Ozark Springs - Jewels of the Ozarks - Salem, Missouri

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Ozark Springs - Jewels of the Ozarks - Salem, Missouri is home to the largest number of first magnitude springs in one place anywhere in the world.

These springs include: Big Spring; Alley Spring; Blue Spring; Round Spring; Pulltite Spring; and Welch Spring.
Each of these springs have a unique ecosystem that provides a wonderful clear water resource pumping millions of gallons of water per day into the Current and Jacks Fork River.

Following is information on each of the springs, be sure to visit them and enjoy the peace surrounding each spring. Please do not disturb the ecosystem by trying to take any plant life or "memorabillia" from the area. It will damage the ecosystem.

Spring Average Flow (Gallons per day) Alley Spring (6 miles west of Eminence on State Route 106) 81 Million gallons

Blue Spring (14 miles east of Eminence on State Route 106) 93 Million gallons

Big Spring (4 miles south of Van Buren on State Route 103) 286 Million gallons

Round Spring (15 miles north of Eminence on S.R. 19) 26 Million gallons

Welch Spring (2 miles north of Akers on Route K) 75 Million gallons

Greer Spring (12 miles south of Winona on SR 19 in the Mark Twain National Forest) 214 Million gallons

Montauk Springs (located at Montauk State Park) 53 Million gallons

Big Spring

Located near Van Buren, Missouri in Ozark NSR’s Big Spring Campground, this is the largest spring in the state, and one of the largest in the world. On an average day, some 278 million gallons of water gush forth from subterranean passages, swelling the nearby Current River.
Water dying tests have shown that the water for these springs comes from as far away as 45 miles, traveling through underground passages.

Like all Ozark springs, Big Spring is busy dissolving away the walls of its underground passages. One researcher estimated that about 175 tons of calcium carbonate rock are carried away in solution by Big Spring’s water every day! Over the course of a year, this is enough rock to produce a cavern 30 feet high by 50 feet wide and one mile in length.

Alley Spring

The spring has an average daily flow of 81 million gallons of water. During most times the water is a placid azure blue, gently welling up from below, but after a storm has swelled the underground conduits feeding the spring, it can gush forth in angry swells and splashes of brown.

Blue Spring

Blue Spring is located approximately 12 miles east of Eminence on Highway 106. (Not to be confused with another "Blue Spring" on the Jacks Fork River near Mountain View) The spring flows relatively slowly from a very deep cave shaft that is situated at the base of a dolomite bluff.

The land around the spring was used as a lodge and retreat until 1960 when it was sold to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). The land around the spring is still a MDC inholding and state designated natural area.

Round Spring

Round Spring is located approximately 13 miles north of Eminence on Highway 19. The spring flows into an almost perfectly circular cavern that has collapsed, and from there it travels through a natural tunnel before it emerges into the spring branch.

Round Spring was also one of the first parks in the Missouri state park system (1932).

Pulltite Spring

Pulltite Spring is located close to Pulltite campground, about 14 miles north of Eminence off of highway EE. The spring flows from the rock structures at the bottom of a cliff forming a small pool.

Pulltite Spring gained its name from the "tight pull" of the horse drawn teams down a steep hill next to the mills that were positioned on the spring-branch. The spring was purchased by St Louis businessmen in 1911 and was run as a fishing resort, until the area was acquired by the National Park Service in 1967.

Welch Spring

Welch Spring is located approximately 2 miles north of Akers on Highway K. The spring flows from the base of a wooded dolomite hill near the historic Welch Hospital, and then flows to the river over a rock impoundment.

Thomas Welch homesteaded Welch Spring, in 1855, and a gristmill was run on the spring-branch until nearly 50 years after the Civil War. Doctor Diehl purchased the spring and the area surrounding the spring in 1913, and ran it as a rest camp for asthma sufferers. After Dr. Diehl’s death the property, including the hospital and spring, was sold to a group of people who managed it as a trout fishing resort; until it was purchased by the National Park Service in 1967.

Prohibited Activities in Springs of Ozark National Scenic Riverways

The following sections of the Superintendent’s Orders regulate activities in springs and spring branches:

Boating and tubing
Boating and tubing are prohibited in the spring and spring branch of Alley, Round, Blue and Big Spring.

Swimming, bathing and wading
Swimming, bathing and wading in springs and spring branches is prohibited.

Scuba diving and snorkeling
Scuba diving is prohibited within all springs and spring branches on Federally owned land within the boundaries of the Riverways without written permit from the Superintendent, under authority of 36 CFR 7.83.

Fishing
Fishing is prohibited in springs and spring branches