Montana's Hot Springs - Paperback

by Jeffrey Lawrence Birkby (Author)

Montana's hot springs and hot water resorts bubble with fascinating histories of medical cures, Native American legends, glittering spas, and isolated wilderness soaks. These Montana hot springs provided soothing cures for the aches and pains of Native Americans and early Montana pioneers. A few of the crude bathhouses built by miners and settlers gave way to ornate bathing resorts, replete with some of the most elegant furnishings and facilities available between Minneapolis and San Francisco, from the 1890s through the 1920s. Grand hot springs resorts--including Corwin Hot Springs, Boulder Hot Springs, Hunter's Hot Springs, and Broadwater Hot Springs--flourished and then faded from Montana's landscape. Through photographs, Images of America: Montana's Hot Springs explores the stories and legends of hot-water bathing resorts in Montana.

Author Biography

Jeff Birkby has spent over 30 years researching the fascinating history of hot springs in the Western United States. He is the author of two hot springs touring guidebooks and was one of the first geothermal energy specialists for Montana's state government. Many of the images in this book are from Birkby's personal collection, with others sourced from county and state libraries and historical societies in Helena, Bozeman, and Missoula.