# Kaskaskia, Illinois: West of the Mississippi. Anybody been there?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 18, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548 "2007-04-18T00:51:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/1 "2007-04-18T00:51:38Z")
[Kaskaskia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskaskia,_Illinois), the former state capital, is now not only on the _west_ side of the Mississippi river, but appears to have a total population of 9! Here’s a [nice street map/aerial photo](http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.921395,-89.916467&spn=0.11,0.18) from Google. Upper left, you’ll have to move the map a bit and zoom in/shift to aerial photo to appreciate.
Anybody ever been there? What’s it like? Anybody live in Dozaville, the suburb of Kaskaskia?
---
### Author:  [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/2 "2007-04-18T02:21:03Z")
I haven’t, but I think it would be cool to visit. I will, however, [link](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_167a.html) to one of my favorite Cecil dopes.
---
### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/3 "2007-04-18T02:50:34Z")
I’ve been through there. It’s a tiny little farming community (by “community” I mean not much more than a cluster of homes) in a river bottom.
If you like areas that are on the “wrong” side of the state line, try St. Joseph, Mo., Carter Lake, Ia., or that little chunk of Kentucky directly south of New Madrid, Mo.
---
### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/4 "2007-04-18T03:02:16Z")
I want to know what’s up with [this island in the river nearby](http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=37.974211,-89.998412&spn=0.015663,0.038924&t=h&om=1). The map shows a whole bunch of roads, but the satellite image shows a completely wooded sandy river island. I suppose it is possible that it has been developed since the picture was taken, but an island in the middle of a river that regularly floods seems an unlikely place to build.
---
### Author:  [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/5 "2007-04-18T05:50:30Z")
I’ve driven through a couple of times and as **kunilou** said there is not much there. A couple of friends go too school a few miles south in Cape Girareau and would travel there to buy alcohol because Illinois sells later into the night then Missouri.
---
### Author:  [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/6 "2007-04-18T06:27:18Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
[Kaskaskia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskaskia,_Illinois), the former state capital, is now not only on the _west_ side of the Mississippi river, but appears to have a total population of 9!
[/QUOTE]
QG…
been there and appraised real estate there…Kaskaskia is just like most other areas of SW Illinois / SE Missouri 🆒
Look at the topos of the area…wrong side of the main levy…
tsfr…
---
### Author:  [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/7 "2007-04-18T06:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=RetroVertigo]
I’ve driven through a couple of times and as **kunilou** said there is not much there. A couple of friends go too school a few miles south in Cape Girareau and would travel there to buy alcohol because Illinois sells later into the night then Missouri.
[/QUOTE]
sorry **RetroVertigo** but if you’re in Cape and need your fix you go to East Cape…just like in St Louis…btw **RetroVertigo** it’s Caper Girar **d** eau…just kiddin’ 😃
tsfr
---
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/8 "2007-04-18T14:04:58Z")
Looking closely at the aerial photos, I must assume that the population of 9 applies only to the area comprising the actual village of Kaskaskia, and not to the whole bit of Illinois west of the river surrounding the village.
The Mrs. and I were planning a vacation to southern California this summer, but I think we’ll have to make it a road trip to this unique piece of geography. I’m sure you must be mistaken, **thisspaceforrent**. It must be a magical place! 😉
We’ll try to hit the Kentucky freestanding geographic oddity south of New Madrid, too.
I wonder if we can make it up to Point Roberts and Angle Inlet then too…
---
### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/9 "2007-04-18T14:21:49Z")
I love going through small towns like that. If you’re lucky, there’s a diner and you can walk in and it’s “all eyes on the strangers” for the entire meal. Then they talk about you for a week afterward.
---
### Author:  [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaskaskia-illinois-west-of-the-mississippi-anybody-been-there/400548/10 "2007-04-18T14:41:56Z")
> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#):
>
> sorry RetroVertigo but if you’re in Cape and need your fix you go to East Cape…just like in St Louis…btw RetroVertigo it’s Caper Girardeau…just kiddin’
>
> tsfr
They live off campus in Perryville, so I think it was just closer then East Cape.
Sorry about the spelling it was getting late 🙂