1811 — Dec 16-Feb 7, 2012 New Madrid Earthquakes, NE AR, KY, TN, esp. MO~379-1,000
— ~1,000 Hunter, Frances. “William Clark and the New Madrid Earthquakes.” 11-19-2009.
— 500-1,000 Stewart and Knox. The Earthquake America Forgot. 1995, p. 209.
— >379 Blanchard tally of specific, more or less, accounts noted by Stewart and Knox.
–Dozens-100s Clay. Still Casting Shadows. 2006, p. 166.
— <100 Hendricks. “New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812,” Encyclopedia of AK History.
Arkansas ( >20)
— >10 Big Prairie area.[1]
— 1 Newport area, White River, Dec 16, 1811. Man drowned when water rose; swept away.[2]
— >10 Little Prairie area.[3]
Kentucky ( >10)
— >10 Blanchard guestimate.[4]
— 1 About 80 miles east of New Madrid, Jan 23. Christ Girl. Stewart and Knox, pp. 207-209.
— >5 Stewart and Knox write that “many” families besides the Christ family lost members.[5]
Missouri ( >139)
— 1 Kennett area, Jan 23. Boy looking for cattle never returned (quicksand or sand boil?).[6]
— 10 New Madrid, Dec 16, 1811. Stewart and Knox, pp. 207-209.
— 1 New Madrid, after Dec 16. Exposure; elderly person. Stewart and Knox, pp. 207-209.
— >3 New Madrid, Feb 7. MS Riv. “giant wave” rushed overland at St. John’s Bayou mouth.[7]
— 24 New Madrid area, Island #94, Feb 7. Stewart and Knox write 2 dozen pirates drowned.
–>100 New Madrid “second waterfall,” Feb 7-10. Stewart and Knox, p. 208.[8]
Tennessee ( >10)
— >10 Reelfoot Lake area. Native Americans.[9]
Mississippi River (~200)
— ~100 Feb 7-10, Vincent Nolte convoy. Stewart and Knox, p. 108.[10]
— ~100 Feb 7-19, other boats than those of Vincent Nolte convoy. Stewart and Know, p. 108.[11]
Narrative Information
Clay: “The power unleashed during the most severe quake, on February 7th, 1812, was so massive that the 2,300 mile long mighty Mississippi changed course, diverted water (one consequence of which was the forming of Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee), created temporary waterfalls that claimed several boats – which capsized when they plunged over the falls –, opened up fissures below the River which generated large whirlpools that sucked boats into its depths, killed dozens or possibly hundreds of people (even though the region was sparsely settled)…” (Clay. Still Casting Shadows. 2006, p. 166.)
Stewart and Knox: “How Many Died”
“Ten people were reported dead at New Madrid on December 16. On the same date a man drowned in Arkansas when the Write River, near present-day Newport, suddenly rose during the tremors and swept him away. The squeezing action of seismic waves on underground aquifers can cause sudden large discharges of groundwater into streams causing earthquake-induced flash flooding. A boy in the St. Francis River bottoms near present-day Kennett, Missouri, was also counted as dead from the quakes. He was looking for lost cattle on January 23 and never returned. He was probably drowned in a sunk land, washed away by a seismic flash flood, or caught in the quicksand of a sand boil. At least one elderly person is known to have died of exposure when the populace of New Madrid evacuated and camped in tents and lean-tos at the start of the series, which was during the coldest months of winter. No doubt there were many others. A number of people died at New Madrid during the dark hours of February 7th when the waters of the Mississippi rushed over the land in a giant wave at the mouth of St. John’s Bayou, but no one knows how many. Also killed were a couple of dozen pirates on Island # 94.
“The Crist family living in Kentucky, approximately 80 miles due east of New Madrid, lost one daughter on January 23, but they were not alone. Many of their neighbors had been injured and had also lost loved ones….
“According to some accounts less than twenty deaths were documented on land but this is extremely misleading. No systematic effort was ever made to compile all the reports and obtain a true account. Since communications were so poor and many families and communities lived in isolation, most deaths on land, like those on the river, probably were unrecorded. Reasonable estimates would be at least a hundred deaths on land, if not double or triple that figure. These casualties would have been from a variety of earthquake phenomena, including landslides, earthquake flooding, caving river banks, crevasses, and collapsing cabins.
“According to the traditions of the Indians, there were more redskins killed than white men. This would make sense, for the Native Americans outnumbered the settlers at least two to one throughout the zone of the greatest disturbances. Since they often camped on the river’s edge, they would have been particularly vulnerable to the threat of earthquake-induced flooding and failing banks that pushed many of their camps into deadly waters. There were probably many Indian villages that were sunk and flooded like Little Prairie…
“For example, in the formation of Reelfoot Lake, Indians say that a village was drowned and everyone killed. We should probably take them at their word on this instead of considering such a report as ‘legend.’ It is also highly probable that one or more Indian villages were drowned in the formation of Big Lake. And when the town of Big Prairie disappeared in Arkansas, Indians along the river there also reported the submergence of one or more Indian villages with complete loss of life.
“In totaling deaths from the New Madrid earthquakes, those of the Native Americans have never been really considered. One reason for this was that there was no mechanism by which red man’s losses were tallied into white man’s records. Hence, these data were just not available.
“One thing is certain. Hundreds of Native Americans died who were never counted. Many were lost in their camps and villages, and many were lost from their canoes, as testified by the large numbers of empty ones seen drifting downstream during the five months of the siege.
