Manitou Mineral Springs

The 7 Minute Spring was drilled near the former Manitou House Hotel in 1909. Every 7 minutes a geyser erupted. In 1993 a park was developed surrounding a newly drilled spring. Don Green, Maxine Green, and Bill Burgess collaborated on two fonts at the spring.[6]

Cheyenne Spring House, near the Navajo Spring and the Spa, was built in the 1890s of red sandstone. It is a soda spring. Like the Navajo Spring, it has a high overall mineral content, but not a high content of any specific mineral. The building was constructed by the Manitou Mineral Water company.[6][17] Its sweet water comes from limestone aquifers thought to be more than 20,000 years old and located about one mile below the surface.[18] The spring's water is available to the public in the bronze sculpture by Paul Rogers that stands a few feet from the spring house.

The Iron Spring Geyser was drilled on Ruxton Avenue in 1910 by Joseph Hiestand to increase the availability of iron-rich mineral water, also known as a chalybeate water, in the town. The spring water also contains a high content of fluoride, silica, sodium and potassium.[6][17] In the 1880s "health seekers" stopped at the spring during their daily walk.[18]

Previously, the spring would erupt every 45 minutes and shoot up to 7 feet into the air. It was located in the Navajo Geyser Pavilion. The spring which is privately owned was restored in 2006, but ceased to flow in later years. There is now no sign of the Spring in the Manitou Outpost store building where the guide's photo displayed it. The spring was plugged and a sidewalk was paved over it. The spring was later renovated into the hand pump that exists today.[18]

Native Americans and early settlers came to the Navajo Spring along the Ute Trail to take the water believed to have healing powers. Its water supplied the local bathhouse and was the source of the bottled spring water sold as "Ginger Champagne" and "Manitou Table Water". In general, the water has a high mineral content, but does not have an exceeding level of any particular minerals. The spring font, designed by Chris Dysart, is located behind the Patsy's popcorn kiosk on Manitou Avenue.[6][17][19]

Shoshone Spring's spring house, built in the 1890s, is located on Manitou Avenue. It has the "greatest amount of deep-seated water from the karst aquifer system and the highest mineral content of the town's springs, and particularly high content of chloride, calcium, alkalinity, lithium, manganese and zinc. Because of its high mineral content, it was considered the most "medicinal" of Manitou's springs, partly because of its sulphur content. The spring house was constructed of red sandstone from the nearby Kenmuir Quarry, which is now the Red Rock Canyon Open Space.[6][17][18][20]

Soda Spring is one of the natural springs in Manitou Springs and once in an open air pavilion, the spring is located now in the Spa building[18] basement.

Stratton Spring, named for Winfield Scott Stratton, was drilled in 1936 by the Stratton Foundation. It is located at "the loop", a circular intersection at the end of Manitou Avenue, which was the end of the avenue's railroad car line in the early 20th century. A sculpture, created by Fred Darpino, is located at the site.[6][18]

Located on Ruxton Avenue, Twin Spring combines waters from two different depths and flow from one font. The spring was once called Twin Lithia Springs, as Lithium is present in the spring water at a concentration of .233 mg/L.[21] The water, high in magnesium, is considered a "sweet" water, used by locals to make lemonade. Aside from the pleasing taste, it is also sought for its potassium and calcium content. The spring was drilled by William S. Crosby in the 1920s.[6][17][18]

The spring, located at the far western end of Manitou Avenue, is a privately owned spring. A sculpture, created by Steve Titus, of a Native American man symbolizes the historic use of advertising sculptures established around town to promote bottled Ute Chief Mineral Water. The metal sculpture is a replica of the original plaster sculpture of the same design that was on the site in the first half of the twentieth century. The Ute Chief Spring no longer flows.[6][17]

The spring was drilled in 1920 by the son-in-law of Jerome B. Wheeler, an investor in Aspen and Manitou Springs, Colorado, creating the Manitou Mineral Water bottling plant and building the Wheeler Clock on Manitou Avenue. (He also built the Hotel Jerome in Aspen.) The spring is located near the location of his home, Windemere, which is where the United States Post Office is now located.[6][17][18]