Southernmost Illinois History

of Alexander, Pulaski, Union, Johnson, Massac and nearby counties

A Cairo renovation project that began as short-term
has continued over many months.

The crescent shape of the Ohio River between Metropolis and Cairo was one of the busiest "interstate highways" of the 1700s and 1800s, carrying settlers and their belongings westward, and farm products to market. The Land Between the Rivers - Massac, Pulaski, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander and Union counties - was prominent in the earliest activities.

Southernmost Illinois south of Route 13 (Murphysboro Carbondale Herrin Marion) has gentle hills and some interesting bluffs. A mile-high glacier ended here from the north, and a finger of the Gulf of Mexico touched here from the south.

B.C. - The climate has seen tropical rain forest, with dinosaurs and volcanoes. The continent tried to pull apart here, twice. Dalton-point tools, 9,500 years old, date to early archaic. That's almost as old as man has been in North America. Earthquakes helped reroute the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Mississippian era - The chert in hills along the Mississippi was ideal for tool-making. A tiny town shipped tools by canoe as far away as Detroit, 1000 years before it had a post office. The mound builders flourished from 900-1500 AD, literally looking up to their spiritual and governmental sites which were constructed on dirt mounds.

Explorers - (1550-1850) - A huge buffalo-hide tanning operation sent exports to Paris from here. Marquette and Joliet found a landmark rock with its legends. The newly formed US troops captured forts here while George Washington's troops were unthawing from Valley Forge.

Half the US military was here watching the French, Spanish and British, when Lewis and Clark edged past the "Grand Chain" of Rocks. The leader of Cantonment Wilkinsonville considered absconding with the troops and supplies to seize the new lands of the southwest. And the nation's capital was almost relocated to near Mound City.

Rivers' confluence - Ohio River at right flows in to Mississippi River. Kentucky at right, Missouri on lower left, Cairo, Illinois at top.

Civil War Era (1850-1900)

• A short, fiery orator and a tall pensive man debate in Jonesboro about a nation divided.
• Cairo and Mound City are staging areas for Union troops.
• Mound City shipyards builds, fits, repairs many war boats.
• The first US Navy nurses are at Mound City, helping a hospital and hospital ship. A National cemetery buries Confederate as well as Union soldiers.
• General Grant leads troops at Cairo.

20th century+ (1900s - forward)

• Buying grain in Egypt
• Superheroes
• The big flood of '37
• Coal and cat litter for the nation
• The big flood of '93
• A million visitors a year to Fort Massac

Researchers of Southernmost Illinois History can find help at Southern Illinois University's Morris Library Special Collections and the Cairo Public Library.

A very detailed, attractive map of the area from Rt. 13 south, river-to-river, is available for a few dollars from Shawnee National Forest offices.