Little River Drainage District Conversion of Big Swamp to Fertile Agricultural Land Kenneth R

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FEATURE Little River Drainage District conversion of Big Swamp to fertile agricultural land Kenneth R. Olson, Lois Wright Morton, and David Speidel

ore than a century ago, Ameri- Figure 1 can swamps and river lowlands The Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, a 8,670 ha bottomland preserve, is a small Mwere considered wasteland of restored remnant of the original 480,000 ha Missouri swamp that was transformed no value and a hindrance to land devel- into fertile agricultural lands by extensive drainage systems in the early 1900s. opment. The Swamp Land Acts of 1849, 1850, and 1860 granted states the right to reclaim 26 million ha (64.9 million ac) of swamps through the construction of levees and open channels (ditches) to control flooding; to encourage settlement, land cultivation, and commerce; and to eliminate widespread mosquito breed- ing (USGS 2014). Southeast Missouri, Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

once one of the world’s largest tracts of Journal of Soil and Water Conservation forested bottomlands, was a vast wilder- ness of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum L.), tupelo (gum; Nyssa L.), hardwoods, and water (figure 1), barely accessible to settlers migrating west. In the early 1890s, these historic river floodplains and their tributaries were drained and transformed into fertile agricultural lands in an ambitious engineering feat comparable to the construction of the Panama Canal (Pracht

and Banks 2002; Pierce et al. 2012). 71(2):37A-43A Today this vast network of ditches (figure 2), channels, and levees in south- Figure 2 east Missouri bottomlands makes possible The five drainage ditches in the southern Little River Drainage District just north an intensive system of agriculture, which and east of the Arkansas border. Map by Mic Greenberg. www.swcs.org produces almost a third of Missouri’s agricultural economic output and has changed the hydrology, nutrient cycling, biodiver- N

sity, and structure of the entire ecosystem (Pierce et al. 2012). Unified and man- aged by the Little River Drainage District (LRDD; figure 3) with support from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Little River Little River (Camillo 2012), this region drains 208,000 five ditches Conservation ha (520,000 ac) of bottomlands and is the Area drainage outlet for the runoff from 480,000 County line ha (1.2 million ac) of bottomlands and road uplands to the Mississippi River at Helena, Five bridges Five bridges

SR412 Kenneth R. Olson is professor of soil science in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and SR412 Little River 0.50 km Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, five ditches Urbana, Illinois. Lois Wright Morton is profes- 0.25 mi sor of sociology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Legend David Speidel is a Soil and Water Conservation River, Four-lane Society member, Benton, Missouri. ditch, or Bridge Cultivated soil Wetlands Roads highway canal

JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2016—VOL. 71, NO. 2 37A Arkansas. The LRDD is comprised of an SWAMPS, SLOUGHS AND FERTILE 2014a). In the New Madrid area, thou- west-east headwaters diversion system of MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY sands of years of seismic activity (Vaughn 288,000 ha (720,000 ac), which drains the BOTTOMLANDS 1994) have affected the Mississippi River northeast lands directly to the Mississippi Historically the path of the Mississippi channel (Olson and Morton 2014a, 2014b; River at Cape Girardeau (Olson et al. River just south of Cape Girardeau Olson et al. 2016). 2016), and a complex north-south drain- turned southwest into the current state The shifting of the ancient Mississippi age system collecting runoff from 480,000 of Missouri and traveled more than 48 River to a new channel left behind an ha (1.2 million ac) of agricultural and km (30 mi) to the west before turning expansive network of perennial streams, forest lands with 1,540 km (957 mi) of south towards Morley, Missouri (Morton swamplands, sloughs, bayous, and fertile ditches draining 208,000 ha (520,000 ac) and Olson 2013), where it joined with riverine bottomlands inundated during of LRDD bottomlands running south the ancient Ohio River waters draining much of the year. This Mississippi allu- from the diversion channel to the Arkansas through the Cache River valley (ancient vial valley dissected by Crowley’s Ridge border (figure 3). Ohio River valley) (Olson and Morton produced Big Swamp and bottomlands extending from just below the southern boundary of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Figure 3 to the Arkansas state line (figure 3), and as far west as the escarpment of the Ozark

