32 chapters
16 hour read
Selected Chapters
32 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
Earthquake and famine, fire and sudden death—these are the destroyers that men fear when they come singly; but upon the unhappy people of California they came together, a hideous quartette, to slay human beings, to blot from existence the wealth that represented prolonged and strenuous effort, to bring hunger and speechless misery to three hundred thousand homeless and terror-stricken people. The full measure of the catastrophe can probably never be taken. The summary cannot be made amid the pan
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
San Francisco and Its Terrific Earthquake.
San Francisco and Its Terrific Earthquake.
On the splendid Bay of San Francisco, one of the noblest harbors on the whole vast range of the Pacific Ocean, long has stood, like a Queen of the West on its seven hills, the beautiful city of San Francisco, the youngest and in its own way one of the most beautiful and attractive of the large cities of the United States. Born less than sixty years ago, it has grown with the healthy rapidity of a young giant, outvieing many cities of much earlier origin, until it has won rank as the eighth city
48 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Demon of Fire Invades the Stricken City.
The Demon of Fire Invades the Stricken City.
The terrors of the earthquake are momentary. One fierce, levelling shock and usually all is over. The torment within the earth has passed on and the awakened forces of the earth’s crust sink into rest again, after having shaken the surface for many leagues. Rarely does the dread agent of ruin leave behind it such a terrible follower to complete its work as was the case in the doomed city of San Francisco. All seemed to lead towards such a carnival of ruin as the earth has rarely seen. The demon
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Fighting the Flames With Dynamite.
Fighting the Flames With Dynamite.
Shaken by earthquake, swept by flames, the water supply cut off by the breaking of the mains, the authorities of the doomed city for a time stood appalled. What could be done to stay the fierce march of the flames which were sweeping resistlessly over palace and hovel alike, over stately hall and miserable hut? Water was not to be had; what was to take its place? Nothing remained but to meet ruin with ruin, to make a desert in the path of the fire and thus seek to stop its march. They had dynami
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Reign of Destruction and Devastation
The Reign of Destruction and Devastation
Rarely, in the whole history of mankind, has a great city been overwhelmed by destruction so suddenly and awfully as was San Francisco. One minute its inhabitants slept in seeming safety and security. Another minute passed and the whole great city seemed tumbling around them, while sights of terror met the eyes of the awakened multitude and sounds of horror came to their ears. The roar of destruction filled the air as the solid crust of the earth lifted and fell and the rocks rose and sank in bi
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Panic Flight of a Homeless Host.
The Panic Flight of a Homeless Host.
The scene that was visible in the streets of San Francisco on that dread Wednesday morning was one to make the strongest shudder with horror. Those three minutes of devastating earth tremors were moments never to be forgotten. In such a time it is the human instinct to get into the open air, and the people stumbled from their heaving and quivering houses to find even the solid earth was swaying and rising and falling, so that here and there great rents opened in the streets. To the panic-stricke
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Facing Famine and Praying for Relief.
Facing Famine and Praying for Relief.
Frightful was the emergency of the vast host of fugitives who fled in terror from the blazing city of San Francisco to the open gates of Golden Gate Park and the military reservation of the Presidio. Food was wanting, scarcely any water was to be had, death by hunger and thirst threatened more than a quarter million of souls thus driven without warning from their comfortable and happy homes and left without food or shelter. Provisions, shelter tents, means of relief of various kinds were being h
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Frightful Loss of Life and Wealth.
The Frightful Loss of Life and Wealth.
While multitudes escaped from toppling buildings and crashing walls in the dread disaster of that fatal Wednesday morning of April 18th in San Francisco, hundreds of the less fortunate met their death in the ruins, and horrifying scenes were witnessed by the survivors. Many of those who escaped had tales of terror to tell. Mr. J. P. Anthony, as he fled from the Ramona Hotel, saw a score or more of people crushed to death, and as he walked the streets at a later hour saw bodies of the dead being
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Wonderful Record of Thrilling Escapes.
