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Hi All. My aunt and uncle were alive when the 1906 quake struck. My uncle was living in Colma when the quake struck. He was a fish monger and was getting ready to go to work down at the docks.
He said for about a week before the quake struck they were getting odor similar to rotten eggs but no one really paid any attention as that odor was present just about everyday except that for some reason the smell was stronger. One of the men who lived in Santa Rosa at the time said they could smell it over there as well. The only thing they couldn't tell me was which way the wind was blowing most of the time. Colma is south of San Francisco and Santa Rosa is north of San Francisco.
My aunt lived on Jackson Street in San Jose when the quake struck. She said there were two quake. One smaller one a couple of seconds before the big one. I suspect she felt the “P” wave from the quake and then the “S” wave from the same quake. I learned never to argue with my aunt. She was a Sicilian and was known to use a pitchfork to settle a argument. I never saw her use one, but that was what my mother told me. She said she and her sisters and brothers slept out in the back yard for about a week. There was no way you were going to get them to go back into the house. She about the third day her mother said if you want to eat you're going to have come into the house and eat like a person does not like an animal. After a couple of days of not eating there were getting pretty hungry so they went into the house to but when they finished eating they went back outside. When the neighborhood kids started teasing them they decided to go back into the house and stay. My aunt said her father tried to straighten up the house, but it was badly lopsided that he couldn't do nothing with the roof to keep it from leaking when it rained.
They stuck it out for two more years and then moved to Monterey. Everything was great until they had two 6.0M+ plus quakes in 1926 about an hour apart. They stayed there for one more year then moved to Morgan Hill where she met her husband to be (my uncle). The pooled their money and bought a ranch north of Morgan Hill. They raised chickens, prunes and walnuts. During the depression they used the bartering system to survive. The government didn't like that as they didn't make any money off what they were doing. My family also used the bartering system. We didn't get rich, but we didn't starve either. I don't know, but there are times I feel those days could return except that this time it's going to be people killing people to get what they want. Hope I'm wrong. I pray to God I'm wrong.
My dad was high man work on oil wells when the 1933 Long Beach quake struck. When it stop he did use the ladder to get down. He slid down the pipe. He burned his hands and you know what else, but we won't mention that here. Before that he was a tree topper in Washington. One of the trees he topped didn't break clean and before he could repel down the tree it split and crushed his rib cage. It broke 6 rigs. 4 on one side and 2 on the other.
He remembered the quake very well. He said there was a small tsunami caused by the quake. He didn't think it did any damage though.
I get to thinking back about all of the questions I could have asked if I had only known then what I know now. Come to think of it I probably would have been tossed out on ear for asking so many questions. Of course I knew where the wine was kept so maybe I could have gotten away with it. Old man Fontase made to two kinds of wine. One that the sold to the public and and one that he gave to his friends. The one he gave to his friends would rip your head off and then put it back on backwards. It was a red wine with no label. We called it Diego wine. I had another name for it, but I didn't dare call it that. I would have gotten my butt kicked. My aunt Mary who is 95 now will sit at the kitchen and her and I will have a glass or two of it. The Fontase family still makes it and they still give it to their friends. I have a bottle or two laying around the house. Every now and then I will dig one out and pull the cork and fill the glass and sip on it. I drink it all. Never let a drop to to waste. It will still rip my head off, but there are times it will turn it around backwards without taking if off. I've been told that Old man Fontase drank a whole bottle of it one night and was blind for two days. Never could hold his liquor.
My wife is Japanese and she thinks our whole family are lunatics. She could be right. We do have some strange customs in our family. I don't discuses those in public. Doing so could get you a new smile. One that goes from ear to ear. Just joking, but it is frowned upon.
Sure hope you are prepared for the next major quake. That sucker is just around the corner and is waiting for you come around that corner. Take Care...Don. Now where did my head go to?
He said for about a week before the quake struck they were getting odor similar to rotten eggs but no one really paid any attention as that odor was present just about everyday except that for some reason the smell was stronger. One of the men who lived in Santa Rosa at the time said they could smell it over there as well. The only thing they couldn't tell me was which way the wind was blowing most of the time. Colma is south of San Francisco and Santa Rosa is north of San Francisco.
My aunt lived on Jackson Street in San Jose when the quake struck. She said there were two quake. One smaller one a couple of seconds before the big one. I suspect she felt the “P” wave from the quake and then the “S” wave from the same quake. I learned never to argue with my aunt. She was a Sicilian and was known to use a pitchfork to settle a argument. I never saw her use one, but that was what my mother told me. She said she and her sisters and brothers slept out in the back yard for about a week. There was no way you were going to get them to go back into the house. She about the third day her mother said if you want to eat you're going to have come into the house and eat like a person does not like an animal. After a couple of days of not eating there were getting pretty hungry so they went into the house to but when they finished eating they went back outside. When the neighborhood kids started teasing them they decided to go back into the house and stay. My aunt said her father tried to straighten up the house, but it was badly lopsided that he couldn't do nothing with the roof to keep it from leaking when it rained.
They stuck it out for two more years and then moved to Monterey. Everything was great until they had two 6.0M+ plus quakes in 1926 about an hour apart. They stayed there for one more year then moved to Morgan Hill where she met her husband to be (my uncle). The pooled their money and bought a ranch north of Morgan Hill. They raised chickens, prunes and walnuts. During the depression they used the bartering system to survive. The government didn't like that as they didn't make any money off what they were doing. My family also used the bartering system. We didn't get rich, but we didn't starve either. I don't know, but there are times I feel those days could return except that this time it's going to be people killing people to get what they want. Hope I'm wrong. I pray to God I'm wrong.
My dad was high man work on oil wells when the 1933 Long Beach quake struck. When it stop he did use the ladder to get down. He slid down the pipe. He burned his hands and you know what else, but we won't mention that here. Before that he was a tree topper in Washington. One of the trees he topped didn't break clean and before he could repel down the tree it split and crushed his rib cage. It broke 6 rigs. 4 on one side and 2 on the other.
He remembered the quake very well. He said there was a small tsunami caused by the quake. He didn't think it did any damage though.
I get to thinking back about all of the questions I could have asked if I had only known then what I know now. Come to think of it I probably would have been tossed out on ear for asking so many questions. Of course I knew where the wine was kept so maybe I could have gotten away with it. Old man Fontase made to two kinds of wine. One that the sold to the public and and one that he gave to his friends. The one he gave to his friends would rip your head off and then put it back on backwards. It was a red wine with no label. We called it Diego wine. I had another name for it, but I didn't dare call it that. I would have gotten my butt kicked. My aunt Mary who is 95 now will sit at the kitchen and her and I will have a glass or two of it. The Fontase family still makes it and they still give it to their friends. I have a bottle or two laying around the house. Every now and then I will dig one out and pull the cork and fill the glass and sip on it. I drink it all. Never let a drop to to waste. It will still rip my head off, but there are times it will turn it around backwards without taking if off. I've been told that Old man Fontase drank a whole bottle of it one night and was blind for two days. Never could hold his liquor.
My wife is Japanese and she thinks our whole family are lunatics. She could be right. We do have some strange customs in our family. I don't discuses those in public. Doing so could get you a new smile. One that goes from ear to ear. Just joking, but it is frowned upon.
Sure hope you are prepared for the next major quake. That sucker is just around the corner and is waiting for you come around that corner. Take Care...Don. Now where did my head go to?
