Minnehaha Springs is an unincorporated community located in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. It was named for the fictional Native American "princess," Minnehaha, and the mineral springs on the Lockridge farm. It is the only community with this name in the United States. On the site of what is now Camp Twin Creeks warm mineral springs can still be found. History Early History Reportedly residents found Indian relics near the mineral springs in the region, which is why it was named Minnehaha, after a Native American maiden. Thermal springs were often sacred places for Native Americans, and they believed in the healing powers of the water. Most major thermal springs in the United States have some kind of record of use by local Native American tribes. Springs were neutral ground where tribes could rest after a battle. The Lockridge family found the Minnehaha springs on their farmland, and they tested the water first in 1891 and then again in 1910. The results revealed that the water had similar chemical characteristics to the water of the Hot Springs in Bath County, Virginia and of Bethesda Spring in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Lockridge family created the Pocahontas Mineral Water Development Company and began selling bottled mineral water. The water was advertised as “pure” with “medicinal virtue,” and the advertisement promised that “the most delicate stomach can retain it.” The spring's waters were used to aid with eczema, diabetes, and all forms of Bright's disease. The spring water was found to be abundant with silica and calcium carbonate. The Railroad In 1900 a new railroad station in Marlinton, due to the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's Greenbrier Division, placed Minnehaha Springs in a more accessible position for travelers and tourists. In order to attract tourists, spring resorts and tourist resorts in general, had to be easy-to-get-to. In the nineteenth century, spring proprietors were involved in transportation improvements within their surrounding area. They lobbied for the development of railroads, turnpikes, river networks, and canals. Sometimes spring proprietors would work directly with railroad companies in order to establish rail stations within close distance of their resorts. The importance these transportation networks were for business is reflected in the increased presence of spring visitors in the late 1870s and 1880s when rail travel was becoming easier and more frequent. Turn-of-the-century Tourism Minnehaha Springs Hotel By 1914, the Lockridge family built a hotel overlooking the