Fort Belle Fontaine: The First American Fort West of the Mississippi

At the mouth of Coldwater Creek where it meets the Missouri River, the United States Army built its first fort west of the Mississippi in eighteen oh five. Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Kingsbury oversaw construction of Cantonment Belle Fontaine, which served simultaneously as a military post, an Indian trading factory for local Sauk-Fox tribes, and a launching point for western exploration.

Zebulon Pike set out from here on his Southwest expedition in eighteen oh six, after exploring the upper Mississippi from nearby Saint Louis the year before. Stephen Long's scientific expedition of eighteen nineteen also passed through this ground. The fort suffered from flooding and rapid deterioration until it was abandoned in eighteen twenty-six when troops relocated to Jefferson Barracks. The site is now a county park, the earthworks largely absorbed by the floodplain, but the ground itself is among the most consequential in the early American West.