Dam, the museum is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Meeting of the Great Rivers Foundation, devoting 12,000 square feet to interactive displays and exhibits designed to tell the story of the Mississippi River. One of the more interesting exhibits chronicles the different types of vessels used on the river through time, including canoes, keelboats, steamboats, and modern-day barges. A pilot house simulator allowed us to see what it’s like to guide a 1,000-foot-long tow of barges under a bridge or through a lock. We didn’t know this, but locks (26 of them) are needed on the upper section of the river between St. Louis and St. Paul, Minnesota, to accommodate a 236- foot drop in river elevation between the two cities. We got a good look at how these locks operate on a tour of the nearby Melvin Price Locks. Free tours of the locks are conducted three times daily, at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. Founded in 1818, Alton has a rich history as a busy river town—and it played an important role in the Underground Railroad, sheltering escaped slaves fleeing across the river from Missouri. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated slavery and states’ rights on the town square. Alton is notable, too, as home to the world’s tallest man, Robert Wadlow, who measured a towering 8 feet 11.5 inches tall. Returning to Missouri, we followed US Hwy 67S to I-270W, bound now for the historic Missouri River town of St. Charles. Historic is an understatement in reference to St. Charles. Founded as a fur trading post in 1769 and named Les Petit Cotes (Little Hills) at the time, St. Charles was the home of famous frontiersman Daniel Boone and served as home base and starting point for the Louis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. It also served as Missouri’s first state capitol from 1821-1826. The town’s brick-paved Main Street is a National Historic District with several dozen restored 19th-century buildings now housing shops, restaurants, and galleries. We had a good time here. The local folks are all extra friendly, including a costumed stand-in for Daniel Boone we met up with at the Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center. This is a complex of about a dozen buildings, including a general store, grist mill, and a school—all offering a glimpse into life on the Missouri frontier. The town’s newest attraction, the Foundry Art Centre, features four galleries totaling more than 5,000 square feet, and the studios of 21 selected artists. We chatted with several artists and watched a potter and a goldsmith plying their skills. Moving north on the Great River Road (Missouri Highway 79) we paused in the tiny town of Clarksville to drive up to Lookout Point (a.k.a. Pinnacle Peak) where a 900-foot- high overlook provides a panorama of the river below. We also stopped for a close-up view of a barge moving through Lock & Dam 24. The Victorian-style downtown here has adapted nicely to the tourist trade, filled with artists,
Art galleries and craft shops line Main Street in Clarksville. Photo by Carl Wycoff, Missouri Tourism.
American Cruise Lines' Queen of the Mississippi riverboat calls at Hannibal, Missouri during its upper Mississippi cruises between St. Louis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Old Courthouse with the Gateway Arch in the background.
COAST TO COAST SUMMER 2016 17
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