Fales Hot Springs is a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

in the Sonora Junction area of

Mono County Mono County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,195, making it the fourth-least populous county in California. The county seat is Bridgeport. The coun ...

, eastern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The property is privately owned, doubling as a personal residence, and is not open to the public. It is located in the eastern Sierra Nevada, at an elevation of 7,319 feet (2,231 m). It is northwest of

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...

History

The name honors Samuel Fales (né False, but his name was falsely corrected later), who purchased the natural hot springs in 1863 and developed the site into a resort in 1877. The Fales post office operated for a period during 1881. By 1908, Fales Hot Springs had a stage coach stop and baths using the hot spring water. According to Ella Cain, a resident of Bodie in the 1890s and of Bridgeport in later years, Sam Fales was in the business of telling tall tales to his dinner guests. According to the records at the Mono County Museum in Bridgeport, Sam Fales transferred control of the facilities to J.M. Mawer in 1908, but lived at the hot springs until his death in 1933 at the age of 104. The resort remained in use under various owners until it exploded in a Butane filling accident in 1952. The current residence is located about 1/4 mile north of the original stage stop, the resort having been re-constructed in 1954 using the settlement money from the 1952 accident. Only 2 other residences can be seen from the property, in spite of a panoramic vista to the West. Southbound drivers on U.S. Route 395 sometimes stop in Bridgeport to report a fire at the junction, thinking the steam rising from Hot Creek was smoke.

Resources

Several attempts have been made to exploit the minerals around the Hot Spring without success.

Travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

deposits are described as too porous to be usable. Some amount of Uranium was discovered by the DOE, but does not appear to have been mined. A deep test well did not yield water hotter than . The water from the spring is reported as .

References

{{authority control Hot springs of California Hot springs of Mono County, California