On this day 206 years ago the last and greatest of the New Madrid earthquakes occurred. It was noted by many and described as the hard shock. It was felt across the eastern United States and noted as a distinct earthquake and not an aftershock of the earlier New Madrid earthquakes. This earthquake spawned the myth that the Mississippi river moved backward during the quake. In fact when the fault ruptured near New Madrid it shoved the river upstream temporarily and then sloshed back the opposite direction. Here is an eyewitness account of that quake as it was experienced at New Madrid.
Matthias Speed account
Speed's account gives a detailed description of what the earthquake did at New Madrid. Until the modern era many aspects of his account were believed to be exaggerations. When seismologists such as Arch Johnston investigated the account they found it to have fidelity to what actually occurred.
