In an effort to “bring a bit of the trail” to the public, Missouri State Parks Katy Trail Coordinator Melanie Smith helped kick off an unusual project to encourage the public to get to know the …
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In an effort to “bring a bit of the trail” to the public, Missouri State Parks Katy Trail Coordinator Melanie Smith helped kick off an unusual project to encourage the public to get to know the history surrounding the Katy Trail without stepping foot on it.
“We want people to be able to see parts of the trail when they can’t get out much,” said Smith. “They will be able to see it on Facebook and YouTube a chapter at a time.”
Helping to organize the virtual storytelling project, Smith and Victoria Cozner, 0utreach and engagement coordinator for Missouri State Parks, scheduled readings from the book “Growing Up With the River: Nine Generations on the Missouri,” at a variety of stops along the Katy Trail.
Authors of the book are Dan and Connie Burkhardt, owners of Peers Store and Treloar Mercantile, located along the Katy Trail in southern Warren County. Conservation and preservation is the goal for the Burkhardts, who consolidate their many efforts with the Magnificent Missouri organization.
Mike Sutherland, Missouri Parks Director, read Chapter Four, where a young girl in the town of New Haven can gaze across the Missouri River to Treloar on the other side. She talks about her new school, the steamboats along the river, and how ice will be taken from the river and stored in an ice house for delivery to homes in the area.
It is 1883 and she talks about a most unique ferry boat, the “Tilda-Clara,” which was powered by horses plodding on a treadmill to power the boat. People from Treloar, Pinckney, and Holstein were able to hitch a ride to New Haven aboard the ferry.
The Burkhardts read Chapter Five, in which grain elevators and homes were springing up around the Katy Railroad. It’s 1904 and the community is recovering from flooding in the last year. The girl featured in this chapter spends her afternoons at the Glosemeyer Store after school lets out. She enjoyed looking at the Sears Roebuck catalog and hearing about the World’s Fair taking place in St. Louis.
Several other storytelling stops include St. Charles, Bernheimer, Hermann, the Rocheport Tunnel and the McBaine Bur Oak. Smith said the project should be available on the Katy Trail State Facebook page in June.
