Day 20 - Life on the Mississippi

 A glorious day without driving. We slept in and headed down for a Starbucks coffee that was - meh. Enjoying it in the wonderful hotel lobby added a special zest, though, and got us ready for seeing the sights.

We started down to The Arch on the riverfront of the Mississippi. No need for Google maps, this structure dominates the sky. The walk down Market Street was lined with impressive architecture, both old and new. It reminded us that this city is much older than many of the cities we visited in the west. 

The Gateway Arch National Park was beautiful, even on a cloudy day. Although The Arch dominated the view, we felt a strong pull to the edge of the muddy old river, carrying water from most of the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes. The railroad and the interstate highways have taken much of the traffic from the river, but tugboats were still moving barges upstream and downstream.

One of the thrills of working in special libraries was that I was asked to buy a first edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There it was in my hands, a green clothbound book. Today I walked up and dipped my hand in the Mississippi River, and I thought of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). No book selections today, but a fond memory of reading one of the great American novels.

The outside of The Arch is pretty cool, rising 630 feet above the park. But what's really cool is the tram inside structure that carries visitors to the top. The top of The Arch is only 17 feet wide (the base is 54 feet wide), so the tram cars have to be tiny, only holding five people each. Small windows at the top open up the Gateway to the West (or East, depending on your roots) and give spectacular views of the city.

Underground beneath The Arch is a museum that portrays the founding of St. Louis in 1764 as a French fur trading post. The western side of the river was selected because the east side was American - this was before the Louisiana Purchase, and the Mississippi River marked the eastern boundary of the French territory. The exhibits described trade with the Osage people and, after the Lousiana Purchase, the European spread westward and the displacement of the indigenous people. We also learned how 'buck' became slang for a dollar - the main fur provided by the Osage was deer hides, and one was worth an American dollar. They didn't mention a difference between a buck hide and a doe hide, but maybe 'doe' later became 'dough'. Pure speculation, but I propose repeating this to everyone we meet until it become established fact. After all, you read it on the internet!

Just west of The Arch is the Old Courthouse. Completed in 1828, the courthouse heard dozens of petitions for freedom by slaves, many of which were granted until the mid-1800's when the interpretation of enfranchisement laws tightened. Most famously, the Dred Scott case was heard in the Old Courthouse starting in 1846. The freedom of Scott and his wife was initially granted, but the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the decision after an appeal by their 'owner'. In 1857, the case was heard by the US Supreme Court, which, in what many regard as the worst ruling in the court's history, ruled that African descendants were not US citizens and no standing to sue for freedom. This ruling raised tensions between pro- and anti-slavery factions in the North and South and, four years later, the country was fighting a civil war. Only with the end of the war and ratification of the 14th Amendment were Africans (and others) born or naturalized in the US declared citizens.

After that heavy stuff, we needed a beer. Jack Patrick's was on the way home, so we rehydrated and collected our thoughts. We considered going to the Cardinals-Brewers game (Busch Stadium was only a few blocks away) but decided our blog readers needed us more than we needed the Cards or the Brewers.

No new license plates today.

Song for the day, influenced by our early morning history lessons. The great Bob Marley. 

Bob Marley - Redemption Song - YouTube