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    History—and a Glimmer of Hope—in a Whiskey Glass

    Plied with a very special whiskey, author Joanna Scutts spins a true tale of disaster, rebirth and the ditties that inevitably followed in old San Francisco

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    JUST AFTER FIVE O’CLOCK in the morning on April 18, 1906, what came to be known as the San Francisco earthquake trembled down the coast from southern Oregon to Los Angeles and inland as far as Nevada. “Rumors of great disaster from an earthquake in San Francisco, but know nothing of real facts,” President Roosevelt wrote anxiously to the Governor of California, eager for some solid ground to stand upon. There was no reply. In his next message, after the rumors had collapsed into facts, the President struggled to believe them. “It was difficult at first to credit the catastrophe that has befallen San Francisco,” he admitted....

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