The Cairo daily bulletin., 1871-06-17
DULUTH, WHERE ARE Y0Uy

i MARK TWAINs WAR MAP NOWHERE -
CAIRO ELIMINATED FROM THE MEMPHIS
RAILROAD MAP-THE "IFs WHICH
WOULD MAKE MEMPHIS THE CENTER OF
THE woRLD-HER PROXIMITY TO ARK
ANsAs URGED As A STRONG PoINT-THE
SHORTEST RoUTE TO ASIA, AFRICA, CAPE
HORN THE rEJEE ISLANDS AND THE
D--L.-"THE GOD AND MAN DESERVING
| CHARACTER OF HER PEOPLE.
A gentleman Of this city has placed in
our possession lelterhead, upon the back of
which is printed map headed Memphis
and her railroad system The map oc-
cupies about one-third of the sheet, the
remaining space being covered with three
columns of closely-printed matter, signed
BY 81. J. Dupre.' Both map and matter
are thoroughly
= MEMPHIAN IN STYLE,
q mixture of impudence and buncombc, of
bravado and deception.
THE MAP
is a fine specimen Of the extent Of the
knowledge Of geography possessed by its
| author. Mark Twain in locating the
river Seine on the wrong side of Paris,
and placing bridge over q stretch Of
level land removed fifty miles from even
a rivulet, is fiat failure as burlesquer
when compared to the sober efforts of the
designer and draughtsman of " Memphis
and her railroad system To illustrate
that system" ION paper, he takes, with
the characteristic modesty Of Memphian,
altogether the largest slice of the North
| American continent, makes q black mark
in the center of this slice and calls it
Memphis. This is tho first step. A large
circle around this blotch is then drawn,
and you have Memphis within
radius of thousand miles," when IL could
as conveniently be made eight thousand
five hundred, and thus strike the "plum"
center of the universe. Radiating lines are
then supplied from the''center to the lin
its of the circle, exactly after the manner
in which spokes are adjusted in wheel,
and these are called railroads, or rather,
the " railway system of Memphis" Pur-
suing his work, the author proceeds, with
I the utmost contempt for modern geogra.
ply, to locate cities and towns, which have
| heretofore been considered not transfer
able" to such points on the Railway sys-
TEN as best suits his purpose He closes
the career Of the Mississippi river at Col
umbus, Ky, and allows the wa
tiers of the beautiful Ohio to flow
Il I,,t ,I,;r mill
nois, over the broad fields of Missouri,
into the Indian Territory, leaving their
outlet TO the geographical imagination of
the student. The
"MEMPHls, FL PAsO AND SOUTHERN
| PACIFIC INTERSATIoSAL RAILROAD"
is the strong card in the sys-
TEN. In an extreme corner of the map,
in extremely small letters Is the word
"explanation.' Under this is placed a
few dots. which signify "finished." A
series of large dots then decorate the
railway system " from Mem
phis to Marshall, in Texas, some
thing over one-third of the distance
of the "system line.' OF course it made
no difference to the Memphis draughts-
man, that the only line running west from
Memphis, Is the Memphis and Little
Rock railroad, extending distance of
one hundred aud five miles to Little
Rock Work was commenced on this en-
terprise when Pacific railroads only ex-
isted in the dreams Of enthusiasts, and
was announced as completed few days
since. Advantage, we know, was taken Of
the low water in the Mississippi river to
run train of cars across the st. Francis
Bottoms from Memphis to Devalrs Bluff,
: But no traveller familiar with the country
over which this strip of road has been
' building for the past twenty years, will
be hoodwinked by such an announcement
IS but will continue to supply himself
ID with the customary life-p reserver OF
h skih, in anticipation of the inundation to
en- which the bottoms Whereabouts are mo
'd mentarily liable.
W. THE CAIRO AND FULTON RAILROAD
" is not visible to the naked eye on tina
map Fulton is represented by larg
square Of blank, without a speck, Will
ch Cairo, not appearing at all, is, we presume
ar left to sojourn with the Ohio in its way
'ck ward western rambles across the continen
re. Our railroad not radiating In the rigi
ual direction for the SYSTEM" is very careful
viii omitted. We cannot divine the purpo
for of the map or its author. II II WAS
will signed IN stem the current Of inteliige