230 



EARTHQUAKES. 



office at the time barely escaped with their lives. Mr. 

 Benchley's building is not injured in the least, if we 

 except the fire wall in front, built six or eight feet 

 above the roof, which was cracked badly at each end. 

 It is quite evident that, but for the substantial manner 

 in which the Benchley building is constructed, it 

 must have been seriously damaged. As it is, there 

 is not a crack in the walls, with the exception al- 

 ready referred to. And yet so great was the commo- 

 tion that bars of steel reclining against the walls in 

 the inside were violently thrown down. A brief ref- 

 erence to the manner in which this building is con- 

 structed will explain its safety and at the same time 

 teach a lesson as to the mode of erecting brick build- 

 ings in this city hereafter. This section, it will be 

 remembered, is all made ground. In the first place, 

 the foundation of the building was laid broad and 

 firm. As the walls rose they were liberally tied by- 

 iron rods and anchors. In addition, the joists are all 

 fastened to each other at the ends by bands of iron 

 which circle the building as a hoop. The Murphy & 

 Grant block, Oriental block, and other large build- 

 ings in that vicinity, are constructed in a similar man- 

 ner, and hence their remarkable escape, not a fissure 

 being visible in any of them. Nothing but the fact 

 that the rear wall of the standing portion of Coffey & 

 Kisdon's building was placed against Benchley 's 

 building saved any portion of the damaged structure 

 from becoming one heap of ruins. The general ab- 

 sence of any expression of surprise at the disaster to 

 this building, among the lookers-on this morning, was 

 noteworthy. The portion mostly damaged had but 

 one anchor for its support, and the wonder is that 

 there is one brick left upon another. 



In the Union Founder^ on First Street, corner of 

 Mission, most of the machinery was displaced. The 

 brick front half of the building was not injured, but 

 a lower building in the rear is a total wreck. The 

 walls are broken and the roof fallen in. The men 

 had just gone to work and made a rush for the street. 

 All escaped but two, who were caught by the falling 

 bricks and timbers, and seriously though not fatally 

 hurt. 



The roof of the old Mechanics' Mill on Mission 

 Street, corner of Fremont, was prostrated, and the 

 walls of the building toppled over into the street in 

 several places. 



The Mechanics' Co-operative Mill on Mission Street 

 (the old Brooklaw Mill) was badly damaged and the 

 machinery stopped. Much of it was thrown out of 

 place. The floor sunk dpwn in places and raised in 

 others several feet, and a fire wall in the mill sunk 

 down. The centre of Mission Street in front of the 

 mill exposes an opening of eight to ten inches in 

 diameter, and openings of the ground are also plainly 

 to be seen on Fremont Street, in the same vicinity. 



The floor of the Pacific Foundery was raised about 

 two feet in places, and some of the machinery was 

 thrown out 01 place. 



Most of the planing-mills were stopped and more 

 or less injured, but the actual extent of the damage 

 could not be estimated. 



The Selby Shot-tower stood intact. 



The San Francisco Gas-Works, on Howard and 

 Fremont Streets, suffered severely. The tall chimney 

 on the part of the structure facing First Street was 

 thrown over and fell through the roof, and the main 

 walls badly cracked. In another part of the estab- 

 lishment, north side of Fremont Street, the destruc- 

 tion was still greater. A large quantity of coal was 

 stored in the building, and the pressure of the mass 

 forced the wall put on the Fremont Street side from 

 roof to foundation, and for the space of about fifty 

 feet. 



Jewish synagogue on Sutler Street one small pin- 

 nacle thrown down and several more apparently well 

 shaken. 



Casebolt & Kerr's carriage factory, corner Fifth and 

 Market Streets, westerly corner fire wall thrown 

 down ; building shored up. 



Hayes Valley public school two Chinamen thrown 

 down, and numerous others in the vicinity. 



About 100 feet of the merchandise shed on the 

 south side of Folsom Street wharf were completely 

 wrecked and lies on the wharf. The long shed on 

 the easterly side of the wharf was injured, but is 

 now being secured. 



The Tertama Street school-house, which is of brick, 

 is almost intact. The plastering fell from portions 

 of the wall, but the walls themselves are not injured. 



At No. 138 Natoma Street, Charles Money-penny's 

 brick boarding-house was made a total wreck. Most 

 of it was thrown down, and workmen were employed 

 tearing the rest of it down. Fortunately, no one was 

 injured there. At No. 144 same street, John Far- 

 mer's house was badly injured, and most of his fur- 

 niture destroyed. 



On the northwest corner of Mission and Third 

 Streets, the fire wall of a brick building was thrown 

 off, and in falling demolished a boot-black stand be- 

 neath. No one injured. Nearly all the windows of 

 stores on Third Street, between Mission and Market, 

 were broken. 



Lincoln school-house is badly damaged, most of 

 the chimneys being broken off, but none thrown 

 down, and the plastering on the walls and ceilings 

 badly shattered. 



The large statue of Lincoln in front of the building 

 is quite ruined ; the head is broken in two or three 

 pieces, and the trunk is shattered in several places. 

 Singularly, however, the statue was not thrown off 

 its pedestal. 



A part of the walls of the new Calvary Church fell 

 down, and the crumbling bricks and mortar barely 

 escaped demolishing a small frame dwelling at the 

 side of the church. None of the heavy iron pillars 

 recently erected were moved from their places. 



At the College of St. Ignatius, on Market Street^ a 

 large number of people had assembled for the service 

 of mass. The shock rocked the immense building like 

 a cradle. The priests maintained their positions and 

 composure, but great consternation seized upon the 

 audience. Several women fainted, but beyond this 

 there were no casualties reported. 



Many chimneys on houses in the southern part of 

 the city were thrown down, but no one was seriously 

 injured by them. Much furniture was destroyed in 

 many of them. 



The only serious injury on Kearney Street was done 

 to a building on the east side of the street, between 

 Sutter and Vermehr Streets. 



Poffler's building, which was partly thrown down 

 by the heavy shock three years ago, is not injured. 



Nearly every wholesale house on Sansome, Battery. 

 Front, Clay, Davis, and other streets in that part or 

 the city, was closed during the day, and several build- 

 ings are so badly injured that it will probably be ne- 

 cessary to tear them down entirely. 



The halls of the Brevoort House, on the Mission 

 Street side, were badly shattered. 



On California Street, below Sansome, south side of 

 California, a large one-story brick building, formerly 

 occupied by Heinman & Co., was wholly ruined, and 

 an adjoining one, occupied by the Pacific Pump Fac- 

 tory, was partly thrown down. 



On the opposite side of California Street, a house 

 owned by Michael Eeese was badly wrecked. The 

 walls have sunk down and are broken in pieces. 



Some of the ornamental stone-work on the Bank 

 of California building was marred. 



St. Mary's Cathedral ; Grace Cathedral, the Young 

 Men's Christian Association building, the new Mer- 

 chants' Exchange building, in fact, all substantial 

 structures in the city on good foundations, escaped 

 without noticeable iniury. 



The building occupied by the Health Office on Jack- 

 son Street was also seriously injured. Windows of 

 stores on Montgomery, Washington, Clay, and Mar- 

 ket Streets were broken, and shelves in many locali- 

 ties were thrown down. 



