For centuries, Native American tribes gathered here to bathe, trade, and heal. The springs were regarded as neutral ground, a shared site where water tempered conflict and invited rest. Accounts of tribal use across the North Platte River Valley echo that respect for the mineral-rich flow, which many viewed as medicine in motion. You can trace that lineage in local histories and interviews preserved by the community’s museums and archives, including the Platte Valley material on local Native use and early settlement.
