Abstract The field trip covers three short walks through downtown San Francisco focusing on the events that occurred in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. The first walk is in the South of Market area, located on artificially filled ground of the old Mission Bay marshland. The second walk follows the path of the fire as it spread out of the South of Market area on to Market Street. The third walk is along Montgomery Street, located on the old shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove, and follows the progress of the fire as it crossed Market Street northward into the Financial District. The wetlands bordering the bay were prime real estate, and by 1906 about a sixth of the city was built on artificial fill. The highest concentration of damage to buildings by ground shaking and liquefaction caused by the earthquake occurred here. Throughout this area, water, sewer, and gas lines were ruptured, and it was the location of most of the 52 fires that flared up in the city after the earthquake. The main objective of the field trip is to evaluate the lessons we have learned from building on poorly engineered ground within a major metropolitan center in a seismically active area. The settlement of Yerba Buena was established in the 1830s along the margin of a sheltered cove in San Francisco Bay. The port attracted settlers, and by 1847 the population had gradually increased to almost 500. Early maps drawn of the town showed the streets crisscrossing the