In an area that is not known for having earthquakes, is where the very worst-ever quake in the history of the United Sates occurred. Since the area was not highly populated back in the early 1800's, the damage was not as severe as it would be if it happened today. There were actually a series of quakes, and they were felt as far away as New York, Boston, and even President Madison and his wife felt the quake at the White House. The upheavel was so bad that the Mississippi River was actually flowing backwards for several hours. Huge openings split open in the earth, and people vanished, never to be found again. One of the most interesting parts to me is the story of Tecumseh, the Indian chief who prophesied to the Indian tribes about the coming of the great quake, and it actually happened just as he said it would. http://www.britannica.com/event/New-Madrid-earthquakes-of-1811-1812 http://www.ratical.org/ratville/Tecumseh.html
its in my state. and its still active today and monitored. the quake rang church bells on the east coast.
I never heard of this earthquake but that is interesting. We have a fault in this area too. That large East Coast quake was centered in this county. Most people in this area had damages. The high school had to be rebuilt. I had some minimal damage here, but I was lucky enough to get some money from FEMA. The aftershocks were very scary as well. I was outside of Starbucks when the quake hit, and most of the items on the shelves were shaken off.
Just drove through the Bootheel area last month in Missouri. Didn't make it to Reelfoot lake. I believe it was created by the earthquake.
You are correct, @Pete Burton , that Reelfoot Lake was created by the earthquake, and apparently there is a lake in northeast Texas that formed in a depression that also came from the New Madrid quake. The official theory is that there is about a 200 year timeframe for this faultline, and since the earlier earthquake happened in 1811-1812, we are definitely due for another series of quakes there if the timeline is correct. Last time, there were very few people living in the areas affcted by the quakes; but now we have several major cities that would be mostly destroyed by large magnitude earthquakes as happened in the 1800's. Memphis, St. Louis, Nashville would probably be the closest; but even places like Chicago, Atlanta, Little Rock, and Kansas City, would be in the path of destruction. Flooding along the Mississippi would probably go all the way to the Gulf states. Some predictions say that the whole United States could be split apart from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. One would hope that this doesn't come to pass; but it IS one of the possibilities. Here is an informative video on what happened last time, what might happen when the next New Madrid earthquake occurs, and what people should do to be prepared for this event.
Great topic. As a San Franciscan and survivor of several massive and fatal quakes, this one is near to my heart. Not to toot my own horn, but here is a brief article I wrote on the topic a few years ago. http://www.avivadirectory.com/Histo...9th-Century/New-Madrid-Earthquakes-1811-1812/
That was a great article, @Michelle Anderson ! I had read about the quake; but I didn't know that people were actually hearing the ground booming for three years before the earthquakes started. One of my favorite stories is the one about Chief Tecumseh (Panther-across-the-sky) and his prophecy to all of the Indian tribes that there would be a great earthquake. Although he did not call it an earthquake, he did an excellent job of describing what would happen to the areas that would be affected by the earthquakes. I noticed in your article about the murder of George Lewis, you mention that the brothers who murdered him were descendants of Meriwether Lewis. However, when i was reading about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the information said that Lewis had never married, and had no offspring. Maybe they were from the same family line; but not a descendant ?