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EARTHQUAKE in the Year 1811 - Page 2

© Mary Trotter Kion

The death rate caused by the quake was slight due to the sparse population. But the earth was horribly torn to pieces. Hundreds of acres, at various times, were covered with sand, water and coal that had spewed from great fissures. During the quake five towns in three states disappeared. Many islands in the Mississippi River vanished while lakes formed where none had previously existed.

New Madrid, Missouri sunk some fifteen feet. Cabins and stone chimneys toppled as people fled into the dark night, attempting to save their lives. A half-mile below this town on the bank of the Mississippi River there was little sign of the quake. And yet, back a short distance many large ponds and lakes had nearly dried up with the beds of some elevated ten to fifteen feet above their former banks.

Far beyond the borders of Missouri the quake was felt. In Charleston, South Carolina it was reported that six distinct shocks occurred with vibrations causing clocks to stop, as well as church bells to ring there and in Washington D.C.

To learn more about the New Madrid, Missouri Earthquake on the Internet see:

The New Madrid Fault http://www2.semo.edu/ces/CES2.HTML

The Mississippi Valley-"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/prepare/factshe...

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The major printed sources for this article are:

When the Earth Quakes by James B. Macelwane, S.J., Published by The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1947.

The Changing Earth by Judith Viorst, Published by Bantam Books, Inc., New York, 1967.

Gateway to Empire, a documented historical novel by Allan W. Eckert, Published by Bantam Books, New York, 1984.

The copyright of the article EARTHQUAKE in the Year 1811 - Page 2 in The Great Plains is owned by Mary Trotter Kion. Permission to republish EARTHQUAKE in the Year 1811 - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.