Lewis & Clark Statue Underwater Near St Louis Arch and Eads Bridge

The Captains Return Statue is underwater near the Eads Bridge. Betty Kluesner of the Discovery Expedition of St Charles took these photos on March 22, 2007 and reports that many people were taking photos. Some asked, how did they ever put the statue up in the water? The water level generally rises in the Spring.  During the great Mississsippi River flood of 1993 the water rose halfway up the giant staircase leading up to the grounds of the Arch. If you look closely, you can find a plaque on the side of the staircase steps indicating how far the water rose.

The statue by sculptor Harry Weber was dedicated at the Final Signature Event in St Louis on September 23, 2006.  The statue is located very near the Gateway Arch, which commemorates the location of the old St Louis riverfront community. The site of William Clark’s house and Indian Council Chambers and Museum, built in 1816, is within view of the statue.

To view a fascinating interactive map of old St Louis, created by National Park Service historian Bob Moore, visit  the NPS Jefferson National  Memorial Expansion website. Scroll down to the very bottom of the front page and click on the Lewis and Clark material to be brought to the Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery section. Then locate the Circa 1804 Map at the top left. Then click on the different buildings in the scrolling map to learn more. Clark’s first house is located in Block 9A.  The second house and Indian Museum is located in Block 12.

The Eads Bridge was designed and built by one of America’s greatest engineers, James B. Eads. It was completed in 1874 at a cost of over $10 million dollars. The world famous bridge was the first major bridge to use steel in its construction, and to be built entirely using cantilever supports. Its pier supports, shown here are still some of the deepest in the world. One was sunk 100 feet below the surface of the water to reach bedrock. The bridge was rebuilt and reopened in 2003. It is a combined road, rail and pedestrian bridge.

Visit the Trip Planner on the Lewis and Clark Road Trips website  for Region Four, Old St Louis Riverfront for destination websites and individual MapQuest maps. 

Posted by on 03/23/2007 at 08:00 AM

Comments

Great, but sad photo!!

Engineer Eads was born along the Ohio River in the town of Lawerenceburg, Indiana. The main road along the river heading west is US 50, but in the city limits of L’burg it is the Eads Parkway! The Dearborn Historical Society has the house in which he was born moved to their riverside grounds. It stands adjacent to their Vance-Toussey house which has a wonderful entrance facing the Ohio, though the big levy daunts the view!

Capt. Samuel Vance operated a ferry in L’burg and was mentioned by Meriwether Lewis in his letters. Also, Vance corresponded with Wm H Harrison.

I don’t know about the Toussey family at this point. It will probably be a tousle to get info!

Chris McHenry at the Lawrenceburg Public Library is an avid Dearborn County historian. She wrote a book on the Laughery Creek 1781 Massacre of the Pennsylvanians from Westmoreland County. They were on their way to meet G R Clark at the Falls, but alas, were turned back by the Shawnees rouse, attack,and capture. I think 14 men were lost all tolled. Joseph Brant, a Mohawk, masterminded the very successful coup.

If you ever get to the area, maybe on the way to Rising Sun and the Casino there, you’ll pass the marker and cross the Laughery Creek Bridge just downstream from Aurora on Rt. 56.

The drive up the Creek is a real trail of olden days. Just turn at the Cemetery and head upstream! Keep an eye out for stone houses. Good building rock in the Creek and its tributaries.

I always wondered if the incident at Laughery Creek was part of Lewis’s reason for heading by horse to Big Bone Lick, and letting someone else take the keelboat and pirogue on down.....better safe than sorry? You can almost see the Big Bone Lick Creek from Verestau.

To finish my tri-state trivia tirade...the hill overlooking the area is formerly the estate of Sen. William Holman, circa 1830+, but now called Verestau. It is a most remarkable vista of the Ohio River Valley at the confluence of the Great Miami, and then of the Ohio flowing south. It still has a signal mound or two on the property. One of the oldest burr oak trees in the State of Indiana is on the edge of the drop to the river.

The Shawnees could follow the Men of Westmoreland from the hilltop lookouts all the way from Pittsburg to Laughery. They really didn’t have a chance!! By far, one of the most strategic locations for control of the waterways. Brant knew his business, but the Greenville Treaty Line effectively ended it as a power place for the local tribes.

Oh, the leader of the colonials was named Archibald Lochry, and just like the Capts.’ misspellings, it became Laughery on the maps today.

Eads gad!

Julia in KY

Posted by on 03/23/2007 at 06:49 PM

Neat pics. Do I understand correctly that, when the water level lowers, the boat will be sailing on air? On some kind of stem, I suppose.

Posted by Marilyn Coffey on 03/24/2007 at 04:27 PM

It is a remarkable coincidence that the sculptor chose to put Lewis and Clark and the dog in a boat, considering that they will most likely be underwater in the Spring each year. Perhaps it will become a local measuring stick--how high has the water risen?
As for Eads and his hometown of Lawrenceburg, I went on MapPoint and saw where it was. Highway 50 is one of our favorite drives, as it goes through splendid scenery with very little traffic on divided highways. We have only taken it from St Louis to Vincennes and then dropped down to Louisville from there.
Highway 50 is the famous route of George Rogers Clark victory march to Vincennes, Indiana, when he and his brave volunteers, both American and French, took the British fort by surprise in the dead of winter on February 25, 1789;thus winning the entire Northwest Territory for the United States during the Revolutionary War (that is, the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,Michigan and Wisconsin).
Highway 50 is actually one of the few roads in the book that is a designated “destination.” It is #26 in Region 3, on the page for New Harmony and Vincennes, Indiana.
I really enjoyed getting to know your local area history from your post. Lawrenceburg is right in the area where Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky come together, and near Big Bone Lick in Covington KY south of Cincinnati. We did visit Big Bone Lick and I was thrilled to see those large mastodons in the swamp waters. I had no idea what to expect. It was a day late in the fall when no one was around. Big Bone Lick is the center of the founding of American Paleontology, and President Jefferson was absolutely determined to get specimens from there. Lewis made the first attempt en route, but the bones were lost in a shipwreck when they were sent back to Virginia. Big Bone Lick was the first assignment for William Clark when he returned from the expedition--get those bones for the President! It turns out that the great European naturalist Buffon was accusing New World creatures of being degenerated, inferior and smaller.
The Mastodon became the symbol of American identity. George Rogers Clark at his home overlooking the Falls of Ohio had a mastodon bone couch on his front porch. Jefferson even thought they might encounter a live mastodon on their travels out west. In the days of the great migration westward, travelers on the trail spoke of “going to see the Elephant.” Here in the Omaha Council Bluffs area we had an “Elephant Store” for outfitting travelers. To read more about it, see
“American Monster: How the Nation’s First Prehistoric Creature Became a Symbol of National Identity” by Paul Semonin. I’ll post a link to Amazon on the featured books in our bookstore.

Posted by on 03/28/2007 at 11:18 AM

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