The Great San Francisco Earthquake & Fires of 1906
Personal Stories of the 1906 Earthquake
The 1906 earthquake ripped up the streets of San Francisco and leveled buildings. Ensuing fires ravaged much of what remained. Initial death toll was set at 300-400, but some historians have since revised that number, citing figures as high as 3,000. More than 225,000 were left without shelter.
Many of those who survived wrote personal accounts of their ordeal, from celebrities like Enrico Caruso and John Barrymore to the suddenly homeless ordinary men and women. Some of these accounts were published. Many were simply in the form of letters to loved ones written on scraps of paper and even wood, which the U.S. Post Office actually delivered. Collected here are a few of the personal stories of the Great Earthquake.
