This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Hh.2ADE/294 Message Board Post: Many of us, researching ancestors who came to Monroe CO around 1800, have come to know "The American Bottom"---the rich flat Mississippi River bottomland where our folks settled. Black and fertile, the Bottom turned out to be a mixed blessing for them since it was also a hotbed of disease. (In the years just following the Revolution, this region was called "American" to distinguish it from the bottomland where the French lived.) We may have wondered what ever happened to the term "American Bottom". Today 4-20-05 the Good Eating section of the Chicago Tribune has an answer for us: The American Bottom is where now is grown 60% of the world's horseradish. It seems that the mineral-laden soil is just right for this crop, which was first planted here by German immigrant farmers arriving in the early 19th Century. The article says, though, that many of the horseradish farms are being replaced by subdivisions and strip malls due to the area's proximity to St Louis.