The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1906-05-28
.SANFRANCISCO QUAKE
SANFRANCIsCo, Cal, May 16.
Ny DEAR Mr.. Fox

Your letter of the 9th inst,
received yesterday and tell you
that l was glad to hear from you.
You speak of wanting to be
here during the quake, and,
while the experience is all right
for once, once is quite enough
for one life time. And I have
had mine. If l had not been left
so destitute, l would have glad
ly lost all that / did for the ex-
perience and not begrudge it in
the least. 1t did not throw
things up in the air as you might
think and let them down again,
but the too-and fro motion simp-
ly shook things all to pieces.
Small houses, and all other kinds
of houses, brick walls-of all
thicknesses and sizes, including
foundations, chimneys, towers;
the firm castle-like homes of
those who could well afford them,
and even the steel buildings did
not seem equal to withstand the
shock. Even the terra tirma
was torn asunder here and
thrown in great ridges there.
Houses sank here and there
while others seem to have been
raised several feet and held
there, in many instances leaving
them uninjured. But, let me add
here that there was not a house,
l think, in the city that was not
damaged to greater or less ex-
tent. The freaks of the quake
and the FIRE were varied and
great. While it had no regard
for anything seemingly, some
few houses fell SO slowly that
that the occupants were allowed
sufficient time to escape. Some
were thrown onto other houses,
and, trees, in some cases, afford
ed the new foundations, while
others were simply slid of to the
side on the ground. In some
cases a chimney would seem to
sink where it stood through the
house while others were torn
away at the roof line. All were
more or less damaged throughout
and will have to be rebuilt en-
tirely. In some cases the fire
burned up to the adjoining house
and stopped, or more remark
able, burned part of the house
and was extinguished. In one
case it left q little one-story
house in the midst of the burned
district, burning the adjacent
structures. The water supply
was shut off to a very great de-
gree, in fact they will remain so
for some time to come as many
of the mains carrying the water
from the mountains were torn
asunder, and, in many instances,
for hundreds of yards were
thrown from their resting plac-
es, laying like huge dormant
serpents to one side. Reservoirs
were also broken and many will
have to be rebuilt.
You ask about the magnitude
of the confagation. l think this
will pretty well cover the ground
more than 45e blocks were
burned; over ten Thousand acres
or something like sixteen square
miles of territory was devastat-
ed.
Did it shake our house? Well,
yes. All the doors were thrown
open, the piano was left stand
ing in the middle of the floor,
pictures torn from the walls,
desk and bookcases were moved
in the library, clock thrown
across the room, screen thrown
upon the bed, the range thrown
to the floor, a part of the chin.
rey through the wall, and, / dc
not know what all, but We were
not hurt in the least. Just across
the street a whole row OF houses
were completely demolished and
many scarcely got out and the
furniture could not be extricated.
Many funny things we're done