This Cache is part of the Helena, Montana GeoExpedition. The GeoExpedition spans the scenic Helena area from the heights of MacDonald Pass, through historic downtown gulch then south to Boulder and the Elkhorn Ghost Town. View GeoExpedition rules and DOWNLOAD a PASSPORT here.
This cache is placed on private property with permission. Please do not bushwack to find the cache. It is located under a large rock near the property entrance. Stealth may be required at times.
Broadwater Hot Springs and Fitness is the most recent in a long line of facilities capitalizing on Helena’s natural hot springs along Ten Mile Creek. Ferdinand and Caroline Wassweiler owned the first, opening a hotel and bathhouse on 160 acres in 1865. In 1874, a large gambling debt by Ferdinand caused them to sell their hot springs rights and half their acreage for $10,500 to Colonel Charles A. Broadwater, a Missouri native who had built his fortune through Montana transportation, banking, and real estate interests. Also prominent in Montana politics, Broadwater successfully lobbied in Washington D.C. for the creation of nearby Fort Harrison, which is still an active military installation.
Broadwater ran the Wassweiler’s hotel for 15 years, until he replaced it with his elaborate Hotel Broadwater and Natatorium complex in 1889. He spared no expense on his new endeavor, spending $500,000 to build a 50-room hotel filled with luxurious furnishings and create the largest indoor pool in the world at the time, fed by more than a million gallons of hot springs water a day. He was confident his advertising would entice wealthy Victorians from across the nation to travel by railway and come “take the waters” at his spa, but he overestimated the appeal of traveling to a remote part of the country. Montana’s long winters, the area’s small local customer base, and changing fashions also worked against the success of his resort.
In 1892, after Broadwater’s untimely death from influenza at age 51, his nephew, banker Thomas A. Marlow, attempted to operate the resort profitably, but closed it two years later. It remained closed until 1906, when it was sold to a new owner, who also failed to make a profit. It changed ownership several more times, with each owner unable to make a profit and keep the hotel from falling into further decline. A series of magnitude 5.9 to 6.3 earthquakes in October, 1935 caused irreparable damage to the natatorium, necessitating its permanent closure. The hotel had not accepted overnight guests since 1920 but continued to operate as a restaurant and saloon. It permanently closed a few years after the natatorium, in 1941, and subsequently fell into ruins. The natatorium was demolished in 1946, and the hotel was razed after a 1974 auction of salvageable items, one of which can be seen at GeoExpeditionMT #22: A Cupola Worth Recouping.
Sources and additional information:
http://www.helenahistory.org/Broadwater_1.htm
Helena Montana (Images of America), c 2002 by Patricia C. Spencer
http://dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/PHEP/YourPreparedness/BeInformed/Earthquake