USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103
In all the hard shocks mentioned the earth was horribly torn to pieces; the surface of hundreds of aeres was from time to time cov- ered over, of various depths, by sand which issued from the fissures which were made in great numbers all over this country, some of which closed up immediately after they had vomited forth their sands and water; in some places, however, there was a substance some- what resembling coal or impure stone coal thrown up with the sands. It is impossible to say what the depth of the fissures or irregular breaks were; we have reason to believe that some of them are very deep. The site of this town was evidently settled down fifteen feet, Vol. I-15
and not more than half a mile below the town there does not appear to be any alteration on the bank of the river, but back from the river a short distance the numerous large ponds, or lakes, as they were called, were nearly all dried up. The beds of some of them are ele- vated above their former banks several feet, and lately it has been discovered that a lake was formed on the opposite side of the Missis- sippi river in the Indian country upwards of one hundred miles in length and from one to six miles in width, of the depth of from ten to fifty feet. It has connection with the river at both ends and it is conjectured the princi- pal part of the Mississippi river will pass that way. We were constrained by the fear of our houses falling to live twelve or eighteen months after the first shocks in little light camps made of boards; but we gradually be- came callous and returned to our houses again. Most of them who fled from the country in time of the hard shocks have returned home. We have slight shocks occasionally. It is seldom we are more than a week without feel- ing one and sometimes three or four in a day. There were two this winter past much harder than we have felt them for two years before. Since, they appear to be lighter, and we begin to hope that ere long they will entirely cease.
There is one circumstance worthy of re- mark; this country was subject to very hard thunder, but for twelve months before the earthquake there was none at all, and but very little since.
Your humble servant, ELIZA BRYAN .*
Long says that the Missouri Indians be- lieved earthquakes to be the effort of a supe- rior agency connected with the immediate operations of the Master of Life. The earth-
*Le Sieur, in New Madrid Record, October 4, 1892.
226
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
quakes which in the year 1811 almost de- stroyed the town of New Madrid on the Missis- sippi, were very sensibly felt on the upper portion of the Missouri country and occa- sioned much superstitious dread among the Indians .*
Bradbury, who at the time of the earth- quake was on a keel boat not far south of the Chickasaw bluffs, says that on the night of the first shock they had tied their boat to a small island about 500 yards above the en- trance to the channel known as the Devil's channel. He was awakened about 10 o'clock in the night by a most tremendous noise ac- companied by so violent an agitation of the boat that it appeared in danger of upsetting. Ile found the other four men on the boat in very great alarm and almost unconscious from terror. When he reached the deck of the boat and could see the river he found it agitated as if by storm and although the noise was inconceivable loud and terrific, he could dis- tinctly hear the fall of trees and the scream- ing of the wild fowl of the river. After some moments, during which all on the boat thought they would be destroyed, they made their way to the stern of the boat in order to put out a fire which had been kindled on the flat surface of a large rock. By this time the shock had ceased, but they were further frightened by the fact that the perpendicular banks, both above and below the boat, began to fall into the river in such vast masses as to nearly sink the boat by the large swells which it occasioned.
After some difficulty he managed to send two men up the bank of the island to which they were moored to see if the island itself had not been cut in two by the shock; they had suspected this was the fact, owing to the noise which they had heard. Bradbury him- self went on shore at about half past two in
the morning; just as he was making his way to the shore another shock came, terrible in- deed, but not equal to the first. On reaching the shore he found that the bank to which his boat was tied was divided from the rest of the island by a chasm four feet in width and that the bank itself had sunk at least two feet ; the chasm which had opened seemed to be about 80 yards in length. A number of other shocks were felt during the night but they were not so violent as the first two. It was noticed that the sound which was heard at the time of every shock always preceded it at least a sec- ond and that the sound came every time from the same point and went off in an opposite direction ; the shocks seemed to travel from a little north of east to the westward. By day- light they had counted twenty-seven shocks but on landing they were unable to cross the channel, the river at that time was covered with foam and drift timber and had risen con- siderably, but the boat was still safc.
