GSubyak@aol.com wrote: > > A FEW OCCURRENCES OF 1826 pg 211 - 212 > > The first coal burned in Pike county was from Pittsburg, PA., and used by > Benj. Barney in his blacksmith shop in 1826. During the summer of 1827 > there was a great deal of rain, and the streams rose higher than they ever > did afterward until 1851. The Sny Carte was navigable for steam-boats at > least as far up as Atlas, as Col. Ross proved to the astonishment of many. > He had three steam-boats in his service, and one of them in particular, the > "Mechanic," came up to a point directly opposite Atlas. Its arrival was > announced by the firing of guns. This makes it sound like the Mississippi shore was right up next to Atlas back then. Atlas is a good five files from the shore today. I know the Mississippi course would migrate back and forth across the river plain over time. Did the Mississippi abutt against the eastern bluffs back then? They are against the western bluffs today (With Louisiana MO sitting above the western bluffs. A similar example is one of the old Illinois Capitals - Kaskaskia I think. It's actually now to the west of the Mississippi on a tiny spit of Illinois on the western bank. Back when it was founded the river ran around it to it's west but the river was an "oxbow" and the neck got breached which left the western side dry and rerouting the river to the east of the city.