Here’s a brief look back in time for this day, April 18.
In 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake strikes San Francisco, CA, destroying 80% of the city and leaving around 3,000 dead. The San Andreas Fault runs through the majority of the state, where frequent minor quakes occur each time the Pacific and/or the North American plate moves. This quake in particular is theorized to have gotten as strong as it did due to excessive gold mining over the past few decades prior to this date. Residents from Oregon to Los Angeles and even inland in Nevada reportedly felt the quake. While it only lasted for upwards to a minute, its after-effects were much more catastrophic. Fires raged through the city for days, which was the primary cause for much of the destruction. Some residents reportedly even caught their own homes on fire as a means to take advantage of property insurance. In all, damages were estimated to be around $400 million (or $14.6 billion in 2026).
In 1945, famed war correspondent and Indiana native Ernie Pyle is killed on the Japanese island of Iejima during the Battle of Okinawa. His syndicated columns reached millions of readers, providing grounded stories told from the perspective of fighting soldiers during World War II. This style provided a unique angle on storytelling during wartime, which typically involved stats on troop deployment and the events that happened in each battle. He is buried in the Hawaiian capital of Honolulu. His boyhood home is now a museum in Dana, IN.