San Francisco During the Eventful Days of April, 1906

On the morning of April 18, 1906, at 5:13, San Francisco was awakened by a large earthquake. Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles, and inland as far as central Nevada. Stetson takes the reader through this terrible morning as he surveys the damage in his home and the surrounding neighborhood. He describes the fires and fleeing people. He talks of dynamiting sections of town that were unstable. Food and gas were not available. The death toll from the earthquake and resulting fire was estimated to be above 3,000, which is the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history. The economic impact has been compared with the more recent Hurricane Katrina.