page_title: Desert Hot Springs (thermal mineral springs)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Desert Hot Springs (thermal mineral springs) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: This Natural Hot Mineral Water Pool is maintained at about 95 degrees with a constant flow of approximately 125 gallons a minute. Subjects: Sports &amp; recreation facilities Places: California &gt; Riverside (county) &gt; Desert Hot Springs Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_009505
context_page_description: Desert Hot Springs is a geothermal geographic area in Riverside County, California with several hot springs. Since 1941, the California Department of Conservation has recorded approximately 200 geothermal wells that have been drilled in this geographic area; approximately 50 of which are used for commercial spas and pools.
context_section_description: The hot springs were used for hundreds of years by the Cahuilla Native American peoples long before the early settlers arrived. They referred to the area as Sec-he (boiling water). The springs were an integral aspect of both their creation myths as well as their culture, in the form of nukatem (sacred spirit creatures.) In the 1820s, the Mexican explorer, Don José Romero called the area Agua Caliente (hot water). In 1862, the Homestead Act was put into place by Abraham Lincoln, and shortly thereafter, non-Native explorers and settlers began to arrive. The City of Desert Hot Springs and the Desert Hot Springs Historical Society note that Jack Riley arrived in 1908, but did not settle there. These sources also state that the first white settler was a rugged woman pioneer, Hilda M. Gray, who developed a homestead south of Two Bunch Palms.
  Later, in 1913, the homesteader, Cabot Abram Yerxa settled there, and he described the springs at Two Bunch Palms and at Seven Palms in his book, On the Desert Since 1913, and called the area Miracle Hill. In the 1930s, Yerxa and fellow homesteader Bob Carr began developing the area, and in  1941 opened a bathhouse. The area was later heavily developed with spa resorts and came to be known as the "Mineral Water Capital of the World".
caption: Natural Hot Mineral Water Pool at Desert Hot Springs, c.1930–1945
exif: {}