The Springs of Manitou

Manitou Springs occupies the valley at the base of Pikes Peak that the Ute and earlier peoples treated as a place of the spirits, the springs at the mountain's foot carrying the name the town took: manitou, the great spirit, in the usage of the Algonquian-speaking peoples who spread the word west. The town grew as a nineteenth-century health resort around the springs, and its founders built the community's layout around drinking them.

Eight springs, each with its own mineral character and carbonation, remain open and free, cup in hand, the civic ritual that defines the town. The Anasazi-era and Ute presence is honored in the valley's interpretive work, and the spring-drinking walk is the town's own devotion, performed by locals and visitors alike.

Visiting

Manitou Springs, 6 miles west of Colorado Springs; the spring walk is public and mapped by the city.

Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manitou_Springs,_Colorado,_1902.jpg), CC BY-SA.