Columbia Bottom Conservation Area

The Columbia Bottom Conservation Area is a 4256acre conservation area located on the south side of the Missouri River at its confluence with the Mississippi River. The conservation area, which is located in eastern St. Louis County, Missouri, north of the city of St. Louis, is operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation. One key asset is 6.5mi of river frontage for boating, fishing, and birdwatching.History and descriptionThe mouth of the Missouri River was at first thought to be a good site for commercial development, and the would-be town of Columbia, Missouri was platted on the south bank of the confluence. However, the wetland character of the site made it sub-optimal for development. At a later point the site was re-platted as St. Vrain, Missouri, but both developments were fated to become ghost towns by 1870, and it is not known how many inhabitants either community had.Following the failure of the ghost towns, the Columbia Bottom reverted to being wet-footed but fertile farmland. The current conservation area was formed in 1997 as a result of the land condemnations that followed the Great Flood of 1993. Patches of the area continued to be managed by the private sector as agricultural land as of 2011.