Saint Louis➤

Gateway Arch National Park commemorates Saint Louis’s role in the westward expansion of the United States. The Lewis & Clark Expedition departed from St. Louis. Situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, Saint Louis was the ideal location from which to explore America’s new territories.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson signed the Louisiana purchase. The new territory doubled the size of the United States. Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on a mission to explore the new lands. Lewis and Clark set out from Camp Dubois in May of 1804 to establish a route up the Missouri River to the Pacific. They returned to St. Louis in 1806.

Lewis & Clark Confluence Tower➤

After visiting Camp River Dubois, I stopped by the nearby Confluence Tower. The Lewis & Clark Confluence Tower rises 150 feet above the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the two longest rivers in North America. The Tower was completed on May 14, 2010 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

There wasn’t much to see here. A docent took us up in the elevator to the viewing platform. There were some interpretative displays focusing on Lewis and Clark and the importance of the Missouri-Mississippi Confluence. We could see the confluence of the rivers and the city of Saint Louis in the distance.

St. Louis Posts➤

• Gateway Arch
• Gateway Arch Museum
• Peace Medals
• The Old Courthouse
• Mississippi River
• Lewis and Clark Camp River Dubois
• Confluence Tower
• Chahokia Mounds

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Location: 435 Confluence Tower Dr, Hartford, IL
Designation: Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Date designated/established: 2010
Date of my visit: July 16, 2022