“Extract of a letter from a gentleman at the mouth of the Cumberland to his friend in Woodford County, dated February 10th 1812

Date

2-22-1812

Newspaper

Reporter

Page and Column

Page 3, Column 2 and 3

Newspaper Location

Lexington, Kentucky

Serial Number

274

Abstract

Account by unknown author that has some descriptions of the New Madrid earthquakes and other phenomenon associated with it.

Transcript

Extract of a letter from a gentleman at the mouth of Cumberland, to his friend in Woodford County, dated February 10th, 1812. SIR-The attention which I have paid to the circumstances attendant on the late shocks of the earth, and the opportunity which I have had of conversing with those who have left their homes on the bottoms of the Mississippi River, near the little Prairie, to avoid danger, an account of which you have no doubt seen in the newspapers, has convinced me of the cause and the seat of this alarming phenomenon. I am now convinced that these shocks are produced by a volcano, forming in the [unreadable] of ridges or mountains, which lie between the head waters of the Arkansaw and Missisippi--I found this opinion upon a variety of circumstances, some of which I beg leave to detail to you. I shall be glad to hear from you on the subject, after you have resorted to the best authors; which I am at a great loss for. The whole of the shocks, together with the noise accompanying them, correspond precisely with the recollection I have of volcanic eruptions in other sections of the globe; and to crown all, a light was seen by myself and many others, on the morning of the 6th inst. ascending in a regular column from the point which the noise is heard from. This light could be no other than light rising from a crater in a burning mountain-shortly after the above light was seen, a heavy roaring was heard in the same direction, which seemed to go off by explosions not unlike distant thunder.-This light and roaring so distinctly heard, compels me to believe that the light arose from the fire thrown out of a burning mountain; and that the roaring which was so appaling to the feelings of those who heard it, was an immense surface of the same mountain which gave way and fell in to a great depth, you will no doubt, object to this reasoning and tell me no volcano was ever seen or heard 800 or 1000 miles. I admit that I have never heard of such a case; but may not this be the greatest that ever existed, or may not the cause which produced volcanoes be deposited deeper in the bowels of the earth than at any other place; or again; it is unreasonable to suppose that the first explosion is greater than any subsequent one can be when the crater is regularly formed. Oppose this opinion any way you please, I shall attend to your arguments with greater pleasure; but I doubt very much whether I can be changed. The above noise and light has in some degree influenced me, in fixing the position of the volcano, which I have placed 35 degrees north, about 600 miles south of west from the mouth of Cumberland. The information derived from those who have fled from the west side of the Mississippi, and the Indians who were 300 miles beyond them on the 16th of December, convinces me in the strongest manner that the volcano can not be more than 600 miles from us. The information given by the above persons, including the Indians, confirms me in the belief of the course which I had formed from the roaring and light seen, on the 6th inst. Besides the hot springs visited by Doctor Hunter and Mr. Dunbar, and the volcanic appearances of the face of the country on the Arkansas, are circumstances which ought not to be overlooked. There are some extraordinary facts belonging to this phenomenon which I mention with a hope of obtaining your opinion thereon. In tracing the different shocks, we find the violence not diminished, as far as Nashville, or a little east of it; then the shock decreases as you approach the mountains, and on the Allegehany it has not been felt at all. But by continuing the same course on the east side of the mountains, you find the effects increasing until you arrive on the Atlantic coasts, and how much beyond it we know not. From the most correct accounts obtained in this country, the shocks were felt about one hour sooner on the Mississippi, than on the Atlantic coasts. How will you explain the effect extending more than 1000 miles, on a line drawn due east from the western bank of the Mississippi river, when the same shocks were not felt below the 31st degree, nor above the 39th, the most violent shocks which have been felt here were on the 16th Dec. 23d January and the 6th February, at which time the weather was perfectly fair, but immediately was overcast by dark clouds. The people are generally very much-alarmed, and no wonder, when we recollect that it is the first shock of the kind ever felt by them; and to increase the alarm, the poor fugitives are passing from the west bank of the Mississippi, with new tales of horror, to which we listen with great attention, without adverting to the circumstance that the Mississippi bottoms are as light as ashes, resting upon a lively sand mingled with water, at the depth of twelve feet; it is fortunate for those poor people, that they fled before the shock of the 6th inst. which has no doubt destroyed the bottom near the Little Prairie; leaving not a house or tree standing. But such damages ought by no means to alarm those who have settled on firm earth, when they recollect that the Mississippi banks have been tumbling down at every guest of wind for ages past. When I observe the consternation that pervades this country, I am ready to pray for a return of the good old happy days, when volcanoes were thought to be produced by giants who were not feared, because they were supposed to be chained down by a superior power. If this idea should revive we may boast of the great strength of our race of giants, or we might suppose that we have a part of the Aetna family who have broken their chains and escaped to America. The heathen mythology must have been very agreeable in the dark ages of the world, but I trust there are none amongst us who would be willing to exchange the rational doctrines inculcated by our Saviour, for the absurd worship of Jupiter. This eruption may disturb this country for many years, yet I shall not be surprised to hear that the people resale easy in their houses shaking by this volcano, as they have done when their houses were shaken by the winds. There is in fact no more danger from the one than the other; and it only requires a little time and a conviction that there is no end to them, to make the people of the western country dread volcanic eruptions, no more than they do in Sicily or Italy.

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