St. Louis served as a center of military activity for the trans-Mississippi West for 181 years, from 1765 to 1946. Near this site, the Spanish built Fort Don Carlos Prince of the Asturias in 1767. Cantonment Belle Fontaine, built in 1805 on the river bottom, was the first Indian factory, or trading post, built west of the Mississippi, and Fort Belle Fontaine, built in 1809 on top of the bluff, was the first United States military fort built west of the Mississippi and remained in use until troops moved to Jefferson Barracks in 1826 and the fort was abandoned in 1834. The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition spent the first night of its journey on an island opposite Cold Water Creek and its last night at Fort Belle Fontaine, and other major expeditions departed from here between 1805 and 1819 to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. The fort became an important gathering place in the wilderness for officers and enlisted men, French, Spanish, and American settlers, trappers and traders, Native Americans, and businessmen and farmers who supplied it with necessities. The area also includes upland prairie, wetland, upland forest, bottomland, creek, river, and spring environments that support a rich diversity of flora and fauna.
