The Laurel made on successful trip from Louisville to Alton, however, on the second trip it met with misfortune and was sunk in the Mississippi River a few miles from what would be know as Seventy-Six, Missouri. This represented his total earnings to that time.

In 1835 he invested in the ship “The Laurel” with his father, for trade between Louisville, Kentucky and Alton, Illinois. Soon afterward the family moved to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and by the age of 16 he became apprenticed to the ship building trade in new Albany, Indiana. Wilkinson, born August 23, 1813, in Yorkshire England and came to America around 1816 when his parents emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Whether the legend of John Wilkinson naming the town is correct or not, he was certainly the wealthiest man in the area. Wilkinson painted a board on the opposite bank “76 LDG,” from which the town took its name. Still another story is that John Wilkinson, who was to later found the town, sank his boat on the river two miles up from the future town of Seventy-Six, Missouri, after previously making 75 successful landings. Another is that the first man to land a boat at the location was celebrating his 76th birthday. One story is that it received its name because it was the 76th boat landing after leaving St. There are several different versions of how the town got its name. Seventy-Six Missouri is now a ghost town, but was once a bustling thriving town that existed along the banks of the Mississippi River. Once in Brazeau, turn left on Highway D until it ends at a gravel road. On the southern edge of Longtown, turn left to Highway D and follow this to Highway C. Located 7 miles south of Perryville on Highway 61 to Longtown. The Town that was once a thriving community on the Mississippi River is now the Seventy - Six Conservation Area.

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