Big Spring (Missouri)
Spring in Missouri
Big Spring is one of the largest springs in the United States and the world. An enormous first magnitude spring, it rises at the base of a bluff on the west side of the Current River valley in the Missouri Ozarks.
Location
Located about four miles downstream from Van Buren, it is within the boundaries of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and its visitor facilities are managed by the National Park Service. It is a contributing resource to Big Spring Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Description
The average flow of 470 cubic feet (13,000 L) of water per second from Big Spring constitutes the second-largest tributary of the Current River. The spring is by far the largest spring in the Ozark Plateau region. The only two springs in the Ozark region that approach the size of Big Spring are Greer Spring and Mammoth Spring. The maximum discharge of Big Spring must be estimated because backwater from the Current River makes accurate high-water measurements impossible.
The spring outlet
The spring issues from the base of a limestone bluff, churning out aqua-blue water with great force, creating whitecaps, then quickly calming to a crystal-clear channel. The spring water travels about 1,000 feet (300 m), where it adds itself to the Current River.
The public source identifies “Big Spring (Missouri)” as spring in Missouri. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Spring and Missouri.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2919668. Authority coordinates are 36.952, -90.994. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “Big Spring (Missouri)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.