Little River Drainage District map including the upland that drains into the Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved. Headwaters Diversion and the Mississippi River and the upland areas and bottom- Plateau. Because of the swampy condi- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation land area that drain into the St. Francis River. Map by Mic Greenberg. tions, less than 15% of the land was suitable for cultivated agriculture. Plans to turn the LATITUDE 37 30' 800,000 ha (2 million ac) of swampland Legend Farmington 67 into farmland date back to 1840s, but the

Birds Point-New task was too big for individual farmers to Madrid Floodway Illinois Little River undertake. Not even the federal govern- St. Francois Headwaters Fredericktown 55 Mississippi Diversion Mountains River ment, which owned the swamplands at Watershed Little River Carbondale that time, had ever undertaken a project of Drainage St. Francis Watershed River that magnitude. 57 Missouri not in Little River 72 When the European settlers arrived Watershed Jackson 71(2):37A-43A Ozark Castor in southeastern Missouri in 1820s, they Plateau River Crowley’s Whitewater settled on Crowley’s Ridge, which stands Ridge River Cape St. Francois 76 to 170 m (250 to 550 ft) above the Mountains Girardeau Illinois Ozark Plateau 34 Mississippi River bottomlands (figure 4) and extends 240 km (150 mi) from south- Kentucky www.swcs.org 67 Diversion channel Commerce east Missouri to Helena, Arkansas (Joiner Tennessee 2008; Stroud and Hanson 1981) (figure 3).

34 Ohio Many settlers built homes on top of the Arkansas River

semiforested ridge and out of the way of Interstate Charleston 57 highways N Crowley’s the Mississippi River floods. They used Ridge St. Little River 57 Levee in Little Cairo the trees to build homes and make furni- Francis Drainage River Watershed River District Sikeston ture, and as fuel for heat and cooking. The Roads 60 New Dexter gently sloping ridge had spring fed creeks City or village Madrid Floodway 25 and soils suitable for cultivation (Memphis Water, lakes, Missouri Little rivers, ditches Ditch Ohio silt loam), with the richest soils at the base River of the ridge (figure 4). The settlers who 25 km Malden Kentucky farmed the uplands of the ridge found that Arkansas 25 Little 67 River 55 the loess soils eroded very easily and large gullies formed on some of the slopes of Crowley’s Kennett Ridge Tennessee Crowley’s Ridge (Blackwell 2007). 412 St. Five Francis ditches River Mississippi NATIONAL SWAMP LAND ACTS River The National Swamp Land Acts of 1849, 412 Five ditches 1850, and 1860 transferred public domain

LONGITUDE 89 15' swampland considered of no value to states to help them control river flooding and incentivize land development (USGS

38A MARCH/APRIL 2016—VOL. 71, NO. 2 JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION Figure 4 and services was the Crowley Ridge road At the eastern base of Crowley’s Ridge are fertile soils, which are irrigated. stretching 320 km (200 mi) from Cape Girardeau to Helena, Arkansas. Carl Kochtitzky and his sons saw an opportunity to move cotton to market more quickly and formed with four other businessmen the Little River Valley and Arkansas Railroad partnership to install 42 km (27 mi) of rail from New Madrid to Malden on the Dunkin-New Madrid county line. The winter of 1877 to 1878 was so cold that oxen dragged timbers across ice to the bridge sites. The first year’s opera- tion freight volume from cotton only paid the operating costs. To increase the volume of freight, the partners looked at drainage reclamation to create cotton cropland. Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

