{"id":2413,"date":"2017-11-19T23:47:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-19T23:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2017-11-21T01:59:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T01:59:23","slug":"river-entertainment-lit-up-desolate-cairo-in-the-delta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/?p=2413","title":{"rendered":"River Entertainment Illuminated Cairo in Desolate Delta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteenth in a Series<\/em><\/p>\n

By Matt Chaney, for ChaneysBlog.com<\/p>\n

Posted Sunday, November 19, 2017<\/p>\n

Copyright\u00a0\u00a92017 for historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney<\/p>\n

A century before rock \u2019n\u2019 roll broke out in delta flatland, the riverine wilderness of southern Illinois and southeast Missouri stood covered in primeval swamp and timber. Bears, wolves, coyotes, panthers and snakes prowled the bottoms, among wildlife, along with humans of hardened soul, including woodcutters and boatmen, many societal outcasts. Thieves trolled the Mississippi River, pirate bands darting from the Missouri bush to attack boats and travelers.<\/p>\n

Prior to the Civil War, development was far flung in the valley south from Cape Girardeau to New Orleans. Only two delta spots above Memphis were dry enough and accessible for sustaining a thousand inhabitants\u2014New Madrid, Mo., renowned for earthquakes, and Cairo, Ill., infamous river outpost at confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cCairo had a hard name,\u201d observed local historian John McMurray Lansden. \u201cIt had a hard name because it was a hard place. On the rivers were and always have been many hard characters. The central location of the place drew many of them here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failures of land companies to overcome the natural obstacles in the way of establishing a town or city added to the unfavorable reputation the place bore. It was a low and decidingly uninviting point, and the travelers upon the rivers never spoke well of it. They could not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cairo occupied the southern tip of Illinois, a washed-over peninsula pressed between forceful waters entering the delta. Developers had once talked big, promising rise of a commercial metropolis with impregnable levees, but settlement attempts failed repeatedly. The place was known by various terms for decades after a town was platted in 1818, including \u201cMouth of the Ohio.\u201d The panoramic view from Cairo was nothing inspirational, griped a visitor, amounting to \u201clow muddy bottom lands, and the unrelieved, unvaried gloom of the forest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles Dickens arrived in April 1842, landing aboard a steam packet at Cairo shoreline strewn with timber wads and flatboat wrecks. Dickens would label Cairo \u201cdismal\u201d in his subsequent writing, noting little but a silted wood lot and \u201chalf-built houses\u201d suffering mold and rot. Floodwater had recently swept the timbered peninsula, with Cairo on about 30 cleared acres, and Dickens would remember \u201crank unwholesome vegetation\u201d for \u201cbaleful shade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The famed British author dismissed Cairo as disease-laden and headed north by steamer on the Mississippi, which bothered Dickens too, for muddy, slimy water. Dickens\u2019 disgust rekindled on return to mouth of the Ohio, \u201cagain in sight of the detestable morass called Cairo,\u201d he recalled in the book American Notes<\/em>. The steamer crew loaded wood at the landing while Dickens peered at a rickety flat barge of loosened timbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was moored to the bank, and on its side was painted \u2018Coffee House\u2019; that being, I suppose, the floating paradise to which the people fly for shelter when they lose their houses for a month or two beneath the hideous waters of the Mississippi.\u201d Indeed, much the local populace of a few hundred occupied floating platforms permanently<\/em>, living on boats and further structures lashed to the bank. Dickens\u2019 refueled steamer left Cairo bound eastward on the Ohio, removing him from the Mississippi Valley of \u201ctroubled dreams and nightmares,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

English writer William Oliver corroborated Dickens on Cairo, without the melodrama, after Oliver\u2019s experience of being stranded by winter icing. Cairo scared Oliver, for the \u201cvagabond-looking boatmen who were strolling about its desolate shores.\u201d OIiver felt better during dinner in a riverside establishment, despite \u201ctwo or three strange outlandish-looking gentry sitting around the stove.\u201d Then the tavern owner perceived an insult from some Kentuckians\u2014whom Oliver characterized as \u201cchoppers of wood\u201d\u2014and got mad.<\/p>\n

