April 18, 1906
San Francisco was wrecked by a Great Earthquake at 5:13 a.m., and then
destroyed by the
seventh Great Fire that burned for four days. Hundreds, perhaps thousands
of trapped persons died when South-of-Market tenements collapsed
as
the ground liquefied beneath them. Most of those buildings immediately
caught fire, and trapped victims could not be rescued. Reevaluation of the
1906 data, during the 1980s, placed the total earthquake death toll at more than 3,000
from all causes. Damage was estimated at $500,000,000 in 1906 dollars.
Fire Chief
Engineer Dennis
T. Sullivan was mortally wounded when the dome of the California
Theatre
and hotel crashed through the fire station in which he was living at 410-412
Bush St. Acting Chief Engineer John Dougherty commanded fire
operations.
The earthquake
shock was
felt from Coos Bay, Oregon, to Los Angeles, and as far east as central
Nevada, an area of about 375,000 square miles, approximately half of
which
was in the Pacific Ocean. The region of destructive effect extended from
the southern part of Fresno County to Eureka, about 400 miles, and for
a distance of 25 to 30 miles on either side of the fault zone. The
distribution
of intensity within the region of destruction was uneven. Of course, all
structures standing on or crossing the rift were destroyed or badly
damaged.
Many trees standing near the fault were either uprooted or broken off.
Perhaps the most marked destruction of trees was near Loma Prieta in
Santa
Cruz County, where, according to Dr. John C. Branner of Stanford
University,
“The forest looked as though a swath had been cut through it two
hundred
feet in width.” In little less than a mile he counted 345 earthquake
cracks running in all directions.
U.S. Post Office
at Seventh
and Mission sts. was dreadfully damaged by the earthquake. Assistant to
the Postmaster Burke said, “walls had been thrown into the middle
of various rooms, destroying furniture and covering everything with dust.
In the main corridors the marble was split and cracked, while the mosaics
were shattered and had come rattling down upon the floor. Chandeliers
were
rent and twisted by falling arches and ceilings.”
Fireman James
O’Neill, drawing
water for the horses in Fire Station No. 4 on Howard Street opposite
Hawthorne,
was killed when a wall of the American Hotel collapsed onto the fire
station.
Police officer
Max Fenner
was mortally wounded when a wall collapsed upon him at 138 Mason
Street.
All telephone and
telegraph
communications stopped within the city, although some commercial
telegraph
circuits to New York and to India, via the Pacific cable at the Ocean Beach,
remained in temporary
operation.
A messenger
arrived at Ft.
Mason at 6:30 a.m. with orders from Gen. Funston to send all available
troops to report to the mayor at the Hall of Justice.
First army
troops from Fort
Mason reported to Mayor Schmitz at the Hall of Justice around 7 a.m.
At 8 a.m., the
10th, 29th,
38th, 66th, 67th, 70th and 105th Companies of Coast Artillery, Troops I
and K of the 14th Cavalry and the First, Ninth and 24th Batteries of Field
Artillery arrived Downtown to take up patrol.
Seventy-five soldiers from
Companies
C and D, Engineer Corps were assigned to the Financial District at 8 a.m.,
and another 75 along Market from Third Street to the City Hall at Grove
and Larkin streets.
A major
aftershock struck
at 8:14 a.m., and caused the collapse of many damaged buildings. There
was much panic.
Second day
session of the
Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons of the state of California
fifty-second
annual convocation. The group met after the earthquake but evacuated
before
the temple at Montgomery and Post streets was destroyed by fire. The
Masons
listed the date as April 18, A.I. 2436, A.D.
At 10 a.m.
Headquarters
and First Battalion 22nd Infantry, were brought from Ft. McDowell by
boat,
and were held for a time in reserve at O’Farrell St. They were later
utilized
as patrols and to assist the fire department.
At about 10:05 a.m. the
DeForest Wireless Telegraph Station at San Diego radioed press reports
of the disaster at San Francisco to the “U.S.S. Chicago.”
Admiral
Caspar Goodrich immediately ordered fires started under all boilers, and
after a confirmation message from the Mayor of San Diego, the
“Chicago”
steamed at full speed for San Francisco. It was the first time wireless
telegraphy was used in a major natural disaster.
