A History of the Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(2.4 stars; 4 reviews)

Early in the morning of Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the San Francisco area was shaken by a massive earthquake. Over the course of the next four days, fires spread through large swaths of the city, started by broken gas lines, fallen electrical wiring, and damaged chimneys. Broken water mains prevented the fire department from effectively battling the blazes. By the time the fires were finally extinguished on the afternoon of Saturday, April 21, nearly 3000 people were dead and 500 city blocks destroyed. Before the year was over, the Edward Hilton Company of San Francisco had collected and sifted through the available information to publish this concise and lucid analysis of what had happened. (Summary by Maria Kasper) (5 hr 44 min)

Chapters

The Old San Francisco 13:54 Read by Maria Kasper
The Earthquake 21:02 Read by Maria Kasper
The Fault Line 34:03 Read by Greg Giordano
The First Day of the Fire 19:44 Read by Greg Giordano
The Fateful Day 24:14 Read by Maria Kasper
The Conquest 29:32 Read by Maria Kasper
The Work of the Fire 34:41 Read by Greg Giordano
The Relief 20:01 Read by Greg Giordano
The Resumption 35:40 Read by Maria Kasper
The Damage by the Earthquake 28:27 Read by Maria Kasper
A Study of the Fire 48:51 Read by Greg Giordano
The New San Francisco 16:47 Read by Greg Giordano
Appendix 17:35 Read by Greg Giordano

Reviews

FRIGHTENING, (I LIVE HERE)


(4 stars)

I thought the opening and other chapters were “well read”, considering the long descriptions and number of adjectives. This would not be the easiest book to choose to read! It is interesting to listen to how the initial earthquake effected survivors and how the extent of the damage slowly sunk in. Possibly what large numbers of people do, when wandering along in shock! The background and semi scientific chapters, with fault descriptions and early geological ideas, may be rather outdated and are not as interesting as the people stories.


(0.5 stars)

This sounds like it could be very interesting but the first reader is difficult to listen to as she doesn't know what a period st the end of a sentence should sound like. It sounds like one big run on sentence. Too annoying to listen to.