Everything about The Missouri Bootheel totally explained
The
Missouri Bootheel is the southeasternmost part of the state of
Missouri and called the "Bootheel" due to the shape of its boundaries. Strictly speaking, it's composed of the counties of
Dunklin,
New Madrid, and
Pemiscot, but the term is sometimes broadly used to refer to the entire southeastern corner of the state.
History
When Missouri was added to the Union, its original border proposal was to be an extension of the
36°30' parallel north that formed the border between
Kentucky and
Tennessee which would have excluded the Bootheel. However
John Hardeman Walker, a pioneer planter in what is now Pemiscot County argued that the area had more in common with the Mississippi River towns of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri,
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri and
St. Louis, Missouri than with its proposed location in
Arkansas Territory. The border was then dropped about 50 miles to the
36th parallel north. It follows the parallel about 30 miles until it intersects the St. Francis River which forms the toe of the boot back up to about the 36°30' parallel just west of
Campbell, Missouri.
The Bootheel along with the
Oklahoma-
Kansas-
Missouri border near the
37th parallel north form the two biggest jogs in a nearly straight line of state borders that starts on the
Atlantic Ocean with the
Virginia/
North Carolina border extending all the way to tri-state border of
Nevada,
Arizona and
Utah.
Geography and geology
Available samples from the entire Bootheel, and indeed most of the southeastern Missouri counties, demonstrate late
Tertiary/
Quaternary geology. The lowest point in the state is in southwestern Dunklin County along the
St. Francis river near
Arbyrd, Missouri, at 230 feet above sea level.
Swamp reclamation
The Bootheel area lies in the flood plain between the
Mississippi and St. Francis rivers; the land is very flat and is now used for predominantly
agricultural purposes, but was mostly abandoned, swampy forestland prior to the last century. Between 1893 and 1989, about 85% of the native forests were cut; the entire landscape was transformed into farmland by extensive logging, draining of the watershed,
channelization, and the construction of flood control structures. High
levees along both river courses, an extensive system of drainage ditches and diversion channels, and controlled lakes, pumping stations and cutoffs protect the area from flooding. The soils are predominantly a rich and deep glacial
loess, alluvial
silt, and a sandy
loam, well-suited for agricultural use.
New Madrid fault zone
The
New Madrid Fault Zone (pronounced New MAD-rid) is named for the town of
New Madrid in the Bootheel. This
fault zone is entirely hidden beneath the deep alluvial deposits of the
Mississippi embayment and, unlike the
San Andreas Fault in
California, isn't visible anywhere. This fault zone was responsible for an extremely powerful series of
earthquakes that rocked the area in
1811 and
1812, known collectively as the
New Madrid Earthquake, which reportedly rang church bells along the
East Coast and resulted in the
subsidence that formed
Reelfoot Lake across the Mississippi River in
West Tennessee.
Culture and economy
The Bootheel area is on the edge of the
Mississippi Delta culture that produced the
Delta blues. Its relatively large
black population makes it distinct from the rest of
rural Missouri, giving the area, its music, and its religious makeup the uniqueness associated with rural black culture.
The Bootheel once had a reputation for lawlessness; remote settlements along the river banks, miles from paved roads, provided an ideal environment (and market) for
moonshining and
bootlegging.
Culturally, the Bootheel is considered more
Southern than
Midwestern. Some say it's part of a subculture that includes northwesternmost
Tennessee, the westernmost part of
Kentucky, and the
Little Egypt portion of
Illinois. The locations of the region's television stations reflect this:
- the CBS and Fox affiliates are located in Cape Girardeau,
- the ABC affiliate is located in Harrisburg, Illinois, and
- the NBC affiliate is in Paducah, Kentucky.
However, the farther south in the Bootheel, the more pronounced is an unambiguous identification with the South: In this southern portion of the area, the network television affiliates in Memphis, Tennessee, which is the largest city for 200 miles, or in Jonesboro, Arkansas, often have a greater audience than those in Illinois, Kentucky, or even Cape Girardeau.
Economically, the area is one of the more
impoverished parts of Missouri and doesn't enjoy many of the benefits of tourism felt in parts of the nearby
Ozark Mountains. There is some manufacturing, but the area is primarily agricultural: the area's rich soil is ideal for growing
soybeans,
rice and
cotton. Some "
truck crops" are grown, most notably various types of
melons, especially
watermelons. There is some, but little, raising of
livestock; in contrast to much of the rest of Missouri, there are very few fences.
No large cities are located in the Bootheel. Sizeable towns include
Kennett (the birthplace of singers
Sheryl Crow and
Trent Tomlinson), and
Sikeston, which is partially in
Scott County.
Hornersville, a small town in the bootheel, was home to
Major Ray who was the midget known as Buster Brown. He and his wife Jennie are buried in a cemetery in
Hornersville, MO.
The small town of Senath is located in Dunklin county, and is home to a famous
ghost light. It is commonly referred to as the "Senath Light" and has been a favorite destination for those interested in paranormal activity.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Missouri Bootheel'.
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