USA > California > History of California, Volume V > Part 32
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*Van Ness avenue runs north and south. Green street crosses its northern portion. Next south of Green street, Valley street crosses, then Broadway, and next comes Pacific avenue.
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It had brick walls, metal roof and window casings, with doors of very heavy iron. It was protected on two sides by Telegraph Hill, and had a salt water tank of un- limited capacity which connected with the bay. Within, he had twelve fire extinguishers, and believing his build- ing, with its appliances and men practiced in fire drill, to be fire proof, he carried no insurance. On Friday he awaited the approach of the fire and with ten of his men prepared for the defense. The soldiers came and ordered him out. Arguments and explanations were of no avail. They were ordered to get out or be shot. I said to Mr. Keller, "Did you ascertain the name of the officer in command?" "There was no officer," he said, "only a lot of private soldiers and they were half drunk. We are millers, not fighting men," he said in reply to another question, "and besides they had guns. We went out and I remained on the hill and saw my property burn when one man, had he been per- mitted to remain, could have saved it." He lost $220,000. These instances could be multiplied many times were it necessary.
The military authorities claimed that everything they did was by order of the mayor of the city to whom they reported for duty. Technically I presume this statement is correct, but to such a degree was military rule imposed and with such a high hand was it carried, that most of the people believed that the mayor's authority was abrogated and that the city was under martial law. The president of the harbor commission issued passes in the form of requests to the military authorities to pass state employees during the period of martial law, and even the governor of the state
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granted passes "by authority of Brig .- Gen. Funston, U. S. A."; while passes from "J. F. Dinan, Chief of Police," did not go at all.
I have understood that after the San Francisco fire the war office issued general orders that hereafter the army should not be used in dynamiting buildings during a conflagration, and that soldiers of the U. S. Army should not be employed to evict citizens from buildings or property owned and occupied by them. An attempt to verify this report and obtain a copy of these orders resulted in failure; but I am satisfied that San Francisco's experience in these particulars will never be repeated.
In justice to the military I must say that after the fire they rendered most valuable service to the city in laying out the numerous refugee camps and in the sanitation thereof, in patrolling the city, and in guard- ing the bank vaults in the desert wastes of the burnt district.
The marines, too, and sailors from the Mare Island Navy Yard worked manfully in assisting the ship owners and steamship men to preserve the waterfront. In doing this they preserved the commerce of the port, which did not suffer even a temporary check.
The fire burned over approximately 2,600 acres and included four hundred and ninety blocks entirely burned, and thirty-two blocks partially burned, cover- ing over four square miles of closely built city property with a loss of about $500,000,000, one-half of which was covered by insurance. The city had a population esti- mated at from 440,000 to 460,000. Of these 250,000 were rendered homeless by the fire and for the first few days the bread line represented 350,000 individuals
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dependent upon charity. Many of these were people who had been living in the greatest luxury but who suddenly found themselves dependent upon the relief stations for food for themselves and families. The situation was appalling. During the ten days subse- quent to April 18th it was impossible to purchase any- thing. Most of the warehouses containing food supplies were burned and the warehouses saved were immedi- ately seized by the authorities to feed the population. There was no money and rich and poor alike were compelled to stand in the bread line. From near by cities food was at once rushed into the city and quickly all roads leading to California were hurrying supplies to San Francisco. From all over the union and from foreign countries came contributions of money until the total of cash received, the value of goods shipped in, and the amount expended for the benefit of the sufferers reached a grand total not far from $15,000,000. On April 19th the mayor called to his assistance the leading citizens from whom he appointed a com- mittee of fifty and gave them full power to purchase, seize, or confiscate food and clothing, establish camps, clear streets, and take all necessary steps for the rehabitation of the city. The railroads carried thou- sands away; 75,000 sought refuge in Oakland and neighboring cities, while 100,000 were encamped in the parks and vacant places in San Francisco. The relief was quick and effective, and so far as I have heard, no one went hungry or suffered unusual hardship.
