The 2005 Taum Sauk reservoir breach is part of the county's record

Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in Missouri, rises in Iron County near Ironton, and it gave its name to a nearby power project. The Taum Sauk pumped-storage plant, run by AmerenUE, sits just over the county line on Proffit Mountain in Reynolds County. A pumped-storage plant works like a battery: when power is cheap, it pumps water uphill into a man-made reservoir, and when people need a lot of power, it lets that water rush back down through machines called turbines to make electricity. On December 14, 2005, the plant’s upper reservoir failed and sent more than a billion gallons of water down the mountain into the East Fork of the Black River and through Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, wiping out park buildings and the campground. No one was killed. Afterward, the reservoir was rebuilt and the park was redeveloped and reopened. This is settled history, not a danger today, and it helps explain the newer buildings you see at the park. For exact dates, water amounts, and findings, check official records rather than going by memory.