Everyone who survived remembered: there was at first a shocked silence; then the screams of the injured; and then, in a score of ways and at a speed that matched the ferocity of the wind-whipped fires, people picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, took stock, and took charge.
“People picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, took stock, and took charge.”
Golden Gate Park, 1906.
A stentorian army general named Frederick Funston realized he was on his own—his superior officer was at a daughter’s wedding in Chicago—and sent orders to the Presidio military base. Within two hours, scores of soldiers were marching into the city, platoons wheeling around the fires, each man with bayonet fixed and twenty rounds of ball issued; they presented themselves to Mayor Eugene Schmitz by 7:45 A.M.—just 153 minutes after the shaking began. The mayor, a former violinist who had previously been little more than a puppet of the city’s political machine, ordered the troops to shoot any looters, demanded military dynamite and sappers to clear firebreaks, and requisitioned boats to be sent to the Oakland telegraph office to put the word out over the wires: “San Francisco is in ruins,” the cables read. “Our city needs help.”
America read those wires and dropped everything. The first relief train, from Los Angeles, steamed into the Berkeley marshaling yards by eleven o’clock that night. The navy and the Revenue Cutter Service, like the army not waiting for orders from back East, ran fire boats and rescue ferries. The powder companies worked overtime to make explosives to blast wreckage.
Washington learned of the calamity in the raw and unscripted form of Morse code messages, with no need for the interpolations of anchormen or pollsters. Congress met in emergency session and quickly passed legislation to pay all imaginable bills. By 4:00 A.M. on April 19, William Taft, President Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary of war, ordered rescue trains to begin pounding toward the Rockies; one of them, originating in Virginia, was the longest hospital train ever assembled.
Millions of rations were sped to the city from Oregon and the Dakotas; within a week virtually every military tent in the army quartermaster general’s stock was pitched in San Francisco; within three weeks some ten percent of America’s standing army was on hand to help police and firefighters (whose chief had been killed early in the disaster) bring the city back to its feet.
To the great institutions go the kudos of history, and rightly so. But I delight in the lesser gestures, like that of largely forgotten San Francisco postal official Arthur Fisk, who issued an order on his personal recognizance that no letter posted without a stamp and clearly coming from the hand of a victim would go undelivered for want of fee. Thus did hundreds of the homeless of San Francisco let their loved ones know of their condition—a courtesy of a time in which efficiency, resourcefulness, and simple human kindness were prized in a manner we’d do well to emulate today.
Originally published in the New York Times on September 8, 2005. Copyright © 2005 The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
“William Taft, President Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary of war, ordered rescue trains to begin pounding toward the Rockies; one of them, originating in Virginia, was the longest hospital train ever assembled.”
Have You Read?
More by Simon Winchester
KRAKATOA: THE DAY THE WORLD EXPLODED: AUGUST 27, 1883
Simon Winchester details the legendary annihilation of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883 and its lasting world-changing effects, including the creation of an immense tsunami, the release of dust that swirled around the world for years, and the triggering of a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy by fundamentalist Muslims in Java.
“One of the best books ever written about the history and significance of a natural disaster.”
—New York Times Book Review
“A real-life story bigger than any Hollywood blockbuster.”
—Entertainment Weekly
THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: WILLIAM SMITH AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN GEOLOGY
William Smith, the orphaned son of an English country blacksmith, dug canals for a living. From one particular dig emerged his obsession to create the world’s first geological map. Known today as the father of modern geology, Smith spent twenty-two years researching and creating his epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map. Instead of receiving accolades and honors, however, he ended up the victim of plagiarism; Smith landed in debtors’ prison and was virtually homeless for ten years more. In 1831 this quiet genius finally received the Geological Society of London’s highest award and was offered a lifetime pension by King William IV.
“Winchester brings Smith’s struggle to life in clear and beautiful language.”
