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Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 03:44 PM

...my home city, San Francisco, burned to the ground as a result of The Great San Francisco Earthquake

The earthquake, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, took the lives of as many as 3,000 people, historians now say, and left 250,000 homeless -- more than half of the city's 400,000 population.


The SF Chronicle has been running a fascinating series of articles about the Great Quake for the better part of the past month, leading up to the centennial today. As a resident of this great city for more than a decade now, it's a stunning reminder of the history and danger inherent in being a San Franciscan. Spending time here, locals flippantly joke about the "next big one" with a morbid sense of realism. "If it comes, it comes," seems to be the prevailing feeling. "If the city can survive the last big one, then I can too."

The city certainly survived, and moreso. But not before the quake and resulting fire (which burned for days after the earth stopped shaking) turned the bustling metropolis into an immediate horror show

The Rev. Charles Lathrop, an Episcopal priest, looked down Market Street and saw the face of disaster: "I saw a wagon coming up the street ... the driver driving this way and that to escape the live wires hanging down across the street. He told me he was looking for a hospital, that there was a dying man, a policeman, in the bed of the wagon.

"I saw a man, flopping in his death agonies, mashed beyond recognition. Then the horror of the catastrophe broke on me.''

....
In the South of Market, poorly built wooden buildings used as hotels and boarding houses collapsed -- at Third and Mission streets, Fifth and Minna streets, Third and Folsom streets, and Sixth and Folsom streets. There, the Corona House Hotel fell, killing 40 people.

Sister Mary Joseph O'Leary, a nun stationed at a Catholic school at Third and Mission streets, near where the Museum of Modern Art now stands, looked out of the school gate on Minna Street and saw "bricks, plaster wood, glass, all in confusion, while immediately opposite our gate ... a household had caved in, and horrible to relate, the occupants were in eternity.''

The Valencia Street Hotel between 18th and 19th streets also collapsed, and perhaps 80 people died. Those on the fourth floor stepped out into the streets, but people in the lower floors were killed or trapped. William Bock, the proprietor of the hotel, was buried in rubble in his bed and killed, but his wife, who slept beside him, was unhurt.


And then, the fire started. That's when the stories of what happened go from tragic to downright chilling.

Fifty-two fires started almost at once across the city. The first, and most deadly, was the Chinese laundry fire South of Market near Third and Howard streets, a blaze that started after the quake knocked over heating fires at the laundry.
...
At the Royal Hotel on Fourth -- where the new Moscone West convention center stands now -- 60 people were buried alive. At a four-story flat on Fifth, now the site of a big parking garage -- 40 bodies were found later, charred bones, skulls. At the Portland House, at Sixth and Mission, dozens were trapped. "Agonizing cries for relief were heard a half block away,'' the San Francisco Examiner reported.

"Even now,'' Sister Eugenia Garvey, the principal of St. Vincent's School, wrote days later, "When I close my eyes, I see flames, nothing but flames."

At Third and Mission, a building had collapsed and a man was pinned in the wreckage. The fire was coming, and he was trapped. He pleaded for help, and bystanders tried to rescue him. They frantically tried to clear the rubble, but the fire was close and getting closer. It was a race the man could not win.

"Realizing that he would soon be burned to death, he begged for bystanders to kill him," said police Capt. Thomas Duke.


The southern fire line, where firefighters were finally able to connect to working fire hydrants and stop the encroaching flames, stretched along 20th street, which just happens to be where I live now. Certain hydrants along the fire line on all sides are painted gold to comemorate the fact that they stood tall while others failed. They saved additional neighborhoods and lives. There is one a few blocks from my apartment.

I'm typing this now in the library at my school. One hundred years ago today, this spot was ablaze, these buildings flanking me were rubble and almost everyone surrounding me would be dead. But today the city bustles like you'd never know the difference. San Francisco is what it is today in no small part because of the catastrophe 100 years ago. After the fire and quake shantytowns were set up all over the city wherein people of all SF's diverse cultures and economic backgrounds were forced to live together, to share experiences and to share culture. Perhaps without the quake, SF wouldn't be the bastion of tolerance that it is today. Perhaps.

