Lumber yard was so large and fast-flowing that the indigenous people from that area had an encampment there. Remains of this encampment were visible in the early days of the town. There was a large spring that flowed from the side of the hill between East St. Paul Street and East Devlin Street, down a gully into Spring Creek. Springs still feed the pond of water at the foot of Number One slag dump on East St. Paul Street. This area is now the "Coal Mine Park" owned by Spring Valley PRIDE. The first drinking water supply was piped from large springs on North Sixth Street. So, with the springs and valleys, it was easy to conceive the name Spring Valley. There is a record that the Indians called this territory, "The Valley of the Springs." The fact that Spring Valley is located at the point in the river valley where the high bluffs, which contains the famous stream, are closer together than anywhere else in the grain belt and that there is a minimum flood plain has made this point most attractive for the location of grain elevators. It has become the fulcrum of the grain handling industry of the upper section of the Illinois River. History Coal Spring Valley was founded in 1884 in the heart of the coal fields of Northern Illinois for the express purpose of mining of coal. The building of Spring Valley was the enterprise of Henry J. Miller, one of the first settlers of this area, and his son-in-law, Charles J. Devlin. Charles Devlin had lived in Peru, Illinois as the manager of the Union Coal Company in LaSalle. They conceived the idea of establishing a coal metropolis, in the Valley and on the slopes of the bluffs bordering Spring Creek, in the southeastern corner of Bureau County. They acquired the mineral rights of and purchased on which to build the town. They secured the financial aid and cooperation of coal and railroad capitalists, E.N. Saunders of St. Paul, Minnesota, a director of the Chicago and North Western railroad, Mr. Taylor of What Cheer, Iowa, and William L. Scott of Erie, Pennsylvania. Scott was a United States Senator from Pennsylvania during the administration of President Grover Cleveland. Most of these men are remembered in the name of the streets of the town. Two companies were formed, the Spring Valley Coal Company in partnership