10 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GEOLOGY 



has been content to risk its lives and money here, and, 

 notwithstanding prophecies of disaster, will doubtless 

 continue to do so with a perfect sense of security. 



We have been resting in the belief, founded upon a 

 long period of knowledge that, in so far as actual loss 

 of life and property from these quakes was concerned, 

 it had been practically negligible, especially in com- 

 parison with the deaths from other natural causes 

 elsewhere in the United States. 



So shocking have been the reports of destruction and 

 death in our own country from innumerable tornadoes, 

 twisters, lightnings, floods, and other "acts of God" 

 in the Middle West and on the Atlantic Coasts; 

 among which were the great tornadoes of recent years 

 at Rock Springs, Illinois, the Johnstown flood, the 

 Galveston disaster, the Miami hurricane and the re- 

 cent St. Louis tornado ; that we had come to flatter 

 ourselves upon the security of property and existence. 

 The 1927 tornado at St. Louis destroyed more lives 

 and property in a short time than all the earthquakes 

 of California south of San Francisco have done. We 

 felt that this portion of the state was about as safe a 

 place to live in as could be found in the United States, 

 but Dr. Willis evidently intended to awaken us from 

 this halcyon dream. 



