Settlement in the area did not take place until after Kansas became a state in 1861. The first settler in the region was in 1870 by a man named Pfeiffer, who took out the first claim on the property. Kansas Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy toured the region in 1870 and marveled at what he saw. Said Pomeroy, "At first I declared it the Crater of an Ancient Volcano. The Water occupying its hollow center is fathomless, and about 200 feet in diameter in a perfect circle! It is always brimming full and running over on all sides ... The hills about it were as sacred to the Indians as those about Jerusalem." Pomeroy recognized the site's commercial potential and went on to predict that a health resort would soon be built in the region.