History of the Hot Springs

Let us tell you about the power and tradition of these waters.

Long before the poolside misty morning coffees. Long before fireside conversations that last into the night. Long before science told us what ancient wisdom already knew. The Mother Spring’s healing powers have been widely known and highly sought after.

Back to the Beginning

When the first European settlers came across the Mother Spring more than 150 years ago, they noticed the ground around the pool was packed by human footprints, with paths radiating out from the 75-foot-diameter bubbling pool like spokes from the hub of a wheel.

That’s because Native Americans had been enjoying the waters of this natural hot mineral spring for generations before others found the special waters. The Mother Spring was actually discovered long ago by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. Called the “mountain people,” the Ute people are the original inhabitants of Colorado, and the name Pagosa comes from the Ute word meaning “healing waters.”

The Stuff of Legends

Legend has it that the Ute’s were suffering a mysterious plague that was beyond the healing of the most powerful medicine men. After building a huge fire, praying, and dancing all night along the banks of the San Juan River, it is said that they awoke the next morning to a pool of boiling water where the fire once burned. And once bathed in the water, they were cured of their sickness.

Science or Magic?

The medicinal effects of the waters were studied and confirmed by U.S. Army physicians in the 1860s, concluding, “The waters of Pagosa are without doubt the most wonderful and beneficial in medicinal effects that have ever been discovered.” As the news spread and the area became more inhabited by the Army, railroad crews, and settlers, the first bathhouse was established in 1881, just four years after Pagosa was designated a township by the U.S. Government.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

As rail travel reached Pagosa in 1900, travelers came from far and wide to “take the waters.” But with the advent of new advances in medicine, health seeking travel began to wane. Rail service to Pagosa ceased in 1936 and it wasn’t until the 1950s that “new motels” began to be erected for the driving public seeking the waters again.

Humble Beginnings

The Classic building at The Springs Resort was part of the original motel as The Spring Inn by a previous owner. The Inn had a couple of famous visitors cross it’s doorstep: John Wayne during the filming of the movie The Cowboys in the late 1960s, and World War II hero Major Jimmy Doolittle, of Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo. The Spring Inn went out of business by the late 1980s and new owners purchased the property in the early 1990s. The Inn had four plastic tubs for soaking, which were corroded and could only be filled with a garden hose. The health-seeking movement followed in the ’90s, laying the foundation for today’s Springs Resort.

Vision Come to Life

Captain J. N. Macomb, U. S. Army Surveyor and the first settler to write about the spring, noted in his journal, “There can scarcely be a more beautiful place on the face of the earth.” He also predicted in his writings that the area around the Great Spring would someday “become a place of great resort.”

Today it is just that. A one-of-a-kind experience in the world. Home to the Mother Spring, the deepest geothermal hot spring on earth. Nestled in the Rocky Mountains in the heart of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Natural geothermal waters with great therapeutic benefits known and used for millennia. The Springs Resort and Spa is a unique health and wellness destination for exploration, restoration, and connection. A place where traditions are passed down, connections are made, and stories told.

Proof positive of Captain Macomb’s vision and great gift of prophecy.

Together, The Springs Resort and Spa and the City of Pagosa Springs act as good stewards of this powerful natural resource, our healing waters.