The Mississippi River Flowed Backwards in 1811, Creating This Strange Lake in Tennessee

Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee

The strongest earthquakes ever recorded east of the Rocky Mountains didn’t just knock down chimneys from Canada to New Orleans. They literally moved rivers, swallowed forests, and punched a hole in Tennessee that filled with water.

Here’s how the New Madrid earthquakes sculpted Reelfoot Lake from pure chaos, now part of the Reelfoot Lake State Park.

The First Violent Tremor

The ground began to shake at 2:15 a.m. on December 16, 1811. The first earthquake struck northeast Arkansas with a magnitude of 7.5-7.7.

The New Madrid seismic zone had built up pressure for centuries beneath the Mississippi River Valley. Frontier settlers felt their cabins rock as earth waves rippled outward.

A strong 7.0 aftershock hit at 7:15 a.m. that same day. Ground movements traveled through bedrock for hundreds of miles.

People felt the earth move as far away as Boston and New York City, over 1,000 miles from where it started.

The Second Major Quake

After a month of constant smaller tremors, another big earthquake struck on January 23, 1812, at 9:15 a.m. This magnitude 7.3-7.5 quake was the smallest of the three main shocks.

New Madrid, Missouri, the largest town between St. Louis and Natchez, suffered more damage. The shaking again reached the Atlantic coast.

Reports say it woke First Lady Dolley Madison in Washington D.C. Most people now slept in tents or makeshift shelters, afraid their homes would collapse in the next quake.

The Final Devastating Earthquake

The strongest earthquake hit on February 7, 1812, at 3:45 a.m. This magnitude 7.5-7.7 quake centered near New Madrid, Missouri.

Some early estimates put it at magnitude 8.8, which would make it among North America’s strongest recorded earthquakes. The town of New Madrid was destroyed with almost no buildings left standing.

This final major quake created the biggest permanent changes to the land. It altered river paths, collapsed banks, and formed the depression that would become Reelfoot Lake. Aftershocks continued for weeks afterward.

Aftershocks continued for weeks afterward.

The Mississippi Flows Backwards

The February 7 earthquake made the Mississippi River flow backwards for several hours. Boatmen watched in shock as the mighty river reversed course.

Scientists now call this rare event a ‘fluvial tsunami.’ The earthquake created wave-like movements in the river water.

Witnesses saw water ‘gathering up like a mountain’ before rushing upstream. The river rose 15 to 20 feet above normal in some places.

Land Uplifts and Subsidence

The earthquakes warped the landscape through two opposing forces. A 50-kilometer stretch of land now called the Lake County uplift rose up to 10 meters high.

East of an area called Tiptonville dome, land sank 1.5 to 6 meters at the same time. This sinking created a large depression that would soon fill with water.

A 3-meter high cliff called Reelfoot scarp formed where the raised and lowered land met. This cliff marked the edge of a fault line where underground rock layers had shifted.

The future lake site sank deeper than surrounding areas, forming a natural basin.

The Reelfoot River Dam

Reelfoot River once flowed through northwest Tennessee into the Mississippi River. The February earthquake blocked this river, cutting off its path to the Mississippi.

Henry Rutherford’s 1785 survey recorded this now-extinct river. Geographer Jedidiah Morse described it in 1797 as 30 yards wide at a point 7 miles from where it joined the Mississippi.

After the earthquakes, the river could no longer flow along its normal route. Blocked by raised land and redirected by sunken areas, the water began pooling behind this natural dam.

This blockage helped form Reelfoot Lake.

Water Fills the Sunken Land

Mississippi River water rushed into the newly formed depression east of Tiptonville. The earthquake had created a perfect basin to catch and hold water.

Floodwaters covered land that had dropped 5 to 20 feet below its previous level. Forests that once stood on dry ground became submerged, starting the formation of a lake.

Water depths varied across the new lake, with the deepest parts in areas that had sunk the most. The flooding covered about 15,000 acres of land.

Much of this water never drained back to the Mississippi, creating a permanent lake.

Dramatic Changes to the Landscape

Trees suddenly found themselves underwater when the lake formed. These submerged forests created the maze of cypress trunks still seen in Reelfoot Lake today.

Throughout the region, sand blows erupted as liquefied soil shot upward through ground cracks. Fissures opened across the landscape, some reportedly swallowing people and livestock.

Reports claim a Native American village disappeared during the earthquakes, either sinking into the ground or flooding under the new lake.

The most dramatic changes happened about 15 miles south of New Madrid, where ground movements were strongest.

Early Eyewitness Accounts

Eliza Bryan of New Madrid wrote about the earthquakes in a letter to preacher Lorenzo Dow. She described violent shaking, dark sulfur vapors, and trees falling into the roaring Mississippi.

Flatboat operator Firmin La Roche recorded how his boats were carried upstream by a massive wave. Water rose so fast that 30-foot riverbanks vanished underwater within minutes.

John Bradbury described the river as ‘agitated by a storm’ with banks falling into the water. Vincent Nolte and John James Audubon saw the Mississippi ‘boiling up like water in a cauldron.’

A Permanent Geological Feature

Unlike temporary floods that recede, Reelfoot Lake became a permanent part of Tennessee’s landscape. Two centuries later, the lake still covers the same area created by the earthquakes.

At its largest, Reelfoot measures about 20 miles long and 7 miles wide. The lake contains several distinct basins, with the largest called Blue Basin.

Water now drains from the lake through Running Reelfoot Bayou, which flows south to the Obion River. This outflow keeps the lake at a stable size throughout the seasons.

Visiting Reelfoot Lake

You can explore Reelfoot Lake at Reelfoot Lake State Park, located at 2595 State Route 21E, Tiptonville, TN 38079.

The park remains open year-round from 8:00 a.m. until sunset.

Entry to the park is free, though boat rentals and guided tours have fees. The Visitor Center offers an earthquake simulator where you can experience what created the lake.

Park rangers usually lead pontoon boat tours through cypress-filled waters daily from April through October.

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