In 1906, at age 22, Edith embarked on a visit to relatives in San Francicso, accompanied, as usual, with her camera and equipment. Her father’s cousin James Irvine and his family had a home on Page Street. She would have left Mokelumne Hill by stage for Stockton, transferring there to a river packet bound for San Francisco.
She reportedly disembarked in San Francisco only hours after the earthquake had struck at 5:15 AM on April 18, 1906. For the next several days she recorded the devastation caused first by the earthquake, then compounded by the fiery holocaust which followed. She is said to have commandeered a baby buggy to haul her equipment around the city.
Sixty of her photographs survive. Visit her album for more.
Syndicate