The distance along Katy Trail State Park from Marthasville to Treloar is seven miles. The old Marthasville depot is next to the grain elevators near the Marthasville trailhead. Before the Highway 47 underpass at milepost 78.1, look right (north) to see an old caboose.
The trail runs alongside and crosses Charrette Creek between mileposts 79 and 80. The creek is named for La Charrette, a small French settlement established around 1796 south of here. Lewis and Clark stopped at La Charrette on May 25, 1804, noting "7 houses and as many families." The settlement was later washed away by the Missouri River.
Peers, about halfway to Marthasville, has services for trail users. Founded in 1893 when the railroad arrived, it was named for MKT attorney Charles Peers. Note the gap between the trail and building fronts at Peers. In Katy Railroad days, a small depot stood there.
Views from the trail toward the Missouri River take in bottomland corn and soybean fields and the Ozark border region beyond. On the opposite side of the trail, you move through a landscape of tall dolomite bluffs, hilly pastures and fine old homes.
[Excerpt from Mileposts comment]
Milepost 80
La Charrette, the westernmost Euro-American settlement when Lewis and Clark stopped in May 1804, was located near the mouth of Charrette Creek, shown here at the Katy crossing.
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