Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-25
4 new San FRANCISCO.
How the Burned City Is Being
Rebuilt. 4.
THIRTY MILLIONS FOR LAB0 OR.
Forty Thousand Mem Have Received
This Sum In Wages--Many Homes
Have Been Constructed by Owners
With Their Own Hands.

writes q san FRANCISCO correspondent
Of the New York Tribune. All the sky.
scrapers are restored or In process of
restoration, SO that they present few
traces Of the whirlwind Of flame
through which they have passed, and
scores Of substantial uiidings OF brick
and stone have arisen on the main
business streets to mark the confidence
Of property owners In the future Of a.
greater San Francisco than the ONE
that was swept by FIRE.
In the residence sections Of North
Beach and the Mission the reconstruc-
ton has been nothing short 81 marvel
GUS. Here the IRE ordinances permit
the erection of wooden buildings, and
whole blocks have been rebuilt in FIR
better style than before the disaster. 4
One feature Of the rebuilding at North
Beach has been the large amount OF.
work done By the owners with their
own hands. 1865 y ss'3 ssS5 I
This section Is largely italian and
Spanish, ana these Latin races have
shown q fine disregard Eof the exac-
lions Of the labor unions. With car
penters demanding Sc a day and brick
layers SO day, these people have sud-,
denly discovered that building is not a
black an. They have laid their own
brick wallis, and they have handled the
saw and plane as though they had ac-
tually learned the ancient trade. Of the.
carpenter. Many Of these homes actu-!
ally have been constructed at evening
and early morning in the owners
hours Of leisure and on Sundays and
Saturday half holidays. Many Of
these; men have not only built the
woodwork Of their homes. but they
have shingied the roofs, plastered the
walls and painted their new homes.
Any Sunday the observer at North
Beach and the fringe Of Telegraph
Hill may see hundreds Of swarthy men
completing the homes which would
never have been theirs had they wait:
ed to hire Workmen at the present ex.i
cessive cost Of labor d
The work Of reconstruct especial
" In the business district, meant the
repair OF streets and sidewalks, the In
stallation OF electric light, gas and
power, the abilitation Of the sky
scrapers which were merely Quilted
and an, the clearing away Of bricks and
twisted steel and the rebuilding Of
class B and class G structures. The
extent Of this task can be appreciated
only by one who has actually taken
part In such work. And it was made
more difficult In San Francisco BY. the
distance from the east, which supplies.
structural steel, terra Gotta and many
other kinds Of building material. Or
ders for materials had to be ia three
or four months before they could be
filed, and then there was another long
wait before the railroads could deliver
them.
It Is estimated that 40, 900 men have
been engaged lii this work Of rebuild
ing San Francisco, none Of whom re-
ceived less than So q day for their la
Dor. Bricklayers received $50 a day,
carpenters S. to SO, plumbers So, lath-
ers 80, painters SIS, and even the. UNI
skilled men who have removed debris
and cleaned bricks have received So d
day a careful estimate gives $50, OO0,.
600 spent for labor In eleven months
of rebuilding, for during the first
months after the fire very little real
work was done aside from building
shacks for refugees and putting up one
story temporary stores In the burned
district. The same estimate gives $780,
100000 spent for materials during this
period and $10,0O0,0Oo spent BY mer-
chants IN restoring their stocks OF
goods.
OF the thirty-fve class A buildings
which we're left Quilted after the FIRE
saH have been repaired or are Iii proc
sess of repair Only one the Kohl, OF
old Alvinza Hayward building, at the
northeast corner OF Montgomefy and
California streets was practically I'M
injured by the fire. This was due to
the metal window silis and the fact
/ that the building was surrounded BY
very low buildings. OF the others sev-
eral are near completion, like The Mer-
chants Exchange building, while 9th
ers, like the Flood building and sthe
new Chronicle and the Mutual Savings
1 bank Buildings, are now occupied and
practically compl
The work OF reconstruction Of these
Glass a buildings has been very heavy,
as most Of the exterior stone had to be
replaced On the st. Francis hotel
sabont one-third Of the stone facing
was removed and about an equal
arnount Of the Shreve building. The
outer walls Of the Merchants sEx-
change building were practically re-
built and the same process WIKI be
necessary with the Mills building. 1t
u q curious fact that granite suffered
more than any other stone from the
heat. The fine granite Corinthian pill
lars on the Hibernia bank the most
beautiful in the city, were scaled of
by the heat and practically ruined.
All the granite curbings Of the side
walks We're chipped or BY the heat.
Before the fire San Francisco had
more hotels and lodging houses to the
population than any city OF It's size In