"Annus mirabilis -- miraculous year. This comes from Jonathan Daniels story of the Natchez Trace, The Devil's Backbone.

"In 1811 the steamboat pioneer, Robert Fulton, hired Nicholas Roosevelt to travel the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to see if a steamboat could navigate them. Roosevelt and his bride took there honeymoon 6 months on board a flatboat to check out the rivers and determined that it was indeed possible for a steamboat to negotiate the currents. So Roosevelt built a steamboat named the New Orleans, and in the fall of 1811, Nicholas and his wife, an engineer, a pilot, six hands and a dog set out from Pittsburgh on board a 300 ton steamboat, headed for Natchez and points south.

"As though announcing the beginning of this new era of river travel, a great comet shown against a moonlit night, as the New Orleans made its way down the river past Louisville, Kentucky.

"After the New Orleans sailed past the section of the Mississippi River that lies along the western border of the state of Tennessee, the first shocks of an earthquake struck near New Madrid, Mo. on December the 16th.

"On our next program we will finish our story of the miraculous year of 1811 with the forming of Reelfoot Lake while we listen to a bit of RoadMusic® along the way. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com