Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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7 5 Q X . . I 'I' X,hv . THE CITY By the Eerg kilns and the noisy marls. By city and town I race, The smiles and tears of u million hcarls Are mirrored in my face: The hiss and Ihr' Curse, the sob und the song. The cry of the weak ami the shout of Ihr szrongi I gather them all as I hurry along, And srutler' them all apuce. From The Great River ffFrederick Oakes Sylvester N the banks of the mighty Mississippi there stands a glorious city as a monument to a young man and his stepson who gave of their money, of their thoughts, and of their very lives to conceive a settlement which was to have all the advantages one could desire, which might become a very considerable hereafter. Today the same settlement that was born under the eyes of those two adventurers has grown and prospered beyond human con- ception, until now it is the foundation of a great metropolitan city, many of whose buildings of granite and marble brush the very clouds of heaven with their towering pinnacles, many of whose industries rival-surpass sometimes- those of its country and even of the world, and whose bridges of iron and steel form a golden gateway to a golden west. Surely it would be of the greatest interest to all to look back and see in the eyes of our minds the romance and tragedy, the joys and sorrows, the obstacles that have risen and fallen in the ages past that have made a great city out of a tiny settlement, that have made it more than a mass of stone, steel, and glass, have given to it a heart and soul to understand. Let us now turn back the pages of time and note how this great city of ours reached its present height. A man and two treaties made St. Louis. In November of 1762 Louis XV of France gave to the King of Spain, in a written form, the Louisiana territory. The undelivered gift was kept an international secret. Three months later Louis purchased peace with England by giving her what had been French possessions east of the Mississippi. These were the treaties that afforded Pierre Laclede, a French fur-trader, the opportunity to found his city. When, in 1762, Laclede received a grant from the French government at New Orleans conferring on him the privilege of exclusive trade with the savages of the Missouri for a term of eight years, a company, consisting of mechanics, trappers, hunters, and farmers, was hastily organized. In August of the following year Laclede's company, including little Auguste Chouteau, Laclede's stepson, left New Orleans. In those days there were no steamboats and the trip up the river proved to be a long, rough journey. And when in three months, they reached Fort Chartres, a settlement across the river and ten miles above St. Genevieve, Laclede found, much to his disappointment, that he was on English soil. Now what was to be done? Being a true Frenchman, Laclede was Seventeen

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Q 1:7-:,-.:..-1-ffmrw M A 5 11 . THE MOUND CITY By Marshall Harnil THE PRAYER Oh lVlorpheus.' Take us upon thy wings Ot peaceful dreams to strange and anrient realms. Take us into the dim and distant past. Away from turmoils of the worldly life: To regions, though about us, far removed Hy spare of time. Oh Prince of dreams. thou who Cans! take the souls of men into the past. And that which is to be. we thenee invoke Thy aid. Reverse the llow of sands of time And that ol' mighty rivers, whose great streams Long sinre have merged into the ocean with The rains of ages. XVe would that we might Go bark to the heginning, as it were, XVhen all upon the face of Mother Earth XVas new. Before the massive monarchs of God's noble forests in the Ozark hills Wt't'tr embryos contained within a seed. Remove the shades that mar the vision of That early age when strange men trod this ground, That we might know the chararter of man That owned this aneient valley as his home. Oh Morpheus' we humbly lay our plea Before thee in the hope thy will shall be To penetrate with us vast solitudes And purge the valleys grime. and dust of time. THE ANSXVER lt shall be so. O Man, for nobly sought, Indeed, this thing thou askst of me: transport Unhesitatingly I grant. 'Tis thine. Thou neetlst but tlo these simple things I ask Of thee, lest thou in all thy erstasy And boundless awe. shouldst be tferrome. alas, Hy wonders in thy journeys thou shalt see: Or lest. in some age intervening. thou Shouldst yet be lost. Upon thy Consciousness I rast my spell of sleep, and now transport Thee safely rross the span of countless years: Close fast thy lids, release thy soul to me. THE VISION Home on sweet dreams, review the passing show. Arross the fields of time and spare we fly. Upon our spirits' eager fare, beat winds That dormant, long. within that empty void Ot' life have lain. All round. the mighty sky Sixteen Vfe view: below. the earth-its vast terrain. Behold thou Man. the rity of thy birth Has disappeared as if it ne'er had been. Ah