“Result of shock, right track sunk 4 feet on new line between Oat. & Ala.” [Click image to see reverse side.]

(Utah State University Special Collections & Archives, San Francisco Earthquake Snapshots, P0346:01:02)

The San Andreas Fault has long been a source of unease among California residents. It stretches more than 800 miles along the west coast of California from north of Point Delgada to the Cajon Pass near San Bernardino, and it is caused by the connection of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The fault is well known for having a right-lateral strike-slip movement, when the ground on the opposite side of the fault appears to be moving to the right. 

One of the first recorded large-scale earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault Line took place on January 9, 1857. The epicenter was in Fort Tejon, near Los Angeles, and the seismic activity caused the ground to slide twenty-nine feet horizontally from its original location. 

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 was comparable to the Fort Tejon temblor in size, but it affected far more people.

“New Key Boat results of shock.” [Click image to see reverse side.]

(Utah State University Special Collections & Archives, San Francisco Earthquake Snapshots, P0346:01:09)

Map of the San Andreas Fault Line system.

San Francisco, a city of nearly 400,000 people at the time, was considered the “Paris of the west.” Ever since its settlement in the late 1840s, the size of the population nearly doubled every twenty years until the early twentieth century. After the widespread destruction wrought by the earthquake and fire, it took several years and millions of dollars before San Franciscans fully repaired the damage.