Last Updated: September 3, 2026
Eminence is in the center of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. It’s one of the nation’s first protected waterways — in fact it was the first of them, established in 1964, four years before the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act existed at all. The park encompasses the Current and Jacks Fork rivers. These rivers are known for their clear, calm and cool water which is ideal for swimming, fishing, paddling and tubing. Eminence is a small town, less than 600 people live here. The post office was established in 1844. We knew this because we needed it to mail our taxes on time.
Eminence, Missouri
It has a very small-town feel. There is a gas station, restaurant, grocery store, and hardware store. During the summer, the population swells because of all the slow-moving shallow rivers. Kayakers, tubers, and sunbathers come here to get away. From Hardin, Kentucky it was a 3.5 hour drive to Eminence, Missouri.
The reason there are so many springs here is the same reason we have been running into caves all month. The Ozarks are a dissected plateau of dolomite and limestone — soluble rock — and water has been working through the joints in it for a very long time. Missouri has more than 4,400 springs and calls itself the Cave State; this one park alone has over 400 recorded caves inside its boundary. Rain falls on the uplands, disappears into sinkholes and losing streams, travels underground — sometimes thirty miles of it — and comes back out at the bottom of a bluff as a spring.
It is the third version of the same story in about a month. At Mammoth Cave the water hollowed out the longest cave system in the world. At Bowling Green it opened a hole in the floor of a museum and swallowed eight Corvettes. Here it comes back to the surface, eighty-odd million gallons a day at a time, and turns an ordinary river into something you can see the bottom of.
Circle B Campground, Eminence
We were the only short timers there. They had full service but no WIFI. During the summer, they get over 600 guests at a time.
The Jacks Fork River runs adjacent to the property. Our views were beautiful.
We had a lot of rain and were treated with a full rainbow. Eventually, we had a rain free day, so we explored a couple of the nearby springs. There were more springs to explore, but we ran out of rain free days.
Blue Spring
About 14 miles from Eminence, Blue Spring feeds into the Current River. It is one of the deepest springs in the United States at over 310 feet — the deepest known spring in Missouri, and the sixth largest by flow.
Because of its depth, the spring has a beautiful blue color. The spring averages 87 million gallons of water flow a day. The colour is a combination of that depth, the dissolved limestone and dolomite the water has come through, and the sky overhead — which is presumably why the Osage are said to have called it the Spring of the Summer Sky. It is a better name than Blue Spring.
The trail to the spring was filled with wildflowers like these bluebells and violets.
There were also butterflies taking in minerals, salt and amino acids from the soil for reproduction. The behaviour is called puddling, and it is almost entirely a male activity. Nectar is sugar and very little else, so the sodium and nitrogen a male needs have to come from somewhere — damp gravel, mud, sap, dung. He then passes much of it to the female during mating, packaged with the sperm, and she puts it into her eggs. So a group of butterflies sitting on a wet patch of trail is not drinking. It is provisioning the next generation, and the wet gravel beside a spring is about the best source of it going.
Sandy found a frog along the bank of the Current River.
Alley Spring Grist Mill
Alley Spring pours out over 81 million gallons of beautiful turquoise water a day. It comes up in a funnel-shaped basin about 32 feet deep and runs cold and constant all year, which is the whole reason there is a mill standing over it.
The first mill was built in 1868. Eventually a turbine was used instead of a water wheel. Over the years, the mill was a home, a farm, school and place to meet for dances, baseball and even roller-skating.
The red building standing there now is not that first mill. George Washington McCaskill put it up in 1894 as a merchant mill — a step up from grinding a neighbour’s corn — and fitted it with steel roller machinery rather than millstones. That is where the turbine comes in: instead of an exterior water wheel it ran on a thirty-five-inch Leffel turbine submerged in the spring branch, which meant constant power in any weather, from water that never froze and never dried up. It was not painted red at first. It went up unpainted, then white with green trim, and only later became the building on every postcard in southern Missouri.
And all those other uses were real. John Knotts bought the place in 1902 and added a store and a blacksmith shop; the school across the way had 42 students enrolled by 1903 and doubled as the church; and a later owner, Conrad Hug, rebranded the whole thing “Crystal Spring Town Site” and ran it as one of Missouri’s first tourist resorts. A mill on a spring was never only a mill. It was the reason a community had somewhere to be.
There is a nice trail around the property. It was early spring, so wildflowers were starting to bloom. The trout lily is worth a second look — the mottled leaves give it its name, and a colony can take the better part of a decade to raise a single plant to flowering size, so a hillside of them is older than it looks.
