Hunters Hot Springs (often stylized as Hunter's Hot Springs) are natural geothermal springs located in Lake County,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, north of Lakeview. The springs are named after Harry Hunter, who bought the springs in 1923. The best known feature within the geothermal area is ''Old Perpetual'', which is Oregon's only continuously erupting

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in ...

. The geyser was formed as a result of a well drilling attempt while Hunter was developing a health resort at the springs.

Springs

The hot springs were discovered in 1832 by trappers from the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

, who noted in their journal that the water was unbearably hot.Birkby, Jeff
"Geyser (Hunter's) Hot Spring"
''Touring Washington and Oregon Hot Springs'', Globe Pequot Publishers, Guilford, Connecticut, 2002, p. 120. They are a small group of

alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...

ne thermal springs in Lake County's

Goose Lake Valley The Goose Lake Valley is located in south-central Oregon and northeastern California in the United States. It is a high valley at the northwestern corner of North America's Great Basin. Much of the valley floor is covered by Goose Lake, a lar ...

, north of Lakeview. The temperature of the various springs ranges from . The spring water is alkaline with a high concentration of

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

and other minerals. This environment supports large bacterial mats in the natural channels that drain the springs. As a result, the bacterial mat communities at the hot springs have been studied and analyzed by

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

s from around the world.

Old Perpetual

The most striking feature at Hunters Hot Springs is a geyser named Old Perpetual. It once released a plume of water into the air every 90 seconds. Because of its former regular and rapid eruption pattern, the geyser was one of Lake County's most popular tourist attractions. The geyser, still heavily promoted by the local Chamber of Commerce as a "must see" destination, stopped erupting for several years after June 2009, possibly due in part to the nearby geothermal development by the Town of Lakeview to supply the Warner Creek Correctional Facility with water for heating. Proposed further development of the site for geothermal power generation purposes threaten the entire hot springs wetlands. , it seems to be regularly erupting again.

Resort

Hunters Hot Springs are named after Harry Hunter, a land developer from

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

who visited the site in 1919 while on a tour of the western United States. In 1923, he purchased the parcel that included the hot springs with the intention of developing a

health resort A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs; in the era before modern biochemical knowledge and ...

. He began by organizing ''Hunter's Chlorine Hot Springs Club'', a business established to develop the hot springs as a therapy, rest, and recuperation resort. The club's first president was H. A. Utley and the resort's general manager was Dr. H. G. Kelty. As Hunter started to develop the site in 1923, he was not satisfied with the amount of hot water the springs produced naturally so he had three wells drilled on the property. To his surprise, all three erupted as hot water geysers. Two of the geysers stopped erupting while Old Perpetual continued every 40 to 120 seconds, depending on the seasonal water table level, until 2009. The original resort building was constructed in 1925. As soon as the facility was finished, Dr. Kelty moved his medical practice to the site. A second building was added in 1926. In 1929, Kelty joined four other doctors to open a medical clinic at the site. Together the doctors purchased the hot springs, club facilities and equipment. In November 1929, a restaurant was opened to support their clinic practice. The clinic was sold in 1943. The new owners built a motel and cocktail lounge to complete the resort facilities. In the early 1990s, the outdoor pool was replaced and a racquetball court was added. New owners renovated the resort facilities again in 2000. Today, the resort operates a motel, lounge, and restaurant. The mineral pool is available to guests and the viewing area for Old Perpetual is open to the public.

Name

The springs have long been known as Hunter's Hot Springs, and locals still refer to them that way. The 2000 owner renamed the resort to ''Geyser Hot Springs'', however the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

only recognizes Hunters Hot Springs and the variant name Geyser Hunters Hot Springs.

References

{{Authority control Hot springs of Oregon Bodies of water of Lake County, Oregon