|
 Forklift Masts Mississippi - The US state of Mississippi is located in the southern region of the country. The biggest city and the state capital is Jackson. "Mississippi" is a name that comes from the Mississippi River, which runs along the states western borders. The River in fact got its name from the Ojibwe word "misi-ziibi," that actually translates to the "Great River." The state of Mississippi is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta region, which had been cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. At present its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the country. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.
The state of Mississippi is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, and Louisiana to the south. There is a small narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico that borders the state, whilst the states of Arkansas and Louisiana sit across the Mississippi River.
In addition to the Mississippi River, the other major tributaries consist of: the Yazoo River, the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Arkabutla lake, Ross Barnett Reservoir, Grenada Lake and Sardis Lake. The biggest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.
Mississippi is a state which is made up completely of lowlands, with its highest point lying within the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, called Woodall Mountain. This particular mountain is 246m or 806 feet above sea level. The lowest point is sea level at the Gulf coast. The mean elevation within the state of Mississippi is 300 feet (91 m) above sea level.
Nearly all of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. The Coastal Plain is normally composed of low hills, like for example the Pine Hills within the south and the North Central Hills. The Fall Line Hills and the Pontotoc Ridge within the northeast have somewhat higher elevations. Yellow-brown loess soil is located in the western areas of the state. The northeast is a part of fertile black earth that extends into the Alabama Black Belt.
On August 30, the year 2007, a report by the United States Census Bureau indicated that the state of Mississippi was the poorest state within the nation. Lots of cotton farmers in the Delta have large, mechanized plantations, some of which were given extensive Federal subsidies, yet several other inhabitants still live as rural, landless, poor laborers. Of $1.2 billion from the years 2002 to 2005 in Federal subsidies to farmers within the Bolivar County area of the Delta, 5 percent went to small farmers. There has been little money apportioned for rural development. Small towns are struggling. More than 100,000 people have left the region in search of work elsewhere. The state of Mississippi had a median household income of $34,473.
Despite Mississippi's fiscal conservatism, in which food stamps, Medicaid, welfare, and other social programs are often cut, eligibility requirements are tightened, and stricter employment criteria are imposed, The state of Mississippi still ranks as having the second highest ratio of spending to tax receipts of any state. In the year 2005, citizens of Mississippi received around $2.02 per dollar of taxes in the way of federal spending. This ranks the state 2nd highest nationally, and represents an increase from the year 1995, when the state of Mississippi received $1.54 per dollar of taxes in federal spending and was 3rd highest nationally.
| |
