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In this episode of Memphis Type History: The Podcast, Rebecca reveals to Caitlin her recent paranoia of the New Madrid fault line and the seriousness of "the big one" for Memphis should it ever occur. But there's good new! Well... at least for those over 36 years old. So what is the New Madrid Fault Line? Wikipedia says it's the 150-mile (240 km) long seismic zone, which extends into five states. It stretches southward from Cairo, IL; through Hayti, Caruthersille and New Madrid, MO; through Blytheville into Marked Tree in AR. It also covers a part of West Tennesse, near Reelfoot Lake, extending southeast into Dyersburg. That's a pretty big stretch of land. The History of New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) Earthquakes The first known written record of an earthquake felt in the NMSZ was from a French missionary traveling up the Mississippi with a party of explorers. It happened at 1 p.m. on Christmas Day in 1699 at a site near the present-day location of Memphis. However, most famous was a series of 3 earthquakes between 1811-12. The first earthquake was recorded at 2:15 am in Northeast Arkansas. It caused only slight damage to man-made structures, mostly because it wasn’t greatly populated. Memphis (before it was Memphis) was shaken at a Mercalli Intensity scale of level nine. Little Prairie, MO was destroyed by soil liquefaction, trees were knocked down and riverbanks collapsed. Uplifts of the ground on the riverbed and large waves made the Mississippi river look like it was flowing upstream. Sand bars and points of islands gave way. A steamboat crew that was anchored overnight along a Mississippi River island said they awoke to find the island had disappeared below the water. Landslides covered an area of 78,000 - 129,000 square kilometers, extending from Cairo, Illinois, to Memphis, Tennessee, and from Crowley's Ridge in northeastern Arkansas to Chickasaw Bluffs, Tennessee. This event shook windows and furniture in Washington, D.C., rang bells in Richmond, Virginia, shook houses in Charleston, South Carolina, and knocked plaster off of houses in Columbia, South Carolina. Observers in Herculaneum, Missouri said it had a duration of 10-12 minutes. After all this, only one life was lost in falling buildings. The first and largest aftershock happened that same morning at around 7:15am. It came to be known as the “Dawn” Aftershock. The second earthquake, on January 23, is believed to be the smallest of the three main shocks and also believed by some that the epicenter was in southern Illinois. That raises concern because if that is true, then that would mean and extended section of the fault exists. The third earthquake, on February 7, happened in Missouri and it was the largest of the series. It destroyed the town of New Madrid, it damaged many houses in St. Louis. It caused general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks. Uplift along the fault created temporary waterfalls on the Mississippi River and caused the formation of Reelfoot Lake. NMSZ Fun Facts: (because we try to make light of dark topics) • There’s a New Madrid Historical Museum in the Missouri boot heel. There you can watch a VHS tape they play on loop, called “The Night the Earth went Crazy.” • In 1990, there was an earthquake hype. A prophecy had just been made by a self-proclaimed climatologist named Iben Browning, who falsely claimed to have predicted the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California the year before. He predicted that a magnitude 7 earthquake would strike New Madrid on December 3, 1990. The prediction had no scientific legitimacy but it was widely reported in the national media, which promoted fear, anxiety, and hysteria among residents of the Mississippi Valley. • In Memphis, the city recently spent $25 million to prevent the pyramid from being swallowed. • AutoZone’s corporate headquarters also stands ready for some massive shakes. It’s propped up on top of giant shock absorbers. • The nearby Memphis VA is another safe spot. The city spent $64 million dollars removing nine floors of the hospital to reduce the risk of collapse in a catastrophic earthquake. And if you would like more hope, we talk about Seth Stein, a seismologist and professor at Northwestern who doesn’t think we should be worried about the New Madrid. Rebecca talks about his theory on the episode which sounds pretty solid. But for all you Eeyores and Debbie Downers, Rebecca also talks about how scientist say Seth's scenario is a low probability scenario and that the NMSZ is still hazardous. They estimate that over the next 50 years, the probability of a magnitude 6 or larger quake is between 25 to 40 percent. In short, if you are 36 years old or younger, there is a good chance you will experience an earthquake in the Mid-South that measures higher than a 6.
