Children Had a Wonderful Time--First Appeared in the San Francisco Examiner

When we were children, our late mother often told us about that frightening time she referred to simply as “the fire.”  She was 10 years old in 1906.  Many years later, she wrote out her memories:

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April 18, 1906:  A day I shall never forget.

Sleeping peacefully, I was jolted awake at 5 a.m. by the severe shaking and swaying of our new two-story home.  Mother, Father, the boys and I ran out to the hallway where we stood together, shivering.  When we looked out the window, we saw our neighbors running from their homes as bricks from chimneys and timbers started to crumble.

Soon after, reports reached us of deaths and cave-ins in the more populated area of our once-beautiful city.  Even worse was the terrible, out-of-control fire which, because of lack of water, destroyed entire sections of the city.  People from those burned-out areas came to our home and slept on cots in the basement.

     For days after, we had a series of smaller quakes.  The fires progressed.

     We were compelled to cook in improvised shacks erected in the middle of the streets.  Many people had no water, but our supply came from a well nearby.  Telephone communications were out.  Soldiers patrolled to make sure no one used lights or disobeyed orders.

(Signed) May Poetsch Wagner

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     When Mother handed me her written account, she said, “I know it was a terrible catastrophe.”  Then she smiled.

“But we children had a wonderful time.”