Quakefinder Blog

112th Anniversary of the 1906 SF Earthquake



On April 18th, 1906 at approximately 5:12 am, San Francisco was struck with a M7.9 earthquake. Between the 60 seconds of extreme shaking and the resulting 4-day long fire, over 80% of the city was left in ruins. Approximately 3000 lives were lost.

Video photography was still in its infancy in 1906 when the now-famous Miles Brothers opened a film studio in SF one month prior to the quake. A Trip Down Market Street, a 8-minute piece, was shot 4 days before the earthquake. On the way to New York with that film, the Miles Brothers heard of the earthquake and returned to the city to film the devastation. That footage was lost until it was recently found at a flea market in Alameda, CA. The film has now been digitized and premiered at the Edison Theater in Fremont this past weekend. The footage has been delivered to the U.S. Library Of Congress and will be posted on-line later this summer. Stay tuned.





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