Elko County Sesquicentennial

Elko 150: HOT SPRINGS HOTEL

White Sulphur Hot Springs was established in 1869. The resort, situated a few miles down Bullion Road, boasted the restorative qualities of its warm mineral pools. Several times a day, carriages full of passengers departed the Humboldt Lodging House in downtown Elko and headed toward this retreat, which was later renamed the Hot Springs Hotel. In 1882 and 1889, fires destroyed the building entirely. It was finally rebuilt in brick. In 1916, an earthquake caused the temperature of the springs to increase dramatically, making the waters too hot for comfort. With the loss in customers, the hotel was eventually sold to Elko County in 1919. It was used as a poor house, then as a home for the disabled and aged until it was finally condemned in 1989 and demolished in 1992.


Hot Springs Hotel c. 1890  Archive photo donated by Elko Daily Free Press.