The San Francisco Calamity by Earthquake and Fire | Page 5

AND OTHER VOLCANOES OF MEXICO AND
CENTRAL AMERICA
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE TERRIBLE ERUPTION OF KRAKATOA
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MONT PELEE AND ITS HARVEST OF DEATH IN 1902
CHAPTER XXIX.
ST. VINCENT ISLAND AND MONT SOUFRIERE IN 1812
CHAPTER XXX.
SUBMARINE VOLCANOES AND THEIR WORK OF
ISLAND-BUILDING
CHAPTER XXXI.
MUD VOLCANOES, GEYSERS AND HOT SPRINGS

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALAMITY BY EARTHQUAKE AND
FIRE
CHAPTER I.
San Francisco and Its Terrific Earthquake.
On the splendid Bay of San Francisco, one of the noblest harbors on the
whole vast range of the Pacific Ocean, long has stood, like a Queen of
the West on its seven hills, the beautiful city of San Francisco, the
youngest and in its own way one of the most beautiful and attractive of
the large cities of the United States. Born less than sixty years ago, it
has grown with the healthy rapidity of a young giant, outvieing many
cities of much earlier origin, until it has won rank as the eighth city of
the United States, and as the unquestioned metropolis of our far
Western States.
It is on this great and rich city that the dark demon of destruction has
now descended, as it fell on the next younger of our cities, Chicago, in
1872. It was the rage of the fire-fiend that desolated the metropolis of
the lakes. Upon the Queen City of the West the twin terrors of
earthquake and conflagration have descended at once, careening
through its thronged streets, its marts of trade, and its abodes alike of
poverty and wealth, and with the red hand of devastation sweeping one
of the noblest centres of human industry and enterprise from the face of
the earth. It is this story of almost irremediable ruin which it is our
unwelcome duty to chronicle. But before entering upon this sorrowful
task some description of the city that has fallen a prey to two of the
earth's chief agents of destruction must be given.
San Francisco is built on the end of a peninsula or tongue of land lying
between the Pacific Ocean and the broad San Francisco Bay, a noble
body of inland water extending southward for about forty miles and
with a width varying from six to twelve miles. Northward this splendid
body of water is connected with San Pablo Bay, ten miles long, and the
latter with Suisun Bay, eight miles long, the whole forming a grand
range of navigable waters only surpassed by the great northern inlet of

Puget Sound. The Golden Gate, a channel five miles long, connects this
great harbor with the sea, the whole giving San Francisco the greatest
commercial advantages to be found on the Pacific coast.
THE EARLY DAYS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
The original site of the city was a grant made by the King of Spain of
four square leagues of land. Congress afterwards confirmed this grant.
It was an uninviting region, with its two lofty hills and its various lower
ones, a barren expanse of shifting sand dunes extending from their feet.
The population in 1830 was about 200 souls, about equal to that of
Chicago at the same date. It was not much larger in 1848, when
California fell into American hands and the discovery of gold set in
train the famous rush of treasure seekers to that far land. When 1849
dawned the town contained about 2,000 people. They had increased to
20,000 before the year ended. The place, with its steep and barren hills
and its sandy stretches, was not inviting, but its ease of access to the sea
and its sheltered harbor were important features, and people settled
there, making it a depot of mining supplies and a point of departure for
the mines.
The place grew rapidly and has continued to grow. At first a city of
flimsy frame buildings, it became early a prey to the flames, fire
sweeping through it three times in 1850 and taking toll of the young
city to the value of $7,500,000. These conflagrations swept away most
of the wooden houses, and business men began to build more
substantially of brick, stone and iron. Yet to-day, for climatic reasons,
most of the residences continue to be built of wood. But the
slow-burning redwood of the California hillsides is used instead of the
inflammable pine, the result being that since 1850 the loss by fire in the
residence section of the city has been remarkably small. In 1900 the
city contained 50,494 frame and only 3,881 stone and brick buildings,
though the tendency to use more durable materials was then growing
rapidly.
Before describing the terrible calamity which fell upon this beautiful
city on that dread morning of April 18, 1906, some account of the
character of the place is very desirable, that readers may know what

San Francisco was