At 10:30 a.m.,
the “U.S.S.
Preble” from Mare Island, under the command of Lt. Frederick
Newton
Freeman, landed a hospital shore party at the foot of Howard St. to help
the wounded and dying who sought help at Harbor Emergency Hospital.
Another fire
broke out at
395 Hayes St. on the southwest corner of Hayes and Gough. It would
become
known as the “Ham and Egg” fire, and would destroy part of the
Western
Addition, the Mechanics’ Pavilion, City Hall and then jump Market
Street
at Ninth.
General
Funston’s staff
abandoned the Dept. of California’s Headquarters in the Phelan
Building,
across from the Palace Hotel, at 11 a.m. They did manage to save valuable
records.
Winchester Hotel
caught
fire at Third and Stevenson streets and collapsed at 11 a.m.
Fort Miley
troops, the 25th
and 64th Companies Coast Artillery, arrived at 11:30 a.m.
Two earthquake
in Los Angeles
just before noon, about ten minutes apart. The quaking began as crowds
gathered around bulletin boards to read the latest telegraphic dispatches
from San Francisco. Thousands ran in panic when the earthquakes struck.
Hearst Building
at Third
and Market streets caught fire at noon.
Evacuation of the
injured
from Mechanics’ Pavilion, Grove and Larkin, began at noon because
of the
spreading “Ham and Egg” fire. The wounded were taken to
Golden
Gate Park, Children’s Hospital and the Presidio.
Mechanics’ Pavilion took
fire at 1 p.m.
St. Mary’s
Hospital at First
and Bryant sts. was abandoned to the fire at 1 p.m. Patients were loaded
aboard the ferryboat “Modoc” and taken to Oakland.
Entire area in the Financial District, behind the Hall of Justice, was
on fire by 1 p.m.
Fires so
threatened the
Portsmouth Square area by 1 p.m. that General Manager Hewitt of the
Dept.
of Electricity decided to abandon the Central Fire Alarm Station at 15
Brenham Place in Chinatown.
Restaurant atop
the Call,
or Claus Spreckels Building, at Third and Market streets, took fire at
2 p.m.
Postal Telegraph
operators
transmitted their last message to the outside world as army troops ordered
them from the building at 534 Market St., opposite Second St., at 2:20
p.m. because of the approaching fire.
Latest casualty
count: 750
people seriously injured people were being treated at various hospitals
at 2:30 p.m.
Dynamiting of
buildings
around the U.S. Mint at Fifth and Mission streets began at 2:30 p.m.
U.S. Army
Signal Corps established
Ferry Building telegraph operations at 3 p.m.
Mayor Schmitz
appointed
the Committee of Fifty at 3 p.m. at the Hall of Justice. The mayor also
said:
“Let it be given out that three men have already been shot down
without mercy for looting. Let it also be understood that the order has
been given to all soldiers and policemen to do likewise without hesitation
in the cases of any and all miscreants who may seek to take advantage of
the city’s awful misfortune.”
The Mayor appointed ex-Mayor James
Phelan
to head the Relief Committee.
Fifty or more
corpses had
been buried by the police in Portsmouth Square by 5 p.m because the
morgue
and police pistol range could hold no more bodies.
Mayor Schmitz,
at 8 p.m.,
was still confident that a good part of downtown could be saved.
Unfortunately
a possible arsonist set fire to the Delmonico Restaurant in the Alcazar
Theatre Building on O’Farrell near Stockton, and that blaze burned
into
Downtown and to Nob Hill.
War Department
received
a telegram from Gen. Funston at 8:40 p.m., Pacific Coast time, that asked
for thousands of tents and all available rations. Funston placed the death
toll at 1000.
Firefighters
attempted to
make a stand at 9 p.m. along Powell St. between Sutter and Pine, but it
was unsuccessful in keeping the fire from sweeping up Nob Hill.
Crocker-
Woolworth Bank Building
at Post and Market took fire at 9 p.m.
April 19, 1906
Governor Pardee arrived in Oakland at 2 a.m. He was supposed to arrive
three hours earlier, but his train was stalled because of sinking of the
track in the Susuin marshes. The governor said he would declare a bank
holiday today.
