Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-04-17
TIE OLD BOOEEs LICK Road
sOmsthing Of Its History Sage
Stands and Their Keepers

] To the Editor Of the Ledger
The Old Boones Lick Read. some
times called the old st. Charles road.
which, after the close Of the war OF
! 1912, opened from ST. Charles along or
near the dividing ridge between the
, Missouri and Mississippi rivers to
J Central Missouri or "the B5ones Lick
/, Country" may be recalled with thrill
! ing interest 10 the 0 intelligent
readers of ven this generation. | pro
!, pose, with your consent, briefly to re.
!, call il, accompanied by an account Of
! some Of the old mail stage stands and
two Of the men who kept them, dis
pensing as best they could the pioneer
hospitality Of the period.
Population precedes roads and roads
precede bridges, or are cctemporaneous
with them as means OF crossing
streams with wagons or by horsemen
or pedestrians AS settlements multi
piled In number, methods OF inter
communication became indispensable
and they were gradually established
by the opening Of highways of the
pioneer model through the unbroken
forests.
st. Charles was the first settlement
In Missouri west Of st. Louisa fur
trading post, village, city-call it
now by what name you may-and was
founded by Laclede, a Frenchman, on
Feb. Is, 1764, and he named it "St.
Louis, " in honor Of Louis XIV, at that
time King Of France. Twenty-nine
years previous to this time the first
permanent settlement in Missouri had
been made by the French at Ste.
Genevieye, in Southeast Missouri.
In 1855, the year after the founding
Of st, Louis, Blanchette ChaSseur, also
a ~Frenchman, settled at what we now
know as St. Charles and called it LES
Petite Cotes," or "The Little Hills"
which was afterwards changed to
"Village des Cotes, Tor "Village of the
HIS" Afterwards the name was
changed to "St. Charles, after
Charles Y, Of France, and by this
name it has ever since been known.
Thirty years after the settlement at
st. Charles lin 1885 Daniel Boone
came TO Missouri fromM olson county,
Kentucky tMissouri being afterwards
called Upper Louisiana, or New SPAIN
and settled with his family and a few
Others on Femme Usage Creek, in the
the Southwestern part OF the present
county Of st. Charles, not far from the
present town Of Marthansville, Warren
county, where he died Nov. %, 1920.
The creek derived its name from the
accidental drowning in the stream Of
an Usage Indian squaw, Femme
Usage" meaning in English Dosage
woman
Very soon after Boone's settlement
on Femme Usage other immigrants
came and located along the river,
finally at Loutre tOtter) Island and in
lsOs at Boone's Lick, or salt Works, {
opposite Arrow Rock, and within the /
present limits OF Howard county: In
1873 in Ihrallis Prairie In the western /,
part Of Boone. Two Of old Daniel 4
BONES sons Daniel Morgan and
Nathan Boone, manufactured salt 10 {
1905 at Salt Springs, mentioned then !
and yet called "Boone's Lick the I
whole country round about 1t, north {
of the Missouri river, taking the name /
OF ''the Bones Lick county,. The {
little village at The Lick" was named
Boonesbofo, after a village Of thesame {
name near which old Daniel Boone
and family lived in Madison county,
Kentucky.
Notwithstanding all statements to
the contrary old Daniel Boone did not J
manufacture salt at Boone's Lick and, |
in fact, never was within the present !
OF Howard county; nor in
Boone or Cooper, although Boone !
county was organized less than two Q
months after his death and named in
bis honor. Bonneville, in Cooper, was
established August /, 1877, nine years
before he died, and vas called for him. (
Yet he never saw the town or county. 5
Manifestly the limits Of this paper I
forbid me from attempting to trace in I
detail the course Of settlement and n
adventure along the north bank Of the Z
Missouri river and into the upland :
forests Of the Bo0ne's Lick country. d
Suffice It for my present purpose to al
say that after the close Of the war Of b
the country westof St. Charles, :
including the rich land Of Galloway, n
Boone and Howard, attracted a large pi
emigration, chiefly from Kentucky; 2
and as railroads bad not even been
ireamed Of in the territory and river I
navigation was almost unknown, some p
communication by other methods be- q
-ween St Louis and thenew and rapid k
y Increasing settlements became a b
necessity. Therefore, the B0one's Lick Il
IT 81. Charles wagon road, was gradu-
opened and In time a line Of nine al
lassenger Concord four-horse mail 81
caches placed upon it, carrying the "
nails and passengers from and to st.
90uis three times a week. la
This was a great industry, and was N
by the people a. an evidence Of III
marvellous enterprise and progres.
{ was thus hailed Notwithstanding .
Ome untoward and d-iscouraging de-
attended it. Such, for ~
xamples, as all-night rides in the
coaches, and during seasons "
I rain, walking miles aud carrying a le
al to prize the coaches out Of the pr
lud. IL
The road ran up the river by the ta'
Of Cottleville and Pauldingyille, d.
t. Charles county, thence 70 Warren tel
N, Warren county; Jones' Tavern, res
awhile, and Maj. Eanbibber's, on vii
outre creek, Montgomery county, Me
fence 70 Williamsburg, Callawsy !
'unty, and thence 10 Howard county, Ia
lie BoOne's Lick country proper. The all
ad crosses Boone county some 6 or s =
lies north OF the present site Of Co -
mbia, and the present track Of the =
abash railroad two hundred yards -
nth OF Browns Station 1t Is stin