 Bellefonte Spring, about 1912. Bellefonte (“beautiful fountain”) was one of many communities founded around a spring. Eula Albright/Boone County Library Collection (S-87-127-58) |
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Springs and creeks were important to settlers. Creeks provided energy for grist mills and cotton gins. Springs offered medicinal and business opportunities. In the 1880s, Eureka Springs in nearby Carroll County became a prosperous health resort as people flocked to “take the waters” and cure their ailments. Boone County had three resorts. The most popular was in the town of Elixir Springs, where the spring’s water was said to cure rheumatism and blood diseases. About 1,000 people lived and worked in the town in the early 1880s. But the resort and the town’s life were short lived. By 1892 it and another resort at Tom Thumb Springs were long gone. |
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