Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

May 18: "...I had the Boat & Pierogue reloded So as to Cause them to be heavyer in bow than asturn recved of Mr.Lyon 136 lb. Tobacco on act. Mr. Choteau Gave out tin Cups & 3 Knives to the French hands...Mr. Ducent made me a present of rivr Catts [catfish] & Some Herbs our french hands bring me eggs milk &c."

May 20: "...Capt Lewis and Several Gentlemen arrive from St. Louis thro a violent Shour of rain...rained the greater part of this evening..."
William Clark

After their arrival in St. Charles on May 16, 1804, Capt. William Clark and the men of the Corps of Discovery made their encampment near this location. They would spend five days in St. Charles waiting for Capt. Meriwether Lewis to arrive from St. Louis. This would give Clark and the Corps of Discovery time to make last minute preparations for the real beginning of the expedition.

While the members of the expedition were here, a number of residents of the town, including several ladies, visited their camp. Other visitors included some Kickapoo Indians, who told Clark that the Sauk Indians were preparing to make was against the Osage Nation.

On the day of the encampment, Clark enlisted the two Frenchmen, Pierre Cruzatte and Francois Labiche, as permanent members of the Corps; they were experienced rivermen and would be responsible for navigating the keelboat on the difficult currents of the Missouri River. He also set the men to work shifting the supplies forward in the three boats of the expedition. This would help to keep the boats from riding up on floating logs. On May 17, he convened a court-martial on the quarter-deck of the keelboat to try three of the men who had been absent without leave the previous night. On the evening of May 19, some of the men went to a ball in the village. Pvt. Joseph Whitehouse said the ball was attended by a number of French ladies who were remarkably fond of dancing.

On the Afternoon of May 20, Lewis finally arrived from St. Louis. Despite heavy rain showers, he had been escorted the whole way by several of the leading men of St. Louis. That evening, the captains had supper with Charles Tayon, who had until recently been the commandant of the District of St. Charles.

This marker also shows a portrait of Francois Labiche by historical artist Michael Haynes, depicting what a half-French, half-Omaha Indian member of the expedition might look like dressed in the attire of a typical French boatman.

Also depicted are two sketch sheets. The first is two sketches of the keelboat, the only known views of this boat, appear in Capt. William Clark's Field Notes dated Jan. 21, 1804. The notations surrounding the drawings of the boat contain descriptive information as well as certain modifications to be made before the expedition set out from Camp Dubois.
The second is a sketch of the white pirogue and was drawn by William Clark around April 12, 1804, and appears in his field notes. It is the only known illustration of what the pirogues might have looked like. Originals held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

One of the first challenges of the expedition was to get the 55-foot long keelboat and two pirogues up the Missouri River. Navigating the tempestuous Missouri required skilled navigators. This important need was fulfilled when Pierre Cruzatte and Francois Labiche were officially enlisted into the Corps of Discovery on May 16, 1804, at St. Charles. Both men were half-French, half-Omaha Indian. They were familiar with navigating the Missouri River and had traded with the upstream Indian tribes. In addition to his knowledge of the Misssouri River, Labiche also proved useful as an interpreter. For this reason, Lewis recommended him for a bonus. Labiche lived in St. Louis in the years following the expedition.

Cruzatte was one of the more colorful members of the expedition. Like Labiche, he also served as an interpreter. He had only one eye and was nearsighted, but he was a skilled riverman and also amused the party with his fiddle playing. Cruzatte lost favor, however, when he accidentally wounded Lewis while the two were hunting in August 1806 on the return journey. In Clark's later notes regarding the fates of the various members of the expedition, Cruzatte is listed as "killed" by 1825-28.

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