Silver Creek Hot Spring | |
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Silver Creek Plunge | |
Location | Garden Valley, Idaho |
Coordinates | 44°19′48″N115°48′07″W / 44.330°N 115.802°W Coordinates: 44°19′48″N115°48′07″W / 44.330°N 115.802°W [1] |
Elevation | 4,490 [2] |
Type | geothermal |
Discharge | 540 gallons per minute |
Temperature | 102°F / 39°C |
Silver Creek Hot Spring is a geothermal mineral spring in Valley County, Idaho. [3] It is located 23 miles North of the town of Crouch. [4] The hot spring is also known as the Silver Creek Plunge. [5] The spring flows into Silver Creek, and on to Middle Fork, a tributary of the Payette River.
The hot springs area was used by local Indigenous peoples before the arrival of settlers. [6]
In the 1890s M.F. Eby recorded a mining claim at the site. [7] In 1917, mineral development and mining began. [8] Eby sold the claim in the 1920s to E.H. Heller who passed the property along to his son, Leland. [7]
In the 1930s, Silver Creek Lookout and campgrounds were built by CCC troops. Logging in the area began in the 1950s, and in 1959 a watershed research area was designated to study the impact of logging on the bathsolith. In 1956, Heller sold the property to Mert Lyons who along with Floyd Suttle built a series of hot springs resort cabins that became the Silver Creek Plunge, was built; [8] the establishment claims that the hot springs "began as a silver mine in the late 1890s" and was used by miners. [7]
In 2005, diesel oil was observed discharging from the hot spring at the Silver Creek Plunge commercial hot spring resort pool. The owner of the establishment was found to have a leaking 2,000 gallon storage tank that fed a generator, releasing 725 gallons of oil (80% #2 diesel and 20% cooking oil) into the spring. The leak occurred in winter and was not discovered until Spring. The fuel oil leaked into the hot springs pool and surrounding soil; 300 yards of contaminated soil were removed and the fuel that leaked into the commercial pool was removed using absorbent pads. [4]
The hot spring water emerges from the source at 102 °F / 39 °C [1] at a rate of 540 gallons per minute. [9]
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