Newly published photos from the 1906 San Francisco quake

[BTinSF]

The UC Berkeley cadets were summoned to serve to preserve order by the authorities in San Francisco. They hurriedly readied their insufficient supplies, lacking enough blankets and food for the men, and boarded a special ferry, which took them to San Francisco's Ferry Building. The scene that greeted the UC cadets arriving at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal must have sobered the young college men. Scores of ferries and ships struggled to accommodate refugees and get them out of the spreading fires and destruction. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


The UC cadets arrived in San Francisco to serve to keep order and marched in formation to their assigned sector. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


Fires spread through many parts of San Francisco. Some were furious and intensely hot. The hot wind from these fires helped them spread. Refugees were not sure what route would lead them to safety and people relied on rumors of what streets would lead to safety from the raging fires. Some survivors spoke of unbearable heat on their way out of the fires. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


A rare photo of San Francisco firemen rescuing a 1906 earthquake victim from the wreckage of a building. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


An April 20 photograph of refugees heading down Market Street toward the Ferry Building and a way out of San Francisco. Bricks littered the city. Notice the formal dress of these people. It is possible they chose their best clothes to wear in case the fires destroyed their homes and everything they owned while they were evacuated. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


As whole neighborhoods burned, San Franciscans rushed to the ferries leaving the city. Crews frantically loaded as many people as the boats could accommodate. Passengers going up the gangplanks were still in the clothes they wore when the earthquake struck, some in pajamas. Others, who were able to re-enter their homes, had the luxury to put on as many of their finest clothes to wear in case the fires reached their homes after they left. Some woman wore a few of their best hats and as many dresses as they could put on. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


People devised impromptu methods of contacting each other. This fence in San Francisco became a message board. They were desperate to make contact with family and friends to see if they were alive or injured or let others know they had survived. Cut off from all their familiar ways of communicating- San Francisco newspapers were moved for a time to Oakland and telephone and telegraph lines had been severed in the quake- they took to creative ways of getting messages. Some sent messages in bread loaves being sent across the bay. Some, having no paper to write on, sent messages on shirt sleeve cuffs and put them in the post boxes. The scene shown in this photograph is very similar to what was seen in New York after the 9/11 attack, when messages were posted outside a church. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


Chinatown in ruins after the earthquake. It was composed of very old wooden buildings and was consumed hungrily by the fires following the quake. There were rumors of an underground city in Chinatown. Refugees had little time to grab anything. They spread out over the Bay area, many coming to friends and relatives in the Easy Bay. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


The gallery at the Mark Hopkins Institute. The museum, located at 975 California Street and crowning Nob Hill, was a favorite of San Franciscans. Once a month admission was free. Concerts were held in the concert hall. About two hundred students attended the institute, staffed by a faculty of nine and operated by the University of California, Berkeley, since 1893. The art collection was extraordinary and the city's fire department and the head electrician designed fire protection and safeguards were "absolutely complete." From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


The institute in ruins after the fire swept through the wooden building, destroying all but a few works of art. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


San Francisco's Ferry Plaza filled with refugees. Many horses were seized by the military for emergency duty, leaving residents to pull their own carriages. The crack in the cobblestone street was caused by the earthquake. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


Professors at UC Berkeley developed ways to recycle the tens of thousands of bricks littering San Francisco. Men were employed to operate the new machinery and help clean up San Francisco, while reusing the rubble. Recycling was a matter of necessity. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.


East Bay refugees peeling potatoes. The Relief Committee believed that if men were left to think about what they had just been through, they would get drunk and fight. They were given jobs to do. Any man who refused the work was told to leave town. To protect a family from a lazy father, warnings were given and rations slowly reduced if the man of the house refused work. The goal of the camps was to help the people get back on their own two feet and not make them dependant on help. When the military took over the camps, they made this goal very clear and things changed to more austere accommodations. From the book "Earthquake Exodus 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees" by Richard Schwartz.

Source of all photos (and quite a few more): http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...hwartz1906.DTL

[destroycreate]

Great photos and really revealing.

I wonder sometimes if San Francisco would've been a more beautiful city had the 1906 earthquake never happened. I wonder if the architecture of the city would be more European looking and more ornate. It's kind of a shame because I'm sure the architecture was a lot older in style and therefore even more "historic" than what we have today.