Alexander County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter XXVIII Other Railroads And Ferries 1910 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 20, 2007, 2:53 pm Book Title: A History Of The City Of Cairo Illiniois CHAPTER XXVIII OTHER RAILROADS-ILLINOIS CENTRAL AND THEBES RAILROAD BRIDGES-THE CAIRO HARBOR AND BACON ROCK-FERRIES: CAIRO'S NEED OF RAILROAD COMPANIES- Cairo has become quite a railroad center. The roads together with the rivers reaching southward and northeastward and northwestward give us transportation facilities equaled by very few other places in the country. The railroads centering here are of such importance to the city as to require a short account of each one of the same. Besides the Illinois Central Railroad, so fully spoken of elsewhere, we have now the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway or Railroad, commonly called the Big Four, and across the river in Missouri, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway and the St. Louis, Southwestern Railway. Besides these we have the Cairo & Thebes Railroad which will soon be completed and put in operation. The Illinois Central Railroad Company was chartered February 10, 1851, and its construction extended through the years 1852 to 1855. There has been some little controversy as to when the Illinois Central Railroad was finished and first opened for operation. In the "Cairo City Times" (volume 1 number 17, edited by William A. Hacker and Len. G. Faxon) of September 20, 1854, is found a communication from William P. Burrall, the president of the railroad company, to the executive committee of the company, dated at Chicago, September 7, 1854, m which he says that Since the 1st instant I passed in company with our chief engineer, R. B. Mason, Esq., over the entire line between Cairo and La Salle, 308 miles, and find its condition to be as follows:- The track is laid and ready for operation from Cairo north 88 miles, with the exception of the bridge over the Big Muddy River, 60 miles north of Cairo. . . . From La Salle south the track is laid 134 miles, with the exception of a piece of 10 miles north of Decatur. . . . The limit work to complete the main line is, therefore, the track laying over the space between the point 88 miles north of Cairo and that of 134 miles north of La Salle, which is a distance of 86 miles, at the end of which is a strong party now employed in laying track and approaching each other. When they meet the entire main line will be ready for operation. . . . North of La Salle our track is laid 16 miles to the Aurora junction. From that junction to Freeport, 60 miles, the grading is now substantially ready for the track. . . . I think, therefore, that on the 1st day of January next we may expect the whole line, from Cairo to Galena to be ready for operation by regular trains, giving us by Chicago and Galena road, a line from Chicago to Galena, by Aurora extension road a line from Cairo to Chicago, and by the Ohio and Mississippi road a line from St. Louis to Cairo. ... On the Chicago branch the track is laid from Chicago south 143 miles and the grading is complete, ready for the rails for a further distance of 33 miles. . . . We have, therefore, now actually laid 409 miles of track. The first time-table of the Cairo trains appears in a number of issues of the said newspaper in which it is stated that on and after "Monday, January 8th (1855), passenger trains will leave Cairo at six o'clock A. M., connecting at Sandoval with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad for St. Louis; at Decatur with the Great Western Railroad for Springfield, Jacksonville and Naples; at Bloomington with the Chicago and Mississippi Railroad; at La Salle with the Rock Island Railroad for Rock Island and Davenport; and at Mendota with the Chicago and Aurora Railroad for Chicago." There are a number of other references in this newspaper to work on the Central, but I can find no statement as to the time when trains were first in operation over the whole line of about 710 miles of railroad. It must have been as late as the first of October, 1855, when the road was fully completed and in operation. As late as August 1, 1855, the travel to Chicago was still by the main line to Mendota and thence by what is now the C. B. & Q. See "Times" of August 8, 1855. The Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company was chartered by the legislature of Alabama February 3, 1848, by the legislature of Mississippi February 17th, by the legislature of Tennessee February 28th, and admitted to the state of Kentucky on the terms of its Alabama charter by an act of the legislature of Kentucky of February 26th, of that year. The road was finished to Columbus, Kentucky, twenty miles south of Cairo, two or three or more years after the Central was finished to Cairo. The congressional land grant of September 20, 1850, was to aid in building a railroad from Chicago to Mobile, and these two railroad companies, the Central and the Mobile & Ohio, were to receive and did receive the benefits of that act; and there was, therefore, some two or three years before the Civil War a railroad from Chicago to Mobile, with the exception of the gap of twenty miles between Cairo and Columbus. These two companies for many years filled this gap, as it were, by the running of steamboats for transfer purposes between those two cities. On the 28th day of February, 1870, the legislature of Kentucky incorporated the Kentucky & Tennessee Railroad Company, the incorporators of which were A. B. Safford, Rufus P. Robbins, George W. Eggleston, Jacob L. Martin and Thomas H. Corbett; and on the 5th day of June, 1872, this company agreed with the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company to build the road and to lease the same in perpetuity to the latter company. The Kentucky company was authorized to build a road from a point opposite Cairo to some point on the Mobile & Ohio between Columbus and the Tennessee line, and was authorized by its charter to make a lease in perpetuity to any other railroad company. This arrangement having been made, the Mobile & Ohio Company, in the year 1880, constructed a road from what is now South Columbus, a mile or a mile and a half east of Columbus, up to what is now called East Cairo. From that time until 1886, it operated its road as a single line from Mobile to East Cairo. A little before or after this, the Illinois Central acquired a road or two constituting a line from New Orleans to Jackson, Tennessee, and thereupon extended the line from Jackson to Fillmore, some two or three miles south of East Cairo and at the place where Fort Holt existed during the war. The company operated its car ferryboat between Fillmore and its railroad incline just south of its present elevator in Cairo until a few years afterwards, when the company extended the road to a point in Kentucky almost opposite the elevator and the ferriage was thereafter almost directly across the river. The Mobile & Ohio Railroad ferried its cars directly across the river to the incline of the Wabash Railway Company below the Halliday Hotel for a number of years. THE CAIRO & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD COMPANY was chartered February 16, 1865, the incorporators of which were Samuel Staats Taylor, William P. Halliday, Isham N. Haynie, Sharon Tyndale, John Thomas, William H. Logan, and Tilman B. Cantrell. The company found it very difficult to arrange for the construction of its road, and when it did so it was only for a narrow gauge road or one of the width of three feet only. Its construction was not undertaken until 1871, and the road not finished and put in operation until early in 1875. It was operated with varying degrees of success until proceedings were instituted in the United States court at Springfield to foreclose the mortgage given to secure the bonds issued to obtain moneys to build the road. The property was sold under the decree entered in the suit and purchased on behalf of the bond-holders, and on the 1st day of June, 1881, a new company, called the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad Company, was organized, and to it all the property was conveyed. That company continued to operate the road up to the 1st day of February, 1886, when it leased its property to the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company for the period of forty-five years from January 1, 1886, on the condition that the lessee would reconstruct the road and make it of the standard gauge and pay certain annual rentals. The lessee entered upon the work at once and completed it at a comparatively early day, and from that time to this, the latter company has operated the road, to the great advantage, it is said, of both the lessor and the lessee. It may be here remarked that in all the experiences of railroads the world over, few have gone through more trying or distressing times than those gone through by the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company during the war. The road had been bonded, as were and are almost all roads, and consequently it came out of the war burdened with a very heavy indebtedness. It was like beginning existence over again but under the most trying circumstances. About this time, it was taken charge of by Mr. William Butler Duncan, of New York, whose very careful and wise management brought the road steadily up from its depressed condition to one of prosperity and assurances for the future. He has been with it continuously, and it is due largely to his judicious management that the road now occupies a position so favorable and so sharply in contrast with what it was when, he took hold of it. His extension of the road from Cairo to St. Louis, by obtaining the lease upon the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad, has proven to have been one of the most fortunate things which could have been done for either company, and shows a foresight and judgment of a high order in railroad management. A number