Route 66 – Missouri, the pleasure of music, the tragedy of forced relocation

Whether you cross the Mississippi from Illinois on either the McKinley or the Chain of Rocks Bridges, you will be in St. Louis. That city is located at the joining of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Those rivers have been important in history. Rivers were the early routes of commerce. The Mississippi River connects the Gulf of Mexico to Minnesota to the north and Ohio to the northeast. The Missouri River is the best route as far northwest as Montana. The Jesuit priests Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet paddled the Mississippi, claiming it for France in 1673. The French made some effort to colonize it as a balance to the Atlantic English colonies. The area rotated between France and Spain from 1760 to 1803, depending on European wars and politics. France with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 sold all their territories along both major rivers to the new United States. In 1821 Missouri became the 24^th state.

Rivers were the interstates of the 17^th through 18^th centuries. By 1855, over 3,000 river steams boats were passing thru the young St. Louis. Because of the rivers and then railroads following the existing network, St. Louis has always been an important transportation and manufacturing hub.

Speaking of manufacturing, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery there was started by Adolphus Busch in 1852. It now includes 189 buildings and is a National Historic Landmark. If brewing beer or seeing the Budweiser Clydesdale horses interests you, take time for a tour. If beer is not your thing, try frozen custard, the regional favorite dessert. Ted Drewes Frozen Custard has been serving it for nearly a century.

With all the human traffic up and down the river came musical influences. St. Louis developed its distinctive style of the blues with ragtime influences. You can appreciate it more from a visit to the National Blues Museum. If jazz is your thing, consider a trip north and off the route to Kansas City where influences along the Missouri River created a different sound. Greats like Charlie Parker and Count Basie played during the 1920s and 30s and the American Jazz Museum celebrates them. Music fans may also want a side trip to the live music shows at Branson.

Route 66 covers 300 miles west-southwest from St. Louis to Joplin. Interstate 44 runs parallel to the historic route and provides an interesting time comparison of driving the old vs. the new. Interstate driving is pretty much two or three times faster than the older route. As you head west from St. Louis it is obvious that Missouri is very different from Illinois. Missouri is made from the billion years old intrusive and volcanic rocks forming the St. Francois Mountains and millions of years old limestones and dolomites deposited around them. Think of the Caribbean with reefs deposited around mountainous islands. The glaciers never ground down this higher ground down to leave rich soils, so the agriculture is poorer. Illinois is farms with some woods and Missouri is woods with some farms. While geology left poorer soil, it also created huge and rich lead mines in the limestones south of St. Louis which were mined as early as the first French settlers, newer mines around Joplin at the other end of Route 66 and the newest mines in between at Viburnum.

Missouri is also known for caves developed in the limestones. Meramec Caverns is prominently advertised on I-44. The caverns were first valued for the saltpeter used, in part, for gunpowder. The caves are advertised as the largest west of the Mississippi. One room was used for summertime dances in pre—air conditioning years.

Because of so much federal land ownership, Route 66 here follows the topography more than the strict geometry of private property boundaries in Illinois. By the 1920s, car technology had advanced enough to take advantage of those sweeping curves. Hydraulic brakes, backup lights and car radios appeared. The rich could afford the beautiful aerodynamic Art Deco car look, but even cars for regular people became more rounded and less like horse buggies.

Especially in the Midwest and South there are tourist shops that give families a chance to stop, stretch their legs and buy fudge and candies. Uranus is an over-the-top example of those.

Not everything in history is sweetness. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 to free up land in the southeast for White settlers. Tens of thousands Cherokee Indians were forcibly removed from their historical lands in northern Georgia to what is now Oklahoma. Thousands died during the journey following roughly the same route there as the highway.  Their path followed a historical route originally known as the Kickapoo or Osage Trail from local Indian tribes, later named the Old Wire Route and now called the Trail of Tears. You will see various markers and memorials to it.

Further west, Springfield was one of the first sections of Route 66 and the city takes its heritage seriously. There are lots of festivals and the Route 66 Car Museum has a great selection including the 1971 Gotham Roadster Batmobile from the TV series. Springfield is also home to the Steak and Shake restaurant chain. The original idea, given the uncertainty of what was in your hamburger meat, was to grind up steaks in full view of customers so they could see what they were getting. You can still eat at the oldest surviving restaurant. It will give you an appreciation for your ancestors facing mid-20^th century bathrooms.

Probably the most pleasant original section for a drive is west from Springfield towards Carthage. You do get a little peek into an earlier time before leaving the state.