Bird's Point, Missouri

Union cavalry under David P. Jenkins guarded the region for the early part of the war, deterring Confederate attempts to regain control of the supply routes.

Once secured, Bird's Point was transformed into an important supply and repair site, as well as a training camp and military post, for the Union army and navy.

In the 1880s, the area was an important railroad and river terminus for cotton distribution, and a series of ferries facilitated movement of cargo and passengers from the island to the Illinois riverbank.

An incline was used to transfer railcars onto car floats for the cross-Mississippi trip from Bird's Point to Cairo, Illinois.

The Cotton Belt 5.3 mile rail line between Birds Point and Wyatt was abandoned by ICC order on October 9, 1938.

Cotton Belt handled railroad tank cars from Texas and Louisiana to Wyatt for shipment of the oil to Birds Point and trans loading onto barges.

Prompted by the Great Flood of 1927 the US Army Corps of Engineers installed an earthen levee to protect the rich farmland of Mississippi County.

This would allow the river to fill the 133,000 acres (54,000 ha) floodway and relieve pressure on the flood control systems in place at nearby Cairo, Illinois and Hickman, Kentucky.