By Janine DavisRecord Staff WriterScholars and other history buffs from the area gathered last Saturday for a meeting of the newly formed Boone’s Lick Road Association and a symposium on the significance the trail played in westward migration.The meeting and symposium were held at the Warren County Historical Society Museum.“Our goal is to approach the United States government and try to convince it that this should be a national historic trail,” said David Sapp, president of the association. “This will require a lot of persuasion of our elected officials and also good research to provide the National Parks Service, as it ultimately conducts its own research.”Sapp said the Boone’s Lick Road was a key connector to the Santa Fe Trail, which opened up the Southwest to trade in 1821, and to other western routes such as the Oregon Trail.“We know the Santa Fe Trail began in Old Franklin,” said Sapp, referring to the community now known as New Franklin just west of Boonville.The Boone’s Lick Road crosses present St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery, Callaway, Boone and Howard counties of eastern and central Missouri.“It’s not a shame that so much recognition has gone to the Santa Fe Trail, but it is a shame that so little recognition has gone to the road (Boone’s Lick) that got them to the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail,” said Sapp.Westward Migration Via Boone’s Lick RoadThe Boone’s Lick Road dates back to the early 1800s, when Nathan Boone and his brother Daniel Morgan Boone discovered — as Native Americans had earlier — a salt spring in what is now Howard County. The Boones set up an extraction operation for the salt, which was used to preserve meat, and transported it by boat.Demand for land exploded following the War of 1812, and the route suddenly was handling traffic by the thousands as pioneers traveled into the new settlement areas of the Louisiana Purchase.According to the BLRA website: “The route the Boones traveled to the lick started as a narrow trace, but as travel increased, it grew to be a trail across the eastern Missouri territory. If St. Louis was the Gateway to the West, then the Boone’s Lick Road was the way to get there.”Later, Boone’s Lick Road became the guiding path of U.S. Highway 40 and eventually U.S. Interstate 70 through Missouri.As Missouri became the 24th state in the Union in 1821, early territorial counties were divided into many new ones, each with its own county seat. Sapp said the road took on variations as branches and routes were established to new seats of government.Mary Collins Barile, author of The Santa Fe Trail in Missouri, told stories from her research about the lively and often wild nature of life on the road. Plays were staged, fights broke out and arrests were made.“Every New Year’s Day in the 1820s, the Franklin boys would come over to Boonville and there would be a fight,” said Barile. “It was an annual event. The heck with how many define the Wild West; this was the Wild West,” said Barile.Call for InvolvementSapp talked about the importance of membership in the BLRA, which formed in 2011. Cost for two years is $20, he told attendees.“We do want to build our membership, because when we do go to our elected officials they need to know there’s support for this,” Sapp said.For more information on the project, visit www.booneslickroad.org.Group Seeks National Historic Designation For Boone’s Lick Road