Big Bone Lick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Bone Lick at Big Bone, Kentucky, USA is the most famous springs in Kentucky. A lick is short for salt lick, a place where animals come to consume salt. They lick it from the ground, and it is necessary in their diets. Big Bone Lick was also used as a source of salt by humans, first by the Indians, and later by the pioneers. The salt was extracted by boiling large quantities of the spring water. The result is a rather grayish crystalline substance, and contains a good deal of sulphur.
Fossils of early mammals from this area were known to both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
From an early period the name Big Bone Springs gained currency, and almost surpassed the use of the word Lick. Towards the end of the last century the old name had a resurgence of popularity due to the quaintness of the name.
