Indiana's own designer water.

• Position: Indiana spring water to be bottled and sold by Cameron Springs Co.

Indiana's Own Designer Water

People used to believe the water that bubbled up from Cameron Springs was a cure-all, conquering woes from kidney failure to toothaches. Though most don't subscribe to such ideas anymore, the spring water from Warren County still may turn out to be good for the health of a Hoosier beverage distributor.

National Wine & Spirits Corp. of Indianapolis recently launched the Cameron Springs Co. to bottle and sell the Indiana spring water. The company hopes to cash in on the growing popularity of bottled water, perhaps even winning over drinkers of such international brands as Evian.

"We were in the process of diversification and came across the bottled-water industry as one that fascinated us," says Richard M. Quinn, president of Cameron Springs Co. It's an attractive pie from which to seek a slice. Americans consumed some 2.5 billion gallons of bottled water last year, up about a half billion from the year before, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp. Beverage Industry magazine foresees continued growth through the rest of the decade for a reasons including an aging population, rising disposable income and changing demographic, environmental and sociological trends. In Indiana, experts predict, sales of bottled water will grow 41 percent by 1994.

Health - or the quest for better health - was what brought fame to Cameron Springs more than a century ago. Back in the mid-1880s, a rheumatism-suffering farmer named Samuel Story undertook an ambitious drainage project at the springs near the western Indiana town of Kramer. He spent weeks digging in the sun, quenching his thirst with spring water and wading through hip-deep mud that the springs created. By the end of it all, his rheumatism had disappeared, and he gave credit to the spring water. The astonishing news quickly spread.

William Cameron bought the property, built an small hotel and sold Magno-Mud and Lithia Water. Upon seeing Cameron's success...