of years ago, the Hon. E. L. Russell, of Mobile, became the president of the company and among the many other things inaugurated and carried out by him, may be mentioned the discontinuance of the very expensive method of the transfer of the company's cars across the Ohio River by railroad ferryboats. One of the large boats used for such purposes was the railroad ferryboat the W. Butler Duncan. The company's ferriage contract was with the Big Four people or their predecessors, and the expense to the company was large. In place of this, Mr. Russell found it best to effect an arrangement with the Illinois Central Railroad Company by which the company's trains could have the use of the Illinois Central bridge; and it is now understood that this arrangement for the joint use of the bridge is to continue until the expiration of the lease of the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad to the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company, which occurs January 1, 1931. It is said that this change in the method of transfer across the Ohio River has been of a very great advantage to the company, giving as it does an all rail line from Mobile to the great city of St. Louis. Mr. Russell seems to have had full faith in the propriety of making this change; and I am sure it has been a matter of great pleasure to him that the results have so clearly proven the wisdom of the new method. One cannot overestimate the importance in railroad building or management of lessening the cost of getting over or across a great river. It is said this particular railroad bridge has fully justified its construction. More than this might no doubt be said. After the acquisition by the Illinois Central Railroad Company of the roads south of the Ohio River and extending to New Orleans, the connection of Chicago with Mobile changed to a connection of that city with New Orleans; and on the other hand, by the lease above mentioned, Mobile has become connected with St. Louis. These cross connections can hardly be said to have been in the contemplation of the great land grant of September 20, 1850, in aid of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile. THE CAIRO & VINCENNES RAILROAD COMPANY was incorporated by our legislature March 6, 1867, the incorporators of which were, among others: D. Hurd, William P. Halliday, Isham N. Haynie, S. Staats Taylor, D. T. Linegar, N. R. Casey, Green B. Raum, A. J. Kuykendall, George Mertz, John M. Crebs, Walter L. Mayo, John W. Mitchell, William R. Wilkinson, Robert Mack, Samuel Hess, Aaron Shaw, James Fackney, Jesse B. Watts, W. W. McDowell and B. Rathbone. The work of constructing the road began in 1868, but after considerable grading had been done at different places along the line, the work was suspended and was not resumed until certain important county and city bond matters had been rearranged because of forfeitures. The road was completed and through trains began to be operated in January, 1873. For a number of years the company occupied Commercial Avenue, throughout its whole length, with its tracks, under an ordinance approved by John H. Oberly, April 16, 1869. This use of Commercial Avenue continued until a change was made by a city ordinance approved on the 23d day of March, 1886. This road and company followed about the same course as that shown above in the case of the Cairo & St. Louis Railroad. It led to the organization of the Cairo, Vincennes & Chicago Railroad Company, which leased the property to the Wabash Railway Company; and after a number of years the property came into the hands of the Big Four people, that is, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company, which is now operating the road and its northern extensions from Vincennes or from St. Francisville just this side. This road, like the Cairo & St. Louis, was in the hands of receivers for a considerable time during foreclosure proceedings. For a part of the time the same was under the management of Mr. Samuel P. Wheeler, whom most of us well remember as having resided here very many years until his removal to Springfield. He had been the general solicitor of the company almost from its organization. He came from New York to Mound City in 1859, and from thence to Cairo in 1865. He was one of the ablest lawyers we have ever had, and was with all the members of his family very highly esteemed. About the same time, that is, in the earlier days of this railroad, there were also here Mr. Roswell Miller, who has long been one of the leading railroad men of the country, and Mr. Thomas W. Fitch, the auditor of the company, now doing business in New York City, and whose place of residence is Summit, New Jersey. The writer spent a week at his home a year or two ago, and can never forget the many kindnesses then shown him by Mr. and Mrs. Fitch. I cannot say much concerning the roads across the river in Missouri, save that the Iron Mountain road is the somewhat distant successor of the old Cairo & Fulton Railroad, which away back