Named after the Mingo tribe, it was established to preserve bottomland hardwoods and provide waterfowl and other migratory birds in the Mississippi Flyway with nesting, feeding, brooding, and resting habitat.

The T.J. Moss Tie Company was a large Bootheel lumbering operation, with its headquarters in Puxico, Missouri.

The Missouri State Legislature passed an act that allowed the formation of drainage districts, financed by long-term bonds.

A system of seven major north–south ditches was constructed to drain water from the swamp into the St. Francis River, about 10 mi (16 km) south of Puxico.

In the previous 50 years, people had reduced a beautiful swamp, lush with the growth of plants and alive with animals, into a burnt and eroded wasteland.

Native trees have replaced much of the brush and briers, and a canoe trip down the Mingo River will now reveal little to the casual observer of the abuse to this land in years past.

The establishment of the Mingo Wilderness Area in 1976 helps ensure this protection for future generations of Americans.

About 25,000 years ago, the Mississippi River ran between the Ozark Mountains and a terrace called Crowley's Ridge.

The refuge lies in a basin formed in an ancient abandoned channel of the Mississippi, bordered on the west by the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, and on the east by Crowley's Ridge.

Mingo's primary goal is to protect wilderness resources and critical habitat for migratory waterfowl.

Located in the center of the busy Mississippi Flyway, the refuge serves as an important resting and feeding area for migratory birds heading south.

In addition to resident waterfowl species, Mingo provides for migrating ducks, geese, shorebirds, gulls, terns, loons, grebes, pelicans, cormorants, herons, bitterns, ibises, rails, coots, and swans.

Through year-round management of the water levels on the refuge, the feeding and resting requirements of migrating birds can be met.

Included in this list are the peregrine falcon, endangered whooping crane, and threatened bald eagle.

Due to wilderness protection and inaccessibility to many areas of the refuge, mammals, amphibians and reptiles are abundant but seldom seen, remaining for the most part unspoiled by man's influence.

Twelve miles of refuge roadway are open daily, providing four observation overlooks and one boardwalk nature trail.

Limited hunting for deer, wild turkey, squirrel, and waterfowl is available in designated areas of the refuge.

It also furnishes an interesting view of the steep limestone bluffs bordering the swamp that once was the Mississippi River.