Early settlers
Audio recording
Fr. Jacques Gravier led the first European expedition up the Meramec River in 1698, looking for silver and furs and found lead, iron, silica sand and other minerals. Spanish land grants along the Meramec River were first given in the mid 1700s. Unlike the prairies north of the Missouri River with easy wagon trails, the Meramec River Valley was rugged, requiring settlers to stake out paths and homes along steep slopes.
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In the mid-1800s, a group of Irish immigrants, fleeing turmoil and famine at home, made their way up the Meramec to LaBarque Creek and Big River. They prospered in the inaccessible valleys. The first Irish church, St. Patrick of Armagh, was founded just south of Pacific in 1843.