Hairy men rushed to the dispute, gathering round, cursing and touching Bowie knives at their hips. The Kentuckians backed out from the saloon, threatening the barkeep and locals. Oliver watched wide-eyed; surely he\u2019d heard American legend of half-man, half-alligator characters in the woolly West. Oliver recounted: \u201cThe Kentucks, having been joined by their companions, at the boat, now commenced shouting and firing guns in bravado, to see, as I understand, if they could induce their opponents to come out and have a regular battle; our landlord, however, merely went to the door and fired off a pistol, to let them know that he was prepared for them. Nothing more took place, and in a short time all was quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mose B. Harrell would\u2019ve sympathized with Dickens and Oliver, arriving at Cairo a few years later. It was unsettling, definitely, \u201cto be set down\u2026 in poor unattractive Cairo,\u201d wrote Harrell, who relocated to the town circa 1845. \u201cThe wharf was covered with drift and rubbish, the buildings were in decay… The ruin and desolation that brooded over the place filled me with a sinking, heavy-heartedness\u2026 I was full of the very erroneous notion that I had gained nothing by leaving Lawrenceburg, Indiana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young Harrell\u2019s perspective changed within hours, meeting folks and getting tipsy among \u201cthe largest crowd of reasonably intoxicated individuals I had ever seen,\u201d wrote\u00a0the future newspaperman. But the river town needed constructive entertainment, quality \u201camusement,\u201d Harrell observed, along with, he indicated, a brightening touch of eligible females.<\/p>\n

A male vocalist arrived from Missouri, singing and teaching from a hymnbook, only to get laughed out of town. The gospel man \u201cleft Cairo hugely disgusted at the people\u2019s want of appreciation of the fine arts,\u201d Harrell wrote.<\/p>\n

Popular entertainment caught on, however, if not old religion. Circus spectacles touring the great rivers set up at Cairo, for example, drawing crowds led by youths from Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky. \u201cYoung folks, go,\u201d commanded promotional copy for the Spaulding & Rogers Circus, appearing frequently at Cairo. \u201cThe old folks will tell you that it is throwing money away, but [they] went to shows in the early time, and old as they are, still frequently find themselves in the ring, laughing with the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe veriest cynic of them all must admit that the soul of the town receives some real benefit\u2026,\u201d reminded the circus promo, \u201cfrom the glimmer of sunshine in the moment of pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

American entertainment set anchor along the Mississippi River prior to the Civil War, particularly at mouth of the Ohio. \u201cCairo, with its large floating population, was a good show town and soon attracted entertainers of every sort,\u201d historian Harold E. Briggs observed in \u201cEntertainment and Amusement in Cairo, 1848-1958,\u201d for\u00a0Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inhabitants craved recreation and amusement, and flocked in large numbers to see [traveling] circuses, menageries, museums, minstrel and variety troupes, tight-rope walkers, magicians, phrenologists and all types of musical programs. They welcomed theatrical troupes and were interested in their own lyceum organizations\u2026 Both the permanent residents and the transient population of this border settlement were much interested in all types of entertainment and as a rule furnished good audiences for the traveling companies and individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April 1858 Cairo citizens watched a domed wonder approach\u00a0on water, the famed Floating Circus Palace, rounding the river bend south of town. Arriving from New Orleans, the mammoth barn-like barge was painted shiny gold and white, boasting seating of 3,400 for the extravagant Spaulding & Rogers Circus. The triple-deck Palace was nudged along by the showboat James Raymond<\/em>, pushing from behind, its steam calliope blasting music over the flatland. The circus flotilla docked across from Cairo at Missouri, landing with some hundred performers and exotic animals like\u00a0elephants, for a period of performances and maintenance work. Show bills, printed fresh aboard The Palace, were posted throughout\u00a0the tri-state vicinity of Cairo.<\/p>\n

At sundown preceding a circus performance, bright lights and sounds attracted folks from everywhere. \u201cThe whole affair was so brilliantly lighted with gas\u2026,\u201d noted showboat historian Philip Graham, \u201cit was worth a trip to The Palace at night merely for the effect of the unusual illumination, visible for a great distance on the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two boats were well provided with music. A large pipe organ supplied the rousing tunes for the main circus performance, and a chime of bells across the hurricane deck provided free concerts for the crowds that invariably collected on the river bank. On the steam towboat a twelve-piece brass band gave the concerts and played the interludes for dramatic performances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Palace and James Raymond<\/em>\u00a0staged sold-out shows around Cairo until early May, when the steamer left for other locales while the giant flat barge was \u201claid up\u201d in repair, according to Missouri reports. But it was rainy season in America’s vast interior basin, and water came quickly down the Mississippi, pooling in the northern delta.<\/p>\n

Marshes filled out from Cairo in every direction, into Kentucky across the Ohio River, and particularly on other side of the Mississippi, through bottoms spanning southeast Missouri for a hundred miles. At high flood stage the shorelines and state borders became indecipherable, rendering Cairo Township a soggy wooded patch within fragile dikes, surrounded by sudden seas.<\/p>\n

