Miracle Hot Springs (formerly, Hobo Hot Springs; also known as Compressor Hot Springs and Clear Creek Hot Springs) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the

Kern River Valley The Kern River Valley is a valley and region of the Southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California. History The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu peo ...

, in

Kern County Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is located along the

Kern River The Kern River is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between ...

in the Sequoia National Forest west of Lake Isabella, California, at an elevation of . The earliest known name for this hot spring was Compressor, named after a turbine built by an indigenous miner. The turbine was supplied with water from Clear Creek that drove a compressor that provided air to miners working underground. The name Hobo was based on the rancher's name for the workmen who lived there, who were accused of stealing sheep and cattle. Another account of the name Hobo Hot Springs claims that a hobo camp that included several bathhouses was built in 1901 when the Borel power plant was under construction.

History

In 1927, a hotel was constructed on land leased from the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

. The Hobo Hot Springs post office opened in 1932, and changed its name to Miracle Hot Springs in 1947. The post office operated for 50 years. In 1933 a two-lane highway was built. The nearby Delongha Hot Springs resort went defunct, whereas Miracle Hot Springs flourished. The hotel burned down in 1975, leaving only the rock and concrete soaking pools. In 1976, a 4-lane highway was built, cutting off access to the springs. What was left of the hot springs resort fell into disrepair, and was closed. The area of the soaking pools has been prone to illegal camping, vandalism and trash; a volunteer group, the Hot Springs Angels, cleaned it and educated visitors under an agreement with the Forest Service. The water is high in

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

and

radon Radon is a chemical element; it has symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive noble gas and is colorless and odorless. Of the three naturally occurring radon isotopes, only Rn has a sufficiently long half-life (3.825 days) for it to b ...

. After a death in October 2022, the Forest Service destroyed the pools as a public danger. The area flooded in 2023; after the river level fell, the pools were reconstructed without permission. Another death in February 2024 led the Forest Service to again destroy the pools and to announce that the area of the hot springs will be closed.

Uranium mine

The Miracle Hot Springs uranium mine, also known as the Miracle Mine, is located one mile west of Miracle Hot Springs. In 1954 uranium deposits were found by the prospector Henry Brooks Mann and his associates. The highest radiation counts detected were 6,000 counts per second (background rate: 160 counts per second.) Robert Martin of Miracle Hot Springs owned the Last Chance prospect, one mile east of Miracle Hot Springs. It primarily contained tungsten, and also held low-grade radioactive minerals ten times above background counts. Geologists believe the uranium in the area to be "related to the thermal springs of the area", but D.E. White in 1956 stated that "hot-spring water generally contains less uranium than many other types of water." A 1960 publication of the Atomic Energy Commission states that most of the springs in the area are not radioactive.

Water profile

The hot springs water emerges from the ground at 119 °F / 48 °C at a rate of 150 gallons per minute.

References

{{authority control Springs of Kern County, California Unincorporated communities in Kern County, California Kern River Valley Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States) Unincorporated communities in California Sequoia National Forest

History

Uranium mine

Water profile

See also

References