Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-22

bodily over. leaving a Jog Of several
feet In both dam and fence. Farther
down II overthrew. crushed or pulled
apart the big four-foot main which here
Is carried on trestles. At Crystal
Springs IL showed through brick
drain, carrying the halves over so that
opposite walls now touch. In all 10
wrecked the system with a complete
ness that would seem the act Of mali
cious fate to one Ignorant of the geol-
ogy Of the region.
Viewing the wreck no unpreiudiced
mind can fail to exonerate the water
company from the charges of contribu-
tory negligence so freely brought
against It, Lynching has been men
toned as being too good for its direct
ors It has been accused of carrying its
mains on nimsy trestles; Of using rotten
mining; of snoring peacefully while San
Francisco burned on the contrary, the
company did everything that was pos
sible in the premises. AS the san An
dreas main was hopelessly wrecked, 1t
turned all its energies upon other
sources of supply, repairing the least
damaged first. For two weeks Mr.
Schussler. the chief engineer, lived In
his automobiles; ate in It, snatched his
sleep while the chauffeur whirled him
up and down the pipe lines. Further
the company had made some provision
against possible earthquakes.
Passing from Spring valley, the fault
lines run southward, three or four miles
to the westward of Redwood City and
Palo Alto Being so near the line of
greatest destruction, both towns Were
of course. badly wrecked. The dam
age at Stanford university alone runs
high in the millions. San Jose, farther
from the line, suffered less; though in
proportion to size the actual earth
quake damage exceeded that OF san
Francisco. At Wrights, a station on
the Southern Paciflc's South Coast line,
the fault sliced the Santa Cruz noun
tains, destroying the railway tunnel
that carries the line thousands OF feet
below the summit.
Originally had no intention of writ
ing about the fault My visit had been
prompted by curiosity. But the first
glance convinced me that, of all the
earthquake phenomena, this. its sign
manual and visible cause. was the most
worthy of record. No other means of
conveyance being available, l followed
it south on foot through a dribbllng
rain, making twenty-seven miles that
day with the toughest kind of walking.
Two days later l took North shore
train to view the fault in its northern
aspects. Though three weeks had
elapsed. this was the first train to run
through Cazadero, the terminal and
everywhere along the line gangs and
construction trains were in evidence,
Strengthening track, bracing bridges,
re-establishing grades.
Wherever the line approached the
fault, Indications of severe shock
abounded. 1t is stated that Mount
Tamalpais has been moved bodily two
feet. AT Point Rey, on Tomales bay
a lateral movement of fifteen feet has
been measured. This occurs, of course,
in marshland, and probably doubles the
movement of the underlying rock. Yet
1t undoubtedly proves the destruction
of all existing surveys. All the surveys
on the Pacific coastline will have to be
re-established, and in the case of
broken property lines it will be a pretty
problem to settle just which mans land
has been moved over onto the other TEL
lows property.
Passing the end of Tomales bay. the
conductor called me out to the rear
platform to look at a mile of grade that
had sunk five feet below level, and
while there recounted his personal eX-
perience.
when the temblor turned loose" he
said, "our train was just ready to pull
out from Point Reyes on the morning
trip down. / had just taken my orders
and swung aboard when-biff! we We're
thrown from the track ana luTIeu pot-
tom up. | was the most puzzled man in
California until I looked over at the
station. Then 1 knew. Sash, frames,
glass were gone from every window.
and big frame house had been thrown
bodily into the bay.
A few minutes later I saw the house.
W1ndowless with high tide washing in
and out of the lower window frames,/it
conveyed peculiar impression; COM
posite of wreck, flood and fire.
From Point Reyes northward the line
ran through zone of small destruc-
tion; partly, perhaps, because towns
are few and small, and partly because
of it's methods the earthquake was as
f1irtatious as a coquettish woman. Here
shaking the very nails out of a town.
as in the case of Santa Rosa; there
gliding under another, as with Peta-
luna, and, upon a third, setting with
all the fury of a terrier with rat
So, sparing Cazadero, the North Shore
terminal, it seized and tore Duncan's
Mills with a terrible convulsion; wor-
ried and shook it until a two-story
frame hotel fell apart like house of
cards.
Twinkle twinkle, little star,