—New York Times Book Review
THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN: A TALE OF MURDER, INSANITY, AND THE MAKING OF THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
The best-selling tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As word definitions were collected, the overseeing committee led by Professor James Murray discovered that one man, Dr. W.C.Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr.Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
“An extraordinary tale and Simon Winchester could not have told it better.… A splendid book.”
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“The linguistic detective story of the decade.”
—William Safire, New York Times Magazine
OUTPOSTS: JOURNEYS TO THE SURVIVING RELICS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Simon Winchester, struck by a sudden need to discover exactly what was left of the British Empire, set out across the globe to visit the far-flung islands that are all that remain of what once made Britain great. He traveled thousands of miles to capture a last glint of imperial glory.
“A brilliant and delightful addition to the long and distinguished shelf of British literary odysseys.”
—Christopher Buckley, Washington Post Book World
“Winchester traveled one hundred thousand miles back and forth from Antarctica to the Caribbean, from the Mediterranean to the Far East, and has come up with a fascinating and important book.”
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THE FRACTURE ZONE: MY RETURN TO THE BALKANS
A true portrait of one of the world’s most chaotic and beautiful regions that explains why violence has always occurred there—and why it may continue to occur there for years to come.
“A vivid, informative history of the Balkans.”
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“Scholarly and moving … combines historical significance with dramatic insight.”
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KOREA: A WALK THROUGH THE LAND OF MIRACLES
Fascinating for its vivid presentation of historical and geographic detail, Korea is that rare book that actually defines a land and its people, while providing Winchester’s gift for writing about engaging characters in true, compelling stories.
“Immensely readable.… Winchester made his journey of over three hundred miles on foot, a remarkable achievement in itself and one that afforded him a unique opportunity to experience both the country and its people at a grassroots level.”
—Guardian
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PRAISE
“IF THERE’S ANYONE QUALIFIED TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THE 1906 SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND FIRES, IT’S SIMON WINCHESTER.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Winchester’s exhilarating new book describes what happened that fateful spring morning and, just as crucially, why. It is the dramatic story not just of a city’s destruction but also of a planet’s construction.… Hugely entertaining.”
—Bernard Cornwell, Mail on Sunday
“Winches
ter turns his formidable storytelling talents to the earthquake that destroyed San Francisco on April 18, 1906 … [but] doesn’t lose track of the human toll caused by natural disasters.”
—People (four stars)
“A richly companionable volume.… The joys of Winchester’s book are many.”—San Francisco Chronicle (a Best Book of the Year selection)
“Winchester’s timely new book teaches—reminds, really—that we should have quite precise worries about the incurably unstable ground on which scores of millions of Americans live.”
—George Will, Washington Post
“[An] important contribution.… Winchester brings his formidable storytelling talents and his passion for history, but also solid earth-science credentials.… A grand and accessible adventure.”
—Science
“Brims with colorful detail—which makes for lively reading … a richly textured, informative, compelling account.”
—Times Literary Supplement
“Spellbind[ing].… This is nonfiction, but Winchester, also a novelist, utilizes the strategies of fiction: playing with the reader’s growing anticipation of the event itself … Winchester [is] our geological Cassandra.”
—Miami Herald
“A virtual guidebook to the world of tremors and earthquakes and the geological conditions that produce them.… A thoughtful and illuminating book by an author in impressive command of his subject.”
—Houston Chronicle
“A grand tour of the world’s tectonic plates and the major seismic events through the ages.”
—Forbes
“Winchester is at his best in A Crack in the Edge of the World … dramatic … fascinating … [written in] lovely prose.”
—New Orleans Times-Picayune
“Without slighting the human suffering of the victims of earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters, Winchester places their tragedies in an almost cosmic context.”
—Boston Globe
“A wonderful, entertaining history of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and a history of the development of the field of geography and plate tectonics. Winchester is a master.”
—Salt Lake City Tribune (a Best Book of the Year selection)
“Highly readable, brilliantly researched.”
