Salado Springs is the name of five groups of

springs Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

at the town of Salado in Bell County, Texas, in the United States. The springs are located 48 miles (77 km) north of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

or 135 miles (217 km) south of Dallas. The springs, which are not saline (''salado'' is Spanish for "salty"), were likely named for Salado Creek.

Geography and natural history

The Salado Springs are located in the

Balcones Fault The Balcones Fault or Balcones Fault Zone is an area of largely normal faulting Edwards Aquifer in the U.S. state of Texas that runs roughly from the southwest part of the state near Del Rio to the north-central region near Dallas along Inte ...

zone, and they reach the surface through

artesian Artesian may refer to: * Someone from the County of Artois * Artesian aquifer, a source of water * Artesian Builds, a former computer building company * Artesian, South Dakota, United States * Great Artesian Basin, Australia * The Artesian Hotel ...

pressure by way of faults in the Cretaceous Edwards limestone. The main recharge area for the springs is probably several miles to the southwest in Williamson County, where several faults intersect with Salado Creek. The larger of the springs include Robertson Springs, Big Boiling Spring, Elm, Benedict, and Anderson springs. The latter three are located downstream (east) of the others. During the 1980s, the combined flow from all of the springs averaged approximately 122 gallons (460 liters) per second. The Balcones Fault Zone at Barton Springs is a demarcation line for certain ecological systems and species distributions. For example, the California Fan Palm, ''

Washingtonia filifera ''Washingtonia filifera'', the desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm,Flora of North America Association. ''Flora of North America: North of Mexico Volume 22: Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in Part), and Zi ...

'' is distributed strictly west of Barton Springs or the Balcones Fault.C. Michael Hogan. 2009

History

The Salado Springs area was occupied for many years by the Tawakoni Indians, and by Paleo Indian peoples for thousands of years before that. Spanish explorer

Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos (Zevallos) was a soldier and politician who served as governor of Province of Texas (1730–1734) and Coahuila, New Spain (1754–1756). He also served as ''alcalde ordinario'' (ordinary mayor) in Mexico City ...

probably visited the springs in 1732 as he traveled westward through the region. The area was settled by Archibald Willingham in 1851 and subsequently became a well-known stage stop, as well as a stop on the

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. The trail was established by Black Beaver, a Lenape guide and rancher, and his friend Jesse Chisholm, a Cheroke ...

. A dam was built in 1863 to power a mill, but this flooded some of the springs. A court order finally caused the dam to be lowered in 1878.

References

;Sources * Gunnar Brune. 2008. * C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''California Fan Palm: Washingtonia filifera'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
;Notes {{coord, 30.94403, -97.53794, type:landmark_region:US, format=dms, display=title Bodies of water of Bell County, Texas Springs of Texas