Atmospheric Phenomenen Identyifying- List, page 4

In 1911, on the occasion of the centennial of the earthquake, Walter Williams wrote of the investigation made by scientists:

" The convulsion occurred contemporaneously with one of the most fatal earthquakes of South America, when the towns of Guayra and Caracas were laid in ruins.

Humboldt, the great geographer, has remarked that the shocks of New Madrid are the only examples on record of the ground having quaked almost incessantly for three months at a point so far remote from any active volcano.

The shocks were most violent in the part of the region called the Little Prairie, to the northward, as far as the mouth of the Ohio river. Some shocks were felt in South Carolina. Although the country was thinly settled and most of the houses built of logs, the loss of life was considerable.

"The cause of the New Madrid earthquake has never been definitely determined. "Several authors,' writes L. Bringier, 'have asserted that earthquakes proceed from volcanic causes. But, although this may be often true, the New Madrid earthquake must have had another cause. Time, perhaps, will give us some better ideas as to the origin of these extraordinary phenomena. It is probable that they are produced in different instances by different causes and that electricity is one of them.

L. Bringier, an engineer of Louisiana, was on horseback near New Madrid in 1811 when some of the severest shocks were experienced. As the waves advanced he saw the trees bend down and often the instant afterward, when in the act of recovering their position, meet the boughs of other trees similarly inclined so as. to become interlocked, being prevented from righting themselves again. The transit of the waves through the woods was marked by the crashing noise of countless branches first heard on one side and then on the other.

At the same time powerful jets of water, mixed with sand, mud and bituminous coaly shale, were cast up with such force that both horse and rider might have perished had the undulating waves happened to burst immediately beneath them. Circular cavities, called sink holes, were formed where the principal fountains of mud and water were thrown up.

Of particular interest to me: Time, perhaps, will give us some better ideas as to the origin of these extraordinary phenomena. It is probable that they are produced in different instances by different causes and that electricity is one of them.

The shocks were most violent in the part of the region called the Little Prairie, to the northward, as far as the mouth of the Ohio river. Some shocks were felt in South Carolina. Although the country was thinly settled and most of the houses built of logs, the loss of life was considerable.

powerful jets of water, mixed with sand, mud and bituminous coaly shale, were cast up with such force that both horse and rider might have perished had the undulating waves happened to burst immediately beneath them. Circular cavities, called sink holes, were formed where the principal fountains of mud and water were thrown up.

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