Day 3 – Cape Girardeau - October 7, 2018
Cape Girardeau was our stop today. I guess I have traveled through Missouri but never actually stopped or lived here. This area was certainly a crossroads of the United States and home to the Native Americans. They have found relics of corn growing and pottery dating back thousands of years. The Louisiana Purchase was important to the US not only for the vast amount of land gained, but it gave the US access to the Mississippi River. After 1811 steamboats began to carry passengers and supplies opening the way for westward expansion. On the other hand, the horrific Trail of Tears State Park is here. It forced Native Americans east of the Mississippi to move westward opening up more land. History is not always pretty.
Towns along the river have learned to be engineers to keep the river flow as straight as possible and to try to prevent flooding. Cape Girardeau is surrounded by a high wall with a water tight gates they can shut to protect the town today. However we keep narrowing and narrowing the river to the point where the flood waters get higher and higher each year. It would be pretty scary if you lived here.
I learned today about the New Madrid Earthquakes. I had never heard about them before but the earthquakes along that fault still happen about every 48 hours. In 1811 the quakes continued for three months. Entire populations of Native Americans vanished into the earth. The quakes today would register over 8.0 on the Richter Scales Trees snapped like twigs and the Mississippi started to flow northward. It rang church bells as far away as Boston. It rattled the dishes in the Madison Whitehouse. It shook buildings in Toronto. Our guide told us that it is impossible to keep pictures straight on the wall because the earth is still constantly shifting.
We have now gone 128 miles on the Mississippi and just crossed the confluence where the Mississippi meets the Ohio. You can see a definite line where the two rivers meet. We all stood on deck and threw a coin in at the exact meeting for good luck. Now we start our 47 mile voyage on the Ohio before we meet the Tennessee River. We will travel 25 miles on the Tennessee and end on the Cumberland River. We will then travel 158 miles on the Cumberland where we will end our trip in Nashville.
“As you grow older, you’ll find that the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do.” – Zachary Scott
More to Follow
Tom and Holly