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"Heat and Healing, Pagosa's Hot Springs"
by Janet Enge

Excerpt reprinted from Cross Currents, A Journal of Life in the Four Corners, January 3, 1997.

The Inn sports heated handrails, new bath houses, and spectacular views of the San Juan River and Pagosa Springs, and it offers discounts to local patrons.

The Spring Inn uses 131-degree water from three sources to first heat their buildings, which lowers the water temperature to 121 degrees for the hot pools.

The flow rate in the pools changes the water completely about every two hours, a rate that keeps bacteria tests at zero, according to general manager Stan Zuege.

Although the Spring Inn is the second largest user of the springs, after the town, Zuege said they use water that otherwise would flow directly into the river. "We only take artesian water," he said, "if you take what's available, there's always a balance."

From the mountain tribes of the Utes, from the Navajos, and from the Apaches, people met at the boiling waters. From the Colorado silver and gold mines, others came to heal their broken bodies.

And today, 80,000 visitors a year come from around the world to soak in the glory of Pagosa Springs' great natural resource.

"A lot of the healing here hasn't been approved by the American Medical Association," Zuege said, "but look at these people. They're happy, they're smiling."

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