The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-09-02
PREVIOUS EARTHQUAKES.
Recollections Of Some of the Destructiv,
Shocks Recorded in History.

RecOllections of Some of the Destructive
Shocks Recorded in History.
The greatest earthquake that ever occurred in
the United States was confined to Kentucky.
Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee, and is
known as ''the earthquake of New Madrid" It
began in 1911. and shocks continued at varying
intervals until March &c, 1872. BY it the town
of New Madrid, Mo-, on the Mississippi opposite
the Kentucky shore, was ruined. New Madrid
had been founded some years before in the ex-
pectation of becoming great city and the me-
tropos of the Mississippi valley. Now it is
nothing but a lonely village.
This great earthquake changed the whole
face of the country on either side of the Missis-
sippi over an area extending from the Ohio river
three hundred miles south. The ground rose
and sank in great undulations Large lakes
were formed and were drained again. The sur
face of the earth burst open in assures, always
trembling from the northeast to the southwest.
These chasmS were sometimes n half mile
wide, and from them mud and water were
spurted as high as the tops of trees. The
inhabitants, In terror, fled from their homes
and some of them persisted in the assures while
others were crushed by falling trees. The chan
mel of the Mississippi was changed, and rivers
flowed where there was dry land before. Dur
ing the continuance of these commissions
the inhabitants distinguished two kinds
of movements, the vertical and hori-
Zontal, the latter being regarded as far
more desolatine than the former. The section
is still known as the Sunk Country" and the
traces of the great earthquake are still there
In the low grounds lies the rotting trunks of
trees thrown down by the coHvulsions Reelfoot
Lake, the resort OF hunceeSs; WAS almost entirely
created by it, and half of the other lakes in that
locality owe their origin to the'same cause. The
great explorer and scientist, Alexander Hum
boldt, remarks that this presents one of the few
examples of the incessant quaking of the ground
for several successive months far from any vol
cano. This earthquake ceased coincdently with
that more destructive CONFUSION which over
threw the city of Caracas. in Venezuela, and
killed thousands of her inhabitants.
The most severe earthquake that has been re-
corded in the Middle and Eastern States was
that of Nov. Is, 1855. The shock was undoubt-
edly wave promulgated either from the same
center whence emanated the tremendous disturb
ances that half destroyed Lisbon on the let of
the month, or from a center whose activity had
been stimulated by the continued quaking that
had prevailed from Iceland to the Mediterranean.
This earthquake began in Massachusetts with A
roaring noise like that of thunder; after min
utes continuance of this there came the first SCI
we're shock, like that of long rolling sea-a
swell so great that men in the open fields ran in
terror to seize something to hold to. After two
or three lesser shocks came the most severe of
all. 1t was quick horizontal tremor, with sud
den jerks and wrenches, continuing for two
minutes. In Boston many buildings were thrown
down, and throughout the country stone fences
were thrown down. New springs were opened,
and fish were killed and hoated to the surface of
the water
One of the greatest earthquakes ever known
was that OF Calabria in 1873, in which it is COM