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Missouri's Eighth District comprises the entire Southern Missouri region extending from the Mississippi River on the east, to a northern border stretching from just south of St. Louis to just east of Springfield on the west, to the Missouri-Arkansas border running along the south. The District's 27 2/3 counties consume more than 17,000 square miles, which is three times the size of the State of Delaware, twice the size of the State of Maryland and 4,000 square miles larger than the country of Switzerland.

Visitors may be astonished at the wide spectrum of natural beauty throughout Missouri's Eighth District. It's home to the thickly wooded, rolling Ozark mountains of the west, to the meandering trout streams and rivers that run through the central and northern parts, to the indomitable force of the Mighty Mississippi that borders the fertile river valleys in the east.

Although the Eighth is Missouri's most sparsely populated Congressional District, it's one of the most productive agricultural regions in the state and all of America. Politics in America describes the far southeastern section, known as the Bootheel, as: "A cluster of counties that looks and votes like the Old South. Predominantly a wheat-growing region until the mid-1920's, the Bootheel underwent a transformation when cotton growers and Black sharecroppers, driven north by the boll weevil, settled here amid the rich Mississippi River delta land. Soybeans and corn have since supplanted cotton as the Bootheel's leading crops."

A Portrait of America points out, "The seven counties in the southeastern corner -- Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Butler, Stoddard and Scott -- grow 35% of the state's cash crops...The Bootheel is the northernmost area in the county where cotton and rice grow...The port at New Madrid has Missouri's only rice mill; it opened in 1988. Dunklin is the nation's third largest watermelon-harvesting county and is also a major peach producer."

Moreover, the Eighth remains one of American agriculture's most diverse Congressional District's in the entire country. All major row crops and commodities are produced in the region except for sugar and citrus.

"Above the Bootheel, along the Mississippi River, dairy production and beef cattle fuel the economy," A Portrait of America reveals. "Livestock, timber and fruit production flourish in other parts of the Eighth. Wright is Missouri's foremost dairy country. Oregon County breeds feeder pigs for Iowa slaughterhouses. Apples are grown in the Mark Twain National Forest. Other "specialty" crops such as blueberries, strawberries and cantaloupe are also cultivated in the district.

"Even the ground beneath the Eighth yields riches. The vast majority of the nation's lead -- and most of the world's -- is mined in Southeast Missouri. The discovery of a New Lead Belt called the Viburnum Trend during the late 1950s revitalized an industry that dates back to the early 1700s, when French explorers mined in the Mine La Motte (Madison County). Most of today's lead mining is centered in the New Lead Belt of western Iron County and Reynolds County."

The Eighth also is home to the Mark Twain National Forest, which comprises more than one million acres. These timberlands once provided the timber that built St. Louis. Today, the Ozark woods serve as a premier source of jobs and economic activity for small lumber mills in the area which produce pallets and other wood products. These woodlands also provide majestic splendor to people who love the outdoors. In the spring and fall, the habitat provides some of the best white-tail deer and wild turkey hunting in the nation. During the summer, both visitors and natives take pleasure in the Ozark streams and rivers by going on floating trips by kayak, canoe or inner-tube or by sampling the plethora of trout and bass fishing opportunities which abound.

Last, but not least, the Eighth District also is noted for it culinary favorites of home-style cooking, fried catfish, barbeque and throwed rolls.

If you aren't among the folks who call the Eighth District home, Representative Emerson invites you to visit America's natural gem.