Wonderful Record of Thrilling Escapes.
Shuddering under the memories of what seems more like a nightmare than actual reality to the survivors of this frightful calamity, they have tried to picture in words far from adequate the days of terror and the nights of horror that fell to the lot of the people of the Golden Gate city and their guests. They recount the roar of falling structures and the groans and pitiful cries of those pinned beneath the timbers of collapsing buildings. They speak of their climbing over dead bodies heaped in
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Disaster Spreads Over the Golden State
Disaster Spreads Over the Golden State
The first news that the world received of the earthquake came direct from San Francisco and was confined largely to descriptions of the disaster which had overwhelmed that city. It was so sudden, so appalling, so tragic in its nature, that for the time being it quite overshadowed the havoc and misery wrought in a number of other California towns of lesser note. As the truth, however, became gradually sifted out of the tangle of rumors, the horror, instead of being diminished, was vastly increase
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
All America and Canada to the Rescue
All America and Canada to the Rescue
During the first three days after the terrible news had been flashed over the world the relief fund from the nation had leaped beyond the $5,000,000 mark. New York took the lead in the most generous giving that the world has ever seen. From every town and country village the people hastened to the Town Halls, the newspaper offices and wherever help was to be found most quickly, to add their savings and to sacrifice all but necessities for their stricken fellow-countrymen. Never has there been su
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
San Francisco of the Past
San Francisco of the Past
The story of San Francisco’s history and tragedy appeal with extraordinary force to the imagination of all civilized men. For several generations the city was looked upon as an Arabian Night’s dream—a place where gold lay in the streets and joy and happiness were unlimited. Its settlement, or, rather, its real rise as a city, was as by magic. It was first a city of tents, of shanties, of “shacks,” lying on the rim of a great, spacious bay. Ships of all sizes and rigs brought gold-seekers and pro
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Life in the Metropolis of the Pacific
Life in the Metropolis of the Pacific
Brought up in a bountiful country, where no one really has to work very hard to live, nurtured on adventure, scion of a free and merry stock, the real, native Californian is a distinctive type; as far from the Easterner in psychology as the extreme Southern is from the Yankee. He is easy going, witty, hospitable, lovable, inclined to be unmoral rather than immoral in his personal habits, and above all easy to meet and to know. Above all there is an art sense all through the populace which sets i
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Plans to Rebuild San Francisco.
Plans to Rebuild San Francisco.
Almost as soon as the terrible conflagration had been checked and gotten under control by the heroic efforts of the soldiers and firemen, a little group of the leading citizens of the desolated city had met in the office of Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz and had begun to plan the restoration of their municipality. It was an admirable courage, bred in the stock of those men who in 1849 left comfortable homes in the East to seek their fortune in the Golden State, that inspired the loyal leaders of the pr
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Earthquake Wave Felt Round the Earth.
The Earthquake Wave Felt Round the Earth.
The outbreak of earth forces at San Francisco did not stand alone. There were others elsewhere at nearly the same time, the whole seeming to indicate a general disturbance in the interior of the earth’s crust. Some scientists, indeed, declared that no possible connection could exist between the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the earthquake at San Francisco, but others were inclined to view certain facts in regard to recent seismic and volcanic activity as, to say the least, suggestive. As to the
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Vesuvius Devastates the Region of Naples.
Vesuvius Devastates the Region of Naples.
We have in other chapters described the terrible work of Mount Vesuvius in the past, from the far-off era of the destruction of Pompeii down to the end of the last century. There comes before us now another frightful eruption, one of the greatest in its history, that of 1906. For thirty years before this outbreak the mighty volcano had been comparatively quiet, rarely ceasing, indeed, to smoke and fume, but giving little indication of the vast forces buried in its heart. It showed some sympathy
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Great Lisbon and Calabrian Earthquakes.
The Great Lisbon and Calabrian Earthquakes.
