Fayetteville, AR - University of Arkansas



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Get Your Land!

Free Land!

By: Laura Lindsay

Haley Haymond

University of Arkansas

FOCUS

Overview

After listening to Charley Sandage’s The Great Earthquakes of 1811, students research how the New Madrid earthquake affected the people of the Missouri and Louisiana Territories, focusing on the role that government played to encourage growth in the area. Students will also look at the area’s inhabitants - white men and native populations - focusing on the scarcity of natural resources because of the earthquake. After students become familiar with the information, they will break into three equal groups and play the role of white men, natives, and government to understand what happened after the earthquake, how growth was re-established, and what effect it had on the area population.

Background Information

In 1811, the largest Earthquake in the United States shook the New Madrid territory of the state of Missouri. This was before Arkansas was a state, but it included areas of what are today Arkansan. Camps were set up in different areas for families to live in while their lives were being put back together. A request dated January 13, 1814 by William Clark, the territorial governor, asked for federal relief for the "inhabitants of New Madrid County". This was possibly the first example of a request for disaster relief, which would later become the job of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (). European settlers struggled to survive with what they had and with what the government gave them, while the Native Americans were forced to leave land they had been on for so long.

PREPARE

Materials

1. Charlie Sandage’s The Great Earthquakes of 1811- reference cd (2.30)

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2. 21+ copies Letter of an Eyewitness Account to read allowed to the class

3. construction paper

4. scissors

5. markers

6. glue

7. M&Ms – 9 red, 9 blue, and 9 yellow

8. Each group will have an envelop designated for them, and it will be marked according to what role they play:

blue = European earthquake victims,

yellow = Native American victims, and

red = government.

These envelops will contain pictures of resources, tools, and belongings that each group may have had been given after the New Madrid earthquakes.

a. Blue Group (European earthquake victims)

i. Resources

ii. Tools

iii. Belongings

b. Yellow Group (Native American victims)

i. Natural Resources

ii. Areas of Land

c. Red Group (Government)

i. Land certificates

Construct

1. Prepare a jar of peanut M&M’s that contains 9 of each of the following colors: blue, yellow, and red.

2. Prepare 3 different envelopes. Refer to end of lesson for examples of contents for the blue and yellow group’s envelopes. Each group will have an envelop designated for them, and it will be marked according to what role they play:

blue = European earthquake victims,

yellow = Native American victims, and

red = government.

These envelops will contain pictures of resources, tools, and belongings that each group may have had been given after the New Madrid earthquakes.

3. Prepare a box full of markers, scissors, construction paper, glue, and other fun little materials that students in the Red group might want to create land deeds and camp sites.

4. Prepare a CD with Charlie Sandage’s The Great Earthquakes of 1811 that can be played on either a CD player or computer. Make sure it will be ready to play before you begin the lesson.

5. Hand out copies of eyewitness account.

TEACH

Introduction

Play Charley Sandage’s The Great Earthquakes of 1811

The song is upbeat and fun. It begins with how the Europeans came to settle in Northeast Arkansas at a disruptive time due to the epicenter of the New Madrid Earthquake is in Northeast Arkansas.

The first stanza says:

“Northeast Arkansas land is black

Down below is a great big crack

Every once and a while the rock gives way

And the earth can’t stand still”

The song then proceeds to sing about thunder in the ground and smoke in the sky and how people were “repenting and getting baptized”. The song gives examples about geographical changes, such as hills moving, rivers changing course, trees falling, and lakes forming. There’s a story about a woman who lived on a river bank, and when she went out to fetch a hen her “heart sank” because the smokehouse, outhouse, and wells were sitting on the other shore. The song also talks about how the earthquake was so big that bells rang in other states. And the song ends saying how the northeast corner of Arkansas “broke clean off and landed in Missouri”. The chorus is humorous and the best line sings, “I think it might have been the devil himself trying to pull us all under”.

Refer to end of lesson to find out more about the song, The Great Earthquakes of 1811 taken from .

1. Start a class discussion by asking the class:

• Do you know where the largest Earthquake every recorded in history is?

• Do you know what happened to the people that lived in those territories?

• How do you think the Native Americans felt?

