If you’ve ever wondered where the Boonslick region gets its name, the answer is a couple hours’ drive from Rocheport, on Missouri Highway 187 near Boonesboro — a spring the Osage people used for centuries before two of Daniel Boone’s sons turned it into one of the state’s first big businesses.
A salt spring older than the state
Long before Missouri was a state, a saltwater spring near the Missouri River drew people to it. According to the National Park Service, the trail leading to the lick started as a Native American trace before settlers widened it for wagon and livestock traffic. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark noted the saltwater springs in the area when they passed through, according to Missouri State Parks.
Two brothers, one big kettle operation
In 1806, Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone — sons of the famous frontiersman — began working the largest of the springs, boiling the salt water down in large iron kettles until only crystallized salt was left, the Park Service says. They shipped the finished salt downriver to St. Louis by keelboat, turning a backwoods spring into a real commercial operation and one of the territory’s earliest industries.
How a salt lick became a whole region’s name
The business was successful enough that the surrounding country picked up its name: “Boone’s Lick Country” became the label for the stretch of central Missouri that drew waves of settlers in the early 1800s, pulled in by the salt, timber, water, and game the area offered, per the Park Service. That’s the same “Boonslick” that still shows up in local place names today, including our own region.
The route between Franklin and the salt works, known as the Boone’s Lick Road, went on to do double duty: starting in 1821, it served as the first leg of the Santa Fe Trail, according to Missouri State Parks — meaning the salt road here helped kick off one of the country’s great overland trade routes.
What’s there now
Today the spring sits inside Boone’s Lick State Historic Site, a small day-use park on Highway 187 in Boonesboro, right where Cooper, Howard, and Saline counties meet. There’s no admission fee — Missouri State Parks doesn’t charge to get in — and a short walking trail takes you past outdoor exhibits and the remnants of the old salt works, plus picnic tables if you want to make a stop of it. It’s an easy add-on to a Katy Trail day if you’re willing to drive rather than pedal there.
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