Hiawatha Spring (capped) (Manitou Springs, Colorado)

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This octogonal, stone-lined pit with a staircase was originally the cistern for a spring, now capped, and historically known as the "Hiawatha Spring".

It is believed that this was the same "Hiawatha Spring" that was one of the original natural springs of Manitou Springs. (However there is some doubt, as there is also a slim possibility that the original Hiawatha Spring was a different spring, located on approximately the same site, and that this one is actually a drilled spring that later took the other ones name.)

In any case, before it was capped, this was the primary spring in a cluster of (mostly drilled) springs known collectively as the "Hiawatha Springs".

Development of the (original) spring site began in 1875, when, according to a blurb in the Sep 4, 1875 issue of the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper, a "rustic fence" and seats were placed around it. The same blurb describes the Hiawatha as "one of the finest springs in Manitou".

The "Hiawatha Spring" in the cistern (which may or may not be the original spring) and the cistern itself date from at least as early as the late 1880s. The cistern was almost certainly built at the same time as the retaining wall along Fountain Creek, a few feet to the west. The retaining wall is believed to have been built circa 1887, when the ground was leveled in preparation for the construction of the Manitou Sanitarium/Mineral Springs Hotel.

The Mineral Springs Foundation of Manitou Springs hypothesizes that the spring in the cistern may have been a drilled spring, drilled for the Sanitarium at the same time that the cistern was built (in which case the original spring would presumably have been buried when the ground was leveled). However, this seems unlikely considering the apparent popularity of the original spring.

The cistern was originally topped by an octogonal open-air pavilion, to which a small enclosed wing was later added. (This should not be confused with a different octogonal pavilion that later covered the nearby Ute Chief Magnetic Spring.) This structure was later fully enclosed, moved a few feet to the east, and used as a storage shed by the Ute Chief bottling plant.

The Ute Chief Company began drilling additional springs on its property in the 1890s, including several in the immediate vicinity of the Hiawatha Spring, forming what would subsequently be known as the "Hiawatha Springs". Most of these other springs were later capped.

The Hiawatha Spring itself was reportedly capped in the 1940s. The cistern was later buried, and reportedly re-excavated circa 1970.