Southern Illinois took place in Williamson County between 1839 and 1876. This was unusual, as crime was almost non-existent in Illinois during its frontier years prior to this period of lawlessness. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran for the U.S. Senate against Stephen A. Douglas. A debate was held in seven towns in Illinois, one being near Jonesboro. Many of the people living in Southern Illinois were first- or second-generation Southerners. Cairo, Illinois, at the southern tip where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi, was of strategic importance. On either side of the rivers were states which, despite remaining in the Union, had
Muddy River (Washington) rapidly, passing under Forest Road 25 and then receiving Clear Creek from the left about from the mouth. At the road crossing, Muddy Creek Picnic Site is on the left. Below the confluence with Clear Creek, the river meanders through Cedar Flats, leaves the national forest slightly more than a mile from the mouth, and passes a United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge, on the left from the mouth. Muddy River enters the Lewis River about from the larger stream's mouth on the Columbia River. The USGS monitors the flow of Muddy River at a station upstream of the