A new partnership in 1885 contracted to Journal of Soil and Water Conservation dredge and straighten the Little River from the railroad to the county line. The contract was for US$0.18 m–3 (US$0.14 yd–3) with payment in land valued at US$3.13 ha–1 (US$1.25 ac–1). This brought new land into 2014). Although the continuously flood- known as the Bootheel, a natural basin agriculture and boosted cotton producing Mississippi River bottomlands were which caught the runoff from adjacent tion. Farmers in Pemiscot, Dunkin, New the original target, over a 100-year period uplands and created the Missouri swamp- Madrid, and Stoddard counties in 1890 15 states were authorized to carry out wetland. After the Civil War (1861 to 1865), reported to the United States Department land land reclamation programs under this the opening of the American West by of Agriculture (USDA) 16,450 ha (41,491 legislation. Swamplands were categorized railroads offered greater settlement oppor- ac) of cotton, almost double the 9,190 71(2):37A-43A according to capacity of the land to be tunities in western lands that were more ha (22,981 ac) reported in 1880 (USDA made fit for profitable agriculture (USGS suitable for cultivation than the southeast NASS 2014). Another rail venture, started 2014). The categories included (1) perma- Missouri swampy bottomlands. However in 1894 and completed in 1899, ran from nently wet and not fit for cultivation, even by the 1890 Census, it was clear that the Cairo, Illinois, to Poplar Bluff, Missouri. www.swcs.org in favorable years, unless cleared and levee United States no longer had a frontier, and The freight for this line was oak staves protected; (2) wet pasture for livestock, American wetlands became the next area for wine caskets. During this time, 60,000 with forage often of inferior quality; (3) of interest for settlement and cultivation. ha (150,000 ac) of land became available

subject to periodic overflow by streams, In 1875 two Kochtitzky brothers for reclamation when the title was trans- but at times able to produce crops; and (4) landed in New Madrid, Missouri, to con- ferred from New Madrid County in 1899 too wet for profitable crops during above- duct surveys of the region (Kochtitzky to the private rail company. The National normal rainfall, but usable during seasons 1957). Their father Carl Kochtitzky, a Swamp Land Act, in concert with railroad of light or medium rainfall. Laclede County clerk in south-central construction to connect timber and agri- National inventories of wetlands Missouri, learned of the 1850s legisla- cultural interests to new markets, fueled documented over 1.36 million ha (3.4 tion that granted the swamplands to the the draining of wetlands for settlement and million ac) of swamp and overflow lands state of Missouri and then to the coun- agricultural expansion. in Missouri as authorized for reclamation. ties. The brothers, in talks with the local The Swamp Land Act of 1850 gave the county judge, discovered that the old Pole STUMPS IN THE SWAMPLAND swampland southwest of Cape Girardeau Road, started before the Civil War, was no The swamps of southeastern Missouri to the state of Missouri. From 1860 to longer in use, but had charged US$0.75 were full of valuable bottomland hard- 1890 the state conveyed the land to coun- per wagon and US$0.25 per bale of cot- wood trees. These forests were mostly oak ties. The counties sold the land to private ton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). The Pole (Quercus L.), hickory (Carya Nutt.), and companies and owners. Initially, the bot- Road bed consisted of cut logs laid down bald cypress trees with some of the oak tomlands were not habitable. Before a side by side to distribute ground pressure trees having a circumference as large as series of levees were constructed, ordi- for traversing wagons, mules, horses, and 8.2 m (27 ft) and bald cypress trees with nary runoff and floodwaters regularly people to keep from sinking into the mud. a 3.3 m (11 ft) circumference (Anderson spilled across much of southeast Missouri An alternative line for transporting goods and Samargo 2007). Timber companies

JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2016—VOL. 71, NO. 2 39A built drainage ditches, roads, and rail sys- individual landowners to come together as The LRDD drained the swampland tems to harvest and market this valuable one to implement and construct a “Plan between 1909 and 1928 by digging a 72 commodity. The 1905 construction of the of Drainage” to meet the federal man- km (45 mi) channel that diverted water Thebes railroad bridge between Illinois date. The publication of the 1905 Little from the Ozark Plateau and Francois and Missouri (Olson and Morton 2014b) River drainage map by Otto Kochtitzky Mountains (figure 3) away from the bot- enabled railroads to build into the Big helped promote the project and offered a tomlands and into the Mississippi River Swamp (figure 1) and carry the timber region-wide vision, which inspired inves- at Cape Girardeau. With the west-east to eastern markets. Lumber plants and tors to purchase bonds and landowners to Headwaters Diversion in place, the LRDD sawmills like Himmelberger-Harrison agree to pay taxes for the land reclama- could take advantage of the 0.2 m km–1 (1 in Morehouse, Missouri, provided jobs tion effort. Formally organized in 1907, ft mi–1) drop from Cape Girardeau to the and made settlement possible. The three the LRDD encompassed 248,000 ha Arkansas border and construct a north- largest towns in the Bootheel were New (620,000 ac) in seven Missouri counties south gravity system of levees and ditches. Madrid, Caruthersville, and Charleston, (Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, New In 1914 the lower drainage district work which grew quickly into hubs of trade on Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott, and Stoddard) resulted in a series of ditches totaling nearly the Mississippi River. Their populations and had a five-person board of supervisors 1,500 km (957 mi). The largest ditch, 155 peaked in 1890. determined to increase the value of the km (100 mi) long Ditch 1, collected the By 1910 land purchased by timber and swamplands. The LRDD board of super- runoff from all other ditches in the district Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

railroad companies was deemed wasteland visors and their chief engineer developed and carried it south into Arkansas where Journal of Soil and Water Conservation again, with only tree stumps and water an engineering plan to drain the entire it entered though the St. Francis River remaining. Lumber companies were left region. Islam Randolph, an eminent civil and later ran into the Mississippi River, paying taxes on thousands of hectares engineer from Chicago who had worked a distance of 390 km (250 mi). By 1928, (acres) of cleared swampland and did not on the design and construction of the the district had completed construction know what to do with it (Blackwell 2007). Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the of the levees and ditches and had drained With broad expanses of the region under Panama Canal, was employed as a consult- 208,000 ha (520,000 ac) of bottomland. 0.9 to 1.2 m (3 or 4 ft) of water year round ing engineer and approved the drainage The diversion canal transported runoff and some portions under as much as 4.6 plan (personal communication from water from 288,000 ha (720,000 ac) of m (15 ft) near the riverbed, local levee and LRDD Chief Engineer Larry Dowdy, uplands (Francois Mountains and Ozark drainage boards attempted sporadic and August 5, 2015; LRDD 1909). The new Plateau) to the Mississippi River. Two

uncoordinated efforts to build levees and drainage and levee system opened the land detention reservoirs and one sedimenta- 71(2):37A-43A drainage ditches (Harrison 1961). Lacking for settlement, agriculture, and industrial tion basin were created to catch sediment engineering skills, financing, and water land uses and became one of the largest and runoff from other creeks. The area management experience, these boards human transformations of a landscape in not covered by water increased from 10%, made little progress in controlling flooding world history. mostly the upland hills remaining in the www.swcs.org or reclaiming the swamplands for farm- Three important developments paved former Mississippi Valley bottomlands (fig- ing. Although the alluvial soils beneath the way for the LRDD project success: ure 3), to 96%. the water were some of the most fertile (1) Missouri transferred ownership of The drainage districts of Arkansas were

