Marthasville: Lewis and Clark Stopped Here, Twice

The small Missouri River community of Marthasville marks one of the quietly significant passages of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Near here stood Charrette Village, a French Creole settlement that was the last European outpost the Corps of Discovery passed on their way west in May of eighteen oh four. They passed here in late May of that year.

More than two years later, in September of eighteen oh six, they passed again on the return journey, nearly home after covering roughly eight thousand miles through the American wilderness. The bicentennial marker here was built by local volunteers to honor both moments, standing on the approximate site of that vanished French village at the edge of the known world.