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Municipal Reports

THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE
AND FIRE OF APRIL 1906

General History (page 1 of 3)

The greatest destruction of wealth created by human hands was that which resulted from the fire which occurred in San Francisco on April 18, 1906 and three days succeeding.   The story of the great disaster has been told and retold to is minutest detail, and has been made the theme of historians, scientists, poets and romancers.

In a Municipal Report such as this it would be somewhat out of place to record the event with complete detail as it affected individuals; moreover, all that might be here written in such connection would be largely a repetition of what has already been recorded by others.

It is proper, however, to view the calamity from the standpoint of the Municipality and attempt, perhaps incompletely, to narrate such occurrences as pertain to the Municipal Government, the injury to public institutions, and the efforts made to secure their rehabilitation. To premise that which may be hereafter stated, the main occurrences of the eventful period may briefly be set forth as follows:

On Wednesday, April 18, 1906, at the hour of five o'clock and fourteen minutes forty-eight seconds (as nearly as time can record it), an earthquake occurred, lasting twenty-eight seconds, which affected the region along the coast of the Pacific Ocean and extending the entire length of the State of California with greater or less intensity.

The center of the disturbance was probably in the bed of the ocean, a short distance from the mainland, opposite the northern line of Mendocino County, and the region of its greatest intensity extended southwardly from the point named to a distance of one hundred miles southeast of San Francisco. The line of disturbance was what is known as the Tomales-Portola Fault*, the line of which has been distinctly traced from Point Arena, Mendocino County, to the south of Hollister, San Benito County, excepting at such points as the line passes under the ocean. This is the case opposite San Francisco, the fault-line being a few miles outside of the Golden Gate. It was the rupture of the earth's surface along this fault-line that caused the disturbance which proved so disastrous.
*The fault had not yet been named the San Andreas.

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