Year: 1868

..E. Correspondence OF INC DOslOn IOSt. 81.
San Francisco, October 21.-The most
destructive earthquake that has ever visited
this town occurred this morning. No,
even the great shock of October, 1865, that
caused so much damage and dismay, was
equal to this. Former earthquakes had to
do with a rough, unfinished frontier town
the present one finds large city full Of
people and covered with elegant buildings
The force of the shocks has increased with
the increasing population and magnifcence
of the city till it has eliminated in the ter
bic convulsion Of to-day. 1t may seem an
exaggeration to call that conyulsion
which occupied only few seconds of time,
but to those who felt the shock and saw its
effects no term could seem too strong.


There have been in all, during the day,
some five or six shocks, each less violent
than its predecessor, till the subterraneap
forces seem to have spent themselves, and
to have left the startled city to repose. The
| first and most violent shock occurred about
s o'clock this morning, and at that point
every clock in San Francisco stopped, as
though the last trump had sounded and
time was no more. The business of the day
had hardly begun. Workmen were going
about their work, the stores were opening,
many people were at breakfast, and some
were still asleep, when suddenly, without
warning, and accompanied by no noise from
the ground, every building began to shake
and culver as if it were set on wheels and
dragged rapidly over pavement of gigan-
tic stones. The foundations of the firm and
solid earth had given way, and men knew
not where to look for aid.


In the hotels and large boarding houses
the scene was appalling. The duration Of
the shock was but thirty or forty seconds,
vet it seemed minutes. Women and chill
dren tainted, or rushed screaming and half
dressed into the streets; men rushed from
the sidewalks to the middle Of the streets,
lest the buildings should topple over on
them. In the upper stories OF high build
ings the vibration was said by observers 10
be three or four feet from side to side. The
water tanks on the house-tops surged over
with the motion and fell in showers below.
Glass was shattered and fell from the win
dows ceilings cracked, timbers creaked,
and the houses rocked to and fro till itseem-
ed impossible that jointed beams or cement
ed bricks could stand the strain.


Yet, great as was the violcnc, of the
shock, comparatively little dama.e was
done to buildings standing on solid ground.
1t was in the lower part of the city ION
Sansane and First streets, and below them,
where all the ground is made land that
the major part of the destruction occurred.
This is the business part of the town, and
here are the heavy warehouses and whole
sale stores, all of which are built on piles.
This made land is of considerable extent.
and is filled in where once was water fifty
or sixty feet deep. In this section the
streets were full Of trucks, the horses OF
which became at once unmanageable, and
rushed wildly through the streets, lncreas-
ing the danger for men who ran from the
buildings, and who were forced to leave the
sidewalks to escape the falling bricks. The
scene here was fearful. An eyewitness
ran from a store into the street just in time
to see a heavy cornice fall from building
opposite and kill two men. The earth rose
and fell like the waves Of the sea, and long
riffs were formed in the solid pavement, as
the ice cracks on frozen lake. Some stores
settled bodily into the ground TO distance
of several feet. Others sank at one corner,
and remain twisted out Of all shape, and
dangerous to occupy. Chimneys toppled
over and fell, crashing through roofs be-
meath. On Pine street a portion of the
street sunk six or eight inches below the
rest. In q vacant corner lot on First street
o series of cracks were formed parallel with
each other, extending all across the lot
from north to south, exactly as if the ground
had given way on the ridges of waves run
ming from west to east; and through one
of these cracks was forced up water and
sand from what was once the harbor beach.


The number of buildings that have fallen
down is very small, but the number OF
those which have fallen in part, or are
shattered into worthlessness, is very great.
The building used as the custom-house and
postoffice is badly shaken, and has been
deserted by its occupants and in conse-
ouence no mail has gone to-day. The City
Hall is almost a wreck, the outer walls
buleing out, and the arches within disinte-
grated and ready to drop. 1t is unsafe to
occupy, and the prisoners in the calaboose
beneath it have been removed. In many
places the cir was reeking with the smell
of gas from bursted pipes. Here and there
water pipes had burst and flooded the
streets, so that the water had to be turned
off from some sections of the city. This
made it necessary to examine the reserve
cisterns, in which q supply of water is kept
stored in case of fire, and it was found that
some of these had been broken by the con-
vulsion, and were empty.


Some three quarters Of an hour after the
first shock came another, sharp but short,
which finished some Of the work begun by
the first. Buildings which had not fallen
at the first shock now toppled over. There
was another scene Of terror for an instant,
and again all was still. About 10 o'clock
general belief pervaded the city that the
worst was over, and the sidewalks were
thronged with people, including many
ladies, inspecting the ruins. Another
shock ccme. In an instant the streets, be-
fore empty, were filled with crowds rush-
ing from the sidewalks and buildings, till
we, locking along any ore of the broad
streets or plazas, could sec thousands who
had rushed there to escape tho danger Of
falling buildings.


The earthquake was felt in tbs Bag rot
as tidal wave, but az .iarring motion.
The war steamer Ossipee shock from stem
to stern as she lay ar anchor quarter OF a
mile from land. The Oakland ferryboat
felt the shock, and her engineer stopped
the engine, thinking she had struck some;
thing. :.


From the country around came various
reports, many of them doubtless untrue.
At Oakland the shock was severe, but no
special harm was done. At San Leandro
the courthouse fell in ruins, overwhelming
the cells beneath it, in which several pri-
soners were confined.


Eortnnate WAS il for the city that the