The Pecan Park Eagle

On April 14, 1906, just four days prior to the Big Earthquake, this first-ever 35 mm film clip was shot on Market Street in San Francisco.

It’s 1906 and the Houston petroleum industry is gushing over the discovery of oil at the Goose Creek Field east of the city. Thirty oil companies and seven banks are now operating in Houston. Out west, the City of San Francisco will just about crumble into dust when a great earthquake strikes the area on April 18, 1906.

A photographer friend, John Wendell Mason, and now living in England, sent me a link to this remarkable film clip overnight. Taken only four days prior to the big San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, it is the first 35 millimeter film ever shot and successfully developed in history. Aside from all else that makes this film special, that historical factor is noteworthy today. It gives all the rest of us the chance to view the mother of all modern films on Mother’s Day!

According to the information I received with the film clip link, the film was taken on Market Street by a camera mounted on the front of a cable car that ran out to the Embarcadero Wharf. The clock tower that we see prominently in the clip at the end of the ride is still there today as one of those rare sturdy survivors of what was about to soon shake the land and the city’s history.

Here’s the link. Just watch and enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGloeX1SpAU

The visual pleasures here are incredible. Check out the dressing styles of both men and women, the numbers of autos, bikes, and horse-drawn carriages, the chaos of traffic movement as people dodge the cable car at the last-minute on foot or simply turn their vehicles to cross the tracks in front of the cable car at the last second. No wonder we have so many street car/gas vehicle collisions today in Houston. Some human behaviors do not change all that much over time.

To me, the enjoyment is watching everything take place in real-time, without the herky-jerky false speed-up of a Charlie Chaplin comedy, a Teddy Roosevelt speech, or a Babe Ruth roach-speed home run trot. The film is the closest we shall ever come to a simulated time-travel arrival in San Francisco on April 14, 1906.

Back in this era, everybody got to inhale dried horse manure. It rook a while for the new gas and electricity driven vehicles to clean up all the city air by replacing all the horses.

This is a good time to reflect also on all that was going on in the Houston area back in 1906. We already know on the baseball front that 1906 was the year that the light-hitting Chicago White Sox (the so-called Hitless Wonders) rose to upset the heavily favored Chicago Cubs in the World Series, but let’s tap into more happenings from Houston in 1906.

On February 10, 1906, the suspicions of many about the artesian purity of the water being provided by the Houston Water Company when a repairman in the fifth ward discovers five catfish swimming in a water main.

On April 1, 1906, members of the new city commission form of government go to work under the new system and right away report on the increased level of efficiency and competence that the system brings to their work. I’m not sure how they measure this result on the first day in motion. Perhaps, they have a light agenda this day or maybe they are truly treating the moment for what it is – April Fool’s Day.

With public reaction to the earlier catfish find stirring them on in May 1906, the city purchases the plant and property of the Houston Water Company. Again, an improvement in water service is reported immediately. In this case, “improvement” may have been measured by the absence of catfish or tad poles in the drinking water.

Also in May 1906, Houston launches its plan for a “War on Mosquitoes.” Starting next week, the city will begin to cover every ditch in the city with a coat of oil. And where is Houston going to get the oil to be used in this treatment? – Get serious.

In August 1906, Houston’s first wireless radio station opens as one of only four that now exist in the state. The station is perceived as a competitive personal communication alternative to the telephone and telegraph. That’s how “wireless” came to be the new medium’s name. The concept of radio as a broadcast medium for general news, entertainment, and advertising was years away in 1906.

On September 3, 1906, work begins on the turning basin for the ship channel. Big ships won’t come to Houston until they have water that’s deep enough to traverse, and a place to turn around once their business is done here.

Also going up in September 1906 are Houston’s first truly named “skyscrapers.” A building that will reach eight-stories in height upon completion is under construction, much to the pride and awe of Houstonians.

The problem of Houston drivers of the new automobiles exceeding the 6 MPH speed limits around town draws the attention of city government in October 1906. Mayor Rice recommends that the city purchase an automobile for use as a police car in the chase and apprehension of speeders.

More National News, 1906: Writer Upton Sinclair publishes his novel, “The Jungle;” the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake kills 3,000 and leaves hundreds of thousands homeless in it’s almost total destruction of the city.

International News, 1906: Roll Royce Limited registers as a maker of fine cars; Mount Vesuvius erupts in Italy, devastating Naples.

When all is said and done, Happy Mother’s Day, Everybody!

Market Street Approach to Clock Tower Today, 2010.

Additional San Francisco Film Notes: “This film, originally (was) thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot. From New York trade papers announcing the film showing to the wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!).. It was filmed only four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906, and (it was) shipped by train to NY for processing.” – E-Mail from John W. Mason.