Note 254 — Chapter XVIII · EARLY "EPISODES" OF WESTERN LIFE

These historic earthquakes, which were most destructive of life and property in the lower Mississippi Valley, began on December 16, 1811, and therefore before Audubon and Nolte had reached the western country. They were noted for their remarkable frequency and persistence, 221 shocks having been recorded in a single week at Henderson, Audubon's home at that time; though their force was mostly spent after the first three months, they did not wholly die away in the Ohio Valley until December 12, 1813, when the last feeble vibration was recorded by Dr. Daniel Drake at Cincinnati; the worst shocks at this point were experienced on December 16, 1811, on January 23 and February 7, 1812. See Daniel Drake, Natural and Statistical View of Cincinnati, and the Miami Valley; with an appendix, containing observations on the late Earthquakes, (Cincinnati, 1815); and Edmund L. Starling, History of Henderson County, Kentucky (Bibl. No. 186).