They observed two canoes floating down the river, in one of which there was some Indian corn and some clothes. They found later that the men who had been in these canoes, as well as some others, had been drowned at the time of the shock. Just as they loosened the boat, preparing to depart, there came another shock almost equal to the first. At intervals during the day there were other shocks, among them a very strong one occurred, and the river was very greatly agi- tated. Mr. Bridge, one of Bradbury's com- panions, was standing on the bank during one of these and the shock was so violent that he was almost thrown into the river.
At 11 o'clock that morning there came an- other violent shock that seemed to affect the men in the boat as seriously as if they had been on the land; the trees on both sides of the river were violently agitated and the
* Long Journal, p. 57.
227
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
banks in several places fell into the river, carrying with them innumerable trees. The sounds were very terrifying; the crash of fall- ing timber, the sound of the shock itself, and the screaming of the wild fowl produced an idea that all nature was in a state of dissolu- tion. The river was greatly agitated, so much so, in fact, that Bradbury's companions re- fused to remain in the boat though he himself was of the opinion that it was much safer there than on the land. The shocks continued from day to day until the 17th. They found the people on the river to be very much alarmed, many of them having fled away, and those that remained were very anxious to do so. Bradbury was told by some of them that a chasm had opened on the sand bar and on closing had thrown water to the height of a tall tree and that chasms had opened in the earth in several places back from the river .*
Flint, on visiting America in 1818, wrote an account of the New Madrid earthquake as reported to him at that time: "During the year 1812 two considerable shocks and many lesser vibrations were observed. It appeared that the eenter from which the convulsions proceeded were in the vicinity of New Madrid. At that place a dreadful commotion prevailed in December, 1812; the trees beat upon one another and were either twisted or broken, the site of the town subsided about eight feet, many acres of land sunk and were overflowed by the river and the water rushed in torrents from crevices opened in the land, boats were sunk and sunk logs of timber were raised from the bottom in such quantities that almost cov- ered the surface of the river, and that at slight intervals of a few days slight vibrations were felt to the present time. Many of the people deserted their possessions and retreated to
* Bradbury's Travels, p. 204.
the Missouri where lands were granted them by congress .**
Faux quotes a man who lived in Ohio and whom he visited in 1818, as follows: "It shook people out of their beds, knocked down brick chimneys and made old log houses crack and rattle. On the Mississippi, too, the con- vulsive motion of the water was truly awful, running and rising mountains high and the solid land on the high banks was seen in an undulated agitation like the waters of the sea. New Madrid sunk down several feet, the land, however, in many parts around this town, is covered with water.t
From the proceeds of the land granted to him on account of the New Madrid earth- quake, August Chouteau established the first distillery in St. Louis.}
LeSieur says that at the time of the earth- quake there was living on a bayou called Terre Rouge, one of the tributaries of Pemis- cot bayou, a man by the name of Culberson. The bayou at that point formed a short curve or elbow and on the point was Culberson's house; between the house and the extreme point was his well and smoke house. On the morning of the 16th of December, 1811, just after a hard shock had subsided, Mrs. Culber- son started to the well for water and to the smoke house for meat, and discovered that they were on the opposite side of the river ; the shock had opened a new channel across the point between the house and the well.IT
In 1871 Professor Hager asked Mr. LeSieur certain questions concerning this earthquake and these answers, which shed some light on the situation, are reproduced here: "First-
** Flint, Letters from America, p. 246.
t Faux, Journal, p. 180.
# Early Western Travel. Vol. IV. p. 13S.
[ LeSieur in Weekly Record, Oet. 4, 1893.
228
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
That earthquakes in this region of country mentioned in my former communications were never known, nor are there any signs left on the surface of the earth as in that of 1811 and 1812, to indicate that there had ever been any. And in many conversations had with the old men of several tribes-Shawnees, Delawares and Cherokees-all said they had no tradi- tionary account that earthquakes had ever visited the country before.
