CAIRO. 



Jefferson, on the Kentucky shore, (situated at 

 the mouth of Mayfield Creek, four miles below 

 Cairo.) into Missouri, and thence, hy an excel- 

 lent road, practicable for artillery at all times, 

 go direct to " Bird's Point." They would be 

 unobserved and unmolested by any force sta- 

 tioned at Cairo, for the reason that the peculiar 

 bend in the Mississippi River below Cairo, and 

 the formation of the banks, would screen them 

 from all observation. 



.in, the land directly opposite Cairo, in 

 Kentucky, is generally low, and flooded at 

 ordinary* high-water; the first high grounder 

 appearance of bluff below is in the vicinity 

 of Fort Jefferson ; the river banks shelve, with- 

 out depth of water, in low stages sufficient for 

 steamboat landings, the channel being entirely 

 on the Cairo side. Back of this low land there 

 extends, for a long distance, a chain of muddy 

 lake?, bayous, and canebrakes. But about two 

 miles above there is a height of land or ridge 

 extending to the margin of the Ohio River, 

 which is seldom or never overflowed, and could 

 be made entirely safe from high water by a 

 small levee. Here batteries can be established 

 which will accomplish any result not attainable 

 by those on the Missouri shore at Bird's Point, 

 and the two, properly placed, would command 

 every point in Cairo, including the levees and 

 railroads, both of which they could sweep for 

 miles. The width of the Ohio at Cairo is about 

 three-fourths of a mile ; the Mississippi is not 

 much wider. 



Cairo was occupied in April by Illinois 

 troops, to protect it against invasion. Two 

 thousand troops had arrived as early as the 

 25th. . It soon became a position of great im- 

 portance for the concentration of men and 

 the equipment of gunboats. The expeditions 

 against the military posts of the Confederates 

 in Kentucky and Tennessee were chiefly fitted 

 out at this point. 



In August, the railroads in Western Tennessee 

 were taken possession of by the State author- 

 ities for the purpose, it was supposed, of con- 

 veying troops towards Cairo. About eight 

 thousand troops crossed the Mississippi to New 

 Madrid, where they were joined by others from 

 Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, forming a 

 large aggregate, and well supplied with artil- 

 lery. These troops, it was feared, were to make 

 a speedy attack on Cairo, where the National 

 forces were considerably reduced, in conse- 

 quence of the expiration of the term of the 

 three months' volunteers. 



Active measures, however, were taken by 

 Gen. Fremont to reenforce the place. He has- 

 tily fitted out at St. Louis a fleet of eight 

 steamers, laden with some four thousand troops 

 and a large quantity of provisions and muni- 

 tions of war. with aU of which he safely landed 

 at Cairo. The reinforcements thus opportunely 

 taken to this point increased the National forces 

 there to about eight thousand men, sufficient to 

 hold the secessionists in check, and eventually to 

 frustrate their plans. 



CALIFORNIA. 



91 



CALIFOPvNIA, one of the United States, 

 lying on the western side of the continent, is 

 bounded north by Oregon, east by Utah (from 

 which it is partly separated by the Sierra Ne- 

 vada Mountains) and New Mexico, south by 

 the Mexican Territory of Old California, and 

 west by the Pacific. Its greatest length in a 

 northwest and southeast direction is about 720 

 miles, and its breadth about 240 miles. Its area 

 is 188,982 square miles. Along the coast is a 

 low range of mountains, which in many instan- 

 ces approach the water's edge, and form a bluff 

 iron-bound shore. In other parts, the coast is 

 broken and hilly, to which succeeds the range 

 entering from Oregon. It is the most impor- 

 tant mineral region in the world, particularly 

 in its deposits of gold. The population, in 1860, 

 was 376,200, of whom 3,816 were free colored 

 persons. (See NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA.) 



During the year 1861, commercial affairs 

 were subject to the same depression which 

 prevailed throughout the United States. (See 

 COMMEBCE.) The measures of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment were warmly sustained by the people 

 of the State. No volunteers were sent to the 

 Atlantic States as State troops, although num- 

 bers of citizens of the State joined regiments 

 formed in those States. Her distant location 

 from the scene of conflict served to preserve her 

 from many of its embarrassing influences, while 

 it did not diminish her ardor for the Union 

 cause, or her anxiety for its ultimate triumph. 



California was visited, during the autumn and 

 early winter of the year 1861, by a most disas- 

 trous flood. The streams, swollen to a great 

 height by protracted and heavy rains through- 

 out California, Oregon, and Nevada territory, 

 flooded the valleys, mandated towns, swept 

 away mills, dams, flumes, houses, fences, and do- 

 mestic animals, and ruined fields and destroyed 

 property to the estimated value of $10,000,000. 

 The rainy season commenced on the 8th of 

 Nov., and the rain continued to fall with scarcely 

 anytintermission for four weeks. The north 

 fork of the American River at Auburn, rose 55 

 feet, and in many other of the mountain streams 

 the rise was almost as great. On the 9th the 

 flood reached the lowlands of the Sacramento 

 Valley, and Sacramento City was the greatest 

 sufferer from the flood. 



This city is situated between the American 

 and Sacramento rivers at their junction, and 

 has been subject to floods. In the summer of 

 1853, the grade of the streets was raised 4 feet, 

 and a levee, from 4 to 20 feet high, bnilt for 

 2 miles along the bank of the Sacramento, and 

 for 3 miles along the bank of the American 

 River ; and believing themselves protected by 

 these precautions against a flood, the inhabitants 

 had spent large sums in beautifying the city. 

 The railroad from Folsom to Sacramento passes 

 near the American River its whole distance, 

 and enters the latter city about 2 miles from 

 the river, on a high embankment. This had 

 been made solid a year or so before, and thus 

 the water coming in fall flood down the 



