Original look at New Madrid's massive earthquakes

Mississippi River keelboat tossed by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12

Original look at New Madrid's massive earthquakes reveals residents' terror

Two years ago, photographer/artist David Anton of Santa Fe, New Mexico presented an original "look" at New Madrid's devastating earthquakes in the book, "New Madrid: A Mississippi River Town in History and Legend " (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2009). Anton's drawing is an interpretation of the New Madrid quakes of 1811-12, showing a terrified mother clutching her child, an agitated American Indian on land and a frightened boatman overwhelmed with the Mississippi River upheaval and his out-of-control keelboat.

Now post cards and note cards of this drawing are available at the New Madrid Historical Museum, and at other shops in southeast Missouri. The one-of-a-kind cards are collectibles and the note cards can be used as greeting cards, for correspondence or gift enclosures. Anton suggests residents purchase post cards and have them hand-cancelled at the New Madrid post office on Mott Street on Friday, December 16, 2011, the 200th anniversary of the first earthquake. He says this quake actually occurred at 2:15 a.m. but he doubts the post office would be open at that hour, especially given the Federal government's current economic situation.

Anton is a direct descendant of Dr. Richard Jones Waters who followed New Madrid founder George Morgan to New Madrid in the late 1700s. Little did these pioneers know that catastrophic earthquakes would all but destroy the area. Neither witnessed the quakes, Morgan having died at his home in Pennsylvania and Waters, in New Madrid in 1806. Waters' legacy includes numerous descendants living in southeast Missouri and a street called Waters. Waters Street was originally the northernmost edge of a New Madrid which no longer exists due to long-ago bank cavings. Today, Waters Street parallels the main levee and runs alongside the Historical Museum.

-30-