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From stereographs. Copyright, 1906, by Underwood & Underwood.

1. TOWER OF THE CITY HALL, LOOKING SOUTHEAST FROM GOLDEN GATE AVENUE. 2. RUINS OF THE SCOTT-VAN ARSDALE BUILDING AND SAINT PATRICK'S CHURCH ON MISSION

STREET.

of San Francisco were awakened by a terrific shock succeeded by a long tremor that lasted for 55 seconds. The earthquake did an almost incalculable amount of damage, not only in San Francisco but in the surrounding cities and towns and other places in the state. Berkeley, Los Angeles and Palo Alto were among the towns that suffered severely. Many of the buildings of the Leland Stanford Jr. University (the library, memorial hall and others) were damaged almost beyond repair and the University of California lost almost as heavily.

In the city of San Francisco the first shocks tumbled over many of the less substantial buildings that had not been erected to withstand earthquakes, but the buildings of modern design and construction sustained comparatively little damage. The greatest havoc was wrought by the fire which immediately started in the ruins and raged for over two days before a merciful shift in the wind stopped its course and it extinguished itself for lack of fuel. The upheaval caused by the earthquake had broken the water-mains and rendered them useless, thus making futile any attempt on the part of the fire department to head off the conflagration. Despite all efforts to check the flames by blowing up rows of buildings with dynamite, the fire gradually spread over the business section of the city, consuming block after block of office buildings and warehouses, many handsome hotels and residences, the

beautiful city hall that had cost over $7,000,000, newspaper buildings, and in fact swept everything before it, but was checked at Van Ness Avenue.

No exact statement of the loss of life or property can be made but it is estimated that between 400 and 500 lives were lost and the damage to property amounted to between $200,000,000 and $300,000,000 in San Francisco alone, while $350,000,000 is not too small an estimate if the loss throughout the State be added to that of the city. It was also estimated that only about five per cent. of the damage was caused by the earthquake whereas the balance was due to the subsequent fire.

Immediately after the fire the city was placed under a guard of United States troops, and the parks of the city were placed at the disposal of the homeless. Tents were rushed to the city by the war department at Washington, supply stations were established by the military authorities and food given to the deserving who could not purchase it. Beside the tents the war department sent a vast amount of food supplies as did also a large number of business houses, corporations, and private individuals and from all sections of the United States, Canada and even from foreign countries came a flood of money con

tributions that totaled

tributions that totaled many millions. The tents constituted the homes of many of the citizens for a long time, but gradually the ruins were cleared away and soon a new and still more

imposing city sprang up. The architectural designs of the new buildings were much more beautiful and dignified than those of the structures destroyed.

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Speak softly, but carry a big stick." This aphorism, said to be a quotation from President Roosevelt, could well have come from him, for it aptly illustrates the character and policy of the man. Just how much of this spirit was responsible for the spectacular voyage of 16 battleships of the United States navy around the South American continent, to San Francisco, and thence home by the way of the Isthmus of Suez, it is impossible to say. There may have been diplomatic reasons for this remarkable display of America's power at sea, for there had been indications of restlessness in some of the South American republics regarding the policy of the United States, and an inclination on their part to reject the quasi-protectorate established over them by the operations of the Monroe Doctrine. This feeling had been in the process of incubation for a number of years in the larger republics of South America, such as Brazil, and Argentina, resulting in such purely Latin-American theories of international relations as the Drago Doctrine. Of course it is impossible to say whether this movement on the part of the republics rendered it necessary for the administration to give a signal evidence of the power of the United States, and at the same

time to pay them the international compliment of sending to their ports one of the most perfectly equipped and powerful fleets of battleships ever dispatched upon a peaceful errand.

In addition, too, there had been rumors that Japan was inclined to resent our new domination of the Pacific, and this, perhaps, had its influence in determining the extraordinary maneuver. Whatever may have been the diplomatic reasons, the fact remains that on December 16, 1907, in the presence of President Roosevelt and thousands of spectators this magnificent array of battleships broke anchorage and started on its long voyage. The ships were under command of Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, or "Fighting Bob," as he was affectionately called. The fleet consisted of the Connecticut, Captain H. Osterhaus commanding; the Kansas, Captain C. E. Vreeland; the Vermont, Captain W. P. Potter; the Louisiana, Captain Richard Wainwright; the Georgia, Captain H. McCrea; the New Jersey, Captain W. H. H. Sutherland; the Rhode Island, Captain J. V. Murdock; the Virginia, Captain S. Schroeder; the Minnesota, Captain J. Hubbard; the Ohio, Captain C. W. Bartlett; the Missouri, Captain G. A. Merriam; the Maine, Captain G. B. Harber; the Alabama, Captain T. E. DeW. Veeder; the Illinois, Captain J. M. Bowyer, the Kearsarge, Captain H. Hutchins;

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