In the days after the 1906 earthquake, bricks were everywhere in downtown Santa Rosa; it was as if the skies had rained brick, or maybe every brick building in town had popped like giant brick-filled balloons. It was going to be a mess to clean up.

The town was fortunate that it had its electric streetcar system. Installed just a year before, the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railway was able to efficiently haul debris directly from the brick pile that was Fourth St. away to the countryside. A photograph owned by the Western Sonoma County Historical Society shows an engine pushing a string of flatcars loaded with rubble heading south through Sebastopol; if you’re looking for artifacts from 19th century Santa Rosa, search the old track beds along the routes to Petaluma and points west. An item in the May 19, 1906 Press Democrat states “many car loads” of debris and brick were being used as fill under the E Street bridge.

Everyone pitched in to help, at first. As Tom Gregory lyrically wrote in his 1911 county history:

Without diminishing the spirit of volunteerism, it should be noted that among the workers was a squad of sailors with officers that came from Mare Island, and California Northwestern sent a wrecking crew with two gangs of railroad workers. In a little over two weeks the relief fund also paid $3,000 to those searching for victims or shoveling debris, and it was announced on May 4 that labor was now compulsory for any able-bodied male who expected free provisions from the banks of donated food.

But like the rebuilding, the work started quickly and with great enthusiasm yet took forever to finish. it was months before the collapsed courthouse building – the very icon of Santa Rosa in ruins – was even cleared away, and a full year after the earthquake, much rubble of the Grand Hotel at the prominent corner of Main and 3rd still remained.

Cleaning Resumed

The work of cleaning the debris from Fourth street was resumed with renewed vigor ths morning after the holiday of Wednesday [Memorial Day]. A number of men were busily engaged in loading flat cars and an electric motor was on hand to haul off the cars when they were loaded. It is believed that in a few days the debris will be all cleared from the principal thoroughfare of the city. Many property owners along that street are preparing to build in the near future, and it will soon be the scene of unprecedented activity.

– Santa Rosa Republican, May 31, 1906

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Life was tough for anyone living in Santa Rosa in the week after the 1906 earthquake. Electrical lighting was out for six days, and gas remained shutoff for more than a week beyond that. Many pitched tents on their lawn and slept outside while some camped in lodge halls or moved in with others who lived in towns less shaken.

Pity also the friends and families outside of Santa Rosa. In that first week they heard that the town was completely wiped out with thousands possibly dead, and the pitiful few survivors were living like animals in the wilds. No wonder that the Democrat-Republican newspaper noted that “the amount of mail matter that is being received here is immense” and “hundreds of belated telegrams are being received here daily for Santa Rosans and Sonoma County people.”

The rumors of Santa Rosa’s demise were greatly exaggerated, of course, and the worst of the misinformation appears to have originated in an outrageously false item published by the cobbled together San Francisco “Call-Chronicle-Examiner” the day after the catastrophe. Here was the first reference to “10,000 homeless men, women, and children huddled together… [in the] hills.” Those survivors were huddled in the Rincoon [sic] hills, specifically, and that was only the beginning of the bad news: Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Hopland and Ukiah were also destroyed, along with Sonoma, Glen Ellen, and the rest of the Sonoma Valley. Nearly everything between Marin and somewhere near the Oregon border was now flattened, if you believed that article, and sadly, many other newspaper editors around the nation did.

It took a couple of days for the national media hysteria to wane; on April 20, a Washington Post headline warned, “Loss of life in Santa Rosa may reach to thousands,” but the paper shifted down gear the next day with the more accurate, “40 die at Santa Rosa – First reports of the disaster greatly exaggerated.” Still, an appetite for horror remained.

A few days later, several papers also picked up the dramatic first-hand account of C. O. (sometimes, C. A.) Duffy, who escaped death in the Saint Rose Hotel by throwing himself on the floor of his room next to a sturdy mahogany dresser just as the building collapsed. The Associated Press wire story of April 22nd claimed he also said, “When I registered at the Santa Rosa Tuesday night there were ninety-eight people in this hotel altogether. When the crash came during the awful earthquake none could escape.” Not explained was how a hotel guest happened to know that there were precisely 98 people there on that morning, but it certainly made it a more tragic tale, and nudged the death toll higher.

