The Landscapes of Hot Springs and Mineral Springs
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THE LANDSCAPES OF HOT SPRINGS AND MINERAL SPRINGS IN WESTERN OREGON by HOWARD HOROWITZ A THESI S Presented to the Department of Geo3rophy and the Graduate School of the University of O regon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arh September 1973 ' ' r r r_; ~ iv r [ r ACKNOWLEDGMENT Special thanks are due to many people whose assistance and advice helped r make this thesis possible. Professor Gene Martin, my advisor, was particularly helpful in organizing a large volume of seemingly scattered material. Pr'ofessors [_ Edward T. Price and Carl Johannessen also contributed useful advice and assistance in this proiect. Special credit is also due to George Abdill, curator of the Douglas County Museum, and Chris Bettis of the Lane County Pioneer Museum for extra r_ ordi~ary assistance in diggirJg up source materials. I am also grateful for the continuing patience shown by friends, family, and office mates the duration of this r effort. r [ r r r r ri V L.Jl r\ TABLE OF CONTENTS r· r PAGE INTRODUCTION • . 1 r l CHAPTER THE USE OF SPRINGS BY AMERICAN INDIANS . 8 r II SPAS AND "SOCIETY" •••••••• ; ••••••• . 13 Ill CLAIMS REGARDING THE CURATIVE POWERS OF r SPRING WATER • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 22 . r~· IV MINERAL WATERS BOTTLING PLANTS . 27 l V VALLEY AND FOOTHILLS MINERAL SPRINGS •• . 32 r Hubbard Mineral Springs • • • • • • • . 33 Giesy's Mineral Springs · ••••••• . 36 r Wild Pigeon Springs•••••••••• . 36 · Wi I hoi t Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 37 Johnson's Mineral Springs •••••••••••••• 39 Fairdale Mineral Springs ••••••••••••• 41 rL London (Calapooyo) Springs • ~ •••••••.•• • • ~ Boswel I Mineral Springs • • • • • • • • • • • •• ' . 45 r Sodaville ••••••••••••••••••• 49 Cascadia Mineral Springs •••••• , • • • • • . 51 Waterloo • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 53 r Upper So:f a • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 54 Socia Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 54 Elk Springs • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 55 ! 56 iq - VI THE CASCADES HOT SPRINGS ••••••••••••••••• r i Swim • • • • . •..•.••••..••. Sl. r Brei tenbush Hot Springs • • • • • . 59 r Belknap Springs ••• ., •••••• . 63 , ~r r I r~ vi \ r: CHAPTER PAGE 1 r·: Foley Hot Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •••••• 67 Rider Creek Hot Springs • • • • • • • • • • • •••••• 69 r: Kitson Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 71 McCredie- Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •••••• 73 Bagby Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 77 Austin Hot Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••••••• 79 r· North Umpqua Hot Springs • • • • • • 79 rf VII JACKSON COUNTY SPRINGS •••••••• . .. 81 Buck~orn Springs ••••••••••••• . .. 84 1 r Wagner s So:la Springs • • • • • • • . • • • . ~ . 87 Colestin • • • ~ • • • • • • • • • • • •• 89 Bybee Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 91 r Helman White Sulphur Baths ••••••••••••••• 93 White Sulphur Springs Hotel ••••••••••••••• 95 Lithia Springs •••••••••••••••••••••• 'Tl . r~ Jackson Hot Springs • • • • • • • • • • ••••••••• 100 i ; Dead Indian So:! a Springs • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 101 r McCollister So:f a Springs •••••••••••••••• 101 i VIII THE INFLUENCE OF TRANSPORTATION PATTERNS .... i 102 r~ ON THE LANDSCAPE OF SPRINGS •••••••••••• ~ IX FUTURE PROSPECTS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 108 r i X SOURCES OF INFORMATION. ... 114 r i BIBLIOGRAPHY. 119 r r r r :. r ri,·':.l-,=- . ... rrrmermecee,r;tn m = me r r,.( vii r r· LIST OF MAPS r PAGE r Iden ti fl cation Key • • • • • •• . 5 Physical Domains of Western Oregon Springs . 7 r Land Use at Spring Sites, 1800 . 18 r Land Use at Spring Sites,. 1910 . 19. Land Use at Spring Sites, 1940 ·• . 20 I r Land Use at Spring SHes, 1970 . 21 r- Mineral Waters Bottling Plants. • . 31 r Ashland Region •••••••• . 82 · r LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS r Colestin . viii . 83 Kingsbury . • . ~ . r Cinnabar . 118 r If r {; ; r f r viii .. ·-"\~---· ;mHH mm mm m1 mmnn 11111 11 , -nrrn .. I 4 t' •. ""' ' • • ,! '· ..... - - ........... ....,.._ ......... ~-- .. .... _ ~•- ... ~--.,i:..--·-::.c :..