We arrived in the St Louis area and couldn't just go check in to the motel, we had o go see where the Corps actually spent the winter of 1803, and started their Voyage of Discovery.
"The mouth of the River Dubois is to be considered the point of departure."
Meriwether Lewis, May 14, 1804
The Lewis & Clark State Historic Site, in Hartford, Illinois is built very close to that point at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The siting is not exact, because both rivers have moved considerably in the centuries since 1804. This wonderful museum houses many interesting replicas of the tools and implements used by the Corps, the most interesting of which is a full scale replica of the keel boat sliced in half, showing all the storage and living compartments within.
There is a replica of the Camp, which has fallen down, and a replica of a cabin settlers would have used as a "starter home."
Tomorrow we will visit St Charles, where Lewis met Clark and the crew to get started in earnest. We then plan to visit the Confluence Tower, a 150 foot tower with observation posts at several heights giving a great view up and down the mississippi, and up the Missouri. Next on the tour is the Natioal Great Rivers Museum at the lock and damn in Alton Illinois. We went by there before heading for the motel, and Gail simply could not resist taking some wild flowers back with us.
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