The Derita Mineral Springs

"There were times in North Mecklenburg when eggs cost 10 cents a dozen and flour came in 100 lb. sacks and water from H.A. Alexander's Springs cost 10 cents a gallon. The picnic ground was a popular place on Sunday afternoons.

"At least that's what I've been told by the folks who know, Parks Hunter and son Leslie led me on a twilight visit recently to the site where Alexander's Spring House once stood.

'As a young boy, Parks remembered how his grandfather H.A. Alexander, used to carry a bottle of his "Calcic Mineral Waters" to the neighbors whenever they were sick. No one ever swore it would cure what ails you, but Mr. Alexander drank it himself and lived to the ripe old age of 93.

"The business was a big one when the five springs were tapped in the 1900's. The downtown Charlotte office buildings, with no running water of their own, used the huge five gallon, one gallon, and half-gallon bottles at the rate of 450 gallons a day, says Inez Martin of Neal Road. Her father used to drive the old water wagon and the water truck that came later.

"The old spring house has fallen now, but Parks uncovered the old metal ram he used to prime as a boy. No, it isn't a goat. A ram is a gravity-operated water pump, Alexander's used it to pump water a good quarter-mile to their home and into an elevated water tank behind the house.

"And the Derita Mineral Springs, located just north of "Mailbox Hill," the present intersection of Mineral Springs and Neal Rds, operated until World War II. The nearest competitor, a "Silva Waters," at Long Creek leased Alexander's Mineral Springs and closed it down." --- Bernie Samonds, The Mecklenburg Gazette, 1970

Of course, the Sugar Springs Neighborhood stretches back across the old Mineral Springs property now, but you can see some old photos on our website at: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/81956247ISGbGu

Another friend tells me eight springs were actually producing there at one time, so it wasn't surprising when you early homeowners complained of damp crawl spaces and flowing water popping up in their backyards.

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