To our account of the great earth convulsions of San Francisco it is in place to append a description of some similar events of older date. It is due to the same causes, whatever these causes may be, the imprisoned forces within the earth acting over great distances during the earthquake, while they are concentrated within some limited space when the volcano begins its work. The earthquake is the most terrible to mankind of all the natural agencies of destruction. While the volcano usually has a
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Charleston and Other Earthquakes of the United States.
The Charleston and Other Earthquakes of the United States.
The twin continents of America have rivalled the record of the Old World in their experience of earthquakes since their discovery in 1492. The first of these made note of was in Venezuela in 1530, but they have been numerous and often disastrous since. Among them was the great shock at Lima in 1746, by which 18,000 were killed, and those at Guatemala in 1773, with 33,000, and at Riobamba in 1797, with 41,000 victims. It will, however, doubtless prove of more interest to our readers if we pass ov
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Volcano and the Earthquake, Earth’s Demons of Destruction.
The Volcano and the Earthquake, Earth’s Demons of Destruction.
To most of us, dwellers upon the face of the earth, this terrestrial sphere is quite a comfortable place of residence. The forces of Nature everywhere and at all times surround us, forces capable, if loosened from their bonds, of bringing death and destruction to man and the work of his hands. But usually they are mild and beneficent in their action, not agents of destruction and lords of elemental misrule. The air, without whose presence we could not survive a minute, is usually a pleasant comp
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Theories of Volcanic and Earthquake Action.
Theories of Volcanic and Earthquake Action.
Though the first formation of a volcano (Italian, vulcano, from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire) has seldom been witnessed, it would seem that it is marked by earthquake movements followed by the opening of a rent or fissure; but with no such tilting up of the rocks as was once supposed to take place. From this fissure large volumes of steam issue, accompanied by hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and sulphur dioxide. The hydrogen, apparently derived from the dissociation of wa
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Active Volcanoes of the Earth.
The Active Volcanoes of the Earth.
It is not by any means an easy task to frame an estimate of the number of volcanoes in the world. Volcanoes vary greatly in their dimensions, from vast mountain masses, rising to a height of nearly 25,000 feet above sea-level, to mere molehills. They likewise exhibit every possible stage of development and decay: while some are in a state of chronic active eruption, others are reduced to the condition of solfataras, or vents emitting acid vapors, and others again have fallen into a more or less
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Famous Vesuvius and the Destruction of Pompeii.
The Famous Vesuvius and the Destruction of Pompeii.
The famous volcano of southern Italy named Vesuvius, which is now so constantly in eruption, was described by the ancients as a cone-shaped mountain with a flat top, on which was a deep circular valley filled with vines and grass, and surrounded by high precipices. A large population lived on the sides of the mountain, which was covered with beautiful woods, and there were fine flourishing cities at its foot. So little was the terrible nature of the valley on the top understood, that in A. D. 72
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Eruptions of Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli.
Eruptions of Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli.
Mount Vesuvius is of especial interest as being the only active volcano on the continent of Europe—all others of that region being on the islands of the Mediterranean—and for the famous ancient eruption described in the last chapter. Before this it had borne the reputation of being extinct, but since then it has frequently shown that its fires have not burned out, and has on several occasions given a vigorous display of its powers. During the fifteen hundred years succeeding the destructive even
47 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Skaptar Jokull and Hecla, the Great Icelandic Volcanoes.
Skaptar Jokull and Hecla, the Great Icelandic Volcanoes.
The far-northern island of Iceland, on the verge of the frozen Arctic realm, is one of the most volcanic countries in the world, whether we regard the number of volcanoes concentrated in so small a space, or the extraordinary violence of their eruptions. Of volcanic mountains there are no less than twenty which have been active during historical times. Skaptar in the north, and Hecla in the south, being much the best known. In all, twenty-three eruptions are on record. Iceland’s volcanoes rival
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Volcanoes of the Philippines and Other Pacific Islands.
Volcanoes of the Philippines and Other Pacific Islands.
