Pratte was born on December 17, 1803, in
St. Louis. Pratte was the first person born in St. Louis after the
Louisiana Purchase. Pratte attended St. Louis schools until age 15, when he was sent to
Georgetown, Kentucky. Pratte returned to St. Louis in 1821, and worked for his family's steamboat business, Bernard Pratte & Co. In 1832, he and
Pierre Chouteau Jr. drove a steamboat through the
Missouri River, to the mouth of to
Yellowstone River, the first to do so. In 1833, Bernard Pratte & Co. was dissolved and succeeded by Mulligan & Pratte, which he worked as a steamboat operator for until 1838. In 1841, he and Jean Charles Cabanné founded a competitor to Chouteau's steamboat business, which by 1845, ran Choutea's business out of St. Louis. He served as director of the Bank of the State of Missouri some time after serving as mayor of St. Louis. == Politics ==