in the early fifties received a land grant very similar to that of September 20, 1850. The road has quite a history, and there were many acts of congress passed in regard to the same. The Cotton Belt Railroad is now a well-known road constructed many years ago, running from Bird's Point down through the cities of Maiden, Paragould, Pine Bluff to Texarkana in Arkansas on the Texas and Arkansas line. It now extends on into Texas and with its branches, reaches Sherman, Fort Worth, Gatesville and other points in that state. The Cairo & Fulton road was to extend from Bird's Point through Poplar Bluff and Little Rock on to Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas. THE CAIRO & THEBES RAILROAD COMPANY was organized on the 25th day of September, 1905. It seems to have arisen out of a desire to obtain better facilities for trade between Cairo and the southeastern part of Missouri. While the Illinois Central had a direct connection with Thebes, there was a pretty general feeling that it was very desirable to have another and a more direct connection with Thebes and the excellent means there afforded by the great bridge for crossing the Mississippi River. The company set out at once and vigorously to prosecute the work of constructing the road. It is said that many difficulties were encountered which were not expected. Then, too, the financial depression of 1907 seems to have almost arrested the work, which has now been resumed with a good prospect of its early completion. Just how, or by whom, or in what connection the road will be operated, has not been as yet made known; but those in charge of the enterprise will no doubt adopt such plans and measures as will make its operation of mutual advantage to both the company and the people it was intended to serve. It is to be regretted that the company desired and that the public authorities allowed the tracks to extend into the city as far as Washington Avenue, where the passenger and freight stations have been established. The advantage of reaching the avenue over that of stopping at Walnut Street is not apparent. Both are in the center of the city. Had they come no further than Walnut Street, every legitimate purpose of the company would have been fully served, and on the other hand other public interests would not have suffered. The city authorities seem to have forgotten they had valuable public property in that block. A railroad yard with its smoking engines and its noise close to a public library will certainly not suffer by the presence of the library; but that the library will escape detriment from the presence of the railroad yard is scarcely believable. It is greatly to be hoped that the effect will not be so bad as many of us fear. It was a great thing, of course, to have the block filled, but balancing the advantages and disadvantages, the library property will be found to be on the losing side. The present officers of the company are: Egbert A. Smith, president; J. Bruce Magee, vice-president; Edward G. Pink, treasurer; and William S. Dewey, secretary and general attorney. President Smith has worked hard and faithfully to secure the construction of this road for the city, as he has for every other enterprise which seemed to be for its interests. It is now less than eighty-five years since the first railroad was constructed in the United States or in America. How many have been built within that time and when and the mileage of each and the approximate cost thereof, might be ascertained, I suppose, by a very laborious search of books and records. A full and accurate account of the moneys expended, of bonds issued and sold, of municipal aid sought and obtained, of land grants made, of interest accrued and paid and not paid, of losses to persons at home and abroad, to municipalities, to corporations, to states and to nation, would require more volumes than President Eliot's five-foot bookshelf would hold. Seventy-five years of the general business experience of our country would be interesting could it be condensed into a volume or two and proper space given to what has been lost and won in what the world persists in calling gambling in railroad stocks. But over against the vast sums of money which have been expended and lost in railroad building and wrecking in the United States, we must place the wonderful development of the country which never could have come about but for the existence of the railroads. Whatever may be said the one way or the other, no chapter in our country's financial or business history will present so many features of wisdom and folly as will the chapter relating to our railroads since the first construction of the same began. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD BRIDGE.