res in the house, I improvised a kitchen on the street. I found
some pieces of board which were blown into the street and partially
covered with brick and stone, from St. Luke's Church and with some
portieres from the house constructed a rude shelter, and put a laundry
stove in it, so we could make coffee, stew, and fry after a fashion.
Some people set up a cooking stove, many set up two rows of bricks, with
a piece of sheet iron laid across. Our door-bell was rung several
evenings, and we were ordered to "put out that light."

About noon on the 20th the blocks between Pacific and Filbert were on
fire at Jones Street, and the fire was again threatening Van Ness
Avenue, but several engines were pumping, from one to another, saltwater
from Black Point and had a stream on the west side of Van Ness until it
was saved.

While the fire was threatening, I went up to my daughter's (Mrs.
Oxnard's) and told the servants to get things ready to take out. I would
go back home, and if it crossed Van Ness I would return, but if I did
not return in fifteen minutes they might consider the danger over. It
did not cross. While this pumping was going on, and when the fire had
approached the east side of Van Ness Avenue, one of the engines in the
line suddenly stopped. This was a critical moment, but the firemen were
equal to the emergency, and they uncoupled the engine which was playing
on the houses, and remembering that the earthquake had disrupted and
choked up the sewer, thereby damming up the outlet, and in fact creating
a cistern, they put the suction down the manhole and continued playing
on the fire, and saved the buildings on the north side. I tried to get
the names of the foreman and men who had the presence of mind and cool
judgment, but was unable to do so. This ended the conflagration; but for
three nights after there were fires from smouldering timbers and
slow-burning debris, sufficient to light up my room so that I could see
to read. I was still in fear of a fire breaking out in the unburnt
district west of Van Ness Avenue, and as there was no water in the pipes
we would be as helpless as ever. This gave much anxiety during the two
weeks following the calamity.

When night came on the evening of the 19th, the parks and the Presidio
were filled with frightened people, old and young. Thousands left their
homes in the (which afterwards proved to be) unburned district, and
sought shelter, as stated, in the parks and streets i