MIRROR LAKE. YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA.1906. SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE & FIRE.

Description

An early postcard, with undivided back, of “Mirror Lake, Yosemite, Cal.” Shows a few people on the road at bottom left. Published by M. Rieder, Los Angeles (#2540). Printed in Germany. “Hand Colored Work.” The exciting and special thing about this postcard is that it was mailed on April 25, 1906, just one week after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires that killed so many and destroyed so much of the city. It was probably mailed from the San Francisco Bay Area, although I cannot read the cancelation of the post office it was mailed from, because the sender seems to have firsthand knowledge about events. The sender, E. R. B. (??) reports that “We are all in an intense state of excitement. San Francisco as you know is in ruins.” She had not heard from several friends and relatives. Survivors had to go without food for a day and a half and then “had to walk 10 or 15 miles to get to the ferry. Some of them slept out in the cemeteries. The condition of things is awful.” (See scans of front and back and crops of the entire written message.)
BACKGROUND: On the morning of April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake shook San Francisco, California. Though the quake lasted less than a minute, its immediate impact was disastrous. The earthquake also ignited several fires around the city that burned for three days and destroyed nearly 500 city blocks. Despite a quick response from San Francisco's large military population, the city was devastated. The earthquake and fires killed an estimated 3,000 people and left half of the city's 400,000 residents homeless. Aid poured in from around the country and the world, but those who survived faced weeks of difficulty and hardship. The survivors slept in tents in city parks and the Presidio, stood in long lines for food, and were required to do their cooking in the street to minimize the threat of additional fires. The San Francisco earthquake is considered one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.
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