In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, the thriving port city of San Francisco, California, heaved and buckled in the throes of one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. Hundreds of residents perished as wooden apartments collapsed and brick-and-mortar buildings hurled deadly debris. More than half the city's population was left homeless to wander rubble-strewn streets in shock or as refugees in search of safety. The tremor destroyed water mains, gas lines, and communication systems, while igniting small fires that quickly merged into flaming cataclysms. For the next three days and nights, firefighters, policemen, soldiers, and civilians battled together to save their city from fiery destruction. Read about their heroic struggle to survive in The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
