The throng of moving people, men and women with babies and bird cages,
and everything which they held most valuable on earth, began early
Wednesday morning and continued until the afternoon of Thursday. Early
Thursday morning Mr. Wilcox, with his mother and sister, and Mrs. Hicks
and daughter left our house and were able to cross to Oakland, where
they got a train for Los Angeles. Dr. and Mrs. Whitney went to a
friend's house. Early in the morning I went over to the
California-Street power-house and had a talk with Superintendent Harris.
He said that he had run out 20 cars, but as the water was shut off and
very low in the boilers, it was not safe to get up steam, and he was
unable to get horses to haul away the cars; so nothing could be done but
await the result, which was that every car in the house and those in the
street, some of them eight blocks away, 52 in number, were all burned.
Not one was left. I came back to 1801 Van Ness Avenue. The wind was
light but was from the northwest. At 9 A. M. I sent in my son's
automobile my personal clothing, silverware, bedding, and linen to Mrs.
Oxnard's, 2104 Broadway, and at 10:30 I had the rugs and some other
things ready, and he took them to the Presidio. Matters about this time
began to be rather wild. Van Ness Avenue was filled with people, all
pale and earnest, every one loaded with bundles and dragging valises or
trunks.
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