The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1871-11-19
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.
WHY TT is CALLED EGYPT.

|
crn Illinois is called Egypt, We take pleas
urc in trasfcrring TO our columns an OK
tract from IN article upon the subject
from the pen Of Judge A. y. DUFF, which
we clip from the columns of the Daily
Gazette Of Sunday, and we have no hcs-
fancy in saying that we regard bis YER
sion of the matter as authentic history
Doubtless there are yet many of the
early scrtors of this State who remember
the remarkable winter of 1s20-3l fa-
military known to them as the winter of
the deep snow, this was recently al
luded to in the Gascte) when the snow
fell throughout the northern bor-
der counties of the state to the depth of
three feet. The winter being the longest
and scverest ever known in Illinois, thus
causing an unusual heavy draft upon the
supply of corn produced by the farmers
upon the central frontier counties most
of whom were new corners of only one,
two OF three years residence in the state
but this severe and long winter was fol-
| lowed by remarkably late and and back
ward spring, severe frost being frequent
until the middle of May, so that there
was little or no corn planted in the state
IN the year Of 1891 north of Jefferson coun
ty, until in June this late spring was also
followed by IA heavy and killing frost on
1 L,
which did considerable damage to the
late crops throughout the state, but SO COM
pletely ruined all the corn north of the
3Sth latitude that it was
wholly worthless except for winter
ing cattle. Hence the year 1882 was the
great " corn famine in the early history
o" Illinois all the prairie counties-in
fact the entire state north of the 3sth lat
| itude, had not produced sound corn enough
| the year before TO plant their farms in
1882, therefore all their corn for every
| purpose, had to be brought from some
| other region. Corn was shipped up the
Mississippi and Illinois rivers and sup
| piled to the adjoining counties at - per
| bushel, where 1t had sold in 1881 at ten
cents per bushel. The counties in the ex-
IRENE southern part of the State, COM
mencing with Jefferson, and the counties
east and west of it on the same latitude,
and including all the counties lying south
| of them, owing to the peculiar friable and
| sandy character Of the soil, their southern
| latitude and the absence of large prairies
were comparatively free from the effect of
the late spring and early frosts of 1881,
their corn crops being unusually good.
| So that while corn in the central northern
frontier counties, which were then Shelby,
| Macon, Montgomery etc, could only be
had in limited quantities at S3 and ~ per
| bushel, it could be bought in abundance in
the lower counties at twenty-five cents
per bushel. The result was that from the
18th of April TO the last of June, 1882,
there were not less than thousand Wagon
loads of corn taken from the counties of
jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin then in
GLIDING williamson, Gallatin (then in
Guiding Saline), johnson and ether south
ern counties, into the counties of Clinton,
} Fayette, Montgomery Macon, Shelby and
| other counties in that region. This corn
was bought up by such farmers of those
counties as had teams sufficient to haul it,
and transported in wagons these corn
t buyers generally Travelled in companies Of
j., from three to six or eight wagons together,
i and as they bought out the corn in one
county so as TO cause the price to advance
u to 40 or 80 cents per bushGl the next car
u avian or company would travel still fur
y ther south, to where the corn was still
= cheap, until many Of them penetrated
, johnson and other counties then border
L. ing on the Ohio river.
pc These good people after travelling sucl
,e. q distance finding corn 50 plentiful and !,
Oh be had for their money, and being familiar
rs the event shows, with the Bible story %
- the ten sons of Jacob going down 10 EVE
to for corn, they originate this f. e ious an.
o. swer to those who lnterrogatcl them us t.
their destination: I'VE are going {
Egypt for corn or, eve have heard there
70 was corn in Egypt and have come to buy
for ourselves and little ones for at thai
- date corn bread was the staff OF life in H.
in linois) This was the true origin of the
IN term, and the cause of Southern linoi.
-. being called Emit. ! know whereof
speak. In the spring Of 1872 / resided
Oh upon public road passing through one
ne OF the counties | have mentioned, | saw
IL more than a hundred wagons pass either
N going for or returning with corn for the
upper counties, and ! know for myseli
.. that those people, after the first few weeks
ld seldom mentioned their business dowr
" here without making some alusion to the
Bible narrative of the people of older
times going to Egypt for corn. But NJ
living man ever heard the term Egyp
a. applied to this part of Illinois prior to til,
he spring Of 1892. To the people ana Incl
TO dent above mentioned we are indebted for
H. the mime Egyyt. But little did those
pioneer and plain but Bible reading farm
~ ers, whose journey down here Tor corr
OF forcibly reminded them OF the sons o
Is Jacob going down into an
-, cicnt Egypt To- buy corn, and who
therefore, first called this part of the stat
" Egypt, because Of the abundance of corr
'at to be found here when all other coantrie
to to which they had access wer destitut,
| say little did they imagine in thus con
plimenting this part Of the state MS III
,lc grauary OF Illinois, they were laying IL
~ foundation of Il gross SANDER upon tn
o". intelligence, ofthe people whom they in IL
nal goodnes- and gratitude Of their hearts, il
ain, tended to honor and praise.
loss From and after the year 1882, that pa
An of the state south of the large prairi,
az in colloquial conversation was often refe
not red to aa Egypt, meaning the land
han corn.
lone But few years afterwards the gro
,,,,i food Of immigration from the older Stat
49,, set in, and the term Egypt was tax
'oP- up by tho new population, most of whC
were using it without any knowledge
its origin. Next sectional and poiti,
the prejudice took up the term, and in MI
anita ignorance of its origin, and without n
nioI regard to the truth Of history, sought
-, attribute its origin to whatever wou
VIII best subserve the unhallowed ends To-
hose attained, and in this atmosphere alone {
-. this term first receive its can't mr. np,,I