A little more Lewis and Clark stuff

We drove over to Cairo, Illinois to visit Fort Defiance, this is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, this is where Lewis and Clark made camp for six days in November of 1803. This is the first time that they are to see the Mississippi River, here Lewis taught Clark how to read Longitudes and Latitudes, this was important since the mouth of the Ohio River begins the 3rd Principal Meridian, what ever that means.
This location has always been important to history as you can read, Click on the picture to read about it.




Here's a panoramic picture I took while standing with my heels in the water right at the confluence.

Click to enlarge

This park was really in terrible shape, it might be due to the recent flooding, but everywhere we walked there were discarded beer cans, bottles and tons of other junk, of course when we left here we drove through the city of Cairo and it wasn't any better.
It's a shame that it's been allowed to get this way, Point Pleasant, Ohio has an area very similar to this, the confluence of the Ohio River and the Kanawha River, the history is almost identical, yet they have a restored Fort filled with historical displays, the town is spotless and filled with tourist.