The National tribune., 1907-10-10
THE MAIN ARTERY.
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|
capital develops her growth will go on
at rate far exceeding that in the past
After receiving the Missouri the Mis-
/ SfSSippi swings over to abrade the foot
/ hills IF the OZariis, and from st. Louis
! TO Commerce, Mo, there is series OF
lofty and picturesque palisades, carved
by the winds and the rains into fantas-
{ tic forms. which the old boatmen. with
their continual tendency to refer things
| TO Satanic power, named the Devils
Tea Table. DEVILS Cornice Rocks, the
| Devirs Easy Chair. and so on. In an
opening in these palisades is situate 4
the Oldest town in the upper valley st.
Genevieve, which the French settlers
expected would be the great city rathe.
than st. Louis. 1t was settl, as early
as 1875, and it was supposed that its
copper and lead mines would bring it
| wealth. but in 1900 it only had 1907
population.
At Commerce, Mo-. 80 miles above
Cairo. the bluffs end, the swampy coun-
try begins and the river swings away
to the east to find the bluffs on the
opposite side. Commerce was the high
ground upon which Gen. John Pope
organized his army in the Winter of
1S61-62 for his brilliant campaign thru
tho sv''r'ps to capture New Madrid and
Island No. 10.
Cairo, III.
OF all the cities along the Mississippi
the most eXtravagant expectations were
at one time entertained as to Cairo, Ill.
Cairo is the junction of the great Ohio
River system with that of the MissisSip-
pi. The Tennessee and Cumberland
River, draining fertile regions for a
thousand miles, enter the Ohio As miles
above Cairo, and it seemed the point
where all the commerce of the coun-
try would gather, being transferred
from the large vessels of the lower Mis-
sissippi to the smaller steamers running
IN the shallower upper waters. At the
time of Charles Dickens's noted visit to
America he was taken to Cairo, but
found it a most desolate and uninvitiny
place. swamp generally below the sur
face of the rivers, and infested by the
most ferocious musketoS known to man.
Terrific stories have been told of the
size and ferocity of the Cairo gallinip-
pers. One of the best attested of these
Is that man endeavored to escape
from their torments by crawling into
an old boiler. He happened to have his
hammer with him. The mosketos bored
thru the boiler after him. and as fast
as one of ther! would stick his bill
thru he would hit it clip with his
hammer and clinch it on the inside. He
was rejoicing in his getting revenge
on the insects, when all at once they
took flight, carried the boiler off, and
the mans fate was never learned.
During the civil war Cairo was n
point of importance. Next to Wash
ington it was Of the utmost solicitude
to those who would preserve the Union,
and simultaneously with the rush of
troops to protect Washington was the
swift advance of the Illinois militia to
occupy and hold Cairo. They were
M fnn fnv. 1,a 1,D
templated paralyzing the Government
in the West by seizing the place.
The Gibraltar of America.
Twenty miles below Cairo the river,
swinging to the east, strikes the Chick
asaw Bluffs, and upon the first of these
the Confederates, under their famous
Bishop General, Polk. built what was
for some months the much-trumpeted
"Gibraltar OF America" in the great
fortifications Of Columbus, Ky. The
Army Of the Tennessee, under Gen. U.
S. Grant, began its work of clearing
out the. Mississippi with it's operations
against Columbus. Grant fought his
first battle at Belmont, and by his cap
ture of Fort Donelson rendered the ex-
tensive fortifications untenable.
New Madrid and Island No. 10.
Lying in one of the tortuous sweeps
of the great yellow food, the President
saw on the Missouri side the ancient
town Of New Madrid, another scene of
blasted hopes of town builders. AS early
as 1888 the adventurous Spaniards had
picked 1t out as the site of an imp )rtant
trading station with the Indians, who
hunted the animals thru the dense for
ests of that rich, low-lying region.
American frontiersmen were also at
tracted to it, and 1t was rapidly devel-
oping, when the awful earthquake of
1911 wrecked its hopes and reduced
the country around it to the most for
bidding stretch Of quagmires and
swamps in the whole Mississippi Valley.
1t never recovered from the blow, nor
has the country yet become reduced to
civilization. New Madrid has fingered
along, having a population in 1900 of
only 1,4S9. The magnificent timber re-
sources of the country are attracting
attention, lumber companies are going
in, and there Is an ambitious scheme
under way to drain the swamps into
the st. Francis River and bring the i'm
mense area of wonderfully fertile land
into cultivation. New Madrid, with
Island No. 10, was the extreme left Of
the Confederate line, and were strongly
fortified. They were supposed to be
impregnable to attack, but Gen. Pope,
by campaign of unsurpassed bril-
liancy during the war, succeeded in
capturing Dotn Win al lHSleHlHcdHt
loss.
About 40 miles above Memphis,
standing on a hieh bluff, the President
saw what remains Of Fort Pillow, the
second line of Confederate defenses,
and the scene Of FORESTS brutal mas
sacre of the colored and Tennessee SOL
diers April IL, 1864. Fort Pillow at
that time was simply recruiting sta
ton and place for organizing the
white and colored recruits gathered in
from Tennessee and northern Missis-
sippi. These were particularly objects
Of the vengeance of the Southerners,
and Forrest and his men gloated over
the terrible massacre of the "niggers
and Tennessee tories"
The City OF Memphis.
The Presidents journey by water
ended in the city of Memphis, standing
on the last IF the Chickasaw Bluffs, and
which at the outbreak of the war was,
next TO New Orleans. the principal mar
ket for the cotton OF the Mississippi
Valley. Before the war the lcvee ir,
front OF Memphis was wonderful
sight, with the continual arrival of
steamers laden u the waters edge with
bales of cotton. There was an activity
and hustle beyond description, and
wealth poured into the Golfers of her
merchants. Shc paid very dearly for
her foolish adherence to secession in
tho ,SS of her trade hut sufferad pnth