Disaster was pending with Cairo marooned amidst water 40 miles wide by hundreds of miles in length. Newspapers reported a tide speeding south from the foothills of Illinois and Missouri, around Cairo, and still rolling 160 miles farther, at the rocky bluffs holding Memphis aloft. Levees ringed Cairo but a break occurred about 5 p.m. on June 12, two miles north along the Mississippi. The community barely heard warning from men who sprinted in from the trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon the water came rushing a mighty torrent, with a roar almost as loud as the cataract of Niagara,\u201d an observer recorded. \u201cNever have I witnessed such a scene as the awful night that followed. Sleep was out of the question, and by eight o\u2019clock in the morning, Cairo, from having been an island, had become a vast lake…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scene of distress was indescribable. High piles of lumber, all kinds of drift mixed with cattle, horses, hogs and domestic animals, were floating and swimming around in a mass together. Some 2,000 people, with what little of their effects they could save, were crowded on a narrow strip of the Ohio river levee, not over fifty feet wide\u2026 with cattle, horses, hogs, [etc.], which had reached dry land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCairo is ruined,\u201d proclaimed a correspondent for The New York Tribune<\/em>. \u201cThe water is from nine to sixteen feet deep throughout the town\u2026. For miles on either side of both rivers, this low land extends and is all overflown\u2026 A splendid, large six-story brick hotel, recently enclosed but yet unoccupied, facing the Ohio levee, is cracking and settling, and will fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cairo wasn\u2019t a goner yet. The mayor announced flood damage was exaggerated, in his letter to The Chicago Times<\/em>. \u201cCairo is far from being destroyed,\u201d he declared. \u201cA considerable portion of our town is inundated, but\u2026 loss as yet is inconsiderable, and will soon be repaired.\u201d The mayor didn\u2019t clarify whether he communicated from floating facilities, such as the Circus Palace, provided to Cairo for the emergency.<\/p>\n

The large majority of citizens didn\u2019t leave Cairo, taking shelter on floating decks, on the levee in rail cars and tents, and on higher floors of structures, until the water receded as always. The damaged new hotel was repaired and soon opened as the St. Charles, a beautiful building fronting the Ohio River, signifying community restoration.<\/p>\n

The hotel quartered Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War, when Cairo boomed as Union command post of the Mississippi, finally\u00a0 cashing in on location. \u201cIt was soon seen… that to carry on war much money was needed, and Cairo having become a great military station and depot, money soon began to make its appearance in a way never dreamed of by anyone in the town,\u201d Landsden wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cRents went up higher and higher, new but rather temporary buildings rose in great numbers and in every quarter. Prices of all kinds of goods advanced beyond precedent, and it was supposed that the future of Cairo was now well assured\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickens had called this place \u201cill-fated,\u201d a prophecy to become manifest in the 20th<\/sup> century. But until then Cairo would thrive, particularly as entertainment showcase at mouth of the Ohio, offering great artists and performances in the desolate delta.<\/p>\n

Select References<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Account From Louisiana. (1803, Nov. 24). New York Evening Post<\/em>, p. 2.<\/p>\n

Baton Rouge. (1858, Dec. 5). Baton Rouge Daily Gazette and Comet<\/em> LA, p.2.<\/p>\n

Briggs, Harold E. (1954, Autumn). Entertainment and Amusement in Cairo, 1848-1858. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society<\/em>, 47, pp. 231-251.<\/p>\n

Cairo, Ill., March 4th<\/sup>, \u201963. (1863, March 13). Winchester Randolph Journal<\/em> IN, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Dickens, Charles. (1842). American Notes<\/em>. John W. Lovell Company: New York.<\/p>\n

Excerpts From a Traveler\u2019s Note Book. (1848, March 10). New Orleans Crescent<\/em> LA, p. 2.<\/p>\n

Extract From a Letter Dated Cairo, Illinois. (1840, Feb. 1). Salt River Journal<\/em>, Bowling Green MO, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Extract of a Letter From Eddyville. (1804, July 4, Carlisle Weekly Herald<\/em> PA, p. 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlint\u2019s Recollections.\u201d (1826, May 29). New York Evening Post<\/em>, p. 1.<\/p>\n

For St. Louis. (1839, Nov. 6). New Orleans Times-Picayune<\/em>, p. 3.<\/p>\n

From the National Intelligencer. (1803, Nov. 21). New York Evening Post<\/em>, p. 2.<\/p>\n