soils in Missouri and well suited for farm- swamplands to counties, and counties sold unprepared to manage the full brunt of ing (Blackwell 2007), these bottomlands the land to entrepreneurs; (2) entrepre- the LRDD plan to discharge their run- seemed impossible to drain. neurs built railroads in and out of swamps; off into Big Lake, Arkansas, just south and (3) large-scale lumbering operations of the Missouri border. In 1917, the THE LITTLE RIVER DRAINAGE DISTRICT cleared the thick forested bottomlands. Mingo Drainage District and Inter-River Enactment of the Drainage District Law Once the timberland was cleared, the Improvement District were created in in 1899 was the final legislation enabling timber companies could sell land for a Missouri and provided the final provoca- comprehensive tax assessments that made profit to those with agricultural interests. tion for the inhabitants of eastern Arkansas it possible to organize drainage districts on Drainage enabled the land use conversion. who were to receive the drainage waters. a landscape level (Kochtitzky 1957; Olson Thousands of workers participated in the According to engineers’ calculations, the et al. 2011). This laid the financial infra- difficult and dangerous work of clear- planned improvements would increase the structure for a group of visionaries with ing, mostly by hand, the swamp of trees flow of the St. Francis River into Arkansas timber interests and substantial resources and stumps. The workers and their fami- during flood events 5 to 10 times its previ- to undertake a unified effort to convert lies came from many states, including the ous volume. If the plans were completed, the swamp into lands suitable for cultiva- adjacent states of Kentucky and Illinois. Arkansas newspaper articles promised tion. In 1905 a meeting was held in Cape Houseboats were home for many of the nothing short of “ruination for the people Girardeau, Missouri, to create the LRDD men and women who dug drainage chan- of the St. Francis River valley” (Harrison (Olson et al. 2016). The LRDD provided nels and built the levees; others lived in 1961). Further it was claimed that the the institutional infrastructure that allowed tents in temporary settlements. improvements would drive the people

40A MARCH/APRIL 2016—VOL. 71, NO. 2 JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION of Arkansas out of their homes and away continued. Flood control legislation in crops of southeast Missouri in 1880, with from their farms and factories. Nothing 1928 authorized the USACE to work in a total of 9,322 ha (23,304 ac), 49,115 ha posed a more serious threat to the peo- the St. Francis River Basin and to assist the (122,788 ac), and 14,209 ha (35,523 ac), ple of Arkansas than these two Missouri LRDD in improving and maintaining the respectively, reported for seven counties drainage districts (Harrison 1961). Senator Headwaters Diversion channel and levee (figure 6; Pemiscot, Dunkin, New Madrid, Thaddeus H. Caraway joined the fray, and the lower north-south channels that Stoddard, Scott, Cape Girardeau, and and in a letter to the “prominent men collected district water for discharge into Bollinger counties) (USDA NASS 2014). in Eastern Arkansas,” he warned that the Big Lake Wildlife Refuge in northern The 1890 Census of Agriculture (USDA Missouri-intended diversion of the over- Arkansas (Harrison 1961). Today, through NASS 2014) shows an increase in total flow from the Ozarks would turn the a collection system in Arkansas not oper- hectares (acres) of these three crops from entire water column loose on Arkansas. ated by the LRDD, the water flows into 72,646 ha (181,615 ac) in 1880 to 158,992 Senator Caraway counseled Arkansans to the Mississippi River at Helena, Arkansas. ha (397,480 ac) in 2012, a more than 200% seek an injunction against the Missouri increase. Much of this increase can be improvement districts until the US gov- SWAMPLAND TO AGRICULTURE attributed to a combination of the Swamp ernment canalized or dredged the St. By 1930 much of the former Mississippi Land Acts, increased settlement, and local Francis River (figure 3) to control the River valley southwest of Cape Girardeau, drainage districts’ efforts. Following the increased volume of water (Harrison Missouri, was settled, and the newly completion of the LRDD drainage system Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

1961). The Little River flow estimates drained alluvial bottomland soils were and post-Depression years, almost 311,200 Journal of Soil and Water Conservation did not appear to be adjusted to reflect drained and converted to farming (fig- ha (778,000 ac) were reported in 1940 for the 288,000 ha (720,000 ac) of Francois ure 5). Over time, many hectares (acres) corn (136,257 ha [340,643 ac]), cotton Mountain and Ozark Plateau runoff that of publicly owned swampland were trans- (100,066 ha [250,164 ac]), wheat (40,920 was diverted in 1915 to the Mississippi ferred to private owners who invested in ha [102,300 ac]), and soybean (Glycine max River south of Cape Girardeau by the drainage and land development, consoli- [L.] Merr.; 33,940 ha [84,849 ac]), a 196% LRDD Headwaters Diversion. dating the LRDD into fewer and larger increase from 1890. By 1974 soybean With local and state protests grow- parcels. In 2007 about 3,000 landowners acres topped 460,000 ha (1.15 million ing, Congress finally responded to the had holdings ranging from 0.2 ha (0.5 ac) ac) in the seven counties, and wheat was increased need for a consistent flood to 20,000 ha (50,000 ac) (Blackwell 2007). reported on 140,588 ha (351,469 ac), cot- control policy across states. The Ransdell- The increase in acreage available for ton on 113,206 ha (283,015 ac), and corn

