The New Madrid Earthquake & The Steamship New Orleans

The New Madrid Earthquake and The Steamship New Orleans. . , On October 1811, the steamboat New Orleans set out from Pittsburgh, marking the first attempt to navigate the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers by steam power. On board were boat captain Nicholas Roosevelt, his wife, Lydia, and their two children and a crew of 12., At about 2 p.m. Dec. 16 as the boat was about 320 miles upriver from New Madrid, they were awakened by the first shocks of the New Madrid earthquakes. As their boat continued downriver, they became eyewitnesses of one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history., Roosevelt had planned to stop for provisions when the New Orleans reached New Madrid but upon arrival he found the town destroyed - buildings knocked down, coffins and their corpses on the ground and the town itself had sunk about 15 feet., At the sight of the boat, residents began launching rowboats filled with their belongings in hopes of boarding the New Orleans. There were too many for the steamboat to take on and not enough provisions for even a few. After some thought, Roosevelt signaled the crew not to stop. Some of the rowboats were so close they were nearly swamped from the steamer's wave-wash. Lydia was especially saddened by the plight of the townspeople and their inability to help., The New Orleans finally reached New Orleans on Jan. 10, 1815, ushering in the steamboat era on the Mississippi River., Nicholas Roosevelt's journey provided a firsthand account of the destruction caused by the New Madrid earthquakes, offering historians a rare perspective on the disaster's immediate aftermath. Noted earthquake historian James Penrick, Jr. writes, ,

"No account of the earthquakes on the river would be complete without reference to this dramatic voyage."