Valuable hot springs

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, September 26th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Geothermal hot springs.

They’re naturally occurring springs of water that rise to the surface due to heated groundwater. Several hot springs dot a faultline in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

MYRNA BROWN: Some people say they’re potent enough to “cure what ails you.”

Here’s WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson.

AMBIENT: SPRINGS OUTSIDE

KIM HENDERSON: The tiny town of Genoa, Nevada, has a big history. It was the first settlement in what became the Nevada Territory back when the West was wild, and people were gold crazy.

LAWHEAD: They set up a trading post to serve people going to California. It was a stopover, a place to get supplies, food, get repairs done on your wagon, trade out some tired, worn out oxen for fresh ones, because you still had to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains to get to the gold fields in California.

That’s Stanley Lawhead. He’s a ranger aid at the local state park. He knows a lot about Genoa and Nevada.

LAWHEAD: SOURCE: There are hundreds of hot springs in Nevada. They're all over the place. Geothermal activity here…

In the Bible, springs of water often symbolize God’s provision. God provided a lot of hot springs near Genoa.

In 1860, a traveler named David Walley was digging a tunnel about a mile outside town when he found a slew of them.

Walley had a grand idea. He and a partner bought the springs and their surrounding property. Park aid Guy Sapp details the cost.

SAPP: It was somewhere around $100,000. And in that day and age, that was a whale of an investment, wasn't it?

Walley immediately set up a tent and started charging 50 cents for a bath in the springs. Business took off. With his wife’s help, Walley built a luxurious 50-room hotel and spa. It opened in 1862.

Visitors came by train, and they came by stagecoach. People like Ulysses Grant and Mark Twain.

SAPP: AKA Sam Clemens. He swore up and down that that took care of all his arthritis and rheumatism…

Karen Levey Photo by Kim Henderson

Today, David Walley’s hot springs resort is still in business. The buildings are different, but the water piped into its outdoor spas isn’t. It’s still mineral rich. Sodium sulfate, magnesium bicarbonate, calcium bicarbonate. And it’s still nice and hot.

KAREN LEVEY: Every morning steam rises from this water. So in the winter, it lasts all day. It's just beautiful, yep, and we have snow and it’s just perfect…

That’s Karen Levey. She keeps watch over the outdoor spas and the visitors that use them. They’re concrete—in-ground with steps and rails. Levey calls them “tubs.”

LEVEY: We have 7 mineral tubs which recycle their water every hour to hour and a half. And the tubs run between 101 and 104 degrees and no chemicals in the tubs.

The spring that sources the tubs is located beneath the building where Karen works. Pipes get the water to the spas, and an employee checks the temperature every hour or so.

LEVEY: Just to make sure the temperature has not risen, because the water comes in at about 135, so we have to let it cool.

It’s a picturesque setting. The desert on one side. Mountains on the other. Travelers come from all over the country to enjoy the water.

Walley Hot Springs in Genoa, Nevada Photo by Kim Henderson

Like the Freedmans, a retired couple from San Diego. It’s early morning, and they have one of the spas all to themselves. It’s their fourth vacation here.

FREEDMAN: We came out here a lot, to Lake Tahoe, mostly. And we found Walley's, and it's beautiful here. She's got arthritic feet. I have an arthritic back. We're older. It makes you feel better, especially if you go in more than one time. There are people that have moved here just to take advantage of the hot springs.

He’s right. Levey knows some locals as regulars.

LEVEY: Hi, Jerrio.

And they say the same thing.

LEVEY: That their bones feel better, that their skin is softer. A lot of people come here after surgery or after physical therapy.

So they benefit, just like the early settlers who enjoyed the hot springs, and the Native Americans before them. Water bubbling up from the barren ground year after year.

A good gift from a loving God that just might be even better than the gold in California’s hills.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Genoa, Nevada.

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