27-Apr-2001 -- Visited by Rick and Anna Smeltzer

27-April-2001 –This confluence, 38 north 90 west is located near Ellis Grove, Illinois in Randolph County near the junction of the Kaskaskia River with the Mississippi. It is also located near the town of Kaskaskia, the first capital of Illinois (see 39N 089W).

Kaskasia, Illinois was founded by the French in the 1700’s. For more than a century, it was the commercial and cultural capital of Illinois. Little of the city remains today, although it was once a prosperous and thriving settlement. Today, Kaskasia is located on the Missouri (west) side of the Mississippi due to the river cutting it off.

The confluence is located just to the side of a road along a slough.

Photograph one is looking southeast from the confluence. To the left is the tree line of the slough. Pictures two and three are looking due west and southwest respectively from the confluence at the farmland. Picture four is looking down the bank at the slough near the confluence. Picture five is the obligatory GPS receiver. Picture six is of Lock and Dam #6 on the Kaskaskia River just before its junction with the Mississippi.