This picture, taken facing north from Battery Street, shows the destroyed buildings along California Street in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fires. Click on image for full size (76 Kb) National Archives Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives; Photograph by Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Office of the Chief Signal Officer

At 5:12 am on Wednesday April 18, 1906 most people in San Francisco, CA were still asleep. But they were about to wake up very suddenly.

The Earth shook violently - an earthquake. It lasted for only about a minute, but caused a lot of damage. Buildings toppled. People were trapped under rubble. Water and gas mains broke. And soon after the shaking had stopped, fires started burning in the city. Because the water mains were broken, the fires could not be fought. They grew out of control and burned for three days.

The earthquake happened when there was an abrupt movement along the San Andreas Fault, a large transform (strike-slip) fault that is the boundary between the Pacific Plate to the west from the North American Plate to the east. While the San Andreas Fault does not run directly under San Francisco, the earthquake epicenter along the fault was quite close to San Francisco. The earthquake was so large that the shaking was felt as far south as Los Angeles.

After the earthquake, engineer Herman Schussler went out to the San Andreas Fault where it cuts through the mountains of the Coast Range. The changes he found were dramatic. He testified in San Francisco's U.S. District Court in 1908 about what he saw.

"The remarkable feature of it was that the east mountains came four and a half feet closer to the west mountains than they were before," Schussler explained before the court.

Think about it. In only one minute, entire mountains had moved several feet.

"If San Francisco had been at or near the fault line there would not have been anything left of it," Schussler continued.

And there was not much left of San Francisco. After the earthquake and fires, the city was devastated. Over 500 city blocks were in ruins. Over half of the city's population was homeless. People lived in tents and other shelters and cooked food outdoors. Yet, despite the devastation, it didn't take long for people to start picking up the pieces.

"San Francisco is beginning to rise again out of its ashes," wrote UC Berkeley professor Samuel Fortier a week after the earthquake and fires. "There is no lack of confidence," he continued. "The courage of the people is simply remarkable. The thousands who have lost about all they possessed are wonderfully cheerful, and one seldom hears any whining. The genuine western spirit is rampart everywhere and the people of San Francisco seem determined to begin at once to build a new San Francisco, which will far surpass the old in every essential feature. I never was so proud of Californians as I am today."

Destroyed buildings along California Street in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fires. Click on image for full size (76 Kb) National Archives Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives; Photograph by Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Office of the Chief Signal Officer

At 5:12 am on Wednesday April 18, 1906 most people in San Francisco, CA were still asleep. But they were about to wake up very suddenly.

The Earth shook violently - an earthquake. It lasted for only about a minute, but caused a lot of damage. Buildings toppled. People were trapped under rubble. Water and gas mains broke. Soon after the shaking had stopped, fires started burning in the city. The fires grew out of control and burned for three days.

The earthquake happened when there was a sudden movement along the San Andreas Fault. This large transform (strike-slip) fault is in California. It is the boundary between two of Earth's tectonic plates.

After the earthquake, an engineer named Herman Schussler explored the San Andreas Fault where it cuts through the mountains of the Coast Range. He testified in San Francisco's U.S. District Court in 1908 about what he saw.

"The remarkable feature of it was that the east mountains came four and a half feet closer to the west mountains than they were before," Schussler explained before the court.

Think about it. In only one minute, entire mountains had moved several feet.

"If San Francisco had been at or near the fault line there would not have been anything left of it," Schussler continued.

After the earthquake and fires, more than 500 of San Francisco's city blocks were in ruins. More than half of the people were homeless. People lived in tents and other shelters and cooked food outdoors. But it didn't take long for people to start picking up the pieces.

"San Francisco is beginning to rise again out of its ashes," wrote Samuel Fortier a week after the earthquake and fires. "There is no lack of confidence," he continued. "The courage of the people is simply remarkable. The thousands who have lost about all they possessed are wonderfully cheerful, and one seldom hears any whining."

Destroyed buildings in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fires. Click on image for full size (76 Kb) National Archives Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives; Photograph by Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Office of the Chief Signal Officer

Most people in San Francisco, CA were still asleep when an earthquake shook them awake early in the morning of April 18, 1906.

It was a very strong earthquake. It lasted for only about a minute, but caused a lot of damage. Buildings fell down. People were trapped under rubble. What made things worse was that fires started in the city soon after the shaking stopped. The fires grew out of control and burned for three days.

The earthquake happened when there was a sudden movement along the San Andreas Fault. This fault is the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates.

After the earthquake, an engineer named Herman Schussler explored the San Andreas Fault where it cuts through the nearby mountains. He noticed that entire mountains had been moved several feet during the earthquake.

So many buildings had been destroyed by the earthquake and fires that more than half of the people who lived in the city were homeless. People lived in tents and other shelters. They cooked and ate their meals outdoors. But it didn't take long for people to start picking up the pieces.

"San Francisco is beginning to rise again out of its ashes," wrote Samuel Fortier a week after the earthquake and fires. "There is no lack of confidence," he continued. "The courage of the people is simply remarkable. The thousands who have lost about all they possessed are wonderfully cheerful, and one seldom hears any whining."