The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-06-20
FRISCO RISING FROM
ITS ASHES LIKE
MAGIC
Coast City Booming-Details
of the Recent Great
Calamity.

S0Ao9AAVys
A writer in Wisconsin newspaper
sends the following interesting letter
from San Francisco relative to the
conditions there and the rapid recov-
cry of the city from the effects of the
great calamity:
1T Is now nearly month since the
great disaster in San Francisco and it
seems to me that notwithstanding all
that has been published considerable
misconception must still exist in the
east of its causes and consequences.
There may be said to have been two
distinct calamities-earth quake and
the big fire.
1.-THE earthquake. as mysterious
and unusual event, has appealed to the
imagination of all writer's, and the eff
fects of the earthquake have been en-
larged upon and exaggerated. On the
other hand the terrible destruction of
the fire has never been adequately de-
scribed and, never can be. Words and
pictures fail to convey any conception
of such complete destruction, such ut
ter annihiliation.
"The greatest shock took place on
the 18th of April, 1906, at STA a. m.
Many of the buildings and chimneys
were torn down, others cracked and
twisted. Brick houses suffered the
most. The streets and sidewalks were
cracked and opened, the water and
sewer systems destroyed as we'll as
the gas, electric and telephone plants
Blocks and streets were sunk down in
many places from foot to eight feet
doom Ctropt rails
twisted and even broken.
Crossed electric wires caused fire
in many places and in less than an
hour nearly all the sections from Sec
ond street to Eight, Market, Mission,
Howard and Folsom streets was
ablaze. There was no water to fight
with. The firemen could do little with
out it. At about nine o'clock came
another shock, not so great. How
ever, more brick and stone fell In
the afternoon the trade winds came
and spread the fire across Market
street.
'The fire lasted thirty-six hours and
the destruction was awful, utter, COM
plete. Practically nothing remains I'M
burned. The city had not only burned
but burned to the ground. There is
AolhtA6 " OC oCCu UuL d utStIG VI
tumbled brick, twisted iron and black
ened stone and timbers. Entering
Market, the principal street from the
ferry, as far as the eye can reach
there is nothing but ruins.
"The area of the Boston fire, added
to that of the Chicago fire of II, added
to that of the Baltimore fire. would
not make altogether one-half of the
Of tho
circumference was twenty-six miles,
seven miles across. Four hundred and
fifty solid blocks burned, to say moth
fifty churches OF w;:icn thirty odd
wholesale district, the retail district,
were destroyed, the manufacturing
district. the financial district, the
water front section-all were destroy
ed. The total loss is now estimated
at s350,OOOoOO. The hills. for San
Francisco is built on hills. rolled too
landed in the days of '49. But the
hills that welcomed them were shining
in green and covered with grass and
shrubs and trees. while now they are
a blackened waste. Instead of grass
etASiS 10 oohCoJ lHotCdu VI
twisted iron and steel; and instead
of tall trees there rise burnt brick
chimneys and ragged fragments of
walls towering above the desolation
that surrounds them.
The calamity seems overwhelming,
and yet the people are not overwhelm-
ed. There has been what we feel as
a great loss of property, but that loss
is but the accumulation of few years
and will soon be made good by the
savings of ourselves or of others who
stand ready to take our places. Every
thing has been destroyed except that
indomitable American pluck, that I'M
conquerable American spirit which
will not be subdued.
1.-THE past Is being forgotten al
ready, the future is in every ones
mind. The question is, not how shall
San Francisco be restored, but how
shall it be made greater than it was.
greater than it ever could have been,
except for this fire.
There is already the rebirth Of
business activity. One story build
ings are being erected, while plans
are being prepared for larger struc-
lures. The wholesalers have located
out near the railroad shops. The re-
tailers are already beginning to carry
on business in some of the private res
licences left standing to the west of
Van Ness avenue. The newspapers
are erecting presses on concrete
foundations, while the single story
buildings to cover them are being
built overhead. The restaurants are
opening in tents. Piles of debris are
decorated by signs announcing that
certain great business houses will re-
open here as soon as buildings can be
constructed and that meanwhile they
are operating at such and such places
in the outskirts
In month there will be the be-
ginning Of new and splendid city,
in a year it will have assumed shape.
and in from three to five years It will
be built and busy, an example of
American progress and prosperity.
San Francisco looks forward to half
a million population within the next
decade, embracing the possibilities of
city Of modern architecture far ex-
ceiling any other city on the Ameri-
can continent. This may be accom-
plished by unity of thought. unity of
determination, unity Of action in the
upbuilding of larger and more pro-
gressive and more beautiful city in
every way. THE Greater San Fran