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CHAPTER VI THE CITY OF CAIRO FROM 1836 TO I846--'l'HE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY OF 1836-THE ILLINOIS EXPORTING COMPANY -THE CAIRO CITY AND CANAL COMPANY M ANY years ago I was in the office of Judge Thomas Hileman, of Jonesboro, Illinois, for whom I had charge of important litigation , to which he was a party. I was looking over the books in his office and saw a small volume which had the signature of H. W'. Billings on the first blank page and the signature of D. B. Holbrook on the next page. Judge Hileman had found the book in the court-house yard, where it had been dumped with a barrel of old papers and documents. The book had probably last belonged to Mr. Cyrus G. Simons , a prominent lawyer of Jonesboro many years ago, who had also practiced law in Alexander County in the years 1840 to 1850, and represented Union county in the legislature. The book contained twenty-five separate documents or papers, all relating to Cairo. They were twentyfive small pamphlets, of various sizes, bound together. Some of them were printed by James Narine, No. II Wall Street, New York City, in the year 1837. Its table of contents is as follows: DOCUMENTS PRINTED RELATING TO THE CITY OF CAIRO I. Report of the President and Treasurer of the Illinois Exporting Company. 2. Resolutions passed by the Board of Directors of the Illinois Exporting Company. 3. Deed of Trust, Cairo City and Canal Company to the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company. 4. Form of the Bonds issned in conformity with the Deed of Trust. S. Form of Release Deed from the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company. 6. Opinion of Chancellor K.ent concerning the "Deed of Trust." 7. Prospectus of the "Cairo City and Canal Company." 8. Charter and By-Laws of the Cairo City and Canal Company. 9. Form of Certificate of Stock Cairo City and Canal Company. 10. Map of Township 17 and Route of Proposed Canal. IX. Articles of Agreement, Illinois Central Rail Road with the Cairo City and Canal Company. IZ. Articles of Agreement, Illinois EXporting Company with the Cairo City and Canal Company. 13. Letter from James Thompson, and Report of Survey. 14. Map of Survey of Township 17, by James Thompson. IS. Letter from Wilson Abel, Esq., respecting the site of Cairo and the health of the place. 16. Communication from George Cloud, Esq., on the same subject. 17. Letter from Hon. John S. Hacker on the same subject. 18. Sketch of the City of Alton, referred to in the "Prospectus of the Cairo City and Canal Company." 42 HISTORY OF THE CITY OF CAIRO 19. Internal Improvement Law of the State of Illinois. 20. Map exhibiting the Rail Roads and Canals in Illinois. 21. Charter of the City and Bank of Cairo, incorporated ISXS. Z::I. Prospectus of the City of Cairo, published by the proprietors, A. D, I8IS. 23. Chal'tel' or the Illinois Central Rail Road Company. . 24. Release by the Central Road Company to the State of Illinois. ::15. Plat of the "City of! Cairo," as laid off by the Prospectus, A. D. I8x8, As remarked about the City of Cairo of 1818, we know very little about the conferences, correspondence and other negotiations which lead up to the second attempt to establish a city here. The first attempt seems to have ended with the death of Comegys. The lands he and his associates had undertaken to purchase from the government and for which tl).ey failed to pay in full, had been forfeited, as provided by the act under which the purchases were made, and these being now gone or lost, the enterprise was wholly abandoned. It was not until the year r835, that the same lands again, and many others in the township, were entered and paid for as the law then required. These entries were for the same purpose as that which lead to the entries in 1817. Following these entries, came, first of all, the incorporation of the first Illinois Central Railmad Company, January 16, 1836. Two days afterward, the legislature incorporated the Illinois Exporting Company, whose general place of business was at Alton or elsewhere in the State as might be agreed upon. The incorporators were James S. Lane, Thomas G. Hawley, Anthony Olney, John M. Krmn, and D. B. Holbrook . By reference to the first of these two acts, it will be seen...

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