Waconda Spring
Encyclopedia
Waconda Spring, or Great Spirit Spring, was a natural artesian
spring located in Mitchell County
, near the towns of Glen Elder
and Cawker City
in the U.S. state
of Kansas
. It was a sacred site for Native American
tribes of the Great Plains
and, for a time, became the site of a health spa for American settlers. With the completion of the Glen Elder Dam in 1968, the mineral spring disappeared beneath the waters of Waconda Reservoir.
, below the North and South Forks of the river.
The water flowing from the spring had deposited a large cone of travertine
around it.
In 1866, surveyor David E. Ballard described it:
language, and translates as "spirit water" or "Great Spirit Spring". However, it is located in territory controlled by the Pawnee,
who knew it by the names "Pahowa" and "Kitzawitzuk", the latter translated as "water on a bank".
In the Pawnee traditional religion, the supreme being Tirawa allots supernatural powers to certain animals. These animals, the nahurac, act as Tirawa's servants and messengers, and intercede for the Pawnee with Tirawa.
The nahurac had five lodges, of which Waconda Spring was one. The foremost among them was Pahuk
, usually translated "hill island", a bluff on the south side of the Platte River
, near the town of Cedar Bluffs
in present-day Saunders County, Nebraska
.
Lalawakohtito, or "dark island", was an island in the Platte near Central City, Nebraska
; Ahkawitakol, or "white bank", was on the Loup River
opposite the mouth of the Cedar River in what is now Nance County, Nebraska
; and Pahur
, or "hill that points the way", was a bluff south of the Republican River
, near Guide Rock, Nebraska
.
Beside the Pawnee, many other Native American tribes venerated Waconda Spring, often casting articles of value into it as offerings. George Bird Grinnell
describes the offerings of the Pawnee as including blankets and robes, blue beads, eagle feathers, and moccasins.
A geoglyph
, produced by the intaglio technique of removing the surface sod to form a figure, is located on a hillside about two miles southwest of Waconda Spring. The figure represents an unidentified animal, possibly a beaver. It is thought to be several hundred years old; soil analysis indicates that it was renewed at least once after its initial excavation, suggesting that it was in use over an extended period of time.
in 1767; however, this is unlikely. The first recorded visit to the site was by General Zebulon Pike
in 1806. Pike visited the spring during his exploration of the Great Plains after he had concluded a treaty with the Pawnee.
Settlement in the area did not take place until after Kansas became a state in 1861. The first settler in the region was in 1870 by a man named Pfeiffer, who took out the first claim on the property. Kansas Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy
toured the region in 1870 and marveled at what he saw. Said Pomeroy, “At first I declared it the Crater of an Ancient Volcano. The Water occupying its hollow center is fathomless, and about 200 feet in diameter in a perfect circle! It is always brimming full and running over on all sides... The hills about it were as sacred to the Indians as those about Jerusalem." Pomeroy recognized the site's commercial potential and went on to predict that a health resort would soon be built in the region.
Within a few years, a man named Burnham constructed a bottling works on the site and began selling the mineral water as a health tonic. He called it Waconda Flier. The sales of Waconda Flier piqued the interest of an eastern investor named McWilliams, who in 1884 invested in the site and began the construction of a stone sanitarium. The spring was fenced off and completely privatized. The building was completed ten years later, and under the management of G. W. Cooper, Waconda Spring became a hotel and health spa. Sales of Waconda Flier continued, and by the 1890s it was being sold in all parts of the country. In 1904, Waconda Flier won a medal for its superior medicinal qualities at the St. Louis World’s Fair.
In 1906, Dr. G. P. Abrahams purchased the property from McWilliams and continued operating the health spa and bottling plant until his 1924 death. In 1924, the property passed to Dr. Carl Bingesser, who had married Abrahams’ daughter Anna in 1907. Under both Abrahams and Bingesser, the hotel resort was improved upon and maintained a solid reputation as health spa and place of healing. It continued to do so even as the spa passed on to Dr. Carlos Bingesser, the third generation of the Abrahams-Bingesser family to own and operate the spa. The facilities were fully modernized and offered physical therapy, hydro-therapy, electro-therapy, and dietary regimens. Water from Waconda Spring was used for internal and external cleansing of the body. It was piped into every bathtub in the sanitarium, was served with meals, and used for enemas. A popular slogan used to lure tourists to the resort was, "It will clean works until your works work." Waconda Spring was a popular, profitable enterprise for the Bingesser family.
