Ruins of San Francisco, Nob Hill in foreground, viewed from Lawrence Captive Airship, 1,500 feet elevation, May 29, 1906 — 41 days after the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and resulting fires. At precisely 05:12 AM on the morning of Wednesday, 18 April 1906, Northern California was torn from its slumber. The earth convulsed violently beneath the region’s feet, as a rupture along the infamous San Andreas Fault released seismic energy on a staggering scale. The quake, esti