Missouri
Missouri State Information
www.missouri.gov
Area (sq mi):: 69704.31 (land 68885.93; water 818.39) Population per square mile: 84.20
Population 2005: 5,800,310 State rank: 0 Population change: 2000-20005 3.70%; 1990-2000 9.30% Population 2000: 5,595,211 (White 83.80%; Black or African American 11.20%; Hispanic or Latino 2.10%; Asian 1.10%; Other 2.80%). Foreign born: 2.70%. Median age: 36.10
Income 2000: per capita $19,936; median household $37,934; Population below poverty level: 11.70% Personal per capita income (2000-2003): $27,241-$29,464
Unemployment (2004): 5.80% Unemployment change (from 2000): 2.50% Median travel time to work: 23.80 minutes Working outside county of residence: 33.40%
List of Missouri counties:
Missouri Parks
- US National Parks
- Urban Parks
- State Parks
- Parks and Conservation-Related Organizations - US
- National Wildlife Refuges
- National Trails
- National Scenic Byways
- National Forests
Missouri
Twenty-fourth state; admitted on August 10, 1821
State capital: Jefferson City Nickname: Show Me State State motto: Salus populi suprema lex esto (Latin “Let the
welfare of the people be the supreme law”) State amphibian: American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) State bird: Bluebird (Sialia sialis) State day: Missouri Day, third Wednesday in October State dinosaur: Hadrosaur or duck-billed (Hypsibema mis
souriense) State fish: Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) State flower: Hawthorn blossom (Crataegus) State folk dance: Square dance State fossil: Crinoid (Delocrinus missouriensis) State grape: Norton/Cynthiana grape (Vitis Aestivalis) State horse: Missouri fox trotting horse State insect: Honeybee (Apis mellifera) State land animal: Missouri mule; aquatic animal: Paddle
fish State mineral: Galena State musical instrument: Fiddle State rock: Mozarkite (chert or flint rock) State song: “Missouri Waltz” State tree: Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) State tree nut: Eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra)
More about state symbols at:
www.sos.mo.gov/symbols/
SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 579 AnnivHol-2000, p. 134
STATE OFFICES:
State web site: www.missouri.gov
Office of the Governor PO Box 720 Jefferson City, MO 65102 573-751-3222 fax: 573-751-1495 www.gov.state.mo.us
Secretary of State
PO Box 778
Jefferson City, MO 65102
573-751-4936
fax: 573-526-4903
www.sos.state.mo.us
Missouri State Library
600 W Main St
PO Box 387
Jefferson City, MO 65102
573-751-3615
fax: 573-526-1142
www.sos.mo.gov/library
Legal Holidays:
| Harry S. Truman Day | May 8 |
| Lincoln Day | Feb 12 |
Missouri
a state in the central USA, in the basins of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Area, 180,400 sq km. Population, 4.7 million persons (1970), of whom 70.1 percent were urban dwellers. The capital is Jefferson City and the largest cities are St. Louis and Kansas City.
The surface is an undulating plain that gradually rises to the west. To the south lies the limestone Ozark Plateau, with a maximum elevation of 540 m. The climate is temperate. The mean January temperature is about 0°C, and the mean July temperature, 27°C. Annual precipitation totals about 1,000 mm, and droughts are frequent. Areas along river valleys are subject to devastating floods.
Missouri is an industrial and agricultural state. The economically active population numbered 1.8 million persons in 1970, of whom one-fourth were employed in industry and one-tenth in agriculture. It is the country’s leading producer of lead (383,000 tons in 1970). Iron ore, coal, barite, and building materials are also extracted. Manufacturing industries, chiefly machine building and food processing, are concentrated in St. Louis and Kansas City. The leading industrial products are aircraft and missiles (at the McDonnell-Douglas plants in St. Louis, the largest in the USA), motor vehicles (large auto assembly plants in Kansas City and St. Louis), electronic equipment, chemicals, canned meat, and flour. Road-building and farm machinery, clothing, leather footwear, cement, and ferrous and nonferrous metals are also produced. The installed capacity of electric power plants was 8.5 million gigawatts in 1972. Livestock raising accounts for 70 percent of the agricultural output. In 1971 there were 5 million head of cattle and 5.5 million pigs. The principal crops are corn, soybeans, and wheat. Oats are grown on the Ozark Plateau and cotton in the Mississippi floodplain in the southeast.
V. M. GOKHMAN
Missouri
(in the local Indian language, “muddy river”), a river in the USA and the largest tributary (right) of the Mississippi River. It is 4,740 km long (3,970 km according to some sources) and drains an area of 1,370,000 sq km, of which about 10,000 sq km are in Canada. The Missouri rises on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Yellowstone National Park; it is formed by the confluence of the Jefferson (its main tributary) and Madison rivers. Much of the river’s upper course is in the Rocky Mountains, where in some places it flows through gorges and forms rapids. The largest rapids are at Great Falls, where the river drops 187 m over a 16-km stretch. In its middle course the Missouri crosses the Missouri Plateau in a deep valley with steep bluffs. The water is muddy and of a dirty brown color. Several large dams have been built, transforming the river into a chain of long, winding reservoirs. In its lower course, crossing the Central Plains, the riverbed is winding and unstable and the broad flood plain has been embanked for flood protection. The largest tributaries, the Yellowstone, Platte, and Kansas, empty into the Missouri from the right.
The river is fed by snow in the upper course and chiefly by rain in the middle and lower courses. The volume of water varies greatly: during spring high water the water level in the lower course rises 8–12 m and the maximum discharge is 19,000 cu m per sec. During summer low water, the discharge decreases to 150–170 cu m per sec. At the mouth the discharge averages about 2,250 cu m per sec. Catastrophic floods occur frequently, most recently in 1952. The river carries much sediment, averaging about 220 million tons annually. A system of large multipurpose reservoirs on the Missouri (Fort Peck, Garrison, and Oahe) and its tributaries regulates the flow, provides irrigation and electric power, and improves navigation. The river is navigable for large river boats as far as Sioux City and for small vessels during high water as far as Fort Benton. The most important cities on the Missouri are Sioux City, Omaha, St. Joseph, and Kansas City.
A. P. MURANOV