"The steel railroad bridge across the , having five spans resting on concrete pillars, was directly on the line of the , crossing it obliquely. It affords a striking example of the power of the temblor. Here one side of the river bank moved away from the other eighteen inches. As a result the bridge was pulled apart at one end, the concrete abutment sliding away beneath the tremendously heavy plate girders which rested upon it, so far that the latter had little more than the edge to support them. Beyond, one of the massive concrete bases of the bridge spans—some fifteen feet through in either direction—was cracked from side to side and the truss resting on it shifted, and the whole bridge was twisted out of alignment."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake