On the morning of April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake struck San Francisco and the broader Bay Area. The quake crumpled buildings and ignited enormous fires that destroyed 80 percent of what was then California’s largest city, leaving a death toll of more than 3,000 people. Strong sentiments to preserve and protect California’s unique environment from human and industrial use had been in circulation for decades, demonstrated by the 1892 founding of the Sierra Club by John Muir and others. After the earthquake and fires, however, demands to rebuild San Francisco targeted the state’s ancient and fire-resistant redwood trees, while desires for a reliable water supply called for damming the Hetch Hetchy Valley within Yosemite National Park. In the decades that followed, an outpouring of activism shaped the ensuing conflict between economic development and environmental protection, and fueled a preservationist spirit in the Bay Area that continued to grow over the next century.

Environmental Preservation seeks to protect a place and its ecosystems by severely limiting human impact on the area. A federally designated wilderness, for example, is a preserved ecosystem that is managed to remain relatively free from the impacts of modern society so that natural processes occur without significant human influence. Preservation of places initially arose in the United States around sites of national heritage, such as the homes of American presidents. Yet, by the mid-to-late 1800s, environmental preservation came to include the unique and beautiful landscapes of the American West. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Yosemite Land Grant, which set aside California’s Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of ancient Sequoia trees for the public. These two California sites were the first to receive such government protection, and created the basis for what would become the National Park System. In 1872, Yellowstone in Wyoming became the first national park, with Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove designated in 1890. Many more national parks have been established since. Today, California boasts nearly 250 protected areas under state and federal preservation, including the Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, both established in 2025.

"We saw this smoke coming nearer and nearer, and we could hear it. That's the awful part. The sound of the earthquake, too, as if the earth was groaning."

— Anonymous Witness

1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

Watch the Video

"I'm quite sure that the loss of the Hetch Hetchy Valley had a great deal to do with Mr. Muir's subsequent illness and ultimate death."

— William Colby

Sierra Club Secretary

Play Podcast - "A Preservationist Spirit"

Explore the Story

For a deeper look at how the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire ignited a spirit of preservation in the Bay Area, listen to this section's podcast linked below. Here you'll hear the full story of the 1906 earthquake and fire, the effort to rebuild the largest city in the West, and the famed battle that erupted over the Hetch Hetchy Valley—a story told through the recorded voices of those who experienced it.

Press the button to listen.

"I can recall the first night when the city was on fire, saying nothing, just staring there next to my father. And I cried and cried...I said, 'There goes San Francisco.'"

— Anonymous Witness

1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

San Francisco Before and After

The 1906 Earthquake and Fire in California's Bay Area was the first natural disaster documented in photographs and film. The image carousel below provides a rare look at San Francisco before, during, and after the historic event.

"Possibly, the fact that Hetch Hetchy was surrendered strengthened the whole national park idea with the slogan, 'Never another Hetch Hetchy.'"

— Francis Farquhar

Sierra Club

Battles for Preservation

The rebuilding of San Francisco in the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire targeted two invaluable natural resources to Bay Area residents: the timber of California's ancient redwood forests, and the water flowing through the pristine Hetch Hetchy Valley situated in Yosemite National Park. As discussed in the podcast above, those plans galvanized communities to protect and preserve these natural resources from human encroachment. While John Muir and other men became figureheads for the cause of environmental preservation, women provided much of the grassroots momentum for preservation through letter writing, lobbying, fundraising, and their leadership in organizations such as the California Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Sempervirens Club, regional Outdoor Art Clubs, Save the Redwoods League, and the Sierra Club. The images in the carousel below offer a look at competing efforts to use and to preserve California’s natural resources, including the logging of California's redwood forests, the protection of a Bay Area redwood grove that became known as Muir Woods National Monument, and the Hetch Hetchy Valley before and after completion of the O'Shaughnessy Dam in 1923.

Voices

Featured Oral Histories

1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire Survivors

The firsthand accounts of the 1906 earthquake and fire came from interviews conducted by Frederick M. Wirt (1924-2009, professor of political science, University of Illinois) for the “Growing Up in the Cities” project, recorded between 1977 and 1979. This collection was donated to the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library in the late 1970s. Per this project’s copyright, the interviewees cannot be mentioned by name.

Oral History Transcripts of Collection

Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)

A San Francisco native, Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist best known for his images of the American West, most Yosemite National Park. He was a lifelong advocate for environmental conservation, having joined the Sierra Club at age seventeen, and serving on the Club’s board of directors for nearly forty years. His photography was deeply intertwined with his environmental advocacy.

Ansel Adams Oral History

David Brower (1912 - 2000)

A Berkeley native and UC Berkeley alumnus, Brower was a prominent environmentalist and longtime board member of the Sierra Club. He served as executive director of the Sierra Club from 1952 to 1969, and helped found many environmental organizations, including Friends of the Earth, Earth Island Institute, and the League of Conservation Voters. Viewed by many as the godfather of the modern environmental movement, he led campaigns to establish ten new national parks and was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.

David Brower Oral History, 1980

David Brower Oral History, 1999

William E. Colby (1875 - 1964)

A Bay Area native, Colby was an environmental lawyer and longtime secretary of the Sierra Club, a post he held for over forty years. His many activities on behalf of the Sierra Club included co-leading with John Muir the campaign against Hetch Hetchy Reservoir; expanding Sequoia National Park; and helping establish Olympic National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. In 1960, he became the first recipient of the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award. He is the namesake of the William E. Colby Library at the Sierra Club’s headquarters in Oakland.

William Colby Oral History

Francis Farquhar (1887 - 1974)

Farquhar was an American mountaineer, environmentalist, and author. Professionally, he worked as a certified public accountant. A Massachusetts native and Harvard University alumnus, he moved to San Francisco in 1910, where he founded the firm Farquhar and Heimbucher. He joined the Sierra Club in 1911 and served on the Club’s board of directors from 1924 to 1951. During his tenure, he also served two terms as Sierra Club president. In addition to his work with the Club, he served as president of the California Academy of Sciences and the California Historical Society.

Francis Farquhar Oral History

Carolyn Merchant (1936 - )

Merchant is a distinguished professor emerita of environmental history, philosophy, and ethics in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. Her extensive research and teaching at Cal explored historical relationships among humanity, nature, and science, with an ecofeminist focus on Western culture’s domination of nature and women. Merchant’s numerous peer-reviewed articles, books, and edited volumes have influenced various academic fields, from women’s studies to the history of science, and from ethics to environmental history.

Carolyn Merchant Oral History