GILA HOT SPRINGS

INTRODUCTION Gila Hot Springs, is located on the West Fork of the Gila River in the Gila National Forest about 40 miles north of Silver City, center of a major copper mining district in the U.S. in southwestern New Mexico. A popular tourist destination in the area, the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is located four miles northwest of the Gila Hot Springs. The area in the vicinity of the Gila Cliff Dwellings has been occupied by various cultures as far back as 10 to 12,000 years. These various people started with Archaic cultures through Earlyand Late-Pit House, and Classic Pueblo Periods to present Apache cultures. Most used the caves as temporary shelters by the nomadic people as indicated by campfire soot on the ceiling; however, from the 1280s through the early-1300s, the Mogollon culture built and lived in rock dwelling in the six caves in the cliffs. Over 100 prehistoric sites are scattered throughout the area of the headwaters of the West Fork and Middle Fork of the Gila River (National Park Service website, 2002). Gila Hot Springs and the Cliff Dwellings Nation Monument are virtually surrounded by the rugged forested canyons and mountains of the Gila Wilderness, the nation’s first designated wilderness area. The Gila Hot Springs are mentioned as “A small army camp established in the late 1800s, where the village of Gila Hot Springs now sits, to guard the settlers from the dreaded Apache.” Another historical reference states: “Scattered through out the canyons is the old ranching community of Gila Hot Springs, settled in the 1880s by the Hills brothers. (Geronamo Trail Home Page, 2002). The first permanent adobe houses were built around 1890. In 1929, Doc Campbell moved to the area and ranched and led hunting trips in the area and built Doc Campbells’s Post in 1963.” The store has grown into the geothermally-heated “Doc Campbell’s Post Vacation Center” (Photo 1). The present Gila Hot Springs community consists of about 20 homes and house trailers, and is a recreation area. There are several other hot springs in the area (see Figure 2), including Melanie Hot Springs (Waterfall Hot Springs) on the Gila River below the junction of the West and East Fork of the Gila River, Lyons Lodge Hot Springs on the East Fork of the Gila River, and Jordan Hot Springs and Lightfeather Hot Springs on the Middle Fork of the Gila River, all requiring access by hiking (see Bischoff, 2001 for additional details). An abandoned “Indian” bath surrounded by a low rock wall can still be seen in the community above the east bank of the Middle Fork of the Gila River (Photo 2).