Rivers are often treated as fixed features of the landscape. They bend, flood, and shift over long stretches of time, but they seem permanent enough that entire towns and economies are built around them. The Mississippi River, in particular, has long been regarded as one of North America's defining geographical landmarks. Yet in the early nineteenth century, a series of earthquakes briefly altered its behaviour in ways that still sound improbable today. During the winter of 1811 and 1812, violent ground movements reshaped parts of the central United States, leaving behind changed river channels, newly formed lakes and a lasting reminder that even large rivers can be affected by forces deep beneath the earth's surface.
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