You're traveling on "The Great River Road" . . . Below is the
content of the nearby historical marker . . .
In 1673 Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette
explored the Illinois country for France. By the 1763 treaty ending
the French and Indian War, this area passed to England. During the
American Revolution, George Rogers Clark's men captured it for the
Commonwealth of Virgnia. Illinois was later governed as part of the
Northwest Territory, Indiana Territory, and the Illinois Territory.
In 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first
state.
Permanent American settlers began arriving at the state's
southwestern tip in 1805. Earthquakes rocked the Mississippi Valley
in 1811, bringing refugees here in search of new homesites. After
the War of 1812, another wave of settlers came, some bringing
slaves. The newcomers raised cotton, flax, and tobacco. Later, they
raised corn and wheat.
Northeast form here, at Jonesboro, Abraham Lincoln debated
Stephen A. Douglas during the 1858 Senatorial campaign. During the
Civil War, Cairo served as a major staging base where men and
supplies were assembled before departing for the war zones. Mound
City on the Ohio River was the principal depot for the Western
River Fleet. Nearby is Thebes, once a bustling river port, the town
declined when railroads replaced the steamboats, but the beautiful
1848 courthouse still stands. Nowadays, tourists and hunters are
drawn to 'Egypt'-- Illinois' sixteen southernmost counties -- by
the beauty of the Shawnee Forest and wildlife at Horseshoe
Lake.
There are also some nearby interpretative plaques with
information on Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Randolph, Jackson, Union
and Alexander Counties.
The cache container is something between a micro and a nano in
size. You'll understand once you find it. It contains a log only,
so BYOP (Bring Your Own Pen). The cache can replaced in a
horizontal or vertical manner . . . it will be well hidden
horizontal and may be visible to passersby if vertical - Please
replace it horizontally.