The confluence of the River des Peres and the Mississippi River is located in an isolated corner of the City of St. Louis. While the boundary of St. Louis is typically described as being at the River des Peres, that is not entirely true; there is in fact a substantial amount of land south of the drainage ditch constructed to harness the waterway, and there are even two more interstate exits off of I-55 south of the stream.
The river level was low the unseasonably warm day we went out to look at the rivers, and there was even a heron or two walking among the muddy banks.
Further south, the Jefferson Barracks Bridge can be seen; there were a ton of barges on the river, many of which were docked along the banks, waiting for their next assignment, I assume.
The old Carondelet Coke site, which I visited way back in 2009. probably used these now shattered metal bumpers that lie crumpled and rusting in the sand.
Eat your heart out, Richard Serra.
Perhaps one of the most famous features of the old Carondelet Coke was the crane that unloaded ore along the river. I am not sure, but I believe the substructure in the photographs above and below may be the remnants.
Waste from the old coke furnaces that was missed during the Superfund cleanup because it was dumped down below the riverbank can still be seen in the sand. It looks like solidified lava.
Somehow this piece of driftwood lodged itself in this cable high up during a flood.