Radium Waters and the Health Resort Era

Long before the gold, it was the steam rising off the hot springs that first caught George Jackson's eye and helped him choose his campsite. Those same warm mineral waters gave Idaho Springs a second identity as a health resort. The springs were put to commercial use in the early years of the town, and by the early nineteen hundreds they had become a full destination, with a main lodge, cottages, a swimming natatorium, and mineral baths fed by the hot waters of Soda Creek.

Here is where the story gets colorful. In the early twentieth century, the whole country was gripped by a fascination with radium, the newly discovered radioactive element, which was wrongly believed to have miraculous healing powers. The resort leaned all the way in, marketing itself as Radium Hot Springs and promoting the waters as a cure for rheumatism, high blood pressure, stomach trouble, and even alcoholism.

We now know that radium is dangerous, not medicinal, but at the time it was a powerful selling point. The resort survives today under the name Indian Hot Springs, and over the years its pools have hosted a surprising roster of visitors, from locals to travelers from across the country.