Just Published...
La Charrette
Lowell M. Schake, PhD
La Charrette
provides a first-ever historical look at America’s westernmost frontier settlement, which—over a mere thirty-year existence—managed to leave behind a rich, vibrant legacy that is firmly rooted in local, state, and national history.Located sixty miles beyond St. Louis on the banks of the Missouri River, La Charrette Village began as an eighteenth-century French fur-trading outpost. The citizens of La Charrette—one of America’s earliest melting-pot communities of Native Americans; African descendants; and French, Spanish, and German immigrants—played a vital role in shaping the American West. Its people were the first to be granted Indian trade rights and to map the Santa Fe Trail, and La Charrette was the last outpost of civilization along the monumental trek toward westward expansion.
A virtual Who’s Who of the American frontier, La Charrette documents the life and times of the families who lived in this influential riverbank village. It also chronicles many legendary heroes who passed through, including Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, Captain Pike, ‘Indian’ Phillips, John Colter, Flanders Callaway, Syndic Chartran, and others who helped to shape history and forever change the face of our nation.
"Schake's book documents the intimate life and history of a village that helped serve as a launching point into the territory and it role in American frontier life."
—Brad Urban, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Suburban Journals
Buy It Now!
$20.95 Call the publisher at 1.800.AUTHORS or proceed directly to publisher at
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=1-58348-483-3
This expanded reissued volume not only contains new information about La Charrette, but it comes with a 20-page Index, a Forward by American Frontier scholar F. Todd Smith, Ph.D. University of North Texas, a new title, eye-catching covers to include world renowned artist Billy’O rendition of Lewis and Clark departing La Charrette, and the endorsements given below. Its a whole new look!
Continue to enjoy La Charrette at my blog at
http:///lacharrettevillage.blogspot.com/Praise for La Charrette
(From inside the front cover)
"A delicately crafted, absorbing account of an American past seldom encountered in conventional histories … Meticulously researched."—Kirkus Discoveries of New York
"Dr. Schake presents a highly detailed, but easy to read, characterization of La Charrette's long neglected significance. It is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in American History."—Harry Windland, Treasurer, Illinois Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission
"For both the scholar and the avocational historian, La Charrette adds much-needed pages to the history of the westering experience and the Missouri River."—Clive G. Siegle, Southern Methodist University, Executive Director, Zebulon Pike Bicentennial Commission
"One might question whether a village of seven houses rates a book, but to do so would be to underestimate both Lowell Schake and La Charette. This was not just any village, but for nearly a half-century in the late 1700s and early 1800s, it was the last outpost of European settlement on the Missouri River, the natural highway to two thousand miles of Indian country, everyone’s last stop on the way out and the first stop on the way back. Lowell Schake has done a remarkable job of digging in French, Spanish, and territorial records to reconstruct the multi-racial, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society of his hometown, the intriguing frontier village of La Charette."—Walter Kamphoefner, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of History, Texas A&M University
"Schake’s book documents the intimate life and history of a village that helped serve as a launching point into the territory and its role in American frontier life."—Brad Urban, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Suburban Journals
"La Charrette is highly recommended not only as a result of the impeccable research by the author, but also his talent for bringing the village of La Charrette to life in print."— Timothy Forrest Coulter, descendant of John Colter, Corps of Discovery member and America’s First Mountain Man of La Charrette
"If you are a history buff—or even if you’re not—La Charrette will make a valuable edition to your personal library."—Stephen E. Smith, My Missourian
"At last … ‘Charrette Village’ is put in its universal, national, and territorial place. For the strong interest now in the Lewis and Clark Expedition this book should be useful matter."—Ralph Gregory, President, Franklin County Historical Society, Washington Missourian
"This is an important book and recommended."—Leo E. Oliva, Santa Fe Trail Quarterly
"If you have ancestors who moved to and settled in Missouri when it was still the edge of the American frontier, you will be interested in … La Charrette.… I think you will find it an interesting historical and genealogical source."—Martha Jones, PhD, Victoria Advocate
"Boone descendants will be happy to see this new and original book pertaining to a part of Daniel Boone’s life, and the lives of his family members, that has not been written about before…. If you are interested in learning more about the earliest life of those who moved to and settled Missouri when it was still the edge of the American frontier, you will enjoy this book."—Margy Miles, Boone family descendant