McKissick Island

View from the south showing confluence of the Nishnabotna River with the Missouri River. The southeastern side of the island is roughly bordered by the bed of the Nishnabotna River. The Nishnabotna itself now flows from Missouri briefly through McKissick Island, Nebraska, and back into Missouri before hitting the mouth. McKissick Island is further back in this photo.
View from the north during the 2011 Missouri River flood. The entire island is inundated. The point where the Nishnabotna on the left makes a curve to the right is where the Nishnabotna flows in and out of the island.
Section of the USGS topographic map of the area

McKissick Island (also known as McKissick's Island) is a former island in the Missouri River that is part of Nemaha County, Nebraska, United States. It is now fully east of the river, which is Nebraska's normal eastern border, and it can only be reached by land from mainland Nebraska by first going through Iowa and Missouri.

It is sometimes described as a Nebraska enclave within Missouri, although it is not a true enclave, since it is physically attached to Nebraska through the river.[1]

A dispute over whether Missouri or Nebraska had jurisdiction was determined in a 1904 United States Supreme Court decision, but it was not until 1999 that the two states entered an interstate compact, with the approval of the United States Congress, that enacted the boundary into law.[2][3]

The area is about 5,000 acres in size and has always had a small population. As of 2006 it was reported that only one house was on the island.[citation needed] The only road sign on it uses the Nemaha County street grid of 647A Avenue and 739A Road rather than the Atchison County, Missouri grid which surrounds it.

The island was alluded to but not mentioned by name in the XKCD cartoon "River Border"[4] on 27 April 2018.

  1. ^ "Iowa termini of Interstate 29". Iowahighwayends.net. 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  2. ^ Hayes, Troy (2006). "Missouri-Iowa Boundary Line Investigation" (PDF). The American Surveyor. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  3. ^ Joint Resolution Granting the consent of Congress to the Missouri-Nebraska Boundary Compact. Public Law 106–101 (Nov. 12, 1999).
  4. ^ "River Border". xkcd.com. 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2018-05-04.