Visitor Information
Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Address: Headquarters at 404 Watercress Drive, Van Buren, MO 63965. Phone: 573-323-4236. Hours: The riverways are open year round, 24 hours a day. Admission: Free; camping and some services are charged. Website: nps.gov/ozar.
Blue Spring. About 14 miles from Eminence, reached from Highway 106 and then a gravel road, with a short walk in along the Current River. Admission: Free. Note: There is no swimming at the spring itself. The last stretch of road is gravel and is not somewhere to take a large rig.
Alley Spring and Mill. Location: About 6 miles west of Eminence on Highway 106. Hours: Grounds open daily; the mill interior is open seasonally, generally late spring through autumn, and is worth timing your visit for. Admission: Free. Facilities: Campground, picnic area and a loop trail around the spring.
Big Spring. Not on our trip, but it is the largest spring in Missouri and one of the largest in the country, averaging around 293 million gallons a day — more than three times Blue Spring. It is near Van Buren, about an hour southeast of Eminence.
Circle B Campground. Location: On the Jacks Fork at Eminence. Hookups: Full service. Note: No WiFi, and cell coverage through this part of Shannon County is patchy. In summer this is a very different place — they take upwards of 600 guests at a time.
Practical Tips
Go looking for the wild horses. We did not see them and wish we had. Shannon County is the only place in Missouri where free-roaming horses still range, in the Current and Jacks Fork valleys, protected by a federal law passed in 1996 and looked after by the Missouri Wild Horse League. Ask locally where the herds have been, and look at dawn and dusk in the open river bottoms and fields.
Come outside summer if you want the rivers to yourself. Eminence has fewer than 600 residents and absorbs an enormous seasonal crowd. Spring gives you wildflowers, high clear water and almost nobody, at the price of a lot of rain.
Budget a spring per rain-free day. We managed two and there are many more. Round Spring, Pulltite, Welch and Big Spring are all within reasonable reach, and each one looks different depending on light and recent rainfall.
Watch the gravel roads with a trailer. Several of the spring accesses, Blue Spring included, finish on gravel. Scout them in the tow vehicle first rather than committing the rig.
Do not expect signal. There was no WiFi at the campground and coverage through the riverways is unreliable. Download maps before you arrive, and note that Eminence has a post office that has been there since 1844 if you need to send something the old way, as we did.
Stay out of the spring basins. These are fragile systems, and what falls into a sinkhole thirty miles away comes out here. The rivers are for swimming; the springs are for looking at.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ozark National Scenic Riverways? An 80,000-acre national park unit protecting more than 130 miles of the Current and Jacks Fork rivers in southern Missouri. Established in 1964, it was the nation’s first scenic riverways — created four years before the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Why are there so many springs around Eminence? The Ozarks are built on soluble dolomite and limestone. Rainwater sinks into sinkholes and losing streams, moves through underground passages — sometimes for thirty miles — and re-emerges at the base of bluffs. Missouri has more than 4,400 springs and over 400 recorded caves lie inside this park alone.
How deep is Blue Spring in Missouri? Over 310 feet, which makes it the deepest known spring in the state and one of the deepest in the country. It averages around 87 million gallons a day and the Osage are said to have called it the Spring of the Summer Sky.
Can you swim at Blue Spring? No. Swimming is not permitted at the spring, and the water is cold enough year round that you would not enjoy it. The Current and Jacks Fork rivers themselves are excellent for swimming, floating and tubing.
When was Alley Spring Mill built? A mill stood on the site by 1868. The red building you see today was put up in 1894 by George Washington McCaskill as a steel roller mill driven by a submerged 35-inch Leffel turbine rather than a water wheel.
Where can you see the wild horses of Shannon County? They range free in the Current and Jacks Fork river valleys around Eminence, most often in open bottoms and fields at dawn and dusk. They are protected by federal law and managed by the Missouri Wild Horse League. Sightings are luck, not a guarantee.
What is the largest spring in Missouri? Big Spring, near Van Buren, at roughly 293 million gallons a day — one of the largest springs in the United States and also part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
When is the best time to visit Eminence? Summer is the float season and the town fills up. Spring brings wildflowers, strong spring flow and almost no crowds, with the risk of steady rain. Autumn gives colour and settled weather.
From Eminence it was a three-hour drive west across the Ozarks to a town with a rather different atmosphere — Branson, Missouri.
