Cairo

Cairo, capital of Alexander county, Illinois, on a low point of land at the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, about 180 miles below St Louis, is an important centre of railway and steamboat traffic. A steel bridge (1888), costing $5,000,000, connects the railways north and south of the Ohio. The city has suffered much from inundations, from which it is now protected by levées, which are utilised for streets and railway tracks. There are numerous manufacturing establishments, a convent, an academy, a United States marine hospital, and a custom-house. Pop. (1860) 2188; (1880) 9011; (1890) 10,324.