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Calhoun County
Calhoun County, Illinois, is located in a peninsula created by the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. It is nearly completely surrounded by water, and is therefore cut off from much of the surrounding communities in Illinois and Missouri.
We left Alton early in hopes to get to Calhoun County and find a place from which I could work for the day. I knew that the isolated county was unlikely to have many places from which I could work, but I had identified a few restaurants as possible work locations. We found ferries across the Illinois river to be closed due to high water -- requiring we go north to a bridge and then back south into Calhoun County. We also discovered that many of the restaurants we encountered were closed. Therefore, we changed our plans to find breakfast and then head north to civilization that could support my connectivity needs.
Our drive through this rural farming county offered great views -- most including corn.
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| Breakfast at AJ's Bar |
Brussels Ferry
We had planned to take the Brussels Ferry to cross the Illinois River into Illinois' isolated Calhoun County, but arrived to find it closed due to high water levels -- just like every Mississippi River ferry we've encountered so far on our trip north. This required we continue north rather than west to Brussels and then the Mississippi River.
Piasa Park
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| In 1673, Father Jacques Marquette saw a pictograph of dragon on a limestone bluff overlooking the Mississippi River |
"While skirting some rocks, which by their height and length inspired awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as large as a calf; they have horns on their heads like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail. Green, red, and black are the three colors composing the picture."
- Father Jacques Marquette, 1675
The mural seen by Father Marquette no longer exists, but a much newer painting of a Piasa Bird now looks over the Mississippi River from Piasa Park, upstream from Alton, Illinois.
In 1836, college professor John Russell published an article claiming rhe Piasa Bird was a man-eating dragon that terrorized locals until their chief bravely risked his own life to kill the monster. Whether the legend was fabricated by Russell or handed down by natives, it makes a nice story and helps attract tourists to the Alton area.