In the end, the developers won. Construction on Glen Elder Dam began in 1964 and was completed by the end of 1968. Engineers bulldozed the hotel and health spa then, adding insult to injury, dumped the debris into the pool of Waconda Spring. Water from the Solomon River began filling up the valley, and by 1970 it was full. The irreplaceable Waconda Spring was lost beneath the waters of the reservoir that now bears its name.
Artesian aquifer
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an artesian well...
spring located in Mitchell County
Mitchell County, Kansas
Mitchell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 6,373...
, near the towns of Glen Elder
Glen Elder, Kansas
Glen Elder is a city in Mitchell County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 445.-Geography:Glen Elder is located at...
and Cawker City
Cawker City, Kansas
Cawker City is a city in Mitchell County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 469. The city is located along the north shore of Waconda Lake.-Geography:Cawker City is located at...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. It was a sacred site for Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes of the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
and, for a time, became the site of a health spa for American settlers. With the completion of the Glen Elder Dam in 1968, the mineral spring disappeared beneath the waters of Waconda Reservoir.
Description
Waconda Spring was situated on the bank of the Solomon RiverSolomon River
The Solomon River, often referred to as the "Solomon Fork", is a river in the central Great Plains of North America. The entire length of the river lies in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a tributary of the Smoky Hill River.-Names:...
, below the North and South Forks of the river.
The water flowing from the spring had deposited a large cone of travertine
Travertine
Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, and cream-colored varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot...
around it.
In 1866, surveyor 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...
Native American beliefs
The name "Waconda" is from the KanzaKaw (tribe)
The Kaw Nation are an American Indian people of the central Midwestern United States. The tribe known as Kaw have also been known as the "People of the South wind", "People of water", Kansa, Kaza, Kosa, and Kasa. Their tribal language is Kansa, classified as a Siouan language.The toponym "Kansas"...
language, and translates as "spirit water" or "Great Spirit Spring". However, it is located in territory controlled by the Pawnee,
who knew it by the names "Pahowa" and "Kitzawitzuk", the latter translated as "water on a bank".
In the Pawnee traditional religion, the supreme being Tirawa allots supernatural powers to certain animals. These animals, the nahurac, act as Tirawa's servants and messengers, and intercede for the Pawnee with Tirawa.
The nahurac had five lodges, of which Waconda Spring was one. The foremost among them was Pahuk
Pahuk
Pahuk, also written Pahaku, or Pahuk Hill, is a bluff on the Platte River in eastern Nebraska in the United States. In the traditional Pawnee religion, it was one of five dwellings of spirit animals with miraculous powers...
, usually translated "hill island", a bluff on the south side of the Platte River
Platte River
The Platte River is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to...
, near the town of Cedar Bluffs
Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska
Cedar Bluffs is a village in Saunders County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 615 at the 2000 census. Cedar Bluffs was a point on the Mormon, Oregon, and California Trails.-Geography:Cedar Bluffs is located at ....
in present-day Saunders County, Nebraska
Saunders County, Nebraska
-History:Saunders County was established by an 1856 act of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature; its boundaries were redefined in 1858. The county was originally named after John C...
.
Lalawakohtito, or "dark island", was an island in the Platte near Central City, Nebraska
Central City, Nebraska
Central City is a city in Merrick County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Grand Island, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,998 at the 2000 census...
; Ahkawitakol, or "white bank", was on the Loup River
Loup River
The Loup River is a tributary of the Platte River, approximately long, in central Nebraska in the United States. The river drains a sparsely populated rural agricultural area on the eastern edge of the Great Plains southeast of the Sandhills...
opposite the mouth of the Cedar River in what is now Nance County, Nebraska
Nance County, Nebraska
-History:The land that comprises Nance County was originally part of the Pawnee Reservation, created in 1857 when the Pawnee Indians signed a treaty with the United States ceding its lands in exchange for the reservation. After the state of Nebraska was admitted into the Union, the state government...
; and Pahur
Guide Rock (hill)
Guide Rock, whose Pawnee name is Pa-hur or Pahur, is a hill in south central Nebraska in the United States. In the traditional Pawnee religion, it was one of five dwelling places of spirit animals with miraculous powers....
, or "hill that points the way", was a bluff south of the Republican River
Republican River
The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, flowing through the U.S. states of Nebraska and Kansas.-Geography:...
, near Guide Rock, Nebraska
Guide Rock, Nebraska
Guide Rock is a village in Webster County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 245 at the 2000 census. The town was the first settlement in Webster County, with the first white settlers arriving in 1870. The town was named after Guide Rock, a hill on the opposite bank of the Republican River...