- It is said that after the southern line of the Illinois Central Railroad Company had been extended up to the Ohio River, there arose and continued for a number of years something in the nature of a controversy in the company's board of directors as to whether they should undertake to build a bridge across the Ohio River. It is further said that on the Kentucky side, the company sought to ascertain whether a solid rock foundation for piers could be found at such depths as would justify the undertaking. Nothing was done, however, until engineering skill had assured the company that it was entirely practicable to rest the piers on the sand in the river bed. This view of the matter could hardly have been in the nature of an experiment; although in the case of the great Eads bridge at St. Louis, and we suppose of all bridges up to that time, solid rock foundations had always been sought and, reached. Following the construction of the Cairo bridge, with its piers so supported, came next the construction of the great Memphis bridge across the Mississippi. The company, on the 29th day of March, 1886, obtained from the Kentucky legislature a charter for the construction of a bridge across the Ohio River, either by the Illinois Central Railroad Company or by the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans Railroad Company, or by both. All of the bridge, except the Illinois approach was constructed by or in the name of the latter company, and the Illinois approach by the Illinois company. The first bill passed was vetoed by the governor because it permitted the bridge to be built from any point in Ballard County, Kentucky, to the Illinois shore. The act approved by him required its construction from the Kentucky side to the Illinois side at any point below the mouth of Cache River. The bridge was begun in 1886, and opened for traffic October 29, 1889. It is called a truss bridge and is of the length of a little less than a mile across the river proper; and each of the approaches is about one and a half miles in length. The whole length of the bridge is a little under four miles. The original cost of the bridge was three to four millions of dollars; but the filling of the approaches added largely to the cost of the structure, and at this time the outlay for the same as it now stands has probably been four to five millions. Bridges may be built across the Ohio River in conformity to the acts of congress of December 17, 1872, and February 14, 1883, but under the supervision of the secretary of war. For bridges across the Mississippi special acts must be obtained from congress. Owing to the great height to which the Ohio River rises at Cairo at certain times in the year, this bridge was required to be fifty-three feet above high-water mark, which is considerably above the level of the adjoining lands. This made necessary the very long approaches. The piers, therefore, of the bridge are of great height from the caissons to the floor of the bridge. The width of the first two river spans on the Illinois side is five hundred and eighteen feet each, and of the other seven spans four hundred feet each. From the bottom of the lowest foundation of any pier to the level of the steel work on the two longest spans is two hundred and fifty feet (or exactly 248.94 feet). From low-water mark to the floor of the bridge it is 104.42 feet. (See cut of river bed elsewhere.) THE THEBES BRIDGE.- Mr. Charles S. Clarke, the vice-president and general manager of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, very kindly furnished me with one of the beautiful souvenirs of the opening of this noted bridge, and from the same I have taken the first cut of the four of the bridge. The second one is of the whole bridge taken from the upper Illinois side; the third one of the east or Illinois approach, and the fourth is of the Missouri or west approach. Mr. Clarke is now one of the board of directors of the bridge company. Ground was broken on July 8, 1902, and the first train passed over the bridge, going, from east to west, April 18, 1905. The Southern Illinois and Missouri Bridge Company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Illinois on the 6th day of December, 1900. On the 26th day of January, 1901, the act passed by congress, authorizing the construction of the bridge, was duly approved by the President. The bridge is a steel, double-track structure, cantilever type, of five spans, the cantilever or channel span being 671 feet long, each of the other spans being 521 feet long. The approaches to the bridge are of concrete. The western approach consists of six 65-foot arches and one of 100 feet. The eastern approach consists of five 65-foot arches. The entire length of the bridge, including the concrete approaches on either side, is 3,910 feet. Nine hundred and forty-five thousand cubic feet of concrete were used in the construction of the approaches, and twenty-seven million pounds of steel were required for the superstructure. The spans are sixty-five feet in the clear above high water, 108 feet above low water. The distance from extreme bottom of channel pier, which rests on bed rock, to the top of the cord, is 231 feet. THE CAIRO HARBOR.