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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Jan 31, 2010 20:23:53 GMT
For best results you should view this video in Full Screen mode. Click the second button from the right at the bottom of the video to make it full screen.
This fascinating bit of film was shot from the San Francisco Market Street car a few days before the '06 earthquake. Amazing to see the casual way the early cars just wove in an out of traffic and the pedestrians seemingly taking their lives in their hands as they walked in front of anything on wheels. Notice the heavy goods wagons running on tracks on the right as they get close to the Ferry Building. The wagons appear to have extra large steel wheels with a standard track width. What about the fat cop with his truncheon ready to deal with any civil disturbances? I wonder what he did during the earthquake. Here's some comment from a local historian: This gets identified as 1905, and I've even seen 1909, but recent research by some transit experts concludes that it was done possibly on Monday, April 16, 1906 or Tuesday, April 17! Yep, the day or two before the earthquake that would greatly alter this landscape. The jury is out, but Spring 1906 is the current dating.
The other interesting thing is to watch the traffic and the chances people took when crossing the street. Street accidents were endemic throughout the US as the country changed with the advent of the horseless carriage.
The cable cars that are visible were running at a predictable 9.2 mph. Horses moved slowly on city streets, too, but the automobile could reach speeds of 20 MPH! The early autos had the steering wheel on the right; then we standardized it to the left. The rules of the road were evolving. Major train crossing had crossing lights, but rural crossing were only marked with a sign and you were responsible for your own safety in crossing the tracks and looking for the train coming. Even signal lights in cities didn't evolve until the 1920s. The cop directing traffic was about the only traffic control in use until then. As life sped up, we devised ways to protect the public, but it evolved slowly and unfortunately a lot of people died getting where we have some civility on city streets.
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Post by beth on Feb 1, 2010 1:30:10 GMT
Thanks for posting this, das. I had no idea something like this was available. It's fascinating. We had family members living in Sacramento during that time, and this serves to give an idea of their surroundings, too. I'm going to pass it on to others who will appreciate it. (applause)
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Feb 1, 2010 15:21:15 GMT
@ Beth - We've all seen movies that depict the 1900 era. They do a good job with costumes and cars. But this film is a look back at the real thing. I did a Google search to find a photo of Market street just after that earthquake. Here is the best one I found. Quite a difference between what we see in the video and this photo taken a little later.
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Post by beth on Feb 1, 2010 16:25:57 GMT
I did the same last night - looked up a photo of the aftermath. It must have seemed like the end of the world to the people at ground zero. My nephew (5) and I have been reading about Pompeii, but being more recent and closer home, this is more heart-wrenching. I do appreciate the look back.
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Post by chefmate on Feb 8, 2010 15:59:42 GMT
I noticed there aren't many women on the streets; mainly men.
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Feb 9, 2010 0:19:32 GMT
Watch it again Chefmate. Be sure to click the 'full screen' icon in the lower right hand side of the video. There are quite a few women with those hats that were stylish then. As they go further down Market Street into the financial district it is mostly men.
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Post by chefmate on Feb 10, 2010 15:56:34 GMT
You are right; I spotted more women.
I truly love this film and have watched it over and over as I love "seeing" into people's lives and wondering if they were satisfied or felt life had somewhat passed them by.
I'm glad I wasn't around then cause women had to work to hard, wear uncomfortable clothing, and really didn't have the rights we have today nor the conveniences we rely on to live our lives.
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Feb 10, 2010 23:20:59 GMT
I love it too Chefmate. I've also watched it over and over again. For me it is the actual glimpse into the past as opposed to a Hollywood recreation. You're watching the real San Francisco more than one hundred years ago. It's also interesting that their world was about to collapse with the big earthquake. I wonder how many of the people in the video were killed or incapacitated in the quake?
A great film clip. Think I'll put it into full screen mode and watch it one more time.
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Post by chefmate on Feb 11, 2010 4:00:39 GMT
I watch it before I go to work in the morning for some reason......it just fascinates me to see history walking before me
I have wondered also how the quake affected the people in the film and if any were lost or lost loved ones; guess we will never know
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Post by chefmate on Feb 11, 2010 4:14:39 GMT
I may take the ferry over to SF later this spring and maybe walk down that street remembering this video
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Post by chefmate on Feb 11, 2010 14:32:55 GMT
I found these quotes in an article about the 1906 quake:
"When the fire caught the Windsor Hotel at Fifth and Market Streets there were three men on the roof, and it was impossible to get them down. Rather than see the crazed men fall in with the roof and be roasted alive the military officer directed his men to shoot them, which they did in the presence of 5,000 people." (Max Fast).
"The most terrible thing I saw was the futile struggle of a policeman and others to rescue a man who was pinned down in burning wreckage. The helpless man watched it in silence till the fire began burning his feet. Then he screamed and begged to be killed. The policeman took his name and address and shot him through the head." (Adolphus Busch).
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Feb 11, 2010 15:42:49 GMT
Here is another very interesting presentation showing the same cable car trip down market street before and after the earthquake. Be sure to watch in full screen mode.
Also, if you look closely at the video before the earthquake I think you can see the same automobiles looping around and reappearing in the film. This may have been a promotional film for San Francisco with the producer tying to make the city look a bit more modern than it really was. Horse drawn carriages still dominated in 1905 as automobiles were very new.
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