# Cairo Illionis (What happened?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cairo-illionis-what-happened/9843 "2000-04-04T02:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cairo-illionis-what-happened/9843/21 "2000-04-06T04:59:00Z")
Fort Wayne is, indeed, a valid example of a fort/town built to control a communication route rather than one built with hopes for expanding trade. Hey! Cut me some slack! I did the whole routine by memory! 😉 (And, of course, the St. Mary is quite a bit smaller than the Auglaize, allowing canoe traffic in the eighteenth century, but not really usable by bateaux. Fort Wayne is also a slight anomaly in that it is a site where white settlers initially established the town because of its proximity to a native town. There are several other cities founded as trading posts next to Indian towns, but they are not a really common phenomenon.) I’m curious about Sacramento. Is the American really a navigable river? * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2000, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cairo-illionis-what-happened/9843/22 "2000-04-06T21:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by tomndebb: > \*\* > > I’m curious about Sacramento. Is the American really a navigable river? > \*\* You can navigate in a small boat, but I don’t believe you can take barges down it. The Sacramento River had a separate channel dug for ships. I’ve been under the impression that the American River is more of a river used for recreational rather than commercial purposes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cairo-illionis-what-happened/9843.md?page=1)