A new website features information about the historic Boone’s Lick Road that ran from St. Charles to Old Franklin in Howard County in the 19th century.The website is now live at www.booneslickroad.org. It features the latest information about the Boone’s Lick Road Association (BLRA), as well as a library of stories, maps, journals, photographs, books and articles about the road, which ran through St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery, Callaway, Boone and Howard counties.“We encourage visitors to the website to familiarize themselves with it as it has many new features and a wealth of historical data,” said David Sapp, BLRA president.The website has a page with hot links to important sources of historical information, such as the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri History Museum in St. Louis, Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City, Boonslick Historical Society, Santa Fe Trail Association and historical associations in the six counties where the historic Boone’s Lick Road exists.A key visual is the Google Map linked to the website homepage. The map shows the original (alpha) and later secondary (beta and gamma) routes the Boone’s Lick Road followed between its start as a trail in the early 1800s through the 1820s, when alternate routes were developed to travel through the new settlements of Fulton, Columbia and Rocheport en route to Franklin.The Boone’s Lick Road began as a trail when Daniel Boone’s sons, Nathan Boone and Daniel Morgan Boone, used a Native American trace to reach a salt lick Nathan discovered more than 100 miles west of the St. Charles area.The lick was located near Salt Creek in present-day Howard County. The Boones soon established a sizable extraction operation at this site, hauling the salt out by boat. As travel increased, the trace grew to be a trail across Eastern Missouri.After the War of 1812 ended and hostilities between the white settlers and Indians diminished in 1815, a pent-up demand was unleashed for land west of the Mississippi River, and the trail that Nathan and Daniel Boone had developed became a main route to the fertile lands near the salt lick. The pioneers called this area Boonslick.Almost overnight, the town of Franklin appeared in 1816 and boomed along the northern edge of the Missouri River a bit south of Boone’s Salt Lick. The route that had been gradually extending westward with limited traffic suddenly had to handle thousands moving west with their wagons, families and livestock.What for a short time may have been best described as a “trail,” by necessity was now a “road.”In September of 1821, William Becknell outfitted a caravan in Franklin and headed southwest to Santa Fe, where his trade goods were welcomed. His return to Franklin marked the opening of the Santa Fe Trail.The Boone’s Lick Road, now generally considered as having ended in Franklin, was even busier than before.The Boone’s Lick Road Association was founded in 2011 with the mission to research, preserve and share the stories of this historic road; to educate the public regarding its importance in our national history; and to seek federal recognition for the Boone’s Lick Road as a National Historic Trail.Boone's Lick Road Association