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Investigating, he reached the site of the two ill fated sanitariums,
still owned by Ed Coles, who had no interest in ever building a like
facility.
Lloyd Carter asked to lease the hot spring area to
build a swimming pool. In his home town of Cove, Oregon, a
successful one had recently opened and he saw potential here. Ed
Coles agreed to lease, and with a partnership agreement reached with
Jonas B. Weimer, a Cove garageman and trucker recently sold out, the
work began.
Mr. Carter and his wife moved to the site, and Mr.,
Weimer lived with them while Mrs. Weimer drove from Cove to help
with the work, until the children’s school there was out. Water
snakes were numerous, and mosquitoes were terrible. Smudge pots
were tried to discourage the mosquitoes, and boys of the area tried
to lessen the snakes by driving them into the hot water.
The debris from the sanitarium had fallen into the hot
water and had to be cleaned out with horses and wooden scrapers, no
small problems in boiling waters; but this was to be the source of
water for the pool. Excavating for the pool itself was also done
with horses and scrapers, less problematic, but a big slow job.
Cement was poured for the sides only at this time. Dressing rooms
and a small concession stand were built.
July 4, 1926, the pool opened officially, with
Haskell Bloom of Cove and Eva Wilmerth, and Verna Weimer as
lifeguards. Since the Highway 30 was still under construction and
cars could not drive to the pool, people walked from Haines through
the ranch pastures of Mr. Coles (now belonging to Jerry Cantrell and
Henry Steele) to the Radium Hot Springs Swimming Pool. Sixty years
later it is still a popular recreation area, with camping facilities
available for some time.
Mr. Weimer sold his interest in the pool to Mr.
Carter, and he and family returned to Cove, where his youngest
daughter, Alice May, was born. Mr. Carter continued operation of
the pool for about nine years, but when his wife died he did not
renew the lease. The pool reverted to Ed Coles, whose son Bernal
operated it for about 5 years.
During World War II it closed for two years, and in
1947 was sold to
Raymond and Ethel O’Dell.
They were operators until 1969, when a corporation formed by Jack
Stevens, Doug Nichols and Bob Goss bought it. Others to operate the
pool under various arrangements have been Stanley Ingram, Jr.,
Robert and Dollis Cameron, Dewey, Miller, and Alice Weimer
Cantrell. In 1985 Jack H. Stevens became owner and operator.
Compiled by Thelma Pritchard, Jack Stevens and Alice Cantrell.
NOTE: Radium Hot Springs closed on Sept. 1 1986 (JRE)
Haines Index
Baker County |
