Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society
Portals
to the Past by David W. Jackson
Natural
springs drew early pioneers, or
Natural Mineral Springs Once Poured Local Flavor Over Independence Local tourists looking to beat the summer’s heat often ask a
thirst-quenching question, Why wasn’t Independence settled closer to the Missouri
River? A simple answer is that settlers needed fresh water and wood for
subsistence, and in the early 1820s found those resources bountiful about
three miles south of the precipice of the River’s cliffs. That may also be
why John Calvin McCoy platted Westport about as far from the River in 1838. Early Jackson
County pioneers were drawn to the 19 or 20 natural springs that were
available on the high ground that became Independence. While most watering
holes ended up on private land, some remained available to the public. Others
drew attention at the turn of the 20th Century for their flavorful
and medicinal properties. The
popularity of the J. B. Forbis spring, named after
an 1868 emigrant to Independence, flowed back to a time when it was used by
Native-American Indians; French trappers; traders watering their livestock
while following the Santa Fe Trail; and, later by farmers herding their
livestock to the Kansas City stockyards. It even became a noontime resort of
boys attending the adjacent Ott School before Henry
Kloos, a homeopathic physician, acquired the land,
covered the spring, and converted it into bottling White Springs Mineral
Water. Over the years, the property and business changed hands and names, and
was eventually capped by Louis L. and Dorothea Compton, who used the spring
waters in their nationally recognized Polly’s Pop soda into the late-1960s.
Today, while the water no longer runs freely to the surface, the Forbis spring is part of the Independence City-owned
Polly’s Pop Green Space. Another such
spring flowed at the former Harvey Vaile estate (today the Vaile Victorian
Mansion). Miss Carey May Carroll, under her subscription company, Vaile Pure
Water Co., bottled its water and sold five-gallon jugs of pure lithia water, with lithium salts. It was a big attraction
to the summer hotel developed as The Vaile Inn. J.
D. Cusenbary, emigrant to Jackson County about
1840, had a 322-acre farm between Independence and what would become Kansas
City. After an industrious life in a variety of pursuits, Cusenbary,
in 1900, proposed a racetrack on his farm. The attraction grew and expanded
to become the wildly popular Fairmount Park. Then there was his mineral
spring, which had long been known. Publicized for its medicinal properties,
it was described in detail, including a chemical analysis, in the 1881 History of Jackson County, Missouri.
The spring eventually fed into what became Fairmount Park’s lake. If
you’ve visited the National Frontier Trails Museum, you might recall that it
is on the site of the former Waggoner-Gates Milling Company. The milling
business on that site predated the company, but the spring that fed onto the
property was long regarded as a watering hole for countless emigrants passing
through Independence on westward trails. The rubble produced from the 1967
explosion and destruction of most of the complex where Queen of the Pantry flour was produced filled in the spring’s
ravine. Perhaps one day, it will be excavated and brought back to life. All
of the old springs in the 240 acres that became Independence are now dry,
including the four spring-fed wells at each corner of the historic
Independence Courthouse Square. One exception is the trickle of the restored
Big Spring at the corner of Noland and Truman Roads, part of the Pioneer
Spring Cabin interpretive site. More
information about this--or any other topic overviewed in this series--is
available from your Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society’s Archives and
Research Library. |
|