7 6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



OUR GREATEST EARTHQUAKES 1 



By MYRON LESLIE FULLER 



UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



T3R0BABLY few people are aware that the greatest earthquake our 

 -*- country has experienced since its settlement was not the de- 

 structive shock at Charleston in 1886, or even the recent terrifying 

 manifestation at San Francisco, but was, on the contrary, the now 

 almost forgotten earthquake of New Madrid, the first tremors of which 

 took place on the sixteenth of December, 1811. Strange is that trait 

 of human nature by which even the most appalling of nature's mani- 

 festations slip rapidly from the memory, so that only a hundred years 

 later little but tradition remains of the earthquake which changed the 

 configuration of extensive areas of the Mississippi Valley, raising some 

 portions, depressing others, shifting the course of streams, draining 

 old swamps at one point and forming new lakes at others. All this 

 and more, however, took place during the successive vibrations which 

 shook the New Madrid region almost continuously for a period of 

 many months in 1811 and 1812. 



The Neiv Madrid Earthquake 



The night of December 15, 1811, fell quiet and peaceful, and the 

 settlers retired little dreaming of the impending catastrophe. At two 

 o'clock in the morning, however, they suddenly awoke to find the 

 houses over their heads groaning and cracking, chimneys falling, furni- 

 ture thrown about, and the earth rocking and trembling. Groping 

 tbeir way to the open fields they huddled together until morning, the 

 shock which succeeded shock at short intervals in the darkness keeping 

 them from returning to their tottering houses. At New Madrid, on 

 the Mississippi, the French population were dancing away the night 

 when the shock came and instantly terminated the revelings, joy being 

 replaced by terror as they rushed from the buildings to the open, where 

 catholics and protestants alike knelt in supplication during the remain- 

 ing hours of the night. 



Daylight brought little relief. At seven a rumbling like distant 

 thunder was heard and in an instant the earth was convulsed so that 

 no one could stand. Looking at the ground the terrified people saw it 

 rise and fall, as earth waves, like those upon the sea, rushed past, wa- 

 ving the trees until their branches interlocked and causing yawning 



1 Published by permission of the director of the United States Geological 

 Survey. 



