August 4, 2006

August 4, 2006

Alton is a very old town with a rich but unfortunately forgotten history. Situated strategically on the Mississippi River near its confluence with the Missouri and Illinois rivers, it was a center of history and commerce in olden times. A few miles down river are the Cahokia Mounds, remnants of an ancient Indian civilization. Lewis and Clark started their journey from the area. Lincoln and Douglas had one of their famous debates here. Alton has a couple Civil War era monuments. Alton was the home of some major industrial corporations. Alton seems to be most proud of Robert Wadlow, tallest man ever.

Alton does a poor job remembering its history. Alton could take a lesson from the tiny hamlet of Arrow Rock, MO we visited a few days ago. Perhaps, the Piasa Bird painting is most typical of Alton history. North of Alton is a very beautiful stretch of road that hugs the little bit of land between the Mississippi on the west and sheer limestone bluffs on the east. In 1673 Pere Marquette and Louis Joliet explored the area and noted in their journals a fantastic flying monster painted by the Indians on this bluff wall above Alton. Later journalists noted the painting and recounted the Indian legend associated with it. In the mid 1800’s it was razed to make way for a limestone quarry. Many years later, town fathers began to repaint the Piasa Bird on a nearby cliff. At one point, tiring of the repainting effort, they hung a large sheet metal replica in its place.