Episode 2 of 2
River Phenomena
- When
- 16 December 1811
- Where
- Mississippi River, as reported from New Madrid
Contemporary reports describe the Mississippi River's current as temporarily retrograde during the earthquake.
Eliza Bryan reported that the Mississippi River's current was retrograde for a few minutes, attributed to an irruption in its bed. This observation contradicts the popular claim that the river's course was permanently reversed.
Sources
- 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.