FEATURE Paradise Lost (Revisited) If you stop ten people at random on a street in San Francisco and ask them the question, “Do you know where Byron is?” probably nine of them won’t know the answer. But if you went to Hollywood a hundred years ago and asked the question, some of the biggest stars of that era would be able to tell you exactly where Byron was located. June 2007

Carol A Jensen

I’ve spent decades studying Byron’s fascinating Hot Springs. It’s difficult for newcomers to the area to believe that East County once had a 5-star resort that was the gathering place for people from across the West.

If you stop ten people at random on a street in San Francisco and ask them the question, “Do you know where Byron is?” probably nine of them won’t know the answer. But, if you went to Hollywood a 100 years ago and asked the same question, some of the biggest stars of that era would be able to tell you exactly where Byron was located.

From the 1870s to the 1930s people who wanted to have this kind of experience came right here to East County to drink water from one or more of the 50 springs at the Byron Hot Springs Resort, to bask in the elaborate spas on the property, to enjoy the amenities of the large 5-star hotel, or to hack their way around the beautiful golf links.

Hollywood movie moguls, big league athletes, and representatives from the upper echelons of society flocked to little Byron. They all shared the intention of soaking in the healing baths, drinking the waters, taking “the cure” for a number of afflictions, and just generally retreating for a few days from the mundane world into the lavish garden of earthly delights available there in those long-ago days.

Byron Springs Way Back

Long before the local indigenous peoples discovered the springs, deer, bear, elk, and mountain lions were attracted to the hot sulfurous pools and salty waters. Europeans have known about the “salt springs” at Byron about as long as America has been a nation. Jose Joaquin Moraga wrote one of the first descriptions of the springs in 1776.

In our modern times, when a twenty dollar bill would buy you more Morton salt than a family could use in a decade, it is difficult to imagine how valuable a source of salt could be in a pre-industrialized economy. In some periods in Europe, for example, salt and gold were traded evenly with each other.

The Byron Salt Springs provided an accessible source for this substance that is essential to life itself, and also important in preserving food, curing hides, and, later, in manufacturing. For example, sodium chloride and other minerals in the waters would one day become essential in smelting and iron manufacturing operations.

Of course, people have always sought the waters of the Hot Springs for the purpose most commonly associated with them. The earliest immigrants enjoyed bathing in the pools for their relaxation and drinking the mineral-laden waters for their health.

Early visitors to the Hot Springs might have included Kit Carson and John Fremont. The site was probably also visited by John Bidwell and the other members of the first immigrant train to come to California, which stopped in Brentwood.

Europeans and local indigenous peoples used the Hot Springs together only until its first owner, John Marsh, lost the claim to the property. An early brochure published by the resort pictures a native dwelling supposedly sharing the site with resort buildings but, in reality, the indigenous peoples were long gone by that time.

John Marsh, the first person of European descent to live in Contra Costa County, laid initial ownership claims to the “Salt Ponds.” He lost ownership with the writing of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and California Statehood became a reality.

A couple of brothers from Michigan, John and Orange Risdon, in 1863 became the first entrepreneurs to make commercial use of the property intending to take advantage of the salt manufacturing opportunities the Springs provided, giving the apparently redundant name to their business, “Saline Salt Manufacturing and Mining Company.”

A few years later improvements were made to the property to make them more attractive to people who sought their waters for health and recreation. Springs were dug out, lined, and covered. Bathhouses were added, and overnight accommodations were built to accommodate visitors to the springs.

Each of the many springs on the property was named according to its content or purpose. The “Salt Springs” were heavily laden with “curative” salt. The “Liver and Kidney Springs” were drunk by many of the guests, especially alcoholics, under the impression that these two organs greatly benefited or were cleansed by its use.

The “White Sulfur Springs” and the “Black Sulfurous Mud Springs,” were frequented by patients with arthritis and other diseases of the joints.

“Black Sulfur Springs” were used for bathing. When the waters of “Surprise Spring” were drunk, they had a strong (perhaps surprisingly strong) laxative effect.

Facilities also included a 20- by 40-foot swimming pool, six feet in depth. The pool was called “The Gas Plunge,” because of the carbonated gas that constantly bubbled to the surface of the water like a can of warm soda.

