“Earthquake in Canada

Creator

Lambert

Date

2-21-1812

Newspaper

Boston Yankee

Page and Column

Page 4, Column 1.

Newspaper Location

Boston, Massachusetts

Serial Number

43

Abstract

Account of the Canadian earthquake of February 5, 1663. Source is Lambert’s Travel in the United States”

Transcript

EARTHQUAKE IN CANADA The following interesting account of the Earthquake in Canada, 1663, is extracted from LAMBERT's travels in the United States As the particulars of that remarkable event are little known, and have never yet, I believe, been published in the English language, I have made a translation from the journal of the French Jesuits of Quebec, an extract of which I procured in that city. The account was written soon after the earthquake had ceased, and is remarkable for the antiquity of its language and othography. The effect, of the unprecedented event are described in rather glowing colours, as might naturally be expected from the people who witnessed them, and whose immaginations were yet heated with such dreadful scenes, and the alarming sensations they must have produced. But, there does not appear to be any exaggeration of the facts, which are strongly corroborated by the appearance of the mountains and rivers at the present day. It was on the 5th of February, 1663, about half past five o'clock in the evening, that a great rolling noise was heard throughout the whole extent of Canada. This noise caused the people to run out of their houses into the streets, as if their habitations has been on fire; but instead of flames and smoke, they were surprized to see the walls reeling backwards and forwards, and the stones moving as if they had been detached from each other. The bells rang of their own accord. The roofs of the buildings bent down, first on one side, and then on the other. The timbers, rafters, and planks cracked. The earth trembled violently, and caused the stakes of the palisades and palings to dance, in a manner that would have been incredible, had we not actually seen it in several places. At that moment it was, that every one ran out of doors. Then were to be seen, animals flying in all directions; children crying and screaming in the streets; men and women seized with affright, flood horror-struck with the dreadful scene before them, unable to move, and ignorant where to fly for refuge from the tottering walls and trembling earth, which threatened, every instant, to crush them to death, or sink them into a profound and immeasurable abyss. Some threw themselves on their knees, in the (now, crossing their breasts, and calling upon their saints to relieve them from the dangers with which they were surrounded. Others passes the rest of this dreadful night in prayers, for the earthquake ceased not, but continued, at short intervals, with a certain undulating impulse, resembling the waves of the ocean; and the same qualmish sensation, or sickness at the stomach, was felt during the shocks, as is experienced in a vessel at sea. The violence of the earthquake was greatest in the forests, where it appeared as if there was a battle raging between the trees; for not only their branches were destroyed, but even their trunks are said to have been detached from their places and dashed against each other with inconceivable violence and confusion; so much so, that the Indians, in their figurative manner of speaking, declared that all the forests were drunk. The war, also, seemed to be carried on between the mountains; some of which were torn from their beds, and thrown upon others, leaving immense chasms in the places from when they had issued, and the very trees with which they were covered, sunk down, leaving only their tops above the surface of the earth: others were completely overturned, their branches buried in the earth, and the roots only remained above ground. During the general wreck of nature, the ice upwards of six feet thick, was sent and thrown up in large pieces; and from the openings in many parts, there issued thick clouds of smoke, or fountains of dirt and sand, which spouted up to a very considerable height. The springs were either choked up, or impregnated with sulphur. Many rivers were totally soft; others were diverted from their course, and their waters entirely corrupted. Some of them became yellow, others red, and the great river of St. Lawrence appeared entirely white as far down as Tadoussac. This extraordinary phenomenon must astonish those who know the size of the river, and the immenic body of water in various parts, which must have required such as an abundance of matter to whiten it. They write from Montreal, that during the earthquake they plainly saw the flakes ; the picketing, or palisades, jump us, as if they had been dancing. That of two doors in the same room, one opened and the other shut of their own accord. That the chimneys, and tops of the houses bent, like the branches of trees agitated by the wind. That when they went to walk, they felt the earth following them, and rising at every step they took; sometimes striking against the sole of the foot and other things, in a very forcible and surprizing manner. From Three Rivers they write; that the first