Eden Hot Springs
Canadian Springs
Rancho Grande
Coordinates33°53′46″N 117°03′25″W / 33.896°N 117.057°W / 33.896; -117.057[1]
Elevation1,690 feet (520 m)
Typegeothermal
Temperature109 °F (43 °C)

Eden Hot Springs was a historic hot springs and resort in Riverside County, California, United States.

History

Before settlement, there was a village of Serrano people at what came to be called Eden Springs.[2] Eden, the northernmost of the three hot springs along the San Jacinto fault, had a resort as early as the 1890s.[3] The entrance to the springs property was said to be located at the corner of the Joe Aigurrie ranch along San Jacinto highway[4] and/or south of the so-called Jackrabbit Trail road.[5][6] In the 1900s and 1910s, Eden Springs was owned by James B. Glover (a San Bernardino County supervisor known for his development of roads and water resources) and managed by his son-in-law Frank A. Armstrong.[7][8] Circa 1904, "conveyances for Eden" left from the Star Grocery in Redlands every Wednesday and Saturday at 3 p.m.[9] Picture postcards show that in the early 1900s there was a one-story hotel, cottages, changing rooms, and a bathhouse with an open outdoor "cistern".[3] As of 1908, "cottages and tents provided accommodations for about 50 people, and a bathhouse and small swimming pool allowed use of the water for bathing".[10] Bottled water from the springs was sold under the labels Iron Lithia and White Sulphur.[10] In 1910, a newspaper reported "The property contains 640 acres of rolling foothill land, a large portion of which is tillable. The 30 or 40 mineral springs furnish a flow of 25 inches, which can be used for irrigation purposes. Already a small orchard of different varieties of deciduous fruits has been planted, as well as a vineyard. Among the improvements are a new pavilion, a large cement plunge, several bath houses, a number of new cottages, and a dining room".[11] J. B. Glover died in 1921,[12] and F. A. Armstrong took charge in 1922.[13] In 1926, Frank and Virgie L. Armstrong sold the property to investors from Los Angeles.[14]

"New Guest House at Eden Hot Springs" designed by S. Charles Lee

In 1929 the investment group that had acquired the site commissioned California architect S. Charles Lee to design new resort facilities. Lee told an interviewer many years later, "We built a hotel and bungalows and all the appurtenances to a hot springs hotel".[15] At that time, Lee used a private plane to travel to the dozen or so commissions he had in the Southland, including the fairly remote Eden Springs.[15] The California Spanish Colonial Revival-style hotel was said to be set upon a "mesa" overlooking the canyon and the valley beyond.[16] At that time the site was said to have 23 "medicinal springs".[16] However, the Great Depression was at hand, and according to one account, "during the 1930s all the hot springs in the San Jacinto valley dried up".[3] The property changed hands several times,[4][17] until eventually a man named Axel Springboard took it over and ran it somewhat successfully in the period immediately before and during World War II.[18] The resort was rebranded Keith's Rancho and then Rancho Grande,[19][20] and eventually closed in 1946.[21]

When sold at auction in 1952, Eden Hot Springs was said to be 654 acres, with a "two-story main hotel with 14 suites, an adjoining building with 12 suites, a dining room and kitchen structure, a bathhouse, five cottages and a swimming pool".[21][22] It was then renamed Canadian Springs and was used as a "weekend facility" (timeshare?), eventually closing again in 1958.[18][23]

Eden Springs was evacuated but saved from destruction during the 1975 Badlands fire,[24] stood empty and was sold to new owners in 1977, and was destroyed in an arson fire in 1979.[18]

Fossils

Eden Hot Springs resort was the only access route to a fossil find in San Timoteo Badlands, which was excavated under the sponsorship of Childs Frick from 1916 to 1921.[7][25] Fossils found in the San Timoteo and Mt. Eden Formations included mastodons, ground sloths, a three-toed horse, a giraffe-camel, a very small camel, and a cave bear.[26]

