Amador ledger., 1906-09-21
SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.

San Francisco, September 12:-Few
persons away from San Francisco,
and who have had no opportunity of
seeing conditions exactly as they are
in this city, have the slightest con-
ception of the amount of work in
volved in clearing away the debris
which resulted from the disaster of
April Is. Many strangers arriving
here receive the impression that moth
ing is being done, because they see
lots innumeIable covered with debris,
and in some places the streets almost
in the same condition.
Shortly after the fire one of the
largest contractors on the Pacific
Coast reviewed the situation and de-
clared that with the most modern and
best of appliances, and with all the
men and teams that could be utilized,
it would require eleven months of
steady work to remove the debris
from San Francisco. The work that
has been done has been under con-
ditions not as favorable as those pre-
missed by the contractor, yet to the
man who has spent all the time since
the fire in the city, the result is most
appreciable and most gratifying.
1t must be remem bered that the
debris covers an area of 1850 acres.
If the city dweIler who reads this
letter is unaccustomed to computing
spaces by acres, let him remember
that 497 city blocks and thirty-six
miles of streets were COVERED with
debris, consisting of brick, stone,
mortar, ashes, and, structural steel.
1t is estimated that there were six
and half billion bricks in the ruins
of San Francisco. These bricks placed
end to end would enclrcle the world
thirty times. To haul these bricks
with two-horse wagons would require
thirteen thousand loads.
1t is estimated that there we're
something like four million cubic
yards of concrete used in the territory
devasted. This Will weigh five and a
quarter million tons "a fairly heavy
load to be carted away. lake with
these brick and concrete all the build
ing stone, terra Gotta, and marble, and
iI will be seen that considerable work
is to be done before it can be all haul
ed away from San Francisco. For
nearly three months this debris has
been taken away at the rate of more
than 100 car loads day. Not all of
it by the railroads; it has been going
in constant professions of wagons from
all parts of the city, and has been
utilized to fill low ground. raise road
beds, make new land on the bay front,
form foundations for railroad tracks
and bridge work, in fact in a hundred
ways it has been carried out of the
burned district to help some other
section.
Building steel is most obstinate
material, when it comes to tearing it
down from a wrecked building. The
systematic ease with which immense
steel beams are handled when the
building is under construction is
dream, but the removal of that same
steel when it is twisted and distorted
by fire is a nightmare. 1t takes time
and most wonderful patience. 1t has
been estimated by dealers in iron and
steel that the steel debris of San
Francisco is worth as junk $40, 600, :
900. This means that there are about
1000, 600 tons of this twisted, bent
and distorted metal to be removed
from the ruins. To dismantIe six
story steel frame requires something
like months time.
In this computation l have not
taken into consideration the $1,000, =
900 square yards of plasterlng, nor
the other many million yards of
stucco work in ornamentation nor
the ashes from millions upon millions
of feet of Der, from all the furni-
ture of great district, of the stoves,
ranges, water and gas piping, plumb
ing material and builders hardware,
melted, into great congIomerate
masses by the heat, and holding in
their cohesion masses of brick, and
stone to such an extent that they
have to be separated by the use of
dynamite. Nor has any account been
taken of the qeensware, glassware and
table ware of all those homes which
went up in smoke, nor of the window
glass in the thousands of windows
which melted and ran over all the
debris covering it with glaze equal
to that of any ceramic oven.
1t is we'll to take account of what
the disaster in San Francisco means
as to extent when c1itic1sing the slow
ness of regeneration.
A bath cleanses the skin and rids
the pores of refuse. A bath makes
for better fellowship and citizenship.
Not only should the outside of the
body be cleansed, but occasional use
of laxative or cathartic opens the
bowels and clears the system of effete
matter. Best for this are Dewitt IS
Little Early Risers. Pleasant little
pills that do not grippe OF sicken.
Sold by f. w. Ruhser.
Pioneer Flour always has been and
still is the best