Once known as Cachetown and Oaktown, The village was name Karnak after a city in Egypt since the land between the rivers in Southern Illinois is commonly called "Little Egypt".
The town was incorporated in 1913. "This land was called swamp land" In 1902 the whole area where the town is was a dense weed field. In 1898 Main Brothers built a sawmill in Rago, about two miles from Karnak. In the early 1900's the brothers decided to move the business to Karnak to take advantage of the two railroads that intersected there.
In those days Karnak was "mudded in" during winter because the roads were so bad. Trains were the preferred mode of travel. The sawmill was one of the only places in the area providing steady jobs. People would come from all over looking for work. Main Brothers erected a large two- story hotel building for its transient employees.
Cachetown, Oaktown and Rago are nothing but wetlands now only a few could tell you where they were. Come back and learn more of where I grew up at.