But the award for Best Creative Writing goes to an AP story datelined April 26, more than a week after the quake: “Cut off by the disaster from communication with the outside world, Santa Rosa knew nothing of the destruction of San Francisco until the arrival from there of a trainload of nearly 1,000 refugees, begging for help…” It was utter bull; the edition of the Santa Rosa Republican printed the very afternoon of the quake had details about the situation in San Francisco, noting that the news came on the morning train (sans refugees). The author of this melodramatic scenario probably went on to a swell career writing Hollywood screenplays.

Awards for audacity and tastelessness must also be given to the advertisement shown at right, which appeared in the June 16, 1906 Oakland Tribune, and used the Santa Rosa tragedy to promote both sobriety and peddle soda pop: “If you are looking for miracles, try one of those Fruit Punches at Lehnhardt’s.”

SAN FRANCISCO CALL-CHRONICLE-EXAMINER (April 19) – This city is a total wreck. There are 10,000 homeless men, women, and children huddled together. The loss of life is not to be estimated. It will probably reach the thousands….

…What was not destroyed by the earthquake has been swept by fire. Until the flames leaped into the heavens there was hope of saving the residence district. It was soon apparent that any such idea, that might have been entertained, was to be abandoned.

This was appreciated by the citizens and they prepared to desert their homes. Not even their household goods were taken. They made for the fields and hills, to watch the destruction of one of the most beautiful cities of the West.

The water system of the municipality was destroyed by the earthquake. Fire fighting was not to be thought of. The city was at the mercy of the elements and crumbled and cracked as the gentle west breeze from the great Pacific blew from the hill to fan the flames to undestroyed localities. Thus the citizens watched from the Rincoon [sic] hills their homes erased.

In a few cases some attempted to return to the burning city to rescue valuables. Many of them who ventured too close were overcome by the heat and smoke. They dropped, choked and fainting, in their tracks. In many instances these foolish souls were left to their fate. There were too many injured and dying who needed attendance, and who had been injured in the first awful crash to allow those who had returned of their own free will to be cared for…

…On the north conditions are fully as shocking as here. There is no communication by wire or railroad between here and Healdsburg…Many have arrived, however, on horseback and in wagons.

Three messengers bring the saddest tiding of the destruction of Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Hopland and Ukiah. This report takes in the country as far north as Mendocino and Lake counties, and as far west as the Pacific Ocean…

…West of here seven miles the town of Sebastopol is no more. The bank building is the only structure left standing in the village…

…To the southeast of here, Sonoma, Glen Ellen, and a dozen other small towns throughout the Sonoma Valley, are all reported in ruins. The country far and wide, from the meager reports received by horsemen, must be in ruin.

How many are dead and suffering in these outlying districts cannot be ascertained at the writing. It seems that to say, “Some are alive,” is the easiest and most accurate report to send to the outside world.

ASSOCIATED PRESS (April 19, Sacramento) – Oscar Lucas arrived last night from Santa Rosa. He left there at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. He said:

“There is not a brick building left standing in Santa Rosa, and the entire devastated territory has been burned over.

“Dead bodies were being taken out of the debris of the wrecked houses on all sides. It is estimated that the death roll will foot up from 200 to 500.”

WASHINGTON POST (April 19) – It is certain that Santa Rosa, a pretty town of about 10,000 inhabitants, is as completely destroyed as San Francisco. The part spared by the earthquake was swept by fire, and the inhabitants are shelterless in the hills. Rumors place the loss of life at 500, and it may reach into the thousands.

OAKLAND TRIBUNE (April 22) – Bankers and millionaires are going about with only the few dollars they happened to have in their pockets when the catastrophe came and are little better off than the laborers who are digging through the debris. Money was of practically no value here, for there is no place to spend it, and this phase of the situation presents its own remedy.

ASSOCIATED PRESS (April 26) – The entire business section of the town was destroyed and many residents went down. Cut off by the disaster from communication with the outside world, Santa Rosa knew nothing of the destruction of San Francisco until the arrival from there of a trainload of nearly 1000 refugees, begging for help that could be given them. But near-by towns came to the rescue and after a period of starvation and suffering aid was received.

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Two things found everywhere in downtown Santa Rosa after the great 1906 earthquake: rubble and rubber-neckers.

