Recovery
Santa Rosa has suffered the greatest disaster in all its history, and is now a mass of ruins. But her spirit, thank God, still lives.
—Democrat-Republican, April 20, 1906
Within two days of the earthquake Santa Rosa was already looking to the future. On Friday, April 20th a slogan emerged from a special session of the City Council: “Build a bigger and greater Santa Rosa.” Through their newspapers, editors plead with Santa Rosans to stand “shoulder to shoulder” and show faith in the future.
Cleaning up was a massive task. Sailors were dispatched from Mare Island to assist the local workers. One chronicler described the almost universal mindset of Santa Rosans willing to labor in the rubble: “It was more practical and more philosophical to shovel brickbats and ashes on to a platform car, than to stand around sadly contemplating the ruin of office and shop.”
