Cotton and rice country, re-engineered from swamp

Dunklin County is deep in the Bootheel, the far southeast corner of Missouri. It is cotton and rice country. But the land was not always like this. Over about the last hundred years, people drained the water off the swamp and river bottom. They built levees, which are raised banks that hold back floodwater. This work is why the county is so flat and easy to farm. It is also why you see drainage ditches, levees, and straight field roads. People built those on purpose. They are not natural. The crops grown here and the districts that manage the water are two parts of one big system. For the regional story, state farming and history offices are steadier guides than local lore. If you want exact crop acreage numbers, check official farm data instead of guessing.