A HISTORIC TOUR OF THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST
St. Louis has so much to offer visitors and history lovers. Find prehistoric bone beds at Mastodon State Park or hum a tune at the National Blues Musuem. Trace the path of westward expansion at the Gateway Arch National Park or see the Old Courthouse, where Dred Scott and hundreds of other enslaved persons sued for their freedom. Always be on the lookout for mention of one of the highlights of St. Louis history, the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Tour the First State Capitol of Missouri and the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition on historic Main Street in nearby St. Charles. Vicki and I offer the history of the Gateway City as you've never seen before.
Available at www.arcadiapublishing.com and fine bookstores everywhere on February 13, 2023.
From the duel between future Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas on Bloody Island through the “Missouri Miracle” of the kidnapping and recovery of Shawn Hornbeck, Missouri has seen its share of notorious crimes. It witnessed the first Western gunfight on the town square between Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt, three trials of the alleged murderer of Colonel Thomas Swope, the founder of Kansas City’s Swope Park, and the killings within a few blocks of each other that inspired the songs “Stagger Lee” and “Frankie and Johnny.” Vicki Berger Erwin and James W. Erwin explore crimes, criminals, and victims from the violent history of the last two hundred years in the Show-Me State.
Available from Arcadia Publishing Company at www.arcadiapublishing.com and fine bookstores everywhere.
During the nineteenth century, more than 300 boats met their end in the steamboat graveyard that was the Lower Missouri River – from Omaha to its mouth. Although derided as little more than an “orderly pile of kindling,” steamboats were in fact technological marvels superbly adapted to the river’s conditions. Their light superstructure and long, wide, flat hulls powered by high-pressure engines drew so little water that they could cruise on “a heavy dew” even when fully loaded. But these same characteristics made them susceptible to fires, explosions, and snags (tree trunks ripped from the banks, hiding under the water’s surface). And the river held other dangers – disease, crime and (in time of war) guerrillas.
This is the story of the perils steamboats, their passengers and crews faced on every voyage.
Available from Arcadia Publishing Company at www.arcadiapublishing.com and fine bookstores everywhere.
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