100 THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND EIRE. 
the supporting granite curb settled away from the shelf, it remained 
in position, as a cantilever, but the props were put under it to keep it 
from being broken. In the basement no evidence of the earthquake 
could be found, except a few insignificant cracks in the concrete floor, 
which Mr. Roberts says were not there before the earthquake. 
On the whole, I think it is fair to say that the post-office was sub- 
jected to an extraordinarily severe test. About half of the chimneys 
were thrown down. One of them either rocked on its base or was 
thrown upward far enough to cause the counterflashing, which lapped 
the flashing about 3 inches, to clear the flashing and come down inside 
of it. The chimney remained upright, but with a slight horizontal 
displacement. In the exterior walls a good many stones were started 
from their beds, and some were cracked. Two or three fell from the 
wall. At least one anchor was exposed, and it had been broken. 
Whether the steel work was damaged or not could not be determined, 
as it was not sufficiently exposed. The damage to the exterior walls is 
fairly well shown in Pis. XLIII, A, and XLIY. 
PI. XLIII, A, shows damage on the southwest side of the west 
corner of the building; the surface of the window reveal and the 
adjacent return of the upper molding on the sill, at the point indi- 
cated by the arrow, were separated at least three-fourths of an inch, 
yet during the earthquake they were jostled together with sufficient 
force to abrade the reveal and spall the sill. That this effect should 
have taken place without shattering all the masonry around the win- 
dow opening is one of the many inexplicable phenomena that seem 
characteristic of earthquakes. 
The two sides of the pavilion on the Mission street side at the 
east corner showed cracks in the masonry and a disturbance of the 
sidewalk. A window arch on the northeast front, where the outer 
wall of the mail-handling room adjoins the main building, was 
damaged (PL XLIV, B). The building is U-shaped in plan, the 
mail-handling room being in the court and closed in on the northeast 
by a Avail. This wall was seriously shaken and was shored up at 
the time of my inspection. 
With the exception of one window at the north corner, the exterior 
masonry of the building practically escaped damage from the fire. 
According to Mr. Roberts, the damage on the northwest front was 
somewhat increased after the fire as a result of the demolition of 
some neighboring walls by dynamite because of their dangerous 
condition. 
On the interior some of the marble slabs used for dadoes and wall 
coverings were shaken off by the earthquake, and some marble col- 
umns used in connection with ornamental mantels and doorways were 
thrown down. 
