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The elephant rocks at Elephant Rocks State Park were formed from 1.5-billion-year-old granite. These giant boulders stand end-to-end like a train of circus elephants. The rocks have created formations that intrigue geologists, are popular with history buffs interested in the past quarrying, and fascinate children who love to climb on and between the boulders. An …
Elephant Rocks State Park
1.5 billion years ago
Collected from downtown Kansas City, this 300 million-year-old crinoid fossil is a reminder of Missouri’s prehistoric past. Crinoids (Delocrinus missouriensis) were marine animals native to Missouri during the Pennsylvanian Period when the state was submerged below a warm shallow sea. The fossil’s plant-like appearance earned them the nickname “sea lily,” as they had a stem …
Crinoid Fossil
300 million years ago
William Clark used this hand-stitched elk-skin journal as a field diary in the fall of 1805. In this journal, Clark noted daily occurrences and sketched maps as the Corps of Discovery traversed the Bitterroot Mountains on their way to the Pacific Ocean. The maps detailed the natural landscape and Indigenous settlements along their route. These …
William Clark’s Elk Skin Journal
1805
Starting in December 1811, a series of massive earthquakes struck southeastern Missouri along the New Madrid fault line. Named after the town of New Madrid, the line runs through southeastern Missouri and adjacent states. The initial quake on December 16 likely registered between 7.2 to 8.2 on the Richter Scale and was of such force …
New Madrid Earthquake
1811-1812
After Missouri became a state in 1821, the U.S. Army began searching for a road to connect St. Louis and Fort Smith, Arkansas. The route they established followed a path used by Osage Indians and was commonly known to Missourians as the “Military Road,” or the “Fayetteville Road.” From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company …
Wire Road
1836 - 1922
This 243-foot stone tunnel in Rocheport is the only one of its kind along the Katy Trail. Completed in 1892, the structure is a reminder of the trail’s roots as a corridor for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) Railroad. In the late 19th century, the Katy Railroad serviced Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Unlike most railroads, the Katy …
Katy Trail Rocheport Tunnel
1892 - present
Alley Spring is the seventh largest spring in Missouri, discharging approximately 81 million gallons of water per day. This continuous flow of water provided enough power to operate a grist mill, and one was constructed in 1868 to support the town of Alley and its population. Around 1894, George Washington McCaskill built the present standing …
Alley Spring & Mill
1893 - Present
In 1917, One year after the creation of the National Park System, a state park fund was created using monies from the fish and game department to establish public use areas across Missouri. Big Spring State Park near Van Buren, Missouri, became the first in 1924. However, it would later be incorporated into the Ozark …
Missouri State Parks
1917 - present
On March 11, 1920, a large tornado traveled through southern Taney County, leaving death and devastation in its wake. Melva, a modest mining and railroad town along the Missouri Pacific line, was completely destroyed by the storm. The tornado took eleven lives and left only foundations intact. Damage to stores, homes, and other buildings amounted …
Lucy Woods Home
1920
This photograph features the banks of Roaring River State Park lined with people fishing for trout, highlighting the popularity of the park and pastime. Roaring River State Park is best known for its clear streams stocked with Rainbow Trout from its onsite fish hatchery. The fish hatchery was constructed in 1910, making it one of …
Roaring River State Park
1930s - Present
The Bagnell Dam was built by the Union Electric Light and Power Company between 1929 and 1931. Construction began two months before the stock market crash of 1929 and became the only major construction project in the nation during the Great Depression. Job seekers from across the country flocked to the Ozarks for work. Records …
Bagnell Dam
1932 - Present
In 1951, a catastrophic flood changed the course of the Missouri River. The French Bottoms, an area of fertile farmland in St. Joseph, originally lay in the bow of the river and formed the border between Missouri and Kansas. This map shows how the flooding carved a new path for the river to flow, creating …
Flood Map
1951
White River floods occurred regularly throughout Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas affecting many outlining towns including the city of Branson. As the population of the region grew, a solution to flooding had to be considered. Congress initially authorized the construction of a dam with the Flood Control Act of 1941, but construction was delayed by …
Table Rock Dam Construction
1956
This photograph depicts Bernard and Bernard Jr. Francka inspecting corn on their family farm in Bolivar, Missouri. In 1901, the Francka family and other Czech immigrant families built a church and founded the town of Karlin, just south of Bolivar. The Francka family has continuously farmed the area since focusing on dairy operations. Missouri is …
Francka Farm
1983
The American Bison, pictured here, is the heaviest land animal in North America and the second tallest after the moose. Before First Encounter, bison roamed an area from northern Alaska to northern Mexico and east to the Atlantic Seaboard. At their peak, over sixty million animals shared the grazing grounds that included Missouri. Bison remained …
American Bison
2010
In the evening of May 22, 2011, an EF-5 multiple vortex tornado struck Joplin, Missouri. The tornado reached wind speeds of 200 miles per hour, carving out a mile-wide path of destruction. The storm traveled eastward, affecting portions of Jasper and Newton counties as well. This extensive tornado was responsible for 158 fatalities, 1,150 injuries, …
Joplin Tornado
2011
This photograph shows the Lily Pad Room of Onondaga Cave State Park, located near Leasburg, Missouri. Onondaga Cave provides visitors with near-pristine examples of water deposit features, or speleothems, such as stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, flowstones, and dams. These features form when acidic surface water dissolves calcite and deposits it as it flows through and …
Onondaga Cave State Park
2019