Trail of the Shadows: Nature's Spa Exhibit Panel

Mineral springs like this one are remnant of a time when this area was developed as a health spa.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Trail of the Shadows, Longmire

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Title: Nature's Spa

Main Text

The trees to your left hide evidence of a former hotel. But before Mount Rainier National Park was established, before the road to Paradise was engineered, people came via horseback through the wilderness to stay in the Longmire Medical Springs Resort, opened in 1890. 

Guests paid eight dollars per week for board and treatment at the springs. They stayed in a two-story hotel, 20 feet by 30 feet, with five sleeping rooms upstairs. Soaking in the springs or taking a sulphur plunge bath was recommended. Rubs and massages were specialties of the house. 

The property was sold in 1920 and the original, outdated hotel was demolished and burned. That same year, the stone encasement and seating were added to this spring and more modern facilities were constructed in the area. 

Secondary Text

In response to tourist demand, the Longmires enlarged the hotel, added cabins and tents, and built bathhouses over the hot springs, with cedar-planked tubs sunken into the ground. 

Elcaine Longmire (James' eldest son) and his wife Martha were proprietors of the Longmire resort during its heyday in the early 1900s. 

Exhibit Panel Description
The main text forms a column on the left third of the exhibit panel, against a tan background. Under the text, oriented at a slight angle, is a small black-and-white photo of two woman standing in the doorway of a single story wood panel building. In the center third of the panel is a larger black-and-white photo of a two-story wood building painted white and surrounded by forest. Very faintly, Mount Rainier's summit can be glimpsed over the tops of the trees. The first paragraph of the secondary text is below the larger photo, and then a second smaller photo is under the text at the very bottom of the panel. The photo shows a row of white canvas tent cabins behind a fence with a two-story building in the distance at the end of the fence. Standing in front of the fence is a woman in a white blouse and dark full-length skirt. On the right third of the exhibit panel is a black-and-white photo cutout of a couple standing together. An older woman, hair pinned up, wearing an old fashioned dress with a brooch at the waist, stand on the right. On the left, stands a man with a long beard and wide-brimmed hat wearing a collared shirt tucked into pants with a leather belt, one hand resting on his waist. The second paragraph of the secondary text is under the photo cutout in the bottom right corner of the exhibit panel. 

Visit This Exhibit Panel
This exhibit panel is located in Longmire along the Trail of the Shadows, a short trail that starts across the street from the National Park Inn. Longmire is open year-round.