Water profile

According to an U.S. government survey of California springs first published in 1915, "Eight small springs rise within a distance of 100 yards at the base of a steep granitic slope. The water issues less than 200 yards beyond the southeastern border of a series of shales and sandstones of Tertiary age, in which there are dislocations that were probably caused by the uplift of the San Jacinto Range; but the springs seem not to be related causally to the sediments. The maximum temperature of the water is about 110 °F (43 °C). It is moderately sulphureted but does not seem to be otherwise notably mineralized".[10][27]

USGS mineral analysis and classification of waters in the San Jacinto Basin, 1917

See also

References

  1. ↑ Berry, G.W.; Grim, P.J.; Ikelman, J.A. (1980). Thermal springs list for the United States (Report). Key to Geophysical Records Documentation No. 12. Environmental Data and Information Service National Geophysical and Solar-Terrestrial Data Center. Boulder, Colo.: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). p. 14. doi:10.2172/6737326.
  2. ↑ "Riverside County Scenes Varied". The Register. January 15, 1967. p. 110. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  3. 1 2 3 Lech, Steve (2005). Resorts of Riverside County. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 69–70. ISBN 978-0-7385-3078-9.
  4. 1 2 "New Owner Makes Plans to Promote Eden Hot Springs". Riverside Daily Press. August 26, 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  5. ↑ "Asbestos and Cement Plant to be Built". The Perris Progress. February 21, 1924. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  6. ↑ "Quarter Mile Race Feature at Rodeo". Riverside Daily Press. March 26, 1946. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  7. 1 2 "The Bone Mine". The Banning Record. March 7, 1918. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  8. ↑ "James Glover: Man of many talents". Redlands Daily Facts. September 12, 2009. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  9. ↑ "From Frank A. Armstrong". The Citrograph. July 30, 1904. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  10. 1 2 3 Waring, Gerald Ashley (January 1915). Springs of California. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 37. doi:10.3133/wsp338. Water Supply Paper No. 338 – via HathiTrust.
  11. ↑ "Makes Improvements". The Los Angeles Times. January 26, 1910. p. 28. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  12. ↑ "Death Claims James B. Glover; City Pays Tribute to His Memory". Redlands Daily Facts. March 25, 1921. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  13. ↑ "Frank A. Armstrong". The Banning Record. May 25, 1922. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  14. ↑ "In and Around the Courthouse". Riverside Daily Press. March 8, 1926. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  15. 1 2 "Interview of S. Charles Lee" (PDF). library.UCLA.edu. 1986. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  16. 1 2 "Million Dollars Improvements for Eden Hot Springs". Lake Elsinore Valley Sun-Tribune. January 30, 1930. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  17. ↑ "Los Angeles Capitalist Buys Large Interest in Eden Springs". Riverside Daily Press. December 24, 1929. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  18. 1 2 3 "Fire levels historic resort in Hemet". The Valley Tribune. August 15, 1979. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  19. ↑ "Rancho Grande". The San Bernardino County Sun. April 18, 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  20. ↑ "Quarter Mile Race Feature at Rodeo". Riverside Daily Press. March 26, 1946. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  21. 1 2 "Eden Springs Sold at Auction". Riverside Daily Press. May 10, 1952. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  22. ↑ "Golden Sells Store, Buys Hot Springs". Riverside Daily Press. June 26, 1952. p. 22. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  23. ↑ "This Is Canadian Springs". Desert Dispatch. September 11, 1958. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  24. ↑ "Brush fires blacken more than 6,000 acres". The San Bernardino County Sun. September 23, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  25. ↑ Albright, L. Barry; Kendall, Jr., Arthur (August 3, 2000). Biostratigraphy and Vertebrate Paleontology of the San Timoteo Badlands, Southern California. University of California Press. doi:10.1525/california/9780520098367.003.0001. ISBN 978-0-520-09836-7.
  26. ↑ "Big Pine Citizen 2 March 1918 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  27. ↑ Waring, Gerald A. (1919). "Hot Springs". Ground water in the San Jacinto and Temecula basins, California. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 24–26. doi:10.3133/wsp429. Water Supply Paper No. 429. Retrieved 2023-11-14 – via HathiTrust.
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