SOME FAMOUS EARTHQUAKES 



But if the San Francisco earthquake of April 18th, 

 1906, was not of itself a very great earthquake, it 

 brought about an enormous amount of damage. The 

 heavy shocks came without warning at about five o'clock 

 in the morning of April 18th. They lasted about a 

 minute, and then went off into lighter quakes, which 

 were felt till evening, and for many days after, gradu- 

 ally growing smaller and smaller. The loss of life, 

 though great, was but a tenth of what it would have 

 been had the worst shocks came at a later hour when 

 men were at their places of business and the children 

 in school. As it was, the greatest loss was due to the 

 fire which was started by the earthquake, and which 

 was soon beyond control, because the water-main had 

 been snapped by the earth movement. The cause of 

 the earthquake has been generally assigned to the slip- 

 ping of the strata of California. Athwart the whole 

 state runs a straight furrow, like an ancient earthquake 

 crack of primeval times, which is about four hundred 

 miles long, and the rocks about which are still liable to 

 slip. As we have said, however, the California!! earth- 

 quake, though accompanied by great destruction of 

 property, and by the characteristic accompaniments of 

 fissures in the ground, and slight elevations arid depres- 

 sions of the country over a line sixty miles long, was 

 not a very profound earthquake. 



Rather a curious coincidence may be here noted. We 

 have spoken of submarine earthquakes and volcanoes and 

 of islands which are raised by something akin to vol- 

 canic action or earthquake action underneath the sea. 

 L 161 



