05/13/2026
At the time of Lewis and Clark, the last settlement for all travelers ascending the Missouri River was a small village known as La Charrette, in today’s Warren County, Missouri.
On May 25, 1804, the Corps of Discovery arrived and camped at this remote village at the mouth of Charrette Creek -- about 40 river miles upstream from St. Charles. Established by French-Canadian fur traders in the 1780s or 1790s, La Charrette became the site of a small Spanish fort, San Juan del Misuri, built around 1796, which offered the families a bit of security.
Based on Clark’s journals, the inhabitants of the area were poor but cordial, sharing milk and eggs with the Corps. Meriwether Lewis surely had been told about La Charrette by traders and trappers in St. Louis who had traveled the Missouri route many times. During the brief stay, the Captains met a young French-Canadian trader, Régis Loisel, who with a partner had a fort about 1,200 miles up the Missouri, where they did business with the Yankton/Yanktonai people.
The village never amounted to much, and by 1817, another small settlement, Marthasville, sprang up in the same area, causing most of La Charrette’s families to abandon the original location.
The Expedition was excited to see La Charrette in late September 1806 – they knew the end of the journey was near when they spotted several cows on the river bank, “which was a joyfull Sight to the party,” according to Clark.
The site of La Charrette has been washed away by several changes in the river’s course over time. It’s believed to have been on the south edge of today’s Marthasville.
Image: A marker commemorating the believed site of La Charrette at Wessel Park, Marthasville, Missouri, next to a small, reconstructed French-style house of the early 19th century. Historical Marker Database / William Fischer Jr.
