I was reading the April 2006 Smithsonian article about the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire (1906). It is undeniably greatest natural disasters in America's history, similar to Galveston Hurricane of 1900 or Hurricane Katrina.
One interesting segment in the article however, was about the US Mint in San Francisco and what happened to it in the earthquake.
This US Mint, known as the Granite Lady, was one of the more important Mints. It was built in 1874 at the price of $2.1 million dollars, which now wouldn't buy half the land it occupies. By 1880 however, it was producing 60 percent of all gold and silver coins in the US. Until Fort Knox opened in 1937, the San Francisco mint held one third or more of the US's gold reserves. In the years after the fire, it functioned as a bank for processed wire transfers across the country, as much as $40 million in its first two weeks of operation, equal to $900 million in today's economy.
Besides the valiant efforts of the Mint workers, The Granite Lady was aided by many reasons. One was the thick stone foundation that architect Alfred B. Mullet designed into it, hence the name "Granite Lady." Also, it had a well and pump in the courtyard, which provided water for internal fire hoses installed just ten days before the earthquake.
Without these additions, or the efforts of the workers, 450 tons of gold bullion, $300 million in 1906 and around $6 billion today, may have been lost. Though some of this might have been salvaged, it would still be devastating, especially factored into the $400 million, or $8 billion, lost from the earthquake and fire already. For an example of gold and economic depressions, see the loss of the SS Central America. When it was lost in a Carolina storm, it sank with 400 people and a "mere" 15 tons of gold bullion. The loss badly shook investor's trust in the economy, worsening the Panic of 1857.
What if, however, the earthquake struck earlier, let's say the Spanish-American War, and Alfred B. Mullet failed to add in the well and stone foundation, and most of the gold was lost from melting in the 2,000' heat, or stolen by looters and the infamous Barbary Coast gangs?
What effect would this have on the world's economy if the USA, a growing power, was to lose one third of it's total gold reserves and go into recession? Especially if, due to butterflies, the US kept the gold standard?
How would America's imperialistic policies in the early 20th century fared without the nationalistic pride from the Spanish-American War? Perhaps the US would stay isolationist longer. Would the European powers divert their attention to the Boxer Rebellion, still in full force in 1898, if they suffered from a "Panic of 1898?" The spheres of influence and European involvement might have declined.
If Britain was affected badly, would they have sent troops and money in the Second Boer War against the South African Republic and the Orange Free State? We might have a much different South Africa. Would a European depression cause an earlier Revolution of 1905 in Russia, without the Russo-Japanese war that ushered the Land of the Rising Sun into the global spotlight as a world power? Lenin and the Communists might have affected the world in an earlier different way.
One interesting segment in the article however, was about the US Mint in San Francisco and what happened to it in the earthquake.
This US Mint, known as the Granite Lady, was one of the more important Mints. It was built in 1874 at the price of $2.1 million dollars, which now wouldn't buy half the land it occupies. By 1880 however, it was producing 60 percent of all gold and silver coins in the US. Until Fort Knox opened in 1937, the San Francisco mint held one third or more of the US's gold reserves. In the years after the fire, it functioned as a bank for processed wire transfers across the country, as much as $40 million in its first two weeks of operation, equal to $900 million in today's economy.
Besides the valiant efforts of the Mint workers, The Granite Lady was aided by many reasons. One was the thick stone foundation that architect Alfred B. Mullet designed into it, hence the name "Granite Lady." Also, it had a well and pump in the courtyard, which provided water for internal fire hoses installed just ten days before the earthquake.
Without these additions, or the efforts of the workers, 450 tons of gold bullion, $300 million in 1906 and around $6 billion today, may have been lost. Though some of this might have been salvaged, it would still be devastating, especially factored into the $400 million, or $8 billion, lost from the earthquake and fire already. For an example of gold and economic depressions, see the loss of the SS Central America. When it was lost in a Carolina storm, it sank with 400 people and a "mere" 15 tons of gold bullion. The loss badly shook investor's trust in the economy, worsening the Panic of 1857.
What if, however, the earthquake struck earlier, let's say the Spanish-American War, and Alfred B. Mullet failed to add in the well and stone foundation, and most of the gold was lost from melting in the 2,000' heat, or stolen by looters and the infamous Barbary Coast gangs?
What effect would this have on the world's economy if the USA, a growing power, was to lose one third of it's total gold reserves and go into recession? Especially if, due to butterflies, the US kept the gold standard?
How would America's imperialistic policies in the early 20th century fared without the nationalistic pride from the Spanish-American War? Perhaps the US would stay isolationist longer. Would the European powers divert their attention to the Boxer Rebellion, still in full force in 1898, if they suffered from a "Panic of 1898?" The spheres of influence and European involvement might have declined.
If Britain was affected badly, would they have sent troops and money in the Second Boer War against the South African Republic and the Orange Free State? We might have a much different South Africa. Would a European depression cause an earlier Revolution of 1905 in Russia, without the Russo-Japanese war that ushered the Land of the Rising Sun into the global spotlight as a world power? Lenin and the Communists might have affected the world in an earlier different way.
. I could see however, a form of socialist development. For example, we wouldn't go totally communist, but we could see a more aggressive economic policy in the US and government ownership of vital industries.