Low Water Hike to Duck Island

Last weekend, I hiked to Duck Island through a dust storm. That's not a sentence I ever expected to type. For one thing, Duck Island, as the name implies, is an island. It sits just downriver from the c0nfluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in Columbia Bottom Conservation Area and is usually best

By |2020-10-24T11:17:15-05:00October 22nd, 2020|About the Mississippi Valley|Comments Off on Low Water Hike to Duck Island

Hartford

Population (2010) 1,429 Introduction Hartford is another community that sprang up largely because of a single industry, but it also has a couple of good reasons to stop in for a visit. History The place where the village of Hartford is today had few residents

By |2024-05-26T15:46:12-05:00December 19th, 2018|Illinois|Comments Off on Hartford

Cairo

Population (2010) 2,819 Introduction Once a bustling port at the confluence of two of the biggest rivers in the US, Cairo (pronounced CARE-o) today is a shell of its former self. The reasons for its shocking decline aren’t too hard to figure out. History The

By |2024-05-27T08:45:58-05:00December 11th, 2018|Illinois|Comments Off on Cairo

St. Louis

Population (2010) 319,305 Introduction St. Louis, my hometown, is a city with a long and layered history. As residents of Flyover Country, we tend to make the national news only when something goes wrong. Sure, we have our problems, but so do plenty of other places. We are a big

By |2024-05-27T10:05:29-05:00August 17th, 2018|Missouri|Comments Off on St. Louis

Picture of the Day: Mississippi/Illinois Confluence at Dusk

Looking down toward the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers; Grafton, IL (photo taken Oct 2013). See more Pictures of the Day here. Dusk near the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers

By |2016-10-21T15:28:27-05:00November 6th, 2013|Photo of the Day|2 Comments

Destination of the Day: Fort Defiance Park

Fort Defiance Park offers an intimate view of the merging of two of the continent's biggest rivers--the Ohio and the Mississippi--a combination that spawns a beast of a river from that point south. The park isn't in great shape--it floods often and the City of Cairo doesn't have a lot of money to take care

By |2016-10-21T15:28:30-05:00July 30th, 2013|Destination of the Day|2 Comments
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