Old Kaskaskia Island (Submerged Town Site)

The original site of Kaskaskia, once the largest European settlement in the Illinois Country and the town Clark captured on July 4–5, 1778. The island was largely submerged and destroyed when the Mississippi River shifted its channel during catastrophic floods in 1881, washing away the physical remnants of the colonial town. Today a small portion of the island remains accessible by a bridge from Missouri, accessible only during periods of low water. A marker indicates the site of Fort Gage, the British fortification Clark captured, and the ruins of the old town lie beneath the river.