The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1915-04-16
San Francisco, Cal,
March 30th, 1915.
Marietta Journal and Courier,

| Marietta journal ana courier,
Marietta, Ga.
| To those who stop to really think
it is positively marvellous that with
in the short space of nine years this
truly wonderful city has sprung from
the ashes of the greatest fire in the
history of the world-a fire which
destroyed more than three million
dollars worth of property--and left
four square miles of the pride of the
Pacific Coast black, smouldering
| heap of ruins.
The great damage was not from
the earthquake directly but from the
| fire which followed 1t. There are
evidences to be seen yet of this great
catastrophe in occasional buildings
which have not been repaired, how
ever, there are not many, but instead
of ruins, there are hundreds of thou
sands of magnificent new buildings
just erected to replace the $4,000
which was burned. We at home
hear much of the Atlanta Spirit,
but when you hear native here
speak of San Francisco you at once
form the conclusion that he is exag-
Grating, but as one wonderful scene
after another unfolds to your view
you decide that he has been very
modest. This city of half a million
hustling business citizens is a prac-
tical demonstration of human cour-
age, energy, hope and resiliency, and
the Panama-Pacific International
Exposition, representing an expendi-
ture of more than $50, 100000 is a
truly wonderful monument to their
dauntless pluck and unconquerable
spirit. 1t seems but yesterday that
we heard those with prophetic neads
say when informed of the result and
extent of the great fire "San Fran
cisco will never be rebuilt "If it
is ever rebuilt it will take half
century to do it,, and similar ex-
pressions. They will never know
just how far wrong they were until
they see the wonders for themselves.
1t is not an unusual thing at all to
hear the expression here that the
fire was a blessing in disguise--think
of it You ask why and are told
ION the ruins there stands a new
San Francisco, a bigger, a more
powerful and more glorious city than
ever before"
To undertake to rebuild the city
was a tremendous task, but as if
hungering for job, right in the
midst of it, the greatest Exposition
ever undertaken in the world was
begun and for five years the work
has gone forward with a like deter
mination, until today a completed
exposition awaits the visitor.
You do not hear the sound Of the
hammer and the buz of the saw in
the hands of the workmen. The job
is complete, and tens of thousands
of exhibits from everywhere greet
you at every turn and the wonder
increases as we learn that every
thing exhibited has been produced
since the st. Louis Exposition ten
years ago. To give some idea of the
magnitude of the different buildings,
it will be sufficient to say that Ma
chinery Hall covers eight and one
half acres of ground, a small size
farm, the largest building in the
world under one roof. Here is to be
seen the wonders of machinery, COW
ering every stage from the Babcock
continental" to the Diesel engine of
today, representing the most dis
tinct advances in the field of power.
In the Palace of Transportation
the greatest contrast is to be found
impressing one more forceably per-
haps than anywhere else with the
idea that this is a progressive age.
Here one sees the mail pouches of
the pony express, an old congress
coach used years ago by the Wells
Fargo Overland Mail and right along
side, almost is No. "4943 Mallet",
the behemoth of the modern steam
locomotives, owned by the Southern
Pacific Railroad Co., with a hauling
capacity of 34,OOO,OOO lbs. and near
which is to be seen the very latest
Improvement in electric engines, ae-
roplanes and automobiles, all Of
which furnish graphic evidence of
advanced means of transportation.
Right beside the big "Mallet" engine
above mentioned, stands the di-
minuitive, Calls P. Huntington, the
first engine ever onerated ON the