The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-01-18
THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1911.

1t Wrought Great Destruction in the
West, Especially in Missouri.
There We're no Big Cities in the West Then
to Shake to Pieces.
est. Louis Globe Democrat
Records show that ever since man be-
came proprietor of this mundane sphere,
earthquakes have been q source of terri
BILE surprises to him, coming as they do
unexpectedly, and leaving as they do in
thu same manner, without any reasonable
signs OF approach or retreat, and wlthal
cond uoting the whole catastrophe without
exhibiting any physical causes, they have
become the pet mysteries of scientists
and the horror of all mankind. However.
it was not until recent years that the
phenomenon has been subjected to care
full scientific analysis.
The writings of the ancient philosophers
Aristotle, Seneca, Livy, Thucydides,
Strabo and score of others-on the
science of seismology have been found to
be perfectly valueless to the scientist of
today. The descriptions of. the shocks
and the havoc they wrought were SO ex-
aggerated. and the causes were explained
by such fanciful hypothesis, that the ses-
mologist finds nothing in the records of
nomenon.
The great earthquake which destroyed
Lisbon, in 1855, when 10000 lives were
lost in less than twenty four hours, was
one of the greatest shocks recorded in all
history. The people of China and Japan
make preparations every year for the per-
iodio quake which annually visits their
countries.
Earthquakes in the United States have
been of comparatively rare occurrence, SO
ar as any extensive destruction of life
and property have been involved. By far
the greatest of these prior to the disas-
trous California earthquakes, of 1865 and
1868, was that which took place at New
Madrid, in Missouri, below ST. Louis. on
the Mississippi, in 1911 and which is al
ways spoken of in that section as "the
great earthquake"
THE SHAKE-UP.
The shock was felt from Pittsburg
through the Ohio Valley to New Madrid.
Over a region of country three hundred
miles in length, from the mouth of the
Ohio to that of St. Francis, the ground
rose and sank in great fluctuations, and
lakes were formed and drained again.
The central point of violence in this
remarkable earthquake was thought to be
near the Little Prairie, twenty-five miles
below New Madrid. The first shock was
felt on the night of December 16, and
was repeated at intervals, with decreas-
ing severity, until the middle of Febru
airy.
Every town in Ohio and Mississippi was
severely shaken up, the water of the river
which the day before was tolerably clear,
being rather low, changed to a reddish
hue, ana became thick with mud thrown
up from the bottom, while the surface,
dashed vehemently by the CONFUSION of
the earth Beneath, was covered with foam
which, gathering into masses the size
of barrel, foated along ON the tremb-
ling surface. The earth on the shores
opened in wide assures, and, closing
again, threw the sand, mud and water
in huge jets higher than the housetops.
The atmosphere was filled with thick
vapor gas, to which the light impaired a
purple tinge. From the temporary check
to the current by the heaving up of the
bottom, the sinking of the banks and
sandbars into the bed of the stream, the
river rose in a few minutes five or six
feet, and, impatient of the restraint,
again rushed forward with redoubIed i'm
pstuosity, hurrying along the boats, now
set loose by panic-stricken boatmen, as in
less danger on the water than at shore,
where the banks threatened every moment
to destroy them by falling earth, or carry
them down in the vortex of sinking
masses.
Many boats were overwhelmed in this
manner, and the crews persisted with
them. Numerous boats were wrecked on
the snags and old trees thrown up from
the bottom of the river, where they had
quietly rested for ages; while others were
sunk or stranded on the sandbars or is
lands.
CAUSE AND EFFECT.
1t is an interesting coincidence that at
this precise period the first steamboat
voyage ever made in Western waters add
ed the novelty of its occurrence to the
commissions of nature in this region.
The name of the steamboat was the New
Orleans, commanded by Mr.. Roosevelt.
In drifting down the river, suddenly
they found the weather oppressively hot,
the air misty, still and dull, and though
the sun was visible, like an immense
a.la han 1,f hia