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Often shortened to El Dorado or El Do, the city of El Dorado Springs is in Cedar County, Missouri. The city is named for a spring that was believed to have medicinal value. Prior to the arrival of European Americans, the Osage Indians had brought their sick and wounded to the spring. A Vernon County farmer, Joshua Hightower, was taking his wife to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for the supposed healing benefits of that spring. They stopped at the spring in what was to become El Dorado Springs, intending to remain only a night or two, but as she drank from the springs, Mrs. Hightower began to feel better. They stayed for twelve days, after which Mrs. Hightower felt well enough to return to their farm. News of the healing powers of the spring spread quickly, and people flocked to the area. The land was then owned by the Cruce brothers, who recognized the value of the springs in the formation of a new town. They set aside the spring, along with a few acres surrounding it, as a park, and laid out the streets for El Dorado Springs, which was incorporated in 1881. Before long, other springs were discovered within the area, and marketed. However, advances in medicine questioned the medicinal value of the spring, resulting in a decline in the mineral water industry. El Dorado Springs is located along US Highway 54, east of Dederick and Nevada, and west of Coal Hill.

 

 

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