Earthquake

We were living in San Jose in 1906 during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire. I was sleeping in a folding bed, and when the earthquake started I was awakened by the awful noise of pots, pans, dishes, and everything crashing to the floor.

The bed folded up with me in it.

Moments later my mother rescued me from the bed, and we all rushed out of the house and spent the next few days in the yard before venturing back into the building. We could see the crimson sky over San Francisco, a reflection in the heavens of the fire.

Shortly after the earthquake we returned to Camptonville to live, and from that time on I became a full-fledged mountaineer and, at that time, a mean little kid.