Amador ledger., 1906-06-08
Notes on San Francisco.

quake. From the descriptions given
in the papers and from those who have
visited it. he expected to see a scene
of desolation such as the world has
never witnessed before, and he was
not disappointed. From a birdseye
view the city today presents about the
same appearance that it did when
quake and fire had combined to wreak
their fury upon 1t, except that the
smoke from the funeral pile of this
erstwhiIe mighty city no longer
ascends. In two or three places at this
time-six weeks after the flames had
consumed everything that was consum
able, we noticed thin column of
somke still rising from the ruins.
And some safes but recently resur-
rected from the debris still retain a
perceptible heat-the legacy of that
fiery furnace. But the destruction 10y
fire is familiar to everyone. On
smaller scale nearly everyone has
witnessed the havoc wrought by fire
on the handiwork of man. And so
when the path of fre-the element
destructive of all Iife-emb braces an
area of seven square miles, and that
territory comprised the commercial
heart of one of the biggest, finest
and richest cities on this continent,
it is not difficult for the Imagination
to fill in the picture that San Fran
cisco from this view point presents
today. | can readily understand,
however, that no adequate Idea of the
confusion and panic that reigned
supreme on that fatefuI 18th of April,
when fire Immediately tIeading on
the heels of one of the greatest earth
carnival, and led thousands to believe
that the great and terrible day had
arrived when the worlds affairs we're
about to be wound up and all things
human come to an end.
Earthquake phenomena is a novelty
and visitor is naturally disposed to
pay particular attention to this
feature. One would suppose that in
the throes of an earthquake-no
matter what the nature of the earth IS
movement might be, whether per
pendicular, horizontal, wavy or
rotary-the tall buildings would be
the hardest hit, and the upper portion
of such buildings be the worst affected
and damaged. 1he truth is just the
opposite. In the burned district 1t is
perhaps next to impossible to dlstin-
gulsh between the effect of the fire
and earthquake. Intense heat is
liable to crack building, no matter
of what material it is constructed.
Probably large proportion of dam
aged walls were caused by fire, and
not by quake. Outside of the fire
area, however, the earthquake had no
competitor in the mischief line,
unless it be the terrific dynamite
explosions to stay the march of the
flames. The sky-scrapers stood the
test of fire and earthquake. We'll
constructed brick buiIdings-sky-
scrapers too-passed the ordeal
equally we'll, where they were braced
with steel floors.
The truth. is the upper stories of tall
buildings are the least damaged. 1t
was on the ground floors where the
destructive work was wrought. The
height of the structure has no re-
lation to the damage. 1t does not
appear that single high building
collapsed by the shock. The earth
quake affords not the slightest argu-
ment against the erection of sky
scrapers. They proved, indeed, the
safest in this earth movement. That
two or three build ings we're
totally wrecked by earthquake alone
was no doubt due to fimsy construc-
tion. The massive city hall was
wrecked from the top-an exception
to the rule. The walls of the first
story seem to have sustained COM
paratively little damage. But some
of the upper walls fell outward. This
does not upset the conclusions stated |
above. 1t must be attributed to poor
construction, and the graft has been |
abundantly revealed by the ruin. The
walls, massive though they seemed
when standing, were fiimsy affairs
structures of rubbish, with veneer
ing OF fair masonry for appearance
sake, and totally inadquate to sup
port the weight of the massive roof.
The strain of the quake tumbled them
in ruins. The city hall buildings are
Tar from being total wreck. The
hall of records is intact as far as its
outer walls are concerned. The same
may be said to great extent of the
other wing. Both are gutted by fire,
but it would be an act of waste to
condemn them as useless. Indeed. il
is more than likely that the basement
OF the main building will be found
serviceable. The same may be said of
the more recently constructed hall of
justice. 1t was wrecked from the top
the result of gingerbread work. 1t
does not speak we'll for municipal
ownership that city buildings went
down in the holocaust, while federal
buildings we're comparatively un-
scathed.
The post office building is solid
or 10fr