From the National Intelligencer. (1818, April 10). Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser<\/em>, St. Louis MO, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Gentry, North Todd. (1937, April). Plank Roads In Missouri. Missouri Historical Review<\/em>, 31 (3), pp. 272-287.<\/p>\n

Graham, P. (1951). Showboats: The History of an American Institution<\/em>. University of Texas Press: Austin TX.<\/p>\n

Great Rise in the Western Waters. (1842, March 30). New York Evening Post<\/em>, p. 2.<\/p>\n

Harrell, M.B. (1865, Sept. 1). The Cairo That Was: Number I. Cairo Evening Times<\/em> IL, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Harrell, M.B. (1865, Sept. 4). The Cairo That Was: Number II. Cairo Evening Times<\/em> IL, p. 2.<\/p>\n

Harrell, M.B. (1865, Sept. 7). The Cairo That Was: Number IV. Cairo Evening Times<\/em> IL, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Harrell, M.B. (1865, Sept. 9). The Cairo That Was: Number V. Cairo Evening Times<\/em> IL, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Harrell, M.B. (1865, Sept. 11). The Cairo That Was: Number VI. Cairo Evening Times<\/em> IL, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Illinois Intelligence. (1858, July 1). Chicago Tribune<\/em>, p. 3.<\/p>\n

In Spite of the High License. (1858, July 29). Quad-City Times<\/em> IA, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Lansden, John McMurray. (1910). A History of the City of Cairo, Illinois<\/em>. 2009 reprint, Southern Illinois University Press: Carbondale IL.<\/p>\n

Ludlow, N.M. (1880). Dramatic Life as I Found It<\/em>. G.I. Jones and Company: St. Louis MO.<\/p>\n

Oliver, William. (1843). Eight Months in Illinois: With Information to Immigrants<\/em>. Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. 1924 reprint, William M. Hill: Chicago IL.<\/p>\n

Political Divisions of the Territory, Inhabitants, Settlements. (1811, March 7). Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser<\/em>, p. 2.<\/p>\n

River at Cairo. (1858, June 24). Holmes County Republican<\/em>, Millersburg OH, p. 2.<\/p>\n

River News, &c. (1858, June 24).\u00a0Vicksburg Daily Whig<\/em>\u00a0MS, p. 3.<\/p>\n

River News, &c. (1858, Nov. 5). Vicksburg Daily Whig<\/em> MS, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Sketches. (1811, Feb. 14). Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser<\/em>, p. 2<\/p>\n

Surveying the Mississippi. (1851, March 5). Washington Telegraph <\/em>AR, p. 2.<\/p>\n

The “Banjo” En Route. (1859, May 28). New Orleans Times-Picayune<\/em>, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Circus Will Be Here To-Night. (1858, Dec. 4). Baton Rouge Daily Gazette and Comet<\/em> LA, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Flood at Cairo. (1858, June 26). Poughkeepsie Journal<\/em> NY, p. 2.<\/p>\n

The Flood at Cairo. (1858, July 4). Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette and Comet<\/em> LA, p. 2.<\/p>\n

The Great Show-Boats. (1858, Aug. 5). Glasgow Weekly Times<\/em> MO, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Steamer James Raymond. (1858, Dec. 8). Natchez Weekly Democrat<\/em> MS, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Three Circuses at Once. (1858, May 22). Kansas Herald of Freedom<\/em>, Wakarusa KS, p. 3.<\/p>\n

“Wait for the Wagon!” (1858, May 6). [Advertisement.] Glasgow Weekly Times<\/em> MO, p. 1.<\/p>\n

West, Anne. (1940). It Happened In Cairo<\/em>. The Rockledge Company: Flushing NY.<\/p>\n

Matt Chaney is a writer and consultant in Missouri, USA. For more information visit\u00a0<\/em>www.fourwallspublishing.com.\u00a0Email:\u00a0<\/em>mattchaney@fourwallspublishing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifteenth in a Series By Matt Chaney, for ChaneysBlog.com Posted Sunday, November 19, 2017 Copyright\u00a0\u00a92017 for historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney A century before rock \u2019n\u2019 roll broke out in delta flatland, the riverine wilderness of southern Illinois and southeast Missouri stood covered in primeval swamp and timber. Bears, wolves, coyotes, panthers and snakes … Continue reading River Entertainment Illuminated Cairo in Desolate Delta<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[283,374],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ywFp-CV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2876,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions\/2876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}