2. Read aloud attached letter of eyewitness account and have students follow along.

Activities

1. Students will be divided into groups by each individual pulling from a jar one peanut M & Ms - each color represents the group they will be in:

a) Red = government

b) Blue = white earthquake victims

c) Yellow=Native Americans victims

2. Each group is given a task to complete in 15-20 minutes:

a) Red group: Give the red group their packet/envelope. Have them, as the government, design and create New Madrid Certificates. They will then exchange with white victims their ruined lands for new lands elsewhere. They will also design a set up for camps for earthquake

b) Blue group- Give the blue group their packet/envelop. Have them choose 5 of the resources that they will need to prosper on their lands. They will choose their resources from the pictures in their envelopes. They must also decide if they are going to exchange with the government their ruined lands for new lands elsewhere. They must also explain why they have chosen the resources they have for their new lives.

c) Yellow group – Give the yellow group their packet/envelop. Have them, as Native Americans, discuss what natural resources are presented in the pictures and for what they might use the natural resources. They will draw pictures of the uses. They will also choose where they will move based on what the government offers them. Do they have any options with the New Madrid Certificates? Students in the Indian group must understand that they were not treated the same as the white settlers – The Indians were not given a choice at all. That is why they have fewer options in their packet. The students will have to explain how having fewer materials has affected their livelihood.

3. After each group has finished, they will present their work or findings to the class.

Government (red group) will present their New Madrid Certificates and describe who can get them and why.

European victims (blue group) will present what they expect to get from the government, what goods and resources they have chosen and why.

Native Americans (yellow group) will describe the effects the earthquakes had on them and explain what natural resources they have decided to use and why. They will also explain whether or not they were allowed to stay in their areas.

Evaluation

Class discussions

Group presentations

Informally listening to group discussions

Journals

Quiz (see attached)

CONNECT

Writing

Journal Writings - Each individual will write in their journal about what they learned either from their own group or through the presentations of another group.

Ask students to elaborate in their journals as to how their life might be affected by such an event or to think about where their family would go if their home was destroyed by an earthquake. Would they want the government to help? Why?

Language Arts

Discussion with teacher and class about what they know, and present their information/findings to the class. Students should demonstrate their understanding of the economic impact of the New Madrid earthquakes, and what would happen to the modern economy in those areas if another earthquake of equal magnitude were to occur today. They should demonstrate this knowledge through their presentations.

Art

Designing land deeds, camp sites, and drawing pictures of what natural resources are used by the Native Americans.

CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

Economic Standards

Standard 1: Scarcity- Productive resources are limited. Therefore people can not have all the goods and services they want- as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.

Standard 11: Role of Money – Money makes it easier to trade, borrow, invest, and compare the value of goods and services.

Standard 16: Role of the government – There is an economic role of government in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs. Governments often provide for national defense, address environmental concerns, define and protect property rights, and attempt to make markets more competitive. Most government polices aloes redistribute income.

Arkansas History Standard

Content Standard 2: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how ideas, events, and conditions bring about change.

TCC.2.3. Use a variety of processes such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, debating, and role playing to demonstrate continuity and change.

Content Standard 4: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the significance of physical and cultural characteristics of Arkansas.

Grades 5-8 (Student Learning Expectations)

PPE 2.1. Analyze how humans have adapted to, altered, and been affected by physical environments in Arkansas.

PPE 2.2. Examine various cultures in Arkansas with respect to the five themes of geography: location, place, region, movement, and human-environment interaction using appropriate methods and tools such as field studies, simulations, interactive technology, maps, and globes.

Strand 5: Social Science Processes and Skills

Content Standard 1: Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills through research, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and problem solving using the tools of social sciences

SSPS 1.2. Analyze artifacts, oral histories, photographs, landmarks, literature, and the arts to understand Arkansas’ culture by using a variety of methods (e.g., simulations, field studies, library research, debates, presentations, role playing, projects, portfolios, synthesis, etc.).

Strand 4: Power, Authority, and Governance

Content Standard 1: Students will demonstrate an understanding of our national, state, and local government and of the rights and responsibilities of participating in a democratic society within Arkansas.

PAG 1.1. Know and understand the role of political leaders, organization, function, and operation of local, county, and state governments in Arkansas.