Humphreys Flood Control Act of 1917 agricultural production since drainage on 37,744 ha (94,361 ac). The addition 71(2):37A-43A reaffirmed the federal government’s com- efforts were undertaken has been dramatic. of soybean to the cropping mix enabled mitment to flood prevention and control Cotton, corn (Zea mays L.), and wheat farmers to double crop with wheat and but only appropriated US$45 million, (Triticum aestivum L.) were the primary take full advantage of the continental cli- which was insufficient to address the www.swcs.org problem. However, local and state inter- Figure 5 ests were encouraged by a provision of Agricultural lands created by draining the Big Swamp. the act that reduced their contribution

to half the cost of flood prevention works in their area from the previous two-thirds local match required. In the same year, the Arkansas General Assembly authorized the establishment of six drainage districts by direct legislation. These districts estab- lished a series of ambitious, interrelated projects designed to reclaim their lands by drainage ditches and levees. As part of the improvements, the Arkansas and Missouri drainage districts straightened and deep- ened a shallow, sluggish creek to handle the increased flow. The improved channel was renamed Ditch 4. Drainage districts’ plans in both Arkansas and Missouri were revised between 1917 and 1926 as construction continued. Following the great flood of 1927, the plans had to be revised again, but draining and land development

JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2016—VOL. 71, NO. 2 41A Figure 6 have also declined since the surge when Extent of crops commonly grown in the seven southeastern counties located in the land was first drained and cleared. Little River Basin watershed from 1880 to 2012. Note that dates shown are not in The US Geological Survey (2014) esti- even increments. mates that almost all of the 26 million ha (65 million ac) of wetlands given to the 500,000 states under the Swamp Acts are now in 450,000 private ownership. In 1900, the swamplands of the Mississippi River alluvial plains were 400,000 considered wasteland of little to no value, Legend obstacles to settlement and the develop- 350,000 Corn ment of commerce. Soils’ capacity to grow 300,000 row crops has been the historical metric Cotton used to determine whether land is valuable 250,000 or marginal (Hatfield and Morton 2013). Rice 200,000 The agricultural productivity of this region Crop area (ha) area Crop Soybean is testimony to the effectiveness of the 150,000 LRDD elaborate system of ditches, reten- Wheat Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

tion basins, and levee-protected lands. Only Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 100,000 in recent years have scientists understood 50,000 the multifunctional uses and ecosystem services that saturated soils and wetlands 0 provide and what is lost when they are 1880 1890 1940 1974 2007 2012 converted to other land uses. Not only does agricultural drainage alter hydrologic Year patterns, but it also alters the biodiversity of habitat and reduces water quality when mate and soils that were no longer under been much more costly to build, and the soil erodes and farm nutrients run into the water during the long growing season. development of industries needing trans- ditches (Blann et al. 2009).

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) hectares (acres), portation delayed since the Mississippi The LRDD intricate system of drain- 71(2):37A-43A which were only recorded in Stoddard River was 23 to 72 km (15 to 45 mi) to age ditches moves more than 117.3 County in 1974, expanded throughout the the east. The history of the land use change million L (31.5 million gal) of water annu- region with a total of 46,147 ha (114,034 in southeast Missouri reveals that its ben- ally off the land and into the Mississippi ac) and 49,305 ha (121,836 ac) reported in efits have not been equally distributed River. The drainage district’s investments www.swcs.org the lower five counties (Pemiscot, Dunkin, (Gellman and Roll 2011). The convergence in the Headwaters Diversion channel, New Madrid, Stoddard, and Scott) in 2007 of the Depression and the draining of the levees, and ditches, along with the con- and 2012, respectively. Since 1974, these swamp concentrated ownership of the land. struction of the Thebes railroad bridge

