The Meramec River runs 193.5 river miles from its headwaters 170 miles west to its junction with the Mississippi River, and on its journey to Fenton it meanders through Ozark countryside of limestone bluffs, hardwood forest, and Missouri farmlands. For over 10,000 years the river has shared its resources with people. The first visitors to Fenton hunted mastodons, and later inhabitants were American Indians of the Osage and Missouri tribes. These inhabitants were eventually pushed out by white explorers, who were drawn by fur trapping and the mining of iron, flint, salt, and lead. By the 1800s, interest shifted to harvesting timber, and many wooded ridge tops were completely cleared for lumber used as railroad ties that contributed to the country's westward expansion.