"Second-With regard to the charcoal men- tioned, it may be the kind you mention (alber- tine, or solidified asphaltum). The peculiar odor of the coal induced the belief that it was impregnated with sulphur, yet it may have been the odor of petroleum. Its smell was unknown to us at that period.
"Third-The water thrown up during the eruption of the 'land waves' was luke warm; so warm, indeed, as to produce no chilly sen- sation while wading and swimming through it. Since the year 1812 the shakes have been of frequent occurrence, appearing at intervals and not periodical, and seemingly growing less every year.
"Fourth-It would be difficult to say with any degree of certainty how high the water, coal and sand were thrown up. The numer- ous fissures opened were of different sizes, some twelve to fifteen feet wide, while others were not over four or five feet; by guess I would say the waters, etc., thrown up were from six to ten feet high. Besides these long and narrow fissures the water, sand and coal were thrown out to a considerable height in a circular form, leaving large and deep basins, some of them one hundred yards across and sufficiently deep to retain water during the
The "Personal Narrative of Col. John Shaw of Marquette County, Wisconsin," contained in the second annual report and collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, for
driest seasons." (LeSieur, Weekly Record.)
In order to arrive at some conclusion as to the general and permanent effects of the shocks on the level and the drainage of the country, a description is here inserted of the drainage of the section before the earthquakes. The account as given is condensed from the articles written in 1893 by Mr. Godfrey Le- Sieur and published in the Weekly Record of New Madrid. Mr. LeSieur was familiar with the country and understood the system of drainage. It should be borne in mind that he is describing the streams and lakes as they were before the shocks.
St. James Bayou had its source ;n Scott county near the southern limit of the Scott County hills and flowed south through Scott, Mississippi and a part of New Madrid coun- ties. It received its waters from cypress ponds and lakes, principally those in Missis- sippi county. It emptied into the Mississippi river about ten miles northeast of New Madrid.
St. John's bayou, which was from ten to fifteen miles west of St. James, flowed parallel to it. It received its waters from lakes and also from connection with Little river just south of the present town of Benton. This bayou was about forty miles long and emptied into the river at the east side of the town of New Madrid. Eight miles above its mouth it received East bayou. At the point where these two join, the Spaniards, during their occupation of the country, built a water mill, and on a branch of St. John's called Little bayou, which connected with the river, the French built a mill in about 1790. This mill site and, indeed, the entire bayou has dis-
the year 1855, gives an account of the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 and 1812: "While lodging about thirty miles north of New Madrid, on the 14th of December, 1811, about
229
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
appeared, having been carried away by the river. Both of these bayous, St. James and St. John's, were named by Francois and Jo- seph LeSieur.
The next stream east of St. John's bayou was Little river, called by the French Riviere Petite. It was about seven miles west of New Madrid. About eight miles above New Mad- rid it flowed for a distance of a mile from a ledge strewn with boulders of bog ore. It received the following tributaries from the east : Otter bayou, which drained the lakes in the north part of the district ; the Decypri, a cypress swamp which leaves the Mississippi river at New Madrid and flows into cypress lakes and then into Little river. Two miles South of New Madrid, Bayou Fourche left the Mississippi river, entered Lakes St. Marie and St. Ann, then flowed past La Grande Cote or the Big Mound, and entered Little river. In the early days a ferry across this stream was maintained near this mound. Four miles further south, Bayou Portage flowed out from the Mississippi river, running to the south- west and entering Little river one mile south of Weaverville. This bayou was frequently used for the purposes of transportation.
2 o'clock in the morning, occurred a heavy shock of an earthquake. The house where I was stopping was partly of wood and partly of brick structure; the brick portion all fell, but I and the family all fortunately escaped unhurt. At the still greater shock, about 2 o'clock in the morning of the 7th of February, 1812, I was in New Madrid, when nearly two thousand people of all ages, fled in terror from their falling dwellings in that place and the surrounding country, and directed their course north about thirty miles to Tywappity Hill, on the western bank of the Mississippi, and about seven miles back from the river.