A number of lives were lost during the earthquake and fire-though not as many as was first reported. Major-General Greely, commanding the Pacific divi-
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sion, places the number at four hundred and ninety- eight. Some of these were shot by the military and by self-constituted guards-for "looting," and for refusing to obey someone's order. A proclamation issued by the mayor April 18th authorizing the killing of any and all persons found engaged in looting or in the commission of any other crime, is partly responsible for this. Several killings were made subject of judicial inquiry but while none of the slain were found to have been engaged in the commission of crime, no slayer was subjected to punishment. The person who lost his life was unfortunate.
When the immediate necessities of food and shelter had been provided, the citizens pulled themselves together and considered their predicament. Two questions of paramount importance presented them- selves: Would the banks stand the strain? Would the insurance companies pay? The banks, commercial and savings, held $439,000,000 of the people's money. The manner in which the bankers met their responsibility has been told in another article .* Insurance conditions were serious. As the extent of the disaster became appar- ent doubts were expressed of both the ability and the willingness of the companies to meet their liabilities. The fear and anxiety of the people were not allayed by the attitude of some of the companies. There was much talk of earthquake damage, a risk the companies had not assumed; of the question of liability for a fire caused by and the result of earthquake, and of the liability for property destroyed by the authorities. Many insurance managers became very exclusive; they
*Banking in California, in this volume.
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were hard to get at; they removed their offices to Oakland, and when a policy holder succeeded in inter- viewing one he was told when he might come again. Many of the companies sent adjusters from the home offices and took the settlement of losses out of the hands of their California agents, and the attitude of some of these foreign adjusters was exasperating to the last degree. The people of San Francisco were denounced as liars and thieves and their proofs of loss were con- temned as attempts to defraud. After careful adjust- ment in which every possible reduction of values had been made, every argument and threat was used to induce the insured to accept less than the amount he was entitled to. This bore heavily on the poor man, the man with little insurance and nothing but that insurance with which to begin life again. The com- promise meant cash at once. The large merchants and the wealthy insurers could fight for their rights. He could not.
On the 21st of April a meeting of all the fire insurance companies, native and foreign, having policies involved in the fire, was held in Oakland, at which a general adjusting bureau was formed to take charge of the adjustment of losses for all the companies. At a sub- sequent meeting resolutions were adopted providing for a level or horizontal reduction of thirty-three and one-third per cent (later reduced to twenty-five per cent) on all policies covering property supposed to have been subjected to earthquake damage, or where ensur- ers had lost their books and accounts by fire and were unable to make the proofs of value called for by their policies. In consequence of these resolutions thirty-
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five of the largest companies withdrew from the bureau and decided that all losses should be adjusted in accordance with the terms and conditions of their respective policies.
As the losses of these thirty-five companies amounted to nearly fifty per cent of the entire insurance loss in San Francisco, this action had an excellent effect on the people and created confidence in the companies. Adjustments were facilitated and a committee of five, appointed to adjust losses for the thirty-five companies, reported to the companies that they found claimants generally to be fair, patient, and honest, the exceptions emphasizing the rule; and the testimony shows that of the thirty-five, six companies paid at once on adjust- ment, declining any deduction for cash, twenty-four deducted two per cent for cash, one deducted one or two per cent, and in a few instances five per cent for cash, two five, one ten, and one from five to fifteen per cent for cash. The early stand for fairness taken by these companies, their firmness and the promptness of their settlements, entitle them as a whole to the greatest credit. Their action had the effect of causing other companies to settle claims more expeditiously and with greater fairness. Three American, three German, and one Austrian company withdrew and made no attempt whatever to settle their losses, and several English companies denied liability under earthquake clause but were forced to settle, which they did at from fifty to seventy-five per cent of the face of their policies. A few weak companies paid what they could and went out of business. The total insurance loss of two hun-
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dred and thirty-three companies doing business in San Francisco was about $225,000,000, of which the people of the city received perhaps $175,000,000.
