ILJOHNSO-L Archives

From: Bill <>
Subject: Little Egypt Heritage, 26 June 2005, Vol 4 #25
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2005 19:44:00 -0400

Little Egypt Heritage Articles
Stories of Southern Illinois
© Bill Oliver

26 June 2005 2005
Vol 4 Issue: #25
ISBN: pending

Osiyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt,

Bounded on the east by the Missouri River in downtown Omaha, Nebraska is
a 31 acre site used for picnicking, with waterfalls and a 15 acre lake.
They produce computer driven colored light shows at night in the park.
Its site is called the Heartland of America Park.

This park is located on the western edge of shock waves that made the
ground vibrate in the states of Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri,
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and edges of North and South Carolina,
Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, plus, maybe Minnesota
and the Dakotas.

All of these states have great significance to my paternal and maternal
heritage. They came into conversation as some friends gathered around
their keyboards to hammer out the boundaries of what we call “southern
states”, “mid-west states”, and “the breadbasket of America”. Naturally
it centered around what were the “Heartland” states of the USA.

At first the Mid-west states were named, then others which considered
themselves “The Heartland” were added. In looking at all of the states
mentioned above there could be a resemblance in some particulars between
things otherwise unlike: for instance, the rim of a wagon wheel. If one
takes a point as center, such as New Madrid, Missouri -- like wheel
spokes, there is a symbolic similarity to the Lakota Wheel of Life.
Also, from this epic center outwards I have ancestors from most of my
American branches.

So during the night of 16 December 1811 there came a force which made
the timbers of cabins groan, creak and crack. Furniture rattled and was
thrown about. Chimneys crashed as they broke apart and fell. My
ancestors, William and Elizabeth [HART] CRENSHAW, and their children,
hurriedly ran outside to avoid being hurt by indoor flying debris. There
they remained shivering through the remainder of the night. After shocks
kept them from returning indoors.

Early that morning, preceded by a low rumbling, another fully severe
shock was experienced. The ground rose and fell like ocean swells. Trees
were tilted as the ground rippled as to tangle their branches. Deep
cracks in the earth formed as the surface flexed. Steeper bluffs gave
way to landslides and part of the land was uplifted and part of the land
sunk so as to become covered by water. On the Mississippi, huge waves
swamped boats or washed them high and dry on the banks. The returning
current broke thousands of trees which were carried out into the river.
High banks caved into the river and whole islands were submerged. Even
the course of the Mighty Mississippi was changed in one place.

Through that day and the next, at short intervals, shocks continued. It
is estimated that this and two other great shocks 23 January and 7
February] that followed in early 1812 were of a magnitude of eight. For
days after the February shock the ground was reported in constant tremer.

With the thousands of after shocks and the sinking of the thousands of
acres of their lands the Crenshaws decided to move up the Mississippi
and Ohio Rivers to the settlements near Shawneetown, in Gallatin County,
Illinois, which was then in the Territory of Illinois. This probably was
a wise move as their land is known today as Niger Woll Swamp.

I can just see the newspaper headlines in Washington, D.C., and other
large cities, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On in the Mississippi Valley”.
By spring of 1812 few buildings within 250 miles of New Madrid remained
undamaged. The first steamboat on the Mississippi, the New Orleans,
moored to an island in the evening and woke to find that the island sunk
below the river waters. There were reports of damage as far away as
Charleston, S.C., Washington, D.C. and a thousand miles away in Boston,
Massachusetts, the quake ran church bells.

This quake of 1811 and 1812 involves a true story of a different nature.
I and any geologist would certainly give much to know how the great
Chief Tecumseh was able to predict with such accuracy the New Madrid
earthquake. That is a story for next time.

e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da.
(May you walk in peace and harmony)

Wado,


Bill
-=-

PostScript:

Other sites worth visiting:

PostScript:

= = = =
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html

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• Little Egypt Heritage, 19 June 2005, Vol 4 #24 by Bill <>

  • Little Egypt Heritage, 26 June 2005, Vol 4 #25 by Bill <>