Trappists Hill opposite St. Louis

Description

In St. Louis, Maximilian met Kenneth McKenzie, principal shareholder in the Northwest Fur Company, and Pierre Chouteau of the American Fur Company. At the house of Major Benjamin O'Fallon, Clark's nephew, he inspected a collection of paintings by George Catlin, who the year before had visited the trading posts on the upper Missouri and painted portraits among the Indians of that region. In his journal for June 1, 1834 during the return visit to St. Louis, Maximilian mentions having crossed to the eastern side of the Mississippi to visit the Cahokia site, Trappists Hill, and other Indian mounds in that vicinity; he notes there that "Mr. Bodmer made sketches of a few of them with the greatest speed." This view of Trappists or Monks Hill is undated, but probably was made at this time.