shock was the most violent, and commenced with a noise resembling thunder. The houses were agitated in the same manner as the tops of trees during a tempest, with a noise as if fire was crackling in the garrets. The first shock lasted half an hour, or rather better, though it greatest force was properly not more than a quarter of an hour; and, we believe there was not a single shock, which did not cause the earth to open more or less. As for the rest, we have remarked, that though this earthquake continued almost without intermission, yet it was not always of an equal violence. Sometimes it was like the pitching of a large vessel which dragged heavily at her anchors; and it was this motion which occasioned many to have giddiness in their heads, and qualnif???? at their stomachs. At other times the motion was hurried and irregular, creating sudden jerks, some of which were extremely violent; but the most common was a slight tremendous motion, which occurred frequently, with little noise. Many of the French inhabitants and Indians, who were eye-witnesses to the scene, state, that a great way up the river of Trois Riveres, about eighteen miles below Quebec, the hills which bordered the river on either side, and which were of a prodigious height, were torn from their foundations, and plunged into the river, causing it to change it course, and spread itself over a large tract of land recently cleared; the broken earth mixed with the waters, and for several months changed the colour of the great river St. Lawrence, into which that of Trois Riveres disembogued itself. In the course of this violent convulsion of nature, lakes appeared where none ever existed before; mountains were overthrown, swallowed up by the gaping earth, or precipitated into adjacent river, leaving in their place frightful chasms or level plains. Falls and rapids were changed into gentle streams, and gentle streams into falls and rapids. Rivers in many parts of the country, sought other beds, or totally disappeared. The earth and the mountains were violently split and sent in innumerable places, creating chasms and precipices, whole depths have never yet been ascertained. Such devastation was also occasioned in the woods, that more than a thousand acres in our neighbourhood were completely overturned; and where, but a short time before, nothing met the eye but one immense forest of trees, now were to be seen extensive cleared lands apparently just turned up by the plough. At Tadouisac (about 150 miles below Quebec on the north shore) the effect of the earthquake was not less violent than in other places; and such a heavy shower of volcanic ashes fell in that neighbourhood, particularly in the River St. Lawrence, that the waters were as violently agitated during a tempess. Near St. Paul's Bay (about 50 miles below Quebec on the north shore) a mountain about a quarter of a league in circumference, situated on the shore of the St. Lawrence, was precipitated into the river; but as if it had only made a plunge, it arose from the bottom, and became a small island, forming, with the shore, a convenient harbor well sheltered from all winds. Lower down the river, towards Point Allouretts, an entire forest of considerable extent, was loosened from the main land, and slid into the river St. Lawrence, where the trees took fresh root in the water. There are three circumstances, however, which have rendered this extraordinary earthquake, particularly remarkable. The first, is its duration, it having continued from February to August, that is to say, more than six months almost without intermission! It is true, the shocks were not always equally violent. In several places, as towards the mountains behind Quebec, the thundering noise and trembling motion continued successively for a considerable time. In others, as towards Tadouffac the shocks continued generally for two or three days at a time with much violence. The secondcircumstance relates to the extent of this earthquake, which we believe was universal throughout the whole of New France, for we learn, that it was felt from L'Isle Percee and Gaspe which are situated at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to beyond Montreal,* as also in New-England, Acadia, and other places more remote. As far as it has come to our knowledge, this earthquake extended more than 600 miles in length and about 300 in breadth. Hence, 180,000 square miles of land were convulsed at the same day, and at the same moment. The third circumstance (which appears most remarkable of all) regards the extraordinary protection of Divine Providence which has been extended to us, and our habitations; for we have seen near us the large openings and chasms which the earthquake occasioned, and the prodigious extent of country which has been either totally lost or hideously convulsed, without our losing either man, woman, or child, or even having a hair of their head, touched. *It appears from this, that the Jesuits at Quebec had not then received any account of the devastation which the earthquake had committed in Upper Canada, and of course were unacquainted with its real extent.

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