Eden Hot Springs

Before settlement, there was a village of Serrano people at what came to be called Eden Springs.^[3] One report states that "in little valley south of Eden Hot Springs and west of Mt. Eden [there were] three camps with midden deposits in addition to a mill. This location was probably used only during a limited portion of the year."^[4]

Eden, the northernmost of the three hot springs along the San Jacinto fault, had a resort as early as the 1890s.^[5] The entrance to the springs property was said to be located at the corner of the Joe Aigurrie ranch along San Jacinto highway^[6] and/or south of the so-called Jackrabbit Trail road.^[7][8] Eden Hot Springs was a historic hot springs and resort in Riverside County, California. In the early 1900s, it was owned by James B. Glover, a San Bernardino County supervisor known for developing roads and water resources. Glover's son-in-law, Frank A. Armstrong, managed the resort. .^[9][10] Circa 1904, "conveyances for Eden" left from the Star Grocery in Redlands every Wednesday and Saturday at 3 p.m.^[11] Picture postcards show that in the early 1900s there was a one-story hotel, cottages, changing rooms, and a bathhouse with an open outdoor "cistern".^[5]

As of 1908, "cottages and tents provided accommodations for about 50 people, and a bathhouse and small swimming pool allowed use of the water for bathing".^[12] Bottled water from the springs was sold under the labels Iron Lithia and White Sulphur.^[12] In 1910, a newspaper reported "The property contains 640 acres of rolling foothill land, a large portion of which is tillable. The 30 or 40 mineral springs furnish a flow of 25 inches, which can be used for irrigation purposes. Already a small orchard of different varieties of deciduous fruits has been planted, as well as a vineyard. Among the improvements are a new pavilion, a large cement plunge, several bath houses, a number of new cottages, and a dining room".^[13] J. B. Glover died in 1921,^[14] and F. A. Armstrong took charge in 1922.^[15] In 1926, Frank and Virgie L. Armstrong sold the property to investors from Los Angeles.^[16]

In 1929, the investment group that had acquired the site commissioned California architect S. Charles Lee to design new resort facilities. Lee told an interviewer many years later, "We built a hotel and bungalows and all the appurtenances to a hot springs hotel".^[17] At that time, Lee used a private plane to travel to the dozen or so commissions he had in the Southland, including the fairly remote Eden Springs.^[17] The California Spanish Colonial Revival-style hotel was said to be set upon a "mesa" overlooking the canyon and the valley beyond.^[18] At that time, the site was said to have 23 "medicinal springs".^[18] However, the Great Depression was at hand, and according to one account, "during the 1930s all the hot springs in the San Jacinto valley dried up".^[5] The property changed hands several times,^[6][19] until eventually a man named Axel Springboard took it over and ran it somewhat successfully in the period immediately before and during World War II.^[20] The resort was rebranded Keith's Rancho and then Rancho Grande,^[21][8] and eventually closed in 1946.^[22]

When sold at auction in 1952, Eden Hot Springs was said to be 654 acres, with a "two-story main hotel with 14 suites, an adjoining building with 12 suites, a dining room and kitchen structure, a bathhouse, five cottages and a swimming pool".^[22][23] It was then renamed Canadian Springs and was used as a "weekend facility", eventually closing again in 1958.^[20][24]

Eden Springs was evacuated but saved from destruction during the 1975 Badlands fire,^[25] stood empty and was sold to new owners in 1977, and was destroyed in an arson fire in 1979.^[20]

Eden Hot Springs resort was the only access route to a fossil find in San Timoteo Badlands, which was excavated under the sponsorship of Childs Frick from 1916 to 1921.^[9][26] Fossils found in the San Timoteo and Mt. Eden Formations included mastodons, ground sloths, a three-toed horse, a giraffe-camel, a very small camel, and a cave bear.^[27]