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23-04-2015, 06:42

New Madrid earthquake

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded within the continental limits of the United States was generally referred to as the New Madrid earthquake, although there were really three separate earthquakes. The first, on December 15, 1811, in New Madrid County, Missouri, was followed by a second on January 23, 1812, and a third on February 7, 1812. Later scientific analysis estimated that the first and greatest of these earthquakes measured between 8.4 and 8.8 on the Richter Scale (the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was 8.3). These three major earthquakes were followed by more than 1,800 aftershocks. The quakes occurred along the New Madrid fault line, some 40 miles wide and 200 miles in length, running from the Illinois-Missouri border to Memphis, Tennessee.

The physical changes to the landscape were dramatic. In the aftermath of the first quake (1811), the town of New Madrid dropped more than 10 feet, and the Mississippi River swept in to flood the town. In an instant, houses were crushed, forests disappeared, and the course of the river was changed. For several hours after the original earthquake, the river ran north in a temporary channel. After the quakes, river traffic on the most important artery of communication and trade in the West was suspended for several months. Only gradually did the north-south axis reassert itself.

The New Madrid earthquakes were a disaster of enormous proportions for those who lived near the floods.

Towns were evacuated as residents fled for their lives, a panic confirmed by the two later earthquakes and the hundreds of aftershocks. The greatest natural disaster of the age called for massive assistance at a time when federal and state/territorial governments were ill-equipped by experience or ideology to give such aid. Finally, in 1815, Congress passed a law that permitted residents of the stricken area to relocate to tracts of equal size in the public domain. It was an appropriate response in an age when federal lands were far more plentiful than federal monies. The New Madrid grants were part of a PUBLIC LAND POLICY that offered land grants for many worthy projects. Speculators hastened to the scene of the disaster, where they bought the entry permits at low prices. As a result, one of the federal government’s first large-scale attempts to deal with a natural disaster ended in confusion over land titles and outrage on the part of many earthquake sufferers, now further victimized by unscrupulous land agents. In 1820, Congress passed a second law to disallow the claims transferred from the original victims to third parties, further confusing the issue.

Further reading: Jay Feldman, When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes (New York: Free Press, 2005); William E. Foley, The Genesis of Missouri: From Wilderness Outpost to Statehood (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989).



 

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