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Two people have shared with me this seven-minute film clip taken from a ride down Market Street in San Francisco in 1906 heading toward the Ferry Building. It’s fascinating! Apparently historians have been able to hone in to almost the exact date it was shot – within a day or two before the earthquake of April 18.
This footage shows the chaos that was presented by the horseless carriages. They could run 20 mph while the cable cars went 9.2 mph, according to the information I received. Also notice that these early autos had the steering wheels on the right side.
It is amazing to see the casual way the early cars weave in and out of traffic, and the pedestrians walking fearlessly in front of anything on wheels. I love the portly cop with his truncheon ready to deal with civil disturbances.
All the man are wearing hats, and the few woman shown have on huge hats. I especially love the newsboys holding their stacks of newspapers and wearing their boy caps – you can almost hearing them yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”
Not only does this seven minutes of film capture a population that was about to face a catastrophe, but it captures a slice of life from so long ago. My father was born in 1905 – this was the world into which he was born.
Am I missing something ? How do I get the 7 minutes from 1906 to play ?
JC- Click on the picture at the lift ofthe article. The video will start. No audio.
I love how slow they walked. Really shows how simple life was compared to now!
I don’t see where traffic has improved much on Market street since 1906!