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Compare And Contrast San Francisco Earthquake And Fire Of 1906

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San Francisco Earthquake and Fire or 1906

Introduction:
The San Francisco earthquake and fire was a huge catastrophic event that affected the city people, the city as a whole, and the Chinese people and culture. Within the 40 seconds of terror, everything San Francisco was known for was leveled to the ground.
How it affected the City
This 8.3 magnitude earthquake ruined the whole city and broke the hearts of the people inside of it. The two plates that moved were the North American tectonic plate and the Pacific tectonic plate. The plates moved about 15 feet, this is huge because the average movement of tectonic plates during an earthquake is only 2 inches. The earthquake only lasted a minute but it quickly destroyed the city. The earthquake …show more content…

When this happened, the congress responded in many different ways. The white house and senate made the city pay for food, tents, blankets, water, and medical supply. They also gave money to rebuild many of the buildings that were damaged. The house also had to handle claims from store owners, many people wanted money for their destroyed property. A good example was that several saloons and liquor stores wanted money paid back to them because their alcoholic beverages were destroyed by law enforcement to prevent the fire from getting worse and spreading. There was $30,000 worth of liquor destroyed. These fires lasted 3 full days and it also burned almost 500 city blocks before being …show more content…

The gold rush was in 1848 and by 1870 over 30,000 Chinese laborers had settled down in San Francisco. They had made their own community inside the city of Sn Francisco, this community was called Chinatown. Even though they had their own little community inside the city, the Chinese people were not welcomed by others. A Chinatown historian, Chingwah Lee, put it best, "At the time there was no work for white men, never mind the Chinese. But the Chinese would take any work at any pay. This just increased their unpopularity." Since they were not welcome by the city officials and the people in general, the earthquake and fire gave the city officials a good excuse to get rid of the Chinese people. There was about 15,000 Chinese people in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake, and they all lost almost everything they had in the earthquake and fire. Although Chinatown was destroyed it wasn’t a good thing. The City Hall was also destroyed. This is where all the immigration records were and also vital statistics. Since these were destroyed with the city hall many Chinese were able to claim their citizenship in America. After

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Chinatown is nearly made up of 83% Asians. The Chinese-Americans came struggling from damaged civil rivalries, poverty, and overfarming. It was interesting to learn that those who migrated ended up in San Francisco and made it a major center of civilization. After the earthquake and fire in 1906 that destroyed all of Chinatown, it was amazing to realize that the Chinese Americans wanted to rebuild the little town district to become a tourist attraction so there would be anti-Asian racism welcoming all ethnicities. Although ethnic enclaves of Chinatown was identified of Chinese-Americans, Chinese business reached out to White American architects to help make Chinatowns district a place full of treasury.

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In San Francisco on April 18, 1906 at about 5:13 am a HUGE earthquake hit recorded as a 7.7-7.9 . Damaging buildings from left to right. Many poorly structured buildings collapsed causing 500 million dollars in total damage (1906 money) translated to about 8.2 billion dollars today. It was recorded that most buildings immediately caught fire which trapped the victims, about 25,000 buildings were burnt down from the fire, a total of about 490 blocks.

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There was a downward spiral of looting and lawlessness. The city officials actually had to call in soldiers to come and protect the structures and belongings of the businesses and residents. Martial law was eventually declared, ending the 3 days of chaos. It took several weeks for them to feel safe enough to lift the martial law. Once the smoke cleared and the soot settled the city jumped on the opportunity to rebuild.

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Many Asian American conflicts rose in the 1850’s. It was the age of gold, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world all took part in the Californian gold rush. After working for the transcontinental railroad many retired chinese laborers decided to strike it rich near the American River. Many native Californians, California residents, and even Transcontinental travelers heavily despised the Chinese. Thousands of Chinese casualties occurred during the gold rush, however only 2 ever went to court.

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Many Chinese people came to America to seek work on the railroad and other places. The cheap labor they provided angered the European immigrants, and tensions grew between the Americans and Chinese-Americans. An act was passed that stopped the immigration of Chinese people to America and the government forced them to wear identification badges at all times. It was very difficult to be of this race during this time period. Therefore, Chinese immigrants faced many adversities through discrimination in the work force, government, and daily life.

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When the fire finally came under control it was October 10, 1871, when rained helped the firefighters finally control it and eventually stop the flames. The fire had a devastating ending leaving up to 100,000 people homeless and an estimate of 300 people killed. The fire had also destroyed about 17,000 buildings leaving up to an estimate of 200 million

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“Late one night, when we were all in bed, Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in the shed. Her cow kicked it over, then winked her eye and said, ‘There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!’ (Abbott)” In 1871, a disaster arose in Chicago and reshaped the city permanently: a fire scorched around three square miles of land, leveled thousands of buildings, and stole hundreds of lives (“Chicago Fire of 1871”). Although the effects of this tragedy were harrowing, it actually served as the catalyst which allowed Chicago to become one of America’s largest, most influential cities.

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Sinophobia was in full swing during the California Gold Rush. Sinophobia is the fear of China, its people, and its culture. It is basically anti-Chinese. Many Chinese people immigrated to America during the Gold Rush. During this time, sinophobia surged throughout the mining camps and the rest of the nation.

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Through publication, people developed a new perception on Los Angeles as a corrupted city. People were highly encouraged to avoid visits to Chinatown. Years leading up the 1938, Chinatown received many

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At first the Chinese immigrants were accepted, during the early stages of the gold rush. Due to the fact that finding gold was not a competition during that time, however, the animosity towards foreigners’ sky-rocked when gold became harder to find towards the end of the gold rush. Animosity towards the Chinese immigrants grew rapidly as more and more Chinese immigrants poured into the United States for the job opportunities, the American did not like immigrants because the labor union endorsed the idea that the Chinese immigrants were after American jobs. Because the Chinese immigrants did not speak English they were often beaten. The immigrants were often harassed, robbed, and sometimes were killed.

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Chinese immigrants came to the U.S for the california gold rush, this event provided many jobs, hope for a good future, and hope to give a good life to their families. Nativists

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Many miners passed through this community on their way to work the Gold Mines. The miners faced a reality filled with discrimination as the white miners resented their presence. When finding gold did not pan out, many Chinese immigrants moved on to building railroads, but because they were willing to work much cheaper than others they were often treated harshly for taking the jobs of whites who were trying to support their families but were not willing to work for the same pay. Economic difficulties were not the only reason that ethnic Chinese were looked down upon, the creation of ethnic enclaves including the largely populated China Town in San Francisco, created an image of the Chinese that conflicted with the American culture of the time. In these communities they kept much of their culture from China, they didn’t need to speak English and were isolated from other communities.

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The Gold Rush, beginning in 1848 and ending in 1855, was a period in American history which opened the doors of opportunity to a new group of immigrants, the Chinese. The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California, in 1848 was the cause of mass Chinese immigration that would last for decades to come. When James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, there were fifty-four recorded Chinese in California, this number quickly rose to 116,000 by 1876. Title (Chinese Immigration During the Gold Rush: The American Encounter) The California Gold Rush allowed for immigrants, such as the Chinese, to encounter the various beliefs and suspicions of the American society.

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From about 1870 - 1900, about 12,000 immigrants fled to the United States. They fled for a range of reasons. Some of these include social, economical, political, and social. The Chinese arrived around the time of the California Gold Rush. They arrived along the shores.

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In the second half of the 19th-century migration to California increased due to railroad-inspired land boom. However, migration to California was not welcoming and tolerant to one specific group of migrants, and this group was the Chinese. As new rails were being built there was a demand for workers to build railways throughout California and eastward to connect the Transcontinental Railroad with Union Pacific (Textbook, 269). Big railroad industries, such as Central Pacific hired Chinese immigrants as part of their workforce. The Chinese worked tirelessly and through tough environmental conditions and earned low wages.

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