December 14, 2005: The reservoir at theTaum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Stationfailed, releasing approximately 1.4 billion gallons of water, which created a scour below.
April 21, 2010: The Taum Sauk station reopened and was able to generate power for the first time since the flood.
12,000 BC-1,500 AD: The Native Americans in this area used the “Crescent Hills chert” from the quarry to make tools.
1890-1910: The area was clearcut for timber reources, including pine and oak. Today, the park is dense with vegetation, but it was much more open prior to the clearcutting.
1941-1945: Tyson was acquired by the federal government and was used to store munitions and high explosives in newly-built bunkers.
1950-1951: Tyson park and the surrounding area was made into a public park, called Tyson Valley Park.
1951-1963: During the Korean War, the government used the land to store agricultural grain.
1877-1927: There was a limestone quarry in the Minck Hollow area on the land that is now Tyson.
1890-1910: Many of Missouri’s forests were clear cut for oak and pine timber.
1963-present: Washington University obtained Tyson and has been using it as a research area ever since.
Forest Park
June 24, 1876: Forest Park opened.
1904: Home of the World’s Fair,Art Museummoved to current location above Grand Basin.
1.5-1.2 billion years ago: The igneous rocks of the St. Francois Mountains formed (Seeger 2008).
520 million years ago: Tectonic plate movement lowered the Ozark Region below sea level. Sedimentary rocks built up, sea levels dropped, rose again, and the process repeated. (Seeger 2008).
200 million years ago: The supercontinent Pangeasplit up.
100 million years ago:The North Polewas pretty warm, almost tropical. Missouri was underwater.
65 million years ago: An asteroid hit Earth, causing it to start cooling and catalysing a migration of plants from the South Pole to the North Pole.
2.6 million years to 12,000 years ago: The last major glaciation on Earth occurred. The northern area of what is now the US and Canada was covered in ice. Missouri had a boreal-type forest, as pictured below.
General History of Missouri
12,000 years ago: Paleoamerican settlements began forming in Missouri.
1815: Mining of high quality iron started in Shepherd Mountain, part of the St. Francois Mountains (Seeger 2008).
January 8, 1818: The first petition was made for Missouri to become a state.
1820: Missouri was allowed to enter the Union as a slave state under the “Missouri Compromise,” which also brought Maine in as a free state. Missouri’s statehood was a national issue at this time because of slavery. After the compromise, the area north of the 36’30” line from theLouisiana Purchasewas to be free of slavery forever.
July 4, 1841: Construction began on thePacific Railroad, which was to go from St. Louis toJefferson Cityand then to some point west.
1849: As the Gold Rush began in California, many emigrants started their trips westward in St. Louis, Independence, Westport, and St. Joseph, making Missouri the “Gateway to the West.”
1858: The St. Louis and Iron Mountain railroad was completed to ship iron from mines to the Mississippi River and cities nearby. Eventually, this railroad became the Missouri Pacific Railroad (Seeger 2008).
1965:The Gateway Archwas completed on the original settlement of St. Louis.
1982: High levels of dioxins were discovered in the town ofTimes Beach, Missouri.The town was evacuated in early 1983. This was the largest dioxin exposure for civilians in the country’s history.
2001: Iron mining in Pea Ridge stopped, which ended the era of underground mining for iron in Missouri. Iron remains in the ground in reserves, and eventually it could be mined again (Seeger 2008).
