Lewis and Clark - La Charrette - Marthasville, Missouri

The world took little note of the few soldiers that departed that day in May of 1804, headed north up the muddy Missouri. And as Ann Rogers writes, “Anyone that is familiar with books on the Lewis and Clark Expedition knows that the Missouri portion of the story is consistently abbreviated or even ignored.” But on May 25, having traveled about fifty miles beyond St. Charles, the expedition arrived at the little French settlement of La Charrette. The site, on the north bank of the river near the present-day Marthasville, has since been obliterated by flooding and river changes. Some of the expedition’s journalists refer to it as St. John’s, a name derived from the Spanish fort of San Juan del Misuri, which had stood in the area a few years earlier.

In the spring of 1804, La Charrette consisted of about seven small cabins, whose occupants lived primarily by hunting. Its significance to Lewis and Clark lay in the fact that it was “the last Settlement of whites” on the Missouri River.

While at La Charrette, the captains had an opportunity to speak with Regis Loisel, a French Canadian trader who had just returned from his post at Cedar Island, twelve hundred miles upriver in present-day South Dakota.

Upon leaving the residents of La Charrette, though extremely poor, shared their eggs and milk with the crew of the expedition for their journey upriver. On their way home down the lower Missouri in 1806, the men were eager for signs of their return to civilization. September 20th they saw some cows grazing on the south bank and this was a joyful sight to the party and caused a shout of joy.

Soon after that sign they came in sight of Charrette. Again “the men raised a shout and sprung upon their ores.” Joyous, the men asked for permission to fire a salute and after this was readily granted, let go three rounds with tremendous cheers.

Five trading boats tied up at the Village of Charrette, fired a salute in return with such arms as they had. The men were excitedly welcomed ashore and stayed the night in the hospitable homes of the settlers. Talk and comforts of their kind were again theirs. Men who had gone through the wild west to the Pacific and back; men who were thought to and given up to be lost; were in home-country again. Heroes, alive!

LaCharrette Dwelling Replica
Located in a park near the Katy State Park Trailhead.
Research tells us these homes were more the size of a small log cabin, perhaps 15 by 20 feet or so. The construction style used vertical logs filled with a mixture of grass and mud called bousillage.The village always has been described in disparaging terms -poor, miserable etc.-on the very frontier and occupied by some pretty rugged characters. The homes were not great structures but most likely very modest. Probably dirt floors, center fire places, (often described as a double chimney) made from limestone rock from the nearby bluffs. There were perhaps one or two windows (no glass). Most were left open, others covered with dried skin of some type. One or two rooms with lofts for sleeping, perhaps a bed or two constructed into the walls, all wooden peg construction, shingle roof, wooden benches and tables.