Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs

About this property

Ojo Caliente Hot Springs is a group of thermal springs located in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. They are also known as the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs. These hot springs were used by native New Mexicans for many years. In the late 19th century the springs began to be developed for alleged therapeutic use for several ailments, including tuberculosis. The hot springs were used by prehistoric people, according to James A. Caufield.(Caufield 1985:8-1) Later, the springs were used by the ancestral Native Pueblo peoples for generations before the Spanish arrived in the area. It has been written that the Tewa hero P'oseyemu accessed the underworld via the sacred warm water springs. The original place name is Posi or P'oseuinge which roughly translates to "village at the place of the green bubbling hot springs". The Puebloan village housed more than 1,000 people and contained numerous structures. It is thought to have been abandoned in the 16th century due to an epidemic. Other Native peoples used the springs as well, including distant tribes such as the Navajo, Commanche and the Ute. Early Spanish colonizers, including Coronado's soldiers, soaked in the healing water. In 1534, the Spanish colonizer Cabeza de Vaca visited the springs and named them Ojo Caliente. It is thought that before the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, Spanish colonists used the springs. In 1793, the Ojo Caliente Land Grant was signed by Governor Fernando de la Concha; the document approved settlers including Luis Duran and José Antonio Espinosa and 52 other settlers. In 1807, Duran traveled with Spanish soldiers during the colonial period where he encountered Zebulon Pike who referred to the springs as a "natural curiosity". The hot springs were first recorded in geologic publications in 1875. A bathhouse was constructed in 1860 by the Taos native, Antonio Joseph and his wife. The Mission Revival style building was built with thick adobe walls and rough-hewn viga roof beams. In 1868, the Joseph's opened the hot springs as a natural health spa. Another account states that Joseph opened the resort in 1880. The anthropologist, Nancy Owen Lewis writes in her book, Chasing the Cure in New Mexico, that Ojo Caliente hot springs had lodging for 60 people by 1880, and that the resort attracted hundreds of individuals who soaked in the mineral waters for rheumatism, kidney problems as well as skin problems.(Lewis 2016:21) In 1881, rail service to the area provided by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad connected to a stage coach stop ten miles from the springs.(Lewis 2016:21) The town of Ojo Caliente grew up around the springs providing lodging, a general store and a post office. After Antonio Joseph died in 1910, his family further developed the property as well as bottled and sold mineral water from the springs. While the springs originally accepted those with tuberculosis in 1903, by 1910, the resort published advertisements stating "People with consumption...are not accepted".(Lewis 2016:159, 272)

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Taos County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Taos County.

More historic places in New Mexico

Browse all historic places in New Mexico.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

New Mexico history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.