Last updated: December 30, 2021
Place
Arrow Rock
Photo courtesy of the Missouri State Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Arrow Rock, MO
Significance:
Stop for Corps before heading West
Designation:
National Historic Landmark
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
4 listed
Information, Parking - Auto, Trailhead, Trash/Litter Receptacles
Lewis and Clark NHT Visitor Centers and Museums
This map shows a range of features associated with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, which commemorates the 1803-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition. The trail spans a large portion of the North American continent, from the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. The trail is comprised of the historic route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, an auto tour route, high potential historic sites (shown in black), visitor centers (shown in orange), and pivotal places (shown in green). These features can be selected on the map to reveal additional information. Also shown is a base map displaying state boundaries, cities, rivers, and highways. The map conveys how a significant area of the North American continent was traversed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition and indicates the many places where visitors can learn about their journey and experience the landscape through which they traveled.
Arrow Rock was notable in the journeys that opened the West, beginning with the Lewis and Clark Expedition on June 9, 1804. Clark noted Arrow Rock Bluff and the party's experience in his journal:
“. . . we got fast on a Snag Soon after we Set out which detained us a Short time passed the upper Point of the Island, Several Small Chanels running out of the River below a Bluff & Prairie (Called the Prairie of Arrows) where the river is confined within the width of 300 yds. opposit the Lower point of the 2d Island on the S. S. we had like to have Stove our boat, in going round a Snag her Stern Strucj a log under water & She Swung round on the snag, with her broad Side to the Current expd. to the Drifting timber, by the active exertions of our party we got her off in a fiew Mints. without engerey (injury) and Crossed to the Island where we Campd. Seeing them and the banks too uncertain to Send her over . .”
Clark passed by Arrow Rock again in 1807 with his Dragoons on the way to build Fort Osage. He commented that the area was an excellent location for a fort and a town. George Sibley established a trading post at Arrow Rock and waited there during the War of 1812 when Fort Osage became too dangerous. A permanent ferry was established in 1817, and the town of Arrow Rock was later founded in 1829.