PAG 1.2. Explain the historical and current impact of American public policy on Arkansas’ political, racial, religious, geographic, ethnic, economic, and linguistic diversity.

PAG 1.3. Summarize the characteristics of effective leadership in Arkansas in historical and contemporary time periods.

New Madrid Earthquake Quiz

1. T F The New Madrid Earthquake was the second largest earthquake ever

recorded in the contiguous United States.

Answer: The largest earthquake ever recorded in the contiguous U.S.

2. T F The New Madrid Certificates were made so that people who lost their land

in the earthquake could obtain new land to rebuild their lives.

3. T F The Earthquake affected the local economy.

4. T F The town of New Madrid was completely destroyed.

Answer: Destroyed only half the town.

5. T F The growth that was occurring in Arkansas up to the time before the

earthquake began to slow down afterwards.

Essay

If the New Madrid Earthquake happened today, how would it be different, economically, than it was in 1811-12? ____________________________________________________

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Additional Readings

BOX 3.1 The New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812

For eight weeks during the winter of 1811-1812, the frontier town of New Madrid, on the Mississippi River in the southeast corner of Missouri, was rocked by a series of strong earthquakes. The initial event of December 16, 1811, was followed by a slightly smaller shock six hours later and two other principal shocks on January 23 and February 7, 1812. The last was the largest, destroying New Madrid, damaging houses in St. Louis, and cracking chimneys 600 kilometers away. The events were widely felt through eastern North America and as far away as Boston. Witnesses reported spectacular secondary effects, including soil liquefaction, landslides, sand and water fountains, and changes in the flow of the Mississippi River. Aftershocks strong enough to be felt continued through 1817. In 1815, Congress passed the first relief act for an earthquake disaster, which granted new land in unaffected regions to farmers displaced by ground disturbances and flooding.

The first scientific study of the New Madrid earthquakes, based on landforms and historical accounts, was not published until a century later.1 Research by Otto Nuttli at St. Louis University placed better bounds on the earthquake magnitudes and locations, and he explained the larger isoseismal zones in terms of seismic-wave attenuation, which is much lower in the stable continental lithosphere of the central and eastern United States.2 Monitoring by a regional seismic network began in 1974 and has delineated a complex set of interlocking faults in a geologic structure known as the Reelfoot Rift, which spans a 2000-square-kilometer region overlapping the borders of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. Nuttli’s work implied that the moment magnitudes of the New Madrid earthquakes were very large—as high as 8.1 for the February 7, 1812, event—and from the dating of paleoliquefaction events, geologists were able to identify at least two events of similar size in the previous thousand years.3

Questions have been raised recently, however, as to whether these levels are overestimates. A reanalysis of isoseismal areas of the three largest shocks in the 1811-1812 sequence has lowered the estimates by a half an order of magnitude or more,4 and a new GPS survey has failed to detect the high levels of regional strain that would be expected for an area where great earthquakes occur every 500-1000 years.5 This controversy underlines the need for continuing efforts to understand the seismic hazards of the continental interior.

|1 |M.L. Fuller, The New Madrid Earthquakes, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 494, 119 pp., 1912. |

|  | |

|2 |O.W. Nuttli, The Mississippi Valley earthquakes of 1811 and 1812; Intensities and magnitudes, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 63, |

|  |227-248, 1973. |

|3 |M.P. Tuttle and E.S. Schweig, Archaeological and pedological evidence for large prehistoric earthquakes in the New Madrid |

|  |seismic zone, central United States, Geology, 23, 253-256, 1995. A lower limit for the size of these events is about 6.5. |

|4 |S.E. Hough, J.G. Armbruster, L. Seeber, and J.F. Hough, On the Modified Mercalli intensities and magnitudes of the 1811-1812 |

|  |New Madrid earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 23,839-23,864, 2000. |

|5 |A.V. Newman, S. Stein, J. Weber, J. Engeln, A. Mao, and T.H. Dixon, Slow deformation and low seismic hazard at the New Madrid|

|  |Seismic Zone, Science, 284, 619-621, 1999. |

The Great New Madrid Earthquake

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Roman numerals indicate estimated Modified Mercalli intensities for a 6.5 magnitude earthquake.

