The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-03-29
CAIRO, ILLINOIS.
oMETHISs ABOUT HER POSITION, RAIL.
ROADS, MANUFACTURES, ETC.
Northwestern Lumberman


CAIRO, ILL.,, March 12, 1884.
This metropolis of Southern Illinois is
just now congratulating herself upon the
triumphant manner in which she passed
through the great fsod and came out
with only the soles Of her feet little
damp, 50 to speak. Three weeks ago when
passed through Cairo, southwark bound,
things had bad look and very few would
have given sum above a nickel for her
chances of escaping a disastrous food
The Ohio was a vast mud-coored sea,
reaching from point alarmingly near the
top OF the Illinois levee for distance far.
ther than the eye could reach GU: over the
historic soil of old Kentucky The water
was well up above the level of the town,
and break in the evee would have caused
Cairo to share the fate of her numerous up.
river sister towns. That the levee did not
break and that the citizens experienced no
inconvenience save from the encroachments
of "seep' water in the low places-which,
by the way, they unanimously claim to be
advantageous from sanitary point of
view-has been and still is a matter for
universal rejoicing and patriotic pride. 1t
demonstrates, they argue, that the levees
must be beyond the danger line to with
stand two successive floods of such un-
paralleed magnitude, and that property in
Cairo is as secure as il would be a hundred
miles away from the two great rivers, whose
erratic tendencies to get up in the world
have become national problem, upon the
proper solution of which any amount of in
tellect and no little money is being brought
to bear.
After the high water trouble of the
spring of 1888, the Illinois Central Railroad
Company raised its tracks and consequent.
ly the levee along which 1t runs, some two
feet, and now its managers can point with
great and entirely justifsble pride to the
fact that theirs was the only railroad
whose trains crossed the flood line" in
1884 unnterruptedly. This the Illinois
Contra trains did without q skip, while at
every other point between Pittsburg and
Cairo, including the former, the railroads
we're drowned out and blockaded for DAYS
and even weeks. Supt Jeffrey, whom
last saw standing on the deck of the com.
pany's transfer steamer, with one eye on
the water and the other on the levee, NAV
well feel proud of his achievement; the
citizens Of Cairo are proud of both it and
him, and the stockholders of his company
ought to be likewise.
Cairo is not the most progressing city
in the world to visit in wet weather; but
investigation will disclose the fact that
there is more to it than appears on the sur
face. In the first place it rejoices in first
class hotel, which is kept in frst.class
style. The Halliday house was erected o
few years ago by one of the most enterpris-
ing citizens of Southern Illinois, whose
name it bears, and rumor hath it that his
stipulation with the lessees was to the effect
mat 1t should always be kept in first.
e'aSS manner, even if the owner had to be
u'a"n On at the end Of the year to supply
deficiencies between receipts and disburse
men'S Such public spirit as that cannot
be too highly praised, and migh, be emr
lated to the prosperity Of more than an,
town could name South Of Cairo
In the extent Of its tributsrv ro..-
Cairo is something of revelation. 7, ;
the focal point for vast stretch of coun,r
drained by the Ohio and Mississinr
whose waters unite az her door. In fact
student of the map of these great vail.
ii would seem that all rivers lead to Cair
The Tennessee, the Cumberland, and t
Wabash reach out into regions that @
rich in timber and mineral resources.
the alluvial bottom lands along the Oh
and Mississippi, within easy reach OF Il
city, ia q very fine growth Of timber CT
sistiug of white oak, ash, cottonwo,
cypress, gum, sycamore, pecan, elm, hac