We cannot do better than open this chapter with an account of the work of volcanoes in the mountain-girdled East Indian island of Java. This large and fertile tropical island has a large native population, and many European settlers are employed in cultivating spices, coffee and woods. The island is rather more than 600 miles long, and it is not 150 miles broad in any part; and this narrow shape is produced by a chain of volcanoes which runs along it. There is scarcely any other region in the wo
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Wonderful Hawaiian Craters and Kilauea’s Lake of Fire.
The Wonderful Hawaiian Craters and Kilauea’s Lake of Fire.
In the central region of the North Pacific Ocean lies the archipelago formerly known as the Sandwich Islands, now collectively designated as Hawaii. The people of the United States should be specially interested in this island group, for it has become one of our possessions, an outlying Territory of our growing Republic, and in making it part of our national domain we have not alone extended our dominion far over the seas, but have added to the many marvels of nature within our land one of the c
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Popocatapetl and Other Volcanoes of Mexico and Central America.
Popocatapetl and Other Volcanoes of Mexico and Central America.
Mexico is very largely a vast table-land, rising through much of its extent to an elevation of from 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea-level, and bounded east and west by wide strips of torrid lowlands adjoining the oceans. It is crossed at about 19 degrees north latitude by a range of volcanic mountains, running in almost a straight line east and west, upon which are several extinct volcanic cones, and five active or quiescent volcanoes. The highest of these is Popocatapetl, south of the city of Mex
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Terrible Eruption of Krakatoa.
The Terrible Eruption of Krakatoa.
The most destructive volcanic explosion of recent times, one perhaps unequalled in violence in all times, was that of the small mountain island of Krakatoa, in the East Indian Archipelago, in 1883. This made its effects felt round the entire globe, and excited such wide attention that we feel called upon to give it a chapter of its own. The island of Krakatoa lies in the Straits of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra. In size it is insignificant, and had been silent so long that its volcanic charact
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Mount Pelee and its Harvest of Death.
Mount Pelee and its Harvest of Death.
St. Pierre, the principal city of the French island of Martinique, in the West Indies, lies for the length of about a mile along the island coast, with high cliffs hemming it in, its houses climbing the slope, tier upon tier. At one place where a river breaks through the cliffs, the city creeps further up towards the mountains. As seen from the bay, its appearance is picturesque and charming, with the soft tints of its tiles, the grey of its walls, the clumps of verdure in its midst, and the wal
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
St. Vincent Island and Mont Soufriere in 1812.
St. Vincent Island and Mont Soufriere in 1812.
Among all the islands of the Caribbees St. Vincent is unique in natural wonders and beauties. Situated about ninety-five miles west of Barbados, it has a length of eighteen and a width of eleven miles, the whole mass being largely composed of a single peak which rises from the ocean’s bed. From north to south volcanic hills traverse its length, their ridges intersected by fertile and beautiful valleys. A ridge of mountains crosses the island, dividing it into eastern and western parts. Kingstown
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Submarine Volcanoes and their Work of Island Building.
Submarine Volcanoes and their Work of Island Building.
In November, 1867, a volcano suddenly began to show signs of activity beneath the deep sea of the Pacific Ocean. There are some islands nearly two thousands miles to the east of Australia called the Navigator’s Group, in which there had been no history of an eruption, nor had such an event been handed down by tradition. Most of the islands in the Pacific Ocean are old volcanoes, or are made up of rocks cast forth from extinct burning mountains. They rise up like peaks through the great depths of
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Mud Volcanoes, Geysers, and Hot Springs.
Mud Volcanoes, Geysers, and Hot Springs.
Our usual impression of a volcano is indicated in the title of “burning mountain,” so often employed, a great fire-spouting cone of volcanic debris, from which steam, lava, rock-masses, cinder-like fragments, and dust, often of extreme fineness, are flung high into the air or flow in river-like torrents of molten rock. This, no doubt, applies in the majority of cases, but the volcanic forces do not confine themselves to these magnificent displays of energy, nor are their products limited to thos
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter