Cinque Hommes Creek is a tributary of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

flowing through

Perry County, Missouri Perry County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,956. Its county seat is Perryville. The county was officially organized on November 16, 1820 (effective ...

Name

The early

Colonial French Louisiana French ( frc, français de la Louisiane; lou, françé la lwizyàn) is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of French, varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. ...

name for the creek was "à la viande" or "with meat". Cinque Hommes Creek was named after Cape Cinque Hommes on the

, although this name most likely originates from the Canadian Catholic missionary priest Father Jean Francois Buisson de St. Cosme. The pronunciation of "St. Cosme" and "Cinque Hommes" is exactly the same in French, and the early Frenchmen who came after father St. Cosme, misunderstanding, called it by the latter name.

Physical geography

The stream rises in Cinque Hommes Township in Perry County, Missouri, and takes a winding course through

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and Salem townships. Its mouth empties into the Mississippi River near Menfro not far from Cape Cinque Hommes. Five cave systems are found within the Cinque Hommes Creek drainage: Moore Cave, Crevice Cave, Mystery Cave, Rimstone River Cave and Running Bull Cave. A number of tributaries flow into Cinque Hommes Creek:

Cultural geography

A number of bridges have crossed Cinque Hommes Creek over the years. The Cinque Hommes Creek Route B Bridge was a truss bridge built in 1888, and collapsed on April 15, 1962, following a collusion by an overweight truck. It was replaced in 1963. The Cinque Hommes US 61 Bridge was a

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

built in 1930, and replaced in 1996 with a

stringer bridge Beam bridges are the simplest structural forms for bridge spans supported by an abutment or pier at each end. No moments are transferred throughout the support, hence their structural type is known as '' simply supported''. The simplest beam ...

. Cinque Hommes Creek empties into the Mississippi River south of Menfro, Missouri in the Red Rock Landing Conversation Area.

History

Cape St. Cosme or Cape Cinque Hommes - a point on the Mississippi River - was conferred for Father Jean Francois Buisson de Saint Cosme (1667-1702), a missionary priest from the

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Seminary of Foreign Missions, who visited the spot in 1698 and erected a cross on Grand Tower. Jean St. Cosme was the son of Michael Buisson, a native of Cosme le Vert in the Diocese of Mans in France, and of Susanne Licheraffe. He was ordained a Seminarian priest at the age of twenty-three. Father St. Cosme was stationed first at Tamaroa, in Illinois, and also labored in Acadia, Louisiana, and among the Natchez Indians in

Lower Louisiana Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also

*Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

. He was massacred by a party of the Chitimacha Indians while descending the Mississippi in 1702.

Gallery

File:Cinque Hommes Creek, Menfro, Missouri.jpg, Flooded Cinque Hommes Creek at Menfro, Missouri File:Cinque Hommes Creek Hwy 61 bridge.jpg, Highway 61 Bridge south of Perryville, MO File:Cinque Hommes Creek, Missouri, Hwy 61 south.jpg, View north of Hwy 61 bridge File:Cinque Hommes Creek, Missouri, Hwy 61 north.jpg, View south of Hwy 61 bridge

References

{{authority control Rivers of Missouri Rivers of Perry County, Missouri