What are Hot Springs?
A hot spring is the emergence of geothermally-heated groundwater from the earth's crust. There are hot springs all over the earth, on every continent and even under the oceans and seas. There are even hot springs in Antarctica, such as the one on Deception Island.
The related term "warm spring" is defined as a spring with water temperature less than a hot spring. While definitions vary, the US NOAA Geophysical Data Center defines a "warm spring" as a spring with water between 20°C and 50°C (between 68°F and 122°F). Some disagree with using the term warm spring at all.
Because heated water can hold more dissolved solids, warm and especially hot springs also often have a very high mineral content, containing everything from simple calcium to lithium, and even radium. Because of both the folklore and the proven medical value some of these springs have, they are often popular tourist destinations, and locations for rehabilitation clinics for those with disabilities.
So What About Harrison Hot Springs?
There are actually two hot springs, the "Potash", with a temperature of 40°C, and the "Sulphur", with a temperature of 65°C. According to Harrison Hot Springs Resort, the waters average 1300 ppm of dissolved mineral solids, one of the highest concentrations of any mineral spring.
Harrison Hot Springs are one of several lining the valley of the Lillooet River and Harrison Lake, with two others on the lake at Twenty Mile Bay and at Port Douglas, at the head of the Bay. The northernmost of the Lillooet River hot springs is at Meager Creek, north of Whistler, with another well-known one to the east of Whistler at Skookumchuck Hot Springs, midway between Pemberton and Port Douglas. One feature of this chain of hot springs is that the Harrison Hot Springs vent is the most sulfuric, and there is consistently less sulfur content as one goes northwards, with the springs at Meager Creek having almost no scent at all.
Pre-Founding of Harrison Hot Springs
In 1808 Simon Fraser canoed past the Harrison area including the mouth of the Harrison river. At that time Fraser made no mention of the Harrison River let alone the Harrison Lake.
Initial exploration of the Harrison river began in 1827 by Hudson Bay Company fur traders. Sir George Simpson, Governor in British Columbia of the Hudson Bay Company was so convinced of the possible value of this river that he wrote in a 1829 dispatch to Hudson Bay Company headquarters. "As it promises to become important to our interests in this quarter, not only as a practicable route to and form the interior but as opening to us a new tract of country, which the Natives say is Rich in Beaver, I have taken the liberty of naming it after one the Members of Your Honble. Board 'Harrisons River'. It became known as Harrison River and Harrison Lake. This name was in respect of Benjamin Harrison an important shareholder and Committee member of the Hudson Bay Company.
It was not until 1846 that the full Harrison River and Harrison Lake were explored by Alexander Anderson who at the request of Governor Simpson who was looking for a possible route to the interior. Unfortunately, it was considered too difficult and dangerous for the time and the entire area remained relatively unexplored by Europeans other than fur traders until everything changed.
Gold Fever in the Caribou in 1858 brought the Europeans back to the Harrison River route to the interior. With tens of thousands of miners on the way, Governor Sir James Douglas decided the difficult Harrison-Lillooet route was viable after all!
The springs themselves were discovered in about 1858 during the Caribou gold rush. The traditional story of the spring's discovery talks about one member of a nearly frozen group of miners who were returning down the lake from Port Douglas, falling into the water from either being over anxious to reach the shore or from weakness. The Miner shouted out "It's Warm!" companions soon joined him in what they had assumed was freezing lake water.
Judge Matthew Begbie set out to assess the route for the government in an expedition in 1859. He named the newly found springs "Alice Springs" after Governor Douglas's daughter. The Alice Springs name fell out of use however.
The History of Harrison Hot Springs
The end of the gold rush meant the end of people coming to the area and the temporary end of interest in the springs. In 1873 Joseph Armstrong pre-empted 40 acres of land by the lake including the springs for the grand sum of $40. Several years later he received the Crown grant to the property. In 1886 he opened the St. Alice Hotel and the history of the village has been pretty much driven by this hotel ever since. The hotel enthusiasticly promoted the springs. Early advertising claimed that the hot springs provided: "a sure cure for paralysis, rheumatism, syphilis, diabetes, neuralgia, skin diseases, mercurial poisoning, dipsomania, and all diseases of the womb, liver, and kidneys, besides many other maladies to which human flesh is heir."
The newly completed transcontinental railway line, with its stop in Agassiz, provided the tourists. The 40 room, "St. Alice Hotel" was built in 1885, making it the first resort in British Columbia. Bath houses were built at the source of the hot springs and they quickly became a popular attraction. Hundreds of visitors would travel up the Fraser and Harrison Rivers, or arrive by train, every summer.
The Hotel was successful and dominated life in the area. Owning 1400 acres along the lake it was able to pretty much dictate who and what came to the area. In 1920 the Hotel burnt down and had to be rebuilt.
It reopened in 1926 under the new name Harrison Hot Springs Hotel. Additions have changed the Hotel over the years, however the original structure still stands.
In 1949 the Village of Harrison Hot Springs was incorporated with an area of about 2000 acres and 476 inhabitants.
Visiting Today
The water rights to the hot mineral water supply are still held by the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. Guests staying in the hotel may use the indoor and outdoor mineral pools at the hotel, 24 hours per day.
Visitors who stay in other accommodations, or just drive up for the day, may enjoy the mineral water in the Village operated public pool, which is located at the junction of Hot Springs Road and the Esplanade. The coordinates bring you to the parking lot of this building. There is a nominal charge for using the pool. Lockers and towels may be rented.
Logging Requirements
Earthcaches are a special type of Virtual Cache that are meant to be educational. Therefore to log, you must demonstrate that you learned something from the site and experience. To make this a bit of a hunt, we are not posting the coordinates of the actual hot springs source. Going to the posted coordinates will put you a few minutes walk away though.
Logging is simple:
1. Post here an interesting geo-science related fact you learned in the area, or doing research online, about Harrison Hot Springs or hot springs in general. Try to find something not in the Earthcache text or mentioned in previous logs. Good places to look might be in the hotel, in local brochures, on signs, or by talking to locals. This is an interesting little resort village.
2. Find the actual hot springs and take a photo of your group in front of them. If you do not have a camera along, email the owner with a description of the location. The hot springs are not hard to find - if in doubt ask a local or at the hotel.
3. Since you came all the way here, be sure to take a soak in the public pool or if you stay in the hotel, at the hotel pools. You can not use the actual springs at source for at least two good reasons. You might also try drinking the cooled down water - remember it is very high mineral content. Enjoying the water both inside and outside your body is not a logging requirement, just a great idea!
More info, and the source of portions of this text:
http://harrisonhotsprings.ca/
http://www.harrison.ca/harrison/history.shtml
http://www.bbharrison.com/Harrison_Heritage_House/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Hot_Springs,_British_Columbia
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