St. Francis Hotel
at Union
Square caught fire at 2:30 a.m.
Mayor Schmitz
and Capt.
Thomas Magner of Engine No. 3 found a cistern at the Hopkins Mansion,
Mason
and California streets, at 4 a.m., and attempted to keep the fire from
burning the structure. They were not successful.
Secretary of War
Taft at
4 a.m. ordered 200,000 rations sent to San Francisco from the Vancouver
Barracks.
Secretary Taft
ordered all
hospital, wall and conical tents sent to San Francisco from army posts
at Vancouver; Forts Douglas, Logan, Snelling, Sheridan and Russell, from
San Antonio and the Presidio of Monterey.
Secretary Taft
wired Gen.
Funston at 4:55 a.m. that all tents in the U.S. Army were en route to San
Francisco.
“Call,” “Chronicle”
and “Examiner” printed a combined newspaper today on the
presses
of the “Oakland Herald.”
176 prisoners
moved from
city prison to Alcatraz.
“U.S.S.
Chicago”
arrived in San Francisco Bay at 6 p.m.
The Great Fire
reached Van
Ness Avenue during the evening. The army dynamited mansions along the
street
in an attempt to build a fire break. Demolition to stop the fire was ordered
by Colonel Charles Morris of the Artillery Corps.
April 20, 1906
The fire burned as far as Franklin St. by 5 a.m., then attempted to circle
south.
At the foot of
Van Ness
Avenue, 16 enlisted men and two officers from the “U.S.S.
Chicago”
supervised the rescue of 20,000 refugees fleeing the Great Fire. It was
the largest evacuation by sea in history, and probably as large as the
evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II.
Fire approached
the Appraisers’
Building for a second time at 3 p.m. Lt. Freeman attempted to pump
saltwater
from the Bay but found that his hose connections would not fit those of
the Fire Department, so the effort was abandoned.
Gen. Funston
issued General
Orders No. 37 which placed Lt. Col. George Torney of the Medical
Department
in full control of sanitation in San Francisco.
Gen. Funston
wired War Department
at 8:30 p.m. on status of the fire. He advised that Fort Mason has been
saved, and some looters have been shot. His telegram said most casualties
are in the poorer districts, South of Market St.; not many killed in better
portion of the city.
April 21, 1906
Haig Patigian’s statue of President McKinley, commissioned for the
city
of Arcata, found in the rubble of a local foundry and saved by several
artisans who carried it into the street.
The fire that
swept the
Mission District was stopped at 20th and Dolores sts. by three-
thousand
volunteers and a few firemen who fought the blaze with knapsacks, brooms
and a little water from an operating hydrant at 20th and Church.
April 22, 1906
Fire Chief Engineer Dennis T. Sullivan died at the Army General Hospital
at
the Presidio at 1 a.m.
Father Ricard at the University of Santa Clara wrote to the “San Jose Mercury”:
The earthquake period is gone. Once the pent up forces of nature have had a vent, nothing of a
serious nature need be apprehended. At the most a succession of minor shocks may
be felt and that’s all. It is not unreasonable, therefore, for people to
continue in dread of a new destructive temblor. People should fearlessly
go to work and repair mischief done and sleep quietly at night anywhere
at all, especially in wooden frame. Never mind foreboders of evil: they
do not know what they are talking about. Seismonetry is in its infancy
and those therefore who venture out with predictions of future earthquakes
when the main shock has taken place ought to be arrested as disturbers
of the peace.
Major-General Adolphus W. Greely, Commander of the army’s Pacific Division returned to San Francisco.
United Railroad crews began stringing temporary overhead trolley wires on Market St., but did not
repair the cable traction system in the street.
April 23, 1906
Governor Pardee told a newspaper reporter, “The work of rebuilding
San Francisco has commenced, and I expect to see the great metropolis
replaced on a much grander scale than ever before.”
Imperial decree on the 30th Day of the Third Moon from Empress Dowager of China to send 100,000
taels as a personal contribution to the relief of the San Francisco sufferers.
President Theodore Roosevelt declined the offer, as well as donations from
other foreign governments.
Return to the 1906 Earthquake exhibit.
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