File:A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results (1906) (14766592115).jpg

Identifier: historyofearthqu00aitk (find matches)
Title: A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Aitken, Frank W Hilton, Edward
Subjects: Earthquakes -- California San Francisco
Publisher: San Francisco, The E. Hilton Co.
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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uch a shock would breakthe long narrow building apart, or throw down itstower. In the vicinity of the Postoffice, the ground wasbadly disturbed, along the course of an old creek bedand marshy inlet. The Postoffice Building, veryheavily constructed of steel and granite, was thesubject of much comment when in course of con-struction, because of the choice of an old lagoon asa site. But although the street sunk several feet,the buildings foundations supported their tremen-dous load without any settling whatever. Theswaying of the building during the shake, however,cracked it in several places, loosened several of thestones, and split much of the interior marble, besidesloosening some of the wall tiles. The dynamiting ofnearby buildings, after the fire, caused much greaterdamage than the earthquake. The other large buildings—office buildings—sustained damage of much the same sort. Thetower-like Call Building of fifteen stories and dome—eighteen altogether—did not show a crack or a
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JIJ THE DAMAGE B THE EARTHQUAKE loose stone, or, in fact, any visible damage at all.The new uncompleted Chronicle Annex lost a fewbricks. The James Flood Building, of tremendouslyheavy construction, with massive walls of chiseledsandstone, swayed just enough to crack some of thestonework in its corner columns, and to shake downplaster here and there inside. The other great build-ings—the St. Francis Hotel, the Mutual Bank, theCrocker, the Union Trust, Mills, and MerchantsExchange Buildings, and many more, showed al-most no trace of damage, their swaying steel framesguarding them against any sudden shock. The oldChronicle Building, erected in 1892, as San Fran-ciscos first skyscraper (while its tower stood it hadtwelve stories) showed scarcely a crack or scratch;in one place some bricks bulged out a few inches.Of reinforced concrete construction there wasalmost none in San Francisco. What there was—interior construction alone—was uninjured, and heldtogether the brick walls around

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