The Greeley tribune., 1906-05-03
JUST AS BAD
SAN FRANCISCO NO WORSE
THAN OTHER PLACES
Other Sections Have Been Visited
by Earthquakes Fully as
Severe Storms and
Fires

Slight earthquake shocks have
been felt at different times in San
Francisco since the great earthquake
of April 18, but these have resulted
in no damage at all, except the
tumbling down Of some of the old
ruined walls, that any strong wind
might have toppled over. They
have, however. resulted in new
panics Of fear among the people
there, with every recurrence.
Whether or not San Francisco is to
be rebuilt Immediately will depend
largely upon the earth's early settl-
ing down to normal condition on the
point upon which San Francisco
stood.
While California Is subject to
earthquakes more than most sections
of the country, there is no particular
guarantee that any portion of the
country cannot be visited by the
same kind of disaster ii we Judge
from past events. Within the last
two or three years the o. S. govern
ment has taken steps to study earth
quakes, their causes and most gen.
eral fields Of work, the same as
weather conditions are being studied.
The result may be that in few
years the study Of this phenomena
may have reached such results that a
fairly accurate forecast of time and
place Of earthquakes about to occur
may be made, and people in that
secuion warned Of their danger, as
are often the people of the tornado
sections warned day in advance of
the arrival of a twister. Other
countries are cooperating with the
United States in this work, as only
by keeping close tab upon the trem-
blings of the earth in all parts Of
the world can this service be made
of practical value. The fact that
earthquakes can be felt, by instru-
ments made for that purpose, in
some parts of the world on an aver
age Of one every half hour indicates
that scientists will have no difficulty
in finding material upon which to
experiment. Perhaps only one in a
thousand of these shocks is severe
enough to be mentioned outside of
the observation stations. 1t Els only
when they become severe enough to
damage property that they are men
toned in the public press. The
same may also be said of tornados
and other storms. Nobody ever pays
any attention to gentle zephyr, so
long as it doesn't develop into a
hurricane. The same is true of an
earthquake. Really they are but
little more dangerous than the wind,
and pass the danger point in severity
with much less frequency. Lots of
the smaller cities of the west have
been practically wiped off the earth
by cyclones, and as soon as the in
habitants can come back to the loca-
ton from which they were blown the
town springs up again on the old
site The terrible tornado that
struck st. Louis, Mo-, few years
ago has practically been forgotten,
they have had some pretty
stiff winds there since then. OF
course, the damage was not near so
great there as at San Francisco, but
it was probably greater than the
actual damage from the earthquake
had not fire followed the shocks.
The main thing for San Francisco
in rebuilding is not so much to
make earthquakes proof buildings as
to make earthquake-proof water
mains. If this can be done, or even
comparatively so, San Francisco will
be about as safe as any of the larger
cities. Baltimore, for instance, did
not need an earthquake to start a
seventy million dollar fire. Neither
did Chicago, little over three de-
cades ago.
To prove. also, that the sites OF
other great American cities may be
subject to earthquake it is but
necessary to mention few bad ones
that have visited sections of the
country that are considered we'll
nigh immune from any Of the dis
asters supposed to belong to the god
less west.