dawned the town contained about 2,000 people. They had increased to
20,000 before the year ended. The place, with its steep and barren hills
and its sandy stretches, was not inviting, but its ease of access to the
sea and its sheltered harbor were important features, and people settled
there, making it a depot of mining supplies and a point of departure for
the mines.

The place grew rapidly and has continued to grow. At first a city of
flimsy frame buildings, it became early a prey to the flames, fire
sweeping through it three times in 1850 and taking toll of the young
city to the value of $7,500,000. These conflagrations swept away most of
the wooden houses, and business men began to build more substantially
of brick, stone and iron. Yet to-day, for climatic reasons, most of the
residences continue to be built of wood. But the slow-burning redwood
of the California hillsides is used instead of the inflammable pine, the
result being that since 1850 the loss by fire in the residence section
of the city has been remarkably small. In 1900 the city contained 50,494
frame and only 3,881 stone and brick buildings, though the tendency to
use more durable materials was then growing rapidly.

Before describing the terrible calamity which fell upon this beautiful
city on that dread morning of April 18, 1906, some account of the
character of the place is very desirable, that readers may know what San
Francisco was before the rage of earthquake and fire reduced it to what
it is to-day.


THE CHARACTER OF THE CITY.