Sioux City: America's first national monument

At the confluence of three different states on the Missouri River, Sioux City holds the first national monument ever dedicated to the entire Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The downtown, not far from the first national monument in America, requires a car to navigate between distant neighborhoods.

The Sergeant Floyd Monument, the first national historic monument ever registered in the United States, commemorates the only member of the Lewis and Clark expedition who died during the long journey.

A few minutes away, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center recounts in detail the passage of the expedition along the Missouri River near Sioux City.

Continuing along the river, you visit the Sioux City Public Museum, which displays finds from native peoples and the colonisation of the Great Plains.

Towards evening, the historic downtown neighbourhood comes alive with restaurants in early twentieth-century commercial buildings.

Sergeant Charles Floyd, probably died of appendicitis during the 1804 Lewis and Clark Expedition, remains the only expedition member to lose his life, commemorated by an obelisk towering over thirty meters high.

Sioux City, positioned right at the confluence of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, remains an important commercial and agricultural hub for the entire northern Great Plains region.