Crystal Spring was the main water source for Native Americans and early European settlers of Roanoke and was originally known as the Fountain and the Big Spring. Around 1740, Mark Evans, a Welshman who had secured land grants from King George totaling more than 1,900 acres in the Roanoke Valley, including the 87-acre Big Spring tract at the base of present-day Mill Mountain, became the first pioneer to use the spring and built a grist mill about 400 feet below it. After Evans died in 1748, his eldest son Daniel inherited the mill and the Big Spring homestead, and after Daniel's death in 1755, his wife Rhoda continued to live there. In October 1756 during the French and Indian War, Colonel George Washington inspected the region's forts and water sources for the militia and stayed one night at Widow Evans' home. William McClanahan acquired Big Spring in 1782 and owned more than 3,000 acres in Northwest and South Roanoke, including Mill Mountain. In 1851, his grandson Elijah McClanahan bought the Big Spring homestead and expanded milling operations for flour, corn, and lumber. Fire destroyed the mill in 1886. In 1889, the Roanoke Gas and Water Company purchased all the McClanahan interests and granted 837 acres to the Crystal Spring Land Company, which developed the South Roanoke neighborhood. In 1905, the Roanoke Gas and Water Company bought a modern 200-ton water pump, built a brick station to house it, and installed equipment manufactured by the Snow Steam Pump Company of Buffalo, New York; the pump was replaced by an electric pump in 1957. Crystal Spring remains an important drinking water source for the valley, flowing at about 4.3 million gallons per day, and Crystal Spring Pump Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.