five commodity crops totaled 680,000 ha Sharecropping became a way of life for the (Olson and Morton 2014b), created an (1.7 million ac) in 2012 with a record high region’s underclass. Once the timber was economic and technological engine that of 760,000 ha (1.9 million ac) in 2007. cut down, the workers were stranded in the resulted in the successful conversion of Today, in addition to these commodities, Bootheel without jobs and with skills that the Big Swamp to productive agricultural the LRDD-drained farmlands produce were no longer needed. Agriculture turned lands during the past 111 years. Had the sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench), into a landlord and sharecropper arrange- conversion been delayed for 100 years, the vegetables, peaches (Prunus persica [L.] ment (Morton and Olson 2013; Gellman area would probably have become a feder- Batsch), watermelons (Citrullus lanatus), and Roll 2011). People could not pay ally protected wetland preserve (Blackwell and other fruits. Missouri’s top wheat, soy- their property and drainage district taxes. 2007). Advances in agriculture and water bean, and sorghum producing counties are Bootlegging became one of the few ways management have helped engineers bet- all found in this region and report some to make a living. To this day some of the ter understand how to manage artificially of the highest corn, wheat, and sorghum most impoverished counties in America drained low-gradient agricultural lands. yields in the state. are in southeast Missouri. In Pemiscot, However, the tension between wetland Mississippi, and New Madrid counties, services and agricultural land uses will LITTLE RIVER DRAINAGE DISTRICT more than 20% of the population lives in continue to increase and be a future chal- LEGACIES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES poverty. Populations in New Madrid and lenge that the LRDD will need to address Without the unified investment of the Pemiscot counties are smaller today than in in order to find some level of balance LRDD, the main interstate north-south the 1920s and 1930s. Regional populations among competing economic, social, and highway, I-55 (figure 3), would have biophysical conditions.

42A MARCH/APRIL 2016—VOL. 71, NO. 2 JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION The LRDD oversight of so many and Restoration. Funding support also comes from Olson, K.R., and L.W. Morton. 2014a. The 2011 thousands of hectares (acres) well posi- Regional Research Project No. 15-372 and in coop- Ohio River flooding of the Cache River tions it to evaluate and address the eration with North-Central Regional Project No. Valley in Southern Illinois. Journal of Soil and landscape-wide vulnerability of drained NCERA-3 Soil Survey; and from the Director of the Water Conservation 69(1):5A-10, doi:10.2489/ and levee-protected lands from interior Illinois Office of Research, College of Agricultural, jswc.69.1.5A. and river flooding as precipitation and Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University Olson, K.R., and L.W. Morton. 2014b. Dredging extreme and variable weather stress their of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. The National Great of the fracture bedrock lined Mississippi River infrastructure and affect downstream Rivers Research and Education Center provided channel at Thebes, Illinois. Journal of Soil Water communities. Without continual main- funds to make this article open access. Conservation 69(2):31A-36A, doi:10.2489/ tenance and repair of ditches and levees, jswc.69.2.31A. these Mississippi River bottomlands have REFERENCES Olson, K.R., L.W. Morton, and D. Speidel. 2016. a predisposition to flood farmland season- Anderson, J., and E. Samargo. 2007. Bottomland Missouri Ozark Plateau Headwaters Diversion ally and revert back to the wetlands of the Hardwoods. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia engineering feat. Journal of Soil and Water past. Further, the straightening of streams University, Division of Forestry and Natural Conservation 71(1):13A-19A, doi:10.2489/ and channelization of water to move water Resources. http://forestandrange.org/new_wet- jswc.71.1.13A. off fields is a source of soil erosion and lands/index.htm. Olson, K.R., M. Reed, and L.W. Morton. 2011. bank scouring that needs constant atten- Blackwell, S. 2007. A landscape transformation by Multifunctional Mississippi River leveed bot- Copyright © 2016 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

