“The Earthquakes’
Date
7-16-1812
Newspaper
National Intelligencer
Page and Column
Page 2,Column 5
Newspaper Location
Washington, D. C.
Serial Number
993
Abstract
Report from June 1812 on aftershocks from the New Madrid earthquakes from New Madrid. Detailed account. Mentions 10,000 quakes so far.
Transcript
The Earthquakes.--The following is an extract of a letter, dated New Madrid, Louisiana (now Missouri) territory, June 13, 1812: "This country, as you have no doubt heard, has experienced great injury by the violent, concussions of the earthquakes. In some places the soil is much injured owing to the explosions from the bowels of the earth, which have caused the sinking of the ground mostly in the Little Prairie, and in consequence of which we have no doubt that many places that were before dry will now in the times of high freshets be inundated. But the greatest injury the country has sustained is its depopulation by the desertion of the inhabitants. The events of the 7th of February last were dreadfully alarming indeed. About three-fourths of the inhabitants left the country, and a great portion of them have not yet returned, prevented by the apprehension of what may yet befall this devoted country, for the tremors of the earth still continue. We have from five to eight shocks in twenty-four hours, and I would speak within bounds to say we have had ten thousand shocks."
Recommended Citation
"“The Earthquakes’" (1812). New Madrid Compendium Far-Field Database. 963.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cas-ceri-new-madrid-compendium/963
