Aerial Photographs of the 1906 Earthquake

hansoloaf writes "In 1906 San Francisco had a devastating earthquake - registering around 7.7 to 8.3 on the Richter scale. George Lawrence had devised ways to take aerial photographs and went to SF to showcase his technology. He used kites and custom built cameras that could take photos while up in the air."

Comments

Digital camera version

[emcron]

And people thought Phillip Torrone was ahead of the times :-)

Flaming Friscans

[Doc Ruby]

When I lived in SF, all the natives (hard to find) referred to that quake as "The Fire". Because the ensuing fire destroyed more of the city than did the quake. Because (as was revealed in early 1990s research) when the city started to burn, the wily (don't call them) Friscans torched all their own buildings. To collect the insurance money in a huge suck off the insurance companies to the East. Since the oldest buildings had been built only a couple of generations prior, and most had been built in the prior generation, they cashed in and wiped Victorian architecture to the sand. SF is charming, and mostly harmless, but don't turn your back, or you'll get the suckerpunch.

fire yes, but you're the one who is smoking...

[Jim McCoy]

There was a big fire that torched most of the city, and some of it was intentionally set, but most of it was caused by the quake itself (wooden buildings, fire/candles/oil-lamps as primary heat and light source, etc.) There was no conspiracy to bilk those big eastern banking interests, and since this was 1906 I would point out that _all_ current architecture was Victorian. In fact, because of the fact that the entire city was basically re-built in 1907 it probably has the largest collection of Victorian buildings left in the US.

The efforts made to stop the fire, using fire fighting technology that was "primitive" at best, were truly herculean. The cause was not helped by the fact that the earthquake had also destroyed most of the water mains and distribution infrastructure. [A couple of blocks from where I used to live there was a fireplug with a big brass plaque next to it that declared that particular plug to be the only one in the city that did not lose pressure during the firefighting effort after the quake (20th & Church next to Delores Park for locals)]

What eventually stopped the fire was a decision by the authorities to create a major firebreak by essentially blowing up a 1 block wide path down Van Ness Ave.

Photo of shift along fault line

[earlgreen]

Wherever I got this photo (many years ago; alas, I've lost the source) it was claimed that it shows the movement of the fault line during this earthquake -- the fence in the picture got separated by a gap of 8 feet and had to be mended!

Don't know if it's a hoax, but I thought it pretty interesting.

it has been proven to be one huge scam

[SmallFurryCreature]

Including doctored photos wich for a long time had been accepted as real. Simple examination with modern tools show that a lot of the photos we accept as accurate had infact been colored in to reduce the quake damage.

The fact was that quake damage was not covered by insurance. Fire damage was. If your property had been destroyed in the quake you got none. If it had survived the quake but been later destroyed in the fire resulting from the quake you got your money back.

So their was a very large scale fraud. Including doctoring evidence like photographs AND messing with the death toll.

I am afraid you are getting your evidence from what the authorities of the time wanted you to believe. It is an amazing story really but the evidence is clear. These arial photos just prove it more. Just compare them with some of the other "official" photographs of the time. Buildings they show standing are gone here.