Flight of Discovery - June 3, 2004: La Charrette

This is the fourth installment on the Flight of Discovery, an aerial scientific expedition that retraced the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail from Indiana to the Pacific Ocean. It is summarized by Mike Harding, the Expedition Leader. A complete accounting of the 2004-2006 expeditions is recounted in his upcoming book, “On Wings of Gold: Triumph and Tragedy of the Flight of Discovery”.

Fight of Discovery – June 3, 2004: La Charrette

Camped near the mouth of a Creek called La Charrette above a Small [f]rench Village of 7 houses and as many families. Settled at this place to be convt. to hunt, & trade with the Indians. The people at this village is pore, houses small, they Sent us milk & eggs to eat. -- From the 1804 Journal of William Clark.

Day three of the expedition and this one’s been reserved for the crew to have an opportunity to learn about the area and its environs; Washington was the location of La Charette, the last white settlement that the Corps of Discovery would pass in 1804 and not see again until 1806. Today the weather is magnificent for boats on the river or planes in the air, but we’re here to catch up with the students and teachers who received our first Trunk of Discovery last year.

Having graduated from Washington High School a few years ago, Lee was the prodigal student at a breakfast hosted at the home of Rick Schwentker, Lee’s high school physics teacher and faculty sponsor for the Trunk. We were treated to a tremendous breakfast with some of Lee’s former teachers, administrators, and fellow students. Danielle Carducci and Ursula fiddled while we ate (ala Cruzette). You know you’re in German country when there are brats for breakfast.

On the way home some of us stopped at Daniel Boone’s grave and discussed whether or not he was still buried there. His nose on the bas relief sculpture is shiny from so many people rubbing it for luck. Carol offered that she encountered a similar phenomenon on Lincoln’s bust at his memorial in Springfield, Illinois.

There has always been a bit of a mystery as to why neither Lewis nor Clark visited Daniel Boone on Femme Osage Creek when they passed by with their expedition in 1804 and again upon their return in 1806. Speculation has always been that since Boone was given a land grant by the Spanish Governor, the captains may have wished to stay clear of any Spanish spies that might be frequenting Boone’s home. In that acquisition of the Louisiana Territory had the real potential to void all previous Spanish claims – including Boone’s – it may be that they just wanted to steer clear of any controversy with the old man.

Personally, I think they didn’t stop in because they had already met him. Think of all the time that Lewis spent at the Governor’s residence in St. Louis during the winter of 1803-1804 while Clark was encamped at Wood River. I’ll just bet that old man Boone and his son made the short trip into town to meet with Lewis and make their case for holding onto their property after the transfer of Louisiana to the Americans.

Carol and Mike attend the Rotary Club BBQ at Riverfront Park in Washington, MO and pose in front of the Corvette that was raffled off that day. June 3, 2004.
Photo credit: Submitted by Mike Harding.

While most of the crew went into St. Louis to check out the Arch and the Missouri Historical Society exhibits in Forest Park, Carol and I hung out with Dorris Keevan-Franke, did a radio interview and a Rotary Club lunch at Riverfront Park who prepared rib eye steaks from Droege’s with all the fixings. I think that during both events I invited everyone in town out for a BBQ at the airport; luckily only a few showed up this evening. Carol and I bought raffle tickets from the Rotary for a 1960 Corvette Stingray, so we’ll be back in August to pick that up.

Mike, Randy, Bill, Chin, Candise and George took in the sites in Washington including the mandatory stop at Cowen’s for meringue pie. Others stayed at the field and relaxed and worked on their journals (I can’t imagine how L & C kept current at the end of their long and exhausting days). We dropped the Ford Expedition off for its first 3,000 service at Chris Auffenburg’s Ford dealership; the miles are starting to add up.

Late in the afternoon, Randy shuttled Carol back to St. Louis in the Hughes 500. She needed to get back to San Diego for business and will rejoin us in Great Falls, Montana next week. Kari and I went shopping for the evening’s food at Ed’s Meat, Droege’s and the Williams Brothers. Like Lewis and his material purchases in Philadelphia for his expedition, we wanted to spread our money around and give the crew a sampling of the products Washington had to offer. Some of us went looking for Daniel Boone’s home in Femme Osage. If the signage was as bad two hundred years ago as it is today, perhaps that’s the reason Lewis and Clark never visited the Great Trailblazer.

This evening, as Rob and Andrew cooked sausages and Wanda, Jill, Julie and Jeanette laid out the salads, Randy and Mike took turns letting each other play with their aerial toys and Chin gave scenic rides in the Bell. This included dropping the Mayor off at a Council meeting in the park; wonder if that will help or hinder his re-election? Other pilots took the local kids and adults up in the Cessnas and there was plenty of food for all that came out from town.

About an hour ago, Candise, Chin, Randy, Bill, Mike, and I sat down at the picnic table in the garden behind the Schwegmann House and put away a couple of bottles of Vernaccia while demolishing a lemon meringue and coconut cream pie from Cowen’s. I plugged my phone into the cigarette lighter charger in the Expedition, entered all these words into my daily journal and now it’s after midnight and time for bed.