Missouri

Capital - Jefferson City


Missouri's name is Algonquian Indian for "river of the big canoes."

Location
Missouri is in the Great Plains, or the Central US. It is landlocked, meaning it doesn't touch an ocean. It borders Iowa to the North, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennesee to the East, Arkansas to the South, and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the West. The Mississippi River borders it to the East, and the Missouri River runs through the middle.

Physical Geography
Missouri's soil is very good for farming, and a lot of corn is grown there. Many small streams and rivers irrigate the soil of the north. The soil towards the South of the state is good, too, but not as good as the North's. In Western Missouri are the Osage Plains. They are mostly flat, but there are some hills. People grow corn, grains, and other crops here.

The Ozark Plateau, towards the southeast corner of Missouri, has low mountains and forests. They are great for growing strawberries and gardens. The highest point of Missouri, Taum Sauk Mountain, is here, too. Taum Sauk Mountain is 1,772 feet above sea level.

The Mississippi Aluvial Plain is in the south of Missouri. It has very rich soil, good for growing cotton, rice, and soybeans.

Missouri ranges from 1,772 feet above sea level (Taum Sauk Mountain) to 230 feet above sea level (St. Francis River). It averages at about 800 feet above sea level.



Climate
Missouri's climate zone is a Humid Continental climate zone. They have mild winters and warm summers, and rainfall varies depending on what part of the state you're in.

Yearly rainfall average is shown on this map:

The highest and lowest temperatures on record are 118° (Recorded at Clinton on July 15th, 1936), and -40° (Recorded at Warsaw on February 13th, 1905). The average monthly temperatures in Missouri ranges from 90.5° to 19.4°.

The average temperature in Winter is 33.5°, while the average temperature for summer is 75°. The average rainfall per year is 43.15 inches.

Most of the precipitation falls as rain in Missouri.

Economy
Missouri has many natural resources. Some of these include its rich farmland, lead, limestone, coal, copper, silver, and zinc.

Missouri's land is used for farming things like soybeans, corn, grain, cotton, wheat, and hay. They also use the land to farm fruits and vegetables like apples, peaches, grapes, watermelons, and potatoes. Missourians raise a lot of livestock, such as beef cattle, hogs, and turkey, too. Another way land is used in Missouri is for mining, as I said before.

Some of Missouri's major economic activities include raising livestock (Which accounts for about 1/2 of Missouri's agricultural production) and farming (Mainly of soybeans, corn, and grain). There is also manufacturing. Missouri manufactures a lot of transportation equipment, like airplanes, barges, and railroad cars.

As for services, Missouri's leading service groups are personal health care, hotels, pro sports franchises, and data processing services. Second leading is the wholesale and retail service groups.

People
Some of Missouri's biggest cities are Kansas City (With a population of 441,545 people), St. Louis (348,189 people), and Springfield (151,580 people).

In their freetime, Missourians enjoy watching the Kansas City Chiefs, hiking on the Santa Fe Trail, and waterskiing on the Ozarks.

Some tourist attractions are the Titanic Museum in Branson, the Beetle Bailey statue in Columbia, and Chillicothe: The Home of Sliced Bread.

The population density is shown on the map below: As you can see, most people live in rural areas in Missouri.

By Liz Healy, per 6, 2/1/11