Good morning, Whitewater.
Monday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty. Sunrise is 6:05 AM and sunset 7:41 PM, for 13h 35m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Library Board meets tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1906, an earthquake strikes San Francisco:
At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it topples numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles.
San Francisco’s brick buildings and wooden Victorian structures were especially devastated. Fires immediately broke out and–because broken water mains prevented firefighters from stopping them–firestorms soon developed citywide. At 7 a.m., U.S. Army troops from Fort Mason reported to the Hall of Justice, and San Francisco Mayor E.E. Schmitz called for the enforcement of a dusk-to-dawn curfew and authorized soldiers to shoot-to-kill anyone found looting. Meanwhile, in the face of significant aftershocks, firefighters and U.S. troops fought desperately to control the ongoing fire, often dynamiting whole city blocks to create firewalls. On April 20, 20,000 refugees trapped by the massive fire were evacuated from the foot of Van Ness Avenue onto the USS Chicago.
By April 23, most fires were extinguished, and authorities commenced the task of rebuilding the devastated metropolis. It was estimated that some 3,000 people died as a result of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and the devastating fires it inflicted upon the city. Almost 30,000 buildings were destroyed, including most of the city’s homes and nearly all the central business district.
On 4.18.1818, Wisconsin formally becomes part of a larger territory:
1818 – Wisconsin Becomes Part of Michigan Territory
On this date, the land encompassing current-day Wisconsin was made part of the Michigan Territory, representing one step in Wisconsin’s path to statehood. Wisconsin was a part of the Northwest Territory from July 13, 1787-May 11, 1800; the Indiana Territory from May 1800-February 3, 1809; and the Illinois Territory from February 3, 1809-April 18, 1818. The Territory of Wisconsin was formed July 4, 1836.
JigZone‘s puzzle of the day is of a green thorntail: