The precedent for Daniel Boone holding court under an elm tree was set at the settling of Boonesborough in 1775, south of present-day Lexington, Kentucky. The branches of a huge elm -- so large the settlers feared the toil of cutting it down -- sheltered the first church service and the first American legislative meeting west of the Allegheny mountains. The settlers of Boonesborough nicknamed it the Divine Tree.
Richard Henderson, one of the original settlers, wrote: "Thank God! The tree is mine...This same tree is to be our church, state-house, council-chamber, and etc...Hope by Sunday sennight to perform divine service for the first time in a publick manner, and that to a set of scoundrels who scarcely believe in God or fear a devil, if we were to judge from most of their looks, words and actions."
This Tablet is Dedicated to the Courage Wisdom and Genius of the Pioneer State Architects and Law Givers of the West ----- The Legislature of Transylvania
Spain laid claim to the area in 1764, calling the region Upper Louisiana. Spanish explorers searched for gold and silver in this area and their travels resulted in the establishment of trade routes later used by the French and Americans. The Spanish also saw themselves as missionaries, establishing churches throughout the territory. The Spanish government offered free land to settlers, enticing pioneers like Daniel Boone to move to the St. Charles area. Spain ceded the territory to France in 1800 in the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
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Twenty Thousand Markers and Counting
RICHMOND, VA – Today, Jim Kuntz contributed the 20,000th historical highway marker, The Boone's Lick Road MO171. Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the State of Missouri and Located in St. Charles, Missouri, this marker is one of many dedicated to the travels of Daniel Boone. Congratulations to Jim and many others who have made HistoricMakers.com a fun, educational, and meaningful experience for thousands of educators, students, patriots, and history buffs.
HistoricMarkers.com is dedicated to cataloging and promoting United States historical markers. This is done by recording the text and location of each marker by state. Where possible, we also display a picture of the marker or the history it commemorates, maps to help locate the maker and driving directions. Finally, we provide homage to the significance of these markers by providing content that can freely be embedded in web sites. The goal is simply to help get out the word and encourage each of us to more fully appreciate our heritage.
A trace first marked by the Indians. The trail followed by trappers and hunters and by Daniel Boone when he discovered the salt springs, afterwards called the Boone's Lick which gave to this road its name. The main highway out of which grew the Santa Fe Trail, the Salt Lake Trail, and the Great Oregon Trail.
(Les Petites Cotes - St. Charles 1769)
[boulder of Missouri Granite, from Iron County, and Bronze tablet showing the retreat of the Buffalo and Indian as the White man appears on the scene; being looked upon by Daniel Boone.]
[This marker should have been placed at Main St. and Boone's Lick Road, where the road really begins; at the Western House. But the powers of the day, picked this location, because the car traffic would lead right to it from the new bridge across the Missouri River, and they thought tourists would not find the correct starting point.]
Captain William Boone, the nephew of the famous Daniel Boone, is thought to have been the first white settler in Jackson County, having arrived shortly after Lewis and Clark discovered Tower Rock. William Boone's son, Benningen was the first white child born in Jackson County. Other early white settlers included Colonel James Gill, who resided with his family and slaves near Devil's Bake Oven. He was a farmer and owned and operated a ferry boat, which established the area as an important Mississippi River crossing point.
CAPTAIN JAMES CALLAWAY The man after whom Callaway County was named. WAS BORN in Boonesburough, KY. on Sept. 13th 1783 He was the grandson of Daniel Boone. His mother's maiden name was Jemima Boone. He was a brave and successful Indian fighter and was KILLED in battle with the Indians on the 7th of March, 1815
Side 2:
Sacred is the memory of CAPTAIN JAMES CALLAWAY, who sacrificed his life in the defense of his country, and who fell in the same battle in which McMullin, McDermid and Houchins were killed.
Side 3:
CAPTAIN JAMES CALLAWAY, Raised and commanded a Company of one hundred Rangers during the War of 1812-14. He is said to have fought the Indians in more than 100 engage- ments and was finally killed in the last day of the War. He was shot by an Indian from ambush as he was swimming in Loutre Creek his body was afterwards re- covered by the Rangers and buried on the hillside overlooking Loutre at the mouth of Prairie Fork Creek.
Side 4: is the erected info below, for this veterans memorial
Fulton was founded here in the Little Dixie Region of Missouri, 1825, to replace the poorly located Elizabeth as seat of Callaway County. Named for a grandson of Daniel Boone and War of 1812 Ranger, Capt. James Callaway, the county was organized, 1820. The town name honors Robert Fulton.
Callaway County is popularly called the Kingdom of Callaway in memory of a War Between the States incident in 1861 when "Col." Jefferson Franklin Jones, leading a civilian army of Callaway men, negotiated with Union Gen. John B. Henderson and got him to agree not to invade Callaway if Jones disbanded his men. Later Fulton was often occupied by Union Troops.
Here is the Missouri School for the Deaf, first such school west of the Mississippi, founded in 1851; Presbyterian Westminster College for men, founded 1851, chartered, 1853; and a Christian Church junior college for women, William Woods, founded, 1869, at Camden Point, moved here, 1890. State Hospital No.1 for mentally ill, chartered, 1847, opened here, 1851, is one of the first three such hospitals west of the Mississippi.
Fulton is the capital of the Kingdom of Callaway, a county early noted for its fine horses and its pioneering in development of the famous Missouri mule.
South, on the Missouri River, is the site of Cote sans Dessein (hill without design). A French trading post, and first settlement in the county, 1808, it was the scene of an Indian attack in the War of 1812. In 1821, Cote sans Dessein was the first place considered for the Missouri state capital, but faulty land titles stood in the way.
Here at Westminster College a plaque marks the site where the phrase "Iron Curtain" was first used in a 1946 speech by English wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Also of interest area museum collection at William Woods College, and, in town, a statue of Capt. James Callaway.
William D. Kerr (1808-89), was first head of School for the Deaf, and Dr. Turner R.H. Smith (1820-85), of Hospital No.1. here lived novelists Nathan C. Kouns (1833-90); G.W. Hamilton (1845-1909); Caroline A. Stanley (1849-1919); Henry Bellamann (1882-1945).
"the party being extreemly anxious to get down ply their ores very well, we Saw Some cows on the bank which was a joyfull Sight to the party and Caused a Shout to be raised for joy at [blank] P M we Came in Sight of the little french Village called Charriton [Charrette]." William Clark, September 20, 1806
On Sept. 20, 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped near this site on the return voyage of their epic trek across the continent. Only three days out from St. Louis, the men on the Corps of Discovery were eager to reach the ending point of the expedition, and for the previous two days they had foregone hunting and subsisted on pawpaws in order to waste no time in reaching the "settlements," (La Charrette), on the evening of Sept.20.
As they pulled into the village at sunset the men raised a shout and received the permission of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to fire a salute. Three rounds were fired to hearty cheers. A party of five trading boats tied up at La Charrette returned the salute. These boats were bound for the Osage and Oto tribes (Sgt. John Ordway stated they were heading to the Omaha Nation) and were under the command of two young Scotsmen from Canada. They generously provided the men with beef, flour and pork, and the French residents from the village brought milk and other items for the crew. One crafty resident sold the expedition two gallons of whiskey for the extortionate price of $8 in cash.
According to Clark, "every person, both French and Americans Seem to express great pleasure at our return, and acknowledged them selves much astonished in Seeing us return. They informed us that we were Supposed to have been lost Since, and were entirely given out by every person &c."
The captains did encounter discontent among the American settlers they met at the village over the difficulty they were having with the new U.S. territorial government getting their Spanish land grants confirmed. Lewis and Clark, as future territorial administrators, would soon become embroiled in this seething controversy that would drag out for several years prior to statehood.
On this marker a plat appears which shows several Spanish-era American land grants associated with the Boone settlement, including one belonging to the celebrated pioneer Daniel Boone at the lower right corner. Boone had received this grant in 1799, but it was denied by a federal land commission in 1809 and not finally confirmed until 1814. Members of the Boone family had grants and farms around La Charrette.
SCHENECTADY BOATS
While at La Charrette, William Clark expressed his admiration for the boats of the party of Canadians that were tied up to the river bank. During the trip up the Missouri River in 1804 to the winter camp at the Mandan villages, members of the expedition had to maneuver a large 55-foot long keelboat that Lewis contracted to be built in Pittsburgh against the uncommonly rapid currents of the Lower Missouri River. By the end of this leg of the journey, both captains were ready to concede that the large, ungainly keelboat was not the ideal boats to take up this river. The boats Clark saw at La Charrette, however, seemed perfectly suited for the Missouri. These "schenectady" boats, as Clark termed them, were wide in proportion to their length, unlike the keelboat, which had a round bottom. They were smaller -- 30 feet long by eight feet wide with pointed bows and sterns and flat bottoms. Because of this design, they were not prone to rolling on their sides when grounded on sandbars, which was a problem that constantly plagued the keelboat. And unlike the keelboat, which required 20 oars, these boats needed only six oarsmen. "I believe them [the Schenectady-type boats] to be the best Calculated for the navigation of this river on any which I have Seen."
Expedition Highlights: December 7, 1803 thru July 18, 1804.
Dec.7-9, 1803. CAHOKIA -Lewis, riding on horse from Kaskaskia, arrives in Cahokia the same day as the keelboat. He proceeds to St. Louis, to meet Carlos Dehault Delassus, Spanish governor of Louisiana.
Dec.12, 1803 - May 14, 1804. CAMP RIVER DUBOIS -The expedition party spends the winter at the mouth of Wood River (Riviere a Dubois). They refit the keelboat, acquire supplies and gather information and maps of the Missouri River.
May 16-21, 1804. ST. CHARLES -The expedition waits in this village of 450 people for four days while Lewis completes last-minute business in St. Louis. In St. Charles, Clark hires several more boatmen and adjusts the boat loads.
May 23, 1804. FEMME OSAGE CREEK -The boats stop at Boone Settlement to buy fresh food. For unknown reasons, Daniel Boone is not present.
May 23, 1804. TAVERN CAVE -Clark explores Indian pictographs inside Tavern Cave. Lewis falls 20 feet down a 300-foot-tall bluff, but saves himself.
May 24, 1804. "RETRAGRADE BEND" -The boats are forced to backtrack after the keelboat grounds on a sandbar and is spun around in the fast, shallow current. Though he would repeat the expression in the coming days on the lower Missouri, Clark calls the stretch "the worst I ever saw."
May 25, 1804. LA CHARRETTE -Lewis and Clark receive valuable information from Regis Loisel, one of the most experienced Missouri River traders.
June 2, 1804. CLARK'S HILL -Clark climbs today's Clark's Hill at the confluence of the Osage and Missouri rivers and has "a Delightfull prospect" of both rivers.
June 4, 1804. "MAST CREEK" -Sgt John Ordway steers the keelboat too close to shore, and the mast breaks under a sycamore tree.
June 4, 1804. SUGAR LOAF ROCK -Clark explores today's Sugar Loaf Rock, while Lewis establishes camp along the river below.
June 5, 1804. LITTLE MANITOU ROCK -Clark sketches an Indian pictograph prominent on a "projecting rock." The rock was later destroyed in railroad construction. The day's hunters find evidence of about 10 Indians on the move, whom Clark believes to be a Sauk was party crossing the river to fight the Osage.
June 6, 1804. ROCHE PERCEE NATURAL ARCH -The expedition passes a well-known river landmark, a natural arch on the bluff top.
June 7, 1804. MONITEAU CREEK -Lewis and Clark observe Indian pictographs on the bluff, see signs of bison and explore salt springs. Construction of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad tunnel destroyed the pictographs in the 1890's.
June 8, 1804. LAMINE RIVER -Clark and Sgt. Charles Floyd walk overland to the mouth of the Lamine and meet the boats. Shortly after, the expedition meets three fur traders returning from upriver.
June 9, 1804. BLACKBIRD CREEK -The keelboat is caught on snags, and the crew quickly saves the boat. Clark, impressed, writes "I can Say with Confidence that our party not inferior to any that was ever on the waters of the Missoppie."
June 10, 1804. CHICOT ISLAND -Lewis and Clark walk on the south shore through rolling prairie. The expedition is leaving the rugged, wooded landscape of the Ozark Border.
June 12, 1804. BOWLING GREEN BEND -At 1 p.m.,the expedition meets a party of French traders with furs and buffalo grease. Lewis and Clark persuade interpreter Pierre Dorion Sr. to accompany them to the Sioux nations.
June 13, 1804. GRAND RIVER -The party camps at the Grand River mouth. Sgt. Patrick Gass writes "This is as handsome a place as I ever saw in an uncultivated state."
