The Springdale news., 1906-04-27

damaged
 One of the chief buildings which col. lapsed was the new postofiice This was substantial structure Of granite, costing 10 exceed $5,000doo While not striking from an architectural standpoint the postotlicc was impress i've from its massiFeness
 The Postal building was badly dam aged, and the operating room was a wreck Power of every kind was de stroyed. and there were no lights, ei- ther gas or electric Neither the Pal zee hotel nor the St Francis was de stroyed as far as the framework goes but the inside clustering and decora- uonS were greatly damaged
 The business section of the city from Market street to Mission street and from the bay back was almost com pletely wrecked.
 The most conspicuous building iu san Erancieco. The city hall. k almost totally ruined. it cost from SG.00O.000 to S1. .000, ,0ou. took twenty five Yeals ln construction and was surmouHted by a dome 332 feet high II was thought 10 b. very solidiy constructed. being built substantially et briet. with the wallsscorered by cement The interior of the dome was decorated with ex- peusiYe marbles taken from the Pa cific coast mountains
 Another very fine building. which cost over 5000 Geo. is the splendid ho- tel erected by Mrs. Herman Oelrichs on fashionable Mob hill. Mrs 0elrichs. who is T daughter of the late Senator Fair, has shown fine taste in the ar chiteetural plans of Fairmont. the ap- propriate name of the new hotel Seen from the bay this structure, with it's classic outlines. makes the beholder think Of a Greek temple. White and graceful, it looms above the busy mar ket places. the great wholesale district the crowded business section and pie turesque Chinatown, which. by the way. k fast disappearing owing 10 the encroaehments Of commerce and the dwfndling of the Chinese population.
 Other imposing edinces. many Of which hdye been more or less severely injured, are the Hotel St Francis, the Palace hotel, the Hail of Justice, the Mutual Bank building, the Pacific Mu- tuaI Life building and the Gallaghan building The greatest property dam age resulted in the manufacturing dis trict and the greatest loss of life in the tenement house district.
 The chief street of the city is Mar ket, running diagonally for many miles The destruction of many of the depart ment stores and other business blocks on Market and Mission streets was al most complete Fire added 10 the hor TOTS Of the situation. and as the water mains had been burst by the shock, the fire department was helpless. The flames ate their way along Market street. and other fires started Ill differ ent parts of the city.
 As the earthquake occurred but little after ! o'clock in the morning, practically the entire population was in bed Men and women rushed wildly forth in their night robes and fed in panic through the streets Many were caught by the failing roofs and walls and in the poorer districts the tene- ments collapsed like eggshells, crush ing and sutfocating their inmates be fore they had time to escape In many cases fire finished the work of death. catching the victims as they were pinned still alive under the debris
 To arrest the spread of the fire along Market street many buildings were dynamited
 The track of one railroad was de- pressed four feet or more for dis tance of three miles At one point in the city the earth cracked open for distance of six feet leaving yawning chasm of fathomless depth.
 The destruction of all telegraph wires. except one belonging to the Postal union, made 1t almost impossible for the stricken city to communicate with the outside world. The severe injury to the Western Union and Postal of fees. also the Associated Press. greatly added to the difficulty
 The practical destruction of six or eight blocks. coupled with the immense loss of life and damage To property throughout San Francisco and the en- tire coast region, makes this the worst earthquake disaster in American his tory. exceeding even the historic Charleston earthquake of a few years ago
 San Francisco has suffered from many slight seismic shocks. one of them occurring about year ago. At that time a long article appeared in one of the papers, signed by pro lessor ill one of the observatories near by. stating that there was no partic ular danger from these tremors of the earths surface The coast region, ac cording to this writer, was newer than parts of the country farther east and was therefore settling He said peo- pie should feel no alarm, as nothing serious was liable to happen.
 Evidently the earth's crust in the Golden Gate region has been doing some more settling"
 The most severe earthquake San Francisco has known prior to the pres ont apa woe in fSeS Duita 1i4fia