SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE 120TH ANNIVERSARY: Time to Read KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

Illustration by Rachell Sumpter for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT.

Today is the 120th anniversary of the deadly 1906 San Francisco earthquake. That morning, across the Bay, on Angel Island, light keeper Juliet Nichols woke up to violent shaking.

I awake with a jolt. Everything is moving!

My bed thrashes like a boat in a storm. Dishes smash. Outside, the lamp swings wildly on its hook. I hang on for dear life and wish I were not so alone.

When the shaking stops. I inspect the house--

Storehouse cracked. Stone basement badly cracked. House plaster cracked.

--Luckily nothing that can't be fixed.

Juliet's story, before and after the earthquake, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog (Cameron Kids/Abrams, 2022). Beautiful watercolor llustrations are by Rachell Sumpter. Read the book and find out how Juliet saved the day when the fog bell failed during the foggy summer after the earthquake and she had to ring the bell by hand.

The San Francisco Earthquake

At 5:12 a.m., April 18, 1906 a violent earthquake struck the city of San Francisco, toppling buildings, cracking streets and sidewalks, bursting water mains. The rupture extended both northward and southward for a total of 296 miles (476 km). Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles. No system of measurement was in place at the time, but it is thought today that the earthquake would have measured between 7.9 and 8.2 on the Richter scale.  Hundreds of buildings collapsed during the quake.  But the bigger disaster came from the fires the followed.  Without a water supply, it was difficult to fight the rapidly spreading flames. By the time the fires were out, 500 city blocks were destroyed, at least 700 people were dead, and more than 225,000 homeless.

REMEMBERING LIGHTKEEPER JULIA FISH NICHOLS during WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

Juliet Fish Nichols, Angel Island Lighthouse Keeper, 1902-1914.

Since 1987, March has been designated as Women's History Month, a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women. What better time to reacquaint yourself with Juliet Fish Nichols, the lightkeeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, who, in the very foggy summer after the disastrous 1906 San Francisco earthquake, kept the fog bell ringing to keep ships safe in the bay.

You can read all about Juliet and her heroic stint in July 1906 when fog bell machine broke and she rang the fog bell by hand for twenty hours straight, hitting the bell with her hammer every fifteen seconds until the fog lifted. The book is available on Amazon in both hardback and as a Kindle e-book.

The fog rolls in to San Francisco Bay. (Illustration by Rachell Sumpter.)

Learn more about Juliet at my website .

And learn about visiting Angel Island State Park, where you can see the giant bell and the platform where the lighthouse once stood, at my travel blog The Intrepid Tourist.

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KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: A Visit to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay

At the ferry landing at Ayala Cove on Angel Island.

A week ago I visited Angel Island for the first time since my book, Keeper of the Light: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog, was published. It was a beautiful day and the ferry from Tiburon was crowded with people going to Angel Island for a day of hiking, biking and enjoying the out-of-doors in the state park.

In 1906, when Juliet Nichols was the keeper, the Angel Island Lighthouse stood on the rocky point between Camp Reynolds and Perle's Beach. (Yellow X)

On all my previous visits to the island I had focused my attention on the southwest side of the island where the Angel Island lighthouse had been located and where the story of my book takes place. But this time I wanted to visit the former Immigration Center on the other side of the island, where thousands of immigrants, mostly from China, had been detained between 1910, when it was built, and 1940, when it was closed after the main administration building burned down.

Fog bell at the Immigration Station Memorial.

I discovered that the Immigration Station had a giant fog bell, much like the one Juliet Nichols rang on that foggy night in 1906. Unlike Juliet’s bell, still in place on the rock where the bell house once stood but now inaccessible, the Immigration Station bell is now part of a memorial to the immigrants who once came to the island. It has a clapper, which you can swing to make the bell ring.

With Casey Dexter Lee in the Detention Barracks at the Immigration Station.

During my visit I finally got to meet Casey Dexter Lee in person, who had been so helpful with my research for my book. It was a pleasure to talk with her and learn more about Angel Island’s history. Casey is the Education officer of the island.

In the Kiosk gift shop.

Before we caught the ferry back to Tiburon, I visited the kiosk gift shop near the dock, where I was pleased to see Keeper of the Light displayed. All profits go to support the Angel Island Conservancy.

Click HERE for information about visiting Angel Island State Park.

The Immigration Station is a National Historical Landmark.

ZOOM AUTHOR VISIT with 4th GRADERS at Judson and Brown School, Redlands, CA

A week ago I had a wonderful Zoom author visit with the 4^th graders and their teachers at Judson and Brown School in Redlands, California. They had all read my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog. I shared some of the highlights of the book and a power point showing how I researched the story. The students then had a chance to ask me questions. One boy wanted to know how long it took me to write the book. In fact, it was ten years from my first visit to Angel Island in 2012 to the publication of the book in 2022. I explained that the process of writing a book involves many rewrites.

Manuscript pages for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

I was interested to know how the students reacted to the story. I asked them, “What kind of person do you think Juliet had to be to take on the job of lighthouse keeper?” Their answers were very perceptive. She had to be brave. Determined. Take her job seriously. One boy said she was the Savior of the Ships.

Illustration by Rachell Sumpter for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

In advance of my visit, the students had used the book as inspiration for several projects, which they shared with me. One class combined art and a creative writing project—writing their own log entries as if they were lighthouse keepers—and then illustrating them with a watercolor painting. 

Watercolor painting by 4th grade student.

Another class painted four types of weather on a piece of paper folded into four rectangles, using one word to describe each type of weather—eg sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy. 

Weather paintings and labels by 4th grade student.

The students in the third class made their own weather logs, noting the temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and description of the sky, following the model of Juliet Nichols' official lighthouse log.

Pages from Julie Nichols Angel Island Lighthouse log.

I was pleased to see how much the students had enjoyed learning about Juliet Nichols, lighthouses, and what it takes to be a lighthouse keeper and to see their enthusiasm for the projects inspired by the book. While we met on the last day of February, KEEPER OF THE LIGHT is a perfect lead-in to Women’s History month in March.

I want to thank Todd Rossi, principal of Judson and Brown School for setting up this cooperative endeavor with the fourth-grade students and teachers at his school. And I want to thank teachers Brooke Nakaoka, Stephanie Howard and Mary Ann Ufkes, for sharing the book with their students and leading the follow-up projects. They did a terrific job.

I shared the students’ response to KEEPER OF THE LIGHT in my presentation at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival at Redlands University, March 2-3, 2023.  I want to thank Marjorie Arnett for connecting me with Todd Rossi and the 4^th grade team at his school. I loved finding out how real students are responding to my book and using it to expand their knowledge of California history, and in particular women’s history. Juliet Fish Nichols battled the fog in San Francisco Bay more than one hundred years ago, but her grit and determination to do her job well make her an excellent role model for young people today.