Regardless, it's a city that I love with all of my heart. It's a city that I may never leave. The 1906 Quake is the central event in the history of that city. And for that reason and so many more, I raise my glass in memory and respect to you, my fair San Francisco.

[Edited on Apr 19, 2006 by Subrosa]

BellJar

BellJar

I'm lost
February 2005

APR 18, 2006 03:49 PM

Cheers!

The spot where I'm sitting right now had probably already burned to the ground 100 years ago today.

Looking out the window, over the city, I know there's no place I'd rather be.

poptard

poptard

United Kingdom
November 2003

APR 18, 2006 03:58 PM

100 years ago today i wasn't alive


did you think of that!

Saraphine

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

APR 18, 2006 03:58 PM

Wow....I never knew about this for some reason.

Wow.

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 04:01 PM

Saraphine said:
Wow....I never knew about this for some reason.

Wow.


When you grow up in California, the 1906 Earthquake is something that gets talked about a lot. smile

BellJar

BellJar

I'm lost
February 2005

APR 18, 2006 04:05 PM

Subrosa said:

Saraphine said:
Wow....I never knew about this for some reason.

Wow.


When you grow up in California, the 1906 Earthquake is something that gets talked about a lot. smile



I never knew about it until I moved here, but I'm still amazed that it's never mentioned in any other history classes.

Quirky

Quirky

Birmingham, AL
October 2005

APR 18, 2006 04:08 PM


wink

Al

Al

SUICIDEGIRL

Christmas Island

APR 18, 2006 04:14 PM

I feel bad for thinking that painting is really beautiful.

Lout_Rampage

Lout_Rampage

Dallas, TX
May 2005

APR 18, 2006 04:15 PM

BellJar said:

Subrosa said:

Saraphine said:
Wow....I never knew about this for some reason.

Wow.


When you grow up in California, the 1906 Earthquake is something that gets talked about a lot. smile



I never knew about it until I moved here, but I'm still amazed that it's never mentioned in any other history classes.



Yeah, I'm shocked that there are American citizens that had never even heard about this. Wow.

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 04:19 PM

Al said:
I feel bad for thinking that painting is really beautiful.


I think it is too.

Saraphine

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

APR 18, 2006 04:20 PM

It's an amzing post all around. Nice one Subrosa! Thanks for enlightening us/me

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 04:22 PM

And, coincidentally, this is the first day in a month and a half that the sun is shining. If I were more poetic I'd say that signified something.

BellJar

BellJar

I'm lost
February 2005

APR 18, 2006 04:23 PM

Subrosa said:
And, coincidentally, this is the first day in a month and a half that the sun is shining. If I were more poetic I'd say that signified something.


new beginnings.

...or something. wink

Lout_Rampage

Lout_Rampage

Dallas, TX
May 2005

APR 18, 2006 04:25 PM

Have the newspaper articles addressed the cover-up that followed the quake? I can't help but wonder if a quake of that magnitude would be even more devastating to the city today. More people, more casualties.
Although, it's hard to imagine a city being MORE devastated than it was.

I've heard it's a beautiful city. I'd love to visit.

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 04:33 PM

kkimberlin79 said:
Have the newspaper articles addressed the cover-up that followed the quake?


The cover up? I'm not sure what you mean. This article mentions the federal response controversy, but it doesn't really get into a cover-up.

I can't help but wonder if a quake of that magnitude would be even more devastating to the city today. More people, more casualties.
Although, it's hard to imagine a city being MORE devastated than it was.


The famous 1989 Loma Preita "World Series" Eartquake was the closest we've gotten to find out. I think only 60-70 people died in that and that was all over the Bay Area (though it was probably a smaller magnitude and the epicenter of that was 100 miles to the south as opposed to in Golden Gate park for the 1906 quake)

I've heard it's a beautiful city. I'd love to visit.


I'm no world traveler, but it's the most beautiful city I've ever been to. By a mile.

[Edited on Apr 18, 2006 by Subrosa]

lil_tuffy

lil_tuffy

MODERATOR

San Francisco, CA

APR 18, 2006 04:53 PM

BellJar said:
Cheers!

The spot where I'm sitting right now had probably already burned to the ground 100 years ago today.

Looking out the window, over the city, I know there's no place I'd rather be.



Actually, the spot you and I are sitting at now was part of the bay back then (I thinik). We currently are sitting on the rubble from that quake.

Lil_Tuffy

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 05:00 PM

lil_tuffy said:

BellJar said:
Cheers!

The spot where I'm sitting right now had probably already burned to the ground 100 years ago today.

Looking out the window, over the city, I know there's no place I'd rather be.



Actually, the spot you and I are sitting at now was part of the bay back then (I thinik). We currently are sitting on the rubble from that quake.

Lil_Tuffy


Where both of you are is near edge of the bay but still within the fire zone, according to fire-line flash thingy, (which is pretty cool, btw).

BellJar

BellJar

I'm lost
February 2005

APR 18, 2006 05:04 PM

Subrosa said:

lil_tuffy said:

BellJar said:
Cheers!

The spot where I'm sitting right now had probably already burned to the ground 100 years ago today.

Looking out the window, over the city, I know there's no place I'd rather be.



Actually, the spot you and I are sitting at now was part of the bay back then (I thinik). We currently are sitting on the rubble from that quake.

Lil_Tuffy


Where both of you are is near edge of the bay but still within the fire zone, according to fire-line flash thingy, (which is pretty cool, btw).



that is cool!
you learn new stuff everyday. love it.

crispy

crispy

NEWSWIRE

Philadelphia, PA

APR 18, 2006 05:07 PM

That flash thingy is cool, but I'm intrigued by those two little "safe zones" within all the red. What was the deal there?

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 05:09 PM

crispy said:
That flash thingy is cool, but I'm intrigued by those two little "safe zones" within all the red. What was the deal there?


Big fuckin' hills,

Edit- Or at least the russian hill one. I don't know specifically what happened in the Chinatown one. Could be a hill. Could be what used to be a park or something with no flammable structures.

[Edited on Apr 18, 2006 by Subrosa]

SonOfAPunk

SonOfAPunk

Maple Ridge, BC
January 2006

APR 18, 2006 05:14 PM

Did anyone catch Colbert last night?

"Since everyone knows that comedy equals tragedy plus time...

Knock knock.

Who's there?

The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906.

The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906 who?

The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906 killed three-thousand people."

Hahaha! biggrin

seanvegas

seanvegas

Lincoln, NE
December 2004

APR 18, 2006 05:19 PM

I understand your compassion for what went on in SF. But just outside of my city is a town that doesn't even exist anymore because of a huge tornado that leveled the place about 2 years ago.

Natural disasters suck! frown

bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

APR 18, 2006 05:32 PM

Subrosa said:

Saraphine said:
Wow....I never knew about this for some reason.

Wow.


When you grow up in California, the 1906 Earthquake is something that gets talked about a lot. smile


Seriously. I think I learned about it first when I was probably 5 or 6 and it's mentioned in conversations several times a year at least, more if one is actually in SF.

bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

APR 18, 2006 05:42 PM

seanvegas said:
I understand your compassion for what went on in SF. But just outside of my city is a town that doesn't even exist anymore because of a huge tornado that leveled the place about 2 years ago.

Natural disasters suck! frown


Natural disasters do suck, but I don't think celebrating how far San Francisco has come since it was nearly destroyed in one of the country's most violent calamities diminishes our compassion for any other natural disasters. Let's not turn this into some stupid "our disaster was worse than your disaster" pissing contest.

[Edited on Apr 18, 2006 by bean]

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

APR 18, 2006 07:03 PM

SonOfAPunk said:
Did anyone catch Colbert last night?

"Since everyone knows that comedy equals tragedy plus time...

Knock knock.

Who's there?

The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906.

The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906 who?

The San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906 killed three-thousand people."

Hahaha! biggrin


His whole thing on the Quake was pretty golden.

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