impoverishment and lack of homes to thousands; it meant the sweeping
away of accumulations of years of endeavor; it might mean starvation; it
meant beginning again to climb the uphill trail to success; and last,
but worst, it meant the tremendous death toll either from immediate
causes or from after effects. Even today, years after the conflagration,
many men and women live in San Francisco in a greater or less degree of
ill health, the seeds of which were planted by the terror and mental
strain which they endured on the morning of that day.



Progress of the Fire



The day passed. Neither I nor any other can remember all the details
which marked the hours of suspense. It is to be presumed that others
like myself found various, and what then appeared to them to be
tremendous, things to claim their attention and then - the second day!

The fire had now reached Van Ness avenue and again came the messengers
on horseback who shouted in passing that everyone must move. My home was
on Vallejo street about five blocks beyond Van Ness and it was generally
believed that inasmuch as that street was one hundred and twenty feet
wide that it would form a fire break which could not be crossed.
Backfiring had already been started to meet the oncoming conflagration,
but everything, including the elements, seemed to favor destruction and,
as time passed, the worry and fear increased. Owing to inability to
combat the fire, through the lack of water, doubt began to creep in as
to whether the width of Van Ness avenue and the puny attempts at fire