Mineral spring waters were once one of the most popular treatments for human ailment. A particular cluster of springs in south central Kansas was long known to the Indians for its healing waters.

Tradition holds that a party of buffalo hunters were the first non-native visitors to Geuda Springs in March 1867. They found a band of nearly 500 Osage people camped nearby. Numerous springs connected to form one common stream that fed a large circular pool of water. The buffalo hunters did not appreciate the unpleasant taste of the water and moved on.

In addition to the Osage people found at the springs by the hunters, the springs were known to the Sac and Fox, Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Cherokee and Ponca. Each tribe had their own name for the springs, but all names meant healing or curing waters.

The name of Geuda Springs is said to have come from the Ponca language and with it, the legend of a young brave, Grey Eagle, and Mona Lona, a beautiful Spanish-Indian woman.

Grey Eagle and Mona Lona were lovers, and as the story goes, Grey Eagle was severely injured in a buffalo hunt. Prayer helped bring Grey Eagle back from the brink of death, but his condition had not improved enough to completely restore his health.

There could be only one answer — “a distant fountain of life whereby drinking of its waters, the blind were made to see, the lame to walk and the wounded to be healed.”

Mona Lona offered her lover the spring’s sacred water from a huge black buffalo horn. Many tribes were camped at the pool, and as the water touched his trembling lips, all in attendance began to dance and chant a mysterious melody. The black horn was passed from handto- hand, reaching everyone who danced.

Of course, Grey Eagle’s strength miraculously returned and he and Mona Lona were married before all the tribes present at the spring.

The legend was romantic and heroic, but the first settlers at the spring found no particular interest in legends. The town of Remanto was founded in 1873, but most folks preferred to call it Salt City, from the nearness of the salt springs. The “Salt Marsh,” as the entire area of about 10 acres was called, was easily defined by the white salt that covered its banks from 1-5 inches deep.

Salt City was formally established in 1874 by a pair of enterprising men who were intent on developing the minerals for commercial production. Crystallized salt was produced through evaporation at the rate of 50 bushels per week. The medicinal qualities of the springs proved to be an unwanted nuisance, as it was nearly impossible to keep the Indians away.

The springs were sold several times, and eventually drew adherents to their medicinal qualities. The Winfield Courier of Aug. 1, 1878, noted “Salt City, 14 miles southwest of Winfield … promises to become the Saratoga of Kansas. It has four mineral springs that will become famous.” The article continued, “Several persons seriously afflicted with erysipelas, rheumatism, eruptions and various cutaneous diseases have visited these springs, and by drinking their waters and bathing in them, have experienced rapid and wonderful relief.”

By 1882, the town of Salt Springs was reestablished as Geuda Springs, with every effort to make the springs the most popular resort on the plains.

A bath house was erected at a cost of $50,000.

Nearby, the Loomis Hotel was built for $100,000 Geuda Springs was hailed as a first-class resort town within weeks of its birth. The town boasted two hotels, a restaurant, a drug store and all the necessary businesses, including an icecream and confectionery establishment and a “photograph gallery.”

The South Western Stage Company began running a stage from Winfield to Geuda Springs twice a week.

Arkansas City noted that from their Santa Fe depot, Geuda Springs was just a short 7 1/2 mile drive by hack over a road framed by a “panorama of agricultural beauty.” The Frisco Railroad arrived at Geuda Springs in 1886, allowing for direct transportation to the resort. The fortunes of the investors grew with advertised “rescue” testimony from various cruel ailments of the age.

Several springs provided just the right water for each particular disorder.

The excitement over the springs even attracted the dangerous gambler and gunman, Luke Short, who was apparently suffering from an advanced heart condition. The disabled gunfighter stepped from the train at the Frisco depot, his body swollen with excessive fluid under the skin.

Desperate for a cure, he turned to Geuda Springs. But Short was too late.

He died in his bed Sept.

8, 1893, of congestive heart failure.

The resort continued to draw faithful believers through the Roaring Twenties. Crowds diminished during the Depression, until its lure eventually failed. Geuda Springs’ miraculous waters became merely a memory told in ancient legends and whispers of believers of its healing waters on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st RD Geneseo, KS Phone 785531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.