Perhaps the only good outcome of tragedy is people coming together to pull through it. In the case of Anna Amelia Holshouser, she led the community effort to help others after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
San Francisco was originally built on swamplands back in the 19th century. Once the city started to grow drastically after the 1849 California Gold Rush, the residents did what they could do construct buildings on the shallow wetlands. To create stable ground they needed infill. It was common practice to fill in the wetlands with dirt, rocks and mud pumped in from the bottom of the bay. In some cases, garbage was put down first. Dirt would then be heaped on top where roads and buildings arose.
