Boone's Lick State Historic Site

If you live in St Charles, MO, or in Boonville, MO, you've probably heard some variation of Boone's Lick. In Boonville, you have the Boonslick Bridge. In St Charles, you know Boone's Lick Road. But did you know that the Boone's Lick Trail connects St Charles and Boonville?

The Boone's Lick Trail was created when the sons of Daniel Boone (you remember him from Boonesfield Village), Daniel Morgan Boone and Nathan Boone, set out to start a salt mining operation in Howard County with James and Jesse Morrison. This came to be known as Boone's Lick, even though the Boones sold out to the Morrisons after 5-7 years. The Boone's Lick Trail followed the Missouri River from St Charles to Franklin, where it connected with the Santa Fe Trail.

This method of salt mining takes brine (saltwater) from the springs and boils it down in salt kettles over furnaces that were either built above ground, or over a pit. The ball below is one of those salt kettles, and the grave you see at the top of this entry is that of James Morrison's son, who fell into a salt kettle and was horribly burned, and died of his injuries.

On our first road trip of 2014, we went high tech, with Field Trip and Pocket Ranger running at the same time. Turns out the Pocket Ranger Passport Challenge that I thought was only running for a month is actually running for something like a year and a month, so you have about six months to catch up. Here's one thing I learned on this excursion: YOU HAVE TO CACHE YOUR MAPS. This was the first time we were in an area with no cell phone signal whatsoever, and of course we did not cache the maps first.

This site is well off the highway, and as you can see, not really something you would go back to after caching your maps just to get the check in. If it's worth 10 points, you should DEFINITELY cache before leaving cell phone reception behind. Also, you should really tell someone where you are going before you go to a remote area with no cell phone reception. I can assure you that if you disappear, the Boone's Lick State Historic Site is probably the last place anyone would think to look for you.