Looking Down Sacramento Street, April 18, 1906
Photographer: Arnold Genthe
Date: April 18, 1906
Location: Sacramento Street, San Francisco, USA
Arnold Genthe photographed Sacramento Street in San Francisco looking toward the waterfront on April 18, 1906, in the immediate aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck at 5:12 AM with an estimated magnitude of 7.9. The image captures a crowd of survivors walking down the middle of the street as fires — caused by ruptured gas lines — consume buildings in the background. Genthe had lost his own camera in the earthquake and borrowed a camera from a friend. The earthquake and subsequent fires killed an estimated 3,000 people and destroyed approximately 25,000 buildings across 490 city blocks. The photograph is one of the most important historical documents of the disaster and of early 20th-century San Francisco.
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