WHY DID PEOPLE BUILD CAHOKIA AND ST. LOUIS?

WHAT FEATURES OF A PLACE MIGHT MAKE PEOPLE WANT

TO BUILD A COMMUNITY THERE?

Unit 2 Lesson 4

CahokiaNearly 1,500

years ago Native Americans built the city of Cahokia where the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River.

RiverbankA riverbank is

the land beside the river.

Cahokia was built on the riverbank.

The rich soil was good for growing corn, beans, and squash.

BranchA branch is a smaller

river that flows into a larger one.

The Mississippi River and its branches were important to the people of Cahokia.

People traveled along rivers and traded goods with other people.

Trade CenterCahokia became a

trade center, where people bought and sold many goods.

Cahokia grew and soon became a city with 40,000 people.

Then, the Cahokians left their city and never returned.

FloodsSome people

think that a huge flood destroyed Cahokia.

Floods are a problem for people who live by the Mississippi River.

The Iowa and Osage Indians in St. LouisThe Iowa and

Osage Indians also built settlements along the Mississippi River.

They traded with other Indians and then with people who had come from Europe.

Rene Auguste ChouteauRene Auguste

Chouteau was a European boy who arrived at St. Louis.

He had his stepfather built a small trading post on the riverbank across the Mississippi River where Cahokia once stood.

Chouteau’s Trading Post Indians and

Europeans came to trade goods.

They traded pots, pans, metal tools, blankets, and foot.

St. LouisPeople came to live

and work near the trading post. They formed a community and called it St. Louis to honor the king of France.

St. Louis grew to be a great city where the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi.

GatewayA gateway is an

entrance. St. Louis became a

gateway to the West. In the 1800s people came to St. Louis on their way to Oregon or California. They stopped in St. Louis to buy wagons and supplies.

Covered WagonsCovered wagons

were home to pioneers.

Covered wagons would carry cooking stoves, spiders (a three-legged skillet to cook meals over the fire), an trunk to hold the family’s belongings, and tin plates and cups.

St. Louis becomes a manufacturing and trade centerTo manufacture

means to make something. People arrived in St. Louis to manufacture goods in factories.

They manufactured shoes, cereal, and farm supplies.

These goods were shipped to other cities along the Mississippi.

The Gateway ArchThe Gateway Arch

was built to bring people back to St. Louis.

It is a symbol of St. Louis’s past. It stands over the place where Chouteau and his stepfather built their trading post long ago.

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen

was the designer of the Gateway Arch.

He moved from Finland to the U.S. when he was 13.

He became an architect, or a person who designs buildings.

The Eads BridgeJames Buchanan

Eads built the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River in 1867.

People didn’t think it could be built because the river was too deep.

It was the first steel arch bridge to cross the Mississippi River.

Intermediate DirectionsNorth, south, east,

and west are the cardinal directions.

The “in-between” directions are the intermediate directions:

NortheastSoutheastSouthwestNorthwest