Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-07-23
STILL ANOTHER CALIFORNIA
LETTER.
DEAR BROTHER CHARLES:

Can FRANCISCO anu KNOW you Will NC
glad to hear from the city that was,
and the San Francisco that is to be.
II seems to me that notwithstand-
ing all that has been published, con-
siderable misconoeption must still
exist in the east of the cause and con-
sequence OF the great San Francisco
disaster. know that while 1, myself,
was very familiar with the localities
and conditions there ! had failed 70
appreciate exactly the situation un-
I'll ] had visited the scene. There
may be said TO be two distinct calami-
ties-the earthquake and the fire.
The earthquake, being q mysterious
and unusual event, has appealed to
the imagination of all writer's and the
effects of the earthquake have been
enlarged upon and exaggerated. On
the other hand the terrible destruc-
ton of the fire has never been ade-
quately observation-disclosures viii be-
never can be. Words and pictures as
well fail to convey any conception of
such complete destruction-such utter
humiliation.
When / reached Sacramento on my
way to San Francisco began to look
for the evidence of the earthquake;
there was practically none. | only
noticed few houses that were badly
wrecked along that section OF the
country. on reaching Oakland l
found that less than one per cent of
the buildings had been seriously in
jured and that beyond damage done
of cracked plaster and damaged Chin
neys, was very small. I had come to
think that the whole disaster had
been exaggerated and when boarded
the ferry for San Francisco l had be-
gun to nope that there was less de-
struction than / had expected. As
the boat neared the San Francisco
side, tne awful havoc of the actual de-
stroyer, the fire, began to appear and
the destruction was awful utter
comolete. looked to compare the !,
buried district with what remained |
un 3nrned; practically nothing of the
buAiness portion of the city remained
unnamed. The bntned district was
everywhere. The city had.not only
I5een burned, but Burned to the ground.
Wien / landed at the ferry the aw-
fuIness of the disaster. almost over
me. There was nothing 80
Do seen but desert of tumbling brick,
twisted iron and blackened timbers.
|o the Bay west to the Mission, nothing
0ut Market Street as far as could see
here was nothing but ruins. North |
but ruins. The wholesale district was
and the retail district was
destroyed; the manufacturing district. !
the financial district, the water front !
section - all destroyed. The hills
rolled to the sea as bare az when, the
pioneers landed in 49,, Instead of
grass there are acres OF ahes, instead |
of shrubs there are but twisted iron /
and steel and instead of tall trees there |
rise but brick chimney- and ragged /
of walls towering above
he desolatiou that surrounds them.
will not attempt any detailed de-
Icription OF tins scene, I know that
10 description gave me the slightest
understanding of what. had occurred
srdI do not believe that any words of
nine Gould convey to you the slight
sst comprehension of this great area
of wreck and ruin. Indeed, to get
any sort of accurate Impression one
must free the mind of the idea that
there has merely been a fire, no mat
ter how great, in San francisco, and
must re lliza there has been fire of |
San Francisco; that the whole city |
has gone up in one mighty blaze that |
and ragged and burned for |
three days and nights and left nothing |
standing but a fringe of houses along |
the southern and western limits. If I
bonfire of barrels and boards and
packing boxes had burned until it had
burned itself out there might remain
some few sticks on the edges that had
not been wholly destroyed. So it is
with San Francisco. The city burned
for days Without water
without effective hindrance of any
lind. When the fire stopped it had
got TO wy burned itself out; it had
Iy scattered se houses were so thin
in finding Jthat there was difficulty
The ca fuel for the flames.
and yetamity seems overwhelming,
whelm. the people are not over
have sd. Everything seems to
dom5een destroyed except that in
unctabIe American pluck and the
uncomfortable American sp'~it which
dlnot be subdued. The past is be-
Ag already forgotten, the future is in
,veryone's mind. The ques on is not
how shall San Francisco be restored |