Old Mint, Rear Wall

San Francisco Mint superintendent Frank Leach oversaw the fight against the surrounding fires, recalling in 1917: "The buildings across the alley from the mint were on fire, and soon great masses of flames shot against the side of our building as if directed against us by a huge blow-pipe. The glass in our windows, exposed to this great heat, did not crack and break, but melted down like butter; the sandstone and granite, of which the building was constructed, began to flake off with explosive noises like the firing of artillery. The heat was now intense. It did not seem possible for the structure to withstand this terrific onslaught. The roar of the conflagration and crashing of falling buildings together with the noise given off from the exploding stones of our building, were enough to strike terror in our hearts, if we had had time to think about it." Read the whole story on the San Francisco City Museum's site.