McCredie Springs is a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s and a former resort in

Lane County, Oregon Lane County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 382,971, making it the fourth-most populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Eugene, ...

, United States. It is located near

Oregon Route 58 Oregon Route 58 (OR 58), also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18 (see Oregon highways and routes), is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon. The route, signed east–west, runs in a southeast–northwest direction, connecting U.S ...

(OR 58), east of Oakridge, and east of

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

, within the

Willamette National Forest The Willamette National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Oregon. It comprises . Over 380,000 acres (694 mi2, 1,540 km2) are National Wil ...

. It is known for the nearby natural hot springs along Salt Creek.

History

Frank Warner, a trapper, came upon a series of hot springs along Salt Creek and settled near them in 1878. He lived in the cabin he built there until he was evicted by the newly formed

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

(USFS) in the early 1900s. In 1911, John Hardin filed a mineral claim on the land, ostensibly because of the salt found there, but he actually wanted to build a resort on the land leased from the USFS. He named the place Winino Springs and opened a hotel in 1914. William Wallace McCredie known as "Judge", bought the lease from Hardin to build a springs resort in 1916, and established a training quarters for his

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

baseball club, the

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams h ...

. A post office named Winino was established near Salt Creek on July 8, 1924. The compiler of ''

Oregon Geographic Names ''Oregon Geographic Names'' is a compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon, published by the Oregon Historical Society. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArt ...

'' believed the name was of Native American origin, but could not find a definition. The office was closed during the time the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

(now

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

)

Cascade Line Cascade, or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science * Air shower (physics), a cascade (particle shower) of subatomic particles and ionized nuclei **Particle shower, a cascade of secondary particles produced as the result of a high-e ...

was being built, on December 31, 1925, with mail going to Railhead. The resort came to be known as McCredie Springs. McCredie Springs post office operated intermittently from September 14, 1926, until October 2, 1953. The Southern Pacific railroad servicing the area was built in 1923. During its heyday in the 1930s, the resort was served by five Southern Pacific passenger trains each day which increased its popularity. In 1940, the resort community had a population of 19, cabins, a hotel, and a store. However, by the later years of the 1940s a new owner converted the hotel and resort into a brothel, thus diminishing its reputation at the time. The hotel burned to the ground in 1958 and the

Christmas flood of 1964 The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood in the United States' Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California between December 18, 1964, and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday. Considered a 100-year flood, it was the wo ...

destroyed the bridge that provided access to the springs and damaged the swimming pool. The Forest Service cancelled the lease and razed the remaining buildings. Today, the site remains mostly natural. No services remain onsite, however there is a toilet in a nearby parking lot.

Hot springs

McCredie Hot Springs are

s located at , across OR 58 from the community, by the banks of Salt Creek.

Water profile

The geothermally heated mineral water emerges from the ground at per minute at a temperature of . The mineral content includes: sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, silicon dioxide, boron, lithium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chlorine, fluorine.

References

External links

Historic Images of McCredie Springs
from the University of Oregon Libraries
Historic images of McCredie Springs
from the Lane County Historical Society

History

Hot springs

Water profile

See also

References

External links

Further reading