The industrial situation in San Francisco after the fire was anything but satisfactory. The president of the building trades council issued a proclamation announ- cing to his followers that "Patriotism and humanity must govern every action. Brotherly love must prevail. The conditions that confront us are those of a general partnership of rich and poor alike. We must know no class or condition but unite for the general welfare. * There cannot and shall not be any advance in wages." How were these beautiful sentiments fol- lowed? The various unions immediately demanded increased pay and shorter hours. The employer was obliged to hire two men to do one man's work and to pay increased wages to each. No man was permitted to work Saturday afternoon at any wages. Notwith- standing the fact that wages were being advanced from day to day, the unfortunate owner could not get his work done without the most vexatious and unreason- able delay. The higher wages climbed and the shorter the hours were, the more surly and inefficient were the men and the poorer was the quality of their work. The labor leaders announced to the world that no more mechanics were needed in San Francisco; meanwhile 20,000 mechanics walked the streets unable to work because the unions would not admit them to member- ship. So great was the advance in wages and in cost of material that in September it was estimated that the cost of building had advanced from thirty-five to forty per cent, and some $32,000,000 of building contracts
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were held up to await the time when more reasonable conditions should prevail.
With the city prostrate, with predatory labor at her throat, there was now inaugurated a reign of disorder, thievery, and thuggery such as no municipality of mod- ern times has ever witnessed. A reckless disregard of life and limb prevailed. Automobiles dashed through the streets at railroad speed, running down and crushing such luckless citizens as could not get out of the way; insolent carmen ran their cars over people and mis- treated them in every way, while brutal teamsters took every opportunity of running down pedestrians who were obliged to walk in the streets, the only thorough- fares. The municipal government was corrupt. The mayor, supervisors, and heads of departments held up and plundered everyone who had anything to sell to the city or who had to have a permit of any kind. Franchises were sold for private pay; theatres were built and oper- ated without complying with the law, and all sorts of dis- reputable houses were conducted under police protection.
But the city survived her afflictions and purified her government. The rascals were turned out of office and the chief municipal plunderer was put in prison. She rebuilt her houses-not as well, perhaps, as she might have done-but better than they were before .* She is building a beautiful home for her municipal corporation, and in 1915 she will entertain the world in a royal manner.
Buildings do not make a city great. What makes a city great is great men; men to whom adversity is but
*To finance the rebuilding of San Francisco, only $17,716,644 was borrowed outside the city. Nearly $303,000,000 has been expended on buildings since the fire.
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a challenge to rise above circumstances and conditions. The general commanding the Pacific division (Greeley) says: "The conduct of the community during the days of earthquake and fire was conspicuous by its tranquil- lity and common sense. In all my experiences I have never seen a woman in tears, nor heard a man whining over his losses." The quality of courage is not given to any one people or nation. I am far from claiming for the citizens of San Francisco any extraordinary proportion of that attribute, but I do claim that throughout their trials they carried themselves like men.
Portif. Eldredge
THE PANAMA CANAL
HISTORICAL
T HE problem of providing a practicable route for commerce across the Isthmus of Panama has engaged attention since Balboa marched from near Caledonia Bay to San Miguel Bay, in 1513, and first made the Pacific Ocean known to the civilized world The Spanish, who settled at Nombre de Dios, about 1519, on the Caribbean coast, were earnestly desirous to establish convenient communica- tion with the settlement made at Panama on the Pacific coast, in 1519, in order especially that the treasure brought up from the west coast of South America might be transported readily to the east coast for shipment, after being held in safekeeping on the west side until the accumulation of a sufficient quantity. Paved roads were laid out by them connecting, first, Nombre de Dios, and later, Porto Bello, with Panama, by way of Cruces, a town on the Chagres River about two miles above the point where it now joins the line of the canal. The earlier transportation was entirely by land. Later the journey from Cruces to the seaport was often made by water.
