McKissick Island

The island derives its name from the McKissick family, who bought land in the area in the 1840s before Missouri's borders with Nebraska and Iowa had been finalized with those states' entry into the union.

[7] A map of the river attributed to Robert E. Lee in 1837 showed the island on the Nebraska side.

[citation needed] On March 1, 1867, Nebraska entered the union with officially recognized boundaries including McKissick's Island.

While there was no reported direct connection to the earthquake and the rerouting of the Missouri River, some residents have said it may have contributed.

[8] On July 5, 1867, a little more than four months after Nebraska entered the union, a flood avulsion dug out the slough on the west side of the island, straightening its flow around the oxbow meander.

In the meantime, the riverbed that had flowed to the east of the river dried up, and the land became tillable and de facto connected by land to Missouri, while those from Nebraska had to access it by ferry (no bridges had been built nearby at the time).

Justice John Marshall Harlan delivered the opinion, saying, "The question is well settled at common law, that the person whose land is bounded by a stream of water, which changes its course gradually by alluvial formations, shall still hold by the same boundary, including the accumulated soil.

The Nebraska City route requires one to travel through Otoe County, cross into Iowa and then come back through Missouri.

[10] The island was alluded to but not mentioned by name in the xkcd cartoon "River Border"[11] on 27 April 2018.