A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire
P: Miles Brothers. USA 1906

A new scan of 35mm film held by Prelinger Archives, San Francisco and thought to be an original 1906 print. Additional footage from the Library of Congress version, plus added sound:

A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire
P: Miles Brothers. USA 1906

“This film was shot on April 14, 1906, just four days before the San Francisco earthquake and fire, to which the negative was nearly lost. It was produced by moving picture photographers the Miles brothers: Harry, Herbert, Earle and Joe. Harry J. Miles hand-cranked the Bell & Howell camera which was placed on the front of a cablecar during filming on Market Street from 8th, in front of the Miles Studios, to the Ferry building. A few days later the Miles brothers were en route to New York when they heard news of the earthquake. They sent the negative to NY, and returned to San Francisco to discover that their studios were destroyed. The origin of the film was an enigma for many decades, and it was long thought to have been shot in September of 1905, after being dated as such by the Library of Congress based on the state of construction of several buildings. However, in 2009 and 2010, film historian David Kiehn, co-founder of Niles Film Museum in Niles, California, dated the film to the spring of 1906 from automobile registrations and weather records. Kiehn eventually found promotional materials from the film’s original release and dated the film to April 14th, 1906, and finally gave credit to the filmmakers, the Miles Brothers.”
YouTube: Mike Upchurch

San Francisco earthquake and fire, April 18, 1906
P:  Lubin Film Company.  USA 1906

“This film shows the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, and the devastation resulting from the subsequent three-day fire. The 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:12am and was centered along the San Andreas Fault, which slices through coastal California. Most of the cities of central California were badly damaged. San Francisco, with thousands of unreinforced brick buildings – and thousands more closely-spaced wooden Victorian dwellings – was poorly prepared for a major fire. Collapsed buildings, broken chimneys, and a shortage of water due to broken mains led to several large fires that soon coalesced into a city-wide holocaust. The fire swept over nearly a quarter of the city, including the entire downtown area. Dynamite was used with varying success to prevent the fire from spreading westward. Over 3,000 people are now estimated to have died as a result of the disaster. For the surviving refugees, the first few weeks were hard; as aid poured in from around the country, thousands slept in tents in city parks, and all citizens were asked to do their cooking in the street. A severe shortage of public transportation made a taxicab out of anything on wheels. Numerous businesses relocated temporarily in Oakland and many refugees found lodgings outside the city. Reconstruction of the city proceeded at a furious pace and by 1908, San Francisco was well on the way to recovery. The scenes in the film are preceded by titles, many of which are sensationalized. One entire scene showing a family eating in the street was almost certainly staged for the camera. The film was probably made in early May, as one scene can be precisely dated to May 9, and another to sometime after May 1.”
Library of Congress

San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of 1906
Producer unknown. USA 1906

“This film is made up of five panoramas, four wide and one close-up, of the ruins of downtown San Francisco shortly after the 1906 disaster, plus a panorama and scene in a nearby refugee camp. Original intertitles precede each change of scene, but the locations provided are incorrect for three of the five views. The state of the ruins and camp suggest a date in late April, 1906. The absence of streetcar tracks in the ‘Grand Avenue’ panorama dates that segment to before May 1, 1906.”
Library of Congress

Ruins of Chinatown
K: Robert K. Bonine. P: Edison Co. USA 1906

Vertical Panorama City Hall and Surroundings
K: Robert K. Bonine. P: Edison Co. USA 1906

Robert K. Bonine, the Edison company’s actuality cameraman, took thirteen panoramas of the devastation of the April, 1906 earthquake which were offered for sale later that year. The 1906 Edison catalog lists all the films with additional short descriptions and information on specific location, etc.
SMU

Further reading: The Brothers Who Filmed the Earthquake

>>> San Francisco: Aftermath of Earthquake: Disasters on this site

>>> LANDSCAPES, URBAN VIEWS

TRAUM UND EXZESS, S. 210