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Kris Web Background Pages: Geology

Oakshott (1972) provided the following account of the 1906 earthquake on the city of Ft Bragg from the Noyo Chief newspaper:

On the morning of April 18, 1906, the earth rocked so violently that it seemed as if some giant had taken it in his hands and was shaking it relentlessly. When it was all over, the mill was off its foundations and badly wrecked; and a large part of Ft. Bragg was destroyed. As in San Francisco, the quake itself was bad--but the fire which followed was vastly worse and did the most damage.

C.R. Johnson, founder of the city and the Union Lumber Company, wrote the following account in his memoirs:

The quake awakened me… I hastily threw on some clothes and went down to the mill--- which was a good deal of a wreck. The mill building had an angle of twenty degrees. The smokestacks had fallen down; the furnaces were down too… and fire was imminent. The firemen at the Power House reported that the pipe connections were all broken and there was no chance to get water.

Luckily there was a locomotive under steam….and got the locomotive close to the Power House…they connected the locomotive boiler with the fire pump which could get water from the mill pond. We…put out the fires and removed all danger from the mill.

The town's water pipes were broken and no water was available. The hotel and several other business buildings were already on fire. Captain Hammer of the steamer National City, which was lying along side the wharf at the time, came up to the mill with some sailors and gathered all the hose he could find and got water on the burning buildings.

It was a matter of record that through Captain Hammer's action that the fire was put out and part of Ft. Bragg was saved. But again, like San Francisco, much of it burned down and many people were left homeless and with only the clothes on their backs. However, the people of Ft. Bragg helped one another--- those who had food and clothing shared them with those that did not. From the Union Lumber Company store, "C.R." (Johnson) gave out food, clothing and blankets as long as stock lasted. And those who needed lumber for rebuilding, he supplied it with the understanding that they could pay for it when they were able. He rushed repairs to the mill so that it could begin providing employment as soon as possible.

"C.R." encouraged his fellow townsmen to rebuild their stricken city--- he even instructed several wholesale supply houses to restock a competing merchant and charged it against Union Lumber's account! Demand from San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa and the smaller cities kept Union Lumber Company operating at full capacity. The employment this provided materially helped hasten Ft. Bragg's own recovery.

References

Oakeshott, G.B. 1972. San Andreas Fault - Point Delgada to Ft. Ross. In: Geologic Guide to the Northern California Coast Ranges-Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, California: Annual Field Trip Guidebook of the Geological Society of Sacramento, 1972. p 83-93.