Based on maps in W. Atkinson, 1989, The Next New Madrid Earthquake, Southern Illinois University Press

The recent earthquake which struck Kobe, Japan, resulted in the loss of over 5000 lives and millions of dollars in property. However, large parts of the United States are also subject to large magnitude quakes - quakes which could be far more powerful than the Kobe quake! Although we tend to think of California and Alaska as the places where most of our earthquakes occur, the fact is that the central U.S. has been the site of some very powerful earthquakes.

In the past three centuries, major earthquakes outside of California and Alaska generally occurred in sparsely-settled areas, and damage and fatalities were largely minimal. But some took place in areas that have since been heavily built up. Among them are three earthquakes that occurred in 1811 and 1812 near New Madrid, MO. They are among the Great earthquakes of known history, affecting the topography more than any other earthquake on the North American continent. Judging from their effects, they were of a magnitude of 8.0 or higher on the Richter Scale. They were felt over the entire United States outside of the Pacific coast. Large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed, the course of the Mississippi River was changed, and forests were destroyed over an area of 150,000 acres. Many houses at New Madrid were thrown down. "Houses, gardens, and fields were swallowed up" one source notes. But fatalities and damage were low, because the area was sparsely settled then.

The probability for an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or greater is significant in the near future, with a 50% chance by the year 2000 and a 90% chance by the year 2040. A quake with a magnitude equal to that of the 1811- 1812 quakes could result in great loss of life and property damage in the billions of dollars. Scientists believe we could be overdue for a large earthquake and through research and public awareness may be able to prevent such losses.

Los Angeles can expect to be mightily damaged by movement on the San Andreas Fault, or the Newport-Inglewood or other neighboring faults, most probably within the next 25 years. But the Eastern and Midwestern states also face ground shaking of colossal proportions, repetitions of such known upheavals as the 1886 Charleston, S.C., quake, the 1755 Boston quake, and the Jamaica Bay quake hundreds of years ago on New York's Long Island. The granddaddy of them all was the 1811-1812 series of three great quakes on the New Madrid Fault (halfway between St. Louis and Memphis beneath the Mississippi), which shook the entire United States. The next time the New Madrid Fault produces such a quake, it is estimated 60 percent of Memphis will be devastated, leaving $50 Billion in damage and thousands of dead in its wake. Memphis, you see - like Armenia - has looked down the barrel of a loaded seismic gun for decades, but has done virtually nothing to move out of the crosshairs.

()

New Madrid Earthquake, the largest earthquake ever recorded in the contiguous United States, occurred on February 7, 1812. (The largest earthquake in the continental United States was the Alaskan Good Friday Earthquake on March 27, 1964.) It derived its name from its primary location in the New Madrid Seismic Zone near New Madrid, Missouri. This earthquake was preceded by three other major quakes: two on December 16, 1811, and one on January 23, 1812. These earthquakes destroyed approximately half the town of New Madrid. There were also numerous aftershocks in the area for the rest of that winter. There are estimates that the earthquakes were felt strongly over 50,000 square miles, and moderately across nearly one million square miles. The historic San Francisco earthquake of 1906, by comparison, was felt moderately over 60,000 square miles.

Based on the effects of these earthquakes, it can be estimated that they had a magnitude of 8.0 on the not-yet-invented Richter scale. As a result of the quakes, large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed (notably Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee), and the Mississippi River changed its course, creating Kentucky Bend. Sandblows were common throughout the area, and their effects can still be seen from the air in cultivated fields. Church bells rang in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the area was less developed at the time, damage was minor compared to what would happen today.

A request dated January 13, 1814 by William Clark, the territorial governor, asked for federal relief for the "inhabitants of New Madrid County". This was possibly the first example of a request for disaster relief, which would later become the job of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In 1993, the seminal alt-country group Uncle Tupelo released Anodyne, their last album, which contained a song called New Madrid written by Jeff Tweedy. The song makes several references to the New Madrid earthquake.

New Madrid earthquake of 1811

New Madrid earthquake of 1811, the strongest series of earthquakes ever felt in America rocked the Mississippi Valley. Devastation was widespread. Scientists predict it will happen again.

