| Southeast Missouri from Swampland to Farmland: The Transformation of the Lowlands Contributor(s): Fisher, John C. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0786479957 ISBN-13: 9780786479955 Publisher: McFarland & Company OUR PRICE: $29.65 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2017 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - History | United States - State & Local - Midwest(ia,il,in,ks,mi,mn,mo,nd,ne,oh,sd,wi - Political Science | Public Policy - Science & Technology Policy |
| Dewey: 333.731 |
| LCCN: 2017008610 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.9" W x 9.1" (0.75 lbs) 260 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: As the 20th century began, swamps with immense timber resources covered much of the Missouri Bootheel. After investors harvested the timber, the landscape became overgrown. The conversion of swampland to farmland began with small drainage projects but complete reclamation was made possible by a system of ditches dug by the Little River Drainage District--the largest in the U.S., excavating more earth than for the Panama Canal. Farming quickly took over. The devastation of Southern cotton fields by boll weevils in the early 1920s brought to the cooler Bootheel an influx of black and white sharecroppers and cotton became the principal crop. Conflict over New Deal subsidies to increase cotton prices by reducing production led to the 1939 Sharecropper Demonstration, foreshadowing civil rights protests three decades later. |
Contributor Bio(s): , John C.: - John C. Fisher is the author of three historical books, numerous food related articles, and a column for Missouri Life Magazine. He lives in Kennett, Missouri. |