San Luis Obispo County History Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. Source: A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura, California by Yda Addis Storke Published in 1891 in Chicago by the Lewis Publishing Co. THE PASO ROBLES HOT SPRINGS take their name from the rancho on which they are found, El Paso de Robles (the Pass of Oaks). They are about thirty miles north of San Luis Obispo and sixteen miles from the Pacific ocean, in the beautiful valley of the Salinas River, which the Santa Lucia range protects from the cold sea winds and fogs. For miles around the springs stretch level plains, now and then broken by low hills, and shaded by graceful groups of white and live oaks � a charmingly picturesque setting for the springs whose curative waters have become famous. The missionaries and early Spanish pioneers, and the Indians before them, knew the health-giving qualities of these waters and benefited by them. Prior to American occu- pation the principal spring had been rudely walled in with logs, the better to fit it for bathing purposes, this being done before the founding of San Miguel Mission. It is de- clared that even the wild beasts of the forest came to profit by these waters, and stories are told of an immense grizzly that was in the habit of plunging into the pool nightly, adding to the joys of his bath by swinging himself up and down by the low-growing branch of a great cottonwood that grew near by, extending its limbs over the water. The Paso de Robles Rancho, including the springs, was purchased in 1857 by D. D. Blackburn, James H. Blackburn and Lazare Godchanx. The springs at that time were in the condition in which the missionaries had left them, with no sign of improvements by the decaying logs of the old abutment placed there many years before, while the thickly- strewn bear-tracks added to the general air of desolation. From such a condition as this has grown the present settlement of 820 population, supplied with an excellent hotel and annex cottages, with postoffice, express and telegraph offices, billiard halls, etc., � in short all the modern improvements for the convenience of visitors. The chemical analysis of the principal Hot Spring, as made by Professors Price and Hewston, of San Francisco, is as follows: � Temperature, 110� Fahrenheit. One imperial gallon, of 7,000 grains, contains � (in grains) Sulphureted Hydrogen Gas 4.45 Free Carbonic Acid Gas 10.50 Sulphate of Lime 3.21 Sulphate of Potassa 88 Peroxide of Iron 36 Alumina 32 Silica 44 Sulphate of Soda (Glauber's Salts) 7.85 Bi-Carbonate of Magnesia 92 Bi-Carbonate of Soda 50.74 Iodides and Bromides - Traces. Organic Matter 1.64 ______ 93.44 The great and distinctive feature of Paso de Robles is the Mud Bath, whose .analysis is as follows: Temperature, 140� Fahrenheit. One gallon, of 7,000 grains, contains � (in grains) Sulphureted Hydrogen Gas 3.28 Carbonic Acid Gas 47.84 Sulphate of Lime 17.90 Sulphate of Potossa - Traces Sulphate of Soda 41.11 Silica 1.11 Carbonate of Magnesia 3.10 Carbonate of Soda 5.21 Chloride of Sodium 96.48 Organic Matter 3.47 ______ 168.30 There are several other springs, such as the Sand Spring, the Soda, the White Sulphur and the Iron or Chalybeate Spring. Paso de Robles, the town, dates from 1886. The present population is rated at 820. The Paso de Robles Rancho has been subdivided, and its lots are now offered for sale by the West Coast Land Company. Lots eighteen and nineteen of the subdivision were reserved and laid out for the town of (see TEMPLETON)