On March 5, 1839, Dr. W. I. Morrow recorded travel 12 miles to Waynesville on Roberdeou Creek, a branch of the Gasconade. During the Trail of Tears, Cherokee crossing the creek had to ford wagons, supplies, people, and dogs through the water. Although the crossing point may have seemed narrow and easy from a distance, the spring feeding Roubidoux Creek made the water frigid even in summer. Crossing Roubidoux Creek, like other creeks and rivers along the northern route, was especially difficult for exhausted, sick, and malnourished people who had already walked hundreds of miles with little warm clothing.