The Evolution of the Northern Part of the Lowlands of South-Eastern Missouri (Volume 1, Nos. 1-5)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902. Excerpt: ... OF THE LOWLANDS OF SOUTH-EASTERN MISSOURI INTRODUCTION Locat1on, Area, And Boundar1es The lowlands of southeastern Missouri are included within the areas of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Wayne, Butler, Scott, Stoddard, Mississippi, New Madrid, Dunklin, and Pemiscot counties. The northern and western boundary extends in a curved line from the Mississippi river, a mile south of Cape Girardeau, westward and southwestward by Dutchtown, Whitewater, Greenbrier, Wappapello, Poplar Bluff, Harviell, and Barfield to the state line, a few miles south of the last-named place. Toward the east the lowlands extend across the Mississippi river into the western parts of Tennessee and Kentucky and the southern part of Illinois. Southward they extend into the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The eastern boundary of that part of the lowland discussed in this paper is the Mississippi river, and the southern boundary is an east and west line near the parallel of New Madrid. The northern and western line of the lowlands is a steep rocky bluff, varying in steepness and height, but everywhere constituting a sharp rise from the level of the lowlands to the top of the uplands lying to the northward and westward. There is at no place along this line a gradual ascent from the lowland to the upland. The outcropping edges of the limestones of the Ozark region are exposed along the whole line. The trend of this bluff, its slopes and relation to the lowland are in all respects the same as the relation of river bluffs to the adjacent river flood plains. Although it is steep and made up of limestone layers horizontally disposed, yet the amount of talus at its base is extremely small. The height of the top of the bluff above the lowland expresses delicately the character of the ...