1. 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

2. Cahokia Nearly 1,500 years ago Native Americans built the city of Cahokia where the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River.

3. Riverbank A riverbank is the land beside the river. Cahokia was built on the riverbank. The rich soil was good for growing corn, beans, and squash.

4. Branch A 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.

5. Trade Center Cahokia 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.

6. Floods Some people think that a huge flood destroyed Cahokia. Floods are a problem for people who live by the Mississippi River.

7. The Iowa and Osage Indians in St. Louis The 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.

8. Rene Auguste Chouteau Rene 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.

9. Chouteau’s Trading Post Indians and Europeans came to trade goods. They traded pots, pans, metal tools, blankets, and foot.

10. St. Louis People 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.

11. Gateway A 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.

12. Covered Wagons Covered 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.

13. St. Louis becomes a manufacturing and trade center To 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.

14. The Gateway Arch The 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.

15. 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.

16. The Eads Bridge James 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.

17. Intermediate Directions North, south, east, and west are the cardinal directions. The “in-between” directions are the intermediate directions: Northeast Southeast Southwest Northwest