On December 16, 1811, the 400 residents of New Madrid, Missouri, were shaken out of their beds at two in the morning by a violent earthquake. Huge cracks split the ground. The waters of the Mississippi rose and fell like a great tide. Giant waves rose up and swept north, giving the impression that the river was actually flowing backwards. Boats along the river were engulfed, capsized, and theeair crews drowned.

The “New Orleans” was one of the lucky ones. The first steamboat to ply the Mississippi River, she was embarked on her maiden voyage. At dusk she tied up at an island in the middle of the stream. Then, in the wee hours, the boat was nearly swamped by a series of enormous waves. As the deck pitched and yawed, the crew and the few passengers on board held on for their lives. Later, one of the crew said it was like being in the middle of an ocean during a violent storm.

All along the riverbank, high bluffs crumbled into the water. Seemingly solid ground undulated in waves. Old river channels slammed shut and new ones opened, changing the course of the stream forever. One large lake had its water suddenly replaced by sand. Another lake, Reelfoot, was created in a matter of moments.

Trees toppled or were drowned when the land sank suddenly beneath them. Log cabins scattered like match sticks in New Madrid but, luckily, only one person was killed by falling debris.

Effects of the quake were widespread. Damage was reported as far east as Charleston, South Carolina and Washington, DC. In Boston, Massachusetts, 1,000 miles away, church bells were made to ring. The effects of the quake were felt as far south as New Orleans and as far north as Canada.

The gigantic shake in the early morning of December 16 was only the first in a series of four. There was a second shock hours later. A third quake rocked the area on January 23 and a fourth -- the biggest of all -- was felt on February 7. Between the major quakes, there were thousands of aftershocks.

It is not known how many were killed or injured in the New Madrid Earthquakes, but casualties were probably light. In 1811-1812, the area was sparsely populated. Today, of course, that is far from the case. If the same thing had happened in the year 2000, say during the late afternoon, casualties would have been staggering and property loses would tally in the billions of dollars.

Some scientists claim that the so-called “Big One” will not happen on the West Coast at all. Rather, a surprising number of them argue that the next sizable shake might occur along the New Madrid Fault, probably by the year 2010. Other authorities, like The Central United States Earthquake Consortium, say there is a 90 percent chance of a magnitude six or seven earthquake hitting the Mississippi Valley within the next 50 years. The National Earthquake Center of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is more general in its prediction. It suggests that the possibility of such an earthquake “might occur as soon as next year or as late as several thousand years hence.” But all have come to the same conclusion. Disaster will strike the Mississippi again.

The New Madrid Fault extends from eastern Arkansas to about the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. It is called a failed rift -- that is, a fault not located near one of the several large tectonic plates that float on the hot mantle of the earth. Most earthquakes -- like those in California and Japan -- occur where the plates grind past each other. The geology in these earthquake zones is different. The ground here is warmer from the heat coming from inside the earth -- somewhat elastic. Not so at New Madrid.

Here the ground is cold and brittle. When it moves, there is no elasticity so there is more widespread damage. A sizable quake, such as the ones in 1811-1812, would cause extensive devastation and loss of life. The cities of Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri would be hit head-on. There would be enormous damage in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana and Mississippi. Yet, some people in these areas are barely aware that the possibility of a major earthquake exists.

However, there are voices crying in the wilderness and they are beginning to be heard. In 1983, at the urging of the USGS, the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee formed the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC). The organization is currently embarked on an intensive program of public education and awareness. Through their urging, for instance, earthquake education is now included in the curriculum of public schools in many CUSEC states.

Furthermore, an extensive scientific study has been launched to study area soils to determine where earthquake damage would be the most severe. And most of the CUSEC states have adopted building codes with earthquake design standards to meet the coming emergency.

Authorities in California know, even with their extensive earthquake preparations, that if a large earthquake hits a highly populated area there will be wide-spread devastation. The magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck Northridge in 1994 cost 33 lives and destroyed property worth $20 billion.

How many more deaths would be caused in the vulnerable Midwest by a similar quake, or stronger, around rush hour? The prospect is almost too fearsome to contemplate.

