This panorama of San Francisco in ruins was taken by George R. Lawrence using a kite, on Monday 28th May 1906. This was about six weeks after the earthquake and fire which caused the devastation.
Aerial panorama of San Francisco in ruins, 1906
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See http://seadragon.com/view/17tz for a Deep Zoom version of the aerial.
[...] Aerial view of San Francisco in ruins 1906 post earthquake and fire - use the full screen view for best effect [...]