William Bryce Ridgeway (a descendant of the Ridgeways of Torquay, England and Torre Abbey, 1540) left Australia in 1905 to seek his fortune in America. He travelled to San Francisco, lived through the 1906 earthquake, and recorded the days of watching rich men become beggars and strong men become raving idiots. He followed the fire ravaged city where thousands died, commenting on incredible bravery, looting, killings and how the city rose again from the ordeal. His daughter (living in Melbourne, Australia ) found his journals in 1962 and rewrote the story in current language so nothing is lost in the telling. The book cost 27/6 in 1969 when it was printed. Very interesting compilation of the journals turned into a non-fiction novel by Dorothy Buchanan.