From Matson to Weldon Spring, the Katy Trail covers 4.6 miles, one of the shortest distances between trailheads in Katy Trail State Park. Defiance, at milepost 58.9, lies less than two miles from Matson and received its name after preventing Matson from having the only Katy Railroad stop in the area. An 1898 commercial building in Defiance reflects the double identity of railroad towns, with two fronts facing both the railroad tracks and the town's main street. Another mile and a half along the route brings travelers to Femme Osage Creek, where Daniel Boone and members of his extended family settled on Spanish land grants beginning in 1799. The creek crossing at milepost 57.4 is associated with the Lewis and Clark expedition's May 1804 stop at Boone Settlement. Half a mile farther, the route enters Weldon Spring Conservation Area, managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the Katy Trail continues through the conservation area for the next six miles. Near milepost 56.7, shortly before the Weldon Spring trailhead, a junction links the Katy Trail with the Hamburg Trail, a converted haul road for the U.S. Department of Energy's Weldon Spring site. That eight-mile trail connects the Katy Trail to the Weldon Spring Site interpretive center and to the visitor center at August A. Busch Memorial Wildlife Area.
