New Madrid County, Missouri
John Franklin Cloud was living here in 1914 according to the birth certificate of his daughter Maude Lou. However, it must have been for a short period of time as the census shows he was living in Lake County, Tennessee in both 1910 and 1920. This area is the location of the largest fault line east of the Continental Divide and they undoubtedly experienced tremors during their stay here or in Lake County, across the Mississippi River in Tennessee. An eyewitness to the great New Madrid earthquake of 1811-12 described it as follows:
New Madrid, Territory of Missouri, March 22, 1816
Dear Sir,
In compliance with your request, I will now give you a history, as full
in detail as the limits of the letter will permit, of the late awful visitation
of Providence in this place and vicinity. On the 16th of December, 1811,
about two o'clock, A.M., we were visited by a violent shock of an earthquake,
accompanied by a very awful distant thunder, but more hoarse and vibrating,
which was followed
in a few minutes
by the complete saturation of the atmosphere, with sulphurious vapor, causing
total darkness. The screams of the affrighted inhabitants running to and
fro, not knowing where to go, or what to do - the cries of the fowls and
beasts of every species - the cracking of trees falling, and the roaring
of the Mississippi - the current of which was retrograde for a few minutes,
owing as is supposed, to an irruption in its bed -- formed a scene truly
horrible. From that time until about sunrise, a number of lighter shocks
occurred; at which time one still more violent than the first took place,
with the same accompaniments as the first, and the terror which had been
excited in everyone, and indeed in all animal nature, was now, if possible
doubled. The inhabitants fled in every direction to the country, supposing
(if it can be admitted that their minds can be exercised at all) that there
was less danger at a distance from, than near to the river. In one person,
a female, the alarm was so great that she fainted, and could not be recovered.
There were several shocks of a day, but lighter than those already mentioned
until the 23d of January, 1812, when one occurred as violent as the severest
of the former ones, accompanied by the same phenomena as the former. From
this time until the 4th of February the earth was in continual agitation,
visibly waving as a gentle sea. On that day there was another shock, nearly
as hard as the proceeding ones. Next day four such, and on the 7th about
4 o'clock A.M., a concussion took place so much more violent than those that
had proceeded it, that it was dominated the hard shock. The awful darkness
of the atmosphere, which was formerly saturated with sulphurious vapor, and
the violence of the tempestuous thundering noise that accompanied it, together
with all of the other phenomena mentioned as attending the former ones, formed
a scene, the description of which would require the most sublimely fanciful
imagination. At first the Mississippi seemed to recede from its banks, and
its waters gathering up like a mountain, leaving for the moment many boats,
which were here on their way to New Orleans, on bare sand, in which time
the poor sailors made their escape from them. It then rising fifteen to twenty
feet perpendicularly, and expanding, as it were, at the same moment, the
banks were overflowed with the retrogade current, rapid as a torrent - the
boats which before had been left on the sand were now torn from their moorings,
and suddenly driven up a little creek, at the mouth of which they laid, to
the distance in some instances, of nearly a quarter of a mile. The river
falling immediately, as rapid as it had risen, receded in its banks again
with such violence, that it took with it whole groves of young cotton-wood
trees, which ledged its borders. They were broken off which such regularity,
in some instances, that persons who had not witnessed the fact, would be
difficultly persuaded, that is has not been the work of art. A great many
fish were left on the banks, being unable to keep pace with the water. The
river was literally covered with the wrecks of boats, and 'tis said that
one was wrecked in which there was a lady and six children, all of whom were
lost. In all the hard shocks mentioned, the earth was horribly torn to pieces
- the surface of hundreds of acres, was, from time to time, covered over,
in various depths, by the sand which issued from the fissures, which were
made in great numbers all over this country, some of which closed up immediately
after they had vomited forth their sand and water, which it must be remarked,
was the matter generally thrown up. In some places, however, there was a
substance somewhat resembling coal, or impure stone coal, thrown up with
the sand. It is impossible to say what the depths of the fissures or irregular
breaks were; we have reason to believe that some of them are very deep. The
site of this town was evidently settled down at least fifteen feet, and not
more than a half a mile below the town there does not appear to be any alteration
on the bank of the river, but back from the river a small distance, the numerous
large ponds or lakes, as they are called, which covered a great part of the
country were nearly dried up. The beds of some of them are elevated above
their former banks several feet, producing an alteration of ten, fifteen
to twenty feet, from their original state. And lately it has been discovered
that a lake was formed on the opposite side of the
Mississippi,
in the Indian country, upwards of one hundred miles in length, and from one
to six miles in width, of the depth of ten to fifty feet. It has communication
with the river at both ends, and it is conjectured that it will not be many
years before the principal part, if not the whole of the Mississippi, will
pass that way. We were constrained by the fear of our houses falling to live
twelve or eighteen months, after the first shocks, in little light camps
made of boards; but we gradually became callous, and returned to our houses
again. Most of those who fled from the country in the time of the hard shocks
have since returned home. We have, since the commencement in 1811, and still
continue to feel, slight shocks occasionally. It is seldom indeed that we
are more than a week without feeling one, and sometimes three of four in
a day. There were two this winter past much harder than we had felt them
for two years before; but since then they appear to be lighter than they
have ever been, and we begin to hope that ere long they will entirely cease.
I have now, sir, finished my promised description of the earthquake - imperfect
it is true, but just as it occurred to my memory; many of, and most of the
truly awful scenes, having occurred three or four years ago. They of course
are not related with that precision which would entitle it to the character
of a full and accurate picture. But such as it is, it is given with pleasure
- in the full confidence that it is given to a friend. And now, sir, wishing
you all good, I must bid you adieu.
Your humble servant,
Eliza Bryan
There is one circumstance which I think worthy of remark. This country was formerly subject to very hard thunder; but for more than twelve months before the commencement of the earthquake there was none at all, and but very little since, a great part of which resembles subterraneous thunder. The shocks still continue, but are growing more light, and less frequent. -E.B.
The central Mississippi Valley is the most earthquake-prone region of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Crosses show the locations of the many earthquakes recorded in the New Madrid seismic zone since 1974.
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