Current River Welch was born in 1859. He died in 1912. Welch was the son of Thomas Welch. Current River Welch owned Welch Cave and spring. (He was named after the river.) Current River and Martha Smith Welch had two sons, James Walter Welch and Arnold Welch, heirs of Welch Cave and spring.
One day James Walter and Arnold were watering a team of horses at the river when they heard a voice across the river. “Who owns this land and is it for sale? My name is Dr. Diehl.” The deed was signed to Dr. Diehl in 1913.
World War I was not far off. The brothers joined the Army and stayed until the war was over in 1918 and then returned to their farm.
Arnold married Essie Dooley and they moved to Colorado. James Walter married Carrie Purcell in 1922, and they moved to St. Louis. Later James Walter moved back to his farm. He owned 100 acres across the river from Welch Cave.
The Welch brothers sold the Welch Cave and spring in 1913 to Dr. Diehl, and work didn’t begin until much later.
Dr. Diehl lived in Roxana, Ill. The roads and communication system were not good. His dream was big and it took time and planning.
Dr. Diehl had a dream of building a hospital that would help people with breathing problems like asthma, hay fever, etc. and when he saw the cave that was his answer. The cave’s conditions were favorable for the hospital. He built a road from the top of a steep hill down to the spring.
Dr. Diehl did a lot of building; houses for his workers to live in, a dam across the spring, a lodge store so people could buy things, and then he built the unusual hospital.
Doctors from all over came to see his hospital. There were some who used the hospital.
Dr. Diehl was not interested in tourism, although he allowed some.
He said some people said that the hospital did help, but could not prove that it did. He also was looking for a cure for asthma.
The doctor did a lot of building of all kinds. He gave the community a lot of work. Contractors came from Salem and all over to work for the doctor.
These were the depression years and people were looking for work. Many worked for a $1 a day. He put food on their tables and people were happy, until tragedy struck.
One of Dr. Diehl’s caretaker’s family, who had moved from Nebraska for a better life, had a small son who liked to fish. He fell off the bluff and down into the river and drowned.
This rocked the whole community up and down the river. He was laid to rest in Akers Cemetery.
Dr. Diehl was a dedicated doctor looking for something different or unusual. One day he discovered one of his people’s daughters had a reverse heart. She looked normal and you couldn’t tell it by looking at her. Back in the early days this was unusual.
Dr. Diehl held a doctor’s meeting at McFarland Clinic in Rolla to study this unusual heart.
Dr. Diehl worked hard to make his dream come true, but later paid the price. His health was not good and he died in 1940. His wife sold the property. The property began to run down, not much was left, only a lot of memories and the 75 million gallons of clear, cold water running through the Current River, the fifth largest spring in Missouri.
From Roxana, Ill., to Welch Cave is a long drive. As soon as the doctor arrived he would get himself a tall glass of Welch Spring water, and he would say this is “good,” this is “pure.”
Louise Welch Derryberry is the granddaughter of Current River Welch.
