The longest stretch between trailheads on the Katy Trail runs from Treloar to McKittrick for 16.10 miles. Treloar, a railroad town founded with the arrival of the Katy in 1892, still has two old grain elevators that reflect the railroad’s importance to local economies. After three miles across the floodplain from Treloar, the route meets the Missouri River shortly after milepost 87, where the Smith Creek bridge stands at the river’s edge. From Bernheimer, the route enters one of its most spectacular sections, with the former railroad villages of Gore and Case at mileposts 93.8 and 96.9 and outstanding views of the river and bluffs between Bernheimer and Gore. Gore, along with McKittrick and Case, was named for Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Railroad investors, and the rail line in this area was especially vulnerable to floods. For about the last seven miles to McKittrick, the route runs near Loutre Slough, which branches from the Loutre River and later empties into the Missouri River, with high dolomite bluffs on one side and bottomland agriculture on the other. McKittrick was a Katy Railroad town, and remains of the depot foundation and coal sheds still stand in the trailhead area.