Summary of 1906 Earthquake -July 24th

Summary of 1906 Earthquake

- In 1906, everything, the men and the equipment, was automatic in the firehouse.

- Although everything was automatic and many companies were existed in San Francisco, the fire department would be hard-pressed to face the coming disaster.

- The earthquake hit San Francisco on Wednesday, April 18th, at precisely 12 minutes past five o’clock in the morning.

- Besides San Francisco, there were many places to get hit. For more than 200 miles along the San Andreas Fault, the crust of the earth slipped as much as 21 feet.

- The earthquake had the impact of six million tons of TNT or roughly 12,000 times the power of the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima.

- In some districts, people didn’t know about the amount of damage that had been done. At Valencia Station, commuters waited impatiently for a train that would never come.

- There were people walking along with carrying anything they could.

- An estimated 30 to 80 people were crushed in the Valencia Hotel.

- The majority of people who had a big party the night before earthquake were still asleep. They slept there forever.

- All over the Mission District tenements folded in “like pasteboard.”

-Those who survived from the earthquake could not be helped at the city’s hospitals which had sustained major damages in the earthquake. They were taken to the dance hall.

- The shock had snapped gas mains and toppled chimneys. Fifty fires had started almost simultaneously.

- The earthquake had broken almost all water mains coming into the city. Hydrants gave off a trickle and then ran dry.

- Mayor Schmitz issued a proclamation stating that looters would be shot on sight. He also deputized special police.

- General Frederick Funston, the ranking army officer in San Francisco, commandeered automobiles and mustered troops. By 8:00 a.m., more than 1700 men had arrived downtown.

- The Call Building, one of the America’s first skyscrapers, burned from the top down.

- Funston decided that the only hope of stopping the destruction was to use dynamite to create a fire break. However, the dynamite didn’t work.

- 2:30 p.m. The city was practically ruined by fire and there’s no water. All the telegraph lines were down by 3:00 p.m. The city had no way to communicate with outside.

- The Palace where Caruso had spent the night was ruined in the fire too.

- In the afternoon, the fire began to assume the characteristics of a fire storm. A police officer said the flame crackled like a million firecrackers.

- Untrained "deputies" guarded banks and stores and took the law into their own hands. Soldiers patrolled the streets without their commanding officers. By nightfall they had evacuated thousands of people.

- People were evacuated to Washington Square.

- Kids who were found looting were spared and publicly humiliated. They were forced to wear placards proclaiming their crime and later there would be persistent reports of shootings.


- Thousands of people were huddled in open squares and parks while the fire raged unchecked through surrounding neighborhoods.

by Floria and Yvonne