Barges and keel-boats were accustomed to come up the St. Francois and Little rivers to Weaverville and then pass up through Bayou Portage to the Mississippi. In time of low water it was necessary to make a carry across the ridge which separated a part of the bayou from the Mississippi. This carry was usually made to a point on the river where there was an Indian village; this place was afterward called Point Pleasant. This strip of high ground over which the carry was made came to be called the Portage also. Four miles south of Point Pleasant a low place in the banks of the river allowed the water to flow into a lake which, from its grassy banks, was called Cushion lake. The outlet from Cush- ion lake to Bayou Portage was called Portage bay. It is upon the bank of this bay that the present town of Portageville is situated. Between Cushion lake and the next large bayou there were a number of small tribu- taries which flowed from cypress lakes into Little river. Pemiscot bayou drained the lakes and swamps of Pemiscot county and also received water in three different places from the Mississippi river, and finally flowed into Little river.
This was the first high ground above New Madrid and here the fugitives formed an en- campment. It was proposed that all should kneel and engage in supplicating God's mercy and all simultaneously-Catholic and Protes- tant-knelt and offered solemn prayer to their Creator.
"About twelve miles back towards New Madrid a young woman about seventeen years of age, named Betsy Masters, had been left by her parents and family, her leg having been broken below the knee by the falling of one of the weight poles of the roof of the cabin, and although a total stranger I was the
230
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
The tributaries of Little river on the west were principally those that it received from the St. Francois river and will be mentioned in connection with the St. Francois. The St. Francois, for the most of its course within the low lands, made its way east of Crowley's ridge; it entered the low lands from the hills of Upper Louisiana, coming into this section further west and south than Little river. It received many tributaries from the west, but sent out many outlets from its western side to Little river. The first of these western out- lets was in the early times called Laque Ter-
only person who would consent to return and see whether she still survived. Receiving a description of the locality of the place I started. and found the poor girl upon a bed, as she had been left, with some water and corn bread within her reach. I cooked up some food for her and made her condition as com- fortable as circumstances would allow, and returned the same day to the grand encamp- ment. Miss Masters eventually recovered.
"In abandoning their homes on this emer- gency the people only stopped long enough to get their teams and hurry in their families and some provisions. It was a matter of doubt among them whether water or fire would be most likely to burst forth and cover all the country. The timber land around New Mad- rid sunk five or six feet, so that the lakes and lagoons, which seemed to have their beds pushed up, discharged their waters over the sunken lands. Through the fissures caused by the earthquake were forced up vast quanti- ties of a hard, jet black substance which ap- peared very smooth, as though worn by fric- tion. It seemed a very different substance from either anthracite or bituminous coal.
"This hegira, with all its attendant appall- ing circumstances, was a most heartrending
rible; it is now called Taylor's slough. It left the St. Francois river four miles south of Chalk bluff, then continued southeast and con- nected with Little river near the mouth of New river. From Taylor's slough, or Laque Terrible, as it was formerly called, two branches made out on the west side; the first of these was called New river, and the second Old river. Varner's river, which was for- merly called Chillitecaux, makes out from the St. Francois, runs to the east, then south and then west, and joins with the St. Francois again. The island thus formed was the last
scene and had the effect to constrain the most wicked and profane earnestly to plead to God in prayer for mercy. In less than three months most of these people returned to their homes and though the earthquakes continued occasionally with less destructive effects, they became so accustomed to the recurring vibra- tions that they paid little or no regard to them, not even interrupting or checking their dances, frolies and vices."
