Latest Details.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXX, Issue 8428, 19 April 1906, Page 5

Latest Details.

An Awful Disaster,

Numerous Public Buildings in

Ruins

Fires Raging in all Directions

Loss of Life Very Heavy

The following details reached us to-day at 2.30 p.m. : —

All the 'Frisco harbour cables are gone.

The Palace Hotel, Spreckels', the Post Office, and the Grand Opera House are among the buildings destroyed. The gasworks blew up, starting other fires. All the water front is in flames, which there is no means of arresting. It is impossible to estimate the loss of life, which is heaviest in the tenement district. Seattle advises that it is unable to obtain any information. The Commercial and Pacific cables are gone, but the Commercial cable was trenched several miles from the beach to the city. The last report, at 12.30 p.m., states that the magnitude of the disaster grows. Fires are raging in all directions. The water-mains have burst. The authorities are using dynamite to locate the Palace Hotel and iSpreckels , building, which are entirely destroyed. The city is under martial law. All the troops have been called out. At present there is no communication. Spreckcls" building is an erection of nineteen storeys, perhaps the tallest in the city.

The Palace Hotel was a very large and expensive building.

San Francisco (often abbreviated into 'Frisco), is the largest city of the Pacific coast, and the commercial emporium of California. It was originally built of wood, the first houses and stores being constructed in the Atlantic States, brought round Cape Horn, and set up as wanted. Three great fires in 1850 swept the greater part of these wooden* structures away. Many of the business houses were thereafter built of brick and iron, but to this day the dwellings are chiefly of wood, for climatic reasons. Most of the pioneer business structures have disappeared ; many large and costly buildings have been erected ; and marble, granite and terra cotta are coming into extensive use, with interior frames of iron and steel. The public edifices for the most part are not of an imposing character ; there are seven theatres and opera houses, a sub-treasury, mint, custom-house, stock exchange, city hall, and other structures of less note. The most conspicuous building is the city hall, which occupied 25 years (1875—1900) in building, and cost over G,ooo,OOOdols. It is surmounted by a dome 332 feet high. There are eleven public squares. The Golden Gate Park covers an area of 1050 acres; originally a barren tract of sanddunes, it has gradually been converted into one of the most attractive places in the State. It is about three miles in length and one mile in breadth; and it is bounded on the west side by the ocean. The number "of churches and chapels in the city is about a hundred and fifty ; over a hundred being Protestant, and about thirty are Catholic. Nearly every religious denomination in the civilised world has a representative in the city. There are few church edifices of the first class. The new Roman Catholic cathedral, the Unitarian church, Grace Church, and the First Congregational church are the most notable edifices for religious worship. In addition to these there are a large number of schools under private or denominational control. The higher institution include the law, medical, and dental departments of the university, the Cooper Medical College, the Hahnemann Medical College, the Schools of Mechanic Art, founded by a bequest from James Lick of 5i0,000d015., and the Academy of Sciences. The city has also a free library with 150,000v015., the Mercantile Library, the Oddfellows Library, the Law Library, and the private libraries left by Adolph Sutro (220,000vols.) and H. 11. Bancroft. Most of the streets are laid out in rectangular form, and with little reference to the conformation of the surface. The horse tramway was the pioneer method of street transit. But the abrupt elevation required some better facilities ; and the cable-road was first invented and put into successful operation in San Francisco. Gas, electric light, and water are supplied by private corporations. The water supply comes from springs, creeks and reservoirs from points about twenty miles distant from the city .The Chinese quarter is one of the most curious, if least admirable features of the city, has its own joss-house, theatres and opium-dens, and a population of 25,000, mainly adult men. One of the most interesting historical relics is the old church of the (Spanish) mission Dolores, built of

adobe, and dating from 1778. San Francisco is the western terminus of the continental railroads, being 2434 miles west of St. Louis, and 3452 of New York. Lines of steamships ply between the port and Mexico, Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and China. The exports includo gold, silver, grain, wool, wine and fruit. Shipbuilding is carried on, and large war - vessels havo been built here. Since 1895 the harbour is defended by pneumatic dynamiteguns. A stone dry-dock admits vessels of GOOO tons, and smaller docks take up the coasting fleet for repairs. Three or more whaling companies send out fleets to the Arctic, comprising both sail and steam vessels. About half a milliou dollars in value of oil and bone are annually brought in by these vessels. San Fransisco is one of the most important grain ports in the United States. The annual exports of wheat range from 750,000 to 1,200,000 tons, and more than three hundred ships are employed in transporting this wheat to foreign countries. Iron and steel vessels of British register have the preference for wheat charters. The city is rapidly acquiring large manufacturing interests. It gives employment to about 30,000 persons in various manufactories, with an estimated annual product of 194,000,000d015. There are large sugarrefineries, rolling mills, foundries, machine shops (where the largest steam engines are constructed), ship yards, cordage works, sash and door factories, boot and shoe factories, woollen mills, tanneries, breweries, and type foundries. The wholo range of mechanic arts, with few exceptions, is now represented in San Francisco. Population : IS6O, 56.502; 1870,119,473 ; 1880, 233,959; IS9O, 298,997 ; 1900, 342,782 (many Chinese).