Florence stood at a crossroads of Native life, river trade, migration, and westward travel. The Oto, Missouri, and Omaha Indians lived and hunted here, and Frenchmen, Canadians, and Spaniards traded along the Missouri River. In 1804, Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery made their first contact with Indians near N.P. Dodge Park and arranged for an official council a few miles upriver, helping open the area to American fur traders. Pioneers soon followed, including the Mormons, who were forced to leave Illinois in February 1846 because of religious persecution and crossed the frozen Mississippi River. Four months later they reached what is now Florence, where the Omaha Indians allowed them to build a settlement on their land. Winter Quarters became a temporary city for about 4,000 Mormons, who spent two years regaining strength and confidence, ordaining a President, and preparing to continue their journey to religious freedom. In 1848 they abandoned the city, leaving a mill, cemetery, and a network of roads, bridges, and ferries. After gold was discovered in California in 1849, thousands of gold rushers traveled the Mormon Trail through here, and by 1852 the North Mormon Ferry was known as the Golden Gate because so many crossed the Missouri River at that point. Winter Quarters included a Council House, gristmill, stores, schools, police, post office, cemetery, and farmland to the north called Summer Quarters.