Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1909-07-29
IN THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
Those of 1811-13 Caused
Great Change in Topography
of the Country.
From the Philadelphia Record.

curious ana instructive example OF
Hle manner in which a hardy and cour-
ageous people may face great peril apd
all imminent death may be found in the
conduct of the pioneers who Inhabited
the lower Mississippi valley during the
severe earthquake shocks OF 1S11-13.
Although the colonlzing OF the district
had just begun, the area of country al
ready cleared by settlers was SO great
that the United States government was
to furnish some hundreds of
thousands of acres Of new land ON
higher ground to those whose dwelling
places had been rendered uninhabita BILE
by the sinking OF the earth's surface.
Save perhaps, that which, in 1919.
disturbed the delta Of IT. the ,, Indus; in
earthquake OF 1911 directly produced
more extensive and permanent local
geographical changes than any other of
which an accurate account exists. So
violent and continuous We're the shak-
ings that the alluNial land In the neigh
borhood OF New Madrid was lowered 10
feet or more below the previous level.
Into this depressed region the stream
of the Mississippi poured with such
violence that for a time its lower wa
ters, for considerable part OF their
course. turned backward toward their
source.
1t seems likely. judging from existing
data on the subject that an area of not
average, though irregularly, lowered to
the depth of 10 feet below its original
level. The energy of the shocks was so
great that the low. strongly built cab
ms OF the pioneers We're wrecked. Great
forest trees, too. We're beaten against
each other, and their branches Inter-
locked as they swung to and fro. The
irregular movements of the ground led
to the formation OF numerous crevices.
from which turbid water was frequent
ly thrown up to a considerable height.
And precisely at this point OF the mar
rative tbs high courage OF these hardy
American pioneers should be noted.
Guided by an instructive knowledge of
natural laws. and determined not to
abandon the land in panic. they felled
trees so that they lay on the ground at
right angles to the general trend OF the
assures. and built places of refuge on
the broad foundations which they thus
brave men who thus faced terrible
natural catastrophe--coolly. courage
ously. untlinchingly-shor afterward
shouldered their rifles and marched to
Join General Jackson In the defense OF
New Orleans.
Thus these brave men lived, their
women and children remaining with
them, until the gradual subsistence OF
the shocks and the reformation OF the
land enabled them to select new sites
for their permanent homes. They seem
to have accepted the strange and un-
natural situation as calmly as they
faced the British regulars at New Or
leans; and in the earthquake region,
as on the field of battle. their natural
shrewdness supplied the place of exact
e.NtA lrv,N Lodi hn hJ,e
they had felled supported their tempo
rary dwellings until the shocks grad
ualy subsidized. and. although new fis-
sures opened In the ground. those al
ready formed did not widen.
The peculiar local subsistence OF the
land which occurred during the earth-
/ quakes of 1871 in the alluvial region
of tho Mississippi valley Is probably to
| be attributed to the fact that in delta
regions the frequent changes in the
i path OF the stream form numerous
i lakes in the abandoned portions of the
4 river bed. These natural basins grad
ually become filled with Accommodations
! of vegetable matter and in time are
| flooded over. so to speak, by the river
cations of the effaced lakes are re-
moved. Then the thick layers OF veg
etable matter gradually decays, the
4 carbon unites with the oxygen or be-
comes a gas and escapes to the atmos
phere through the porous covering OF
| the earth. When this process of decay
| has gone on for a great period. ar
| earthquake shock causes the mass to
settle together. and. as result, the
surface is much lowered. The shocks
1 which affected the Mississippi valley ir
\ 1S11-l3 are, by their violence and con
| tinuity. to be ranked among the first
score OF recorded earthquakes.