Silver Creek Hot Spring

The hot springs area was used by local Indigenous peoples before the arrival of settlers.^[6]

In the 1890s M.F. Eby recorded a mining claim at the site.^[7] In 1917, mineral development and mining began.^[8] Eby sold the claim in the 1920s to E.H. Heller who passed the property along to his son, Leland.^[7]

In the 1930s, Silver Creek Lookout and campgrounds were built by CCC troops. Logging in the area began in the 1950s, and in 1959 a watershed research area was designated to study the impact of logging on the bathsolith. In 1956, Heller sold the property to Mert Lyons who along with Floyd Suttle built a series of hot springs resort cabins that became the Silver Creek Plunge, was built;^[8] the establishment claims that the hot springs "began as a silver mine in the late 1890s" and was used by miners.^[7]

In 2005, diesel oil was observed discharging from the hot spring at the Silver Creek Plunge commercial hot spring resort pool. The owner of the establishment was found to have a leaking 2,000 gallon storage tank that fed a generator, releasing 725 gallons of oil (80% #2 diesel and 20% cooking oil) into the spring. The leak occurred in winter and was not discovered until Spring. The fuel oil leaked into the hot springs pool and surrounding soil; 300 yards of contaminated soil were removed and the fuel that leaked into the commercial pool was removed using absorbent pads.^[4]

The hot spring water emerges from the source at 102 °F / 39 °C^[1] at a rate of 540 gallons per minute.^[9]