Steamboat Springs is a small volcanic field of rhyolitic lava domes and flows in western Nevada, located south of Reno. There is extensive geothermal activity in the area, including numerous hot springs, steam vents, and fumaroles.[1] The residential portions of this area, located mostly east of Steamboat Creek and south of modern-day SR 341, are now known simply as Steamboat.
The state of Nevada has a Steamboat Springs Historical Marker (#198) situated along the eastern shoulder of the busy Carson–Reno Highway (US 395 Alt.), approximately 1.65 miles (2.66 km) south of the Mount Rose Junction (the intersection with SR 341 and SR 431). There were once several mineral spas operating here along Steamboat Creek, with at least one still in business called Steamboat Hot Springs Healing Center & Spa.[3]
The water from the springs contains many minerals including: calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, sodium sulfate, carbon dioxide, lithia, and silica.[4]
Native Americans considered the springs a sacred place. As settlers came west during the Gold Rush in 1849, and noticed steam coming from cracks in the rock, the hot springs became a welcoming watering place for traveling wagons. In those early days, William Wright reported that as many as sixty or seventy columns of steam could be seen when the air was cool and calm. Yet, it wasn't until 1859 that the first development was built consisting of a shed with two rooms, one for a tub and one as a steam room.[5]
The area was further established in 1860 by Frenchman Felix Monet.[6] In the early days, when the air was cool and calm, William Wright reported that as many as sixty or seventy columns of steam could be seen.[7]
In the early 1860s, cottages, a bathhouse and a hospital set up by British hydrotherapist Dr. James Ellis were built near the springs, but many buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1867. In the early 1870s, a hotel was built to shelter 50 guests. Along with a new drugstore, cottages and 15 medicinal bathing facilities, the town became a popular spa with silver miners, tourists and people seeking health treatments.[6]
From The Life of Mark Twain: The Early Years, 1835-1871 page 204
Owned and operated by a physician, the “neat, roomy, and well-ventilated” hotel there served fresh vegetables and meat from local farms and ranches and was located a stone’s throw from a hospital.*° Samuel Bowles visited the Springs in 1865 and reported that its medicinal waters “seethe with threatening roar just beneath the surface, and find vent through little cracks in the earth, pouring forth huge volumes of steam and rivulets of boiling water.