Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1907-06-06
A new SAN FRANCISCO
How the Burned City Is Being
Rebuilt.
THIRTY MILLIONS FOR LABOR.
Forty Thousand Men Have Received
This Sum In Wasss--Msny Homes
Have essn censtruetsd BY ownsrs
WITH Their Own Hands.

This Sum In Wasss--Msny Homes
Have sssn Constructed BY Owners
With Their Own Hands.
One year after the earthquake and
fire which wiped out all the business
section OF san Francisco and ut least
half Of the residence portion the trans
formation from acres OF gaunt skele-
tons Of ruined buildings and heaps Of
brick to the beginnings Of = well or
dered city Is little short Of marvellous,
writes q San Francisco correspondent
of the New York Tribune. All the sky
scrapers are restored or In process OF
restors ton. 20 that they present few
traces OF the whirlwind OF flame
through which they have passed, and
scores of substantial buildings Of brick
and stone have arisen on the main
business streets to mark the confidence
OF property owners In the future Of q
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 Of marvel
GUS. Here the Are ordinances permit
the erection of wooden buildings. and
whole blocks have been rebuilt In far
better style than before the disaster.
One feature Of the rebuilding at North
Beach has been the large amount of
work done by the owners with their
own hands.
This section IL largely Italian and
Spanish, and these Latin races have
shown fine disregard Of the exac.
lions OF the labor unions With car
renters demanding Sc a day and brick
layers s. n day, these people have sud.
denly discovered that building IL not
black art They have laid their own
brick walls, and they have handled the
saw and plane as though they had &C.
t,ially 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 or their homes. but they
have shingled 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
cd to hire workmen at the present *.
cessive cost OF labor.
The work OF reconstruction, especial
II In the business district meant the
repair OF streets and sidewalks, the In.
stallation Of electric light, gas and
power, the rehabilitation OF the sky
scrapers which were merely Quilted
and the clearing away or bricks and
twisted steel and the rebuilding OF
class B aud class G structures. The
extent Of this task can Be appreciated
only by one who has actually taken
part In such work. And 1t was made
more difficult Ia 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 10 be tn three
or fonr months before they could be
flied. ana then there was another long
wait before the railroads could deliver
them.
1t rs estimated that 10000 men have
been engaged In this work of rebuild.
ms San Francisco, none Of whom ~