Most of the earliest photographs show the streets crowded with well-dressed men and women along with children of all ages. Some, such as 17 year-old Obert Pedersen, pitched in to join the rescue crews digging for survivors or carting away the dead; others came to gawk at the sights and chat – an awful voyeurism, given that some of their neighbors were literally buried at their feet. A letter that appeared a few days later in New York and Los Angeles papers told of a small girl found alive after four days trapped in the wreckage, adding, “There would undoubtedly have been a great many lives saved if they could have been got out in the first twenty-four hours, but the task was so great it was an impossibility.”

(LEFT: Ruins of the Grand Hotel at the corner of Main and 3rd, currently the Bank of America location. Detail of image courtesy The Huntington Library. RIGHT: Near the intersection of Mendocino and 5th looking towards the courthouse, nearly the same position as a previous photo. Image courtesy Sonoma County Library. Click to enlarge)

Order was restored within two days as local National Guard Company E and Petaluma’s Company C joined forces to patrol the streets and set up checkpoints. The April 21st edition of the “Democrat-Republican” warned that “Nobody, except for the military or duly sworn-in peace officers, are allowed within the lines after 6:30 o’clock in the evening from now on,” and in the next issue, “People who desire to enter the military lines during the day time for the purpose of working must be passed by the special guard on duty and vouched for by him.” Photographs taken after this show the streets almost empty, except for cleanup crews and officials displaying an access pass on his or her hat.

The Guard also manned the train stations, checking to see if arriving passengers had legitimate business in town. Weekend sight-seers were apparently okay, as were San Franciso refugees – by mid-May, the Call reported that about 500 from the metropolis were staying in Santa Rosa. But not all refugees were welcomed: “A number of Chinamen came in on the Sunday night Southern Pacific train and the officers kept them moving out of town.”

The city wasn’t formally under martial law, although many presumed so. Farmer Martin Read came to town a week later to sell eggs, and wrote to his brother that “…martial law prevails, and several more have been shot for robbing the dead,” repeating a rumor that was circulating. But despite the Guard’s presence, serious crime actually was attempted. The newspaper reported on April 24:

Gullible soldier Tuttle undoubtedly spent the rest of his military career on latrine or KP duty; this was exactly the scenario that businesses most feared. Banks in San Francisco were hesitant to open their safes even two weeks after the fires, out of concern that once air rushed into the super-heated interior that all paper money and irreplaceable papers would vanish in an instant poof.

Thankfully, the local National Guard forces were deemed good enough to spare Santa Rosa the Army occupation that San Francisco endured (although the great city wasn’t under actual martial law either). But an item in the paper suggested that the local boys were sometimes less than professional: “A man who spoke slightingly on the military here is reported to have been given his deserts in the form of an impromptu cold bath.”

(RIGHT: A man with an access pass in his hatband passes in front of a member of the National Guard. Detail of photograph courtesy California Historical Society)

There was also petty crime outside the Guard’s purview. Judging from some of the classifieds that appeared in the Democrat-Republican, scoundrels took advantage of the fear and confusion after the earthquake to help themselves to property that residents were temporarily storing outside:

A black suit of clothes bought at White House, left in yard at 409 Fifth street on the morning of the earthquake; any information will be rewarded.

The person who so kindly took care of the suit case containing blue silk mull and white silk mull dresses for Mrs. Geo. H. Allan will please return the same…

Will the man who was seen to take a new blue serge suit from the Yakima lodging house on the morning of the earthquake return the same to the Rose City Soda Works, Main Street?

Will the parties who assisted in the removal of the goods from our residence No 417 Third street on the morning of the earthquake, please return the same, or let us know where we may find them, especially our table linen, as there was but one napkin left us

Militiamen Have Parade

Many of the members of Company E had a little jollification Tuesday, with a parade through several of the streets. Those participating were dressed in ludicrous attire, two members seated in a jinricksha drawn by a diminutive burro, and they had a ceremony, of “burying the camp.” Those who witnessed the ludicrous parade and costumes enjoyed a hearty laugh, and all believed the soldier boys should have ample latitude for enjoying their fun after the rigid military discipline to which they have been subjected. Preceding the parade was a bugler who blew taps every few steps, and a muffled drum gave forth the funeral notes. At the camp the “burial service” was performed.

– Santa Rosa Republican, May 23, 1906

Tents Have Been Struck

The city of Santa Rosa is no longer guarded by her citizen militia, Company E’s officers and men having been relieved from further duty Wednesday evening. This was done on orders from Adjutant General Lauck, for the reason that the services of the boys were no longer required….

– Santa Rosa Republican, May 24, 1906

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