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| Stone corral at Warm Springs |
Not much remains of the old settlement of Warm Springs, located about 50 miles east of Tonopah on U.S. 6, at the point where it intersects with Nevada State Route 375, the beginning of the famous Extraterrestrial Highway.
The handful of ruins are all that have survived of this former stagecoach stop that traces its beginnings to the mid-1860s.
Not surprisingly, the area’s natural hot springs are what attracted people originally to the area. Nevada historian Shawn Hall has written that the first non-Native American folks to stop at the site were probably freight wagons and stagecoaches traveling between Eureka and Elko, attracted by the springs.
In about 1866, a small stone house was built adjacent to the bubbling hot springs. While this settlement didn’t amount to much more than a welcome rest stop for travelers passing through this remote part of the state, a general store and lodging house were erected at Warm Springs near the end of the 19th century.
Apparently, this little way station managed to survive during the next couple of decades. In January 1924, Warm Springs gained a post office and Ethel Allred was named postmaster of this tiny oasis.
That, however, served as Warm Springs’ peak. Less than five years later, in June 1929, the post office was closed forever.
Since then, there have been a few short-lived developments in the area. Sometime in the 1970s, a saloon, café, gas station and RV park opened near the old settlement site but those businesses have been closed for a long time.
Additionally, around that time someone constructed a nice, concrete swimming pool near the café. While the pool, surrounded by nice shade trees, still looks mighty inviting to anyone who stops, unfortunately it’s on private property, surrounded by a high, locked fence and no trespassing signs.
The actual Warm Springs spring can be seen about a quarter of a mile uphill from the swimming pool. Scalding hot water pours from the ground into a manmade ditch that leads to the pool. Rivulets of hot water also trickle into marshy land around the pool.
The site of the former settlement of Warm Springs, located a few yards away from the pool, contains a few ramshackle wooden buildings that appear to have once been part of the early 20th century incarnation of Warm Springs.
Additionally, you can find the tumbled-down walls of an old stone corral and piles of scrap wood and metal that may be the remains of the old store and lodging house.
About 60 miles southeast of Warm Springs via the E.T Highway is Rachel, the self-proclaimed heart of Nevada’s UFO country. The community borders the high security military base often called Area 51, which is rumored to be where the U.S. government allegedly stashes recovered alien space ships and other secrets.
For more information about Warm Springs, go to: https://www.rachel-nevada.com/places/warmsprings.html.
