The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-05-07
San Francisco,
Earthquake
StrickenCity
Mark Bennitt'S Pen Picture
of the Metropolis
on the Pacific
Slope.

me Wofl0 H9Ve O01000o0 ltVoos4So VI
the Orient and q All zoaes-A City
Of Bousdless Wealth. Whose SKY.
scsapers Have Successfully
Wlthstood Former Earth
quake Shocks.
San Francisco, which was 20 serious
" damaged by an earthquake on Apr1l
"a. has had a number Of similar expe-
Fences. In 1868 and 1893 there were
severe shocks. The former year
crack several inches wide and eight or
nine blocks long was made In Market
street, the main thoroughfare OF the
city. In 1893 the tall, buildings were,
given q terrific shaking, and some OF
the occupants were made dizzy and
sick. However, the structures were
uninjured. Prior to 1890 there was
hardly a building in the city that ex-
ceeded Eve stories In height Builders
knew that the city had suffered from
seismic disturbances and were afraid
to erect skyscrapers. However. short
" after 1890 they became more ven
turesome, and big structures OF twelve.
fourteen and even seventeen stories
were built. The modern iron and steel
skeleton frame was used, and In the
earthquake of 1898 the buildings Of
this type stood the shock well.
The following graphic and interest
ing story about San Francisco was
written q few days ago by Mark Ben
NIT, who was superintendent of the
general press bureau at the St Louis
fair:
An old man sat one evening In that
wonderful rotunda Of the Palace hotel
in San Francisco narrating to a party
of friends some of his experiences as
young man in the great city of the
Golden Gate.
when l landed here In 1885," said
he, 1.-The ship cast her anchor near
where the Chamber of Commerce now
! stands"
! The place Is not less than half a mile
from the present waters Of the bay.
Between the site of this hotel and
the bay" he continued, was hill OF
sand about as high as the hotel"
The sand hill was thrown into the
bay long ago and many others might
| have been to the advantage Of San
! Francisco.
THAT was in 1885," continued the
narrator, land they told me had come
too late to reap any profit from the
growth Of the city"
! So there were false prophets in those
days of fifty years ago as there are
now, men who do much guessing and
palm it off as sage advice to suffering
and patient audience.
Four times in the veal: 1905 the city
of San Francisco broke the monthly
record in the value of building permits
issued, with no more prospect of ces-
sation of growth than there Is in the
city of New York Many millions Of
dollars go every year into structures Of
the most permanent sort, from sky
scrapers, with skeletons Of steel, to
fats and dwellings Of the humber
kind. The city Is without trees except
here and there in its remote suburbs,
but the absence Of shade trees is one
Of the least Of the worries here, be-
cause sunshine Is always such q wei
come thing to a San Franciscan.
San Francisco Is In every essential
a metropolis. It Is so far from the
greater cities Of the east that it is COM
PEELED perforce to take upon itself met
ropolitan qualities. Hare are shops of
every possible kind to supply every
commodity known to commerce.; here
are men skilled in every craft to pro-
duce any article of modern need; here
are all the grades of society, all the
denominations Of religion, all the peo-
pies of the so called civilized world,
mingling in cosmopolitan medley; here
are buildings of every sort - wood,
brick, stone, cement and steel framed,
from the architectural masterpieces of
geniuses of wonderful skill In artistic
composition, the creators of sympho-
MES in stone and marble, to the miser-
able hodgepodge lacking In comeliness
or the least of artistic merit. Hither
come the ships Of the world to tie at
the great wharfs or to ride at anchor
in the sheltered bay. Here are unload
ed the treasures of the orient and of all
zones. From this port go the multitude
Of things produced upon the Pacific
slope or other products shipped by rail
} from their places Of origin east of the
Rocky divide. here to be transshipped
to ports Ave to eight thousand miles
across the blue Pacific. Importers and
exporters vie with one another to sur
. pass former records Of a prodigioua
business, and there are brokers In ev-
erything. combining to swell the vol
ume Of the city's commercial transac-
lions from year to year.
You feel that you are In q land Of
. progress. The leaven Of enterprise ID
active In every line Of effort. The
city's streets become avenues Of traffic
before daylight and continue thus
ceaselessly all day. AZ in other great
marts. Only in the small hours Of the