Simon Winchester,
A
Crack at the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of
1906 (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 461 pages with illustrations,
suggestions for additional readings and an index.
On April 18, 1906, San Francisco was awakened by a massive
earthquake. The shaking of the earth
and the fires that followed destroyed much of the city. Yet, it wasn’t the first nor was it the
largest of the earth’s recent tremors.
In the months leading up to the San Francisco quake, there were jitters
all along earth’s fault lines as well as a seemingly unusual amount of volcanic
activity. As a trained geologist, Simon
Winchester provides a detailed explanation of plate tectonics (he also provides
similar explanations in at least two other books,
Krakatoa and
Atlantic). In addition to speaking of the movement of
plates, he discusses the geology behind earthquakes (not all quakes occur along
plates) as well exploring the developing science of earthquakes. Although we’ve come a long ways since 1906
(plate tectonics is a relatively new theory), by the time of the San Francisco
quake, the earth was ringing with instruments allowing scientist at the time to
gain a better understanding of what was happening to the earth’s crust. These records are also benefits for modern
geologists who can use them with newer insight.
Thanks to these new insights, the pinpoint of the earthquakes epicenter
has changed.
Winchester ties his book together with a road trip around
much of the North American plate (he drives across country for a teaching gig
in San Francisco, after which he heads north to Alaska before heading east).
This allows him to explore other large quakes within the North American
plate such as Charleston, South Carolina (1886), New Madrid, Missouri (1811)
and Anchorage, AK (1964). In a way,
these travels often seemed to distract from the point of the book, though they
did provide a personal link to his stories.
In addition to geology, Winchester provides a history of San
Francisco as well as parts of the city such as Chinatown. The quake destroyed immigration records of
the Chinese which gave those seeking to flee the wars going on in China a way
to get around the tough immigration laws of the day.
Some of the interesting facts of the earthquake include how
the insurance companies argued in court over whether the destruction was from
the quake or the fire. After the fire,
it was hard in parts of San Francisco to tell which buildings were damaged by
the quake (and not covered by insurance) or fire (and covered by
insurance). He also talked about the
architecture of San Francisco and how some wanted the city to develop a master
plan for development after the quake, but business interest quickly took over
and the designs by Daniel Hudson Burnham for a city like Washington were
quickly shelved. Although San Francisco
is often seen as an “artsy city,” Winchester notes that this wasn’t until after
World War II.
Winchester also discusses
potential religious fallout from the quake.
To the south, in Los Angeles, the Azusa Street revivals were just
beginning to gather steam. These
revivals are important in the development of Pentecostalism in America and the
preachers quickly pointed to the quake as evidence of God’s judgment. In Krakatoa,
Winchester points to a similar fundamentalist religious rise in radical Islam
in Indonesia following that volcano’s massive eruption. Labeling the disaster as God’s judgment isn’t
anything new. In my own studies of
Virginia City, Nevada (which in a way was a sister city to San Francisco),
there were general outcry by those affected by a disastrous fire in 1875, which
burned much of the city’s business district, at the preachers in San Francisco who
pointed to the destruction as God’s judgment.
By 1906, Virginia City was just a shell of itself and no one was paying
much attention to what its preachers were saying, but I'll have to go back into my notes and see if there was any mention of the San Francisco fire and earthquake. . Of course, not everyone was ready to
point the finger at their neighbor’s misfortune and, as was the case in
Virginia City which also received help from San Francisco following the fire, those
in Los Angeles responded immediately by sending supplies.
This is the fourth book I’ve read by Simon Winchester and I
have come to appreciate how he weaves together two of my favorite subjects,
history and geology. I recommend this
book even though I didn’t think it measures up to Krakatoa (my favorite of the four books I’ve read by
Winchester). However, this book does
provide the reader with an understanding of what goes on under our feet, as
well as insight into San Francisco’s history, especially the great
earthquake.