- The Cairo harbor is one of the very best on either of the two rivers. It is never difficult for the largest vessels navigating the rivers to move about therein with comparative ease. The only collision of any consequence that has taken place in the harbor within the last thirty or forty years was that between the railroad ferryboat W. Butler Duncan and the steamboat The New South. The New South was backing out from the landing opposite Sixth Street and the Duncan was going down the river keeping well over to the Kentucky side, when The New South struck her a severe blow and caused her to sink. The matter was litigated a long time and The New South found to be at fault. On the 1st day of November, 1909, the river gauge showed the stage of water to be eight and a half feet, a low stage, and at my request Mr. William McHale, now deceased, on that day ascertained for me the depths of the water in the river from Second to Thirty-eighth Streets. The depths were taken some little distance from the Illinois shore, then about the middle of the channel, and then considerably further over toward the Kentucky shore. The width of the river examined must have been a quarter of a mile, at least, and probably more. The depths, counting from the Illinois side toward Kentucky, were as follows: Opposite 2d Street, 40, 36 and 24 feet; 6th Street, 43, 34 and 30 feet; 10th Street, 37, 32 and 24 feet; 14th Street, 34, 28 and 20 feet; 18th Street, 24, 32 and 18 feet; 22d Street, 32, 26 and 20 feet; 26th Street, 34, 26 and 18 feet; 30th Street, 37, 27 and 15 feet; 34th Street, 37, 32 and 15 feet; and 38th Street, 40, 25 and 12 feet. It is observed that at every point, except one, 18th Street, the deepest water is on the Illinois side and that much the lowest water is on the Kentucky side, and yet deep enough at that low stage of water to serve all ordinary purposes. We have but to add to the above figures the readings on the gauge to get the depths at any stage of water. It will be seen that when the gauge reads 30 to 50 feet, the depths will range from 55 to 80 feet, on the Illinois side. The contour of the bed of the river, as seen in the cut of the railroad bridge elsewhere found, establishes the substantial correctness of the above figures. BACON ROCK.- In July, 1874, Captain R. W. Dugan removed from the mouth of the Ohio River a dangerous obstruction to navigation, called up to that time Bacon Rock. The "Cairo Bulletin" of July 11th of that year states that the government had contracted with Captain Dugan for the removal of the obstruction. It was a conglomerate and was removed by blasting, which continued for some weeks. Many of our citizens will remember hearing the loud explosions that occurred during the progress of the work. It was out some little distance from the Illinois shore and but a short distance north of the strongly marked water-line between the waters of the two rivers. Divers were sent down to explore the base of the obstruction and to see its character and extent. They found it to be of the length of about seventy feet and of the width of thirty, and its general shape to be that of a whale's back. We have no account of the character or nature of the surrounding materials, nor how far in any direction the conglomerated material extended, nor of its connection, if any, with other or kindred formations. At that time the river was very low and a considerable portion of the rock exposed. This occurred very seldom. To persons standing on the Ohio levee, the appearance of the rock rising out of the water was quite a sight. This is due somewhat to the fact of the apparent absence in our vicinity of anything like rock formations. It was a dangerous obstruction, but only in low-water times. It is a little remarkable that the government did not take hold of the matter long before that time. Large pieces of the blasted materials were brought up to Cairo and the "Cairo Bulletin" of August 2, 1874, noted the fact that Mr. Jewett Wilcox, of the St. Charles Hotel, now the Halliday, forwarded some large pieces to the Southern Normal School at Carbondale. In the "Cairo City Times" of Wednesday, February 21, 1855, we find the following: Last Sunday, the H. D. Bacon, from St. Louis to New Orleans, struck "that rock" a few yards from the wreck of the Grand Tower and sunk within three or four minutes. After her boiler deck was under water she floated down about a mile and is now lying on the Kentucky side. A number of yawls, skiffs, etc., started immediately for her, and as soon as the steamer Graham could get up steam she went down and took off the passengers, who numbered some twenty-five or thirty. No lives were lost. She was heavily laden with whiskey, flour, cattle, etc. She went down so suddenly that there was no time to cut the cattle loose and they were all drowned. Her cargo consisted of freight taken from the James Robb, which sunk near Cape Girardeau last Friday. The Bacon was insured in three different offices in St. Louis, for $15,000. We could learn nothing in relation to the insurance on her freight. In the same column of the "Times" the arrival and departure of steamboats are given, and it seems that the Bacon arrived from St. Louis on Sunday, the 18th of February, and departed the same day for New Orleans, but did not get further than the obstruction to which it gave its name. FERRIES: CAIRO'S NEED OF.