The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-07-12
SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.
Observations of Earthquake and Fire
and Present Conditions.

lows:
Shook up, burned out, but still on
earth and glad OF it. Came out OF the
fire with my health and that is good
capital TO begin with.
Three hundred million ($3O0, O0O,-
OOO) dollars loss. Can you conceive
of that sum of money? Yet that
figure is below the actual amount OF
loss sustained here in this double dis
aster
Many lurid stories have been cir
,culated in regard to the quake and
the destruction wrought. For in
stance the Christian Herald of Lon
don Cillustrated) shows the Claus
Spreckles (CalD building a total
wreck. The Signs of Our Times, not
quite so bad, but has it a way out OF
plumb, also a New Zealand paper,
yet the fact is, the Call building is a
wonderful example of what good
builing will stand. This building is
but 75x75 feet and 325 feet high, yet
the earthquake and fire combined
failed to shake or burn it down. The
Call was back there doing business
in few days as also was bank. The
entire eighteen stories will be ready
for occupancy as soon as it is possible
to repair it. The first building permit
after the fire was issued to the Call
The Chronicle building, which was
the first skyscraper built in the City,
and the new addition being erected,
stood the test as also all the lofty
steel structures which has demon
strated the kind of building to erect.
Four hundred and fifty city blocks
burned. Twenty-six miles around the
burned area, about ten square miles,
Getting near the center of the burned
district is like being in mid ocean,
no shore line in sight, ruins and des-
olation everywhere.
We are all busy and in time San
Il idu(iSCo Will Dc lCDuiil duu Dcttcl
than ever but it will require years as
it is gigantic task.
Permits for a number of Class A
buildings have been issued and many
more will be as soon as the Insurance
is settled. Some of the Insurance
companies are playing fair but some
are not, those that do not will have
to leave the state, so says Commits
sioner Wolf A few states have de-
cided, these unfair concerns cannot
do business in those states; it is
good move which all states should
fellow Later / wiz furnish list of
the fair and unfair Companies.
The Continental has taken the bold
est stand on the side of right of any.
The Palace Hotel, which carries the
heaviest insurance of any building
west of Chicago, 1900, 10000 will
rebuild on the old site; whilst the
walls are standing, yet they will be
RACED and rebuilt on the old founda-
tons at cost of almost four mil
lion dollars and the palm court, which
was one of the interesting features of
the Palace and helped to make it
world famous, will be feature of the
new palace and finer than ever. The
large palm has spread of branches
thirty-four feet and weighed eigh cen
tons The Palace and Grand together
had fourteen hundred rooms.
Market street is down and out at
present. Fillmore street is 1T" Tha.
is where we promenade and do the
window and other shopping. The
leases in this section of the city run
from two TO FIVE years and by that
time. no doubt, most of the firms will
be on or near their old locations when
the permanent buildings are erected
Temporary wooden or corrugated
iron buildings are better erected out
as we'll as inside the burned area, no
permits are required but must be only
one story and must be removed any
time on sixty day notice.
Something decidedly unique and
n,w to most of us, if not all. 1, the |
gutter cook" The quake damaged |
the chimneys to such an extent that |
no FIRE was permitted in any house
in the city, so all had to go to the |
gutter to cook and a greater variety |
of stoves never was dreamed of, even |
at a meeting of the stove makers
Some had a few bricks others laid a
piece of sheet iron, tin Or granite on
the brick to place the frying pan or
coffee pot on, others had kitchen
sink inverted with the pipe on open
ing for waste pipe and it was a good
cheap stove too. Many had stoves
rescued from the ruins or brought
from the house, if they were forum
ate enough to have a house The
building over or around the stoves
were as varied as the stoves; some
had carpet, canvas, ETC., stretched on
frame, others had iron from the
ruins, old doors or doors taken from
the house, ETC., and some had real
lumber; remember this was at time
when the only way to spend money
was to hire an express wagon at abou.
six dollars a minute. Talk about
Dick Turpins; they would not be in
the race with these expressmen- One
of these robbers asked man twenty
dollars and in the war of words po-
liceman heard them and compelled
him to do the job gratis. Policemen
do seem to be useful sometimes.
The signs on these gutter kitchens
were no less interesting: Palace Ho