California Springs

To the east in the center of this section is a spring flowing from a sandstone formation noted for its pure water. In the early 1850s this spring marked the confluence of a branch trail from Westport Landing and a trail from Osceola, Missouri, where settlers stopped on their way to California. The spring water won a second-place prize for its purity in nationwide competition at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. Bottled spring water was sold in Ottawa by landowners and used in locally-produced soda pop from the 1870s to the 1940s.