Lewis and Clark Across Missouri - Arrow Rock - Missouri Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed under this bluff early on June 9, 1804.  Capt. William Clark noted in his journal "3 1/2 MS [miles] to a pt on S.S. [starboard side] opposit the Commencement of the 1st Prairie, Called Prarie of the Arrows."  Arrow Rock, or "Pierre à Flèche," was an old geographic name. Many landmarks on the lower Missouri River had been given names by Europeans who had been exploring and trading on the Missouri for a century by the time Lewis and Clark passed by the day before, on June 8, the expedition had met three fur traders returning from upriver.  These traders had come from the Big Sioux River, a tributary to the Missouri, some 850 miles above the mouth.  It was not a shock to meet boats returning to St. Louis-this was the fifth trading party Lewis and Clark had met since leaving St. Charles.  They also found a cache of canteens, axes, pumice stone and furs "hid & buried" on Island of Mills (Arrow Rock Island), where the party camped that night.

On June 9, after passing the "prarie of Arrows," the keelboat stern got stuck on one of the river's many submerged logs, "which was not proceiveable [perceivable]" according to Clark.  The current then swung the bow around and the keelboat became hung in snags that were choked with driftwood.  Clark called this a "disagreeable and Dangerous Situation, particularly as immense large trees were Drifting down and we lay imediately in their Course." Some quick thinking crew members immediately jumped into the river and swam to shore with a rope.  The boat was then freed in a matter of minutes.  Clark, not one to shower undeserved praise on anyone, wrote in his journal that "I can Say with Confidence that our party is not inferior to any that was ever on the war ever on the waters of the Missoppie" ~ Text of marker