Cairo evening times. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-20
NEW SERIES, VOL. l, NO. l2i

fortify this valley, then claimed BY the French
Yielding to his opportunities, the splendid
fortress Fast Chastres, costing the French
the banks of the Mississippi opposite Ste. Cen
evievc, and now in ruins, on the margin of
Prairie dc Roage. ...e# ss4u
Kaskaskia then contained 5000 people, and
Cahokia 4, 1000, and Shawneetown was a di-
minutive Indian village, and St. Louis, Louis
vile and Cincinnati had neither a name or an
existence
How changed the scene in the last hundred
years Kaskaskia and Cahoka have dwindled
into insignicance, while on the banks of the
mighty Mississippi, the beautiful Ohio, and the
great northern lakes, great cities have arisen,
and Cairo has gradually emerged from her
watery grave, to dispute the supremacy
and claim of right the commerce of this the
richest, and soon to be, the most populous and
powerful valley on the globe. A close exam
ination in 1S43 Of Cairo and her surroundings,
both seologically and geographically con-
vinced me of the truthfulness of the statements
set forth by the Governor of Carolina. Cairo
as she now stands is a living proof that she is
no longer slush or mud-hole, but she has a
space surrounded by dyke or levee, and
sea wall, large enough to make habitation
for million of human beings, and free forever
from overflow, and in the next twenty years
will surpass the existing cities in commerce
and population. The great objection to the
location has now been overcome, and in a
short time this nterspace will be filled up and
paved above the highest waters ever known.
In the last few years the railroad system has
given immense impulse to the city, she now is
in daily communication with the vast terrific
rics extending from the gulf to the lakes, and
in a few years more the great trunk railroad
will stretch from California to Fulton OH the
Red river, and make connection with the rail-
roads in the centre of the great West.
The only railroad that can be made from
California must come through ,Arizonia and
Texas below the snow ranges of the Rocky
mountains to reach the Valley of the
Mississippi, and the point must be Cairo.
Northern en erprisc may be great, but it call
not tunnel the Sierra Nevada mountains, or
defy their SHOWS nor can they dip the Missis-
sippi river dry, and soon the trade that has
enriched every nation that has controlled it for
the last 1000 years, will alone build up
great city here. The trunk road will divide in
Texas, and while that branch which goes
supply Europe and carry the products Of India,
China, and the South sea- California and Mex
leo to Galveston and the Gulf stream of the
fbo iop ,.-I,;. ;.l,
supply North America. and carry her products
back to the Pacific, must terminate at
Cairo and nowhere else. The Iron Noun
tain Railroad, whose charter was granted
to run the Lower Mississippi must
make its most important terminus here,
for when it strikes the valley of the St. Francis
its nearest approach TO navigation must be
Cairo. ......
Thus, the mines of California gold-the
mountains of Mexican silver, and the noun
tains Of Missouri iron and copper will be poured
into her lap for distribution to the whole con-
tincnt of North America Cairo has risen from
the political earthquake and civil war, with
renewed energy, and is ready for the contest
of civil, commercial, and scientific strife for
supremacy.
The institutions now established here will vie
with Alexandra and the Pyramids of Egypt in
duration, and will live until science, literature,
and artistic skill, hall be banished from the
earth. Egypt has stood the alternate inunda-
tions of nations and empires for centuries, still
she maintains her commercial position, and
controls the trade of the Mediterranean and the
Nile. The schools of learning established by
the Ptolcmys who succeeded to the African
division of the conquests of Alexander the
Great, are there now, and have given science
to the whole earth, for more than 2, 900 years.
Tho old San scrit and Greek languages are
gone-the languages of the Copts, the ancient
Nubian, and the Pinnician are gone, still AL
| exandria exists, and her imperishable records
! like casket OF jewels, have noated upon the
| surging pillows of the human race to us, bright
| as in the days of Alexander and the Ptolemys
Cairo has even Il more glorious future. The
storms of bloody, civil strife have swept over
her, but even when the black cloud hung
| thickest there was in its bosom. amid lightning
| and thunder, the bright rainbow of promise,
beneath whose ample arch the great and grow
ing people of the West and South may repose
| in security and live III amity
The Anglo Saxon, or the white race, must
control the entire territory and its destiny, and
make the inferior races work, or drive them
| from the land as they have the Indian and the
Buffalo. Here colleges and schools of medl-
cine and surgery must rise, and, like Egypt,
give light and intelligence to the world.
! Here towers and quays, and docks should
blend their massive structures with halls dedi-
Gated to science and the arts, and her future
will be as bright and as glorious as Darwin s
description of Sydney cove
| High on . rock, amid the troubled air,
Hope stood sublime and waved her golden hair,
With rosy bosom, calmed the troubled deep,
! And with sweet accents charmed the wind sleep.
That my memory may live with school of
medicine and surgery, founded at this spot, is
the ardent wish of your fellow. .laborer and fel-
| lOw-townsmau,
! MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD.
Trains now leave Columbus, Ky, for Mo-
4 bile aud intermediate points every Sunday,
Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and in con-