Matt C. Bischoff - Touring California and Nevada Hot Springs

Matt Bischoff lives in Monterey, California, with his wife and his sons. He is a professional historian by trade, currently working for California State Parks. One of his greatest enjoyments is exploring Gods creation and seeking out new hot springs. Often the stories surrounding hot springs are just as interesting as the hot springs themselves, as each one has its own unique history. The hot springs listed in this book are some of his favorites for a variety of reasons. His hope is that you will find the same thrill in discovering new hot springs and learning a bit more about their stories.

CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA HOT SPRINGS

To Dr. James L. Bischoff,
who first introduced me to hot springs
and shared his enthusiasm for these geological wonders.

An imprint of Globe Pequot

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Copyright 2018 Rowman & Littlefield

Previous editions were published by Falcon publishing, Inc.

TOPO! Maps copyright 2018 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Photos by Matt C. Bischoff unless otherwise noted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

ISBN 978-1-4930-2911-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-4930-2912-9 (e-book)

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Printed in the United States of America

The author and Globe Pequot assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

So many people helped in the production of this book. Thanks first go to my wife, Patty, who is literally an answered prayer. Thank you for all those late nights putting the maps together, as well as for letting me drag you along on yet another hot springs trip. Thanks must also go to Mary Beth and James Bischoff for encouraging me in this endeavor so many years ago. They are the best marketing staff anyone could ever hope for! I also want to thank the Russo family for all of their support these many years. The dedicated and talented staff at Globe Pequot have made this effort far easierand made me look good through a lot of hard work. Thanks ultimately go to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, who sustains me and upholds me all the days of my life.

Hissing steam vents, erupting geysers, boiling mud pots, and bubbling springs of hot water issuing naturally from the earth are fascinating and mysterious things to behold. Peering into these springs, you get the distinct feeling that you are viewing the interior of the earth. That, in fact, is not far from the truth.

Long before recorded history, ancient people used hot springs for bathing and food preparation. According to archaeological evidence, balneology, the utilization of natural mineral waters for the treatment of disease, has been practiced for over 5,000 years. Hot springs have been used in religious rites and ceremonies in both Egypt and the Middle East for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks and Romans were addicted to the pleasures of spas, and they built important communities around natural hot springs, and harnessed and channeled the thermal waters into elaborate buildings and colossal public baths. The Japanese have enjoyed a bathing tradition continuously from the ancient past to the present, and a visit to a traditional Japanese hot spring resort today is a special experience and pleasure.

Europes Victorian era saw a rebirth of the interest in spas, particularly for the medicinal benefits attributed to drinking the waters, though bathing was still an important activity. A visit to a spa became a fashionable pastime for Europes wealthy, and centers of thermal waters that had earlier been exploited by the Romans were developed into elaborate resort-hotel complexes. Although people had used the natural hot spring pools and ponds for therapy for years, those in the Victorian age desired a more civilized way of bathing. Resorts and spas were the answer, allowing for private and controlled bathing in the medicinal waters.

On this continent, Native Americans for untold years have used hot springs as campsites, village locations, and sacred places. As illustrated in this book, the evidence of native use of hot springs remains today. Soon after Europeans arrived in North America, hot springs were sought out and exploited. The popularity of hot spring resorts in Europe eventually spilled over into America, and they were particularly popular from the 1880s through the turn of the century. Resorts were built at such locations as Hot Springs, Arkansas; Saratoga Springs, New York; Warm Springs, Georgia; and White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Because of lower populations and lack of governmental support, however, these resorts never became as extensive as their European counterparts.

Hot springs throughout the country began to be harnessed as resorts during the Victorian period, in the late nineteenth century. Remains at countless hot springs in the West attest to this boom time in commercial hot spring bathing. The resorts generally promised that their spring waters contained preventative and curative values. By the turn of the century, transportation had vastly improved in the West, allowing people to get to hot spring destinations in days rather than weeks. The arrival of the automobile also increased the mobility of Americans, allowing many people to visit the various hot spring resorts across the country.

The fashion waned by the outbreak of World War I, but by that time all the major thermal areas of the eastern United States had been developed. In the West development of thermal waters was much less extensive because of a much smaller population density. Nevertheless, by the 1950s the boom in hot spring resorts had passed, and many closed down or were simply abandoned. Many of these resorts have never reopened. Today, an increased interest in hot springs has witnessed the reuse of previously abandoned springs, with varying results.

Despite their decline in popularity, hot springs continue to be used for a variety of purposes. In many places around the world, particularly in Europe and Japan, hot springs are still used for medical purposes, and they are believed by millions to have preventative and treatment values for a variety of ailments. Today there are an estimated 1,800 hot springs in the United States, the majority of which are in the West. Out of those hot springs, approximately 115 have been developed into extensive resorts or spas.