Dead Indian Soda Springs, Mineral spring near Eagle Point, Oregon, United States.
Dead Indian Soda Springs is a mineral water site near Eagle Point featuring several natural spring sources that feed into Dead Indian Creek. The waters carry sodium, iron, and magnesium compounds through the creek as it flows through the local landscape.
John Tyrell, a European settler, stopped for a drink at the springs in 1871 while chasing an elk. Within twenty years the site had become a popular camping spot for Rogue Valley residents, and shortly after 1900 Charles Wiltkinson built a home and rental cabins near the mouth of the creek, now part of Camp Latgawa. In 1935–1936 Civilian Conservation Corps men built a fountain and rockwork path around one spring; floods in 1955, 1964 and 1997 washed them away, leaving trace ruins and a few stone steps down to the creek.
The name comes from the springs' use by the Takelma, though sources do not confirm medicinal use. In the 1920s Lou Bean bottled water from some of the springs and sold it to Brown's Tavern in Medford, a trade visitors can recall at the site.
The site sits about 35 miles east of Medford in a wooded setting and is best reached by car. Visitors will find picnic areas, stone pathways, and walking routes that can be explored on foot throughout the grounds.
The 2000 listing covers only the small shelter by Little Butte Creek, not the springs' rustic stonework. That shelter holds four ovens, four picnic tables and an old wash basin. The CCC fountain and rockwork path of 1935–1936 were washed away by floods in 1955, 1964 and 1997, leaving trace ruins and a few stone steps down to the creek.
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