By Ron Brown
 
June 26, 2009
 
BUCKHORN SPRINGS, Ore. - In the early 1880's, Byron Cole built a small hotel along what soon became the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
 
The place gained fame all up and down the Pacific Coast for its hospitality, fresh air, food, and mineral water.
 
At first the water was on tap, but eventually a bottling works was established and tourists could take some with them. The label on a Colestin water bottle claims the water is good for "kidney, stomach and rheumatic troubles, biliousness", etc. Biliousness is an old term for indigestion.
 
The hotel continued to do well until the main line of the railroad shifted to Klamath Falls and tourist traffic dropped off. By the 1980's the old hotel was gone and only the valley named for Byron Cole remains.
 
At the other end of the Rogue Valley, a mineral spring was developed in Sams Valley and became another resort. However, this time it was designed as a health spa at Holcomb Springs. A few cabins still remain, and the bath house, which was converted to a house, burned inside a few years ago. Records indicate that in 1938 some 4,000 baths were given at 50-cents-a-piece.
 
However, the springs still produce water, and is part of the headwaters for Sams Creek.
 
Another mineral springs spa developed in the 1920's at Jackson Hot Springs, between Talent and Ashland. The naturally heated water was a popular swimming hole before the pool was built in 1923, with camping and cabin facilities. It still operates as a privately owned pool open to the public.
 
One of the most unusual resort spas is Buckhorn Springs Resort on Emigrant Creek at the base of the Greensprings. It's history goes back long before the whites came to Southern Oregon, as a Native American refuge for healing for all tribes.
 
"When they came into this valley, it was a safe zone. And so they respected each other. And the actual site was so sacred that only medicine men and chiefs were allowed to bring patients there," Bruce Sargent with the Buckhorn Springs Resort said.
 
By the 1860's, it was a settlers homestead, but carbon dioxide bubbling up through the creek eventually attracted the attention of entrepreneurs who built this hotel, and the springs became a destination for healing. But one of the most unusual features is the vapor bath house, where patients would soak in carbon dioxide with the hope it would heal them of their ailments.
 
If you were one of those who came to the Buckhorn Springs Resort to take the carbon dioxide bath you would step down into a bath basin, which has no water in it, only carbon dioxide, sit down on the stool, and close this down around your neck, and then let your body absorb the fumes. Presumably, that would cure just about anything that ailed you. The thinking behind it is that the CO2 opens your body's pores and helps cleanse it, while the mineral water provides valuable nutrients.
 
For 20 years Sargent and his family have been restoring Buckhorn Springs, building by building. He says one of the next projects is the old physiotherapy clinic. Until then, groups and families are booking the resort for retreats, rest and relaxation. Whether you come to soak in the CO2 or breathe in the fresh mountain air, there's something about this place that seems to heal what ails you.
 
On Saturday June 27 from 1 to 5 p.m. Buckhorn Springs is hosting an open house to show off the restoration work of the past two decades. Sargent says there will be tours of the historic facilities and refreshments will be offered.