By Kbh3rd (talk)Incorporates Map_of_USA_MO.svg originally created by en: User: Wapcaplet – Own work with inclusion of Map_of_USA_MO.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0,/Wikipedia image
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.
Agricultural development flourish in most Midwestern states, including Missouri. But the Missouri Bootheel remains swampy and subject to flooding and remain heavily forested, remain underdeveloped, underpopulated.
But, beginning in the 1880s, railroads opened up the Bootheel to logging. 1905, Little River Drainage District constructed elaborate ditches, canals, and levees to drain the swamp land. As a result, population in the Bootheel more than tripled from 1880 to 1930. And cotton flourished as the number one crop.
That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.
Sponsored Content