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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 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. Descendants operated the spa until 1964.
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led to renewed calls for dams and other flood control projects, including renewed calls for the Glen Elder Dam. A respected hydrologist was brought in 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."
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101:], 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 ...
193:, 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.
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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 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.
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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
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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 significant rainfall in Kansas led to massive flooding in Topeka and other Kansas towns. This
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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
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In 1906, 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 Carl
Bingesser, who had married Abrahams' daughter Anna in 1907. Under both Abrahams and Bingesser, the hotel resort was
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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".
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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
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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.
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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 was sealed then disappeared beneath the waters of
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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
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Beside the Pawnee, many other Native American tribes venerated Waconda Spring, often casting articles of value into it as offerings.
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Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc
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In the Pawnee traditional religion, the supreme being Tirawa allots supernatural powers to certain animals. These animals, the
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in 1806. Pike visited the spring during his exploration of the Great Plains after he had concluded a treaty with the Pawnee.
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describes the offerings of the Pawnee as including blankets and robes, blue beads, eagle feathers, and moccasins.
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Jensen, Richard E. (1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Pahuk".
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in 1767; however, this is unlikely. The first recorded visit to the site was by General
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Waconda Spring was lost beneath the waters of the reservoir that now bears its name.
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continued, and by the 1890s it was being sold in all parts of the country. In 1904,
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Douglas R. Parks and Waldo R. Wedel, "Pawnee Geography: Historical and Sacred,"
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had five lodges, of which Waconda Spring was one. The foremost among them was
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It is said that the first European explorer to visit Waconda Spring was
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Holy Ground, Healing Water: Cultural Landscapes at Waconda Lake, Kansas
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493:- located about 2 miles east of Cawker City along US-24 highway
327:"Water of the Most Excellent Kind: Historic Springs in Kansas".
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around it. In 1866, surveyor David E. Ballard described it:
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Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America
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New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
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Buchanan, Rex, Robert Sawin, and Wayne Lebsack (2000).
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won a medal for its superior medicinal qualities at the
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The Spring itself is a natural curiousity [
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497:The History of Waconda: The Great Spirit Springs
405:"Healing Waters: The Legend of Waconda Springs".
330:Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains
314:Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains
83:Waconda Spring was situated on the bank of the
450:"Waconda Springs Legend, Great Spirit Springs"
502:Healing Waters: the Legend of Waconda Springs
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588:Bodies of water of Mitchell County, Kansas
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290:. Standard Publishing Company. pp.
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316:. pp. 140-145. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
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480:vol. 5, no. 3 (Summer 1985): 143–176.
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28:Aerial photo of Waconda spring, 1952.
395:pp. 105-112. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
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603:1968 disestablishments in Kansas
345:Kaw Mission State Historic Site.
511:Kansas State Historical Society
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363:Grinnell, George Bird (1893).
284:Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912).
116:The name "Waconda" is from the
20:Drawing of Waconda Spring, 1873
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568:Recreational areas in Kansas
454:Waconda Cultural Association
63:. It was a sacred site for
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408:Leisure and Sports Review.
159:opposite the mouth of the
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47:, near the communities of
420:"The History of Waconda".
342:"Two Cultures: The Kaws".
197:Waconda Spring in history
149:Saunders County, Nebraska
507:Waconda Springs Drawing
260:Army Corps of Engineers
106:Native American beliefs
478:Great Plains Quarterly
388:Blakeslee, Donald J.
309:Entz, Gary R. (2005).
240:St. Louis World's Fair
165:Nance County, Nebraska
153:Central City, Nebraska
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534:39.49833°N 98.37889°W
439:Retrieved 2010-09-18.
410:Retrieved 2010-09-18.
347:Retrieved 2010-09-18.
311:"Religion in Kansas".
256:Bureau of Reclamation
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184:George Bird Grinnell
177:Guide Rock, Nebraska
563:Landmarks in Kansas
539:39.49833; -98.37889
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430:Glen Elder, Kansas.
203:Sir William Johnson
143:, near the town of
37:Great Spirit Spring
435:2011-01-29 at the
425:2010-08-25 at the
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598:Springs of Kansas
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79:Description
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552:Categories
525:98°22′44″W
522:39°29′54″N
459:2024-02-13
271:References
157:Loup River
89:travertine
57:U.S. state
49:Glen Elder
433:Archived
423:Archived
258:and the
191:geoglyph
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509:at the
175:, near
133:nahurac
126:nahurac
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169:Pahur
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