A correspondent of the Louisiana Gazette, whose name is not known, wrote from Cape Girardeau on February 15, 1812, the follow- ing letter: "The concussions of the earth- quake still continue, the shock on the 23rd ult. was more severe and longer than that of December 16th, and the shock of the 7th inst. was still more violent than any preceding and lasted longer perhaps than any on record (from 10 to 15 minutes)-the earth was not at rest for an hour; the ravages of this ter- rible convulsion having nearly depopulated the district of new Madrid, but few remain to tell the sad tale. The inhabitants have fled in every direction. It has done consid- erable damage in this place by demolishing chimneys and cracking cellar walls: some have been driven from their houses and a
231
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
refuge of the buffalo in this section of the country. This island was divided by a small stream which connected the St. Francois with Varner's river. It was on this stream that there was located the Indian village of Chil- litecaux. Five miles south of this village there was another permanent bayou known as Buffalo creek, which finally emptied into Little river.
On the 17th of February, 1815, Congress passed an act for the relief of persons who had sustained losses of real property. This
number are yet in tents. No doubt volcanoes in the mountains of the west which have been extinguished for ages are now reopened." (Goodspeed, History of Southeast Missouri.)
While Long was at Cape Girardeau in 1819 he says: "On the 9th at 4 P. M. a shock of earthquake was felt; the agitation was such as to cause considerable motion of furniture and other loose articles in the room where we were sitting. Several others occurred dur- ing our stay at the Cape, but they all hap- pened at night and were all of short duration. Shakes, as these concussions are called by the inhabitants, are in this part of the country extremely frequent and are spoken of as mat- ters of every day occurrence. It is said of some passengers on a steamboat who went on shore at New Madrid and were in one of the houses of the town looking at a collection of books, they felt the house so violently shaken that they were scarce able to stand upon their feet. Some consternation was of course felt, and as several of the persons were ladies, much terror was expressed. 'Don't be alarmed,' said the lady of the house, 'it is nothing but an earthquake.' Several houses in and about Cape Girardeau have frequently been shaken down, forests have been overthrown and other
act provided that any person owning lands in New Madrid county on 10th day of Novem- ber, 1812, and whose lands were materially in- jured by the earthquake, might locate a like quantity on any public lands of the territory, no location, however, to embrace more than 640 acres.
The provisions of this act led to the cele- brated New Madrid claims. Locations were made on some of the most fertile lands in the state in Boone, Howard, Saline and other counties. Many of the claims were filed by persons who had no right to them and who
considerable changes produced by their agency. These concussions are felt through a great extent of country, from the settlements on Red river to the fall of the Ohio and from the mouth of the Missouri to New Orleans. Their extent and very considerable degree of violence with which they affect not only large portions of the valley of the Mississippi, but the adjacent hilly country, appear to us to be caused by causes far more efficient and deep seated than the decomposition of beds of lig- nite or wood coal situated near the bed of the river and filled with pyrites, according to the suggestion of Mr. Nuttall." (Long, Expedition, p. 88.)
In speaking of Point Pleasant, Nuttall says : "This place and several islands below were greatly convulsed by the earthquake and have in consequence been abandoned. I was shown a considerable chasm still far from being filled up. from whence the water of the river, as they say, rushed in an elevated column." He says, also: "In the evening we arrived at the remains of the settlement called Little Prairie, where there is now only a single house, all the rest, together with their founda- tions, having been swept away by the river soon after the convulsions of the earthquake,
232
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
sustained their claims by perjury. This is evidenced by the fact that the claims located under this act, presumably by people owning land in New Madrid county, covered more than the entire area of the county.
Out of these grants there arose a very fa- mous lawsuit. It is known in legal history as De Lisle vs. State of Missouri.
The De Lisle family was one of the earliest in New Madrid. Eustache De Lisle and John Baptiste De Lisle came to New Madrid in 1795 from Detroit. They were brothers of the third wife of Francois LeSieur. It should be said that the family continued to reside in New Madrid and that many of its descend- ants are among the prominent and influential citizens of the county now. In 1808 John Baptiste De Lisle left New Madrid for a visit to his sister, Mrs. Gremar, who then lived in Vincennes, Indiana. This was about the be- ginning of the war with Great Britain, and De Lisle enlisted in the United States army and served through the war. He then settled in New York, where he married, but was de- prived of all of his family during the great epidemic of cholera in 1839. He returned to Vincennes in 1841 and found his sister yet living.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.