Salado Springs consists of five spring complexes in Salado, central Texas, where artesian water rises through faults in Cretaceous Edwards limestone along the Balcones Fault zone. With a strong combined flow, the springs long provided a dependable water source whose recharge area likely lies to the southwest in Williamson County. The site has been used by people for thousands of years, from Paleo-Indian presence to long occupation by the Tawakoni Indians, and it was probably passed by Spanish explorer Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos in 1732. In the nineteenth century, the springs shaped Salado’s growth as a settlement, stage stop, Chisholm Trail stop, and mill site.