Desert Hot Springs is a geothermal geographic area in Riverside County, California with several
hot springs.
[Desert Hot Springs Historical Society (2014). ''Desert Hot Springs (Images of America)''. Arcadia Publishing. Page 7. .][Vokac, David and Joan (2017). ''Desert Hot Springs, California: Spa Town, U.S.A.'' Westphalia Press. Page 3. .] Since 1941, the California Department of Conservation has recorded approximately 200 geothermal wells (with temperatures below 212 °F) that have been drilled in this geographic area; approximately 50 of which are used for commercial spas and pools.
History
The hot springs were used for hundreds of years by the
Cahuilla Native American peoples long before the early settlers arrived.
[Desert Hot Springs Historical Society (2014). ''Desert Hot Springs (Images of America)''. Arcadia Publishing. Page 27. .] They referred to the area as ''Sec-he'' (boiling water).
The springs were an integral aspect of both their creation myths as well as their culture, in the form of ''nukatem'' (sacred spirit creatures.)
In the 1820s, the Mexican explorer, Don José Romero called the area ''Agua Caliente'' (hot water).
In 1862, the Homestead Act was put into place by Abraham Lincoln, and shortly thereafter, non-Native explorers and settlers began to arrive. The
City of Desert Hot Springs and the Desert Hot Springs Historical Society note that Jack Riley arrived in 1908, but did not settle there.
These sources also state that the first white settler was a rugged woman pioneer, Hilda M. Gray, who developed a homestead south of Two Bunch Palms.
Later, in 1913, the homesteader,
Cabot Abram Yerxa settled there, and he described the springs at Two Bunch Palms and at Seven Palms in his book, ''On the Desert Since 1913'', and called the area Miracle Hill.
In the 1930s, Yerxa and fellow homesteader Bob Carr began developing the area, and in 1941 opened a bathhouse.
The area was later heavily developed with spa resorts and came to be known as the "Mineral Water Capital of the World".
Water profile
The hot mineral water emerges from the ground at 120 °F to 160 °F.
Both hot and cold springs in the area are tasteless and odorless.
The mineral content of the waters are
Aluminum Oxide,
Barium
Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element.
Th ...
,
Bicarbonate,
Calcium,
Chloride,
Copper,
Fluoride
Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typ ...
,
Iron Oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...
,
Manganese,
Magnesium,
Silica,
Sodium,
Sulfate. The ph (units): 8.3 and specific conductance (mmhos): 388.
The water samples from the south side of the Mission Creek fault have high calcium and bicarbonate levels, where as those to the northeast side of the fault have elevated sodium and sulfate ions.
Geology
Meteoric water from the
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain â ...
flows along the Mission Creek
fault where it is heated and eventually crests in
alluvial deposits.
See also
*
List of hot springs in the United States
*
List of hot springs in the world
References
{{Reflist
Hot springs of California
Geology of Riverside County, California
Coachella Valley
Springs of Riverside County, California
History of Riverside County, California