Days of Fear in San Francisco
Drawn from the author’s and other’s experiences
by Ernst Skarstedt
Wednesday the 18th of April shall always be regarded as red letter day in San
Francisco. The young metropolis on the Pacific coast, proud city of the
Argonauts, which could thank the discovery of gold in California at the end of the
1840s for its genesis, and California’s magnificent resources and outstanding
harbor within the Golden Gate to thank for its rapid growth and blossoming has,
on many occasions been ravaged by fire and [125] damaged by earthquakes, but,
never before has it been tested by these natural forces combined violence and
power. Without any idea of the threatening disaster, that in less than three days
would obliterate the result of a half century of toil and labor, the pleasure-seeking
part of the population enjoyed themselves with boutiques, theaters, amusement
parks, or rambles in the shopping district by the light of electric lights far into the
night, as always.
