Machens is the eastern terminus of Katy Trail State Park, which extends 240 miles west across the midsection of Missouri and connects more than 30 communities and cities. The trail follows the historic corridor of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, built between 1870 and 1893, which greatly aided the economy of mid-Missouri by fostering the growth of towns such as McKittrick, Mokane, and Pilot Grove. The railroad became vital to many communities by bringing in manufactured goods and sending out local products including corn, hay, livestock, coal, shoes, and pottery, while also providing convenient transportation and mail service. The corridor had been traveled earlier by Osage Indians, members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Daniel Boone and his family, and later nearby steamboats carried goods and passengers on the Missouri River. Today the park preserves that route through remnant prairies, bottomland forests, bluffs, and rich farmland, with truss-and-trestle bridges, restored depots, 26 official trailheads, six additional parking areas, and four fully restored depots along a generally 100-foot-wide park containing a 10-foot-wide crushed-limestone trail.