After a short hike, visitors to Boone’s Lick State Historic Site can see the remnants of one of Missouri’s first and most important industries: salt. Timber and rolling green hills drew settlers to Cooper, Howard and Saline counties, but it was salt that made the area grow. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark noted the presence of many saltwater springs. Daniel Boone’s sons commercialized the largest of the area’s springs, opening up a salt business and shipping the salt, which crystallized after the water was boiled away, to St. Louis by keelboat. The site has outdoor exhibits that interpret and explain how salt became big business in the “Boone’s Lick Country.”