CHAPTER XIV NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE Time and Area — Unique Among Earthquakes — Contemporary Accounts Mentioned — The Scene Described — Direction of the Shocks — Size op Affected Area — Character OP Disturbances — Small Loss op Life Explained — A Death from Fright — Persons Drowned — Appearance op the Air — Vapors — Lights and Glows — Earth Changes — Fissures — Lignite — Areas op Surface Raised — Sunk-Lands — Observations Made by Lyell — Distribution op Sunk-Lands — Effect on Timber — Expulsion of Material prom the Earth — Water-Sand — Sand Blows — Sand-Sloughs — Sinks — Suggested Causes — Contemporary Accounts — Mrs. Eliza Bryan — Long — Bradbury — Flint — Faux — LeSieur — Col. John Shaw — Letter of an Unknown Writer — Long — Nuttall — Flagg — Former Drainage as Described by LeSieur — -Government Assistance to Suf- ferers — The New Madrid Claims — DeLisle vs. State of Missouri — Loss of Popula- tion. On the night of December 15, 1811, there occurred the first of a series of severe earth- quake shocks in the region about New Bladrid, which caused great suffering and distress among the inhabitants, changed the surface of the earth in places, and resulted in the de- population of parts of the region affected. This earthquake has been the subject of much contention among historians and scientists. and has recently been made the subject of much careful study. Myron L. Fuller, a member of the United States Geological Survey, has given as much time and study to the phenomena of the New Madrid earthquake as any other person. In 1912 the Geological Survey issued a bulletin by Mr. Fuller, entitled "The New Madrid Earthquake." His introductory statement is as follows : ' ' The succession of shocks desig- nated collectively the New Madrid earthquake occurred in an area of the central Mississippi valley, including southeastern Missouri, north- eastern Arkansas, and we.stern Kentucky and Tennessee. Beginning December 16, 1811, and lasting more than a year, these shocks have not been surpassed or even equaled for number, continuance of disturbance, area affected, and severity by the more recent and better-known shocks at Charleston and San Francisco. As the region was almost unsettled at that time relatively little attention was paid to the phenomenon, the published ac- counts being few in number and incomplete in details. For these reasons, although scientific literature in this country and in Europe has given it a place among the great earthquakes of the world, the memory of it has lapsed from the public mind." Shaler, writing of the earthquake in 1869, said: "The occurrence of such a shock in a 212
