Waconda Spring facts for kids
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Waconda Spring, also known as Great Spirit Spring, was a special natural spring in Mitchell County, Kansas. It was near the towns of Glen Elder and Cawker City. This spring was very important to many Native American tribes of the Great Plains. Later, it became a popular health spa for American settlers. Sadly, in 1968, when the Glen Elder Dam was finished, the spring disappeared under the waters of Waconda Reservoir.
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What Was Waconda Spring Like?
Waconda Spring was located right on the bank of the Solomon River. Over many years, the water flowing from the spring created a large, cone-shaped hill made of a rock called travertine.
In 1866, a surveyor named David E. Ballard described it:
The Spring itself is a natural curiousity, it being located on the summit of a cone shaped limestone rock. The rock is circular, about 200 feet in diameter at the base and about 30 feet high, upon the summit of this, rests the spring, the basin being circular and about 30 feet in diameter, its outlet is a trough apparently formed by the action of the water upon the rock. The water in the spring is about 20 feet deep and exceedingly strong with salt ...
This means the spring sat on top of a round, cone-shaped rock hill. The hill was about 30 feet tall and 200 feet wide at its base. The spring's pool on top was about 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Its water was very salty.
Native American Beliefs About Waconda Spring
The name "Waconda" comes from the Kanza language. It means "spirit water" or "Great Spirit Spring." Even though the Kanza named it, the spring was in land controlled by the Pawnee people. The Pawnee called it "Pahowa" or "Kitzawitzuk," which means "water on a bank."
In the traditional religion of the Pawnee, their most powerful being, Tirawa, gave special powers to certain animals. These animals were called nahurac. They acted as Tirawa's helpers and messengers, and they would speak to Tirawa for the Pawnee people.
The nahurac had five special homes, and Waconda Spring was one of them. Other important places included Pahuk, a bluff near Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska; Lalawakohtito, an island in the Platte River; Ahkawitakol, a "white bank" on the Loup River; and Pahur, a bluff near Guide Rock, Nebraska.
Many Native American tribes, not just the Pawnee, respected Waconda Spring. They often threw valuable items into the spring as gifts. George Bird Grinnell wrote that the Pawnee offered blankets, robes, blue beads, eagle feathers, and moccasins.
Near Waconda Spring, there was also a large drawing on a hillside. This drawing, called a geoglyph, was made by removing the top layer of grass to create a shape. It looks like an animal, possibly a beaver. Experts believe it is hundreds of years old. It seems the drawing was refreshed more than once, showing it was used for a long time.
Waconda Spring in History
Some stories say that Sir William Johnson was the first European to visit Waconda Spring in 1767, but this is probably not true. The first recorded visit was by General Zebulon Pike in 1806. Pike saw the spring while exploring the Great Plains after making a treaty with the Pawnee.
People from Europe and the eastern U.S. did not start settling in the area until after Kansas became a state in 1861. The first settler to claim land around the spring was a man named Pfeiffer in 1870. Kansas Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy visited the area in 1870 and was amazed. He said, "At first I declared it the Crater of an Ancient Volcano." He also noted that the water was "fathomless" (very deep) and the hills around it were "as sacred to the Indians as those about Jerusalem." Pomeroy quickly saw that the spring could be used for business and predicted a health resort would be built there.
Just a few years later, a man named Burnham built a factory at the spring. He started bottling the mineral water and selling it as a health drink called Waconda Flier. The success of Waconda Flier caught the eye of an investor from the east named McWilliams. In 1884, McWilliams invested in the spring and began building a large stone health center, called a sanitarium. The spring was fenced off and became private property.
The building was finished ten years later. Under the management of G. W. Cooper, Waconda Spring became a hotel and health spa. Sales of Waconda Flier continued to grow, and by the 1890s, it was sold all over the country. In 1904, Waconda Flier even won a medal for its good health qualities at the St. Louis World's Fair.
In 1906, Dr. G. P. Abrahams bought the property. He continued to run the health spa and bottling plant until he passed away in 1924. After him, his son-in-law, Dr. Carl Bingesser, took over. Both Abrahams and Bingesser improved the resort. It kept its strong reputation as a place for healing. The spa then passed to Dr. Carlos Bingesser, who was the third generation of the family to own it.
The spa was made very modern. It offered different types of therapy, like physical therapy, water therapy (hydro-therapy), and special diets. Water from Waconda Spring was used for cleaning the body inside and out. It was piped into every bathtub, served with meals, and used for other treatments. A popular saying to attract visitors was, "It will clean works until your works work." Waconda Spring was a very popular and successful business for the Bingesser family.
The Glen Elder Dam Project
In 1944, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers announced plans for a large dam on the Solomon River. This dam, near Glen Elder, would flood the area where Waconda Spring was located. The Bingesser family tried to stop the plan.
However, in 1951, Kansas had much more rain than usual, leading to huge floods in Topeka and other towns. This made people demand more dams and flood control projects, including the Glen Elder Dam. Dr. Bingesser brought in a respected water expert, called a hydrologist, to study Waconda Spring. The hydrologist said that Waconda Spring was very special and possibly one of a kind in the world. But people who wanted the dam built ignored this expert. They simply called Waconda Spring a "mud hole."
In the end, the dam builders won. Construction on the Glen Elder Dam started in 1964 and was finished by the end of 1968. Engineers tore down the hotel and health spa. To make things worse, they pushed the broken pieces of the buildings into the Waconda Spring pool. Water from the Solomon River began to fill the valley. By 1970, the valley was full. The unique Waconda Spring was lost forever beneath the waters of the new reservoir, which was named Waconda Lake.
Images for kids
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Drawing of Waconda Spring, 1873
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Aerial photo of Waconda spring, 1952.
