By February 1906 , Coolbrith 's health was showing signs of deterioration . She was often sick in bed with rheumatism , and hard-pressed to continue her work at the Bohemian Club . Still , in March 1906 she gave a lengthy reading to the Pacific Coast Woman 's Press Association entitled " Some Women Poets of America . " Coolbrith , third vice president and life member of the club , briefly discussed the most prominent early American women poets but focused more fully on ones that became known in the second half of the 19th century , reciting example verse , and critically evaluating the work . A month later , disaster struck in the form of calamitous fire following the April 1906 San Francisco earthquake : Coolbrith 's home at 1604 Taylor Street burned to the ground . Directly after the earthquake but before fire threatened , Coolbrith left her house carrying a pet cat , thinking she would soon return . Her student boarder Robert Norman and her companion Josephine Zeller were unable to carry more than another cat , a few small bundles of letters and Coolbrith 's scrapbook . Immediately after he spotted heavy smoke from across the bay , Joaquin Miller took the ferry from Oakland to San Francisco in order to assist Coolbrith in saving her valuables from encroaching fire , but was prevented from doing so by soldiers who had orders to use deadly force against looters . In the blaze , Coolbrith lost 3,000 books including priceless signed first editions , artwork by Keith , many personal letters from famous people such as Whittier , Clemens , George Meredith and , above all , her nearly complete manuscript that was part autobiography and part history of California 's early literary scene
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Ina Coolbrith