Market Street, San Francisco, 1906

On April 14, 1906, brothers Harry and Herbert Miles filmed the scene on the left as they rode a cable car down Market Street in San Francisco. You see the hustle and bustle of the city with trolley cars, pedestrians, automobiles, and horse-drawn wagons sharing the street.

Four days later, an earthquake killed 3,000 people and destroyed most of the city. A cameraman believed to be Otis M. Gove filmed the same street just after the destruction. The film is not as clear due to dust and smoke, but you can see the destroyed buildings and the survivors shuffling through the streets as if they were ghosts. You have to wonder how many of the people seen in the video on the left did not survive the quake. (via History Buff)