June 14, 1804. "WILLOW PRAIRIE" -The boat crew endure a day of fast, rising current on the Missouri. The keelboat strikes a sandbar and is saved "by Some extrodany exertions of our party."
June 15, 1804. LITTLE OSAGE VILLAGE SITE -The expedition camps across from the abandoned village sites of the Missouri and Little Osage Indians. This stretch is "Said to be the worst part of the river."
June 16, 1804. FORT ORLEANS -Clark looks for traces of a French fort, built and abandoned in the 1720's. He also scouts for timber to make new oars. "the misquitoes and Ticks are noumerous & bad."
June 17-18, 1804. ROPE WALK CAMP -The crew stops over a day to make oars from nearby ash trees and replace their worn-out tow rope. Some men are suffering from boils and dysentery.
June 21, 1804. CAMDEN BEND -The keelboat crew struggles against strong currents by a combination of rowing, poling, and using the towrope and even anchor.
June 23, 1804. JACKASS BEND -A strong headwind halts the boats after 3½ miles. The expedition camps opposite a hill where Clark would later build Fort Osage.
June 24, 1804. LITTLE BLUE RIVER -Deer herds are so plentiful that the expedition kills eight.
June 26, 1804. KANSAS RIVER -Clark observes an "emence number" of now-extinct Carolina Parakeets. Clark's is the first recorded sighting west of the Mississippi for this once-common bird.
June 26-29, 1804. KANSAS RIVER -The expedition halts to make observations of this important Missouri River tributary, and to rest the exhausted men after the most difficult stretch of the entire river. The Kansa Indians are away to the west hunting bison.
June 30, 1804. LITTLE PLATTE RIVER -Clark reports "the men becom verry feeble" from the 96° heat. Deer tracks "ar as plenty as Hogs about a farm." The keelboat mast breaks for the second time.
July 1, 1804. ISLE DES PARQUES -A French boatman says the two islands here were pasture for the livestock of Fort de Cavagnial (1744-64). They may also have been farmed by the Kansa, whose old village lay just up stream.
July 4, 1804. INDEPENDENCE CREEK -Before setting out, the expedition celebrates the 28th anniversary of the United States by firing the swivel gun. At today's Lewis and Clark Lake, Clark sees many geese and goslings, which "induce me to Call it the Gosling Lake." This lake is now in Lewis and Clark State park.
July 8, 1804. NODAWAY ISLAND -The captains assign mess duties to ensure "a prudent and regular use of all provisions." The three cooks are exempted from guard duty and other chores.
July 11, 1804. LITTLE TARKIO CREEK -In the morning, Clark follows horse tracks and finds a horse alone on a beach, probably left accidentally by Indians. Sgt. Floyd writes: "the men is all Sick."
July 12, 1804. BIG NEMAHA RIVER -The men are wore down by a succession of hot days and halt to rest. Clark and five others explore the Big Nemaha Valley.
July 14, 1804. SAND ISLAND -A 40-minute-long "Dredfulle hard storme" (Sgt. Floyd's description), strikes suddenly after the boats set out. Clark writes "the exerssions of all our Men...was Scrcely Sufficent to Keep the boat from being thrown up on the Sand Island, and dashed to peices."
July 16, 1804. FAIR SUN ISLAND -Around noon, Lewis stops to make observations to reset his chronometer, which stopped the day before even though "she had been wound up the preceding noon as usual." The chronometer is essential for determining longitude.
July 18, 1804.-The expedition leaves the present-day boundaries of Missouri after 66 days of travel since leaving Wood River. Sgt. Gass writes that "This is the most open country I ever beheld, almost one continued prairie."
John Colter, a Virginia native, was recruited in Kentucky, by Meriwether Lewis to service in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, October 1803. Colter became a valued member of the Corps of Discovery serving as a hunter and scout. When Colter asked to leave the Expedition to trap in the mountains on August 15, 1806, William Clark said "...we were disposed to be of service to any one of our party who had performed their duty as well as Colter had done, we agreed to allow him the privilage ..."
After several encounters with the Blackfeet Indians while trapping beaver, he returned to farm, in what is now Missouri, married and had a son, Hiriam.
Military records show that Private John Colter died May 7, 1812, while serving in the United States Mounted Rangers commanded by Captain Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone.
His gravesite has never been located but it is believed that Colter was buried several miles east of here in a bluff top cemetery overlooking the Missouri River.