Cairo, Illinois Was Supposed to Be a Great City. What Happened?

Cairo, Illinois sits where the Ohio River meets the Mississippi, the spot boosters sold as the natural site for a great city. Charles Dickens called it a dismal swamp, Mark Twain's Huck and Jim drifted past it in the fog, and Ulysses S. Grant made it a Union fortress. This is how the best location in North America grew to more than 15,000 people, and why it couldn't hold a city. Sources: Dickens, American Notes (1842): https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/... Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/... Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/... Callary, Place Names of Illinois: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordp... National Park Service, USS Cairo: https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/histor... National Weather Service Paducah, 2011 floods: https://www.weather.gov/media/pah/Top... Capitol News Illinois, Cairo port (2021): https://www.illinoistimes.com/?p=54960 USGS streamflow statistics: https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/s... Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:02 The Perfect Spot 4:03 Bonds, Mud and Dickens 7:27 The Railroad Arrives 10:40 Grant's River Fortress 14:05 The Town Behind the Wall Narration by a synthetic (AI) voice. Script researched and fact-checked from the sources below. Archival images are public domain or free licenses; maps and charts are made by the channel. Images (item numbers at each archive) J. Gurney & Son (Library of Congress, public domain): 2018645020 Carol M. Highsmith (Library of Congress, public domain): 2020721575, 2020721577, 2020721580, 2020721581, 2020721595, 2020721594, 2020721603, 2020721604, 2020721605, 2020721583, 2020721596, 2020721582, 2020721602, 2020721589, 2020744185, 2020744183, 2020744184, 2020721576, 2017879515, 2017879520, 2017879524, 2020721584, 2020721597, 2020744182, 2020721585, 2020721599, 2020721579, 2020721586, 2020721600, 2020721607, 2020721591, 2020721601, 2020721578, 2020721590, 2020721598, 2020721606, 2020721593, 2020721588 A. Ruger (Library of Congress, public domain): 73693346 John Vachon (Library of Congress, public domain): 2017720146, 2017720142, 2017720150, 2017810376, 2017810400 Library of Congress (Library of Congress, public domain): 2018647693, 2003663013, sanborn01760_001, sanborn01760_004, 2019639417, sanborn01760_002, 00650504, 2012649395, 2002735878, 2011646614, sanborn01760_006, 2002707542, sanborn01760_003, 2002707543, 2006687268, 2011646608, 2011646612, 2018654585, 2011646611, 2010648628, 2020634821, 2022631322, 2010648627, 2013646142, 2011646613, 2010648625, 2024633037, 97501522, 2017760280 Frederick P. Fawkner (Library of Congress, public domain): 2007661009 Russell Lee (Library of Congress, public domain): 2017763521, 2017737071, 2017763520, 2017763531, 2017763519, 2017763518, 2017735404, 2017737146 Heliotype Printing Co. (Library of Congress, public domain): 2002722629 F. H. Gerdes (Library of Congress, public domain): 2008628263 Hablot Knight Browne (Library of Congress, public domain): 2013646745 Detroit Publishing Co. (Library of Congress, public domain): 2016795012 Charles A. Barry (Library of Congress, public domain): 2002713195 Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) (Project Gutenberg, public domain): 20408m.jpg, 20382m.jpg Samuel Hollyer (Library of Congress, public domain): 97506807 Bolles, Charles E., 1847 -1914 (Library of Congress, public domain): 2014645012 publisher Detroit Publishing Co. (Library of Congress, public domain): 2016809666 Arthur Rothstein (Library of Congress, public domain): 2017724695 E. W. Kemble (Project Gutenberg, public domain): frontispiece.jpg, c15-117.jpg Mark Twain; E. W. Kemble (Project Gutenberg, public domain): c15-115.jpg William Sartain (Library of Congress, public domain): 2012648873 Brady's National Photographic Portrait Galleries (Library of Congress, public domain): 2019630719, 2024630186 Ill.) Parker's City Gallery (Cairo (Library of Congress, public domain): 2019645947 Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress, public domain): il0574 John Margolies (Library of Congress, public domain): 2017703919 Maps: Natural Earth (public domain).