NEW MADRID FAULT (MO-AR-KY-TN) — On this day in 1811, the natural disaster that became known as the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811–1812 began.
Centered near New Madrid, Missouri, the earthquake sent shocks for hundreds of miles throughout northeast Arkansas, western Tennessee, southwest Kentucky and southeast Missouri.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Courtesy Encyclopedia Britannica.
An even larger disturbance occurred on January 23, 1812, with aftershocks lasting until February 4. Another violent quake, the reported 7.5, occurred on February 7.
Arkansas suffered the greatest amount of damage, but loss of life was minimal because the area affected was sparsely populated.
Cypress growth in Reelfoot Lake Tennessee after New Madrid earthquake. Unknown photographer and date.
Missouri State Archives
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The first shock was about 2 o’clock a.m., on the night of December 16, 1811, and was very hard, shaking down log houses, chimneys, etc. It was followed at intervals from half an hour to an hour apart by comparatively slight shocks, until about 7 o’clock in the morning, when a rumbling noise was heard in the west, not unlike distant thunder, and in an instant the earth began to totter and shake so that no persons were able to stand or walk. This lasted a minute, then the earth was observed to be rolling in waves of a few feet in height, with a visible depression between. These swells burst, throwing up large volumes of water, sand and a species of charcoal, which by its peculiar odor was thought to be Sulphur. Where these swells burst, large, wide and long, fissures were left running north and south parallel with each other for miles. I have seen some four or five miles in length, four and one-half feet deep on average, and about ten feet wide.