07 April 2008

San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake


This is an amazing photograph from Wikimedia, near-panoramic in breadth, and incredibly detailed considering the fact that it was apparently shot by triggering a camera suspended beneath a kite! You can see individual people on the streets, and look at the beautiful old ships in the harbor; what appears to be chimneys in the burned-over section are actually building facades with the remainder gutted out behind them. I think that's the mint just to the right of center partway up the hill; there are some great stories about the employees staying there to protect the U.S. coinage during the fire, dodging molten lead dripping down on them from the roof.

After you click on the photo above, click AGAIN to enlarge it to many times screen-size for exploration.

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