Porto Bello soon became the more important of the eastern ports. Its harbor, which is far better than that at Nombre de Dios, was visited and named by Columbus in 1502. It was sacked by Morgan's bucca- neers in 1668. Later the same band landed at the mouth of the Chagres River, and captured the fort there. Ascending the river to Cruces and marching across on the paved road, they assaulted and destroyed the city of Panama in 1671.
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Two years later the present city of Panama was founded, seven miles away from the old site. It now has 35,000 inhabitants. It forms the southern terminus of the Panama Railroad, and lies within a mile of the port of Balboa, where the canal opens into the ocean.
Other routes for land passage of the isthmus were used, but the establishment of these was subordinate to the search, at first for a natural waterway, and later, for the best route for a canal. This search was prose- cuted vigorously by Spain in the early part of the sixteenth century, but was later laid aside and not resumed until a short time before the successful revolt of the Central and South American colonies, ending in 1823. The loss of these possessions led Spain to cease her efforts to establish a waterway between the oceans. Other nations, however, took up the investigation when she laid it down, and in all, no less than nineteen different routes have received consideration. Between 1823 and 1849 negotiations looking toward the con- struction of a canal were begun several times between the Central American governments interested, and the governments of other nations, or companies formed by private citizens. In 1850 the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, between the United States and Great Britain, was ratified, providing support and encouragement to such persons or company as might first begin a ship canal through Nicaragua. An American company, which had previously been negotiating for this privilege with the government of Nicaragua, under the name of the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company, was incorporated by that republic, and preliminary
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steps were taken to carry the project into execution, involving a careful instrumental survey of the location. This was made and considered, but construction was not undertaken. The survey remained of value as a basis for the later projects along the Nicaragua route.
PANAMA RAILROAD
The first result of commercial value was the building of the Panama Railroad. In 1838 the government of New Granada made a grant to a French company con- ceding the exclusive right to build a road, railroad, or canal across the isthmus within certain time limits. The French government took an interest in the matter, and, in 1843, sent an engineer named Napoleon Garella, who made a careful report recommending the construc- tion of a canal; nothing was done, however, and the grant lapsed. Another concession was given in 1847 to another French company, but was soon withdrawn, and, in December, 1848, the franchise was given to Messrs. Aspinwall, Stephens, and Chauncey, repre- senting an American company. The railroad was built from Aspinwall, now Colon, to Panama, between 1850 and 1855. The franchise was so modified later as to give the Panama Railroad Company exclusive rights within certain geographical limits for a period of ninety-nine years, dating from 1867.
EARLY CANAL PLANS
The railroad was of great benefit to the people of the United States, in lessening the hardships of the journey from the east to the west coasts, at a time when the discovery of gold in California was turning thou-
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sands of travelers in that direction. Nevertheless, the need for a canal was still felt, and the United States government took the matter up after the close of the Civil War. Under authority of Congress, an inter- oceanic canal commission was appointed by President Grant in 1872, and surveys were made of several lines, including those via Caledonia Bay, San Blas Bay, Lake Nicaragua, and the Atrato River. An examination was also made of a line following the general course of the Panama Railroad. In 1876 the commission re- ported in favor of the Nicaragua route. Before further measures were taken by the United States government, a French association, backed by a committee of the Society of Commercial Geography, of which M. Ferdi- nand de Lesseps was the head, obtained a concession from the Columbian government in 1878, known as the Wyse contract, giving it the exclusive right for ninety- nine years to build and operate a canal between the oceans, in the territory of the Republic, provided that an amicable arrangement should be made with the Panama Railroad, should the route lie in the territory covered by its grant. M. de Lesseps then called together an "International Congress of Studies for an Interoceanic Canal," which congress met in Paris in May, 1879. M. de Lesseps, who had already expressed himself strongly in favor of a sea-level canal, dominated the congress and secured the adoption of conclusions favoring a sea-level canal from the Gulf of Limon to the Bay of Panama. The committee which formulated the conclusions, presenting them for consideration to the congress in full session, predicted that it would take twelve years to build the canal and that it would
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cost $232,000,000, of which sum $25,000,000 repre- sented interest during the period of construction. Only sixteen members of the committee voted in favor of the conclusions, forty members being absent, ten members abstaining from voting, and three members voting in the negative. In the full congress the conclusion in favor of the sea-level canal was adopted by a vote of ayes, seventy-eight, nays, eight, not voting, twelve, absent, thirty-seven. The list of those favoring the resolution does not include a majority of the engineers and contractors who were members of the congress.
