March 14, 1946

February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.

A local tourist map of Hannibal from the trip.

The next morning, we drove to Hannibal and stopped there to see the Mark Twain Museum. It was very interesting.

Google (ND) [Directions from New London, MO, to Hannibal, MO] Retrieved February 13, 2021

Walt’s Comments

For good or ill, Hannibal has hitched its wagon quite firmly to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I really enjoyed the stories, but the tourist attractions built around them struck me as crassly commercial. For example, there’s a Huck Finn Shopping Center. I rather wonder what he (or Mark Twain) would say about that.

Picture of a statue of Tom and Huck in Hannibal. (No info on photo to credit.)

Hannibal, Missouri, and Earthquake Certificates

Hannibal is of course most famous for Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. It was named for Hannibal Creek (now known as Bear Creek), which got its name by a Spanish surveyor-general, Don Antonio Soulard in 1800.

The first major landholder in the area was a man named Abraham Bird, who received 640 acres of land from the US government through an earthquake certificate.  His previous farm had been lost in the New Madrid earthquakes in 1811 and 1812. The massive quake destroyed many farms, and the federal government issued certificates for farmers to claim property in Missouri.

The first buildings were built in 1819 and a school was erected in 1830.  Hannibal was incorporated in 1845.  It was a major railroad center and served as a busy stop on the Mississippi River. It was known for its lumber mills and hemp rope making.  Later, cement from the nearby Atlas Portland Cement Company was used in the Panama Canal and the Empire State Building.

Digging Deeper

Some history of Hannibal, MO, can be found here.

The first disaster relief act was prompted by the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811/1812.

USGS Survey of the damage from the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811/1812.

Some personal stories of the New Madrid Earthquake can be found here.