Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19?? | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1906)
THE NORFOLK NEWS : FKIDAY , tflAY'4 , .1000 , Gate Metropolis Has Beet Skaken Oftei li the-Past PRESENT WORST EVER KNOWN MM of the Skyscrapers and Other Buildings Destroyed Magnificent City Hall In Ruins Fires Ar rested by Dynamite Earih- qnake oS 1868 Described by Mark Twain. recent disastrous earthquake THE over BO large u part of the Pacific coast region and wrecking such an extensive Motion of the city of San Francisco KTAB not the first of these catastrophes known hi the western metropolis , tbongh by all odds the most damaging. For many years the municipal au thorities refused to permit tall build ing * In the city because of the fear of earthquakes , several of which had already - ready been experienced. Finally the Interdiction was removed , however , and a number of skyscrapers resulted. Prior to 1890 there was hardly a building In excess of five stories and nly a few of that height. Today there la one eighteen stories high and quite a number from twelve to fourteen torles. In the spring of 1808 , about 10 o'clock one night , the city had a seismic shock that put to test Its high structures. It was the worst earthquake since 1SCS , when for eight or nine blocks on the main street ( Market ) the ground was cracked open several Inches. In the upheaval of 1808 the tall build ings were given u fearful slinking , and eoine of their occupants' were made dizzy and sick. The structures were uninjured , and ever since that time there has not been so much question of the safety of high buildings of mod ern construction that Is , buildings of structural Iron frame anil facings o1" pressed brick , terra cottu or stone. It was M. II. Do Young , the prop' tor and editor of the Chronicle , was the pioneer In this respect , met with opposition from Uie immlt pal authorities fourteen years o when he decided to erect a ten . tt& louse for his newspaper. It wn Ved to bo a dangerous undertaking because of the earthquake fear , lint Mr. Do Young won out and thereby set an example of enterprise to other wealthy men who have since built more tall buildings. For Instance , D. O. Mills the New York banker , who owns a great deal of San Francisco property , has one of the tallest and finest structures In the city. city.Clous Clous Spreckels , known throughout the country as the sugar king and the rf 'H , the eight storied being most au- mcroun. The Call and Kiamlner bulldlngK were almost totally destroyed In the earthquake and many other flkyscrap- era were severely shaken , cracked and damaged. One of the chief bulldlURR which col lapsed was the new poHtofilce. This was a substantial M mature of granite , costing to exceed $5.000.000. While not striking from an architectural standpoint , the pontotttec was ImpressIve - Ive from Its nwsslvenesB. The PoHtiil building was badly dam aged , and the ope'Ing room was a wreck. Power of ury kind WUB de- Btroyod , and there were no lights , el- tlier gas or electric. Neither the Pal ace hotel nor the St. Francis wan de stroyed as fai as the framework goes , but the Inside plastering and decora tions were'greatly , ' damaged. The business section of the city from Market street to Mission street and Other Imposing edifice * , ninny of which have tn-en more or ICBH severely Injured , arc the Hotel St. Francis , the Pnlnce hcd.cl , the Hall of Justice , the 'Mutual lluak building , tinPaclllc Mu tual Life building and the Cullaglmn building. The greatest property dam age resulted It ) the manufacturing dli- trlet and the greatest loss of life IB the tenement house district. The chief strvet of the city IB Mar ket , running diagonally for many miles. The destruction of many of the depart ment stores and other business blocks on Market and Mission streets wan al most complete. Fire added to the horrors rors of the situation , and , UN the water mains had been burst by the shock , the Ore department was helpless. The flames ate their way along Market street , and other tires started In differ ent parts of the city. As the earthquake occurred but u little. After ' R .o'clock In the morning , practically the entire population was In. THE CALL BUILDING , ALSO DESTROYED. from the bay back was almost com pletely wrecked. The most conspicuous building In San Franclfco , the city hall. Is almo t totally ruined. It cost from JfO.000.000 to ? 7,000,000. took twenty-live years In construction and was surmounted by a dome aai ! feet high. It wan thought to be very solidly constructed , being built substantially of brick , with the walls covered by cement. The Interior of the dome was decorated with ex pensive marbles taken from the Pa cific coast mountains. Another ve"y line building , which cost over $5,000,000 , Is the splendid ho- CITY HALL , WHICH WAS WRECKED. richest San Franciscan , owns a build ing seventeen stories high , commonly known as the Call building. On three of the corner sites , where Third street Intersects Market , Is located the great Sprockets building , the home of the Call ; the Do Young building , the home of the Chronicle , and the Hearst build- tog , occupied by the Examiner , the tfaroo great Pacific coast newspapers having contributed handsomely to the building development of San Francisco In recent years. The city now has 1U ebare of tall buildings , ono being eight een stories In height. The major part of them are eight , ton and twelve sto- tel erected by Mrs. Herman Oclrlchs on fashionable Neb hill. Mrs. Oelrlchs , who Is a daughter of the late Senator Fair , has shown fine taste In the ar chitectural plans of Fairmont , the ap propriate name of the new hotel. Seen from the bay this structure , with Its classic outlines , makes the beholder think of a Greek temple. AVhlte and graceful , It looina above the busy mar ket places , the