Jones-Confluence Point State Park

The Missouri River is the longest river in the United States. Rising in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km) before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river drains semi-arid watershed of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Although a tributary of the Mississippi, the Missouri River is slightly longer and carries a comparable volume of water. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth-longest river system.For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle and dependent on enormous bison herds that roamed through the Great Plains. The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 19th century laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. Pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats that entered service on the river. Conflict between settlers and Native Americans in the watershed led to some of the most longstanding and violent of the American Indian Wars. During the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control, and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut off and the river channelized to improve navigation, reducing its length by almost 200 miles (320 km) from pre-development times. Although the lower Missouri valley is now a populous and highly productive agricultural and industrial region, heavy development has taken its toll on wildlife and fish populations as well as water quality.

The Confluence Trail, part of the Madison County, Illinois Transit (MCT) bikeways network, is a 20.5 miles (33.0 km) bike trail between Granite City and Alton, Illinois's Russell Commons Park. The majority of the trail is paved asphalt on top of the Mississippi River levee system. The trail is part of the St. Louis metro area's Confluence Greenway.

The Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower is a 180-foot-tall (55 m) tower on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi River at the confluence of it and the Missouri River. The tower complements the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site, about one mile to the south, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition made winter camp before setting up the Missouri river.The tower has platforms at 50, 100, and 150 feet, providing a good view of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch can also be seen from the tower. The tower contains two legs joined by viewing platforms, with an elevator in one leg and stairs in the other. Its construction, lasting from 2002 to 2010, was funded by $5 million from local and state sources.

The Lewis and Clark State Historic Site opened in 2002 and is owned and operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Division of Historic Preservation (formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency). The site, located in Hartford, Illinois, commemorates Camp River Dubois, the camp of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from December 1803 to May 1804. The site is National Trail Site #1 on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and is located directly off the Confluence Bike Trail, part of the Confluence Greenway. The site is at the southern end of the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Route. The Lewis and Clark State Historic Site is situated on the dry side of the Chain of Rocks Levee, approximately 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from the Illinois shore of the Mississippi River. It is also known as Lewis and Clark State Park. Main attractions at the site include a 14,000-square-foot (1,300 m2) interpretive center and an outdoor replica of Camp River Dubois. The interpretive center contains a theater, multiple hands-on exhibits and displays, and a 55-foot (17 m) full-scale cutaway keelboat.

Camp Dubois (English: Camp Wood), near present-day Wood River, Illinois, served as the winter camp and launch-point for the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Founded at the confluence with the Rivière du Bois (Wood River) on December 12, 1803, it was located on the east side of the Mississippi River so that it was still in United States territory. This was important because the transfer of the Louisiana Purchase to France from Spain did not occur until March 9, 1804, and then from France to the United States on March 10, 1804. The expedition returned again to the camp on their return journey on September 23, 1806.In 1803, at Cahokia, Lewis and Clark had met a well known French citizen, Nicholas Jarrot, who owned 400 acres on the du Bois, and he agreed to let them camp there. William Clark established Camp Dubois, with a group of men that he recruited from Kaskaskia and Fort Massac. There, they constructed a frontier fort. Captain Meriwether Lewis joined the camp several weeks later after gathering information about Upper Louisiana and the west from Cahokia, Kaskaskia, St. Louis and other locations. Also during this time, Lewis took the opportunity to smooth relations with the Spanish authorities in St Louis to make the transfer of the Louisiana Purchase easier. Camp Dubois was a fully operating military camp. Soldiers stationed at the camp were required to participate in training, maintain personal cleanliness, police the camp and other duties spelled out by the United States military. They had inspections, marched, stood guard duty and hunted to supplement their military rations. Sergeant John Ordway was in charge of the camp during periods in which both Lewis and Clark were away.On May 14, 1804, the Expedition, under Clark's command, left Camp River Dubois on the east side of the Mississippi River and sailed up the Missouri River.

Hartford is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near the mouth of the Missouri River. The population was 1,185 at the 2020 census, down from 1,429 in 2010. Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1803-04 there, near what has been designated the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site.

Chemetco was formerly one of the largest United States refiners of copper from recycled or residual sources. Its maximum output of 120,000 tons per year was approximately half of the entire U.S. copper output from recycled copper. The company website described Chemetco as one of the world's largest copper refiners and reported an estimated revenue in 1999 of $500 m. It was listed in 2000 as the 23rd-largest privately held company in the United States.The company had a history of environmental problems over its entire career, along with problems managing its wastes and by-products. Eventually, it was convicted of water pollution offences spanning a decade, which contravened US federal law. The company's former site is now a Superfund site on the National Priorities List.

The Columbia Bottom Conservation Area is a 4,256-acre (17.22 km2) conservation area located on the south side of the Missouri River at its confluence with the Mississippi River. The conservation area, which is located in eastern St. Louis County, Missouri, north of the city of St. Louis, is operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation. One key asset is 6.5-mile (10.5 km) of river frontage for boating, fishing, and birdwatching.

Chouteau Township is located in Madison County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 8,226 and it contained 3,438 housing units.

Hartford Castle is the ruins of a 19th-century residence located near Hartford, Illinois. It is located at 38°48′2″N 90°5′4″W (38.800600, -90.084600) approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The official name of the home was Lakeview. It was constructed by a French immigrant named Benjamin Biszant for his English bride in 1897.

Wood River (historically, Rivière du Bois) is a 2.4-mile-long (3.9 km) tributary of the Mississippi River, which it joins near East Alton, and Wood River, Illinois, to the northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. The Wood River is formed by the confluence of its West and East forks. These come together near where they drop down from the Mississippi bluffs. The natural channel of the Wood River used to follow the Mississippi through the bottoms before joining it. This has been cut off by an artificial channel that runs through flood control structures directly to the Mississippi. In 1803, the Wood River (then known in French as '), gave its name to Camp Wood, where the Lewis and Clark expedition assembled. The West Fork of the Wood River is 16.4 miles (26.4 km) long, and the East Fork is 21.9 miles (35.2 km) long. Honeycut Branch is a major tributary of the West Fork, and Girder Branch is a major tributary of the East Fork. The mouth of the Wood River was a highly industrialized area during much of the 20th century. The Olin Chemical plant produced explosives and munitions for the wars of the last century. This remains as the Winchester ammunition plant. The Wood River petroleum refinery continues to operate on a reduced scale.

Wood River is a city in Madison County, Illinois. The population was 10,464 as of the 2020 census.