The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-02-20

ling earth slide from the shore, and the commo-
motion as the falling mass of ear th and trees
was swallowed up by the river. = The lady of
: the party, a delicate female, wis frequently
awakened from her restless slunlbers by the
Jar given to the furniture and loose articles in
H the cabin, as several times in the course Of the
cl..a,y. - - shock of the passing earthquake was
communicated from ne iSis'nu 70 she DOW of
lthesvesscl It was long night, but morning
idawned and showed tSem that they were near
iise mouth of the Ohio. The shores and the
channel were now equal y unrecos snlzaole, ior
everything seemed changed. About neap shas
day they reached the small town OF new Mad
| rid, on the right bank of the Mississlppl. Here
they found the inhabitants in the greatest DIS
tress and CONSERVATION; part OF the populatIon
had fed in terror TO the higher GROUNDS 9tners
prayed to be taken on beard, as the earth vas
opening in ,fissures on every side,S and their
houses hourly falling around them.49b
Proceeding from thence, they found TIE Mis-
|sssippi, at all times fearful stream, now un-.
usually swollen, turbid and full of trees; and
after many days Of great danger, though they
felt and perceived no more of the earthquakes,
they reached their destination at Natchez, at
the close of the first week in january, 1873, 70
the great astonishment of all, the escape of
the boat having been considered an impossible
ity. Heo
At that time you foated for three or four
hundred miles on the river without Seeing
human habitation. rim "a
Snch was the voyage of the first steamer
The natural convulson, which commenced at
the time of her descent, has been but slightly
alluded to, but will never be forgottenain the
history of the West and the changes wrought
by it throughout the whole alluvial region
through which the Ohio and Mississippi pour
their waters, were perhaps as remarkable as
any on record. We hear less of its effects,
because the region in which it occurred was
of such vast extent and so thinly poopled-
That part of the alluvial country which is
contiguous to the point of junction Of the two
rivers, and especially the vicinity Of New
Madrid, seems to have been the center of the
There, during the years il811
and 1913, the earth broke into innumerable
assures, the church-yard, with its dead, was
torn from the bank, and engulphed in the tur-
bid stream. To the present day it would ap-
pear that frequent slight shocks of earthquakes
are there felt; and it is asserted that in the vast
swamp at the back of the town. strange sounds
may at times be heard, as of some mighty
cauldron bubbling in the bowels of the earth.
Along the banks of the river, thousands of
acres with their gigantic growth of forest and
cane, Were swallowed up, and lakes and ponds
nnumerable were formed.
The earth, in many parts, was observed to
burst suddenly open, and jets of sand, mud,
and water to shoot up into the air. The beds
Of these giant streams seemed totally over
turned, islands disappeared, and, in many
parts, the course of the river was completely
changed Great inundations were the conse-
luence. The clear waters of the ST. Francis
were obstructed, the ancient channel destroy
I'd, and the river spread over vast tract of
swamp. In many places the gaping earth
lnfolded its secrets and the bones of gigantic
nastodon and icthyosarus, hidden within its
,osom for ages, was brought to the surface
3oats and arks without number were swal-
owed up some buried by the falling in of the
'anks, and others dragged down with the is
ands to which they were anchored. And,
inally, you may still meet and converse with
hose who were on the mighty river of the
vest when the whole stream ran towards its
ources for an entire hour, and then resuming
is ordinary course, hurried them helpless on
IS whirling surface with accelerated motion
owards the Gulf