St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site At Johnson Farm

Specialties

Early Jurassic fossil site and museum

History

Established in 2000.

Dr. Sheldon Johnson was leveling some of his land for development when he discovered that large natural cast tracks were on many of the sandstone blocks he overturned. After realizing the scientific and educational value of the site, he and his wife LaVerna, as well as hundreds of volunteers cleared much of the current trackway and many of the adjacent blocks. The land was eventually sold to the City of St. George so that the tracks could be preserved and a museum building was built over the trackway in 2005. Scientists from all over the world have studied this site and declared it as one of the world’s ten best tracksites.

The museum contains not only these exquisite fossil footprints and other traces, but additional displays that help explain the Early Jurassic lake environment that existed in the area at that time. Changing Special Exhibits, the only replica of a Scelidosaurus in the Americas, and a visible working fossil preparation lab add to the visitors’ experience.