St. Francois Mountains - Name

Name

The name of the range derives from the St. Francis River, which originates in the St. Francois Mountains. The origin of the river's name, which also was originally spelled "Francois" in the French manner, is unclear. The area, as part of the Louisiana district of New France, is near some of the earliest French settlements in Missouri where many French place names survive. Some source conjecture that the name honors St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the Franciscan order, but none of the region's early explorers were Franciscans. Others propose that Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit, named the river when he explored its mouth in present-day Arkansas in 1673. Before his voyage down the Mississippi Marquette had spent some time at the mission of St. Francois Xavier, named for the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. The spelling of the river's name shifted from "Francois" to "Francis" in the early 20th century.