Mississippi River's Three Worst Disasters
The New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 -- The area known as New Madrid was, in 1811, a ways upriver and was sparsely populated. After the Revolution, people were flocking west, crossing the Appalachian Mountains, but blessedly there were few settlers in the New Madrid area in 1811. So what happened? On 16 December 1811, at 2:15 am, not one but THREE magnitude 8.0 or higher shook the area in that one day. In January 1812, there was another big shake, followed in February by a last 8.8 shock. Church bells rang as far away as Charleston, South Carolina, and Boston. These four big quakes in a three month period happened because “a seam between two plates pulled apart,” explained our presenter. “And the quakes continue to today…. There have been 4000 quakes recorded since 1974! And if and when another big one comes, the entire Midwest will be in big trouble,” he mused. The Sultana disaster of 1865 -- In the early morning hours of 27 April 1865, mere days after...