USA 1906 two postcards images destruction San Francisco earthquake

$26.00 CAD

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Two postcards showing some of the extent of the aftermath of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco in April of 1906.

Labeled  “3241 Wholesale District. San Francisco, Cal..”

Adolph Selige Pub. Co., St. Louis. Mo.

And 3248 Ruins Junction Market, Mason & Turk Sts. San Francisco, Cal..”

A. SELIGE PUB. ST. LOUIS.

Both with 2 cent Washington stamps and postmarked ‘SAN FRANCISCO CAL JUL 19 1906’. Mailed to France (missing address label)

Couple light corner creases. Toning on back, some pencil notations. Missing address label, removal slightly affected paper.

 

At 5:12 a.m. PST (1:12 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). High-intensity shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Devastating fires soon broke out in San Francisco and lasted for several days. More than 3,000 people died, and over 80 percent of the city was destroyed. The events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest earthquakes in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high on the lists of American disasters.

WIKIPEDIA