Railroad, Marin County, Derailed By Quake (1906)

This amazing classic photograph, taken in 1906 by G.K. Gilbert, shows the Point Reyes Station in Marin County, in the wake of the San Francisco earthquake. (Click on the photo to see a much larger version.) Because of the girl in the skirt staring into the heavens and the presence of the dog, it gives off a Wizard of Oz vibe. An excerpt from a 2008 San Francisco Chronicle article about the death of Irma Mae Weule, likely the final survivor of the 1906 quake:

“Mrs. Weule had vivid memories of growing up in the horse-and-buggy era and clearly recalled the 1906 earthquake, which she experienced as a child. She was one of 11 earthquake survivors who attended a centennial commemoration in 2006 and was interviewed on national television.

She was living at the time of the earthquake with her parents in a portion of the Bayview district called Butchertown, an area so far out that the family kept a cow in the backyard.

Her father, Louis Nonnenmann, ran a wholesale meatpacking business. The family home was large enough to have a social hall in the basement, and Mrs. Weule remembered that her father took in whole families of earthquake refugees.”

Tags: ,