“The River of Death
“As or the Mississippi River, untold hundred lost their lives. A crude accounting could be made for some. For example, at least a hundred lives were probably lost over the second waterfall at New Madrid between February 7 and 10, as witnessed by those on shore. There were also the nineteen lost boats of the Vincent Nolte convoy, which could account for another 100 lives lost. And Nolte’s boats weren’t the only ones to disappear below New Madrid that day. These, plus scattered records of other boats lost, might add up to another 100-200. No one knows how many died over the first waterfall ten miles above New Madrid and while Mathias Speed and his crew survived the violence of the river’s retrograde motion, no one knows how many others did not. Most deaths on the river could never be accounted for. Only the battered debris of their broken, empty vessels were available to tell the tale.
“Surviving passengers, and those fortunate enough to preserve their lives while witnessing events from the shores, reported seeing numerous enormous river bank cave-ins. Sometimes a mile or more of land would collapse at once. Boats tied up to slumping banks were buried, swamped and sunk, often with everyone still aboard. These massive cave-ins also caused huge waves that rapidly swept across the channel, bashing the other side and bouncing back. Many boats caught in the middle were capsized by this process. [208]
“During the five months of the earthquakes, from December to May, boatmen became so afraid of being sunk and killed by a failing bank that many preferred to drift in the middle of the river at night rather than take a chance by tying up on the edge. Stories of sinking islands deterred many from tying up there, as well. Some reported seeing chasms opening up in the river where turbid waters rushed in – sucking boats and their occupants into the abyss, never to be seen again. At other times the waters would suddenly rise or suddenly fall several feet. The river was a very dangerous place to be….
“In total, then by our manner of reckoning, deaths of all races from the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 would definitely be in excess of 500. That would be the low estimate. It would not be unreasonable to postulate that the number of deaths was greater than 1,000. Most would not have been residents of the area, but travelers passing through on the river. Any way you figure it, 500 to 1,000 is a significant percent of the sparse population of the region in that time, which numbered no more than 15,000 – including every white settler, black slave, and redskin.
“Many previous publications have remarked on the low number of fatalities attributable to the New Madrid earthquakes. Some sources have placed the number of deaths on land at less than a dozen and have not added to this any estimate of deaths on the river. As for Native Americans, it does not appear that anyone has included these mortalities, which were considerable. By attempting to account for everyone, as we have done here, an entirely different picture emerges….” (Stewart and Knox. The Earthquake America Forgot. 1995, p. 207-209.)
USGS: “In the winter of 1811-12, the central Mississippi Valley was struck by three of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history. Even today, this region has more earthquakes than any other part of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Government agencies, universities, and private organizations are working to increase awareness of the earthquake threat and to reduce loss of life and property in future shocks.
“The 400 terrified residents in the town of New Madrid (Missouri) were abruptly awakened by violent shaking and a tremendous roar. It was December 16, 1811, and a powerful earthquake had just struck. This was the first of three magnitude-8 earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks to rock the region that winter.
“Survivors reported that the earthquakes caused cracks to open in the earth’s surface, the ground to roll in visible waves, and large areas of land to sink or rise. The crew of the New Orleans (the first steamboat on the Mississippi, which was on her maiden voyage) reported mooring to an island only to awake in the morning and find that the island had disappeared below the waters of the Mississippi River. Damage was reported as far away as Charleston, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C….” (USGS. “The Mississippi Valley – “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.’)
Sources
Clay, Shannon, B. “The Father of Waters Runs Backwards,” pp. 164-168 in Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2006. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=hBY_tIqFBysC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Hendricks. Nancy. “New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812,” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Nov 18, 2009 update. Accessed at: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2218
Hunter, Frances. “William Clark and the New Madrid Earthquakes.” Frances Hunter’s American Heroes Blog, 11-19-2009. Accessed 11-23-2016 at: https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/william-clark-and-the-new-madrid-earthquakes/
Stewart, David, and Ray Knox. The Earthquake America Forgot: 2,000 Temblors in Five Months… Marble Hill, MO: Gutenberg-Richter Publications, 1995. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=v-bfoPtOnW4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Additional Reading
New Madrid, Missouri. “Earthquakes of 1811-1812.” Accessed 11-23-2016 at: http://www.new-madrid.mo.us/Index.aspx?NID=102
- S. Geological Survey. History Earthquakes. “Mew Madrid 1811-1812 Earthquakes.” 10-31-2012 modification. Accessed 11-23-2016 at: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php
[1] Stewart and Knox write “…when the town of Big Prairie disappeared in Arkansas, Indians along the river there also reported the submergence of one or more Indian villages with complete loss of life.”
[2] Stewart and Knox, pp. 207-209.)
[3] Stewart/Knox write “There were probably many Indian villages that were sunk and flooded like Little Prairie…” (For the purpose of our tally we convert into >10, though Stewart and Knox speculate that hundreds died.
[4] If many families in western KY lost a family member, as Stewart and Knox write, it appears to us that if one considers this as well as unrecorded White and Native American deaths, then it seems there were at least ten deaths.
[5] For the purpose of a tally, we convert “many” into >5.
[6] Stewart and Knox, pp. 207-209.)
[7] Stewart and Knox (pp. 207-209) write “A number of people died at New Madrid during the dark hours of February 7th when the waters of the Mississippi rushed over the land in a giant wave at the mouth of St. John’s Bayou, but no one know how many.” (For the purpose of a tally, we convert “a number of people” into >3.)
[8] “…at least a hundred lives were probably lost over the second waterfall at New Madrid between February 7 and 10, as witnessed by those on shore.”
[9] Stewart/Knox write :…in the formation of Reelfoot Lake, Indians say that a village was drowned and everyone killed. We should probably take them at their word on this instead of considering such a report as ‘legend.’)
[10] “There were…nineteen lost boats of the Vincent Nolte convoy, which could account for another 100 lives lost.”
[11] “Nolte’s boats weren’t the only ones to disappear below New Madrid that day. These, plus scattered records of other boats lost, might add up to another 100-200.”