The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Gateway Arch
St. Louis, MO
On December 7, 1803, the party was encamped at Cahokia, IL opposite St. Louis. St. Louis, a town of just over a thousand people, served as the governmental center and trading center for Upper Louisiana. Over the next five months, the captains would spend a great deal of time in St. Louis, meeting with the officials and traders and gaining information and maps about the Missouri river and Indian nations they might encounter on their upcoming expedition.

The site of colonial St. Louis is today occupied by the gounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Eero Saarinen designed the 630-foot Gateway Arch whose stainless steel gleams in the sun above this site. Trams take visitors to the top for great views. Beneath it, the Museum of Westward Expansion covers the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a peace medal collection including a medal like the one the captains distributed, other westward explorers and pioneers, native peoples, and the natural history of the American west.

Row 1--#2-base of arch, #3- taken from base of arch, #4-arch from old Courthouse looking east, #5-arch from Illinois side looking west. Row 2--#1-map of U. S. and Louisiana Territory, #2-list of items sent back to Jefferson from Fort Mandan-live prairie squirrel, #3-information about Jefferson peace medal, examples can be seen on other pages, original on Nez Perce Indian Center page in Idaho, #4-bull boat made from wood branches and buffalo skin, #5-wagon-note painted sideboard which is unusual. Row 3--#1-statue of foot soldier, #2-long horn cow, #3-the plow that opened the prairies to cultivation, #4-standing close to the Arch.