FRENCH CONTROL
Immediately after the congress the Universal Interoceanic Canal Company was formed, with M. de Lesseps at its head. The company purchased the Wyse contract of 1878, additional surveys were made, upon the basis of which the estimates of cost and time were reduced to $163,000,000 and eight years, respec- tively; and it was finally announced by M. de Lesseps that it was necessary to provide for an expenditure of only $127,000,000. The company purchased the con- trolling interest in the Panama Railroad, thereby pro- tecting itself against any claims from that source, and proceeded with the work of construction. It was at first intended to let the entire work as one contract, the unit prices to be determined after two years spent in organ- ization, surveys, and preliminary work. A contract made on this basis was annulled at the close of 1882, and the work continued until 1889 under contracts, small and large, covering different parts of the work.
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FIRST PLAN
The plan followed until 1887 contemplated a canal at sea level, 46 statute miles in length, with bottom width of 72.2 feet and depth of 29.5 feet. The course lay from Limon Bay to the valley of the Chagres at Gatun. From there it followed the river valley in a general south-easterly direction to Gamboa, where it left the valley and crossed the line of hills forming the watershed, finally reaching the Pacific Ocean about two miles south of the city of Panama. The floods were to be regulated by a dam at Gamboa where the river valley and the canal join; and the water of the Chagres and its tributaries from both sides were to be kept out of the canal and carried to the sea by diversion channels on either side. The estimated quantity of excavation was 157,000,000 cubic yards.
In the course of a few years it became apparent that there was no hope of finishing the canal on the original plan, within the estimated limits of cost and time. Toward the end of 1887 a change was made to a plan involving a canal with locks and a summit level with surface, 160.75 feet above mean sea level. The com- pany, however, was at the end of its resources, and went into the hands of a receiver in February, 1889. A new company was formed under the name of the New Panama Canal Company, and the Colombian govern- ment was induced to extend the time for completing the canal to October 31, 1910. This company continued the work until the enterprise was taken over by the United States government.
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PLAN OF NEW FRENCH COMPANY
The plan adopted by the new company contemplated a canal of the same general alignment as that of the original project, with low-water depth of 29.5 feet throughout. From Limon Bay to Bohio, a distance of 14.9 miles, the canal was to be at sea level, guarded on each side by diversions to intercept the naturaldrainage. At Bohio a dam was to be built impounding the waters of the Chagres, and making a lake about 23 square miles in area at high water. The rise in level caused by the dam was to be overcome by a flight of two locks. From Bohio to Bas Obispo, near Gamboa, 13.7 miles, the navigation was through the lake formed by the Bohio dam. Where excavation was necessary the bottom of the channel in the lake was placed at an elevation of 23 feet above sea level. At Bas Obispo, a flight of two locks was planned to raise vessels to a summit level extending for 6.6 miles through the hills, and drawing water through a feeder canal from a reservoir to be made by a dam at Alajuela higher up the Chagres Valley. The bottom of the channel in the summit level was to be 68.1 feet, and the low water surface 97.6 feet above mean sea level. The summit level was to occupy the stretch now known as the Culebra Cut, and to end at Paraiso, where a lock was to be built, lowering vessels to an intermediate level 1.4 miles long, with bottom elevation 43.5 feet above mean tide. This level terminated at Pedro Miguel, where a flight of two locks was planned to lower vessels to a second level 1.8 miles long, with bottom 12.3 feet below mean tide. The final drop to the sea was to be through a lock at Miraflores, with sea-level channel
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