Today the site of the once-verdant resort has been reduced to a bleak landscape. A few fragments of the past remain in the form of weather-beaten structures and fire-stricken debris. Scattered palm trees remain as isolated reminders of the faded glories of the place.

It has been a great experience for me to document the rise and fall of the Byron Hot Springs. But now I’m engaged in the even more interesting project of watching dreams begin to unfold for the resort’s rebirth.

A Workable Plan of Action

David Fowler has been working on Byron Hot Springs development for 14 years. He is the project manager for an East Bay Associates, LLC.

David is aiming to create a site to promote a tourism industry in a responsible, ecologically sound, and culturally sensitive fashion.

The opportunity to develop the property remains an attractive one for many groups of people who could provide the resources necessary to get the springs reopened, restore the gardens and groves, restore the hotel to more grandeur than ever before, and completely revive the old sense of prosperity.

Many residents think this would be a wonderful thing to do. David Fowler’s plan is that within the next year the Byron Hot Springs will begin to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of its destruction and, in fact, will eventually grow into a facility that would absolutely astonish any of the former guests could they come as time-travelers to visit the delightful place that the hot springs will once more have become.

Northern California badly needs a resort. The Byron Hot Springs could deliver this as a privately financed, historically based, and environmentally sustainable facility. There are eight million people living within 50 miles of the facility, which is more than enough to support the planned resort.

The facility would provide a source for local jobs in construction, management, hospitality, food service, facilities, healthcare, and retail. It will provide an industry that is historically compatible with the local agricultural economy.

Restoring the Byron Hot Springs to its former glory would have little impact on the area infrastructure. Guests would obviously not be using our schools or welfare services, for example. The presence of the resort could actually serve to reduce traffic by getting people out of the commute. Traffic caused by visitors coming to and leaving the facility would generally flow in counter-commute directions.

Chartered, shuttle, and scheduled bus service could provide people with easy and affordable access to the facility.

The Byron Airport is nearly within walking distance. Plans are finally moving forward for developing the facility as a transportation hub. The runways already are sufficiently long for jet travel and some day in the not-too-distant future corporate and commercial jet service may become a reality. Sixty commercial hangers are being constructed at this time.

Also, David has been talking to CyberTram people in Alameda, which is being proposed as a viable alternative to eBart.

Someday BART service to the Far East County might actually become a reality.

Sewer, water, and power will all be self-sustained. The planners are working with Byron Sanitation to cooperate with them in some creative fashion.

A Planet Friendly Project

David has developed a clear vision for the property, planning to create an eco-friendly resort area. He’s planning to develop the site as a shining example of “sustainable tourism.”

On one hand, the development will have minimal impact on Byron’s way of life. On the other hand, it will generate income, provide opportunities for employment, and conserve local ecosystems. In its rebirth Byron Hot Springs will conserve the aquifer, promote bio-diversity, and preserve local habitat. The facility will take a stand against the distressing practice of asphalting over topsoil and running back to the ocean water that has become contaminated by salts and other impurities.

Development at the Hot Springs will actually go beyond habitat preservation; it will take steps deliberately to enhance the habitat of local species of concern. Initial plans are being made to build greenhouses with luxuriant exhibitions of flowering plants while conserving water.

The Hot Springs will support an ag buffer between Far East County communities and the Byron airport. Fowler’s group bought 120 acres between the airport and resort and sold it at cost as part of a mitigation bank for burrowing owls.

The set-aside area will provide public access to a 175,000-acre habitat corridor stretching from Mt. Diablo to Byron, and to the Clifton Court Forebay.

The Hot Springs will use organic production from its own gardens. We’ve been creating test products promoting natural healing and cleansing. Local fruits are already being made into jellies and jams on a test basis and processed in jars containing the Hot Springs label.

Partnering with Others

Changes to the Hot Springs will be undertaken as part of the Habitat Conservation Plan. David is working with Ron Brown to push forward Brown’s vision to save Mount Diablo through land acquisition and providing access for regional trails.

We’re also coordinating with the National Audubon Association and the PGA to design sustainable ecological systems for the historic golf course we’re building on the property, following the lead of Brockway Springs Resort in North Tahoe, which had the first golf course developed in cooperation with the Audubon Society.

