MOUNTAIN VIEW'S EXPERIENCE.
By G.
OUR home town is fortunate in having but few brick houses. Of these few, four are in heaps of ruins, and the others are seriously damaged. One building with a general merchandise store and the post-office on the first floor, and a lodging-house upstairs, was thrown into a miscellaneous heap. Another building, containing two stores below and a large hall above, was mostly tumbled into the street. A large two-story furniture establishment fell flat to the earth. A large fruit-drying and packing house was also totally wrecked. Two two-story frame buildings were ruined, and others more or less damaged. Broken chimneys, windows, dishes, or furniture were the order common to all houses. The two large tanks of the town water-works—100 feet high, and containing 70,000 gallons—fell to the ground. However, the pumping apparatus was not8injured, and water for the town is pumped directly into the mains. The financial damage, estimating all losses, will reach approximately $175,000, to say nothing of loss of business for a time. There was no loss of life, altho a dozen persons were more or less injured. Our own building, the Pacific Press Publishing Company's plant, was terribly shaken. All the wall except the front was wrecked or ruined. Fortunately the roof was not injured, and enough wall stood with interior structure, to support it until the frame could be built under it. With the exception of our two linotype machines, injured by falling walls to the extent of several hundred dollars, and a small quantity of type, our working material was practically uninjured. These machines were out of use for sometime, as there is no place on the Coast where they can be repaired at present. Operators had left their posts but half an hour before the crash came. Aside from these machines, work could proceed in all departments after clearing away the debris. Had we been in some incorporated city the authorities would not have allowed us to go to work on the inside at all; but as it was, working or not working was voluntary only as individuals felt impressed to service because of the urgent need. The response was quite general, and the clearing out was done in a short time. As the editors sought their offices they were confronted by a distressing sight. In two rooms large bookcases and their contents were piled in the middle of the floor. The books were mingled with broken plaster, broken glass, and splintered wood. In the hall, in front of our doors, lay an immense pile of miscellaneous engravings, the cabinets of drawers containing hundreds of these having fallen forward from the wall. The chapel in the second story was entirely open at one end, the wall being upon the ground, but right on the edge of the broken wall left standing still, hung a text motto: "Be still and know that I am God." In the power-house but one steam-pipe was broken, which was quickly repaired. The main tankhouse, of frame, is uninjured. Our new two-story boarding-house, frame and plaster, suffered no damage to speak of. It stands within a hundred feet of the brick publishing house. This emphasizes the impracticability of brick buildings where there is liability to earthquakes, and that is everywhere. But, praise the Lord, "we are all here," and all alive, and we hope have profited by the experience.
G.