- By the act of February 21, 1845, Bryan Shannessy and Patrick Smith were authorized to establish and maintain a ferry across the Ohio River, "and land passengers, baggage and stock at the depot at Cairo." The fourth and last section of this act repealed the act to incorporate the Great Western Railway Company, approved March 6, 1843. Why this repealing act was placed in the ferry act, I do not know. By the act of February 14, 1861, the ferry act of 1845 was amended. We know very little as to what was done under the act. The Cairo City Ferry Company was chartered February 13, 1857, the incorporators of which were Samuel Staats Taylor, Ninian W. Edwards, John A. McClernand, John A. Logan, Bryan Shannessy and Calvin Dishon. The charter authorized the company to establish and maintain a ferry over the Ohio River to Kentucky and over the Mississippi River to Missouri within three miles of the junction of the two rivers; and the right was made exclusive for ten years. The legislature retained the right to alter, amend or repeal the act as the public good might require, after twenty years. This company, or those persons representing it, have for forty to fifty years done almost all the ferrying we have had. By an act of March 6, 1867, the Valley Ferry Company was chartered, the incorporators of which were David T. Linegar, Patrick H. Pope, James S. Morris, J. Reed, John Hodges, Alexander H. Irvin and H. Watson Webb. The ferry was to be across the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Kentucky and Missouri and within three miles of the junction of the rivers. This company soon after its incorporation began the operation of a ferry here between the three states. Capt. John Hodges seems to have been in charge of their ferryboat, the Rockford, which was brought by him from Metropolis to Cairo in April, 1867. Controversies arose between the two companies concerning exclusive rights of ferriage, and there not being business enough for the two, the Valley Company discontinued its ferry. A person seeing Cairo so nearly surrounded by the two great wide rivers, would very naturally expect the city to have reasonably good ferries for passage to and from the city and to and from the outlying country districts. As for bridges for other than railroad purposes, that is not to be thought of. So far from our having good ferrying facilities, the rivers have seemed as walls or barriers across which passage could be made only in the most primitive way. We have here within the city eight to ten miles of river frontage, entirely surrounding the city, excepting the rather narrow neck of Illinois land of the width only of something over a mile. We have never had anything like good ferriage facilities. This is due to the difficulties of the situation, that is, to the extreme distance of the rise and the fall of the rivers, and the unstable river shores, especially on the Mississippi. It seems impossible to construct permanent landing-places. Those we have had have been shifted from place to place so that they have never been anything but of the poorest kind. I cannot dwell upon this matter, but desire to say that the absence of good ferrying facilities has been a great and ever-continuing drawback to the prosperity of the city. Perhaps the time has gone by for regaining the ground that might have been gotten and held, had the city been strong enough to do so. Towns of a more or less prosperous growth have grown up near us and have well supplied the people who might have come to Cairo had they been able to get here easily. The city, it seems, has never been able to offer free ferriage; but were it able to do so and to make the approaches reasonably easy and free from danger, our people would be astonished at the local trade which could still be drawn to the city. I have elsewhere referred to local trade as the main support of many of the best cities of the state. The now less useful rivers are the same effective barriers to local trade they have always been. I do not know wrhat the city could now do; but at the earliest practicable time it should, with the hearty co-operation of the people, arrange in some way to reduce to the minimum the expense of reaching the city from across the two rivers. If it could be made free, it would be far better. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A HISTORY OF THE CITY OF CAIRO ILLINOIS BY JOHN M. LANSDEN WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS CHICAGO R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY 1910 COPYRIGHTED, 1910 BY JOHN M. LANSDEN The Lakeside Press R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/alexander/history/1910/ahistory/chapterx142gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 34.9 Kb