··. • c L,. ·- . ~'; -· • - • • .. Celestin Main Lodge, around 1885 (photo from fi /es of Jackson County Museum) I. r ....... r~ r INTRODUCTION Hot springs and mineral springs hove been regarded as extraordinary natural features by mankind since the down of civilization. On every continent, spring r sites hove been places of veneration set aside for purposes of healing. During the Age of Exploration, the search for magical spring waters ranked with the search for r . gold as a prime mover in the exploration of the New World--~once De Leon and r Hernando De Soto are two of the more famous seekers of renewal from such waters. r The western mountain belt of North America, a geologically active part of the world, is generously endowed with both hots springs and mineral springs. r-~ This thesis will attempt to examine these springs located west of the crest of the r Oregon Cascades, particularly from the viewpoint of the cultural geographer: what kinds of activities and landscape features hove marked these springs, and how do r changes in the landscapes of springs reflect changes in human society? r Western Oregon's hot .and mineral springs were werr known to the American Indians, and there are many accounts of how various tribes used the mineralized r ' waters. The springs with the biggest volume of water and most accessible location r were quickly claimed by the pioneer settlers, and commercial development at these I prime sites was well underway by the 1870s. Although there were great variations r j r , in the scope and extent of development from place t_o place, they all exploited the r medicinal qualities of the water. Other attractions may have existed at a given r spa, but the water itself was the unique element that defined the place. Some spas L r r 2 had sanatoriums with a medical doctor in residence; others did not. At the spas the social amenities were often as important as the springs themselves: many had dance halfs, restaurants, entertainment, and sports facilities. Other kinds of commercial activities, such as mineral water bottfing plants, often grew up around the springs. r Although hot springs and mineral springs were places of importance in i earlier times, they have been gradually abandoned during the course of the twentieth l century. Most of the hot spring and mineral spring sites today can be considered r "relict landscapes 11 --forgotten places with the remnants of once elegant buildings. i It· is the author's contention that this abandonment, which is not unique to western l Oregon but is part of a general pattern throughout the United States, resulted largely from a combination of factors including changes in medical practice and r increased efficiency of transportation systems. Changes in medical habits resulted in much less emphasis on the curative r values of hot and mineral spring waters. The long-standing tradition of "taking the r waters" was gradually all but forgotten in Oregon and elsewhere in this country. The increasing rapidity and freedom of movement resulting from the triumph of the r automobile, and the parallel changes in our society's leisure-time habits, worked r to the detriment of the spas throughout the United States. i Und~rlying these and other valid explanations for the decline of hot and mineral spring landscapes was the gradual erosion of the existence of the places in r our individual and collective consciousness. This erosion is rather dramatic~lly r illustrated in the extraordinary drop-off in the field of published literature about '::-.:··· .. :·. I.•.,, fl r r r,~ 3 ( r mineralized springs in recent decades, at a time when the field of publishing itself has expanded greatly. Beniamin Waterhouse's study of the mineral springs at r· Saratoga were included in the fifth and later editions of Jedidiah Morse's American r Universal Geography, which Y!as popular around 1800. Other important early r American works, including Bell's On Baths and Mineral Waters {1831), periodical magazines such as the Water-Cure Journal (1840s and 50s), and compendiums such as Crook's Mineral Waters of the United States and their Therapeutic Uses {1899), r are presently unav9ilable and apparently have no modern ~ounterparts. Another indication of the decline of hot and mineral springs in recent r decad~s is the relative lack of interest in those springs which were set aside as r~- public parks in an earlier era. Platt National Park in Oklahoma (1906) and Hot r Springs National Park in Arkansas {1921) are not among the most renowned or heavily visited national parks today, although the Arkansas springs were very r famous at one ti me. ~ . In 1859, Oregon's Act of Admission into the Union as a State provided in ,\ ~ ·r 1 'i 1 Section 4 for the free land grant acquisition of 4p to twelve mineral springs, each J r ~ with six ·sections (3,840 acres) of adjoining land. However, due to 11 the stupidity, ~r indifference, and lack of vision of certain of our early State offi dais" (Governor Oswald West, Oregonian, 2/18/1948),, no application for potent was made within the three years during which the land-grant proposition was in effect. If the state hod acted on the proposition, then the landscapes and history of Oregon's hot and mineral springs would certainly have been very different. At any rate, Sodaville r fl ' r_ 4 t r Springs evenhJally became Oregon 1s first State Park, and Cascadia Springs was later added to the State Park System. In general, the springs