1906 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A YOUNG SAN FRANCISCO BOY WHO CHRONICLES HIS LIVING THROUGH THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1906 INCLUDING THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS HOME
On offer is a sensational, original 1906 manuscript diary handwritten by a young man named Jasper W. O'Farrell, who we believe was the son or grandson of Jasper O'Farrell a famed early San Francisco resident, surveyor, land holder and Senator. [There are streets in San Francisco named after him and a chain of eateries!] All the more fascinating is the narrative by the young O'Farrell who lived through the notorious earthquake of 1906. Writing in fits and spurts throughout about a third of the book he does a good job detailing the tragedy of the earthquake and the wreckage it caused, even the destruction of his own home. An interesting counterpoint to his entries on the massive earthquake are his writings of trips including going to Yosemite for several days. Here are some snippets: "Today we all went to the Cliff Hose and had refreshments at the M&M Hotel. In the evening we all went to Mrs Moffats and spent the evening…John B and I went across the bay with them. While on the boat the little chicken that Garneau got at Mrs Deyoung's got out of the basket and ran around the boat. The maid finally caught it…Was awakened by the dreadful shaking of the house and found that it was an earthquake. The house is an awful wreck everything is broken. House will have to be torn down. Left at 6:30 AM and got to the city at 9PM. Had to walk home from the ferry…saw the St Francis burning…Took another walk downtown at 2 AM saw the Hopkins Institute and Mrs Stanford's home catch on fire. The city is just one great big mass of flames…The city looks awful. The people are cooking on the streets. Tante was at the house when we got there. Walked all over and took photos of different places…We had lunch at some place on Fillmore St we will leave tonight for Sacramento. We walked around and later on went over to Oakland to see Evelyn. We came home early and packed our grips. We rode down to the ferry in a coal wagon. Got to Sacramento at 10:30 PM all the hotels were crowded and we had to go to the Hamand Bath House for the night…Yosemite…We got up early today put on my walking clothes and we started out for the Vernaland Nevada Falls with our lunch. It is a walk of about 14 odd miles. We arrived at Vernal Falls first. We then went through the spray of the Vernal Falls and walked on to the top of the Nevada Falls. They are perfectly grand. The scenery up here is elegant…After lunch we walked to the Lost Arrow Trail, while there it began to rain. We paid no attention to that and sat and watched a man fishing for trout…Yosemite started out for Glacier Point. We arrived at Union Pt at 10:30 AM here we rested awhile in a cabin we built a fire in the stove and melted snow for drinking water…We went over to the Glacier Point Hotel but it was closed no one was in it, we broke down one of the windows got in the hotel and got a stack of provisions which we brought back to the cabin. On our way back we sat on our coats and coasted down the sides of the snow covered hills…We passed the Bridal Veil Falls and saw the rainbow which was perfectly beautiful. In the eve we all sat and listened to Mr Hancock relate his different experiences…This AM we took a walk to the foot of Yosemite Falls. They like everything else in the valley are beautiful…I took a horseback ride to the Cascades and then to the power house…Today we took a walk up to Mirror Lake and had our photos taken. Later we walked to the happy Isles and had an early lunch…" The 9 x 6 inch cloth cover book has some damage but insides are much better. Overall G.
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