A City Tossed and Broken (16 page)

At 5:12 in the morning on April 18, 1906, an earthquake tore through San Francisco, destroying huge swaths of the city and killing, contemporary historians believe, more than 3,000 people.

Catastrophic fires billowed throughout the city of San Francisco following the devastating earthquake. Fifty fires began in the first hours after the quake, and joined together to form a wall of flame a mile and a half long.

A crack running down the middle of a San Francisco street indicates the power of the massive 1906 earthquake. Scientists today estimate the quake registered between 7.9 and 8.2 on the Richter scale.

This famous photograph taken by the photographer Arnold Genthe, titled “Looking Down Sacramento Street, San Francisco, April 18, 1906,” shows the devastation caused by the earthquake.

After the earthquake, many of the frame houses in San Francisco toppled from their foundations.

Views of Market Street in San Francisco, before the earthquake (above) and after it (below).

After the earthquake, survivors took to the relative safety of the open streets. With half the city destroyed, 225,000 survivors were left homeless. In the photograph on the left, two women are sifting through the rubble of a house, presumably searching for salvageable items. On the right, two men uncover a safe among the rubble and destruction following the earthquake.

A modern map of the United States showing San Francisco, California, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On writing
A City Tossed and Broken
, author Judy Blundell noted, “I was lucky enough to live in San Francisco twice in my life, and it remains one of my favorite cities. On my walks from my apartment in Noe Valley to Dolores Park (called Mission Park in Minnie’s time), I always made sure to walk on the side of the street where the golden hydrant commemorated the last great battle to douse the Mission District fire. I often stopped to read the plaque. That spot offers a grand vista overlooking the city, and I would stand for a moment and try to imagine what it all looked like in 1906.

“I experienced several quakes while living in the city, but nothing like the event of 1906. I do remember the feeling of surprise when the shaking begins — and the spurt of fear every San Franciscan feels when they think,
Is this the big one?
In researching this book I soon learned that the earthquake and subsequent firestorm were much worse than even my imagination had conjured up those years ago. The three days after the quake were not as simple as I’d thought — history rarely is. Wrong decisions and blunders were made, some took advantage of the calamity, but by and large the citizens of San Francisco showed remarkable courage and optimism during and after the ordeal. I think Minnie has the same character traits that led so many to make San Francisco their home — an adventurous spirit and a talent for reinvention.”

Judy also encourages anyone who wants to know more about the quake to read the fascinating personal accounts of those who lived through it. They are available online at the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: www.sfmuseum.org/1906/ew.html.

Judy Blundell is the National Book Award–winning author of
What I Saw and How I Lied
and the acclaimed novel
Strings Attached
. In addition, she has written many other books for middle-grade and young-adult readers under various pseudonyms, including a host of Star Wars novels;
Premonitions
, which was an ALA Reluctant Readers Best Picks and was chosen by the New York Public Library as a 2004 Best Books for the Teen Age; and
Beyond the Grave
(Book 4),
In Too Deep
(Book 6),
Vespers Rising
(Book 11), and
A King’s Ransom
(Book 2 of Cahills vs. Vespers) for the
New York Times
bestselling series The 39 Clues, as Jude Watson. Judy lives in Katonah, New York, with her family.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to use the following:

Cover portrait by Tim O’Brien.

Cover background: City Hall, April 1906, San Francisco, Library of Congress.

Man walking up a devastated San Francisco street, ibid.

Catastrophic fires billowing through San Francisco following the devastating earthquake, ibid.

A crack running down the middle of a San Francisco street, ibid.

“Looking Down Sacramento Street, San Francisco, April 18, 1906,” by photographer Arnold Genthe, ibid.

San Francisco houses toppling from their foundations, ibid.

San Francisco’s Market Street before the earthquake, ibid.

San Francisco’s Market Street after the earthquake, ibid.

Two women survivors sifting through the rubble of a house, ibid.

Two men survivors uncovering a safe among the rubble and destruction, ibid.

Map by Jim McMahon.