. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. 8 THE OLD SAN FRANCISCO crowned with dwellings that had cost hundreds ofthousands of dollars to build, became known theworld over. As in the early days, so later; the prodigality ofmany who had won fortunes on the Comstock gavean air of romance to San Francisco, and a reputation(which it never lost) for open-handed, lavish spend-ing—for generosity, hospitality, love of fun. Sprungromantically from the mixing of many races andmany types, it retained to the end its cos
. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. 8 THE OLD SAN FRANCISCO crowned with dwellings that had cost hundreds ofthousands of dollars to build, became known theworld over. As in the early days, so later; the prodigality ofmany who had won fortunes on the Comstock gavean air of romance to San Francisco, and a reputation(which it never lost) for open-handed, lavish spend-ing—for generosity, hospitality, love of fun. Sprungromantically from the mixing of many races andmany types, it retained to the end its cosmopolitanpicturesqueness. It has always been a city of menof all kinds and many inclinations. From the first San Francisco has been gay andpleasure-loving—the lightest-hearted of cities. Itadopted a bit here and there from the customs of itsvarious races, and acquired a manner of life quite itsown. As far back as the days when Barrett and Mc-Cullough played in the stock company of the Cali-. Market Street in 1856 Hoc lit Collection THE OLD SAN FRANCISCO 9 fornia Theatre, the city has been a chosen home ofthe drama. So, also, has it been noted as a place ofhighly cultivated appreciation of music and the days of Bret Harte and Mark Twain ithas been the center of a widely-known literary cir-cle. Thousands of people throughout the worldhave known of Stevensons lounging days in Ports-mouth Square, where he conceived The Wreckers,who had no idea of the citys population or theamount of its trade. But San Francisco was not all fun and gayetyand pleasure. In 1906 it counted its population asfour hundred and twenty-five thousand. It had be-come the seventh city in the United States in volumeof bank clearings. Its annual exports amounted tosixty-five million dollars; its manufactures to twohundred millions. Through all it seemed still serene, indifferentof fate. The surrounding region poured wealth inupon it, and it was satisfied. Taking its good for-tune and luck for grant
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