Park Trails

Boone’s Lick Interpretive Trail

At the trailhead is an interpretive pavilion explaining the history of the site and area, known as “Boone’s Lick Country.” This site was the location of a salt manufacturing industry operated by Nathan and Daniel M. Boone beginning in 1805. The commercial salt operation ceased in 1833. Other individuals important in early Missouri history were associated with the site, including fur trader James Mackay and frontier entrepreneurs James and Jesse Morrison and William Becknell, who conducted the first successful trade expedition to Santa Fe in 1821. The trail passes through a wooded area on a steep hillside and salt-water springs and remnant features of the salt operation, including one of the original iron kettles in which the briny water was boiled down. Signs along the trail explain the history and archeological and natural features of this unique salt water environment.  Salt Creek is home to salt-tolerant species such as the salt water mosquito and plains killifish, both extremely rare in Missouri.