The Hot Sulphury Venture of a Frontier Huckster and Would-be Spa Magnate
“AMERICA’S SWITZERLAND”
In the year of our Lord 1863, Byers, not content with merely shaping public opinion through his empire of ink, set his sights on the steaming waters of Hot Sulphur Springs. This wasn’t just any patch of bubbling mud, oh no! This was to be “America’s Switzerland,” a veritable Eden of therapeutic waters and mountain air that would make the Alps weep with envy.
But alas, dear readers, Byers’ grand vision was as ephemeral as the steam rising from those fabled springs. For in his haste to claim this geological jewel, our intrepid entrepreneur engaged in a land deal so shady it would make a snake oil salesman blush. He purchased the springs from a Minnesota Sioux woman, blithely ignoring the inconvenient fact that the Ute tribe were the rightful owners. Unsurprisingly, the Utes took umbrage at this cavalier approach to real estate transactions and promptly sued. Alas, justice, like those elusive railway lines, failed to materialize for the Utes.
Undeterred by such trifling matters as legitimate land ownership, Byers forged ahead with his grandiose plans. He constructed an enclosure around the main pool, ostensibly to “keep the Indian ponies out and the steam in”. One can only imagine the sight of bewildered equines attempting to take the waters!
But lo, the fickle finger of fate was not done toying with our would-be resort tycoon. For Byers’ dreams of a booming spa town were cruelly dashed upon the rocks of infrastructure, or rather, the lack thereof. The absence of good roads proved to be the Achilles’ heel of this grand scheme. And as for the railroad, that iron horse of progress? It stubbornly refused to gallop into Hot Sulphur Springs until 1928, long after Byers had shuffled off this mortal coil.
In the end, Hot Sulphur Springs did become a town, albeit a far cry from the Swiss-inspired paradise of Byers’ fevered imagination. It was incorporated in 1903, the very year that Byers departed this earthly realm. One can only hope that in his final moments, he found some solace in the knowledge that his dream, while not fully realized, had at least taken root in the rocky soil of Colorado.
And so, dear citizens, let this tale serve as a cautionary fable. For even the mightiest of frontier visionaries can find their grand designs undone by the harsh realities of geography, infrastructure, and the inconvenient claims of indigenous peoples.
Sources
TheArmchairExplorer.com. “Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado.” Accessed February 19, 2025. https://www.thearmchairexplorer.com/colorado/hot-sulphur-springs-colorado.php
Wikipedia. “Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado.” Accessed February 19, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Sulphur_Springs,_Colorado
Grand County History Stories. “Hot Sulphur Springs.” Accessed February 19, 2025. https://stories.grandcountyhistory.org/article/hot-sulphur-springs
RkyMtnHi.com. “Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado: the oldest town in Grand County and …” Accessed February 19, 2025. http://www.rkymtnhi.com/visitors/towns/hotsulphur/
Colorado Encyclopedia. “William N. Byers.” Accessed February 19, 2025. http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers
Hot Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa. “History.” Accessed February 19, 2025. https://www.hotsulphursprings.com/history