A civil engineering company, with the appropriate name Terra Firma, is working on a plan for sustainable development implementing the guidelines of BMP (Best Management Practices) that are published by the EPA. The goal will be to use the natural percolating effect of rainwater to recharge the aquifer with clean water.

Biological and horticultural development of the facility will take place in cooperation with the Contra Costa County Master Gardeners Program, which is being run in cooperation with the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The Master Gardeners Program functions as a volunteer outreach arm of Cooperative Extension that for the past eight decades has been providing California citizens with resources to inform and educate on topics concerning natural and human resource development.

Cooperative Extension advisors from the University of California will work with Master Gardeners to provide their research-based information to assist us in applying natural and human resources to the task of creating a garden-like environment at the revitalized Hot Springs using appropriate pest management measures and resource conservation.

We’re working with the county’s infrastructure plan covering the widening of J-4 and Vasco Roads. A planned off ramp from Vasco to Armstrong will provide access from the site both to the airport and downtown Byron.

We’re working with a soap developer, Pure Thoughts Products of Orinda, who is test-marketing exfoliating soap containing silica made from sand taken from the area’s silica deposits.

A Place for Healing, Playing, and Growing

A wellness center, called a MediSpa, will be contextualized to the Hot Springs local environment, using local produce and materials in products to help guests towards health, wellness, and lifestyle rejuvenation.

The MediSpa will also be constructed so as to reflect the history of the area, resonating with the then leading-edge work of a famous medical doctor, Dr. Fletcher McNutt who was trained at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and was a founder of UCSF.

Dr. McNutt used his wisdom and medical skills in the House of Healing to revive and revitalize ailing Hot Springs guests. Following the standard of excellence that he set, first class medical attention continued to be made available at the Hot Springs right up until WWII.

The gardens at the Hot Springs will be for more than show. A demonstration garden of edible landscape will illustrate techniques for growing and preparation, as well as providing examples for garden enthusiasts.

The Hot Springs will play its traditional role in offering such things as natural minerals and mud baths, plus silica-based exfoliants. Aestheticians, beauticians, and massage therapists will meet the cosmetic and wellness needs of the gusts.

Byron Hot Springs was famous for golf. In 1901 the Hot Springs’ nine-hole golf course was only the second to be built on the West Coast. In fact, the term “dogleg” originated on the Byron course.

Vintage golfing pictures show people like the famous Lefty O’Doul and other members of the San Francisco Seals baseball team, including Joe Dimaggio and his brother with other notables such as John Tates, proprietor of the Hot Springs who had formerly managed San Francisco’s Cliff House.

The new golf course will be far superior to the older one, even at its heyday. We’ll try to get included on the PGA tour. The new course will be self-sustainable, friendly to local species of animals and birds, and will have no runoff.

Besides providing for world-class golf play, the Byron course will be a bird sanctuary employing bio-protection rather than poisons, to manage pests. We’ll import ladybugs and will place breeding areas and nests for raptor protectors and great owls throughout the area.

The new golf course will reflect some of the traditions of the past. We’ll have a Hickory Stick Tournament, perhaps, restricting players to using hickory golf clubs while wearing vintage clothing.

Other sports besides golf will include tennis, swimming, bocce, and lawn bowling. The Hot Springs will sponsor regular bass and sturgeon fishing tournaments in the nearby Delta waters.

The famous Palm Court Gardens will be revitalized. Shopping areas, including an old-fashioned town square and a wellness center, will adjoin the gardens’ lush jungle-like style.

The themes of health and wellness will be extended to food preparation, creating dishes which will combine taste and nutrition in a pleasing California-style cuisine.

We should have the wind at our back with the project. Mary Piepho and the County Building Department have provided wonderful assistance.

The empty grounds and neglected buildings of the Byron Hot Springs currently sit dozing in the East County sunshine. Dave Fowler is planning to wake the place up.

If you want to contact public officials about the effort, here is the contact information:

Supervisor Mary Piepho (925-240-7260,
mpiep@bos.cccounty.us)
Assemblyman Guy Houston (925-606-4990,
info@guyhouston.com)
Senator Tom Torlakson (925-602-6597)
Federal Glover (925-634-5915)
For more information contact www.byronhotsprings.com, proprietor@byronhotsprings.com, historian@byronhotsprings.com