This week, Rex and Paul chew the fat about the fact that Paul is from Imdoden, setting a new Chewing the Fat record -- nine seconds -- for earliest mention, the Hope Watermelon Festival, the Hempstead County sheriff's otherworldly victory in the watermelon-eating contest, how the boys turned down the offer of a free 150-pounder, despite the generous offer of a burlap sack to carry it with, about the biscuits at Keeney's in Malvern, how Historic Washington has as good a lunch as one could get at any state park in the United States, how Paul likes well-cooked vegetables -- no crispy green beans, please! and the greatness of catalpa worms for fishing but the grossness of the green goo that comes out when you step on one, Paul's sneaky book-buying methods, discovering Glen Campbell's grave site three days after his funeral, Rex and Paul's funeral fixation, the death of Frank Broyles, how Broyles and Campbell and Johnny Cash gave Arkansas things to be proud of in the 1960s and helped the state live down some of the national embarrassment after the 1957 crisis, Nashville versus Crowley's Ridge peaches, the Fish Net at DeGray Lake, great Arkansas football stadiums, and Jeff Root (the Football Doctor).
This week, Rex and Paul chew the fat about Rex's Delta food tour he gave some folks from Houston, Texas, the three Delta food groups, the IGA store in Biscoe, the historic and virtually unprecedented addition of an item to the menu at the Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna, the appearance of His Honor, the Mayor, Cypress Corner at Lexa, Pasquale's Tamales in Helena, steamboats, how Rex wore out the boys from Houston, the magnificence of Crowley's Ridge, the Louisiana Purchase monument and its booming tourist business because of Rex and Paul, Murry's at Hazen and the best onion rings in Arkansas, Paul's lobbying (that would be whining) to get on the board of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Paul's celebrated appearance frying bacon and a bunch of other stuff at the Friends of the Library pancake breakfast at Imdoden, and a great German place -- Bavarian, really -- at Mammoth Spring. Not "Springs," so watch it.
Selections from Legacies & Lunch featuring Vivienne Lie Schiffer, who has written a book and produced a film about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were held in internment camps in Arkansas during World War II; information about Arkansas musician Little Willie John, an R&B vocalist and songwriter who recorded several hit songs, including the original version of the popular song, "Fever," at age 18; information about the Butler Center's Genealogy Workshop on Saturday, July 23, from Rhonda Stewart, the Butler Center's local history expert, and Kate Chagnon, the Butler Center's programming and outreach coordinator; Selections from Books & Bagels, a partnership between the CALS Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library & Learning Center and Just Us, a pending nonprofit that serves as the leadership for Global Kids Arkansas; this week's segment features a multigenerational conversation about feminism, misogyny, and sexism; Bizarre Arkansas, with a story about H. L. Mencken, a Baltimore journalist who wrote critical statements about Arkansas during the early 1900's; Chewing the Fat with Rex and Paul, who talk about Chafik Chamoun's Rest Haven in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the Klappenbach Bakery in Fordyce, the Sno-White Grill and Fino's in Pine Bluff, repeating oneself, Sunday afternoon drives, Baptist Training Union, Ravenden Springs, the Devil's Bathtub, the Needle's Eye, Crowley's Ridge, cemetery visits, Arkansas back roads, Des Arc, Carlisle, Lauratown, the collie who caught chickens so its owner could fry them, eating at boardinghouses, having the preacher over for Sunday lunch, a troublesome uncle who was afraid of mice, and the disaster that befell a visiting preacher when Rex's uncles tried to make wine in the attic in summer; an interview with Nancy Hendricks, author of Notable Women of Arkansas, just released by Butler Center Books; interview conducted by Rod Lorenzen, manager of Butler Center Books; selections from an interview with Cpl. Charles O. Hilburn, a veteran of the Korean War; interview conducted by Brian Robertson, the Butler Center's senior archivist and manager research services; a reading of an interview with Railroad Dockery, a former slave, conducted by the WPA from 1936-1938; read by Rhonda Stewart, the Butler Center's local history and genealogy expert; information about and music by Arkansas music legend, Johnny Cash; information about this year's Summer Seminar for state educators from George West, the Butler Center's education coordinator, and David Stricklin, head of the Butler Center; a Take Five interview with Bob Boyd, a musician who will perform with the Bob Boyd Sounds for the Arkansas Sounds concert series tonight, Friday, April 22.
Learn about the unique features that make Crowley’s Ridge. Explore the park itself and see when it was created and by whom. Learn more about a Civil War Battle that occurred on the Ridge.