tion to control sedimentation throughout the Little River Drainage District. Southeast tomlands and settling basins: Sny Island Levee Journal of Soil and Water Conservation the system. One of the big challenges that Missourian. Nov. 4, 2007. Drainage District, Journal of Soil and Water Mississippi River drainage districts and the Blann, K.L., J.L. Anderson, G.R. Sands, and B. Conservation 66(4):104A-110A, doi:10.2489/ USACE face is how to best manage the Vondracek. Effects of agricultural drainage on jswc.66.4.104A. water velocity and emergent vegetation in aquatic ecosystems: A review. Critical Reviews Pierce, S.C., R Kroger, and R. Pezeshki. 2012. their drainage systems to control seasonal in Environmental Science and Technology Managing artificially drained low-gradient agri- flooding, keep the channel beds stable, and 39:909-1001. cultural headwaters for enhanced ecosystem reduce off-field and landscape-wide nutri- Camillo, C.A. 2012. Divine Providence: The 2011 functions. Biology 1:794-856, doi: 10:3390/ ent losses while creating habitat diversity Flood in Mississippi River and Tributaries Project. biology1030794. under seasonal drought and uncertain cli- Vicksburg, MS: Mississippi River Commission. Pracht, C., and J. Banks. 2002. The Little River mate patterns (Pierce et al. 2012). Gellman, E.S., and J. Roll. 2011. The Gospel of Drainage District collection. Collection Building

The 2007 LRDD report (LRDD 2007) the Working Class. Urbana-Champaign, IL: 21(1):10-12. 71(2):37A-43A celebrating their 100-year anniversary University of Illinois Press. Stroud, H.B., and G.T. Hanson. 1981. Arkansas well summarizes the changes that have Harrison, R.W. 1961. A study of state and local efforts geography: The physical landscape and geogra- occurred and the challenges that continue toward land development in the Alluvial valley of phy. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and into the future: the lower Mississippi River. In Alluvial Empire. Culture. Historical-cultural Setting. Little Rock: www.swcs.org This region was once a bog, a swamp, a USDA Economic Research Service. Rose Publishing. lowland, a morass, a hunting and fishing Hatfield, J.L., and L.W. Morton. 2013 Marginality USDA NASS (National Agricultural Statistics paradise, a no man’s land, an endless stretch principle. In Advances in Soil Science, eds. R Lal Service). 2014. USDA Census of Agriculture. and BA Stewart. New York: CRC Press. Washington, DC: USDA National Agricultural

of virgin hardwood timber, a moss, a stillness that stole the sleep from the tired, a hideout, Joiner, J. 2008. Little River drainage district work was Statistics Service. a barrier, a challenge to do the impossible. completed in 1928. Rural Missouri, Association USGS (US Geological Survey). 2014. Wetlands of Today a traveler driving across the areas of Missouri Electric Cooperatives Report. the United States. http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/ could never know of these things as he or Kochtitzky, O. 1957. Memoir, 1931. In The Story of topics/wetlands/wetlandResources.htm. she passes field after field laid out on a per- a Busy Life. Cape Girardeau, MO: Ramfre Press. Vaughn, J.D. 1994. Paleoseismological studies in the fect grid, interrupted only occasionally by a LRDD (Little River Drainage District). 1909. Final Western Lowlands of southeastern Missouri. Final narrow bridge every mile or so. Below them, report of Board of Engineers of Little River Technical Report to US Geological Survey 1-27. however, the swamp does not sleep and Drainage District of Missouri [Exhibit III]. Cape labors to regain itself, held only at bay by the Girardeau, MO: Little River Drainage District. never-ending work of men and women of the LRDD. 2007. Little River Drainage District Little River Drainage District. (LRDD) of southeast Missouri 100 year report 1907-2007. Cape Girardeau, MO: Little River ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Drainage District. Partial funding for this research was provided by the Morton, L.W., and K.R. Olson. 2013. Birds Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Point-New Madrid Floodway: Redesign, Station, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences reconstruction and restoration. Journal of at Iowa State University and the multistate project, Soil and Water Conservation 68(2):35A-40A, NC1190 Catalysts for Water Resources Protection doi:10.2489/jswc.68.2.35A.

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