—Hartford Courant
“[A] near-novelistic narrative … puts the tremendous earthquake into a planet-wide context, while still illuminating the characters at the center of the story.”
—San Francisco Weekly
“Superb.”
—Sunday Times (London)
“A magnificent testament to the power of planet Earth and the efforts of humankind to understand her. A master storyteller and Oxford-trained geologist, Winchester effortlessly weaves together countless threads of interest, making a powerfully compelling narrative.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A must-read.… Winchester’s tale excels at unfolding a complicated scientific story as part of a narrative.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Engagingly, captivatingly readable … written with a passion and intelligence that makes it compelling as Winchester describes the fragility of our world.”
—Independent (London)
“A panoramic blend of history and science that captures the event and its destructive aftermath with gripping immediacy.”
—Tucson Citizen
“Eloquent … a very good book.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“Fascinating.… Winchester combines a gift for storytelling and a passion for geology to compelling effect.”
—Time Out (London)
“A story that still resonates.… Winchester puts these past natural disasters in their proper place: in the context of geological as well as human history.”
—Denver Post
“Truly compelling.”
—Contra Costa Times
“A gripping account of how and why the earth’s largest moving parts slip, slide, strike, and subduct as they do … fascinatingly described.”
—Sunday Telegraph
“A great story in its own right, but juxtaposed against current events, it is prescient.”
—CNN
“A lyrical vision.… Read it and shiver.”
—Herald (Glasgow)
“Required reading.… Winchester details the destruction of San Francisco—not just from the quake, but the fires that followed—and the geology behind it.”
—New York Post
“An illuminating analysis of the way Western cities cope (or not) with natural disasters.… Fascinating … a seminal story.”
—Times Educational Supplement
“A good writer can make complicated topics easy to grasp, and a great writer can make them entertaining as well. Winchester personifies this ability. He brings on his journey a storyteller’s excitement, making the events and facts, which often include his own experiences, read more like a novel than a history or science book.”
—Tokyo Daily Yomiuri
“A memorable tale.”
—Business Week
“Arguably Winchester’s best. In it, Winchester’s talents as a writer and journalist are yoked to his training as a geologist in his Oxford days. The effect is spellbinding. Thorough, witty, and written with an assurance that comes from the author’s knowledge of his subject inside-out, this is popular history at its best.… This book has it all.”
—Edmonton Journal
OTHER WORKS
ALSO BY SIMON WINCHESTER
The Meaning of Everything
Krakatoa
The Map That Changed the World
The Fracture Zone
The Professor and the Madman
In Holy Terror
American Heartbeat
Their Noble Lordships
Stones of Empire
Outposts
Prison Diary: Argentina
Hong Kong: Here Be Dragons
Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles
Pacific Rising
Small World
Pacific Nightmare
The River at the Center of the World
CREDITS
Maps on pages x–xiii and 276–77 by Laura Hartman Maestro
Maps on pages 168, 183, and 260 by Nick Springer
COPYRIGHT
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
A CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD. Copyright © 2005 by Simon Winchester. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST HARPER PERENNIAL EDITION PUBLISHED 2006.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows: Winchester, Simon.
Acrack in the edge of the world: America and the great California earthquake of 1906 / Simon Winchester.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10: 0-06-057199-3 (alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-057199-3 (alk. paper)
1. San Francisco Earthquake, Calif., 1906. 2. Earthquakes—California—San Francisco—History—20th century. 3. San Francisco (Calif.)—History—20th century I. Title.
F869.S357W56 2005
979.4'61051—dc22
2005046009
ISBN-10: 0-06-057200-0 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-057200-6 (pbk.)
EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062277459
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*Richter, who spent most of his career in Pasadena, at the California Institute of Technology, was a somewhat unusual man; an avid nudist and vegetarian who, to judge from his correspondence and his diaries, enjoyed a prodigious sexual appetite. More detail on his famous scale, together with an explanation of earthquake magnitudes and intensities, can be found in the appendix.
A Crack in the Edge of the World Page 47
