Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/273

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 213 region like the Mississippi valley, on the bor- ders of a great river, is probably laiiprece- dented in the history of earthquakes. * * * Many of the events of that convulsion were without a parallel. Scientifically this earth- quake may be regarded as a type, exhibiting in unusual detail the geologic effects of great disturbances upon imconsolidated deposits. For this reason its phenomena have an im- portance which, in the absence of any previous systematic discussion, warrants detailed con- sideration." It is the intention here to give as full an account of the earthquake itself as collected from contemporary accoimts as is possible, and a description of the condition of the lands affected by the shocks. It is fortunate that there are in existence a number of accounts written by eye wit- nesses, some of them being scientific men and some others, men of education and train- ing. Perhaps the best known scientist who felt the shocks and described them, was the great naturalist, John James Audubon, who at the time was in Kentucky. John Brad- bury, an English botanist, was on a keel boat on the Mississippi river a few miles below New Madrid; the expedition of Major Long was passing through the region on its way from Pittsburgh to the Rocky moimtains; L. Bringier, an engineer and surveyor, was on the scene of the shocks; and Captain Roose- velt was on board a steamer going down the river. Besides these men of scientific train- ing who were on the scene, there were others at a somewhat greater distance who made a record of the shocks, among them being Dan- iel Drake at Cincinnati and Jared Brooks at Louisville ; while S. L. Mitchill, a well known geologist and member of congress, collected all the available information about the earth- quakes. It was fortunate, too, that the scene was visited by Timothy Flint, a Presbyterian minister and a writer on geography, and by Sir Charles Lyell the great English geologist. In addition to these there were accounts writ- ten by a number of other persons ; one of these accounts, that of Mrs. Eliza Bryan, is given in this chapter. Godfrey LeSieur, the former well-known citizen of New Madrid and a mem- ber of the famous French family that founded the town, was at the time at Little Prairie and has given a vivid and interesting account of his experiences ; this account is abbreviated in this chapter, also. Senator Lewis F. Linn was interested in the catastrophe and collected information concerning it which he made public in a letter containing a full account of the shocks. Besides all these there exist fragmentary statements from a number of other persons, so that contemporaiy accounts of events are reasonably full. A comparison of all these accounts discloses the fact that they are in reasonable accord in their description and the main facts con- cerning the earthquake shocks seem to rest on the concurring testimony of these wit- nesses. The night of December 15, 1811, was as quiet and iindisturbed during its early hours as any other of the hundreds of nights that had passed. There seems to have been nothing to give warning of any change im- pending. Some who wrote afterwards speak as if there was a peculiar condition of the air, but these accounts indicate only that it was probably damp and foggy weather. About 2 o'clock in the morning of December 16, the earth suddenly shook and vibrated with ter- rific force ; the houses, most of them built of logs, were greatly shaken, some of them being thrown into instant ruin. The inhabitants made their way as best they could out of