great wholesale district , the crowded business section and pic turesque Chinatown , which , by the way , Is fast disappearing owing to the encroachments of commerce and the dwindling of the Chinese population. bed. Men and women rushed wildly forth In their night robes and lied In panic through the streets. Many were caught by the falling roofs and walls , and In the poorer districts the tene ments collapsed like eggshells , crushIng - Ing aud suffocating their Inmates be fore they had time to escape. In many cases lire finished the work of death , catching the victims as they were pinned still alive under the debris. To arrest the spread of the lire along Market street many buildings were dynamited. The track of one railroad was de pressed four feet or more for a dis tance of three miles. At one point In the city the earth cracked open for u distance of six feet , leaving a yawning chasm of fathomless depth. The destruction of all telegraph wires , exc"pt one belonging to the Postal union , made It almost Impossible for the stricken city to communicate with the outside world. The severe Injury to the Western Union and Postal of fices , also the Associated Press , greatly added to the difficulty. The practical destruction of six or eight blocks , coupled with the Immense loss of life and damage to property throughout San Francisco and the en tire coast region , makea this the worst earthquake disaster In American his tory , exceeding even the historic Charleston earthquake of a few years ago. Ban Francisco has suffered from many slight seismic shocks , one of them occurring about n year ago. At that time a long article appeared In one of the papers , signed by a pro fessor In one of the observatories near by , stating that there was no partic ular danger from these tremors of the earth's surface. The coast region , ac cording to this writer , was newer than parts of the country further east and wns therefore settling. He said people ple should feel no alarm , as nothing serious was liable to happen. Evidently the earth's crust In the Golden Gate region has been doing some more "settling. " I The most severe earthquake San Francisco has known prior to the pres ent one was In 1SC.S. Quite a little damage resulted , though nothing re motely comparable to tills , It was the 18C8 shakeup that was made famous by Mark Twain. The most surprising thing the genial Mark saw at that time wns the opcn'ng up of the celling of his room , the . ps of tlie orifice workIng - Ing to and fro like a mouth and a brick slipping though and held in suspen sion , like one lone tooth on the jaw of an old man. The last earthquake that occurred In Ban Francisco was In January , 1000 Several distinct shocks were felt early In the morning , causing the vibration of buildings all over the city. The chief building affected was the Bt Nicholas hotel , which was severely shaken. The walls collapsed In cer tain parts of the structure , guests wore thrown out of their beds and furniture was destroyed. In 1004 there was a oevcro seismic disturbance In Los Angeles , which was fait throughout the city and for a radius of several miles around. Stricken City Long Permeated With an Air of Romance. IN THE DAYS OF VIGILANTES How the Metropolis ol California Wai Puffed ol' Disorder Lynchlnj ol Casey The Days of the Forty * alnerfl Town Depopulat ed by the Rush of Gold Seekers. FRANCISCO , the earthquake SAN city , has long been per meated with an air of romance and adventure. Nowhere may ono turn without being reminded of Lho legends that have been woven around the forty-niners and their Im mediate followers. The names of the streets and of the business blocks , such is Kearney , Butter , Montgomery , Iu ) lout , Flood , Crocker and Sharon , bring : o the mind of the visitor long forgot ten stories of riot or adventure ) and of fortunes whose. vaHtncss once excited in ! wonder or made him Incredulous. The slto of the city was first visited : > y Europeans In 1700 , and In 1775 llu- enroll ordered a fort , presidio and mis sion founded on the buy. One year later , the year of tin ; Declaration of MARKET STREET FROM. SECOND STREET WEST. Independence , the Spanish settlers be gan the work , and when Vancouver , the explorer , visited the place In 1701 ! the presidio represented the military authority , while the pueblo and mis sion stood for the civil and religious factors respectively. The mission was secularized In l&M and a town laid out the year following. In 18-10 an American man-of-war , un der command of Commodore John R. Montgomery , entered the harbor and hoisted the stars and stripes over the town. Mexico , which succeeded Spain as the owner of California , was then at war with the United States , and the act of Commodore Montgomery ended her dominion over San Francisco. Montgomery appointed Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett to be Frisco's first alcalde , or mayor , under the new regime. Under Spanish and Mexican rule the town was a sleepy , unprogressIve Ivo place , but with the coming of Amer icans and the discovery of gold In 1818 there came qn era of growth and hus tle. This did not eventuate at once , for the first news of the discovery of gold practically depopulated San Fran cisco. The town was smitten as by a plague , and one historian thus describes what happened ; "ltd IIOUHCR were left unoc cupied and unprotected , Its former trade ceased , Its lots fell to a small part of their value , I In two weekly newspapcri were suspended , und the town , descried * ay the bulk of Its In habitants , wan at one time without a single otllcer clothed with civil author ity. " After the first rush to the gold dig- Kings tli < town began to regain UH lost ground , and ore long the Influx of gold Bookers gave quite an Impetus to Its growth. The town was Incorporated In April , 1830 , and the first common