Early in the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was visited by one
of the most dreadful disasters of modern times. An earthquake shock
destroyed many of the important buildings in the business part of the
city. Other cities and towns along the coast and in the Santa Clara
Valley suffered greatly and a number of the buildings of Leland Stanford
University, thirty miles south of San Francisco, were demolished. Ninety
per cent of the loss in San Francisco was due to the conflagration which
raged for two days. Fires broke out owing to the crossing of electric
wires. The water-mains were old and poorly laid and the force of the
earthquake had burst them. Firemen and soldiers fought the advance of