Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park is a public recreation area covering on the East Fork Black River in

Reynolds County, Missouri Reynolds County is a county located in the Ozark Foothills Region in the Lead Belt of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,096. Its county seat is Centerville. The county was officially organized on February 25, 1845, and w ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

is jointly administered with adjoining

Taum Sauk Mountain State Park Taum Sauk Mountain State Park is a Missouri state park located in the St. Francois Mountains in the Ozarks. The park encompasses Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in the state. The Taum Sauk portion of the Ozark Trail connects the park ...

, and together the two parks cover more than sixteen thousand acres in the

St. Francois Mountains The St. Francois Mountains in southeast Missouri are a mountain range of Precambrian igneous rock, igneous mountains rising over the The Ozarks, Ozark Plateau. This range is one of the oldest exposures of igneous rock, igneous rock (geology), rock ...

region of the Missouri

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

. The term " shut-in" refers to a place where the river's breadth is limited by hard rock that is resistant to erosion. In these shut-ins, the river cascades over and around smooth-worn igneous rock, creating a natural

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming ...

that is used by park visitors when water levels are not dangerously high.

Geologic features

The

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

of the area is an

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

resistant

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

and dark colored

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-gra ...

dikes Dyke or dike may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), formations of magma or sediment that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess ...

Proterozoic The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozo ...

age. Waters of the East Fork Black River became confined, or " shut-in", to a narrow channel following

fractures Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

and

joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

within the hard

igneous rock Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

. Water-borne sand and gravel cut deeply even into this erosion-resistant rock, carving

pothole A pothole is a pot-shaped depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affecte ...

s, chutes and canyon-like gorges. Goggins Mountain lies within the northwestern portion of Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park.''Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 1998, First edition, p. 56, The summit is at an elevation of . The mountain bears the name of the pioneer Goggins family.

History

Precolonial history

The

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

hunted in this area.

After colonization

The park was the mid-19th century homestead of the Johnston family, Scotch-Irish immigrants who had moved west from the Appalachian region. There is a Johnston cemetery on the grounds, where 36 members of the family are buried (the "t" was later dropped from the name). When the Johnston family sold the land three generations later, most of it was purchased by Joseph Desloge (1889–1971), a St. Louis civic leader and conservationist. Desloge assembled most of the park, including the shut-ins and two miles of river frontage, over a period of 17 years, then donated it to the state in 1955. The Desloge

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

family continued over the years to donate funds for park improvements.

2005 reservoir failure and flood

On December 14, 2005, the park was devastated by a catastrophic flood caused by the failure of the

Taum Sauk pumped storage plant Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Human ...

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

atop a neighboring mountain. Damage included eradication of the park's campground, which was unoccupied at the time. The only people at the park were the park's superintendent and his family, who survived, sustaining some injuries. The park was closed because of the extent of the damage it received. The park partly reopened in the summer of 2006 for limited day use, but due to dangerous conditions, swimming in the river and exploring the rock formations was prohibited. In 2009, the river and shut-ins were reopened for water recreation. A new campground opened in 2010. Park restoration and improvements were funded with $52 million of a $180 million settlement to the state from

AmerenUE Ameren Corporation is an American power company created December 31, 1997, by the merger of Union Electric Company (formerly NYSE: UEP) of St. Louis, Missouri and the neighboring Central Illinois Public Service Company (CIPSCO Inc. holding, for ...

, the owner and operator of the failed reservoir.

2009 derecho

Some areas of forest in the park and the surrounding region were severely damaged by the May 2009 derecho windstorm. Straight-line wind speeds in this part of Reynolds County reached with microbursts estimated up to .

Activities and amenities

Park activities include camping, hiking, swimming, and rock climbing. Park trails include a paved quarter-mile walkway to an observation deck overlooking the shut-ins, the Goggins Mountain Equestrian Trail loop, and a section of the Ozark trail. An extension to the park provides an auto tour that passes by the ongoing recovery effort, as well as the recovered endangered

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s area, terminating at a shaded overlook of the flood path accessible from the park entrance. From this one can walk a path through the boulder field created by the flood. The boulder field contains many examples of the minerals and rocks that make up the St. Francois Mountains of the Ozarks.

References

External links

Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park Map
Missouri Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Missouri State parks of the U.S. Interior Highlands Protected areas of Reynolds County, Missouri Rock formations of Missouri Landforms of Reynolds County, Missouri Protected areas established in 1955 1955 establishments in Missouri