La Charette

Photo:  Creative Commons, Public Domain

A small French settlement of about seven houses, about 50 miles upriver from St. Charles, La Charette was the final white settlement that the Expedition would encounter as they journeyed toward Fort Mandan. The Corps spent one evening here on May 25, 1804.

Even though Captain Clark described the village’s few homes to be small and the residents to be poor, they happily shared milk and eggs with the men. The men would stop again at La Charette on their return trip, spending the evening of September 20, 1806.

It’s believed the site of La Charette was washed away by the Missouri River in the floods of 1842-43. It was located south of present-day Marthasville, Missouri, on the north banks of the Missouri.