The Arrow Rock bluff stood above a former bend of the Missouri River, which for generations served as the great water highway of the West, and the bluff became an important landmark for American Indians, explorers, and early westward travelers. William Clark called it "a handsome spot for a town" in 1808. After Fort Osage in Jackson County, Missouri, was abandoned during the War of 1812, George Sibley moved its trading post to the bluff just north of here. Settlers began arriving in the Boonslick Country in 1810, and a ferry established at Arrow Rock in 1811 operated for 115 years to aid travel. William Becknell crossed the river here on what became the first successful trade expedition to Santa Fe, while Franklin, the first Santa Fe outfitting center, stood 10 miles downstream. In 1829, Franklin was largely washed away by the river, and Arrow Rock, founded high above the thriving river port, grew as hemp, tobacco, and farm produce were shipped to Saint Louis and manufactured goods came upstream. In April 1864, sparks from the steamboat Isabella burned the riverfront warehouses. After the Civil War, river transportation yielded to railroads, the town declined, and in the 1920's the river shifted to its present course one mile away, leaving the old landing and warehouse sites as marshland.