council elected proceeded with diligence to plunder the city treasury. The nine year the state wns admitted to the Union , and when the stoat , er Oregon gen brought the news there was no telegraphic communication In those days business WIIH entirely suspended and the cntro | population rushed to the wharfs to welcome the harbinger , The town had about 10,000 Inhabitants at that time , and wlicli the people were Informed that the signal tlagri of the Oregon Indicated that California was a sovereign state of the United Htuteu of America "a universal shout arose from 10,000 voices on the wbarfH , In Iho streets , upon the hills , housetop ! and the world of shipping In the bay. " In I In early history the city suffered from several disastrous ( Ires. I let ween December , 18 III , and June , IBM , six conflagrations played havoc with the growing young town. Hotter building * were planned and several tire compa nies were organized. These were stepa In the right direction. It was also din- covered that the fires were Htartcd by criminals who profited by the confu sion. sion.This This fact and the Inefllclency and corruption of the city government led a large number of citizens to organ ize the famous vigilance committee which ruled the place In 1851. Quito a number of crooks were lynched by the committee , others were driven out , like John OnUiurst , the leading figure In Unit llarln'H "Outcasts of Poknr Flat , " and the city wont through a pu rification process that was of great benefit to It. | The aspect of San Francisco at this time was not Inspiring to Inflowing ! gold Keekers. It was a straggling med ley of low , dingy adobes , frail wooden shanties , born In an afternoon , with a sprinkling of more respectable frame houses aud a mass of canvas and rub ber habitations. It was mainly a city of tents , rising In a crescent upon the shores of the cove. From ( . 'lark point It skirted the land to Telegraph hill , along the Clay street slopes , tapering away to the California street ridge. The larger number passed to the south west nliores of the cove , beyond the Market street ridge , a region sheltered from blustering winds and provided with good spring water and named the Happy Valley. Stockton street , stretching from Sac ramento to Green streets , presented the neatest cluster of dwellings , and Powell street was the abode of churches , for of the six churches In existence In the middle of IH.'O three graced Its sides and two stood upon cross streets , 1 within half a block. Mason street , above It. was really the western limit of the cltv IIH fr } n wtri'et trim tliu northern , lleyond Manon street ran the trail to the Presidio , past scattered cottagoi , ciiblim and sheds , amid dai ries and gardens , with a branch path to the Marine honpltal , on Filbert wlreef , and another to the North Ileuch anchorage , where speculators were planning a wharf to attract settlement. After the vlgllancu commlttou din- banded the criminal element became holder , and In 185(1 ( the crime and cor * ruptlon In the city had become Intolerable erable to thoHo who wished to live a decent and orderly life. When Editor King of the HulUiIln , who had do * nounced the thugs , wan murdered by James P. Casey , a now vlgllanco or ganization wan created , and In a few days Ciincy and another murderer named Cora were executed In front of the committee's headquarters , Many lawbreakers were later put to duuth , and the regime of the California "bad man" came to an end. It has been assorted that San Fran cisco Is the most cosmopolitan city In the world , and by cosmopolitan la meant a population from all parts of the world. Not long ago the records Indicated that -III per cent of tlio people ple of the city were born In foreign lands , not In two or three different countries , but In practically every lund under Iho sun. According to the na tional census reports for KiDO , San Francisco had a total population of 208,007. Of these 171 ! , 180 were nutlvo bom and l'JU.811 were born outs I do of the United States. Fully half the grown persons In the community removed - moved to California from alien lundn , while a large percentage of the other half and of Uio general body of chil dren were of forolgti parcntago. In 1IKX ) San Francisco had a population of It 111,781 ! , of which JI4.1 per cent wu foreign born. San Francisco has long been famed an 0110 of the "wide open" cities of the United States. AH In the days of 1RIO , the gambler devotes himself to his vocation with little Interference from the authorities. Prior to the earthquake two of the most prominent corner In the city were occupied by gambling dens. One of them , known us the Cnfo Itoyal , has been a veritable gold mine for Its proprietors Tin * California supreme court baa rendered a decision to the effect that the game of draw poker Is not a game of chance , but Involves judgment and other elements as well a < chance or luck , and because of this decision thcso places arc permitted to be maintained. They arc frequented by a hard lookIng - Ing crowd of men , and many scandals are told associated with these places. A visitor's life Is probably safe In these resorts , but his money Is not. It Is said that the son of the premier of British Columbia was fleeced of .f8 , ! 00 In the Cafe Iloynl a few years ago. Ho lost $1.600 In cash , but stopped payment on $7,000 In chocks. San Francisco has forty-seven square miles of territory , or about 30,000 acres , within the mnnr ! | ; > nl limits. The finest residences are on Neb hill and Pacific heights , both of which districts command magnificent views of the bay and the Golden Gate. The city has six large parks and twenty-two small ones , and Golden Gate park oc cupies over 1,000 acres. * ' , * > * , tP i"K " * - - / ' / i-f < ' ' , " * & ' , < . 1 , - " , > M ; , ' ± > * ' ' , ' < * > . T , ! SAN FRANCISCO HARBOR.