Bootheel
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- This article is about the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri; the term Bootheel is also used to refer to the southwestern part of Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
Geography and Geology
Available samples from the entire Bootheel, and indeed most of the southeastern Missouri counties, demonstrate late Ternary/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, 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
Geologically, the New Madrid Fault Zone (pronounced New MAD-rid) is named for a locale in the Bootheel. This feature is entirely beneath the surface below the deep alluvial deposits of the Mississippi embayment and is nowhere visible as is the San Andreas Fault in California. This fault zone is responsible for a extremely powerful series of earthquakes that rocked the area in 1811 and 1812 (see New Madrid Earthquake); supposedly it rang church bells along the East Coast, and it resulted in a subsidence that led to the formation of Reelfoot Lake across the Mississippi River in West Tennessee.Culture and Economy
The 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 is 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.
Economically, the area is one of the more impoverished parts of Missouri and does not 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 singer Sheryl Crow), and Sikeston, which is partially in Scott County.
External links
- [How Did ... Missouri Come To Include the "Bootheel"?], from Missouri's Office of the Secretary of State
- [Bootheel map and statistics], from Missouri's Department of Economic Development
- [Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium]
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