Archaeologist urges using radar to locate Red House site

A technology called ground-penetrating radar could be required to determine where Cape Girardeau founder Don Louis Lorimier's trading post was located.

The archaeologist commissioned to evaluate the presumed location on the grounds of Old St. Vincent's Church in downtown Cape Girardeau recommends using GPR because it is not invasive and can penetrate asphalt to locate anomalies.

"We would try to use a surgical approach," says Mike McNerney of American Resources Group of Carbondale, Ill.

He presented his final archaeological report to the Cape Girardeau Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission Monday night. About 30 people attended the meeting at the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The archaeological investigation is part of plans to commemorate the visit to Cape Girardeau by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in November 1803. Lewis recorded in his journal that he dined at Lorimier's Red House. Other plans include a re-enactment of Lewis and Clark's arrival and construction of a replica of the Red House.

The archaeological site map developed by McNerney shows where buildings that no longer exist were believed to have been located, information based on both searches of historical records and reports from church renovations that have encountered foundations. Part of one building that could have been Lorimier's Red House was located on land now occupied by the Old St. Vincent's Church parking lot.

"I'm almost certain things are under the parking lot," McNerney said.

The report also includes information about Lorimier's historical significance and a detailed transcription of his estate on his death. Jane Randol Jackson, president of the commission, said copies of the report eventually will be made available for sale.

McNerney said the GPR evaluation could cost $7,000 to $8,000. The commission paid $5,000 for the 184-page report McNerney submitted Monday.

Jackson said the question of whether to proceed with the GPR investigation will be taken up at the next meeting in January.

Steve Strom said progress on building the replica of Lorimier's Red House will slow during the winter months, but volunteers will continue working with the goal of finishing by mid-summer. Volunteers so far have put in more than 2,400 hours on the construction of the vertical log cabin.

Through her own research, Jackson has discovered that four members of the Corps of Discovery returned to Cape Girardeau after the journey to the Pacific Ocean concluded, including famed interpreter George Drouillard. She said this is information that Lewis and Clark historians previously were unaware of.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182