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Warren County, Missouri
About 200 years ago, the Booneslick Trail
– “Boone’s Lick” in some texts – which crosses
Warren County,
was traversed by Indians, trappers and fur traders. Then, it was known as
the Light Horse Trail. In 1805, the sons of pioneer Daniel Boone were
responsible for surveying and marking the trail. They discovered animal
salt licks along the trail, and the trail was named for them. Twenty years
later, an average of 20 wagons and
 carriages were using the trail weekly,
traveling due west from St. Louis and St. Charles. In the mid-1800s, the Booneslick Trail was the most traveled road in Missouri, connecting St.
Louis to the great Santa Fe and Oregon trails that led to California and
Oregon.
That portion of the famed trail is the most significant historical site in
Warren County, which was organized in 1833 from Montgomery County, and
named for Joseph Warren, a Revolutionary War general. Today, there are
about 27,000 residents in the entire county, which is located on the
western edge of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.
About 5,000 residents live in Warrenton, the county seat. Twenty miles
southeast of Warrenton is Marthasville, the oldest town in the county. The
town succeeded the French village, La Charette, founded in 1766 at the
mouth of Charette Creek. Daniel Boone lived in Charette in the last years
of his life, later moving to a house near Marthasville. The people with
Boone established the “Boone Settlement,” the first major settlement of
Americans of European descent, west of the Mississippi. A large chunk of
the settlement lies along the creeks and rivers in southern Warren County.
Germans, especially, were attracted to the Boone Settlement, and by 1860
more than 38,000 Germans had settled in the area.
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