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

The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

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."

Last modified May 20, 2008 by Lisa Gardiner.

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

What Is an Earthquake?

The expression "on solid ground" is often used to describe something as stable. Usually the solid ground underfoot seems very stable. But sometimes it is not. "The ground seemed to twist under us like...more

Plate Tectonics

The main force that shapes our planet's surface over long amounts of time is the movement of Earth's outer layer by the process of plate tectonics. This picture shows how the rigid outer layer of the Earth,...more

Seismic Waves: Moving and Shaking During an Earthquake

During an earthquake, energy is released in seismic waves that travel from where the earthquake starts, a place called the focus. The seismic waves radiate from the focus. Seismic waves cause intense shaking...more

What’s That Mineral?

Spotting minerals is fun! There are many different types of minerals, each with a different name and a special set of characteristics. So, if you find a mineral that you do not recognize, you can use...more

Quartz

Quartz is one of the most common mineral in Earth’s crust! Silica (Si) and Oxygen (O) are the only elements within pure quartz. If a cooling magma has silica leftover after feldspars form, quartz is likely...more

Mica Minerals

Mica minerals make some rocks sparkle! They are often found in igneous rocks such as granite and metamorphic rocks such as schist. They sparkle because light is reflected on their flat surfaces, which...more

Feldspar

Feldspar is the most common mineral in the Earth’s crust, so you are very likely to find it in the rocks you collect! It is found it all of the three rock types, but is most common in intrusive igneous...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA