Re: your April 18 article, “The Great Quake”:

I have just finished reading this story and I am now, for the umpteenth time, gazing at a letter dated May 13, 1906, written by my great-grandmother, who lived in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake. It is somewhat difficult to read, as she was an immigrant from Germany and her English skills were still being developed. Also, the copy I have must have been made in the very early days of copying machines.

Nevertheless, it is a heart-wrenching letter, telling of the tremendous hardships being endured at that time. She mentions a very cold rain falling shortly after the quake and that there were people with no shelter for their babies and themselves. She relates how many people moved their stoves out onto the street so they could cook — there was no electricity and therefore no lights, and so many homes were in complete ruin.
They were allowed to light candles but only until 8 p.m. There were few shelters, or shanties as she called them; people were wrapped in blankets. There were no shops, markets, or stores open, and if you needed to buy anything, you had to go to nearby towns. But the banks were closed and there were no funds to be found, and it would be such a long time before anyone would be able to collect any insurance.

There was no work for anybody, and most of the men had been put to work cleaning up the debris and the bricks, She exclaims how terrible the ruins are and relates how people were using anything that had wheels on it to move things from one place to another. She did say that tents were slowly being made available but were very limited.

“It is dreadful to see this prosperous city in ruins ... it looks as flat as a desert,” she said.

The letter goes on in a painful manner, much of which is difficult for me to read. I have had this copy for a long time, and I frequently attempt to decipher a little more of it, and the pain and sorrow is evident in almost every word. The letter had been written to her family in Connecticut and was the first communication they had received from her since before the earthquake.

Having been very close to the Sylmar and Northridge quakes in the San Fernando Valley, I can only imagine the terrible hardships they had to endure. Now I will attempt to read the letter some more, and sooner or later I hope to be able to reproduce the text in its original form.

— Dave Wallace, Westlake Village