.
Beside the Pawnee, many other Native American tribes venerated Waconda Spring, often casting articles of value into it as offerings. George Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880. Originally specializing in zoology, he became a prominent early conservationist and student...
describes the offerings of the Pawnee as including blankets and robes, blue beads, eagle feathers, and moccasins.
A geoglyph
Geoglyph
A geoglyph is a large design or motif produced on the ground and typically formed by clastic rocks or similarly durable elements of the geography, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth...
, produced by the intaglio technique of removing the surface sod to form a figure, is located on a hillside about two miles southwest of Waconda Spring. The figure represents an unidentified animal, possibly a beaver. It is thought to be several hundred years old; soil analysis indicates that it was renewed at least once after its initial excavation, suggesting that it was in use over an extended period of time.
Waconda Spring in history
It is said that the first European explorer to visit Waconda Spring was Sir William JohnsonSir William Johnson, 1st Baronet
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire. As a young man, Johnson came to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren, which was located amidst the Mohawk, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League...
in 1767; however, this is unlikely. The first recorded visit to the site was by General Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River,...
in 1806. Pike visited the spring during his exploration of the Great Plains after he had concluded a treaty with the Pawnee.
Settlement in the area did not take place until after Kansas became a state in 1861. The first settler in the region was in 1870 by a man named Pfeiffer, who took out the first claim on the property. Kansas Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy
Samuel C. Pomeroy
Samuel Clarke Pomeroy was an American Republican Senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century, serving in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. Pomeroy served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives...
toured the region in 1870 and marveled at what he saw. Said Pomeroy, “At first I declared it the Crater of an Ancient Volcano. The Water occupying its hollow center is fathomless, and about 200 feet in diameter in a perfect circle! It is always brimming full and running over on all sides... The hills about it were as sacred to the Indians as those about Jerusalem." Pomeroy recognized the site's commercial potential and went on to predict that a health resort would soon be built in the region.
Within a few years, a man named Burnham constructed a bottling works on the site and began selling the mineral water as a health tonic. He called it Waconda Flier. The sales of Waconda Flier piqued the interest of an eastern investor named McWilliams, who in 1884 invested in the site and began the construction of a stone sanitarium. The spring was fenced off and completely privatized. The building was completed ten years later, and under the management of G. W. Cooper, Waconda Spring became a hotel and health spa. Sales of Waconda Flier continued, and by the 1890s it was being sold in all parts of the country. In 1904, Waconda Flier won a medal for its superior medicinal qualities at the St. Louis World’s Fair.
In 1906, Dr. G. P. Abrahams purchased the property from McWilliams and continued operating the health spa and bottling plant until his 1924 death. In 1924, the property passed to Dr. Carl Bingesser, who had married Abrahams’ daughter Anna in 1907. Under both Abrahams and Bingesser, the hotel resort was improved upon and maintained a solid reputation as health spa and place of healing. It continued to do so even as the spa passed on to Dr. Carlos Bingesser, the third generation of the Abrahams-Bingesser family to own and operate the spa. The facilities were fully modernized and offered physical therapy, hydro-therapy, electro-therapy, and dietary regimens. Water from Waconda Spring was used for internal and external cleansing of the body. It was piped into every bathtub in the sanitarium, was served with meals, and used for enemas. A popular slogan used to lure tourists to the resort was, "It will clean works until your works work." Waconda Spring was a popular, profitable enterprise for the Bingesser family.
Glen Elder Dam
In 1944 the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers announced plans for a large earthen dam on the Solomon River near the town of Glen Elder. The plan called for the inundation of Waconda Spring. The Bingesser family fought to stop the plan, but in 1951 greater than normal rainfall in Kansas led to massive flooding in Topeka and other Kansas towns. This led to renewed calls for dams and other flood control projects, including renewed calls for the Glen Elder Dam. Dr. Bingesser brought in a respected hydrologist to inspect Waconda Spring. The hydrologist concluded that Waconda Spring was unique and possibly the only spring like it in the world. However, commercial advocates in favor of the dam dismissed the hydrologist and dismissively claimed that Waconda Spring was nothing more than a "mud hole."In the end, the developers won. Construction on Glen Elder Dam began in 1964 and was completed by the end of 1968. Engineers bulldozed the hotel and health spa then, adding insult to injury, dumped the debris into the pool of Waconda Spring. Water from the Solomon River began filling up the valley, and by 1970 it was full. The irreplaceable Waconda Spring was lost beneath the waters of the reservoir that now bears its name.