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1811 - 1812 New Madrid Earthquakes

The New Madrid quakes were actually three great quakes, each of which probably measured over 8.0 on the Richter Scale. They occured from December 16, 1811 to February 7, 1812. They were largest earthquakes in the history of the contiguous United States. Estimated at over Magnitude 8.0 on the Richter Scale, they were felt over most of the Eastern United States, as much as 1,000 miles from the epicenter, just west of the Mississippi. This is an unusual place for earthquakes, since it occured in the middle of the North American Plate. Most earthquakes are on the edges of tectonic plates, as they push or slide by other plates. The New Madrid zone, however, seems to represent a weak point in the North American Plate. The Mississippi River flows down a great trough filled with sediment washed down from 2/3 of the continent. Nobody seems to understand exactly how that causes quakes. Seismic activity continues in the New Madrid Fault Zone and scientists believe that another large earthquake will someday strike that area again. While this area was sparsely populated in 1812, today there are millions of people throughout the Midwest who are at risk from a large earthquake. Many people rate this at the top of a hazards list in the United States. ()

Background of the Story (In reference to the song, The Great earthquakes of 1811)

"The rivers they boiled like a pot over coals

And mortals fell prostrate, and prayed for their souls"

Henry Schoolcraft

The Great New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 - 1812 caused many a great upheaval, some geological and physical, and some spiritual and mythical. They were a series of three or four major quakes and dozens of lesser ones that began on December 16, 1811 along the St. Francis River in Arkansas. It is likely that two separate major shocks occurred on that day, one in the morning and another in the early afternoon.

Later shocks in the following January and February centered farther north along the fault line and destroyed the town of New Madrid, Missouri. This was the largest settlement in the region, hence the name by which the events came to be known.

The fault line still exists, and informed speculation holds that a major quake today would result in incalculable losses since the region now has cities, highways, and other infrastructure unimagined in 1811. As it was, the quakes re-created great chunks of landscape, created lakes, and caused tremors all the way back to the cities of the Ohio Valley and beyond.

Eyewitness accounts describe great clouds of smoke, burning trees, collapsing embankments along riverways, and rivers changing course in a matter of hours. One preacher who had spent years trying to stir up interest among the settlers of the region reported dramatic increases in baptisms and conversions, as citizens hedged their bets in the midst of speculation about new demonstrations of the "wrath of God." Contemporary newspapers from across the United States ran accounts of the effects of this tremendous shock as it was felt in their communities.

The timing of the quakes coincided with the efforts of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh to unite the tribes of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys against the incursion of the whites, and one legend grew out of that coincidence. Tecumseh had carried his message of unity as far south as Mississippi in the days just before the quakes began. Frustrated with the unwillingness of some southern Native American leaders to commit to his plan to fight a coordinated war against the Americans, he announced that he would return immediately to Detroit. Upon reaching Detroit, Tecumseh would stamp his feet and the earth would tremble all the way down the river. It is not recorded whether the foot stomping took place, but the trembling certainly did - and almost precisely when Tecumseh had predicted.

More recent predictions have proved to be less accurate. In 1990, one pseudo-scientist predicted a cataclysmic quake would occur along the New Madrid fault on December 3 of that year. As always, many people were ready to believe prophecies of doom, and as that day arrived, television news trucks roamed up and down the highways of the Boot Heel ready to supply live reports when the event began. Instead, the reporters filed ironic features on a non-event.

Earthquake watchers of good scientific practice tend to agree that minor tremors along the fault are inevitable and are to be expected with some regularity. They also generally agree that another "big one" is probably not due for many years into the future. Still, several area universities have established earthquake study centers, new buildings often feature quake resistant designs, and homeowners add earthquake riders to their insurance policies in greater proportions than in other parts of the county. A major center for earthquake monitoring and study has been established in Memphis, and is maintained by the United States Geological Survey.

The earthquakes had little long-term effect on the rate of population growth in the region, aside from the fact that New Madrid was not destined to become a leading city in the Missouri Territory. The flow of settlers into Missouri and the Arkansas territory soon resumed, and the facts and the lore of these events settled into their places in regional history. Still, there can be little doubt that the quakes contributed to the perception "back East" that the land across the Mississippi was wild, unpredictable, and unsuited to the faint of heart.

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