take it over Tornado Alley or any of the hurricane-prone areas of the country.

[82Rigger]

Frisco,

Just wondering...were you in the Loma Prieta quake? Did you have any injuries or damage?

Also, is that the earthquake that I saw on TV while watching the World Series game at Candlestick?


Steve

[frisco-kid]

No. I was living in SLC, UT, at the time. And yes, it did hit during the World Series game between the SF Giants and the Oakland A's. The game was credited with probably saving some lives, since there were thousands of would-be commuters sitting in Candlestick instead of being out on the roads. If you recall, one end of a section of the top deck of the Bay Bridge collapsed down onto the lower deck, killing a couple of people. Then there was the "pancaking" of an elevated part of the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland, killing dozens.

Both of my sisters homes, about 25mi. south, weren't damaged. Most of the residential damage seemed to be in The City, mostly in the Marina District. Kath and I visited my family about 2wks. later and walked around the Marina. AMAZING! Most of the damaged houses hadn't been fixed or demolished yet. Some of them had lurched forward onto the street or sidewalk. Many of them with street level parking underneath had collapsed onto the cars below, putting the second story at street level. This was especially common with the corner structures. Many of these were apartment houses. A couple of them had fallen sideways, still propped up by the house next door. We took pictures. I'll see if I can find them.

[82Rigger]

Jerry,

The proclamation by the mayor turned out to be a rose with thorns.

Frisco, correct me on this if I'm wrong.

Quite a few innocent people were shot by the soldiers...homeowners and business owners trying to protect or salvage their possessions.

Also, somehow the soldiers' job of guarding against looters got turned into forcing citizens at gunpoint to clear debris from the streets.

Unfortunately, many people on critical tasks, i.e. going for explosives to clear firebreaks, carrying vital messages to people in control, or critical personnel trying to get to their jobs were pulled from their horses or buggies at gunpoint and forced to clear debris. Their explanations were not believed and damage and misfortune were magnified because of this.

[Boats]

Rolling ground - I remember it well when the Alaska quake hit I think it was 63. I was in Whidbey Island down the coast and the land rolled like it was alive across the land. The buildings were picked up and moved off their foundations. It had to be horrible in the quake center area. Anchorage was devastated the buildings sunk into the ground and the streets dropped several meters.

[Jerry D]

Steve, That's all too true when ever civillians are put under Martial Law there is always someone trying to make brownie points i.e. Rank and they think being a jerk and abuseing their power is their Job.