see, 'tis long before the white man fame To mar the pagan beauty of the land. liar down below. we view a mighty stream O'ergrown on either bank hy stately trees. The wondrous beauty of the valley wide: Off in the distanre, rolling hills of green. And, bursting forth beyond those ern'rald hills. Arising in full majesty. the sun- The blazing glory of its mighty sphere. Its entourage of lleeey golden clouds. Hailed by the feathered sonasters of the wood. Such harmony of color and of soundf Beholdf YVhat is this thing that greets our sight As dawn removes the shadows of the night? Ah. surely, eyes, thou art deceiving us: For things like this exist indeed in books. But not in truth upon the face of the earth. See, on the level of the valley's floor, An anrient city, peopletl by strange men Of mighty build and copper-colored skin. Upon their knees. fare to the dust, as though ln rev'rent worship to the sun above. ln rhythmic motion. as they rise and fall And chant their mystic songs in fervent prayer Before returning to the day and toil. They rise to go about their varied tasks. And multitudes of natives rrowcl the ways. XVe go, unseen by them. along their streets. tlfor bear in mind. were of a later day.t Ah. now that we are rlose at hand to view The type of man these ancients used to be. We quake: for they imleed are men of might. The smallest one among them towering high Above our tallest man by one full head. Their hair of raven hue tossed by the winds, Their rolling muscles glist'ning neath the sun. Their gallant tread, and flashing, jet-black eyes- Their striking beauty thrills our very soulsf With interest born of euriosity W'e watch them. as each goes about his task. Some making little ornaments from bone And rainbow-colored shells from bubbling brooks XVe marvel at the skillful hands of one l'Continued on page 39j

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, MW 4qAN L Q 9.3 . ,,...........-,.,.....-. ..-M . e 1 EQKTYW -.., ,. -, -.-, ,.,-..-..mN ,,,,Q 2 .. ,veg . ww-T115 ai Aww ea. f' determined to live on his native soil. But where was he to go? Why couldn't he build his settlement on the west side of the river? Was not that French soil? But was it? Unknown to Laclede, that land had been given to Spain. lt did not take him long to decide that Fort Chartres was inadequate and poorly situated for his purpose. Leaving his family, Laclede, together with Auguste Chouteau, and a few other followers, set out to explore the western bank of the river. They traveled many miles through the cold, unknown region. Laclede Iinally became interested in a spot later named Mill Creek Valley. Climbing to the top of a small hill, later named the Hill of St. Louis, he surveyed the land below. lt was a picturesque spot. Sloping down toward the river were two heavily wooded plateaus. These, he reasoned, would provide splendid ground on which to build a settlement, the trees furnishing adequate timber. Behind him, in the near distance, were the fertile plains. They would furnish the common fields. Descending from the hill, he studied the movement of the river. The current ran strong in shore, disappearing rapidly just off the strip of wet sand. Here was an excellent harbor for any settlement. Two gullies afforded access from the Hrst plateau to the river bank some twenty feet below. While the low, rocky cliff would afford protection from a swollen river, the gullies would make good boat landings. While the northern gully became the foot of Washington Avenue, the southern gully later became the foot of Walnut Street. Laclede marked the spot, so that he would know it when he returned, by blazing some trees. It is interesting to know that this spot later became the present site of the Old Court House. Since it was too cold to remain or even to think of starting a settlement, Laclede and his party went back to Fort Chartres, where he announced, I have found a situation where I intend to establish a settlement, which in the future shall become one of the most beautiful cities in America. When early spring arrived, Laclede sent Auguste Chouteau, then but a lad of thirteen years, at the head of a party of thirty men to build the first crude cabins of the new settlement, Laclede remaining at Fort Chartres to persuade as many of the French settlers as he could to move to the new village across the river. ln early March Laclede arrived, bringing with him a plan for his settlement. Let us see what it was to contain. There were to be three streets called Rue de L'Eglise, Rue des Ciranges, and Grand Rue. Of course there was a town square, called Place d' Armes, which faced the river, extending from our present Market Street to Walnut Street. A common Held was divided into forty strips, each of one hundred and ninety feet, and a settler was given one of these to cultivate for his own use. Of course every settlement must have a name. Laclede's had several names in its early history. At one time it was known as l,aclede's Village, after its III-11,711 er?